Monday, August 10, 2009

Bright Milani Nail Polish & M44

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I thought I'd continue with the cheapo and easy to find theme, so I have a couple of Milanis for you. I only tried this brand for the first time about two years ago, since CVS wasn't so big in the Midwest until then. That's the only place I really see them in the Midwest. In downtown Chicago, the odd Walgreen's would have them, but that was not the norm, and I've never seen that aside from downtown in Illinois (although I haven't been to every Walgreen's in Illinois, so what do I know!).

I'll start with the good news: I like them - good color selection, usually opaque in 2-3 coats, cheap, available. I just read a bottle, and they're Big Three Free as well. No formaldehyde resin, none of the bad stuff, so they're good for ladies with allergies to formaldehyde too.

The bad news is they really, really apply like they're Big Three Free. I checked the label as a formality, largely for the formaldehyde resin - I knew right away they had to be B3F. Very thick, but kind of watery and slippery, definitely hard to control. I have two for you today, one was manageable, one was barely workable. I say this from the perspective of having a strong preference for B3F nail polish, with lots of practice with many formulas, and these were definitely harder than average to work with.

Overall, though, they're cheap with good colors, good coverage, available, so I say they're worth the hassle of tricky application.

I'll start with the weaker one, Pink Pop, a mid-tone bright pink creme. This one was the super difficult to apply one. Cremes can be trickier, so we'll just write it off to that! This is three coats with Konad Princess Nail Polish in Coral Blue on the tips, using a pattern from Konad plate M44 I don't believe I've used before. It's my Nails of the Day today, and I'm happy with it. It's rainy, so I had to use artificial light.

Milani Nail Polish
Milani Nail Polish Bottle

The next one, which I wore yesterday, I really liked. It's Milani Bolting Blue, which I may have shown you before. It's a great blue in any case, very striking, particularly, in my little opinion (whatever it's worth!) against very pale skin. It's a vivid medium blue shimmer, a real jewel tone blue. This one also required three coats, but was not nearly as hard to apply as Pink Pop. I added the two-stripe pattern from Konad plate M44 using Konad Special Nail Polish in White. The result initially reminded me of 1970's running shoes, but then the similarity to a racing car was pointed out. Either way, this one was fun! I didn't Photoshop these pictures at all, which were taken in the afternoon sun - the blue is just a bit brighter than my camera can handle when the sun hits it, I think.

Milani Brand Nail Polish
Milani Brand Nail Polish Bottle

Those are my bright Milanis with Konad plate M44.

I was thinking of this as I started this post, and since we haven't had a poll in a while and I'd certainly like your input on this one, I'll ask you: as I go through unpacking the stash in bits and pieces, would you like to see theme weeks? God knows I could do theme months, but I was thinking a week would provide variety. For example, drugstore week, easy-to-find week, hard-to-find week, import week, etc., just a mix of things, which I'd try to present in a way that alternated what's hard to find in the U.S. and what's easy for us to get here, now. I'd interrupt a week for a new collection or whatever the "breaking news of the day" coming out was, but thought that from a reader's perspective, it might be kind of fun to have the themes.

That's just a thought I had. If you have an opinion, please vote in the poll I'm about to place at the top of the page. If you don't, please just ignore the poll for the week, and whatever happens happens.

That's all for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

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