Review & Swatches: Revlon Brilliant Strength Nail Enamel in Tantalize

I've been wanting to try these new nail polishes from Revlon since they first started popping up in Canada earlier this year. I finally spotted them at the Nail HQ at my local CVS a little while back, and the one color that jumped out at me was Tantalize, so that's the one I purchased...

 

Revlon Brilliant Strength Nail Enamel in Tantalize 

(retail: $7.99, 0.4 oz)

The Brilliant Strength line is Revlon's version of the "base coat, color and top coat all in one bottle" formula that seems to be so popular right now (see Sally Hansen, CoverGirl, etc.).

From the display:

Stronger, harder, knockout nails!

Built in base and top coat

Vitamin-enriched strengthening formula

Keep reading for swatches...

It's really hard to capture the true sparkle-iness of  this polish in photos, but I think you can see the little multi-colored flecks if you look at the brush in these pics:

If you look at the pic above, you can see that this polish has a little bit of an unusual formula. It's almost "sticky" in the sense that when you pull the brush away from the bottle (or even from your nail during application) a little trail appears, which sort of reminds me of sticky syrup or even melted cheese (like when you pick up a slice of hot pizza). This consistency does not interfere with application though, and this polish was actually very easy to work with.

The brush is flat, but it is nowhere near as wide as the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure or Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro brushes.

The formula is Three-Free:

Some swatches (two coats, no top coat):

This is one of those shades of green that can look lime in certain lights and in other lights, it can be a bright chartreuse or acid green. Again, my photos don't really do it justice when it comes to how sparkly this polish is in real life. Indoors, it takes on more of a metallic foil effect, but in direct sunlight it is a true sparkle monster.

Application was great despite that "sticky" quality I described earlier. This polish flows well and covers easily. I think it's nice and opaque in two coats, but I did notice, after I took these photos, that I probably could have used a third coat for extra-super-crazy opacity.

Dry time was good--it doesn't claim to be a quick-drying formula and I thought the dry time was on par with other Revlon polishes I own. 

As for the 3-in-1 claims, this polish does dry to a shiny finish and you could get away with skipping top coat if you wanted to (although I know so many of us crave extra-shiny finishes, and I'd say you'll probably feel compelled to apply an additional top coat if you're a shine fiend). I have only been wearing this polish for two days, but so far I can confirm that I don't have any chips (I did not apply any base coat or top coat--only two coats of this polish). I'll update this post with more info after a few days more of wear.

UPDATE: As promised, here is my update after wearing this polish for six days straight. Keep in mind that I did not apply a base or top coat--just two coats of this polish and that's it:

(After six days)

 (After six days)

If I had taken the above pics after five days, my ring finger would have looked even better (that big chip occurred on the sixth day). Not too bad, right? The shine did not become dulled and other than tip-wear and that big chip on my ring finger, this polish was still in tact on the other areas of my nails.

 

Oh! One more thing I'd like to mention: the scent of this polish has a very mild "pear" note to it. It doesn't smell or behave like a true scented polish, but during application I kept thinking, "I smell pears!". It's not just pear though--it smells like regular polish but there is definitely a sweet, fruity pear note in the background, which I found quite pleasing.

Do you own any Revlon Brilliant Strength Nail Emamels? Have you spotted this collection in stores yet? Any shades jumping out at you? Thoughts?