China Glaze - Island Escape Summer 2011

Take an exotic island escape with China Glaze this summer with a tropical, shimmering rainbow of brilliant bright colors! Mix and match these hot hues to add a candy-like pop to that summer manicure and pedicure.

108 Degrees - This is a beautiful, hot pink, glass-fleck shimmer. This is one of those "pinks-I-love". Very sparkly and flashy and hot hot pink!

Papaya Punch - This is an orange I love! This is a super pigmented, creamy orange. This reminds me of pumpkins, which isn't very summery, but it is still summer appropriate. The formula is a bit thick, but in a good way.

Electric Pineapple - This is fantastic! This is so weird. I really don't think calling it "pineapple" is terribly appropriate, because it's a very, very green yellow. It's definitely more green than OPI - Fiercely Fiona but more yellow than any other green in the same realm. So it's definitely unique. I did a cool mani with this plus China Glaze - Crushed Candy Crackle Polish.

Cha Cha Cha - This is a striking olivey green with strong gold shimmer. I'm sure you have all figured out by now that this is close to China Glaze - Moonpool, but not a dupe. Whether close or not it is beautiful in its own right and I love it.

Blue Iguana - Now I do not know any iguanas that look like this but if I did I would have a stash of blue iguanas. This is a sparkly, shimmery, deep pool blue. The shimmer is an intense glass fleck. It's very watery and the sparkle reminds me of sparkling water in the sunshine :c)

Señorita Bonita - This is a red toned, glass-flecked purple. Very pretty and not like anything I have. The picture really does not do this one justice.

These are out now! 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.

Sorbets Better

After I posted The OPI - Texas Collection I felt bad about it. I felt like my pictures really didn't do the sorbets in the collection justice. I took them under a daylight bulb before so this time I took them in sunlight and I also used a base acting as "underwear" to hide any VNL. My Underwear color is a franken I made using white creme, OPI - Dulce de Leche and Essie - Mucho Dinero. It created a soft, but clean, fleshy tone to lay my sorbets down on.

Ya'll Come Back, Ya Hear?

Big Hair, Big Nails

Guy Meets Gal-Veston

Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em

Do You Think I'm Tex-y?

Houston We Have A Purple - unfortunately the sun was gone by the time I did this

And for fun (and for my readers!) I did this. Sorbet Skittles!! So yummy

Do these look better to you? I really felt like these needed another chance. They are really pretty, and fun and have a great, glossy, squishy finish.

What do you think?!
:c)

OPI -Texas Spring 2011

For Spring/Summer this year OPI has released a set of 12 timeless shades perfect for the warm weather months to compliment fingers and toes. This is broken down into two distinct six-piece sets. The green/blue/gray/brown shades then the pinks and purples that are all a jelly finish that OPI is dubbing "Sorbet".

Don't Mess With OPI - This is a grass green creme. Is it similar to Jade Is The New Black? It's close. JITNB is more blue toned leaning toward that tennis court green and DMWOPI is more grass green. Although it is different, I would hope that if they did a green reme, or a green at all, they would do one that was more unique. The formula of this is a dream: super smooth. I got it on in two easy coats.

Austin-tatious Turquoise - This is a shimmery teal. Very beautiful. What I love about this is the base is a cool, jungle green sheer and then it's packed with the teal shimmer. Then to take it one more level, the shimmer has a purple duochrome. This polish is more complex than just teal shimmer. What I don't love about this is the formula. This is 4 coats.

I Vant To Be A-lone Star - I vant to be alone with this. I mean.... this is a hot color. This is a gorgeous clean silver with a pearly shimmer finish. Bright, clean, flattering, shimmery and just mesmerizing. This may be my fave from the whole set.

It's Totally Fort Worth It - Is it? If it's worth it is going to be different for everyone I suppose. This is a taupe-gray sheer with flecks of pinkish shimmer. I like the idea of this but it is very sheer which is a deal breaker for me. This was four coats. If I were to wear this for a full mani I would layer it over gray creme.

San Tan-tonio - haha! I have been dying to get this just for the name! I love it! I love the color of this too. I can't really think of color I have that looks like this. And if I do I don't like them on me. I actually like this one. And the formula rocks as well. Perfection.

Suzi Loves Cowboys - Oh my. This is delicious. It makes me want to eat my hands. I feel like my nails are little drops of dark chocolate.

And now for the sorbets>>>

Ya'll Come Back Ya Hear? - This is a bright, tangerine orange jelly. Very fun and happy, but it's a jelly so it's still got some visible nail line (VNL) after 4 coats.

Big Hair Big Nails - Red/orange jelly. This is a sort-of coral shade. I want to call it something else though. Maybe... guava? I was thinking guava and it hit me that it was like a jelly version of China Glaze - High Hopes, which is described as guava. So I guess that is a good description.

Do You Think I'm Tex-y? - This is a jelly raspberry. Clean and bright and decently pigmented so less VNL than some of the others.

Houston We Have A Purple - This is honestly pretty similar to DYTIT? but darker and I guess more purple than berry. It makes me think grape slush.

Guy Meets Gal-veston - This is a bright coral jelly. I really like this one. I can't wait to put this one on my toes.

Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em - This may be my favorite of the sorbet finishes. This is a hot pink jelly. I think it's the richest and most pigmented of the sorbets and just the most fun! I am a lover of hot, hot pinks like this though!

