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!

Dior Electric Blue

 Happy Thursday!  How’s everyone’s week going?  Good?  Or are you just ready for the weekend?  My week has been great so far – I started the P90X program on Monday, and wow, my body is SORE!! But it’s an awesome sore, as I know how hard I worked out, so I’m happy.  Have any of you tried it?  Let me know what you think!

Today I have a quick swatch for you, Dior Electric Blue.  Electric Blue is a bright, almost-neon blue polish with a crème finish.  You know that find silver shimmer you can sometimes see in Dior polishes?  Well it definitely shows up in Electric Blue!!! I was driving a few times with this mani and was distracted by its small blingy awesomeness.  This is 2 coats of Electric Blue, and it went on like a dream!

  

Electric Blue is ready for its closeup.

 

Dior Electric Blue is amazing!  I had originally passed on this one when I picked up the other polishes from the Anselm Reyle for Dior collection, and now I’m glad I went back and bought this!!! It’s a totally bold color for summer, and I can’t wait to rock it.

I checked my collection of bold blue polishes and only had one polish that was close (oh, the perils of slimming down one’s collection) – Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB:2012.  IKB:2012 was recently released as a part of the RBL Fan Collection, 4 polishes inspired by RBL fans.  I was going to swatch it for you here, but since IKB:2012 is sold out, I won't because I don’t want you to fall in love and go looking for it, as it’s selling for ridiculous prices on eBay!!  Instead, I swatched IKB:2012 next to Electric Blue so you could see how similar the two polishes are.

pinky and middle finger: Dior Electric Blue; index and ring finger: RBL IKB:2012

As you can see in the photo above, IKB:2012 and Electric Blue are very similar in color.  IKB:2012 is a slight shade darker than Electric Blue.  While their colors are discernible to the naked eye, I don’t think there’s any reason to own both, unless you a blue fanatic.  Of the two, I would recommend going with Electric Blue – the formula on IKB:2012 was ghastly to work with, while Electric Blue applied like butter.  I may not be Paula Deen, but even I know butter wins every time!


Dior Electric Blue was released as a part of the Anselm Reyle for Dior collection this past spring.  It retails for $23 for a 0.33 fl oz bottle; you can pick one up at Dior boutiques and at Dior counters at Saks Fifth Avenue only (unfortunately, it was not made available to all Dior counters).

Dior Glacier

 Hey Everyone!  I know, I know, before you say anything – I have been on a serious Dior kick lately!  I feel like it’s the only polish brand I’m wearing these days.  That’s partly because when I decided to reduce my collection it’s one of the few brands where I kept everything I owned, but also because Dior has been hitting it out of the park this year with some fantastic colors!

Today I have for you Dior Glacier.  Glacier is a limited edition release exclusive to Asia.  Apparently Dior does a regional LE collection like this for Asia for the past few years.  I’ve never hunted these polishes down before, but as soon as I heard about Glacier and saw swatches on The Purse Forum, I knew I wanted to have it for myself.  Glacier is a pale, icy blue polish with a hint of a frost finish – but not a full frost by any means.  It is sheer, and below is three coats for opacity.  I think I could also have used a white or very pale gray polish as a base, and then could have gotten away with one or two coats, but for this swatch I didn’t want to distort the polish whatsoever.

I have to admit, I normally don’t go for really light, pale polishes like this one.  I’m more of a brights and vampys kinda girl myself.  But for some reason I love Glacier – I love the contrast against my skin, the finish – everything.  I actually wore this mani for 2 days.  On my skintone I wouldn’t consider it safe for work, as it definitely stands out against my skin, but maybe it would be great for summer, with a bold outfit that requires a calmer, more subtle nail.  Either way, I can’t wait to play with this one!

If you’re interested, LacquerWear has a fantastic comparison of Dior Glacier to the much loved Chanel Riva here.  I didn’t realize they were so similar when I picked up Glacier, so now I’m even happier to have it as I missed out on Riva!

Dior Glacier is a limited polish from the Diorsnow Icy Halos collection released as an Asia exclusive.  If you have a friend in Asia and really want this polish, you may want to put them on the hunt for it for you.  I’ve also seen a few bottle pop up on eBay (I bought mine from seller babysweetie7), and while they’re retailing for approx. $38 USD, I found it reasonable as if you convert what Dior polishes regularly retail for in a country like Japan into US dollars, it’s comparable (for some reason, Dior polishes retail cheaper in the US for $23 – yay!).


