Milani Limited Edition Jewel FX Glitter Topcoat in Carnival Swatch and Review

This is a trend that I'm happy to see has caught on with drugstore brands- black and white glitter topcoats.  Not sparkly glitter, but matte, solid color glitter.  They're really cool and there's quite a few of them out right now, but here's one I picked up recently:

Milani Jewel FX Topcoat in Carnival

(one coat over hot pink creme)

Black bar glitter, medium black hex glitter and extra large pearl white hex glitter in a clear base.

It is one of those pain-in-the-butt-to-apply giant glitters, but it's not too bad because the clear base isn't gooey and it self-levels somewhat.  To apply this, I dipped my brush until I had a good amount of glitter, and then patted it on my nail until I liked how the glitter was distributed.  It dried quickly on its own and all the glitter seems to sit nice and flat (no taco glitter).  I used a coat of Seche Vite to eliminate any leftover texture.  Would make a good jelly sandwich polish.

This one is part of the Fantastical Plumage collection, but Milani also released a sister collection called Retro Glam with its own black and white spotted glitter topcoat.  Both collections are limited edition but still available online at milanicosmetics.com.  I got mine at Meijer and the displays are still hanging around, so it shouldn't be too hard to find yet.

 

Little bit of everything

Here's some of the stuff I'm into this month:

 Green Eyeliner

Brown eyes and green just go together. This one is Milani Shadow Eyez in Green Safari.  The name "Shadow Eyez" still makes me cringe, but the product itself is really good.  And yes, you can get a precise line with it despite how thick the pencil is. 

Textured Polish

I've been wearing the heck out of the OPI Liquid Sand polishes (I have Honey Ryder on right now), but the Softouch Effect polishes from Layla are also really nice.  This color is 01(sent for review) and it's a silver sparkle with a velvety, semi-matte finish.  It's not lumpy like the Liquid Sand finish, and it's not a smooth surface like other matte polishes. 

Neon-colored Anything 

I've accumulated an embarrassing amount of neon things.  Neon tights (Target's are awesome and dirt cheap), neon tank tops, neon jackets, a neon dress, neon eyeshadow and nail polish, and, most importantly, neon hair.  I've been using Manic Panic Hot Hot Pink for the better part of a year, but I switched to Special Effects Atomic Pink this week.  It's essentially the same color as Hot Hot Pink, but extra strong.

This is not even an accurate picture of it.  My camera makes it glow like it does with neon polish pictures and it washes out the color, and when I uploaded the picture it lost another layer of vibrancy.  This picture is after three washes and it's still a little too dark for my tastes, but the color is intense and vivid.  There's actually a stripe of Napalm (bright orange) in there, but I can't tell where it starts and ends because of the Atomic Pink.  I'm hoping it'll lighten more as I wash it, but so far it's resisting fading way more than my usual.

Random Makeup Porn

I have the OPI Skyfall collection sitting here waiting to be swatched, but I have to take a break from swatching for a couple days because I sliced my finger open and it hurts like a mofo when I get nail polish remover in it.  Oh, and want to know how I did it?  I swear, I hurt myself in the dumbest ways (like that one time I cut my hand on ROMAINE LETTUCE)... 

I was reaching for a makeup brush (I keep my brushes upright in a cup) and somehow ended up with a metal lash comb embedded in the side of my finger.  Sorry if you're squeamish about this type of thing, but it totally blew my mind.  When I pulled my hand back, the lash comb was attached.  ARRRGHHHOMGWTF.  And it's my favorite lash comb, too, but from now on I think I'll store it laying down.

Anyway, instead of just not posting anything for a couple days, I thought I'd go through some of my unposted old pictures from half-finished reviews because they're just sitting there uselessly in my drafts folder. 

  Milani Runway Eyes Eyeshadow in Antigua

Milani Runway Eyes Eyeshadow in Golden Touch

 Milani Runway Eyes Eyeshadow in Peaches & Cream

 MAC Lipstick in CB96

 Sephora Colorful Artist Palette (discontinued)

 it Cosmetics Double-Ended Eyeshadow Brush

 it Cosmetics High Performance Eyeshadow Trio in Naturally Pretty

 Milani Lipstick in Mandarina

 Wet n Wild MegaGlo Illuminating Powder in Strike-a-Pose Rose

 Jordana Metal Rocks Eyeliner

 Milani Powder Eyeshadow Palette in Abstract

 Milani Powder Eyeshadow Palette in Impressionist

 Milani Powder Eyeshadow Palette in Paint

Maybelline Blush in Ravishing Rouge (limited edition / discontinued)

Sephora + Pantone Universe Alchemy of Color Lipstick (seems to be discontinued already even though it just came out)

(Some of the items in this post were sent for review.)