Rimmel 60 Seconds : Camouflage

Happy Easter everyone!
Having got all creative with the lighting in my last couple of reviews, of course my lamp went and broke on me today so you're all going to have to endure some rather naff natural lighting pics (naff because it's really gloomy outside today) that don't really show the true beauty of what I'm photographing. Sorry about that.
But in more exciting news, I've ordered a light tent and some new lamps!! I'm looking forward to playing with them and hopefully taking lots of lovely bright pictures once they arrive. Anyway, on to the polish!

Today I'd like to share another Rimmel offering (I promise I'll run out of steam with Rimmel eventually!) : Camouflage, from the 60 seconds fast drying range.

In the bottle it's a pretty emerald/leaf green frost with noticeable gold shimmer - a bit like GOSH Golden Dragon or maybe one of the various green/gold duochromes that're around at the moment (though this is not actually a duochrome). I thought it was really beautiful, (though nothing like any camouflage I've seen, since that tends to be more murky greens, but never mind eh) but once I got it on my nails I was surprised to find it's even nicer thean it is in the bottle (a nice change, actually, since so many polishes are the other way round!).

On the nail, the colour shifts slightly. The gold shimmer is less prominent but the green becomes a LOT more vivid and jewel toned. Instead of green with gold shimmer in it, it appears more of an intense, almost metallic green with gold/yellow tones. It changes according to the light; sometimes darker, sometimes lighter, different shades of green from leaf to emerald to that sort of green that makes you think of Christmas. It's really very eye catching, especially when the sunlight hits it directly and you get this glowing effect:

(Sorry it's blurry - this was the only close up shot I could get that was colour accurate as well as showing the inner glow). This is also one of those polishes that looks a lot better with topcoat than it does without. The topcoat seems to bring out the glow and the depth of the colour and gives it more of that 'wow' factor.

Application and formula are surprisingly good. I was actually dreading it a little since the other 60 Second polishes I've tried have tended to be reaaaaallly slow drying, thick and gloopy (since they try and be opaque in one coat, but aren't, and then you have to use two and the drying time becomes a nightmare). But happily, Camouflage seems to be exempt from this trend: it's a little thick, but not gloopy, and it's definitely not what I'd call fast drying (especially not if you consider their 60 second claim, which couldn't be further from the truth). But it's alright... it's not overly slow drying either; just 'normal'. The second coat dries quicker if you wait for the first one to be completely dry first. 

 It has that nice wide, round ended 'pro' type brush that reminds me of OPI and Rimmel's Lycra Pro range, which splays out nicely and covers the nail in a good, even coat of not-too-thick polish that dries without leaving brush marks. The rounded bristles and thicker formula make it easy to apply without flooding cuticles - all these pictures are without any cleanup (since I was in a hurry!).

Overall, this is a really stunning polish which has to be seen in real life to really appreciate how vivid it looks - it's especially gorgeous in sunlight (which of course was in scarce supply when I was trying to take pictures). Application is pretty good, not one of the best I've tried but definitely not the worst either. If I had to pick on one thing to complain about it would be the wear - two coats over Nail Envy, with one coat of top coat (Orly Sec 'N' Dry, which normally wears like iron) showed quite noticeable tip wear after 24 hours. It didn't chip though, so I added one more coat and it lasted me easily though the second day before the tipwear reappeared. Considering what a gorgeous colour this is, it's definitely worth putting up with the less than perfect wear and I will be putting this one in the 'keep' pile!

Rimmel 60 Seconds Vinyl Shine : Denim Dreams

OK so let me apologise up front for the pictures in this post; they're rushed to death, taken on a camera phone and blurry. It's also about the least tidy manicure I've done in a long time... it looks like I don't even know what cleanup means! GAH!

There's a very good reason for this: I'm trying to beat the clock! A very good friend of mine sent me this polish as part of a polish swap, and it's one of her favourites. Her mum is very poorly in hospital and she's flying out to see her this afternoon. I wanted to make her smile, so I'm trying to rush this mani and get it online in time for her to see it before she leaves. Soooo... no time for perfection! LOL

Denim Dreams is one of Rimmel's 60 second fast dry polishes, but unlike the rest of them, this one is supposed to have a vinyl effect once it dries. In reality this makes it a little tricky to apply; it's prone to brush strokes, and doesn't have the fancy Pro brush that Lycra Pro and some other Rimmels have. But applied carefully (and by carefully I mean with a decent, but not excessive amount of polish on the brush, applied quickly, with as few strokes as possible) it does give a rather cool wet look plastic finish that doesn't come across too well in these pictures, but in real life does look rather like you've got a layer of vinyl coating your nails. As with all of the 60 second Rimmel polishes I've tried so far, the 60 second claim is NOT to be believed; I used two coats of Denim Dreams over one coat of Nail Envy and after an hour, I touched something (lightly) and immediately got a dent! I'd definitely say that quick drying top coat is a must for this polish if you don't want to be sat there all night waiting for it to dry.

The slightly tricky application and slow drying time are more than made up for the unusual vinyl look and the really pretty denim colour of the blue. Most of the pictures I took showed this polish as a much brighter shade than it really is, but this one solitary shot here has the colour pretty much perfect. (Excuse the lobster red fingers; apparently my camera can't cope with photographing blue AND flesh tones correctly at the same time!). Those two bright spots on my index and middle fingers are light reflections in the wet look plastic finish :-). I've worn this polish a few times now and it goes nicely with my favourite blue denim dress, as well as jeans.

Thanks Hilde, hope your trip goes well and your mum is OK!!

Rimmel 60 Seconds : Euphoria

Another Rimmel for you today - this time one of their fast drying polishes, shade 510 'Euphoria'.

Euphoria is a beige shimmer with a pink flash. It comes with a smaller version of the wide, rounded brush Rimmel use in their Lycra Pro range and which I love so much - application is easy and fast, at least in terms of not messing up your cuticle line. However, as I applied this, I got serious deja vu - it's quite thick, prone to bubbling, and takes waaaay longer than the 60 seconds claimed before it's dry. In fact, every one of the same things I noticed about the last Rimmel 60 seconds polish I reviewed : Green With Envy.

I guess it's just the 60 second formula: it claims to be a one coater, when like Green With Envy, it isn't really. A second coat leaves you waiting ages for it to dry. However, I waited patiently and after two hours I decided it was safe to go to bed. 

Check out the sheet marks! Clearly this polish is one that needs a quick drying top coat (which I didn't use this time; my bad). Anyway, formula issues aside, this is still quite a pretty colour, especially in the sunlight:

Yes, I did say sunlight. Look, girls! The sun came out for the first time this year! I almost fainted. Then I ran around cheering. Then I grabbed my camera :)

I can't lie though. My overall reaction to this polish is 'Meh'. I overlooked Green With Envy's application issues because it was such a stunning colour and that made it worth persevering with, but this one, while pretty, doesn't really look that great against my skin tone so I probably won't wear it again. Someone with less olive skin would probably look great with this polish on, but I struggle a little with light pinky shades, you know?