Essie Dive Bar

Essie Dive Bar is a deep, blackened teal shimmer and as summer is winding to a close (it's still hot as all get out, maybe I just feel like that because my kiddos started school today.  LOL), it's one of those colors that I will happily reach for when I'm in the mood for fall shades.  I absolutely love this color, and I especially love the way it appears to deepen around the edges of my nails.  The formula on Dive Bar was great and I was able to reach opacity in 2 coats.  

Dive Bar first hit shelves back in 2010 as part of Essie's retail launch, but it was also re-released last year as part of a collection.  You can find this color, as well as many other recently-released Essie polishes through Beauty Stop Online.  Dive Bar was one of those colors that I had wanted when it came out, but then it got pushed to the back of my wishlist like many, many other colors.  And as much as I love finally filling a long-time, HTF lemming, it's also nice to add those "easy-to-find, but not brand-new" polishes to your stash.  

Essie Dive Bar was provided to me for review by Beauty Stop Online.  The included link links to Essie polishes on Beauty Stop Online's website and is not an affiliate link.  

Feather Nails

I've always loved the look of feather nails, but I just do not have the patience to freehand a feather, or, even moreso, use a real feather.  So, when I saw this design in my new SHANY plates, I knew I had to give it a try.  To complete this look, I...

1. Painted my nails a base color of Nails Inc Black Taxi.

2. Using China Glaze Adore, I stamped the plume design from SHANY plate SH24

3. Applied a coat of topcoat on my ring finger and applied 3 2mm light blue rhinestones to the design on my ring finger.

4. Sealed in the rhinestones and the stamped design on the rest of my fingers using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri.

I know I've said it a thousand times, but outside of the specific stamping polishes, the China Glaze Romantiques (like Adore) are absolutely perfect for stamping.  I don't think they are in China Glaze's regular line-up, but they still are available.  I got mine, years ago, from Victoria's Nail Supply, but you can find them all over the internet.  

Nails Inc Black Taxi was provided for review.  Other products within this post were purchased by me.  The included link is not an affiliate link.

China Glaze On Safari Review

Today, I have for you four polishes from China Glaze's new fall collection, On Safari.  I'm not feeling very wordy while writing this, so I'll just jump right in to the polishes (stop... I can hear you saying "Thank God" lol)...

Adventure Red-y - deep red creme.  This is the perfect shade of red for fall, and I especially loved it on my short nails.  There is a bit of brown in the base, but not so much that it looks like dried blood (like some deep reds I've seen).  The formula on this one was perfect.  It was practically a one-coater, but I ended up doing 2 coats.

Exotic Encounters - teal green creme.  Another perfect fall variation of a color.  This one was slightly dusty in the base, and also a little more teal that my picture portrays.  The formula on this one wasn't as thick as Adventure Red-y, but I was still able to reach opacity in 2 coats.

I Herd That - small multi-colored and gold glitter in a clear base.  The multi-colored glitter is a mix of red, green, and orange, along with the prominent gold glitter.  This is one of 2 glitters in this collection.  The other one being I'm Not Lion (which I don't have).  These 2 glitters remind me of the small glitters in China Glaze's special glitters collection from 2009.  The above picture is 3 coats, and while on macro, you can see thin spots, to the naked eye, it was full coverage.  

Kalahari Kiss - yellow-based khaki creme.  This one is a bit of an odd duck, much like Classic Camel from China Glaze's 2010 Vintage Vixen collection (though of course, that one is a shimmer) or Barielle's Angora Aura.  In the bottle, I didn't think this one would work with my skin-tone, but I really like it on the nail.  The formula was a bit streaky, and was prone to slide on the nail, so I applied a coat of CND Stickey before I swatched the above picture.  With the sticky base coat, I was able to reach opacity in 2 coats.  Be sure to wait a few minutes in-between coats with this one.

I really liked all of the 4 colors in this collection that I had the opportunity to review.  My hands-down favorite was Adventure Red-y, mainly because of formula and application (plus, the color is really pretty).  That said, there isn't one in the 4 that I wouldn't recommend.  

On Safari is on sale now and China Glaze polishes retail for $7 a bottle.  If you would like to see swatches of the entire collection, I recommend checking out The Polishaholic or Scrangie, as both of them have fabulous pictures of the entire collection.  

