Polish Swatch: Chanel Fracas

Fracas Le Vernis, Chanel, $27

About a month ago, I bought Fracas and Emprise from Chanel's Spring 2013 collection. Fracas looked Barbie Pink in the bottle to me, and since I found it hard to wear bright pink when snow is flying. The other day I decided I needed a pick-me-up and thought Fracas would fit the bill.

While appearing almost hot pink in the bottle, Fracas applies on the nail as more of a dark rose or pink than Barbie Pink. There's also a hint of sparkle that doesn't show up until sunlight hits your nails.

Fracas is a fantastic pink for all seasons. It's subdued enough to be just a spring/summer polish and is appropiate for even the most conservative business office enviroment. I think it'll look great as a pedicure this summer.

If you gasp at the price of Chanel polishes, you're in luck because there are dupes abound for Fracas. The one in my collection is OPI's Party in My Cabana, which is from their 2009 summer collection. In the picture below, you can see the OPI has a bit darker tinge to it and doesn't have the Chanel sparkle. However, in most lights it's almost impossible to tell the difference between the two. If you can't find the OPI, Essie's Status Symbol is another good choice at a much cheaper price point.

The One That (Almost) Got Away, Part II

Almost two years ago, I wrote about my frustrations trying to get my hands on a bottle of Chanel Jade polish.  It's currently going for $300 on Ebay right now, just so you know. Sigh.  To make a long story short, I spent $50 trying to find a dupe of Jade instead of trying to just buy the original Jade. Jade is what helped start my Chanel polish addiction and probably my polish obsession in general.

While there have been a ton of polishes I've crazy over, they weren't quite Jade obsessions. I think the two closest ones that came close to a Jade obsession were Chanel's Peridot, which I did spend a lot of time trying to find dupes and Chanel's Skyline which I just went ahead and bought because I had already heard there were no dupes available.



Peridot is probably my most worn polish of this year. I'm giving serious thought to buying a back up bottle because I know once my bottle is gone I'll be heartbroken. Skyline combines my love of Chanel polish and flying (it was from an air travel themed collection) so it was an absolute must-have for me. I'm wearing Skyline right now and it's amazing:



There's more to this story. Most of my Jade-Level obsessions begin with just a brief mention or small picture of a polish on a blog that I just can't get out of my head.  Sometime at the end of October, I came across an ever so small picture and mention of the Dior Le Grand Bal holiday collection. What first caught my eye were the insanely beautiful bottles:

How cute would these look on your vanity? While I loved the bottles, I wasn't sure about the actual polish and even though I'm a total sucker for limited edition pretty packaging I was very iffy on spending the money on the collection. However, three weeks ago while at the Sephora in the Charleston Town Center, I came across Lady, a frosty pearl white. It was pretty enough in the bottle so I swatched it there in the store. I put on two coats, took one look at the nail I swatched, grabbed a bottle and checked out. Then I started seeing the swatches online of the other colors and every single one of them said to pick up Diva, described as a red-based black with gold and purple shimmer. I've been eyeing similar colors for a while, so to me adorable bottle + polish I was already going to buy = Get out my AMEX.

What I didn't realize was Diva is sold out. Everywhere. Makeup counters AND online. Sephora is only carrying the Lady shade, and the usual places such as Nordstrom or Bloomingdales are sold out most of the colors. It's hard to find on Ebay and is going for $50+ and going pretty quickly even at that price.  It's like people are actually hoarding this polish. With the exception of Jade, I have never seen such a hard to find nail polish. It took me two hours last night to try to find Diva in stock. I finally did, at Saks Fifth Avenue.  I'm also going to be honest, I'm not sure if it's actually still in stock. I can get to the page I used last night to make my purchase, but when you try to search for the polish on the Saks website it doesn't come up.  I tried to google the page I found last night, but all it does is bring up the reviews page which says the product is unavailable.  If you're wanting to buy Diva you can give it a try but I won't make any guarantees that it's still in stock.

If you're interested in buying several of the colors, Bergdorf Goodman is selling a collection that includes Diva, Lady, and Marilyn for $70.  If I hadn't already bought Lady I probably would have purchased this set.

