Milani Neons - Four Selections

 

On the same visit to the CVS drugstore that I scored my Milani holo haul, I also picked up a few of the Milani neons. I believe that Milani has 8 of these neons, while the CVS seemed to have 6, and I selected 4: left to right, "Fresh Teal," "Rad Purple," "Dude Blue," and "Techno Red."

  

The teal seemed to be a real teal (it seems so many things labeled teal aren't really my expectation of teal!), but it was bluer than the bottle and tended towards a turquoise tone of teal. The purple has magenta tones to it, while the Dude Blue was a bit darker than pictured here. The red was a hot coral red---very pretty! The purple and red dried to a somewhat matte finish, what I would called a "waxy matte" like candle wax, while the teal and blue had some gloss.

  

  

  

Remember, the blue is darker than this in real life!

  

  

I only did a quick look at these polishes, and below is the only picture I have in sunlight, coming in through my dining room window (the pillow is there for my cats to enjoy!). I need to play with these further, outside and in the light but this quick introduction should give an indication of what they look like on the nails. They are fun, bright, and a bit hard to capture with my camera!

 

Comparison of Milani Holos vs China Glaze Kaleidoscopes

 

Wow, the response to my very first giveaway has been just tremendous!! And continuing with the Follow for Holos, aka Holla for Holos, theme, I present here a comparison between the Milani holos (which are part of the giveaway) and the Kaleidoscopes that I have (8 out of 12 in the collection).

The purple Milani "Hi-Res" is rather a grape purple (like grape juice, not the wine-colored grape), and is not duplicated by my Kaleidoscopes. The yellow-green Milani "Hi-Tek" is also not duplicated. The four Milani holos that can be compared are the gold, silver, blue, and pink. 

I think the closest comparison is between the blues. The Milani blue, "Cyberspace," has a bit more blue to it but is otherwise very close to China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out. Ring finger = Kaleidoscope Him Out; middle finger = "Cyberspace."

 

  

 Interestingly, I consider China Glaze How About A Tumble to be in the purple family, albeit a lighter purple; at the same time, I consider Milani "Digital" to be pink. Yet, these two polishes were a fairly close match. Not a dupe, mind you, but they match up fairly well. In person, How About a Tumble shows more purple than Milani Digital. Ring finger = How About a Tumble; pinky = Digital.

 

 

All together, both comparisons:

  

  

Now, let's look at the gold and silver Milani holos, which have much more metallic surfaces than It's My Turn and Visit Me in Prism, which are more gold-colored and silver-colored rather than literally gold or silver metallic.

  

Ring finger (left) = China Glaze It's My Turn, and middle finger = Milani "3D" (with the same blooper as in my post on the Milani holos!). Below, see the holo "blaze" effect on the China Glaze as opposed to the Milani? They are both beautiful; I think it's a matter of what look one prefers, gold metallic versus a yellow-gold-colored. (The index is wearing the Milani silver "HD").

  

 

Below, I've left the silver Milani "HD" on the index finger, and now China Glaze "Visit Me in Prism," the icy, silvery holo, is on the middle finger.

  

  

  

  

  

The latter picture is from a different perspective, looking up the nail to see the holo shine!!

None of these are exact dupes, but hopefully one can see the similarities and differences between these four pairs.

Announcing My First Giveaway---Holla for holos!

ETA: Hi! Thanks to everyone for the wonderful response to my very first giveaway!! Entries are now closed. Thanks, and good luck!!

Well, it's my giveaway so I can name it whatever I want, lol! No matter how corny. I accidentally ordered an extra bottle of Spin Me Round from Victoria Nail Supply. Thus, my loss (buying the extra I don't need) is going to be someone else's gain!!

If you are a follower of this blog, you qualify to receive this giveaway. But wait---there's more!! I cleared out my local drugstore's Milani Holographic Polish display in order to sweeten the pot, so to speak.

So, the first place winner gets the Spin Me Round plus a set of 6 Milani holos. I will also give some Milanis to a second place winner.

 

  

 

I am THRILLED to have 37 followers, currently. And at only 37 followers, this giveaway will be one of the easier ones to win!

1) Be a follower.
2) Leave a comment on this post between now and March 4 11:59 pm EST and tell me what holographic polish is your favorite.

Bam! You're entered!! On Friday, March 5, I will announce 2 random winners!!!

