Don't call it a come back...

...I'm just visiting. Geeze I've been gone for so long I forgot how to compose a post. I recently did a haul and decided to do a wear test on CDN's Vinylux.

Matte Moments

When it comes to mattifying my manicure I can be pretty resistive. I REALLY like it when my nails are shiny, but sometimes a girl likes change. When the mood strikes me, it helps to have a decent matte top coat to make everything look meticulous. I think I found a good one!

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Before I even tell you what matte top coat I am using, can we please read the warning on the bottle?! Go read ... I'll wait...

I would be one pissed 7 year old.

When I first received this matte top coat by MASH, I only dipped one toe in the pool, so to speak, to test the waters. Actually quite literally my pinky is the only mattified finger here.

This was at least 3 coats of KleanColor - Fuschia Glitter

MASH matte top coat is only on the pinky; the rest of the fingers were probably Seche Vite.

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Orly - Meet Me Under The Mistletoe

What a fantastic green!!! Gollie g. 

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Right?!

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It is equally as awesome with matte top coat. Good job MASH!

Here is an equally fabulous green (see more here) made LESS FABULOUS...

Sinful - San Francisco

I don't know... it kind of takes the life out of it.

BUT in terms of matte top coat quality... it is superb.

I do like a nice matte cream on occasion. It makes me feel like I am wearing Illamasqua's rubber finish polishes. That dirty post can be found here.

This is Revlon - Rock with MASH matte top coat.

Look how smooth!!










How good is this matte top coat?

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Battle of the top coats...

Seche Vite vs. MASH

.... uuuhhh, it's like apples and oranges people. They are both great.

 Bonus picture here!

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Barielle vs. MASH

Barielle Matte-inee is the only other matte top coat I own.  This is Barielle Matte-inee over Lime Crime - Peaches <3 Cream

You may not be able to tell from the picture, but there were visible streaks in the finish. Sad face. This is probably why I don't use it much. I am not sure whether the problem is the brush (it's horrid!) or the formula, or a combination of both.

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MASH matte top coat is like butter. The brush and formula worked like a charm EVERY time.




Can I just say how much I enjoy a mattified pastel!

More Lime Crime Pastels can be found here.










More manicures with MASH...

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I decided to layer Orly - Royal Navy with a bunch of glitters and mattify them!

Bonus picture here!

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Left to Right:

Pinky: Finger Paints - Asylum
Ring: Revlon - Galaxy
Middle: Revlon - Radiant
Index: Orly - Royal Navy shiny!
Thumb: Orly - Royal Navy matte!









I am completely convinced. Not only does MASH deliver a high quality matte finish, but the dry time was great too. What is your favorite matte top coat?

MASH matte top coat is $7.99 for 15mL (0.50 fl.oz.)

*This product was sent for review*

Nail P0rn

Hey dudes.  I'm going on vacay with the fam.  It might be quiet for about 2 weeks.  I'll leave you with nail porn...

KleanColor - Midnight Queen

One of my absolute faves.
It is mainly blue, but has small pieces of purple.  It's magical.

Color Craze -Treasure Island
(BCC556)

This is a fine blue and green glitter. It takes 3-4 coats, but it's so worth it.

A generous gift from the lovely and beautiful Emily from Green Eyes Pink Nails

Catrice - Absolutely Chinchilly

Revlon - Scandalous
aka Facets of Fuchsia

KleanColor - Puppy Love

My nails look awfully plump here. Do. Not. Like.

China Glaze - High Maintenance


Like sex.















Oh yea, check my ovals!

Not gonna lie, I bought this for the name.

Essie - Poppie Cock

However, it should be called Poopie Cock, no?

Finger Polish Mania, do you approve ?

China Glaze - Sugar High

Sugar High can look pink or peach depending on the light.  You can see more of it's range in the video below...

Essie - Mucho Dinero


They look better oval when they're longer.

Want to make your nails oval? Read the post here, or watch the video below...







YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/loodieloodieloodie

Dermelect Color Comparison

In my last post, I showed you three of the six new color nail treatments from Dermelect.  Today, I'll show you comparisons to similar colors I own.

Comparison to Dermelect - Above It

Pointer -
China Glaze - Bahamian Escape

Middle, Pinky -
Dermelect 'Above It'

Ring -
China Glaze - Secret Peri-winkle




Clearly China Glaze - Secret Periwinkle is the odd man out. (Ring finger)









As a side note, China Glaze - Secret Periwinkle has more in common with Essie - Lapis of Luxury.

