This is No April Fool's Joke!

Yup....I'm wearing purple polish. For the first time EVER other than swatches...and even those are limited. It's very strange since I don't really have purple clothes. Normally I don't really match my clothes with my polish but I have been wearing black and white the past two days to make my purple neon polish stand out. I think I might...actually....like purple polish now.

Ignore the weird reflections too, I was scrambling to get this pic in full sun so I had to do some funky angles.

I actually have a one hour gap between classes and dashed home just to post this, but stay tuned...today will be a polish-productive day.

Early Morning Hotness: Misa, Misa, Misa!!!!!!

These pictures are LONG overdue and I apologize. I'm actually still pretty exhausted since I drove 7 hrs back home yesterday! California is a HUGE state. I know Steph and Scrangie have swatched them already, but here are pics from Misa's Poisoned Passion Collection for Fall/Winter 08. Actually, it would be a good idea to revisit their posts because Misa accidentally sent me two Dying Love's so I didn't get A Sin Worth Committing (the blue). Good thing Dying Love is a charcoal grey that actually looks good on me! Summer's not over yet, but these colors are perfect for fall and winter, the time of darker polishes. And it's so making me crave for those times too.

With this collection, Misa has really gone above and beyond. Each polish only needed two coats, no streaking problems at all, and everything is just rich and luscious. Photos are taken in direct full bright sunlight because I swatched outside today, which was fun. But, sunlight pics can be a double-edged sword because it can sometimes wash a color out (and my skin looks super washed out) so I took a picture of it in shade too...and everyone can see the high-gloss finish of each polish too. Like I said, Misa really went above and beyond with this collections.


First up, #175, Love Bite. GORGEOUS vampy burgundy creme. I love this color especially because it reminds me of Icing Redwood, except maybe a pinch darker. I love vampy reds, there's just something so sexy about them.



#176, Dying Love, is one hot charcoal grey shimmer. Ok yeah it's been done before, and dark greys don't really look good on me (and I always get confused because dark greys look so green to me sometimes)...but I will say that this polish is very, very nice. I also think that it works with my skin and the shimmer is just soo pretty.

I think I like it most how it looks here in shade, because that's how it looks most in real life

#178, Forbidden Lust, is a pretty, shimmery purple. Definitely a staple for purple-lovers. I love how it has a glowy look in sunlight.


#179, Toxic Seduction is by far my favorite. A gorgeous green with a touch of teal and is full of gold & multicolored microglitter. It's so beautiful that I'm glad all of these colors are good w/two coats, because then I don't waste as much when I wear this color over and over again. I'm really glad Misa added a green to this collection, it's definitely something that stands out about this collection specifically and also gives it a bit of an edge.


Finally, #180, Fatal Affair, is a very vampy purple with unique blurple shimmer. And try to contain your shock folks, because I actually really love this color too. Me. Loving a purple. Global warming is doing some funky stuff with my head ya'll, because I think I'm suffering from a heatstroke. But I think the pics can speak for themselves



So pretty much I had no issues with any polish in this collection. I especially love how I only need two coats for every single polish here, andI can definitely see where they drew inspiration from the Milan fashion shows. Everything here was so rich and (pardon the pun), polished. I know Misa polishes can be hard to find but they are definitely worth it.

But wait, there's more!

Misa also sent me some other polishes to swatch: Camellia Destiny, Heaven White, I Will Survive and Red Hot Mamma. The colors are pretty straightforward so these were taken in direct sunlight as well.

Camellia Destiny is a milky pink sheer. It was kind of streaky with the first coat but evened out a bit by the 2nd coat. Since I'm not a huge sheer fan, these is three coats here but you can still see that there's a bit of nail showing through. It's very lady-like but the streakiness bothered me a bit

Heaven White is a pure white, the same kind that Pure Ice Super Star! was but only needed two coats. Like with Camellia Destiny, it was streaky with the first coat but evened out with the second one.
I Will Survive is a GREAT song. I love Gloria Gaynor, she's so sassy and fun. This polish is also very sassy, a straight up glossy black polish. It's pretty much as if NYC Black Lace Creme and WnW Black Creme had a baby. It's got the mega-gloss factor of the NYC and the opaqueness and application of the WnW. Here it is in two coats. Plain but pratical.
Finally, Red Hot Mamma is just...well, it's a hot red for sure! It has a pretty hint of shimmer too that makes it a very glowy color.

I'm just about falling asleep at my laptop here so enjoy the beautiful pictures! Good night (or more accurately good morning)!

Lacquerice

I've planned my day out so that tomorrow I will get Chanel Rose Tourbillon as soon as my local mall opens! I've had a rough week, so I think that will cheer me up considerably. So look forward to pictures of that tomorrow.

