Sunday, August 16, 2009

BB Couture Swatches

Hello Everyone!! I finally got my hands on some BB Coutures and I wanted to of course share them with you!! They are amazing!! As I have heard, the customer service is incredible. Kim Snyder herself emailed me to say that my order had shipped and to let her know when they arrived. How awesome!! AND they do free shipping over $50! I don't know about you, but I loooove to skip out on shipping!! So here they are:


Little Douce Coupe - (Sun and Shade) - This is a dreamy semi-pastel yellow that is awsome. I guess you could call it banana? It applied nicely in two coats, which I didn't expect. The only nail in the swatch that needed three was the index, and that was just because of some ridges in my nail. Isn't it incredible?! I love the way this looks on my nails. They look like they are fake. In a good way. They just pop. This color belongs to the Hot Rod collection including 5 other shades and is limited edition. There are only 100 bottles of each color. I just went on the website however to see if it was still available and it didn't let me add it to my cart, but it didn't let me add anything else to my cart either, so I don't know if it is out of stock. The site may be having issues. You may have to email your order in.

Green Goblin - (Sun and Shade) - This is a deep green creme that is not so dark it is black. It looks green. It is perfect. I loooove this shade and the application was phenomenal. This swatch is two coats.

Poison Ivy - Ahh! Look at this! How beautiful!! It is so smooth and stunning. This doesn't even have a top coat and it is amazingly shiny. This is a green creme that is about the color of grass or leaves. It is not dark, but not bright. It is very obviously green. I love it. 2 coats.

Since we have so many dark green cremes releasing currently, I though I would do a comparison of a couple that I have to help us out:

BB Couture - Poison Ivy, BB Couture - Green Goblin, Orly - Enchanted Forest, Zoya - Envy


(Sun and Shade) - Index - Poison Ivy, Middle - Green Goblin, Ring - Enchanted Forest, Pinky - Envy
Enchanted Forest and Green Goblin are the closest, but Enchanted Forest is more blueish, grayish. And Envy has a slight shimmer (very very slight) and is much darker, but in her defense, she is not as black as these pics depict, I promise. For some reason when colors are so dark the digital just blackens them some more. She is clearly green.

Okay, more BB's!


Sea of Cortez - (Sun and Shade) - This is a gorgous light blue jelly with blue and silver glitter. This is hot! It needs 3 coats to get the bottle color, but that is just because of the jelly nature. It is incredible on.




Moon Over Manhattan - This may be flying to the top of my faves list. This is dark gray-blue creme that is glass flecked. And check out that close up. There are this little black circle particles that I just love and sends this over the top for me. Like little pebbles. I really appreciate the microscopic properties of polish if you hadn't noticed! This color is incredible. I love the shade, I love the shimmer, I love the name... must have.



Hermosa Surfer Girl - This color is insane. It makes me want to be a surfer girl. This is a hot pink with multi-colored, iridescent gltter. It is packed with glitter. I had a friend over when I received this package and this one was the first we swatched and we were squealing with delight over it. Check out the bottle shot:

*Squeals!*

BB Coutures can be purchased at Overall Beauty.com and retail for $9. They are beautiful and have an easy to apply, smooth formula. My only gripe is that the brush is small. It may be good for some with little nails though. I hear they are changing the bottles, however, so that may mean new brushes as well.
What do you think? I think you should get some!!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Some Savina Swatches

Marine Life, After Midnight, Ruby, Black Pearl

I went for a stroll into Nordstrom Rack one day to look for nail polish. The reasoning being that if Lippmann Collection, as well as other higher end lacquers are sold at Nordstrom, maybe they will be at Nordstrom Rack on sale. Well, I was wrong, but I found a brand I had never seen before: Savina. Most of the polishes were reminiscent of colors I have already seen. Marine Life above looked to me like China Glaze - Custom Kicks, Ruby looks exactly like China Glaze - Ruby Pumps, and so on. There was also a bright purple neon called Dream that looked just like Sinful Colors - Dream On. AND the bottles are the same as China Glaze except for that wavy little thing going on on the handle. Regardless, I bought some.


Marine Life - A bright blue-green creme that surprisingly, dried matte! Who would have thunk? Not me. I mean, it looked bright but certainly not neon. I went ahead and slapped on a topcoat so you could see it shiny!