What do you think?  Are you a fan of Dior Glacier?  Did you grab a bottle of your own?  Or is $38 just entirely too much to ever spend on a bottle of nail polish, no matter how pretty it is?!?

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!

2012 Spring Flings: OPI Holland Collection Part I

Happy Saturday!  What’s everyone up to this weekend?  I’m heading out to Santa Monica later to help celebrate my one of my bestie’s birthday.  I’ll also be having a few extra drinks to celebrate the end of the graduate school application process!  Yay!  After 4 long months, the tests are done, the scores are in, and the applications have been submitted!  Now I’m just twiddling my thumbs till March, when I’ll find out where I’ve been accepted!

Today I have for you the first swatches of the collection I’ve most been obsessing for this spring, the OPI Holland Collection.  I have been drooling over the swatches on the blogosphere for the past few weeks, and now, they are mine!  I’m so happy!  The collection is made up of six shimmers and six cremes.  The shimmers are what really had me excited, so I’m going to show you three today, and the three others tomorrow.  Read on!

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Up first is I Don’t Give A Rotterdam.  Such a cute name!  IDGAR is a light blue base with a gorgeous silver shimmer.  The base reminds me a lot of a periwinkle blue.  Seriously, OPI outdid itself with these shimmers!  This is 3 super thin coats of IDGAR.  I could have gotten away with 2 slightly thicker coats, but I’m in the habit of 3 coats to avoid peeling, so that’s what I did.  Please excuse any bumpiness on my nails – they’re peeling – bleh! – but it's not bubbles in the polish.  Take a look!

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The next shimmer is I Have A Herring Problem.  This polish is a slightly smoky teal base with a rose gold shimmer.  Again, stunning!  At first I constantly thought this was really close in color to I Don’t Give A Rotterdam, but now that I have them side-by-side, they are two distinct polishes for sure.  Again, this is 3 thin coats of IHAHP:

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The third polish I have for you today is Pedal Faster Suzi!, a soft, slightly muted pink with a silver shimmer.  The shimmer is similar to the same silver glory in I Don’t Give A Rotterdam.  At first I wasn’t very interested in Pedal Faster Suzi!, but since I was buying the other shimmers, I thought I’d pick this one up as well – my OCD strikes again!  I’m glad it did, though, as I loved this polish!  It is a soft pink, but the slightly grayed tone to the color keeps it from being too safe.  This is definitely a fun polish for work!

 

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And there you have it!  The first 3 of 6 shimmers from the new OPI Holland collection!  Are you loving these polishes as much as I am?  Of the three here, I Have A Herring Problem is probably my favorite, but I seriously love all three of these and am happy to welcome them to my collection!

The OPI Holland collection will be available beginning this Thursday, February 8, at your regular OPI retailers, including Ulta, JC Penny’s and beauty retailers.  Each polish retails for $8.50 for a 0.5 fl oz bottle.

What do you think of the collection so far?  Sound off in the comments below!

Last (Sunday) Night’s Nails: Holo Edition!

 Hi Everyone!  Happy almost weekend!  I hope some of you are enjoying shorter weeks, with the MLK holiday this past Monday.  I am wrapping up business school applications, which are all due next week.  Can’t wait to be done with this phase of the process!  I have still been taking photos of my manis, so I have tons of polishes to show you, and just need to do some serious blogging to catch up!

Last Sunday was divisional playoff weekend for the NFL, and since my team the Pittsburgh Steelers are out, I decided to cheer for the NY Giants (whom I hope will lose to the SF 49ers this weekend! I’m such a fickle bandwagon fan).  To celebrate the Giants while drinking beer with friends, I whipped out a fantastic blue holographic polish, Make Up Store SIW.  This polish was a gift to me from a friend, and let me tell you, the holo is eye-popping!  I used Nfu Oh Aqua Base as a base coat, 2 coats of SIW, and CND Super Shiney to top it off.  Even with top coat, all this holo glory!  Take a look!

