Grand Slam! England Swatches

The England set has 3 shimmery, sparkly shades and no crackles! >>

Grape...Set...Match - This is a gorgeous, super shimmery purple, glass-fleckish type shade. The main color is a reddish purple but the shimmer is mostly blue giving a lot of depth.

Servin' Up Sparkle (over Grape...Set...Match) - This is a clear base with different sized holo glitter. Very pretty and very holo. I unfortunately didn't shoot it in great light so you wouldn't know, but it is very sparkly. It is not however, very unique.


Your Royal Shine-ness - This is a silver foil. I felt like this one looked more steel/pewter in the bottle than most silver foils, but now looking at the pic again, it just seems like the same silver foil.

Stand out from this set to me is definitely Grape...Set...Match. What do you think?

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.

OPI Nice Stems! Swatches

OPI has released a set of 4 limited edition pinks for summer 2011 and although pink usually gets me least excited I am super pleased with all of these!

Play The Peonies - This is a soft white with a hint of pink and a pearly, shimmer finish. I love all the components that make this shade what it is. Sooo prettty

Come To Poppy - This is a very interesting color. It's hard to describe. It's a pink, red, coral that's warm or cool... neutral? And it has a faint, pearly shimmer to finish off it's uniqueness and gorgeousness.

Be A Dahlia, Won't You? - Smokin' hot, fuchsia glass-fleck. Not terribly, unique, but still nice.

I Lily Love You (alone, over Poppy, close-up) - This is a pink-tint clear with loads of iridescent glitter in varying sizes and shapes. It's like a pink party!

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.

A Couple Revlon Sweetly Seductive Swatches

HELLO!!! I AM NOT DEAD!!!! YAY!

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon an untouched display of bright, juicy looking nail polishes with matching lip glosses. Upon further inspection, I realized that the polishes were scented and they were crazy shimmery! They all have a almost indescribable shimmer but I will try: It's not quite flakie, not quite glass-fleck, not a standard shimmer and not a glitter. It's a bit of all of them.

Watermelon Fizz - This is a bright, juicy jelly red with the firey flake type shimmer. The scent is of course watermelon and it is reminiscent of watermelon lip balm. Like a Bonne Bell, or something. Very pretty and I got decent coverage in three coats.

Grape Fizz - This is a pale, uneventful purple jelly base but the shimmer is amazing!!! The shimmer is bright, glowing blue purple and pink. It took me four coats to achieve this swatch. I think it would be more impressive layered. The scent actually reminds me of those scented big bouncing balls you could get at Wal-Mart or wherever that had a grape on it and smelled like a grape, or a cherry and smelled like a cherry. Yeah. It's funny the nostalgia you experience from scents.

In this collection there is also:
Grapefruit Fizz (pink)
Orange Fizz (orange)
Mint Fizz (blue)
Apple-tini Fizz (green)
Pineapple Fizz (yellow)
Colada Fizz (baby blue)

What do you think?!
-Elaine
:c)

China Glaze - Island Escape Summer 2011

Take an exotic island escape with China Glaze this summer with a tropical, shimmering rainbow of brilliant bright colors! Mix and match these hot hues to add a candy-like pop to that summer manicure and pedicure.

108 Degrees - This is a beautiful, hot pink, glass-fleck shimmer. This is one of those "pinks-I-love". Very sparkly and flashy and hot hot pink!

Papaya Punch - This is an orange I love! This is a super pigmented, creamy orange. This reminds me of pumpkins, which isn't very summery, but it is still summer appropriate. The formula is a bit thick, but in a good way.

Electric Pineapple - This is fantastic! This is so weird. I really don't think calling it "pineapple" is terribly appropriate, because it's a very, very green yellow. It's definitely more green than OPI - Fiercely Fiona but more yellow than any other green in the same realm. So it's definitely unique. I did a cool mani with this plus China Glaze - Crushed Candy Crackle Polish.

Cha Cha Cha - This is a striking olivey green with strong gold shimmer. I'm sure you have all figured out by now that this is close to China Glaze - Moonpool, but not a dupe. Whether close or not it is beautiful in its own right and I love it.

Blue Iguana - Now I do not know any iguanas that look like this but if I did I would have a stash of blue iguanas. This is a sparkly, shimmery, deep pool blue. The shimmer is an intense glass fleck. It's very watery and the sparkle reminds me of sparkling water in the sunshine :c)

Señorita Bonita - This is a red toned, glass-flecked purple. Very pretty and not like anything I have. The picture really does not do this one justice.

These are out now! What do you think?!
Elaine
:c)

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.