For now at least, enjoy some pictures from the fabulous mzprec1ouz of another Nordstrom exclusive, Dior Liquorice, a dark plum with gold sparkles:

Early Morning Hotness: Essie Neons

I apologize for the delay in getting these pictures to you guys, it's been a very hectic week. I rarely get chips in my polish but I actually did get two while moving on Saturday. I felt like I had crossed an important milestone in my life, hehe. I haven't even caught up with my daily readings of the nail board at MUA and CNN/BBC in the past four days. It's been quite a week.

Anyway, onto the neons! I normally swatch without a base or top coat but since neons dry so matte due to the pigmentation in them, I added a topcoat to truly represent the color. Here they are all together:

L-R: Bermuda Shorts, Shorty Pants, Mini Shorts, Short Shorts

First, although I'm not a purple girl I must say that I really liked Bermuda Shorts. It had one of the best applications of the four, and it made my skin look very pale (always a plus in my look, I hate that I tan so easily). It's a great vibrant neon purple.
Now, I love yellow polish, but it does make my fingers look extremely tan. The contrast is nice but it doesn't photograph well. Anyway, Shorty Pants is a gorgeous neon yellow creme that is a true yellow, it doesn't turn out mustard-y like Icing Smooth Like Butta does. However, I must say that the application on this one wasn't the best. Maybe it was finicky because it wanted to have a name ending in 'shorts' too? It might be a yellow thing (NYX Carnation was also very streaky, NYC Taxi Cab Yellow was too watery/streaky until I let it dry out), but this one does require a lot of patience.

Ahhh it makes my hand look so dark! But honestly the contrast is awesome. I gave a sneak peek of Mini Shorts earlier, but with topcoat it definitely gives it that extra kick of neon. This one also had a good application

And finally, Short Shorts. I didn't think it was very neon until I looked at it on my computer screen (disadvantages of having a crappy digital camera and being colorblind). Just....wow. Definitely a pink that makes a statement. The application on this was ok, not perfect but workable like most other polishes.

Neons are hard to photograph but hopefully I did ok. I had to slap Orly Live Wire over Shorty Pants though to make it even more gorgeous (I love shimmer)...hopefully everyone can see the glorious golden shimmer...if not, click to enlarge.


And yes, I've graduated from tagging my pics with my MUA name to the blog URL. Does it look ok?

My nails are actually bare now, one because it's easier to swatch on whim whenever I please but also because my nails are recovering from using a SH basecoat (more on that later) which completely dried out my nails and stripped them completely of their natural oils and made them peel a bit. Ugh. More on that later, I'll have a complete product review. I've also been really good on not spending too much on polish lately but I did haul quite a bit today. I got my first Nubar polish (Cotton Candy), my second Zoya polish (Akyra), my first SH Salon line polish (You-Gurt Style) and my first Borghese polish (Capri Coral). But those are not the only polishes I got, which is quite terrible!

Anyway, even though I had some application issues, these neons are still really hot and perfect for summer!

What a Tease!

After a long and exhausting week, I'm ready to relax.....by studying for finals next week. I've given into the fact that the first half of June has/is going to be a lose-lose situation. But look what beauties decided to drop in today:

L-R: Bermuda Shorts, Shorty Pants, Mini Shorts, Short Shorts

Yep, the new Essie Neon collection. They released a LE neon collection last year too, but those were much sheerer. From the pics I've seen on MUA and 15 Min. Beauty Fanatic, these are highly pigmented. I'm eager to try these, but I will have to wait...but instead of just being a tease, I present you with pics of another polish.....Pure Ice Tease. It's a perfect summery color, a bright fuchsia with a hefty dose of blurple shimmer. I'm not sure how to classify the shimmer in this but it's so nice!


Pure Ice polishes can be found at Walmart for fairly cheap, I've forgotten the exact price. But they are good quality polishes for the money. Everyone over at the nail board has gone crazy over Pure Ice Heartbreaker, which is a great polish for layering over cremes because of the gorgeous shimmer in it. Also, occasionally these polishes will be out of stock...don't resort to the internet! Eventually they will be restocked, sometimes in a matter of days. Patience, patience.

With Essie's new neon collection as a direct competition with MAC and Chanel's neon collections, what do you guys think? It's definitely the cheapest alternative compared to the rest, but they are all different enough to justify (in my world at least), having them all. MAC's Phosphor, for instance, is a bit more frosty than Chanel's LA Sunrise or Essie's Shorty Pants. LA Sunrise is also lighter, and Shorty Pants is the only out of the three to be a straight creme.

