Being hip and runway ready - Milani Haute Value Collection

Good day my lovelies!

Hope everybody is having a good weekend so far =)
Thanks to my injury, I had plenty of time this afternoon to play a bit with Milani's newest Collection. Don't you think as well that Milani has just been throwing one after the other collection on the market? Usually, when you release too many things at once, the quality isn't the best. Not so with Milani! Starting with the Hot Metals, Photo Flash and now with the Haute Value collection, Milani has me totally hooked, I mean, we are not playing in Essie's Zoya's or OPI's league here, we are talking simple drugstore polish! Don't you just loooove unique polishes that apply great and are under 5 bucks? I definitely do!
So what does the Haute Value Collection feature? We have 5 new polishes, which names that are all sort of Fashion Ave/Runway inspired:

1. Tailor Made - featured in pics
2. Hot Hot Hot - like the name, a bright hot red
3. Fashion Design - a romantic coral shade
4. Dress Maker - featured in pics
5. One of a Kind - featured in pics

Additionally, you have a milky golden/orange Topcoat. I guess this is the only "failure" in the collectionon't get me wrong, it is a really pretty glitter topcoat, but I do have the feeling Milani tried to sort of copy Sally Hansens Hidden Treasure here, which didn't work, as the glitter is just glitter and no flakies in sight :-)

But enough talk, I will fill you in on the details with the graphic evidence hee hee

I got all polishes except for the red and coral one, my skin no like colors that are too warm (darn, the coral one lookes gooooood!)


Milani Haute Value Collection

Tailor Made
Now isn't this the prettiest rain cloud colored baby blue gray pearl polish you have seen in a while? This one is the sheerest of the bunch, which makes it great for layering, but you do need at least 3 coats for full color coverage. The first coat looked yuck and streaky, after the second coat: soooooo much better! But see for yourselves:


sunlight:





bottle pic to show the micro pearl shimmer



indoors, natural light






indoors, artificial light






Dress Maker
This seriously is THE STAR of the collection. According to other bloggers, this is a 100% knock-off of Chanels sought after Jade polish. Unfortunately I can't judge that myself, as I don't own Chanel Jade. Nevertheless, this is soooooo beautiful, as it is not another mint color, but a true light green jade color with jade pearl shimmer in it. I was not able to catch its true beauty in my swatches, so sorry for that!


sunlight
I tried different angles to catch the shimmer, but it didn't really work







bottle pic



indoors, natural light



indoors, artificial light





One of a Kind
Pitch black, with a very nice glossy vinyl like finish. This one was a bit on the runny side though and the first coat looked like I dipped my nails in dirt *eek*!
You will need at least three coats to get this baby to look really black. But since the polish is so thin, you could even easily do 4 layers and don't feel like you got a ton of gunk on your nails. This is nice, especially as a black base for layering *whistle*

sunlight



indoors, natural light



indoors, artificial light





High Fashion Glitter Topcoat
As I already said, as a Hidden Treasure Clone a complete failure, as a regular glitter topcoat a nice addition to any collection :-)


sunlight



indoors, natural light




indoors, artificial light






So, we're not quite done yet!
As you gals know me by know, I am Auntie layer-it-all, so here come some layering pics =)


I used One of a Kind as a base, then

Index: Tailor Made
Middle: Dress Maker
Ring + Index: High Fashion

Tailor Made layers beautifully, whereas Dress Maker looks pretty streaky, so this one is not recommended for layering by me


sunlight







indoors, natural light



indoors, artificial light






But now that's the end my dears!
I hope you enjoyed this review! Have a wonderful remaining weekend and read you back here soon!

Little 80ies Flashback - Milani HD Neons in Pink Rocks and Fresh Teal

Hello and Welcome!

Today I am taking you guys on a little time warp trip with 2 beautiful neon polishes from Milani. I know, the 80ies are definitely over by now, but hey, neons are definitely a must have for me when we are talking summer, so it is sun, sand and neons for me :-)
I got those two polishes way back in march, when they were released together with the Milani Holographic polishes, but youcan still find them at drugstores, Milani's website or cherrycouture. Back in march the weather was still meh and I wasn't really too motived to try those polishes. But now with some nice weather, hey, I needed to get these babies out and swatched asap. So here we go :-)

Both polishes, Pink Rocks and Fresh Teal, appy really easily, but the first coat is waaaaaay sheer. I needed three coats until I got them opaque enough for me, which works without problems as the formula is on the thin side, so no gloopy thick coats here. The polish dries like most neons really quick (which is a nice plus) and has a semi matte finish, meaning matte but with a subdued shine. Like it! So you can either play up the shine with a topcoat, or go totally matte with a matting topcoat, like Essie's Matte about you, your choice ladies ;-)
All the polishes come in a colored bottle, so you can't actually see the polish until you open it. Weird. Fortunately, the polish turned out to be pretty color true to the bottle color, but still weird.
Overall, these babies are not quite as bright and in your face as for example China Glazes Poolside Collection, they are (if you could even say that about a neon) a little subdued. Still bright and fresh, but not jumping in your face.

So on to the picture evidence!


Milani HD Neon in Pink Rocks
sunlight


artificial light, flash


indoors


indoors, artificial light




Milani HD Neon in Fresh Teal
sunlight


artificial light, flash


indoors


indoors, artificial light




I definitely need to get some more beauties from this collection, I am thinking of Totally 80ies, a smiley bright yellow and Rad Purple, name says it all....
Hope you guys liked this!

Opal Flakies! - P2 Private Color Party Polishes

Helloooooooo readers!

Today I got something really special for you! 3 new polishes from P2's limited edition called Private Color Party. The color range is light raspberry pink, grape purple and a dark sky blue. All of them feature a huge load of medium sized opal flakies, yay!
The polishes are okay to apply, a bit too runny for my taste but still okay. I would have loved them to have a more jelly like base, the base is extremely sheer unfortunaltely. But again, this flaw turns into a big advantage when you use these babies for layering.
So please enjoy today's flakie goodness!

P2 Color Party Polishes



From Left to Right: P2 Gorgeous!, P2 So Cool!, P2 Attraction!




P2 Attraction!



I just had the idea of showing you the different levels of coverage from this polish, so starting from top to bottom I applied 1, 2 and 3 layers of polish





P2 So Cool!



This one was the sheerest out of the bunch, again I did 1,2 and 3 coats starting top to bottom




P2 Gorgeous!



With just one coat, the color appears almost more pink than purple




P2 Gorgeous! Layered over 2 different purples



Index + Middle: P2 Glamorous
Ring + Pinkie: OPI A Grape Fit!




P2 So Cool! Layered over 2 different blue polishes



Index + Middle: Essie Aruba Blue
Ring + Pinkie: China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-Le




P2 Attraction layered over different reds



Index + Middle: OPI Manicurist of Seville
Ring + Pinkie: China Glaze Skate Night




All three layered over a blackened blue polish, Milani Midnight Satin



I really like how the blue suddenly pops out




All 3 layered over a blackened red, OPI Midnight in Moscow



again, the blue one turns out to be the dominant color




Last but not least, I matted out all three polishes with Essie's Matte about you



Now you can really notice the opal flakes!




So that's it for today, hope you liked the flakies!
The P2 LE unfortunately is only available in german drugstores :-(