Acetone Files: Indy Spot - Pretty & Polished I'm Not A Banana / Flower Eye of the Tiger Lily
Acetone Files
Indy Spot: Pretty & Polished I'm Not a Banana
plus: Flower Eye of the Tiger Lily
February 18 2013
I've decided to start my paring down of untrieds with the indy polishes - hand-mixed, cottage industry labels as opposed to mass-produced big company ones. You could debate some of them, like A England, but I only have a few truly "indy" bottles anyway.
When I saw Pretty & Polished's Adventure Time inspired collection, "Mathematical," I knew I had to have one of them. Because I'm a total AT dork. However, I'm not such a fan of the "confetti" round bits idea, so I wasn't sure at first that I liked any of them enough to buy them. Then they sort of grew on me, and Jake is my favorite character, so I went for I'm Not a Banana, which totally appeals to my "so-ugly-it's-awesome" polishaholism side.
Meanwhile, I also acquired Eye of the Tiger Lily from Flower, the new nail polish line Drew Barrymore is somehow associated with, that popped up at Walmart recently. Not only is every blogger going nuts for this color - a bright golden yellow - but I saw it and immediately thought "JAKE-COLORED!" So I decided to try it with I'm Not a Banana for my Jake manicure.
First off, I used Flower Eye of the Tiger Lily on my right hand as a base, then put I'm Not a Banana over it. I knew from swatching that INAB has a gel base, so I thought it would be perfect - but it turns out EOTTL is also a gel! I'm not really disappointed in either, though - adding EOTTL just gives INAB a darker, golden tint. Anyway, Eye of the Tiger Lily gave me no trouble, and actually didn't chip as fast as I expected with no base coat and topcoat only, however I'd probably have done two coats if I wasn't putting INAB over it. When it dries, it really reminds me of runny egg yolk - in a good way! I love my eggs over easy, so that gooey golden gelly makes me hungry for eggs and reminds me of breakfast goodness! The only downside I see to this polish is it's not obvious it's a gel until you buy it, so it may punk some people. But I love it the way it is. I wish there were creams in this color! A
[Store shots of 11 shades of Flower / In-store comparison of Essie Penny Talk and Covergirl Perfect Penny]Flower also makes lipstick, and I believe blush and concealer. They hit my Walmart around January, so it should be available everywhere by now, plus you can order them online from Walmart, though individual colors are sold out a lot. I was happy to see on the label that the company does not test on animals. Flower nail polish retails for $5 and is currently available in 11 shades. Below are my store shots, names clarified when necessary. I don't know if all of the polishes are gels, but it would make sense for some of them at least.
Another thing I did while I was at Walmart was compare Essie Penny Talk and Covergirl Perfect Penny - my Walmart finally had a bottle of the former, so I got to see them side by side and confirm what I suspected: they're dupes. I recommend Covergirl, which I bought that day, which has some formula advantages and more importantly you save $3!
I experimented with EOTTL, but I really don't think I'm Not a Banana needs a base at all! I used just INAB on my right hand, and concluded I prefer it as is. I kinda like how the gel shows your whites. What's wrong with whites? Why not show them? Plus, I thought using EOTTL as a base would make it closer to "Jake-color," but actually, the base it's already in turned out to be closer than I expected! I think the swatches I was looking at were a bit yellower than IRL. When I compared it to my plush Jake (and the actual show), the goldy-yellow Jake color Pretty & Polished mixed up is actually pretty close! EOTTL is actually darker. You can see the difference in my closeup of INAB in the bottle (EOTTL on my fingers).
Review: I'm still not so much a fan of confetti bits in polish as a concept, but it was a ton of fun to try! I found myself really enjoying the wacky yellow gel and black and white bits for a while, but as a style choice it's undeniably ugly. But as a devout hipster, I embrace the so-ugly-it's-cool! Yeah! Anyway, I was impressed with P&P's formula: you have to fish the glitter out and place them, but it's totally saturated so it's no trouble at all. And the base is just thick enough to adhere but not obscure the glitter (aha! gel! Why don't more big-glitter polishes think of that?). I did find I needed to patch some areas after one coat, but that's because I was paying more attention to the confetti than the base. Also, with one thin coat of China Glaze topcoat, none of the glitter fell off, curled, or felt "poky." This polish was just a breeze, and so much fun! A
You can get the Mathematical collection, in full size only at this point - plus of course a lot of other awesome polish concepts! - from the Pretty & Polished store. My mini bottle cost $4 plus shipping, and full-size bottles are $9.
