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Glitter

Saturday, February 2nd 2008

MAC Cosmetics: Upcoming Collection Dates

An MAC ADDICT Ultimate Resource for 2008 

Slimshine - 2/7/08 (Int'l March 2008) Permanate MAC Line
Don’t speak. Lips are in danger of all manner of delicious indiscretion. Seductive in colour, shine and staying power. Seven new Slimshine Lipstick shades and 13 bring-back shades invite colourful, ultra-glossy conversations. People will talk.  

Check out the review and photo swatches for MAC's Slimshines Collection.

Mineralize Foundation - (LE) The release date keeps changing
Making headlines with our lightest mineral infusion yet! This unique loose powder foundation brushes on to adhere smoothly to the skin. Provides a radiant natural matte finish with medium-buildable coverage, and SPF 15 for everyday sun protection.

Fafi - 2/14/08 (Int'l March 2008) (LE)
A trendy collection inspired by the French Graphic Artist, Fafi. 

Check out MAC's for Fafi product photos, review & swatches part 1 and review & swatches part 2. 

Strobe - 3/6/08 limited edition
This collection includes: Strobe Liquid, Strobe Cream, Strobe Lip Conditioner, and 4 different shades of Tinted Lip Conditioners.

Check out the review and photo swatches for MAC's Strobe collection.  

Viva Glam VI - 3/6/08
Introducing a Special Edition VG VI Lipglass and new spokesperson into our mix - Fergie! A radical spirit, Fergie burst onto pop culture as female lead in the Black Eyed Peas. She joins Eve and Dita von Teese in speaking out on behalf of VIVA GLAM VI.

Check out review and photo swatches for the new Viva Glam VI Lipglass. 

Beauty Powder Blush - 3/13/08 (Int'l April 2008) (LE)
A micronized powder blush with a subtle pearlize pigment, 8 new shades and 2 re-promoted makeup brushes.

Check out review, swatches and product photos for MAC's newest Beauty Powder Blush. 

Heatherette - 3/20/08 (Int'l April 2008) (LE)
24-Hour Party People know what time it is when N.Y.'s counter-culture couturiers create a paint-by-numbers world of drama with two glittering looks. Choose from Good Girl for day, Bad Girl for night...or be the superstar you are and flip it!

Check out the review, swatches and product photos for MAC's Heatherette Collection.

Euristocrats - 4/1/08 European Stores only 

Naked Paris - Sheer pink brown with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (lustre)

Rue D' Bois - Sheer mid tone pink with multi dimensional pearlized pigments (lustre)

Patisserie - Sheer creamy neutral pink (lustre)

Barcelona Red - Frosty deep coral (frost)

Costa Chic - Frosty light coral (frost) ***A LUST have for coral lovers***

Milan mode - Sheer deep pink with multi dimensional pearlized pigments (lustre)

Going Dutch - Frosty mid tone pink (frost)

Saint Germain - Pastel pink (amplified creme)

London Life - Sheer deep berry with multidimensional pearlized pigments (lustre)

Ramblas Red - Blue red (amplified creme)

Cockney - Sheer yellow red with multi dimensional pearlized pigments (lustre)

Neon Orange - Bright clean orange (Amplified Creme) (PRO Store)

Show Orchid - Vivid hot pink (Amplified Creme) (PRO Store)

Full Fuchsia - Bright clean warm pink (Amplified Creme) (PRO Store)

Fast Play - Medium neutral pink with plum-brown undertones (Amplified Creme) (Repromote)

Bombshell - Soft bright rosy-pink with golden shimmer (Frost) (Repromote)

Check out Specktra's fabulous swatches for this colorful lipstick collection.

Dress Camp - 4/17/08 (Int'l April 2008) extremely rare and "very limited"
Super hot Asia exclusive collection.  This collection will not be available at MAC stores only online.

Check out the review, swatches and product photos for Asia's Dress Camp.

Dazzleglass - 5/1/08 (Int'l May 2008) (LE)
Electro-pearl atoms blast their light as Lipglass gets the dazzle treatment. High-shine + large particle quartz and opal crystal captured in a great new formula with light-reflecting, crystalline iridescence. To be this dazzling: that's power!

Check out the review, swatches and product photos for MAC's new glitter lipgloss.

Naughty Nauticals - 5/1/08 (Int'l May 2008) (LE) 3-part release
Sailors, ahoy! In her fleet of pinks, corals, reds, and the deepest navy Nail Lacquer seen this side of Marseilles, she's uniformly chic, and cruising for romance. In style and desire, she's poised for perfection. Go overboard!  

Check out the review, swatches and product photos for this Naughty collection. 

Stowaways Quad - 5/1/08 Part of the Naughty Nauticals Collection and only available at Nordstrom.

Skinsheen - 5/1/08 (LE) (Int'l June 2008)
Legs...Bronzed to distraction. Seductive and cruise-worthy. A sprayable lightweight gel that unlike your fancy, never drifts. Brushes lightly and flawlessly over the skin. For the ultimate secret application and smoothest sheen, try the 179 Body Buffer Brush.     

Neo Sci-Fi - 5/29/08 (Int'l June 2008) (LE) 3-part release
Spinning glamour into another orbit: our magnetic field of hot fluorescents, modern buffs, beiges and flesh tones are destined to test the laws of your style gravity. With these supersonic shades and neon orange compacts, go shock the galaxy! 

Check out the review, swatches and product photos for the Neo Sci Fi Collection. 

Future Earth - 5/29/08 (Int'l June 2008) (LE)
Lava-licious! The power of Volcanic Ash brought into one dynamic all-black element, Volcanic Ash Exfoliator. Mineral-rich. Cleanses, exfoliates, makes skin look radiant. Its glowing compliment: new Prep + Prime Microfine Lip Refinisher.

Check out the reviews, swatches and product photos for the Volcanice Mask and Lippie.  

Solar Field - 5/29/08 (Int'l June 2008) (LE)
Alternate sun power. Glamour beams across the universe via new Solar Bits: free-formed clusters of rich pigment and pearl. Its full-volt complement: skin made provocatively golden through Bronzing Powder in Solar Riche and Refined Golden

Check out the review, swatches and product photos for the Solar Field Collection.  

Tendertones - 5/29/08 (Int'l June 2008) (LE)
Sexier on the lips than balm. Silkier than gloss. More protective than naked. A lipcolour that combines soft shine, easy glide, and double-smooth satin finish with an everyday sun protective formula. To treat your lips...Love 'em tender.

Check out the review, swatches and product photos for this cult lip balm.  Check out Loreal's HiP Jelly Balm - is an excellent alternative that's actually better than MAC.

Summer Trend Bags - 5/29/08 (Int'l June 2008) (LE)
Shine-blasted. Shockingly fluorescent. Our easygoing Softsac goes patently neon in three tote-along sizes: mini, small and medium. Utterly functional and fun. The best complement to the M·A·C Neo Sci-Fi collection. Available in three buzzed-up colours. 

Cool Heat - 6/12/08 (Int'l July 2008) (LE)
Some looks are too hot for summer to handle but not Cool Heat. Sweltering corals, chill-out blues, complemented by Turquatic and its warm new sister shade, Turquatic Heat, create this season's coolest - and steamiest - beauty paradox.

Check out the review, swatches and product photos for this energetic collection. 

New View - 7/08
Natural and Shimmer. The split personality of powder to sheerly and subtly perfect skin with dimensionality and mineralized starshine. These Mineralize Skinfinish duos are state-of-the-art simplicity, high-resolution finish. 

Sonic Chic - 7/08
Mineralize Blush to break the style barrier: Screamingly chic, but soft, sheer, lightweight. Enhance cheekbones, create planes and contours with the 181 Buffer Brush for flawless blending. The fastest route to perfection yet is Ultra-Sonic.

Check out the Review and Photo Swatches. 

Electroflash - 7/08
Mineralize Eye Shadow in nine new duos with unblinking courage, and convincing new combinations. Add Lipglass and Lipsticks with quantum physics energy, in companion colours and electro-lustres. Electricity is our most precious resource...everybody, electrified!

Check out the Review and Photo Swatches. 

Colour Forms - 7/18/08 (Int'l August 2008) (LE) Nordstrom Exclusive

Lustre Twins - 7/31
Nine new shades of Pro Longwear Lustre Lipcolour featuring an exclusive sheer pigment top coat, with three Nail Lacquers. Separate if you must, but these Lustre Twins shouldn't live without each other. Codependent couture colour and shine starts here! 

Starflash - 7/31
Hollywood's new Power Couple. Our 12 new limited-edition Starflash shadows, combined with Kohl Power Eye Pencil. Shades for a smooth, creamy, cushioned life. Provides the double-wattage impact that will take you to the new stylesphere!

Check out the photo swatches and review. 

Cult of Cherry - 8/21 The new forbidden fruit. Deep, dark, dramatic. Lips ripened with juicy cerises and intoxicating kirsches while eyes smoulder in luscious spiced chocolate. With its sense of way-to-go dark, this is how we separate the bitter from the sweet...Fall drama just got more delicious. 

Check out the photo swatches, review, lip looks using cult of cherry lipstick colors, nail polish swatches and my makeup haul.  

Overrich - 8/21 Fall for luscious. Eight pigments that keep you de-lovely and delicious as ever. Oxidized, rich-metal hues are a cakewalk to apply, for eyes, face and all the sweet spots...These Overrich pigments satisfy an appetite for glamour.  

Check out the photo swatches, review and my makeup haul.

Suite Array - 9/25 Check-in to the double-delight luxury of our new Eye Shadow Suite. Eight shadow duos in unexpectedly fresh and frivolous colours paired with one of our new Pearlglide Eye Liners will provide you with all the accoutrements of day and night bedroom eyes.

Check out the review and photo swatches. 

Gold Fever - 9/25

MAC for Ungaro - 9/25 Dreamy, softly impressionistic, reverential...To celebrate his exciting debut, It-Designer, Esteban Cortazar, celebrity makeup artist, Sharon Dowsett, and M·A·C come together backstage to create a colour collection in the spirit of today's Ungaro.

Check out the review and photo swatches. 

Red She Said - 10/16 The retro-starlet allure of Hollywood glamour, with a modern twist. A season where lips connive, then confess in shades of provocative holiday reds. Party season and passions flare! "Red" She Said, and no one could resist her.

Check out the review and photo swatches.

Tuesday, February 19th 2008

MAC Cosmetics: Dazzleglass Glitter Lipgloss

Description: Hi-Tech Shimmer with Multi-Dimensional reflection sparkling gliltters and pigments providing maxium high powered shine that lasts for hours.  Appealing to wear; lush, and sparkling like diamonds.  Sensational in application that moisturzes and soothes the lips to make them look luxuriously fabulous.  Contains vitamain E to keep lips looking full and lush.

Dazzleglass happened to stumble upon ebay early!  These dazzling lip beauties don't officially release to MAC stores until May of 2008.  I have no idea how sellers get a hold of products this early.  But, no questions asked, I had to try a couple of them.  The name is so darn catchy.  It just sounds like a lip gloss full of glitter, and that is exactly what it is.

The two shades I ordered are Money Honey and Funtabulous.  I have to say I love dazzleglass!  I am really impressed with the texture of these lipies.  Their not as stick as the lipglass and filled with tons of glitter with makes it a plus in my book.  And, I'm all about glitter, so I'm loving these!  There are so many colors that are going to be available, and I honestly can say, every single one looks appealing to me.

Check out all the rainbow of colors...... photo swatches and product photos.

Tuesday, March 18th 2008

MAC Cosmetics: Heatherette Launched Online

24-Hour Party People know what time it is when N.Y.'s counter-culture couturiers create a paint-by-numbers world of drama with two glittering looks. Choose from Good Girl for day, Bad Girl for night...or be the superstar you are and flip it!

Can't wait for the Heatherette collection?  Well, the collection launched today on MAC Cosmetics website.  The collection releases early in all MAC stores on March 20th, 2008.

Stay tuned for reviews and photos swatches on the Heatherette Collection.

FEATURED - Thursday, March 20th 2008

MAC Heatherette: Review and Swatches

 

Forget the reviews, the photo swatches justify everything!  I tried to get high quality pictures for you guys on the MAC Heatherette Collection.  But, as always its hard to capture beautiful color.

Overall, I really liked the Heathertte collection with the exception of a few items. MAC's previous collection, Fafi, which many of us were disappiointed (excluding myself), was my favorite.  I have to be honest, I really loved the Fafi collection.  I think many of us really didn't give Fafi a chance due to the bold daring colors and was hyptonized by Heatherette's pink packaging (ha ha I was).

On to the Heatherette collection.  WOW!  Fafi who?  This collection is going to be the Barbie loves MAC collection of 2008, and is going to be sold out extremely fast!  I always advise people not to wait when it comes to MAC's limited edition collections.  Because, you don't wanna pay those outrageous ebay prices.  If you love pink foremost, then this is a must have collection in your beauty wardrobe. 

