Dior Acapulco

 Happy Wednesday!  How’s everyone’s week going?  Life has been super busy for me lately with all the planning to go back to grad school, and it’s only going to get worse as grad school actually kicks off next week! Ha.  Anyway, even when I’m not blogging, I’m still using mani/pedis as my relaxation technique, so I have tons of photos for these precious moments when I do have time to blog!

Today I have for you a bright polish perfect for summer, Dior Acapulco.  Earlier this summer Dior released the Summer Mix collection, four bright jelly-finish polishes with a gorgeous, high-gloss finish.  I picked up two polishes from the collection, Lagoon (blue tinted teal) and Acapulco, a bright, bold yellow.  Now, I’ve not had a lot of luck in the past yellows, as they tend to be very streaky and so difficult to get full coverage.  So how did Acapulco do?  Judge for yourselves!

The first photo is in direct, bright sunlight, while the second has a little shade.  I had to do 3 coats for this mani, and I think it was totally worth out – Acapulco is gorgeous!  There's still a little visible nail line showing through even after 3 coats, but I don't mind - this is such a buttery, rich yellow that I love it even with a little VNL!

Dior Acapulco, along with the rest of the Summer Mix collection, is available through Dior boutiques and retail for $23 each.  I don’t know if this collection ever made it to Dior counters (such as Nordstrom or Saks), but you may want to call around or do some googling if you have a difficult time finding it.  Happy Hunting!

China Glaze Ride the Waves

 Happy Sunday!  How’s everyone’s weekend going?  Any fun events!  I’ve been hanging around the apartment all weekend, cleaning, re-organizing, and de-cluttering.  Two rooms done so far, and it feels like success!  I also did some nail polish hauling yesterday for some international friends, and bought myself a polish or two (but not too many – as I said, I’m trying to de-clutter! ha).

One of the polishes I picked up yesterday was China Glaze Ride the Waves, a somewhat neon blue from the new neon collection for summer 2012.  Ride the Waves isn’t exactly neon, but it’s definitely vibrant, a bright, squishy jelly-like true blue polish.  I saw this in the bottle and immediately thought MUST. HAVE.  The photos below have 2 coats of Ride the Waves.  As you can see, there’s still a little visible nail line; for my next mani it will definitely be 3 coats and I also need to wrap the tips, so the color doesn’t pull back at the tip as it does here. 

Because it’s Sunday Funday, I also added a coat of Nubar White Polka Dots to jazz things up.  All in all, I love the combination!

A look at Ride the Waves in sunlight…

 … and in shade…

 … and the close-up:

A great bright blue for summer, right?  I am in love with Ride the Waves, and will probably be using this as a pedi color very soon.  White Polka Dots was a little difficult to work with – the larger glitters had all settled to the bottom of my bottle, so were a little tricky to get on the nail – but I still love it, and can’t wait to play more with this simple yet pretty glitter soon!

Summer Lovin' 2012: Dior Bikini

Happy Saturday!  I hope everyone is having a great weekend.  I am on my way to my first MBA event this afternoon, and even though I had to go neutral on my nails with Chanel Rose Cache (did I ever review that polish?? I must check!!), I thought I’d show you a fun color today.  Time is of the essence, so let’s jump right in!

Today I have for you the second polish from the Dior Croisette Summer 2012 collection, Dior Bikini.  Bikini is a orange-tinted coral with a crème finish.  It reminds me a lot of the base color of Chanel Distraction (which I reviewed a few weeks ago) minus the pink shimmer in Distraction.  The formula on this one was a little wonky – very thick and not self-leveling (you can kind of see this problem on the middle finger in the photos below).  While the color is pigmented and I could have gotten away with 2 coats, I ended up doing 3 coats on a few nails to smooth out the bumps.  No fun!!

 

(Apologies for the hang nail on my ring finger – the perils of quickie manis before work!)

As I mentioned, Dior Bikini is really similar to Chanel Distraction, minus the pink shimmer.  If you have one, I’m not convinced you need both, unless you really love the base color and want to have a shimmer option.  If I had to choose, I’d probably prefer to own Chanel Distraction as it had the better formula and more interesting color.


What do you think?  Is Dior Bikini a must-have?  Are you loving the coral nail trend this season?  Or are you just ready for me to review a brand other than Dior (which is quite a reasonable request!)?

Dior St. Tropez

 Happy Friday, everyone!  What’s everyone up to this weekend?  It’s raining right now in LA, so I’m happily confined to my home for the day.  Not sure what’s on the agenda this weekend – I had my wisdom teeth pulled a few days ago (ouch!) so as long as I’m chewing food by Sunday, I’ll be a happy girl – I never thought I’d say this, but I am so over eating ice cream all the time! Haha.

Today I have for you a super popular polish that’s making a return in Dior Beauty’s Summer 2012 Collection – St. Tropez.  St. Tropez was originally released last summer to commemorate the opening of the Dior boutique in the town of the same name in the South of France.  The polish was an instant hit, and pretty much sold out at Dior.com and Dior boutiques instantly.  It was originally a LE release, but given the popularity and demand, Dior decided to bring St. Tropez back in the summer beauty collection (Thx, Christian!).  St. Tropez is a blue-leaning turquoise crème polish.  It is absolutely stunning in the bottle, and delivers perfection on the nail. 

So perfect, in fact, it deserves extra photos.

 

If you missed out on St. Tropez last summer, don’t make the same mistake twice!  This is an amazing polish, and I can't wait to try another mani with it, maybe with a bright coral accent nail - the other hit color of the season.  St. Tropez is currently available at Dior boutiques and counters and retails for $23 for a 0.33fl oz bottle.  Trust me, this one is worth every penny.  Snatch it up while you still can!


What do you think?  Is St. Tropez worth all the hype it’s getting?  Did you snatch up a bottle of your own?  And what’s your-must have color from the summer 2012 collections?  Sound off below!