Glam Slam France Part Deux

Hello! I have the other set of OPI - Glam Slam for you today!

Rally Pretty Pink - This is a mauvy, pinky, purple with very strong gold shimmer. It reminds me of Zoya - Faye but I haven't compared them yet.

Red Shatter (shown over Rally Pretty Pink) - This shatter is awesome because it is a sheer, jelly-ish crackle as opposed to an opaque creme crackle like most are. It allows the shimmer or glitter in your base color to come through a bit. I like that because I feel uncomfortable using a creme crackle over a shimmer or glitter, but having that translucent property makes me feel better. :c) I also thought I would feel uncomfortable about this crackle combo, but it actually does look nice.

What do you think?
:c)
Elaine

Nubar Finest Silks

Nubar Finest Silks is a collection of eight feminine, "work appropriate" shades. Mostly creme finishes with the exception of one shimmer.

Taffata - Brownish pink creme. When I was wearing this it made me think that this would be what it would look like if you mixed chocolate milk and strawberry milk.

Marabout - This is a dark gray-brown creme. Really interesting and stylish. It reminds me of mud which I know doesn't sound stylish but that is the kind of colors I like.

Chiffon - This is just like Marabout but lighter. Lighter mud. Nice, but I wore this right after Marabout and really didn't feel like I changed my polish.

Organza - This is a shimmery, sheer white. Not bad alone, but if you don't like sheers I'd say to layer this. This is three coats.

Moire - Light, soft tan creme with a hint of pink. Delicate and pretty.

Charmeuse - Mauve creme. Not a boring mauve; it's bright and bold. I like this. And the formula! All of these have a nice formula but this one was especially nice.

Pekin - Bright red creme. Nice, bold, smooth and sexy.

Sateen - Dark red, blood creme.

These are beautiful shades and I greatly appreciate colors like this being a working professional for when I can't wear my usual blues, greens and glitters. I really enjoy adding shades like this to my collection because I am so used to unusual shades being my norm, that these feel outrageous! But my gripe with this collection is that I feel like there are too many repeats! I like these shades for their sophistication but I don't want the same ones over and over. For example, Marabout and Chiffon really seemed like the same color to me. But anyway, they are nice and beautiful and have a fantastic formula.

Nubar Finest Silks is available now on bynubar.com and retail for $7.49 per bottle or $49.95 for the entire collection.

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.

New Xtreme Wears, Fall 2010

Man I love Xtreme Wears. I get very excited for new displays. I love the colors, I love the brush, I love the colors.... just all good.

Purple Gala - Man I love this. I wore it for 5 days which for me is a loooong time. It is a purple base that is foily in finish with metallic gold flakes adding to the depth, and foil look. I love it. It looks very similar to Hard Candy - Mr. Wrong, but they are not dupes. I did a comparison:

Index and Ring: Mr. Wrong and Middle and Pinky: Purple Gala
It looks to me like Mr. Wrong is more grayed of a purple. In the swatch it also looks like it has more gold in it. But I like Purple Gala for a few reasons:
- I like the base color better
- I like the formula better. Purple Gala is 2 coats and Mr. Wrong is 3.
- Purple Gala is cheaper and has a bigger bottle
- Purple Gala is more accessible: Hard Candy is only at Wal-Mart.

Purple Fiesta - At first glance I thought there was more of a fiesta happening here. In the bottle it sure looks more exciting. All the holo glitter and holo bar glitter. But on the nail it got lost. Until I came up with an idea. I did three thin, thin coats instead of two coats. Then the glitter comes through more, and more layers gives you more glitter! I love the base color of this. This swatch is top coat-less so it would look a lot cooler with a smooth finish.

Concrete - This doesn't look much like concrete, unless concrete is purple? This is a grayed out purple creme. A "gravender", if you will. I love this. This is two coats.

Plum Burst - Oooh! How pretty. This is a bold, magenta-purple creme. It is very pretty and exciting! It may not be terribly unique, but I like it. This is 2 coats.

Mystic Lilac - This is a recent nail junkie favorite. I like it myself! It is a very gray lavender that has lots of super shiny, emerald green shimmer. The formula is thin on this, but it's a good thing because it lets the shimmer shine through. This is 3 coats.

These new Xtremes are on a new display in drugstores now and they retail for $2.99

What do you think?
:c)
-Elaine

Vintage Vixen Swatches - "Hotsy Totsy"

Hello Everybody! I have a very exciting post today: One half of the China Glaze Fall Collection, Vintage Vixen. I have been very excited to see these shades for myself and they do not disappoint. The only way they disappoint me is that they make me wish it was fall!

Vintage Vixen is a collection of 12 foxy, vintage shades and I am showing you them in two parts. Today is going to be the first 6-piece set: Hotsy Totsy. Tomorrow I will show you my swatches of other set.

Okay, ready? >>>

Jitterbug - This is a steel colored, mega shimmer with a sort of foil finish. It's part foily metallic, and part shimmer. Very flashy and hott. This is 2 coats.

Swing Baby - Same concept as Jitterbug but this is a champagne colored shimmery foil shade. This appears to have several different colored particles in it to give it the overall shade it is. It is hard to peg as "cool", "warm" or "neutral". This is on the thinner side than Jitterbug though. I needed three coats.