Heatherette Lipstick and Lipglasses.  I purchased every color except Fleshpot Lipstick and Bonus Beat Lipglass.  They just seemed really dull and boring to me, compared to all the others from this colorful collection.  Fleshpot and Bonus Beat are somewhat similar to the Lollipop Loving and Sock Hop, as you can see by these swatches.  The only true difference is Lollipop Loving and Sock Hop are more orangish rather than beigish. 

The Heatherette Collection Eye Shadow Trio's. It was really hard to pick one eye shadow Trio, so I choose both.  My philosphy, whenever in doubt, get both.  No, really I don't condone that, because it will get you and your checkbook in trouble.  But, I did end up purchasing both, because they are equally beautiful.  Heatherette Trio 1 is my favorite out of the two, only because it has a gorgeous shimmery blue color.

The Heathertte Collection Glitter and Pigments.  The most definite stand out colors amoung the glitters and pigments are, Pink Pearl and 3D Silver.  Pink Pearl, described as a mid-tone pink color with blue undertones, that makes this color really pretty.  Another bonus to Pink Pearl is it can be used on your eyes, cheeks, lips, etc.  Pink Pearl paired up with Fafi's, Fun n Sexy lipstick (which also has blue undertones) would look great together.  3D Silver, describled as a multi-reflective silver metallic glitter, is right up my alley.  Although, 3D Silver is not eye safe, you can use it for other purposes.  The MA had $$$$$ Yes, mixed up with the 3D silver glitter and looked hot paired together.

MAC Heatherette Dual Edge Eye Pencils.  I love these bold pretty colors!  My must haves are the Pop Blue/Black Funk and Fab Orchid/Dash Lily.  I also liked Nighhawk/Front Row but, haven't decided if I'm purchasing it yet.

 

The Heatherette Beauty Powders.  I had to pass on both beauty powders, just because I recently purchased two gorgeous beauty powders from the previous, Fafi collection.  Beleive it or not there is actually a swatch for Alpha Girl (very faint cool pink color).  Alpha Girl, described as a light pink with gold nuances.  The color is unbeleivealble light, I put numerous coats on my NC25/30 skin, and the pink is still very faint.  I think this color will be more appealing for cooler skin tones.  Smooth Harmony, described as a medium gold bronze color that is more on the organish side but, had great color payoff, espically for those with darker skin tones.  Smooth Harmony, is a color that would be more appealing to me rather than Alpha Girl. 

 

The Heatherette Nail Polishes.  The stand out color out of the two is, $$$$$ Yes.  I happened to pick up both colors, because Lola Devine is a nice coral shade I've been looking for.  Lola Devine, described as a soft mid-tone coral (cream) nail polish color.  This is a true coral color nail polish that is very pretty.  If you've been looking for that perfect coral color, well, Lola Devine is what your looking for.  $$$$$ Yes, described as a metallic silver foil (frost) nail polish color.  The MA had $$$$$ Yes combined with 3D silver glitter, and just looked devine. I really liked this color also. 

Check out an great alternative to MAC's, $$$$$ Yes nail polish. 

 

The MA's went on and on about these pantent leather-look lashes way before this line was even released.  So, this was a must have for me.  I haven't personally worn them yet, but, saw them on and they look pretty hot.  If you love MAC's number 7 eyelashes, you will love these.  I love that they are very natural looking.  I'm saving these beauties for a special night out.

Check out the photos at the MAC's Heatherette Launch party in Los Angeles, CA.

FEATURED - Saturday, June 28th 2008

Product Review: NYX Glitter Creme Pallet

My order from Cherry Culture finally came in and I'm star struck from the beauty of these new colors from NYX.  Glitter Cream Pallets are an multi-purpose gel based glitter in a combination of five colors.   Love giltter but hate the mess?  Well, these are the perfect glitter fix for your all your needs.

Glitter may not be practical for everyday use but, they sure are fun!  NYX Creme Palettes are great for an night out with the girls, a holiday occasion or just to spice your night.  Although, I don't wear glitter much, my collection is filled with jars of MAC glitter, eyeliners, and so fourth.  The image of sparkling diamonds being swept on my face is what draws me in.  And, who doesn't love to sparkle?!

Every since last year I've been eyeing these beauties.  But, ya know, it's glitter, it wasn't a first priority to me until I saw two new colors.  Bronze Godess and Ice Queen are two universal colors you can use for anything.  Since their multi-purpsose you can pretty much put them anywhere - face, body, eyes.  How fab is that!

Things I love: The Price - $4.00 for five colors! The gel base texture stays put forever and ever.  Almost too long, which makes it a little tough to take off.  But, I'm not complaining about something that stays on forever, come on?!  As long as you use good makeup remover or wipes your in good shape,  Glitter in a cream texture, a great idea - who would of thought?  I can't tell how much I dread dragging out my Benefit Shelaq or MAC mixing medium just to apply glitter.  In fact, this is one of the reasons I don't wear glitter and the mess, of course.  Multi-purpose so you dont have to worry about if it's eye safe, body safe, etc.

Things I dislike: I'm not complaining about the staying power but, I can see this being a problem for others espically, if your not familar with glitter.  Since, this is gel based you have to get it right the first time, usually.  Make sure glitter is the very last step in your makeup routine because if you make a mistake, it's not moving and you'll end up with glitter everywhere.  Completely re-doing your makeup would be a huge pain in the butt.  Check out the photo swatches below.

 

Overall, this is an fantastic deal for what you get and is available is six different color pallets.  After playing with the colors, I found the glitter is more versatile when using on your body or as a glitter eyeliner.  The only true disadvantage to these beauties is the aftermath.  Glitter is usually, welll, all over the place.  But, if you get it right the first time you should no problems because it certainly stays put.

FEATURED - Wednesday, April 23rd 2008

MAC Cosmetics: Dazzleglass Collection Launched

It's Here!  Dazzleglass made it's first appearance a month or so ago on ebay.  But, it's officially launched on MAC's website, in a rainbow of dazzling colors.  Dazzleglass should be available in most MAC stores on Thursday or Friday.   

Lipcolour that dazzles with light and shine to bring an exciting dimensional pop to your lips. Large particle pearls reflect and refract light to mimic the brilliance of quartz and opal crystal. Provides exceptional shine with a crystalline iridescence. Non-sticky, non-tacky, lightweight and moisturizing. Glides on. Wear alone, or layer over lipstick or Lipglass for dramatic effect. Features our signature M·A·C vanilla aroma. 1.92 g / 0.06 us oz. US$16.50.

Stay tuned for all the color swatches.  Check out MAC's online swatches below.

FEATURED - Friday, May 2nd 2008

A Colorful Storybook to a Happy Ending

Product: Sephora Colorful Story Palette

Price: $35.00   (an $80.00 value)

Steph's Rating:

Buy it: Sephora, Limited Edition

Recommend: Yes

Nobody can tell a colorful story like Sephora!  Sephora introduces a limited edition palette feauting 16 of their best selling eye shadow colors.

This is such an fantastic deal!  I originally only purchased this because I needed an item for free shipping!  Sephora always gets ya with that free shipping!  I was automatically drawn to this colorful storybook palette.  But, hesitated for a minute because I've never tried Sephora's eyeshadows.  I knew it couldn't be too bad because they are my #1 beauty authority.  Plus, this would be a perfect Mother's Day gift also.

Overall, this limited edition palette has some great colors choices.  And, is the perfect palette to travel or take on-the-go.  What's great about this palette is the colors are all seasons appropriate which makes this a fab deal!  The only drawback I had is the quality (hey, I'm a MAC girl, I have high expectations).  It is fairly good quality, that is why I rated this 4 kisses but, not the best.  I found that the shadows worked best with a good base such as Urban Decay or my personal fav MAC Paint Pots.

Check out the palette colors below.

The colors featured in this palette include: Strass 7 (charcoral black with silver glitter), 9 (taupe shimmer with gold glitter), 3 (gold shimmer with gold glitter), 2 (silver shimmer with silver glitter); Pearl 8 (champagne beige pearl), 1 (white pearl), 9 (coral pearl), 7 (soft bronze pearl); Chrome 4 (vibrant iridescent teal-turquoise sheen), 3 (brown-green iridescent sheen), 6 (pale opalescent sheen), 2 (rich plum sheen); Mat 6 (matte white), 3 (matte chocolate brown), 7 (matte deep burgundy), 1 (matte charcoal black).

Check out the photo swatches below.  The photo swatches are in the same order as displayed in the picture above.

 Wowza!!!  Chrome No. 4 is my absolute favorite out of the palette....

Chrome No. 3 is a very unique color.  A brown-green iridescent color, that tops off at my second favorite.

 A little more pictures below....

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 - Wednesday, June 18th 2008

Lippmann Summer Collection: Review, Swatches

Product: Lippmann Nail Polish

Colors: Shut up and Drive,  Lady Marmalade

Buy it: Lippmann, Nordies

Price: $15.00

Recommend: Yes, if you like shimmers

The lippmann collection introduces two gorgeous shimmery shades for summer.  I wanted to start off my nail polish swatches with a little glitz and glam delivered right to your nails.  Which, is exaclty what these two shades delivers.

Lady Marmalade, a sizzling coral strawberry shade named after the classic disco song and Shut up and Drive, is a drop-dead gorgeous magenta with Tons of silver shimmer named after Rihanna's top 40 hit.  We all know how much our girl , Rihanna love those magenta based shades!  And, Deborah Lippmann did an excellent job creating this color to fit Rihannas style. 

I'm not going to spend much time on this review because the photo's pretty much explain everything.  However, these polishes are semi-sheer, glossy and take serveral coats to accomplish a good color pay-off.  Shut up and Drive required three heavy applications and Lady Marmalade four.  Personally, I dread applying more than two coats of polish because I'm not patient enough to sit still.  But, after seeing the end result - it's worth the wait.  Keep in mind my nail tips are extremely white (almost french manicure white).  It does take a little more than average to completely cover my nail and the heavy coating may have contributed to that factor.  Check out the all photo swatches below.

Lady Marmalade is much more sheer and has the least amount of shimmer compared to Shut up and Drive.  Four heavy applications were used in the swatch above.  And, to be honest, I could probably use an additional coat.  Lady Marmalade is a great shade, espically if you don't fancy too much shimmer or glitter. 

Hello...., gorgeous!  Aren't you going to look so fab on my hand and toes! I am completely speechless and hyptonized by this gorgeous magenta shade!  Shut up and drive is absolutley beautiful and the photos don't justify the true color pay-off.  Now, when I say this color has lots of shimmer - I'm talking about TONS.  The silver glitter is so overpowering it takes over the nail polish and you'll start to notice an metallic sheen. 

The metallic sheen is really hard to capture digitally.  But, you can start to see some metallic in the photo above.

Shut up and Drive and Lady Marmalade are great shades for summer.  Super glittery, fun, and perfect for those nights out with the girls or just some good ole fun.

Are you guys feeling these colors? 

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 - Sunday, July 6th 2008

Get your metallic on with Sally Hansen

Metallic's are on fire this summer and Sally Hansen introduces three superstars to the collection.  Gilty Pleasure - a gold with gold glitter, Bronze Ambition - a bronze with silver glitter and Shooting Star - a silver with silver glitter.  These metallics are drenched in silver flecks making the texture a tad bit chunck but none the less gorgeous.

Why pay more?  These three additions retailing at $4.99 each are great alternative colors to some of the pricer metallic polishes out there.  All three colors should be available now at your local stores or Sally retailers.  Check out the photo swatches below.

 

Although the texture is on the chunky side, it's not as bad as China Glaze's ink collection.  I really disliked the ink collection due to the gritty and chuky feeling on my nails - I prefer a smooth clean application.  All my swatches were used with two coats and had no application issues.  When you apply additional coats, say 3 or 4, that's when the chukniess may come in.  But, nothing a top coat won't fix!

I wanted to get some swatches up real quick and I'll be posting individual swatches later this week.

Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July!  Mine was kinda blah - it rained and rained but that didn't stop the fireworks.

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 - Saturday, July 26th 2008

Milani Cosmetics: Runway Eyes Swatches, Review

Milani introduced these capturing eye shadow gems quite sometime ago and my local CVS is always, I mean always, sold out.  But, Friday was my lucky day as there was only about five of these beauties left.  Milani Runway Eyes ($4.99) are available in 12 stunning colors and are a silky, smooth eye shadow that delivers unbelieveable color that can be applied wet or dry.  A two end applicator is included with the compact.  One side is a sponge for wet applications and the other a brush from dry applications.

