The Best Gel Nail Polish… Ever?

2nd day wearing revlon colorstay gel envy nail polish in up the ante

day 5 of wearing revlon colorstay gel envy nail polish

From left to right: revlon up the ante, revlon winning streak, revlon wild card, maybelline lust for lilac

From left to right: revlon up the ante, revlon winning streak, revlon wild card, maybelline lust for lilac

Hey Everyone, I’m back today with an awesome new nail polish formula.

So I bought this new nail polish recently, and I just had to tell you about it. The polish in question is the revlon colour stay gel envy nail polish. It is a made for personal use nail polish with a gel finish, that is, for all intensive purposes, an all in one base, colour and top coat in one slick formula. It is highly pigmented and glossy. It takes about two sheer to medium coats (the kind where you scrape a fare bit of excess product off) to get opaque coverage. The brush is rather wide and thick. It comes in a sleek bottle, very classic, but something that also looks nice on the vanity or bathroom counter. There is also a diamond top coat from the line, which I may pick up at some point, but for now, it’s really not necessary. It lasts about 5-6 days for needing at least a touch up if not removal, depending on how nice you want your nails to look. It is extremely chip and indentation and air bubble resistant, as only a small amount of those issues happened, and it wasn’t very noticeable. The nail polish removes much easier than non gel formulas. I literally used one cotton ball with one upside down suctioned amount of nail polish remover, and it was 2-3 to three swipes on each nail, and it was like it had never been there. So impressive! There are a variety of colours, though many of the nudes fall short in my opinion, as a lot of them are off whites, creams, when taupes and chocolate browns are nowhere to be seen. However, the dark, vampy, bold and colourful shades are in abundance.  There are glitter,cream, and shimmer textures in the line. Something else interesting about the line is the fact that all of the names are related to risk based games such as poker. This is my favourite new nail polish. The only other one I’m really enamoured with is maybelline colour show, and revlon’s gel envy blows it right out of the water. I bought my three nail polishes from the line at London Drugs, where the regular price is $7.99(not bad for a gel polish), plus there was a 2 dollar off coupon, so it was quite a steal. Target, at it’s regular price, sells them for $7.09. Those are the cheapest prices I’ve seen, so if you’re interested in trying out the formula, I suggest shopping around. The colour I use in the photos is up the ante a cool toned barney the dinosaur purple similar to the likes of mac’s up the amp and revlon’s berry haute lipsticks,respectively.  I am planning to test the other two I bought in the recent future. One of those is winning streak, a subdued pastel lavender with a hint of lilac in the cream formula, that is comparable to the considerably more lilac based pink pastel polish from maybelline colour show in lust for lilac. The other is wild card, a a beautiful bright cool toned blue in the cream formula.Revlon gel envy comes with my highest recommendation, and if you’re a nail polish person, I think you’ll love them!

Have a good one 🙂

Let me know in the comments if you plan to try any out, or if you have any recommendations from this or another nail polish line.

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My Highlighter Collection: cream, powder and liquid

benefit watt’s up soft focus highlighter for face

L’oreal Paris MagicLumi concealer in light

Smashbox soft lights in shimmer from the Smashbox masterclass palette 2

Smashbox soft lights in Lens from the Smashbox masterclass palette 2

 

Maybelline color tattoo metal by eyestudio 24hr eyeshadow in barely branded

brow bone highlight from the Ardell brow defining kit

the Balm Cosmetics Mary-Lou Manizer AKA “The Luminizer”

Shade 1 from Revlon colorstay 16 hour eyeshadow quad in inspired

Strange from the Urban Decay naked 3 palette

 

 

This will be a post on highlighters in cream, powder, and liquid formulas. It will be fairly extensive, as this is my whole highlighter collection.  I will be talking about the ways that they work best for me, and I think some of them work better on the face, and some work better on the eyes. Of course, I encourage you to use them the way that works best for you. Also, some of these are more budget friendly than others, so hopefully you’ll find an option that works best for you in that aspect.

