Revlon Nail Art Stencils: Bows

Is it just me or does it seem like new collections are being released more frequently this fall. Wandering through my Walgreens to pick up some cold remedies and what not, I came across Revlon's Sweetly Sinister nail art display. It's obviously gearing towards Halloween, but some of the stencils aren't Halloween specific.

DIY Lace Twistbands or Ribbon Ties

I have to say, that I never anticipated the popularity of my DIY Twistband post. It was my first post to blogger and at the time, I figured that since I was able to successfully replicate these cute hair ties, I would share my knowledge. Very recently, a comment mentioned lace Twistbands and that had me considering my own attempt at lace ones. After my original post, I came across black lace foldover trim at my local fabric outlet and I bought a yard for $0.50 just to see if it would turn out well. FYI, one yard of trim can produce around 5 hair ties, so it's $0.10 a piece!

Nyx: Summer Peach

Today, I present you with a post about Nyx's Summer Peach blush. I had purchased this at Sears over the recent summer. Really, the last place I expected to see Nyx cosmetics was at Sears, but I'm not going to complain about availability!

Maybelline Color Show: Metal Icon

Welcome back fall shades! I've been rather excited to be dipping into all my fall nail colors and the first one I decided to start with was Maybelline's new limited edition Color Show polish in Metal Icon.

To be honest, I had to spend quite a bit of time deciding on how I would describe this shade. At the moment, I'm satisfied with calling it a smokey gunmetal grey color with copper or bronze particles mixed in. If I spent anymore time trying to decipher the composition of this polish, I'd probably go cross-eyed quick. The coppery addition really warms up this polish while giving more depth and texture. I also really love the fact that this color is so wearable and matches with almost everything. It's definitely a classy but edgy shade without being too loud.

The application was wonderfully easy and smooth with this one. I did have to use 3 coats to have a completely even opaqueness though. Clean up was a bit tricky because all the little bits of shimmer are rather stubborn, but that seems to be a regular issue whenever I use foil type polishes anyways.

The one bummer is the fact that all the Color Show polishes are only 0.23 fl. oz. for $5.49 at my local Walgreens. Maybelline really skimped on the amount of product being sold with the Color Show line. The bottle shape is also deceiving since I thought it was around standard size when I purchased it and didn't bother checking the numbers. I later compared it to one of my Wet n' Wild Chrome bottles, which is 0.29 fl. oz and the Maybelline bottle looked like the bigger one. So I'd definitely wait for some sort of sale before picking up any more polishes for Maybelline in the future. In the mean time, since I already own Metal Icon, I'm going to enjoy it.

Butter London: Trustafarian

Well, I couldn't help but check out the new fall collection for Butter London. Although, I have to say, I wasn't too impressed with what was offered and the only one that caught my eye was Trustafarian. What an amazing shade it is.

Described as sage green with a golden holographic finish, this polish is a really subtle way to wear holo since the rainbows only show up slightly, under the right circumstances. Most of the time, the polish looks to be packed with tons of silver micro shimmer, but the amount of sparkle totally confused my camera for the most part. In person, Trustafarian is definitely quite a sight. Moreover, the fine holographic shimmer creates a wonderful textural look I can't seem to find the words to convey.

The formula is rather sheer for this one and I had to use 3 to 4 coats to get the coverage seen in the photos, but I found that drying time wasn't a major setback with all the extra coats. I did find that this polish was a bit on the thick side though and almost reaching on the side of goopy, so I think the next time I wear Trustafarian I'll go ahead and add a few drops of thinner to it. Strangely enough, this one left brushstrokes behind during application. It's not very obvious and it started only after I had the bottle open  for a bit. I usually begin my application starting with my pinky finger and once I got to my index and thumb, there were some definite inconsistent brushstrokes that needed to be taken care of. I'd say a top coat only helps here in this case.

With flash to bring out that holographic effect.

Despite the minor issue I had with application, I don't regret buying it. Trustafarian is good overall so you won't be taking a big gamble on it. I don't know if anyone has this experience, but for me all my Butter London shimmers or metallic shades all work well enough but when I reach for the creme shades, it's Streaksville here I come. I haven't touched Trout Pout for a while because I'm mad at it at the moment, but I love my Knackered and Disco Biscuit. Oh, I can't forget Tart with a Heart, my glitter obsession! Anyone else see a difference between the Butter London formulations?

Orly: Sweet Peacock & Nite Owl

So, I'm rather late to the game with these two polishes. Although, I hadn't even realized they were part of the same collection when I purchased each of them. I was at Sally's Beauty when  I purchased Sweet Peacock and it was wearing a purple new tag around the neck of bottle even though the shade was released last fall. This would be the second time that I've seen this happen at Sally's with Orly nail polishes. I later then bought Nite Owl at Ulta because I loved China Glaze's Fast Track so much and Nite Owl was just different enough for me to justify buying it. I suppose if you missed out on the Birds of a Feather collection last year, then it's good news to know you can still find them in stores.

I'm going to start with most eye catching of the two I bought. Sweet Peacock is a bright cerulean blue foil. It almost glows on the nails, it's so shiny. I love how it looks on the nails and I only needed two coats to get full opacity while application was a breeze. Amusingly, my brother really likes this shade because it makes him think of a nice shiny paint job on a car, most preferably a sports car. I personally think the color looks like foil candy wrapper.

Next up is Nite Owl, a mushroom taupe base with silver shimmer. This one reminded me of China Glaze's Fast Track even though technically Nite Owl came first. Fast Track has a beige base, however, and has gold shimmer instead of silver. The effect is the same though and I think this is the only way I'll wear nearly nude neutrals. Regrettably, I find creme nudes to be utterly boring and can never bring myself to spend the money on them.

As for the formula for Nite Owl, it went on smoothly enough but I felt the drying time was a bit long especially compared to Sweet Peacock. But overall, I was totally smitten with the shade and decided it'll be another of my all year round type of shade.

The Balm Cosmetics: Mary-Lou Manizer Highlighter

With all the hype that The Balm Cosmetics was getting for their Nude 'Tude eyeshadow palette, I couldn't help but purchase one for myself when it went it showed up at a discounted price on Hautelook. Of course, I also had to browse the rest of what was offered and I ended up with the highlighter too!

Smitten Polish: Bluebird

Today I have another Smitten Polish to feature. I also really couldn't help myself with this one either, but it was one of my top favorite color combinations and to have it in a nail polish? How could I say no?