Also, given Essie's surprising hit with their summer collection, and now a collection of neons, do you sense that they're branching out from their usual conservatism? Granted, the neon collection is limited edition but the pigmentation is a departure from the demure Essie polishes of the past. This could be the evolution of something great....perhaps a collection of sheer holo's? Something that incorporates their signature soft, workplace-safe colors with an infusion of holographic glitter for a bit of edge. I could easily see a nice nude holographic version of Congo Bongo, a pretty soft pink holo version of Charmeuse or My Place or Yours, or a pretty white holo with Intimate. China Glaze and OPI have all released holo collections, what do you guys think? I'm always in favor of progression while not completing leaving behind the basics. I think it's possible that Essie's color selection could become more daring without alienating their original fan base. After all, their tag line is that Essie is a color-holic. It's nice to see that becoming more of a reality now.

Early Morning Hotness: Chanel LE Robertson Blvd. collection

Get ready you guys, this one's a doozy. From the pics of Chanel's Robertson Blvd. collection, it's obvious that everyone's hopes that it would be exactly dupish to Essie's Neon Shorts collection were wrong. These colors are all gorgeous, not TOO neon but not too blah either. After seeing these pics, I really wish Chanel would add them to the permanent collection. And also because that would mean that we wouldn't have to pay $6 more for these stinking beauties.

Special thanks to the amazing Eve from MUA's nailboard for these pics! Please do not steal these pics (which is why I've watermarked them to death), she worked very hard on taking these. If you want to use these pics, please either link back to this blog or PM Love8Brain over at MUA for permission. I know there are Ebay scalpers out there already hawking these polishes for crazy high prices. I have to stress that unless you are from outside the US, usually buying these types of polishes off Ebay are a rip-off. However, especially for the girls in the UK, sometimes you can find really great deals on these things when you factor in the currency exchange. Just use some common sense before falling over backwards to bid! And as always, click on a pic for an enlarged and more detailed version.

Box pictures, just to be a tease...you would think that the numbers would be sequential since they're from the same collection, but they're not....maybe that's how they do it in high fashion:

Bottle pics:


Rodeo Dr, an actual likable purple for me (and I usually hate purple!):



Melrose...I'm actually not a fan of this one, looks too Pepto-Bismol for me. Eve however swears that it's not too bright/ostentatious in real life, and I guess she could be right. Bonus: it has a bit of a jelly finish.




L.A. Sunrise, looks like a paler version of NYC Taxi Yellow. I love it already:




And finally, L.A. Sunset, a gorgeous orange-coral:





Thoughts? Well LA Sunset and Rodeo Dr. definitely exceeded my expections, and I'm glad my fanaticism over LA Sunrise has been totally justified. I think I'd have to see Melrose in person before passing on it. All in all, these colors are pretty, yes, but with the $25 price tag in mind I would probably only get the LA's. Although, from these pics I like LA Sunset's bottle color more so than the color it is on nails. But like I said, I'd have to see them in person first.

Unfortunately, according to my friend Jen who went earlier today, LA Sunrise is SOLD OUT at the Robertson Boutique. So if that's the only one you were going to get, save your gas mileage. Word is that these LE polishes will be available for order online at chanel.com late June/early July. Hopefully by then there will be more LA Sunrise's to go around. Also, because finals week is next week and I'm actually running a slight fever right now, expect very few, if any posts until June 13th. I will at least finish writing my opinion piece on Chanel polishes and why people are willing to pay for them.

Again, thanks to Love8Brain over at MUA for letting me use her fabulous pics!

Early Morning Hotness: OPI Shanghai Shimmer

I bought this polish just for the name, and I think this is going to be the only polish I take with me when I study abroad this fall in Shanghai. Clever eh? I plan on doing a lot of polish shopping in Chines though!

My initial reaction was...what a lovely pink! But upon closer inspection (and consulting some of my non-colorblind friends), there's definitely some mauve tones to it. Even though I'm not a fan of purple polish (blasphemous right? Everyone has their polish quirks though) or purple tones, I will grudgingly admit that this is a beautiful polish. It helps that it definitely pulls more towards pink than mauve. Whew.


A contributing factor to how it looks delicate and pretty without being flat and boring is the abundance of green shimmer. It's definitely unique in that sense. With my Asian skin tone, I'm luckily able to pull off pinks and reds pretty well. Well I guess I could add mauve to that too. In most cases at least.

Shanghai Shimmer is luckily part of OPI's core line so it shouldn't be hard to find at all. It applies well with the ProWide brush and I only needed two coats to accomplish the look above. It's going to be perfect for China because it's one of those go-to polishes when you need a quick change of nail color. That means I don't have to worry so much about my nails so I can focus more on exploring the city and working hard in school....until I get new colors to play with!