Scrangie

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T10:15:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I didn't plan any creative Valentine's Day nail art this year. I was just planning on wearing one of those Sally Hansen Salon Effects, but then these showed up last night and looked even better than the one I previously planned on wearing.
They're the new Incoco Valentine's Day nail appliques and this design is called Cupid's Arrow. Here's how it looks on the website.

And here's how it looks on the nail. What's different about these compared to other designs I've worn recently is that the base is a very pretty light gold pearl, not pure white or glitter like I'm used to. The designs on this one are a pretty metallic bright red that goes really well with the warm gold pearl. I also like that there's a good variety of heart shapes, all different sizes but mostly small enough to get a lot on each nail, and not all facing the same direction so there's no way to accidentally apply them upside-down.

Application on these was easy as pie. The Incoco strips are really stretchy so they conform to my curved nails better and I get fewer wrinkles at the edges. The only problems I have with these are that the pinkie nail sized one is a little too skinny for my nail and there's no in between size, and that you have to be gentle with them for the first couple hours after applying, or you'll mess up the tips like I always do.

Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic Valentine's Day. Yeah, I know that it's cool to hate Valentine's Day... It's manufactured and commercial and it sucks and all that. But, I love holidays, manufactured or not. They're an excuse to do something different and fun, like make pink frosted cupcakes with heart-shaped sprinkles and give them to everyone you know. Or at least take advantage of the 50% off clearance sales on all the unsold heart-shaped boxes of chocolate.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of those Sweethearts/Conversation Hearts candies that are only sold around Valentine's Day. You know, the ones that are rock hard, taste like flavored chalk, and have things printed on them that you would never actually say to people? They used to say nice things like "I love you" and "kiss me," but now they say ridiculous things like "txt me," "www.love," and "you go girl"... And then there are these, which are my favorite variety. Actually, I don't know where I'm going with this other than to say that this is the one day of the year I'll eat those and I'll have fun reading them. And I just remembered that the reason I was thinking about conversation hearts in the first place is that I saw this pattern on Incoco's website. I think I've had too much sugar already and it's only 10 AM.

So....uh... Happy Hyperglycemia Day! XD

(The Incoco strips were sent for review.)

Duri 2012 Valentine's Day Collection Swatches and Review

2012-02-13T14:00:00.000-06:00

Duri Cosmetics has a nail polish collection out for Valentine's Day this year. It's your standard pink-and-red Valentine's Day fare, but some of them are pretty nice.

Duri Breakfast in Bed. This is a pale, ever-so-slightly lavender-toned creamy pink base with a very subtle, very fine blue and purple shimmer. The shimmer is nearly invisible, but at certain angles it comes out as a blue flash across the surface of the polish.

Actually, maybe it's not actually breakfast in bed. Maybe it's Breakfest, like a festival where you go around smashing things and break dancing.

Duri Cranberry Crush. Medium berry-colored jelly. More mulberry than cranberry, slight purple tone.

Duri Every Day is a Valentine. A super bright cherry red jelly! This one I really like. It's a very glowy type of red, due to the depth of the jelly finish. Doesn't look flat or dull. The two bright reds in this collection are nearly identical; this one is the cooler-toned of the two.

Duri Forget Me Never. A warm pink creme. Not as bright as it looks here, but still what I'd consider to be a bright/hot pink. Reminds me of OPI Elephantastic Pink, actually. Dries darker than bottle color.

Duri Hot Date. This looks more red than it is in real life, but it's still a mauve-berry jelly. More purple-ish toned than pure red. I have a strong dislike for most berry polishes on me and this is no exception. Bleh. Plus, the name! Hot Date, really? I don't know if I'd really consider Bingo Night to be all that hot, but to each their own, I suppose...

Duri Sweetheart. If any of these colors say "hot date" to me, it's this one. This is a fire-eating belly dancer type of color! It's bright, the jelly finish gives it depth and it's very, very glossy. This is the warmer toned of the two bright reds, not quite a coral or an orange, but no blue undertone like Every Day Is A Valentine has.

The formula on these was varied. The two bright reds were unexpectedly thin/runny in texure, but had a really even application. The pink cremes were perfectly normal. The berry jellies were thicker and had a little drag to them. The brushes in these were all nice, so that helped application. I did three coats of all; they each needed all three. Dry time is average.

Not a particularly creative collection, but some of the colors are really nice. I didn't like the two berry shades at all, I liked the two pink shades well enough, but I loved the two bright reds. I am very fond of the jelly finish on the reds, and they're so bright and eye-catching, I can't help but love them. If you have a lot of reds in your collection (and I'm sure you do, as any nail polish enthusiast invariably ends up with way more reds in their collection than they ever intended to own...), there's nothing new here. All of these colors are pretty common and probably look like something you already own. The only one that I can't immediately think of a match for is Breakfast in Bed- the light pink creme with the blue flash.

These are all available from Duri's website, and I don't believe any of them are limited edition.

(This was sent for review.)

Stila Love At First Blush Palette Spring/Valentine's Day 2012

2012-02-13T11:00:00.000-06:00

This thing is so adorable. Maybe not quite as unique/impressive as last year's, but still insanely cute and absolutely perfect for Valentine's Day.

Under fluorescent light, the coral color of the middle stripe comes out more.

But under natural light, the pretty rosy pink tone of the bottom stripe comes out more.

Unlike last year's palette, I can actually swatch this one without ruining it since there's no overspray. This is the three shades swatched over bare skin (no primer) in natural light, and then all three shades blended together (natural light also).

I've used this a couple times and I really like it. It is a little powdery at first, but has surprisingly good payoff. The color it creates when all three shades are blended is really natural and flattering and not as shimmery as I thought it would be. But, I also like picking up the shades separately with a smaller blush brush (those flat Benefit brushes are perfect for this) and using the more coral pink shade in the center as my blush and the light pink shimmer at the top as my highlight.

Normally when I buy something this pretty, I never end up using it because I don't want to ruin the design. But this time I went ahead and tried it and I'm really pleased that it's actually useable and that the design doesn't get too messed up after using it. Either way, I thought this was a steal at only $14.

I got mine from Stila's website, but Sephora has this alone and as a kit with two mini Lip Glazes for $20.

Magnetic Polish Instructions, Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions

2012-02-10T11:30:00.002-06:00

I've gotten a lot of questions about magnetic polish, so I thought I'd put all the information here in one place for easy reference. If I've missed something, please let me know so I can add it to this post!

HOW TO APPLY MAGNETIC POLISH

Apply your usual base coat and let it dry.
Apply your first coat of magnetic polish to all ten nails and give it a minute to set.
Apply one coat of magnetic polish to a single nail. If it looks opaque enough, continue to step four. If it looks too sheer, add another coat to all nails before continuing.
Working one nail at a time, apply a coat of magnetic polish and then immediately hold the magnet over the nail.
Hold the magnet completely still for at least 10 seconds. Holding it longer will give you a clearer design.
Continue this process (apply final coat, expose polish to magnet) on all ten nails.
Wait a few minutes for the magnetic design to set before applying topcoat.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Magnetic polish does have a learning curve. It's not extremely difficult to use, but it can definitely take a few tries before you start to get the hang of applying it. Knowing how much polish to apply or how to hold the magnet to get the design to come out just right takes practice, but, to me, the results are worth the extra effort! These are some of the problems I've personally encountered when using magnetic polish.

For reference, these are the shapes I'm using below. Left to right: China Glaze diagonal pattern, China Glaze star pattern, Nails Inc. wave pattern, China Glaze chevron pattern.

The design looks like this:

Reason: Finger or magnet were moved while creating the design.

Solution: Hold still when exposing the wet polish to the magnet. If you wiggle or shift positions, it will create a blurred design.

The design looks like this:

Reason: Final coat of polish was already too dry when the magnet was applied.

Solution: Expose the magnet to the wet polish immediately after applying the final coat. Don't wait. If the polish is already too dry, simply add another coat.

The design looks like this:

Reason: The nail made physical contact with the magnet.
Reason: The final coat of polish was too thick or the magnet was too strong, so the magnet attracted the excess polish.

Solution: A thinner coat of polish will help prevent the polish from being attracted to the magnet. If your nail is actually touching the magnet, viewing your nail position from the side should help you to know when your nail is level.

The design looks like this:

Reason: Magnetic polish is too sheer.

Solution: Apply an extra coat of magnetic polish to each nail. Some magnetics will be opaque in one coat, others need two or three.

The design looks like this:

Reason: Final coat of polish is too thick and runny.

Solution: Apply a thinner coat of polish as the final layer. The magnetic design will still form when thin coats are used. When the coats are too thick and wet, the design will deform and blur as the polish pools and settles.

The design looks like this:

Reason: Topcoat was applied too soon.
Reason: Particular topcoat doesn't agree with the magnetic polish.

Solution: If this happens with every topcoat you use, try waiting for ten or so minutes to allow the polish to dry and the magnetic design to set before applying topcoat. If it only happens with certain brands of topcoat, switch to a different kind for your magnetic manicures.

