Throwbacks Week: Milani Gracious Green

It's time for another week of throwbacks! I came across this Milani texture polish while rearranging my nail polish stash this past weekend. I'd say the texture trend has come and gone, but I know Zoya is still making PixieDusts for the upcoming holiday season? I don't think textures are really on trend now, but they're still out there. I never really got into the trend myself, outside of a handful of colors. This Milani one is really interesting. I'm not sure I love it, but I'm intrigued by it enough to give it a second go.

Gracious Green

Gracious Green is a sage textured green creme.

Collection: Milani Fall Textured Cremes 2013

Color: I like the color of this polish. I love sage greens in fall and this color is really flattering for me. It actually makes me wish I had more sage green polishes! The texture I'm not so sure about. It has that stucco wall type texture. It's certainly unusual and I kind of like, but kind of don't at the same time? I don't make sense!

Formula: I used 2 coats for this polish and it applied nicely.

Price: N/A. This is no longer available.

Overall: I'm so on the fence on this polish. I really don't hate it, and I kind of love it, but still not sure about it either! It's a great color I think that's why I love about it most, but that texture is just odd. It's definitely a unique polish in my collection that's for sure.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday!

Throwbacks Week: Milani Pink Out Loud

I desperately need to go through my Helmers and organize my stash. I haven't had an updated nail polish spreadsheet almost 2 years. It's bad. I don't know what I have and that's a problem. When going through my Helmers for this week's throwbacks. I came across this Milani polish that was one of my favorite blast from nail polish past colors.

Pink Out Loud

Pink Out Loud is a medium pink jelly with golden glass fleck glitter.

Collection: Milani Core 2010

Color: This is a color that came out around a time when brand were doing a lot of similar pinks to this. China Glaze Strawberry Fields, Zoya Meiko, and OPI Pink Me I'm Good come to mind. I love this pink. I love the jelly finish and that glass fleck shimmer. This is one of those polishes that looked pretty in the bottle, but looked stunning on the nails. 

Formula: Excellent formula that has withstood time. I used 2 coats here. 

Price: I do believe some etailers and eBay still have this color for purchase.

Overall: Pink Out Loud is the type of polish I'm happy to rediscover. I do not see polishes with finishes like this anymore and they're really beautiful. I also don't see pink nail polish that often anymore either. This is a gorgeous polish and one I'll be breaking out this summer.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 *Golden* Paint Splatters

Happy Wednesday! 

Third Week Throwbacks: Milani Mint Candy

Milani used to be an excellent brand as far as drugstore nail polish went. They usually had some great seasonal releases that had some special polishes. That all seemed to fade away in the past 2-3 years. I always question what happened, but someone told me recently what happened and now it all makes sense.

Gel nail polish happened. Once drugstore brands started releasing gel collections we stopped seeing new nail polish collections in the drugstore. No wonder I was clueless, I never buy gel polish. I guess gel nail polish sells more than unique nail polish. Oh well. I have an older Milani to show you today from one of those cooler fun collections of yesteryear.

Mint Candy

Mint Candy is medium dusty teal with a teal shimmer.

Collection: Milani Color Play January 2012

Color: I wouldn't really say this is much of a mint color it looks darker and more teal, but I like it anyways. I like the dusty tone of this shade and I think it makes it a great green that fits in winter or spring. The shimmer in this beautiful. I love matching color shimmers to the base.

Formula: Formula on this was alright. The formula is a bit thin for my tastes, but it still applied opaquely in 2 coats. It just wasn't as easy to control as I like.

Price: You can find this on Amazon in the $3-$4 range.

Overall: I like Mint Candy. I think it's a unique take on mint and it's definitely a different an all around beautiful color. I like the shimmer in it, and it really is type of color I don't see often these days.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Wednesday!

Third Week Throwbacks: Milani Blue Flash

Remember when drugstore brands had cool polish? I miss those days. I love indies, but I do miss the days when hunting for awesome drugstore polish was part of being a nail polish addict. I remember looking for this Milani collection all over town. I think the Walgreens and CVS employees then knew by name when I came in and always pointed me toward new nail polish. This polish came from one of my favorite drugstore collections to date. In fact, I'm surprised indies haven't created more polishes like these. I'd love polishes like this one in every color of the rainbow!

Blue Flash

Blue Flash is a opaque electric blue microglitter.

Collection: Milani Rockstar Heavy Glitter Winter 2010/2011

Color: Bling city-tastic. This glitter and the rest in this collection were spectacular. I love how these were opaque micro-glitters. These completely covered your nail and the colors were intense and bright. This color is a gorgeous blue and boy does it shine!

Formula: These all said "One-Coat Glitter" on the bottles. This isn't the case though, this was more like 2 coat glitter. That being said, I can EASILY forgive that based on how amazing it is. The glitter on this applied smoothly and easily. I will say I did need some thinner to thin this out after being in my Helmer for 5 years.

