Revlon Wild Violets with Finger Paints Abstract Attraction

I first read about the Revlon Parfumerie Collection last autumn but had no luck finding it locally until just a few days ago. While I am a bit wary of scented polishes (remembering the Anna Sui debacle from a few months ago) I decided that some of the colors were pretty enough to warrant picking up and trying out. One of the colors I chose was Wild Violets, a deep blackened purple with subtle shimmer.

Wild Violets went on slightly streaky for the first coat but the second coat smoothed everything out. Sadly, the dry time is a little longer than I am accustomed to and I ended up with some smudging and dings because I am impatient and clumsy. These photos show 2 coats of Wild Violets over Nail Envy Sensitive and Peeling Formula and CND Stickey (I worry about staining with dark colors like this and generally double up on my base layers to try to prevent it).

 sunlight

Ottlight

I also swung past my neighborhood Sally's Beauty to see if they had the new Kaleidoscope collection by Finger Paints available. This collection features a set of 5 flakie topcoats in various pastel tones. I thought that the blue and purple version, Abstract Attraction, would look nice over Wild Violets.

Ottlight

Sadly I have to agree with other bloggers who say that these flakies are almost too subtle and quiet on the nail. I want to try them out on lighter colors and see how they do there but over the near black of Wild Violets I don't think they pack much of a punch. The eye sees more of the flakes in their pale colorless state than the reflective colored state and it leads to a dull, flat appearance. 

I even tried matteing the mani to make the flakies pop a little more but with only limited success. It isn't a particularly ugly manicure in my opinion, it just isn't what I had hoped. 

Ottlight, manicure as above topped with one coat NYC Matte Me Crazy topcoat

As far as the scent of Wild Violets is concerned, I was very happily surprised to find it both pleasant and mild. I could smell the fragrance  at times but it certainly wasn't omnipresent and overpowering. And I saw no staining upon removal, so yay! And there you have it. A nice, serviceable manicure but not one of my favorites. I like the Wild Violets a lot except for the dry time. Using a quick dry top coat like my beloved HK Girl might have helped but I generally only use that on my uppermost coat of polish so it wouldn't have helped with the undercoat. I suppose I will just have to be more patient next time!

Enchanted Polish Ballerina Sprinkles and Ethereal Lacquer Once Upon A Dream

Welcome to a new feature I am going to try out for the blog, at least until something shiny distracts me: Side by Side Saturday! Basically I am going to use two similar polishes to let you see how close they are. I am not necessarily looking at dupes, although some may be.  But if you are interested in say hot pinks, this will let you look at a couple and see how you feel about them. I am going to start off with something cruel by showing you two HTF (hard to find) polishes - a Limited Edition by Ethereal Lacquer and an older release by Enchanted. Both will probably be rather difficult/expensive to get your hands on but I love the colors and it's my blog so there ya go.

We are starting off with Once Upon A Dream, a recent release by Ethereal Lacquer that is described as an icy blue holographic polish with sparks of blue shimmer. 

Swoon. I love this sort of soft shimmery color. Which leads us to contestant number two, Ballerina Sprinkles. This Enchanted Polish is also an icy blue holo but her shimmer is pink and the holo and shimmer are both more pronounced than OUAD.

 So lovely! Okay, here we go. I have Ballerina Sprinkles on my pointer and pinkie fingers and Once Upon A Dream on my middle and ring fingers. You can definitely see the difference in the polishes but I think they harmonize nicely with each other. These next two photos are taken in indirect daylight.

And this next one I took using flash since the sun is just a distant memory at this point. 

Ballerina Sprinkles is like most other Enchanteds for me - an absolute dream to put on. I love the brush, I love the consistency, I love the staying power. The Ethereal was equally pleasant to apply. These polishes could be sisters! This manicure features 3 coats over CND Stickey and topped off with HK Girl topcoat for both the Ethereal and the Enchanted.

Ethereal Lacquer and Enchanted Polish can both be purchased from their respective Big Cartel sites as well as various stockists including MeiMei's Signatures for the international crowd.

Bliss Polish Life's Been Good

Hey reader! I have a lovely polish for you today from a maker called Bliss Polish. The polish is Life's Been Good and it is a grey crelly with black, white, and hot pink holo glitters. Shall we take a look?

Holy squishy jellies, Batman!! I have a confession to make. I am not a real big fan of glitter polishes. I tend to restrict my swooning to holos and multichromes. But I was fortunate enough to have Life's Been Good by Bliss Polish included in my prize winnings from a challenge in one of my Facebook groups and happily grey is one of my favorite polish colors so I decided to give it a whirl. Oh Em Gee. This is the most sparkly, glossy, hypnotic glitter I have seen in a long time. I keep being distracted by catching glimpses of my polish from out of the corners of my eyes. Beautiful! Keep in mind that as a Glittergrinch I have exceptionally pathetic glitter application skills. If it looks this amazing in the hands of a n00b like me, it will look good on anybody! The pic truly doesn't do it justice. The pink glitters are holo so they just keep firing rainbow bullets in every direction. 

I was initially dismayed by how sheer the first coat was and I decided I would have to use undies for subsequent manicures but as I added the next two layers I realized a base color isn't necessary. The polish is still not opaque so VNL-phobic lacqueristas might shy away from the look but I find that 3 layers gives the polish an ethereal wispiness that is entrancing. Of course, we can go back to the aforementioned poor application skills issue as well so this is another case, dear reader, where you must blame the blogger and not the polish. And I apologize for the state of my cuticles - I was yet again so excited by the polish I neglected the little niceties. I am just an excitable girl. All these photos show 3 coats of Life's Been Good over CND Stickey and topped with HK Girl topcoat. No daylight photos because this is winter in Indiana and we huddle in darkness and gloom but here is a photo under the lights in my kitchen. Look at that shine!

I confess that I was unfamiliar with Bliss Lacquer before receiving my prize pack but Yvette obviously knows what she is doing as far as polish creation is concerned and I hope she enjoys great success. Her storenvy shop is currently closed but I hope it reopens soon! Seriously folks, this polish shook me out of a 2 month blogging hiatus because I just had to share it with you. That is the mark of a polish that is worth checking out!

{This polish was furnished to me as part of a prize package but my opinions are my own and unbiased by that fact}