Milani Neons

Finally posting these. I gave up on trying to get a good picture of Fresh Teal. Hah!




Awesome Orange. Gorgeous neon safety-vest orange creme.




Dude Blue. Really nice interesting medium neon blue. Not so sky blue as it looks here- it's closer to the color of the bottle. Not the typical neon blue shade, I'm extremely fond of this one.



Fresh Teal. The bane of my existence. This color is like a lot of other neon greens and teals and does freaky things to the camera when you try to photograph it. These two shots are the best I could get! It's a neon teal. Somewhat like the color of the bottle, but not that dark. It is not bright blue as it looks here- it is teal.



Pink Hottie. The lighter of the two neon pinks. This one is more of a foofy-girly pink cupcake Barbie type neon pink. Highlighter pink, but creamy.




Pink Rocks. The darker of the neon pinks. This one borders on being neon red. Not as creamy as Pink Hottie or the other neons, this one is more of a jelly finish than a creme.


Rad Purple. Also difficult to truly capture, but not hard to describe. It's the standard 'neon' purple, not quite bright or glowy and not totally purple either. Think Eyeko Purple Polish. Looks nothing like the bottle color, sadly.



Techno Red. I was hoping this would be more red like the color of the bottle, but it's actually a light pinkish-red coral. Not super bright either, but still dries matte like a true neon.



Totally '80s. This is definitely my favorite. It's such a fun color! It's a lime green and yellow neon. A little weird and murky looking, not a super crisp color. It is totally 80s, but also totally 90s. I used to have a slap bracelet this color. Reminds me of one of those OPI Shrek colors, but brighter. Fiercely Fiona, maybe? I can't remember the names now!


The first thing that I need to mention about these is that the bottle is opaque. The color you see on the bottle is actually painted onto the glass and it doesn't necessarily represent the actual color of the polish. This is annoying for many reasons, mainly that you have to open the polish in the store to see what color it really is.

The formula on them was good but a little thin. I did three coats of all, some needed it, some didn't. Drying time was a little on the long side for neons which generally dry pretty fast. Since they are neon, they dry to a matte finish (they do not have the application or wear issues of traditional matte polish). Do not worry- it's supposed to do that. If you like the matte look, leave them as-is, but if you like them glossy, use a topcoat.

These aren't terribly unique, but it seems hard to make a truly unique neon. Totally 80s doesn't look like most of the neon greens and yellows out there so that's my top pick. Not a bad collection of neons and they're easily accessible.

I'm pretty sure these are permanent colors, at least in my area. All the Milani displays have permanent shelves for the neons and the 3-D holo ones.

(Some of these were sent to me for review.)

China Glaze 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty And Nice Collection Winter/Holiday 2010 Swatches and Review

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this posted... I've been having some difficulties. Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things soon!

What a pretty holiday collection. Makes me feel all cozy and happy.



Cheers To You. Standard silver foil. Very pretty but nothing unique.




Frosty. Such a gorgeous white. It's a semi-sheer white similar to something like Zoya Ginessa- made of shiny white particles in a somewhat milky base. It's just so sparkly and pretty and soft and delicate, even slightly iridescent- see how some of the shimmer pearls change color on the nail? Love this one, it's fantastic.




Jingle Bells. Halfway between a chrome and a foil, more on the foil side. Shiny and reflective. A neutral light gold bordering on champagne.



Jolly Holly. Incredibly gorgeous rich forest green shimmer. The pigmentation is amazing on this one, it's a one-coater even though I did two for the picture. I adore this. It looks really good topped with a layer of Party Hearty, too.




Little Drummer Boy. Soft dark navy shimmer. It's less saturated than a lot of other navy shimmers and it gives it a really soft and sort of faded look- like denim. Great pigmentation on this, too.



Midnight Kiss. Light blonde gold foil. Very festive. A little bit patchy but evens out nicely with two thick coats or three thin coats.



