Dior Les Rouges: Icone

 Hey Everyone!  I hope you weren’t thinking (or hoping) I would get off the Dior train… I don’t know what it is, but I’m having such a love affair with the fashion house right now!  I was in Las Vegas this past weekend, and even put a stop at the Dior Beauty boutique at the Palazzo Hotel & Casino on my itinerary – because we all know nail polish is serious business! Haha.  I think this Dior affair will go on at least for another week (ahem, until my Rescue Beauty Lounge fan collection polishes arrive!!)

Last summer Dior released an exclusive collection named Les Rouges (not to be confused with Les Rouges Or, the holiday 2011 collection) that included 3 red nail polishes that celebrated the signature reds of the House of Dior.  I missed out on this collection when it was first released, but with persistence I’ve managed to get my hands on all 3 polishes!  The first polish I have for you today is Dior Icone.  Icone is a dark reddish-brown polish with a gorgeous red shimmer.  Unlike some other Dior polishes, the shimmer in Icone is prevalent and gorgeous to the eye both in sunlight, shade, and artificial lighting.   Icone was a dream to work with, and I only needed 2 coats for this mani.  It’s absolutely stunning!

Here’s a close-up  of Icone.

And another pic, just because it’s so pretty.  Icone wore really well and I could have gotten exceptionally long wear out of it, if I hadn’t spent 7 hours Saturday in the lazy river at the MGM Grand.  Chlorine will kill a mani, always!

Dior Icone was a limited edition release from the Les Rouges collection last summer.  It sold out nearly instantly, so if you really like this one, happy hunting!  You may be able to find a bottle through the interwebz or a swap from another fanatic!


What do you think?  Is Icone as unique as I think it is, or do you have something similar in your own collection?  Were you able to snatch up any of the Les Rouges polishes for the 10 minutes they were available?  And most importantly… what’s your favorite Vegas pool?  Sound off in the comments below!

Julep Maven: September Sneak Peek Box!

Happy Monday!  How was everyone's weekend?  I had an awesome weekend, filled with both unpacking the new apartment and lots of movies and girl time!  My friends and I saw Contagion on Friday, and then a sneak preview of I Don't Know How She Does It, starring the always beautiful and fashionable SJP.  Contagion left me unsatisfied - it has so much unused potential to be great! - but IDKHSDI was totally fun with a great cast.  Definitely see it next weekend when it releases nationwide!

So it's September, which means I received an all new Julep Maven Sneak Peek Box!  As you may recall, I took the Julep Maven quiz and my sneak peek box is Classic With A Twist.  This month, the sneak peek box included the Julep Everyday Hand Cream with SPF 30, Julep Essential Cuticle Oil, and Julep nail color in Toni.  Last week I mentioned that I prefer cuticle balms over cuticle oil, and since I already had a Julep Essential Cuticle Oil from a previous purchase, I decided to use the shelf pull option and get something else instead of the Essential Cuticle Oil.  What did I receive instead?  Julep nail color in Ellen.

Here's a look at everything in the Classic With A Twist Sneak Peek Box!

Another bottle shot of Ellen and Toni:

I am okay with everything that was in this month's box.  Nothing really knocked my socks off, but still good nonetheless.  This morning I decided to try on Julep Toni.  Toni is a purple-tinted taupe creme.  The formula could definitely benefit from  few drops of nail lacquer thinner - it was soooo thick!  This is 2 coats of Toni:

Julep Toni, in direct sunlight

Julep Toni, in shade

I went through my stash to see if I had any similar colors to compare to Toni.  I came up with 2 polishes that seemed to be very close in color:  Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Commander In Chic, and China Glaze Below Deck.  Commander In Chic is missing the purple hue, and stands on its own as a true taupe.  Below Deck was very close to Toni, but Toni seems to be a warmer version, while Below Deck is noticeably cooler.   Most polish lovers probably don't need both.

L-to-R: SH CSM Commander in Chic; Julep Toni; CG Below Deck

For some reason, I just love mushroom taupe colors like these so much in the bottle, but I feel like they do nothing for me on my nail.  [Note to self: stop buying polish in this color!]  Yes, they're fantastic and work appropriate, but I luckily have a job where my coworkers like my eccentric nail polish, so I don't have to play it safe.  Given the issues with the thicker formula, Julep Toni is likely going to find herself in my share/stash drawer.

