Friday, February 23, 2018

Revlon Holochrome Collection

The planets all aligned and I had some sunshine on a swatching day recently, so I grabbed the Revlon Holochrome polishes, which I ended up buying all of in three or four separate purchases as my finding them overlapped with finding them on sale. I knew before I swatched that they weren't all holos (or all chromes, for that matter), but I also knew some were, and I wasn't going to let the opportunity to see them in sun pass by.

Top row: Fairy Dust, Hologasm, Unicornicopia, Galactic Pink. Bottom row: Amethyst Smoke, Molten Magic, Gilded Goddess, Blushing.



Never mind the polish for a moment; look at the pretty handles on the bottles:



Since I wasn't sure how long the sun would be around, I quickly got all four of the holo shades on my nails all at once. In the lightbox, they were just shimmery, with no holo effect. Top to bottom: Hologasm (silver), Galactic Pink (pink), Unicornicopia (lavender), Fairy Dust (green). All were three coats except Unicorincopia, which was two.





In the sunlight, scattered holo did emerge, though the rainbows never looked especially strong. Which is, I suppose to be expected, since holo pigment is pricey and these polishes cost the same as any other Revlon. They're still pretty despite their lack of crazy rainbows.







In direct indoor light, the effect was, as one would expect, in between the lightbox and sunshine modes:



So that's the holo half of the Holochrome collection. On to the chrome half, starting with Blushing, a pink-leaning rose gold with chrome-type metallic finish. This was two coats, and yes, there are some brushstrokes. I didn't try the sponging technique to eliminate or soften them because I was feeling impatient. (I think the last time I had the patience for that was also the first time I tried it, with Your Web or Mine from the OPI The Amazing Spider-Man Collection.)





There are gold and silver chrome metallics, too: Molten Magic is the silver, and Gilded Goddess is the gold. I alternated them on my nails; both were two coaters and also showed brushstrokes like Blushing.





Before moving on to the last polish in the collection, let's look a quick comparison of Revlon silvers I did because Molten Magic looked so much like the Silver Base Coat that was released with the Color Charge jellies. I included both silvers from this collection, as to the non-aficionado, they might look the same in the bottle. Left to right: Hologasm, Molten Magic, Silver Base Coat.



On the nail, left to right: Silver Base Coat, Hologasm, Molten Magic, Silver Base Coat. One of these things is not like the others, but the others are pretty much dupes.



Finally, I have Amethyst Smoke, a color that always seemed to be gone when I'd run across the display, until one time it wasn't. This takes the "chrome" part of Holochrome in a different direction than the other three in the chrome half; this is a duochrome, a charcoal purple that shifts to an olive green. I used two coats on some nails and three on others and couldn't tell the difference.







Under direct light, the green looks more green than in the lightbox, where it leaned more grey green.



I happened to have some other duochromes at hand for comparisons to Amethyst Smoke. First up, Ciate Starlet and Essence Colour & Go Chic Reloaded.



Top to bottom: Essence Chic Reloaded (2 coats), Revlon Amethyst Smoke (3), Ciate Starlet (2), Revlon Amethyst Smoke (3). Neither of these is a match; the Ciate is closer, but it's a cooler toned purple than the Revlon and darker.



Lastly, and most exciting to me who loves old school mainstream polishes, I compared Amethyst Smoke to Revlon Color Illusion Steel Magic and Revlon KhakiZING. The first duochromes I ever owned came from the ZING collection.



Top to bottom below: Steel Magic (2 coats), Amethyst Smoke (3), KhakiZING (2), Amethyst Smoke (3). Amethyst Smoke isn't an exact match for either of the old ones, but it's close enough that I did a little jig of happiness that Revlon seems to have made a reasonable facsimile of some great polishes for a new generation of drugstore shoppers. KhakiZING is my favorite of these, but without a time machine, it's going to be hard to get if you don't have an older relative who doesn't get rid of stuff.