Cream:

This is one of two cream highlighters I own,  and it works like a charm. It is the Benefit watt’s up soft focus highlighter for face. I got mine from sephora in the birthday gift sephora beauty insiders receive. It comes in a small, metal lipstick like tube with pictures of light bulbs on it. It is rather cute. It is a cream stick formula. You get 2.5 grams of product. The full size one is much bigger. I use this on the tops of my cheekbones.I also use it in an upside down triangle shape,and blend it in to highlight under my eyes.  It leaves a gorgeous, bronzey champagne coloured, slightly metallic sheen. This is a great cream highlighter option due to it’s even pigmentation, and it does not emphasize pores.

The second cream highlighter I own is the Maybelline color metal tattoo by eyestudio 24 hr eyeshadow in barely branded. It comes in a little glass jar, weighing in at 4 grams. It is a decent amount of product, and has lasted me a very long time. From what  have heard in the beauty community, it is comparable in formula to the Mac paint pots. This is a much more budget friendly option, as these can run anywhere from $2 to $10. The highest still being significantly cheaper than its Mac counterpart. It is a true champagne, colour with micro sparkles in it. It is easily built up.Another thing to know about this highlighter is that the tattoo name is accurate, it takes a really good makeup remover to remove it.  It can be used as a brow bone highlight, all over the lid, as a base for your eyeshadow, used in the inner corner of your eye, and as an eyeliner. It is extremely versatile, as my use for it on the eye is seemingly endless. This is one of those products that I recommend to everyone I know, as it is such a staple in my kit. This is made for the eyes, so I’m not sure how it would fare on the face.

Powder:

The first powder highlighter I will be talking about is the eyeshadow strange from my Urban Decay naked 3 palette. It is a buttery smooth very softt pink eyeshadow with yellow undertones and micro sparkles.It weighs 1.3 grams. I use it to highlight my brow bone, all over the lid, on the inner corners of my eyes, and just as part of any given eyeshadow look. It is easy to work with, and there are numerous dupes out there for this kind of highlighter.

The second powder highlighter I will be talking about is shade 1 from the Revlon colorstay 16 hour eyeshadow quad in Inspired. This is another light champagne colour with micro sparkles. It is perfect for the inner corners of the eye, or as a brow bone highlight. This is not as pigmented as some other eyeshadows I have tried, but this palette in general, is good for layering with other eyeshadows, or on top of the Maybelline 24 hr color tattoos.

The third powder highlighter I will be mentioning is the brow bone highlight shade from the Ardell brow defining kit. I use it exclusively for highlighting my brow bone. It is a very subtle champagne colour with micro sparkles. The subtleness of it works well for the brow bone, as I personally am looking for that feature in my brow bone highlight. I’m guessing it could probably be used on the eyes.  I got this kit at Marshall’s on sale, but they are also sold at London Drugs.

The fourth powder highlighter I will be talking about is the Balm Cosmetics Mary-Lou Manizer AKA “The Luminizer”. This highlighter is a gorgeous champagne buttery smooth champagne colour with a metallic sheen to it.I wear it on the tops of my cheekbones, and on my eyes. It comes in a 8.5 gram mirrored compact.  Unfortunately, it emphasizes my pores and irritates my skin. However, it doesn’t irritate my eyes, even when applied all over my eyelids. Therefore, I would only recommend it for the eyes.

The fifth highlighter I will be talking about is the NYC Color Wheel mosaic face powder in translucent highlighter glow. You get 9 grams of product.  This highlighter is a very affordable option that comes in a plastic compact with a removable lid, very similar to that of the Rimmel London stay matte powder.It doesn’t emphasize my pores.  It is several colours mixed together. It is a pretty subtle beigey slightly sparkly colour. I wear it on the tops of my cheekbones, and it is slightly irritating to my skin. I would recommend this if you don’t have sensitive skin, or just wanna see how it goes.

