[Review+Swatch] CND Vinylux Daring Escape & Purple Purple

Press Sample

Hi everyone! Hope you're all enjoying your Sunday. Today I have two CND Vinylux shades to share with you. Enails.eu recently reached out to me and asked if I'd like to review this line. I've never tried CND polishes before, so I was excited to finally give them a whirl. :)

The Vinylux line is labeled as a weekly polish and is meant to last a week without the use of a base coat. The line also offers a top coat that activates in natural light. I think it's similar to Sally Hansen Miracle Gel, but I can't give you a direct comparison since I don't own the Vinylux top coat.

All swatches are shown with Seche Vite top coat and no base coat.

Daring Escape, 2 coats: dusty blue-teal with strong silver shimmer. This one had an interesting formula. It's thick in the way it clings to the brush; however, it applies like a medium-thin polish. So you need to brush off all the excess clinging to the brush, but on the nail it feels smooth and applies easily. I had no problems with application itself - just wanted to note the unique formula. I think the silver shimmer makes this color interesting and adds a bit more depth.

Purple Purple, 3 coats: purple base with strong, fine blue shimmer. This combination makes the polish look blurple in most lightings. The formula was excellent - medium consistency that glides on easily. The pigmentation is pretty good as well. You can get away with two coats, but I found that a third coat will eliminate brushstrokes and deepen the color. The shimmer becomes more rich and intense as well. Absolutely gorgeous!

I loved this one so much, that I wore it as a mani! I dressed it up with some simple stamping and a bow charm. I used MoYou London Kaleidoscope 09 in case you're wondering. ^^ I didn't do a wear test since I don't own the Vinylux top coat, but this mani was chip-free 3 days later with Seche Vite. I'm not particularly rough on my nails, but nail polish doesn't last very long on me without base coat.

Verdict: Both polishes applied flawlessly and had excellent pigmentation/coverage. The colors I tested were also unique and beautiful. Purple Purple in particular has stolen my heart.

Availability: You can purchase Daring Escape (here) and Purple Purple (here) at enails.eu for 12.99€ each. Enails.eu is one of the few online stores that offer CND Vinylux worldwide, so be sure to take a look. They offer a wide selection of colors including the latest collections.

Have you tried any of the Vinylux colors? Let me know your thoughts below! ^^

Liz

[Swatch+Review] Barielle Banana Drop, Satin Glow, & Blue Cotton Candy

Press Sample

Hi guys! Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. Mine was super cold, and it's currently snowing again. I wish it would be spring already! Unfortunately, that won't be for a few more months. In the meantime, I've been enjoying these lovely colors from Barielle.

Banana Drop, 3 coats: pastel yellow creme. Most pale yellows aren't very flattering on me, but this one looked okay! It was a tiny bit streaky, but the third coat evened it out just fine. It was fairly easy to apply and has a smooth, shiny finish. I wore mine with base coat and didn't have any staining either.

Satin Glow, 3 coats: sheer, warm pink crelly with gold shimmer. First off, I really love shimmery creme-jellies, and this one is no exception. It's a bit sheer, but builds up nicely in three coats. It's also a little slow to dry, but expected for this finish. (Think Nicole by OPI Kim-pletely In Love, Sinful Colors Cinderella, Essence Grey-t To Be Here.)

Blue Cotton Candy, 2 coats: teal blue with silver shimmer. I love this one. It reminds me of Cult Nails Let Me Fly, but lighter and dustier. The formula was excellent, as was the opacity. Dry time was good as well.

Verdict: I'm glad I got to try all three of these. None of them were disappointing and lived up to my expectations in both color and consistency.

Availability: Barielle polishes are 5-free and are available for purchase at barielle.com for $8 each.

China Glaze Deviantly Daring

I dropped by Sally Beauty Supply a few days ago for non nail related reasons, and of course, I came out with a few polishes.  I finally found the sale rack at my Sally's!  I can't believe I never saw it. -_-  I seriously just had to turn around.  Anyway, I noticed a few China Glaze polishes I wanted in the racks for $3.29 each and came away with two.