Left -
China Glaze - Secret Periwinkle

Right -
Essie - Lapis of Luxury.







More clear from this picture, Above It is not a complete dupe of Bahamian Escape, but they are very close.

As a side note, China Glaze - Bahamian Escape is similar to Color Club - Factory Girl.  Factory Girl is brighter.


Left -
China Glaze - Bahamian Escape

Right -
Color Club - Factory Girl







Comparison to Dermelect - Luxurious

Thumb -
Revlon - Gum Drop (Smelly Polish!)

Pointer -
Essie - Lilacism

Middle -
OPI - Rumple's Wiggin'

Ring -
OPI - Do You Lilac It? (more here)

Pinky -
Dermelect- Luxurious

OPI - Do You Lilac It? looks like a dupe for Dermelect - Luxurious

Top -
OPI - Do You Lilac It? (more here)

Bottom -
Dermelect- Luxurious

Comparison to Dermelect - Persuasive

Pointer, Ring -
Color Club - Vintage Couture

Middle, Pinky -
Dermelect - Persuasive

I think here you can tell Dermelect is only slightly more peach and muted, but not by much.

Overall, these two are difficult to distinguish in certain lighting situations.  Like I mentioned in the last post, Persuasive is a bit of a chameleon.


Top -
Dermelect - Persuasive

Bottom -
Color Club - Vintage Couture

It's nice to have choices! :D




*The Dermelect polishes were sent for review*

Lazy Solutions

There are base coat wearers and base coat ignorers.  What if these two groups of people came together and had a party?  What if in a tragic turn of events the base coat wearers had a momentary lapse in memory and forgot base coat?!  All is not lost.  A good time can be had by all, as long as Dermelect comes to the party.

Dermelect has come out with a new collection of color nail strengthening treatments for the summer.  I had a chance to try 3 of the colors.

Above It

Luxurious

 

 

Persuasive

 

 

 

 

 

 

These polishes are infused with peptides.  Peptides are made of small chains of amino acids (2-20 for example).  In contrast, proteins are large chains of amino acids, greater than 100.  My general view of protein based treatments (or polish) can be found in this post.  In short, I don't believe protein based treatments change the nail plate like formaldehyde, fluoride, DermaNail, and DMU can.  I do believe they can provide a nice layer of protection for as long as it is on top of your nail plate.  

What is interesting to me with these polishes is that because peptides are much smaller, I wonder if they somehow have the ability to interact with the nail plate?  I wonder about this, but have no other insight to give you.

The other tid bit I found interesting is the description of how to use the polish...

"The first coat instantly bonds to the nail, while the second fuses with the base coat to create a flexible web of color that resists chipping and improves brittleness (patent-pending technology)."

Wait, wait!  Are you telling me I can skip base coat??  That would be a fantastic option for my laziness and the ultimate solution for a successful party comprised of base coat wearers and ignorers.  I wrote Dermelect just to make sure that I was correct in my assumption and indeed you can do either or.  As soon as I heard this I ran with it.  *Feel free to click on the pictures to enlarge*

Out of the three, 'Above it' gave me the most trouble.  I did two coats for each polish except this one.  It was a bit thick and after two coats it was still a bit uneven.  I think some thinner will fix it right up.  This was the first coat, no base!

After 3 coats, 'Above It' ended up being a bright baby blue that is definitely eye catching.  I really enjoyed wearing this color.  

In direct sunlight.

This blue still manages to look bright in the shade.

The first coat of 'Luxurious' went on smooth and I only needed two coats to make it look flawless.  Again, I wore no base coat.

My camera makes Luxurious look a bit blue, but I guarantee it is lavender purple.  You'll be able to see it more clearly in the comparison pictures in the next post.

Lastly, here is Persuasive in full sun.  What an interesting color.  It is described as peach, but I noticed it tends to morph between pink and peach depending on the lighting.

 Indirect sunlight makes Persuasive look bright light pink.

More shade makes Persuasive look more peach ... and makes my skin look dirty. lol  

OPI's Mimosas for Mr. & Mrs. also has this distinction.

Aside from giving me "dirty skin syndrome", I liked the formula.

You know how I feel about stains?  Look here, here, and here for major stains and how I remedy them.  However, none of that was necessary.  None these colors left any sort of stains. Woot!