OPI Burlesque Shimmers (Part II)

The second part of the OPI Burlesque collection is made up of various shimmers from foily shimmers, to glass-flecked shimmers and more. Take a look >>>

Ali's Big Break - This is a bright, candy apple red with irregular shaped shimmer. This is bold and spicy and I loved wearing this.

Tease-y Does It - This is a brownish purple with a glowy shimmer. It's vampy but not so dark it doesn't have it's own color and character. I love this.

Rising Star - Bold, slightly foily, shimmery yellow gold. It looks like what you would get if you crossed Nubar - Caramello and Nubar - Oro from the Venetian Glass collection.

Take The Stage - Burnt orange, slightly foily shimmer. Also similar to the oranges in the Venetian Glass collection.

Let Me Entertain You - Glass-flecked fuchsia. Very pretty and hot! Super similar to Zoya - Allegra. Like, practically dupes. It just seemed to me like Allegra was thinner, or it just took more because it has a smaller brush than the OPI but I got LMEY on in two coats and it took 3 with Allegra.

The Show Must Go On - This is my favorite!! I may even like this one more than all the glitters! :cO This is a hot pink foil with a gold/copper duochrome shimmer. It's much like MAC - Bad Fairy, but better! They are not dupes, but they have similar properties which makes me compare them. For all the days I was wearing this all I could think is "This is so much better than Bad Fairy!" The colors differ because Bad Fairy is deeper and more cranberry and The Show Must Go On is more like a hot strawberry. The similarities are the finish and the gold/copper duochrome, but the base color is much different. They do look similar in the bottle though don't they?!>>
What do you think of Part II of Burlesque?
:c)
-Elaine

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.

China Glaze Fight Like a Woman - Fall 2010

In support of womens' battle against breast cancer, China Glaze has released a set of empowering pink shades. Check them out>>>

Encouragement - Soft soft, almost white, shimmery pink. I loved wearing this one. I had it on for a looong time. It love the softness of it and how shimmery it is. There are little glints of green in the shimmer that I just love. This is three coats.

Endurance - Bright, glass-flecked, super fun raspberry! I want to call this Cosmo. Raspberry Cosmo. So fun! This is three coats.

Empowerment - Cotton candy, pink creme. I like the soft look of this and it's rare that I like pink polish so much, but this one really grew on me. I actually wore it twice. :cO weird. It's soft and squishy which gives for a great end result, but the application was not what I would have liked for a creme. It was a bit streaky and took three coats.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)

Fight Like a Woman will be available in September in beauty supply stores and beauty salons.

China Glaze - Awakening, Halloween 2010

For their Halloween Collection this year China Glaze really stepped it up and gave us something unique. Instead of the typical, uninspired set of orange, black and white creme that comes in every Halloween set released by every nail polish company, they gave us a collection that is... well... frikkin' AMAZING. If you are on a "no-buy" stop now because I am telling you up front, that every one of these is a must have.

Zombie Zest - This is a very dirty, murky, olive green with a bright green, glass-flecked shimmer. It makes me think of Zombies coming out of a swamp. This is three coats. It is a bit on the thin side but it's nice because it lets all that glass-fleck to shine through.

Mummy May I? - *Love the name* Wow do I appreciate everything about this polish. The base is a dark, jelly-ish, plummy, raisin. Then there is pinkish, purple glitter thrown in. It is a great effect because the glitter is not overpowering so you can love the twinkles of purple glitter and the vampy base. This swatch is two coats with top coat.

Ick-A-Bod-Y - I love this name too! And I love an orange and I love glitter so there is no way I could say anything bad about this. In fact, I have more good to say: The base is an awesome, weird, blackened green and also, this is a glitter-packed polish. This is only two coats and it is pretty much full coverage. Wow. I really want to wear this for a week. Or until Halloween.

These are going to be available at Sally's and on e-tailers so keep watch and don't miss them! There is no reason to wait. They will go quick and you don't want to miss these.

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.

Nubar Venitian Glass Fall 2010

I hate to tell you guys, but the days are getting shorter. It may be hard to believe. I know I don't considering it is 90 degrees outside right now, but trust me! The days of Fall are coming and Nubar's newest collection is making me wish it would come faster! ...Only for polish... I really love summer

Inspired by traditional Venetian Glass, Nubar's Venetian Glass Collection captures the brilliant colors and flawless craftsmanship of the ancient, traditional handmade glass of Venice. With vivid hues, a strong glass-flecked shimmer, and rich color saturation, these shades are as memorable as their inspiration.

Arencia - ORANGE! This is a glowing, bold orange. It reminds me of my fave: Sinful Colors - Courtney Orange, but glass-flecked instead of shimmer. Really, really hot. This could pass for a summer shade, but it did remind me of pumpkin patches when I put it on.