I know all this work seems silly for just nail polish, but I don't want to still be thinking about it and wishing I had gotten it years later, like Chanel's Jade.

OPI On Collins Ave. Swatch

Since I have a late flight I decided to pay an arm and a leg to get a mani/pedi at the airport. $70, for the record. However the woman who did my nails did a fantastic job. But I chose On Collins Ave., a color I own and is in my top 10 polishes ever, if not the top five. It's a red bordering on coral and is a great year round shade. If you're looking for a solid red to add to your collection, this is it.

L'Oreal Brit Invasion Swatch

In my neutral polish craze I ended up buying a lot of browns and grieges.  While on a random roadtrip with my little sister, we ended up at the Target in Lancaster, Ohio, where I came across this polish.  It caught my eye immediately with its shimmer in shades of gold and slate blue.  It's definitely unqiue.  However, since my horrible experience with L'Oreal's revamped polish line I've avoided buying the line. Since this color really stood out to me and was something new, I decided to bite the bullet and try it out.

This formula is much improved over the ones I tried earlier this spring.  I got a good opacity in two coats, and had no trouble with application.  If this polish were by anyone else I normally buy polish from such as Essie, OPI, or even Revlon, I wouldn't hesitate to make this a go-to polish.  Once I get back home and have a chance to test the wear, I'm hoping for it to join that elite status in my polish drawer.

Skies are Blue...Polish

Having looked through my fair share of September issues, reading countless websites and blogs, the nail look for fall has tended traditional.  Think rich earth tones and jewel tones with the occasional oddball (Nars Storm Bird, a medium gray, for example) thrown in. The colors excite me, because I already own most of these colors so I don't have to rush out and buy the Essie fall lineup.

The other day on Twitter, someone posted a picture of the Oscar de la Renta polish collection, which is available here if you're interested. I'm not impressed, as most every polish collection for this season has a vampy color and a basic red.  However, de la Renta added a light blue shade as well.  This struck me as odd, until I had a flashback to this past winter.  Chanel had debuted a light blue polish on the runway for Spring/Summer 2012, and was rumored to be a limited edition for this summer.  I hadn't seen it yet and it fell out of mind until I looked at the de la Renta polish.  Well, the Chanel Polish, Skyline, is out, and I'm sensing a fall trend.

Top, left to right: Oscar de la Renta, $22 | Essie, $8
Bottom: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure, $8 | Chanel Skyline, $30 | Revlon Blue Lagoon, $4

With the exception of the Chanel and de la Renta, I own the other light blue polishes.  Sally Hansen's Barracuda is more of a light aqua that leans more blueish.  Application is tricky but I think I just got a bum brush.  Revlon Blue Lagoon is a traditional light blue with a hint of a matte sparkle.  It's weird, you can see the sparkle on your nail and in the bottle, but the shimmer glitter I'm guessing wasn't milled very fine.  Essie's Coat Azure is a great polish.  It has a silver shimmer in it that's subtle and it applies like a dream.

I think these light blues are a fun way to add a bit of pop to an otherwise darker color palette that you'll be seeing for fall.  Definitely unexpected, which makes them fashion forward.

My Favorite Late Summer Polishes

This summer has seen some amazing polishes, along with the wearing of some old favorites.  Here are my picks to last my through Labor Day:

 

 



 

The Zoya Birchbox Bloggers Collection, from left to right:
Belle, a coral with copper shimmer
Coraline, a jelly orange
Kate, a jelly hot pink

Belle was the standout of this collection in my mind.  You can opaque it with a ton of coats, but I prefer to layer it over one of the accompanying polishes.  You could probably get away with wearing them through fall.  This set is still available at Birchbox ($22) if you're interested.

From Essie, left to right:
Geranium, Demure Vixen, Brazilliant, and Chubby Cheeks

Demure Vixen, Geranium, and Chubby Cheeks have all won places in my hall-of-fame polishes this year.  Demure Vixen and Geranium I wear year round, and Chubby Cheeks is wearable 10 months out of 12.  Not to mention, Chubby Cheeks is the closest color I have found to one of my favorite colors, Nantucket Red.  Brazilliant is a bright orange with an amazing hot pink shimmer.  I did a half-moon manicure with the Brazilliant on the bottom part of my nails with a brown on top and I got millions of compliments on it.  Essie can be found at salons, Ulta, Target, and drugstores.

