Inexpensive Pedicure Tips and a $50 VISA Giveaway!

During the summer months I long to step out of my comfort zone and wear colors that I normally steer far away from.  For any other part of the year I wouldn't dream of wearing warm colors like copper, orange, or red, but during the summer I do.  Just a hint of a tan (self-tan, that is) and I start to crave them!

I still haven't mastered wearing warmer shades on my lids, but I love wearing them on my nails. An easy way to step out of your comfort zone is by changing up your nail color.  I especially like changing up my pedicure colors!  I don't know about you, but I find it extremely hard to master the at-home pedicure.  I have a hard enough time accurately applying just color to my toes, let alone base coat, color AND top coat!  Revlon makes it easy with their Brilliant Strength™ nail enamel.  It contains both a built-in base coat and top coat so that you can eliminate both of those steps from your routine!  With 24 shades to choose from, you will find the one that’s right for you.  The brush on the Revlon Brilliant Strength polishes is flat with a rounded tip, which makes the polish very easy to apply. Due to the fact that many people do not like looking at pictures of other people’s pedicures, I am going to show you three Revlon Brilliant Strength shades as manicures.  Before we get to that, let me breakdown exactly how I do my own pedicures at home--quickly, easily, and (the very best part) inexpensively!

 

Start with toes that are free of polish.

Soak your feet in a warm foot bath.  Don’t have a foot bath?  That’s OK, neither do I!  I use plastic tubs that I purchased at IKEA but never found a use for.

• Add Epsom Salts to the water, which will not only help soften your skin, but will help relieve stress and leave your feet feeling revived!
• After soaking your feet for 10-15 minutes, grab another handful of Epsom Salts and use them directly on your feet as an exfoliating scrub.
• After rinsing your feet, pat them dry.  Then gently push back the cuticles on your toes.  I prefer a metal implement to a wooden orange stick for this step.
• Grab your favorite body butter and apply it to your feet. 
• Wipe your nails with acetone to remove any residue before applying polish.
• Time for color!  Again using a polish with built in base and top coat will save you a lot of time!
• Apply two thin coats of your desired color.  I prefer to use heavily pigmented shades that don’t require many coats, such as Captivate or Inflame. 
• Moisturize daily to keep your pedicure looking fresh!

  

Okay, so let’s take a look at what you really want to see--the polish!

Captivate is a stunning copper metallic.  I love that it is easy to apply and that the brush strokes are fairly minimal, which is very important when it comes to a metallic polish!  Shown here with two coats.

Inflame is a stunning fiery coral crème that is oh-so-shiny!  It was an absolute delight to apply - I just could not get over how glossy it was, even without a top coat!

Curious about the gorgeous blue polish in my collage?  Stay tuned for a separate review of Revlon Mesmerize!  To find out more about other Revlon nail polishes and products you can visit their website or Facebook page! 

Interested in winning a $50 Visa gift card?  To enter to win, simply leave an answer in the comments below telling me about your best kept beauty secret!  

Rules: 

No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: "#SweepstakesEntry"; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 6/28/2013-7/22/2013.
Be sure to visit the Revlon brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

Disclosures: polish insomniac at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page.

Ways to follow polish insomniac (now that Google Reader is Dead)

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I am sure you all have heard from mulitple sources that Google Reader is dead.  If you were following polish insomniac via Google Reader, then check out these alternatives!

Disclosures: polish insomniac at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page.

Top Ten Textured Polishes!

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The Beauty Spotlight Team is continuing it’s Top 10 Series!  Last week Christine showed us her Top 9 Intensive Hair Masks (cheater!), and this week I have my Top 10 Textured polishes!

Love them or hate them, the Textured Trend is here.  I have already found my Top 10 and honestly?  I don’t need ANYMORE!

Are any of your favorites on my list?