After Midnight - Dark blue shimmer. I bought this because I do not own any navy polishes!! I think I had this notion that I didn't like them on myself. I was wrong!! I love this.


Ruby - Bright Red glitter. Seriously, this looks an awful lot like China Glaze - Ruby Pumps. Not the worst thing ever!! Who doesn't like a red glitter?!


Black Pearl - Grayed purple-blue with a green-blue duochrome. This one, at least, did not remind me of any other color. Big fan of this one. Hence why I saved it for last! The girl who checked me out said she had it and loved it and gets compliments on it all the time. I can see why... it's stunning!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Lay it On Me!!

Hello everyone! I have a fun post today! It's a 3-layer polish called Lay It On Me. Are you excited yet? In the photo above I have: Lima, 3rd Dimension, Singapore, Vegas


Lima - Baby blue, then bright, light pink, and then lavender. If I didn't go doing a third coat you would have seen some nice pink streaks on at least the ring finger, but I did, so I covered it up. You can see little bits of purple best on the middle finger.


3rd Dimension - Neon purple, then black and then bright teal. This comes out as a very mixed mix(?) of the first two layers. It gives a deep black purple that dries matte thanks to the neon! However, it makes me think that if that is what I wanted, I could just mix neon purple and black together! But if you look close you can see the streaky properties. I wish that there were distinct bits of teal throughout. That would look amazing.


Singapore - This screamed "America" to me, and turned me on to it, but it's named Singapore! Ha! I do like all the names of these, by the way. This is red with glitter, then an off-white, and then blue with glitter. It mostly comes out red, but you can see some white on the ring finger. It would have had more if I didn't do the second coat.


Vegas - Neon city! Neon pink, blue and purple. You can see the purple streaks best with this one, on the ring finger. Click the pic for the enlarged size to really see it well! Plus I love the look of the pink with the blue added to it. Not as neon as the bottle looks, but still bright and punchy. I looove this one.

So these are pretty cool! I think that the trick to getting the most streak though, is to get the brush in as far as possible, which would mean screwing it down every dip. Sounds like a pain, but the streaky-est (that sounds like a bad thing!) nails were the ones that were painted first, since those got a fresh dippin' from all the way at the bottom. Also, I bet that you would get more mix of colors after using it for a while, because if you see the top color the most, and then you use all that color, then you are going to be left with the other two. There is no way around it. Maybe if I have lots of time to fiddle around, I'll do a ton of manis with one of them and see if I can use it down to get the other colors. Experiment time!!

I found these at Meijer, but I believe they are available at drugstores. Also you can get the Claire's version (Mixables) at Claire's. I know for sure I have seen their version of 3rd Dimension and it looks the same.

On an unrelated note, my blog will be quiet for a while since I have friends flying in today and tomorrow for Lollapalooza this weekend. (yes!) So I will not have time for posts. :c(
But I have more (lots!) to come and will be up and running next week!!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Several Revlon Runway Collection Designs

I had some new Revlon Runway Collection artificial nails to show you. Since I had 5 new designs besides the style I showed here, I thought "5 nails, 5 fingers... Skittle time!"


Minx - Isn't this pretty?! It's a white tip with black stripes and sliver glitter line


Mystic - Garnet tip with black line and white dots with rhinestone. I love Mystic because not every nail has a rhinestone. Only the "middle finger" sizes, in the whole sizes. So like, 7, 6 and 5 maybe. It makes for a cool look with just a few stones. I really like this one.


Starlet - This is a very pretty sliver glitter french tip



Sateen - I think this one may be my fave!! Pink metallic tip with flowers and a black glitter line and red double line!! Love it!


Studio - Silver funky french with thin black stripes.


I wrote in the last post that I had an issue with the sizing, and the removal.

For the sizing, there are only 2 of every size, 1-9 with 5.5, 6.5 and 7.5. I did 2 on the thumb, 9 on the pinky, and for the middles, I used what fit best, with the largest on the middle, the next size on the first finger, and the smallest on the ring finger. I believe it went, 5.5, 6, 6.5, or 5.5, 6.5, 7? I really don't remember. But using the largest on the middle and smallest on the ring gave the best look.

