Revlon Orbit

So I had heard through the grapevine that Revlon came out with some "dual ended flakies" but had yet to see them in my local stores.  The other day, I was feeling down, so the fiancé took me down to my local Walgreens, and there they were - very picked over, but they were there.  I grabbed one of each and went to the register and paid before really even paying attention to what happened.

Obviously.  Note the black in the center?  That's from someone putting this brush into the purple side (which is a very dark purple, despite what the picture shows) and THEN putting it back into the flakies side.  Also, notice how EMPTY my bottle is?  I'm really kicking myself that I didn't walk back in and say "Take this back."  Revlon did not have any kind of tamper resistant seal (what nail polish company does?), but let's just say my sails were deflating fast on the "Moon Candy" train.

So the concept is simple.  Paint your nails with the side marked "1", which is the solid creme color.  Let it dry and them paint your nail with the side marked "2" - the flakie.  This is Orbit which is a dark purple creme on one side and a shredded blue and purple flakie in a light purple base.  To be honest, it looks like the flakie shreds bled off into the base, but I don't know that for sure.

I used a base of Poshe, 1 coat of polish from each side, and topped with Seche Vite.  After doing my pinkie and ring finger with the purple, I decided to switch to Sephora black for my middle and pointer fingers.

Can you tell the difference in the black and the purple?  Yes, I can but barely.  I was NOT impressed with the purple creme at all, and that's saying something considering how much I LOVE purple.  It was way too dark for me, but did cover well.

In the shade, you can see the shredded flakie a bit better.  I wasn't too thrilled that the flakie was so hard to apply.  The base that it sits in was very thick, like a suspension base, and globbed a bit on my nail.  Now, I'm not sure if this is typical of the product or if someone messed mine up when they were obviously painting their nails in the store and used up 25% of the bottle.

Indirect sun shows that again, the flakie isn't that strong but does have a green/blue/purple shift and you might be able to tell that it's definitely not smooth either.  Considering what I've seen from companies like Nfu-Oh, Nails Inc and even China Glaze, this product does NOT fit the bill.

I paid $8 for this "Nail Art" which is about $4 a side.  There is no way I can justify paying $8 for this.  I'm so mad that I want to take the others back and say "Never mind."  However, I can't find my receipt so I guess this is one that I get to eat the cost of.

PS: None of this review is related to what's been going on with the Revlon/Sinful Colors picture debacle.  I just feel this is a crappy product.  I can't even find it listed on Revlon's website.

Revlon [Website | Facebook | Twitter] can be found in several grocery and drug stores - price may vary from $3-5 but the Moon Candy polishes were $8.

Layla & The Bloggers: A Cocktail Party

Tonight's posting is more for fun.  While at Cosmoprof North America, the lovely ladies behind Layla Cosmetics threw a cocktail party for this awesome group of bloggers who attended.

We met up at the eyecandy sound lounge at Mandalay Bay, drank, shared stories, and got to see the new Layla goodies coming up for the rest of 2012 (and heard some secrets of things to come as well!)

Many many many thanks to the ladies of Layla Cosmetics, LUXCON, and Y! PR for the opportunity to relax and get to know each other!  Now it's time for just some fun loving pictures!

Our amazing hosts - Babila and Tatiana from Layla Cosmetics

More beautiful hosts - April from Y! PR and Paula from LUXCON

Claudia from Chromatic Misadventures, Gia from Bottles & Bottles of Polish & Connie from LUXCON

Lindsey from Neverland Nail Blog & Yasmin from Zadidoll 

Maria from Cult Nails, Claudia and Kimberly from Libby's Pink Vanity

Ria from Ria Loves Pawlish, Shelley from Polarbelle and Destany from Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom

This is how we roll.

Kelly and Drew from SparkleCore

Stephanie from Aquaheart, Bren from OMG! Bren and Alyson from The Gloss Menagerie

Ria, Shelley, Sinead from Self Tanning Queen, Destany, Carly, Babila, Colleen from Y! PR (front), Romy from RomyRaves, Lindsey and Yasmin

Judy from BeautyJudy, Destany, Carly from Lacquered Lover and the ladies behind Ninja Polish

Kimberly, Maria, Yasmin, Bren, Claudia, & Gia

Alyson, Shelley, Ria, Lindsey, Kelly & Drew

Please click to enlarge - photo courtesy of SparkleCore

So yes, there are pictures of me, I promise.

You have no idea how much I've missed Judy from BeautyJudy.  Like, if we lived anywhere near each other, she'd have to kick me out of her house because I just want to talk to her for hours.  She's been a rock for me, someone I can vent to, cry with, be angry with, gossip about polish.  She's the sister I always wanted.  And I had no idea she was making that face in the second picture.  Rock on Judy.

Romy from Romy Raves.  I really didn't get to talk to Romy much which is a dang shame because she is freaking fantastic.  I really hope to cross paths with her again because she was amazingly awesome.

(Same goes for Sinead who I got to share a cab with and it was probably the most hilarious cab ride I've ever taken.  PS: I want a "Put It Back Together" fund too.)