Mistletoe Kisses. This seems pretty unique, I can't think of many other colors like this. It's a silvery green glitter, or perhaps both green and silver glitter together. It looks much lighter than I expected, but that's not a bad thing. It reminds me of those Christmas wreaths with the plastic holly leaves that are coated in this sugar-looking crystalline substance- it's supposed to look like snow on the leaves? Light and sparkly.





Mommy Kissing Santa. Rich red shimmer. Velvety looking. Another one that's not terribly original but still pretty.



Mrs. Claus. A light red tinted base with light silvery red glitter. Different from the usual Ruby Pumps-esqe red glitter. This one looks softer and lighter than most red glitters. It reminds me of the one Color Club did in the mini set for Christmas last year.



Naughty And Nice. Very very dark plum purple. Blackened plum. At one coat it's obviously purple, at two it becomes more black. Similar to OPI William Tell Me About OPI and Essie Velvet Voyeur and all the other blackened-plum shades that were released this fall.



Party Hearty. My favorite. I've worn this four times since I got it and I still love it. It's silver small glitter with larger red and green glitter in a clear base. Fantastic for layering. Good on its own, too, as you can see here. This is two coats, three would have been more opaque but this actually looks good with a little nail showing through.




Peace On Earth. AWESOME! An olive green shimmer! Golden threads running through soft olive green. I'm absolutely ecstatic about this one. It reminds me of the long-gone Cat's Eye shade! Darker and less frosty, though, so definitely improved.



Phat Santa. A maraschino cherry red creme. Very glamorous. This is the darker of the two reds.




Ruby Deer. The lighter of the two reds. This one is more of a tomato-red, closer to something like Zoya America to give you an idea.


Snow. Plain white creme. Dries very glossy and isn't the least bit chalky. Very soft. A little streaky, I needed three coats and that's what's pictured here.


Sugar Plums. A cousin to the discontinued yet beloved Crystal Ball shade. This is a red-plum or burgundy shimmer with teeny tiny itty bitty holo glitter particles. Click the pictures to see them better. You can see them pretty well in the bottle especially.



Here's how Party Hearty looks layered over a foil and a creme:

Party Hearty (one coat) over Midnight Kiss.

Party Hearty (one coat) over Phat Santa.

Lovely, right? Super Christmassy! I'm totally into this color! Anything that reminds me of a holiday. Love. Though, I have noticed that it's gotten thicker each time I've used it. You may need to thin it every now and then to keep it smooth.


The formula on these was varied but good. The plain shimmers were extremely pigmented, a little thick, but nice and smooth. The glitters were a little thick, but that's normal for glitters. The whites and the foils were slightly sheer, I did three coats and that was fine for them. The cremes were smooth and nicely pigmented. Drying time on all is excellent, very quick. China Glaze used to dry very slowly for me but their formula has improved a lot over the years.

Are all the colors unique? No, not really. Red cremes, red shimmer, gold and silver foil, blackened purple creme... all quite common shades. However, all the colors are nice, all the colors are pretty to look at and they all seem to go well together in the collection. None of them are ugly! Yay! I think it's a very appropriate Holiday-themed collection with a few unexpected surprises thrown in. I approve. The greens are especially gorgeous.

These are available online already and they should be in stores sometime in November- individially and also packaged as really cute gift sets.

(These were sent to me for review.)

Nicole by OPI Shades To Crave Collection Holiday 2010

Nicole's Holiday / Winter collection this year is really, really good. I never used to pay much attention to Nicole but lately they're making such amazing polishes that I can't ignore them! Now only if they would do something about that horrible bottle...




Call Me Classy. Only two colors in this collection that don't wow me and this is one of them. Not that it's bad, it's just very common. It's a very cool toned red or perhaps a very dark pink with some violet shimmer.




Fell From The Tree. Dude. Are you seeing this? Rich awesome amazing leafy green metallic! Not a foil, not really a frost, but a really nice metallic green shimmer. Very happy about this one!