From OPI:
Lucky, Lucky Lavender and Glitzerland

I love the Lucky, Lucky Lavender to when I'm not feeling a super bright color.  Glitzerland is one of my all-time favorite polishes.  I wear it an awful lot, and I love that it goes with everything.  OPI can be found in salons, Trade Secret, Ulta, and Target.

Chanel Distraction, Nars Jungle Red, Chanel June

Chanel Distraction has been on my toes all summer, and is another great go-to color.  Chanel June has a hint of orange that makes it pretty close to all-year wear.  Peppy enough for spring, but subtle enough for fall's jewel tones.

I received Nars Jungle Red in a gift set I purchased last year.  I didn't wear it for a long time because it seemed too dark.  However, I played with it one day and fell in love.  One coat makes it appear an almost super saturated fushia, but another coat makes it a vampy oxblood burgundy which is one of the hot colors for fall.

The Kate Spade Florence Broadhurst collection:
Watermelon Fingers, Seafoam Swirls, Yellow Cockatoos, and Orange Solar

I bought this set without thinking.  Kate Spade + Nail Polish = My credit card coming out of my wallet.

This polish has amazing quality, and Yellw Cockatoos is singlehandly the best yellow polish I have ever worked with.  Orange Solar actually became my favorite out of this set.  It appears orange, but on the nail it translates as a bright red with a hint of orange.  The pink and green would also work in the spring, but I'm not sure about the fall.  The yellow is going to be used both WVU football and basketball seasons, and again, I can't say enough good things about the Orange Solar.  Unforunatly, this collection sold out pretty quickly, but if you can find it on eBay, don't hestiate to purchase it.

 

The Colors of Spring: Nail Polish Edition

Hello, darlings!  Long time no see or post.  Both personally and professionally, this has been one of the worst months in a long time.

Since it's now officially March, I feel much more comfortable discussing spring clothes, colors, and such.  It's one of my pet peeves to read about--or tell people about--all these bright colored clothes covered in flowers when there's still snow on the ground.  Even though it's been a very warm winter in Huntington, it'd be 60 degrees and sunny one day, and then 30 degrees and snow the next day.  It's hard for me to get in the mood to discuss sandals and Easter dresses when when there's frost on my windshield.  But since March brings about the first day of Spring and pansies, I can break out the pastels and feel good about it.

Recently, L'Oreal's new line of nail polishes caught my eye.  The revamped line features many eye-popping brights, neutrals, and just about any other color in between.  It takes a lot to get me impressed by nail polish nowadays, but this collection is pretty solid and on trend, which is unusual for a drugstore makeup brand.  So when my parents gifted me with a Walmart giftcard for Valentine's Day, I decided to buy several of the colors that have been catching my eye.

Despite the pretty colors, my overall review on this line: UGH.  The formula sucks in all of the colors I tried.  It's goopy, it streaks like crazy, and coverage is very uneven.

First up is the color that really stood out to me, Tweet Me.  A bright yellow with a hint of a sparkle, it reminded me of Chanel's Mimosa which was huge last summer.  I really wasn't crazy about Mimosa enough to buy it, so a lower price point for a similar color sounded good to me.  In this picture, I'm wear four coats.  FOUR.  And it's still sheer and streaky.  Not good.  It looked like crap.

The second color that I swatched was Tangerine Dream.  After buying Chanel's June (a light orange), I've been crazy for orange polishes.  However, I had similar issues with Tangerine Dream that I had with Tweet Me.  Four coats, still sheer and streaks ahoy.  These pictures make it look much better than what it looked like in real life.

My last attempt at swatching these Revlon polishes was a lavender with a touch of shimmer, Butterfly Kisses.  This picture shows three coats.  This is the best formula out of them, and while it was nowhere near as sheer it still had some streaking issues.