China Glaze on Safari was sent to me for review.  The above links link to other blogs (The Polishaholic and Scrangie) and are not affiliate links.

Fingerpaints Palette of Petals

So I happened to pop in my local Sally's yesterday afternoon, about an hour before they were set to close.  Lucky for me, they'd put out all of their much-anticipated collections.  They had Orly Precious, ChG Crackle Glaze, ChG Tronica (big fail for me) and the Fingerpaints 2011 Spring collection, Palette of Petals.  They were all such beautiful colors and the display was so cute with the accompanying rings, that I had a mind to pick up all 6 of them, but the pink and the purple looked dupey and the orange would look like doo on me, so I opted for the most unique colors, Chrysanthe-mum's the Word, Carnation Creation, and Aren't You Glad-iolous.  Horrific names aside, I think I may be in love with all 3 of these...

FYI, I had a bad break on my middle finger (stupid car door), so swatches are now down to 2 fingers.  :S  I apologize, but I tried to do 3 and they looked so horrid, I figured 2 was better than looking that that hot mess.  LOL

Aren't You Glad-iolous - Pale lavender creme.  In the bottle, this looked decidedly more periwinkle (though more on the purple side of periwinkle rather then the blue).  However, when I put it on, almost all the blue disappeared on me and it became more of a grey-lavender, along the lines of Zoya Marley from the recent Intimate collection.  I was a little bummed because I was hoping for a true periwinkle (must break down and by ChG Secret Periwinkle finally), but it's still a beautiful color.  Best part?  The formula on this one, and Carnation Creation, are fab.  It flowed on the nail and if I'd wanted, could have done one coat.  I did 2, but it could have been a one-coater if I wasn't so anal about 2.

Carnation Creation - teal creme.  Okay, this one was totally frustrating to photograph.  Much like ChG Flying High from Up and Away, in the picture, it looks far more green.  If you want to see a truer swatch, please check out Kellie Gonzo's swatches.  She did a much better job of capturing the true color.  It's a great teal, and again, the best part is the formula.  I did 2 coats, but I could have easily done one.  BTW, the looks amazing topped with ChG Crackle Glaze in Lightning Bolt.  All that said, as much as I love this color... Head's up, girls... it will stain.  A base coat is not optional with this one.  I didn't wear a base, and now my nails are green.  :\   Not a big deal... just make sure not to forget that BC.

Chrysanthe-mum's the Word - Spring green creme.  This color is so happy.  I originally picked it up to recreate the look that Jen at The Polish-Aholic created using this and ChG Lightning Bolt (it's the first one in the post), but then I swatched it and realized that it's a pale green that actually looks good with my skin.  So while, I definitely plan on trying out her idea (and I told my Sally's SA about it as well), I do plan on wearing this alone as well.  The formula on this one wasn't as nice.  It seemed thicker and goopier and could probably have benefited from a drop or 20 of thinner.  2 coats.

Also, like I mentioned above, these come with these adorable stretchy rings that coordinate with the polish color...

Aren't they adorable???  Fair warning, though.  My SA told me I could swap out ring color if I wanted, I didn't, but if you wanted to make sure you picked up the ring that coordinates with the polish (the thought of them being swapped out drives me bonkers), you may want to pick these up sooner than later.

I'm pretty sure these are meant to go live tomorrow, March 1st, but there's been talk of them being out a bit early.  I got mine yesterday.

I purchased these for myself

SpaRitual Review

I recently had the chance to review a few SpaRituals.  These polishes were from the Imagine and Kaleidoscope collections.  The colors are pretty straight-forward, and  I'm not feeling very wordy this morning, so I'm just going to do color descriptions on these.

Dreams Becoming Reality - Dusty teal creme.  2 coats.  Imagine collection.

Flashback - Bright red-orange neon jelly.  As it's a neon, this one dries slightly matte (which takes away from the jelly-nes.  To get it back, just apply TC).  2 coats.  Kaleidoscope collection.

Golden Gleam - Old gold metallic.  Leans slightly mustard.  2 coats.  Kaleidoscope collection.

Living in the Moment - Greige creme.  In real life, there was a slight lavender tone to this one that didn't translate in my pictures.  2 coats.  Imagine collection.

