About Lippmann Collection's New Glitter/Sequin Polishes

I found an interesting blog post from Deborah Lippmann herself, explaining her new hexagonal sequin polishes:

URGENT INFO ON SOME NEW LIPPMANN COLORS

I was very interested in this since I have reviewed the colors in question on my blog, including Funky Chunky and Marquee Moon, and they are some of the most unique polishes ever. Since they are so unique, I assumed that the application was to be unique. I was wrong.

For Funky Chunky, which is the black that comes in the Anniversary Set, Deborah explains that it is supposed to be sheer, with the black sequins showing through. I stated that I thought texture was the key to this one, because as you can see in my swatch, I did one coat (albeit a thick one) and it is not sheer. Even if I did a thin sheer coat, I like the way I applied it better. I am not into sheers, but I am into the look I achieved with my opaque thick coat. Also, if it is meant to be sheer, than the formula should have been just like Ruby Red Slippers. That polish has a nice thin, smooth, sheer black base and allows to be applied nicely no matter how many coats you wish to put on: 1, 2, 3... you can build the coats to achieve the right color for you. It works and looks beautiful. So why aren't the formulas the same?

For Marquee Moon, (which I adore) I said that my only gripe was that the sequins are random, so you have to try to get them on your nails. Deborah says, "dont TRY to make the 'sequins'' come out and look the same on each nail". I agree with the look of having every nail different. That is one of the many reasons I gave as to why I liked it. I do think that it takes effort to get the sequins just on the nail at all though. I want them different, but I don't want any sequin-less.

I thought this would be interesting to pass along since these colors are hot right now, and have brought up much conversation and questions. They need a bit of explaining and now we have the answers straight from the creator.

Santee Swatches

Hell0 everyone! Hope you had a lovely holiday! I am super excited right now because I just learned that I won Beauty Judy's Nubar Modern Matte Collection! How awesome! I will definitely swatch and post them as soon as I get my hands on them! Speaking of giveaways I have one coming up too!

For now I am bringing you a polish I never heard of until I spotted them in a store a few weeks ago. It is called Santee, and I can't find much about them. I found them on Cherryculture.com, but they only had one color and it was out of stock. Lame. I have been excited to share these because they are only $1! I found them at a shop that sold make-up, wild wigs and costume jewelry. So if you want to hunt them down try places like that or independent beauty stores. The colors that I picked up are Melon Green, Pearl Jungle, Neon Orange and Red Speckle.

Melon Green - This is a yellow-green, or maybe green-yellow, shimmer. Goes on smooth and looks awesome.

Pearl Jungle - Very self-explanatory name! It's a pearly green. The green is like a jade/emerald/fern color with a frosty-pearl finish. Very pretty.

Neon Orange - Love this color but hate the name! It is a very bright orange but I wouldn't call it neon. I own neon oranges. This is not one of them. And it doesn't dry matte as neons typically do. In fact, it dries super shiny! But I love the color because it isn't a straight up orange. It is like a cantoloupe color.

Red Speckle - This is one of the best red glitters ever! I love it! It is a jelly red that is a true red. Not orange or pink, but cherry red! Hott! And it has silver glitter. The silver that sits in the jelly looks red, and the pieces that sit on top show silver. Awesome!

All of these went on smooth, in 2 coats and I love the brush. I had swatched some Essie's right before these, and in comparison to Essie's brush this was exponentially better. Wider, but not ridiculous, even bristles, just awesome.

What do you think? Have some? Want some? Know where to get them? Going on hunt?

:c)

My Alter Ego-Gunslinger

My alter ego is the person I want to become.
She is a braver, gunsliging version of me.
She doesn't hold back.
She loads, cocks and fires.

I have a boyfriend who loves guns and has some. I had never been around guns before he came along, so I was horrified. He has gotten me more aquainted with them, and we have gone shooting together, but I am still scared and take my time, and shake when it's time to pull the trigger. I wish I didn't give a damn, and could pull the slide with authority and let it rip. My alter ego is that girl that lets it rip.