I also swatched Boozy Brunch, a punchy bright orange, but you guessed it, four coats, still sheer and streaky.

Like I mentioned earlier, this line sucks.  Sucks, sucks, SUCKS.  With the sample selection I tried, I won't even consider buying or even looking at this line again unless I hear they change the formulas.  The only polish that was close to keeping was Butterfly Kisses, and since it's close to Nars Diamond Life (a violet shimmer), I'll probably add this to my Walmart return bag.

Super Bass: Nicki Minaj for OPI Collection

Like last year's very successful Katy Perry collection, OPI has teamed up with hip-hop star Nicki Minaj to release a collection of inspired polishes.  Also like the Katy Perry collection, there's a Shatter polish included, this time a metallic fuchsia.  Unlike the Perry collection which was mostly sparkles, there are some great cremes that I'm falling in love with.

From left to right:

Fly, Did It On 'Em, Metalliac 4Life, Pink Friday, Save Me, Super Bass Shatter

While I don't have this collection yet, I feel this is the perfect collection for spring.  While I don't have the collection yet, I'm going to go ahead and say buy this immediatly, because I can see this selling out.  This is by no means an original collection, but I can't think of any dupes right away.  When I saw Pink Friday (the pink creme) and Fly (the teal creme) I thought I had similar shades but I don't.  I thought Pink Friday would be close to Chanel's May from their spring 2012 collection, but the Pink Friday is more vivid.  The only color I'm not feeling is the glittery Save Me, which is sandwhiched between Pink Friday and the Shatter in the picture above.  It features long bar glitter, which is hell to remove, even though formulas are better than from when I was in high school.

As far as the Super Bass Shatter goes...frankly I'm over Shatter and other crackle polish finishes.  However, looking at some swatches some other blogs have done, I may break down and get it.  I love love love how well it goes with all of the cremes. I only wish OPI made small bottle versions of the Shatter like they do the collections.

The Nicki Minaj collection is already available in stores such as JCPenney Salons, Trade Secret, and Ulta if you happen to be close enough to one.  Like the Katy Perry collection, I'll probably just pick up the set which has the small bottles minus the glitter topcoat Save Me and the Super Bass shatter.

Best of 2011 to Start 2012

I'm mildly obessessed with those end of the year lists that you've probably seen in the past few weeks.  I was starting to make my mental list as soon as I reached consciouness yesterday when I had another thought.  Would something declared the best of 2011 still be relevent in 2012?  Obviously there's stuff like events I can't do anything about, but what if I found an amazing product, say a face wash, does the calendar turning to 2012 make that item any less great because I discovered it last year?  Am I supposed to promote the latest and the greatest even if it's a crap item?  I cried for a bit, because that was just way too much thinking at that moment.  Then, I took some Aleve, drank a Gatorade, and prepared my list for you to enjoy:


1.  Say Yes To Blueberries Age Defying Wipes.  These wipes remove all your makeup, smell great, and really do brighten your face.  My skin looked amazing after just two days of using these.  What's not to love?
2. L'Oreal's Youth Code line.  I bought the sampler set, and while all the products worked well, the Day to Night lotion was amazing.  It moisturized and brightened my skin. 
3. Olay's Pro-X Cleaning Brush.  My skin has never looked better, nor have my large pores looked smaller than after I started using this spinning brush. 
4. Nivea Happy Sensation Body Lotion.  I hate thick and smelly lotions--Bath and Body Works I'm looking at you--but this has a light, clean, citrusy scent.  It's also super light on the skin, sinks in quickly, and is non-greasy. 
5. Rare Minerals Blemish Remover.  This is a sulphur-based powder you apply with the included brush on acne, and is the best pimple zapper I have used in years.  It does smell strongly, but when you see visible results in mere hours, you'll get over it quickly.
6. Dove Winter Care Body Wash.  My skin always dries out in the winter, and the Olay body wash which was supposedly moisturizing was actually making my skin worse.  The Dove body wash is almost like a lotion and really doesn't lather but it moisutrizes so well I sometimes don't have to put on lotion afterwards. 