Unconditional Love - Soft rose gold metallic.  2 coats.  Imagine collection.

I found the formula on all these to be a tad on the watery side.  It wasn't hard to control, you just had to make sure you didn't have too much on your brush.  Also, I'm not a huge fan of the brush, as it seemed a little wimpy, but maybe that's me just being in a bitchy state of sleep deprivation.  :P

SpaRitual is made by the same company as Orly, though SpaRitual is their higher-priced, "boutique" line.  They have a very "body, mind, spirit" philosophy that I get, but I also think is a little hokey.  I know in some cases, SpaRitual polishes are rumored to be re-labeled Orlys (I say rumored, because I don't think there's any concrete proof on this), but in the case of the 5 I reviewed today, I think they are all unique, or at least, I don't have any Orly dupes in my collection.  

SpaRituals are available at online etailers like Apothica.com.  They are usually priced around $10.

EDITED as SpaRituals are not available for purchase on their website.

These were sent to me for review

OPI Ski Teal We Drop in the sun

Yesterday's pic of this color looked rather dark, so I wanted you to see it in the sun.  It's an amazing color, and my favorite of the collection, and one of my favorites of all the fall collections.

I know I mention this on the right side under "pictures", but if there is anything you all want to see in the sunlight, please don't hesitate to ask.  Because I'm a SAHM with insomnia, I tend to do all my blogging/picture taking at night.  I wish I could take indoor/outdoor pics on all the polishes, but I can't stop time yet. :P I'm still working on that super-power (in my secret lab), but for now, it'll have to be upon request only.  LOL.

OPI Swiss Collection - Cremes

Okay, so I meant to get this out to you much sooner than this, but like always... time got away from me.  I swear, my days move at double-time.  LOL.  If you want to see my review of the first half of this collection, the Shimmers, click here.  Also, normally, I'm really wordy in my reviews, but due to time constraints, I'm keeping it short and to the point.  I'm sure you all are relieved.  :P

From A to Zurich - pink/red berry creme.  2 coats.

Color So Hot it Berns - bright, red creme.  Similiar to Zoya Kristi and Jessica Scarlet, though CSHiB is a bit more jelly-ish.  3 coats, and there are still faint VNLs. 

I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic - warm, chocolate brown.  Looks a bit more red in the bottle, but it's a smooth chocolate brown on the nail.  This is what I wanted RBL Au Chocolat to be.  3 coats.

Just a Little Rosti at This - browned berry-red creme.  From A to Zurich's browner, deeper sister.  2 coats.

Ski Teal We Drop - deep, yet bright teal creme.  If RBL Teal was too dark for you and Illamasqua Muse was a tad too light, try this!  This one is a bit bluer and a bit brighter than my picture would suggest.  It's a beautiful shade.  Probably my favorite of the collection, not just the cremes.  2 coats.

William Tell Me About OPI - deep aubergine creme.  This type of color, has a tendency to look a bit muddy, but I really like the finish on this one.  Beautiful and totally sexy.  3 coats. 

--

What has happened to me???  I love the cremes more than the shimmers.  Ski Teal We Drop, William Tell Me About OPI, and I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic are the top 3 for me.  The red, Color So Hot it Berns, is beautiful, but dupey, and not all that fall-ish (though what do I know... 3 companies have released similar colors in their fall collections.  :P).  The 2 berry cremes, are pretty, and I do see myself wearing them in the fall (they would look amazing with brown), but they are kind of common if you KWIM.  Formula on all 6 was PERFECT.  I <3 OPI's formula and brush more than I should.  LOL.

These are available at salons and online.  OPI retails for $8, though you can definitely find these cheaper through online sources.

These were sent to me for review

FYI - I got my new camera, and unfortunately (maybe fortunately) the flash + macros = a big blown out mess.  However, I am able to use stabilization along with no flash and the macro feature, so it's actually a better situation.  No more annoying flash marks in pics.

NOTD: RBL 360

In anticipation of my new bottle of RBL No More War arriving sometime early this week, I decided to use one of my recently acquired RBL Surf colors, 360.