In conclusion, dancing time!
Indy Spot: Pretty & Polished I'm Not a Banana
plus: Flower Eye of the Tiger Lily
February 18 2013
I've decided to start my paring down of untrieds with the indy polishes - hand-mixed, cottage industry labels as opposed to mass-produced big company ones. You could debate some of them, like A England, but I only have a few truly "indy" bottles anyway.
When I saw Pretty & Polished's Adventure Time inspired collection, "Mathematical," I knew I had to have one of them. Because I'm a total AT dork. However, I'm not such a fan of the "confetti" round bits idea, so I wasn't sure at first that I liked any of them enough to buy them. Then they sort of grew on me, and Jake is my favorite character, so I went for I'm Not a Banana, which totally appeals to my "so-ugly-it's-awesome" polishaholism side.
Meanwhile, I also acquired Eye of the Tiger Lily from Flower, the new nail polish line Drew Barrymore is somehow associated with, that popped up at Walmart recently. Not only is every blogger going nuts for this color - a bright golden yellow - but I saw it and immediately thought "JAKE-COLORED!" So I decided to try it with I'm Not a Banana for my Jake manicure.
First off, I used Flower Eye of the Tiger Lily on my right hand as a base, then put I'm Not a Banana over it. I knew from swatching that INAB has a gel base, so I thought it would be perfect - but it turns out EOTTL is also a gel! I'm not really disappointed in either, though - adding EOTTL just gives INAB a darker, golden tint. Anyway, Eye of the Tiger Lily gave me no trouble, and actually didn't chip as fast as I expected with no base coat and topcoat only, however I'd probably have done two coats if I wasn't putting INAB over it. When it dries, it really reminds me of runny egg yolk - in a good way! I love my eggs over easy, so that gooey golden gelly makes me hungry for eggs and reminds me of breakfast goodness! The only downside I see to this polish is it's not obvious it's a gel until you buy it, so it may punk some people. But I love it the way it is. I wish there were creams in this color! A
[Store shots of 11 shades of Flower / In-store comparison of Essie Penny Talk and Covergirl Perfect Penny]Flower also makes lipstick, and I believe blush and concealer. They hit my Walmart around January, so it should be available everywhere by now, plus you can order them online from Walmart, though individual colors are sold out a lot. I was happy to see on the label that the company does not test on animals. Flower nail polish retails for $5 and is currently available in 11 shades. Below are my store shots, names clarified when necessary. I don't know if all of the polishes are gels, but it would make sense for some of them at least.
Another thing I did while I was at Walmart was compare Essie Penny Talk and Covergirl Perfect Penny - my Walmart finally had a bottle of the former, so I got to see them side by side and confirm what I suspected: they're dupes. I recommend Covergirl, which I bought that day, which has some formula advantages and more importantly you save $3!
I experimented with EOTTL, but I really don't think I'm Not a Banana needs a base at all! I used just INAB on my right hand, and concluded I prefer it as is. I kinda like how the gel shows your whites. What's wrong with whites? Why not show them? Plus, I thought using EOTTL as a base would make it closer to "Jake-color," but actually, the base it's already in turned out to be closer than I expected! I think the swatches I was looking at were a bit yellower than IRL. When I compared it to my plush Jake (and the actual show), the goldy-yellow Jake color Pretty & Polished mixed up is actually pretty close! EOTTL is actually darker. You can see the difference in my closeup of INAB in the bottle (EOTTL on my fingers).
Review: I'm still not so much a fan of confetti bits in polish as a concept, but it was a ton of fun to try! I found myself really enjoying the wacky yellow gel and black and white bits for a while, but as a style choice it's undeniably ugly. But as a devout hipster, I embrace the so-ugly-it's-cool! Yeah! Anyway, I was impressed with P&P's formula: you have to fish the glitter out and place them, but it's totally saturated so it's no trouble at all. And the base is just thick enough to adhere but not obscure the glitter (aha! gel! Why don't more big-glitter polishes think of that?). I did find I needed to patch some areas after one coat, but that's because I was paying more attention to the confetti than the base. Also, with one thin coat of China Glaze topcoat, none of the glitter fell off, curled, or felt "poky." This polish was just a breeze, and so much fun! A
You can get the Mathematical collection, in full size only at this point - plus of course a lot of other awesome polish concepts! - from the Pretty & Polished store. My mini bottle cost $4 plus shipping, and full-size bottles are $9.
In conclusion, dancing time!