A Quest in Fluoro Pink Armour Through the Heart of a Volcano! Polishes by Formula X and Nailstation

Greetings from the bowels of the demon king’s volcano death fortress, fellow rogues!

It’s not often that a rogue gets to adventure into a volcano, actually. Usually the quests take you (at best) to an island fortress shaped like a skull, *maybe* with lava coming out of the eye sockets (usually it’s just bats). Recently, however, I had the opportunity to seek treasure and glory in a genuine Mount Doom type situation, with a couple of rather spiffy nail polishes I picked up on my recent trip to Dubai! One is a warm, neon hot pink from Nailstation Paris, and one is a glittering, shimmering, burning orange gold from Formula X by Sephora!

Nailstation Paris polish in Coeur de Paris, a warm neon pink crelly. Hehe. ‘Crelly’. *snicker*

 

First up, let me talk about Coeur de Paris by the (new to me) brand Nailstation Paris. I came across a display of these polishes while getting my Bassam Fattouh lipstick, and bought three as my first real ‘impulse buy’ in  a a very long time. Normally this rogue likes to do her research, but sometimes you see a sale going on for a range of gloriously diverse colours, and you cave (you can see one of the other ones I got on my nails here). Just like that time you bought the ‘fun’ hinge grease with glitter in it and the lockpicks that had little cartoony goblin heads on the handles. It’s amazing what they’ll put by the counter in adventurers’ supply stores…

Anyway

This is, simply put, an excellent polish. It applied smoothly and cleanly, with good, smooth colour on the first coat, and more opacity on the second coat. There’s still a little translucency to it, in that squishy, deep, jellyish way, so I’ve dubbed this a crelly (even though I know almost nothing about nail polish terminology). The neon is true, and it really glows – hence the camera having trouble! In the pictures here, taken on an overcast morning, the pink looks quite warm, whereas in the bottle it can pull much cooler in other lights. Bottom line is, however, that it’s neon pink, so that’s really the primary effect. The ‘neon’ ness doesn’t show up well in the photos, as always, but I can promise you that this is a good, 1980s, Jem style highlighter neon pink. I have been to Paris six times, and while I wouldn’t associate neon pink with its heart, per se, I haven’t lived all my life there. Perhaps there’s something I don’t know… 😉

Dry time was quite quick, actually, and wear time for me with these polishes is about 2 days before chipping at the corners. This is totally normal for me though (my nails actually repel polish, I swear), so you should be able to get your normal wear out of it. The finish is actually kind of satiny, rather than lacquered – I used a Sally Hansen topcoat in these photos, which is excellent but getting to the end of the bottle and drying out a bit, which is why it does a little of the nail-tip-pullback you can see in the photo above.

Formula X by Sephora polish in Magma, a glorious, glittering, shimmering, gilded orange.

Next up is the delightful Magma, part of the Liquid Crystals sub-range of the Formula X polishes exclusive to Sephora. I got this at the Dubai Mall Sephora, and had to kind of restrain myself from picking up more from this range. You know me and sparkles. We go together like… well, a rogue and sparkles! The range has several really pretty colours, but I chose this gilded tangerine colour because orange is a shade that I wanted to try – this is the first orange in my collection.

The polish reminded me a little in appearance of OPI’s Jinx, a beautiful liquid sand polish from the Bond Girls collection. I am pleased, however, with the fact that this polish goes on smooth, without texture (I’m not really a fan of the grit). It’s essentially sheer orange, but there’s so much micro-flaky, glittery sparkle in here that  the overall effect is essentially opaque at normal examination distance after two coats. It’s a really, really beautiful polish, with shifting, shimmering colour and a properly magical sparkle to it. Application was perfect and smooth, and although dry time was longer than Coeur de Paris above, the wear was just as good. There’s not much more to say for this polish that isn’t basically “OMGWTFBBQPRETTYSPARKLE’, so here are some more pictures instead! 😀

Who doesn’t love trying to get decent macro shots of glitter polish with no tripod? Balancing a camera on your cleavage is much easier, right? T_T

Liquid Hot Mag-Ma…

SHINEH!

 

As always, it’s not possible to really get a feel for the true nature of a polish until you’ve considered it in the context of a cuddly sweater or two. It’s pretty much the acid test for how a polish looks and feels, as any rogue knows 😉 To that end, I present: the cuddly sweater shot!

 

DOUBLE CUDDLY SWEATER ATTACK! The fluffy one is more awesome, but the black one showed off the polish better… #rogueproblems

 

In summary, both of these polishes are well worth looking into if you’re in the market for a neon pink or a glittering tangerine orange (who isn’t really?). Sadly for me and my fellow local adventurers, neither of these brands is available directly in Middle Earth, but anyone with access to a Sephora can get Formula X, and those in London and select countries in Europe and the Middle East can get their treasure seeking mitts onto Nailstation goodies too! Clearly, Dubai is the perfect middle ground for getting both :-D. For those who might be particularly interested, Nailstation’s latest LE collection is ‘Nudes’. I’d also like to take this moment to mention how heartbroken I am that their shade ‘High Tech Laser’ is now discontinued! 😉

In terms of the Demon King’s Volcano Death Fortress, It’s important to remember that the searing heat of liquid rock, especially eldritch liquid rock, is best kept far away from both skin and nails. However, capturing a little of the adventure and excitement of the quest is very much worth the trouble of a couple coats of Magma, and memories of the Demon King’s fluorescent pink armour (he claimed that the customary charred black is ‘so last Autumn’) are well-captured by Coeur de Paris ;-).

What do you think, fellow adventurers? Have you tried either of these brands? How well do you find your favourite polish stands up to the heat of eldritch liquid rock from the bowels of the Demon King’s Volcano Death Fortress?

The practicalities: Formula X by Sephora Liquid Crystal polishes cost US$12.50 each for 0..4 oz, are permanent, and may be acquired from Sephoras. Nailstation Paris polishes cost EUR 15 /AED 50 (I think) each for 15 mL and may be acquired from assorted stockists listed on the Nailstation website.

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check for traps!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided! All images and text on this blog are the property of The Painted Rogue unless otherwise stated. If you nick off with any of it, be prepared to find that your morning hot beverage tastes a little…different than usual. Didn’t the rogue say something the other day about that new poison that makes your inner ear itch maddeningly for the rest of your life? I think she did…