New Brand Alert: Confetti

I am always on the lookout for new polishes or interesting nail products when I am out and about. I always looking out for you guys! I was very pleased to stumble upon and display in CVS of a new brand: Confetti. Overall the whole line looked a bit boring (I mean "safe") but they did throw in some interesting shades for us junkies, including a green! And they retail for just $1.99 a bottle! So I grabbed a couple.

Moonstruck - I showed you this one last week for my Chanel - Paradoxal dupe. It's that cool, edgy, gray-taupe-purple color we love so much! Great shade and great formula.

Centerstage - This is a bright, glowing purple. It's on the red/magenta side and shimmers flecks of blue. Great formula. Two coats.

Bombshell Blue - Awesome, shimmery, glowy, cornflower blue. Very eye-catching. This is my favorite type of blue polish color. My only complaint is that the formula is thin and needed 3 coats.

My Favorite Martian - The star of the show! This is a very shimmery, olive green. This also needs 3 coats like Blue Bombshell and the brush was a little wonky. It reminded me of Sinful Colors - Show Me The Way so I did a comparison:

They are actually pretty different. The similarities are shimmery olive, needs three coats, and $1.99 price tag. But on the nail they are obviously different. My Favorite Martian builds to a more saturated color and is more green while Show Me The Way is more yellow. Show me the way has a great glass-fleck that is lost in this picture in the bright sun.

What do you think?
:c)
Have a great Friday!!

Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure vs Gosh - Rainbow

Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure and Gosh - Rainbow

When I first started seeing swatches of the new hot drugstore release, Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure, I started thinking that it looked just like a little gem I got from a friend overseas. It's by a brand called "Gosh" which is sold in Europe and Canada, and not to us US girls. I have showed you a little of what Gosh - Rainbow can do, and if you like what you saw and couldn't get it, I have good news. There are dupes!

In sunlight, one coat layered over black:
Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure (HT) on index and ring
Gosh - Rainbow (GR) on middle and pinky

In shade, one coat layered over black:
Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure (HT) on index and ring
Gosh - Rainbow (GR) on middle and pinky

still one coat, just at an angle

still one coat, just close-up

At first looking at the bottles they look much different, don't they? HT looks like it is more white and cloudy, while GR is crystal clear. HT looks like it flashes some more pastel shades, and GR look like a prism. But on the nail... they look the same. The photo directly above makes it look like HT may have a more dense coverage, but it is just based on those two nails. I had a lot on brush when I painted my ring finger, but you can see it is not as dense on the index. It was just a fluke. To me they flash the same colors, at the same angles, and have the same intensity and density.

So if you are not in the US and can't find HT, then you can get yourself Rainbow. If you can't get Rainbow in the US, you can get Hidden Treasure (maybe. It seems as though it's hard to spot!) and if you can't get either, it looks like a new release from Nubar is a twin too: Nubar - 2010

What do you think?
HAPPY FRIDAY!
:c)
-Elaine

Deborah Lippmann Spring 2010

Hey kids! I have swatches of the spring release from Deborah Lippmann for you today! I tried them out over the weekend and they are fabulous. I feel like they are sort of trendy which I would normally loathe, but I can't hate on pretty polish!

If you look closely at this bottle shot I am sure you noticed the "Lippmann Collection" has now changed to "Deborah Lippmann" but she still stuck with that pretty, elegant bottle. *whew*

I'm Not Innocent - I surprisingly really love this shade. I didn't think it would happen. I thought it would be really thin and sheer but it's not! It needed three coats (shown here) but that is fine for a light color, in my honest opinion. Especially if you love it! This is a true peach creme. PEACH. Not China Glaze - Peachy Keen peach. This is what I think of when I hear "peach". Very soft, not stark, feminine and pretty. I think this is a huge winner.

There may be shades that are close to this, but I don't own them. I found two in my collection that looked close: OPI - Samoan Sand and Color Club - Coastal Creme:

From left to right: Samoan Sand, I'm Not Innocent, Coastal Creme. All are shown with three coats. In the bottle Samoan Sand looked like a dead dupe but once I got it on I was way off. It's far more sheer and Coastal Creme is far more white and stark. Unique shade!

