Home / Tag: Purple

Purple

FEATURED - Tuesday, December 11th 2007

MAC Metal-X: A New Generation of Eye Shadow

A cream to powder metallic shadow that provides liquid metal effects. Goes on smoothly, blends like a charm. An extremely luxurious highlight/finish for eyes, cheeks and skin.

The colors pictured are Virgin Silver: A Metallic silver with white pearl and Plum Electric: a Deep purple with red pearl, which is the hottest color this season.  The Virgin Silver and the Plum Electric are the only two shadows I picked up on this collection.  Plum Electric is by far the best color of the Metal X eye shadows.  One reason I love the Virgin Silver is it's perfect for highlighting and for your lid, so you can avoid those crease lines.

My Review.  This isn't like most MAC eye shadows out there.  Most reviews have mainly been negative due to the consistency.  To get the best results you must put this eye shadow on with your fingers and do not use a makeup brush.  This eye shadow is not crease resistant, So, be sure you apply as a highlighter or on the eye lid.  Overall, this eye shadow is okay as long as you are patient enough to work with it.

FEATURED - Thursday, December 20th 2007

Hats: The Hottest Fashion Accessory

 

Hats have been a hot fashion trend since 2006.  Do you own a hat?  If not, then why not?  Hats are like eye candy, they will get you noticed!  If you love fashion or if you don't, a hat is a must have for any wardrobe!  It is one of the most important fashion accessories you can own!  And, I'll tell you why.  The very first thing an onlooker will be drawn to is your face, and why not have an hot accessory like a hat.  This is a fact, when wearing a hat more attention is drawn to the face and focused on you!  

I am obsessed with hats!  From baseball caps, fedoras, newsboy caps, berets, just about any hat I will wear.  A hat will make any outfit look smashing!  Pictured above are two of my favorites out of many.  The first one is Parker Wool Fedora, from Urban Outfitters, retailing $28.00.  This is a very sexy hat espically paried up with a black tank top, suspender pants, and patent black high heels, smokin hot!  The second one is a Cable Knit Beret, from Urban Oufitters, retailing $24.00.  I like this one because it is casual enough to put on some jeans, a sweater, and some flats or boots and your ready to go.  This hat was featured in one of The Hills episodes, Lauren Conrad was sporting around a black one and Audrina with a purple one.  So, what are you waiting for, go put one on and get noticed!

{Photo via: Urban Outfitters}

Tuesday, January 15th 2008

MAC Cosmetics: A Mei Review and Swatches

A Mei Amore! Growl!  Can I just say how impressed I am over this collection!  For starters, the details on the eye shadow palettes are incredible!  Beautiful stitching!  And, the packaging is to die for, of course!  The Biggest hit of this collection, that you will hear me raving on about, is the lipstick, Siss!  OMG!  If you love neutrals, you have to have this lipstick!  In my personal opinion, it is the best true "nude" lipstick out there!  But, I knew this lipstick was going to be a hit because it sold out in a matter of hours online.  

LIPSTICKS: Siss, A Muted golden beige (satin).  This is a completely nude lipstick.  When I hear the term "nude," the first thing that comes to mind is Christian Louboutin nude high heel shoes.  And, that is exaclty the color of this lipstick.  It is not sheer whatsoever, it is a matte to satin lipstick.  I have been on a hunt for a true nude beige lipstick for so long, and I am so excited about this!  This literally sold out in a matter of hours when MAC released it online.  Good news is MAC has it back online, and it's only a limited supply, So don't miss out!  Ruby Woo, A Vivid blush red (matte).  This is a very pretty and intense matte red lipstick.  I would almost have to describe it as a Christina Auguilera red.  I love bold red colors, so I was quite pleased with the color also.

LIPGLASS: She's a star, A Lustre-shined light neutral gold (Frost).  This is a must have with the Siss lipstick.  Since the lipstick is a matte to satin, the lipglass gives it a polished look, which is gorgeous.  Love Rules, A Fuchsia with white sparkle pearl.  This is more a a dark fushia pink color with alot of shimmer.  The MAC website swatch looks completely lilac purple, and it's not at all!  It gives Ruby Woo that kick and shine it needs if you don't like matte lipstick.  For those who didn't get a chance at the Malibu Barbie lipglass, from the almost instantly sold out, Barbie loves MAC collection, well Love Rules is VERY VERY similar.  The only difference is Love Rules is just a tad bit darker, but, just as shiny and beautiful as Malibu Barbie Lipglass.  I'm going to try to get a swatch up today comparing Love Rules and Malibu Barbie.

EYE SHADOWS: Bold Eyes. Three shades of Eye Shadow Venus (S), Freshwater (VP), and Carbon in a compact featuring the traditional needlework pattern of A Mei’s native Taiwan embroidered onto a plaque insert.  Venus and Freshwater are MAC standard colors.  Freshwater was my favorite out of these colors.  Neutral Eyes, Three shades of Eye Shadow Vanilla (V), Mulch (V), and Brown Down (VX) in a black compact featuring the traditional needlework pattern of A Mei’s native Taiwan embroidered onto a plaque insert.  All three are MAC standard colors.  Overall, the eye shadows packaging was more impressive than the colors.  But, if you don't have these colors, it's well worth it.  A 213 SE eye brush is included in both palettes.

Overall, I loved this collection.  Buy worthy is the lipsticks and lipglasses.  If you love nude, and I do mean "nude" Siss lipstick is for you.  It can also be spiced up by a pink or peachy lipglass that would look great.  I love this color so much,  that I'm going to order me another one before they are gone!  Update: The Siss lipstick sold out AGAIN, in just hours after MAC recieved some in stock! Ruby Woo lipstick has also sold out.  If you had a chance to get this, please let me know how you like it!

{Photo via: Steph's Closet}

FEATURED - Wednesday, January 30th 2008

MAC Cosmetics: Fafi Collection Color Story

These pictures clearly speak for themselves!  WOW, was my first expression when seeing these product photos back in December of 2007.   There is always one or two collections that will be a huge hit, and this is going to be one of them!  I'd never thought any collection could top Barbie loves MAC, but, I may be wrong!  So many things I'm looking forward to seeing in these collection.  Paint Pots, Blush, Eye Shadow Palette's, Nail Polish, Lipstick, Lipglass, Fafi Doll's (not pictured but, will sell out super duper fast), and the cosmetics bags.  Which, pretty much sums up the whole collection!  Last year, around the same time as Barbie love MAC was released, the Barbie Dolls sold-out instantly, and were going for $400+ on ebay. 

Fafi, a french Graffiti and Fine Art Graphic Artist, who is known for her images of sexy and liberated girls.  Her drawling and graffiti's are absolutely amazing!  If you've never seen any of her Drawling's or Graffiti's, click here to check them out.

Now, on to business!  This rare, limited edition collection, officially releases on February 13th, 2008.  Be sure to keep up-to-date on the Fafi Collection in your area, by signing up on the MAC website.  Check out the amazing color story below, that leaves me drooling at my desk.

Lipstick
Fun ‘n’ Sexy Blue pink with blue pearl (G)
Not so Innocent Sheer tan with pink and peach pearl (G)
Utterly Frivolous Rosy coral with pink pearl (L)
High Top Grey purple with blue pearl (G)
Flash-n-Dash Intense tangerine red with pink pearl (G)
Strawbaby Coral rose with rainbow pearl (L)

Lipglass
Cult Face Blue mid-tone pink with white pearl (F)
Sugar Trance Creamy soft pink with white and rainbow pearl (F)
Squeeze It Brassy plum (F)
Totally It Sheer bright pink with intense pink pearl (F)

Eye Shadow  Quad's (x4)  Fafi Eyes 1
Howzat Deep grey with silver sparkle (S)
Hey Neutral tan with pearl (VP)
Pink Venus Washed pink (L)
Vanilla Soft pale-peachy-ivory flecked with shimmer (V)

Fafi Eyes 2
Bold as Gold Yellow gold with gold pearl (L)
You’re Fresh Pale green with silver sparkle (L)
Shockwave Intense orange with silver sparkle (V)
Prankster Muted dark blue (S)

Paint Pot
Nice Vice Dirty purple with purple pearl (F)
Girl Friendly Creamy grey pink (C)
Layin’ Low Creamy beige (C)
Cash Flow Green gold with gold pearl (F)
Perky Cream coral with white pearl (S)
Rollickin’ Aqua blue green with white pearl (F)

Fluidline
Blacktrack Solid flat black

Eye Kohl
Smolder Intense black
Fascinating Snake-eyes matte white

Zoom Lash
Zoomblack Rich black

Powder Blush
Hipness Intense coral with soft white pearl
Fashion Frenzy Mid-tone blue pink

Iridescent Pressed Powder
Sassed-up Soft coral pink with gold sparkle
Verve-acaious Intense yellow gold with gold pearl
Belightful Gilded peach bronze

Nail Lacquer
Girls Will Be Girls Pink with coral pearl
Boom! Rich eggplant with purple pearl

Brushes
210 Precise Eye Liner.
129SH Powder/Blush (with decorated pouch).
208 Angled Brow Brush.
182 Buffer Large Brush.

Bags
Rectangle M.A.C/Small/Clearly Fafi
Rectangle M.A.C/Mini/Clearly Fafi

Fafi Dolls
Fafinette

{Source via: Specktra}

Wednesday, February 6th 2008

OPI India Collection: Review and Swatches

OPI India Collection for Spring/Summer 2008 has officially launched today.  I had a chance to get a sneak peek at this collection, and pick up a couple of bottles.  First off, I really love India inspired collections.  This collection has a little bit to offer for any appetite.  Neutrals: Soft Grey and Opal colors.  Dark: A gorgeous blue that no-one should overlook, and a deep burgandy with red shimmer.  Metallics: Sheer Gold and Bronze perfect for summer. Brights: A beautiful fuschia magenta (pictured on model), Bright Pink .     

If you haven't been locked up and living as a hermit, then you know by now,, that blue is the "IT" color for Spring/Summer 2008.  Most nail collections this season have featured some kind of blue shade.  Chanel Blue Satin, is one of my personal favorite nail colors this season, but, something was just missing.  As much as I love Blue Satin, it's just too darn dark without putting a topcoat of Azur.  Don't get me wrong, I still love the color and will continue to wear it.  But, it was hyped up so much, that I already had high expectations and the vision in my head didn't match up with actual color.  Maybe if the formulation wasn't as thick, it would have an potential of being a 10.

 

Charmed by a Snake.  A bronzed color that is perfect for any anybody.  This is a great color and much approiate for warm and cool tones.  This is definitely tied with MoonSoon or Later as my second favorites.  "Bronzed" and "Goldened" are one of the color trends for this summer, which brings me to the next color.

 

Curry Up Don't Be Late.  A sheer gold color with yellow undertones. I think this color is more appealing to the warm tone crowd.  A Metallic Yellowish-Gold is a tricky color to pull off.  But, I'm really liking yellow this spring/summer.  If your feet get really tan in the summer, this is a must for pedi's!  Check out the OPI India Collection Promo Ad, featuring this color.  I'll be honest, I love this color but, it was really hard to paint my nails.  It's very sheer, and I certainly needed 3 heavy coats to cover completely.  But, it's defintely worth the hassle, the color payoff is a gorgeous metallic yellow-gold.

Lunch at Delhi.  Described as a soft coral shade with pink-undertones.  I honestly don't see the pink undertones in this one.  It defitnely has more reddish undertones which makes it dark coral color which is really pretty.  Coral is going to be an "IT" color this spring/summer 2008. 

I'm Ind-ia Mood for Love.  Described as a Fushia-Magenta color.  A Magenta Fushia creme color that is a must have for pedi's this summer!  Take a look at the model in the picture above.  She is wearing this color.  How cute would that be on your toes, white flip-flops, and a toe ring.

 

Yoga-Ta Get This Blue.  So true to the name.  Yoga-Ta Get this Blue!  What are you waiting for!  WOW!  This color is exactly what Chanel Blue Satin lacked and is amazing.  It is exactly the blue I have been looking for.  If you love the blue nail polish trend, well, this is going to be your holy grail color.  So, what makes this blue different from all the hundreds out there?  Well, OPI for one, secondly the beautiful aqua and blue shimmer that makes this perfect!  And, one more thing, it LOOKS blue! Unlike Blue Satin and many others, where it looks black-ish in different lighting.  Russian Navy fans, get ready, your going to love this color!  Same type of texture, instead of the purple-ish pink shimmers, it's aqua and blue.  This is my favorite color of this collection, and think it's going to be a HUGE hit.

 

MoonSoon or Later.  I absolutely LOVE this color!  Described as a bright reddish-organish color.  I think this is one of the colors that most people will overlook.  And, if you love orangey-red's, this defintely shouldn't be overlooked!  It's not as bright and orangey as you might think.  Described as a creamy tomato red.  At first, I honestly overlooked this color.  Two days later, I saw this color and messed with it a little bit, and ended up loving it and purchasing it.  If your attracted to reds as I am, you'll love this!  This color is my second favorite, right under the blue.  Coral and Oranges are going to be a Hot color this summer!

Moon over Mumbai.  Descirbed as a gray shade.  I was really hoping I would like this color.  I'm honestly seeing more pink in this shade.  I would describe it as a very light pink shimmer with gray undertones.  It is a very pretty shade, but, I was hoping for more gray.  Essie's, Body Language is by far the best gray color I have seen this spring.  This color is much like Essie's 2008 Spring Collection.

Keys to my Karma.  Described as a rich tomato red color.  Honestly, I see this color being more like a cherry red opposed to a rich tomato red, which I have plenty of similar colors.

Elphantastic Pink.  Described as a bold carnation pink.  Much talk was going on about this color.  So, I was really looking forward to it.  But, I was quite disappionted.  My skin tone is warm and this color stands out like a sore thumb.  It's just too bright for me.  This color may look more appealing on cooler skin tones.

Here are some other colors I didn't get, but, would be more appealing for me in the fall.  Spring and Summer is almost here so, I'm ready for some colors.  Royal Rajah Ruby, a burgandy with reddish shimmer.  If the shimmer were light pink, this would be an huge it color.  This is more of a burgandy-blackish color.  Black Cherry Chutney, a dark black cherry red.  

Below are some photo swatches I took from my salon.  

The first picture was taken with a flash, the second without a flash. 

Overall, I really liked this collection.  Yoga-ta get this Blue!  Go get this stuff now!  That was the best color hands down.  Followed by Curry up Don't Be Late, Charmed by a Snake, and MoonerSooner or Later.  

What do you think of this collection?  Are you planning to purchase any colors?

Check out the ultimate summer accessory featuring two colors from the OPI India Collection.

FEATURED - Thursday, March 6th 2008

China Glaze Gets Inked For Summer

Tattoo art has moved out of back alley parlors onto the couture collections of fashion's top designers. INK™ by China Glaze is a collection of neons for brilliant self expression. Customize and personalize...INK™ my nail.  This collection includes 12 nail polish colors, art decals, and cuticle oil.

Check out the product color swatches below.

Bright, bold art colors are becoming the makeup and nail trends for this spring and summer.   

Don't all these colors just look delightful? And, just in time for summer!  I just hope they aren't as bright as the displays look.  I usually don't do well with neons, depending how bright they are.

Here are some of the colors that I'm interested in checking out: Blue Sparrow (I'm always sucker for blue, I just can't help it), Flying Dragon, Turned up Turquoise (this color looks hot) and Purple Panic.  In the limelight, Celtic Sun, Orange Knockout, and Rose Among Thorns are some of the color that looks very bright to me.

Check out some of the color displays below.

I don't have a firm release date yet, but, I'll definitely keep you guys updated.  What do you think of these bright bold color trends for summer?

FEATURED - Saturday, March 22nd 2008

Rescue Beauty Lounge: Steph's Spring Picks

Rescue Beauty Lounge features two of my favorite nail color picks for spring 2008!  What better way to celebrate spring with two eco-friendly colors.  I love rescue beauty lounge's formula and all the beautiful array of bold colors they offer.  The only drawback, they are $18.00 USD, just as much as Chanel or any name brand nail polish. But, it's defintely worth the money for the beautiful bold colors you wont find anywhere else!  These two shades I predict will be smoking hot colors for this Spring and Summer 2008.

Here's a little history if you are new to the Rescue Beauty Lounge name.  Several lab technicians quit their job before Ji was satisfied with the polish that would bare the Rescue name.  The result is a long-wearing polish created with resin and high molecular polymers to improve flexibility, durablitily and high shine.  What you won't find- harmful and drying Touluene, Formaldhyde or DBP. 

I know alot of ya'll probably think I'm crazy for picking these bold colors, that most of us won't even wear!  But, they are HOT colors and anyone, any-age can wear them!  Come on break out of that shell, I know your in there!  Be daring!  Next time you go get a pedicure, manicure, or even do your own nails, try someting daring!  Have fun, summer's almost here!  Whoohoo!

Recycle, described as a deep blackish emerald green creme that is about 97% identical to the coveted, Nars Zulu, that was sold-out instantly at Sephora.  I actually prefer Rescues's Recycle over Nars Zulu polsh.  This is probably my favorite color of 2008 so far.  The blue/green trend is right up my alley.

Yellow Fever, described as a bright lemon yellow creme color, that just brightens my day like the beautiful sun!  I just get happy looking at this beautiful yellow color.  Rihanna, has been seen sporting around this "trendy" yellow nail color.  Yellow is going to be an hot color this summer. Green Bay Packers fans these are must have colors for next football season!  These colors rock together, espically for those packers fans!

Check out some nail polish comparisons below.

China Glaze Solar Power, is more of a toned down mustard yellow color, with noticable shimmer.  This is a new color from China Glaze's ecollection, for spring 2008.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Yellow Fever, is more of a bright yellow color (like the sun) with hardly noticeable shimmers.  This is a new color from the Spring collection

My favorite is Yellow Fever.  It's a very bright and bold yellow color that looks great on darker skin tones.  I think yellow is going to be a harder color to pull off, for some.  But, I love bright bold colors, and I think anyone can pull it off, espically paired up with the right outfit.

China Glaze Tree Hugger, is described as a granny smith apple color with noticeable shimmer.  This is a new color from China Glaze' ecollection, for spring 2008.

Rescue Beauty Recycle, described as a emerald green creme polish.  This color is very similar to the infamous, Nars Zulu.

I love green, and I love both of these nail polishes.  Think Green for spring!  Going green is an continuing trend this season, and what better way to start off with eco-friendly nail colors!

Love Rescue Beauty Lounge?

Check out Ji Baek's new book, Rescue your nails or the new lavendar nail polish trend that's becoming the next it color for summer.