Price: Yes, you can still find this one on e-tailers for around $4.

Overall: I wish I may, I wish I might that someone make glitters like this in more colors. If there is an indie who has glitters like this please let me know! I love this finish and the one tone of color. This is an fantastic polish that has been a favorite of mine for the past 5 years. I love it and I'd love more!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 *Golden* Paint Splatters

Third Week Throwbacks: Milani Dot Com

It's time for another week of throwbacks. This week I wanted to share with you some of my fall favorites that I wear every year. These are staples in my nail polish collection that I will never turn my back on. The funny thing I realized is all the polishes I'm going to show you this week are from 2010. I must say 2010 was a good year for nail polish. Today, I have a oldie but goodie Milani to share with you.

Dot Com

Dot Com is a smokey plum base with intense metallic pinky,golden, copper shimmer/glitter bits.

Collection: Milani Liquid Metals Summer 2010

Color: This is one of those multi-dimensional colors. There is so much going on here that and in a very good way. The base color is a beautiful rich purple and the shimmer/glitter stuff going on here really makes this polish. This is a stunning nail polish and I really haven't seen anything like it since.

Formula: The formula on this is a bit lacking. It is not bad by any means, but it does take 4 coats to build to opacity. The base on this is a bit sheer, and can peak through if you don't have enough coats.

Price: This one, like many drugstore limited edition polishes has bit the dust. Sadly, I haven't been able to find this anywhere.

Overall: This is a beautifully complex polish. I adore it and it still a favorite of mine 5 years later. Like I said before, I haven't see anything like this since. It's unique and it's awesome!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday!

Third Week Throwbacks: Milani Juicy Glo

I love jelly polishes. The squishy and juicy look of jelly nail polish is always a draw for me. My first encounter with a jelly polish was probably around a little over 5 years ago when I came across an eye catching Milani polish. I'm pretty confident this was my first true jelly polish, and still remains a favorite today.

Juicy Glo

Juicy Glo is a true neon orange jelly.

Collection: Unknown approx around 2007

Color: This is one of those colors my camera had trouble with. This is so neon and bright that it freaked my camera out. It's even more neon than my camera picked up here. This is a great saturated neon orange, and it's most certainly a jelly.

Formula: Easy to use formula. I used 2 coats above. 2 coats in a jelly is still pretty unheard of today.

Price: You can actually still find this on some etailers in the $3-$6 range.

Overall: Look at the squishy goodness! I love this jelly. The color is vibrant and it's just so squishy!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Wednesday!

Throwback Thursday: Milani 3D Digital

Back in nail polish history there was time when finding holographic nail polishes was nearly impossible. There was a dry spell of holographic polishes I'd say around 2009-2012 before indies came to the rise. It was nearly impossible to find holographic nail polishes unless you went on eBay and were willing to shell out $$$$. 

Milani did come to the rescue in early 2010 with there own little holographic collection. No, they weren't the same as some of the older holos nor are they as holo-riffic as what we have now, but they did their job. I still like them because I do find they're just a bit unique from many holos today. I have one of those colors to show you now. 

Digital

Digital is a soft pink scattered holo.

Collection: Milani 3D Holographic Collection Early 2010

Color: This collection ahd subtle colors, but I like this one. Pink is kind of neglected color these days especially in holo. The holographic effect in this one is very scattered and the particles are large. I don't see that in holos currently which is why I really like this one. The holo effect isn't strong, but it does have a unique and sparkly finish.

Formula: This formula is very sheer. This was pretty typical of older holos. This took me around 4 coats to build up. 

Price: This isn't readily available anymore, but you can still find some online through etailers if you search. 

Overall: I like this old Milani polish. I know many people won't be wowed by it since there are so many amazing indie holos out now, but I think it's pretty special. I love the scattered glittery holo effect and the larger sparkly particles. The formula could be a bit better, but it's a cool polish and one I plan on holding on to. 

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Throwback Thursday: Milani Dress Maker

I have a nail polish to share with you today that was all the rage in summer 2010. This Milani polish was a near dupe to the highly sought after Chanel Jade nail polish that was selling for a couple hundred dollars on eBay. I felt like I won the lottery when I found this color, but now I'm not sure I did.

Dress Maker

Dress Maker is a light jade green with a matching luminous shimmer.

Color: This color is undoubtedly beautiful. In 2015, I can not think of another nail polish that even closely resembles this one. The shade of green is unique and that beautiful lit from within shimmer is original to a color like this. Hands down, Dress Maker is a beauty.

