Review: Revlon Gel Envy color and Diamond Top Coat

I made a little journal of my thoughts as I was trying out the Revlon Gel Envy in Cardshark, here it is if you're interested

Morning of 10-25-2015:
Painted two somewhat sloppy coats of Cardshark yesterday as a quick swatch with no top coat. Seeing tip wear and small chips this AM. Will put on a fresh coat of color and the Diamond Top Coat after church today. Very curious to see how well this wears for me. Have read great reviews on some blogs.

Evening of 10-25-2015:
Got the extra coat of color and TC applied. Sat in the sun outside for 10-15 minutes while it cured and de-stunk. The formula of this polish is OK. A bit on the thin side and kind of streaky but it seems like that is the case for most pastels. Got pooling around my cuticles so I went back a few hours later with a brush and acetone to clean that up and hopefully the picking at it later will be reduced. This shade is really complimentary to my skin tone. My fingertips look really tan!

Evening of 10-26-2015:
Well, it was nice while it lasted. This polish started chipping off in big, peely flakes this afternoon. I do think it deserves another chance though because I've been washing my hands with Hibiclens and that's probably not been the best. Kind of mad because I didn't get any shots after I cleaned up the edges with my acetone and brush.

My final verdict on this polish and top coat is I will try them again in the future. I will prep my nails better and do clean up right away. If I get the same results again they will go into the dusty pile.

Current NOTD: China Glaze Cat's Eye

Last night I pulled out a polish I hadn't worn in a while and one that I've never shown on this blog before. It's China Glaze Cat's Eye. Talk about a retro polish! I think this one was released in 2005. It was a unique polish back then for sure and it's still a pretty uncommon shade now, in my opinion. Cat's Eye is a shimmery golden, door knob bronze, olive green. My bottle was a little on the thin side and was slightly sheer on the first coat but the second coat solidified it nicely.

China Glaze Cat's Eye at night with flash

I am hoping this lasts longer than 48 hours for me. I prepped my nails differently. What I did this time was I smoothed out the ridges with one of those 3 sided nail buffers. I put on a coat of Gelous, two coats of Cat's Eye, and then was Sally Hansen Insta-Dri fast dry top coat in the red bottle.

Time to get on with my day. I do want to come back to review the Revlon Gel Envy polish and top coat. It will be interesting to see if I can squeeze that in somewhere between walking the dog, checking the mailbox, going to church, grocery shopping, and watching the Broncos play the Colts (on TV)!

ETA: I was able to sneak a couple more quick pics of Cat's Eye before church. Enjoy!

China Glaze Cat's Eye in natural morning sunshine

 Here's my other one...

China Glaze Cat's Eye in shady indirect morning light

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

October Claws (So Far)

I haven't been painting my nails as often as I thought I would be. The full time job thing takes up more time than I thought it would, plus I need to make time for the family as well. I do have a couple NOTDs to share with you though!

After my very last shift at Starbucks I went to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner and they have an OPI display there so I checked it out just for fun. And ended up getting a celebratory polish! I picked up Jinx, from the Bond Girls collection in the Liquid Sand formula. I thought it was a pretty pumpkin shade and it reminded me of a fire which would be perfect if we had a decent fireplace in our home. The weather is getting cooler here and I am loving it!

OPI Jinx. First day, no top coat.

I decided to accent with a top coat on my ring finger and thumbs the day after I painted. Sally Hansen InstaDri in the red bottle is now my current favorite TC. I like the effect it had, but it didn't turn out well in the photographs I took. Top coating it made it shiny and smooth. The shade deepened by a couple notches and the glitter was brought out and looked more dimensional.

OPI Jinx day 2 and 2.5. Top coat on ring finger.

After two and a half days it started getting brittle and chippy so it got taken off.

Next was Zoya Austine. I was kind of sad because when I brought out my Anchor base coat to use with it there was an odd ring of the base coat dried on the plastic part of the brush. I will need to see which thinner is compatible with Zoya so I can put a little in there and get it mixed up and happy again. Despite using no base coat, this one stuck strongly on my nails. It looked nice for three days before it started to chip from front office abuse I gave it.

Zoya Austine with *gasp* non-Zoya TC! ;)

I currently am giving the Revlon Gel Envy a go. I decided to get Cardshark, a creme bubble gum pink shade because I feel like when I wear lighter shades I'm less inclined to pick at them. I did a quick but surprisingly clean swatch of it in my car before I ran the rest of my errands but I did not top coat it. So tomorrow I'm going to put on another coat of color to even things out and I'm also going to use the Gel Envy Diamond Top Coat.