Can you say va-va-VOOM!  OMG, this polish was amazing!  I actually wore it for a few days after, and I never wear these bling-y polishes to work!  This may just be my favorite holo I own.

The only sad thing about this mani is that I can’t run out and buy all the other holo polishes from Make Up Store!  Unfortunately, it looks like it’s a Swedish company, and they only have one store in the US, in Denver, CO.  No online shop, no shipping from the store.  Le sigh.  If you’re lucky enough to be near Denver, definitely head over and snatch these up!  For me, I’ll just wait till the next time I fly Pittsburgh, and plan an extra long layover at Denver airport.  Ha!

OPI Nicky Minaj Collection: Fly & Save Me

Good Morning!  Happy Hannukah and Merry -almost- Christmas!  Is anyone still shopping?  I am all done!  I actually overshopped - I have a bunch of returns, but my mama didn't raise no fool - I am not going anywhere near a mall today or tomorrow!  Haha.  For Christmas, I bought myself a new car on Sunday - a Prius!  I will miss my BMW, for sure, but I love the Prius because it's friendly to both the environment and my wallet.  It's a super fun car to drive if you're a tech nerd (like I am), as the car gives you soooo much information about how eco-friendly your driving is! Haha I hope it doesn't get old. 

Anyway, as soon as I bought the Prius, what better way to not be eco-friendly than to make an unnecessary trip to the beauty supply! LOL I drove down Sunday night and was surprised to find the new OPI Nicky Minaj Collection available!  You can check out the full press release for the collection over at Fashion Polish.  I'm trying to be better at controlling my polish spending, so there were only 2 must-have colors for me - Fly, a bright aqua turquoise, and Save Me, a holographic bar glitter in a micro silver glitter base. 

These colors are AMAZING!  I did a mani with Fly and Save Me as an accent nail.  Fly was the to-be-expected OPI formula with great pigmentation, requiring only needed 2 coats.  It's a tad more green in reality than showed up in the photo (turquoise is such a hard color to photograph!).  Save Me was a little tricky to work with - you have to kind of 'place' the bar glitter on the nail - and this is also 2 coats.  I think, for the future, Save Me could use a 3rd coat, but otherwise, I loved both polishes!

Check out how Save Me looks in the bottle - it's very accurate, and it was such a sunny day that in all of my photos the sun is reflecting off the polish like crazy!  Here's another look at Save Me up close:

The OPI Nicky Minaj Collection will be available in the usual retailers beginning January 2012.  I'm sure another popular color will be Superbass, a deep purple shatter.  It was sold out at my beauty supply, but I didn't mind since I'm over the shatter craze anyway.  But, if you're interested, keep your eyes peeled - it's going to sell quickly!

OPI Touring America: Swatches & Review

 Happy Tuesday!  Sorry I’ve been so MIA lately!  This has been a crazy few weeks.  So far this month I’ve been to Dallas and San Francisco, heading to Phoenix this weekend, and then Indianapolis in a few weeks!  Whew!  Either way, it’s no excuse for ignoring my love of nail polish! 

Today I have for you a few polishes from the OPI Fall 2011 collection, Touring America.  For the most part this collection underwhelmed me – I thought the collection was bloated, full of colors we’d seen before and names nowhere near as creative as collections past – but, I was shopping a few weeks ago and decided to give these 3 polishes a try.  If you like your polishes dark and vampy, there’s probably something here for you to enjoy.  Read on!

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First up is I Brake for Manicures.  I Brake for Manicures is a grayish purple crème.  It walk the line between gray and purple very nicely – just when I think it’s leaning more to one side of the color spectrum, I take another look and find it to be dead center between the two colors.  This was 2 coats of I Brake for Manicures.  The formula was great, as to be expected from OPI, but overall I thought the color was not at all flattering on me – very flat/dead, and the gray base just reminds me of ashy-ness! Haha.  Take a look for yourself!

 

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Up next is Honk If You Love OPI.  Honk, as I like to call is, is an eggplant purple crème.  Again, the formula on this one was impeccable, needing just 2 easy coats for full opacity.  I love crème polishes, and I love me some purple, so does it surprise anyone I find Honk If You Love OPI to be full of all kinds of WIN?