For this look I used:

Zoya - Dovima

Essie - Matte About You
Konad Plates M3, M28

China Glaze - Awaken

China Glaze - Devotion

LA Colors Art Deco - Black

Black Rhinestones

My Alter Ego : Fearless

My alter ego is the person I want to become.

She's darker, bolder, braver. She's on fire. She is outspoken.

She can fill a room with her presence.

She is not afraid of what people think.

She is not afraid of anything. Not spiders, or snakes or scorpions.

She doesn't give a damn.

For this look I used:

Perfect Chic - 314

Tropez - Black Satin

LA Colors Art Deco - Pink

LA Colors Art Deco -Red Glitter

Konad Plate M28

Dark Teal/Green Shimmer Comparisons

As promised, I did a comparison of Lippmann Collection - Don't Tell Mama against other dark green/blue shimmers. In the pictures, from left to right they are:

--- Lippmann Collection - Don't Tell Mama
--- Sinful Colors - See You Soon
--- Wet n Wild - Morbid
--- Misa - Toxic Seduction



Don't Tell Mama is definitely the darkest and the shimmer is what I would call teal, since it looks blue and green. See You Soon is on the blue side of that, and Morbid and Toxic Seduction are on the green side.

What do you think?

Giveaways!

Good afternoon! I am writing to inform all of my readers about 2 wonderful giveaways on some fellow bloggers' sites!

The first is at Glitter Millie. She is doing a great giveaway to commemorate hitting 50 followers. It is great because you get to pick your prize! The prize choices include:

5 x Barry M Nail Paints plus a few extra bits and bobs
OR
1 x Illamasqua Nail Polish plus a few extra bits and bobs

You must be a follower and can find the full rules here.

The second is at Painted Lady Fingers. You must also be a follower of this blog to enter. And the prize? It is kit A of the Coraline Konad collection! It includes plates, polishes, stamper and scraper!

You can find the full rules here.

GOOD LUCK!

Evening Twinkler - An Essie Starry Starry Night dupe

I did it. I finally did it! I made an Essie - Starry Starry Night look alike. I frankened the franken of all frankens. I think I did a damn good job! Sorry to toot my own horn and all but I think it's pretty close.

The idea hit me when I purchased LA Colors - Silver Glitter. It is a clear base with silver glitter. To me it looked like it might be a match for the glitter in SSN. It was small and silver, and not holographic/prismatic, and not too small... it seemed like a match. Now for the blue part. That hit me when I got my hands on the new Wet n Wild Craze colors. I purchased Nocturnal, and it seemed to me to have a bit of a jelly consistency, despite being dark. I didn't think it would work out to well to mix them at first, to be honest, (plus I was concerned about using my Nocturnal since it was so small) so I just layered them. Here is the results:

On the first and middle fingers I used just one coat of Nocturnal and on the ring finger I used 2. I wanted to see how it compared because I was concerned that 2 coats would be too black. It actually looks okay, but nothing compares to how it looks when I mixed Silver Glitter and Nocturnal together:(make sure to click the picture for the enlarged size!)

Yeah.... I really, really have to pat myself on the back for this one. I do not have, nor have ever seen Starry Starry Night in person, but I think this looks pretty darn close. This is absolutely quelling my need for this elusive, beautiful polish. I've named it Evening Twinkler.

I started with an empty mini bottle, but soon realized this would need a larger bottle. After purchasing a replacement Nocturnal, I emptied a full size clear Wet n Wild and filled it with half Silver Glitter and half of Nocturnal. I must tell you too, that this was the best franken I have ever made formula-wise. It is soooo smooth and these two polishes mix together VERY easily and without balls. It took about 5 seconds. I have never seen polish mix so easily and apply so easily after being mixed. I strongly recommend everyone makes this!!! It is so cheap and easy. And if you want it a little bit darker (which I may) {nah. I like it just fine!!} you can a couple of drops of a black creme polish to darken it.