The design looks like this:

Reason: The nail is very curved and the magnet is not strong enough.
Reason: Nail not level with the magnet.

Solution: If your nails are very curved, sometimes the magnet won't form an even design across the entire nail. This can be helped by choosing a magnetic polish with a stronger magnet. If you're having trouble holding your nail level under the magnet, view your position from the side to see if you're holding it straight.

The design looks like this:

Reason: Magnet or nail were off center while forming design.

Solution: The center of the design is usually in the center of the magnet. Be sure to hold the middle of the nail (or wherever you want the design to be centered) near the middle of the magnet. This is not always a problem; you can customize your design by centering it in different areas, it doesn't have to be right in the middle. It tends to be more of an issue on designs that look best centered in the middle of the nail, like the star or chevron patterns.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Do I have to use a magnet?
A: Yes. The magnetic polishes won't do anything without a magnet. Some brands come with a magnet on the bottle, other brands sell them separately, but you do need one if you want the magnetic design. If you don't really care about the design but you like the color and want to wear it like regular polish, then no, you don't need the magnet. But magnetic polishes will not form a design without one.

Q: Can I use a regular magnet that I have at home, for example, a refrigerator magnet?
A: No. The magnets designed for magnetic polish are embedded with patterns. A normal magnet doesn't have a special pattern and will just make an uneven blurry spot on the polish.
EDIT: Three people so far have told me that they have successfully used household magnets with magnetic polish. I tried a refrigerator magnet and it didn't work to form a design, but apparently there are some that will form a striped design. It definitely wouldn't hurt to try different magnets from around your house to see if the polish reacts to them!

Q: If I have a magnetic polish magnet, can I use it on normal nail polish?
A: No. It won't do anything on a normal polish. Magnetic polishes are made with tiny particles of iron that move when exposed to a magnet.

Q: Can I use one brand's polish with another brand's magnet?
A: Yes. All magnets designed for use with magnetic polish will work across all brands. You can use the China Glaze magnet with the Lancôme polish, the Nails Inc. polish with the Layla magnet and so on.

Q: Will topcoat ruin the magnetic design?
A: It depends. From personal experience, I've found that China Glaze Fast Forward topcoat does mess with the magnetic design, but other brands of topcoat like Seche Vite and Nubar Diamont don't disturb the design. Most magnetic polishes dry fast enough to not need a quick dry topcoat, but if you want to apply topcoat, I'd recommend giving the polish at least five to ten minutes to set so you won't streak the design.

Q: Can I use a regular, non-magnetic polish as a base layer for the magnetic polish?
A: Yes. I've done this frequently to conserve the tiny bottles of magnetic polish. You can apply as many coats as you'd like of normal polish and then apply a single coat of magnetic and the design will still form perfectly.

Q: If I use a normal polish as a base layer, will the color show through the magnetic design?
A: Sometimes. It depends on the magnetic polish. Some magnetic polishes are too opaque at one coat to let the bottom color show through. The more sheer magnetics (like the light greens and greys) will allow the bottom color to show through the design.

Nina Ultra Pro Molten Gold over OPI Suzi Says Da!

2012-02-09T09:00:00.000-06:00

Here's another lovely Nina Ultra Pro color. I have been trying to wear all of the unworn Nina polishes in my stash, and this was a particularly pretty one. I wore this combination last fall and it made me think of apples and apple cider!

Nina Ultra Pro Molten Gold (two coats) over OPI Suzi Says Da!

China Glaze Magnetix Collection Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-02-08T15:53:00.003-06:00

China Glaze has just released their own line of magnetic nail polish. It's called Magnetix and it consists of six magnet effect polishes plus a three-pattern magnet that you purchase separately (instead of being attached to the bottle). I'm really excited about this collection. I've been hoping that one of the major brands would hop on the magnetic bandwagon, and what better brand than China Glaze?

China Glaze Attraction. This is a very dark grey base with shiny silver chunky shimmer. I've never used a magnetic polish like this one before! Most of them tend to look smooth and blurry, like it would feel velvety if you touched it. This one is sparkly and crisp! Those little silver speckles are gorgeous and add extra contrast to the design.

China Glaze Cling On. This is a light, silvery olive green. Actually, it's more like the color of overcooked artichokes. When the magnet is applied, the design becomes very dark, much darker than I expected it to become based on the very light bottle color. This one was more sheer than the others and I needed to use three coats. I think that using the chevron pattern on this one is.... fitting.

China Glaze Drawn To You. A silvery medium purple based magnetic polish. When the magnet is applied, the color transforms and becomes even more beautiful. Little pink and red sparks appear near the design and balance well with the more silvery areas created by the magnet.

China Glaze Instant Chemistry. This is a very dark burgundy purple. It's the most opaque of all the shades, needing only one coat for complete coverage. But, despite being the most opaque, it's also the least dramatic. There's not as much contrast to this one so the pattern doesn't look very strong. I still like it, though. There's something really H.R. Giger-ish about this dark color combined with the chevron pattern. A little bit dark and ominous.

China Glaze Pull Me Close. This is a blue-toned grey based magnetic. The pattern turns very dark on this one as well- looks super dramatic against the light base!

China Glaze You Move Me. A soft brown magnetic. A little more red tone to it and it would look just like Tiger's Eye when you use the magnet on it.

The formula on these was excellent. Like most other magnetic polishes, the texture is thick and opaque. These were a little less thick than others I've used and slightly less opaque, but still applied perfectly and reacted well to the magnet. The brushes are normal, thin China Glaze brushes and I found that to help provide smooth, even application. Lots of other magnetic polishes have very thick brushes, but I prefer these thinner ones. I did two coats of all but Cling On, which needed three because I could see my nail through the pattern. Dry time on these is very fast.

Here's what the China Glaze magnet looks like. It's u-shaped and has a diagonal stripe pattern (left), a chevron pattern (center) and a star patten (right). Similar to the Nails Inc. magnet, it has a little rest for your cuticle that helps you position the design and helps prevent you from touching your nail to the magnet.

I found the magnet to be okay, but a little awkward to get used to. Figuring out how to hold it was the trickiest part. At first I kept it flat on the table and lowered my nail over it, but after using it a few times, I found it easier to pick up the magnet and hold it over each nail, using the little cuticle guard to help position it. It's not as easy to use as the Nails Inc. one because the cuticle guard isn't tall enough to completely prevent you from touching the magnet. It's also tricky to figure out how to center your nail on the magnet so that the design is in the right spot. The trick to getting the best position is to fully center your finger in the plastic guard, but position it back closer to your first knuckle instead of holding it right against your cuticle. The center of the pattern is in the center of the magnet, so try to visualize getting the middle of your nail right along the middle of the magnet when positioning.

The other thing that I noticed about this magnet is that it's not as strong as some of the other brands' magnets. The pattern doesn't form as quickly or as strongly, but it also doesn't pull as much polish up because of that. Instead of holding for 5-10 seconds like I would with the super-strong Nails Inc. magnet, I held it for 20 seconds minimum to be sure I got a strong design.

Once I got the hang of holding the magnet correctly, I didn't have any trouble with it. If you already have a few magnetic polishes (and you like their magnet), you don't have to buy the China Glaze magnet. The China Glaze Magnetix polishes will work with any other brand of magnet, like the LCN, the Layla, Lancôme, Nails Inc., or whichever magnetic polish you already have.

Quick bullet-point summary:

What I liked:

Gorgeous colors.
Perfect formula.
Perfect brushes and bottles.
These are full size (0.5 oz) bottles while many other brands contain half that amount (or even less)!
Good, strong contrast in most shades.
The magnet comes separately so if you already have a magnet you like, you don't have to buy it. Alternately, if you don't already have a magnet, you can buy this three-patterned one cheaper than any other brand, and you only have to buy one to get all three patterns.
Magnet has three designs instead of only one. Bonus!
Very fast dry time.
Best price on magnetic polish I've seen so far, especially since it contains twice as much product as most other magnetic polishes.

What I didn't like:

Flat magnet is more awkward to use than the kind that are attached to the bottle.
Magnet isn't as strong as the Nails Inc. magnet. Design takes longer to show up because of this.
If you have very curved nails, the pattern may not show up evenly across your nail. A stronger magnet would help the pattern develop more evenly.

But, overall, I absolutely loved these. The colors, the formula, the brushes and bottles, all awesome. The only true flaw is that magnet could be a little stronger and the design of it could be tweaked a little to make it easier to use, but I really had no major problem with the polish or the magnet. I applaud them for making these full sized bottles instead of minis and also for not charging an arm and a leg for them. Very happy with these. Considering purchasing backups.

(Attraction and Drawn To You were sent for review; the rest were purchased by me.)

Sephora Prisma Chrome Eyeshadow in 05 Moon Beam Swatches

2012-02-07T15:00:00.000-06:00

Have you seen these new Sephora Prisma Chrome eyeshadows? I noticed them on the website when I was browsing for new stuff and they really caught my eye. Partially because of the name (Prisma Chrome! Sounds iridescent and shiny!) and partially just because they looked cool and unusual.