 

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Last but not least is my favorite from the trio, Road House Blues.  Gah, I am on such a blue kick lately!  Road House Blues is a navy tinted blue crème, and while I figured I would, I didn’t have anything like it in my collection!  Everything that I have this dark is much more of a true blue.  This is 2 coats, and I love that this is a dark blue without being near black (since, you know, those kind of colors actually show up as black on me!).  Take a look!

 

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And there you have it!  While I’m still less than impressed with the collection, I’m happy to welcome Honk If You Love OPI and Road House Blues to the Polish & Tonic collection.  I Brake For Manicures may be hitting the gas pedal to my swap/share pile, though.


What do you think?  Am I being too harsh on I Brake for Manicures?  Did you pick up any other polishes from this collection? And have you snatched any polishes from the other OPI collection that’s getting a ton of buzz? (Don’t worry, I’ll be reviewing the Muppets polishes soon!)

Julep Maven: October Sneak Peek Box!

 Happy Tuesday!  It's October, a new day, a new month... and a new Julep Maven sneak peak box!  Once again I was not feeling the polishes picked for my Maven profile, "Classic With a Twist", so I completely skipped out on it to go for another Maven profile - "It Girl":

Edgy and bold, your statement-making look exemplifies the modern rock n' roll chic. You love bright, bold, fun, and innovative cuts and hues for your wardrobe. Inspired by colors and accessories that exclaim anything but ordinary, you're not afraid to stand out

Sounds fun, right?  This month's sneak peek box included 2 Julep polishes, Jaime and Leighton, as well as the Julep Age Glow On Age-Defying Hand Brightener.  

 
 
I immediately loved these polishes when I saw the email from Julep back in September.  I had just bought a similar combination of a blue and silver Butter London polish days before, so of course I had to snatch this one up too!  Julep Jaime is described as an “ultra-saturated dark turquoise” creme that dries to a slight satin finish.  To my eyes it’s much more blue than a traditional turquoise, but there is a tint of green that shines through.  Leighton will be released later this month as a part of the Julep 2011 holiday collection.  It’s a bold silver polish with a frost finish.  Here’s a look at both polishes!

There were some side issues with my order, but otherwise this is another winner for Julep!  The company has been having a lot of issues with the launch of the maven program for the first few months, but it looks like they’re finally making a turn for the good and getting the program on track.  I’m so excited, and can’t wait to see what they come up with for next month!

If you haven’t signed up yet to be a Julep Maven and you’re interested, I’d appreciate you clicking through my personal referral link to join!  To check out past Julep Maven sneak peek boxes, click here.

Les Jeans de Chanel: Coco Blue

Happy Friday!  I hope you're all getting ready for your weekend!  I am not at all looking forward to my WW weigh-in tomorrow - this has not been a good week.  But, it's a new day, I'm shaking off the mistakes of the past few days, and looking to getting it right today!

Today I have for you the third and final polish from the Les Jeans de Chanel collection released for FNO, Coco Blue.  Coco Blue is a light blue polish with a sparkling blue shimmer.  I could not catch the shimmer well on camera on all - my apologies.  It's a pretty color, but it reminds me more of summer than fall.  To me, Coco Blue was the weakest polish and least fave in this collection.  It is pretty, though, so maybe I will love it more next spring/summer!

 

  

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I dug around in my own personal collection to see if I had any polishes similar to Coco Blue.  To be honest, I don’t wear light blues like this often, and I only came up with one that was even close – OPI What’s With the Cattitude?, a limited edition light blue crème released last year as a part of the OPI Shrek Collection.  Coco Blue is noticeably darker than WWtC, and also has a shimmer (which is more apparent in the swatch below) that is missing from WWtC. 

L-to-R: Chanel Coco Blue, OPI What's With the Cattitude?

 
I prefer Coco Blue because it’s darker and works better with WWtC, but I’m also a fan of WWtC because it was my mani for my 30th birthday last year!

 
Lesson learned: Friends Don’t Let Friends Do Jager Bombs. Let’s just say I’m not sure how much I remember of the night after this drink, but my friends tell me I was epic.

