Chanel’s Fashion Night Out 2012: Delicatesse

 Oh wow, two posts in one week!  I promise it’s not a sign of the apocalypse, haha.  I just was going through my computer and realized I have so many manicures that I photographed and never wrote about! 

Today I have for you the second polish from Chanel for last September’s Fashion Night Out, Chanel Delicatesse.  Delicatesse is a beautiful blend of rose, mauve, and brown and is a perfect neutral that didn’t fade into the background when I wore it.  The formula was great and buttery, as to be expected from Chanel.  This is two coats of Delicatesse.

This first photo may not be the best angle of Delicatesse, but I loved how it looked in front of the burnt red wall.

Here is Delicatesse in sunlight.

And another close-up of the color.  See what I mean about complementing my skin tone without fading into the background, a la mannequin hands?

Similar to Chanel Infidele, I found Delicatesse to not be the most unique color but a welcome addition to my collection.  I’ve worn manicure a few times and I find it to be a great neutral option for the work week.  Delicatesse was a limited edition release for Fashion’s Night Out, but is still available online at Chanel.com (it was also sold at Chanel boutiques, but I think it’s sold out in stores for the most part now).  Chanel Delicatesse retails for $27/bottle (thanks for the price increase, Chanel!  Sheesh!).

What do you think?  Do you own Chanel Delicatesse, or any of the polishes released for Fashion Night Out 2012?  I would love to hear your thoughts – sound off in the comments!

2012 Spring Flings: OPI Holland Collection Part II

 Good morning!  Happy Monday!  Did everyone have a great weekend!  It was friggin’ GORGEOUS weather here in LA!  My friends and I had a blast at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica on Saturday, and then stayed over and partied it up all day Sunday.  It was a great weekend, I got absolutely nothing done that I needed to, but whatever – that’s what Monday mornings are for!

Today I have for you the remaining 3 shimmers from the OPI Holland Collection (you can see the first part of the collection here).  Again, I cannot give enough praise for this collection!  All of these six polishes are so incredibly amazing.

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Up first is Dutch Ya Just Love OPI?  I mean, really, dutch ya just love the name of this polish?!?! LOL This is a deep red-based purple polish with a gold shimmer.  It was instantly a fave as soon as I saw promo pics, and the polish delivers in real life, too!  This mani is 2 coats of DYJLO.  Take a look!

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Next is Gouda Gouda Two Shoes.  Mmmm, gouda.  Such a tasty cheese.  This is a light pinkish-rose tan colored polish with a gold shimmer (yea, I have no idea how to describe this color!).  This is a great neutral polish for work!  I didn’t really expect to like this one at all, as I do not typically wear these nude-colored polishes, but Gouda Gouda Two Shoes was a total surprise!  It’s probably my biggest surprise from the collection.  I’m glad I didn’t skip it, though, and can see myself reaching for it often for a great look at work!

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The last shimmer in the collection is Wooden Shoe Like To Know, a medium-brown polish with gold shimmer.  This one is a total stunner!  The deepness of the base color keeps it a little edgy, but on my skintone particularly, it’s still somewhat neutral and safe for work.  I also love that it’s not so dark that it goes into vampy territory – a perfect brown for spring and summer!

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And there you have it!  Of all six shimmer, I’d have to say I Have A Herring Problem is my absolutely fave, with Wooden Shoe Like To Know a close second.  These are all great polishes, though, and I think a great addition to any polish addict’s 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 OPI Holland Collection?  Are you as crazy as I am for the shimmers?  Did any of the crème polishes in the collection catch your eye?  Sound off in the comments below!

NARS Mato Grosso

 Happy Halloween weekend!  I hope everyone is having fun and being safe!  I’m laying low this holiday weekend – Halloween was never really my scene.  I know I’ve been a little MIA lately.  I’ve done a lot of traveling these past few weeks, and trust me, it is starting to wear a girl out!  I’m also a glutton for punishment and recently decided to get my but in gear and finally go to grad school for my MBA.  Step one of that process is studying for – and passing – my GMAT exam.  Holy crap this exam is hard!  Did I ever know this much information?  The GMAT makes me feel so dumb I wonder how I ever went to college in the first place LOL.  There’s a lot of demands on my time right now, but I’m working out a schedule so I can keep blogging and sharing my hobby/love with you!

I had a lot on my schedule for this weekend, but my first priority was to make time for a manicure for my poor, abused nails.  I gave them some much needed TLC and reached for NARS Mato Grosso for my polish color.  Mato Grosso is a rich, dark brown crème.  Seriously, this color is so dark, it’s nearly black; it’s the darkest brown can get before it gets black.  There’s a lot of fun undertones to this one, though – when I did the first coat I noticed strong hints of red and purple in the color, and the second coat really solidified the brown color.  This is 2 coats of Mato Grosso, and I used Seche Vite for my topcoat.