RBL's website describes this color as "...a gorgeous deep-water aqua blue polish", and I have to say that I agree.  However, it's so more than that.  It has a hazy, dirtiness to it, that just doesn't come through completely in pictures.  There is also a subtle shimmer that is mostly hidden unless you are looking for it.  I absolutely love this color.  It seems like there were a lot of teal-y blues out in recent months, but this one is totally set apart.  Although, there are a few issues with it, but they are just issues that I have with RBL in general, and not specifically with 360  While the formula is amazing, I find that RBLs are also very picky.  They do not play nice with Dermelect products, nor do they work with Out the Door TC, both of which are in my regular arsenal.  So, I have to use a sticky basecoat (I use a cheapy, Amour, from TD) and SH Insta-Dri TC, but I still sometimes have a problem with bubbling. It's not too evident in the pic above, but they are there.  That said, I deal with it because I love RBLs colors. 

BTW, in case you are wondering, here's an older pic of one of 360's companion polishes, Diddy Mow. 

Unfortunately, I don't have Bangin' to round out the collection (lately, I've become totally OCD about making sure I have complete collections, especially if they are small), but , if available, I do plan on picking that one up if Ji offers her 1/2 off sale again this November (she's said in the past on FB that it will be an annual sale on Black Friday).

KOTD: OPI MPJ (holo) with ChG Flyin' High

Ah, the saga of OPI My Private Jet holo. Tell me Suzi, why in the world did you feel it necessary to replace the original, amazing, possibly the best polish OPI’s made, MPJ with the sad thing now billing itself as MPJ? MPJ 2.0 (4.0?) is an okay color, but it’s nowhere near as awesome as this. Silly Suzi.


This was a lemming I didn’t even know I had. I was fine with my current MPJ, but then I saw a pic of the original MPJ and it became a crazy obsession. I took a risk with an unknown seller, whose picture clearly showed a holo MPJ, only to have it be a regular MPJ. Said seller is now selling holo MPJ under a different item with jacked up shipping. Incidentally, if you remember my previous post about this, she never responded to my complaints. I don’t feel like really fighting it, though, so I guess I’ll let this one slide and chalk it up to bad judgment on my part.

Anyway, I managed to get another bottle off eBay, from a reputable seller, and though it was on the high side (around $20), I’m extremely happy with it. I wore this alone yesterday, and I kept looking down at my hands in amazement. I apologize for not getting a pic of this alone, but I do plan on doing a comp between holo and non-holo in the near future, so I’ll get one then.

The design is from plate m65, and I used ChG Flyin’ High as the color. It actually looks better in the pics than it does IRL, but I still like it.

BTW, I promise to get to those requests soon. I did them and then the pics didn’t turn out okay, as my camera lens was acting hinky, but I will re-do them and take pics soon.

China Glaze Flyin High Comparisons

Last night, someone on the NB, asked for a comparison between ChG Flyin High and Custom Kicks.  Both Flyin High and Custom Kicks were hard to get true-to-life, but here's the pic I took, nonetheless. 

Even though, you can't see the true color of FH, you can definitely see that it's not dupish to CK.  They are cousins, but not twins.  Aside from the shimmer, CK is greener than FH. 

Believe it or not, to me, FH looks like a blue version of Misa Dirty Sexy Money.  Here's a comp pic. 

From left to right, this is Illamasqua Muse, ChG Flyin' High, Misa DSM, and ChG Aqua Baby.  You can see the dusty-ness of FH, even if you can't see the true color (which is a dusty, mid-to-light tone teal).  Behind Muse, it's my favorite teal.  Loves it.

Previous NOTD: Illamasqua Muse

I wasn't going to succumb to the siren's call of Illamasqua, at least not yet.  I lemmed Muse pretty hardcore, but I was going to wait until I needed more NARS blush and add Muse to help me get to $50 (Sephora and their darn free shipping offer gets me everytime).  However, I recently received a $15 GC as I'm a Beauty Insider and due to a loophole, I was able to order without a minimum.  So, I got Muse for a whopping 23c. 