NARS Night Series Collection: Swatches & Review

 Happy Tuesday!  Today I have for your one of my favorite collections from this fall, the NARS night series collection.  Based on their popular eyeshadows, NARS released 4 polishes in this collection and it's sure to have something for everyone.  I've posted the polishes in order of least fave to most fave.  Let's take a look (and don't forget to click on the pictures for larger images).

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First up is Night Rider.  No, I can’t say the name without thinking of David ‘Don’t hassle the hoff” Hasselhoff either.  Night Rider is a soft plum with silver glitter polish.  Honestly, it reminds me less of a glitter, and more of plum version of Chanel’s Graphite with the foil finish.  This was my least favorite of the collection – it just doesn’t do anything for me and doesn’t pop against my skin tone.It's also really different from the other polishes, and stands out - for all the wrong reasons.

  

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Up next is Night Breed, a black base polish with TONS of silver glitter. No, really – a TON of glitter.  It’s blingy awesomeness.  My only dislike is the black base – I’m not a huge fan of black polish, so I really really liked this, but the black base held me back from instant love.
 

 

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The next 2 polishes are not only faves from this collection, but also faves in my overall collection – that’s how much I love them.  Night Porter is described as a blackened polish with green pearls.  On the nail, it looks like the polish is green with black shadows around the perimeter – it’s so hawt!  Even if you don’t normally wear greens, or shy away from bold color polishes, check this one out – I think Night Porter would be flattering on most skin tones, because it’s so dark and vampy.

 

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And now, my friends, my favorite polish from the collection – Night Flight.  Very similar to Night Porter, Night Flight is a blackened polished with cobalt blue pearls.  This polish is pure SEXY.  I seriously could wear this every day from now till Christmas and be just as happy each day as if it was the first time I’d worn it.  Okay, maybe not that, but you get the idea.  It’s FANTASTIC.
 

Do you see the purple flecks in Night Flight? How beautiful is that?!?!

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And there you have it!  For me, Night Flight and Night Porter are the absolute must haves from this collection.  Black polishes with silver glitter has been done many times before, so while Night Breed is nice, it’s not unique.  Night Porter gets a complete pass from me – it just doesn’t seem to fit the collection at all.

NARS polishes retail for $17 and are available at NARS counters in Nordstrom or online at NARS Cosmetics.  These are limited edition, so grab the ones you like while you can!


What do you think?  Have you picked up any polishes from this collection? Do you loved these blackened polishes like Night Flight and Night Porter? Or am I completely overreacting, and you've totally seen this look before?   (And if you have seen it, tell me where!!!)

Les Jeans de Chanel: Blue Rebel

Happy Sunday!  Today I have for you another polish from the Les Jeans de Chanel collection for FNO, Blue Rebel.  I reviewed Blue Boy last week, and Blue Rebel is definitely the darker, sexier jean to Blue Boy’s well-worn denim feel.  If Blue Boy is my favorite comfy pair of jeans, Blue Rebel is the slightly uncomfortable, slimming dark jean I whip out for nights out on the town. 

Blue Rebel is a dark navy creme with smoky tones.  It is highly pigmented and has a squishy formula – like Blue Boy, it feels like a jelly, and has a high gloss finish like a jelly, but is still a creme with full opacity in just 2 coats.

Blue Rebel is a little lighter in the photo than IRL; the deep color on the pointer finger is probably most accurate.  It’s dark, but not too dark that one would mistake it for black – it’s definitely blue.  This is another winner from Chanel!

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I went through my collection to see if I had any polishes similar to Blue Rebel.  The best I could come up with is a polish I picked up in my Euro haul this past summer, Mavala Smoky Blue.  Mavala is a Swiss brand I don’t think is available here in the states.  As you can see in the photo below, Smoky Blue is very close, but it’s slightly more gray and has a light blue shimmer, while Blue Rebel is a true crème. On the right I also swatched another navy blue crème, China Glaze First Mate, to show you the gray undertones in Blue Rebel.

L-to-R: Chanel Blue Rebel, Mavala Smoky Blue, CG First Mate

If you haven’t grabbed them yet, Les Jeans de Chanel is still available online at Chanel.  The collection retails for $29/polish.  They’re supposed to be available until the end of September, so be sure to pick up a polish or two while you can!