This is such an interesting color to me!  Until Mato Grosso came into my life, the darkest brown I owned was OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys from this past spring’s Texas Collection, but Mato Grosso is at least 2-3 shades darker by comparison.  However, I never mistake Mato Grosso for a black polish – which I am not a fan of – so I love that it is shows on the nail as a distinguished brown.  In all honesty, when I saw this polish it totally reminds me of the candy Junior Mints!  I love love love Junior Mints – I’m a total sucker for that mint chocolate flavor! 

photo by Mark Bonica via Flickr

Hahaha, now that I have Junior Mints on the brain, I totally want to go get some Halloween candy to nibble on after all.  Must resist the urge!


NARS Mato Grosso is currently available at NARS counters and online at narscosmetics.com.  NARS polishes retail for $17 for a 0.5fl oz bottle.  I believe this is limited edition, so you may want to grab a bottle while it’s still available!


What do you think?  Is Mato Grosso catching your eye?  Do you like these dark, inky colors that blur the lines to black?  And which NARS polishes do you love?  Sound off in the comments!

My European Vacation: Part II

Good Morning! Did everyone have a great weekend? I definitely did. Sarah McLachlan at the Hollywood Bowl led to some unplanned partying late Friday night, which then turned into a killer hangover on Saturday. I managed to pull it together for Sunday though, and got an an insane amount of cleaning, laundry, and other chores done - including picking up my first IKEA Helmer! Oh yea, the polish collection is officially out of control, so I bought myself a Helmer as a birthday treat. Can't wait to put it together tonight!

Continuing in my Euro vacation series, I have for your today Rescue Beauty Lounge Decorous, which was my manicure to kick off the euro festivities. (I know, I've been reviewing the RBL polishes a lot lately, but this is it for a while, I promise!) Since I had a ll kinds of purple fun going on with my pedicure, and because of the varied styles and colors of my clothes, I really wanted to go for a neutral color on my fingers, as I didn't want to have to worry about colors clashing. Enter RBL Decorous. From the RBL site, Decorous is described as '...imagine if a cup of chai latte had a baby with a malted milkshake. A shimmery cocoa to add a chic suede finish to any outfit.' The color description is spot on, and Decorous had the same great formula I've come to love from RBL. Two coats and I was ready to go!


There wasn't any really great sunlight yesterday in LA, so here's another shot of the mani, just to give you an idea of the polish's color:


I love Decorous, and should probably add that this was at least the second or third time I had worn this mani - it's becoming a staple in my collection, for sure. If I have one complaint, it's that the light blue shimmer in the bottle and in photographs does not translate well on the nail. Disappointing, but it's still such a great light coffee color that I'm of course keeping it in the collection!

If you're interested, Decorous is still available from rescuebeauty.com. Like most of their polishes though, it is limited edition, so you may want to pick it up while you can! Ji Baek, the owner of RBL, has hinted that the Fall 2011 pre-sale will be coming up soon on July 29th, so you may want to hold off and do one big order (shipping does add up after awhile!); I know I likely will be picking up a few in stock items with the fall collection at the same time.


What do you think? Do you have any other RBL polishes where the pretty shimmer just doesn't translate well in a manicure? What's your favorite neutral - but not too neutral - polish? And are you also scrambling to get through all the summer polishes you picked up before the fall colors roll in next month?

All That Glitters...

Recently I have become a nail polish fanatic. Late last fall I realized I was dropping a lot of money on mani/pedi's twice a month, and got the Bright Idea that if I did my own nail maintenance, I'd save a lot of money. Well, every single dollar I saved on mani/pedi's has been spent on buying nail polish. It's an addiction! I'm currently up to around 55+ different colors, and my love for nail polish blogs is what inspired me to start Polish & Tonic.

If you haven't caught it yet, you may want to check out the Trade Secret Warehouse Sale which is currently wrapping up. It's only available in stores, so be sure to look if there is a location near you. I went to the Pure Beauty store in Encino last week and managed to snag about 15 new polishes with their buy 1, get 2 free promotion! I picked up several polishes from the OPI Designer Series which I have been dying to try out.

The first color I tried out was DS Reserve, which I found to be a muted pink with a light silver and gold shimmer undertone. I think this polish was also supposed to have a hologram, but I never saw it and couldn't find an angle that brings it out.



Here's a great shot that shows the polish in direct sunlight:



Verdict: I love it! I thought the pink was bright enough to have some pizzazz, but not too bright to not work in a conservative office environment (which I work in) Monday through Friday, I like my polishes to be creative and understated - have to show the co-workers I appreciate beauty and a finished look, but can't look like I just stepped off the March 1987 cover of Seventeen! magazine (don't worry - on the weekends, we cut loose!).

Today I decided to try out a second color from the series, DS Illuminate. This is a warm brown polish with silver and gold flecks, some violet/blue undertones, and an amazing hologram. When it catches the light, this beautiful green/gold iridescent shimmer shines through.



The image doesn't capture the hologram very well, so here's another shot at the hologram in the bottle:



Surprisingly, I didn't like this polish on me as much as I thought I would. The primary brown color matches my skin tone - almost too much. I prefer my polishes to pop! (yes, pronounce the second 'p') at least a little and this one is really muted on me, except for the hologram shimmer. Overall - this is a keeper, but I'll likely be rocking the DS Reserve with more regularity.

OPI Designer Series retails for $12.50 each and both DS Reserve and DS Illuminate are currently available.