Looking at the pictures, the shadows look very shimmery and glittery but are not so.  In fact, the sparkles are just the top layer which may have been intended for that quick-sell.  I could see alot of people passing this up just because they look "way too glittery".   The shimmer factor is about perfect.  Yes - there is shimmer but it's not chunky.  Honestly, some of the shades didn't even reflect shimmer when applied.  The color pay-off and staying power was excellent and I highly recommend these.

Check out some photo swatches below. 

I'm pretty much lemming all 12 shades which, may take sometime considering their never in stock.

Check out what else came home in my haul.

OMG, Did I mention GREEN!  Saved the best for last, you guys!  Good news is - Runway eyes are available in quads or should I say, sexts?   Glamorous Gems, $6.99, (i spelled it wrong in my pic above, oops) is a mixture of six green, golds and bronze colors.  I literally fainted when I saw Glamorous Gems in stock because I'd lost all hope by now.  I'm still geeked about finding this in stock because it's so pretty to look at. 

See the photo swatches below. 

The color pay-off is quite good because I'm probably an NC-35 right now.  I plan to mess around with these colors today and will report back on the staying power and so on.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

PS: MAC Starflash and Lustre twins are now available at Nordstrom, Pro and MAC stores on the 31st!

FEATURED - Monday, July 28th 2008

Shu Uemura Fall 08: Instinct Collection

The Instinct Fall Mode collection is now available online at Shu Uemura. 

"Stimulate your instincts with shu uemura's Fall Mode Makeup Collection! Explore these layerable, sensual and iridescent shades of Fall to discover your own make-up expression! Staying true to shu uemura's heritage of innovative and conceptual design, each item is encased within palettes of silver, gold and black motifs, expressing the modernism and elegance of the collection's femininity".

Duo Eyeshadow ($38.00) in Mesmerizer - sumptous violets in creme and powder formula, Tantalizer - green and goldish bronze in creme in powder formulla, Mystifier - a green black and brown bronze.

Glow on Blush ($21.00) in Lust - a reddish pink with subtle pearl, Pulse - warm elegant pink with fine pearl and Steam - a sensual hightlight with platnium like glitters.

Rouge Unlimited Crystal Shine ($23.00) in Crimson Dazzle - a rich red and Brown Dazzle - a beige brown colors.

Luring Powder ($38.00) in Rose - a sensual pink shade that compliments all skin types.

Nail Enamel ($16.00) in Dark Wine - a dark wine shade with silver and gold glitter.  Must have shade for polish addicts.

FEATURED - Wednesday, August 6th 2008

Shu Uemura Dark Wine: Something to talk about

Shu Uemura's new fall nail polish in Dark Wine ($16),  is so smoking hot, it should come with an R rating, ya'll. The pictures don't justify the gorgeous-ness of this color. Dark Wine is a perfect shade of black cherry-wine loaded down with gold, silver and red/wine colored glitter - truely fabulous and unique in all ways. Three light coats applied flawlessly with no real issues in my photo swatches.

The swatch above is taken in sunlight.  Check out more swatches below.

Photo swatch above taken in shade.

Shu Uemura has a great fall 08 collection lineup.  Another item that came home with me is Crystal Shine Lipstick in Crimson Dazzle - a gorgeous shade of crimson red - beautiful.  I'll be posting that shortly. 

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 - 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 - Tuesday, September 2nd 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Milani Disco Lights

Hope you guys had a fabulous labor day weekend!  At least it's only a four day work week for some of us.  Milani's Disco Lights is such a fun color, isn't it?  An ultra feminine, pink, party shade that's screaming for fun and excitement!

When I'm browsing nail polish, it takes an interesting or unique shade to catch my attention.  And, Disco lights was calling me from da club.  I mean - what girl doen's like to sparkle?  This may not be your practical shade you can sport around at the office or anything but, it's pretty to look at.

The application applies thin and takes three or more coats to achieve bottle color.  Tomorrow I'll be posting my pedi picture in this color.  It looks so much better on toes than it does nails!

FEATURED - Friday, October 31st 2008

Holiday 08: Dior Pure Diamonds Nail Polish

Dior's nordstrom exclusive, Pure Diamonds ($19.00) is decribed as a "true diamond" glitter polish shade.   Trying to take a picture of this baby in the sunlight was like putting reynolds wrap directly on my nails, it was that blinding.

Pure Diamonds isn't your typical silver glitter polish.  There's alot of "white" mixed with the silver glittler to make this totally blinged for the holidays.

Check out more swatches below. 

The first comparison that comes to mind is China Glaze's, Tinsel, which has chunkier silver glitter compared to Dior's fine texture.  All in all, this probably isn't going to be the most unique shade out there, but definitely a great choice for New Years Eve.

Since the Holidays are right around the corner, I expect to see more silvers/white glitter polish out and about.

I'll be sorting through my silvers this week for some photo comparisons. Stay tuned.

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 - 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 - Thursday, October 2nd 2008

Holiday 08: China Glaze Sleigh Ride Collection

The Holidays are creeping around the corner and China Glaze introduces three blingy polishes to start off right.

Sleigh Ride set includes three full size (.5 oz) holiday polishes and a free mini emery board.  Emerald Sparkle - a deep forest green loaded down with matching shimmer, Tinsel - a ultra blingy sliver glitter polish and Ruby Pumps - a ruby red with matching shimmer.

Check out all the photo swatches below.

 

Ruby Pumps - a holiday red loaded with red and gold shimmer.  A nice holiday red for the season but, nothing special if you don't fancy reds.

Tinsel - a glitzy sliver giltter polish that's a must have for new year's.  It's a little gritty but, nothing a top coat can't fix.

Emerald Sparkle - A christmas tree green with matching shimmer.  Emerald Sparkle was the shade I looked forward to the most and even though it's nice, Gussied Up Green is still my favorite green from China Glaze.

Sleigh Ride collection is now available at 8ty8 Beauty.

FEATURED - Sunday, October 5th 2008

Chanel Holiday 08 Collection: Review, Swatches

Can you hear those sleigh bells ringing yet?!  It's not even fall and the Holidays are hitting most counters.  Actually, Chanel is always the first to release their collection super duper early and the rest seem to follow.  That's Chanel for ya!

Chanel's new holiday collection continues the "gold-theme" carried out through their fall collection as it is with most holiday releases.  Two colors that we continually to see is Red and Gold shades that never get old. 

You may see a couple of familiar items silimiar to their Fall collection but, I assure you they are quite different.  Foremost, the gold highlighting podwer's.  Gold Fever, released back in fall, is a gold beauty powder compared to holiday release.  The Pourde Precieuse Or is absolutely stunning as you'll see in the swatches below.  What's different - it's actually a pigment verses a powder and it's filled with gold and silver glitter - it's breath taking, you guys!

Check out all the swatches below.

The only lipstick that was a stand-out was Audace - a vibrant holiday red.  It's pretty but, not so unique.

Looking at Gold Shine - your probably thinking it's exactly the same as Gold Light.  But, it's not.  What's so unique about Gold Shine is you'll notice a peachy-pink base color which is stunning verses a clearish base.  Red Shine - a pretty red gloss perfect for the holiday.

 Chanel Holiday 08 Quad.

The Quad was prettier than I expected and the color pay-off was good on my NC-30 skin.  The gold highlighting powder looked gorgeous topped over the eye shadow quad.

How many times can I say WOW in a sentence?!  Don't worry, I'll spare you guys from the torture.  The gold highlighter is absolutely amazing and the picture doesn't even justify it.  When I was at the Chanel counter I grabbed the last one of these babies and the makeup artist was showing how multi purpose this stuff is.  You can add this to your lip glosses, eye shadow, nail polishes and even moisturizer.  If you can only get one product - do purchase this because it's truely amazing and beautiful!

Three nail polishes were released with this collection and Haute Chocolat was the only worthy one.  A gorgeous hot chocolate brown filled with gold pearl and very subtle red shimmer.  Check out more photos for Haute Chocolate.

Check out my Chanel makeup haul from the Holiday collection.  This collection should be available in the next weeks to come and on chanel.com.

FEATURED - Sunday, October 19th 2008

MAC Red She Said: Review, Photo Swatches

The retro-starlet allure of Hollywood glamour, with a modern twist. A season where lips connive, then confess in shades of provocative holiday reds. Party season and passions flare! "Red" She Said, and no one could resist her.

Red She Said is a new holiday collection that offers a bit more color than we've seen in the last couple releases from MAC.  Overall, I found the mineralized eye shadows quote disappionting mostly due from the chunky glitter textures.  Some of the hightlights of Red She Said is the ever popular Dazzleglass lip gloss which we'll be seeing back permanently in Sping '09 and the Beauty Powders.

Some of the items I picked up: Miss Dynamite gloss, Pomposity lipstick and Enough Said beauty powder.  Check out all the swatches below.

 

 

 

 

The Red She Said collection is available at maccosmetics.com.

FEATURED - Sunday, October 19th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Sinful Coco Diamond

Can you guys believe it's almost November?  October seems like it's just flying on by and we know what that means - cold temperatures - yuck!  Anyway, today's nail polish of the day is a new one from Sinful, Coco Diamond ($1.99).  This may be a little hard to describe but I'll try my best.  A taupish grey base color followed by a minty green shade with green and aqua blue glitter/shimmer.

My application required three coats with no true problems.  Within my first coat I noticed the greyish taupe shade to be more visible but, was more of an minty green following the second and third layers.  Coco Diamond would also look great topped over a grey or black.

 

I found a small Sinful display at my local Walgreens consisting of five of six colors.  The only shades that caught my attention was Coco Diamond and a blue shade that I'll be posting in a few days.

Hope ya'll had a great weekend!

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 - 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, November 7th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: OPI My Private Jet

A few days ago, when I was organizing my nail polish stash, I set aside this piece of eye candy for one of my notd's this week.  OPI's, My Private Jet is unlike any polish.  Described as a smokey gray holographic glitter that looks gorgeous on your nails.

My Private Jet was originally released back in 2007 with the Night Brights collection.  Since then, OPI released a new version that is quite different from the original.  Read more from The Polish Addict on the MPJ drama.

Check out more swatches below. 

 

There's really no way to tell which version if available.  I'd just pick up two bottles and hope for the best. 

Have a fabulous and safe weekend!

FEATURED - Friday, November 21st 2008

MAC Metal Urge: Review and Swatches

A rich new vein of rare earth-inspired shine and shadow is ready to be mined. Enhance your precious worth with Brushed Metal-X Eye Shadow. Excavate the delights of new and bring-back shades of Pigment, Reflects Glitter, and Liquidlast Liner. Give in to the urge!

Overall, the metal urge eye shadows are an improvement from Metal-x collection.  The eye shadow texture applied very smooth and cremey, but yet have good color pay-off.   If your not into creme based textures, I'd pass on this one. 

Yesterday at the MAC store, only two items came home with me: Verdigris eye shadow and Spiritiualize pigment.  My MA had both these shades piled on with no creasing, this is a good sign.

Check out the swatches below. 

 

 

 

The Metal Urge collection is now available for a limited time at MAC stores and maccosmetics.com.

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 - Monday, November 24th 2008

MAC and Hello Kitty: Let the Insanity Begin

You've heard the rumors for months now.  WWD sets the records straight for this highly anticipated collection we've all been waiting for.  Seriously, do you know how insane the demand is going to be for this collection?  Read more details below.

MAC has teamed up with Sanrio Global Consumer Products to create a Hello Kitty color cosmetics collection.  This new collection will arrive on MAC’s Web site Feb. 10, in North American stores on Feb. 12 and into overseas stores in March.

“We are thrilled to partner with a brand that shares the vision of offering an innovative, authentic and transforming experience to our loyal fan base,” said Janet Hsu, president of Sanrio. Sanrio’s worldwide retail sales of licensed products for 2007 is estimated at $5 billion.

While the 34-year-old Hello Kitty character is usually assumed to be a cat, she is actually a girl, according to Sanrio. And a girl without a mouth, so she “speaks from the heart,” the company said. “She may not have a mouth, but she’s going to sell a lot of lipstick,” cracked Demsey, noting that a waiting list for the items will go live on Jan. 7 at maccosmetics.com.

“To me, MAC Hello Kitty embodies the ultimate beauty icon,” said Jennifer Balbier, senior vice president of product development for MAC Worldwide. “She’s sweet and sexy, slightly edgy, and appeals to a wide range of customers. We wanted to reflect that through a sweet side, but also something slightly mischievous when it came to the colors. I started out by creating a palette of pinks, since they fit and always trend well in the spring. And this look is so much about the eyes that we did two eye shadow quads.” The Lucky Tom quad has violet blue, brown, gold and pink-coral shades, while the Too Dolly palette has mint, blue-silver, pale pink and magenta shades.

“We incorporated glitter eyeliners because she loves anything that twinkles, and we took the coral and hot pink theme and did pretty, poppy [colored] blush,” added Balbier.

