Friday Finds and Milani Neon

Talk about getting in under the wire!

I toned it down a little this week, but there were still a couple of things that I just couldn't resist:
"Oh So Bright" collection by The Balm ($9.99, Marshalls)
Ladies Emergency kit (purchased mostly because of the adorable tin. I just couldn't say no!) $2.99 Marshalls
Top Care strengthening nail polish remover ($1.29, Giant Eagle)
Wet n Wild Megalast in On a Trip (light purple; $.99, Giant Eagle)
Wet n Wild Wild Shine in Metallica ($1.99, Giant Eagle)
Milani Neon in Rad Purple ($3.99, Giant Eagle)

Today I had to run in to Giant Eagle, and since I needed more polish remover I decided to take a look in their health and beauty section. I'd actually never gone in there, since I'm not overly particular about most of it and things like shampoo, lotion, and polish remover are usually cheaper at Target or Walmart, but oh my god. I feel kind of dumb now.

Here I was thinking that I would have to got to Sally's and spend an arm and a leg on acetone, Seche Vite, Essie, OPI and Orly (none of which I've had a chance to try yet) and they were all right there. Our local Walmart carries Sally Hansen, Pure Ice, and a few other lower end brands that are generally picked over (the last time I saw a full display at a Walmart was the grand opening of the one out by my parents' house). Target carries fewer brands, but they're usually better stocked. Giant Eagle was sold out of some stuff, but for the most part it was all there. They had limited edition lines from a couple of manufacturers (like Wet n Wild and Essie), and a range of colors in brands that I thought were more high end and would only be available online or through specialty stores (please note: I consider anything "high end" when it is over $5.99 a bottle. Remember, I'm on half a shoestring budget here).

Even though I was drooling, I had to resist the urge to load up my basket with polishes, even though I could almost justify some of them simply because I'm still building my palette, so to speak.

The one color I could justify was a dark, creme purple. I didn't have a brand in mind, I just needed a dark purple for my next Heroes V. Villians mani, and since my black is a creme I wanted the purple to be as well. I have two creme purples, but they're pastel. My dark purple is pearlescent.

The only darker purple I could find that didn't contain glitz in one form or another was Milani Neon #506 Rad Purple. It was a little lighter in the bottle than I was looking for, but crunched for time and cash, I decided it would have to do.

The formula is extremely thin, almost watery. I wasn't expecting it, and it gave me some problems on the first coat. By the second I started to get the hang of it.

Because it's so thin, though, this polish tends to spread which eliminates most of the brushstrokes and it dries super fast--almost instantly for thin coats, and in less than ten minutes for thick coats (I didn't time it exactly; might even be less).

Once dry, it's pretty matte, so I added a layer of my Diamond Strength Instant Nail Hardener (on Monday, I'll talk a little bit more about my topcoats and treatments, by the way).

Also note the drastic color difference between bottle and nail. I used three coats for these shots, and just so you can see the comparison, there is one coat of top coat only on my index finger.

I really like the final color, which is much more red than the bottle color (while still being a vibrant, rich purple). The final color is more like what I was looking for in the first place, but I can see this being annoying with other colors if you're expecting one thing and get something VERY different. For my purposes, however, no complaints!