Overall this is a kick-ass collection. The non-sorbet polishes are gorgeous. You can't really go wrong with blue, green, gray and brown. As for the sorbets, I am pleased that although OPI gave us a whole lot of pinks and berries, they at least made them different. I love the squishy, juiciness of a good jelly. The color choices for all of these really made me think of sorbet and gelato. The only down side is that they take several coats, however that isn't anything new for jellies and when I want to wear a jelly, I deal with more than the usual two coats.

OPI - Texas is available now. Which ones 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.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I have some Halloween manis for you!

Sally Hansen - Plum Burst with Kiss Halloween decals

Sephora by OPI - If You've Got It, Haunt It - I really love this! This is black and silver glitter in a sheer black base with little iridescent blue/green/red glitter pieces. Super cool!

Zoya - Paz + Nicole by OPI - Pitch Black Glimmer with decals. I really wished I took a pic of the left hand before I started removing the polish. Because then I had to take the right hand and I unfortunately suffered a break a couple hours before!

OPI Burlesque Shimmers (Part II)

The second part of the OPI Burlesque collection is made up of various shimmers from foily shimmers, to glass-flecked shimmers and more. Take a look >>>

Ali's Big Break - This is a bright, candy apple red with irregular shaped shimmer. This is bold and spicy and I loved wearing this.

Tease-y Does It - This is a brownish purple with a glowy shimmer. It's vampy but not so dark it doesn't have it's own color and character. I love this.

Rising Star - Bold, slightly foily, shimmery yellow gold. It looks like what you would get if you crossed Nubar - Caramello and Nubar - Oro from the Venetian Glass collection.

Take The Stage - Burnt orange, slightly foily shimmer. Also similar to the oranges in the Venetian Glass collection.

Let Me Entertain You - Glass-flecked fuchsia. Very pretty and hot! Super similar to Zoya - Allegra. Like, practically dupes. It just seemed to me like Allegra was thinner, or it just took more because it has a smaller brush than the OPI but I got LMEY on in two coats and it took 3 with Allegra.

The Show Must Go On - This is my favorite!! I may even like this one more than all the glitters! :cO This is a hot pink foil with a gold/copper duochrome shimmer. It's much like MAC - Bad Fairy, but better! They are not dupes, but they have similar properties which makes me compare them. For all the days I was wearing this all I could think is "This is so much better than Bad Fairy!" The colors differ because Bad Fairy is deeper and more cranberry and The Show Must Go On is more like a hot strawberry. The similarities are the finish and the gold/copper duochrome, but the base color is much different. They do look similar in the bottle though don't they?!>>
What do you think of Part II of Burlesque?
:c)
-Elaine

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.

Hard Candy - Halloween Polishes 2010

Hard Candy has released three, new, limited Halloween shades this year that you can find at Wal-Mart. They are a nice change of pace from the usual orange, black and white creme shades we usually see for Halloween which seems to be the theme this year. Polish companies have learned that we need new, unique shades for Halloween just like all other releases. The best part about the Hard Candy Halloween shades? They are all glitter!

Wicked - This is a black base with tiny silver glitter. The base is a bit sheer but that is a good thing because it lets the glitter shine through. This is three coats.

Mischief - This is a orange glitter in a murky, green-black base, much like China Glaze - Ick-A-Bod-Y. I really couldn't tell a difference when I put this on. I could have sworn I was wearing Ick-A-Bod-Y. If there is any difference, Mischief may be a smidge more condensed, but they're pretty much the same.

Zombie - This is the star of this collection, in my opinion. It's the most unique, the most fun, and it's a bit of an oddball for a Halloween collection because it's really bright and happy instead of dark and spooky, but that is what makes me like it. This is a mix of purple, pink and blue glitter in a clear base. I love the overall purple glitter look.

These can be found at Wal-Mart and retail for $5.

What do you think?
:c)
-Elaine

Icing Swatches

I love to look at all the polishes displayed at Icing stores. They have so many brights and shades in every color. They just look so fun! So of course while I was there I had to grab some of the pretties. I was mostly attracted to loads of holo glitter!

Hot Pants - This is a light to medium blue that falls somewhere in periwinkle to cornflower. It is very delicate and calming. This formula was on the thinner side. i believe I did 3 or 4 coats but now I can't remember which.

Paparazzi - (sun/blurred) Now it's time for holo! This is a orangey, cinnamon base with what appears to be a hint of pink or peach. The holo glitter in this is very packed and sparkly. It reminds me of China Glaze - Ginger but on steroids.

Blackout - (sun/blurred) I had to grab this because it appears as though they reformulated it. This has been available for some time. It is a black with small, sparse, holo glitter. It was very apparent in store that there was a remake because they had bottles of both versions. The older one looks cool, but the glitter is very sparse. The new one had so much prismatic glitter in it that it looked like a smooth-type holo, a la OPI - My Private Jet, or Nubar - Reclaim. Once I got in on I realized it was not like those beauties, but it is still cool. Very outer space looking. If you are concerned about getting the correct bottle of Blackout, it will be the one that looks like this:

It's obvious.

Glamorous - (Sun/blurred) - Oh my stars. This was so amazingly, blindingly, blingy and prismatic in the store I had to have it. (It should also be mentioned that this has been added to my "Top 20" on the right hand side of the page.) I was hoping that it would be full coverage but I should have known better. The swatch above is 4 coats and it's obviously not full coverage but it is EXTREMELY sparkly.

I had to have Glamorous on as a full coverage so I did a manicure with it over China Glaze - Millennium, a silver chrome. The best, most blinged out, disco ball-esque mani ever!

What do you think?!