While this collection is intended to have a sophisticated presentation, MAC hopes to appeal to younger fans with two shades of lip conditioners.

The Hello Kitty offerings fall into two collections: the Hello Kitty Colour Collection and the more high-end Hello Kitty Kouture. The bulk of the items are in the former category: six shades of lipstick with names like Fashion Mews and Strayin’, each $14; six Lipglass shades, each $14; and two tinted lip conditioners, $14.50 each; two eye shadow palettes, which each contain four shades and retail for $38; two shades of pigment are $19.50 each, and two Reflects Glitter stockkeeping units — one blue, one pink — are $17.50 each. Four Glitter Eye Liners, each $16.50, two shades of Beauty Powder, each $22; three shades of nail polish, each $11; a black mascara, $12, and false lashes, $12, round out the color offerings. Shades range from pinks and turquoises to lavenders and greens.

Hello Kitty Kouture is intended to be the high end of the collection. Two shades of Dazzleglass, each $28, each feature a reusable silver chain pendant with Hello Kitty outlined in white Swarovski crystals on black with a pink crystal bow. Sheer Mystery Powder, $90 and available in three shades, is packaged in a silver powder compact with Hello Kitty outlined in white Swarovski crystals with a pink crystal bow on a black background.

“We wanted to have affordable luxury and a high-low aspect, so it made sense to do the Hello Kitty Colour Collection and Hello Kitty Kouture,” said Demsey.

The Hello Kitty Colour items, a Petite Makeup Bag, $22, and a medium Makeup Bag, $35, will be in all doors, currently about 581 department and specialty stores in North America including Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, as well as MAC’s 138 freestanding stores in North America and at maccosmetics.com. Internationally, the items will be in 1,307 doors in 69 countries, including 296 MAC freestanding stores outside North America. Hello Kitty Kouture will be available at MAC stores and maccosmetics.com only. At the maximum, the collection will be available for eight weeks.

A plush doll, $42; purse mirror, $22, and three-brush collection, $49.50, will be available at MAC stores, Nordstrom doors and maccosmetics.com only. A mirrored key clip, $16; beaded bracelet, $34, will be sold in MAC retail stores and at maccosmetics.com only, and a tote, $45 and soft vanity kit, $55, will be exclusive to maccosmetics.com. These items are intended to animate the counter presentation and create an entire Hello Kitty world at retail, Gager noted.

While none of the executives would discuss sales projections, industry sources estimated that the limited edition MAC Hello Kitty collection could do upwards of $12 million in North American retail sales. That projection is slightly larger than that of the hit Barbie collection.

In-store visuals, shot by Nick Knight, show the polar opposite aspects of the collection. One is an image of a blonde model holding a black vinyl Hello Kitty doll, which will be part of the accessory line. The other visual is what Gager terms “more of a dominatrix creature.” The point, said Gager, is to show that makeup can be transformative. Makeup was done by Val Garland, with hair by Sam McKnight.

And Demsey promises the surprises aren’t over yet. “There will be more products to come in the next three months with this partnership,” he said.

Ladies - start saving up!

FEATURED - Tuesday, December 2nd 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Claires Starry Nights

 

Today's nail polish of the day is Claire's cosmetics in Starry Nights.  Described as a black holographic nail polish with loads of silver glitter.  With the sun not being out for several days now, I was only able to capture these inside with a flash, sadly.

Starry Nights isn't a My Private Jet by any means, but it's a nice alternative espically if your looking for a deeper black color pay-off like myself.

My application was pretty much flawless and only takes two coats to be opaque, which is nice compared to MPJ's three and sometimes four coats.  The texture is somewhat gritty, but now worries, any topcoat can fix that.

I'll be posting photo comparisons tomorrow when I'm able to get some good picutures.

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 - Monday, December 15th 2008

Nail Polish of the Day: Loreal Bijou B Fearless

Happy Monday, yall!  Hope your having an awesome day to start off your work week. Today's nail polish of the day is one I picked up at my local Dollar Tree (3 different colors in the package for a buck, wowza) that's quite a steal.  It's definitley worth stopping by your dollar store to see if they have any of these.

Described as a medium blue with rainbow colored glitter giving a holographic and prismatic effect.  Application was pretty good - no visible problems with three coats.

Check out one more pic below. 

Tomorrow I'll be posting my December giveaway list and photos!  There's a ton of nail polish - so stay tuned!  Have a great night guys!

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

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 - Friday, December 19th 2008

Alternatives to Chanels Moscou Collection

Looking Chanel fabulous doesn't have to cost a fortune.  Shhh....no one will ever know!

Sure, maybe the colors weren't as unique as I'd like them to be, but the formula surely makes up for it in the end.  When it comes to formula and application, Chanel has it goin' on.  The Moscow collection has rich opaque textures that beat out all the competition hands down.

After playing with all comparisons yesterday, I will say Chanel makes the best shimmer polishes around.  The sparkle and shine out beat them all.

 

Feu De Russie was the easiest to duplicate from the Moscou collection.  The closest alternative is Sally Hansen's No Chip 10 day in Endless Nights ($4.99) and coming in at a close second, Nicole Black cat-cha later ($7.99).  Both shades available in stores now. 

Other Potential Canidates: Sephora Meet For Drinks (too magenta pink), Sephora I'm with Brad (too red like Sinful's rose diamond), Petites Black Rouge and CG Lubu Heels (glitter too red and chunky), Sinful Rich at Heart (too red). 

Judging by the bottles, Wagon Trail ($4.99), WnW Stunner ($3.99) do look different from Or De Russia. The bronze shimmer in Chanel's is dead on Dior's Gold Nugget.  You could probably franken a dupe with a black or dark brown base with some bronze and gold shimmer.   

 

The only true differences is the brownish and blackish bases.

It takes 2-3 three coats of Nicole's Blues in the Night to accomplish one coat of Chanel's.  That's how fabulous Nuit is!

Nicole's Blues in the Night ($7.99) doesn't have nearly the amount of shimmer as Nuit De Russia and Sinful's What's your name ($1.99) is more black with subtle shimmer.  Both polishes are readily available at stores.

Hope your having a fabulous Friday! 

FEATURED - Thursday, December 25th 2008

NOTD: Holiday Silver and Red French Mani

 

Ho, Ho, Ho - Merry Christmas!  Hope you guys are having a wonderful Holiday.  Today, I wanted to create something a little different from the traditional holiday red manicure.

So, I wasn't quite sure how this was going to turn out because the tips had to be done freehanded with no room for any mess-ups.  The result in the end was absolutely fantastic and couldn't be more pleased.

 

In real life, the colors are super blingy and look phenomonial when paried together in a french.  It was hard making a decision between Ruby Pumps and Emerald Sparkle for my tips, but there was no denying how fabulous red looks with silver.

 

Have a great Christmas everyone!  We're off to my husbands dad's today, then only one more event tomorrow. Shoowee!

FEATURED - Thursday, January 15th 2009

NOTD: OPI I Get A Kick Out of Gold

Happy Thursday!  Today's nail polish of day is a piece of Gold heaven to cheer up your Thursday blues.  The beauty of OPI's I get a kick out of gold is just breath taking, period blank. 

Described as a muted gold metallic that has an foil like appeal with gold and silver glitter.  Applied perfectly in two coats with no application problems.

I get a kick out of Gold was realeased back in 07 with the Night Brights collection.  So, this may be a little hard to track down, but not entirely impossible.

Hope your having a great Thursday! Keep warm and safe!

FEATURED - Saturday, January 10th 2009

Nail Polish of the Day: Hot Topic Silver

Happy Saturday everyone!  It's cold, rainy and I'm literally exhausted from going out last night.  What better way to spend the day in bed getting caught up on my blog entries and doing a whole lot of nothing.

Hot Topic in Silver Glitter ($2.99) was my NOTD a few days ago that I forgot to post.  Oops, sorry guys.  Isn't this so Mork and Mindy retro?  Described as a silver foil like metallic that has it going on - fo sho.

This has a little bit of everything.  Glitter, Metallic, Opaque, Foil.  And, only required two coats for bottle color, which is absolutely fantastic for a silver.  Formula was a little thick like most Hot Topic's, but nothing to worry about. 

The only discrepancy I have with Hot Topic is the ackward size of the brush.  It's a little hard to navigate, but I make it work just because their color selection rocks.

You can find Hot Topic nail polish at most Hot Topic stores usually located in Malls or online that retails for $2.99/ea.  Have a fabulous weekend - I'm in for the long haul.

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 - Tuesday, January 20th 2009

Nail Polish of the Day: Essie Starry Starry Night

Happy Inauguration Day everyone!  Today has just been amazing to put it bluntly.  It's the beginning of change.  A new day, A new year that I'm most excited to get on with.   And, what better way to ring it in with some fabulous Starry Starry Night ($10) by Essie.

Described as a mid blue to navy blue jelly loaded down with blue and silver glitter that applied perfectly in three coats.

Essie re-released this dreamy shade back in the summer which is when I picked my bottle up.  But,  I've actually seen this shade on ebay just as reasonable. 

Check out one more swatch below. 

Later this evening, I'm going to give Starry Starry Night some Edge.  I'll be adding some silver tips with SH's Silver nail art pen. 

Check out some pics below.

 

 

Have a most excellent day and remember "Change" is on the way.  Things will get better, that's our destiny.

FEATURED - Wednesday, January 28th 2009

Man Glaze Matte Nail Polish Swatches

I'm finally getting around to the extrodinary Man Glaze nail polishes.  One word, Amazing.  Breathe, take a step back.  Wow, these are super hot!  Very goth and punk rock.  Totally cool.

Man Glaze is intended for a man or unisex and is to be worn without a topcoat for the desired "matte" look.  Without a topcoat?  Isn't that a faux paus?!  To think of a world without a topcoat is inconceivable.

Let's just throw the topcoat rule out the door for now.  Just pretend it don't even exsist. 

Check out some swatches below. 

 

The Death Tar - a smooth black matte/satin with subtle rainbow shimmer with no topcoat.  There's something about matte finishes I just love!

Two wears in one nail polish.  So versatile you can wear two ways. 

 Pic above is with a topcoat. 

 Fuggen Ugly - a charcoal steel gray with rainbow shimmer.  Pic above is with no topcoat.

Pic above is with topcoat.

The Death Tar and Fuggen Ugly retail for $6.66 and are available at Man Glaze.  Make sure you check out their blog to see some cool pictures and different uses.

Another reviewer from Man Glaze's Blog, DowdyDiva mentioned topping with Chanel's Azure glitter polish.

Here's some fun I had with one coat of Chanel's Azure.

Although the glossy look may be stunning, I prefer the matte look.

FEATURED - Thursday, February 5th 2009

Updates and Additions to Stephs Closet

Hi All!  I've been procrastinating about doing video for months and if I don't grab the bull by the horns, It'll never happen.  Here's just a short little test clip of my nail polish collection when I was organizing a couple of days ago.

Hopefully my voice isn't annoying because it's totally wierd hearing myself.  Check out some changes that's happening at Steph's Closet.

Videos.  Yes, finally it's here.  I'm finding out that videos are very easy and practical for me.  Once I get a little more comfortable seeing and hearing myself, I'll be doing everything video.  

Coming soon to a video near you, lol!  With the Astonishing response to my favorite SH Nail Art Pens, it only makes sense to do a review and tutorial.  Next up is Sephora's new glittering nail polish.  I'll be posting the vid in a couple days.

Subscribe.  If your not subscribed to my website, now would be a good time to sign up.  For the next few months I'll be randomly picking one name, every week for a free nail polish.  Be sure your email addresses are current or you might miss your chance!  The only stipulation: US Residents and Canda.  I'm sorry international divas.  If shipping wasn't so dang expensive I wouldn't have any problems.

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 - 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 - Thursday, February 19th 2009

MAC Hello Kitty: Review, Photo Swatches

Last Thursday, Hello Kitty made a crash landing at most MAC, Macy's and Nordstrom stores.  Since my store just received their stock late that day, it was pure craziness when I arrived.  And, with that being said, I was in complete disarray and totally unorganized when it came to swatching.

Overall, HK offers a great selection of memorabilia for die hard fans and for others (that's me) that just can't pass up the insanely cute girly packaging.

MAC introduces two displays for the spring edition.  The wild side, a mix of bright pinks & greens for that daring kitty in you and golds & oranges in the mild kitty for that day to day look.

It was easy to love the Lucky Tom palette along with the mild side of hello kitty because the colors meshed well with my NC-30 skintone.   But, I don't like to play it safe.  I'm all about the wild side baby and that's the route I took with this collection.

Some of my must have's from this line: Popster lip conditioner, Strayin' and Fashion Mews lipstick, Beauty powder blushes, Sweet Strawberry lipglass, Her Glitz glitter liner (for fun), On the Prowl nail polish.

