Lacquer Lundi

Here's an odd little tidbit about me - I don't like fruit. I will eat the occasional clementine or raspberry (probably about twice a year), but for the most part I'm not a fan. Apparently, even as a toddler I would turn up my nose at fruit, but I loved my veggies, especially lima beans. I know, I'm a freak - who actually likes lima beans? They're weird and green and chalky and they look like delicious little alien zygotes...but, I digress.

Even though I don't like to eat fruit, I certainly do love the smell of fruit. That is why Revlon's Fruitful Temptations, a line of seven fruit scented nail polishes, was so intriguing to me. While at the drug store the other day, I happened upon a display and purchased three (Mad About Mango, Not So Blue-berry and Pretty in Papaya) of these lovely scented polishes. The first two are swatched below.



Revlon - Mad About Mango
- purchased at Rexall (chain drug store) for $5.49 CDN

In the bottle, Mad About Mango is a gorgeous medium peachy-orangey-coral* colour. It actually dries slightly darker than what is seen in the bottle.

I had some issues with application, as I often seem to with Revlon polishes. The first coat was difficult to apply - it would drag and wrinkle at the slightest provocation - but the second coat applied more smoothly. It took two coats to get the bottle colour and I could have applied a third coat to eliminate all hints of streakiness. It also took a long time to dry (even with a quick dry top coat) - three hours after application, I still managed to dent and smudge three fingers.

These problems aside, this polish is worth it just for the novelty of the scent. (When I wear this polish, I'm instantly transported back to 1978 because it's like wearing scratch and sniff stickers on your fingers!) It has the most delicious sweet mango scent that is evident as it's going on the nail and even more so after the lacquer is dry, even under a top coat. The scent lingered for the entire day that I wore this polish.

* Cidell - I know you hate coral, but remain calm, at least it's not culottes! :)


Revlon - Not So Blue-berry
- purchased at Rexall (chain drug store) for $5.49 CDN

This colour is absolutely gorgeous - an exquisite blue-tinged lilac with a lush silvery frostiness. It also contains subtle hints of pink and turquoise in the shimmery sparkles. I don't own any other colour quite like this one.

This polish applied much better for me than the Mad About Mango. It went on easily (all three coats) and covered well. My only issue again is with drying time - it is certainly slower than many other polishes out on the market. I probably could have sped things up by applying a quick dry top coat, but I wanted to see if the scent was stronger without it.

In the end, I wore this polish for two days and the scent remained pleasantly evident all that time (and I don't think it was any more potent than with the top coat). My students were amazed and amused by these polishes and immediately demanded to know where I purchased them. So either I'm a totally hip trend setter or a teenage girl trapped in a middle aged body. Either way I'm not going to stop wearing painfully age inappropriate nail polish so I prefer to assume I'm the former.


China Glaze - Tree Hugger
- purchased at Head2Toe Beauty for $ 2.99 US

I had to have green for Earth Day, didn't I? And what better polish than Tree Hugger? Unfortunately, I don't think this is the best shade of green for my skin tone. It makes me look a wee bit like a reanimated corpse (you'd think I'd be down with that based on my blog title, but in reality, not so much). Morbid references aside, this is still a fabulous colour, just not on me. I may save this polish just for pedicures because having the feet of the living dead somehow seems acceptable - I mean feet are kinda fugly anyhow, so why not play it up a little?

This polish, which is part of China Glaze's Ecollection, applied well, although I found it to be rather sheer and the first couple of coats were streaky. The third coat however evened everything out. I wore this for three days and in that time I only had one minuscule chip and some minor tip wear.


Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear - Purple Potion
- purchased at Zellers (chain discount store) for $ 2.17 CDN

Another selection from the Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear line. Although it required three (smooth and easy to apply) coats to get full coverage, it is well worth it.

The colour is so nifty - it is a reddish purple that flashes turquoise when my hands are in motion - I believe this is referred to as a duochrome polish (see the two photos below for a comaparison of the purple vs the turquoise). When I saw this polish in the bottle, I didn't expect to like it as much as I do, but I figured for the price, I could hardly go wrong. Now, after seeing it on the nail, I'm actually considering picking up an extra bottle the next time I see it in store.

I wore this polish for two days with nary a chip and very little (almost non-existent) tip wear. Once again, the Xtreme Wear line turns out to be a salon quality polish at bargain basement prices - how can you go wrong with that?