Formula: This is where things go awry. This formula is abysmal. In 2010, I would of considered this formula unfavorable, but not abysmal. It's only because formulations on nail polish have improved so much in 5 years I now say it's pretty terrible. This formula is a thin, liquidy, uneven, patchy, and sheer mess. I needed 4 coats to have this result, and I can still see many uneven and sheer spots. . When I wore this recently it never dried properly. I put it on 4 hours before bed, and woke up the next morning with a completely ruined mani by my sheets. This was 4 hours after I put quick dry top coat on it. This is is probably one of the worst formulas in nail polish I've used in the past 2-3 years. 

Price: You sadly, can no longer find this. It's long discontinued. 

Overall: If it were not for Dress Maker's rarity and beautiful color I would of easily tossed this in the trash. The formula is that bad by today's standards. I can't part with it though. I'm so disappointed with this one. When I rediscovered it I was so excited only be let down immensely. 

My Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday! 

Throwback Thursday: Milani Beach Front

I am really enjoying Throwback Thursday posts. It's really helping me to rediscover so many older nail polishes that I haven't been giving a lot of love. It's also helping rediscover some real gems when it comes to nail polish. Some of the polishes of yesteryear are pretty spectacular. This next one is a Milani I had completely forgotten about.

Beach Front

Beach Front is a baby blue creme packed with a micro silvery glass fleck glitter.

Collection: Milani Spring 2012

Color: I'm wearing this color right now. This is a perfect spring blue. The color is vibrant and saturated. No, as a creme this wouldn't be original, but add that glass fleck glitter and it's one of kind.

Formula: This formula was good and applied well. It was just the slightest bit thick, but I did not have any real trouble.

Price: Fear not, you can still purchase this one. A search online will get you many different results from eBay or Amazon in the $5-$8 range.

Overall: I'm so happy I rediscovered Beach Front. This a beautiful blue springtime polish, and probably one of my favorites from Milani! I think this is one many would like in their collection.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday!

Milani Color Statement Lacquer: Coral/Nuetral/Orange

I have some of the new Milani Color Statement line lacquers for you today. I've been dividing these up by color families to share with you. I'm grouping a few families together here since there were not that many of those individual colors.

I'll be doing one finger swatches of this line since it's so large! Be sure to check out my review of the greens, pinks, and blues.

Corrupted Coral

 Corrupted Coral is a pink-toned coral creme.

Mauving Forward

Mauving Forward is a plum-mauve creme.

Pink Beige

Pink Beige is a pink-toned nude creme.

Mango Tango

Mango Tango is a bright red orange creme.

Colors: The colors here are nice. They're not the most original colors, but great staple colors. I really love Pink Beige, as I find pink-toned nudes harder to come by.

Formula: The formulas on these were good. I did find Corrupted Coral to be a bit thick and harder to use than the rest. That seems to be the same for all of the pastel and lighter colors in this collection.

Price: These polishes can be purchased on the Milani site or CVS for $3.99 each.

Overall: Nice selection of colors there. They're not original, but I do really like Pink Beige. The formula is standard as well, but the price is great if you do not have colors like this in your stash already.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday!

Milani Color Statement Lacquers- Greens

* I received the following products in exchange for my honest review.

I have the green shades of the new permanent Milani Color Statement lacquers to show you today.

The past 2 weeks I have posted the blues and the pinks, so be sure to check those out if you haven't yet.

As the past few times, I will doing one finger swatches in order to save time. I have more shade families of this line to show you over the coming weeks!

Mint Crush

 Mint Crush is a pale mint creme.

Tattle Teal

Tattle Teal is a medium teal creme.

Silhouette 

Silhouette is a dusty sage with a very subtle shimmer.

Color: Beautiful saturated colors. Mint Crush and Tattle Teal are not very original, but if you don't have colors like this in your stash already, these might be nice to add. Silhouette is a stand out shade to me. I rarely see a green like this in drugstore brands. I also adore this color!

Formula: Tattle Teal and Silhouette had excellent and easy to use 2 coat formulas. Mint Crush like the other pastels I've reviewed in this line was trickier to apply. I found it a bit streaky and hard to level.

Price: These can be found at CVS or the Milani website for $3.99 each.

Overall: Nice selection of green shades. Silhouette is beautiful color, and not something I typically would see offered in a drugstore brand. I highly recommend Silhouette. Tattle Teal is a great standard teal color, and I'd recommend it if you don't have a teal like it in your collection. Mint Crush, beautiful color, but a tricky formula. I would say you could probably find a similar color with a better formula in another brand.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Milani Color Statement Lacquers- Pinks

*I received the following products in exchange for my honest review. 

I introduced you to the blue portion of the Milani Color Statement lacquers last week, and I have the pinks for you this week.

This line features 37 lacquers, and part of the permanent line as of now. As mentioned before, I will be doing one finger swatches of these polishes in effort to save time, and so I am able to show you them in shorter amount of time.

Doll Face

Doll Face is a cool-toned pastel pink creme.

Bombshell

Bombshell is a warm-toned light bubblegum pink creme.