Bogie - This is a eggplant purple shade with silver shimmer. WOW. I really like this one. I wish it was fall so I could wear it! It doesn't feel like a summer color.

Hey Doll - This is a mauvy, rose with shimmer. Not a color I would normally go for, but it is still pretty.

Ingrid - Ah, the beloved taupe nail polish. Do we have lots of them? Sure, but this one is special thanks to the caramel colored shimmer.

Foxy - A very unexpected surprise. This is a very brown, red shimmer. On coat 1 it looks mostly like a red shimmer (boring), but by the second coat it has a more noticeable brown color to it (awesome). This is another one that is making me wish it was fall.

How pretty are these? I would have normally thought tomorrow's set would be way better thanks to the bold colors like blue and green, but this set is fantastic! There is lots to enjoy here. The formula of these are a bit thin and runny, but very pigmented allowing for two coats on all except for Swing Baby. Hey Doll may need 3 coats but by doing a thicker second coat I was able to get away with just two.

Stay tuned for Part II!!

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.

BB Couture - Hands of Hope Collection Swatches

As promised, here are the swatches of the Hands of Hope Collection from BB Couture for nails. The collection consists of 6 shades all with names of places in Haiti. As I mentioned before, 25% of the sales from this collection is donated to the Salvation Army to aide the women and children affected by the earthquakes in Haiti.

Tortuga Island, Kyona Beach, Bassins Bleu

Paradise, Labadie Beach, Cap-Haïtien

Tortuga Island - Tortuga is an island off the northern coast of Haiti. Its name in Spanish (Isla Tortuga) and French means "Turtle Island" or "Tortoise Island". Tortuga Island the polish, is a pale, yellow-green with a lot of silver shimmer that gives it a bit of a frosty look. It reminds me of key lime pie. This swatch is three coats, as I thought the finish was a bit too thin with 2 coats. This is not a bad color, but it's not one of my favorites.

Kyona Beach - Kyona Beach is a gorgeous little beach on the western coast a little north of Port-au-Prince. Kyona Beach the polish is a very pretty robin's egg blue creme. I am calling it a creme but it does have a little hidden shimmer in it, but it is very hidden. This gave me a really bad application the first time I tried to swatch it. It was very uneven, even with Seche Vite. I don't know if it was the lack of a base coat or that it was too thick, but the next time I swatched it I did use a base coat, and I thinned it a bit and that make everything okay. The swatch is 2 coats.

Bassins Bleu - The Bassin Bleu in Haiti consists of a series of natural rock bassins arranged in cascade, successively pouring water into one another. That sounds amazing! Apparently Bassin Bleu is restricted to a minimal amount of tourists per day to preserve its environmental integrity. Bassins Bleu the polish is a blue sided, shamrock green creme. It looks to me like it has itty bitty black particles in it, but they are very sparse so I don’t know if it is contamination or intentional. Regardless, I like the color and application was great. This swatch is 2 coats.

Paradise – This is so awesome! When I first saw the pics for this collection, Paradise looked like a peach creme. It’s definitely not a peach creme. This is the color of putty. It is beautiful. I wore this for a few days and got many, many compliments on it. In some lights it looks like a pale mauve-purple from just a hint, to very mauve-purple. It’s awesome. In the swatch you can see that there is a lot of golden shimmer, which I am sure we can attribute with making this shade look peach, but it really doesn’t translate to the nail. This is my favorite of the bunch and this swatch is 2 coats.

Labadie Beach - Labadie is a strip of land on the secluded Pointe Honore near Cape Haïtien, Haiti. This beach is one of the world's best sandy beaches and it is protected by coral reefs. Labadie Beach the polish is a cool, medium pink with purple shimmer. Very pretty and has great application. This swatch is 2 coats.

Cap-Haïtien – Cap-Haïtien, Haiti is a city on the northern coast of the country. Cap-Haïtien the polish is a really awesome medium purple. I think it is much better in real life than in the swatch. In real life it is a bit darker/more saturated and just prettier, but in a way that I can’t seem to find words for. This is very stunning and not like any other purple I have. This is my 2nd favorite from the collection. It has a small amount of very fine red shimmer, but sadly it is pretty invisible on the nail. This was a dream to apply. I probably could have gotten away with one coat. This swatch is two coats.

The entire collection retails for $54, or $9 per bottle. If you can’t spring for all of them right now, it is okay. You can purchase them individually and still 25% of the sales will go to help the earthquake victims in Haiti. They can be purchased at Overall Beauty.com

NOTD - Work Appropriate... Yet Mesmerizing!

TGIF!!

Today I had a meeting at work with an outside member of our team so I decided to change my green/purple duochrome to something more neutral. I decided on Sinful Colors - Wicket Mind (I still firmly believe this is a typo, but whatever) as it is a subtle, rosy mauve. I have shown it to you before here, but I decided it needed another look.


It turns out I like this even more than I thought I would! I felt strange buying it even though I was oddly drawn to it. It is unlike me to pick a regular 'ol pink color. This just isn't some bland plain Jane color I guess. It is rich and pretty, and although the texture is of a thick opaque creme, it has some shimmer too. I can't stop looking at it! I really like this on my nails.

What about you? Do you like neutral colors? Or do you do all bold all the time?

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!