NOTD - May 31, 2011

I am a little late getting this post up but I had last Tuesday off from work and so I decided to have a little fun with my nails.  I found a great tutorial for gradient nails over here by Rebecca Likes Nails.  I was a little heavy handed with the sponge so the gradient isn't as gradual as I would have liked, but the tutorial is very well done and I think with a little more practice I'll be able to get my nails the way I want them.

As you can see from the picture, I did a slightly different interpretation of the tutorial than Rebecca posted.  Instead of finishing off with black zebra print I did a purple leopard print which was inspired by a makeup bag I recently picked up at Bath and Body Works.  This was also done out of necessity since I don't have any konad and had to make due with a toothpick for the leopard print.

The colours I on my nails are:

• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mellow Yellow
• Wet N Wild Fastdry - The Wonder Yellows
• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mandarin
• Revlon - Oh My Magenta
• Wet N Wild Fastdry - Buffy the Violet Slayer

If you have the time and patience to try out gradient nails (it took me about an hour due to waiting for each coat and colour to dry down before applying the next one) I would really recommend trying it out.  I have gotten numerous compliments and comments on my nails over the past week from friends family, customers at work and even random people on the street and the bus.  It is also a nice pick me up to look down and see my fun, summery nails.

Review: Revlon Nail Polish - Kiss Me Coral

I recently purchased a Revlon nailpolish called Kiss Me Coral.  The colour is a beautiful orangey-coral colour with a shimmery finish.  There is no chunky glitter but there is a very nice gold/pink sheen to it.  This is one of those colours that look great with a tan and really bring out any colour that you do have.  As you can see from the picture above the colour can flash more pink, or as the following picture shows it can flash more orange/coral.

Overall, I found the application to be very sheer.  I own a few Revlon polishes and I have never had any problem with them but I found that Kiss Me Coral required three coats to get an opaque finish whereas the other Revlon polishes that I own are fine after only two.  The following is a picture comparing the consistency of different Revlon polishes. 

For reference the other two colours are Emerald City, a matte suede finish polish and Oh My Magenta, a magenta polish with a silver/blue sheen similar to the gold/pink sheen of Kiss Me Coral.

As for wear I can't really comment on it.  My job requires me to work with my hands a lot and regardless of brand, top coat or base coat most polishes start to chip on me after only a day or two.  However, I have found that Revlon polishes do wear very well.  Overall, I am happy with this polish even with the sheer application, I would give this polish a B-.