I picked the one called Moon Beam (described as "opalescent pink beige") because it seemed like it might be the most iridescent and when it arrived I was not disappointed.

It comes in a pretty large black compact (2" x 2" x .75") and has its own mirror inside the lid.

The back label. You have to peel it back for the ingredients list, but I couldn't get the sticker to stay flat enough to take a picture. The ingredients are: mica, cetearyl ethylhexanoate, HDI/Trimethylol hexyllactone crosspolymer, glycerin, squalane, octyldodecyl stearoyl stearate, polysorbate 80, ethylhexylglycerin, caprylyl glycol, 1,2-hexanediol, xanthan gum, chondrus crispus, pentaerythrityl tetra-DI-t-butyl hydroxyhydrocinnamate, silica, dicalcium phosphate, synthetic flourphlogopite. May contain: titanium dioxide, iron oxides, carmine, ultramarines, manganese violet, ferric ferrocyanide, ferric ammonium ferrocyanide, chromium oxide greens, chromium hydroxide green, blue 1 lake, yellow 5 lake.

Now, every picture I've seen of these has been straight on, like this, so it looks like some sort of crazy, sparkly futuristic swirly space condom package or something. So imagine my surprise when it arrives....

...And it's actually not just flat with a raised ring at all. It's a fascinating, wavy three-dimensional design. Look at it from a few more angles, you'll see what I mean:

Is that gorgeous or what? I've never owned an eyeshadow quite like this.

It's not just all looks, either. It actually has some really good pigment to it. Here it is swatched (no primer) in fluorescent light, with flash, and with natural light. As always, click it to view more detail.

The color of Moon Beam is a light neutral beige base with a ton of shiny, sparkly pink metallic duochrome shimmer. Swatched on my arm, it does look truly duochrome because it shifts from beige to pink and at an extreme angle takes on a slightly green look. It has lots of little sparkling shimmer particles in it and it is highly iridescent. Looks like the inside of a seashell.

I haven't used it on my eyes yet, but it swatched well on my arm, so I think it's going to work pretty well. It felt smooth, had plenty of pigment to it and didn't give me any sparkly fallout, so I'm really looking forward to trying out a few looks with it.

Definitely one of the coolest looking shadows I have ever seen. It's on the pricey side for Sephora house brand ($15 for 0.12 oz) but I think this one was worth it. Kinda curious to check out the rest of the colors now.

New Sally Hansen Salon Effects Designs for Valentine's Day 2012

2012-02-07T12:30:00.000-06:00

Sally Hansen has a couple new Salon Effects designs out for Valentine's Day 2012. They're really cute and Valentine's Day themed without being too over the top mushy-cutesy-cheesy. Now, I actually like over the top mushy cutesy cheesy seasonal designs (hello light-up reindeer Christmas sweater!) but these are still cool. Most are designs I wouldn't be able to create easily by hand.

The designs are: Are You Single?, Cross My Heart, How Romantic!, Love Always and Speed Dating. Neat feature on the packaging: The design pattern is printed on the top under the name. Nice touch.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Are You Single?

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Cross My Heart.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in How Romantic.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Love Always.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Speed Dating.

If you've never used the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips before, here's a quick run-through of application. First, remove your nail polish and be sure your nails are clean and free of oil or moisture. Second, select the correct size applique for each nail and line them up in order. Take each strip (one finger at a time, protective plastic sheet and end tab removed) and place it against the base of your nail, pressing it smooth toward the free edge and stretching it slightly to avoid gaps and wrinkles. Lastly, file off the excess applique that hangs over the edge of your nail and you're done. You can add topcoat if you'd like, but it isn't required.

I haven't tried any of these designs yet, but Speed Dating is really calling to me... Might try that one on over the weekend!

(This was sent for review.)

Stila In The Garden Eye Shadow Palette Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-02-06T15:00:00.000-06:00

Picked up the new Stila In The Garden palette last week. I really liked the NaturalEyes/Natural Eye/In The Light palette they did for fall last year, so I was hoping this new one would be just as nice. Turns out it is! Maybe even a little better.

The Stila In The Garden palette is a set of ten shadows plus a full sized Smudge Stick eyeliner.

The shadows are Chinois (matte creamy white), Breeze (shimmery beige), Bark (shimmery taupe), Freesia (shimmery violet blue), Rosette (metallic pink violet), Nectar (matte creamy beige), Honey (metallic bronze gold), Sage (shimmery translucent green), Moss (dark olive green with shimmer), and Juniper (deep shimmery forest green).

The Smudge Stick liner that comes with this palette is called Starfish. It's a smoky greenish-black with big chunky gold sparkles.

Closeups of the shadows, with flash and without. Please click to enlarge.

Swatched over bare skin (no primer), with flash and without. Chinois , Breeze, Bark, Freesia, Rosette.

Nectar, Honey, Sage, Moss, Juniper.

Stila Smudge Stick Eyeliner in Starfish.

And a couple looks using the products:

This was:
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
Stila Sage on lid
Stila Breeze patted over Sage on inner lid
Stila Forest in crease and on lower lashline
Stila Chinois as highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Demolition as liner
Stila Moss on brows

I don't know why I try to do winged liner with a pencil. I can never get it to turn out right. Besides the crappy liner application, the shadows looked great. They apply really smoothly and they smoke out perfectly. These shades were very easy to blend.

This was:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance Lemon Drop
Stila Breeze on lid
Stila Nectar patted over Breeze on lid
Stila Moss in crease
Stila Rosette on lower lashline
Stila Smudge Stick in Starfish as liner
Stila Jungle on brows

Again with the pencil winged liner! It didn't turn out good at all. I'm kinda embarrassed to even post that picture because my liner is so bad, but the sparkles in Starfish showed up so well in the picture that I just had to put it up. Starfish isn't very pigmented and it's not as smooth as the other Smudge Sticks I've tried (Koi and Damsel), but the sparkles really do show up on the eye. These shadows applied just as nicely as the others, no problems at all.

What I liked:

I like the color selection better than the brown-based NaturalEye/In The Light palette.
Shadows were soft and smooth, not as powdery as the last palette.
Pretty good pigmentation on all the shades that I tried.
Easy to blend.
Perfectly suited for smoky eye looks. These shades smudge and smoke out very well.
Comes with a full sized liner.
Magnetic closure on the front of the palette.
This palette doesn't contain Kitten eyeshadow! Glad to not have another duplicate color.

What I didn't like:

The Starfish liner felt dry and didn't have very good payoff. It wasn't smooth and creamy like the other Smudge Stick liners I've tried. It tugged when I applied it and I had to go over my line multiple times to build an opaque line.
Smudge Stick liner doesn't retract. If you twist it up too far, you're pretty much screwed. Be careful not to twist up more than you need to line your eye.
A lot of the colors are frosty.
Not really the most exciting color selection. Looked more vibrant online.

This reminds me a bit of another one of my favorite palettes, the Wet n Wild Comfort Zone Color Icon palette. They're not dupes of each other, but the theme and a lot of the colors are similar. When I want smoky, green-based earth tones, that's usually my go to palette, so that's probably why I liked the colors of this one so much. I do wish that the colors weren't so smoky and dull, though. With a name like "In The Garden" I was thinking they'd be a little more fresh and leafy. Maybe it's really supposed to be "In The Garden in February." :) Overall, though, I'm happy with the quality of the shadows and the size of the palette. These Stila palettes stack really nicely and don't take up much room even though there's ten big shadows and a full sized liner it them.

I ordered mine from Stila's website, but Sephora has this too. $39 and it is not limited edition.

Nubar Jellybeans Collection for Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-02-06T10:43:00.002-06:00

I love jelly beans. They're not necessarily a seasonal-only candy (they're around all year), but I tend to only think about them in spring, especially around Easter. My grandma used to make me an Easter basket every year and decorate the tufts of plastic Easter grass by sprinkling large jelly beans around it. Those were usually the very deceptive Spice jelly beans- you know the ones... They're fruit colored, but then you bite into them and they taste like burning band-aids? I don't mind them now that I'm older, but I'd still much rather have the fruit kind. I remember when the Starburst jelly beans first came out, I used to love those. But my all time favorite are Jelly Belly jelly beans. When I buy them, I always have to make a mix of Buttered Popcorn (best jelly bean flavor ever), Kiwi, Juicy Pear, Cantaloupe, Pink Grapefruit, Dr. Pepper, Watermelon, Peach, Toasted Marshmallow, Cream Soda and Root Beer.

But... what does any of that have to do with nail polish? Not much, except that Nubar has just released their spring 2012 collection called Jellybeans.

Nubar Blueberry. Gorgeous bright primary blue creme. This is a clean blue- no muddiness or dustiness, no other colors in it, just pure Crayola blue.

Nubar Blue Raspberry. This is a light turquoise creme. Actually, to my eye, it looks like a near-perfect Robin's Egg Blue. Can't think of a more spring-appropriate blue than that.