Wet N Wild - Nocturnal can be found in drugstores, and I found my LA Colors - Silver Glitter in a small independent beauty store, but I have also seen it on Cherry Culture.

Happy frankening!

Nubar Modern Matte Giveaway!

Beauty Judy of the blog of the same name, is giving away a brand new set of the entire Nubar Modern Matte Collection! You can enter until September 6th and you can see the full rules here.

You must be a follower of Beauty Judy's to enter.

Good Luck!

Lippmann Collection Fall 2009

Happy Monday, everyone! I am not thrilled to be starting the work week again, but to make me feel better, I bring you the beautiful fall collection from Lippmann Collection. It includes 2 hott polishes: Marquee Moon and Don't Tell Mama.

Marquee Moon - This is an opaque, metallic silver. It is perfect in 2 coats. The metallic is very smooth and chrome looking. It shows minimal brushstrokes. The best part about this polish, however, is the hexagonal glitter pieces! What I love about them is: 1) They are hexagons which I love (and they must be loved be Deborah Lippmann as well since this is following the 10th Anniversary Collection which has hexagons in every polish!) 2) They are large hexagons. I don't need to zoom in to show you that they are hexagons. 3) They are sparse and random making for a unique manicure. Every nail is different, but the whole look pulls together and looks incredible. 4) The hexagons that go on in the first coat get covered by the second coat, but you can see the outline of the shape. The hexagons that go on in the second coat sit on top and are very visible, and are super shiny. Add a topcoat and it is over-the-top awesome. They look like little mirrors. It makes for a party on your nails. Every time I look at it I think of disco balls, the circus or cirque du soleil. The only negative that I can think of is that you have to be conscious that you have glitter on the brush. They are sparse and random and you aren't guaranteed to have some on your brush on every dip. So it takes a little effort to dab off excess polish on the bottle neck, but not dab off glitter. It's not too much trouble though and it's worth it anyway.

Don't Tell Mama - This is a deep, almost black base with a dark teal shimmer. It's very beautiful and mysterious. I love to look at it in the bottle because on the edges you can see that the shimmer looks purple! I really wish that that duochrome look translated to the nail but sadly I don't see it. That would look incredible! But I shouldn't take away from this polish's beauty. I must say though, that if you have a problem with polishes that look too black this may may not be for you. I don't know if I can say that it is too dark. I am usually upset with almost black polishes and I really love this one on my nails, but everyone's tastes are different. It is pretty dark though, so consider it if you don't want to be disappointed. I am planning a comparison of other dark blue/green shimmers show you can think about it. I did a close up bottle shot to show the purple edges I'm talking about:

This collection is available now at Lippmann Collection and each polish retails for $16.00.

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.
Special Thanks to Gabby & Arleny, Tractenberg & Co. and Lippmann Collection

Sinful Colors - Glitters

Happy Friday! Today is the last installment of my Sinful Color Swatches! I really am loving my Sinfuls. And I saved the best for last: GLITTER! My fave.

I Love You - Purple jelly with fine purple glitter. This reminded me of another purple jelly with purple glitter polish: Milani - Totally Cool so thought I would do a comparison:

Totally Cool is on the thumb and pinky and I Love You is on the rest. Totally Cool is obviously much bluer. Sinful also has a similar polish called Daddy's Girl and that one is close to Totally Cool but may be even bluer and a bit brighter.

Call You Later - This gold and green glitter in a clear base. It is has small round gold glitter, larger hexagonal green glitter, and even larger and darker green hex glitter. AWESOME. I love the mix of different shaped and sized glitter. And green and gold together? Must be mine!

All About You - Small orange hex glitter and irregular shaped, flakie gold glitter. Very pretty and I love the name!

Here is both Call You Later and All About You layered over HD Nails.

SO what do you think? Pretty awesome, right?!

Sinful colors - Shimmers

Hello! Today I have more Sinful Colors swatches to share! These are all the new shimmers that I bought:

Merlot - This is a deep red shimmer. I think the name is misleading because I wouldn't call this a "wine" color. Just a dark red.