Having gone on a makeup shopping spree back in '10, I really didn't have the need to buy a lot of makeup this past year, but I did have a good record for buying some great products.

1. Milly with Clinque Pretty Prints Pallette.  Unfortunatly, this was a limited edition, but this set has the perfect blush and eyeshadow shades that look wonderful on everyone.  I use this set if I'm in a hurry or want to look extra pretty. 
2. Tarte's Airbrush Effects brush.  This came in the QVC set I originally wasn't thrilled with back in March, but since then I've come to embrace the brush.  In combination with the next product, it's phenomenal.  As long as this brush holds up, I'll never use a sponge or any other brush to apply foundation.
3.  Make Up For Ever HD Foundation.  After dealing with some meh foundations this past year, I bought this on impulse and have been delirousily happy with it ever since.  It evens out my skin tone, and covers acne scars.  Perfect!
4. Tarte's Amazonian Clay Blush in Glisten.  This came in the QVC set that I got the above brush in, and I wasn't fond of it at first.  However, I was too lazy to go out and get something else and I came to really love the color.  Unfortunately this was a limited edition, but thankfully, Nars Orgasm blush is very similar. 



Nail Polish, oh nail polish.  What colors didn't I buy this year?

1. Deborah Lippman's Happy Birthday.  Colorful!  Sparkly!
2. Chanel Black Pearl.  My first Chanel polish, which quickly led to an addiction of $25 nail polish.  I love this color for it's elegance and sophistication.
3. Chanel Morning Rose.  This has been the polish I have worn ever since I got it in July. I've used up a quarter of the bottle, which is rare for me.  This was a limited edition and I'm kicking myself for not buying another bottle.
4. Nars Jungle Red.  The perfect deep red as it doesn't border on the maroon/brownish border that a lot of deeper reds do.
5. Nars Purple Rain.  This was one of the hot colors for 2010, but I continued to wear it all of 2011.  Just a great shade.
6. L'Oreal Limited Edition Project Runway in Owl's Night.  I had originally bought this trying to dupe Chanel's Peridot, but I didn't even come close (I did buy Peridot later).  This has a black base with a burnished gold with a hint of green sparkle in it.  Very pretty.

Anybody have any bests they want to share?  Just because it's 2012 doesn't mean it's too late to try a great product.

Hide The Credit Cards: Chanel's Spring Makeup Debut

I love makeup.  If you were to add up the total cost of my makeup collection, I could go to Paris for a week.  It's borderline insanity how much cosmetics I own.  It's actually getting disappointing going into Sephora and realizing that you already own most of the store.  MAC, I challenge you to show me something that I don't have already. 

I really haven't been paying too much attention to new makeup collections lately because I keep seeing colors I already own.  However, for some reason this week I opened an email from Chanel announcing their new spring lineup.  My jaw dropped and my credit card shrieked.  May I introduce Chanel's Harmonie de Printemps (Spring Harmony for the non-French speakers)?



It's soft, lovely, and just drop dead beautiful.  Since I'm a huge polish lover, my eyes were instantly drawn to the soft orange on her fingertips, which is named June.  My heart stopped beating, and you can bet my first stop this weekend in Easton will be to the Nordie's Chanel counter.  Here's the pieces from the collection that I will probably end up buying:

Out of the polishes, I will definitely be buying June and probably May.  May is a vivid pink and reminds of the cherry blossoms in Washington D.C., which is one of my favorite things ever.  There is a limited edition eyeshadow that is roughly the exact same shade of the June polish called Tigerlily, and I originally thought it was included in the quad eyeshadow palette.  It's actually not though, and I have similar shades already.  The blush has all of my favorite shades blended into one handy compact. 

Pantone has called orange the color of 2012, and this simply wonderful collection is a great way to get introduced to the fun of one of my all-time favorite colors.