The sixth powder highlighter I will be talking about is soft lights in lens from the Smashbox the masterclass palette 2, though it can also be bought as a standalone product. It comes with 10 grams of product. It is very pigmented. It feels buttery. It is a pinky peach shade with some glitter, and it has a lot of fallout.It doesn’t emphasize my pores.  However, it is a gorgeous colour and could be used as a blush or highlight. I usually use it on the tops of my cheekbones. It is a good deal when bought in the palette, but fairly expensive, when bought on its own.

The seventh and final powder highlighter I will be talking about is soft lights in shimmer, also from the Smashbox masterclass palette 2. It comes with 10 grams of product. It has good pigmentation.  It can also be bought on its own in a compact. It feels buttery,  and has a pinkish champagne colour. It has a lot of fallout.It doesn’t emphasize my pores.  It would recommend these, but they are on the pricier side.

Liquid:

I’ve gotten to my last, but certainly not least highlighter, which is my only one with a liquid formula. It is the L’oreal Paris MagicLumi concealer in light. It comes in a click pen, and has 0.05 fluid ounces of product. I use this as a highlighting concealer under my eyes in an upside down triangle shape blended in, and as a base for my eyeshadows. It could probably also be used as a face highlighter. It is a lightweight formula that dries down matte. It is very blendable. This was fairly pricey for a drugstore highlighter. I recommend it if you can find multiple uses for it.

This was a long post, and if you got to the end, thanks so much. I hope you enjoyed my post on highlighters, and took something away from it.

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Beauty Haul!

Hey All! So today I explored Marshall’s, which is owned by Winners, and though I didn’t buy anything there, I saw some great stuff. Becca foundation, Chanel concealer, Deborah Lipman nail polish, and Edward Bess lipgloss were among some of the things that particularly stood out to me. I will hopefully return at some point, as I feel it’s the kind of place one needs to check out a few times before deciding what to purchase. The prices were also significantly discounted from their original prices. So I’d check it out if you’re looking for a bargain. The one downside is some of the products had been opened by people who were testing them.

I also went to Shoppers Drug Mart and Target today, and ended up getting a nice haul with some pretty decent deals. From Shopper’s, I got a 3.4 fluid ounce Marc Jacobs perfume in dot for $20, 21 with tax. This is a steep discount, as this size is normally $105 from Sephora. I’m pretty sure it was a tester, as they only had one of each of several perfumes for the same deal. Either way, it was mostly full, and I got a total bargain! Also, I’ve had a rollerball of this perfume for quite a while, so I knew I’d like the scent and wear it often. I also got two nail polishes from Shopper’s in the two for one deal I mentioned in an earlier post. I got two Maybelline Colorshow nail polishes, in 165 lust for lilac, and 021 neutral statement. The former is a pink toned, blue based lilac that I think will match my Mac Saint Germain lipstick quite well. The latter is a beige cream colour. This was a great deal, as nail polish can be quite expensive.

From Target, I bought the Revlon new complexion one-step compact makeup in ivory 01 beige. It’s a cream to powder foundation with spf 15 that I will be reviewing in the future, so keep posted for that update. It was a slightly cheaper price than what some drugstores are selling it for. I also got an NYC lipstick in mahogany for $1.99, that is a gorgeous, vampy,  burgundy colour. NYC is a great option for cheap lipstick, that is highly pigmented and minimally moisturizing. I’m pretty sure the Wet N Wild brand uses the same formula, as I’ve tried both, but I can’t be 100% on that.

Overall, I’m very happy with my purchases, and will be doing reviews of them in the near future. If you have any questions, or have a suggestion for a product I should review, please leave a comment below. 🙂

Revlon coral reef cream blush review

Revlon coral reef blush is a bright coral toned cream blush. It comes in a small tub, but one does not need a lot of product to amp up this look. It works as both a blush, and a lipstick. It is surprisingly moisturizing on the lips. It can be used to slightly flush out the cheeks, or for contouring. I recommend this blush as a budget friendly alternative to some of the higher end cream blushes that do the same job, though I do think revlon’s take is more pigmented than others I’ve tried. Multitasking products such as this are a great cosmetic bag  space saver. Overall, I recommend this blush as an affordable alternative, with multitasking capabilities.