Les Jeans de Chanel: Blue Boy

Happy Friday!  What will you be up to this weekend?  The insane heat wave has finally broken here in LA, which should mean some quality time at the pool for me!  I'm also hoping to catch a few movies as well, so it should be a fun weekend all around.

What better way to kick-off a fun weekend than to celebrate Fashion's Night Out 2011 last night in West Hollywood?  LA had big parties at Century City, Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive, and West Hollywood/Robertson.  I went over to Robertson, home of my new favorite Chanel boutique.  Finally - I have an awesome SA for Chanel!  The SAs at Macy's and Nordstrom were not great at all, so now I'm happy to have someone I want to go to for all my future Chanel needs.  As a part of FNO, Chanel released a special limited edition collection of blue polishes named Les Jeans De Chanel.  These Chanel FNO collections are always hot items - just head over to eBay and look at the prices for last year's Les Khakis de Chanel collection!  I picked up each of the polishes in the collection: Coco Blue, Blue Boy, and Blue Rebel.  I instantly fell in love with all 3!

Today I am wearing Blue Boy.  Blue Boy is a medium blue polish with strong gray tones.  It is a thin formula, and was very squishy, feeling almost like a jelly when I applied it.  It's definitely not a jelly, though, and built nicely to full opacity in 2 coats.  My recommendation is to start with a thin coat, and let it dry, as you will get drag if you try to paint over a wet nail.  Then, I applied a thicker second coat to get the perfect mani.  Take a look!

Chanel Blue Boy, outdoors, natural lighting

 

Chanel Blue Boy, indoors, artificial lighting

 You didn't doubt for a minute that I was in love with Blue Boy, did you?  If I could marry Blue Boy, I probably would.  Or at least offer up myself to him to be his baby mama - wedding ring be damned.  Kinda like how I feel about Kevin Alejandro on True Blood.  You know.

I also dug around my stash to try to see if I had any polishes similar to Blue Boy.  The closest I could find was Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Gray By Gray.  They're close, but definitely not identical.  Where Blue Boy leans blue, Gray By Gray is most definitely a gray.  To also show how gray-influenced Blue Boy is, I also swatched OPI Dating A Royal, a true blue creme, to show you the difference in the colors.

L-to-R: OPI Dating A Royal, Chanel Blue Boy, Sally Hansen CSM Gray By Gray

Les Jeans de Chanel is currently available online at Chanel.  They retail for $29/polish, which is a steep price tag, even for Chanel (regular polishes retail for $25 each).  I believe there was a limited quantity of the collection available in Chanel Boutiques and in Neiman Marcus.  If you're going to try to pick up Blue Boy or any polishes in the collection in person, do it soon and definitely check ahead - many locations sold out last night, and my particular Chanel said that while they didn't sell out, they were instructed to pull them off the shelves after the FNO events concluded.  They should be available online through the end of September, or until they sell out, whichever happens first.  Don't miss out on these!

The Untried Diaries: Julep Amy

Welcome to the weekend! Well, almost weekend. It's Friday! I am so ready to kick back and relax this weekend - just 9 (hopefully) short hours of work, and then I'm a free woman for a few days!

Today I have for you a mani I wore awhile ago, Julep Amy. Amy is described a "smoky turquoise", but I see a lot more blue in this polish than green to be a turquoise. It applied easily, as I've come to love from Julep polishes. It's very similar to the Butter LONDON formula and applies easily. You could probably get away with one thicker coat, as Julep polishes are so highly pigmented, but for this mani I applied 2 thinner coats of Amy. I apologize for the rough cuticles - I actually took these photos months ago, in my early days of blogging and before I stepped up my nail care routine. Oh, what a difference 6 weeks can make!


...and here's the close up:



Amy is definitely another winner from Julep! While this may not be the most original color I've ever seen, it's the only one I have in my collection and Julep's formula is fantastic. I've only ordered once from Julep, but Amy reminds me I need to do some more shopping at Julep for fall colors!

Amy is currently available online at Julep. Julep polishes retail for $14 for a 0.27 fl oz bottle. It's a little pricey (in comparison, Butter London is $14 for 0.4 fl oz), but I promise it's worth it!

What do you think? Have you tried Julep yet? Are you as in love with their formula as I am?

Nails Inc Queensgate Terrace

Happy Sunday!

