Revlon rocks!

Ok so here's something that I'm frankly shocked that I'm doing. A make up review. For those of you who know me, you know that I do not wear make up. Like, ever. On rare occasions that hubby and I get a night out without the kiddos, I've been known to brush on some mascara - I do love my eyelashes - and a little eyeshadow but that's, maybe, twice a year. 

I love the way my nails look with nail polish on but I rarely take the time to put it on because it ALWAYS starts to chip off within 24 hours. My nails are soft and they bend a lot so there are always cracks that turn into chips on the tips. 

In the past, I've tried gel manicures and they rock. But I don't have the time or money for the upkeep and they totally ruined my nails when I finally removed the polish. So when I saw an ad on tv for Revlon's new gel color envy I thought I'd give it a shot. (Full disclosure: I have not been paid by Revlon nor have I received any other type of compensation. I’m just not that known as a blogger. Yet. Ha ha.) My first shopping attempt at Target, land of the hundred dollar receipt, came up empty handed because they didn't have the top coat. Luckily, my youngest daughter landed herself an ear infection a few days later and an 8:00 pm trip to the pharmacy with a 15 minute wait for the prescription netted me a bottle of #630 hot shot and top coat. 

After putting the littlest munchkin to bed with a belly full of antibiotics and sitting down with a beer, I decided to brush on a quick coat or two of the polish just to see if it would live up to the hype in my head and the amazon reviews that I had read. But first, a little background about my polishing style first though. Ya know those people who brush polish all over their fingers, onto the skin next to the nail and the cuticle and everything? Yeah that's me. My typical routine used to be to do my nails and they take a hot shower so that I could peel all of the excess polish off. (How come nobody ever told me about the petroleum jelly trick?!) So the first thing that amazed me about this polish was the brush. Even in my hasty attempt to get color on my nails, I only got a few spots of color on my skin. I don’t know if all nail polish brushes are like this nowadays (since it’s been AGES since I did my nails last) but the brush on the gel envy polish seems to be contoured. It’s longer in the middle, shorter on the sides and its slides right into the valley between my nail and my skin and covers the side of the nail perfectly. This. Is. Amazing! I’ve NEVER been able to get polish over my entire nail without the whole 'hot shower, peel off’ routine.

I did 2 quick coats and went to bed and did the top coat in the morning. I did not buff my nails and there’s a wicked ridge in there right now for some reason. Again, I was working quickly, so my results weren't salon beautiful but for me they were better than usual.

Day 2 of wear

Next time I'll take a little more time and buff my nails to get rid of some of the bumps. I have a feeling this will be my new go to polish and I'll be snagging another color when I go to the land of the hundred dollar receipt later today. 

What I continue to love about this polish as I wear it is the durability. As I’ve mentioned before, we’re in the process of moving so I’ve been cleaning kitchens and installing shelves, removing cabinet doors, changing locks, etc and the color has held up phenomenally. I can reliably go 3 days without a single chip which, to some, might not seem like a long time but it’s at least triple the time that I used to get from my polish.

So far, I’ve tried:
430 Showtime which is great for when I’ve just had the purple streaks in my hair re-dyed and my nails get stained purple. And is showing up as blue on the website even though mine is dark purple with sparkles.
630 Hot shot - The lovely fall orange above
640 Joker’s wild - a nice pale orange 
440 Wild card - a blue that I thought I was too old to pull off but ended up loving more and more every day I wore it
Cardshark - This one almost went back to the store. The color is a baby pink and I didn’t think I could pull this one off either. I happened to see a picture that I had taken of it the other day and decided that while it’s not my typical color, I really quite like it. I’ll be giving it another shot.

If you’ve been struggling with keeping polish on your fingers, give this stuff a shot. I think it’s truly converted me back to a nail polish wearer. Thank you Revlon for renewing my love of nail polish!

Cardshark-ready for a second try

Showtime-one of my faves!