The Tess Collection: Revlon Crème Brûlée

Here starts a new series that I'll add to about once a month or so, The Tess Collection.  My grandmother's name was Therese, and for as long as I can remember that's what everyone called her.  Then a few Christmases ago I asked her what she was called as a little girl.  She told me Tess.  I said, "I. Love. That."  I thought it was so cute.  Then a little while later, my aunt came over to have us sign the cast she was wearing--maybe she broke her arm?  I can't remember.  But anyway, my grandmother signed it "Tess."  She was delighted with herself, and said she hadn't been called that in a long time.  Then, soon after, my parents started taking her down to their lake house.  And there she was Tess, always.  She introduced herself as Tess and that's how people knew her.  When she went into assisted living she was also Tess.  By the end of her long life she had reinvented herself by reintroducing her girlhood nickname, and it was the cutest thing ever.  

I started blogging in 2009.  Around that time I was spending a lot of time with my grandma, and she of course noticed my constantly changing nails.  It inspired her to start up her own little collection.  When she died, I went over to her little apartment and scooped up her nail polish.  Her polishes were sitting on a crystal tray in her living room, and you might be surprised as to what an 89-year-old woman was wearing on her nails.  But for this first post, we'll start with a neutral, Revlon Crème Brûlée.

I'll admit that in the bottle this one didn't look like much.  I chose to wear it first because I remember my grandma wearing it (although I think she was sort of a habitual one-coater, so for the most part her polishes didn't look opaque most of the time).  Crème Brûlée is a sandy neutral with gold microshimmer.  The base also has warm, pink-ish undertones.  I love this one in sunlight, when the gold shimmer leaps out.  I also like it indoors because it's one of those elegant colors that isn't obtrusive, but makes my fingers look long and slender.  The formula was sort of sheer (but easy to work with) so I did three coats.  The other thing is that this polish is a little frosty, so if you look up-close in bright sunlight you can see brushstrokes.  I didn't mind that, though.  

This one reminds me a lot of OPI Sand In My Suit from the South Beach Collection of 2009.  The base colors are similar, with the Revlon being a little darker, but the shimmers are different; the OPI has silver shimmer, the Revlon has gold.  And I much prefer the Revlon.  Sand In My Suit is actually one of my least favorite polishes that I own (I really should give it away), so I was delighted to find that I actually really loved how Crème Brûlée looked on me.  

What I'm saying is that my grandma had good taste in polish.  And clothes and shoes.  I mean, look at her in 1945.

GIRL.  What a looker.  To me she was beautiful inside and out.

That's all for today.  Look for another installment of The Tess Collection on the 7th of March.