Here are some swatches I've pulled from some of my fellow beauty bloggers who already have the collection:

June polish, source, The Polish Police

May polish, source, The Polish Police

Tigerlily shadow, source, The Best in Beauty

Tigerlily swatch, source, The Best in Beauty

 

 

 

 

 

L'Oreal's Color of Hope Polish Review and Swatches

I know it seems like one of the last places to buy cosmetics, but don't knock Kroger's, especially the one up on Route 60  by Barboursville.  They have a makeup selection that rivals Walmart's, and the prices are pretty good as well.  This particular Kroger's is my-go to place to find some of the limited edition collections that CVS or Walgreen's may not carry (and again, they're usually cheaper).  The other day, while picking up some groceries, I ran across L'Oreal's Color of Hope collection and got suckered in by the polishes:

Every purchase gives $1 to Ovarian Cancer research. 

This light pink foil is originally what caught my eye.  Called Whimsicle, I couldn't take my eyes off the bottle.  While it looks great in the bottle, I'm not entirely excited about how it looks on my nails.  It's just okay, but I do see myself wearing it.  One of my biggest peeves about this polish is that it's a mess to work with with.  I tried to clean up my manicure before I took photos but all I managed to do was spread sparkles around my cuticles.  When I went to take it off, I had sparkles up and down my fingers. 



The next polish that caught my eye was the smoky black Mystery:


It's hard to tell from this picture, but this isn't the regular inky black that you usually find on the store shelf.  This has a more sophisticated, sexy, tone to it.  I'd call it a soot or a smokey black.  If you like black polish and want something more grown up than the usual, buy this.  You won't regret it.





This silver foil is Valiant.  I still needed a silver polish, so I ended up taking this one home as well.  I really like this polish.  It's the perfect silver.  It's a foil like the pink polish above, but it has a muted, matte finish to it. It gives a bit a distressed finish which I love. 



Since I had already decided to take three of four polishes home, I thought it would be fair to take the last one, a beige creme called Devotion, home as well:



I almost didn't pick this one up because I felt I had many similar colors to it, thanks to the big greige trend last year.  However, I really don't have anything quite this dark without straying into the all-out brown category.  This is a great shade for fall.



Overall, this collection is pretty solid.  I'm still not 100% crazy about the pink, but I'll probably forget how messy it is until I go to wear it next Spring.  This is a limited edition collection, so if you like one of the polishes here, go out and try to find them now as they won't be replenished after the month is over.  Like I mentioned earlier, I found mine at Kroger's, but I also found them at Rite Aid.

Holy Kow, the Kardashians are Getting Their Own Polish Kolors!

The Kardashian sisters have teamed up with OPI's down market brand Nicole to come up with a line of nail polishes, a la the Justin Bieber collection.  Khloe revealed the existence of the line and one of the colors last night via Twitter:





Other than the fact I'm mildly horrified by the shape of her nails, this navy blue creme doesn't look too bad.  Am I expecting to be impressed by this collection?  Not one bit, but mostly due to the brand, not the ladies endorsing the colors.  Nicole by OPI is one of the worst brands of polish I have ever used.  It's streaky and no matter how much of a creme the polish is, the color looks uneven on my nails.  Nicole is maybe fifty cents cheaper than regular OPI, so I would skip the Nicole and find a similar color.  OPI does make a similar color, called Russian Navy.

The Katy Perry Shatter Swatches

I know I promised these some time ago, but I've had some trouble getting a really good shot of the polish.  I ended up doing swatches on a nail art wheel so they'd turn out better.  I'm just going to go ahead and say it: the shatter polish is neat, but I'm having trouble getting into it.  I thought I was going to like it a lot more, but after doing a manicure with it, it's just a meh.  I wore OPI's Glitzerland underneath the Shatter, and half the people who noticed my nails thought it was chipping, with a quarter not liking it, and the other quarter liking it. 

From left to right: Not Like The Movies, Teenage Dream, Last Friday Night, The One That Got Away

Something I noticed about the Shatter polish is that it would give different effects on different types of polishes.  On the two glittery polishes in the middle, it gave a more fully shattered appearance, while on the shimmers it looked more like streaks.  Over a creme polish the Shatter gives that same "streaky" effect. 

