Max Factor Fantasy Fire over 1/2 of Revlon Cosmic Effects Galactic

I've got a bit of a Love It/Hate It for you today.

First up, the Love It! A couple of months ago I won a Max Factor "Fantasy Fire" from a giveaway from Set in Lacquer. Fantasy Fire is a "top coat effect" polish that has a purple base, but also flashes blue, green & bronze in the right light. It's meant to be worn over another polish, and it is absolutely gorgeous! Due partly to my lighting, and partly to how dark my base color is, these pictures only show the bronze shimmer.

Unfortunately, there's a catch: Max Factor no longer sells nail polish in the United States, so Fantasy Fire is pretty hard to get your hands on here. As I said, I was lucky enough to win mine in a giveaway. If you really want some, you might be able to get it from eBay, but it's $14+ for a tiny little 5ml mini bottle.

Now, for the Hate It. I mentioned that Fantasy Fire is a top coat effect polish, so I decided to layer it over a dark blue. The dark blue I used is half of the Revlon Moon Candy collection called "Galactic". It comes in a unique bottle that is dark Navy Blue on one side and a turquoise blue flakie top coat on the other side. I had so many problems with this polish. :( It wouldn't go on smooth, and it flooded my cuticles something awful. Some of this might have been because I found the brush awkward to hold, since it had the other bottle of polish attached to it (and there's nothing you can do to avoid that, due to the duo bottle design.) But the worst part was when I got out my acetone to try to clean my cuticles. This stuff stained my cuticles horribly. Also, instead of cleaning up neatly, the blue "bled" all over my fingers and deeper into the cuticles. I'm not sure if I'm describing it right, but it was awful. With how badly this polish bleeds and stains, I'm really not looking forward to removing this polish AT ALL. I'm going to have to scrub my nails with baking soda and peroxide or something.

If you're curious, I swatched the flakie turquoise top coat onto a nail wheel, and although it looks cool, it was kind of thick and goopy. I don't think it would be fun to manicure with. :-/

I still love my Fantasy Fire, but next time I'll layer it over something else!

Revlon "Whimsical" over Wet n Wild "I Need A Refresh-Mint"

New day, new manicure! Today I have on Revlon's "Whimsical" over two coats of Wet n Wild Megalast "I Need A Refresh-Mint".

 

I really like this combination, but this base color makes the "Whimsical" look opaque. I think next time I should try it by itself or over white.

Wet n Wild's Megalast line seems to be superior to their other lines. So far I haven't been disappointed with any of the colors or their application. WnW's fastdry line seems to leave something to be desired, but I like the Megalasts. I also like their wide brushes. "I Need A Refreshment" is a Tiffany Blue creme color (which I classify as turquoise), and it retails just about everywhere for $1.99

Revlon's "Whimsical" has pink and blue hex glitter and small iridescent glitter in a transparent turquoise base, and it's a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's "Glitter in the Air"! "Whimsical" retails for about $5, while "Glitter in the Air" retails for $18! That's quite a difference, so save your money and buy the Revlon.

Shuffle the Deck... a bit of a fail. :(

 
So what I have for you today is kind of a manicure fail. I say kind of because I still like the idea, and it looks good from a distance. As a matter of a fact, I had two strangers tell me they liked my fingernails while I was out shopping today. Unfortunately when you examine them closely, they have all sorts of problems.

On my index finger I have Revlon "Fire Fox", on my middle finger I have Jordana French Manicure White, on my ring finger I have Savvy "Chrome", and on my pinkie I have Wet n Wild fastdry "Ebony Hates Chris." Over each nail I have Spoiled by Wet n Wild "Shuffle the Deck".

My first problem was that I kept getting air bubbles in the "Chrome". Next, the "Ebony Hates Chris" seems to have gotten thicker and harder to apply since the last time I used it, plus the brush that I don't remember having trouble before seemed ratty, and I've only used it once! The French Manicure white was a little thick, too, but it evened out with a few coats. The biggest problem was that I had a hard time getting enough of the "Shuffle the Deck" glitter on the brush and the nail, resulting in me applying it too thick... which resulted in air bubbles on EVERY NAIL. I didn't even bother putting on a top coat because I'm hoping to have time to remove it Monday night.

Revlon "Fire Fox", Jordana French Manicure White, Spoiled by Wet n Wild "Shuffle the Deck", Savvy "Chrome", and Wet n Wild fastdry "Ebony Hates Chris".

I was very surprised that I had so much trouble with this glitter... I also have Spoiled by Wet n Wild "Trust Fund Baby", which is pretty similar to this glitter polish, just in different colors, and I don't remember having this many problems getting the glitter out. You can see my blog post about "Trust Fund Baby" here.