Now, I've heard all about Illmasqua's amazing application and I will say, in that regard, Muse did not disappoint.  It practically flowed from the brush to my nails without any effort.  It also only took one coat to reach full opacity.  The thing I didn't like is that it was totally chippy on me.  I put this on Tuesday night around 9:00p and it was off by 11:00a yesterday morning.  Granted, I was baking cookies for my kids' teachers, so I was washing my hands quite a bit, so that could have been the problem.  I want to do another run of it to see if I get the same chipping.  I really hope it was the hand washing and not the polish itself.

As for the color... *swoon*.  I think this is the teal polish I've been waiting for.  It's not too bright, not too dark, not to green and not too dusty.  It's right on the money.  It's a perfect mid-to-darker tone teal creme.  In the big RBL rush yesterday, at the last moment, I opted to remove RBL Teal from my basket and put in Frugalista (I couldn't stand the thought of not having the glitter trifecta).  Now that I've seen Muse, I'm so happy I did that.  I think Teal would have just been too dark for my tastes.  I want a teal that looks teal, and this one definitely does.

All in all, I love this.  Great color and amazing application.  I'm willing to give it a pass for now on the chippy-ness do to the fact my hands were being washed like crazy, but if it continues the next time I try, I guess I'm going to have to figure out a better base/TC regimine.  I love it that much.  LOL.  I'm definitely going to try a few more Illamasquas in the future.  I'm already jonesing for Jan and Boosh.

Illamasquas are available at Sephora (though not all colors), or you can find the full line on Illamasqua's website.  They are $14 stateside and 12 pounds in the UK.

ChG Up and Away Swatches

As I mentioned yesterday, I received samples of the new ChG collection, Up and Away. I took these yesteday, and I tried to take sun pics, but it was so overcast here, that my outside pics looked the same or worse then my inside pics. So, last night, while my husband was out gaming and my children had gone to bed, I re-swatched the entire collection indoors in my kitchen.

I want to give you fair warning that these will probably be the worst swatches you will see of this collection. I'm a total newbie at this with my new nubbins. It was hard to know how much polish to apply since I couldn't just take it off the free edge (I have no free edge to speak of). Also, this is the first time I've actually swatched a full collection, so there's definitely a learning curve. If I didn't love the collection so much, I would have just waited, but I really wanted to show these colors off. They are that beautiful. I promise that before this collection comes out, I will revisit it with, hopefully, longer and less ridge-y nails. The colors, however, are pretty accurate.  Though, I did have two that didn't come out as the right color no matter how many pics I took.

I'll do them in the order of the bottle pics I took and posted earlier.

L-R: Something Sweet, Sugar High, Peachy Keen, Lemon Fizz, Re-Fresh Mint, and Light As Air

 
Something Sweet – ChG describes this one as “cotton candy” and I think that’s a pretty good description. It’s a very sweet, pale pink that actually looked good on my pale skin and short nails. The closest thing in my collection was CC Vintage Couture. The colors are similar, but VC looks like it has more white in it. Because of this, it also looks chalky when compared to Something Sweet. It’s a beautiful Easter Egg color, and while it is a pale pink, because it was so opaque (I had to use 3 coats, but that’s more user error than anything), it doesn’t look like your everyday pale pink.

Sugar High – This one was listed as “petal pink”. Honestly, I got the description for this one and Something Sweet reversed and I thought this one was “cotton candy”. I can understand that more than “petal pink”. In reality, it’s a bright Barbie pink. It’s very close to OPI ElePhantastic Pink from last year’s India collection. The only difference is that EPP is more of a warm, creamy, Barbie pink, where Sugar High is just a creamy, Barbie pink. It does not lean warm. If you have EPP, and want to avoid like polishes in your collection, Sugar High is definitely dupe-y enough to not warrant purchasing it. However, if you love mid-tone pinks, I would pick it up no matter what. As much as I love EPP (and it’s probably my favorite pink), I think this one has surpassed it. The formula is far superior. I find EPP to be very watery, and this one is thicker and smoother. This is two coats.

Peachy Keen – This one is listed as “nectar”. When I immediate saw the color on, it looked like an orange creamsicle on me, so it took me awhile to get the nectar thing. But the more I stared at it, the more it looked like apricot nectar, especially indoors. Unfortunately, it’s too warm for my pink skin and it just doesn’t work. It’s a pretty color and would look great on someone with a tan. This was 2 coats.

