More Metal Mixing

After I did the gold/silver mix here, I have been playing around with all the different combos of silver, gold and copper I can. Here is one I did with Revon - Copper Penny and Nubar - Silver Glitter:


You can expect more foil/glitter/metal mixing manicures to come!

Some New Drug Store Swatches

Recently there have been several drugstore nail polishes releases from several brands. I have picked out a few from these brands to show you>>

Sally Hansen - Lacey Lilac - This is from a new set of Xtreme wears that includes a mint, dark gray, blue and magenta. This is an awesome pastel lavender/lilac creme. It's bright, but not stark and is isn't too red or too blue. Beautiful and also has a great formula. Easily applies in two coats. God I love Xtreme Wears.

Revlon - Copper Penny - This is a copper foil that can be found in a special display of metallics that includes a gold and silver as well. This is awesome. I have plenty of gold and silver metallics but none that are a copper color like this. I have a cool mani I did with this to show you too.

Revlon - Cloud - This is in a new collection of Top Speed Revlons that have a big display of several bright colors I am sure you have seen if you frequent the makeup section of the drugstore at all. This is a super pretty periwinkle creme. I feel like this is what Sally Hansen - Cloud should have looked like. Although I shouldn't take away from it, but this one is more wearable.

Wet n Wild - Party of Five Glitters - (shown over black) - This is a clear top coat with blue, silver, green, red and purple glitters (five!). I was disappointed with this one formula-wise. The base is very thick and gloppy and the glitter is very sparse. This is three coats and I am still not pleased with the coverage.

Oke Doke - Camo Loco - This is a new brand to me. Oke Doke surprised me one day at Rite Aid. And I am glad I found it because this green is to die for. This is a mossy, olivey, super shimmery green with gold undertones. This is gorgeous.

Oke Doke - Purple Nurple - Another winner from Oke Doke. This is a deep, rich, royal purple with red and blue shimmer. Really pretty. This is one you have to see in real life.

Just goes to show, you don't have to spend a lot to get gorgeous, good-quality nail lacquer. These are all between $1.99 to $4.99 and are easy to find at any drugstore.

MAC - Bad Fairy

I know we've all seen this already but I love it! I didn't get the other two in the Venomous Villains Collection because they were dupes to Orly Cosmic FX shades, but Bad Fairy enticed me. And damn MAC for making limited edition stuff super limited so it makes me panic and run to buy!

Bad Fairy is really pretty. It is a strawberry-red with duochrome shimmer that is copper at the edges and at angles. The polish has a near-foil finish and is flashy, but not so much I felt I couldn't wear it to work. Really cool. Too bad it took 3-4 coats, but I love it. Glad I took the plunge and ran to my Macy's MAC counter to snag one of the last bottles.

If you like Bad Fairy run before it's too late. This sold out on the website super fast (as cool LE polishes from MAC usually do)

Nubar Venitian Glass Fall 2010

I hate to tell you guys, but the days are getting shorter. It may be hard to believe. I know I don't considering it is 90 degrees outside right now, but trust me! The days of Fall are coming and Nubar's newest collection is making me wish it would come faster! ...Only for polish... I really love summer

Inspired by traditional Venetian Glass, Nubar's Venetian Glass Collection captures the brilliant colors and flawless craftsmanship of the ancient, traditional handmade glass of Venice. With vivid hues, a strong glass-flecked shimmer, and rich color saturation, these shades are as memorable as their inspiration.

Arencia - ORANGE! This is a glowing, bold orange. It reminds me of my fave: Sinful Colors - Courtney Orange, but glass-flecked instead of shimmer. Really, really hot. This could pass for a summer shade, but it did remind me of pumpkin patches when I put it on.

Bronzo - This is a more mellow shade than Arencia. It is a sort of toned-down, slightly burnt orange, copper color. Very Fall. It does look a lot like the A Perfect "10" shade I posted.

Caramello - This is a very deep, bold gold that looks just like it's name: caramel. It's like glass-flecked caramel sauce with a bit of a foil finish. This feels very dramatic, and antique-y. I really like this shade.

Oro - Whoa! This is a very, very bold, yellow gold. This is serious, attention getting shade. It reminds me of Zoya - Goldie, but on steroids. This was my first official mani from this collection.

Rosso - This is a red glass-fleck and although I would normally say "it's red, move on," I really like this red! It is very shimmery and pretty and I will definitely wear it.

Vino - Ooh. So sexy! This burgundy is the deepest of the bunch, but not too dark. It can be appreciated for it's color and I love the way it has glints of purple.

