Milani NEON

Hi guys, a drugstore collection for y’all this time! I see them all over. They’re Milani’s Neons. I think I may be missing a few, pretty sure I’m missing a red. Do you know which ones? I’m not sure myself. I could look it up, but I’m lazy. I only have six here for you.

These polishes are kind of sheer, especially the red-pink-purple ones. Like most neons, a bit of them dry semi matte/end up having a plastic finish. I applied at least two coats, and for the sheer polishes they had three coats. I didn’t wait for them to dry before photographing because as you know I like to move on when I’m swatching, but some of them dried quickly enough for photographing.

Pink Rocks. Three coats, still slightly opaque. You can see the semi matte/plastic finish a bit here.

Dude Blue. I love this one.

Rad Purple. I was NOT a fan. Sadly. It looked just like grape juice, and this was three coats. 😦

Pink Hottie. Looking for a hot Barbie pink? This is it.

Awesome Orange

Fresh Teal. Teals are hard to photograph, and this one was no exception however it pulled strongly on the blue side. This photograph is pretty color accurate, despite the crazy skin color. I liked this one too 🙂

Milani NEON

Hi guys, a drugstore collection for y’all this time! I see them all over. They’re Milani’s Neons. I think I may be missing a few, pretty sure I’m missing a red. Do you know which ones? I’m not sure myself. I could look it up, but I’m lazy. I only have six here for you.

These polishes are kind of sheer, especially the red-pink-purple ones. Like most neons, a bit of them dry semi matte/end up having a plastic finish. I applied at least two coats, and for the sheer polishes they had three coats. I didn’t wait for them to dry before photographing because as you know I like to move on when I’m swatching, but some of them dried quickly enough for photographing.

Pink Rocks. Three coats, still slightly opaque. You can see the semi matte/plastic finish a bit here.

Dude Blue. I love this one.

Rad Purple. I was NOT a fan. Sadly. It looked just like grape juice, and this was three coats. 😦

Pink Hottie. Looking for a hot Barbie pink? This is it.

Awesome Orange

Fresh Teal. Teals are hard to photograph, and this one was no exception however it pulled strongly on the blue side. This photograph is pretty color accurate, despite the crazy skin color. I liked this one too 🙂

Essie Resort 2011

Hi guys, I come to you with Essie Resort 2011 collection. You might have seen them at other blogs already, but I like this collection. I usually like everything Essie does, although I wish they would include a bit of more variety in their collections. There is often two or three shades of red/pink/orange. I guess it’s a color they do well 😉
This is a four piece collection with far muted colors than its sister collection, Braziliant. It really does remind me of a safari theme, I love it.
Formula was great, all opaque within two coats. I also love the names 🙂

From left to right: Fair Game, Your Hut or Mine?, Da Bush, Lion Around.

LET’S START WITH MY FAVORITE:

Fair Game! I looooove this color omg. It’s such a beautiful smoky shimmery silvery grey! Holy adjectives batman.

An excellent closeup. If this had a green flash, I think it could have been a dupe for Chanel’s Black Pearl (which I still covet.. le sigh). This does satisfy my lemming for Black Pearl in a way, but not my lemming to own a real Chanel polish 😀

Your Hut or Mine? It’s a coral, with a shimmer– but this coral leans towards a “dark hot pink” (wow oxymoron much?).

The shimmer is like a pale gold. I’m not sure what but it’s lovely. Very thick formula o.O

Da Bush. This is a sister to OPI’s Stranger Tides, and a lot of people find this more suitable for their skin. Myself I like both, but I should do a personal comparison to see which looks better on me. I’m a severe hoarder though and may just keep both 😀

Lion Around
It’s a pale mauve neutral with a shimmer. It almost mannequin’d my hands but not really. This is also my least favorite, but maybe I need to go revisit it and see what’s the matter with it.