From Left To Right: Purple Rain, Versailles, Orgasm, and Jungle Red.
The Precious Mini Polish set is $30 and available here

Around the same time I was wringing my hands over buying the Deborah Lippmann Layer Cake set, this Nars mini set was also available.  For some reason, I kept putting off buying this set until about a month ago.  I felt I had most of the colors already, when it turns out I actually didn't, including two polishes I thought were very close to Purple Rain.  When applying the shatter, these streaked instead of shattered.  I'm meh on most of them with the shatter, but I love the Shatter with the Jungle Red, it just looks so sexy to me. 

Serena Williams for OPI Simply Smashing!

This is the Serena Williams Chartreuse/lime green/greenish-yellow polish that came in a set with the Shatter polish.  I'm currently wearing the Simply Smashing! on my toes right now, and I really dig it.  As you can see, this one streaked instead of shattered. 

I also tried the Shatter on Chanel's Black Pearl, but you can't tell from the photos.  It's pretty unremarkable. 

In May, OPI is releasing additional colors of Shatter in silver, navy blue, red, and turquoise.  Since I'm not really impressed with the black Shatter, I really don't plan on purchasing any more colors of it. 

OPI Shatter Polish is NOWHERE to be Found

This past weekend I was at the Huntington Mall and picked up the minipack of Katy Perry for OPI polishes.  Of course, Trade Secret was out of the Shatter Polish.  The saleswoman told me they had been unable to keep it in stock, and then added it was impossible to find in the Tri-State area due to demand.  Trade Secret still had plenty of the colors in the collection available for purchase. 

If you're looking to buy Shatter, you're probably going to have to go online.  I finally broke down and bought the Serena Williams Simply Smashing! set, which includes the Shatter polish and a cool chartreuse green (I wear this color a lot).  I bought the set off Amazon, and with shipping it came to around $15 and change, which ain't bad.  Amazon had the Shatter polish by itself for as low as $4.50, but when you add almost $5 in shipping, you're pretty much paying full price.  However, for the time being, this looks like the only option for buying Shatter. 



Note: If you purchase this polish off Amazon, be sure to know that you're not actually buying the product from Amazon, but from an individual who sells on Amazon.  Most are great sellers, but there are a few bad apples.  Make sure your seller has at least a 95% approval or above. 

 

Yummy Cake!

Despite the fact I just bought this set, it's already gone off the Nordstorm website.  An old college pal who worked at a Nordstorm up in Columbus, OH, advises to call the customer service line ( 1-888-282-6060) to see if they can find a set a store can ship to you.

I adore Nordstrom.  Quite possibly it is my ideal store, with the exception of Anthropologie.  Now, if they were in the same mall, that would be heaven...

Anywho, sometime before Christmas I had been browsing the Nordie's site when I fell in love with the Deborah Lippman Layer Cake collection:



The colors just popped out to me, especially the dark plum on the end.  A few years ago, I had fallen in love with an aubergene polish from Maybelline's now-discontinued Salon Expert line.  I wore that polish non-stop for the fall/winter of 2007, and was depressed when I had to part with it when it went bad.  I've been looking for a suitable replacement, but really couldn't find one that stood out to me.  This polish, called Dark Side of the Moon, called my name out loud and clear.  And the shimmering lavender gray on the left hand also called to me. I didn't think anything of the glitter in the middle, but I love glittery polishes so it didn't matter to me.

I sat on buying this set until almost the end of January.  It was $25 for the three polishes, which at .30 fl oz aren't very big (I'd say they're a little bit bigger than half a regular Essie bottle).  The lavender gray shade, Wicked Game, is very sheer, and took me four coats opaque.  After getting it on my nails, I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I love lavender/purple polishes, but I'm having a hard time warming up to this one.  I may try to layer it over some darker colors and see how I like it then. 

Dark Side of the Moon turned out more maroon than aubergene (which is a dark shade of purple).  Very pretty, but it's such a fall/winter color I might wear it once more this season.  The real winner in this collection is the glitter polish I, at first, wrote off.  Let me introduce Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday:


The colors as they appear on the screen are pretty close as to how they appear in the bottle and on your nails.  Happy Birthday is a glittery topcoat that I can best describe as "awesome," "fun," and "OMGwantmoresparkles!!1!"  If you like glitter, get this set, or the full-sized bottle.  I probably will, as it takes about 3-4 coats to get the glitter coverage that I like (very sparkly).

