The Colors of Spring: Nail Polish Edition

Hello, darlings!  Long time no see or post.  Both personally and professionally, this has been one of the worst months in a long time.

Since it's now officially March, I feel much more comfortable discussing spring clothes, colors, and such.  It's one of my pet peeves to read about--or tell people about--all these bright colored clothes covered in flowers when there's still snow on the ground.  Even though it's been a very warm winter in Huntington, it'd be 60 degrees and sunny one day, and then 30 degrees and snow the next day.  It's hard for me to get in the mood to discuss sandals and Easter dresses when when there's frost on my windshield.  But since March brings about the first day of Spring and pansies, I can break out the pastels and feel good about it.

Recently, L'Oreal's new line of nail polishes caught my eye.  The revamped line features many eye-popping brights, neutrals, and just about any other color in between.  It takes a lot to get me impressed by nail polish nowadays, but this collection is pretty solid and on trend, which is unusual for a drugstore makeup brand.  So when my parents gifted me with a Walmart giftcard for Valentine's Day, I decided to buy several of the colors that have been catching my eye.

Despite the pretty colors, my overall review on this line: UGH.  The formula sucks in all of the colors I tried.  It's goopy, it streaks like crazy, and coverage is very uneven.

First up is the color that really stood out to me, Tweet Me.  A bright yellow with a hint of a sparkle, it reminded me of Chanel's Mimosa which was huge last summer.  I really wasn't crazy about Mimosa enough to buy it, so a lower price point for a similar color sounded good to me.  In this picture, I'm wear four coats.  FOUR.  And it's still sheer and streaky.  Not good.  It looked like crap.

The second color that I swatched was Tangerine Dream.  After buying Chanel's June (a light orange), I've been crazy for orange polishes.  However, I had similar issues with Tangerine Dream that I had with Tweet Me.  Four coats, still sheer and streaks ahoy.  These pictures make it look much better than what it looked like in real life.

My last attempt at swatching these Revlon polishes was a lavender with a touch of shimmer, Butterfly Kisses.  This picture shows three coats.  This is the best formula out of them, and while it was nowhere near as sheer it still had some streaking issues.

I also swatched Boozy Brunch, a punchy bright orange, but you guessed it, four coats, still sheer and streaky.

Like I mentioned earlier, this line sucks.  Sucks, sucks, SUCKS.  With the sample selection I tried, I won't even consider buying or even looking at this line again unless I hear they change the formulas.  The only polish that was close to keeping was Butterfly Kisses, and since it's close to Nars Diamond Life (a violet shimmer), I'll probably add this to my Walmart return bag.

Super Bass: Nicki Minaj for OPI Collection

Like last year's very successful Katy Perry collection, OPI has teamed up with hip-hop star Nicki Minaj to release a collection of inspired polishes.  Also like the Katy Perry collection, there's a Shatter polish included, this time a metallic fuchsia.  Unlike the Perry collection which was mostly sparkles, there are some great cremes that I'm falling in love with.

From left to right:

Fly, Did It On 'Em, Metalliac 4Life, Pink Friday, Save Me, Super Bass Shatter

While I don't have this collection yet, I feel this is the perfect collection for spring.  While I don't have the collection yet, I'm going to go ahead and say buy this immediatly, because I can see this selling out.  This is by no means an original collection, but I can't think of any dupes right away.  When I saw Pink Friday (the pink creme) and Fly (the teal creme) I thought I had similar shades but I don't.  I thought Pink Friday would be close to Chanel's May from their spring 2012 collection, but the Pink Friday is more vivid.  The only color I'm not feeling is the glittery Save Me, which is sandwhiched between Pink Friday and the Shatter in the picture above.  It features long bar glitter, which is hell to remove, even though formulas are better than from when I was in high school.

As far as the Super Bass Shatter goes...frankly I'm over Shatter and other crackle polish finishes.  However, looking at some swatches some other blogs have done, I may break down and get it.  I love love love how well it goes with all of the cremes. I only wish OPI made small bottle versions of the Shatter like they do the collections.

The Nicki Minaj collection is already available in stores such as JCPenney Salons, Trade Secret, and Ulta if you happen to be close enough to one.  Like the Katy Perry collection, I'll probably just pick up the set which has the small bottles minus the glitter topcoat Save Me and the Super Bass shatter.

LOOKBOOK: Feb. 6

It's bright yellow, cheap, and cute.

Patent Trim Straw Wallet, $10.50, Charlotte Russe

This adorable wallet also comes in orange, but I think the shade they used is too severe.  Buy this wallet this week and use it through the end of summer, then chuck it.  Be realistic: this wallet is from Charlotte Russe and it wasn't made to last beyond the season.

LOOKBOOK: Feb. 2

Sorry these have been off and on this week, I didn't get a chance to work on any posts over the weekend.

Colorblock Tote, Gap, $44

More colorblocking, more bright colors.  This tote comes in this great gray/pink combination, along with a black/white version, and a light gray/orange version that isn't available on the Gap website anymore but you can probably still find it in stores.