New Xtreme Wears, Fall 2010

Man I love Xtreme Wears. I get very excited for new displays. I love the colors, I love the brush, I love the colors.... just all good.

Purple Gala - Man I love this. I wore it for 5 days which for me is a loooong time. It is a purple base that is foily in finish with metallic gold flakes adding to the depth, and foil look. I love it. It looks very similar to Hard Candy - Mr. Wrong, but they are not dupes. I did a comparison:

Index and Ring: Mr. Wrong and Middle and Pinky: Purple Gala
It looks to me like Mr. Wrong is more grayed of a purple. In the swatch it also looks like it has more gold in it. But I like Purple Gala for a few reasons:
- I like the base color better
- I like the formula better. Purple Gala is 2 coats and Mr. Wrong is 3.
- Purple Gala is cheaper and has a bigger bottle
- Purple Gala is more accessible: Hard Candy is only at Wal-Mart.

Purple Fiesta - At first glance I thought there was more of a fiesta happening here. In the bottle it sure looks more exciting. All the holo glitter and holo bar glitter. But on the nail it got lost. Until I came up with an idea. I did three thin, thin coats instead of two coats. Then the glitter comes through more, and more layers gives you more glitter! I love the base color of this. This swatch is top coat-less so it would look a lot cooler with a smooth finish.

Concrete - This doesn't look much like concrete, unless concrete is purple? This is a grayed out purple creme. A "gravender", if you will. I love this. This is two coats.

Plum Burst - Oooh! How pretty. This is a bold, magenta-purple creme. It is very pretty and exciting! It may not be terribly unique, but I like it. This is 2 coats.

Mystic Lilac - This is a recent nail junkie favorite. I like it myself! It is a very gray lavender that has lots of super shiny, emerald green shimmer. The formula is thin on this, but it's a good thing because it lets the shimmer shine through. This is 3 coats.

These new Xtremes are on a new display in drugstores now and they retail for $2.99

What do you think?
:c)
-Elaine

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.

You Make Me Wanna Swoop

My Up & Away purples inspired me. I know I have shown you this design before, but I couldn't help myself! I had to do it again. The shades used for this mani, from lightest to darkest:

• China Glaze - Light as Air
• China Glaze - Grape Pop
• Zoya - Pinta

I think they go together pretty well! What about you? Have you tried the "swoop mani" yet?
:c)

Grammy-Gaga Inspired Nails

Hello all! How are all my lovely readers?! :c)

Photo Credit: Us Magazine.com

Today's mani is one I thought up after seeing Lady Gaga's red carpet dress for the Grammy's last Sunday. I wanted to emulate the un-parallel lines and the soft purple hues (as well as the crazy pointed accessory).

What the mani consists of:
China Glaze - Light As Air (like the dress. Doesn't look like if a gust of wind got caught under there she would just blow away?)
Milani - Cloud 9
China Glaze - Devotion
LA Colors Art Deco - Silver Glitter
China Glaze - Harmony
Not Pictured: Rhinestones, Seche Vite and striper brush

I started with a base of Milani - Cloud 9.
Next, I took the striper brush and used it with China Glaze - Light As Air to make several horizontal lines on each nail covering the entire nail, but making them un-parallel to each other, so some are straight and some are not and some intersect.
Then, I took China Glaze - Harmony and did the same thing over the first stripes.
After that, I did the same with China Glaze - Devotion.
Lastly, I did the same striping with LA Colors Art Deco - Silver Glitter.

I decided to throw in the starbust accessory on the thumbs. I took a drop of Devotion and added a bit of Harmony to it on a paper plate. I mixed them with a toothpick and using the striper brush I painted the starburst on my thumbs with the mixture. I added a lavender rhinestone to the center.
Finally I topped all the nails with a coat of Seche Vite top coat and viola! Nails to go "gaga" for!!


Aren't you glad I didn't use this for inspiration?! :cD >>>

Photo Credit: The Washington Post

Have a great day!
-Elaine

New Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Swatches

Remember how I said Sally Hansen came out with new polishes and I had some to share? Well today is the day I am sharing! It's the new line that has been popping up: Complete Salon Manicure. First off, I love the bottles. They are 0.5 oz but they feel much bigger. They are huge and have a lot of glass making them pretty heavy. They are awesome! The base of the bottles are square, but going up in gets round. And there is a band of rubber on the top for ease of opening and holding while painting. Genius!

Yellow Kitty - Awww! Isn't this adorable!? That is exactly what I think when I look at this. This is a pale yellow cream. Not as bold and creamy as say BB Couture - Little Deuce Coupe, and not as jelly as Rescue Beauty Lounge - Squarepants. It's right in between. This went on pretty well for a yellow, but I did 3 coats still to make sure it was even. Do you think the name is a play on "Hello Kitty"? I wonder...

Thinking Of Blue - I love this color... SO MUCH! I had it on Friday and while at the dermatologist in the waiting room, I heard one of the ladies at the front desk say to the other "her nails are gorgeous". Aw! Awesome! This is a dark blue creme, but it isn't navy. It has a drop of purple, but I wouldn't call it blurple. I think it's indigo. Yup. That is what I am going with. I hear this is similar or maybe identical to Sephora by OPI - Blue Grotto, but I don't have it to compare. Sorry! This swatch is 2 coats.

Commander in Chic - Hottness. This is in that mushroom, brown-taupe catergory, and I can't believe it, but I think this is my first like this. Except maybe OPI - You Don't Know Jaques Matte. But that is matte. I don't have a regular creme like this. This swatch is three coats, but I did very, very thin coats. You could probably do two.

Gray by Gray - This name kills me! Does this look gray to you? NO! It is blue. A gray-ISH slate, blue. But it's very pretty regardless. It is reminding me of the new Spring release from RBL, 360. We'll have to see how they match up someday. This swatch is 2 coats.

Plum Luck - This is a plum creme. I don't have much more to say than that! Plum. Pretty. 3 coats.

Lavender Cloud - This looks white, I know. It is. Ha Ha! It has the ittiest, bittiest bit of lavender. It's like if you took one big fluffy cloud and added one drop of purple to it for the whole cloud. You can hardly tell. I made a comparison swatch next to a real white so that you can see it isn't pure white:

Lavender Cloud on the left and OPI - Alpine Snow on the right.

And I scanned the brochure I picked up at the drugstore so you can see what new colors there are:

PS - These have the same tapered brush as Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri polishes with the big, flat wand:
Have a lovely and relaxing Sunday!

Milani Swatches Part 2

Happy Monday! Today I'm posting the other half of my Milani swatches! Yeah!

Foxy Lady - Reddish brown with a fine shimmer. Definately foxy!
Cloud - Cloud changed my mind on light colored polish. I always thought I like bold, brights colors and nothing soft. Until I met Cloud. It is a super-light lavender with a gold shimmer. This is one of my fave polishes!

Purple Passion - Bright, stunning purple. I think it looks prettier in real life than this pic shows.

Winter Wine - I love this color. I wasn't pleased with this pic. It's deeper in real life. This pic makes it look very close to Hottest Pink, but it's not. They are similar, but not as close as this swatch would have you believe!
Glitzy Stars - Shown alone, and over black. I'm madly in love with this microglitter/shimmer. It's iridescent and awesome!

Disco Lights - Shown over China Glaze - Admire and alone. Pink glitter topcoat. I just got this one because I've been wanting an all over glitter polish, and I thought this one could give me that effect over a foil-finish pink like Admire. With another coat or two I think I can nail it.