A quick comparison: Rescue Beauty Lounge and Milani.

Good Morning, I don't know where you are or what your weather is like but here in "Sunny California , it iscold, cold, cold.  Yes, I know, it's probably colder where you are, but today was 37 degrees when I woke up, and that's NOT supposed to happen here in California as far as I am concerned, LOL!

In fact it was pretty cold all weekend, so that meant I spent a lot of time indoors, rummaging thru my stash and comparing colors. These 2 immediately jumped out at me!

Rescue Beauty Lounge "Black Russian" and Milani "Garnet Gems".

Here they are 2 coats each, no top coat.   Left to Right: RBL, Milani, RBL, Milani.

Left to Right: RBL, Milani, RBL.

Left to Right: RBL, Milani.

RBL "Black Russian" has a black creme base with ruby red glitter.

Milani "Garnet Gems" Black jelly base with ruby red glitter.

As you can see these are very close. The base in Rescue Beauty Lounge is a lot more opaque and smoother, 2 coats of this is perfect.  In the Milani, the base is thinner, thus the glitter is more prominent, and is allowed to rise to the surface, thus making this polish seem "bumpy", yet it adds more glitter "pizazz". :)

I purposefully, did not apply top coat to either, so you could see the finishes and how different they are. With top coat, both of these are smooth and gorgeous!

Left to Right: RBL, Milani, RBL, Milani.  Personally. I like the RBL version, it applied perfectly, very smooth, and I like how it maintains it's deep base and still shows the glitter off nicely.  Vampy goodness!

Left to Right: RBL, Milani.

I love how prominent the glitter is in the Milani, but the thinner base is just a bit too thin for me. If it were more opaque and a tad darker, this would be perfect! I'm sure I could wear this with 3 coats and that would rectify the situation, or apply a black base color first, but I wanted to keep the coats even for this comparison.:)

As it stands, the Milani is still a very good "lemming killer" if you want the RBL but can't drop $18 on a polish.  "Black Russian" is still available, HERE at Rescue Beauty Lounge. Milani can be found at your local drugstore, CVS or Walgreens, and online at Cherry Culture.

Keep It Sweet! and stay warm wherever you are :)

Holo Blue Gradient

Happy Friday..want to know my I'm so happy? I'm done with all my holiday shopping...woo hoo!!!

Here is a great manicure gradient I saw on Instagram early this Fall, and I knew I had to try it myself. I do not know the brands she used for her manicure  so I "winged" it and used what I had :)   This was when  my nails were longer. :)

OPI DS "Fantasy", Milani "Cyberspace", OPI DS "Coronation", and OPI DS "Fantasy"

OPI DS "Fantasy", 2 coats with top coat. Deep blue holographic shimmer.  The holographic may not be strong, but the colors is GORGEOUS!

Milani "Cyberspace", 3 coats with top coat.  Light blue scattered holographic shimmer.

OPI DS "Coronation", 3 coats no top coat. Silver scattered holographic shimmer.

The holographic effect is definitely stronger in the light blue and the silver, but I think this trio is amazing together. :)

I topped all 3 with Seche Vite top coat and it did not "dull" the holographic effect. Some holographic colors, when topped with certain top coats, can have their "holographic effect" dulled, meaning there is less of a rainbow effect once topped with a top coat.  It depends on the brand  this "dulling" does not always occur

Oh how I miss my nails being this long. :(

 I have slowly been cutting them down, in preparation for the holidays, cooking and baking, and for the after Christmas shopping. :) They will be back to this length in no time, until then...Keep It Sweet!

Milani "Sail Away"

Today have a beautiful blue shimmer released by Milani for their Spring 2012 collection. Milani "Sail Away" is a medium blue creme with blue and silver shimmer. Almost a perfect match for the deep blue shimmer of the ocean.

Milani "Sail Away"
2 coats

I paired this pretty blue polish with an accent silver foil nail, Sally Hansen Chrome Nail Makeup in "Titanium Chrome". Both applied smoothly in 2 coats, and once topped with 1 coat of Seche Vite, dried perfectly!