Lately, I've been curving my impulsive polish buys.  I must admit, the crazies have transferred over to makeup instead.  But makeup costs more, so I've been doing more planned purchases than impulsive ones.  I'm also saving up for the China Glaze Hologlam collection, so I kind of do an either or thing: this or Hologlam?  Hologlam usually wins.

So here's the first polish I got!

Deviantly Daring, 2 coats: a green-teal-blue duochrome.  Even though there's three colors, the green is a bit elusive, so I wouldn't call this a multichrome.  It's also a more subtle duochrome.  Rather than seeing two colors simultaneously on the nail, I noticed that the polish as a whole shifts from teal to deep blue depending on how the light hits it.

I got this polish knowing the duochrome wouldn't be super strong, so I was actually more impressed than disappointed.  I think the color is gorgeous, and it's more duochrome than I expected it to be.  The formula was excellent as well: good consistency and two-coat pigmentation.  The only downside is brushstroke visibility, but that doesn't bother me much.  The above picture is in direct sunlight, and the rest below are in indirect sunlight.

Do you own Deviantly Daring or any of the other polishes from the Bohemian Luster Chrome collection?  What did you think of them?


Liz

Waiting for Autumn

Is anyone else anxious for fall to get here?  I've never been eager to see the end of summer, but this year I can't wait for cooler weather.  Well, until it gets here, at least I have this beautiful Models Own polish to keep me entertained.

sunlight

Aqua Violet, 3 coats from the Beetle Juice collection.  It was sheer on the first coat, but built up nicely in 3 coats.  Like the name says, it has a strong aqua to violet duochrome.  But those aren't the only colors I'm seeing.  Turquoise, teal, light blue, periwinkle, purple.  I can't stop looking at this polish.  It's like a chameleon.  But enough talk.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

shade

 

I really wish my pictures did this polish justice.  I got mine from Urban Outfitters on sale for $5 (retail $10).  If you can't find it there, you can also purchase Models Own polishes from http://www.modelsownit.com.


Liz

Zoya Gloss Collection Swatches

Katherine, 4 coats: a vampy eggplant jelly gloss.  This isn't one of those red-brown vampy shades.  It definitely stays true to its purple base.  While I like the color, unfortunately the formula is just as problematic as any other vampy polish.  The color applies very unevenly.  Even at four coats, you might notice uneven application.
 

***

Frida, 5 coats: a teal blue jelly gloss.  4 coats would have been fine for this shade, but I wanted it to be darker for pictures.  However, even at 5 coats you can see that it is still quite sheer.  (Yes, I have those white bruise marks on my ring finger.)  With that said, I love this color.  It's so gorgeous and shiny!  This is a color I wouldn't mind doing a few extra coats for.

***

Paloma, 3 coats: a berry pink jelly gloss.  OMG!  Haha, I don't use that word often, but this color is so pretty!  It's my favorite of the bunch, and the most opaque.  It's a lot lighter and brighter on the nail than in the bottle (as are all of these).  In the bottle, it just looked like another berry shade, but on the nail it's more of a berry-magenta mix!  It's also so shiny and so squishy and gahhh...  It makes me want to eat my nails.  Haha.

You can also layer glitter under these for a jelly sandwich look.  Here I layered two coats of OPI Pirouette My Whistle under one more coat of Paloma (making it 4 coats).  At four coats, Paloma become slightly darker and almost fully opaque (as far as jellies go).  The purple in it is also more emphasized.

Verdict:  Out of the three shades, I was definitely impressed by two of them: Frida and Paloma.  If you love jellies and sheers, these might just be for you.  They are definitely sheer though, and that's how Zoya is marketing them.  If you follow Zoya on Facebook, you might have seen their numerous pictures of ways to layer the glosses with glitters to make glitter sandwiches and ombres.