It's glorious here in LA, and I should be out walking the streets, looking for a new apartment. Instead, I'm online checking out nail polish, working on the blog, and enjoying a fantastic glass of chardonnay. Oops.

Today I'm playing around with some of the many untried polishes I have, and picked out one from my euro haul, Nails Inc. Queensgate Terrace from their Spring/Summer 2011 Collection. I've worn a few of the Nails Inc polishes now, and I am in love with the formula! Queensgate Terrace is a cornflower blue creme that leans a little purple, depending on how you look at it. I used 2 coats for this mani, but I will say this is my least favorite application - the first coat went on very streaky, and you can see on the nail I did have some bubbling problems. I won't completely blame the nail polish yet, though - I did shake the bottle before applying (as opposed to rolling between my hands, the better way to mix polish) and that could cause the bubbling. Take a look:

(natural lighting, in sunlight)

(natural lighting, in shade)

And the close-up:


Overall, I love Queensgate Terrace, I just am not sure I love it on me. Normally I lean towards darker blues, and this one feels a little 'out there' on me; it's constantly catching my eye, and I'm not sure in a good way. Oh well - I'll put it back in my collection for now, but it may hit the swap/share bin in the future.

What do you think? Did you have any of the other blues in this family, like Essie Coat Azure? How do they work on you? And are you still wearing summer polishes, or, like me, are you ready to start ushering in all of the fall colors?

Essie 2011 Resort Collection - Swatches & Review

Happy Sunday! Anyone do anything interesting this weekend? I had a great weekend of nail polish shopping. Since I decided to start blogging a few weeks ago, I realized that I love love love OPI nail polish, but haven't really tried out any other salon brands. Earlier this week I posted about my first experience with China Glaze (if blogger ever restores it!), and Friday at work I decided I also need to give essie a try. essie is wonderful for sheers, pastel, and nude colors - which I never wear - so I did a lot of googling and came up with a list of bright colors released by essie that I want to give a try. 4 hours and 8 stores later, here's a shot of my haul:



Nice haul, right? I'm so excited and couldn't wait to try out my first Essie polishes, so for today I decided to review the essie 2011 Resort Collection. The collection is out this month at salons(it's not available at retail locations, i.e. Target), and there were definitely some surprises for me. The formulas on these are great, and I had full opacity with just 2 coats. I reviewed these in order of least to most favorite. Read on!

Da Bush - This is a light sage green creme. It reminds me a lot of Stranger Tides from the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection. Which I didn't buy. Because these murky/pastel colors are not the most flattering on me, and I feel they look washed out and ashy. It's not the most horrible color ever on me, but I'm not sure how many occasions I will have to sport it:



Up next is Fair Game. Fair Game is a beautiful blue-gray color with a frosted finish. It's a really unique color, or at least nothing I have in my collection, but I couldn't decide if I loved it. I don't typically like the frosting/iced finish on me, but I think if I wasn't prejudiced against the finish, I could learn to love this color. I liked it on me way more than I did in the bottle:



The surprise favorite for me was Lion Around. This is a really soft pink that I thought was like every other pink creme essie ever released. Oh, how I was surprised! On me this is a great neutral that's safe for work and flattering:




As a part of my weekend haul, I happened across a bottle of essie Carnival, which is a rainbow glitter hologram that I instantly fell in love with. I tried it on top of Lion Around, and loved the two together even more! The pic doesn't capture the holo well on my nails, but you can see it in the bottle and get an idea of how this looks in person:




The last - and my personal fave - is Your Hut Or Mine. YHOM is a bright pink with a strong coral undertone and a beautiful gold shimmer. When I saw it in the bottle, I thought it was just a bright pink; it was only after I had it on that I really saw the coral undertones, and the gold shimmer is just priceless:




In the end, I think Fair Game is the truly unique standout color from this collection - even though I didn't love it on myself. Lion Around and Your Hut Or Mine are also great additions to any collection if you don't already have these colors, and sadly, Da Bush is a pass for me. Can't win 'em all!

What do you think? Which colors are you itching to grab up for your collection? Are you as crazy for Carnival as I am? And am I being overly harsh on murky colors a la Da Bush?? Sound off in the comments!