Hot Pink Rage

Hot Pink Rage is bright magenta pink creme.

Colors: A nice range of standard colors. These are not original colors, but they're great basic colors to have in your nail polish collection if do not have any like them.

Formula: Bombshell and Hot Pink Range both had creamy and easy to apply 2 coat formulas. Doll Face was a tricky and streaky formula, that did not want to self level entirely.

Price: These can be found at CVS or the Milani website for $3.99 each.

Overall: There are some nice pink options here. If you're looking for shades like this, you will like Bombshell and Hot Pink Rage. Doll Face is a nice color, but I think there might be similar colors out there with a nicer formula.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Milani Color Statement Lacquer- Blues

*I received the following products in exchange for my honest review.

Milani's has released a new Color Statement line of polish. This line consists of 37 nail lacquers! The line features everything from cremes, glitters, shimmers, metallics, and sheers and all in a wide range of colors.

In an effort save time since this collection is so large, I will be breaking up this collection by color families over the next several weeks, and doing one finger swatches.

I have the blue shades to share with you today!

Ink Spot

Ink Spot is blackened navy creme.

Water Front

Water Front is a bright aqua blue creme.

Blue Print

Blue Print is a bright cobalt blue creme.

Peri-wink

Peri-wink is a pale periwinkle blue shimmer.

Colors: These are staple nail polish colors. What I mean by that is these are not necessarily original shades at all, but they're definite foundation colors for your nail polish stash. The colors are saturated, and if you don't have color like any of these in your collection, I'd recommend snagging one of these.

Formula: Ink Spot, Water Front, and Blue Print were all easy to use 2 coat formulas. A word of warning, Water Front is stainer, so beware! Peri-wink was a weird formula for me. I found it to be a streaky, tacky, and not very self leveling. It wasn't the worst formula ever, but it did test my patience. The shimmer in Peri-wink is non-existent on the nail.

Price: These can be found at CVS or the Milani website for $3.99 each.

Overall: Really nice range of blue shades. Again, not original, but must have colors in your stash if you don't have them already. I loved the formulas on 3 out of the 4, and they're at an awesome low price.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Milani Bella Blue

*I received the following product in exchange for my honest review. 

I have a stunner of a polish to show you today! You know those nail polishes that look very inconspicuous on first glance, but when you take a closer look and put it on your nails....BOOM? It turns out to be some nail polish masterpiece? Yes, yes, people. This is what we have here with this Milani from their Bella Blue Limited Edition summer collection.

Bella Blue

 Bella Blue is a black sheer base with an intense teal duochrome shimmer.

Color: This is a stunningly beautiful polish. The intensity of that shimmer, and how it lights up against the base is gorgeous! This polish does a slight duochrome, I couldn't pick up in the photo. This polish does shift from a teal to purple dependent on the angle you look at your nails. Stunner!

Formula: Awesome formula, so easy to use and smooth. Do not let the "black sheer base" worry you. This is 100% full coverage in 2 coats. The shimmer is so saturated this polish isn't sheer when applied in 2 coats.

Price: This can be found for an average of $5.00 at Walgreens, Kmart, and Fred Meyer stores.

Overall: Bella Blue is one of those, I'm not sure I can sum up any more than I did already? It's stunning. The formula is awesome, and just look at it!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

New Milani 2014 Nail Lacquer (Pic Heavy)

*I received these products in exchange for my honest review.

I'm rounding out my posts on the new polishes for Milani in 2014. I believe these are extensions/new additions to their core line. These polishes are mix of nudes, neutrals, and conservative colors.

Canyon Country

Canyon Country is a warm red-orange creme.

Cupid's Touch

Cupid's Touch is a medium pink creme.

Golden Romance

Golden Romance is an intense rose gold shimmer base with golden glitters.

Heather

Heather is a muted purple mauve creme.

Iced Mango

Iced Mango is a red-orange shimmer.

Mauve Medley

Mauve Medley is a deep mauve creme.

Peach Innocence

Peach Innocence is a peachy nude creme.

Mulberry Sugar

Mulberry Sugar is a red-brown shimmer.

Vanilla Almond

Vanilla Almond is a pale nude creme.

White

White is a white creme.

Colors: These are definitely more understated colors. I do like Golden Romance and Heather. The rest I do feel are not really my personal style. That being said, they do cater to people who are not crazy nail polish addicts like me who want to wear blue, neons, and glitter bombs. If you're going for understated and conservative colors at a drugstore price, these will fit wonderfully.

Formula: I thought the formula on these was easy to use and all applied well. I used 2 coats in all swatches above except for White and Golden Romance where I used 3.

Price: These are $3.99 and will be available at CVS.

Overall: Not really my cup of tea as far as colors, but they are well made and will appeal to people who prefer more nude and neutral nail looks.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!