Nubar Cherry. This red it a little different than most. It's lighter and has an odd sort of faded look to it. It leans more warm than I'd think of for a cherry red, more like hot sauce than cherry candy. I can't think of another red creme that looks exactly like this (Zoya America or Tamsen are the closest to compare it to), and I know my picture doesn't really convey it, but this is a pretty unusual one in my collection.

Nubar Grape. Bright grape candy purple creme. This one has a bit of a creamy jelly look to it, but mostly because it's pretty sheer. This is three coats and I can see a little nail through it still, so it could probably use a fourth. Really pretty purple color, though.

Nubar Kiwi. A pale sea green. This has more yellow in it than a lot of the mint colors in my collection, so it's slightly less harsh looking on my hands (doesn't bring out too much red) and it's easier for me to wear.

Nubar Lemon. It's a very bright yellow creme. I think it's great! It's really bright but not neon and has a super creamy finish.

Nubar Strawberry. This is a creamy strawberry ice cream color. Or, even better, the filling inside one of these:

Nubar Toasted Marshmallow. This is the oddball of the bunch. It's a light brown caramel-suede type of color and it looks very strange next to all the brights and pastels in this collection. I can see where they were going with the jellybean/toasted marshmallow or maybe even toasted almond look, but it really stands out like a sore thumb in this collection!

The formula on these wasn't what I expected. Recent Nubar cremes have been very smooth and opaque, these weren't. They were very sheer and unexpectedly runny but thick in texture. I had difficulty with most of the shades. I did three coats of each and they needed all three. Some might even benefit from more. The dry time on them is rather long and I experienced some bubbling with them. I would recommend doing very thin coats and waiting a few minutes in between each. That's my usual method for preventing bubbles on polishes that dry slowly.

Judging from the name of the collection (Jellybeans) and the sheerness of the formula, I think these were supposed to be a set of jelly finish polishes. None of them really look like jellies to me, maybe Blueberry and Grape come close, but not exactly what I think of when I think 'jelly'. They're just sort of diluted cremes that take three coats to even out. If jelly finish was what they were going for, they missed the mark... but the colors are still really pretty.

Overall, I like the colors but not the formula. I wish that they were either more jelly-like or more dense and opaque like Nubar's other cremes. The colors are gorgeous, though. My favorites are Grape, Lemon, Blueberry, Kiwi and Blue Raspberry. I actually wore Cherry, Lemon, China Glaze Gaga For Green, Blueberry and Grape as a Skittles manicure last week and the colors looked really fun and colorful together. Just don't forget the quick-dry topcoat!

This collection will be available soon (no exact date given on the press release) on ByNubar.com.

(This was sent for review.)

OPI Nicki Minaj Collection Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-02-03T10:23:00.002-06:00

Here's another little spring mini-collection from OPI. I'm beginning to wonder if they're doing these pop star/celebrity collections from now on instead of the little mini Valentine's Day collections they used to do (like the e-Romance collection, remember that one?). Last year this time was the Katy Perry collection. Now we have a collection for Nicki Minaj.

OPI Did It On 'Em. This one reminds me of OPI Who The Shrek Are You? from spring 2010. It's a bright spring green creme. Very fun/funky type of color. But I don't quite understand the name... It sounds kinda... wrong. Makes me think of that one Mighty Boosh song (language may not be safe for work!).

OPI Fly. This one is one of those bright blue-teals that never look quite right in pictures. It's definitely brighter and more teal-colored in real life, not this duller, bluer looking color my camera picks it up as.

OPI Metallic For Life. This is a black base with multiple sizes of silver glitter. This was thicker, chunkier, and harder to apply than the other colors in the collection.

OPI Pink Friday. A very bubblegum-candy-Pepto Bismol type of light pink. It's a little bit dirty looking and has a little more pink than most to keep it from being too bright or too pastel. It has a very creamy finish- extremely dense looking.

OPI Save Me. This one is a small silver glitter mixed with medium blue and holographic bar glitters. Clear base. It's a little dense for layering- the glitter covers most of the base polish. Looks good over black, though. I like it best alone.

The set also comes with a new shade of OPI Shatter crackle topcoat- Super Bass Shatter. It's a deep purple shimmer that looks like a different color on the nail than it does in the bottle. It's quite pretty, actually:

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Did It On 'Em.

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Fly.

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Metallic For Life.

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Pink Friday.

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Save Me.

The formula on the cremes was perfection. The formula on the glitters was not as good. The cremes were smooth and opaque, zero trouble with application. The two glitter shades were thick, chunky and slightly stringy feeling. They would benefit from a little polish thinner to loosen the formula and give them a smoother application. I did two coats of each- they didn't need any more than that. Drying time on these was excellent, even on the thicker glitter shades. The glitters and the Super Bass Shatter dry very textured, so you'll need at least two coats of a thick topcoat if you want it to be glass-smooth. A third over the Shatter would be even better.

I'm not actually familiar enough with Nicki Minaj or her music to know if these are really true "Nicki Minaj" colors, but I have seen pictures of her... For someone with such amazingly out-there, fun, colorful and outrageous outfits, I kinda expected more creative or wild colors in a collection named after her. I mean, just Google "Nicki Minaj"- her makeup and outfits and hair are awesome. Although... The colors in this collection do actually match this outfit she wore here, maybe that's where the inspiration came from:

I do really like how Super Bass Shatter looks over the colors. The rich purple sparkles were a surprise and I think they look especially good over Fly. Fly is my favorite one of the collection. Save Me is also really interesting and definitely worth a look if you are in the market for some bar glitter.

This collection is available now! There is also a mini set that has Pink Friday, Did It On Em, Fly and Metallic For Life, in case you wanted to try some but didn't want full bottles.

(This was sent for review.)

Anastasia Wish You Were Here Set Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-02-02T15:00:00.000-06:00

Anastasia Beverly Hills has a new gift set out for spring. It's a light, beachy-themed color palette and it's really quite nice. The set is called Wish You Were Here and it contains three full sized Anastasia products.

The Illumin8 shadow palette in this set is one of the eight shade ones. This one's called Pacific Coast.

Anastasia Illumin8 Eyeshadow Palette in Pacific Coast. Fluorescent light, flash and natural light. Click them if you'd like to see a closeup of the shadows. None of the shadows have names, but they are numbered on the back of the palette.

Swatched over bare skin (no primer), with flash and without. 1, 2, 3, 4.

5, 6, 7, 8.

The gloss in this kit is a full-size Anastasia Hydrafull Gloss in Guava. It has a very odd paddle applicator.

The Guava shade is interesting because it has tons of tiny rainbow-colored flecks. Click this to enlarge. Isn't that pretty?

On the lips, Guava is just a sheer/clear shade with only a hint of a warm tint. No real color on my lips. The sparkles aren't in-your-face or glittery, but they look very pretty and twinkly when the light hits them just right.

The Wish You Were Here set also includes a full-size Anastasia Clear Brow Gel. Since it's a clear gel, there's not really anything to swatch, but you can see how it looks on my brows here.

What I liked:

The set is an excellent deal; three full sized Anastasia products for $44. That's about half of what it would cost if you bought all three individually.
The shadow colors are really pretty and they all go together.
The shadows are smooth, easy to blend and fairly well pigmented.
The shadows contain anti-aging skincare ingredients.
The brow gel holds my brows in place all day without flaking.
The brow gel is clear and you can only tell it's on your brows by the subtle sheen it leaves.
The gloss has pretty rainbow sparkles!
The gloss feels cushy and hydrating.
The gloss smells nice. A very faint fruity vanilla.

What I didn't like:

The brush that comes with the palette is kinda scratchy.
The spatula applicator on the Hydrafull gloss is hard for me to use.
The Guava shade doesn't feel as smooth and non-sticky as the other Hydrafull shades I've tried.
The prettiest shadow in the palette, the sparkly taupe, has the least pigment of all the shades. They can all be used wet for more payoff, though.

Overall, I like the items in the set and I think it's a good value. The palette is pretty and versatile and I like Anastasia's Illumin8 shadow formula. The gloss is sheer but adds a nice subtle rainbow sparkle. Would probably be nice over lipstick, too. And I'm a huge fan of the Anastasia clear brow gel, so that's a nice item to have in here. That stuff has been the key item for taking my brows from okay-ish to nice and now I use it every single day without fail.

Also, Anastasia is holding a contest where you can win a trip to LA for sending in your photo. Check out their Facebook contest page for more rules and details. It ends tomorrow (February 3rd 2012), so you only have a day left to enter!

The Sephora-exclusive Anastasia Wish You Were Here set is limited edition and retails for $44.

(This was sent for review.)

China Glaze The Hunger Games Capitol Colors Collection Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-02-01T15:00:00.000-06:00

The China Glaze Capitol Colors Collection... or is it the Colors from the Capitol collection? My press materials say it both ways. This collection is based on the Hunger Games series and the release is supposed to coincide with the brand new Hunger Games film that's scheduled for March. The names of the polishes has changed since we first saw that leaked image, but the colors are still the same. They are:

China Glaze Agro. An amazing leafy olive green shimmer. It has a semi-foil finish and really impressive depth of color. If you look closely, you can see that the metallic shimmer particles are all different colors. It dries a little darker than it looks in the bottle, but the glowy finish keeps the color looking bright.

