Tuesday, July 3, 2012

China Glaze On Safari Collection for Fall 2012 Swatches and Review!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  I'm super excited to show you this afternoon's post!  Today, I have China Glaze's Fall 2012 Collection to show you.  Yes, I know, it's only July and you just want glitter and neons and fun stuff like that but I LOVE Fall Collections!  The dark colors, the muted finishes, it's just my favorite!  Plus, I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at two of these colors back in February at NYFW so I've been really excited to see the rest of this collection!


Now, without further ado, on to the polish!




Above:  2 coats of Adventure Red-Y

Adventure Red-y is a gorgeous classic bright red creme.  This red is definitely a bit more cool toned but the opacity was great and in two coats it was very pigmented!  My pictures are showing it more pink toned but it's definitely a true red!



Above:  2 coats of Call of the Wild

You've seen this on my blog before because I got a bottle of it at the Parker Grey show during NYFW but I still love it!  Call of the Wild is a gorgeous brown/burgundy creme polish.  It looks mostly brown but you can see hint of reds around the edges!  The formula was great, opaque in two coats.



Above:  2 coats of Desert Sun

I'm going to call this color butterscotch.  Desert Sun is a creamy orangey/caramel shade that just does not play well with my skin tone.  The formula was nice, opaque in two coats and very pigmented.



Above:  2 coats of Elephant Walk

I love Elephant Walk!  Elephant Walk is a beautiful darker grey that has blue and green undertones to it that gives it a really unique look.  There is also a subtle shimmer to it that really gives it depth and dimension!  Two coats made this perfectly opaque and really beautiful.



Above:  2 coats of Exotic Encounters

Exotic Encounters is a very green leaning teal creme.  I love this color!  I absolutely adore teals and most of the ones I have are more blue leaning so it's great to add a green leaning one!  The formula was great, opaque in two coats and this polish has a great dusty quality to it, perfect for Fall!




Above:  2 coats of I Herd That

I Herd That is a glitter fairly similar to Electrify from the Hunger Games Collection but with way less red.  This polish is full of microglitter in gold, copper, a bit of red and a bit of holographic.  It's very sparkly and fun!  The finish is super grainy so the pictures above have one coat of top coat.  I was impressed that this was opaque in two coats but also would be pretty layered over a color like Desert Sun.



Above:  2 coats of I'm Not Lion

I'm Not Lion is the same type of glitter as I Herd That but with gold, silver and holographic glitter.  To my eye it's definitely more gold leaning and the scattered holographic glitter gives it a nice sparkle.



Above:  2 coats of Jungle Queen

Jungle Queen is a pretty close dupe to Chanel Paradoxal.  Jungle Queen is a very grey based purple that's very dusty and has pink and purple shimmer to it!  I couldn't get the shimmer to show up (sometimes I swear I forget my camera has a flash) but this is a true beauty of this collection!  Great formula, opaque in two coats and has a great dusty finish.



Above:  2 coats of Kalahari Kiss

I'm not sure how to describe Kalahari Kiss.  A dusty light yellow perhaps?  It's an odd color and I can't quite tell if I like it or not but the formula was great for a lighter color, opaque in two coats and very smooth.



Above:  2 coats of Man Hunt

I can never get enough of royal blue cremes and Man Hunt is a great one!  I love how vibrant it is and even though it's an opaque creme, there is something almost squishy and jelly like to it.  The formula was great, opaque in two coats and very pigmented!



Above:  2 coats of Prey Tell

So if Call of the Wild is a brown with a bit of red to it, Prey Tell is its fraternal twin that is red with a bit of brown.  I love deep, vampy reds like this for fall!  The formula was a tad bit thin on this one, it was opaque in two coats but not fully pigmented and a third coat would really make this pop!



Above:  2 coats of Purr-Fect Plum

Purr-Fect Plum is, surprise, a plum!  It's a dusty dark berry shade that's very pretty and pigmented if you're a person who likes their purples with a bit of pink to them!  Formula was good, opaque in two coats and a lot of pigment.

All in all, I liked this collection!  Not all the colors are super unique but then again, there are only so many colors in the world when you are doing a collection that doesn't have something like a duochrome or holo.  This is definitely a solid fall collection  with everything from glitter to cremes to shimmers to a couple of weird shades that I couldn't even pick a color for!  The formulas were good, a bit thick as China Glazes tend to be but even in two coats and pretty.  This collection was slated to release in July so you should start seeing it pop up wherever China Glaze is sold!


What do you think of this collection? Any must haves? Any dupes?