Availability:   This collection is currently available on Zoya.com for $8 each.  You might also find these at Ulta as well.


What do you think of these sheer glosses?  Is this something you would wear?  Let me know in the comments! :)


Liz

*The polishes reviewed in this post were sent to me for my honest review.
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Julep Maven August 2012 Unboxing & Piper Swatches

 My August Julep Maven box came yesterday, right on the dot. :)  It came in a cute pink box!

China Glaze Fall 2012 On Safari Swatches

Hello, hello!  I'm so excited to show you these new China Glaze On Safari shades today.  I have five from the collection, so let's get to it! :D  My swatches are all shown without top coat. 

Man Hunt, 2 coats: bright blue creme-jelly hybrid.  I love how blue this is.  It looks navy indoors, but outdoors it's so blue and yummy.  It seemed more like a jelly on the first coat, but it became nice and opaque at two.  Even though it's opaque, I think it still looks kind of squishy.  The formula was nice as well.

Exotic Encounters, 2 coats: a dusty teal-green creme.  The formula was excellent on this one.  It practically painted itself.  Exotic Encounters was also the color I was most excited about, and it didn't disappoint!

Purr-fect Plum, 2 coats: a dark plum/berry creme.  Nothing too unique, but quite flattering.  I know this is going on my toes once fall rolls around.  The formula was good like the others.

I Herd That, 3 coats: very fine gold and orange glitter with blue and green glitters; possibly holographic.  The glitters are so fine, it's hard to tell.  I mostly get glowing blues and greens sparkling through the mass of gold and orange, but it does have a holographic glitter quality to it because of how sparkly it is.  This is one of the colors that would have escaped my radar if I hadn't had a chance to try it out myself.  The blue and green glitters really make this one for me.  I love it a lot more than I thought it would.  The formula was perfect, and it becomes relatively opaque in 2 coats.

Prey Tell, 2 coats: a vampy maroon-brown creme.  Look how shiny and squishy this is!  I found the formula to be okay.  It required some concentration on my part, just because of how dark it is.  It was a little harder to get clean rounded edges near the cuticles, and dry time was a bit slow.  I'd recommend waiting a little between coats to avoid drag.


Verdict: All the colors I've tried had excellent formulas, except for Prey Tell.  Even then I'd say that Prey Tell was one of the less finicky vampy red-browns I have tried so far.  I knew from the beginning that I was going to love Exotic Encounters, and it lived up to my expectations in both color and formula.  Also included in my list of favorites are Man Hunt and I Herd That, which turned out to be an unexpected favorite.


The China Glaze® On Safari collection will be available at fine salons and beauty supply stores nationwide in July 2012.  Individual polishes retail for $7 MSRP; the 6-piece sets retail for $42 MSRP. 



Liz

*The polishes reviewed in this post were sent to me for my honest review.
Please view my Disclosure Policy for more info.

Kardashian Kolors Pretty Petites: Sophisti-cuties

Hello! :)  Today I have the second set of Kardashian Kolors minis.  This one's called Sophisti-cuties and contains (from top to bottom): My Empire...My Rules, Follow Me on Glitter, Khloé Had a Little Lam-Lam, and Hard-Kourt Fashionista.

3 coats, My Empire...My Rules: a mushroom taupe creme.
3 coats, My Follow Me on Glitter: a black base with fine and small silver glitter.  There are also multi-colored glitters in bright blue, fuchsia, red, green, and yellow.

2 coats, Khloé Had a Little Lam-Lam: a dark teal-green creme.  Love this one!  I did 2 coats for pics, but it can definitely be a one-coater. :)
3 coats, Hard-Court Fashionista: a chocolate brown creme.  Very shiny!

Like the Celeb-bities set, I found the formulas for all of these flawless.  If anything, Khloé Had a Little Lam-Lam was a little more on the watery side, but nothing unmanageable.  Overall, a pretty solid set.  I think the colors in this set work very well together and can easily be worn together like in my pictures.