FEATURED - Friday, April 11th 2008

Zoya Summer Collection: Chit Chat and Gossip

 

Zoya introduces two new nail polish collections for summer 2008, that willl surely give you something to talk about.   

Gossip Collection, features six vibrant and colorful creamy shades that are sure to be the must have colors for this summer season.  And, if you are and avid Hills fans, then you'll notice the names are based around our favorite girls of, The Hills.  Audrina (red-purple cream), Whitney (hot fuchsia cream), Lo (electric cerise cream), Elodie (bold poppy cream), Heidi (hi-beam orange cream) and LC (Summer red cream).

Chit Chat Collection, features six metallic colors named after fellow beauty bloggers.

Check out all the 12 colors below.

This collection is available on pre-order only at Art of Beauty.

{Source: Art of Beauty}

FEATURED - Wednesday, May 27th 2009

Win Sally Hansen's Honeydew, Night Hydrangea

Hope ya'll had a fabulous Memorial day weekend. Next week, I'll be giving two fabulous shades away from Sally Hansen's Tracy Reese Spring collection. Honeydew - a gorgeous teal and Night Hydrangea - a gorgeous purple with shimmer.

How to enter: Anyone can enter. Just post a comment in this entry telling me why you would want to win. Also, please include your twitter name in the comments for those who tweet.

Two winners will be randomly picked from my followers at Twitter and Steph's Closet subscribers. Both winners will be announced on June 10, 2009. Good Luck all!

FEATURED - Thursday, May 1st 2008

Naughty Nauticals: Review, Swatches, Photos

 

Check out all the Naughty Nauticals collection swatches.  I will be writing up the review shortly, along with more photos!

Party Mate - A semi-sheer mid-tone pink lustre color that has light buildable coverage.  This has more color pay-off than Ahoy, There and is a tad bit darker. Ahoy, There! - A sheer dirty pink color with multi-dimensionel pearl that makes this a glaze.  This is the lightest color of the bunch. Port Red - A must have for red lipstick lovers!  A gorgeous ruby red with gold pearl which makes this a frost.  This is my favorite out of the bunch, and is very pretty. Buoy-O-Buoy - A creamy neutral beige color with pink undertones, that has buildable color.

 

The only color that really stood out to me was the gorgeous, Port Red.  The other colors have more of a " neutral-pink" pay-off, which I'm so over pink right now.  My makeup collection is heavily out numbered by pinks.

Ensign - A peachy pink with white and gold pearl.  This color appears more peachy than pink.  And, is a great all around color. Hey Sailor - A mauvey plum pink with white pearl.  Hey Sailor has the best color pay-off out of all the lustreglasses. Love Knot - A sheer pink with blue and white duochrome.  Love Knot is the sheerest of all the colors. Bateaux - A neutral brown peach with white frost.  Bateaux is my favorite color of the bunch.  It's a nice neutral color with a hint of peach.

The two colors I purchased were Hey Sailor and Bateaux.  Hey Sailor has good color pay-off and looks fab combined with Port Red lipstick.  Ensign is also a pretty color, but, Bateaux had more of a peach color pay-off which I opted for Bateaux.  Love Knot was very sheer on me but, I absoultey loved the blue and white duochrome, just wished it had better color pay-off.

Lark About - A sheer white frost pigment with blue undertones.  Bell Bottom Blue - A navy blue color with white pearl.  The white pearl gave this color more of a blue color with purple undertones. Lovely Lily - A soft lilac color with pink undertones.  The pink undertones gave this more of a softer color. Mutiny - A clean sky blue with gold pearl.  The gold pearl makes Mutiny not as bold, and less color pay-off.  This is my favorite out of the pigments.

Mutiny was the only pigment I purchased from the Naughty Nauticals collection.  I think this is a great color in general that everyone can wear.  It's not to bold or daring, it's a nice soft aqua color.

Shore Leave - A pale frosty ivory color with pink undertones, that has quite a bit of shimmer to it.  I really liked this color, it looks fab as a highlighter paired up with Illegal Cargo. Pandanonium - A frosty gunmetal color with white pearl. Illegal Cargo - A frost grey plum color that has more mavey-plum color pay-off.  Meet the Fleet - Midnight blue matte color.  I really did not like this color nor texture at all.  It was very blotchy when playing with the colors, and I was not impressed at all. Submarine - A beautiful mid tone blue color with frost that almost looks like a darker teal color.

I wasn't nearly as impressed with the eye shadows.  I felt Meet the Fleet and Pandanonium were very dull and boring to me.  The texture was very blocthy and hard to work with when I was swatching.  I purchased Shore Leave, Illegal Cargo and Submarine.  My favorite out of the eye shadows is Illegal Cargo.

Pigments vs Eye shadows.  I had a hard time deciding between the pigments and eye shadow colors, because they are somewhat similar.  But, I decided to go with the eye shadows because of the better color pay-off.  Illegal Cargo is much prettier and bolder purple than Lovely Lily.  And, Shore Leave is a pretty ivory white frost comparted to Lark About, which is more of a sheer white-blue pigment.

FEATURED - Friday, May 2nd 2008

Drugstore Haul: Milani, Max Factor, Lashblast

I try to stay far-away from drugstores because they can really do some major damage!  But, it was time for a visit, because there are many things I've been wanting to test and review.  So, I will be doing seperate blog entries on each product to elaborate a little more.

1.  Covergirl Lashblast - The buzz has been going around the on beauty radar about this wonder mascara.  So, it's on the top of my list to review.

2.  Nicole by OPI - I'm sure you've been seeing alot of this brand lately.  So, I've been a little curious about the formula, and staying power.  But, I'm sure it will be quality espically, if it's backed by OPI.  Plus, their free off the big 3, which is a huge plus.  I picked up the color: Nicole's Fav, a tangerine orange shimmer that is perfect for summer.  I will be posting swatches soon.

3.  Milani - Fashion Runway Eyes and color brillant eye pencils.  My Milani purchase was the hightlight of my haul.  The Fashion runways shadows come in 6 different color combinations.  I went to 4 different drugstores looking for the yellow and green combination but, everywhere was completely sold-out!  Milani also carries a Blue/Teal color combination, sold-out, just my luck!  And, I just happend to get lucky with the eyeliners, and picked up three (kelly green, teal, and violet purple).

4.  MAX Factor Vivid Impact Eyeshadow Duo -  The green and blue wand recently was seen in the Carmen Electra ad for MAX Factor.   The emerald green and blue wand was so hard to find.  The green is a fab color.  And, I was quite impressed how long the shadow stayed on without any base. 

5. Neutrogena Sunscreen - Don't forget that sunscreen!  My favorite brand is Neutrogena Ultra sheer.  It's so light, gentle, and blocks UVA/UVB rays!

I will be reviewing each product seperately.  Stay tuned for the review and swatches.

FEATURED - Friday, May 9th 2008

Trend Alert: Lavender Purple Nail Polish

Product: Purple Haze Nail Polish

Price: $18.00

Steph's Rating:

Buy it: Rescue Beauty Lounge

Recommend: Yes

More love goes out to the fabulous Ji and the Rescue Beauty Lounge team!  I've had my eyes on Purple Haze since it was introduced in their Spring Collection.  But, never took that next step to purchasing it.  So, after months of debating, here it is. 

Purple lavender nail polish started to make an appearance in winter, hitting most nail polish collections in Spring of 2008.  Essie's Spring Collection, was one of the first lavender nail polishes that caught my eye.  Looking for love, described as a sheer lavender nail polish, was one of the firsts I've tried.  But, with much sadness, looking for love was extremely sheer, and the color pay-off just wasn't there.  At that point, it was a color that I just put on the back burner, until now!

Ji and the Rescue Beauty team have created another truely unique polishes with outstanding color pay-off!  I have nothing but good things to say about this color and the Rescue Beauty Lounge formula.  The color is described as a creme lavender with dark blue undertones.  The consistency applied like a charm and only two light coats are needed.  Purple Haze has everything that Essie's, looking for love, lacked.  And, you won't find a comparable polish to this color.  Actually, it's hard to find many lavender blue-based colors in stores period.  Check out the photo swatch on my toes below.

So, I have been sporting around this color for the past few days on both my hands and feet.  And, I to say, this color is amazing!  I usually don't wear matching colors unless the color is fab, and that is exactly what it is!  The navy blue undertones makes this color a periwinkle blue outside in sunlight, and a deeper lavender purple inside.

I predict that this color will be a hit through the summer and fall seasons.  Purple Haze will be an appropriate color in the fall to coordinate with your grays/blues/purples.  Chanel, OPI, and many others are introducing a lavendar based nail polish to their summer collections as well.  I think most of us will sway away from this color because of it's boldness.  If you love blue, your sure to love this color also.  Purple Haze espically looks great with darker skin tones; it tends to give you the perfect amout of pop on your nails or toes!  It also looks great with a tan or a sunless tan.

Let's talk about Rescue Beauty Lounge!  My first few impressions have been absolutely fantastic.  And, we all know first impressions are crucial!  It can usually make or break your business.  My RBL collection is consistency growing with bold and beautiful colors.  I'll usually wear any color, as long as it fits my style.

Future Colors.  I would love to see Ji and the team create an orange nail polish for summer.  Orange is rapidly becoming one of the next nail polish trends, and I know the Rescue Beauty Lounge color would be amazing!

FEATURED - Monday, May 12th 2008

Fall 2008 Beauty Reporter: Black Lips

Oh please, say it isn't so?!  Yep, that's right ladies and gent, black lips are "it" for this fall.  Back in February 2008, Lily Allen appeared at London's Fashion Show sporting a dark purple and black lip.  At that point, I kept close eye on this growing trend, and Mays issue of Allure confirmed it!  Black lips with matte skin and a bowl cut wig at Yves Saint Laurent. 

Plan on grabbing that Chanel Black Satin back out for Fall.  The goth look is back hardcore with dark lips, heavy darkened around the eyes, and of course Chanel Black Satin nail polish!  And, I thought black nail polish was bad!  I can positively say that I will not be sporting the black lip now or anytime.  But, then again, I never thought I would love black nail polish!

Yah or Nah to this fall trend?

FEATURED - Sunday, May 18th 2008

Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz Tie The Knot

US Magazine reports Ashlee Simpson, 23, and Pete Wentz, 28, marry in an intimate ceremony in the backyard of her parents' Encino California home Saturday, May, 17th 2008.

Around 150 guests gathered under white tents on the Simpson property to witness the non denominational ceremony which was officiated by Joe Simpson himself.  Some of the guests included Nicole Richie, who wore a long flowing purple dress, and Joel Madden. Inside the tents the decor was goth rocker: black rugs, white couches with red pillows, black chandeliers and lots of red roses.

The four months pregnant bride wore an ivory lace Monique Lhuillier dress and a diamond necklace with matching earrings by Neil Lane. Wentz wore a Dior Homme tuxedo. Wentz's English bulldog, Hemingway, was the ring-bearer.

At the request of Ashlee and Pete, all of the guests wore dark colors, such as blue, black or grey.

Big sis and maid of honor Jessica Simpson brought Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo Tony Romo as her date. On Friday, a source told US magazine that "Joe called Tony and asked him to show support for the wedding."  Romo arrived many hours ahead of anyone guests or family... Do we see an reconciliation here? hmmm....

I didn't know I'd be getting married right now, but I'm so happy to be!" she said. "I'm a lucky girl."

Wentz told US of marriage, "When you find someone you think is your soulmate, it's inevitable."

Ashlee Simpson, who is pregnant with the couple's first child, and Wentz, the bassist for Fall Out Boy, have been linked together since the fall of 2006.  This is their first marriage for both.

FEATURED - Sunday, May 18th 2008

Sneak Peek: Pics Chanel Robertson Collection

I happened to stumble across these jaw-dropping pictures and would love to share them with ya'll!  Let me start off by saying, I literally am drooling over every single color right now!  LA Sunset has my name written all over it!  If the color pay-off is as pictured above, I think this may be the perfect orange shade many of us have been longing for, including myself!  Yeah!

Get em' while their hot!  I predict that these four electric shades will sell-out like hot cakes.   And, being an "limited edition and the seasons "must-have" colors, don't help the fact!  But, Chanel never lets us down ladies, we all know that!

Chanel should be releasing the Robertson Blvd collection online at the end of June/July and retail for $25.00 each.  Supplies are very limited and only availble online or at the Robertson Boulevard store.  So, be sure you are signed up for availablity notifications!

Love Chanel's Rodeo Drive?  Check out Rescue Beauty Lounge's, Purple Haze nail polish.  Chanel may have some high expectations to live up to! 

{Lucky Mag}

FEATURED - Thursday, May 29th 2008

MAC Colour Form: Color Story, Promo Images

Nordstrom introduces MAC Colour Form as their Anniversary collection this year.  This collection will be available on July 18th, 2008.  Only available at Nordstrom stores and Nordstrom.com.  Check out all the promo images below courtesy of Bjooti.net.

Eyeshadow Palettes:

5 Warm Eyes (LE) $38.00 USD Fertile - blackened brown (S) Chillproof - Frosty creamy white (F) Tancentic - Frosty beige pink (VP) Rolled Gold - Frosty golden olive (L) Rustic - Frosted copper red (VP) 213 SE Application Brush

5 Cool Eyes (LE) $38.00 USD Radial Pink - Frosty white pink (V) Brown Border - Frosty plum(VP) Spot Colour - Mid-tone blue purple w/ white pearlized pigments (L) Blue Spill - Mid-tone cornflower blue w/ gold pearlized pigments (F) Slate- Smoke grey (S) 213 SE Application Brush

Lip Palettes:

Cool Lips (LE) $22.50 USD Miss Rose Lipstick - Creamy mid-tone blue pink (L) Cassis Royale Lipstick - Sheer mid-tone plum (L) Virginity Lipglass - Sheer mid-tone pink w/ pink pearlized pigments 316 SE Application Brush

Warm Lips (LE) $22.50 USD Fresh and Fun - Creamy neutral coral (F) Oh Garnet - Creamy mid-tone red (A) (Repromote) Flash of Flesh - Sheer peach pink w/ multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (Repromote) 316 SE Application Brush

Neutral Lips (LE) $22.50 USD Altered Beige - Creamy yellow beige (L) Square Root - Mid-tone burnt bronze (F) Lunar - Sheer creamy yellow beige w/ white pearlized pigments 316 SE Application Brush

Brush Sets:

Red Nylon Bag - 5 Basic Brush Set  (LE) $49.50 USD 129 SE 190 SE 224 SE 242 SE 266 SE

Green Nylon Bag - 5 Advanced Brush Set (LE) $49.50 USD 187 SE 168 SE 212 SE 219 SE 275 SE

Purple Nylon Bag - 5 Advanced Brush Set (LE) $49.50 USD 187 SE 168 SE 212 SE 219 SE 275 SE

 

Lipsticks (LE) $14.00 USD Naked to the Core - Creamy soft neutral pink outer w/ sheer beige pearlized core (L) Pop Circle - Creamy bright blue pink outer w/ sheer pale pink pearlized core (L) Inner Hue - Creamy mid-tone coral outter w/ sheer golden peach pearlized core (L) Rose Go Round - Creamy burgundy outer w/ sheer golden pink pearlized core (L)

 

Richmetal Hightlighers (LE) $16.50 Female - Frosty pale pink w/ green gold pearlized pigments Deep Deposit - Frosty deep blackened burgundy Quick Flash - Frosty warm gold Rose Bullion - Frosty mid-tone pink w/ gold pearlized pigments Dark Influence - Frosty purple w/ pink pearlized pigments Positive Charge - Frosty copper w/ gold pearlized pigments

 

Pigments (LE) $19.50 Royal Flush - Frosty mid-tone red Gilded Green - Frosty mid-tone green w/ gold pearlized pigments Tea Time - Bronzed brown w/ multi-dimensional pearlized pigments Jardin Aires - Tan w/ gold pearlized pigments (Repromote) Circa Plum - Frosty mid-tone lavender Steel Blue - Rich deep turquoise greenblue w/ small pearlized pigments (PRO item)

Colour Form Powder:

Sun Centered (LE) $24.50 Coral w/ gold pearlized pigments Mid-tone bronze Soft wheat w/ gold & silver pearlized pigments Soft peach w/ white pearlized pigments

Play Around Pink (LE) $24.50 Intense blue mid-tone pink w/pearlized pigments Plum Soft pink w/ pink & white pearlized pigments Light pink

{Info: Specktra}

FEATURED - Thursday, May 29th 2008

MAC Electro Flash: Color Story, Product Images

Here's some more MAC collection info I've been meaning to post.  MAC introduces Electro Flash collection for Summer 2008.  This new collection consists of 9 gorgeous Mineralized Eyeshadow Duos, along with 4 lipsticks, 4 lipglass and a Large Fluff Brush.  This new collection should be available starting in August.  Check out the product photos below courtesy of Bjooti.net.

Mineralized Eye Shadow Duos Play on Plums Mélange/Mono - Peachy gold with pink and bronze veining / Bronzed burgundy mono Sea & Sky Mélange/Mono - Silvery pale blue with deep blue and silver veining / Bright blue mono Hot Contrast Mélange/Mono - Dirty red with silver and black veining / Black mono Love Connection Mélange/Mono - Pale beige with gold and blue veining / Warm gold mono Two to Glow Mélange/Mono - Dirty bronze with pink and orange veining / Orange mono Odd Couple Mélange/Mono - Warm gold with lavender and bronze veining / Purple mono Polar Opposites Mélange/Mono - Dirty purple with silver, indigo and pink veining / True silver mono Fresh Green Mix Mélange/Mono - Golden olive with blue, gold and aqua veining / Lime mono Pink Split Mélange/Mono - Dirty rose with bronze and pale blue veining / Pink with gold pearl mono

Lipsticks - $14.00 USD Vanity’s Child - Sheer pale beige with pearl (Lustre) (LE) Fast Thrill - Frosty clean mid-tone pink with pearl (Frost) (LE) Mellow Mood - Glossy mid-tone dirty pink with pearl (Lustre) (LE) Dangerously Hot - Creamy deep brown red (Amplified) (LE)

 

Lipglass - $14.00 USD Culture Clash - Frosty clear baby pink with multi-dimensional pearl (Frost) (LE) Major Minor - Frosty mid-tone beige with multi-dimensional pearl (Frost) (LE) Sonic Vibe - Frosty mid-tone pink with multi-dimensional pearl (Frost) (LE) Lil’ Hot Pepper - Frosty burnt red with multi-dimensional pearl (Frost) (LE)

Brush - $30.00 USD  227 Large Fluff Brush

{Info: Kiss and Makeup}

FEATURED - Sunday, June 1st 2008

Gold Member Baby: Chanel Fall 2008 Makeup

Chanel strikes it rich this Fall with jaw-dropping gold and bronze shades.  With the rising cost of gold, it's no wonder Chanel would be at the top of their game.  Facettes D'or nail color in gold fiction, delivers an massive 18 karats of illiminating gold right to your fingertips.  But, this gold rush nail candy don't come cheap.  This hyptonizing nail color will be retailing for $30.00. Chanel is also introducing Gold Fever, an finely milled golden powder that delivers a sheer glow of gold.  Gold Fever will be retailing for $50.00.  Two must-have products you don't want to over-look.  This new fall collection should hit most Chanel stores mid July. Check out the color story and info below.  