Lemon Fizz – “Banana”. I found it odd that ChG named the color Lemon Fizz, yet described it as “banana”. I can see why they did it, because it’s more of a banana yellow, than a true lemon yellow, but IMO, it looks just like lemon sorbet. It’s a very light and cheerful color. I’m not a huge yellow fan, to be honest. I’ve owned a FP yellow in the past and I still have BB Couture Kokomo, but that’s more of a buttercream color than a true yellow. This one is definitely yellow, but I think it’s a very wearable yellow. It doesn’t scream “hey, I’ve got yellow fingernails!”, though. I actually liked it on me, and normally I think yellow and I don’t get along. It also reminds me of the color of my twins’ former nursery (that’s now my daughter’s room), so the whole time I was applying it, I was smiling. This is 2 coats.

Re-Fresh Mint – This one is listed as “spearmint”, and I think that’s another good description. R-FM, along all the paler colors, really looks like buttermints. I loved this color in the press release, and in the bottle, but I was really skeptical about it on. I’ve tried several mint greens in the past… OPI Hey! Get in Lime and Essie Mint Chintz, both of which looked like utter crap on me. They made the skin around my fingers look red and dirty. This one, however, did not. I’m not sure why, though. Normally, a lighter green has to have a bit of blue in it to play nice with my pink skin. R-FM has no blue in it, and it looks like it’s a yellow base. I don’t get it, but I sure like it. It’s magic! If you are dying to wear a mint green but avoid them because they don’t work with your skin, consider getting this one. It’s truly perfect. It also killed my lemming for Essie Mint Candy Apple, and I’m glad for that since I prefer ChG’s formula. This is 2 coats.

 
Light As Air – This is another one that I don’t get the description. ChG states this is “periwinkle”, but IMO, it isn’t blue enough to be periwinkle. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an amazing color. Just not periwinkle. Seriously. Where has this been my entire life. For years, I’ve tried to find the perfect opaque lavender crème. It looks great with my pale skin without making me look like a corpse. This was three coats, but again, as with Something Sweet, that may be user error.

L-R: Heli-Yum, High Hopes, Happy Go Lucky, Four Leaf Clover, Flyin' High, Grape Pop

Heli-Yum – “Raspberry”. Again, ChG is pretty dead on with their descriptions on most of these. This one looks like the crème version of OPI California Raspberry. It looks a bit lighter and brighter than CR, but they are definitely cousins. It’s a very juicy color. It looks like the raspberry sauce you get with the Great Wall of Chocolate at P.F. Chang’s. Mmmm. I love it with my skintone. Application on this one was amazing. It was one of the two that was a one-coater.

High Hopes – This one list called “guava”. It does look like a brighter version of the guava cubes in a tropical fruit salad.  Guava also gives me a general "tropical" feeling and I think this color has it.  However, if I were doing the describing, I would have called it coral. Bright coral, to be exact. This is exactly what I wanted CC Sexsea to be. While Sexsea turned out to be a bright, orangey red on me, this one is truly a coral. As I’m typing this, I have CC Sexsea, OPI Cajun Shrimp, and High Hopes side-by-side, and I have to say that this one is my favorite. It’s definitely on the warmer side, but not nearly as orange as the other two, which makes it work with my pale, pink-based skin. This is a perfect summer color and would look amazing as a pedi. This is 2 coats.

Happy Go Lucky – It’s labeled as “sunshine yellow” and they weren’t even kidding. Like with Peachy Keen, I wasn’t really a fan of this one. It’s a pretty color, and on someone with a tan, who could rock out a bright yellow, it would look gorgeous. It just looked really weird on me.  Though, I may get a wild hair and wear it in the summer anyway. It’s a very bright, though not neon yellow. I’ll say though, that I know yellow formulas get a bad rap, but this one applied just fine. Any streaking that was there was gone with the second coat.

Four Leaf Clover – ChG calls this one “kelly green”, and it’s dead on. You can’t tell at all from the picture, as this one was a total beast to photograph.  It's definitely NOT the weird bluey/green/turquise in the picture.  I swear I tried like 100x to get a good pic.  You’d think it was a purple, it was that hard. This one really reminded me of Illamasqua Elope. I’d been secretly lemming Elope for sometime, but I’d been avoiding it due to the fact it was a brighter green, and because it was available in the UK only. Now, that I have FLC, there’s no need to order Elope (and I was seriously considering it when I was able). Also, this green, like R-FM actually worked well with my skin. It’s a very happy surprise. This is 2 coats.