My first impression of this stuff is pretty high! After I did my two swatch coats I drove in the car for about 10 minutes with the top open. When I had to dig through my purse and wallet and got out my card to pay for gas I didn't see a single ding or smudge! Amazeballz! Since there are gel components to this line of polish and top coat, I think the sunshine helped cure them extra well. Hopefully my finalization of this mani tomorrow will yield good results. If it does, I may have found my new Holy Grail of Polish. I've been debating on getting Shellac or something at the salon but if this looks nice for the work week then I'm going to get a couple more colors from this line!

Stay tuned for more from the Claw-Set at a later date, and my final thoughts on the Revlon Gel Envy...

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

From The Claw-Set- All of 2014

Going through my hard drive it looks like 2014 must have been very busy for me at the coffee shop. I have no NOTDs on file until October! I broke out the China Glaze Ick-A-Body. I think I've worn this at least once every year since it joined my collection! It is just perfect for fall I guess =)

Admiring my sparklies in the sunshine!

Looks like you could use some thinner, Ick-A-Body.

It looks like in November I did OPI Merry Midnight with Zoya Chloe on top.

Look at all the pretty shimmery glittery flakey goodness!

In December I kept it simple with a bright, festive, quick drying red. Rimmel Passion. A wonderful one coat wonder and the line has sadly been discontinued *crocodile tears*

And we are done catching up with the Claw-Set! I have gotten to do my nails a few times in 2015 so I will gradually be featuring those too. Thanks for stopping by and i hope to see you soon!

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

From the Claw-Set: Part 2 of 2 for 2013!

Here's the rest of what I got to paint for 2013.

In June, I first played around with my Kiss Nail Art pen and did a traditional French Manicure which turned out pretty well, I think. I like the brush on those Kiss pens. It is long and thin and sweeps across the nail nicely.

Then I felt like doing a bright pink and OPI You're a Pisa Work fit the bill well.

OPI You're A Pisa Work in bright outdoor sunshine

OPI You're A Pisa Work, outdoor indirect sunshine

After that I did the purple China Glaze crackle polish with just my base coat underneath.

And that's all she wrote. That's it for what I got to do for my NOTDs in 2013! Thanks for looking, and if you would like to know any of the unidentified polishes let me know and I will gladly go to my stash and look them up!

 Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

From the Claw-Set: Part 1 of 2 for 2013!

I hope you're enjoying seeing my oldies but goodies. Here are most of my nails that I took pictures of for 2013.

In January I got to use OPI Hollywood Blonde. It is a sheer, glittery champagne shade.

In February I got the chance to play around for Valentines Day so I did Rimmel Passion with Nicole by OPI One Less Lonely Heart. That was from the Justin Bieber collection. I'm not a Bieber fan but I did like how part of the benefits from these polishes went to an educational charity.

In March I tried out Revlon Starry Eyed. This was supposedly a magnetic polish but I couldn't get it to work correctly. Maybe I'll give it another try soon.

April was Sally Hansen Deep Purple. I think I put this on for going to a Rockies game =)

In May I gave Zoya Lotus some love. I can't get over how pretty this is!

All righty, that's it for this post. I was able to do multiple manis in the upcoming months so I'll split this up because I think I've spammed you enough for now, LOL.

 Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

From The Claw-Set: December 2012

Thanks for stopping by! Here are the NOTDs that I did way back in December of 2012.

First I did "Big Bang" from the Afterglow line by moodmania. I bought some moodmania polishes at a nail supply store while I was living in Hawaii. The store owners told me that it was an independent company. I haven't seen this brand anywhere but that little shop I used to frequent. Big Bang is multi chromatic. It shifts from forest green with gold shimmer to a dark teal. I knew it wasn't going to be able to stay on my nails for very long so some of the pics I took were before it got cleaned up. Here are all my shots of it!

Then I was able to do my nails again later in the month and went for a fun, Advent Wreath inspired design. Off the top of my head I believe the colors I used were Orly Sterling Silver Rose, China Glaze Cleopatra, Orly Charged Up, and Sally Hansen Polar Bare.

Thanks for looking! I'd love to hear your comments too! Stay tuned for more archives...

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

I'm Back!