Essie Resort 2011

Hi guys, I come to you with Essie Resort 2011 collection. You might have seen them at other blogs already, but I like this collection. I usually like everything Essie does, although I wish they would include a bit of more variety in their collections. There is often two or three shades of red/pink/orange. I guess it’s a color they do well 😉
This is a four piece collection with far muted colors than its sister collection, Braziliant. It really does remind me of a safari theme, I love it.
Formula was great, all opaque within two coats. I also love the names 🙂

From left to right: Fair Game, Your Hut or Mine?, Da Bush, Lion Around.

LET’S START WITH MY FAVORITE:

Fair Game! I looooove this color omg. It’s such a beautiful smoky shimmery silvery grey! Holy adjectives batman.

An excellent closeup. If this had a green flash, I think it could have been a dupe for Chanel’s Black Pearl (which I still covet.. le sigh). This does satisfy my lemming for Black Pearl in a way, but not my lemming to own a real Chanel polish 😀

Your Hut or Mine? It’s a coral, with a shimmer– but this coral leans towards a “dark hot pink” (wow oxymoron much?).

The shimmer is like a pale gold. I’m not sure what but it’s lovely. Very thick formula o.O

Da Bush. This is a sister to OPI’s Stranger Tides, and a lot of people find this more suitable for their skin. Myself I like both, but I should do a personal comparison to see which looks better on me. I’m a severe hoarder though and may just keep both 😀

Lion Around
It’s a pale mauve neutral with a shimmer. It almost mannequin’d my hands but not really. This is also my least favorite, but maybe I need to go revisit it and see what’s the matter with it.

Revisted: Misa Paradise Shore

Yep we’re looking at this again! Remember when I did the China Glaze Island Escape over white polish? Well, I decided to do the same with the Misa Paradise Shore polishes that I brought back to Texas with me!

These are the polishes that I brought home with me. I didn’t bring Summer Love or Mermaid Dreams along, alas.

When I originally posted the whole collection swatch, a commenter noted that they were a tad too sheer for her, and I agree. I don’t like VNL much, because my nails are kinda stained 😦 I’d have to slap on a fake white tip or use one of those nail crayon thingies.
So I decided to revisit this collection, and layered them all over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On (a decent white, your usual streaky formula for most whites, but a controllable brush).

Only one nail for each color because I’m lazy, and because a hand has five nails 😉 I really liked how Under my Sunbrella and Mega Margarita looked over white!

Check out this close up:

You can see the lemon yellow flakies in Under My Sunbrella! The shimmer in both polishes was brought out a lot more strongly rather being hidden in the formula when it was on my naked nails.

Krystal Waters did not change that much over white. Personally I think it still looks the same, albeit a tone lighter.

Endless Keys, close up. This one looks good in the picture up thar, but that’s just my photo skillz improving 😉 In real life this orange-with-gold-shimmer polish maximized on the streaky base of Sally Hansen White On, and it was a cuticle dragfest. =\ If you can control that, layering this over white is a great idea. It turns a darker, tangerine color.

Look at the index finger. See what I mean?

What do you think? 🙂 I have an another question for you readers (I also asked this on my Facebook and Twitter pages, but I’d like your opinion if you don’t follow these social sites). What do you think of polish names on pictures? Kind of like what I have been doing lately. Personally, I like them and I think they help me quickly identify the polish color name for googling. But do they help you? Do you like them? Or do they get in the way? 🙂 Chime in with your opinion!

Revisted: Misa Paradise Shore

Yep we’re looking at this again! Remember when I did the China Glaze Island Escape over white polish? Well, I decided to do the same with the Misa Paradise Shore polishes that I brought back to Texas with me!

These are the polishes that I brought home with me. I didn’t bring Summer Love or Mermaid Dreams along, alas.

When I originally posted the whole collection swatch, a commenter noted that they were a tad too sheer for her, and I agree. I don’t like VNL much, because my nails are kinda stained 😦 I’d have to slap on a fake white tip or use one of those nail crayon thingies.
So I decided to revisit this collection, and layered them all over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On (a decent white, your usual streaky formula for most whites, but a controllable brush).