Flyin’ High – “Teal”. Well, hello luvah. *gasp* I’ve been lemming teals pretty hardcore lately. I’ll buy them in just about any incarnation. And while I’ve yet to shell out the big bucks for RBL Teal or Illamasqua Muse, if it’s a teal, and cheap… I’ll get it. In the pic, this one looks like a sky blue, kinda similar to ChG Sky-High Top. It’s not. It’s definitely a teal rather than a blue. It’s a mid-tone, dusty teal. It’s much more similar to Misa Dirty Sexy Money, with DSM being slightly greener and dustier. I loved this one so much; I think I could wear it for days and not get sick of it. It looked nice with my skin as well. It’s also killed my lemming for Muse. Gotta love these lemming killers. This was 2 coats.

Grape Pop – ChG describes this one as “bright plum”. I don’t really get plum from it, though. When I think of plum, I think of a purple with a lot of red. This one is a true purple. It’s like the color of grape candy. If there was such a thing, I’d call it an opaque jelly. It has that candy look of a jelly, but it’s not transparent at all. Awhile back, I bought Misa Sorry Just Can’t Help It to be a stand in for RBL Mismas. I love the color of Mismas, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger on an $18 purple crème. Now, I don’t own Mismas, but this one looks to be very similar, if a bit darker. It’s definitely squashed my lemming. This was the other one-coater.

Again, I want to apologize for the state of the pics, and for the state of my nails (though I think they are actually starting to look good), but I really wanted you all to see just how amazing these colors are.  Seriously, there's not one I can't stand.  If I had to pick a least favorite, it would probably be Peachy Keen, but that's just because it looked gross on me.  It's still a beautiful polish.  If I had to pick a favorite, well... just shoot me now.  I love just about all of them.  I guess the numero uno would be Flyin' High, but Light As Air, Grape Pop, Four Leaf Clover, and Re-Fresh Mint are all up there, too.  The formula on all these was great.  I had a few issues, but I think that's just because I'm not used to polishing on my natural nails and short nails, to boot.

Just in case, you missed my post earlier, I emailed Irene to ask when this would be available and she said mid-January.  I'm pretty sure it's going to be available at Sally's and all the regular etailers.

Special Thanks to China Glaze

Sinful Nail Junkie vs. ChG Atlantis

As you may be aware, Sinful Colors are B1G1F this week at Walgreen's.  And though I'm on a no-buy, I still allowed myself to pick up a few because they were essentially a buck each.  One of the colors I got was Nail Junkie.  As soon as I took it out of the display, I was reminded of ChG Atlantis, one of the new specialty glitters ChG put out a couple months ago.  So I figured it would be a good comparison post.  In fact, I remember someone asking on the NB how Nail Junkie compared to Atlantis.  I don't remember the responses though, so I just decided to do my own.  :)

Based on bottle pics alone, NJ and Atlantis look remarkably similar. 

Both are an aqua/teal base with glitter.  One of the main differences you notice in the bottle is that NJ has golden based glitter and Atlantis has silver based glitter.  Also, the glitter in NJ is different sizes, while it looks to be uniform in Atlantis. (EDIT: it's not uniform in Atlantis, you can see the difference if you enlarge the pics).   Lastly, Atlantis has holo glitter while NJ does not.  Those three differences aside (which I know to a NP addict seem like big differences), they do look like they would look fairly similar on the nail. Unfortunately, the bottle is where the similarities end.

I've already posted about the awesomeness of Atlantis, if you want to see a post about it alone (just click the link).  It really is an amazing polish.  NJ, however, not so much (on it's own, that is).  It looks so promising in the bottle, but alone, it just doesn't work, IMO.  The base is very sheer, unlike Atlantis.  Here's a pic of one coat of each polish:

Atlantis is on top, NJ is on bottom.  See how pigmented Atlantis is compared to NJ?  You can barely see base color in NJ.