Conclusion:

I must admit, I thoroughly enjoyed skipping base coat for once.  It was very freeing.  I'm usually the type to wear two layers of base to prevent stains, so skipping this step allowed for frivolous dilly-dallying.  If you are looking for a Dermelect base coat, I reviewed their Anti-aging Ridge Filler in an earlier post, but as always feel free to use what works for you!

My absolute favorite out of the three polishes was Above it, even if the formula was a bit thick.  It was so bright, cheerful and compliment worthy.

This is the first color collection for Dermelect's color nail treatments, so I wouldn't expect the color range to be especially cutting edge, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't have appreciated a surprise.  The colors are basic and as I will show in the next post, dupable.  I'm interested to see if their next collection keeps it safe.

These three polishes, along with 3 others, can be found on the Dermelect webiste.  
$14/0.4 fl. oz. 

 *Sent for review* 

Beat the system!

I never understood why the directions on some nail treatments called for an extra coat everyday or every other day. Are you suggesting your miracle juice is able to penetrate through the layer (or four) I put on in the previous few days?! That would be fantastic! However, I'm a beauty skeptic, remember? Once the product is dry, can more product absorb through and penetrate the nail?

The following is my brain daydreaming...
I imagine after a polish has dried (or cured) it can have small pores (or cracks). That, I can accept. Whether it actually happens is another question.  However, I do remember seeing the following video explaining how soak off gels work, which supports the mere possibility in regular polish.


In this situation, a chemical solvent (or perhaps the word molecule may be more appropriate) seeps through these engineered cracks or pores and is able to reach the dissolvable portion of the product. Is this possible for regular polish or treatments?

Let's assume the mere possibility:
My mind can imagine such a process for treatment products. Perhaps after the first layer has dried/cured enough cracks or pores exist and the treatment molecules are small enough to fit through and make it to  the nail nail surface. However, how likely would it be that companies actually engineer their treatment products like this? I have no idea.

Now let's assume this does NOT occur with regular polish and treatments:
There are two main reasons I can think of for these directions to exist, both are purely based on my gut and experience. My guess is they have you reapply the product merely as a coat of physical protection, which in reality any decent base coat or topcoat can provide (it's likely more cost effective too).

The other thought I had was, these directions are a marketing/selling tool. They make the consumer feel like they are doing something everyday to help their nail situation. Meanwhile, more of the product is used up, forcing the consumer to buy more to sustain their results. In the end the consumer feels like they have really contributed to their nail health (yay accomplishment!), while the company is ecstatic over their bottom line (they probably get a party with fancy champagne and hors d'œuvres *jealous*).

I like to beat the system. Ya know, stick it to the man! Treatments that come as a lacquer, I generally only apply to the actual nail surface. All other subsequent coats would either be a base coat or topcoat, depending on whether I already applied colored polish.

Summary:
This is all just me thinking aloud. I have no proof of anything. I wish I could be more concrete, but until I learn something new, I say don't waste your expensive treatment products as extra layers.

As a reward for making it all the way to the bottom of this post I'll show you meat and a franken:

Because who doesn't like meat in their mouth, duh!

Prosciutto.

The franken!

Really easy to make!

I used Revlon - Tropical Temptation and NYC - Starry Silver Glitter.

I've swatched Revlon - Tropical Temptation here. It somewhat resembles Revlon - Make Mine Mango here.









I have a Nail Treatment/Hardener Series, click here.

Glossybox USA

There seems to be an influx in cosmetic monthly subscription services. One such type of service not yet available in the US, until now, is Glossybox. This one seems to be more geared toward higher end products, but only time will tell. There are many YouTube videos of non US ladies showing their boxes. I still haven't made up my mind on Glossybox, or in general these types of subscription services. That will be a future post, along with a proper review. Until then, take a look at the products (and swatches) for the month of April 2012 ... EDIT!: and read Pink Sith's blog post


YouTube Channel:  www.youtube.com/user/loodieloodieloodie

Comparison to other OPI's -

I'm India Mood For Love (IIMFL)

Kiss Me On My Tulips (KMOMT)
So sad it's dupey.



(No top coat!)

BUMMER!

I have other pinks that have a similar tone, but a different finish.
Creams:
I'm India Mood For Love (IIMFL)
Kiss Me On My Tulips (KMOMT)

Others:
La Paz-itively Hot (LPH) - pink with purple shimmer flash
Wild West Wild Berry - pink with silver shimmer (almost frost finish)




I  may have other brands that could be a dupe to this OPI, but ignorance is bliss.

The Glossybox costs $21/month.
*Glossybox sent for review*