Lips

• Rouge Hydrabase Creme Lipstick.  Simply Pink (coral pink), Fantastic Plum (deep purple) and Great Copper (bronze). $26.00 USD. 
• Rouge Allure Luminous Satin Lip Colour. Enthusiast (deep red creme). $30.00 USD.
• Aqualumière Sheer Colour Lipshine with SPF 15. Formentera (beigey rose) and Papeete (cranberry).
• Glossimer Lipgloss. Amberlight (bronze), Delight (lilac), and Gold Light, (shimmery gold). $26.00 USD.
• Precision Lip Definer.  Pretty Pink (medium nude pink). $28.00 USD.

 

Eyes

• Eye Shadow Quad in Reflets d’Ombre.  An eyeshadow palette with four shades in coffee, dark green, ivory, and gold. $55.00 USD.
• Soft Touch Eyeshadow.  Bronze, (metallic brown) on one side and Bois Bleu (dark teal) on the other. $27.50 USD.
• Silky Eyeshadow Duo. Cristal-Dusk contains two shadows in white and brown. $40.00 USD.
• Precision Eye Definer. Denim is a gray-blue shade. $27.50 USD.

Face

Powder Blush. Rose Dust is a pinky, plum shade. $42.00 USD. Soft Pressed Powder. Almond is a shimmery beige. $50.00 USD

Nails

Le Vernis in Kaléidoscope - is a greenish-gold shade Le Vernis in Fantastic - is a deep, plummy wine shade

The Chanel Fall Collection has arrived.  Check out the review, swatches, product photos and nail polish swatches for this brand new collection.

A little gold member for your viewing pleasures!

FEATURED - Monday, June 2nd 2008

Colored Mascara: Black Is Out And Color Is In

Product: Urban Decay Big Fatty Color Mascara

Price: $17.00

Steph's Rating:

Buy it: Urban Decay, Sephora

Recommend: Yes, Espically if you love color

If you love the extra-thickening powers of Big Fatty Mascara, round out your collection with these wearable shades. Turquoise and navy hues give brown and blue eyes a jolt, purple shades make green eyes more dangerous, and burgundy adds drama to any eye color. They're a refreshing alternative to basic black.

Colored mascara is making an huge comeback and I'm so giddy over it!  Urban Decay introduces four new colored mascaras this summer.  Black Cherry (a deep burgandy), Electric Blue (a vibrant teal blue), Indigo (a vibrant blue violet) and Purple Haze (a dark purple).  Check out the photo swatches and the video tutorial to get this look below.

These new shades are so fun and sassy, I just love them.  The bold pop of color instantly makes your lashes eye candy.  I happened to stop by my local Sephora today to pick up some primer potion, and these beauties were calling out my name.  I was immediately drawn to these vibrant colors, foremost the Electric Blue shade.  Thankfully, I was able to snatch the very last one (shoowee, close one)!  Electric Blue is definitely going to be the most popular out of the four.  The other colors were fully stocked.  Purple Haze is another nice color I will have to pick up soon.  It is a must have color for those green eyed babies!

The promo image is pretty smokin hot ladies!  So, make sure you check out Urban Decays tutorial video to get this look.

To get this look you'll need: Urban Decay Eyeshadow(s) in Blaze and Rush 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in Deviant Sparkler Pen for Lips in Flare Big Fatty Color Mascara in Electric Blue

 

FEATURED - Thursday, June 5th 2008

Essie Summer: The Neon Collection

Essie's headline: 'Never be afraid of color", love it!  Espically, never be afraid of these gorgeous colors.  Essie introduces four new hot colors just in time for summer.  This limited edition collection features four neon shades: Shorty Pants (a vibrant yellow sunshine), Short Shorts (a hot pink), Bermuda Shorts (a vibrant neon purple) and Mini Shorts (vibrant orange).  This collection should be available now or sometime this week.

Man, Essie is on a roll.  Both of their summer collections has me drooling all over the place.  These four new colors remind me of Chanel's Robertson Blvd collection but, essie's has more vibrant colors and is alot cheaper. whoot whoot! Go Essie!

I should have some swatches next week.  Stay tuned.

FEATURED - Monday, June 9th 2008

CVS Drugstore Haul: Sally Hansen, Cover Girl

Boy, is it hot here in the Southeastern region.  At 8 am it's already 90 degrees!  A simple visit to my local CVS pharmacy to pick up some shaving creme turned into a full-force makeup haul.  Those damn drugstores always get ya!  The display for Sally Hansens Lacquer Shine was rather empty.  These lovely summer shades were flying off the shelves by the minute.  The four colors I picked up: Flair, Flash, Spark and Glow.  Some other color shades that were sold out: coral, pink, and red.  Check out the photo swatches below.

Glow is described as an granny smith apple green shade with yellow-green shimmer.  Flair is an violet purple shade with navy blue shimmer.  Flair was my favorite color out of the four I picked up.  Flash is described as a turquoise blue color with turquoise blue shimmer.  Flash is very comparable to MAC's Plasma Blu.  The only difference I noticed is MAC's has more of a frosty texture.  Last but not least, Spark.  A navy blue with purple and pink shimmer.  This is the first color that even comes close to OPI Russian Navy.  Spark is almost an 100% duplicate.  The only true difference is OPI Russian Navy has more shimmer to it.  But, other than that, it's a great alternative.

This is the first time I've tried Sally Hansen's Lacquer Shine formula.  Although, I can't review the staying power until I actually wear the polish a few times.  The application was very smooth and easy to apply with vibrant color pay-off and dimmensional shine.  I used two coats on my photo swatches. I don't think there would be a need for three coats because the color pay-off is divine. 

I wanted to get some swatches up real fast for ya'll to see.  Later this week I will be posting swatches individually along with photo comparisions.

I've been debating these two eyeshadow colors for awhile now.  And, I finally picked them up today.   Check out the photo swatches below.

Covergirl Kaboom Kelly - described as a kelly green shade with fairly good color pay-off.  Covergirl Gold Sizzle - is a gold shimmer with not-so-good pigmentation.  I had to literally scrub with my finger to get good pigmentation.  And, last but not least, Milani Color Brillance eyeliner pencils.  Hands down, Milani has the BEST pencils out there with outstanding color pay-off.

FEATURED - Monday, June 16th 2008

Kat Von D Makeup: Photo Swatches

A couple months ago, I blogged about Kat Von D's new makeup brand.  I was finally able to check it out at Sephora.  Overall, I was pleasantly suprised with the eyeshadow palettes.  The color pay-off was pretty good as well as the lasting power.  And, at $34.00 per palette for 8 eyeshadow colors, is a fantastic deal.  Just averaging about $4.25 a color.  Check out the photo swatches below.

True Romance Palette in Beethoven ($34).  The Beethoven palette contains: Lucifer (matte charcoal black), Speed Blue (dark metalic blue), Razor Gray (warm gun steel shimmer), Tequila (metallic cornsilk shimmer), Galeano (metallic medium plum shimmer), Sinner (metallic purple black shimmer), Rad Purple (matte purple black with purple glitter), Leather (matte dark brown) with two doubled-ended applicator brushes.

Speed Blue was my fave out of the Beethoven palette.  It's a cross between MAC's freshwater and blue flame.

True Romance Palette in Ludwig ($34).  The Ludwig palette contains: Lucifer (matte charcoal black), Orbi (golden green shimmer), Dimebag (metallic lime green), Clay (beige with gold glitter), Tequila (metallic cornsilk shimmer), Downtown (metallic light copper shimmer), Baroque (golden bronze shimmer), Leather (deep chocolate brown sheen), and two double-ended applicator brushes.
 

Ludwig is my favorite out of the two.  It's a great color combination, espically for the neutral loving gals out there.  My faves are both the greens (no brainer).

FEATURED - Monday, June 16th 2008

Milani Color Brilliance Pencils: Swatches, Review

An outstanding eye liner pencil that delivers superb color in one easy application. It has been developed with moisturizing ingredients for silky-smooth texture and with special polymers for long lasting power. Add depth and definition to your eyes with this rich pencil. Available in 4 intensifying shades at Walgreens for $3.99 each (that's chump change).

Milani's new color brilliance pencils are the shit, to put it mildly.  They have an ridiculous amount of color, lasting power (really, the whole day), and no smudging.  And, they are right up there with Urban Decay 24/7 (another favorite of mine).  Applying these dreamy shades were so easy - no need for warming the tips again.  

01 Black - (not pictured) a bold rich black color, 04 Purple - described as a magenta purple shade with violet shimmer, 02 Aqua - is a aqua blue with aqua shimmer, and 03 Green - a gorgeous kelly green with gold shimmer.  I literally could go on-and-on about this gorgeous green shade - but, I won't bore you.  I have this huge fixation for green shades.  03 Green is a must have eyeliner for green lovers.  Heck, for $3.99, you can't even get an gallon of gas for that!

FEATURED - Wednesday, June 18th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: China Glaze IDK

I'm showing some love to one of my favorite brands, China Glaze.  IDK (I don't know) featured in the OMG collection was the shade I picked - a light lilac purple holographic polish.  The formula applied easily and dries to a matte finish.  A top coat is recommended if you desire that glossy finish.  The holographic colors are eye-catching and hard to caputre a true image. Check out the candid photo below.

If your not familiar with China Glaze's holographic polishes - well, they are much like OPI's Designer Series.  Not neccessary the same colors, just the same appearance.

FEATURED - Thursday, June 19th 2008

Givenchy Fall Makeup 2008: Sweet Dandy Collection

The Autumn and Winter 2008 makeup collections promo pictures are starting to surface.  Most fall collections are slated for the end of July to mid August.  Random fact: my beauty wardrobe completely lacks any givenchy makeup.  I'm looking to change that soon - starting off by the gorgeous, Le Vernis nail polish and smokey eyeshadow quad.  Check out the color story and promo pictures below.

Pocket Beauty Case Accessory for Glowing Lips and Cheeks $55.00 (Sweet Dandy)

Prisme Again! Shimmer Eyes Mat & Shimmering Eyeshadow Quartet $49.50 in Smoky Shimmer and 44 Precious Shimmer

Prisme Libre Loose Powder Quartet Air Sensation $63.00 in Dandy Beige

Captiv’Eyes Intense Volume Mascara Magnetic Eyes $25.00 in Dandy Black

Magic Khôl Eye Liner Pencil $21.50 in Dandy Blue

Rouge Interdit Satin Lipstick Irresistible Color $26.50 in Romantic Dandy and Fatal Dandy

Pop Gloss Crystal Crystal Lip Gloss $23.50 in Romantic Dandy and Fatal Dandy

Polka dots dress up! These two customized harmonies are reminiscent of a dandy’s basic deconstructed three-piece suit. A matte texture and three complementary glowing shades offer two ways of creating sophisticated, smoky eyes.  Smoky Shimmer: three dense, shiny black shades softened by a matte white base for grey tones coloured with blue, white and purple pearlescent particles.

Rouge Interdit lets you show off two sides of your charm with two different languages to express your femininity: Romantic Dandy pinkish beige for a naturally flushed look, and pure, intense Fatal Dandy red, the most dangerous lipstick around! Matching Pop Gloss Crystal in pinkish beige or intense red can be used alone for glossy, transparent colour or as a top coat to accentuate shine.

Nail polish addicts - saving the best for last...

Le Vernis. Limited Edition
The nails look as if they have been dipped in a starry night. Male codes meet female codes in luminous Dandy Moiré navy-blue varnish.

This beautiful green-blue shimmer nail polish is what orginially pulled me into this collection.  Looking at the promo picture, it looks very familiar to one of my all time polishes, MAC whirlwind.  Needless to say, I haven't found an worthwhile comparison to MAC's color.  So, I'm pretty excited to see this color in real life.

{Source: Temptalia, Kiss and Makeup}

FEATURED - Friday, June 20th 2008

Nars Neu Neons: Summer Makeup Collection

Francois Nars visionary shades perfect compliment this seasons fashion bold and bright.  Enliven lips with a ray of neon shines to add a jolt of style to your beauty wardrobe.  Shock your lips with hot pink, tangerine and fuchsia.

Lip Lacquer ($24) - in Capucine - a sheer tangerine. High shine formula with sheer pigments of transparent color for luscious lips day or night. The super-shiny formula can be worn alone or over other lip products.

Lip Pencil ($20) - in Miss Sadie - shimmering carmine pink. Longwearing color in a creamy formula that helps define, correct and shape the lip while preventing lip color from bleeding and feathering. 

Lip Gloss ($24) - in Frisky Summer - a raspberry sorbet. Serious shine and sexy color in sheer, cream and semi-sheer formulas. Extremely wearable and versatile colors may be worn alone or over any lip product for more drama.

Compliment this seasons boldest fashion statement with a shocking shade range blushes unique to the vision of Franocis Nars.  Highlight cheeks with a collection of neon shades from bright corals to brilliant poppies.

Blush ($24) - in Desire - cotton candy pink, Catus Flower Cream - a shimmering poppy and Craze - a raspberry red with shimmer.

 

Nars embraces the summer heat with a range of striking neon shades for the eyes.  Brighten lids with shocking purple and hot poink shadows.  Experiment with bold green and turquoise liners for the seasons ulitmate fashion statement.

Eyeshadow ($32) - Carvaggio - a Azaela pink / Irisdescent Violet, Party Monster - lilac wiith gold shimmer, South Pacific - shimmering blue turquoise / dark aquamarine.

Eyeliner ($20) - Parrot Cay - mint green and Le Sept glitter - purple with gold glitter.

Nars summer collection is now available at Sephora or Nars Cosmetics.

FEATURED - Friday, June 20th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Nicole Virtuous Violet

Happy Friday, ya'll!  The weekends about here and I wanted to spice it up with something fun for tonight.  Nicole by OPI in Virtuous Violet has been sitting on my shelf screaming to be used for quite sometime now.  And, what on earth was I waiting for?!  I usually buy polishes on a whim and just forget about them, until one day.   Virtuous violet turned out to be so much prettier than I ever excepted.  You can never judge a nail polish color by it's bottle - that's what I love.  The shades are always unpredictable.

The texture and shimmer reminds me of OPI's Russian Navy and Ink.  Vitruous violet can easily be the cousin of those two colors.  Think ink and russian navy but with an periwinkle purple base color.  Looking at the bottle you don't see the periwinkle color because it applies rather sheer.  But, the blue and pink shimmer makes it a deeper purple.  I used three coats in my photo swatches.

What is Nicole by OPI?  Don't let the Nicole name fool you because the quality is just as good as professional OPI.  This brand is marketed for the average consumer verses the salon quality. ;You'll notice that Nicole is sold in most your local walmart, target, and many others.  I didn't put on a top coat until this morning and it was in perfect shape.  It may have been sheer but the quality was just as good.  Check out some comparisons below.

Check out some photo comparisons below.

Sally Hansens's Spark and is almost 100% identical to OPI's Russian Navy.  I have yet to see a comparison this close!

Have a great weekend peeps. Be safe.

FEATURED - Tuesday, June 24th 2008

Nordstrom Beauty Exclusives: Preorder Only

Nordstrom gives us a peek at some beauty exclusives available for pre-order.  Take a moment to stop by and check out the drool-worthy pictures and release information.  Here are just a few things I'm excited about.

MAC Colour Forms - Warm Eyes ($38.00): A set of five limited edition shadow combinations perfect for those green eyed gals.  It might be the eye-catching green casing or the beautiful color combination of purples and greens that draw me into this palette.  Having green eyes ain't no day in the park.  Bottom line: their difficult and we just can't pick any color.  Purple is a shade that won't do us wrong ladies and gents!

MAC Colour Forms - Warm Lips ($22.50): A set of three limited edition lipstick shades.  This lovely Warm Lip Palette was featured in Allure's July issue as one of the Editior's pick.

Fall is creeping up faster than you think and so is all the upcoming collections.  It's all about dark goth colors and I'm loving it.  I can't wait to drench my nails and lips with dark vampy colors such as Dior's Rouge in Fantastic Plum and Nail Vernis in Liquorice.

Dior Rouge in Fantastic Plum ($27.00) - a dark plum and Liquorice ($19) - a dark plum shimmer is a great way to start off your Fall.

Essie's 2008 Fall Collection ($15.00 mini set) - Forever Young - Fiery Tango Red, Lacy not Racy - velvety vintage burgandy, No Boundaries - passionate plum and Tomboy No More - red current traffle.

Regarding Essie's Fall collection - I'm not certain if their releasing more colors.  But, I will keep you guys updated as soon as I find out anything.

FEATURED - Monday, June 30th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: NYX Jungle

Happy Monday!  Hope ya'll had a great weekend.  It's been mostly cloudy and fairly chilly in the eastern region.  Can you believe this crazy weather?!  Anyway, today's nail polish is NYX in Jungle - an aqua blue color base with green and gold shimmer.  This is my second nail polish purchase from NYX and I'm overly impressed.  The color applied like a charm with three light coats and the drying time was perfect  - not fast drying, yet not slow.  Add additional coats and you'll see the green and gold shimmer shine through.  In the sunlight, you'll notice the gold shimmer gives the color more of an yellow undertone.

Another great color is the new version of Las Vegas which, was one of my first purchases from NYX.  This gorgeous forest green with shimmer is a must have color espically, if you love Nar's Zulu or deep green shades.

Two coats is a light aqua blue with green and gold shimmer.

 Three coats is more of an blue with noticeable green shimmer.

Four coats totally rock this color.  I'll be the first to admit, applying that many layers of nail poliish is such a drag.  But, the color difference from each application is huge.  The color is described as a deep kelly green with gold shimmer that is really pretty and the blue is hardly noticeable.    

So, I have alot going on this week.  Today was pretty exciting when I received my shipment of new Chanel nail polishes - Gold Fiction and Kalediscope (drool)!  Both are gorgeous colors, espically Kaledicscope - a pewter metallic with green undertones.  I'll be posting those in a couple of days.  Also this month - Chanel is releasing the Robertson Blvd collection - an highly anticipated collection of pink, orange, yellow and purple nail polishes (whohoo)!  Girls - you don't want to miss out on that collection, the colors are hot!