Wicked Mind - My bottle is labeled "Wicket Mind" but I am going to assume they meant "Wicked". "Wicket" is not a word. (Wicket is a word! I looked it up before and didn't get anything and I must have spelled it wrong -

wick⋅et–noun

1.	a window or opening, often closed by a grating or the like, as in a door, or forming a place of communication in a ticket office, a teller's cage in a bank, etc.

2.	Croquet. a hoop or arch.

So maybe this is supposed to be "Wicket Mind" after all. I don't know. Sorry for the rant!) Anyway, this is a mauve creme with a subtle silver shimmer. It is very pigmented. I can't really explain why I was attracted to this one. It is so unlike colors that I usually buy. Maybe that is why. I like it.


Social Ladder - This is a very very pretty soft white shimmer that is has a hint of pink. I may have done three coats for this one. I really don't remember. I think this one is worth it though. It is delicate, but not boring at all. It is gorgeous.


Night at The Barbados - Another goofy name. I am assuming it should be "Night At Barbados", but maybe not. Maybe The Barbados is a club or something. Anyway, this is a very cool, icy blue shimmer.


See You Soon - Black-blue base with deep blue shimmer. Pretty as heck!

Stay tuned for the final installment of these new Sinfuls tomorrow!

Sinful Colors - HD Nails

So I said after my last Sinful post I wouldn't have more... well I lied! I have THREE more posts to do for you! Today is the first, and I am calling these "The Hi-Def Collection". They aren't really part of a hi-def collection, I just thought of grouping them as such for myself since they all have this glow to them and they really pop! Here they are:

HD Nails - This one started the hi-def idea thanks to the name. It is a perfect green. It makes me think of Piggy Polish - Lily's Pad. I call this one "Froggy Green".


Let's Talk - This is a very bright, glowy purple. It is very pigmented and almost makes it in one coat. Very unusual for Sinful's, I know! It reminds me of a beloved Sinful I have had forever, Fiji, that is so sheer that it always takes 4 coats no matter how hard I try. Let's Talk has trumped Fiji as my go to purple, no doubt about it. It is hott!


Canary Yellow - Straight forward name. Perfect. Glowy bold yellow shimmer. Very nice.


Midnight Blue - I love this!! Another one that glows crazy. Royal blue shimmer. I wore this one all weekend until someone came begging to be worn (cough*scrangie*cough). I loooove it!

I would like to say in defense of Sinful Colors, a few things. First, Sinful Colors have a tendency to be sheer. Well, all of these, as well as the rest I have shown you and plan to show you, are not. Every one of these swatches was 2 coats. And they were not 2 thick, globby coats either. They were regular ol' coats. Second, Sinful has been known to have a problem with drying. I know San Franciso took a day and a half even with Seche Vite. Well, I wore Midnight Blue to test this, and I can report that not only did it dry well on its own, but with Seche Vite it was unstoppable. I was in a major rush trying to get to a hair appointment after I painted my nails. I slapped on my Seche and waiting as long as I could, which was not long at all, and proceeded to get dressed. I was digging through purses trying to find things, smashing my nails on everything and I had not. one. ding. It was truly remarkable. So if you are worried about these issues, I say fear no more! It looks like Sinful Colors is upping their game, and that is awesome. I love them already, but now there is more to love. They cost about $2 and you can find a ridiculously wide color selection just about everywhere and now to know the formula is on top... Well that is good s*it.

RBL - Scrangie

My nail of the day today (and yesterday, and probably tomorrow!) is Scrangie by Rescue Beauty Lounge. This is a medium to dark purple creme packed with a green iridescent shimmer. It is quite a beauty! I love it. It came to me much darker that I expected. All the pictures I had seen seemed lighter and so it was not completely what I expected, but not in a bad way! It is beautiful. It was created by fellow blogger Scrangie of Scrangie.com. Not that I have to tell you! If you read polish blogs, you read Scrangie. Her nails and pictures and polishes are incredible and I just love her writing. It is excellent, thoughtful, informative, to the point and funny! I never miss a post and I read them in they're entirety.