Bronzo - This is a more mellow shade than Arencia. It is a sort of toned-down, slightly burnt orange, copper color. Very Fall. It does look a lot like the A Perfect "10" shade I posted.

Caramello - This is a very deep, bold gold that looks just like it's name: caramel. It's like glass-flecked caramel sauce with a bit of a foil finish. This feels very dramatic, and antique-y. I really like this shade.

Oro - Whoa! This is a very, very bold, yellow gold. This is serious, attention getting shade. It reminds me of Zoya - Goldie, but on steroids. This was my first official mani from this collection.

Rosso - This is a red glass-fleck and although I would normally say "it's red, move on," I really like this red! It is very shimmery and pretty and I will definitely wear it.

Vino - Ooh. So sexy! This burgundy is the deepest of the bunch, but not too dark. It can be appreciated for it's color and I love the way it has glints of purple.

Verde - THE STAR OF THE SHOW! I love this! It's probably a given that this would be the fave of this collection. It's a blue sided, evergreen tree green with loads of gold glass-fleck shimmer. I have it on now and it's mesmerizing. I don't have Zoya - Edyta to compare, but they appear to be the about the same. I also hear that's true from a favorite, trusted blogger.

Vaso - The oddball. I love it for that reason. I mean really, where does a light lavender fit into this collection? It is very pretty though. I was worried prior to trying it that I wouldn't like it because it has this weird frosty look. Do you see it? Instead of looking like a super shimmer, glass-fleck like the rest of the bunch, the white shimmer in it makes it look sort of... crinkled? It's a strange effect, but I still like it on my nails.

The formula on these is fantastic. If you do really thin coats you'll have to do three, but a thin to medium coat will give you two-coat coverage for every shade. This are all very well pigmented, have an easy to control formula (I didn't have to do any clean-up for any of these swatches) and they all have a serious glass-fleck to even almost a foil finish. These are probably even better in person. I did the best I could to get good, clear swatches in strong sun but even then I couldn't capture all the beauty. This is a top-notch collection. I was slightly miffed at the 5 colors all in the red/gold/orange family, but they all are different, and they all capture the essence of Fall along with Vino and Verde so it makes a great Fall collection. And I am assuming since this is based on ancient Venetian glass making, this were the prominent shades used in that time, so it makes a lot of sense that those are the colors in this collection.

What do you think about Venetian Glass?
This collection is available now at www.bynubar.com. It retails for $7.49 a bottle or $49.95 for the eight piece set. Also, for a limited time, if you order the 8 piece set you get a bottle of Nubar Diamont Top Coat (which is a great top coat) and Foundation Base Coat free.

-Have a great weekend!
-Elaine
:c)

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.

A Perfect "10"

Hello all! I was perusing nail polish at Wal-Mart yet again and I took a peek at a brand that I am pretty sure has been around for a while, but that I don't own. It is called A Perfect "10", and although most of the colors were pretty boring to me, I did find two that caught my enough to snag.

Here they are: Bittersweet and Crush

Bittersweet - This is a sheer, but super shimmery, light, spearmint green. The formula is outrageously thin. I had to do 4 coats, but I suspected that it would look awesome layered over a black or dark green so I had to see if I was correct>>>

I was!

Crush - This is a super shimmery, burnt orange color. It reminds me of the new Venetian Glass collection from Nubar (Which I have swatched for you!) This one is much more pigmented than Bittersweet and I was able to do 2 coats.

I believe these retailed for about $1.99. But it was a little while ago and now I am second guessing that. But whatever they cost it was cheap.

What do you think? Have any A Perfect "10" polishes?
-Elaine
:c)

Zoya Skittles

Here is a cute mani I did with some sparkly Zoyas I have:

This is Zoya Mimi, Gilda, Charla, Sienna and Ivanka, all 3 coats.

How was everyones' holiday?!
-Elaine
:c)

Some more Sinful Colors

I grabbed a couple new Sinful Colors to show you! I just love them.

Forget Now - This is a hott pink/fuschia with a bright pink, glass-fleck shimmer. It's cooler than my pic shows. I had a hard time getting this color-accurate. This swatch is 3 coats.


Cloud 9 - I just can't resist an orange! This is a light, pumpkin orange with a matching shimmer. This was 3 coats.

ANNNDDD I bought them at Walgreen's, buy one, get one free. That's quite the deal considering these are regularly about $1.99. If your Walgreen's is having this sale I say stock up! And if you need help here are some more of my swatches:
- HERE
- HERE
- HERE
- HERE
- HERE