Glitz and Glisten. Sheer fuchsia-purple glitter in a clear base. Very small delicate particles, not big chunky ones. This is three coats and there's a little visible nail line still. This is actually really similar to Nubar Petunia Sparkle, which was also gorgeous.





Grant My Wish. ...And stop making these wretched frosty granny mauves! This is a very frosty, silvery, shiny mauve pink. Moving on...




Midnight Snowfall. This is a confusing color. When I first wore it, it was night time and I saw it under artificial light and it was clearly purple. It was the most amazing vibrant blue-toned purple! But then when I saw it in the daylight it was totally blue. I'm not sure what color this actually is. Blue? Purple? Who knows. It's hot either way.



Mis-Magenta Me? I don't get this name. Is it 'Miss Me'? Where does the 'magenta' part come from? Mis-magenta? Anyway. This is a really pretty pink foil. I suppose I could call it magenta. Deep pink on a silver foil base.




Pitch-Black Glimmer. Amazing. I'm in awe of this one. You don't see many black glitters these days... I can't think of more than one or two current shades with black glitter. And for a color that is known for looking dull as glitter, this sure sparkles. It's great layered but I like it best alone. It's not pure black, though. It's larger black particles with some smaller, finer silver and holographic particles. Though I'm not sure if they're fully holo or just opal-iridescent, they're so small and subtle it's hard to tell.



Sensational Scarlet. Sensational is right. It's über-glitter. Red-pink tinted base, reddish glitter, iridescent glitter, all different sizes. This is a lot like Massini (now known as Studio M) Slamming Red but not as sparkly and iridescent. Same texture, too, like oatmeal.



Such A Go-Glitter. Medium sized round vibrant blue glitter and tiny silver and holo glitter in a clear base. This is a sheer glitter, great for layering, but can also be worn alone. This is three coats and you can see that it's still pretty sheer. Four coats would have been better, I think.



The Grape Debate. Very nice soft plum purple creme. Less blue toned in real life, as always. Actually looks purple on the nail, unlike the Ulta one I bought that looks like this but turns near-black on the nail.



Tip Of The Iceberg. Sheer silver glitter in a clear base. Nothing particularly noteworthy about this one. It's nice, but it's not unique. Good for layering. Nice and sparkly and shiny.



Twist Of Fate. Super dense gold plate glitter. Wow, I was not expecting it to look like this! I thought it would be another sheer layering glitter, but it isn't! It's really bold. Gives the most amazing gold-plated look on your nails. Really rich shade of gold too, it looks a lot better in real life.


This collection is a little glitter-rich, and glitters are nice for layering over other colors, so I want to show how they look layered:

One coat each over one coat of Illamsqua Boosh, with topcoat.
Left to right
Pitch Black Glimmer
Such A Go-Glitter
Twist Of Fate
Glitz and Glisten

One coat over one coat of Rescue Beauty Lounge Underwear, with topcoat.
Left to right
Glitz and Glisten
Twist of Fate
Such A Go-Glitter
Pitch Black Glimmer

And here's how a couple of them look over shades from the collection:

Glitz and Glisten over Mis-Magenta Me?


Twist Of Fate over Fell From The Tree.

The formula on these was varied but good. The non-glitters were smooth and pigmented. The glitters were good except for Sensational Scarlet which is super thick and if you're not into that sort of thing you may need to thin it before use. I did three coats of all just for my own sanity, some didn't need all three, some did. Drying time was nice and fast.


Overall, awesome collection. I flipped out when I saw it. It has black glitter!!!! What more could I ask for from a holiday collection? Seriously, who does black for holiday? That scores major points with me. Great glitters, great 'other' shades, only one real dud (the gross frosty mauve).

I've been seeing Nicole at more and more places lately- Meijer, Target, Ulta, Wal-Mart... So it's becoming easier to find. I think this collection may be Target exclusive since that's the only place I've seen it. I could be wrong! But so far, only Target seems to have this in stock.

(These were sent to me for review.)