Here's my final pic.  This is three coats of Atlantis and four coats of NJ:

NJ is on the left and Atlantis is on the right (sorry for all the turned pictures, blogger is not cooperating with me since I changed to the new editor). 

In this pic, you can see just how different they are.  They look like they would be so similar, but NJ is definitely a layering polish while Atlantis can be worn on it's own.  I know I used three coats of Atlantis in this pic, but it was pretty much opaque at two.

Also, I know I've pretty much complained about NJ in this post, but if you plan on getting and using one of these two for layering, I think NJ is your best bet.  It's very sheer, which on it's own is pain, but in layering, when you want the bottom color to show through, I think it would be ideal.  I think it would be beautiful over black or even a blue/green color like ChG TuT, Sinful Aqua, or OPI Teal the Cows Come Home.  You could also add a coat of ChG Fairy Dust if you wanted it holo like Atlantis.  For me, Atlantis is just too pigmented for layering. 

You can find Sinful Colors at Walgreen's, some Targets (mine just recently got them), and online both at Cherry Culture and Sinful's own website.  While Walgreen's doesn't have as big a collection as the online sites (Target's selection seemed smaller than Walgreen's), they do have the most sales and the cheapest everyday price point.  They are normally $1.99 at Walgreen's and like I mentioned above, this week, they are B1G1F. 

NOTD: ChG Blk-Bila-Bong

This color is from the 2007 Surf Collection from China Glaze. It's d/c and not available at TD, but I bought mine from my favorite eBay seller, Imf0rsale. I paid approx. $16 shipped for 3 colors from this collection. That's $5.33 each. A little on the high side for ChG, but certainly doable. I also got Pink-Rox-E and White-Kwik-Silvr. I bought these b/c I am absolutely in love with the ChG glass fleck shimmer. And colors from the Surf collection aren't super HTF like other glass flecked collections (Tequila Toes, Martini Pedicure and others). I also have 3 otherglass flecked polishes... Strawberry Fields and Raspberry Festival from Summer Days and Blue Island Ice Tea from the Bahama Blues collection.

I love this color (with a few caveats). It's so beautiful in the light. However, I had the same problem with BBB that I had with Russian Navy, though RN was never redeemable for me. BBB looked a little flat and muddy on the nail. Thankfully 3 coats of TC fixed that. Plus, it's black w/ teal flecks, but it just looks black unless you are studying it, so it has a tendency to look a little goth. Also, I left my glue-ons a bit long for this mani, so the black wasn't doing me any favors. All along, though, I knew I wanted to do something with this color and OPI Teal the Cows Come Home. I thought TtCCH would be the perfect compliment to BBB and really bring out the teal shimmer. I was right. :) This mani went from being stark and slightly off-putting to gorgeous by adding a french and a bit of konadding.

Let me just say that the using konad with TtCCH was rather difficult. My original plan was to do use the konad on all my fingers, but I just stuck with the ring fingers because I had problems. I had a hard time getting it to scrap and transfer. Could have been a problem w/ the plate, though, now that I'm thinking of it. I had really good luck with m2 last week, but m40 has always been a PITA for me. It's like the laser cuts don't go deep enough or something. I have a hard time w/ it working with special konad polish. Much less another brand.



Also there are some girls on the NB that do amazing frenches, both with guides and freehand (jealous). I am not one of those girls. I do okay. I haven't bought any guides and I'm trying to not buy anything np related until August. I've been really spendy the last few months. So, I'm just going to make do for awhile. So, as you can tell, I'm not a freehand french expert, but I think it looks okay, especially from arm's length. LOL. It's when you get to macro closeups that it looks like shiz.

All in all, I really like BBB, maybe even love it, but I think for me, having a color, like TtCCH to offset the starkness of the black is a must. Maybe trying shorties is a good option for BBB also. Also, this would probably look good with a Sinful glitter over it. Like Pearl Harbor. Also, I've heard that BBB is a good dupe for Chanel Nuit de Russie from last fall's Moscou collection. I don't own NdR and I'm not going to own it as it's sold out (nevermind it was $30 retail to begin with) and it's going for $50 on eBay. Crazy talk. Steph's Closet(http://www.stephscloset.com/) even mentions BBB as a good alternative to NdR. So if you've been lemming NdR, perhaps BBB will be a good substitute.