After almost two years of working at Starbucks I found a new job after I had been looking for several months. Now I have been hired as a receptionist at a Veterinary Office and not only do I get to see people's doggies and sometimes kitties, but I am allowed to have my nails done while working! So I am re-launching this blog!

I am composing this post on my tablet and don't have any of my usual pictures on it so hopefully tomorrow I can remember to get on my computer and give you some Claw-Set spam. :) I have been pretty excited to do regular painting again and just wanted to let you know!

Stay tuned and Happy Scratches
>^. .^< carakitty >^. .^<

August Claws- Blue, Pale Grey, Pink

According to the clock, it's already September but I'm still awake so my brain doesn't think so! Are you like that too, not counting it a new day until you've gone to sleep and woken up again? On to the last of my August Claws.

I did China Glaze "Blue Sparrow" for the 4th. It would have been one of my brother's 49th birthday, if he hadn't passed away from Leukemia. I wanted to do a cool color that he'd approve of. I think he would have liked this neon electric blue shade. It has aqua glitter suspended in it's slightly jelly-like base. It dries matte and is top coat hungry. I used my Revlon top coat before applying Poshe and that worked really well. Normally I end up doing extra top coats, and this time I didn't need to do anything else.

In the sun with one of my brother's favorite drinks, wearing China Glaze "Blue Sparrow".

China Glaze "Blue Sparrow" with Indirect light

Next I felt like doing something pale. The one that called out to me this time was "Sheer Your Toys" by OPI. This polish was not sheer, despite it's name. It is a shimmery pale dove grey with very subtle reddish copper flecks in it. There is also a bit of even more subtle pink shimmer too.

OPI "Sheer Your Toys" with Flash

OPI "Sheer Your Toys" in the sunshine

The month ended with pink claws! Orly "Sterling Silver Rose" is a bright mid-tone pink with a slightly frosty silver finish. It had the desire to be difficult and show every brush stroke at times but submitted nicely to me in the end ;)

Orly "Sterling Silver Rose" in the shade

Orly "Sterling Silver Rose", soaking up the sun!

I'm not sure what will be going on my claws after this. I may let them go colorless for a bit to test the new treatments I got. Good night and welcome to September!

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<

August Claws- Jade Frost and Anastasia

It's late here so I want to keep this post as short as possible but I don't want to put it off any more because it won't be August much longer!

I haven't been painting as much lately. My gel nails got removed because I didn't get to having them filled in time and they just started popping off one night as Mr. Kitty and I were watching an evening Rockies game.

So now I'm in recovery mode and today went out and bought a bottle of Instant Artificials and Gelous, to see if either of those will be helpful in my manicure routine.

As for the colors, there were a couple that I tried and they didn't last long enough for me to get a picture! They were an old Wet N Wild polish called "Jade Frost" and Zoya "Anastasia". Jade Frost is a frosty sage green. It was bountiful on brush stroke issues but it's still quite pretty. I wore it a long time ago, and these are the really old shots I took of it. These were from when I was a nail newbie and at the time had basic nail care down pretty well but didn't know jack about effective clean up!

26 October 2007! Taken at night with artificial light.

Morning sunlight

Zoya describes "Anastasia" as "A warm brown with strong purple tones with golden plum duochrome and heavy gold microglitter. Magical and versatile for sparkling fall beauty" I agree with the color being magical and versatile, and I see the gold microglitter in the bottle and on the nail. To me it is much more plum than brown though.

Well, well, what do you know? I do have old pictures of "Anastasia" hiding on my hard drive, also! These are from September of 2008. Both in the morning sun light but in different poses to show the color shift. The gold doesn't seem to show up as well in these shots but it is there, in real life!

Old Zoya Anastasia, morning light

Old Zoya Anastasia, morning light

I have no idea what happened to my recent "Anastasia" mani to make it die so quick. It never really dried completely. If the nails bumped into something they'd get a big dent and then I could make the polish just slide right off! If memory serves me correctly, back then I was using Seche Vite as my top coat but this time I used Poshe so I have a strong suspicion that there's some chemical incompatibility going on here. All Lacquered Up and Loodie Loodie Loodie have some great posts about this, which I will have to look up later.

That's all I have for now. There are three more colors I really want to show you but I just don't have it in me right now, sorry. I'm falling asleep at the keyboard here and the Labor Day weekend hasn't started, yet! I do promise to be back very soon to spam you nice, so please do come back!

Happy Scratches!
carakitty   >^. .^<