This blue is bright and blue, and the metallic shimmer does not diminish the bright tone at all, really nice! :)

"Titanium Chrome" is different, it's like a very opaque white chrome, very cool. I found this little gem at my local Dollar Tree, great deal for a dollar. :)

I yeah...I love my blues and this is no exception! I can't think of another blue in my collection that is close to this one, so it's a keeper!

Keep It Sweet!

I needed some GLITZ....

...and Milani delivered!

I was watching "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" and Theresa, had on a glitzy black dress with steel grey shimmer, and I just had to have that same GLITZ on my nails.

So after digging thru my stash, and still not finding the black with steel grey shimmer, I opted for just the shimmer :)

Milani One Coat Glitter
"Silver Dazzle"
1 coat

In order to make sure this glitter removed easier, I layered it over one coat of Love & Beauty  "Silver"....gotta love the simple name.

Milani One Coat Glitters, truly are opaque in one coat, it's amazing! and to rid them of any "bumpies", I topped this off with 1 coat of "Gelous" and then 2 cot of Seche Vite.

"Gelous", can be found at Sally's or their affiliate stores.  It is supposed to be a base coat that delivers a smooth surface n your nail, before you color.  However we "nail heads" have discovered that this also does well as a top coat for glitters, and can deliver a smoother effect than regular top coats. :)

Yep...definitely delivered the glitz...LOL.

However I still need to find a black glitter that is similar to this, but opaque in 2 coats, know any?

Smack Me..PLEASE!!!!

Why did I wait so long to wear Milani "Hi-Res"?...seriously? Smack me!? It's awesome!

Milani
"Hi-res"
2 coats

In my opinion, this was the best drugstore polish release in HISTORY.  This definitely beats out Revlon's release of the "Zing" collection back in the late 90's.

Hi-Res is a great purple scattered holographic polish that applies, nicely and does not require any "funky" layering techniques...LOL! Don't get me wrong, I love when the layers of Aqua Base and matte polishes make other holographics "pop", but it's nice when you can put one a holographic without any funny tricks...and it just WORKS!

So far I have, "Hi-Res" (purple), "Hi-Tech" (green), and "Cyber Space" (sky blue).  I definitely need to grab the silver, gold and pink, while I can still find them!!!

You can find these at your local Walgreens, Target and CVS.  Although my Walgreens has already discontinued this line, my CVS and Target still have some left. 

Do you have the entire set?

Key Lime Shine with a little Sparkle!

I have been stalking Milani's "Key Lime Shine" for years, and I finally received it in a MUA swap,  not too long ago.

I saw it once on another blog and it was a great soft lime foil that delivered perfect and seamless shine..I needed it BAD!!!!!

So here it is with a little "jazz" on top! :)

Milani "Key Lime Shine" and OPI "Glow Up Already"

I carefully applied 1 coats of KLS, I say careful because with a foil polish like this, if not done smoothly, every layer can show up bulky!...like mine..LOL :(

You can see the brush strokes here, this happened on the second layer.  Next time, I'll try using my Nfu-Oh "Aqua Base" between coats to get better seamless layers!

So 2 coats of KLS and then 3 coats of GUA, each coat covering less and less of the tip of the nail.

Glitter Tips!..Awesome! OPI "Glow Up Already" is from the Burlesque Collection  and I think the yellow/green glitter matches perfectly with the soft key lime foil effect of KLS.

The sparkle was awesome with this, I forgot to take a pic indoors with the flash to show it, DARN..I always have the best pic ideas AFTER I've already removed a manicure...OH WELL!

Have you given yourself a "Glitter Tips" manicure yet?

Happy Friday!!!

Happy New Year

Kung Hei Fat Choy 恭喜發財

Here is my New Years Mani..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 coats of Catrice "Bloody Mary To Go" and Milani Jewel FX "Gold" on the "texting thumbs"...LOL :)

Gorgeous red jelly with celebratory gold glitter on the thumbs...so fun.  I was thinking of putting the glitter on all the nails, but I thought that would have been over kill..LOL :)

 

 

So shiny, I love jellies and how they shine :P

I would like to say Kung Hei Fat Choy 恭喜發財 for all!
May all you and your family have good health 身體健康, good wealth 財源廣進,
and all your wishes come true 心想事成 for coming New Year!