1. OPI Jinx (review)
2. OPI Honey Rider (review)
3. OPI Tiffany Case (review)
4. OPI Get Your Number (review)
5. OPI Stay The Night (review)
6. Nicole by OPI My Cherry Amour (review)
7. Nicole by OPI Cinna-man of my Dreams (review)
8. China Glaze Itty, Bitty & Gritty (review)
9. Julie G Tangerine Dream (review)
10. Julie G Sugar Rush (review)

FULL DISCLOUSRE:  Julie G Sugar Rush and OPI Jinx are dupes!  But I couldn’t choose just one!  Plus I know not everyone can get their hands on Julie G polishes.  So there!

Disclosures: polish insomniac at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page.

Coming Soon: butter LONDON Colour Clash (Fall 2013)

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I love butter LONDON.  You all know that!  Not only to do they an awesome formula with unique  colors (Two Fingered Salute, anyone?) but they have AWESOME NAMES!  I mean, come on, Cake Hole?  LOVE IT!

 

Available: June 27^th on butterlondon.com

Price: $15 each

 

Disclosures: polish insomniac at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page.

China Glaze Sunsational - The Cremes ♥ Swatches and Review

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Recap of yesterday’s into on The Jellies post:

I am breaking my China Glaze Sunsational review up into two posts.  I swatched these polishes almost two weeks ago, but I kept putting off writing this review.  Not because it was hard to write, but because I dreaded editing the swatches.  Neons are ridiculously hard to photograph and I knew I would have to edit photos in order to make them appear more color accurate.  I hardly ever do this, so I don’t have a lot of practice!  But I didn’t want to show you unedited photos - they would not be true representations of the colors you were buying.  Well, then I tried to edit them.  Turns out I really don’t know what I’m doing, so I decided just to Let It Be.  So consider this far warning!

Many people have expressed concerns over the quality of the formula in this China Glaze collection, and I would like to address that first.  There are two types of polishes in the Sunsational Collection:  jellies and crèmes.  Both are neons.  Neon pigment is notoriously hard to work with.  I did have more trouble with the cremes than I did with the jellies.  However, my friend Amber didn’t!  So make sure to check out her review too, so that you can see another blogger’s view of this collection.

First up, here are the three polishes I liked!  Click on any picture to enlarge.

Bottoms Ups is a medium pink  crème.  Think bubble gum pink, but with more purple in the pink.  It was certainly easy to apply, but did not appear very neon.  Bright, yes, Neon, no.  This polish only required two coats.

That’s Shore Bright is a medium purple that is MUCH prettier on the nail than in the bottle.  It had the same easy application as Bottoms Up and only required two coats.  Again very bright, but not exactly what I would call neon.

Highlight of my Summer is a bright neon green, much much more yellow than it appears above.  I really did enjoy this one, even though it required three coats.

Next here are I three polishes I had trouble with.  Click on any picture to enlarge.

Sun of A Peach is a bright, in-your-face creamy highlighter orange.  The formula was very hard for me to apply evenly, but by the third coat (and a generous application of Seche Vite) it looked okay.

Neon & On & On is a gorgeous neon, which is much more coral and neon IRL.  The formula on this did not self-level, which was evident even after a layer of Seche Vite.  I did wear this to work and it chipped the same day.

Too Yacht To Handle was the crème I was most excited about… Same trouble with the formula, and again it chipped very quickly when I wore it as a full mani.

I wonder if I had more application skill, and only had to use two coats of polish, if these would not have been so chippy on me.  Polish will always chip if you apply it too thick. 

Did you have trouble with the cremes in this collection, or did they work out well for you?  I would really love to hear your comments!!!

Disclosures: polish insomniac at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page.