FEATURED - Monday, July 7th 2008

Essie Summer Neon Collection: Swatches

Essie introduces the neon collection for summer.  Four very vibrant and electrifiying shades that's sure to get you noticed a mile away!  Essie wasn't kidding when they named this collection Neons.  In fact, some of these shades are so bright they look fluorescent.

Shorty Pants - a bright yellow cream.  This was my favorite out of the collection because it wasn't nearly as bright as the others.  It's more of a toned down color espically compared to my other yellow polishes. 

Bermuda Shorts - A vibrant purple cream that is my second favorite.  A good pedicure color that would look great on toes.  Another color that is practical and not to bright.

Mini Shorts - A orange creme that is almost "turn off the lights too bright" along with Short Shorts - a definte fluorescent pink that was too electryfying for my skin tone.  Short Shorts was the brightest shade out of the four following Mini Shorts.

  

Two coats were applied with no problems drying to a matte finish.  A top coat is recommended if you want that shiny finish.  My swatch don't justify the brightness of Short Shorts making it impossible to get an accurate picture.  

I would love to compare this collection to Chanel's Robertson Blvd but, the only color that may come close is Shorty Pants.  The other colors are completey off and too bright to compare.

Overall, Shorty Shorts and Bermuda Shorts were two of my favorites out of the collection.  The other two shades seemed to clash with my skin tone which leaves me undecided.  But, I'm going to give them a fair shot.  The neons are fun and summery shades to sport around at the beach or pool.

Have a good monday ya'll!

FEATURED - Tuesday, July 15th 2008

MAC Cosmetics: Lustre Twins Collection

I'm seriously backed up on all my upcoming MAC Collection releases.  Here are the prelimanries details of the new Lustre Twins collection according to our friends at Specktra.

Pro Longwear Lustres - A two-step application of lightweight colour + mirror-finished top coat. Apply the colour. Let it dry. Apply the top coat! Provides sheer to medium coverage with a rich, lustrous, moisturizing finish. Longwearing, comfortable on the lips. Won’t shift, transfer, feather or smudge. $20.00 USD

• Coco Lust /Sweet Sexy - Deep red brown/copper brown with gold pearlized pigments
• Red Flame / Orange Flicker - Intense bright yellow red/bright yellow red with gold pearlized pigments
• Red Reflection / Mirror - Deep berry magenta with pearlized pigments/clear with white pearlized pigments
• Pink Air / White Top - Light pink with pearlized pigments/clear white with red and pink pearlized pigments
• Ripe and Ready / Soft and Lush - Bright pink coral with gold pearlized/yellow pink with gold pearlized pigments
• Gypsy Rose / Shimmer it - Berry red with gold pearlized pigments/white gold with multi-coloured pearlized pigments
• Custom Rose / Pink Virtue - Berry plum with pearlized pigments/light blue pink with silver pearlized pigments
• Boss brown / Slave to Pink - Chocolate bronze with pearlized pigments/champagne neutral with pearlized pigments
• Alta Moda / Hip Love - Deep blackened red/deep plum with red pearlized pigments

Nail Lacquer - $11.00 USD

• $$$$$ Yes - Metallic silver foil (frost)(Repromote from Heatherette) 
• Perplexing - Deep blue purple (frost)(New and PERM)
• Firehouse - Bright chrome red (frost)(New and PERM)

This collection should be available at MAC stores on July 31, 2008.  I'll defintely be passing on this release.  If your not familiar Pro Longwear Lustres, the lipstick combo dries out your lips to the extreme and two of the nail polishes will be perm.

{Source: Specktra}

FEATURED - Tuesday, July 15th 2008

MAC Cosmetics: Cult of Cherry Collection

I've had the color information for months now.  It was one of those releases that just got lost in translation because their are so many upcoming MAC collections!  Check out the color and product information below.

Available at MAC stores August 21st

Eyeshadow Quad: Spiced Chocolate $36.00 USD (LE)

• Nanogold - Sheer yellow beige with pink pearl (Lustre) (Repromote from N Collection)
• Brash - Frosty reddish copper (Veluxe Pearl)
• Spiced Chocolate - Deep reddish brown (Matte)
• Sweet Chestnut - Frosted cranberry (Frost)

Eyeshadow Quad: Tempting Quad $36.00 USD (LE)

• Next to Nothing - Next to Nothing - Cream white with pink pearl (Frost) (Repromote from Smoke Signals)
• Sharp - Frosty bright yellow-green (Satin)
• Dark Edge - Dirty chocolate brown (Matte) (Repromote from N Collection) 
• Tempting - Sinfully rich coco (Lustre) (Repromote)

Eyeshadow Quad: Shadowy Lady Quad $36.00 USD (LE)

• Light Fall - Light Pink (Satin)
• Smudged Violet - Frosty blackened lavender with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (Frost)
• Deep Truth - Dark blue (Frost) (Repromote)
• Shadowy Lady - Darkly veiled plum (Matte) (Repromote)

Lipsticks: $14.00 USD

• Creme Cerise - Sheer yellow taupe (Lustre) (LE)
• Lightly Ripe - Sheer mid-tone pink (Lustre) (LE)
• Russian Red - Intense bluish-red (Matte) (Repromote)
• O - Intense purplish-red with metallic golden shimmer (Frost) (Repromote)
• So Scarlet - Grape burgundy (Amplified Creme) (LE)

Lipglass: $14.00 USD

• Cherry Blossom - Sheer light pink with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (Frost) (LE)
• Rich & Ripe - Mid-tone pinkish red with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (Frost) (LE)
• Cult of Cherry - Red with red pearlized pigments (Frost) (LE)
• Liquor - Neutral brownish mauve with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (Frost)(LE)
• Jampacked - Sheer grape with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (Frost) (LE)

Mattenes: $14.50 USD

• Rapturous - Deep berry red (LE) (Repromote from Mattene)
• Kirsch - Blackened cranberry (Mattene) (LE)
• Chock-ful - Blackened brown (Mattene) (LE)
• Bing - Blackened eggplant (Mattene) (LE)

Nail Lacquer: $11.00 USD

• Silverstruck - Frosted greyed taupe with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (Frost)(LE)
• Illegal Purple - Creamy blackened eggplant (Cream) (LE).

Blush: $17.50 USD

• Plum du Bois - Frosted deep pink bronze with gold pearlized pigments (Frost) (LE)
• Blooming - Frosted deep peach (Frost) (LE).

Mascara: - $12.00 USD

• Zoomblack - Rich Black (Permanent)

The eyeshadow quads look amazing only if the colors weren't repromotes.  The Tempting quad has three repromotes (are you kidding me) along with a gorgeous new yellow shade that's in between Eyepopping and Going Bananas.  This kinda frustrates me knowing I have one, two and even three shades of each quad.

Check out the Cult of Cherry invitation for the launch party held on August 12th.  Craving cherries? take a peek at the photo swatches, review, lip looks using cult of cherry lipstick colors, nail polish swatches and my makeup haul.

{Source: Kiss and Makeup, Specktra}

FEATURED - Wednesday, July 16th 2008

MAC Cosmetics: Suite Array Collection

The Suite Array collection introduces a new eye shadow suite with pearl glide liners.  Check out all the color information below.  All preliminary information and pictures courtsey of Specktra and Ernie1881.

The Suite Array collection should be available on Sept 25th.

Eye shadow Suites - $16.00 USD

• Blue Zone - Deep grey/green with silver pearlized pigments/Light ice blue with silver pearlized pigments.
• Ocean 2 - Mid-tone blue with silver pearlized pigments/Light blue with silver pearlized pigments.
• Smoke & Ash - Black with silver pearlized pigments/Mid-tone grey silver with pearlized pigments.
• Counterparts - Deep forest with gold pearlized pigments/Mid-tone orange with gold pearlized pigments.
• Rose Suites - Intense blue pink/Light yellow with silver pearlized pigments
• Shallow v. Deep - Bluish green with gold pearlized pigments/Mint with silver pearlized pigments.
• Sweet Liason - Pale yellow with gold pearlized pigments/Deep brown with gold pearlized pigments.
• Team Violets - Dark burgundy with burgundy pearlized pigments/Mid-tone violet with gold pearlized pigments.

Pearlglide Liners - $14.50 USD

• Wolf - Deep grey with gold glitter
• Rave - Deep purple with purple glitter
• Fly-by-Blu - Light blue with blue glitter
• Black Russian - Black with navy blue glitter
• Miss Fortune - Eggplant with light pink glitter
• Bankroll - Rich green with bright green sparkle
• Spare Change - Mid-tone brown with copper glitter
• Molasses - Brown with mid-tone brown glitter

Thanks to Ernie1881 for this sneak peak.  To check out more pictures from this collection, click here.

FEATURED - Tuesday, July 22nd 2008

Pedi of the Day: Chanel Rodeo Drive

My pedi of the day is the beautiful, Rodeo Drive from Chanel's Robertson Blvd Collection and is my favorite shade out of the collection.  A very pretty lilac purple color with subtle silver shimmer makes this color quite unique in my nail polish collection.

There's been quite a few mixed reviews regarding the new Robertson Blvd collection - some bad, and some good.  Overall, most of the polishes applied flawlessly for me with two easy coats.  The yellow shade was the only color I had application problems but, every yellow shade is difficult in my opinion.  I'll be elborating a little more when LA Sunrise is featured as my pedi.

Check out some comparisons below.

I don't own many lilac purple colors because this shade is quite new to the fashion industry and was just introduced last year.  The most obvious comparisons are Chanel Rodeo Drive and Rescue Beauty Lounge's Purple Haze which are completely different in their own way.  Purple Haze is navy blue based violet/purple compared to a true lilac purple.

Hope everyone is having a fabulous day! 

FEATURED - Wednesday, July 23rd 2008

OPI Gears up for Beverly Hills 90210

Brush with Greatness 90210 Style

Don't pretend you didn't watch because most of us probably did.  Brenda & Dylan, Kelly & Dylan, - I mean come on!  To celebrate the return of the 90210 girls, Brenda, Kelly and Donna, OPI brings us six new shades to sport this Fall Beverly Hills Style.

O.P.I introduces a range of limited-edition nail shades inspired by the 90's hit series that will launch this Fall.  The shades and color information will be revealed in an upcoming issue of Nylon. 

Lavendar Purple, Green, Navy Blue, Hot Pink and Peach?!  This new collection had me at green.

{Source: Nylon Mag}

FEATURED - Tuesday, August 12th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: MAC Cosmetics Perplexing

Today's nail polish of the day is MAC Cosmetics in Perplexing that was recently introduced in the Lustre Twins collection.  A vibrant purple color with blue and pink shimmer that dries to a thin matte - satin finish.  Now, the bad news - the formula is plain awful.  Honestly, I lost track of how many coats in my photo swatches - yes, it was that many!  Since it applies rather thin, it's easy to pile on the applications.

Perplexing texture reminds me of Rainy Day from the Storm Signals collection but, in a shimmer version.  It applied very blotchy and the visible brush strokes was very disappointing.  It's a great color but bad execution MAC.

Check out more swatches below.

Tonight is the MAC launch party for Cult of Cherry collection and I'm uber excited, woot woot.  Godiva choclate cherries and campagne - yum!  And the best part the Cult of Cherry collection - a much anticipated collection for fall.  Dark, vampy colors are right my alley - can't wait.  Hopefully, I'll have my swatches up tomorrow morning - if I make it outta there alive.

FEATURED - Wednesday, August 13th 2008

MAC Cult of Cherry: Review and Swatches

Tonight at the Cult of Cherry launch party godiva chocolate martinis and yummy hors d'oeuvres were served by the sexy and stylish Cult of Cherry chic all decked out in cherries.  The store was packed and extremely hot as they only let about 40 people in at a time - that's alot considering how little the stores usually are.  The hot flashes were starting to come on and I couldn't wait to get the heck outta there.

Overall, Cult of Cherry is a great selection of color to choose for Fall - from dark vampy colors to reds and pinks.  It's a great variety for every appetite.  The lipstick and lipglasses impressed me the most - espically, the Mattene colors.  The shades are dark, vampy and have fabulous color payoff - exactly what I'm looking for this fall season.  Jampacked lipglass is drop dead gorgeous and will appeal on any skintone, seriously.  I saw this shade on fair, medium and dark skin - truely beautiful ya'll.

Check out some swatches below. 

The Mattenes's are in a slimline case much like the slimshines but are semi-matte texture.  Some of us probably won't like the textrues - just because they don't glide on easily like MAC's lipsticks.  But, don't let that hold you back because the colors are fab and looks hot paired up with MAC's lipglasses.

So Scarlet - a must have dark wine shade and Creme Cerise - yellow beige neutral shade are the two stand-out colors in this collection.  Lightly Ripe is also a pretty pink color if you looking to tone it down a bit.

Cult of Cherry - a sparkling red with amazing color pay-off along with Jampacked a deep grape gloss that leans more on the dark magenta side are both must have colors. 

Blooming was hardly faint on my NC-35 and Plum De Bois is a beautiful brownish plum that would appeal even on lighter skin tones.  The color is very buildable and not to dark.

As much as I wanted to resist the yellowish lime shade of Sharp - I couldn't.  The color has excellent pay-off and just looked amazing with the other shades in the quad.  Sharp looks espically fabulous on ladies of color.

The bad news - there's two repromotes in this quad and thank goodness it's not Satin Taupe.   I know some of you are torn on wether to purchase this quad for the yellow shade.  So, here's my advice on the situation.  If you own overgrown or bitten you might want to think about passing on this one because their close.  Personally, I don't own those two shades which, is one of the reasons this came home with me. 

Spiced Choclate quad is suprising beautiful with excellent pay-off.  I didn't expect to bring this home with me.  In fact, me and my friend Tracy both picked this one up.  Very gorgeous - the orange frosty shade reminded me alot of Firespot from the Moonbathe collection.

Shadowy Lady quad was the only one that didn't interest me.  When I was swatching this quad at the Launch party with my girlfriend Tracy - she automatically picked up on how boring the colors were.  And she's not a crazed MAC fan like myself.    

Illegal Purple is a glossy black cherry shade verses a purple eggplant as described on the color story, which, was a little disappionting.  It's very pretty and the application applied flawlessly but, it's just your standard black cherry creme polish.  Now, on to Silverstruck, a gorgeous multi-dimensional grey taupe frost that is so very "WOW" unique.  I'll be posting a seperate swatches for the nail polishes.

So, there it is!  What do you guys think of Cult of Cherry - Any takers?  I'll be posting my haul pictures soon.

FEATURED - Friday, August 15th 2008

MAC Cult of Cherry: Nail Polish Swatches

MAC in Illegal Purple is a blackened deep cherry that applied ultra glossy and flawless.   The cult of cherry color story described this color as a blackened eggplant purple which you'll see in the first coats but, after that, it's all about chocolate cherries. 

Although, this is just your typically black cherry creme - it's very stunning.  Initially, Illegal Purple was just oh, *yawn* but, sporting this shade around has me thinking differently.  One particular thing I loved, is the ultra glossy formula - it's chic and goes perfectly with the cult of cherry theme. 

 Candid shot of Illegal Purple - I love how super glossy this formula is!

I didn't waste my time trying to get a good picture because it wasn't happening.  Silverstruck's such a unique shade - there's no capturing the true beauty, honestly.  Ok, here's a go - a taupeish gray frost that has red, gold, green flicks of shimmer.  The red shimmer gives this taupe shade a copperish red metallic undertone - truely unique.

The texture reminds me of Chanel in Kaleidoscope except with a taupe base color and green, red, gold shimmer flecks.  My swatches were applied with three coats with no application issues.  You'll start to notice a copper reddish metallic finish when 3 or more coats are applied.

I had to post this because it's the craziest picture!  Within the multi-second of the flash - this critter felt the need to jump in.  The cult of cherry nail polishes will be available on August 21st at freestanding stores and maccosmetics.com.

Need more MAC?  Check out the cult of cherry photo swatches, review, lip looks using cult of cherry lipstick colors and my makeup haul.

FEATURED - Friday, August 15th 2008

MAC Haul: Cult of Cherry, Overrich Collection

Happy Friday Everyone!  It's about 80 degrees, sunny and just a beautiful start to the weekend.   Although, I don't look forward to weekends anymore like the good ole days.  Ahh, my younger days - fearless, fun and crazy.  Hopefully you guys aren't sick of all my cult of cherry posts - it's just a great collection!

So, the launch party was crazy packed when I was checking out and the MA screwed up my order and didn't catch it until the morning after.  There's some items missing and others unexpected.  Check out all my haulin pictures below.

Spiced Chocolate and Tempting Eyeshadow Quad's.  The only quad I planned on getting was Tempting - so, what does that tell ya!

The two stars of the lipsticks: So Scarlet - deep red wine and Creme Cerise - a yellow taupe that may have the appeal of a peachy neutral on some skintones.

Bing is a deep purple shade that's quite dark but spiced up with Cult of Cherry lipglass looks smashing.  I'll be posting some lip looks in the next day.  Rapturous was a shade I didn't order initially, but, ended up liking anyway.  It's more of a cherry red shade compared to So Scarlet.

So Scarlet is my favorite lip product out of the collection - the pink, purple and gold glitter makes this fab.

My favorite color and definitley a must have product from the lipglass collection.  This baby spices up all the mattenes from dark and vampy to va-va volumptous!  A bold red shade means: sexy, confident, powerful - that's exactly what this collection is.  Jampacked is another great color following Rich & Ripe.  Those are the two shades my MA didn't include.  I plan on picking up two back-ups of Cult of Cherry - it's such an universal color. 

 Plum De Bois is the must lust from the blushes.  A gorgeous plum with gold flecks that has buildable color - it's not as dark as it looks.

All the Overrich pigments are excellent.  Antique Green and Vintage Gold were two stand out colors for me.  Since most of the shades are going to be permnament pro colors - I can stock up one by one.

 

Want more creme of the crop?  Check out the photo swatches, review, lip looks using cult of cherry lipstick colors and nail polish swatches.

FEATURED - Tuesday, August 19th 2008

Sally Hansen Salon: Nail Polish Swatches

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  I've been dealing with internet issues for the last couple weeks and that's one of my main reasons for my lack of posts.  But, it looks like everything is back to normal, thank goodness.  Life without internet - can you even imagine?

Let's start off with some Sally Hansen today.  Here's four shades that I picked up in the last couple of weeks.  I'll be posting the others later.  Haute Chocolate is a chocolate brown shade with red and gold shimmer that's a great brown color for fall.

Check out some more pics below.