China Glaze Dress Me Up. This is an odd one. It's a dusty, dirty warm rose creme. It has a little peach and a little brown in it and the finish is very dense and creamy. It's a rather mature looking color and it doesn't feel like it goes with the rest of the collection.

China Glaze Electrify. A gold and red glitter mix in a clear base. It's like a chunkier, redder cousin to Nicole Glitter in my Stocking. The red and gold look like they're about 1:1 in here. Maybe a *little* more gold. But they look pretty even.

China Glaze Fast Track. A light taupe creme base with flaky gold shimmer. This is a lot like Essence Irreplaceable, and like a lighter, less brown version of China Glaze Ingrid. The gold flecks look amazing in the dusty greyed base.

China Glaze Foie Gras. A dusty purple brown creme. It dries a lot darker than it looks in the bottle, but still retains a bit of the dusty looking finish.

China Glaze Harvest Moon. Wow. I mean... wow. Speechless. This is a super shiny metallic copper shimmer. It's not as dense as a foil but it's not chunky like glitter. The shimmer particles are iridescent and shift colors when they light hits them. You can see little flashes of red and orange and gold in it. I think this is my favorite in the collection, but I could be biased due to the name, because I really love this:

China Glaze Hook and Line. This is a super frosty light grey. The application on this one is not nice and it's extremely streaky and shows every flaw in my nails. Once it dries, the color looks okay... But I really can't say I'm a fan of the brushstroke-ridden frost finish.

China Glaze Luxe and Lush. A chunky mylar flake glitter in a clear base. It's a pastel-opal type duochrome finish. Each flake and chunk is a different shape and size and reflects pink, blue, green and gold. It's similar to Color Club Covered in Diamonds, but a lot smoother, easier to apply and with smaller chunks.

China Glaze Mahogany Magic. This is a warm olive-tinged medium brown creme. I like how creamy and glossy it looks, but there's just something kinda... fecal... about it. It's that yellow undertone and the touch of olive in it. Sorry! Sorry. I know. That's gross. And this is coming from someone who loves colors like OPI And Apple Pie. I don't think I have the right skin tone to pull off this shade of brown. Someone olive toned would probably look great in this.

China Glaze Riveting. Did I already say that Harvest Moon was my favorite? I did. But this one is a close second. It looks like fire. It's a bright, saturated red-orange jelly base with lots of large gold metallic shimmer. It's not quite a flake shape, but not really a glass fleck, either. The shimmer sits nicely in the jelly base and glows like embers. It's amazing. It also reminds me of an old China Glaze I have, but I can't remember the name...

China Glaze Smoke and Ashes. This one has a very dark base. I can't tell if it's pure black, or if it's a nearly-black blue-green shade. It seems to have a blue-green tint to it to my eye, but that might just be coming from all the shimmer. Anyway, Smoke and Ashes is loaded with a blue-green-gold duochrome shimmer. It changes colors depending on the angle. It's very interesting in person, a lot more complex than it looks here. Definitely worth seeing for yourself if you get the chance.

China Glaze Stone Cold. A matte! I wasn't expecting that. It's a dark grey base with large silver shimmer. It looks near-black after it dries. More grey-ish if you use topcoat to make it glossy. Gorgeous application on this one. Very smooth and opaque. And I like the name.

Luxe and Lush is pretty cool all by itself, but I wanted to see how well it layered with other colors, so here's a couple combos I tried:

China Glaze Luxe and Lush (one coat) over China Glaze Riveting.

China Glaze Luxe and Lush (one coat) over China Glaze Stone Cold.

The formula on these was not so good. I found most of these to be very gloopy and runny yet thick at the same time, like early three-free polish formulas used to be. Not all of them were weird; some of them applied perfectly. Stone Cold, Smoke and Ashes and Riveting had perfect formula, not runny or drippy at all. The others felt thick and sort of oily or fluffy feeling. Just be careful to remove all the excess polish from the brush and stem, apply thin coats and wait a couple minutes in between coats and you'll be fine. The colors all have great coverage. I did two coats of each and that's all they needed. I didn't have any bubbling with these and the dry time was only marginally longer than average China Glaze dry time.

I don't really know anything about the Hunger Games trilogy (I haven't read it! Shame!), so I don't know how well these go with the theme of the series, but the colors are nice regardless. Well, most of them. I can't say I like Dress Me Up, Hook and Line or Mahogany Magic, but the rest are great. I love Harvest Moon, Riveting, Agro, Fast Track, Smoke and Ashes and Luxe and Lush. At least there are more cool colors than bland ones. But, I'm sure fans of the series will probably want the entire set anyway, right?

This collection will be available at salons and retail stores like Sally Beauty and Ulta starting in early March.

(This was sent for review.)

a-england The Legends Collection Swatches and Review

2012-01-31T11:30:00.000-06:00

The long-rumored and highly anticipated a-england The Legends holographics are here! You may remember the first a-england holos, and how amazing they were... And then you might also remember Adina (creator and owner of a-england) saying that she was working on something holographic for the next collection... And now here they are, seven brand new a-england holos and they do not disappoint. I only have five of the seven, but the other two look just as fantastic as these.

Ascalon, Bridal Veil, Dragon, Tristam Eyes/Princess Sabra, Saint George.

a-england Ascalon. Not only is Ascalon holographic, it's duochrome as well. It's a medium grey base with a strong purple flash. At some angles you can see an opposing teal/green flash where there's no purple. I don't think I captured any of the blue-green reflection in my pictures, but it's there in real life. This also has a pretty decent scattered holo effect, and it's the smooth kind of hologram particle, not the chunky glitter-style one like in Nubar Gem.

a-england Bridal Veil. This one is a super rich black with a subtle scattered holo effect. It is incredibly black and extremely pigmented. It's not a match to OPI My Private Jet (the original one) or Color Club Revvvolution. The hologram particles in this are small and sparse. It looks like a plain black shimmer indoors but in sunlight the rainbow effect does come out. It's more like Bloom Mena than any other black-based holo I've tried.

a-england Dragon. Dragon is the *perfect* name for this one. I've never seen a more dragony polish than this. It's a medium soft green base- somewhere in between fern and olive- and it has a fiery orangey copper-gold duochrome shimmer. It's also holographic, but a scattered holo. It looks quite a bit darker in the flash pictures than it does in real life, but the flash seems to show the holo effect the best.

a-england Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes). Princess Sabra has a little note above the name that says "Tristam Eyes," and I think that's really cute. Tristam is Adina's cat and this shade seems to perfectly match the color of his eyes. It's a light golden olive green, very yellow toned. The holographic sparkle in this one is very strong.

a-england Saint George. This is a very saturated teal with holographic shimmer. It is dark and it is very rich. My picture doesn't adequately capture how colorful this looks, it's one of the nicest teals I've ever seen. The holographic effect isn't very strong in this, and the blue and green sparkles are dominant.

The other two shades in the collection are Princess Tears, which looks to be a soft purple holo, and Order of the Garter, which looks like a blue shimmer.

The application on these was excellent. Better than the previous a-england holos I tried. Some of them are opaque in one coat and have an insane amount of pigment to them. The others are opaque in two thin coats. No streaking or bald spots like many holographic formulas are prone to. The formula on these is very thick and dense, but not the kind of thick that feels dry and drags. Because of the thick formula, these are prone to bubbling. Be sure to do thin coats and wait a few minutes in between each just in case. The dry time was very good as well.

I think these are awesome. The combination of holo and duochrome really stole my heart. The non-duochrome ones are just as nice because they're extremely pigmented and saturated looking. The black is very black, the teal is very teal. I found these to be a joy to use and every shade looks fantastic on the nail. Plus, they're different from the rest of the holographic polishes in my collection; they're not the same old overdone silver/pastel blue/pastel purple holo polishes that we see constantly. The only flaw with them is that they can bubble if you're not careful.

These will be available soon on a-england.co.uk (with free worldwide shipping), but they're currently in stock at Llarowe if you want them now!

(This was sent for review.)

OPI Holland Collection for Spring/Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-01-30T17:00:00.000-06:00

OPI's traditional destination-themed Spring/Summer collection is all about Holland this year. The color selection for this one is really interesting because it's an odd mix of saturated brights and faded soft shades plus one random vampy shimmer thrown in to mix things up. Take a look!

OPI A Roll In The Hague. Way to start things off with a bang, eh? If you think this orange looks awesome in the picture, just wait until you see it in real life. It's bright and super saturated and as close as you can get to neon without actually being neon. There is one weird thing about it, though... It changes colors. It applies very bright but dries nearly two shades darker. But, once you put topcoat on it, it lightens again and dries slightly lighter than before topcoat. Very strange, but also super crazy gorgeous.