Verde - THE STAR OF THE SHOW! I love this! It's probably a given that this would be the fave of this collection. It's a blue sided, evergreen tree green with loads of gold glass-fleck shimmer. I have it on now and it's mesmerizing. I don't have Zoya - Edyta to compare, but they appear to be the about the same. I also hear that's true from a favorite, trusted blogger.

Vaso - The oddball. I love it for that reason. I mean really, where does a light lavender fit into this collection? It is very pretty though. I was worried prior to trying it that I wouldn't like it because it has this weird frosty look. Do you see it? Instead of looking like a super shimmer, glass-fleck like the rest of the bunch, the white shimmer in it makes it look sort of... crinkled? It's a strange effect, but I still like it on my nails.

The formula on these is fantastic. If you do really thin coats you'll have to do three, but a thin to medium coat will give you two-coat coverage for every shade. This are all very well pigmented, have an easy to control formula (I didn't have to do any clean-up for any of these swatches) and they all have a serious glass-fleck to even almost a foil finish. These are probably even better in person. I did the best I could to get good, clear swatches in strong sun but even then I couldn't capture all the beauty. This is a top-notch collection. I was slightly miffed at the 5 colors all in the red/gold/orange family, but they all are different, and they all capture the essence of Fall along with Vino and Verde so it makes a great Fall collection. And I am assuming since this is based on ancient Venetian glass making, this were the prominent shades used in that time, so it makes a lot of sense that those are the colors in this collection.

What do you think about Venetian Glass?
This collection is available now at www.bynubar.com. It retails for $7.49 a bottle or $49.95 for the eight piece set. Also, for a limited time, if you order the 8 piece set you get a bottle of Nubar Diamont Top Coat (which is a great top coat) and Foundation Base Coat free.

-Have a great weekend!
-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.

Maybelline Poptimistic

What a great unexpected find while grocery shopping! A new collection from Maybelline called "Poptimistic". I didn't even know it existed and there it was while I was picking up food! I was super excited. The display had spots for 5 colors: a green (!!!), a gray, a smokey blue, a shimmery white, and I am assuming a purple, since the display picture has purple nails, but it was sold out. I picked up two:

Opti-mist-ic - This is a warm gray with a subtle silver shimmer, and a more pronouned orangey-copper shimmer. Very interesting and beautiful. I wore this a ton! Sometimes I looked at it and thought it had a lilac look to it. It must have been the lighting, but still cool.

Glad to be Green! - This is a yellow-forest green that makes me think of crocodiles or going on safari. It is soooooooo hott!! Green is my favorite color, and I have a lot of green nail polish, but this is hands down my favorite. It is mezmerizing and perfect. I love this!!

Happy hump day!

Oldie Sally Hansens

I went digging in my friend's polish stash recently and discovered some great discontinued Sally Hansen glitters. And since I love glitters I had to try them! Unfortunately, two of the three were almost empty (and the two I wanted to try the most!) and they were pretty dried up. I threw in some polish reviver/thinner to at least get out enough for this swatch, but definitely couldn't get out enough for a full manicure. I thought it would be interesting to post them. Check out these bottles:


Celebrate, New Penny, Wired



The swatches are: Celebrate, New Penny, Wired and Wired over Revlon-Chocolate Truffle.


Celebrate is purple, green and gold round glitter and bar glitter. It's like Mardi Gras in a bottle. It is so fun! I wish this was still around.

New Penny is a small grain, but dense, copper/orange glitter. I really wish this was still around.

Wired is a translucent brown-yellow with small copper glitter and larger holo glitter. I am not a fan of it alone, but layered it's nice.

I wanted to say here "I wish that Sally Hansen would release interesting glitters like this," but we have just gotten some nice glitters, including one of my favorite glitters: Rockstar Pink. I am just such a nut for sparkle, and if I saw interesting mixtures like this in the drug store I would grab them up, no questions asked.

How old these are is a mystery. I don't really know when they came out/were discontinued. But perhaps if you hunt for them, you could find them somewhere. Some smaller independent beauty stores, or maybe ebay. If your like me, you're never scared of a little hard-to-find hunt!

Wet n Wild Craze Polish Giveaway!

Hello everyone! It is Tuesday. I am tired! Usually people dread Mondays, but I swear, Monday I can do. It's Tuesday when it all hits me! But I got my coffee, so I think I'll make it!

I was crazy over the new Wet n Wild craze polishes I have seen floating around online. I heard they were spotted at Meijer's so I had to take a ride and see for myself. I found them!! And I thought it would be nice if I picked up doubles of my faves to give away since not everyone has a Meijer's. I am sure they will work their way to drugstore around us all, but who wants to wait?

