Acetone Files: (A)31DC2013 Week 1: Red Nails and Black & White
Acetone Files
(Abbreviated)31DC2013: Week 1
Red Nails: Maybelline Vintage Leather Red Relic
I got my first look at Maybelline's new Fall 2013 LE collection this week at Target. The line consists of 10 colors, mostly muted and dark hues, with a matte finish and a hint of flakies. I got Red Relic, deciding a needed one more hot red in my life.
This polish was a big disappointment. The polish is very sheer, giving me VNL problems with even 4 coats. The upside is the matte finish makes it dry almost instantly. The downside is it looks like just a rather lumpy matte red. The flakies are hardly visible at all, no matter what light is hitting them. You can see them just a bit better in real life than in my pictures, but you basically have to look really hard.
I decided to try adding a shiny topcoat, and I do like the polish better shiny, but you still can't really see the flakies. I tried every light I could think of, and they're still pretty much unnoticeable, even without the matte. The advantage to the topcoat is one thin coat will sink into the flakies a bit more than the rest of the polish, so it gives it a slight shimmery texture, giving the illusion of more sparkle. To save the manicure from total abysmalness, I added a red gem to my index tips just for fun.
Maybe some of the darker colors in the Vintage Leather collection make the flakies show up better, but there just aren't many of them to begin with. You can see them pretty well in the bottle, but if I've learned one thing from making my own polish, it's that you need twice as much glitter as you think you'd need to get the effect you see in the bottle. The matte texture doesn't really add anything to the concept, or make the flakies any easier to see, and seems to be just Maybelline jumping on the matte bandwagon. Red Relic felt to me like Barielle Elle's Spell's awkward, unattractive younger sister.
Review: Flakies and matte together, sure. But not like this. The polish is too thin, making it impossible to cover your nail line, there's too much matte and not enough flakies. I failed to find any kind of light that brought out the shimmer in this polish, making it essentially just another pointless matte creme, with the added frustration of scrubbing invisible flakies off at removsal! You're better off buying your own flakie topcoat (I'd try China Glaze Luxe & Lush or Essie Shine of the Times) and putting it over the polish of your choice, then matte-ifying it. D+
Black & White Skittle
Of course I had to try every black and white combo I could think of in ONE manicure. I love the way black and white looks together, even if white is sometimes difficult to work with!
I have to say I am still not good at lines - the seemingly simplest wide stripe nails came out the worst. I can't cut a straight line to save my life, and consequently the masking tape wasn't straight. I feel like I get more bleeding with masking tape as opposed to address labels though. Will have to investigate further.
Other than that, all my other nails were topper-bottom combos. My creme black is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Blackheart and my creme white is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White Out. My crackle black is Maybelline Carbon Frost; my crackle white is Nicole White Texture. Finally, my spotted pointers are both Maybelline Clearly Spotted, which contains black and white dots of various sizes - I love the way the white dots show up over black!
Obviously the black-on-white crackle looked better than the white-on-black. It's difficult to find a white crackle opaque enough to work over anything much less black. Nicole's was pretty good if you make sure to glob on a pretty good coat. I'm really excited about Carbon Frost though - I bought it discounted for $2, and every time I've used it, it's crackled prettier than a picture - frankly I think my middle finger looks like the template they use on websites to show crackle polish.
As always, my gems are iron-ons bought in large sets from Hobby Lobby. I suggest something similar as they are cheaper than special nail gems, at $2-$3 for 150. You don't need nail glue to apply them: I find they stick just fine with a dab of base or topcoat, and then a swipe of topcoat over top - or without the topcoat they'll stay on for about a day.
Hope you liked my monochrome adventure! More abbreviated 31 Day Challenge fun to come! I've just contracted the mother of all autumn colds, but I will try to squeeze 4 manicures out of it! :)
(Abbreviated)31DC2013: Week 1
Red Nails: Maybelline Vintage Leather Red Relic
I got my first look at Maybelline's new Fall 2013 LE collection this week at Target. The line consists of 10 colors, mostly muted and dark hues, with a matte finish and a hint of flakies. I got Red Relic, deciding a needed one more hot red in my life.
This polish was a big disappointment. The polish is very sheer, giving me VNL problems with even 4 coats. The upside is the matte finish makes it dry almost instantly. The downside is it looks like just a rather lumpy matte red. The flakies are hardly visible at all, no matter what light is hitting them. You can see them just a bit better in real life than in my pictures, but you basically have to look really hard.
I decided to try adding a shiny topcoat, and I do like the polish better shiny, but you still can't really see the flakies. I tried every light I could think of, and they're still pretty much unnoticeable, even without the matte. The advantage to the topcoat is one thin coat will sink into the flakies a bit more than the rest of the polish, so it gives it a slight shimmery texture, giving the illusion of more sparkle. To save the manicure from total abysmalness, I added a red gem to my index tips just for fun.
Maybe some of the darker colors in the Vintage Leather collection make the flakies show up better, but there just aren't many of them to begin with. You can see them pretty well in the bottle, but if I've learned one thing from making my own polish, it's that you need twice as much glitter as you think you'd need to get the effect you see in the bottle. The matte texture doesn't really add anything to the concept, or make the flakies any easier to see, and seems to be just Maybelline jumping on the matte bandwagon. Red Relic felt to me like Barielle Elle's Spell's awkward, unattractive younger sister.
Review: Flakies and matte together, sure. But not like this. The polish is too thin, making it impossible to cover your nail line, there's too much matte and not enough flakies. I failed to find any kind of light that brought out the shimmer in this polish, making it essentially just another pointless matte creme, with the added frustration of scrubbing invisible flakies off at removsal! You're better off buying your own flakie topcoat (I'd try China Glaze Luxe & Lush or Essie Shine of the Times) and putting it over the polish of your choice, then matte-ifying it. D+
Black & White Skittle
Of course I had to try every black and white combo I could think of in ONE manicure. I love the way black and white looks together, even if white is sometimes difficult to work with!
I have to say I am still not good at lines - the seemingly simplest wide stripe nails came out the worst. I can't cut a straight line to save my life, and consequently the masking tape wasn't straight. I feel like I get more bleeding with masking tape as opposed to address labels though. Will have to investigate further.
Other than that, all my other nails were topper-bottom combos. My creme black is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Blackheart and my creme white is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White Out. My crackle black is Maybelline Carbon Frost; my crackle white is Nicole White Texture. Finally, my spotted pointers are both Maybelline Clearly Spotted, which contains black and white dots of various sizes - I love the way the white dots show up over black!
Obviously the black-on-white crackle looked better than the white-on-black. It's difficult to find a white crackle opaque enough to work over anything much less black. Nicole's was pretty good if you make sure to glob on a pretty good coat. I'm really excited about Carbon Frost though - I bought it discounted for $2, and every time I've used it, it's crackled prettier than a picture - frankly I think my middle finger looks like the template they use on websites to show crackle polish.
As always, my gems are iron-ons bought in large sets from Hobby Lobby. I suggest something similar as they are cheaper than special nail gems, at $2-$3 for 150. You don't need nail glue to apply them: I find they stick just fine with a dab of base or topcoat, and then a swipe of topcoat over top - or without the topcoat they'll stay on for about a day.
Hope you liked my monochrome adventure! More abbreviated 31 Day Challenge fun to come! I've just contracted the mother of all autumn colds, but I will try to squeeze 4 manicures out of it! :)