OPI Did You 'ear About Van Gogh? A really nice creamy neutral putty shade. It's a dusty beige base with a lot of grey and maybe a tiny drop of green in there somewhere.

OPI Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI? This one is a vibrant red-toned grape purple with orange-red-pink shimmer. It dries a lot darker than bottle color. If you're thinking this looks familiar, it's because it's nearly identical to Zoya Tru.

OPI Gouda Gouda Two Shoes. OPI calls this rose, but on me it looks more like a dirty dark peach. I can see the rose in there, but it has a lot of peachy warmth in the base and in the shimmer. This has some red-copper duochrome shimmer, but it's very subtle.

OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam! This is a dusty slate blue base with chunky gold and silver shimmer. The shimmer looks really sharp and speckled against the creamy base.

OPI I Have A Herring Problem. This is basically a warm version of I Don't Give A Rotterdam!. It has some teal and green tones in it, whereas Rotterdam has more of a periwinkle-slate cool colored base. The green tones in this bring out the gold shimmer particles nicely.

OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips. A hot pink creme. Has a bit of blue undertone. Very pretty but I feel like I've seen this color a million times. It looks a bit like the Nicole shade All Kendall-ed Up that just came out for winter.

OPI Pedal Faster Suzi! A very delicate light pink with some coarse silvery-white shimmer. The shimmer in this is like the shimmer in I Have a Herring Problem and I Don't Give A Rotterdam, but it's all silver, no gold. It looks crystalline and rough and very shiny.

OPI Red Lights Ahead... Where? This is a very bright coral-red creme. We're seeing a lot of this color this season, aren't we? This and the bright Tangerine orange. I guess they are pretty close to the Pantone 2012 Color of the Year... And while you're looking at Pantone's color of the year, you should take a look at their Spring 2012 color trends. I think you'll find it interesting!

OPI Thanks A WindMillion. This one is a dirty seafoam creme. Kinda like a mix between OPI Mermaid's Tears and OPI Stranger Tides. It looks calm.

OPI Vampsterdam. Whoa... random! Doesn't this seem so out of place with the dusty pastels and the bright corals and oranges? This reminds me a lot of the colors OPI used to do back in the day. Rich color, very fine frosty shimmer, velvety finish. This one is a dark raisin color. Warm and with a touch of brown to it.

OPI Wooden Shoe Like To Know? This is a chocolate brown with red-copper-gold duochrome shimmer. It looks like it has a tiny bit of purple to it in the bottle, but I can't really see the purple in it after it dries. This one also dries a lot darker than it looks in the bottle. The shimmer in it is very pretty, isn't it?

The formula on these was great. All of them were really smooth and even and didn't run or drip or bubble. The only one that gave me trouble was Pedal Faster Suzi! because it was sheerer than the other shades and it streaked. I did three coats of each shade and most of them needed all three. Dry time was great. The shimmers dry a little dull compared to the cremes, so be sure to remember your topcoat.

Overall, very nice collection. My favorite recent OPI Spring collection, right after India. Good balance of brights and soft shades. Nothing too sleepy or bland like some of the past Spring collections. What's really interesting about this collection is that there are a lot of familiar colors in it. It's like a mix of all the Spring collections we've seen so far. The orange, the coral, the speckled blue shimmers, the putty beige, the teal-green, the fiery purple shimmer... Do all the polish companies agree to do the same thing every year, or is there some kind of crazy corporate espionage going on each season? Either way, the colors are nice and the formula is perfect.

My picks are A Roll In The Hague, Did You 'ear About Van Gogh, Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI?, and I Have A Herring Problem. Also, I think "I Have A Herring Problem" might just be my favorite OPI polish name ever now.

Holland Collection by OPI will be available February 8, 2012, at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $8.50 ($9.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer. For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com.

(This was sent for review.)

Nail of the Day: Kat Von D Wonderchild with Finger Paints Twisted

2012-01-29T10:30:00.001-06:00

My nail of the day yesterday (and technically today because I'm still wearing it) turned out so awesome that I just had to take a few pictures and share it with you.

Yesterday was one of those days where I kept getting frustrated and re-doing my nails every time I'd put something new on. The polish bubbled because I rushed and did my coats too thick, this color wasn't what I had in mind, this one has such bad formula that I don't have the patience to finish my other hand, so on and so forth.

Eventually I just gave up on trying to use a color I hadn't worn yet and decided to go with something I already knew I liked (that would be Kat Von D High Voltage Nail Lacquer in Wonderchild).

When I was finished applying it, I was happy with how it looked... But then I glanced over and saw my bottle of Finger Paints Twisted sitting there on the table and thought what the heck... Let's try it. If I'm already wearing a polish I love, putting another polish I love on top of it is better, right?

Luckily, this time it was!

This is Kat Von D High Voltage Nail Lacquer in Wonderchild (three coats) topped with Finger Paints Twisted (one coat). I only did a very thin coat of Twisted because I needed this to dry quickly, but even with such a thin coat, it still had just the right amount of flakes. The flakes take on more of a pastel look over Wonderchild and it reminds me of Easter candy. The flakes also make the already shiny/sparkly finish of Wonderchild look even more metallic. Everything looks super glowy and bright and reflective and the little flashes of rainbow color from the flaky topcoat compliment the duochrome pearls in Wonderchild perfectly. Very happy with how this layering experiment turned out.

Now that I'm on the second day of wearing it, it looks like the flakes have started to sink in to the polish and make the finish less smooth. I think I'll add a quick coat of Gelous over this and keep it on for the rest of the day. I love this so much that I might even consider wearing it on Monday, too...

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Color in Bronze Ablaze

2012-01-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

Do you ever have one of those moments when you're in a drugstore and you see a new polish display, a bottle catches your eye, you pick it up, look it over, and then go "Ehh... it's not that cool." and you put it back? But then you can't stop thinking about that color, so you decide to get it next time you're at the store, only to find that it's the only color missing from every display?

This one was one of those polishes for me. I thought it looked really cool at first glance, but then I thought it would be one of those deceptive drugstore colors where the duochrome effect in the bottle doesn't show up on the nail, leaving me with a plain, boring shimmer that I already have several versions of already. I probably picked this up and put it back four or five times before I decided that I had to have it just in case it was as interesting as it looked in the bottle. Of course, by the time I decided to get it, it was gone from every place I had seen it before. I did eventually find one last bottle of it and I'm glad I did!

Okay, that was a long and pointless story. But come on... don't tell me you can't relate to that.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Color in Bronze Ablaze. This is late fall in a bottle. It's a brown-based shimmer with lots and lots of hidden color in it. It shifts from neutral brown to golden brown like a duochrome, but it also has flashes and speckles of tons of other colors. Pink, red, gold, olive green and grass green, even a tiny tiny glimmer of purple here and there. Definitely one of my favorite drugstore polish purchases in recent years. Very complex and pretty.

The only thing I don't like about it is the brush. It's ridiculous. I go through phases of liking and hating the Insta-Dri brush. If you've never used a Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, you're in for a surprise. It doesn't have a brush in the traditional sense... It has a spatula. Well, okay, it is an actual brush, but it's absurdly wide and flat, has an unevenly cut rounded edge and is very stiff. The stiff, flat brush tends to create bald spots at the base of the nail and pooling at the edge. It's not fun to use. But, if you get a good one that's cut nice and smooth, and it's in a color that's suited for this type of brush (like a plain opaque creme), it's great because you can paint your entire nail in one stroke. It's rare, but sometimes this brush works really great. Other times, it's like trying to paint your nails with a shovel.

Wow, this post turned into one giant wall of text. Sorry about that. Cool color, though.

Physicians Formula Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Lipstick Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-01-27T13:00:00.002-06:00

Much to my great excitement, Physicians Formula has added a handful of new items to their permanent Happy Booster line. If you recall, last year I was really ridiculously excited about the release of the Happy Booster collection, so I'm super happy to see this year's new products. Right now I only have the two new lipsticks, but I also saw a section for a couple of new bronzers and blushes on the display.

These are the two new Physicians Formula Happy Booster Mood and Glow Boosting Lipsticks. The shades are I ♥ Nude and I ♥ Rose.

They come in a shiny magenta-red chrome tube...

...And the caps are clear on the top so you can see the color and design.

Here's the product claims and the list of ingredients. You can enlarge them if you need to.

I Love Nude on the left, I Love Rose on the right.

If you take a closer look at the adorable heart design, you'll see that it is actually a little bit sloppy. It definitely looks cuter from a distance. Mine had some dents and dings, some funny oily spots and just an overall sloppy construction.

Swatched heavily, natural light. I Love Rose on the left, I Love Nude on the right.

I ♥ Nude

I ♥ Rose

What I liked:

Cute packaging as always.
Cute heart shaped layered design.
Perfect for Valentine's Day.
Not limited edition.
Available at most drugstores.
I love how bright and bold the colors are.
Comfortable feeling formula.