The colors that I have for giveaway are Shield, Rustic and Morbid:They are a bit smaller of a bottle, but I love them. I like the round shape with the same size cap, and I loooove the design on that cap! That would get me right there, but then the polishes are awesome on top of it!

And some swatches:
Shield


Rustic


Morbid

The contest is open from today to Friday, 11:59pm CST, and international entries are welcome! I can't seem to get on Contest Machine. It looks like the site is down. So just leave a comment to this post and that will serve as your entry. One entry per person. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you win. If you prefer to not post it your email address, you can email me: lacquerlaine@gmail.com

GOOD LUCK!
:c)

Lippmann Collection Tenth Anniversary Set

Yes! It's Friday! I am planning on having a relaxing weekend! How about you?

I got my camera back, finally! And not only that, but they said it had to be replaced, so I got a new one! AND... they didn't have my model in stock anymore so I got a newer, better version! How exciting! I have been flipping out over it! It's just too awesome. Always get service plans... it's so worth it. I spent $50 for it, but for a rather expensive camera that went on me in less than a year... I am very happy I did it.

Enough of that. How about some pics?!

I finally got to swatch the Lippmann Collection 10th Anniversary Set. It's pretty spectacular.

What they are: Three shimmering shades that let your nails shine. After ten years of pioneering nail trends and developing fashion-forward shades, nail guru Lippmann Collection is celebrating with an exclusive set of specail-edition polishes. Available only in the Celebrate tenth anniversary set, the luxe lacquers come in three glam, glittering shades:

• Ruby Red Slippers - Dorothy's shimmering ruby
• Funky Chunky - Sequined sheer black
  
• Superstar - Show stopping copper flecked fudge

Ruby Red Slippers - This is a sheer black base, with bright red hexagon glitter and smaller round glitter. Shown above is a sun, shade and close up shot. This one is breathtaking. It is just... can I say it? BADASS. I love it. I love the base. It is easy to apply and had a smooth consistency and just the right amount of color to let the glitter show through, but build opacity. I really love the glitter. It is so vibrant and glowy. I used 3 coats in my swatches and I love the way it looks with different layers of glitter. In the sun you can see that it is a sheer base, but look at how dramatic in the shade! So dark but with that red shine. Amazing.

Funky Chunky - Putting this on I thought "this is so appropriately named". It is funky, and it is chunky. Now this polish is bizarre, but I am going to give it every chance; It is unique. Very unique. It has special requirements. But it is not a total failure. I thought it would be after reading other reviews, but I really like it. The base is dark, opaque and thick. The sequins are jet black hexagons. Not glitter. And you think, "why wouldn't they make the base sheer and smooth like Ruby Red Slippers? I think it is because it would swallow up the sequins. If you look at Ruby Red Slippers, I do not have a top coat, and it is still pretty smooth. The glitter and base agree to be on the same level. So if the base were like that on this one, it may not have the right effect. I think texture is supposed to be key with this one. On the other hand, if the base was nice and sheer, and the sequins are jet black, you may still be able to make out the hexon shapes just fine. I don't know. I am just trying to paint a picture of this "what if" polish. I would love to see it.

I applied Funky Chunky with one coat and used as many strokes as needed to get it even and have the sequins placed properly. This has to be a rather thick coat to work. And then...you wait. And it may seem like a mess at first, but as it dries the sequins show, and it looks pretty cool. You just can't put on a topcoat. I think it takes away from the effect.

Superstar - I have been waiting for this for a while. What can I say about it. Perfect? Yeah. That is it. It has copper glitter in a fudgy, brown base. It's pretty rough and needs 2 coats of topcoat to get it totally smooth, but it's worth it. I used two coats of polish for the swatch above. I wore it as soon as I got it and got compliments on it everywhere. For this swatch, I tried to get the glitter all over even, but the first time I put it on, I had most of the glitter near the bottom of my nail, and it came out like an effortless gradient manicure. It was super hot. I will do it again to show you guys. One thing I noticed though that many be a difference from the old version, is that on a macroscopic level, you can see that the glitter is hexagonal, and I believe the old version was square. I don't think to your naked I you can see it, but macro doesn't lie. So if you have the old one and it matters to you, the glitter shapes are different.

The Lippmann Collection Tenth Anniversary Set is $35.00 and can only be purchased as the set of three. It can be found at Barney's New York, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Lippmann Collection Online. I don't see it on Lippmann's website, but I am told it can be found there.

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.