Click here to check out the nail lacquers from the Hello Kitty line. 

 

 

  

Most of the makeup is still available online and at MAC store.

Here's a picture slide show of some Hello Kitty product pictures and swatches.

FEATURED - Sunday, February 22nd 2009

Nail Polish of the Day: Massini Starry Violet

Happy Sunday, ya'll!  Hope your having a fabulous & relaxing afternoon.  Today's nail poilsh of the is a starry violet pink with silver glitter that's really pretty on.

Massini nail polish retails for $2.99 and I've only seen this brand at Meijer (or fred meijer) stores.  So, I'm not sure if this line is available elsewhere.

On my swatches, three coats were used, but you could get away with two easily.  The silver glitter is more obvious with three.  Starry violet dried to a matte finish and I topped it with OPI rapid dry topcoat.

Today, I plan on finishing up my Spring collections then on to Summer.  Have a great day!

FEATURED - Thursday, March 5th 2009

Going Green: Green Nail Pic Spam Part One

This is a great image of the actual color representation.  For Audrey's unique shade can be rather difficult to capture digitally. 

Happy Thursday!  Today is the first little segment of my "Go Green" theme this March at Steph's Closet.  Since I have so many greens to show you, I'll be breaking my posts into four seperate parts and featuring each part once a week.  

I wanted to start off with a french mani, because you guys know how much I love those funky colors.  

What I used:  Two coats of China Glaze For Audrey and two coats of my favorite Sally Hansen Nail art pens for the white tips.  The color combination just look stunning and only can image how hot this would look on those tootsies!

China Glaze, For Audrey a tiffany colored green - blue. 

Claire's, Blue for you is a seafoam green with fine shimmer.  Very pretty and feminine for spring.

 

Nars, Mash is a gorgeous deep olive bronze with gold shimmer.  A stunning color, espically for summer.  Looks fab on olive and darker skin tones.

Max Factor, Momentum Moss is dollar store gem, a olive gray metallic with shimmer.

Claire's, Green Confetti is a light green jelly glitter with subtle holographic effects.

Have you guys been in Claire's lately?  They have some pretty spectacular shades for spring.  I have a whole segment planned for those too!

Sally Hansen's, Jumpin Jade screams riches and luxury.  A deep, rich green that's seriously gorgeous!  A great drug store pick.

Maybelline's, Jade Flash is a green with blue undertones, but still falls in the green category.

And here's the two I posted a few days ago.

Icing, Awkward is a mid tone green with gold and subtle blue shimmer.  A great alternative to OPI's, Rainforest.

LA Flairs Girl, Green is a deep green with blue undertones. 

I'll be adding more to this post later this evening!  Have a great one!

FEATURED - Wednesday, March 11th 2009

Limited Edition Nail Polish Sets from Icing

Happy Hump day!  Hope your having an excellent Wednesday morning.  Today I'm bringing you some fabulous limited edition sets from Icing by Claire's.

Last December during Christmas time, I discovered these nail polish sets at the mall. Unimpressed by the brush quality, I neglected to post my photo swatches.  Having brush imperfections can make your application a nightmare to deal with. 

When I saw the new spring colors at Icing, I just gasped and decided to give them another go around.  And, I'm happy to report - No brush difficulties. Yay!

Confession time.  So, the only reason I intitally picked up this set was due to the unqiueness of Ocean View and Retro Girl, but ended up loving them all!  Good thing, a? 

All five shades are loaded down with hot pink, gold, and purple micro shimmer.  Although, the only shimmer you'll see is hot pink.  Actually, I didn't even realize the various colors until I was swatching in the sun.  

Some of the formulas were a littlle more sheer than I preferred, but that's ok - I'll deal because their super pretty.  With any semi sheer nail polish, I pack the color on pretty thick - that way I won't be bothered with four coats.  The drying time may be a little longer than usual, but it beats four coats. 

 

Pure is a semi sheer white with hot pink shimmer that had better coverage than Icing's, Oceanview and China Glaze's, Kwik Silvr.

Ocean View, one of my favorites, a semi sheer seafoam green with pink shimmer.

 Ocean View and Pure.

 Tickled Pink is a light to medium pink with hot pink shimmer.

In Bloom is a lavendar purple with hot pink shimmer.

Retro Girl is beyond amazing and highly unique!  Described as a muddy olive green brown with purple, gold and pink shimmer that had good pigmentation all around. My pictures may look brown, but there's defintely olive green in there.  Take a peek at the product picture above.

Now, on to the bling bling. The glitters have an light tinted based and are filled with glitter and micro shimmer.  I debated on whether posting my swatches because it's next to impossible to capture the actual colors. 

 

Goldie Locks has a golden champagne base with gold, green and blue shimmer.

 

 Sparklin Girl has a silvery purple base with gold, purple and silver shimmer.

Starry Eyes has a light blue base with silver and blue shimmer.

 

Oscar has a light lime green base with gold and silver shimmer.

 

Passion has a light pink base with pink, gold and silver shimmer.

Here's some other colors from Icing.

Blackout is a greyish black base loaded with silver and holographic glitter.

 Luv U 2 Much is a clearish sandy base with silver and tan glitter.  Super blingy.

 Jem is a pink red loaded with silver shimmer.

Icing's Electrified reminds me of Misa's, Fatal Affair with a little bit more blue.  A blueish purple base with an overlay of blue shimmer.

Hellooo Foil goodness!  Oh my, I've never seen a foil polish this pigmented.  Wow, almost looks like Minx foils!

Maggie is described as a silver foil that's packed with pigmentation you'll only need one coat. 

 A Girl Like You, another foil goodness, is a pink and silver foil.  Excellent pigmentation, another one coater.

Here's a blurred pic just to show you how foily they just are!

Icing by Claire's nail polish is only available at Icing stores usually located in Malls.  Pricing as follows: miniature bottles $2.50, Large bottles $4.50, LE colored set $14.99 and Glitter set $10.99.  They always have buy one, get second half off specials.

So, I wanna hear - What's everyones favorites?  

FEATURED - Thursday, March 12th 2009

Holo Hotness: Orlys Primsa Glosses

Have you guys seen Orly's new glosses? They are down right incredible!  One of Orly's newest editions, Prisma Gloss in shades of Silver and Gold.  Prisma gloss acts as a topcoat that's - fast drying, high shine and loaded with special gold & silver glitter particles for a holographic effect on your nails.

Have fun with any nail polish shade using Primsa gloss!  Forget Essie's Starry Starry night, you can create your own starry dream in silver or gold.

Shake, Shake, Shake!  When you receive these glosses, you'll need to give them a good shake.  The glittler particles fall to the bottom of the bottle and needs to be mixed up with each mani.

For best results, treat prisma gloss as a topcoat.  The glitter and holograpic effect will stand out more.  Personally, I think they work best when used with a creme nail polish color.

Too bad the sun wasn't out today, I really wanted to show you guys the full potential of these babies.  All my swatches were used with one coat of Orly's Primsa Gloss and any creme based polish.

Silver Prisma Gloss is a clear base with silver and holographic glitter.  These are so fun to play with!  You can experiment with virtually any nail polish color in your collection!

The best news is - you'll only need one coat of Primsa Gloss to acheive a "WOW" factor to your nails!

Gold Prisma Gloss is a clear base topcoat with gold and holograhic glitter.  The gold looks stunning over a brown creme.  Definitely one of my favorite looks with the gold gloss.

The glosses look espically fab if you pair up with a complimentary base color.  Orly's Prisma Gloss retails between $3.19 - $4.99 and is available at Trans Design or other Orly retailers.

Aren't these fab?  What do you guys think?  Who has em?

FEATURED - Saturday, March 14th 2009

Color Club Catwalk Queen Spring Collection

Color Club's, Catwalk Queen is the second installment to the Spring 2009 collection.

Just like the Femme Fatale, in this release we see pearlized textures, gorgeous holographic and glitters.

Let the world be your runway this Spring as Club Color introduces six new runway approved shades.

The sheer iridescent textues look much better topped over a complimentary base color or just a simple black shade.  Check out some swatches Scrangie used with black.

Some of my favorites: Catwalk Queen, Fashion Addict and Vintage Couture.  The holo's from both spring collections are absolute must haves.

Check out all the swatches below.

Front Row Diva is a dove white gray pearl iridescent that needs a good three coats to even out the streaks. 

Runway Muse is a sheer teal based with pink, teal, silver shimmer.  All different kinds of colors in this one.  Although, you'll definitely want to start with a colored base coat because it's pretty sheer.

Ready to Wear is a sheer light pink base with pink shimmer.

Fashion Addict is another fantastic holo from Color Club, a light pink silver holo. 

 

 Vintage Couture is a milky pastel pink creme.

Catwalk Queen is a vampy plum purple with shimmer that's very pretty.

The Catwalk Queen is available at Head2Toe and retails for $2.50/ea.

FEATURED - Sunday, March 15th 2009

Update: New Hot Topic Nail Color Added

Hope your having a wonderful Sunday afternoon!  Today, I'm adding two new shades to my ongoing Hot Topic swatches.  And, OMG if you love glitters, you have to check this out.  I'll be adding the other color later today.  It's not a glitter - just a teal shimmer. 

Click here to check out the new color.  I've marked the new additions in pink.

FEATURED - Monday, March 16th 2009

St Pattys Day: Mani and Pedi of the Day

Happy Monday Ya'll! It's not officially St. Patty's Day yet, but I wanted to be ahead of the game because it's going to be a jam packed day tomorrow. So, how in the heck do you go about choosing a green for St. Patty's Day? It's virtually impossible because greens rock.

The verdict - Claire's 3 in 1 Mixables in Technopop because it's cool and I just like it!  Knowing me, I'll probably change my mani before St. Patrick's Day.

Claire's 3 in 1 mixables are pretty neato.  You get three different colors in one bottle. No shaking or mixing required.  Do you know how hard it is to not shake the bottle? I guess it's just habit, but it's pretty darn H A R D.

What I love about Claire's 3 in 1 mixable's - their mostly duochrome colors.  You'll see various colors in different angles of lighting.

Technpop is describled aa a bright minty green duo that changes from green, purple and blue.  And, has added holographic glitter for that ultra flair.

I have a boat load of Claire's swatches I'll be posting in the next weeks to come. 

I really loved how my pedicure turned out.  The black polka dots just pop on a neon base. What I used: Massini's Neon Greenlight and for the polka dots, Sally Hansen's Nail art pen in black.

The neon green is much brighter in real life compared to my swatches above.  I really like Massini's neons because their opaque and you don't have to worrry about a white basecoat.

Hope you have a wonderful night and St. Patty's Day!

What's everyone wearing for tomorrow? Be safe!

FEATURED - Tuesday, March 24th 2009

LA Girls Flare Nail Polish: Swatches, Review

Hope your having a fabulous Tuesday. Spring is officially here and I couldn't be more happier with the weather we've been having this week. A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon some pretty hot new colors at Forever 21 that I like to share with you guys.

Before I get down to the nitty gritty, let's talk about where these babies are available. You can find LA Girls Flare at Urban Outfitters, Cherry Culture (online) and Forever21 stores usually located in the malls or even online. They retail between $2.80 and $4.00 - depending where you find them.

The nail polish names are kinda tricky and a little bit confusing. Most stores like, Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters just have color descriptions on the sticker (ie: green, blue, coral) rather than the official names (ie: midnight, diva, saharan sand). I've included both names in my swatches, so you shouldn't have any problems.

Formula quality. Being so reasonably priced, LA Flare's formula rocks. I seriously haven't came across one shade that wasn't smooth and opaque. Most colors only required two or three coats at most. And, usually three coats was due to my errors.

I'll be keeping this post active and eventually adding all my LA girls swatches. So, make sure you add this to your favorites!

The best shade out of all my LA Girls Flare nail colors, Midnight Diva (dark purple). Descbried as a blue purple jelly with a rainbow of micro duochrome shimmer (pink, purple, gold, blue).

I couldn't resist posting massive nail spam of Midnight Diva - she's just absolutely breath-taking!

 It's hard to see the different colors of shimmer, but it's definitely there!

Saharan Sand (nude) is another terrific spring shade. An opaque grey beige creme, much like Essie's Body Lanuage that just pops with my skintone (NC-30). Love it.

Flushed (coral) is a great spring color, espically if you looking for alternatives to Chanel's, L.A. Sunset or Orange Fizz. Maybe not an exact dupe, but pretty darn close and certainly not noticeable to the naked eye.

Described as a bright (not neon bright) peach orange creme that was opaque in two coats.

Blazing Hot (coral) is a red coral creme. A great alternative to OPI on Collins Ave or Sephora OPI, Lost without my GPS.