Waking Up In Vegas - This is a "greige" creme. It definitely fits in the greige (gray-beige) category that is popular right now. It dries rather matte though so it will need a top coat if you want it shiny. I wore this one for a full mani and loved it! I had the girls at the hair salon drooling. When I look at it I think of clay and I like that.

I bet you are thinking this isn't a totally unique shade and could find a dupe for it. Well I thought you might, so I went ahead and did some comparisons:

Sally Hansen - Wet Cement, Deborah Lippmann - Waking Up In Vegas, Essie - Chinchilly, Color Club - High Society

Well I threw in Wet Cement so you could see how WUIV compares to a true gray creme. I think Chinchilly and High Society are leaning more on the beige/brown side of this and are a bit darker. If you think they are close enough you're probably right. I am here to help you save some dough, not spend it! I know it's hard to swallow the $16 price tag for Lippmann. BUT.... and I am sorry... I found the application of Waking Up In Vegas a dream. It was so smooth and creamy and flawless in two coats and Chinchilly and High Society definitely need three as they are very thin. :c(

Final verdict: I love these shades :cO Do you need them? If you can swallow the price tag, sure but if not I would save my pennies for the summer/fall glitters that I have been hearing rumors about! I am very badly anticipating those!

These are available now and retail for $16 each.

What do you think?
-Elaine
:c)


Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.

China Glaze Poolside Swatches - Summer 2010

Hello all! I have the China Glaze summer collection for you today: Poolside. The release day is coming up! Just a couple more days! Are you dying for them, or what?!

As I am sure you know, Poolside is a collection of 6 neon shades. And I am sure you also know that neons are next to impossible to capture true to life. I did the best I could, and some come out better than others. So I warn you, these are not terribly accurate, either in shade and/or brightness/neonness, but they will at least help give you an idea. And where I could I did comparison pics. The point is sort of moot if none of the shades being compared are accurate, but at least you can see the differences between two shades.

These are all very awesome and very bright. I had them all sitting out on my polish desk and the BF said "Those are the six greatest nail polishes I've ever seen". LOL! I love when he gets into my polish!

Okay, let's get into it!

Pool Party - This is a neon pink, but it is a very red pink. It's a neon "rink", I guess. I have nothing like it but I did a comparison of Pool Party next to Essie - Flirty Fuchsia from last year's Essie neons so you can see how red it is:

pinky and middle: Pool Party
ring and index: Flirty Fuchsia

Again, neither of these are accurate thanks to the loss of neon in the pic, but at least you can see that Pool Party leans more red than pink.

Flip Flop Fantasy - This is a neon coral. Perfect description. It's not pink, red or orange. It's all of them! And it's neon! This is the stand out shade of this collection in my eyes. I don't think there is a shade like it at all. I don't have a comparison pic to show you for this because it is so unique. This is a must have shade. I adore it. If you don't think it is impressive in my swatch it's because my camera murdered it's magic. Trust me, this is amazing. This is absolutely getting a spot in my Top 20, as soon as I can think of who I want to bump off...

Sun Worshiper - I have been so excited for the release of this collection because of this shade. I just love colors like this. This is a yellow sided, orange neon. The neon glow shows itself much better in this pic than the other neons! *Whew* This is very, very bright. I do own a couple other shades similar:

From left to right: LA Colors - Force, Cosmo - Bus Route #1, Sun Worshiper, Hot Topic - unnamed neon orange
Again, these are far more neon in real life, but at least you can see that Sun Worshiper is the most neon and has the best formula. All are three coats.

Yellow Polka Dot Bikini - This is neon yellow. Neon, hi-liter yellow. This picture is awful. This is not remotely close to accurate. I am ashamed to show it. *hides* This is mega bright. This swatch is 4-5 coats. Some have 4, some have 5. Either way, I probably could have done way more than that!