The products in this post were sent to me for my unbiased review. Please see my disclosure policy for more information

A Fourth of July Manicure Featuring Daring Digits Cherry Square and Blueberry Square!

Good morning my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Tuesday!  In honor of July 4th tomorrow, I did a quick red, white and blue manicure last night using some new square glitters I got from Daring Digits on Etsy and I love them!  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!











I started off with OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress as the red base and China Glaze Neon Blue Sparrow as the blue base.  Then, the blue glitter is Blueberry Square and the red glitter is Cherry Square.  Both have matte white glitter and then square glitter!  I love square glitter!  So cute!  I love how festive this is without being too in your face patriotic!  Below are a few pictures I took with my olloclip:




So there you have it, an easy and fun patriotic manicure for the Fourth of July!  Stay tuned for more patriotic nail art tomorrow!

What did you think of this manicure?

Monday, July 2, 2012

Essie Mirror Metallics Collection for Summer 2012 Swatches and Review!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  I was so excited about this post that just had to post twice today!  This afternoon, I have the new Essie Mirror Metallics Collection to show you:


This collection is comprised of 5 polishes all that have a chrome like finish to them.  I was honestly prepared to have these be a streaky, brush strokey disaster of a collection and boy, was I pleasantly surprised!  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!!!




Above:  2 coats of Blue Rhapsody

First up is Blue Rhapsody which is a gorgeous cerulean (yes I looked up the Wikipedia to make sure that's the color name I wanted) blue chrome nail polish.  It amazes me how little you can see the brush strokes!  This is just two coats which perfectly covered and even one coat was pretty close to opaque!  It's just stunning!  I love how the light reflects off of it!




Above:  2 coats of Essie Good as Gold

Good as Gold is a yellow gold chrome that kind of makes you look like you dipped your fingernails in gold.  Yes, I love it!  Sometimes yellow golds make me look sickly but this one looks really nice!  I love how shiny this is and how smooth the finish is.  Two coats made it completely even and opaque.




Above:  2 coats of No Place Like Chrome

Since I got really into nail polish, I've been searching for a nail polish with a mirror like finish.  While No Place Like Chrome isn't quite there, I could absolutely see a fuzzy reflection while looking into my nails!  No Plasce Like Chrome is a very white based silver chrome.  It's insanely shiny and you can seriously see fuzzy reflections of things in it!  It looks like tin foil!  You can see a tiny bit of brush strokes on here but if you go slow enough, you can probably cut that out!




Above:  2 coats of Nothing Else Metals

Nothing Else Metals is a lavender chrome.  Honestly, I didn't think I would be that into this one because it looks kinda pinkish in the bottle but on the nail it's really pretty!  The formula was great, opaque in two coats and no streaks!




Above:  2 coats of Penny Talk

Last but not least is Penny Talk which is described as being copper but to my eye it shows up more like a rose gold.  Either way, it's super pretty!  The formula was great, opaque in two coats and very shiny.

All in all, I really liked this collection!  Every other "chrome" nail polish I own is very brush strokey and can be a streaky mess but these applied like a dream.  I love how reflective they are and how great they look!  I did try a top coat over them and it totally dulled the chrome effect so I'd recommend not using one.  Also, if you have really severe ridges, they will show with this polish as will any dent so be sure to use a ridge filling base coat!  I found these at a Walgreens and they are starting to pop up now wherever Essie is sold.

What do you think of this collection?  Any must haves?  Any dupes?

Monochrome Monday Featuring Gradient Dots!

Good morning my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Monday!  First, I want to apologize for my lack of posting last week, about 20% of my office got knocked out by a nasty stomach virus and I was one of them!  Luckily I'm finally feeling better!  And, I have a super fun manicure for you today!  As some of you have seen, some lovely fellow bloggers and myself (and a few nail art fanatics) have been doing challenges every couple of weeks just as a fun little event between us all!  This weeks challenge was "Monochrome Monday" meaning black and white!  After seeing this amazing Gradient Dot manicure by Sarah over at Chalkboard Nails, I knew I wanted to try it using black, white and grey!  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!








Don't mind my poor broken left ring finger nail, the rest of my nails will be chopped off tonight so I don't look so lopsided!  The colors used in this manicure are Milani White on the Spot, Finger Paints Black Expressionism and Essie Cocktail Bling.  I used dotting tools to make the different sized dots and love how it came out!  I do prefer the ones with the white base more but I think it came out really fun!  It was a bit time consuming but since it's all just dots, it really wasn't too bad for how complicated it looks!  I will definitely be trying this again with different colors!  Make sure you check the links below for the other amazing ladies participating!

What did you think of this manicure?  What other colors would you like to see?


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