Honeymoon Lavender (lavender) is a blue based mid tone lavender purple that's gorgeous! This would look fab on everyone.

Hello, foil goodness! Irony (silver) is a silver blue foil that's pigmented like crazy.

I pretty muched loved all their new colors! Next time you stop by the mall, why not swing by a Forever21 or Urban Outfitter store - you won't regret it!

Here's some other colors from LA Girls Flare:

Bedazzle (purple) is a blue based purple creme.

 

Galaxy (grey) a stormy grey creme much like Hot Topic's, Grey Muted. Call me crazy, but I would totally rock this color in a professional work atmosphere. A bit daring - but very posh!  

 Tropical (teal) is greenish teal creme.

 Envy (green) is a deep forest green with teal undertones.

 

Twinkling (blue) is a bright (not neon bright) mix between a sky blue and cornflower.

I want to hear your guys favorites? Aren't these colors fab :)

FEATURED - Tuesday, March 31st 2009

Sephoras New Metallic Nail Polish: Swatches

Along with the glittering nail polish, Sephora introduces metallics to the brand. A colorful range of 22 new shades sure to please your appetite.

Each is packaged in a compact, signature, travel friendly bottle sized at 0.16 oz (mini size for your reference). Priced at $5 each and only available at Sephora stores.

Deborah Lippmann's, Purple Rain comes to mind when I think of a true metallic nail polish. So, just to clarify that these are shimmery metallics verses the traditional textures. Thank goodness!

The formula was perfect. Most shades only required a two coat application, which you'll see in my swatches below. And, you don't have to worry about streak lines because these are mostly shimmer based.

Check out some swatches below.

Merengue - a purple pink berry with gold and purple shimmer. This one reminds me of a lighter version of OPI's, Queen of Web-erly.

 Zouk - bright aqua blue with matching shimmer.

Gothik - black grey charcoal with rainbow shimmer.

Modern - rich purple eggplant loaded with blue shimmer.

Fusion - a muted gold bronze that's a close alternative to Covergirl's Bronzed Beauty. Sephora's is more "gold" when compared to Covergirl's "bronze" color.

Overall, if you fancy shimmer based polishes, you'll love these new ones from Sephora. Have a wonderful day!

FEATURED - Thursday, April 2nd 2009

Matte Nail Polish: Bringin Sexy Back

 

Matte Nail Polish, a grungy nail trend from the 90's, is regaining it's popularity this year. From brands like Man Glaze to Knockout Cosmetics, it's bringing sexy back - slowly but surely!

Trends come and go, as I always like to say. And, lets hope this one is here for a little while because I'm totally digging it. Come on, ya know your inner punk rock is screaming to come out!

Most of us probably won't fancy matte textures. Let's face it - their different and we've been using a shiny topcoat for years now. Just to think of a flat topcoat is inconceivable! But do give em' a fair shot, they may suprise you all in all.  

Today I'm posting some of my favorite matte nail polishes to kick off this new trend.

Man Glaze Death Tar (pictured above) - black with rainbow shimmer.

Man Glaze Fuggen Ugly - Steel gray with rainbow shimmer.

Knock Out Calamine - soft calamine pink (yes just like the lotion) flatte matte.

Covergirl Mattalic's are a different kind of matte from the others I own. A mix between a matte and metallic - pretty easy. Each color is loaded with silver metallic shimmer. 

Covergirl Triple Platinum Mattalic - silver with silver glitter.

Covergirl Bronze Mattalic - orangey bronze matte with silver glitter.

Covergirl Blue Steel Mattalic - sky blue with silver glitter.

Covergirl Mattalic Pink Zinc - pink rose with silver glitter.

For my weekly nail polish giveaway this month, I'll be giving away three shades of Covergirl Mattalic. Make sure your a Steph's Closet subscriber, you don't wanna miss out.

Maybelline's matte polishes are ultimate meaning of sexy. I hold these close to my heart because their beyond extraordinary. The best out of the best!

I'm not going to lie, these are pretty hard to find - but not impossible. Check out ebay, dollar stores, big lots and any other discount stores in your area.

Maybelline Olive Matte - golden olive green with rainbow shimmer.

Maybelline Grape Matte - a plummy grape with rainbow shimmer.

Turn all your polishes into mattes with Maybelline Mattte Maker - yellowish clear topcoat that takes the shine from your mani.  Knockout Cosmetics and Orly also makes a topcoat that would serve the same purpose.

What do you guys think of Matte nail polishes? Love them or hate them?

FEATURED - Saturday, April 11th 2009

Claires Neon Holos: Nail Polish Swatches

Hope your having a wonderful Saturday. Summer is slowly creeping around the corner and you guys know what that means, Bright Neon Colors! Yep, the brights are back and I have tons of eye catching shades to show you.

To kick off this festive summer trend, I wanted to start with my favorites from Clarie's. One thing I love about Claire's Neons, well two things: Each shade has a holographic glitter effect and most colors aren't as bright as your typical neons, for example: Color Club's Electro Candy, which I'll be previewing next week.

Each shade is infused with a mild holographic glitter effect and dries to a semi gritty matte finish. Now, it's not as gritty as a full fledged glitter nail polish. I don't think you should have any worries with that.

Jen Jen (above) - a yellow green (lime) with holographic glitter. Jen Jen and Lime Shine were the ones that took a four coat application to achieve the bottle color.

 Lime Shine - a bright neon green with holographic glitter.

Juluis - a bright neon orange with holographic glitter.

Yel - one of my faves, a little bit more green than the actual swatch, aqua blue with holographic glitter.

 Pink Rose - a light pink rose with holographic glitter.

Meg Peg - one of my faves, gorgeous magenta purple with holographic glitter

 

Flame - bright reddish coral with holographic glitter.

LuLu Belle - a bright hot pink neon with holographic glitter.

The brighter neon colors for the brave: Lime Shine, Juluis, Lulu Belle, and the not so bright for anyone: Flame (kinda bright but not overly), Meg Peg, Pink Rose, Yel and Jen Jen.

These are available at Claries and retail for $3.50/ea. What your guys take on Neons? I'll wear anything, of course! Have a wonderful Saturday!

FEATURED - Friday, April 24th 2009

New Nail Colors from Nicole by OPI

 

Happy Friday, TGIF! Today is going to be a great day. With temperatures sky rocketing to the mid 80's, it's going to be a weekend of summer.

I apologize guys, I've had these new colors from Nicole by OPI since Valentines day, but neglected to post them. They were hiding at the the bottom of my untried basket.

You don't hear enough raves about Nicole by OPI. And honestly, I really love brand as a whole. The colors are unique, espically the older and retired ones. From duochromes, holographic to shimmers - Nicole has it goin' on.

Here are some new colors I picked up a while ago. You can find these at Target, Walmart or Meijer stores that retail around $6.99/ea.

 

Dream Maker - one of my favorites, a light semi sheer pink loaded down with silver and gold glitter that's really pretty.

 

Play Fair - a light lavendar purple with silver and purple micro shimmer.

Imagine If - a clear to silver holographic glitter. A must have for any holographic nail polish lover!

The next three are all metallic/chrome textures that has excellent pigmentation, even with one coat.

It's Possible - a uniquely different color all around, mix between a rose pink and tan metallic.

 Light a Candle - a silvery lavendar purple metallic.

Positive Energy - a silver metallic chrome.

What do you guys think of Nicole by OPI? Have a great weekend ya'll!

FEATURED - Sunday, April 26th 2009

Nail Polish of the Day: Massini Fashion Addict

Hope your having a fabulous Sunday! This weekend has just been beautiful with temperatures reaching almost 90 degrees. And, for the first time in four years, I'm sick with a severe head cold.

To cheer me up, I wanted to put on a brand new color from Massini. Fashion Addict is a light pink  purple holographic that has every resemblance to Color Club's version, including the name.

This is pretty much the same color as Color Club's. Massini is manufactured by Forsythe, the same company as CC. Chances are, if you love Color Club's nail polishes, you'll surely love Massini's brand. 

Massini nail polishes are pretty awesome. Averaging a huge .6 oz a bottle and retailing $2.99 is quite a steal! The only problem, Massini is only available at Meijer stores. I'll be posting some neons and glitters soon.

Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon!

FEATURED - Friday, May 1st 2009

Massini Glitter Nail Polish Swatches

It's Friidayyy TGIF!! Today I'm bringing you some glitters from Massini. Some of you may notice that Massini's nail polish names are exact replicas of Color Club's - it's because the same company manufactures for both brands. Chances are, Color Club may have the same shade if your having trouble locating Massini.

Sex Symbol (pic above) - clear base with silver glitter. CC dupe.

 Gold Glitter - clear base with silver and gold glitter.

Sexy Siren - clear base with turquiose glitter. CC dupe. 

 Tru Passion - clear base with purple glitter. CC dupe.

Magic Attracton - clear base with pink and silver holographic glitter. CC dupe.

Drama Queen - clear base with red and silver glitter.

These next two shades are more like your standard nail polish textures compared to the glitters above. The opaqueness is amazing with only two coats, and by far my favorites from Massini. I don't think Color Color has dupes for these - truely unique. 

 Purple Medallion - purple base with silver, pink, purple, blue holographic glitter.

Slammin Red - red base with silver, pink, red holographic glitter.

Massini is only available at Meijer stores and retails for $2.99/ea. Hope your having an awesome day!

FEATURED - Monday, May 4th 2009

New Nail Colors from Maybelline Express Finish

Happy Monday! Hopefully your having a wonderful day. Today is yet another gloomy and rainy day here in the tri state. But, I'm not going to let that stop me from swatching some new colors from Maybelline.

Sunset Prisms (pic above), is a new shade in the Express Finish Line that's really pretty. More toned down than Color Club's Tangerine Scream, described as a orange with iridescent green shimmer. You shouldn't have any problems finding this one, it should be in the standard display.

These next two are limited edition colors that should have a seperate makeup display in stores now.

Coral Radiance is much prettier in person. Described as a rose pink with a pinch of coral and gold/silver shimmer. It's definitely more pink than coral. A nice universal color for anyone.   

Pot of Gold is really cool. Described as a clear base with gold glitter and "sequin like" designs. At first, I wasn't sure how'd these apply due to the torturious application of the Valentine hearts, but they surely pulled through.

Pot of Gold applied fairly well with two coats, so you don't need a toothpick or anything to move them around. The finished result, a smooth even surface that wasn't bumpy or gritty. I really loved how the different lighting catches the glitter and sequins at angles!

These colors should be available now. If your interested, make sure you keep an eye out because we all know how LE's are. Have a great day!

FEATURED - Saturday, May 9th 2009

Limited Edition Mini Sets From Icing by Claires

Hope your having a wonderful Saturday afternoon. It actually turned out to be a beautiful day here in Kentucky ya'll.  Today I'm bringing you another fabulous limited edition set from Icing that had me at "green glitter," hello.

Each set comes with five miniature nail polish bottles that retails for $10.99/set. The glitters are pretty spectacular, I'm just bummed that these are Limited Edition and not available in full sized bottles. Oh, how can you do this to us Icing?!

Oddly, every single glitter set that was stocked, didn't have a sticker at the bottom with the name?? Hmm, so that must mean their extra special!

On to the swatches.

Green Glitter is the one held repsonsible for my impulsive buy, a bright (not neon) grass green with sliver glitter. A bit semi sheer that needed four coats for bottle color. Very pretty.

Purple Glitter is a gorgeous deep purple with blue undertones and silver glitter. Great coverage in two coats.

Green and Purple glitter together. Two of my favorites.

Black Glitter is a rich black with silver glitter that had great coverage in two coats.

Red Glitter is a cherry red with silver glitter. Two coats for bottle coverage.

Ms. Red and Black. 

White Glitter is a clearish base with white and blue chunkier glitter compared to the others. Three coats on each nail.

The Neon set was kinda my pity buy for the Buy one, get on half off deal. Most of these colors are available in full sized bottles, if you only wanted one or two. On all my neon swatches I used, one coat of white polish as a base and one without.

Neon Yellow always seems to be the problem child of neons, regardless of the brand. And, using a french white as a base cuts out half of my application time. Anymore, I amost always use a white base for yellow and green neons.

The next three really didn't need a white base coat, the color pigmentation was pretty good. 

Orange and Purple Neon that had good coverage.

Pink Neon that also had good coverage. Have a great weekend!

FEATURED - Monday, May 11th 2009

Nail Art of the Day: Silver and Gold Glitter

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a beautiful Mother's Day yesterday. Today I wanted to get a little blingy using L.A. colors nail art polishes in silver and gold glitter. Nail art polishes are pretty easy to find online or in stores, and you don't necessarily have to get L.A. color's brand.

I started with very few supplies: Sally Hansen's Blackout, L.A. Colors Art Deco silver & gold nail art glitter and fast dry topcoat. Most nail art polishes have a fine detailed brush that makes drawing lines super easy.