This is how Yellow Polka Dot Bikini stacks up next to one of my fave polishes ever: Essie - Funky Limelight. I do believe Funky Limelight is a smidgen brighter, but YPDB is still so bright, no one would think you could get any brighter!

Kiwi Cool-Ada - This is a neon green. NEON green. This doesn't look neon at all! Trust me, it is. I thought the formula of this one was pretty nice. I believe this swatch is three coats.

This is how it compares to the other neon greens I own. From left to right:
Hot Topic - unnamed neon green, Sinful Colors - Irish Green, Kiwi Cool-Ada, China Glaze - In The Limelight
I found that KCA was very similar to another neon green release from China Glaze: In The Limelight, however ITL has shimmer. KCA is also brighter and more opaque than Irish Green and the Hot Topic one is really all alone because the shade is very different.

Towel Boy Toy - I love this name! So cute. Anyway, this is a neon blue, and I was impressed by the neonness of it! I expected it to be a bright blue but not terribly neon and I guess it is less neon that the others, but it is still neon. This also differs from the other shades in this collection since it has shimmer and the rest do not. This is 3 coats.

This is how it compares to Color Club - Pure Energy, which we took a look at last week. They are practically identical, but the shimmer in Pure Energy is more apparent and it leans green making these not exact dupes.

The formula on these was thin, but surprisingly buildable. China Glaze isn't trying to hide it. The press release I posted a while back even said these will be on the thin side as they are neons. The first coat is scarily thin. But the second makes a huge difference, and by the third you are smooth sailing. I found Kiwi Cool-Ada, Towel Boy Toy, Pool Party and Flip Flop Fantasy were three coaters, but Sun Worshiper needed a 4th coat maybe, and Yellow Polka Dot Bikini needed it for sure, plus maybe a 5th. BUT a great trick for fixing the need for so many coats is layering these (and this goes for any neons) over a white base. Observe:

One coat of OPI - Alpine Snow + one coat of Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. It still looks streaky since my Alpine Snow was streaky. I should have done 2 coats of it, but anyway, the point is that you can cut down the number of coats big time by using a white base, or help hide any VNL at all, since even the 3 coaters can leave a little VNL.

These also dry very matte as neons do. I added a topcoat for my swatches so they were shiny.

Final Verdict: I think Sun Worshiper and Flip Flop Fantasy are the standouts. Pool Party is unique in my collection and great if you like pinks. Towel Boy Toy and Yellow Polka Dot Bikini are good buys if you don't already have Pure Energy or Funky Limelight (also maybe China Glaze - Celtic Sun. I don't know since I don't have it) and Kiwi Cool-Ada will be dependent on if you like green and if you don't have another stand out neon green shade. It may be skippable, but that is a personal choice that I can't make!

Poolside officially launches in just a few days! APRIL 1st!!!
What are you going to get?
:c)


Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.

Gray Creme Comparisons Featuring Nubar Fortress

Happy Saturday all! I should be out drinking and celebrating St. Patrick's Day, but my partner in crime had a surprise visitor in Michigan to go see. She got a new nephew! Very exciting, but sux for me! So instead I bring you a new blog post and I hope it is a helpful one. I guess it is for the best. It's a gloomy, rainy day anyway.

(*Please note, I am uploading these using Internet Explorer and that means that the pics aren't "clickable" for their full size. Usually I upload from work where I have Mozilla Firefox. PS - If anyone knows how to upload with IE and still have them clickable, please email me! I am not computer savvy and have been trying to find the answer to no avail!)

I did some comparison pics of the new Nubar Fortress gray cremes against some other popular gray cremes out there. For my original swatches of Nubar Fortress you can look here.

First up, China Glaze Recycle.

From left to right:

Nubar - Stronghold

Nubar - Palisade

China Glaze - Recycle

Nubar - Barricade

Once I got them on the nails I realized Recycle would have fit better next to Stronghold. I didn't realize how dark it was! But Stronghold is still darker.

Next up: Sally Hansen - Wet Cement

From left to right:

Nubar - Barricade

Sally Hansen - Wet Cement

Nubar - Citadel

Nubar - Marble Tower

No dupes, but Wet Cement seems very close to Barricade, just a smidgen lighter.