International followers are totally eligible as long as you live in a place where I can legally ship nail polish. I will send the package, and you will be responsible for any customs duties. I'll do my best to pack it up safely but of course if something happens beyond my control, I won't be responsible for any breakages in transit. I'll cry and commiserate, though, certainly!

Okay, sign on up! You won't be sorry, these are heavenly holos.

Milani Holos!!

 

This past weekend I decided to try to find the elusive Milani holographic polishes that I had been hearing so much about. I decided to try a 24 hour CVS branch that sometimes seemed to have the special polish collections, and voila!! There was a nice, pristine, full display of the Milani holos. Yay! I immediately snatched them up. 

These polishes are quite similar to the China Glaze Kaleidoscope series and come in six colors. Let's check out the four regular colors first, then the two metallics.

  

We have purple ("Hi-Res"), green ("Hi-Tech"), blue ("Cyberspace"), and pink ("Digital)" colors. 

  

  

  

The colors are pretty and attractive enough indoors without any light shining on them. Moving on towards the rays of sun streaming through my windows, then:

 

  

  

  

  

Ah, the little white crystals spring into action and shine and reflect colorfully!! Very nice, Milani! Now, we also need to look at the other two colors, which are silver ("HD") and gold ("3D").

 

These two metallics have a smooth metallic effect, shown here in the indoors, below:

 

And, now with the light on them, you can see the sparkle and the holo effect, although, with the metallic surface, not to the extent of the other four colors. We don't see the "blaze" or oil slick effect of the others.

 

  

  

Oops, the gold got a little messed up, as it wasn't quite dry. 

 

You can see how the light hits the shiny, metallic surface especially well in the following:

 

Well-done, Milani! I really like this collection. The blue and pink are similar to a couple of my Kaleidoscope polishes, so I think a follow-up post is merited for comparison's sake. Otherwise, these are excellent additions to my growing holo collection!!

Milani special collections can sometimes be hit or miss: Are these showing up in your local drugstores now?? Do you own any?? What is your favorite Milani holo??!

Glitter with a Work Look??

I don't think that glittery polish or nail art are really "me." I tend to like rich, creme polishes in deep or dark colors with some occasional pale or bright colors, and I have gotten where I like shimmery polishes in really pretty colors. Especially shimmers that have a base color and a different color shimmer. Ooh! Ah!

I have seen some nail art that I have liked, though. And, the furor over glittery polish has also seduced me a bit...to the point where I have gotten a bit obsessed with it. I never would have thought I would be seeking glittery polishes. This is where the drugstore thing comes in. I haven't found as much crazy drugstore glitter as I had hoped, but cheap is the best way to try something I didn't really think was for me.

I've gotten to thinking, though. Why not a purely glitter polish in a dark or neutral color with a work-casual outfit? I am thinking of a brown fall or winter outfit that is a monochromatic look of browns....light or golden brown in all one shade or similar shades, then with matching nails of glitter!! No crazy multicolor glitter peaking out of regular nail polish, but just a smooth crust of brown metallic glitter on the nail. Perhaps the same thing with dark red, dark gray, or navy/midnight blue. The idea is to add an additional texture to a monochomatic look.

To imagine my idea of glitter polish, think of taking some glue and putting it thinly and evenly over the entire nail. Then, take some pink glitter and shake it gently and evenly onto the nail. Shake to remove excess. And there you go:


Psych! Obviously, I didn't do that with glue and glitter, but used a drugstore find from Milani: "Disco Lights." This glitter polish pictured has just the pink glitter, the sort of monochromatic glitter look I am going for in a more neutral tone.

Why not put this one with a gray outfit? Oversize or belted grey cardigan, gray wool pants, gray suede shoes and handbag, and soft pink tailored button down. AND pink glitter nails!! It would add texture and a wee bit of bling to an otherwise attractive but very conservative outfit, just as a metallic handbag would.


See? (I am paying homage to my beloved, dead Prescriptives makeup line whose fall campaign had a pinstripes and pearls theme).

Okay, you probably wouldn't want to hire me as your stylist, but I have now stated my fall fashion style mission. I already have China Glaze "Ruby Pumps" which is a classic red glittery polish, and so fun! "Ruby Pumps" contains glitter, but I want a look that IS glitter. Two polishes I ahve been eyeing are from the Lippman Fall 2009 collection, Ruby Red Slippers (glitter and SEQUINS! how cool is that) and Superstar (a brownish glitter). See examples of them on the finger at All Lacquered Up.

Have mission. Will shop.