Check out some more designs below.

 

The design pictured above is my favorite by far and would look hot for a special occasion. Hope your having a fabulous Monday! What do you guys think?

FEATURED - Wednesday, May 20th 2009

Dolce and Gabbana Nail Lacquer: Stromboli

Happy Wednesday ya'll! Today I have a really fabulous shade to show you. Brand spankin' new, from the long awaited Dolce & Gabbana makeup line, Strombolio.

Described as a gorgeous black base with gold semi chunky glitter, packaged in a sleek and slim bottle with silver cap. The removeable caps are just like Dior's and Chanel's. I really loved the glitter texture in this one. It's not too over powering - yet not to mild at the same rate. Perfecto!

Application: Coming from Dolce & Gabbana, I expect nothing but the best and Strombolio surely pulled through. The formula was very rich and pigmented with only two smooth applications. Although, if you wanted to add a third coat for that ultra bling, it's just as fabulous. You know, I'm all for that!

The Wear: Today is my second day of testing and so good, so far! I'll keep reporting back.

Negative: The only issue I see is the price. At $20 (.37 oz) each, you'll want to stock up one by one - that's what I'll be doing. Saks often has free shipping, so make sure you take advantage of those if your interested.

One more swatch below. 

In this swatch, it's not completely sun - about half and half. I wanted to show you guys how much visible the glitter is compared to China Glaze's Wagon Trail. One thing I love about Stromboli, you can actually see the glitter.

You can find the Dolce & Gabbana makeup line at Saks Fifth Ave. The nail polishes retail for $20.00/ea. What do you guys think?

FEATURED - Thursday, May 21st 2009

Chanel Cosmic Violine: Nail Polish of the Day

Hope your having a wonderful Thursday! Today I'm bringing you one of Chanel's newest shades, Cosmic Violine, from the Celestial Lights collection. Described as a muted or dirty reddish brown loaded with gold, red, and pink glitter.

Maybe it's the dull finish, or just the fact this reddish brown shade should of been released late summer. Either way, it's not getting much love from nail polish lovers. But, I'm here to give it some love, because I really do like it. Come fall, it will be a different story and Cosmic Violine will be MIA.

The application was smooth and pigmented with only two applications. Check out the comparison swatch below.

Is Cosmic Violine unique? Yep. I really don't have an exact comparison to show you guys, it's that toned down finish that makes it different than the other red and brown's.

Have a wonderful night! TGIF tomorrow!

FEATURED - Wednesday, May 27th 2009

Nail Polish of the Day: Maybelline Purple Party

Happy Wednesday! Hope you guys had a great memorial day weekend. Since it's been raining for the last several days, I've spent most of the weekend finishing up painting.

Purple Party, a dollar tree gem I picked up a while ago, described as a gorgeous magenta pink - purple jelly loaded down with silver and pink shimmer. This one applied pretty sheer, but it's definitely worth the four coat application.

Here's some more eye candy for ya. These are my past NOTD's from the weekend that I neglected to post.

When it comes to sheer's, I run away as far as possible...but I just can't help staying away from this one. Satin Sheets, a sheer white loaded down with gold/pink shimmer.

 

Allure's June issue (pg 131) inspired this classic vampy shade from Chanel. Vamp, a dark blood red with shimmer. Have a wonderful day!

FEATURED - Saturday, May 30th 2009

Nail Polish of the Day: Finger Paints Lilac Lagoon

Hope your having a wonderful Saturday afternoon. Today's nail polish of the day is a gorgeous lilac from Finger Paints Sunburst summer collection. 

Lilac Lagoon, a semi sheer, juicy lilac loaded with flecks of goldish copper glitter. Since the texture is a semi sheer jelly, I needed four coats to achieve bottle color.

The Brand. You don't hear too much coverage on Finger Paints, but I definitely love the brand as a whole. Perhaps some of the colors aren't as unique as I'd like, but overall the quality is fab.

Finger Paints are available at Sally Beauty Supply stores and retail around $4.99/ea. Have a great weekend!

FEATURED - Wednesday, October 14th 2009

Holiday Collection: Wet n Wild Festive Flirt

Product: Wet n Wild Collection, Nail Lacquer 0.29

Price: $1.99/ea

Steph's Rating:

Buy it: Meijer, CVS

While Fall is still in full swing, the holiday collections are bursting out of their shell waiting to get noticed. And first up is Wet n Wild's Festive Flirt. A Christmas release of six sparkly colors ranging from foil, glitter and shimmer textures.

Wet n Wild's Chrome Collection shares something in common with this one as far as bottle shape and application. Each color applied fairly thin and I needed a minimum of three coats for full coverage. 

Are you guys ready for some swatches?  

Frostbite is a silver that lacks opaqueness unlike most foils I own. It's a bit thin and you'll need three coats for complete coverage.

Ho Ho Ho is your typical holiday red with shimmer. 

Gumdrop is a warm toned gold glitter that's a great topper layered over any nail color. Note: In the swatch above, my pinky color is actually brown not black. Sorry!

Red Velvet is a red wine with shimmer. 

 

 

Glided is a gold glitter with round holographic glitter that's pretty cool worn alone or layered over any nail color.  

Holly is a tad deeper than Red Velvet with added gold shimmer that's really pretty. Last weekend when my mom stopped over, I gave her a manicure with Holly and topped off Seche. The end result, 5 days with no chipping!

All in All, nice collection! A selection of Holiday Reds, Silver and Gold Glitters. Price is right at $1.99 each. Wet n Wild's lasting formula has proven to be a great drugstore brand.

Hope you have a great night!

FEATURED - Friday, June 5th 2009

Nail Polish of the Day: Pure Ice Kiss me Here

Happy Friday! Hope your having a fabulous afternoon. It's just gorgeous outside - makes for a perfect end to the week. Have ya'll checked out Walmart's new Pure Ice nail polish colors lately? Well, they have some pretty spectacular new colors, and Kiss Me Here being one of them.

Described as a medium gray creme that applied fairly well with two coats. A close dupe to China Glaze's Recycle and Carolyn New York's Hangin on the Stoop, the only difference being Kiss me Here may be just a pinch darker.

Some other drool worthy new colors from Walmart: Excuse Me - Buttery frosty yellow, No Means No - purple with blue and pink shimmer, an excellent alternative for MAC's Violet Fire, French Kiss - Superman blue creme, Cheatin - clear base with blue, pink and purple glitter, Beware - clear base with silver glitter, Strapless - clear base with turquoise glitter, Don't you Wish - clear base with rainbow colored glitter.

Pure Ice nail polishes are available at Walmart and retail around $1.85/ea. Have a great weekend! So, fess up - who loves Pure Ice? I do, I do!

FEATURED - Tuesday, June 16th 2009

New LE Colors: Sephora 212, Ocean Love Potion

Sephora introduces two fabulous limited edition nail colors by OPI. First up, Sephora 212. This must have shade was created in celebration of the new Sephora 5 Times Square flagship store. This glamorous variation on black channels the essence of the exclusively fabulous 212 area code.

Before I get to the details, I'm super excited to sport a new black polish. It's been so long..way too long, since a black polish last graced my nails and I'm loving it. Espically since I just cut them ultra short.   

212 has every varation a gal or guy loves - glitter, holo, and flakies. The base is more of a light smokey black with gorgeous gold glitter. You'll need a good three coats if you prefer a darker black base. In my swatches above, I've used three coats, which I prefer. Plus, more bling can't be a bad thing!

With all the different varations of 212, the application dries to a semi gritty finish. But nothing a topcoat can't fix.

Check out Ocean Love Potion below. 

Sephora by OPI Ocean Love Potion is a sensuous shade inspired by the gorgeous meeting of sea and sky in Capri. If you love Misa's Dirty, Sexy, Money and Essie's Greenport you'll love this new ocean green from Sephora.

The application was flawless. Each coat flowed perfectly on my nails.

Here's a comparison to give you an idea where Ocean Love Potion falls. Dirty, Sexy, Money isn't an exact dupe, but similar. Sephora's is just a tad bit darker.

212 and Ocean Love Potion are available online only at Sephora for a limited time only. Hope your having a wonderful Tuesday!

FEATURED - Wednesday, June 17th 2009

New Nail Colors: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear

Happy Hump Day! Hope your having a wonderful Wednesday afternoon! Today I'm bringing you eight lovely colors from Sally Hansen's Xtreme wear line that I picked up.

In Sally Hansen's new display, you'll find around twenty or so Xtreme wear shades marked with a pewter chrome cap. Some colors are new, and others are previous or current shades.

Where can I find these? Check your nearest Walgreens. Since these are brand spankin new, displays may not hit for another week or so.

And, on to the swatches. 

 

Mellow Yellow, a light yellow creme that applied like most normal yellow's. Much lighter than Lightening and Lemon Dash. 

Green with Envy, a lime green creme. A lighter version of Lickety Split Lime from the Insta Dri line. A great alternative at half the cost. 

Sun Kissed, a vibrant orange creme. 

Blue me Away, bright sky blue creme. A deeper version of Brisk Blue that's not as bright. Another great alternative for half the price.  

Ivy League is really gorgeous. An apple green with gold shimmer. 

Rockstar Pink is a fabulous multi pink glitter. Red, Pink, Purple, Blue glitter in a clear base.

 Strobe Light, pink and silver holographic glitter in a clear base.

Shooting Star, very light blue base with green, pink, blue pastel glitter. 

Here's an example of the glitters with a black base underneath.

And a few more colors that I just added:

Just Added Celeb City, a foiltastic opaque silver that has great coverage, even with one coat.  

Just Added VIP Pink, a sheer light pink jelly with pink and silver shimmer.

Just Added Ocean View, a gorgeous ocean blue with shimmer.  

Just Added Red Carpet, an opaque red loaded with red glitter. 

Sally Hansen Xtreme wear should be available this week and retails around $2.99/ea. Have a fabulous day!

FEATURED - Saturday, June 20th 2009

New Nail Polish Colors: L.A. Girl Flare Swatches

I love me some L.A Girl Flare nail polishes! Here's just a few new colors from L.A. Girl Flare. Some brand spankin new colors, and some older ones that's been around for a while.

One of their newest colors, Rapture. Glitter plus holo equals winner, ding ding ding! Now what gal doesn't love these two combinations! Described as a silverish, platinum gold holo in a clear base.

 

 

 Nirvana, not your standard sky blue creme. A mix between teal and sky blue. Loves it!

Another new shade from L.A. Girl, Sea Grass. A gorgeous sea green creme that applied perfectly in two applications. This looks similar to the shade Lauren Conrad was sporting in a episode of The Hills a couple weeks ago. We all know how much she loves Urban Outfitters, so it's a good possibility. 

When I first laid my eyes on Sea Grass, I thought it was going to be a close dupe to another one of my favorite colors, Tropical. But, it's defintitely more green when compared in the swatch above.

Sunny, a bright pastel yellow creme.

Hype, a mid tone barbie pink creme.

Spunky is much more purple in real life. For some reason, this didn't capture true to life. A magenta purple creme.

Love L.A. Girl? Check out some more L.A. Girl Flare swatches. You can find L.A. Girl Flare polishes at Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, and Cherry Culture.

FEATURED - Sunday, June 21st 2009

New Nail Polish Colors from Icing

Happy Father's Day everyone! Hope you had a wonderful day. Today I'm bringing you some new Icing nail polish colors as promised. Besides the funky brush, these all are pretty fabulous shades. Check out all the swatches below.

Grape A Licious, a vibrant purple grape loaded with chunky pink and blue glitter. This one is pretty opaque, you'll only need two coats. 

Pink Sparkle, a neon pink with holographic glitter. I haven't check out my comparisons yet, but I'm thinking this is exactly the same as Claire's Lulu Belle.

Sour Apple, a semi sheer apple green with gold shimmer. Three or four coats to achieve bottle color.

Hazelnut, a rich and fabulous hazelnut brown with shimmer. 

 

Lily, a gorgeous lilac purple creme. OPI's Done out in Deco is a close dupe. 

Ice Queen is a much deeper shade from most gray's I own, but with an added tinge of blue undertones that makes this one special.

I really thought Recycle and Kiss me Here were going to closer dupes, but as you can see, Ice Queen is much darker with some added stormy blue undertones. Really love this.

Have a wonderful night and Monday morning!

FEATURED - Sunday, June 28th 2009

Nail Polish of the Day: Maybelline Shooting Stars

Happy Sunday! Hope you guys are having a wonderful weekend. Maybelline's Shooting Stars was my NOTD this past Friday that I neglected to post. sorry for that.

Described as a holographic glitter in a clear base that I picked up at my favorite Dollar Tree. Check out some more dollar tree gems below.