 Shimmers are my favorite nail polish texture because they can be so unique.

Grenadine Glaze is a grenadine hot pink-red that was much prettier than expected.  It's hard to pick up on the hot pink in my swatches but the color is definitley there along with subtle hot pink and gold shimmer.

A great color to end the summer and begin fall.

Plum It - a gorgeous deep plum purple with pink and blue-purple and gold shimmer.  This would be a pedi color.

Navy Baby - a navy blue shade with aqua shimmer.  Navy blue is probably my all time favorite nail polish shade that I'll always have love for.  It's such a classy color and a great alternative to your standard goth black polish.  Navy baby may not be the most unique color but my nails are loving the metallic sheen texture. 

FEATURED - Monday, August 25th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Borghese Palermo Plum

Today's polish of the day is Borghese nail lacquer in Palermo Plum (oops, mis-spelled in my pic above) - a deep purple wine shade that's an divine color this fall season.  My photo swatches applied flawlessly with two coats.

This is going to be my official review on Borghese Nail Lacquer since I haven't had a chance to do so.   Palermo Plum was my second shade of Borghese.  The brush and formula is absolutely marvelous and my favorite by far.  When it comes to painting my nails - I'm not a professional my any means.  Sure, I can paint within three swipes but not without touching my cuticles.  The brush allowed me to apply pefectly with hardly no clean-up.  Very impressive. 

If more brands were like Borghese - I could do more swatches for you guys!  Check out the candid shot below.

This color may look more of a reddish-wine but, actually has more purple distinction in real life.

Monday's are so blah, aren't they?  It's overcast, hot, muggy - just rain already and stop with the tease!  As much as I'm a Califonia girl at heart but living in KY - I'm ready for the cold weather and Fall to come.  How about you guys?   

FEATURED - Tuesday, August 26th 2008

Milani Goes Pop Art in six Gorgeous Ways

Don't ask me why Milani decided to introduce these gorgeous metallic shades so late in the game.  Just when you thought Fall was here - Milani pulls a little rabbit out of their hat.  infact, six new limited edition rabbits!  woot, woot!  But hey, better late than never!  Plus it's never too late to sport around pop color.

I'm not certain if there's a collection name, but, all six new shades are named after "art/design".  So, I'm just callin them Pop Art.  Shimmers, shimmers and more shimmers -  that's all you'll see in this new collection.   So much shimmer they can be classifed as metallic-like.

The best way to capture shimmers is with the sun and that's not happenin today.  The dark clouds have been hanging around for last couple days and isn't budging.  I would assume alot of us are having this nasty weather (my heart goes out to anyone in extreme circumstances).  But, in the next couple day's, I'll be replacing my swatches with regular ones. 

Check out the photo swatches below. 

Red Canvas - cherry red shade with gold and red shimmer.  Good color pay-off, two coats will you give good coverage.  No application problems.

                                          

Pink Abstract - a hot pink drenched in pink and silver shimmer.  Two coats will give you good coverage and three will make you shine.  No application problems.

 

Art Deco Blue - a royal blue metallic shade with aqua shimmer.  Two coats will give you good coverage and color pay-off.

 

Purple Pop Art - is going to be my next pedi shade which, I'll be posting tomorrow.  A magenta pink-purple with blue and pink shimmer.  Two coats will give you good cover but three is recommended for the bottle color.

 

Green Impressions - a granny smith apple green loaded with green and gold shimmers.   One particular thing I like - the conjuction of green and gold shimmers gives the appearence of multi-dimensonel under certain lighting.  The bad news - they are fairly sheer and require four coats or more to achieve bottle color.

 

Modern Yellow reminds me of China Glaze in Solar power with one minor expection.  It's completely drenched in gold and yellow shimmer - very gorgeous!  Just like Green Impresssions, the application required four coats to achieve bottle color.

 

Honestly, I liked every shade in this collection.  Very suitable for most people - if you love shimmer polishes.  Who doesn't like to shine with every color in the rainbow!  Hope your having a wonderful day!

FEATURED - Friday, August 29th 2008

Wet n Wild Flash Dry Nail Colors

If there was an "most unique drugstore" nail polish award - Wet n Wild's Flash dry in Speed/Vitesse ($1.79) would definitely win first place.  A navy blue based polish with fine gold, purple, blue and pink micro glitter making this gorgeous and a very unique color. 

After the first coat, you'll notice a navy-blue based polish.  Then, purple micro glitter shines through and takes on a whole new level.  Since this polish is drenched in glitter - it was next to impossible to capture the true beauty.  The Downfall: Flash dry is a fast drying formula so there's no time for mess-up's.  And, too many application swipes may cause some bubbling.

 

Rush/Presto - a peach pink shade with gold shimmer.  This is the outcome I would of liked nars orgasm polish to reflect - it's a pinker and prettier version. 

The flash dry collection is only available for a limited time only at your local grocery or drugstore.

FEATURED - Thursday, September 18th 2008

Lippmann Collection: New Shades for Fall

Deborah Lippmann introduces a whole bunch of goodies this fall for your nails.  A couple of items I picked up from the fall collection is Party Like a Rockstar Set ($25) and Superstar ($15).

Party Like a Rockstar Set includes two (small size) limited edition shades: Good Girl Gone Bad - a gorgeous purple with pink and silver shimmer, Devil in a Blue Dress - a midnight blue and a small fast dry topcoat.

Check out the photo swatches below.

Good girl gone bad - a sexy purple vixen nail polish named after Rihanna's hit album/song.  A gorgeous purple loaded down with pink and silver shimmer.  Since there is so much pink shimmer, this looks magenta purple in some lights.

Devil in a Blue Dress - a darkened navy blue - black creme.  This is just your standard midnight navy blue creme - nothing special.

Debroah Lippmann best describes Superstar as a copper flecked fudge.  A brown base coat filled with massive amouts of copper, brown and gold glitter.  Superstar is definitely out of the ordinary and different - which is one of the reasons it's starting to grow on me. 

This collection is now available online.

FEATURED - Monday, September 22nd 2008

Fall 08 Collection: Borghese Wines of Tuscany

Borghese introduces the Wines of Tuscany collection this Fall 08'.  A collection of seven limited edition shades of vampy reds, pinks, browns, and plums.  Overall, this is a nice collection espically, if you love dark, vampy plummy shades.

Out of the collection, I came home with four of the stand-out shades.  The pink and reds didn't interest me much because it's just your standard hot pink and reds - nothing unique.

Check out the photo swatches below.

 

 Pomino Plum - a burgandy plum with pink and blue shimmer. 

Vini Violet - a deep magenta purple creme.  This was one of my favorite shades out of the collection.  It's a much deeper purple magenta in real life and looks fantastic on toes.

Brunello Grape - A deep blackened grape with matching shimmer.  A very gorgeous, vampy shade for fall.  There was another similar shade in this collection to Brunello Grape but, not as pretty in my opinion. 

Espresso Brown - a brownish red with red and gold shimmer.  The wines of Tuscany collection is now available at your local CVS or Walgreens.

Hope ya'll had a wonderful weekend!   

FEATURED - Monday, September 22nd 2008

Fall 08 Swatches: Nicole By OPI

While I was shopping at my local grocery store the other day - I stumbled upon a new Nicole by OPI display that caught my attention. Pictured above,  On Nicole's Wish List,. a translucent milky clear loaded with white and silver shimmer.  On my swatch, I just applied two coats on my natural nail.  You can also use this over a off white or a silver polish that would look fab.

The next three swatches below are all black based polishes loaded with shimmer - that are simply divine.   

Black to the Future - a black with purple shimmer.  Two coats gives you good coverage and three gives you more of a purple shades.

Blue's in the Night is my favorite shade I purchased.  A black with navy and aqua blue shimmer.

Midnight Madness - Although this may look similar to Blue's in the Night but, it's a little different.  A black with turquoise shimmer.  Later, I'll be comparions side by side swatches of these two.

The new fall and holiday colors should be available now or within the new week.  Keep your eyes out because these are truely unique shades for black lovers.

FEATURED - Tuesday, September 23rd 2008

Limited Edition: New colors from Wet n Wild

Wet n Wild introduces six new limited edition rock solid nail colors this season.  Overall, this is a fabulous mixture of dark and seducing shades for fall.  This collection is definitely a hit, retailing at just $2.69 a pop.

The colors ranging from dark steel, blue, purple and red's - sure to please any appetite.  One particular thing I would have changed is the red shades.  Mysterious is just your basic red shimmer.  And, boy, if that were substituted for a green version - nail addicts around the world would be going crazy for this.

Pictured Above, Femme Fatale - a dark charcoal grey with blue and green shimmer that is one of my favorites.

Check out more swatches below.   

 Sexy Siren - a vibrant blue with aqua blue shimmer.  Very pretty but, not so unique.

Seductress - a blackened purple with pink and purple shimmer.  Blackened shades with shimmer are really hard to capture on my digital camera.  But, this color is much pretty in person.

Stunner, wow - the name just says it all, doesn't it?  A black with gold specks of shimmer and a exact match to China Glaze's Wagon Trail.  If it wasn't for the release of Wagon Trail, I'd say this is the most unique out of the collection.

 

Temptress - a dark, vampy blood red with matching shimmer.  A sexy dark red that's stunning.  It may not be the most unique but, it's definitely goes with the fall theme.

 

Mysterious is just your basic ruby red shade with pink and red glitter.  In the picture above it looks more as a cherry red but, it real life it's actually darker.  Mysterious was my least favorite shade out of the Mistress of Darkness collection.  Now, if they'd substituted this red for a dark vampy green - well, I think we all know how that would have went, right?! 

This collection should be available at most grocery stores, drug stores, etc.

FEATURED - Wednesday, September 24th 2008

Limited Edition: NYC Gets Metalicious for Fall

New York Color cosmetics introduces the metals for fall.  A collection consistsing of mineralize metallic eyeshadows, two lipsticks, lip gloss and a must have metallic nail polish - that's a definte hit in my book!

This limited edition display should be hitting most stores now or later this week.  Make sure you keep your eyes peeled because, my store only had two slots for Molten Metal nail polish *gasp*!  Should of, would of, could of picked up the other bottle but, I wanted to give someone else the oppurtunity to grab this awesome nail shade.

Check out the photo swatches below.   

24KT Chrome lip gloss is a gold loaded down with gold shimmer.  Marbleyes mineralize metallic eyeshadows in Aquamarine - a teal shimmer mixed together and Tiger's Eye - a light bronzy gold shimmer mixed together.

Saving the best for last.

Ever since Michelle gave us a preview of Molten Metal - I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  If you have any doubts, don't.  Because your doubts could be someone else's treasure. 

Molten Metal's a very hard color to describe.  A reddish burgandy brown based loaded with silver glitter.  One thing I absolultey loved about this color, it compliments everything, and I mean everything.  Pinks, Reds, Purple, you name it.  It's totally smashing, you guys!

The picture above was taken in the shade and is accurate color representation.  This collection is only available for a limited time where all New York Color cosmetics are sold.

FEATURED - Saturday, September 27th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: MAC Cosmetics Vin Goth

So, it wasn't two minutes and that crappy Seasonal Peach was off my nails.  It so - does not deserve a Saturday.  Heck, it don't even deserve a Monday at that! 

It's Saturday and I wanted to go out in style with some Vin Goth from MAC.  This is an oldie - but definitely a gorgeous one at that.  A purple grape loaded in purple-pink and silver shimmer that is oh so drool-worthy.  One particular reason this color's so fab - it actually looks purple indoors and not a dark black shade.  The subtle pinkish shimmer keeps it from getting to goth.

Check out another swatch below. 

Your probably thinking - your such a tease since this is one of those hard to find shades..  Hard to find but not impossible.  I've seen these pop up on Ebay (even tho I don't condone it) at okay prices.

Hope your having a fabulous Saturday!

FEATURED - Monday, September 29th 2008

Fall 08: China Glaze Flannel Fixation Collection

For fall China Glaze introduces the Rodeo Diva collection.  This collection is broken down into two seperation releases of six shades each.

Overall, Rodeo Diva is one of the best Fall collections I've seen out this year.  Most, if not all colors have excellent pigmentation and only required two coats of polish to achieve bottle color and with no topcoat.  In most cases, I never apply a topcoat because it gives the best color representation in my photos.

First up is the Flannel Fixation Collection.  Check out all the photo swatches below. 

Cowgirl Up - a purple-pink with red and violet shimmer. 

Midnight Ride - a midnight black purple with matching shimmer.  The purple in this color is hardly noticeable even in the sun.  Most times it tends to look on the black side.

 

Gussied up Green - is my favorite shade out of the Rodeo Diva colllection.  A forest green with gold and blue shimmer that is truely gorgeous.  Definitely recommend this color for anyone that loves green.

Rodeo Fanatic is the closet known color to MAC's Whirlwind except China Glaze's version has more noticable blue than green.  A peacock blue with matching shimmer.

Branding Iron - a burgandy red with matching shimmer.

Red Stallion - a cherry red with gold shimmer that was my least favorite shade of the collection.

The Flannel Fixation collection is now available at Head2Toe or 8ty8 Beauty.  Stay tuned for the Hay Ride collection.

FEATURED - Monday, September 29th 2008

Fall 08: China Glaze Hay Ride Collection

The Hay Ride collection is the second addition to the stunning and gorgeous Fall Rodeo Diva.  Much like the Flannel Fixation release, the colors have excellent pigmentation and only required two coats to achieve bottle colors.  Some of my pictures are taken with three coats just  to even out all my errors.  All my  swatches are taken with no topcoat to accomplish best color respresentation.

In this collection sixe shades are included.  Golden Spurs was the only shade that just didn't fit my style for some reason.  However, it's a nice neutral color that will appeal to most.

Check out all the photo swatches below.

 Golden Spurs is a light tan shade with gold shimmer. 

Yee-Haw! is a peachy orange with gold shimmer.  At first, this color was so-so but, after wear it is truely stunning and looks ravishing on all skin tones.

Prize Winning Mare is another one of my favorites because it's unique and hard to describe.  A brownish shade with bronze and gold shimmer.  But, not as bronzy as per se Dior Gold Nugget.

Lasso My Heart looks purple in the bottle but, in real life is more of an metallic pink shade. Described as a purple with red and gold shimmer,   

Wagon Trail is drop dead gorgeous and looks even more stunning on.  A black with gold shimmer and olive green undertones.  One of the most unique colors or so I thought.  Check out it's twin sister.

Side Saddle a vampy brownish red with gold shimmer.

The Hay Ride collection is now available at Head2Toe or 8ty8 Beauty.

FEATURED - Sunday, October 5th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Loreal Fanatic Fuschia

Hope you guys are having a great weekend.  Today I'm wearing one of Loreal's newest fall colors.  Fanatic Fuschia - a deep fuschia pink shade that's actually more appealing in real life.  This picture didn't turn out quite as I hoped.  Sadly, the color represtentation isn't as accurate for some reason.

In Loreal's new fall display, two limited edition nail colors are featured - Fanatic Fuschia and Plum Pop.  Orignially, I didn't pick up Fanatic Fuschia because it wasn't so unique.  But, after seeing this several times at the store, my mind was changed very easily.  Plum Pop - is another shade I picked up and is more of a black purple color that's featured on Penelope Cruz in the promo display.  I'll be posting that sometime next week.

So, this weekend I was able to check out MAC's Emanuel Ungargo - which was slightly disappionting.  But, don't worry because Chanel's Holiday 08 collection certainly makes up for that!  The true stunner is the gold highlighting powder.  It's truely magnificent and quite different from the Gold Fever highlighter that was featured in the Fall 08 collection.  I'll be posting the holiday swatches and reviews shortly!  Stay Tuned!

FEATURED - Wednesday, October 8th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Sephora Metro Chic

Happy Hump Day, ya'll!  At my previous job, one of my co-workers would come in every Wednesday and say "Happy Hump Day".  It drove us girls bonkers to the point we'd always laugh.  It's been rainy here and I just want to crawl back into bed.  But, I didn't.  Instead, I decided to finally open my Metro Chic ($10.00) that I've been stashing for quite sometime.

This baby has been getting alot of press lately.  So, I wanted to see what all the rage was about.  A grayish purple creme that certianly lives up to the name "Metro Chic".  The formula was thicker than I liked and applied rather streaky at first.  But, eventually smoothed out when it was all said and done.

Metro Chic is different and unique.  Metro Chic is always sold out at sephora stores and online.  Giving those two reasons - it's bound to be all the rage, duh!  But,  please, don't get stupid and pay those insane ebay prices.  Because all in all, it's not worth more than the retail price of nine bucks.  I share the same views with one of my favorite nail polish blogs, The Polish Addict.  So, make sure you check out her blog and put an end to this madness.

 

Ok, enough about my rant.  One reason I like Metro Chic - it's a cross between purple and gray, two of my favorite colors.  Indoor lighting, the grayish appears more visible and outdoors you'll notice a purple gray shade.  But, don't let the "temporarily out of stock" on Sephora's site get you down because they will be restocking this.  Infact, they've replinished stock three times already.  So, don't give up all hope.

Although, there may not be an exact dupe - we have some good contenders,  I'll be posting in the next few days!  Have a great Wednesday, you guys!

FEATURED - Friday, October 10th 2008

Sally Hansen Fall 08: Tracy Reese Collection

Year after Year Sally Hansen collaborates with fashion designer, Tracy Reese to bring us the latest and greatest nail trends right from the Runway.  For Fall 2008, Sally Hansen and Tracy Resse introduces 10 limited edition shades directly from Tracy's Fall 2008 Fashion Runway show.

The fall collection includes 10 new shades sure to please any appetite.  The shades range from your basic nude colors to vampy and edgy - perfect for fall trends.  Sally's best selling formula provides full coverage with two easy applications.  Some colors used three applications just to even everything out.  But, overall, two coats was the average for me.

Check out all the photo swatches below.

I'll be the first to admit - nude colors aren't my thang but, Divinity - a true nude with gold shimmer and slight pink undertones ended up being one of my favorite shades from the Fall collection.

 

Quartz Chameleon - a soft pink with gold shimmer.

Moonstone was my least favorite shade from the Tracy Reese collection.  Despite the grey bottle color, it's more of an white frost with silver shimmer. 

If it wasn't for Sally Hansen's previous release in Gunmetal, I would be all over this color.  Stormy Blue was slightly disappionting just because Gunmetal is pretty much an exact dupe.

 For the swatch above, three coats were applied on each nail.

Raven's Wing - a black loaded down with black, gold, and silver shimmer that's very blingy.  I absolutely love black nail polish colors for Fall - it's the new blue baby.  What makes Raven's Wing different from any other black is the beautiful gold base shimmer.