What I didn't like:

The colors are hard to wear because they look really dry and cakey on the lips, even if your lips don't seem dry before you apply them. They're kinda chalky/milky colors, too, which makes them settle into lip lines and look even more dry.
The construction is pretty shoddy. The tubes are loose and they rattle, the caps don't fit tightly, the design is sloppy, and if you have the lipstick twisted up only a very little bit, it will get smashed in the cap.
The violet scent is nice, but it smells pretty generic, reminds me of old Avon lipstick samples or something like that. It doesn't smell the same as the sweet and delicate violet that's in the Happy Booster powders.
They're really expensive for drugstore lipstick. I paid nearly $10 each for these.
The heart design gets ruined/smudged the first time you use them.
The name I Love (heart?) Nude is a little deceptive as it's not nude, it's orange.

Overall, I like them, they're cute, they're fun, but they're not flawless. I'm really disappointed by the construction of the tubes and the sloppiness of the design. For $10+ each, depending on where you buy them, I expected a higher quality product. Plus, even though the formula isn't drying, it looks dry on my lips. Very cakey/chalky going on and it makes my lips look like they're chapped and flaky. But, I still like them for the novelty factor and I really do like the colors, so I'll probably stick to applying these over a lipliner or a lipstick primer to help ease the chalky looking finish. The heart design and the shiny package make these lipsticks irresistible to me, especially this time of year.

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Loose Colour Concentrate in Jubilee Swatches and Review

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

I'm a lover of all things duochrome and iridescent, so when Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics released Jubilee Loose Eye Colour Concentrate as part of their Pretty Boy collection, it was love at first sight.

OCC describes Jubilee as a "soft baby blue shimmer," but it's so much more than that. It does have a baby blue base, but it also has a green and turquoise duochrome shimmer. At some angles, it even shifts to a faint purple at the edges. It is magnificent.

Swatched over bare skin (no primer). Dry (left), wet (right), with flash and without. You can see how the tones shift with the angle and lighting. From a green-turquoise shade of blue to a sky blue with faint purple accents.

Sometimes colors that look this interesting in the jar don't always look as good on the eye... this one does. I've used it a bunch of times and every time it still amazes me.

Two looks I've done with this color:

I used:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance Lemon Drop
NYX White Eyeshadow Base (lid only)
OCC Loose Colour Concentrate in Jubilee on lid and lower lashline
Ben Nye Cosmic Violet in crease
Ben Nye Amethyst in crease and on lower lashline
Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Liner in Perversion

This was the first time I used the color and I was really happy with how it turned out. The blue and green tones mix perfectly with the purple Ben Nye colors. I used Jubilee over a sticky base (the NYX White) and it seemed to make the color shift stand out more.

For this one, I used:
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
NYX White Eyeshadow Base (lid and lower lashline)
OCC Loose Colour Concentrate in Jubilee on lid and lower lashline
Sugarpill Chromalust Loose Shadow in Royal Sugar in crease and on lower lashline
NYX Studio Liquid Liner in Extreme Purple
Make Up For Ever #92 on brows
Cover Girl Lash Blast Luxe in Black Royale

First off, Royal Sugar is insane. It is SUPER BLUE. Combined with the blue-green duochrome of Jubilee, it looks even more amazing. The green sparkles disappeared out of it when I blended it, but Jubilee added some of its own green sparkles, so I didn't miss them.

So. OCC Jubilee. Love it. The only downside to it is that it needs a sticky base or to be used wet if you want it to look extra duochrome. Otherwise it looks like a lightly duochrome turquoise shimmer. Both ways are nice. I, of course, prefer more duochrome, so lately I've been using it wet and it looks even cooler that way.

Obsessive Compulsive Loose Colour Concentrates are available directly from OCC and are $12 for 2.5 grams. They have a lot of cool looking colors and every single shade is vegan.

(This was sent for review.)

Finger Paints Special Effects Flake Glitter Topcoat Collection Swatches and Review

2012-01-26T08:00:00.001-06:00

There's an epidemic spreading throughout the nail polish world. Flaky fever. It's highly contagious. And if you have flaky fever, the only cure is more ~~cowbell~~ flakes.

Flake glitter polishes (known colloquially as "flakies") are sprouting up everywhere lately, and that's a good thing. Flake glitter polishes are not all that common; most brands only have one or two, if they even have any at all. For a while, the only flaky polishes we could get were Nfu Oh, and those are pretty pricey. Despite being relatively rare/uncommon, they're incredibly popular and loved by polish fans everywhere. Now it seems that a lot of brands are realizing that we really love our flakies and we want more of them, so they're slowly adding more flake polishes to their lines. This most recent release, the Finger Paints Special Effects collection, is the créme de la créme of flakies.

I've swatched each of these over black because it's easier to see the different types of flakes that way. Each swatch is two coats of polish.

Finger Paints Asylum. Asylum is a clear base with red and blue flakes that shift to orange, yellow, green and purple. The flakes are all different shapes and sizes.

Finger Paints Flashy. Flashy is one of those red-orange-yellow-green types of flake polishes. It's not all that different from Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure/Essie Shine of the Times/Nubar 2010/et cetera, but it does seem to have brighter colors in the flakes. I haven't compared this side-by-side with any of those other polishes, but the red in this one just seems redder somehow.

Finger Paints Flecked. Flecked is the bright green-blue type of flake, but it has an extra strong color shift.

Finger Paints Motley. Motley is a little bit different. It's a mixture of green-blue flakes and blue-purple flakes. Some of the flakes even look purple on their own without changing colors. It's hard to see the purple color from these pictures, but it's obvious in real life. The blue flakes in this one are a lot bigger than most blue flake polishes I own so you get more blue tone than green in this polish, which I appreciate.

Finger Paints Twisted. The very best one. It's a mix of all the flakes. It has every color of the rainbow visible at all times and the shapes and sizes of the flakes are all really different. If I had to choose only one polish from this collection, this would be it. It rocks.

The formula on these was good. Like most flake polishes, they have a thick-textured base. These aren't as bad as most I've used, but they're still thicker than I'd like. Other than the texture of the base, the application was perfect. Great coverage. Reasonable dry time, but still longer than regular polish.

Honestly, this is the best collection of flakes I've seen to date. They're by far the most interesting ones I've used, but they also have the advantage of not being too sparse or having flakes that are too small.

Usually the type of flake glitters we see are the single-type ones, like Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, where we only get one kind of flake in a clear or tinted base. They're either the red-orange-yellow-green ones (Hidden Treasure, Shine of the Times), the blue-green ones (Nails Inc. The Wyndham, Nfu Oh 56), and rarely, but still out there, the blue-purple ones (Nails Inc. The Old Vic). It's not as common to see the types of flakes mixed, but those are the ones I like the most. That's why I like these Finger Paints ones so much. Most of them are mixes of two or more flake types.

Another reason I like the Finger Paints Special Effects is that the flakes are large and there's a lot of them in the polish. I don't like flaky polishes that barely have any flakes and you have to do too many coats to get good coverage. These look good at one coat, but even more amazing at two. I haven't done three coats of any of these yet, but I can only imagine how cool that would look.

The only thing I don't like about this collection is that it's limited edition and only available in-store at Sally Beauty. Flake glitters this good need to be permanent and accessible to everyone! They got the price right, but they should have at least made them available online.

The Finger Paints Special Effects collection is available only at Sally Beauty stores through the month of January. They are limited edition and retail for $5.49 each.

First try with the Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca palette

2012-01-25T13:00:00.000-06:00

I did some quick swatches of the palette here, but now that I've used the palette, I have a slightly different opinion on it.

First, here's the very first look I did with it:

I used:
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
Kat Von D Swansong on lid
Kat Von D No Regrets in crease
Kat Von D Drama For Yo Momma in inner crease
Kat Von D Dublin on lower lashline
Kat Von D Autograph Eye Pencil in Wonderchild as liner

Swansong - Marya - No Regrets - Drama For Yo Momma - Mad Max - Dublin - Sparklehorse - Altruism.

When I swatched these on my arm, I thought they seemed a little bit powdery, and I was right. Some of these shades are fine, but others are super powdery and sheer. I had a hard time with No Regrets and Drama For Yo Momma because they didn't want to build, and when I finally achieved the color I wanted with them, they didn't want to blend. They wanted to disappear. Swansong was great, I loved that one... But Dublin was shameful. It was so shockingly sheer and it barely showed up or adhered even using it wet, I can't believe they would put such a bad green in this palette.

The Wonderchild eyeliner didn't seem to want to stick to my lid or my waterline, either. I had to go over it a million times and it felt like none of the pigment was transferring onto my eye. I'll have to use is again to see if it does the same thing.

I haven't used all the colors yet, so maybe they're not all this powdery and sheer. I mean, the colors I used are pretty, but they're not neon like the palette claims and they need to be layered heavily or used wet if you want them to show up. This is surprising because all the other Kat palettes I have are very good.