Jean Jacket is so much prettier in real life. Described as a denim blue with gorgeous pink and gold shimmer.  

Blue Chill, a blue gray with pink and blue micro shimmer. Very unique and different.

I'm spending the day catching up on some swatches, so you should see some new posts soon. Have a wonderful Sunday!

FEATURED - Wednesday, July 1st 2009

BB Couture for Nails: Review and Swatches

Today I'm bringing you a truly fabulous nail polish brand called BB Couture for Nails. If you've been reading the nail blogs, then your somewhat familiar with this one-of-a kind polish that's just phenomenal. The color selection is beyond amazing and my swatches don't do any justice...really!

Each formula contains no hazardous chemicals and is Big 3 free. And the best news yet, you get everything in this little package. Base, Top coat, Nail Color, and Strengther - all in one. What a brilliant idea? Just brilliant. Why didn't anyone think of this sooner?!

The Wear. Since you get everything in this little bottle, you really don't need a base or top coat. But, I have a feeling most of my readers will have trouble skipping this step, which is OK! I still love ya! Plus, you can never be too safe. My average wear was three days with no chipping, which is pretty remarkable with no base or top.

I know, enough of the review, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Opposites Attract, a medium gray with silver glitter and some black. The black was very subtle, but you can look at the bottle pic and see the darker black glitter. 

Blind Love gives Chanel's Kaleidoscope a run for it's money. Described as a pewter silver foiltastic color that's pretty much an exact dupe to Chanel's.

Balboa Beach Bunny, a deep purple with multi colored glitter. All the jellies are amazing! I'm totally crushing on them.

 

 Sea of Cortez, fabulous light blue jelly with glitter.

Moon over Manhattan is one of the best blues I've ever laid eyes on. Described as a mid tone blue with teal undertones and fine glitter.

Here's a comparison swatch of Moon over Manhattan and Sea of Cortez.

Frosty Meadow, gorgeous light green jelly with glitter. 

Zuma Wave Rider didn't quite capture as well as I'd liked. It's a mix between a lavender purple and baby blue pastel. The pastels applied a little streaky, but nothing three coats can't fix.

Laguna Lagoon, a pastel mint green creme.

 Laguna Lagoon is similar to OPI's Hey get in Lime, but just a tad more lighter and pastel.

Poison Ivy, a medium green creme. One of the best greens on the market.

Iced Olive is insanely gorgeous! Described as a olive green with gold shimmer.

Where do I buy BB Couture? You can purchase BB Couture directly through BB's site or Overall Beauty. I highly recommend Kim at Overall Beauty. Her customer service exceeds excellence and she ships internationally at a pretty reasonable rate. The retail price is around $8.00 - $9.95/ea.

Have a wonderful Wednesday! Enjoy peeps!

FEATURED - Saturday, July 4th 2009

Nail Polish of the day: My 4th of July Mani

Happy Independence day everyone! Today marks the Fourth of July in the US, a celebration commemorating the adopotion of the Declaration of Indpepence on July 4th, 1776 declaring independence from Great Britain! Ok, enough with the history lesson Steph, on to Nails!!

When I think of the fourth of July, of course I think about food, good company and beer (lol), foremost fireworks and explosions come to mind...So, I wanted to create something blingy for that extra sparkle.

Update: To make a long story short, I wasn't satisfied with my first 4th of July nail design and this is my second finished design. I like it so much better! 

Check out my supplies below: 

What I used: Claire's Liberty (red), Maybelline's Twinkle, Twinkle (blue), Art Deco (glitter) and Sally's dotting tool.

Hope ya'll are having a wonderful 4th of July. It's actually raining here, but we have plans for tomorrow too!

What's everyone's mani for today? Check out some of my blogger gals: All Lacquered Up, Scrangie, The NailPhile, CasualLavish.

FEATURED - Tuesday, July 7th 2009

New Nail Polish Colors from Pure Ice

Hope your having a grand ole Tuesday! Today I'm bringing you some new nail polish colors from Pure Ice that I've been promising. You can find this brand at most Walmart stores, which retails around $1.88/ea.

Kiss me Here (pic above), gorgeous mid tone gray creme.

Beware, silver glitter in a clear base. 

Kiss me Here topped with Beware silver glitter. 

French Kiss, fabulous blue creme.

Strapless, blue glitter in a clear base. 

 French Kiss topped with Strapless blue glitter.

 

Cheatin, purple, pink, and blue glitter in a clear base.

No means No, is beyond awesome. Packed with loads of color, opaqueness and a close dupe to MAC's Violet Fire. Check out a comparison below.

No means No isn't quite an exact dupe, but for half the application - it's totally worth it!

I'll be adding two more colors tomorrow. Have a wonderful night!

FEATURED - Tuesday, July 14th 2009

Photo Teaser: Wet n Wild Craze Nail Polish

Just in case I don't have a chance to post swatches tomorrow, I wanted to end this day with a little photo tease from Wet n Wild's new collection called, Craze. Introducing nine new colors packed in a small, stylish bottle averaging .34 oz each for $1.89. Check out all the color descriptions below. 

• Inferno -  orange/red shimmer
• Lust - bright hot pink with subtle shimmer
• Goldmine - buttery gold shimmer
• Jade - sour apple shimmer
• Nocturnal - blackened navy blue creme
• Rustic - deep rustic orange/brown shimmer
• Shield - light bronzy shimmer, almost identical to Covergirl's Bronzed Beauty
• Glitz - multi pink glitter in a clear base
• Morbid - Deep forest green in black base - a great alternative to one of my favorite colors, OPI's Jasper Jade

Check out a sneak peek below..

Umm...Green! Need I say more? Morbid is insanely gorgeous and is packed with loads of color. Just a tad bit deeper than OPI's Jasper Green.

Glitz, a multi pink party in this little bottle. Pink, blue, silver and gold in a clear base.

I'll be posting the rest of the swatches tomorrow. Have a wonderful day! 

FEATURED - Wednesday, July 15th 2009

Wet n Wild Craze Nail Polish: Swatches

Now that you've seen a preview of Morbid and Glitz, I'm bringing you the remaining swatches of Wet n Wild's new Craze line.

Brief Description: These unbelievable shades come in a high performance formula in colors specially selected from the season's latest trends. The quick-dry, chip-resistant formula applies smooth and leaves nails with a long-lasting, shiny finish. Formaldehyde, toluene, and phthalate free. Cruelty Free.

Each bottle is packaged in a cute and stylish floral design that averages .34 oz, a little bigger than a mini size. Since these bottles are smaller, I can see the round, short brush may be a problem for some of us when applying color. No biggie, just a little awkward at first.

The formula was smooth and fast drying with no overall application issues.

Check out em out! 

Inferno - burnt orange with shimmer. 

Jade, a semi sheer apple green with shimmer. 

Goldmine, a semi sheer gold with shimmer. 

Lust, bright hot pink with flashes of blue shimmer. 

Rustic, an opaque deep metallic rusty bronze with a foil appeal. 

Shield, a petwer bronze with flecks of copper that has a foil appeal. A close dupe to Covergirl's Bronzed Beauty.

Glitz, a multi colored pink glitter with silver, pink, and light blue in a clear base.  

Both these are similar, but Rockstar pink is a deeper shade of pink with noticeable blue and red glitter.

 Morbid, is a deep, opaque shade of forest green that's amazing.

Morbid and Jasper Jade aren't exact dupes, but close. Jasper Jade is more brighter green and Morid is a deeper forest. 

For some reason, my swatches didn't capture as well for Noctural. It's a deep shade of navy blue, much like Lippmann's Devil in a blue dress. I'll post a new swatch tomorrow.

This collection may be a little hard to track down, but should start popping up in the new couple of weeks. Any takers? Have a fantastic night!

FEATURED - Sunday, July 19th 2009

Barielle All Lacquered Up Collection: Part II

Now that you've seen the neutral tones in Part I, it's time for some vampylicious fun with darker, richer shades.

In Part II, we have more fall appropriate colors that are loaded with the luxuries of fabulous glitter, pearls and shimmer in each one - no cremes to be seen!

Each color is exceptionally pigmented with only two coats and applied to perfection.

Check out all the swatches.

Polished Princess is a safari green with golden and green shimmer. I applied this one with three coats, even though it's only a two coater. I wanted to stretch the limits of this gorgeous green.

Pin Up Girl is your classic, sexy tomato red with subtle gold shimmer.

Make it Latte is a little slice of chocolate heaven with some subtle gold shimmer. Gorgeous!

Lava Rock, black base with red pearl that looks more plummy.

These next two are infused with a gorgeous fleck like glitter that's absolutely stunning! Glammed out Garnet, a ruby red with gorgeous glitter. 

As I mentioned above, Blackened Bleu has flecks of glitter that's gorgeous. A black base with sapphire glitter that sparkles, sparkles and sparkles! Loves it.

The All Lacquered Up collection will be available online at Barielle starting in August. The shades retails $8.00/ea, but always has a buy 2, get 1 free promo going on.

FEATURED - Monday, July 20th 2009

New Icing nail colors: I'm seeing Green

Happy Monday everyone! Hope ya'll had a wonderful weekend! Today I'm bringing you four new colors from Icing by Claire's and two of them being my favorite color, Green!

You've probably heard me say this a thousand times and I'll continue to say it, Icing's nail polish seriously rocks!

The unique shades are unbelievable. I just wish they'd work on improving the application brush a bit. Besides that, this would be a kick ass brand!

Everytime I visit my Icing store in the mall, it never ceases to amaze me that I come home with four bottles, at least. They always have updated colors, I love it! 

Check em' out! 

I can see why this is Laura's Fave, it's gorgeous. A bright seafoam green or minty green with fine subtle blue and silver shimmer. The blue shimmer makes this a tad bit more blue toned compared to Essie's Greenport. 

Bad Apple is by far an amazing green and quickly becoming one of my favorites. A semi sheer jelly that's darker than Essie's Dominica Green, but equally beautiful. Green Lovers, this is a must have! Run, hike or drive to your nearest Icing, it's well worth it.

Paparazzi is a rustic orange with silver and holographic glitter. You know I'm all for bling, so I couldn't pass this one up.

I passed up Taylor at least four times before I actually snatched her up. The unique blend of light pink and slight lavender undertones kept pulling me in.

You can find these at Icing stores (USA, Canada) usually located in your local Mall. The nail polishes retail for $4.50/ea and they have buy one, get one half of deals going on regularly. 

Have a great Monday!

FEATURED - Friday, July 24th 2009

FAQ: Is there any dupes for Starry Starry Night

Q: I love Essie's discontinued Starry Starry Nights but can't find this color anywhere! Is there any close dupes or possible alternatives for this gorgeous shade?

A: Starry Starry Night is one of Essie's highly sought after colors and I have some bad news addicts, the answer is No!

The unique blue jelly-ness of Starry Starry night makes it next to impossible to find an exact dupe. However, I went digging through my closet and found two close alternatives that you might find lurking at your favorite Dollar Tree. But I warn ya, it's just as hard to track these down.

Check out my findings below.       

 Here's what I came up with. Naturistics being the closest dupe to Starry Starry Night.

Crystal Blue is really gorgeous and perhaps one of Essie's biggest contenders. A true navy blue jelly loaded with the same blue and silver glitter as Starry Starry Night. The navy blue base is just a tad bit darker compared to Essie's.   

Here's our pride and glory Starry Starry Night. The blue jelly base is really hard to describe. It's not your standard navy blue base, more muted and brighter at the same rate. 

Maybelline's Twinkle Twinkle should be the easiest alternative to find at your Dollar Tree or Ebay. An opaque navy blue with silver glitter.

Another alternative that I didn't include in my post, Sephora's Blue Sapphire. It's more of a royal blue with chunkier glitter that's super easy to find at Sephora.

Have a wonderful day!

FEATURED - Wednesday, July 29th 2009

Nail Polish of the Day: China Glaze Crystal Ball

It's Wednesday and were finally over that hump, creeping closer to Friday - woot woot! Today I wanted to pull out a really cool, hard to find shade from China Glaze called, Crystal Ball. It's described as a deep burgandy red with silver holographic glitter.

You know me, I'm not the biggest red lover..But I tend to pull out Crystal Ball quite often. It must be the silver shimmer and holo glitter that has me hooked, line and sinker! Oh yeah, gotta love the sparkle!

Speaking about China Glaze..They've finally hopped on the Twitter wagon. Have you? If not, you're missing out on great contests! China Glaze is giving away a free set of Retro Diva polishes every day until August 4th. Make sure you follow them and tweet @ChinaGlaze I want 2 win a ChG Retro Diva Collection.

Before scoping out Ebay for Crystal Ball, try searching online at a few of the e-tailers. Have a wonderful day!

FEATURED - Saturday, August 1st 2009

Bronzed out in Bling: Pink Sands Franken