Only one nail for each color because I’m lazy, and because a hand has five nails 😉 I really liked how Under my Sunbrella and Mega Margarita looked over white!

Check out this close up:

You can see the lemon yellow flakies in Under My Sunbrella! The shimmer in both polishes was brought out a lot more strongly rather being hidden in the formula when it was on my naked nails.

Krystal Waters did not change that much over white. Personally I think it still looks the same, albeit a tone lighter.

Endless Keys, close up. This one looks good in the picture up thar, but that’s just my photo skillz improving 😉 In real life this orange-with-gold-shimmer polish maximized on the streaky base of Sally Hansen White On, and it was a cuticle dragfest. =\ If you can control that, layering this over white is a great idea. It turns a darker, tangerine color.

Look at the index finger. See what I mean?

What do you think? 🙂 I have an another question for you readers (I also asked this on my Facebook and Twitter pages, but I’d like your opinion if you don’t follow these social sites). What do you think of polish names on pictures? Kind of like what I have been doing lately. Personally, I like them and I think they help me quickly identify the polish color name for googling. But do they help you? Do you like them? Or do they get in the way? 🙂 Chime in with your opinion!

Revisted: Misa Paradise Shore

Yep we’re looking at this again! Remember when I did the China Glaze Island Escape over white polish? Well, I decided to do the same with the Misa Paradise Shore polishes that I brought back to Texas with me!

These are the polishes that I brought home with me. I didn’t bring Summer Love or Mermaid Dreams along, alas.

When I originally posted the whole collection swatch, a commenter noted that they were a tad too sheer for her, and I agree. I don’t like VNL much, because my nails are kinda stained 😦 I’d have to slap on a fake white tip or use one of those nail crayon thingies.
So I decided to revisit this collection, and layered them all over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On (a decent white, your usual streaky formula for most whites, but a controllable brush).

Only one nail for each color because I’m lazy, and because a hand has five nails 😉 I really liked how Under my Sunbrella and Mega Margarita looked over white!

Check out this close up:

You can see the lemon yellow flakies in Under My Sunbrella! The shimmer in both polishes was brought out a lot more strongly rather being hidden in the formula when it was on my naked nails.

Krystal Waters did not change that much over white. Personally I think it still looks the same, albeit a tone lighter.

Endless Keys, close up. This one looks good in the picture up thar, but that’s just my photo skillz improving 😉 In real life this orange-with-gold-shimmer polish maximized on the streaky base of Sally Hansen White On, and it was a cuticle dragfest. =\ If you can control that, layering this over white is a great idea. It turns a darker, tangerine color.

Look at the index finger. See what I mean?

What do you think? 🙂 I have an another question for you readers (I also asked this on my Facebook and Twitter pages, but I’d like your opinion if you don’t follow these social sites). What do you think of polish names on pictures? Kind of like what I have been doing lately. Personally, I like them and I think they help me quickly identify the polish color name for googling. But do they help you? Do you like them? Or do they get in the way? 🙂 Chime in with your opinion!

Smackdown: Misa Paradise Shore and China Glaze Island Escape

That’s right guys. When I swatched the CG Island Escape collection over white, I thought… hmmm.. something is uncanny here. Then I realized this “uncanny-ness” was found in a recent head2toe order, containing my Misa Paradise Shore! I matched them up, and the similarity is… well, mentionable. No exact dupes, that’s for sure, but the theme is strikingly similar!

Same color themes, same summer theme (Paradise Shore, Island Escape =) ) Their lab rats must have had the same wavelengths or something when they came up with this collection. Have a look:

Hmmm.. I’m onto you!

Before we begin the comparisons, I only compared five out of six possible matches. This is because Senorita Bonita, from China Glaze Island Escape, has no partner 😦 She is all alone. I feel sorry for her, especially considering she’s a PURPLE. Misa threw off the matching-up with their two blues in a six-piece collection (Krystal Water, Mermaid Dreams). I also threw in a little Zoya for good measure. You’ll see 😉

Electric Pineapple with Under My Sunbrella. In this picture it appears some of the yellow flakies from Under My Sunbrella has also migrated over to Electric Pineapple??
The Misa is a lot more yellow, while Electric Pineapple is all about a saturated, neon-ish yellow creme.

And here we have the blues: Krystal Water, Blue Iguana, Mermaid Dreams.
I thought this really cleared up where all the colors fall in the blue gradient scope. These polishes, combined, would make a GREAT gradient manicure I think!

Papaya Punch with Endless Keys.
Easy to see they share the same origination, and are pretty close-knit already. I can’t believe I didn’t think to layer Endless Keys over Papaya Punch!! They were obviously meant to be. 😦 I don’t have Papaya Punch with me, and alas cannot test these layering ideas out. The CG Island Escape collection are all chilling in a Helmer, (safely I hope) in a storeroom up at DC.

Bottle picture of China Glaze Cha Cha Cha, Misa Mega Margarita, and Zoya Apple. When I pulled the China Glaze and Misa out, the shimmer and green made me think of Zoya Apple as a possible dupe. When I pulled it out, the answer is: it is clearly not. But I swatched it anyway, to give you ideas of their finishes, which vary a bit.

As you can see Apple has a strong golden foily feel, it catches and reflects a lot of light. Cha Cha Cha isn’t related at all in these two families– he’s the milkman’s kid. If you catch my drift. Neither is Zoya, but I wasn’t talking about Zoya.

And now here, the possible dupe:

Bottle, side by side picture of China Glaze 108 Degrees and Misa Summer Love.
I am still a bit stuck on this one. They LOOK like dupes don’t they? They have the exact same hot-pink flash going on through the bottles, and of course the sheer dark-grapefruit pink base.
Well…

They are clearly not dupes. But I wouldn’t justify owning both. The China Glaze has a far superior formula and shimmer. The Misa has hot pink flakes scattered throughout, which the CG bottle lacks– again making it ideal to layer over a, perhaps, honeysuckle shade.

And, that’s all I have for you guys 🙂 I hope you enjoyed them.

The only regret I have is not layering them over each other! They look like perfect partners. What do you think? What combinations would you try out?

Smackdown: Misa Paradise Shore and China Glaze Island Escape

That’s right guys. When I swatched the CG Island Escape collection over white, I thought… hmmm.. something is uncanny here. Then I realized this “uncanny-ness” was found in a recent head2toe order, containing my Misa Paradise Shore! I matched them up, and the similarity is… well, mentionable. No exact dupes, that’s for sure, but the theme is strikingly similar!

Same color themes, same summer theme (Paradise Shore, Island Escape =) ) Their lab rats must have had the same wavelengths or something when they came up with this collection. Have a look:

Hmmm.. I’m onto you!

Before we begin the comparisons, I only compared five out of six possible matches. This is because Senorita Bonita, from China Glaze Island Escape, has no partner 😦 She is all alone. I feel sorry for her, especially considering she’s a PURPLE. Misa threw off the matching-up with their two blues in a six-piece collection (Krystal Water, Mermaid Dreams). I also threw in a little Zoya for good measure. You’ll see 😉

Electric Pineapple with Under My Sunbrella. In this picture it appears some of the yellow flakies from Under My Sunbrella has also migrated over to Electric Pineapple??
The Misa is a lot more yellow, while Electric Pineapple is all about a saturated, neon-ish yellow creme.

And here we have the blues: Krystal Water, Blue Iguana, Mermaid Dreams.
I thought this really cleared up where all the colors fall in the blue gradient scope. These polishes, combined, would make a GREAT gradient manicure I think!

Papaya Punch with Endless Keys.
Easy to see they share the same origination, and are pretty close-knit already. I can’t believe I didn’t think to layer Endless Keys over Papaya Punch!! They were obviously meant to be. 😦 I don’t have Papaya Punch with me, and alas cannot test these layering ideas out. The CG Island Escape collection are all chilling in a Helmer, (safely I hope) in a storeroom up at DC.

Bottle picture of China Glaze Cha Cha Cha, Misa Mega Margarita, and Zoya Apple. When I pulled the China Glaze and Misa out, the shimmer and green made me think of Zoya Apple as a possible dupe. When I pulled it out, the answer is: it is clearly not. But I swatched it anyway, to give you ideas of their finishes, which vary a bit.

As you can see Apple has a strong golden foily feel, it catches and reflects a lot of light. Cha Cha Cha isn’t related at all in these two families– he’s the milkman’s kid. If you catch my drift. Neither is Zoya, but I wasn’t talking about Zoya.

And now here, the possible dupe:

Bottle, side by side picture of China Glaze 108 Degrees and Misa Summer Love.
I am still a bit stuck on this one. They LOOK like dupes don’t they? They have the exact same hot-pink flash going on through the bottles, and of course the sheer dark-grapefruit pink base.
Well…

They are clearly not dupes. But I wouldn’t justify owning both. The China Glaze has a far superior formula and shimmer. The Misa has hot pink flakes scattered throughout, which the CG bottle lacks– again making it ideal to layer over a, perhaps, honeysuckle shade.

And, that’s all I have for you guys 🙂 I hope you enjoyed them.

The only regret I have is not layering them over each other! They look like perfect partners. What do you think? What combinations would you try out?

China Glaze Island Escape Revisted

Yep, we’re revisiting the CG Island Escape Summer 2011 collection. Why? Well, when I swatched them here a bit of them showed up sheer. Some of you commented and shared the same sentiment about disliking the amount of VNL we were all seeing.

I decided to layer them all over one even base of white polish (In this case, it was my China Glaze Snow, or my “white-out” as I call it XD) It only took two coats to achieve full opacity and near bottle color!

I think it is worth it, the white base really brings out the gorgeousness of these polishes. I would have done 3 layers with a single Island Escape sheer, and still had VNL anyway. Basically, the same amount of layers but with an extreme amount of bling!

Here’s some more close up comparisons of the swatched over white and the old swatches on my nails with all its VNL glory.

Starting with the cremes, and the ones I was “uncomfortable” with.

Papaya Punch
On my nails, without a white base, it looks a bit more of a light papaya color. With the white base the orange is brought out much more strongly, almost mango.

Electric Pineapple
Washed out yellow, but over white it almost is neon. It comes pretty much to life.

108 Degrees
108 Degrees was not exactly a “sheer” polish, I did achieve full opacity with three layers (of course) but it just looks a lot more yummier over white. You can see the silvery white fleck glitter here.
(and why do animal hair always haunt me?! This was in a pet-free DORM room. agh).

Blue Iguana
Sorry about the dent. This one I was not able to get a very good picture of. Over white, I achieved a more bottle color rather than the paler blue that is being shown on my nails.

Senorita Bonita
On my nails the pink fleck shimmer was almost undetectable, and it pulled too pink in the photo. The nail wheel swatch, over white, is definitely ALMOST (haha, an oxymoron. See what I do?) color accurate. This is a hard color to capture. Anyway, over white, the pink shimmer showed through so much more strongly and confidently. This was a color I had always looked forward to when I first heard of the collection, and was disappointed to find how “meh” it looked on the nails 😦 However, over white, it’s revived some of my original faith and love in this color.

And my favorite, layered over white:

Cha Cha Cha!
I was “meh” about it when it was on my nails, but over white? OMG. If I didn’t have so many untrieds, this would be my “go to” color. Hell yeah!

Now, over white, I would suggest/recommend these polishes even more! 🙂 It is not much trouble for me to layer them, and I do enjoy layering polishes to achieve bottle color. The only thing I have to watch out for is making sure the white was applied evenly and is not “too” wet when I apply the first base of color on it, or else it will become a draggy, streaky nightmare. We don’t want that.