Models Own - Tropical Sun

I think I mentioned yesterday that I have been looking at some different cruelty free brands and this is one. They advertise themselves to be "Furry Friendly" and go on to explain if you click on it, that they do not use animal products or test on animals. Good enough!

I don't honestly know how long this brand has been around but I've seen it on other blogs and there are some rather spectacular colors. This is a British company which means overseas shipping and they do charge for it. Quite a lot. So I didn't screw around. I bought a bunch and made the shipping feel more worth it. Also, as it was my first order I was able to get a free black eye liner which helped with the shipping sting as well. I picked up the Beetlejuice collections, both of them, plus the Hed Kandi collection. Today I decided to try Tropical Sun. It's a peach so it's springy, but it definitely has a hot feel to it.

I thought, too, since I'm always telling you the mechanics of a manicure that I should show you what these steps look like, but I think I will make that a separate post as it would make this very picture heavy and keep you from looking at something you might really be interested in. So without further ado, here is Models Own - Tropical Sun:

It's a lovely pinky orange sort of thing. It's really very complex.

Here is one coat over everything I'll show you in the next post:

OK...very sheer, and very pink. It's really not this pink going on. It took me awhile but I figured it out. Between the natural sunlight from the window and the flash...pink. But that's OK because there really is quite a bit of pink in it.

A closer one coat shot. Let's see what we have here...a pink sheer with a yellow gold flash. OK...I buy that. I also feel a sort of green in this. Does that make sense? I don't detect green consciously, but it feels very green...and very hot. If this color had a temperature it would be hot. White hot.

Two coats and looking very pink here. It really honestly isn't and I can show you that in a bit. Just hang with me because these pink shots DO help explain the polish some. This is the pink in the peach. In normal every day lighting you will never see this pink but it's in the polish. It's there and it's what gives the color depth.

A two coat shot. I think I was still deciding if three was going to be the way to go. I did three and more, actually, but we'll get there. I'm still using a flash here.

Here is what happens when wonder genius (me) takes the flash off:

Ah. The actual color. But see what is happening? It's like a duochrome effect, with gold flash. THe pink is in there but it's not that noticeable. However...those bubbles are. I barely shook this so what is up with the bubbles? Oh where ohr where is that Twit in the Beret when I need her?

My right hand was better able to be in the sunlight from the window where I was sitting and this shows the color beautifully. You can also see what a rubbish paint job I typically do, but regardless, this is a great representation of the color. There is a lot happening here but it's very wearable. This is three coats. Three coats gave a nice opacity. Two might have been OK, but I like three better.

Less light here, but a nice show of the color in low light. It becomes more tangerine, which is also very pretty. I was wondering what this would do on someone who could generate a tan. I cannot. I will be this ghostly no matter what. Redhead. But it's pretty on me, I think.

A nice bottle shot. Ugh. The bubbles! I will walk you through how I attempted to fix that.

The bottom label shot. Note the pink at the top of the bottle. Fascinating!

Mechanics:

1 coat Models Own 3in1 - It came with the set.
1 coat Nailtiques 2 Plus
2 coats Seche Rebuild
3 coats Models Own Tropical Sun
1 coat Models Own 3in1

The 3in1...hm. Well....it was a nice base coat. We'll see how it wears. As a top coat...it wasn't bad, but it was slow to dry. Not terrible, but remained tacky. I had a dinner to put on and tacky wasn't going to cut it. Plus, I had those bloody bubbles. So. I put on a fourth coat of Tropical Sun and then a coat of Seche Vite top coat.

Here are the results of that in natural sunlight:

OK, blurry but neat photo. The camera focused on the barn wall and not my fingers. However, this does show the glow this polish has. It looks like a Tropical Sun. Isn't that great? No hint of the pink we saw before but without it this wouldn't work, I don't think. It's really quite lovely.

Against the black top. A nice glowy peach. You can see here how wearable this is.

Now all we need to do is see how it wears. Now...with the fourth coat of lacquer over the top coat it should wear very well. I find that is a cute little trick to get the most out of your polish. I've already had a casualty, however, where it apparently didn't dry all the way through and got pushed back on one nail and bungled on another. I didn't take pics. We'll see how it does over all. I need to go make a repair attempt on these two and we'll go from there.


Some notes on the packaging. The bottles come individually shrink wrapped. At first I was really not amused by this. What a nuisance! Then I thought of the LCN debacle. They keep emailing me and I keep not ordering from them. I'm not wasting my money on polish that comes open and spilled all over. I suppose the shrink wrap system DOES prevent that. I was grumbling inwardly because I almost always ruin a nail getting that crap off when..what did I spy?

 Check it! It's a little pull handle! I should have known. The company IS purported to be owned by models, which means they have probably applied a layer of lacquer or two in their day which means...they may know my pain! This was painless!

Pull the little tab and Voila!:

It comes down the little perforations like a dream. Un-zips in a lovely way and no split nails over it. Nice.

The formula was...runny. Not terrible, not watery like the horrible experience with Spa Ritual but runny enough. Several times I had to stop and re-dab the brush because polish was running down the wand. It wasn't hard to control but you had to pay attention. Which probably explains why I have lacquer all over me. I was trying to root on Tony Kanaan (Maybe next year is your year, baby! You keep driving like you drive! Third is COMPLETELY respectable at the Indy!) and I wasn't fully focusing on my paint. Sorry, but I've been pulling for Tony to get an Indy win for over a decade now. I just love to watch him drive. And no, I've not met him personally but when you root someone on faithfully for 11 years you FEEL like you're on a first name basis. The drivers I met in my youth (and my parents wilder days) are now coaching from the pits. But I always root for Tony.

I suspect if I left the top off this for about an hour it would thicken up nicely and be a breeze. It was kind of annoying but it wasn't unbearable.

So let's see how it wears!

Happy Talons!!