The sizing gripe I can get over, but one thing I must say is that I wish that the removal directions said to use 100% acetone. Instead they say "soak in acetone nail polish remover". That to me signifies that the remover I use daily to remove polish is good enough to remove fake nails, and it is not!!! I tried. FAIL. I then tried a nail remover tub with scrubby brushes to help the remover, and that was better, but still took a while, as it was not 100% acetone. I then accidentally spilled the tub, so i refilled it with 100% acetone I picked up at Sally's Beauty Supply and it was miraculous how quickly those things and the glue came off! Couple minutes and they were seriously melted. Just as the box said they would. I have no fears of using these thanks to 100% acetone. Good s*it.

And one more gripe, actually, if I may: I wish that it didn't say to use so much glue. The directions say to use glue on the natural nail and also the artificial nail. Don't do it. That is too much glue and it gets everywhere. Just use on one or the other, but do make sure to cover completely so that you have no air pockets. If you use a thin layer, but spread it all over before you press down, that should work best.

Now that I know they can come off so easily, I'd say they are good for a night or for a whole week. I wore them for a whole week. They stay on that long. Maybe longer if you wanted. It didn't seem like they wanted to go anywhere!

Which designs do you like? Would you give them a try?

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.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Elaine's Frankens 2009

I recently got the bug to mix up some frankens (polishes you make by mixing 2 or more colors together). It all began when I received Misa-Pour Me Something Tall & Strong. While wearing it I thought the dark blue color and jelly consistency would make a good base for a Essie-Starry Starry Night dupe. So I made it (it's not really a dupe though. Just based on it). And then I had another idea for Pour Me Something, and then I had more ideas that didn't contain that polish at all. And I kept mixing and mixing! And over about 2 days, I had a whole new franken collection! So here they are:


Mercy, Berry Hot Berry, Swimmin' With Flipper, Yowza, Sweet Pea and Space Quest








Mercy - Shown in sun and shade. The original concept of this was just to make a gray creme with white and black. But then I had a great idea to make it bizzare and different, so I added Color Club - Object of Envy, a dense green glitter polish, and then a little clear to jelly it up and let the glitter show. It's definitly different.






Berry Hot Berry - Shown without and with topcoat. This polish is exactly half Sinful Colors - Dream On and Tropez - Salsa. I like it because of the neon properties and the fact that it dries semi-matte, but it's just not as hot as I thought it'd be on the nail. Only a slight dissapointment; I still like it. I also like the hint of shimmer that comes from Salsa. Plus this is a cheap franken. Salsa cost $1 and Dream On was $2.





Swimmin' With Flipper - This came out just like it should have: a blue, gray creme. This is white creme, an unnamed gunmetal shimmer, and a few drops of Essie - Mesmerize.







Yowza - Shown without and with topcoat. This is hott! I love the matte finish thanks to the neons in it. But it's not really neon. It's just a nice bright purple creme. LOVE. It's mostly Misa - Pour Me Something Tall & Strong and Sinful Colors - Dream On with a litte bit of Misa - Blue Over a Boy.





Sweet Pea - I wrote about wanting a dirty green like this back when I did this post. And it looks like I figured it out! It's mostly Sally Hansen - Forsythia, L'Oreal - Shocking Green, and a few drops of black creme to dirty it up. This is the 2nd favorite of the bunch.







Space Quest - And here is the favorite! It's dark blue base, with blue and holo glitter. When I looked at it when it was complete I felt like I was flying through deep space, hence the name. It's mostly Misa - Pour Me Something Tall & Strong, Color Club - Sexy Siren, Color Club - Magic Attraction, some clear and some black to darken it up. It's incredible. Try and find a color like this!


And a bonus pic! Since you guys asked about my tattoo on my foot:

It's a devilish fairy with a fire-ball thing. I drew up something similar when I decided I wanted a fairy on my foot, and since I'm not much of an artist the tattoo artist put together something close and better! And here she is! She is lude and nude! And green! My favorite color! And I'm sure you guys noticed the flower on my toe on the other foot:



These are the only tattoos I have on my whole body. Don't know yet if I'll get anymore.

So what do you think of my frankens?



You can make them all too!!

WnW Craze Giveaway Winner

Good morning everyone! I have the winner of the WnW Craze Giveaway!

There were 65 entries for this contest! Awesome!

I listed out the entries, comments first and email entries next, so everyone had a number of 1-65. I used the random integer generator on random.org which gave me 41, and that made the winner Daniele!! I have sent her an email to confirm her entry!! Congratulations!

Thank you all for reading and entering! I hope to do more contests! They are so fun!!