Color Club Copy Coats Scented Topcoat Collection Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

Color Club is really on a roll with all these scented nail polishes they've been doing recently. First, there was Wicked Sweet from summer 2011, then there was the Scent-suous Holiday collection that just came out a couple months ago. Now we have Color Club Copy Coats; six scented clear topcoats for adding fragrance to any manicure.

The colors are: Parallel Universe, Dead Ringer, Mimic, Duplicity, Replica and Copycat.

Each Copycoat topcoat has a different scent and is slightly tinted. They're all practically clear, but over certain colors, you can definitely see a bit of a tint.

Here's one coat of Dead Ringer, which has a yellow tint, over a three-day-old (excuse the chips and cracks) China Glaze Aquadelic manicure. It's not significantly different looking with the Copycoat topcoat, but it definitely has a yellow glaze added to it.

I did two coats of these over white to show you how much tint you can expect. Parallel Universe, Duplicity, Replica and Copycat, two coats each over white.

A little closer. Copycat, Replica, Duplicity and Parallel Universe, two coats each over white.

These topcoats aren't quick-dry on their own, so I wouldn't recommend using them over wet polish as it'll make them take longer to dry. Since these are not quick-dry, they make excellent refresher topcoats because they won't peel, shrink or chip when applied over dry polish. They're very glossy and are perfect for adding the shine back to a day-old manicure.

The scents in these aren't as strong as I had anticipated. They're subtle enough that you only smell them if you bring your hands close to your nose, plus the scents are so subtle that they only last about a day before they disappear completely. This is not necessarily a bad thing; persistent, strong scents on my hands can be annoying and headache-inducing. These give you the novelty of having scented nails without it being overbearing to the point where you get irritated with how strong they are.

These scents all smell pretty familiar to me, and they're called "Copycats," so I did a little comparing with the notes and descriptions, and I think I've narrowed down what scents these are supposed to imitate.

Mimic = YSL Parisienne
Duplicity = Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue
Dead Ringer = Marc Jacobs Daisy
Parallel Universe = Burberry Brit
Replica = Marc Jacobs Lola
Copycat = Burberry Classic

I could be wrong, as none of them smell exactly the same as the originals, but I also think something gets lost when translating them into nail polish form, so who knows. They do smell similar and the listed notes match up, so those are my best guesses.

I think this is a pretty cool product to have if one of these fragrances is your signature scent or just one that you wear often. You can match your topcoat to your perfume! None of the scents really appeal to me all that much in nail polish form (they all have a bit of an 'air freshener' smell as topcoats), but scented topcoat is always more interesting than unscented topcoat, so I still like them.

Also, I can't type the word Mimic without thinking of this:

What I liked:

They look pretty all lined up in their square bottles.
They're not too strong.
The scent is gone by the next day.
Good refresher topcoats; they don't shrink or peel.
Very shiny.
Scented things are cool.

What I didn't like:

The slight tint in these can alter your polish color. Not by much, but it still happens.
The scents smell dull and air-freshener-esque in nail polish form. Not bright and lively like the Wicked Sweet or Scent-suous Holiday scents.
They're not quick dry, so I can't use them as my usual topcoat.

The Color Club Copy Coats Scented Topcoat Collection is available now, though the only place I've seen them so far is on Color Club's online store where they retail for $8 each.

(This was sent for review.)

Illamasqua Sophie-I Competition / Giveaway

2012-01-24T09:00:00.001-06:00

I'm teaming up with Illamasqua to host a competition to celebrate the launch of the Sophie-I, and the prize is pretty sweet: you could win over £100 worth of Illamasqua products!

To learn more about S.O.P.H.I.E. and Sophie Lancaster, please visit the Sophie Lancaster Foundation website.

The Sophie-I smoky eye technique allows you to not only express your individuality, but discover new depth and definition in your eyes.

Created using the black Sophie Medium Pencil, the technique is inspired by The Sophie Lancaster Foundation, the charity Illamasqua supports, and £3 from every Sophie Pencil purchased is donated to the Foundation.

The S.O.P.H.I.E Foundation encourages people to Stamp Out Prejudice Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere

We're offering you the opportunity to win a selection of pieces used to create the Sophie-I.

Prize [over £100 / $155 ]:

Sophie Medium Pencil
Powder Eye Shadow in Stealth
Powder Eye Shadow in Machine
Lipstick in Test
Sheer Lipgloss in Artifice
Masquara
False Eye Lashes in No. 21

HOW TO ENTER:

Visit Illamasqua.com/SophieI and enter for your chance to win.

Rules:

Competition closes online at 11.59pm GMT on Monday 30th January 2012. Winner to be drawn at random and notified on Tuesday 31st January 2012.

This competition is open internationally.

Prize is non-transferable and has no cash value. Not open to Illamasqua employees. Illamasqua reserves the right to refuse. By providing Illamasqua with your details you agree to receive communications from Illamasqua and other like-minded third parties by post or email. You can unsubscribe at any time. Promoter: Illamasqua Ltd, 6-8 Amwell Street, London, EC1R 1UQ www.illamasqua.com

How to create the Sophie-I

(click to enlarge)

Video Tutorial by Illamasqua

STEP ONE Sketch along the upper socket line with the creamy black Medium Pencil in Sophie. Then buff with an Illamasqua Eye Shadow Brush to create a soft, diffused line. You can even wear this step on its own, to create a striking look in a hurry with just one product.

STEP TWO Take a pale neutral Powder Eye Shadow (we recommend Stealth) and gently press it to the centre of the eye lid, and underneath the brow bone for subtle highlight.

STEP THREE With a charcoal black Powder Eye Shadow (try Machine) build over the previous black pencil line, working outwards and upwards. Then take a Illamasqua Blending Brush and blend the two Powder Eye Shadows together, ensuring there are no sharp lines.

STEP FOUR Mix Sealing Gel with your black Powder Eye Shadow to create a colour- intense, water-resistant paste. Taking a sharp Angled Eye Liner Brush apply the paste in a fine line along the upper lash line as a liquid eye liner.
Artists’ Tip: You can also use this to redefine the original Sophie Pencil line along the socket for some serious drama.

STEP FIVE Finish the look with a line of Sophie Pencil along the lower lash line, a coating of midnight black Masquara in Raven and your favourite Illamasqua False Eye Lashes.

The Sophie Lancaster Foundation

Illamasqua and S.O.P.H.I.E

Models Own Open First Retail "Bottleshop"

2012-01-24T08:18:00.004-06:00

I thought this was interesting... Models Own is opening their first retail store, called a "Bottleshop," at Westfield London, Shepherds Bush in April 2012.

And the Bottleshop is actually a nail polish bottle... that you shop in. How cool is that? I thought it was clever at least. Too bad I'll probably never see on on these shores!

Testing out the Kiss Nail Dress Jeweled Nail Art Strips

2012-01-23T14:00:00.001-06:00

Last week I did a post about the new Kiss Nail Dress nail art appliques I picked up, and on Friday I had a chance to test them out. They didn't turn out exactly like I imagined them to.

I started off with clean nails prepped with rubbing alcohol to remove any leftover oil or moisture and improve adhesion of the strips. Since it's pretty cold out, I let the strips warm up until they felt flexible before I applied them. Here's what happened:

They look pretty good from this angle, right?

But when I tilt my nails up a little and look underneath... Uh oh. Big gaps. The ends of the strips at my free edge wouldn't stick down for anything. Filing off the excess only made it worse by leaving rough, torn edges (those little gems did not want to be filed!).

And they wouldn't stick at the cuticle end, either. See how they stick up and create gaps around the cuticle there? You can probably see the gap a little better in the flash picture.

To be completely honest with you, I only had enough patience to do one hand. I really wanted to do a full manicure and then leave them on all weekend to see how well they wore, but I just couldn't do it. I took these off immediately after I snapped these pictures.

The problem I had with these is that they were really stiff and not very sticky. I have very curved nails. Bad combination.

Another weird thing I noticed about them is that once you started to flex them to the shape of your nail, they didn't look smooth anymore. They looked speckled and glittery underneath the gems.

Okay. First attempt failed. I really want to try these again because I think they look super cool, but I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to get them to work on my curved nails.

A few tips:

These will likely work best on people with flat or only very slightly curved nails.
When choosing the correct size decal for each nail, go a little bigger. They don't stretch like Incoco or Sally Hansen Salon Effects, so they end up being too narrow if you have curved nails and you pick the size that looks exact.
Make sure they're at least room temperature. They're stiff, but they become a little more manageable the warmer they are. Rubbing them with your palms or hitting them with a little warm air from a hair dryer should do the trick. It helps if your hands are warm, too.
Might be helpful to cut these down to your approximate nail length first, instead of after applying. Filing them down after they were on my nails made them want to lift up even more from the edge.
No oil or moisture on the nail. Prep nails with alcohol or acetone first, and let it dry completely. Very important. These are not very sticky and anything that impedes adhesion at all will just ruin the strip.
Since the strips aren't very sticky, avoid touching the adhesive side as much as possible.

I think that if these were half as stiff and twice as sticky, I wouldn't have had a problem with them. Maybe my nails are just too curved. Bah.