And lastly: Rescue Beauty Lounge - Concrete Jungle

From left to right:

Nubar - Palisade

RBL - Concrete Jungle

Nubar - Barricade

Nubar - Citadel

Again, not a dupe but Concrete Jungle is close to Palisade, having the same blue tones, but is lighter.

Here are a couple shots just of the Nubars against each other:

From left to right:

Stonghold, Palisade, Barricade, Citadel

Palisade, Barriade, Citadel, Marble Tower (bottle is Stronghold)

Hope this helps you with your gray purchases!

-Elaine

Nubar Fortress Collection Swatches and Review

The latest collection from Nubar is a set of 8 black and gray polishes in various finishes. I am thrilled to show you swatches of them! The concept of the collection is wonderfully unique and the formula of them is OUTSTANDING. Let 's get into the swatch fun>>>

Knight's Armor - I am quite sure that I don't have to tell you this is the polish from this set. I'm telling you right now if you were to only buy one color from this collection this is it! This is one of my polishes wishes coming true. I really haven't felt that any black/silver glitter combos were glittery enough. Well this is definitely glittery enough plus some! The glitter is so dense it nearly gave full coverage in one coat. (This swatch is 2 coats) And the glitter particles are very large and square reflecting a ton of sparkle. This is a stunner! I wore this one immediately. At the end of the year when I'm coming up with my "Best Polish of 2010" this will absolutely be on the list. Wow.

Dark Castle - Ooooh. How awesome! This is a very rich black with dark silver shimmer. This is super pigmented allowing me to do one coat. I don't usually like black polishes very much unless they have a ton of shimmer or glitter but this is hott. I really love this.

Silver Sword - This is a charcoal shimmer. This is very pretty and nice but has that metallic/brush stroke syndrome. But only a little. I think it looks very nice once on, and it has a smooth formula. This swatch is 2 coats.

Stronghold - I love this polish and I love the name! This is a dark, stormy gray creme. Oooh ooh! And guess what? This is only one coat.

Palisade - This is a medium toned, cool gray creme. And surprise! It is one coat!

Barricade - This is also a medium toned gray creme. It is only a touch lighter than Palisade and it is different from Palisade in that it has yellow undertones.

Citadel - This is a light gray creme with yellow undertones. This swatch is 2 coats. It could have been 1. More on that later.

Marble Tower - This is the lightest gray of the bunch and the last one to see! It is close to Citadel but a smidge lighter and cooler.

I assumed that a comparison swatch was in order to help distinguish between all the similar gray cremes:

From left to right: Palisade, Barricade, Citadel, Marble Tower (The bottle is Stronghold)

So Palisade and Barricade are close but Palisade is cool/slightly blue and Barricade is a bit yellow.

Citadel and Marble Tower are similar but Marble Tower is the slighty blue/cool tone and Citadel is a bit yellow.

Now my reaction to this collection was all over the place. At first I was pumped because I love gray polish and OMG Knight's Armor. I knew I would love it before it even showed up. I was unsure about the shimmers. I wasn't excited for them but when I swatched them I felt differently. I really love Dark Castle. I think Silver Sword is nice, but I don't like it near as much as Dark Castle.

And what about 5 gray cremes? Hmmm. On the one hand, I love cremes. But when I thought about it... 5? Why does more than half of the collection need to be creme? I would think having the opportunity to do a variety of finishes in gray, you would do, well, a variety? Am I wrong? We could have had a foil, a duochrome (we know Nubar is master at duochromes) a holo, maybe even a matte.

On the positive side, however, the shades are all different. And once I started painting my nails for the comparison swatch I thought of a brilliant idea for all of these cremes... An ombre manicure!

So once I was done with the swatches that was the mani I did. At least there is that pro to having 5 cremes. And if you don't want all 5, you can pick the shdes you like by their warm or cool undertones.