Pretty Petites will be available July 2012 for $10 each at Duane Reade, H-E-Butt, Fred Meyer, Meijer, Rite Aid, Sears and ULTA. In Canada, each set will be available for $15 at Katz Group, Loblaw, Shoppers Drug Mart, select Sears locations, and Walmart Canada. 
 


Liz

*The polishes reviewed in this post were sent to me for my honest review.
Please view my Disclosure Policy for more info.

Everything about this mani feels so right

Am I the only one that feels this way?  I can't get enough of how this looks.  It seems so perfect for now.

OPI Nicki Minaj Collection Swatches Part 1

I recently got some polishes from OPI's Nicki Minaj collection and I'm super excited to show you them all.  I basically got everything but the bubblegum pink and the chartreuse/lime since I don't really care for those.  Today I have for you Fly and Save Me. :)

YNOTD = Yesterday's Mani ^^

This is going to be quick!

So I put on two coats of China Glaze Techno Teal from the Tronica Collection.  I figured out how to apply it without having any drag.  I put enough polish on the brush to cover the nail and did one swipe.  For the second coat I went back and covered any spots I missed.  I did this real quick so I didn't cover the whole nail.  Dry time is really fast!  Then because I wanted my nails to be more complex, I dabbed on Zoya Faye with my brush, trying to do a gradient.  This is the result.



It looked a lot better in my head.  It wasn't much of a gradient but more like I dipped my tips in Zoya Faye.  I thought about erasing it, then decided to do one more thing to see if I could save it.  PS- Do you see the tiny bit of holo in Techno Teal on my ring and pinkie?  (Please say yes.)

Using Sinful Colors Black on Black and tape, I did a diagonal peek-a-boo look and added white streaks on my accent nail.  I still wasn't satisfied, but it got rid of the 'I have to erase this now' urge.  While I was taking pics it did grow on me.  I probably should've sponged Zoya Faye on, but I'm still not sure about this color combo.  With the black it did look better.  Oh and on the places where I did a better gradient the color changed from Teal to Indigo to Violet. 

Okay, now I'm off to study!

Liz

Essie Night Cap & Holographic Jelly?

I finally got the Essie Night Cap I won from Body & Soul in the mail about a week ago.  I've been meaning to post the swatches but haven't gotten around to doing it until now.  Also if you haven't already, please go check out Body & Soul!  Mary has some awesome polish swatches and reviews of other beauty products as well.

Now on to Night Cap.  Night Cap is one of the older Essie polishes and is classified as a watery-tint.  It is indeed very watery and dries quickly.  The color is more of a grayish teal leaning more towards one or the other depending on the light.  Since it's a tint, I decided to layer it over Nicole by OPI's Make a Comet-ment.

The result was grey/teal squishiness of Night Cap made super holo by Make a Comet-ment.  Night Cap kind of softened the edge off the holo glitter, yet made it more sparkly.  I really liked it.  Since it was my first time working with a tint, I did some experimenting.  The pinky (far right) has 1 coat of holo glitter and two coats of Night Cap.  Then I thought hmm...should I add some white since the tint is sheer?  I htought it might bring the color of the tint out more so that was the result of my ring finger.  But I thought it looked too busy with all the holo glitter, so for the next two nails I did 2 coats of holo glitter and 2 coats of Night Cap.  I think I prefer one coat of holo and 2 coats of Night Cap better since there's more depth and color from the tint.

In retrospect, maybe I'd add another coat or two of Night Cap.  Currently I'm trying to think of what other polishes I can layer this over without taking away its color.  Oh and if you were wondering what Make a Comet-ment looks like on its own, here's a swatch with 2 coats.

I kinda like it on its own.  It looks delicate and pretty like lace.


Anyway that's it for now!  Enjoy your Friday. :)


Liz