This is Brianna from Makeup Minutes.  She came up to me in the Press Room and introduced herself and I was so intrigued by her look and her presence that we exchanged business cards and I invited her to our party.  Do go check out her blog - she has some great posts going on.  Plus she has a fantastic middle name even if she does spell it with 2 L's.  (Michele for LIFE yo.)

Okay, so you may be asking what's up with my lashes.  Long story short, they are Ardell Wild Lashes and are actually feathers.  I'll write more about them later, I promise.

Photo Courtesy of @Ardell_Lashes

nubar Romance

From the upcoming fall nubar collection called "Simplicity Meets Elegance", this is the lovely Romance, a light purple creme.  I decided to play matchy-matchy and used a base of nubar Foundation, 2 coats of polish and a top of nubar Diamont.  I thought (while in my house) that this applied quite beautifully.  It didn't drag or pull, didn't pool into my cuticles, wasn't thick and wasn't too thin.

When I walked out in the sun, I saw a bit of patchiness.  I probably should have used 3 coats.  Oops.  I really love this purple - it's so elegant (hah!)

Same story in the shade - lovely, simple, elegant.  ROMANTIC.  (Yes, I went there.)

Finally indoors with the flash and again, a bit of patchiness on my pinkie, and a tiny bit on my ring finger but otherwise quite pretty.  I'm having some slight issues with my middle finger cuticle, so while that's mending I'm trying to keep one color on for awhile (yeah right).  Time for Neosporin!  

This collection was debuted at Cosmoprof North America Las Vegas last month but I don't see it on their website just yet.  If I get more information, I'll update this posting.

Edit: The collection is now available on their website.

nubar [Website | Facebook | Twitter] can be purchased on their website for $8.00 a bottle in the US.  They do have international retailers in Russia, Sweden and the UK.  

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

FingerPaints Beach Bound

More on my purple kick, today I have the FingerPaints Beach Bound from the Summer in the City Summer 2012 collection.  This is a great medium purple (like, Barney the dinosaur purple) creme that was very pigmented.  I used a base coat of Poshe, 2 coats of polish and finished with nubar diamont.  Formula was nice and smooth.

As you can see in the sun, this color covers the nail - no bald spots and really no issues with application either.  It reminds me of China Glaze Grape Pop but less blue and more purple.

Same with the shade - good coverage despite the lobster hands I have going on.

And indoors with the flash - nice, pigmented, smooth.  Winner.  The price is right and the color is fantastic.

FingerPaints [Website] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Blog] can be found in Sally's Beauty Supplies stores and online for $4.99 USD each.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Layla Cosmetics Fall-Winter 2012

Image Courtesy of Y! PR

It's no secret that I love the nail polishes that come from Layla Cosmetics and that I wish we could get their other lines of cosmetics in the USA, so I was super excited to check them out at Cosmoprof North America Las Vegas again this year.  Once again, Connie and Paula from Luxcon Group (the USA distributors of Layla) were on hand to show all the new lines coming in from Italy, but the big surprise was that Babila Spagnolo, Product Manager for Layla Cosmetics and Tatiana Elleboro (also with Layla Cosmetics) were also there!  It was great meeting Babila and Tatiana and of course seeing Connie and Paula.

Myself and Babila

So, what's new for Layla this year?  Well, first off, major congratulations for winning the Discover Beauty Award for 2012!

A beautiful crystal cube, which didn't want to photograph against anything but black...

But really, let's get to the new lines!  First, somehow I totally missed that 6 new Hologram holographic polishes are launching this fall.

Photo courtesy of Y! PR

I also somehow missed the Mirror Effect display, which are super high shine chrome like polishes. 


But I did see that new Magneffect magnetic colors and four new magnets are on their way!  The heart looks so cute!  This brings the total of Magneffect polishes to 24!

Next is something that I thought was awesome.  First let me say that I love matte polish but I hate how it chips so fast, and if you add a top coat, the matte is gone and you're left with shiny polish.  Layla has the answer.  It's called Softouch and it's the look of matte, without the chipping and a top coat will not alter the matte look!

Here is Babila wearing Ceramic on 2 fingers (shiny) and the Softtouch on the others.  She used a top coat on all fingers shown, but the top coat does not alter the Softouch polish!

Oh but there's more!  Let's take Magneffect and cross it with Softouch and you have my new favorite.  Magneffect Softouch!

I will have swatches coming up.  The following lines will be available in Ulta come fall 2012.  I also found out at Cosmoprof that Ninja Polish sells Layla on their website as well!


For Christmas this year, Layla has a selection of current polishes, laid out in the Christmas in Laylaland display.

Dancing With the Stars, The Butterfly Effect, Killing Red, Green Galaxy and Space Cowboy

How awesome is that purple?!  I feel like it's a lot like Cult Nails Unicorn Puke, but I'll have to do a comparison to find out.  I think Unicorn Puke has more flakie colors in it though.


Layla Cosmetics [Website (Italian)/Website (English) | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube] can be purchased in Ulta Stores or online at Ninja Polish.