The Good Earth - a dark brown coffee shade with gold and red shimmer.  Good Earth is a darker brown than Chanel's new one, Haute Chocolat.  Check out the brown nail polish comparisons.

Alchemy, another favorite from the collection, a magenta purple with red and pink shimmer.

Cruel Heart - a ruby red with matching shimmer.  Just your standard red, nothing special.

Night Lily - a deep berry purple pink creme.  Unfortanetly, my swatch isn't an accurate color respresentation for some reason.  It's a much deeper purple berry shade that's very pretty. Check out an example below.

Night Lily has the same base color as Massini's Purple Medallion.  Just to give you an idea how off my swatch is above.

The Tracy Reese collection should be available now at most stores reatailing ($4.99 and up).

FEATURED - Tuesday, October 21st 2008

MAC Dame Edna Collection: Color Story

Lipstick (LE) - $14.00 USD

• Kanga-rouge – Creamy dark blue red (amplified creme)
• Gladiola – Matte mid-tone blue pink (matte)
• Coral polyp – Creamy mid-tone coral (amplified creme)

Lipglass (LE) $14.00 USD

• Hot Frost – Sheer mid-tone blue pink with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (frost)
• Splendid – Frosty pale pinky coral (frost)
• Possum Nose Pink – Sheer bright coral with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (frost)

Eye Shadow Trio (LE) - $32.50 USD

Royal Tour Eye Trio

• Royal Tour – Mid-tone cool lilac (satin)
• Dame’s Desire – Frosty mid-tone reddish purple (frost)
• Climate Blue – Dark blue violet with pink pearlized pigments (velvet) (Repromote from Cool Heat)

Wisteria Eye Trio

• Fineshine - Frosty true-silver (lustre) (Repromote from Lustrevision)
• Wisteria – Frosty robin’s egg blue (velvet)
• Divine Night – Frosty charcoal with silver pearlized pigments (velvet)

Highlight Powder (LE) - $26.00 USD

• What a Dame! – Pale orangey pink
• Spectacle – Pale soft pink

Nail Lacquer (LE) $11.00 USD

• Asiatique – Creamy classic red (creme) (Repromote from Ornamentalism)
• Varicose Violet – Frost mid-tone pinkish purple (frost)

The Dame Edna Collection will be available December 26th (US/Canada).

{Source: Specktra}

FEATURED - Thursday, October 23rd 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Creative Rock Royalty

Rock Royalty ($2.99), a deep purple with pink and blue shimmer, is one of my favorite purple shades.  One main reason Rock Royalty tops my favorites, this vampy "purple" color is actually visible indoors and outdoors compared to, for example, Sally Hansen's Plum it.  Sally's, Plum it, is an fantastic color but tends to look on the blackish side with indoor lighting.

Creative Nail Design introduced this vampy goodness last fall in the Imperial Anarchary release.  Since this "old" but "not forgotten" collection still available online, I'll be reposting the photo swatches in the next week or so.  It's a nice selection of six colors ranging in reds, pinks, charcoal, purples retailing at $2.99/ea.

Check out some comparisons.

Here are some purple nail polish comparisons.  Another fabulous shade is Sally Hansen's Plum it.  If you haven't had a chance to pick this one up, I would highly recommend it.  Purple also looks hot on toes.

Hope your having a fabulous day!

FEATURED - Monday, October 27th 2008

Winter 2008: China Glaze Bahama Blues

Escape this winter with China Glaze and the Bahama Blues collection.  Sure, it's not the white sand  or the crystal clear waters, but maybe the closest thing I'll get to the Caribbean.  Introducing six new shades sure to please any blues.

First off, I love this collection and it's probably not the reason your thinking.  If there's a collection I can relate to, this would totally be it.  Back in December of 2006, Scott (my hubbie) and I were married on the beach in the Bahamas.  The setting was absolutely amazing along with the town decked our in christmas lights and decor.

Winter (starting in Dec) is a great time to visit the Caribbean.  The hurricane season is just ending and the prices are fairly reasonable.  I highly recommend a visit in the winter.

Let's gettie on to the good stuff.

Bahaman Escape, a light baby blue cream that applied very smooth within two coats.  Although, I dreaded applying this because the formula was rather thick it turned out to be fairly easy.

Caribbean Blue, a baby blue glitter polish that's darker than your average baby blue shade.  This was definitely an interesting and different color.  However, it just didn't flow with my skintone for some reason.  I think this will be a hard color pull off.  

Blue Paradise, a medium blue with shimmer that applied rather streaky with any number of coats.  This was the only shade I had any true problems with. 

Don't Blue Island Iced Tea sound like a yummy cocktail drink?  A blingtastic light blue filled with matching glitter.  Two coats will give you good coverage.  I used three in my swatches just to see how blinged out this baby could get.  My thrid favorite.

These next two shades looked very simliar in the bottle but are different.

Bermuda Breakaway, a navy purple creme that applied smooth in two coats that was my favorite.  The violet base makes this blue stunning espically on your pedi's. 

Calypso Blue, a lighter navy blue creme that applied smooth in two applications..  This isn't your typically deep navy blue color.  I'd say there's just a splash of violet that makes this "not so blue" and fab.

Despite the actual color on my nail, the bottles looked completely alike but are very different.  Both gorgeous colors.

The Bahama Blues collection is now available at Head2Toe or 8ty8 retailing $2.99 each.

FEATURED - Thursday, October 30th 2008

My New Love: Laura Mercier Caviar Dreams

Good Afternoon, Lovelies!  My poor blog needs some much deserved attention. Yesterday, I received a sweet little package from Sephora and couldn't wait to tell you guys about it.

Laura Mercier's Caviar Dreams ($15.00), from the Black Tie Collection is described as a gorgeous duochrome that shifts between Charcoal Gray, Green and Purple that's simply amazing! The formula was smooth and two coats gives you good coverage with no true application problems. Since the formula is rather thick, you may able to pull this off in one coat.

Check out more swatches below. 

Here's an example of the Charcoal duochrome, which you'll see more of in the sunlight. It's definitely unique and I own nothing like her. if you love green and duochromes make sure you grab this fast ladies!

Caviar Dreams is now available at Sephora and Laura Mercier for a limited time only. Don't miss out on this great shade!

FEATURED - Monday, November 9th 2009

New Holiday Mini Sets from Borghese

Product: Borghese Holiday Mini Kits, 4 minis per kit, .14 oz/ea

Price: $9.99/per kit

Steph's Rating:

Buy it: Rite Aid, Walgreens

When you start to see the Christmas trees, lights and decor - you know the Holidays are right around the corner, which only means, exclusive gift sets! I'll be the first to admit, I'm a sucker for seasonal collections including this one from Borghese.

Each limited edition set includes four, small nail lacquers with Micronized Gemstones or what I'd like to call, Glitter. The mini sized bottle is accompanied with a pint size application brush that I had minor issues with. No biggie, but worth mentioning.

Are you ready for some swatches? Lets start with the first set called, Allegra.

Gold Glitter is a warm toned gold with gold glitter. It's much warmer than Nubar's 24K Nail Polish.

Red Glitter is a fabulous holiday color, it's an opaque red loaded with gold glitter. 

White Glitter is a frosting like white glitter with micro glitter that can be topped over any nail color or worn alone.

Black Glitter is a opaque black with silver glitter.

White glitter layered over Black glitter.

Next is the Serena Collection. 

Brown Glitter is a semi sheer brown/red with gold, red and silver glitter. If you love OPI's Holiday Glow like I do, you'll love this one. 

As soon as I swatched Green Duochrome, I knew we had a winner and a close dupe to Laura Mercier's Caviar Dreams. It's a gorgeous duochrome that switches from Gray, Green and Purple depending on the lighting. Really fabl!

 

Even though Borghese Green is a teensy bit more blue toned or tealish compared to Laura Mercier's, it's great alternative to the fabulous Caviar Dreams. 

Multi Color Glitter is a clear/sheer with blue, purple, gold and red glitter that's a close dupe to Sally Hansen's Rockstar Pink.  

Purple Shimmer is a vampy purple/plum with micro shimmer.

Overall, Great Sets! A perfect holiday gift for any fashionista. Each set includes trendy, up-to-date colors that are fabulous and unlike the typical package sets. Downside, I found the price of $9.99/set a bit high considering each bottle is only .14 oz. The smaller application brush gave me some minor issues. Micronized Gemstones or Glitter? Whatever the case, these are awesome! Borghese, we want full sizes!

My favorites: Green Duochrome, Brown Glitter, Red Glitter, Black Glitter and Gold.

What do you think of miniatures? Love them, Hate them? What's your favorites?

FEATURED - Friday, October 31st 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Essie Groovy Grape

Happy Friday and Happy Halloween!  It would've made more sense to have a halloween manicure as my nail polish of the day, but I was too excited to try out this groovy color.  Plus, Halloween isn't as fun all grown up.  Sure, we can dress up and go to costume parties, but I want candy dammit!

One of my readers and fellow nail polish bloggers, Katee, was kind enough to send me this gorgeous Ulta Exclusive in Groovy Grape ($8.00).  A rich, dark vampy purple with red shimmer that is stunning.  I absolutely love it, thanks doll!

The application was simply perfect and a dream applying.   

Groovy Grape is available for a limited time only at Ulta stores.  Hope you have a fabulous and safe Halloween friday!

FEATURED - Friday, October 31st 2008

Allure's Editors Favorite: Borghese Vini Violet

Wouldn't being the beauty editor of Allure or a major beauty publication magazine be the best job ever?  This month in Allure's November issue, Borghese nail lacquer in Vini Violet ($7.99) gets the spotlight for editiors favorites.

Borghese introduced this scrumptous dark purple shade with the Wines of Tuscany fall collection.  Described as an gorgeous deep magenta purple creme that's stunning on nails or toes.

After organzing my enormous nail polish collection the other day, I came to realize that purple "rules" not only in my collection but in my heart beating out any other shade including blues.

The Wines of Tuscany collection should be available now at your Borghese retailer.

FEATURED - Wednesday, November 5th 2008

Limited Edition: Wet n Wild Holiday Gift Sets

The label should read - calling all nail polish junkies!  A few days ago, I stumbled across Wet n' Wild's holiday gifts sets for five bucks at my local Meijers.   Of course, the only reason that attracted me to the gift set was the precious metal nail polishes that looked simply metalicious and right up my alley.

Five bucks is a great deal for seven different beauty items.  Heck, you can't even get a bottle of Sally Hansen's Salon polish for that price.  Cosmetic companies are marketing geniuses around the holiday season.  They always include one or two fabulous products in holiday sets that you just can't resist.  In this case, it's the metall nail lacquers.

Check out the nail colors below. 

The nail poilshes don't officially have names since their included in gift sets, just shade numbers.  352 is described as a red/pink metallic with silver shimmer. Application and formula was perfect. 

354, my obvious favorite, is described as a pink/purple metallic with silver shimmer. This shade is so cool you guys, it's like piinkish purple foil on my nails - totally retro.   

Don't need the extra items?  You can always give the extra goodies to your sister, mom, friend or even a reader on your blog or site!

The holiday sets should be popping up now at your local stores.

FEATURED - Tuesday, November 11th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Petites Shimmering Bark

Shimmering Bark ($1.39) isn't "officially"my nail polish today, but it certainly was a few days ago!  I've been recouping this weekend from watching my four year old neice and didn't have a chance to post this.  Thank goodness we can give her back though - whoa such a handful.

I'm all about different and unique colors when it comes to drugstore nail polishes and Shimmering Bark ranks up there.  A hard shade to describe, mauve/plum/brown/taupe with purple and pink shimmer.  Can that description possibly get any longer, lol?!

It's different, yet a nice fall plummy color to coordinate perfectly with the OPI "France" family.  Priced at $1.39 a pop, Petites offers a nice range of colors including, a few really spectaular shades that I'll be posting as my NOTD's this month.

Petites are available at Walmart stores.  Have a wonderful day!

FEATURED - Saturday, November 15th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Givenchy Purple by Night

Happy Saturday!  It's 86 degrees, sunny and beautiful at Captiva island in Sanibel, FL.  Since Wednesday, we've been vacationing in FL and the gorgeous beach and warm weather keeps holding me back from opening my laptop.

I've had Givenchy's Purple by Night ($15 for .018 oz) for quite sometime now and I'm just getting to this, sorry guys!  Described as a purple loaded down with fine purple, gold and silver shimmer that's insanely gorgeous.

Although this is a fabulous purple shade (probably one of the best out there) I find it hard to recommend because it's so darn expensive - which is one reason I'm not going to go on and on!  Darn that Givenchy - Why does fabulous colors have to be so expensive!  

The sun wasn't working on my side and the only pictures I was able to capture was indoors with a flash.  But, I feel the color representation is pretty accurate.  Application was flawless and opaque in two coats, but I'm a die hard three coater.

Purple by Night ($15) is now available at Sephora for a limited time only.

Hope your having an excellent weekend!

FEATURED - Sunday, November 23rd 2008

New Nail Colors from Hot Topic

Aren't these the best - bad ass, punk rocker nail polish bottles?  I jus luv 'em.  They speak death by lacquer!  Every few months or so when I visit the dreadful mall, Hot Topic is one of the few stores I always swing by.  It must be my inner punk rockstar screaming to come out.

Their nail polish selection always puts a smile on my face offering - bold, bright and very unique colors.  And, just as I was walking in yesterday, the SA was placing out three new shades, yippee! 

So, Hot Topic don't really have official nail polish names like OPI or China Glaze.  Actually, it's not even printed on the bottles anywhere only on the hard copy receipt.

 

Gray Muted ($2.99) has more distinct gray undertones in real life.  In fact, Saturday, China Glaze's Recyle was my NOTD and under their artificial lighting, I really thought it was an close Recycle dupe.  But, nope - come to find out it's complete different in a good way, of course.

Pastel Purple ($2.99), a lilac purple iridescent and Pastel Pink ($2.99), a "pepto bismol" pink iridescent nail polish.  Both these pastels have an iridescent base like other Hot Topic shades.

 

Here's some other Hot Topic shades I've had in my collection for a while.  Silver Glitter is a nice silver that's a mix of a foil, metallic and shimmer all in one. 

As far as Hot Topic's nail polish quality - well, it's so-so.  Some finishes are perfect and others seem to have thicker consistencies.  But, no worries.  Just a quick fix with a few drops of nail polish thinner.

FEATURED - Saturday, November 29th 2008

Fall Winter 08: OPI La Collection De France

 

Couture Couleur La De France fall/winter 08 collection features twelve rich, senous colors inspired by the effortless elegance of French fashion.

Despite the fact I'm so fashionably late posting my Fall swatches, the OPI France collection has some truely unique shades this year.  Starting off with the most unique and my personal favorite, You Don't know Jacques.  A deep brownish gray taupe creme that compliments most every skintone.  Another great shade coming in second is Parlez-vous.  Described as a lavendar purple with gray undertones.

What I passed on - most the Reds.  There's only so much you can do with red and while most of the shades in the France collection were nice, they just didn't interest me.

Check out the swatches below. 

Bastille My Heart - a medium cherry apple red with subtle pink shimmer.  I would of preferred this to be a tad bit darker.

 This image is a good color representation of Bastille my Heart.

We'll Always Have Paris - a dark vampy purple reddish creme.  A great plum shade for fall.

You Don't Know Jacques was one of the many stand-outs in this collection and my favorite.  Described as a Muddy Grey Taupe creme.  It's different, unique and just a fab neutral color all around. 

Lourve me Lourve me not - a violet base with blue and red shimmer. 

Parlez-vous OPI is another one of the stand-out colors in the France collection.  A lavender purple with muted gray creme.

Tickle my France-y is a nice neutral shade that's anything but sheer.  This is the perfect anytime shade that you can leave on your nails for days and not have to worry about coordinating with your work wardrobe.  

Eiffel for this color is a darkened plum with blue and pink shimmer that simply looked stunning on.   

Eiffel for this Color

Yes.. I can-can a darkened red plum much like We'll have Paris' base color, but with added silver shimmers.  I preferred this one over We'll have Paris because the silver sparkles gives a bit of kick.

I'll be adding a few more swatches this week.

The OPI collection de France is now available at OPI retailers and 8ty8 and Head2Toe.

FEATURED - Sunday, November 30th 2008

Fall Winter 08: Misa Poisoned Passion Collection

Misa introduces the Poisoned Passion collection this fall and winter 2008.  A collection of six seductive dark vampy shades of red, purple, blue and green.

Overall, Poisoned Passion is a nice collection of five shimmers and one creme shade.  Being a lover of shimmer polishes, I was pleased with all shades and glad only one being a creme texture.

All colors are rich and infused with excellent pay-off.  Most colors only required two coats and only had problems with Dying love.

 

A Sin Worth Committing, vibrant royal blue with blue and aqua shimmers.  Much brighter than OPI Yogta get this blue and Jessica's Midnight Moonlight.

Dying Love was my favorite from the Fall collection even though the application was a little finicky.  A black with silver and light blue shimmer.

This one left some visible brush stokes, but I really liked how the blue and silver shimmer made an glaze effect on my nails, so I guess I'll deal with it.  If you take your time and don't rush, you shouldn't have any problems.

 Candid shot of Dying Love

Fatal Affair, purple with blue and pink shimmer.  The base color is distinctly purple, but the blue shimmer is so powerful it leaves a glaze type of blue shimmer on top.

 

Forbidden Lust, violet based purple with red and blue shimmer. 

 Love Bite, the only creme and the dud of the collection.  Burgandy red brown creme.

Toxic Seduction, a blackened teal with gold and green shimmer.  Being a green nail polish fanatic, you'd think Toxic Seduciton rank up there with my favorites, but it didn't, for me at least. 

At first, Toxic Seduction was like love at first sight.  But, after a day or so of wear and tear, the once vivid teal was gloomy and darkened like a cloud was hoovering over.  My nails looked somewhat dull.  Mostly because of the "darkened" in Toxic Seduction.

The Poisoned Passion collection is available at Head2Toe.

FEATURED - Tuesday, December 2nd 2008

Coming Soon: China Glaze Romantique for Spring

For Spring 2009, China Glaze introduces the Romantique Collection.  A sensual collection of twelve metallic chrome textures due to set release in the beginning of Janurary 2009.

The Romantique collection is split into two seperate releases just like the Rodeo Diva collection.  Warm palette consists of yellow, browns, and oranges while the cool palette consists of greens, blues, and purples.

Check out some sneak peek swatches from the ladies at E-polish and All Lacquered Up.