China Glaze Sunsational - The Jellies ♥ Swatches and Review

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I am breaking my China Glaze Sunsational review up into two posts.  I swatched these polishes almost two weeks ago, but I kept putting off writing this review.  Not because it was hard to write, but because I dreaded editing the swatches.  Neons are ridiculously hard to photograph and I knew I would have to edit photos in order to make them appear more color accurate.  I hardly ever do this, so I don’t have a lot of practice!  But I didn’t want to show you unedited photos - they would not be true representations of the colors you were buying.  Well, then I tried to edit them.  Turns out I really don’t know what I’m doing, so I decided just to Let It Be.  So consider this far warning!

Many people have expressed concerns over the quality of the formula in this China Glaze collection, and I would like to address that first.  There are two types of polishes in the Sunsational Collection:  jellies and crèmes.  Both are neons.  Neon pigment is notoriously hard to work with.  With the jellies, one should know ahead of time that they require additional coats and therefor additional time in order to make them look good.  If you already don’t love jelly polishes, you most likely will not like the jelly polishes in this collection.  If you do like jelly polishes (as I do) there are several jellies in this collection that are AWESOME.  But there were a few that were more trouble than they were worth. 



Shell-o is a neon peachy-coral.  I prefer to do thin coats, but it came out way too streaky, so I had to start doing thicker coats by the third and fourth coat.  Shell-o is much more vibrant in real life.  It’s definitely one of the ones I really wanted to be able to edit.  Check out my Instagram for a more accurate representation of the color.

Heat Index  is a neon hot pink.  It did apply streaky, but after four coats it was DEFINITELY worth the effort!  I really loved this one.



You Drive Me Coconuts is a blue based neon pink.  Out of all the pinks, it had the most pigment and was the most opaque after four coats.  This one was really crazy, in-your-face neon.  I took a rather poor quality shot in my kitchen that shows the color accurately, you can see it on my Instagram as well.

Are You Jelly? is a medium purple neon.  It was also 4 coats.  After You Drive Me Coconuts, it was the second most opaque shade.



Isle See You Later is the shade that I was most excited about.  Unfortunately it was super-sheer.  As in after four coats, you could still see the staining I had on my nails from a previous manicure.  I will say that it was very, very even. Not streaky at all.  Just too sheer, even for me who love VNL!

Keepin’ It Teal is a neon emerald green jelly.  It is definitely my favorite.  It had the same same smooth application as Are You Jelly and Isle See You Later.  Here is another Instagram shot that shows the color better.

I did do wear tests on both the jellies and the crèmes.  Learn from my mistakes - IF YOU DON’T WAIT LONG ENOUGH INBETWEEN COATS, AND THEN USE A QUICK DRY TOPCOAT (LIKE SECHE VITE), AFTER 24 HOURS YOUR POLISH WILL PEAL OFF IN SHEETS…  This did happen to me.  Do I think it was a reflection of the polish?  No, I think I was an idiot and didn’t wait more than 60 seconds in between coats.

My picks from this half of the collection are Heat Index, You Drive Me Coconuts and Keepin’ It Teal.  Which ones do you have your eye on?

Check out the second half of the collection here!

Disclosures: polish insomniac at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page.

Makeup Wars - My Favorite Summer Mani

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This week's edition of Makeup Wars was SO EASY!  Normally when someone asks me what my favorite nail color is, I get stumped.  So many to choose from!  But ask me my Favorite Summer Mani and without skipping a beat I will tell you - China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy!  It's the craziest neon coral you have ever seen.  Every time I wear it I get compliments!  Plus it doesn't hurt that it makes me look tan!

Although China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy was from the Summer of 2010 Poolside collection, you can still purchase it on Amazon or eBay.  To be honest, I didn't purchase the entire collection back then... Now I regret it!  I own this and Towel Boy Toy... I need to track down Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, Sun Worshiper, Pool Party and Kiwi-Cool-Ada.  I can't help it.  It's the collector mentality in me!  You can check out swatches of the entire collection on Scrangie.

What's your Favorite Summer Mani (or Pedi)? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to check out the rest of the Makeup Wars posts below!

Disclosures: polish insomniac at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page.