Scrangie the polish is part of a collection of blogger inspired colors which also includes Orbis Non Sufficit by Stephanie of The Polish Addict, and Mismas by Michelle of All Lacquered Up. I am so amazed at these beauties and the women behind them. It is so incredible that they had this opportunity and it is inspiring. I often dream of developing my own polishes! Who doesn't?! These polishes are more than just pretty bottles to add to my collection. They truly are an inspiration and it makes me proud to wear them.

Here's a couple bottle shots of Scrangie the polish:

At an angle you can see the base color of this rich purple. Don't let the shimmer fool you, it is on the darker side.


But straight on you can see all the amazing green shimmer!

Scrangie, Orbis Non Sufficit and Mismas can be purchased at Rescue Beauty Lounge and retail for $18.

Hard-to-Find Finds that Have Been Found!

In the last few weeks I have managed to acquire some polishes that I have been wanting that are semi-hard to very hard to find. It is very exciting, I think, to see pictures of hard to find polishes online and then plot to get them! It just adds yet another element of awesomeness to this already awesome hobby.

The following polishes are all only slightly hard to find to wildly hard to find. Maybe it will inspire you to hunt for some yourself!


Claire's - Goldmine ... Opaque gold with small silver holographic glitter and large hexagonal holographic glitter. This one is at the not-really-hard-to-find end of the spectrum. It was a bit difficult for me because the Claire's by me in Chicago never has anything good so I bought this when I was in NY, so I guess you could say I had to travel 800 miles for this polish!! But really it makes the list because it fulfilled a need for a gorgeous, discontinued, HTF CND polish: VIP Status. It's been on my wishlist, with no chance of finding it in sight, and when I asked the wonderful Scrangie about the new LA Girls Rockstar polish: Live On Stage and if it looks like VIP Status, she said to try Claire's - Goldmine. And of course, she did not let me down! It is perfect!!! You know what it reminds me of (besides having my fingers dipped in gold and diamonds) is my birthday! Last year I wanted really over-the-top gold nails for my birthday to go with some hot new gold pumps I had gotten and I didn't really find anything to fit the bill. Well this is it, and my next birthday is right around the corner! (September!) So, guess what I'll be wearing...

Lippmann Collection - Superstar ... You really feel like a superstar wearing this! It always gets noticed. It is so yummy and unique! We need more glitters like this! This is a polish I really wanted once I discovered it, and I discovered it after the holidays when it could no longer be found. But thank the polish gods above because they brought it back!! It's so wonderful when that happens. The only problem that makes this a hard-to-find is that it is only available in the Anniversary Collection that I posted here. So if you want it, you have to want them all! But at least it is available. Whew!



Massini - Purple Medallion ... This is one of the most gorgeous polishes (if not the most) I have ever put on my nails. The color is incredible and the sparkle is insane. This gets the award for most distracting polish ever. The color is this gorgeous magenta-purple-berry and I just love it. And the glitter appears to be purple glitter AND holo glitter. This is readily available at Meijer's stores. The only problem with that is that Meijer is only in 6 midwest states, making this a hard-to-get-your-hands-on.


China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle ... This is another fabulous limited edition holiday polish that is being re-released for this holiday season! So if you haven't been able to find it, don't worry! It is coming back! And if you don't have it, you should really jump after this one! It is very beautiful. I think that the picture above shows the glitter decently, but doesn't really exemplify how gorgeous the green is. It is even greener than this pic shows. It is just more emerald and glowy. I saw China Glaze tweet on Twitter yesterday "What is your favorite China Glaze polish?" and I said this one.


Essie - Raspberry Goji ... This makes the HTF cut because you can't buy it at all. I had to win this one in a JELL-O/Essie nail polish giveaway! I had entered it months ago online and you had to answer a question like "If you were JELL-O what would be your name?" And then about a week and half ago I received this in my mailbox! Pretty cool!