Here are some swatches I took wearing it with both the other Layer Cake colors and some others:



This is the Happy Birthday over Butter London's Queen Vic.  Please excuse the tip wear on my manicure, I type with my fingernails, which wears my polish quicker that anything else.  I only did the first two nails, to give an idea as to how the glitter looks next to a plain, painted nail. 

1. Wet 'n Wild Nocturnal (actually a very dark blue) ($2, Drug Emporium)
2. Deborah Lippman's Wicked Game
3. Deborah Lippman's Dark Side of the Moon
4. Pure Ice Kiss Me Here  ($3, Walmart)
5. Chanel Black Pearl ($25, chanel.com)

To me, the shimmer polishes (Wicked Game and Black Pearl) don't work well with the chunky glitters, it's as if there's too much going on at once.  It looks great against cremes, with my favorite comboniations being the Wet n Wild dark blue and the Pure Ice gray. 

Would I buy this set again?  I don't know.  I love, love, love Happy Birthday, but the other two colors are just okay. 

Gone but Not Forgotten

When I was in middle school/early high school, my friends and I spent the weekends usually doing the same thing as most other girls our age: hang out at the mall for a few hours, catch a movie, and then have a sleepover.  Back when the Huntington Mall still had good stores, such as the Limited, there was also a Phar-Mor where Dick's Sporting Goods is now.  I have amazing memories of Phar-Mor, and it's probably one of the stores I miss the most from the Huntington Mall.  I know most people here in the Huntington area considered it the best pharmacy for years.  I mostly remember it for the giant beauty section where I could spend hours getting lost in the colossal selection of colors.

During this time (late 90's) Revlon introduced a grunge? urban? line called Streetwear.  Obviously, it was aimed at teenagers, but it gained many fans because most polishes at that time were fairly conservative (this was slightly before glitter polishes became the rage).  There was everything from polishes to creamy eyeshadows to lipsticks galore.  Let's not forget body glitter.  up until about my junior or senior years of high school (2002-2003), body glitter was a huge trend.  Since then, not so much, but it's still fairly easy to find. 

This shade was called Disco.  I still have a bottle of this.

It's hard to remember that far back, but I seem to recall Streetwear's quality was pretty decent.  I still have an amazing cream shadow that was a swirl of pink and purple that looks amazing.  Is it still good...eh.  But it still looks great, and there's just a hint of it left around the edge of the container.  I maybe have 2-3 wears left.  I have been unable to find a good dupe for it, other than a Rimmel U shadow that could give me the same color, but not the wear power nor the metallic shine. 

I owned several of the Streetwear polishes, and they were probably the best part of the line.  I remember several specifically, one was a hazy charcoal gray/gold, depending on the light and how you looked at it.  unfortunately, I can't remember the name of it, and while looking at the information and swatches available online there are two that look very similar to it.  I'll remember the name one day!

I've mentioned in another post that I've been unable to wear light blue polishes, and Streetwear's Sky is the reason.  I got this polish sometime my freshman year of high school, and wore it all four years.  Thusly, it claims the title of the only bottle of nail polish I've ever used in its entirety. I was very matchy-matchy in high school and wore a ton of light blue. Here's a swatch:

[caption id="attachment_128" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Image from lextard - nails, makeup & more "][/caption]

The Streetwear was a very successful line and lasted the better part of 7-8 years.  It had already been around a year or two before I first discovered it, and while I can't find an exact date of when it was discontinued, I'm fairly certain it was right after I started college, 2003.  Despite this, I've been able to find the occasional Streetwear product at places like Drug Emporium (at the Huntington Mall or in the Kanawha City area in Charleston), and at various dollar stores.  Streetwear can also be found in through European or Indian cosmetics stores, the brand  is still alive in those areas.  There's quite a bit of an online following for the brand, especially the polishes.  In fact, I was able to purchase a bottle of my beloved Sky this morning, and can't wait to get it back on my nails.