July 11, 2013

Glitter Polish Removal Part Two: Picture Polish Revolution Review

Happy Thursday everyone.  The weekend is almost here which means it's time for those bright glittery mani's.  Last weekend I reviewed Nail Pattern Boldness' peel off base coat, Glitter A-Peel.  Today I'm going to show you another glitter removal solution that came on the market relatively recently, Picture Polish Revolution Glitter Base Coat.


First off, Revolution is only meant to be use with glitter polish.  That means you can't use it under cremes or jellies or anything other than a clear base with glitter floating in it.  This really limits the polishes you can use with it but I knew this going.  What I didn't know is that Revolution was only designed to work with Picture Polish glitters.  All the other brands are hit and miss.  You will know when your polish and Revolution don't get along.  The polish will quickly start pulling and wrinkling as it dries and create a bumpy surface that looks horrible and no amount of top coat can smooth out completely.

So far through experimentation I've found that most main stream brand play reasonably nicely with Revolution.  They may wrinkle a tiny bit but it's minor enough that the top coat will smooth things out.  By main stream brands I mean brands like OPI, China Glaze, Zoya, Nubar, and Orly.  Now, I have only tested a couple polishes from each brand so I can't guarantee that every polish from these brands will work the Revolution.  Indies on the other hand are the opposite.  I've only found a couple of glitter indies that don't wrinkle.  Maybe it's a different in the suspension base used?  I have no clue.  Either way, it's quite frustrating when you've done all the prep work and base coats just to have to take everything off and start from scratch.


Here's a handy list of Picture Polish Revolution DO's and DON'Ts:
  • DO use two coats of Revolution.
  • DO let Revolution dry completely before applying polish.
  • DO sandwich Revolution between a creme polish and a glitter topper.
  • DON'T apply strengthener directly under Revolution.  It will turn into a sticky gluey mess when you try to remove it.
  • DON'T put your regular base coat over Revolution.  It will likely wrinkle.
  • DON'T use Revolution under anything other than glitter polish.

Here are two manis that I successfully used Revolution under.  By successfully I mean that the polish didn't wrinkle.  The first has Revolution sandwiched between a creme polish and a glitter.  The second is just many coats of glitter over Revolution.

Ruby White Tips Mermaid Dreams, PP Revolution, and one coat of OPI Gone Gonzo
PP Revolution, 3 coats Butter London Henley Regatta and 2 coats of Laquerlicious Unity Salt Water
According the the directions I should soak a cotton pad in acetone, hold it snuggle over the polish for about 10-15 seconds and then everything should just slide off.  My results were not like this.  I still had to scrub, a lot.  With the first mani that only had one layer of glitter I did find it a bit easier than if I had my regular base coat.  It definitely wasn't a glitter polish removal miracle though.  For the mani that four coats of glitter polish I didn't find any difference.  It still took me over half an hour, many cotton pads and lots of remover to get it all off.

So back to the original question: What is the best glitter removal option out there?  Hands down I would say Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter A-Peel wins this one.  The main points that stand out for me are
  • Picture Polish Revolution can only be used with certain polishes v.s. NPB Glitter A-Peel can be used with any polish.
  • Picture Polish Revolution still requires remover and cotton pads v.s. NPB Glitter A-Peel just peels off.
  • Picture Polish Revolution works best win minimal coats of glitter v.s. NPB Glitter A-Peel doesn't care how many coats you use! (It's actually easier to peel off the more coats you have on).
Bonus: NPB Glitter A-Peel is $2.50 cheaper ($12.50 v.s. $10.00).  I think there are certain situations where I will still use Revolution.  Specifically when I am sandwiching it between a creme base colour and thin glitter topper from a mainstream brand.  In this scenario I can use strengthener under the creme polish.  For anything that requires more than one coat of glitter or is an indie polish Glitter A-Peel is definitely my go to base coat. 

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