Revlon Smoldering

As much as I love me some duo/multichromes, I hate reviewing them. Mostly because I can never seem to photograph them to the point where I can truly showcase the various color shifts that you see in person, and partly because trying to describe such a multi-faceted color can be difficult. But in the spirit of perseverance (and because Hammie insists I get over my aversion to reviewing a particular finish), we'll buck up and forge on as this readily available pretty is something any duochrome lover needs in their arsenal:

See how it looks green, lilac/purple and silver all at once?

Nail Art Wednesday: Special Birthday Nails Part 1, Pastel Skittle Nails

In our family, October is known as the birthday month with birthday dinners every week. It's always a lot of fun, family getting together and all that. Since each celebrant usually picks a different restaurant, it's also a great way to try some place new to add to the rotation. (Or they do a party at home!)This year, we're having one more birthday to celebrate: my niece, Alena, who's turning one on the 8th!

I did a skittles manicure in honor of the birthday girl in fun bright colors. I then stamped animals from the Konad S10 stamping plate in silver and added a holographic glitter layering polish as the final touch.

What I used:

Thumb: In the Mood Devious (cold color)

Index: Nicole by OPI City-Pretty Rose

Middle: Orly Snowcone

Ring: Revlon Garden (from the Spring 2011 mini set)

Pinky: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lemon Dash

Silver stamping polish: Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Pure Silver

Glitter polish: Sally Hansen New Lengths Ceramics in Silver Slightblade

More photos after the jump!

Revlon Facets of Fuschia

I'll be honest. I'm not a big fan of black nail polish. Sure, it's edgy and classic, like the LBD (that's "little black dress" if you've lived under a rock all this time) but it's just so...dark. I do like vampy colors that are dark, like navy or blood red, just not full on black. Call me biased but it could very well have been because my mom used to always say black nails reminded her of dead nails. Not a very flattering thought, really. Unless you're a zombie.

When I picked up Carbonite, I ended up getting one other polish that caught my eye. I think I might have found the one black polish that'll make me change my mind.

Very rock chic, no?

Nail Art Wednesday: Gradation Nails

Hammie just challenged my creativity. He knows I shy away from crazy nail art on my own nails, although I do love seeing them on other people."What's stopping you?", he asked. Well, I wasn't so sure what. I used to go to these art classes in the summer when I was younger. Nothing fancy, but I prided myself in being artsy. I haven't done much of anything remotely 'artsy' in the recent years so I've decided to take Hammie on. Hence the birth of Nail Art Wednesdays. I don't promise it'll be amazing, but I will have fun, do my little bit of art and hope you like it. :)
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Ombre has been a huge trend in the past seasons from hair to nails. I was never sold on the hair though, because to me it looked too much like someone had forgotten to get their roots done in a while. Not my cup of tea at all!

But I've always wanted to try the Ombre nails, also called a gradation manicure, that Lauren Conrad sported a couple months ago in this photo from Gettysburg:

I so <3 the blue!

Here's my take:

I noticed my index and middle fingernails looked too close to each other,
so I painted over it with the thumb color in the next photos. XD

Read on to find out what I used and for more photos after the jump!

Revlon Carbonite

Whoever said "ignorance is bliss" clearly was ignorant. The first time I got my hands on a limited edition, hard to find nail polish, I didn't get it. Why? Because I didn't know it was so coveted and I was still sane enough then to think that the 6 bottles of polish I owned was already more than enough. I only realized my folly when I've gone down the rabbit hole of polish collecting. Gosh Holographic was the one that got away, all because of ignorance.

I've been following the trends and the limited release news since. When Chanel released Graphite, word came soon after of a Revlon dupe: Carbonite. While I wasn't inclined to drop $25 (or even more in CDN) for a single nail polish, I did want to get my hands on the more affordable option. I knew it would be a limited release and once it hit the shelves down south, it had all the US beauty bloggers talking about it. Since these products usually take at least a couple months to cross the border, anyone who knew anything about polish was anxiously waiting to see it on displays.

 Not this Carbonite...

Imagine my excitement when I saw a brand spankin' new Revlon display at my local Rexall with bottles and bottles of Carbonite! (Okay, more like four bottles. But it was a full display!) Now that I have my hands on this elusive find, is it worth all the hype?

...THIS Carbonite!