December 21, 2011 – 12:00 pm
Anyone that thinks a name is just a name may be right when dealing with every day matters, but not when it comes to marketing. A black creme cannot really be unique. Some applications may be better than others, but really, what can you do to differentiate a black creme? Not much. Black mattes might have a bit more variety, but let’s face it, black is not a color that has shades. It’s either black or it’s… well grey.
So why did I buy these when I have a plethora of other black cremes and mattes in my collection – especially since YSL isn’t even one of my gotta-have-or-I’ll-die brands? (although they’ve been kind of surprising me lately) Simple. I couldn’t possibly resist a collection named “Terrible Niors”.
Now, after all that, there’s really not alot to say about these two colors. They’re black. One is matte. One is shiny. Both applied in two coats. That’s pretty much all there is to the two colors.
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December 19, 2011 – 12:00 pm
Pop Polishes seem to have come out of the woodwork lately. A year ago, you could only find them a few places, namely at CVS.com and Beauty.com. Now they are at Nordstroms, Urban Outfitters, Amazon, 6pm, Zappos (who knew? This is where I got mine because it has the best selection), and the list goes on. Someone in their marketing department has been a busy little bee.
There has been a lot of foils that have hit the shelves lately. Happy dance for me as this is my favorite finish. But it leaves quite a few very similar colors on the table.
I like Pop polishes. I love foil finishes. So getting these was a no brainer for me. But…. While these three colors are gorgeous, I don’t think any of them is truly a unique foil.
Color Club recently came out with their Foiled Collection and each of the Pop collections seems to have a very similar Color Club color. Ruby Metal is somewhat like Hot Like Lava, Jade Metal is very like Perfect Mol-ten and Denim is very like Cold Metal. Perfect dupes? I’d say no, but the later two are pretty darn close.
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December 18, 2011 – 12:00 pm
Chanel Fantastic is one of those “secret shimmer’ colors. As in, the shimmer is almost non-existant unless the light is hitting it the right way or if you’re taking a photo of it with the macro lens. I’m usually not a huge fan of the secret shimmer. Either give it to me or not, but let’s not tap dance in the middle. Despite that, the berry pink color is very nice. Shown is two coats.
December 14, 2011 – 12:00 pm
Let’s continue on with the NYX Advanced Salon Formula colors, shall we?
This was an interesting batch of NYX Advanced Salon Formula polishes to swatch. With two of them, Magnolia and Sumptuous being so similar in color, I actually had to redo swatches because I kept getting them mixed up.
I continue to be impressed with this line just for the pigmentation alone. Although not quite a one coat color, they comes close. Some of them are just a touch thick, but nothing extreme. If it really bothers you, it’s nothing a drop or two of thinner won’t take care of.
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December 12, 2011 – 12:00 pm
Odyssey is one of those words that regardless if I spell it right or not, looks wrong. Too many y’s and not enough d’s.
There are certain types of polishes that I’ve stopped purchasing a great deal of. I’ve really pulled back on the glitters because in the last year, I’ve worn zero. Wait, I do wear Ruby Pumps on my toes, but I’m not going to count that as I change my pedicure once a month (yeah, I hate doing pedicures) and don’t have to struggle with the pain of removal all that often (yeah, I hate removing glitter). Silver foils are another type because, really, how can you come out with a really unique silver foil?
Nars Space Odyssey either came out later than the other companies Fashion Night Out offerings or I totally missed it. When I first saw it, my reaction was “Ooooooh!”. Once I realized it was a silver foil, my reaction was, “oh no”. But I bought it anyways. Why? Because I have a compulsion with Nars (and Chanel, Dior and Givenchy… but let’s not get into that, shall we?). Read More »
December 11, 2011 – 12:00 pm
Chanel Rose Des Vents was one of the Chanel colors that at one time I searched pretty hard for. The bottle color just indicated the perfect muted pink. I was rather disappointed to find that it was quite pearly and the steaks are very obvious. Still a very pretty color. Just not a pretty application. Shown is two coats.
December 7, 2011 – 12:00 pm
I may be feeling a bit guilty about Monday’s post. Alright, not really. But here’s a kiss and make up post to MAC.
MAC Unconditionally Fabulous came out with the Glitter and Ice Holiday collection. The other polishes two were cremes, which, if you you follow this blog, you’ll know is not my particularly favorite polish finish.
Large hexagonal, holographic glitter particles have taken the polish world by storm in the last year. Every other color seems to have them and they work to varying degrees. This time, I can say that MAC hit it on the bull’s eye. I layered Unconditionally Fabulous over black so that you can get the full effect of its beauty. What really impressed me with this color is how well the glitter went on in one coat.
I applied each coat in about five thin strokes and the glitter built up pretty densely without wallowing in a flood of clear polish. Too many of these types of polishes have you digging for the glitter and to strategically place it on the nail. No worries here. For the one nail that the it went on thin, I shook the bottle to disperse the glitter in the clear base polish and I was good again. I don’t normally suggest shaking the bottle as this has a tendency to create bubbles in the manicure. However, with a glitter this chunky, even if you do get bubbles, you’ll never really see them.
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December 5, 2011 – 12:00 pm
The Gareth Pugh nail polishes that were recently introduced by MAC came in new square bottles and a hefty increase from the normal $15 to a whopping $22. With an increase like that, I pull out my wallet with high expectations. Was it really worth it? …Not quite.
Let’s start with the bottles. While I normally rave about square bottles (cuz I luvs them, especially when I try to put them into my helmer), these are inelegant, hefty things. Not only that, the black X’d out square on every side eradicates almost all trace of what color the bottles contains. I understand that a company has to brand their product, but I think they could have left at least one side black square free so that color content could be ascertained, if not quickly, at least eventually.
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December 4, 2011 – 12:00 pm
Chanel Gondola is probably one of my favorite Chanel magentas. The shimmer seems to be larger than the average shimmer particles giving it a great depth. And because one wasn’t enough, here’s another profile shot. Although this is no longer available at the Chanel website, it’s still fairly easy to get your hands on if you do a web search. Shown is two coats.
December 2, 2011 – 12:00 pm
Jill Stuart is another Asian brand that hasn’t really made its way to the states. It’s a higher end polish that runs pretty steep regardless where you are in the world. The combination of those two things constitute very few of this line in my collection. But the ones I do have of this line are pretty nice.
From what I’ve see, Jill Stuart doesn’t come out with a ton of colors at the speed of other lines like Chanel. It also looks like they keep their colors as part of their base line as both of the colors shown here have been around for awhile but still show up on their website.
Jill Stuart 38 is a dark blue base with blue and green shimmer. It’s a beautiful color. However, while it might have been superbly unique when it came out, multi-color shimmer has become more and more popular lately and this combination is no longer uncommon. Jill Stuart 18 has a mild pink base with a shimmer that’s almost holographic with all the colors they’ve packed into it. Read More »
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