L'Oreal Star Magnets - Prune ... This one I had to go to Ebay for. I had to try one of these crazy magnetic polishes. you paint your nail, and while it is still wet, you hold it up to the magnet that is attached to the bottle, and it makes a star pattern! And then it dries like that! What?
That is amazing! I bought it from a seller in England. This polish had to cross the pond to get to me! That is not cool, L'Oreal! Why, OH WHY?!! would you not release these in the US? I can't take it. I am going to go write a letter to L'Oreal right now to demand the release of these in the States, and I suggest if you want to see these you do too. I just lent mine to a friend and we were discussing it yesterday that if they showed up in stores, we would buy every single color. I wouldn't even look and ponder "oh that one is okay, I like that one..." no. I would BUY THEM ALL! Even our boyfriends like them! They immediately noticed them on our nails and said "That is REALLY cool." Fun for all!


China Glaze - Groovy Green ... I saw this one posted recently on All Lacquered Up in the ALU archives segment. In her post, Michelle mentions that although it is an older color it can still be found online. Well, after her post if they were available, they aren't anymore! It made me want it even more. In almost no time at all though, I was lucky enough to find a lovely lady trying to unload some polishes and was able to purchase it. It is a beautiful pastel, mint green that is thin (I had to use 3 coats) but also has this jelly-ish finish to it too. Very cool.


Essie - Ruby Slippers ... My pride and joy. I wanted and wanted and wished and wished. No polish has ever made me so crazy. I tried to avoid buying this one on Ebay for a while. I tried desperately to swap for it to no avail though, and finally had to give in to the ways of Ebay. I did get if for a reasonable price (I think) considering how hard to find it is and how badly I wanted it. I used three coats to get good glitter coverage. The reason I wanted it so badly is because this is not a typical red-with-red-glitter polish. It is red with a gold, orange, yellow, red glitter. It is not like any other I have seen, and it made me go absolutley crazy! But it's okay because I have her now.


OPI- What's Dune ... This one I bought from another lovely lady trying to unload some polishes. I had originally only purchased it for the purpose of swapping if for Ruby Slipppers. But, I didn't know what I was getting, and before it got to me I saw Steph's swatches of this color, along with the rest of this collection, and realized I was going to have to keep it for myself! It is a delicate silvery color with a slight hint of pink. I really like it just like that, but what put's it over the top is that it is a very fine holo. B-E-A-UTIFUL! This was released in OPI's 2003 summer collection, so it is pretty hard to find.


Hard Candy - Tantrum ... Hard Candy no longer makes nail polish. I think they may have gone out of business. And that just made me want a Hard Candy polish! I really would have probably taken any, but I did have my eye on this one on Ebay, and before I caved and bought it, I was able to get it from the same person who sold me What's Dune. It's is a lovely, shimmery, iridescent green, that reminds me of dragonflies. Check out the manicure I did with it layered over black:

(close -up)


China Glaze - Cat's Eye ... Or the cat's me-ow! This one was on my wishlist for a while, and definitely not in my sights. Until the nicest gift ever came in my mailbox: this baby, from the best fellow blogger on earth, Brooke. Brooke posted this one on her site and I commented that I loved it and was looking for it, and she decided that it would have a better home here in Chicago. I couldn't believe it. This was the best of the hard-to-finds to receive, hands down. I love it. It is this amazing metallic, olive-gold (you know I love gold!) and it just looks so classy and antique. It really is an antique! Check out this bottle:
It amazes me. I don't have any China Glaze polishes that have this old style writing on the bottle. And the top has "CG" instead of the more modern China Glaze oval thing logo. Incredible. I love to look back at Brooke's pictures of this one now and think that the very same bottle that was on her nails, is now on my nails! Jeez polish is great. I can't believe I have this! Thank you again, Brooke. :c)

Now if I could just find Starry Starry Night....