FEATURED - Friday, December 12th 2008

New Colors: Sally Hansen Insta Dri Polishes

Sally Hansen introduces several new Insta-Dri ($4.99) shades this winter.  So, what is Insta-Dri?  Exactly what the name states - instantly drying nail polish.  It may not be instantly, but it's pretty darn close and probably the fasting drying drug store nail polish out there.

There's so much to go over with these Insta-Dri's that I'm just going to list the positives and negatives.  Usually, I don't recommend fast drying nail polish to anyone that has trouble with the three swipe rule. But, with these you dont' have to worry about three swipes, it's meant for one or two and it's easily accomplished with the large manly brush.

Positive                                                     Negative

A Variety Rich, Pigmented Colors  Fast Drying for quick on-the-go Mani's  One or two coats to be Opaque  Lasts a good 5 days, esp with a topcoat

Some colors are Thick and Goopey  Tapered, wide shaped manly brush  May not be mistake proof for some  $4.99 - $5.99 for .31oz

Jumpin' Jade - darkened green with subtle shimmer much like Misa's Toxic Seduction, Blazing Blue - navy blue with subtle aqua shimmer, Uptempo Plum - darkened plum with purple shimmer, Pronto Purple - violet purple red and purple shimmer. 

Toxic seduction isn't quite an exact dupe, but it's the closest color in my collection to compare.  Jumpin Jade is much more pigmented and has a tiny bit more blue.

The tapered, odd size brush is mainly the downside of these insta-dri's.  My nail beds are fairly small, so you can imagine my disappiontment when I first laid eyes on this brush. But, there's a upside to this story. Looks can be deceiving. 

I can understand what the folks at Sally Hansen were going for when they designed this brush.  "Since it's super fast drying, you'll need a wide brush that can coverage in less than three swipes.

At first, I thought my small nail beds were going to be the disadvantage, but they actual ended up being the advantage in my case.  The brush was a little tricky to figure out at first, but I was able to swipe in two coats since my beds are small (center swipe then swirl from right then left - try to swirl with the shape of the tapered brush). That's how I apply mine.        

The Insta-Dri polishes is a pernament Sally Hansen procut and is available at most stores. What do ya'll think?

Love these? Click here to check out some Limited Edition summer 09 bright shades.

FEATURED - Sunday, December 14th 2008

Winter 08: OPI Holiday in Toyland Collection

This Holiday Season, OPI transports you to a winter wonderland of twelve festive colors with it's new Holiday Toyland collection. 

OPI intoduces a winter collection consisting of six dark & neutral shades and six sparkling reds.

Overall, the hoiliday collection is quite impressive much like their fall France collection.  However, I did have issues with some of the brushes on the lighter colored shades.  When you have a defective brush, it can really ruin the entire application and can be rather frustrating.

 

 

Sheer Your Toys - a silver gray with pink undertones and reddish copper flecks of glitter.  The pink undertones in this shade gives the effect of a sliver lavendar color.

Very interesting and unique shade that accompanied a boat load of application problems.  The wild brissels in my brush made this a little frustrating to apply.

 

You're a Doll - a muted peachy pink loaded down with shimmer. 

 

Glamour Game - a light metallic champagne gold that applied fairly sheer, but three coats gave me pretty good coverage.

My application was a little finicky just like Sheer your Toys, but wow this a such a pretty color.  It almost has a duochrome purplish tone to it.  

Brand New Skates - one of my favorites, is a pewter silver loaded down with goldish glitter.  The glitter gives the appeal of an metallic pewter. 

Baby it's Coal Outside - is a black loaded down with silver and subtle blue flecks of glitter.   It's not secret that black nail polishes are my fave, but I wasn't swooning over this color.

This reminds me alot of Dior's black Sequins except OPI's has 10 times more glitter than Dior's or even Chanel's Black Satin.

 

Play Til Midnight - Two of my favorite colors combined in one.  Blue plus Purple equals Blurple goodness!  This is absolutely stunning and my number one favoirte from the Holiday colleciton. 

A definite must have!

 

The OPI Holiday in Toyland collection is now available at authorized stores and 8ty8 Beauty.  I'll be reviewing each shade more in depth.  Stay tuned.

FEATURED - Tuesday, December 16th 2008

Steph's Closet One Year Anniversary Giveaway

Good morning all!  December's a special month for me and not because of the Christmas Holiday.  Last year at this time I can remember sitting with my husband at the Las Vegas conference center listening to Matt Cutt from Google and Craig from Craig's List and other successful bloggers speak.  At that exact moment, I knew blogging was for me, but didn't realize what I was getting into.

I'm not going to bore ya'll with all the geeky details, but I plan on writing a pretty lengthy post on my first year of blogging.  Anyhoo, on to the good stuff.

This has been a beyond excellent year for me and my blog at Steph's Closet.  Since the beginning, my traffic is 50 times the amount it once was and it's all thanks to my awesome readers.

How do I enter:

Simple!  Just post a comment.  Anyone that has a email address can post a comment on Steph's Closet.  Please make sure email address is current for contacting reasons only!  Email addresses are NEVER displayed or given out at anytime.  Must be a U.S. or Canda mailing address Only one entry per person Winner(s) will be picked randomly and announced mid to end Janurary

All items are brand new and unused.  1st prize details: Chanel Sublimage Eye .14, Strivectin SD Eye Creme 1 oz, bliss body butter 1 oz, Rescue Beauty Lounge mini sample kit - lotions, body wash, mini opi metal file, amazing graze buffing wash, glitter files

All full size and unsed Nail Polishes: SH emerald city (green), Nicole Show you Care (dark purple shimmer), China Glaze Ruby Pumps (gorg red glitter), CQ Chocolate Plum (brown plum), Revlon Berry Jeweled (magenta shimmer) , Rimmel Pop Quiz (peach glitter) and Scene Stealer (brown glitter), Loreal B. Impulsive (blurple glitter).

 OPI Blue Lagoon (blue holographic), mini manicure set, blue glitter file.

Revlon Plum Flip (duochome plum), Berry Jeweled (magenta shimmer), glitter file and mini manicure set.

The winners are announced!

FEATURED - Wednesday, December 17th 2008

Nail Trends: Chanel Goes Purple for Spring 09

With all the co-motion from the hot new Moscou collection, this little guy was just screamin' to get noticed!  And, darnit I took notice!

For Spring, Chanel introduces two new nail polishes - Django, pinkish peach shimmer and Vendetta, a blue purple with blue and pink shimmer.

Chanel's promo images of Vednetta appeared to be basically a Blurple (Blue + Purple).  So, I wouldn't quite classify Vendetta as a true Blurple like say, OPI's Play til Midnight and neither a "true purple" because there's definitely blue in there.   Did I confuse ya yet?  Colors can be so confusing sometimes, yet so fun!

So, is it dupeable?  Probably.  I have to sort through my Purple's which may take some time considering there's about 300 of them.  And I'm not exaggerating with that number.  Purple is a shade I just can't resist, obviously! lol 

Bottom Line - Vendetta is hot!  After wearing it whole day, I felt - well chanely.  Because after all, Chanel's nail polish is probably the closest thing to feeling rich and luxurious without breaking my bank.  And, Honestly I think that's why alot of us love the polish so much.  It's Chanel for cryin' out loud!

Have a good night peeps!  Any takers?

FEATURED - Wednesday, December 17th 2008

Holiday 08: Chanel Moscou Collection Swatches

Chanel's Moscow - Moscou collection introduces three new exclusive limited editions inspired by Russia's fashion.

Let's get down to business because I know you guys are dying to know.

Are all three shades beautiful?  Of course.  Unique?  Somewhat, but for the most part, not really.  Must Haves? Probably not. Depending on your current money situation.

My Favorites are Nuit De Russie and Or De Russie.  Must Have: Nuit De Russie.

The formulas are rich, opaque and only require two coats for each color.  You could possibly get by with one coat due to the thickness.  Not overly thick - just perfect.  No reason to add thinners or anything like that.

I'll be posting all possible dupes from my collection in the next couple days. 

The big question that's on everyone's mind? Does this look like Wagon Trail and Wnw Stunner?  Yes.  Looking at both Wagon Trail and Stunner compared to Ore De Russie, you'd think their different.  The shimmer in Stunner and Wagon Trail is distinctly gold toned and Or De Russia is bronze almost resembling a brown base rather than black.  When applied, it's hard to tell the bronze and gold shimmer apart from each other.

First, let me clarify that these aren't exact dupes.  Just extremely close and probably not recognizable to the naked eye.  I'd say pass on this want to save some cash and opt for China Glaze's Wagon Trail for $4.99.

 

 Inside Flash.

Fue De Russie is a black based polish with maroon and very subtle pink shimmer.  Both Feu and Ore have fine micro glitter shimmer and Nuit has more of a chunkier heavier glitter.

What distinguishes this from any other comparison is the maroonish shimmer.  CG Lubu Heels, Nicole Black Cat-cha Later, Petites Black Rouge are all "red" based shimmers.  Even though there's some subtle pink in there, I still would classify this as a "maroon" shimmer.

 Inside Flash.

Nuit De Russie is truely the bread winner from the Moscou collection.  Described as a black based polish loaded down with teal and subtle green chunky glitter.  Now, when I say "chunky"glitter, it's not as heavy as your probably thinking,  just more so compared to the other two from this release.

If you were to splurge on only one shade, I'd recommend this one.  It's gorgeous!  The chunkier shimmer makes this oh so fab.  Maybe not so unique compared to Sinful's What's your name or Nicole's Blues in the Night except Chanels has tons more shimmer with an added touch of subtle green.

The Moscou collection retails for $30 each and is only available online at Chanel.com or at their Boutiques.  Most of these colors are not available at the makeup counters.  It's going to be the same routine as the Robertson Blvd collection.  I'd call first before making a trip.  Stay tuned for the comparisons.

Want more Chanel? Check out their latest Purple Craze for Spring 09!

FEATURED - Wednesday, December 24th 2008

New Line: NYC introduces quick dry nail polish

 

Out with the old and in with the new is NYC's resolution.  You may have noticed stores clearing out the NYC glossies only to make room for these hip new colors.  I've seen that Meijer and some other stores have marked down the glossies to clearance.  Make sure you take advantage of those clearance items and stock up because their bye, bye, bye!

Details: NYC introduces a quick drying nail polish in under 60 seconds called, New York color in a minute.  A vast variety of 24 new colorful shades and one clear fast dry topcoat.

Overall, these are fab.  Most colors are exceptionally pigmented and only requires two coats with the exception of a few lighter shades.  The variety of colors are endless and priced at $1.99 is a steal.

Who has time to sit and wait around for polish to dry?  I certainly don't.  That's why these are perfect for me.  A quick drying polish that stays put for days. 

The nail polish names represent street and popular places you'll see in New York City.

 

Chelsea (first two pics above) 228B - deep candy apple shimmer.  Two coats, no topcoat.

Lincoln Center 232B - dark burgandy red-brown creme.  Two coats, no topcoat.

New* Just Added  Manhattan 248B - a deep burgandy magenta-purple creme that could be Lincoln Center's cous.

New* Just Added  It was hard capturing the true colors of both these shades.  Manhattan is much prettier with the magenta purplish undertones.  

Canal Street 220B - a dark brown red shimmer. Two coats, no topcoat.

New* Just Added  Broadway 238B- a red- brown cinnamon with red, gold and silver micro shimmer. Two coats.  No topcoat.

 

Fifth Avenue 218B (above) - a rusty copper orange shimmer.  Two coats, no topcoat.

Mulberry Street 212B - a white sand beige with shimmer.  Coverage was really good for light toned shade.  You could even get away with two coats on this one.  Swatch (above) three coats, no topcoat.

Update: After wearing this Creme Bruele shade (Mulberry Street) a few times, I ended up really liking it.  Possibly a mix between NYC's Little Italy and Bryant Park into a shimmer version.  

Little Italy - A crisp white or french white creme.  It's really hard to find a white opaque shade and sometimes I even resort to a french white such as Little Italy.  Swatch (above) two coats, no topcoat.

New* Just Added   Wall Street 234B - a mid tone pink with shimmer.  Three coats no topcoat. 

 

Soho 222B - A light pink feminine shade with shimmer.  Three coats, no topcoat.

New* Just Added   Uptown 242B - a barbie pink with shimmer.

New* Just Added   Here are some pink comparisons from the NYC line. Uptown is my favorite out of the three. 

Bryant Park 214B - a much lighter version of OPI's Charmed by a snake.  Described as a sand color beige with shimmer.  Bryant Park kinda blended in with my skintone.  Meh for me, but pretty on someone else.   Two coats, no topcoat.

New* Just Added   Park Avenue (two pics above) 246B - a unique duochrome shade that switches between taupe, lilac and pink.  Three coats.  No topcoat.

Central Park 216B - a light peach shimmer with some pink undertones.

New* Just Added   Midtown 240B - a vibrant hot pink with blueish-purple shimmer.  

New* Just Added   Downtown 244B - a dusty pomegranate pink creme. 

Times Square 224B - Perhaps the brighest color from this collection.  A bright coral with hints of tomato red creme.  Although my pictures may look tomato orange, Times Square also has distinct hints of coral pink.

 

 Penn Sation (two pics above) 230B - a magenta pink-red with shimmer.

 

East Village (two pics above) 206B - Turquoise blue shimmer that was somewhat sheer.  Three coats to acheive bottle color.  Swatch (above) Three coats, no topcoat.

West Village 204B - a navy blue base wiith pink and purple shimmer. Maybe not the most unique, but very pretty.  Two coats, no topcoat. 

 

Chinatown (two pics above) 210B - Saving the best for last.  Not quite black but not quite purple.  A unique ink  colored shade loaded with some duochrome micro shimmer that looks blue, silver, and mint green at different angles.  It was hard distinguishing the colors.  Talk about gorgeous, whoa!  I highly recommend Chinatown - a definite must have from this collection.

The NYC New York in a mintue quick dry is going to be a permanent line and should be hitting stores in the next couple weeks which retails for $1.89/ea.  So, get on over there and pick you up some Chinatown.

FEATURED - Thursday, August 20th 2009

OPI Fall Matte collection: Review, Swatches

This Fall, OPI introduces the Matte collection, a release of six current OPI shades available in a non glossy, matte finish. Each bottle is included with an instruction tag that states the following:

• Matte by OPI does not wear as long as original OPI Nail Lacquer.
• Do not use base coat, top coat, drying products, or hand lotion when wearing matte.
• Do an all Matte nail. Or do a Matte nail with matching Glossy tip.

Before we get to the details, let's discuss what this means. It's time to toss that rule book out the window because skipping a base coat would be a bad idea. You don't want your nails super stained. If you can hunt down a no shine base coat, that would be best. I've had better luck using a ridge filler for my base.

As far as hand lotion, just be sure to wipe your nails off with a tissue or cotton pad to avoid that shiny, satin finish.

Application is the challenging part. Every matte polish I've tested is super fast drying, which may create problems for the habitual coater. The good news, OPI's wide brush makes it easier to accomplish three brush strokes. Anymore than that, you'll notice streak lines in your application.

Ready for some swatches guys?

Alpine Snow, a white chalky flatte matte. This reminds me of a winter snowy morning when the snow is intensely bright to look at.  

As much as Gargantuan Grape looks minty green in my swatches, it's not. It's a tad bit more yellow based and has that chalky texture.

La-Pazatively Hot is true to the name! A gorgeous hot pink matte with shimmer that's one of my faves from the collection.

 You Don't Know Jacques, a mushroom brown taupe chalky matte.

Lincoln Park after Dark, a vampy blackish purple matte. 

As much as I'd wish Russian Navy was a shimmer like the original, I still love it. A flatte navy blue  matte.

The matte collection is now available at Professional Salons and online at the E-tailers. Have a wonderful night!

FEATURED - Sunday, December 28th 2008

Chanel Spring 09: Bohemian Fantasy Collection

With the birds chirping and warm sunny days we've been having, you'd think Spring is on the way.  Trendsetter, Chanel, starts us off with a preview for the upcoming Spring 09 season.

The Bohemian Fantasy offers a collection of browns, plums, and silver eyeshadow quads and singles.  Bold bursts of red, pinks, and beiges for your lips not to mention the stunning yet vampy Vendetta nail polish for all you purple lovers.  For the not so bold, Django vernis offers a nice feminine touch of pink appropriate for any work envirnoment.

This year Chanel goes all shades of Purple - a girls best friend.  What a brilliant idea, purple!  Much different from last year's Aurora Blue and the typical "pastel shades" that I personally dislike.

Mystic shadow quad is much gorgeous in person.  The stunning silvery plummy shade will have you at hello - no kidding!  Need to brighten your eyes up? Try Delta Irisdescent fluid, a gold metalliic eyeshadow base that's stunning under Mystic Eyes.

Check out all the swatches below.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spring collection should be available mid January at counters and online.

FEATURED - Tuesday, December 30th 2008

MAC Dame Edna Collection: Review, Swatches

Hallo Possums!" As mirthfully minx-like and tongue-in-chic as her dazzling persona, Dame Edna's eponymous limited-edition colour collection reveals the wit of her makeup passions...Like our muse, it's "spectacular"!

Overall, MAC releases yet another disappionting collection to close out the 2008 year.  Much better than the Chill collection, I think you'll find one or two worthwhile products to take home from this limited edition release espically if MAC's been burnin a hole in your pocket from these un-impressive collections.

The lipsticks were the obvious stand-outs.  Smooth, creamy and packed with loads of color.  Wisteria and Royal Tour eyeshadow quads were the most disappioning.  Both trios along with the Hi-light powders lacked good color pay-off and texture.

My Haul: Gladiola lipstick, Hot Frost lipglass and Varicose Violet nail polish.    

Wisteria and Royal Tour Eyeshadow Trios.

Gladiole, Coral Polyp and Kango Rouge Lipstick.  Still debating whether to pick up Coral Polyp or not.  All lipsticks had fabulous color payoff.  You really can't go wrong picking up one or two.

Hot Frost, Spendid and Possum Nose Pink lipglass. 

Spectacle and What a Dame Hi-Lite powders.  Took several swipes to achieve any kind of color pay-off. 

While visiting the Mall, I was able to get a sneak peek at Dior's Spring 09 Polishes also.  So, make sure you check those out. 

MAC's Vericose Violet is a semi sheer lilac purple with blue irisdescent shimmer.  Originally, I wasn't going to pick this up, but the MA's convinced me other wise after swatching.   Asiatique is your basic cherry red creme that's pretty standard and blah.  I'd say pass on that one.  Both shades are only available for a limited time.

I'll be posting Varicose Violet as one of my NOTD this week.  Stay tuned.      

The Dame Edna collection is now available at MAC stores and online.

