Saturday, February 19, 2011

Recent NOTD: Milani Purple Gleam

Purple Gleam is one of the polishes in Milani's One Coat Glitter line that first started showing up in stores near the end of last year. When I wore it, I actually used two coats; it could have been one, except I didn't quite have my brush loading technique quite right for its dense texture and had some bald spots on the first coat. For something this packed with glitter, it's surprisingly smooth once it's on; I used only my normal one layer of top coat with it instead of the two (or sometimes three) that some glitters demand.

My camera did not feel like capturing the color of the polish and the color of my skin at the same time, so I let it make my skin redder so the polish could shine in these photos.





Purple Gleam is one of the glitters that appeared in the new core Milani display when my Meijer store re-set it recently. I was hoping the Jewel FX silver would be there too; when it wasn't, I ordered directly from Milani. (It's number 7 on my chunky glitters wheel). Also missing from this new core display is Red Sparkle, which was in the special Rockstar display where these first showed up (you can see that at the bottom of this entry.



There's no room in this new core display for the holos. Meijer also dropped two of the neons (Techno Red and Totally 80s), but those are still on Milani's site along with all the holos. I'll be interested to see what happens when CVS re-sets their Milani core displays.

Before I took this off, something happened that hasn't happened in weeks: I was outside when there was some sunshine. It wasn't very bright sunshine, but was still quite nice to see. Here are my nails in all their tip worn glory:



When I took this off, I used the foil method. I pretty much always do for full glitters like this (and crackles and anything else that might be stubborn). I don't know who came up with this idea; I first heard about it on the MUA nail board. In case there's anyone reading who hasn't been exposed to this technique, I wanted to share it, because I'd hate to think anyone was avoiding the pretty, pretty glitters for fear of having trouble removing them. I use cotton rounds cut into quarters, saturate them with Zoya Remove+ (or pure acetone with glycerin added depending on how much I've felt like spending on remover), put them on my nails, wrap small pieces of foil over them to hold them in place and keep the remover from drying up, and wait a few minutes. I do one hand at a time because it's awkward to wrap the second hand with foil fingers. When I think I've waited long enough, I slide the foil and cotton off and almost all of the polish comes with, leaving just a bit to clean up.





The foil method: learn it, use it, love it.

14 comments:

  1. I love these, I bought them all and am not sorry at all

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  2. Purple gleam is soooo gorgeous. :) I'm also using foil method often, not just for glitters, also with some shimmers and when I have lots of coats on nails - it's really much easier to remove it without rubbing my nail, so I can avoid damage of my cuticles.

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  3. Such a gorgeous purple glitter! A one coat glitter would be great, my nails feel so thick after the 4 coats I use with most glitters!
    I have much love for the foil method :)

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  4. This color is so pretty ! I have to try the foil method, glitters are such a pain in the *** when removal time comes. Thanks for the info.

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  5. I was just about to buy this color but for some reason I just didnt believe it was one coat I would think about three or so, so thanks for sharing!!

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  6. the foil method should be listed as one of the 10 commandments in the nail bible - thou shalt use foil to remove glitteh! LOL

    Love the color on you, it reminds me of a lighter version of Wet n'Wild Night Prowl.

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  7. :0 I love your pictures of these. It looks great on you.

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  8. I was hoping CVS resets their displays but no luck with that.

    I juse use 100% acetone. I'm too lazy for the foil. LOL, but it works for me!

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  9. Thanks for the tip! I hadn't heard about it yet!

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  10. Pretty color!
    And thanks for the heads up about the holos. I would scream if they got rid of the Milani holos and I still didn't get the ones I wanted because I was procrastinating.
    Next time there's a BOGO on Milani, I'm definitely grabbing the silver and green ones.

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  11. This glitter is truly beautiful! Foil around fingers looks funny, but works ;)

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  12. Love this on you and have them all!
    Do you mind sharing what topcoat you used that requires only one coat to smooth out the glitter?

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  13. Thanks, ladies!

    ABOP, I just used my regular topcoat, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Anti Chip Top Coat (red bottle, not to be confused with the Insta Dri drops, which are also in a red bottle). It wasn't a brand new bottle, though, so has thickened up a bit and that probably helped with the glitter smoothing.

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Thank you for reading and commenting! I greatly appreciate knowing I'm not just talking to myself here. :) I'm moderating most comments now due to the spate of spammers who claim to be looking for sexy times.