Another positive to these cremes is that they go on in one coat. It took me two for the lighter ones the first time around, but the next time I just did a bit of a thicker coat and every one of them was flawless in one coat. You know how rare one coat colors are and out of 8 this has 6 one coaters (I think Knight's Armor would be done a disservice is only applied with one coat and Silver Sword is slightly brush stroke-y so it needs two.)

Overall verdict: Great collection. Unique concept, great formula: super pigmented and smooth and come on... Knight's Armor. Let's be serious. That is one hell of a polish. I can't shut up about it!

They all look like a little fortress when they are all standing together.

I do not know the official release date of this collection but it should be soon and will probably retail for $7.49 a piece or $49.95 for the 8 piece set.

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.

New Sinful Colors - Spring 2010

I think I have a Sinful Colors addiction . As soon as I knew Sinful Colors had released new shades I was on a hunt. I planned my routes every chance I got to get to a Walgreen's and snag the newbies. Well my hunting paid off and over the weekend I struck gold. I have a bunch of swatches of new colors and oh boy I am excited about them. First off, most of them...are... GREEN! YES! :cD Second, they are super pigmented and go on in two coats, definitely. No sheer babies here. Check out these hotties>>

Happy Ending - This name is just adorable. I can't help but feel all fuzzy from it! But the color is fierce! It is so not what I would expect from the name. This is a mega-bright, nearly-neon, lime green shimmer. It stopped my heart when I got it on. This swatch is two coats.

Easy Going - Awesome, bold, stark, baby pink, creme. This looks nearly white, but with a hint of pink. Not the same as Sally Hansen - Lavender Cloud's hint of purple though I think this looks obviously pink. The formula is thick, but manageable. Not thin and streaky, needing several coats. I got it on in two coats and it was smooth without a topcoat.

Innocent - Another awesome, ironic name. This does not look innocent. This is a bright, bizarre, very yellow, light green. The formula is again thick, but manageable and very pigmented. It was very close to being a one coater. This swatch is two coats.

Mint Apple - What is it with mint apples? I know I did actually find them on the internet, but it is still strange to me. Anyway, Mint Apple is a pale minty, jade shade that is very blue-sided and shimmery. This swatch is two coats. Before I saw this in person I thought this would be close to being a Chanel - Jade dupe, but it is far from it. I do not actually own Jade, but apparently Dream Catcher from Claire's is pretty close so I did a comparison of Mint Apple against Dream Catcher:

Mint Apple is on the left and Dream Catcher is on the right. Mint Apple is clearly darker and bluer. With all the mints we have available I am really close to being minted-out, but this is not comparable to any of the mints I have. Awesome.

Rise and Shine - What a cheery name! There should be an exclamation point at the end. "Rise and Shine!" Much better. This is a bold, bright, shamrock green shimmer. This swatch is two coats. It reminded me of China Glaze - Four Leaf Clover as I put it on, but FLC is a creme (no shimmer) and it is more green, where Rise and Shine(!) is more blue.

Soul Mate - This is a rose pink creme with peachy undertones. This shade is very pretty and conservative, but not boring. I really like this shade. And guess what? This smooth, pigmented formula allowed me to do only one coat for this swatch.

Tapping Nails - Holy Moly! This is H-O-T-T! I know it just looks like an orange shimmer but it's not. At first when I got this home I thought it was Sinful Colors - Courtney Orange repackaged. I was thankfully wrong. This is a super bright, bold, red-orange with coral undertones and it has an "oil-slick", duochrome, yellow-green, shimmer. I have a feeling this is a Zoya - Gwin dupe form the new Reverie collection. This is a stunner. This shimmer is more pronounced in real life than in the photo. The camera doesn't pick up the shimmer very well in the darker areas of the swatch , but it is still there in real life. This is way too good to be a $2 polish. This is a must have.

There are all winners in my book. I actually love all these new shades and I am yet again blown away by the way Sinful Colors is stepping up their formula. These are super, super pigmented. Sinfuls get a bad rap for being sheer, but not these. Not a sheer in site. All are very pigmented and smooth too. No disappointments. I promise. :c)

There should be rolling out to a drugstore near you and retail for $1.99.

What do you think? :c)
-Elaine