FEATURED - Thursday, January 1st 2009

Spring 09: Chanel Django Nail Polish

Happy New Years Day!  It's officially Janurary 1st 2009 - can you guys believe that?  And I was just getting used to writing 2008. Django is the second installment from the new spring 09 nail polishes.  Described as a soft pink with peach undertones and subtle shimmer.

We first saw Django make an appearance at Chanel's Spring 09 Fashion show last September.  This fabulous spring shade looked stunning on the runway models.  It was definitely a shade I had to see in person since I'm not so keen on light colors.

I'm impressed.  Django is the perfect shade for Spring.  Not pink, peach, or white.  Very different and perhaps a mix of the three.  The shimmer is very subtle and hardly noticeable for you creme lovers out there.  

Since the formula was a tad on the thick side, you may able to get by with two coats.  All my swatches were done with three coats.  Brush strokes were slighty visible in bright sunlight - rarely noticable though.  But, I'm also pretty critical when testing out my polishes.

 

Dior's Porcelain is similar to Django, but not an exact dupe when paired next to each other.  

Django is available online and at Chanel counters.

FEATURED - Friday, January 2nd 2009

Nail Polish of the Day: MAC Varicose Violet

Happy Friday everyone!  This crazy holiday week is finally coming to an end and what better way to celebrate with some spring purple fever.

Varicose Violet ($10), a semi-sheer light purple with pink and blue shimmer that was released with the Dame Edna collection last week.  To acheive bottle color you need a firm three coats or more.  I see alot of us passing on this because of that reason, but it's very pretty.  Perhaps one of the key products in the release.

Check out one more swatch below.     

The blue shimmer is more overpowering than the pink and leaves a blue like iridescent glaze on top.  But, it's not exactly a true lavender purple.  The pink undertone makes it a smudge lighter towards purple-pink.

Tonight, my hubb's sister and boyfriend are coming over and it's about wii!  Have a great night!  Think postive thoughts all.

FEATURED - Sunday, January 11th 2009

Swatches Galore: Hot Topic Nail Polish

Since I've been talking about Hot Topic so much latley, I figured now would be a perfect time to post all my nail polish swatches.  Just a warning to ya'll -  pic spam galore here.  You'll probably find yourself scrolling and scrolling.  Sorry Chicas.

I'm going to brief you guys real fast so you can get down to the good stuff.

Price: $2.99 or cheaper, if you can spot any on clearance.  Those discount bins are seperate from the nail polishes, so check around or ask sales associate.  Most colors are available at Hot Topic stores usually located in Malls and some online.  You'll find more of an color selection at the actual shops.

Quality.  Here's some of my descripencies I have with Hot Topic's quality.  The awkward brush size and overall construction makes it a little hard to navigate on your nails.  Some formulas I find rather thick and others are just fine.  If you run into a thick formula, no worries.  All it takes is a drop or two of thinner such as Seche thinner Restore.  Guys, don't be afraid of thinner.  It's, so easy.

One of my blogger friends, Scrangie also has love for Seche Restore.  Click here to check out a great instructional she posted on how to repair your nail polish.

Bottom Line:  I'll deal with the formula & brush because the colors are kick ass.  Plain and simple! 

Muted Gray - A stormy blue gray creme.

Comrad Green - A great alternative to Rescue Beauty Lounge's, No More War.  Army green olive creme tht applied glossy.

Kelly Green surely speaks for itself.  A great alternative for Nars Zulu and Rescue Beauty Lounge's green.  A must have color for me.

Kelly Green

Pastel Pink Iridescent - a pastel pink with blueish purple iridescent shimmer.  The snapshot in the picture is accurate.  Three coats to achieve bottle color.

Pastel Purple Iridescent - a pastel purple with pinkish gold iridescent shimmer.  Three coats to achieve bottle color.

Bright Turquoise - a bright turquoise creme that dried to a satin like finish.  You'll need a top coat if you desire a glossy finish.

Bright Purple - a bright purple creme that dries to a satin just like bright turquoise.

Dark Pink - Dark Pink Fuschia creme that applied to a satin like finish.  You'll need a topcoat if you desire a glossy finish. 

 

Midnight Purple - a purple blue creme that sways towards an "ink" colored tone.  Very Vampy. Love this.

Chocolate Brown - a dark chocolate creme that applied glossy. 

Silver Glitter - an opaque silver metallic foil type glitter polish.

Black Glitter - a black base loaded with silver glitter.

Black Glitter

Red Glitter - light red based with silver and red glitter.  You'll need three coats to achieve bottle color.

Red Glitter

Turquoise Glitter - a light turquoise base with blue and silver glitter.  Three coats to achieve bottle color.

Turquoise Glitter

Blue Iridescent - navy blue based with matching and aqua blue glitter.  A must have color.

Blue Iridescent

Purple Iridescent - a purple based with purple and blue glitter.  Another must have color.

Purple Iridescent

*New Trq/Ht Pnk Chunky - OMG Hot Topic gives birth to a Glitter this Spring!  A gorgeous chunky hot pink and turquoise blue glitter.  The base is clear like RBL's and takes a good three to four coats for bottle color.  Well worth the hassle!

FEATURED - Monday, January 19th 2009

Spring 09: China Glaze Romantiques Swatches

Let's Spring forward to the Romantique collection from China Glaze.  A large collection of chromey metallics broken down into two seperate releases.

First up is the cool tone release which consists of six shades that include pinks, purples, blues and charcoals.  Some of my favorite shades from the cools tones are Adore, a teal metallic and Harmony, a mid purple metallic.

Overall, for me, The Romantique collection was clearly a miss.  The number one problem with Metallics is they possess brush streaks and often leave your application looking messy.  So, I knew it was going to a hit or miss.

As much as I wanted to like this collection, the dreadful application held me back.  Most colors had excellent pigmentation and being too thick may have been their down fall.  However, I did have more luck when applying in thin coats.

Check out all the swatches below. 

 Cherish - a light green sage metallic.

Awaken - a dark charcoal metallic.

Devotion - a silvery light purple metallic.

Admire - light pink metallic.

Harmony - A very pretty purple metallic.  Boy oh boy, I really wanted to love this along with Adore.  Those two colors totally stand out.

Adore - Probably my favorite color of the collection, a teal metallic.

I'll be posting the Warmer color toworrow.  Well, that is if I can get through the dreadful application process.  I'm going to mess around formula, maybe add some thinner to see if that helps.

FEATURED - Friday, January 23rd 2009

New Bold N Sexy Shades from Black Radiance

TGIF!  Happy Happy Friday.  Today has been a glorious day.  Mid 60's, full sun - gorgeous.  But, I'm not holding my breath because it's just a big fat tease.  Tomorrow were right back to temperatures in the thirties and snow.  Booo!

Let's jump start the weekend with some Bold and Sassy colors from Black Radiance.  So, these aren't exactly new.  Well, they were back in November when I oringially picked them up at Walmart in Jacksonville, FL.

When I spotted these beauties, I was on it because most stores in my area don't carry Black Radiance.  What's up with that?

The colors are extremely pigmented.  You could probably get by with one thick coat.  All my swatches were done with two.

Check out the swatches

 

 Rique -  a deep red brown maroon loaded with gold shimmer. 

 A very close dupe to China Glaze's Side Saddle and NYC's Cognac Sparkle.

 Passion - deep purple eggplant with matching shimmer

 Naughty - charcoal gray with silver and mint green shimmer.

 Seductive - a bronzey gold with gold shimmer.

Seductive and Prize Winning Mare are pretty much an exact dupe.  The only difference is Seductive is just a hair darker, but not by much.  Gold Nugget is more gold compared to the other two.

Now finding these may be a litte tricky.  Check the Black Radiance makeup displays where their regular nail polishes are located. 

Have a great weekend!

FEATURED - Sunday, January 25th 2009

Nail Polish of the Day: Sinful Morph Streak

Cold temperatures and snowy weather has officially returned to the Tri State area.  Hopefully you guys are having an enjoyable Sunday afternoon.  Today, I went scrambling through my nail polishes to find a truely special shade for my NOTD. 

The unique spectrum of colors you'll see in Morph Streak is one of the reasons I fell in love with nail polish from the start.  It's all about the colors.  Not name brand or price.  In my collection you'll find more off brands than name brands.

To truely appreciate the gorgeousness of Morph Streak you'd have to see in person.  It's unbelieveable.  Blue, Violet, Purple, Pink, Gold.  Wow!  A holy grail color for any blue or purple lover!

Check out more swatches below. 

 

In Natural Light Morph Streak looks more blurple.

The Bad news.  Yes, it's hard to find but not impossible.  Nothing's impossible, that's my theory at least.  And it's worked pretty good for me this far.  Postive attitude = Positive Outcomings.

Have a great day!

FEATURED - Tuesday, February 3rd 2009

Milani Valentines: Illustrations of Love

The month of February marks the season of love and Milani gives you six reasons to celebrate the holiday in style.

The Illustrations of love collection is a new valentine's day release that includes: red and pinks for those passionate lovers, black and purple's for those wanting to vamp it up and grey's and whites for that laid back lover.

Overall, this is a great collection that offers a range of different shades to pick from!  The application was amazing and most colors only required two coats for bottle coverage.

Milani's nail polish has it goin' on.  Their quality is just as good as Sally Hansen or Borghese and other high end brands. 

Day Dreaming - a true medium gray creme.  Hands down, the best gray creme I've seen.  Not to dark nor too light.  Perfecto!

Spring has officially kicked the gray nail polish trend into high gear!  So, don't miss out on this perfect shade of gray.

It's official!  Milani's Day Dreaming is an exact dupe for MAC's On the Prowl from their latest Hello Kitty Collection. 

While digging through my small stash of grays, I came across two close contenders.  RBL's, Concrete Jungle is more blue based and Carolyn's, Handball Courts is much lighter with added shimmer.

Having some fun with Milani's Day Dreaming and black tips with SH's black nail art pen. 

Fond of You is the perfect off white creme that's a great alternative to Chanel's White Satin.  Actually, we might have an close dupe here.  I'll have to check later today and let you guys know.

The application was simply amazing for a white.  Only three coats to achieve bottle color. 

 

Sweetheart - a bright hot pink creme.  Not as vibrant as a neon.

Milani Sweetheart.

 

Sweet Love - a reddish pink with subtle pink and purple shimmer.  The actual shade was hard to caputre for some reason.

 Sweet Love.

My Darling - a charcoal black with mint green shimmer. 

Devoted - a deep black purple with subtle pink and purple shimmer.

The valentines day collection should be hitting stores this week.  Keep an eye out for Day Dreaming!

FEATURED - Friday, February 6th 2009

Sephora Glittering Nail Polish: Review, Swatches

Sephora introduces a new line of glittering nail polish sure to glam up those tips and toes.  A sparkling assortment of eight colors to pick to from sure to please your appetite.

The glitterning polishes come in a small compact mini size (.16 oz) that are perfect for travel or on the go which retail for $5.

Since each bottle is packed with loads of color I was able to use two coats on all my swatches.  Some of the formulas were thick and others were just fine.  I actually prefered them on the thick side because less is more and at $5.00 a pop you'll want to save every drop.

The glitter consistency varied between thick & chunky and fine mircoglitter.  Check out all the swatches below.   

Black Strass - a black with chunky silver glitter.

Red Ruby - a ruby red with chunky pink and silver glitter. 

Blue Sapphire - a deep royal blue with chunky silver and blue glitter. 

Blue Sapphire has a royal blue base compared to Essie's navy and the glitter color & consistency are different as well.  Although they are both different, Blue Sapphire can satisfy your Starry Starry Night lemmings.  Shhhh, I wont tell..

The next three swatches have fine micro shimmer.

Violet Amethyst - one of my favorites, a deep violet purple with pink, purple and rustic micro shimmer. 

Fuchsia Quartz - a fuchsia pink with silver micro shimmer.

Beige Topaz - a light beige gold with silver chunky & microshimmer.

I'll be posting a you tube review in a the next couple days.  Some of my favorites are Black Stass, Blue Sapphire, Violet Amethyst.  The glittering nail polishes are now available at Sephora and retail for $5.00.

FEATURED - Thursday, February 12th 2009

OPI Valentines: Beverly Hills 90210 Swatches

For Valentine's, OPI introduces a new collection inspired by the new Beverly Hills series featured on the CW network.  All three shades are named after the new characters from the CW series.

Back in the day, everyone was watching 90210.  It was just the thing to do.  Brenda, Dylan - Kelly, Dylan.  Emotional, we all were affected by their stupid love triangles.

Last year, when the promo pictures released (see above), I was estatic to see OPI's coming out with a collection to represent my favorite past time crew.   Regrettably, later we all found out that the collection is inspired by the new gang.

No peach pit, green, blue.  Don't ya think the old gang deserves some love -  I do!

Queen of Web-erly, one of my favorites, is a slighty sheer purple mauve with purple and gold shimmer.  Three coats to achieve bottle color.  Note: my swatches were used with three coats, not two.   

 Pretty and Privileged - a ruby red with chunky pink shimmer. 

Sweet as Annie-Thing is a red orange with gold shimmer.  The gold shimmer in Sweet as Annie Thing makes this color orangish when compared to Pretty and Polished. 

The OPI 90210 collection is now avilable at retailers and online and retails between $4.75-$8.00.

FEATURED - Saturday, February 14th 2009

Sneak Peek: Rescue Beauty Lounge Spring 09

Get ready to be dazzled this spring with Glitz and Glamour from our friends at Rescue Beauty Lounge.  It's time to roll out the red carpet for these A listers because they deserve special treatment!

A collection of three new glitter polishes inspired by the metallics and sequins previously seen on the runways back in September.

Ji says, "I was the one who'd actually call up for those 'price upon request' items." "Now I'm taking the subway, cooking at home, taking more yoga classes - with this economy, we're all sifting our priorities."

While the September shows of the Spring/Summer 09 lines preceded the economic meltdown in October 2008, Baek nonetheless was surprised at the excess of embellishment seen in the many collections.

"I've never seen so many sequins, embroideries, shimmering metallics and jewels sewn into fabrics. And price points seemed to reach all time highs, with a spangled Balenciaga dress going for $42,000 and jeweled Lanvin sandals for $2,200."

This need for an affordable way to sparkle led Baek to create three "super-shiny glitter" nail polishes for Spring. "We have brights, bold prints and florals from past seasons. All we need to update our look is a bit of opulence on our fingers and toes."

 

Frugalista (left) is a gunmetal shot through with purple glitter.

In the Spirit of of our J. Crew to Jimmy choo-loving First Lady, there's Look Rich, Be Cheap (middle) - a mix of gold and purple glitter.

And for sifting through locally grown produce at the Farmer's Market, there's Locavore (right), a dazzling combination of gold, green, blue and silver glitter.   

The polishes have much more glitter than polishes you've seen in the past - they sparkle like diamonds," adds Baek, "It makes me giddy."

The spring collection officially launches in March and will be available at Rescue Beauty Lounge.

 

 

Make sure you guys check out the photo swatches for this blingtastic collection!

 

 

{A special thanks to Ji at Rescue Beauty Lounge}

 

FEATURED - Monday, February 16th 2009

Spring 09: Rescue Beauty Lounge Swatches

This Spring and Summer is all about the bling, bling baby.  And, Ji Baek introduces three fun, yet edgy glitter shades to the Rescue Beauty Lounge family that just tickles my fancy.

When Ji dropped the bomb on the new spring collection, I just about fainted.  Sparkle, Sparkle and more Sparkle.  These new additions are down right gorgeous!  Diamonds for your nails, Ji put it best.

The glitter consistency is thick and chunky in a clear base.  It's not fine like some glitter polishes out there, where you need four or more coats.

Check out all the nail candy below.  All my swatches were used with three coats. 

Locavore is a mulit combination of blue, green gold and purple.  The green and blue glitter really shines through this one. 

Look Rich, Be Cheap is a rich gold and purple glitter combination.

Oh my goodness, Fugalista is just gorgeous!  Look at the sparkle and shine!  Obviously, this is my absolute favorite.  A combination of chunky silver and purple glitter that had a thicker opacity than the others.  This is a definite must have.

The spring collection will be available in March at Rescue Beauty Lounge.

Help me Decide! I'm dying to try one of these beauties on my toes.  Which one would you like to see?  I'll be posting the results along with my pedicure in three days.

FEATURED - Tuesday, February 17th 2009

Spring 09: Orly Carnivale Collection Swatches

Orly introduces two collections this spring, Carnivale and Prepster.  Carnivale is a release inspired by the vibrance and energy of Brazil's colorful Carnivale festival.

Six new shades debut in the Carnivale collection. Bold pops of Fuschia, purple and orange for us craving some color and peach and pinks for those to tame it down.

Overall, this is a nice mixture of brights and lights to the Spring edition.  Maybe not the most unqiue, but certainly pretty.

I found most shades to be pretty sheer.  All my swatches were done with three coats including the lighter colors.  No problems with the formulas.

Check out all the pictures below. 

Confetti is a light pink french creme that's a great everyday shade.  I usually don't line pink french colors, but confetti just popped with my skintone.     

Bongo Beat, the only shimmer from the Carinvale collection, a light pink with blueish purple iridescent shimmer. 

Festival Lights is a nice light peach shade that looks good with all skintones.

 Chica Boom is a great color to sport around this summer, a bright orange tangerine creme.

 

Samba - a magenta pink creme.  

Rio Nights was my favorite from this collection.  It's a perfect shade of purple that's not too light nor to dark.  A great color for those tootsies too!

Orly's Carnivale collection is now available Head2Toe, Sallys and other retailers.

FEATURED - Wednesday, February 18th 2009

Weekly Nail Polish Giveaway: Winners Update

Happy Hump Day everyone!  Every Wednesday I'll be giving away a nail polish to one or possibly two lucky subscribers.  So, make sure you subscribe my newsletter on Steph's Closet and/or my channel on youtube.  To qualify for the weekly giveaway you must be a US or Canada resident.

Want to see a drop dead gorgeous shade I'm giving away to one of my twitter followers?  Click here to see.  Make sure you follow me on twitter to be included in the giveaway.  This is just an extra giveaway on top of my weekly one!

Here's a hint: she's a blue purple jelly formula with pink, gold and all sorts of goregous shimmer!  I'm so excited that I haven't even blogged about this new color yet, but I don't know how long I can hold out!

The two lucky winners this Wednesday is Vansmakeup and Dylanfilms1997!  Congrats to both!  Here's what they'll be receiving:

Vansmakeup will be getting this lovely bottle of Loreal Crystals in B Impulsive.

Dylanfilsm1997 will be receiving colorama's plum sparkle.

Congrats to both! The next giveaway will be on Feb 25th!