Reviva Labs Nasolabial Fold + Multi-Peptide Cream - a Great Cream With A Weird Name #RevivaLabs

Product Provided For Review.  All Opinions Are My Own.

Hello, Fireflies!

I'm learning the lingo of skincare.  I can say, "hyaluronic acid" three times, fast.  I am realizing the benefits of Niacinamide, and Retinols, and have tried more plant oils than you can shake a stick at.

So, when I was asked if I wanted to try Reviva Labs new Nasolabial Fold + Multi-Peptide Cream, my first response was, "Naso-what?" Maybe, yours was too.  I'm glad I can now pronounce it and I'm really glad I tried it, because now I have a fighting chance against those stubborn deep wrinkles around my nose (naso) and lips (labial)!

TRI-ing on Talons

 

Hello, Fireflies!

Let's just get this part over with, shall we?  Holy Frijole!

You've seen my nubs, so you know these talons aren't real.  They're KISS Everlasting French press-on nails.  I got them from Influenster, and took them for a spin.  After a day, I got bored with the plain French, and started doing different nail art looks, which I'll be showing you in the coming days and weeks.  They do look pretty good, and with a layer of Rica's Glossy Glam, they actually looked more real.  Fooled a friend of mine that does her own acrylics!

For the nude part of the challenge, well, the nail already has a nude part! I accented it with Ooh La Lacquer Matte-terial Girl, a collection of tiny nude/pink glitters in a matte base.

I was inspired by Robin Moses' Heart Flowers design for this look.  It was kinda fun to have a long nail as a base for this nail art.

After setting the background branches with my black striper, I used Avon Mango Melon (which looks red, but it did seem like coral!) with a little Born Pretty holo #3 to make the heart flowers.

Mentality Pastille didn't work for the leaves, really, but I did love it for the 'pollen' of the flowers.   Who needs leaves? This turquoise holo is so pretty.

Some more Glossy Glam, and we're done!

Bottle shot:  Ooh La Lacquer Matte-terial Girl, my black striper, Mentality Pastille,  Avon Mango Melon, and Born Pretty Holo #3.

I'm okay with my nubbins, but it was fun to wear talons for a few days.  There was So.Much.Room on my nails! Do you have a preference for looking at nail art on long or short nails?

An InLinkz Link-up

GOT Brushed Metal Circle Gradient

Hello, Fireflies!

I 'GOT' a lot of textures in my collection - I really like them.  Some of them look even better with topcoat, some are great with stamping over them, and some, like the ones I have today, have a great metallic vibe.

Enter the Brushed Metals collection from Avon.  You can probably still get these in one of their clearance sales.  I'm always seeing past collections come back in their outlet - and for much cheaper prices!  I loved all of these; though the colors are very subtle, they are all very metallic.

This nail art was inspired by the "Circle Gradient" technique from Polish, Glitter, Rock, and Roll, only I didn't use a sponge because of the texture.  I just dabbed it on.  I started with Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, and Avon Textured Topaz, a champagne yellow texture.

Can you see the very subtle purple in Avon Lilac Quartz?  I told you, the colors are subtle.  I was hoping the black undies would amplify them, but they are very thick polishes, and opaque on their own.

Avon Platinum is a soft, baby blue...which is kind of a weird choice for me.  Isn't platinum typically white?  Are there no blue metals? Not like Quartz is a metal, either, but they were okay with that name.  Everyone wants to be OPI with their quirky names.

All together, the colors create a lovely mesh of metallic texture! The blue really stands out for me.

In retrospect, a silver or gold polish might have worked better as undies instead of black.  Next time!

Bottle shot:  Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, Avon Brushed Metals in Textured Topaz, Lilac Quartz, and Platinum.

All the other textures I'm familiar with either went with chunky cremes or glitters - these are the only metallics I'm aware of.  Pretty cool, huh?

An InLinkz Link-up

Metal Head

Hi Fireflies!

Bang Your Head! Metal Health will drive you mad!

Avon Brushed Metals won't drive you mad, but they are pretty Metal.  This is Dusky Copper.

I love this polish.  It really does look like textured metal! This is pretty much one coat - it's thick, but has a pretty good formula.

I wanted to try a 'watercolor' mani with lots of metallics, so I used Maybelline Bold Gold and Essie's No Place Like Chrome, Penny Talk, and Nothing Else Metals. 

I'm not sure how I feel about it.. I kinda like the patina look, like it's water-worn and maybe even melted a little.  But, it also looks a little muddy.

I wanted to try a different look that showcased the metal texture, so I just added some large hexagonal gold studs, and topcoat.

Metal with metal.  Yeah.  That's Metal.

Bottle shot:  Avon Brushed Metals in Dusky Copper, Maybelline Bold Gold, and Essie's Nothing Else Metals, No Place Like Chrome, and Penny Talk.

How do you feel about metallics?  Only for stamping? As long as their shiny and reflective? Or do you like this brushed metal look?

That's Teal-ly Hard!

Hello, Fireflies!

I want to continue these comparisons with a favorite, teal.

Or is it?  I had such a hard time deciding if something was teal or turquoise, or aqua, etc.  By the time I was done, I didn't know what was what.  So, here's the deal:  I picked 5 colors in my untrieds that I thought were fairly close, and whatever they are, they are some kind of blue/green color.

First up is Literary Lacquers Lake of Shining Waters.  This is the color *I* think of when I think of teal.

This is a gorgeous holo, and it really does look like a mystical lake, or what I can imagine the lake in Anne of Green Gables looked like, as this polish collex was inspired by the book.

Avon Cosmic Celestial is not that teal.  I think of this as more aqua.  There is some green in there, but it's pretty subtle.

It is a really pretty scattered holo.  Blue/aqua/grey/green... what do you think?