Like with the jellies, I'm impressed with Revlon and this collection. Sure, they're not as eye catching as some indie polishes, but they're also not nearly as expensive and are way more available.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Wheel F10: Pure Ice Glitters



(first three are over black base on half of tip; I think I added clear topcoat to all but my notes don't say for sure)

1. Pure Ice Mer-magical (2 coats)
2. Pure Ice Sparkling Seas (2)
3. Pure Ice Sea Glass (2)
4. Pure Ice Sheer Luck (2)
5. Pure Ice Treasure Hunt (2)
6. Pure Ice I'll Behave (2)
7. Pure Ice Party of Five (2)
8. Pure Ice Watch Me Go (3)
9. Pure Ice Wide Awake (3)
10. Pure Ice Sparks Fly (3) [had to fish for the stars]
11. Pure Ice Look My Way (2)
12. Pure Ice Never Satisfied (2)
13. Pure Ice Over You (2)
14. Pure Ice Darkside (3)
15. Pure Ice Private Show (2) [not a topper, base of polish is black]
16. Pure Ice It's Complicated (2)
17. Pure Ice Silver Lining (2)
18. Pure Ice Dazzle Me (2)
19. Pure Ice Endless Fortune (2)
20. Pure Ice Family Jewels (2) [having trouble seeing difference between this and 19]


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:


11 through 15:



16 through 20:


















Monday, February 19, 2018

SinfulColors Color Crave

Sure, sometime before Valentine's Day would have been ideal to post swatches of the Valentine's Day shades I got from the SinfulColors Color Crave display, but pink is always in season, right?

I only got the three new shades from the display: Candy Gram, No Heart Feelings, and I Want S'amour.



Candy Gram is a warm pink with fine blue shimmer (that looks magenta sometimes when viewed through the base color).



I used three coats of Candy Gram; two thick ones might have worked as well. The shimmer mostly disappears on the nail, at least in indirect light.



Under direct light, you can see the shimmer in Candy Gram better.



No Heart Feelings is a sheer pink with pink and gold microflakie shimmer and gold heart glitter.



I used Candy Gram as a base under No Heart Feelings, doing a funky French tip on my ring finger so I could see how the topper would look without a base under it. I did two-ish coats of No Heart Feelings plus clear topcoat. I say two-ish because I had to fish hard for the heart glitter and sometimes it took a few tries to get it where I wanted it. I felt the hearts were a bit oversized (and I don't have small hands) and thick; really would need a more beefy topcoat if I were going to wear this for a full mani and not have the hearts catch on things. The shimmer is very subtle, both on a bare nail and on the medium pink of Candy Gram.





I Want S'amour is a magenta shimmer.



I did two coats of I Want S'amour and that was ample for full coverage. The shimmer in this is a touch less subtle than Candy Gram but still hard to spot in indirect light. It was plenty shiny, though, and I think the hidden shimmer did add depth.





In direct light, the shimmer popped a bit more.



I also tried No Heart Feelings over I Want S'amour. With the somewhat darker base, the shimmer in the topper showed up more, but the heart glitter was still a problem. You can see in one of the shots below how even with a clear topcoat, the edges of the hearts are sticking out.





I'm glad that SinfulColors did something a bit different for these two new shimmers rather than the more expected red or pastel pink for Valentine's. The gold hearts in the topper are interesting, too; I just wish they were smaller and easier to get out of the bottle. Still, for $1.99, I can't complain too much. It's good that they are still doing some special stuff for holidays, unlike most other mainstreams.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Wheel E10: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Glitters

Nail Wheel Wednesday is posting late this week because it was a powder day, and good snow takes priority over blogging. (Yes, if I were really on the ball, I would have had this written and scheduled before the snow fell. I am not. I am not sure I will ever be.) Today I have glitter from the Xtreme Wear line from Sally Hansen. Technically it's the "Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear" line but that's too much typing to do over and over again.



(all two coats plus topcoat; as you can see, some are on 1/2 black or 1/2 peachy beige base)

1. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Shine On
2. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Glitter Gun
3. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Strike Gold
4. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Spark in the Dark
5. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Bold Gold [seems super close to #4; maybe the sizes in the glitter mix are a bit different but I sure don't need both of these]
6. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Silver Streamers
7. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Shake Shake
8. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Strobe Flash
9. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Rosey Shooter
10. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Boogie Woogie
11. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Perky Pink
12. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Fall Flare
13. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Supernova
14. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Rock Chic
15. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Confetti Cake
16. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Boom
17. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sea-ly String
18. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Shimmy Shimmy
19. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sea-ing Stars
20. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green Rocket


Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:


11 through 15:



16 through 20: