Nail Polish haul: Revlon Colorstay review + swatch

I was feeling a little down today and I thought I would treat myself to a little nail polish to cheer myself up. Needless to say...

It kind of turned into a nail polish haul! What a nice pick me up =]

CVS currently has all revlon polishes on sale through Aug. 25 for 4.99 plus an additional $3.00 extrabucks back EACH!
(This comes out to $1.99- too good of a deal to pass on)
These Revlon colorstay were $8.29 at my local CVS: so I'm saving $6.30 a bottle!

Revlon Colorstay Longwear Nail Enamel claims gel-like shine and up to 11 days of shatterproof color. It was the first time I cam across them. They come in so many beautiful shades, I can't wait to collect more.

I bought the base coat and will be back for the top coat- a must if you want it to last the 11 days.

Review:

I am in LOVE with this nail polish.

• The applicator brush is perfection- rounded at the bottom for precision and flat, making applying nail polish super easy to do.
• nice range of colors and well-pigmented
• only requires 2 coats at most

 I chose to try provence. Even though it's pastel, the color goes on very opaque which I fell in love with (hard to find these days)

provence

Overall I am very impressed with this drugstore polish! I definitely recommend it, especially at $1.99. I'll be going back for round 2.

bare bones

bare bones- nice, neutral beige. this was the only color i applied a 3rd coat to

red carpet

red carpet- the perfect deep red shade. super pigmented, very classy

vintage rose

 vintage rose- it did have that vintage feel. this shade caught my eye because I don't have anything quite like it. More appropriate for fall though

marmalade

marmalade- more orange than red, it's perfect for summer. super bright and shiny

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.  Feel free to comment <3

NOTD: Helly Kitty Nails

A while ago, I was scrolling through random google images and came upon a particular hello kitty nail art by chibinails. I thought to myself, looks easy enough. The above picture is my version of their HK nails, and since I don't have fancy nail art tools, I used everyday household products.


First, I painted my nails halfway with alternating red and white colors. I used Essie's Russian red and a white polish by sally Hansen. Then I shaped the french tip to my liking by dipping a Q-tip in acetone: this way you get nice smooth lines. The white polka dots are accomplished by dipping the end of a bobby pin in white nail polish.  I used the tip of a toothpick with the eyes, nose, and whiskers since those are more delicate.  Finally, for the bow, I made 3 dots with the bobby pin end, and then used the toothpick to pull the color from the outer dots to make a triangle shape for the bow.  Lastly I topped it off with a rhinestone. Enjoy! 

sensatioNAIL

SensatioNAIL- coral sunset

      Finally, gel nails without the salon! SensatioNAIL gel nail kit can be found at any CVS or Walmart. They claim 2 weeks of perfect, no-chip nails and the starter kit has everything you need, including a UV light. Gel nails are becoming so popular, and for good reason. They are a much more natural looking alternative to acrylic nails. The secret is a unique mixture of polymer and monomer gel, cured by UV light. The home gel nail kit was easy to use, and included the gel primer, nail cleanser, top/base coat, and a nail polish. 


What we love: 
It's super easy to use and professional looking without the professional price tag! If you follow their easy step-by-step instructions, you'll have amazing looking nails every time.  You begin by cleaning your nails with the included nail cleanser and cotton pad. Then you apply a thin coat of the gel primer. 
*Tip*: if you apply the gel primer around the nail as opposed to the entire nail, you'll have a much easier time removing the gel polish. I didn't notice any difference in the staying power of the nail polish compared to applying the primer to the entire nail.

Next, you add the base coat (which is also the top coat) and cure it for 30 seconds.  Be careful not to get it on your fingers. If you do, just make sure you wipe it away before curing it. The cool thing about the UV light is that there is a self timer installed in it so it'll beep once the 30 seconds is up. 


Then you apply 2 coats of the desired gel polish and cure it for 1 minute with each coat.  You finish by applying a top coat and curing it for 30 seconds.  Clean your nails with the nail cleanser, otherwise there's a slightly sticky film on your nails. The end!


The not so good:
The starter pack is definitely small.  The included gel polish is about 1/4 the size of your average nail polish.  You're supposed to get ~10 manicures but fortunately for me, I have baby fingers so I've managed quite a bit! Additionally, I feel like the starter kit is not proportionately sized. We wish they would make the size of the base/top coat larger since that's what I tend to use the most of. While I have no more of the base coat left, I find myself with pretty much the entire bottle of the primer left.  Unfortunately, I don't think they sell the top coat separately, but rather as an essential nail kit. I really don't need any more of the primer.

Raspberry wine (left) is included in the starter kit.  It is 0.125 fl oz. The individual gel polishes such as coral sunset (middle) is 0.25 oz. The average nail polish in the Essie bottle is around 0.46 fl oz.  

A side by side comparison is the starter kit polish with an Essie nail polish.

The SensatioNAIL line also sells additional colors for ~10 each and we were able to try some of those.


Coral sunset immediately caught our eyes. It's a more salmon pink, with  coral undertones. It came out highly glossy and the color is bright, perfect for this beautiful summer weather!

Pink Chiffon looked like it would be the perfect summer pink and unfortunately we're still on the hunt for that perfect pink. The polish didn't seem like it was opaque enough, and it didn't look smooth. It wasn't our favorite. 

 The last color we got to try was Taupe tulips.  It's a nice taupe-y/gray color, but we just expected it to be darker.  However, it is a subtle color, so it doesn't get boring as quickly as the other bright colors. Maybe I applied too thick of a coat with this, but it does look thicker than the other colors.

Overall: 8/10
This is something we most definitely recommend.  It's fast, it's super easy, and you'll have shiny awesome nails for weeks!