Above the Curve Gratitude looks more teal to me, but it has a completely different finish - it's still holo, but it has a frosty shimmer, too.

It almost has a metallic look to it, but it's sheer at the same time.

Indigo Bananas Telephasic Worshop looks teal in the bottle, but it has a purple shimmer that is the kind of purple my camera hates to photograph.  It's quite strong, really, but I guess you'll have to take my word for it.

This pix shows you a *hint* of the purple. It also dries matte!  I put topcoat on it for these swatches, but in the comparison shot at the end of this post, I left it matte.  It totally changes the way it looks, though both are pretty cool.

Last, but not least is NailNation 3000 Gina...So Guess What?  which is her tribute polish to her friend and polish blogger.  NailNation is known for her holos, and this one is pretty holo!

Is this teal or turquoise?  Or neither?

In the bottle, the differences are there, but harder to see.  Bottle shot:  Literary Lacquers Lake of Shining Waters, Avon Cosmic Celestial, Above the Curve Gratitude, Indigo Bananas Telephasic Workshop, and NailNation 3000 Gina...So Guess What?

I suppose this would be the 'money shot'.  All the polishes next to one another for best comparison.  No dupes!  So many different finishes.

Teal, turquoise, aqua, blue... they are all beauties! Which is your favorite?

All that glitters is not gold...

But, today, it is!  Come see what I mean...

A while back, I tried this Avon Garden Green and really liked it.  Great blue shimmer, though it dries soooo slowly on me.  The lump on my ring finger?  I can't remember.

I layerd on some of Sephora for OPI It's Real 18k gold topcoat, and I loved it.  Oftentimes, I forget about layering, and then I "discover" it all over again.

So, I decided to try it over a few different colors and finishes, and see what, if any, I liked.  First up -

Maybelline Bare Escape.  This is part of an LE collection this spring/summer.  It's a barely there grey, almost white.  Application was ..meh.  I had some issues with it not leveling completely.  The shine on it is really nice, though.

In Real Life, I could barely see the gold flecks.  Very, very, very subtle.  Kind of a waste of real gold topcoat, in my opinion.  A gold glitter with bigger flecks might be just the ticket, though.

One of Butter London's spring pastels, Fruit Machine is a bubble gum pink.  Unfortunately, it had the same application problems as most of the other pastels from this collection.  Problems self-leveling, patchy application.

I really love pink and gold together, but again, this was almost too subtle for me.

Sally Hansen Complete Black and Blue.  A dark blue with cobalt shimmer, this one almost looks like a duochrome.  Two coats are definitely needed to get the full spectrum of color, and it goes on really well.  Really liked this one.

Now we're getting somewhere.  The darker colors are what's really needed to make the gold pop.  I loved the shimmer and shift from beneath the gold flake.

Este'e Lauder Dressed to Kill.  I am a huge fan of these polishes that have a burning glow from within.  This polish is right up my alley.  I think I may have even gasped a little when I put it on.

This was my absolute fave with the gold topcoat.  You can see the fire burning underneath, the gold popping on top, and every direction you look at the mani, you see another dimension of color.  There's even some gold within the polish.  This was a synergistic mesh of polish, where two become something greater by coming together.

ETA:  I was asked to do one with black and gold, so here it is: 

Wow, huh?  Love it.

I was too cheap to pay the full price for this topcoat when it came out, and snagged a bottle on sale.  It's a true luxury to have gold flakes on your mani, and I can see where there are times where regular gold glitter would be acceptable, and even preferable over real gold.

Are you over the gold flake topcoat?  Do you think it's too extravagant, or worth it for a once-in-a while luxury, or would you rock that every day in every way?

Ding-Dong, Avon calling! And it's glittery and dotty!

As most of you know, I don't have a creative bone in my body.  I love nail art, so I have to go and find other pictures that inspire me and do my own version.  I found this pin of nail art of dots on a black background (sorry, the pin didn't refer back to the originator! If you know who it is, please let me know so I can give credit.) and this is my version, that I did with all Avon polishes.

Sparkling Sky.  I thought this would be darker, but I'm glad it's a lighter grey.  I love the holo glitter!  I would definitely wear this on its own.

I decided to do swatches with a little pop of art for all the colors I used as the dots. 

Lime Splatter (with Art Orange and Garden Green).  This is kinda lime?  Very yellowy, with a green tint.  More like lime juice than lime rind.  For me, the Speed Dry formula is the way to go.  You'll see that some of the other ones just don't dry fast enough...

Art Orange (with Lime Splatter and Arctic Waters)  This is somewhere between bright orange and burnt orange.. like a 70s orange.

Smoky Plumes (with Arctic Waters and Garden Green.  Purple/Taupe/Mushroom creme.  That shimmer?  It's not in Smoky Plumes.  I accidentally dragged it from Garden Green when applying topcoat.  Nice effect, though, right? 

Garden Green (with Lime Splatter and Smoky Plumes)  Not quite a garden green, really, it's a little darker.  But the shimmer is great... if you can wait long  enough for it to dry.  The regular polishes just take forever on me to dry.

Arctic Waters (with Lime Splatter and Art Orange).  I've tried to hide it, but my accent finger is a hot mess because I couldn't wait for the blue to dry.  AGAIN.  Such a pretty blue, such an impatient girl.

All the pretties lined up in a row:  Sparkling Sky, Lime Splatter, Garden Green, Arctic Waters, Art Orange, and Smoky Plumes.

Have you tried Avon polish yet?  They are always having some kind of sale, and a few of these I got for about $2 on clearance.  Apparently they have some scattered holos coming out in Campaign 12 that I'm looking forward to getting on clearance in Campaign 13 or 14.. lol.  Some of these are still on clearance now - are you going to get any?