Julep Toni is available online at julep.com.  It retails for $14 for a 0.27fl oz bottle.  If you haven't already, go and check out the Julep Maven program - it's such a great deal for only $19.99/month!

Last Night's Nails: Rescue Beauty Lounge Drifter

Last Night's Mani: Rescue Beauty Lounge Drifter
Last Night's Drink: Challis Lane Cabernet Sauvignon

Happy Saturday! #Carmageddon is officially on here in Los Angeles! I was out early this morning with no traffic woes. From what I've heard so far carmageddon may have been severely over-hyped, but will see how the rest of it goes. Either way, I'm happily bunkering down in my little neck of the woods - pool parties, shopping, and DVD marathons are all on the agenda in my hood this weekend!

Last night was an impromptu night out on the town - I scored tickets to see one of my favorite artists, Sarah McLachlan, perform at my favorite venue, the Hollywood Bowl. Seriously, if you live in LA or come to visit, the Bowl is hands-down my favorite experience/thing to do in LA. There's nothing like picnic-ing with good wine, cheese, sweets, great friends, and amazing music as the soundtrack to a fantastic night. Sarah did not disappoint - I cried when she sang Angel, so beautiful!

Anyway, I had been sporting bare nails for the past few days - shock! - but decided to throw on an appropriate polish for the occasion, Rescue Beauty Lounge Drifter. Drifter is a dark plum-ish burgundy creme, the perfect color of red wine, so of course I had to wear it to my favorite wine drinking occasion! Drifter continues in the famous RBL formula - it applied like a dream. I know RBLs normally give full coverage in 1 coat, but to my eye it should always be a 2-coat mani; the second coat is needed to really bring out the richness and depth to any RBL polish. Take a look (in sunlight):

And here's another look with natural lighting in shade:


This polish is an absolute keeper. It's the perfect dark for me, because I love that while it's dark and vampy, it still has a discernible color and doesn't fall flat and just appear to be black (as many dark colors do on my skintone). Drifter feels more like a fall color, but I had to bring it out for the Hollywood Bowl, just for it's wine-like coloring. Expect to see more mani's with this puppy in the fall!

Unfortunately, Drifter is sold out on the RBL website, and won't be coming back any time soon as all of RBL's polishes are limited edition. If you're in CA, you may have some luck hunting for it at Planet Beauty shops - it's where I found mine - or head over to evil Bay to see if a rare bottle pops up.


BONUS: Last night's drink was the Challis Lane Cabernet Sauvignon. I love this vineyard - all of their whites and reds are great, especially when you consider they retail for about $9/bottle. If you're in CA or AZ, get thee to BevMo this weekend for the final days of the 5 cent sale! Pick up Challis Lane Cab Sauv and a few others while you're there. Sale ends Monday - I'm heading out this weekend to pick up a few bottles - er, cases!

Zoya Sooki (True Blood Returns!)

Happy Sunday, Lacquer Lovers!

It has been a quiet and productive weekend here in SoCal - I got my hair did yesterday, did a little nail polish shopping, beautiful hike this morning in Runyon Canyon, and just finished a few hours of swatching polishes I haven't had time to get to. Haha okay, so there was no cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, etc., but the former is my idea of a productive weekend way more than the latter.

In case you haven't heard, season 4 of True Blood returns tonight on HBO! I watched the first 3 episodes already (there are a few perks to working for a studio and having friends in the industry!), and for all you hardcore fans, you will not be disappointed! For fans of the book - well, the more you can distance yourself from the storyline in the books, the happier you will be. Alan Ball has his own point of view for the characters in Bon Temps, and while he respects Charlaine Harris' original work, he definitely is forging his own ideas on the Bon Temps universe without apology.

To celebrate the return of our favorite southern vamps, I changed up my pedi today to Zoya Sooki. Sooki is a bright red creme, released this year as a part of the Zoya Summertime Collection. It was surprisingly opaque in just 1 coat - always a plus! - but I did 2 coats below, just to get rid of any VNL. You know I never force my friends to stare at my piggies, so here's a look at Sooki on my fingers:


The photo above is natural light and didn't quite capture how bright and bold Sooki really is. Here's a shot with artificial light and flash:


Overall, Sooki really reminds me of OPI Vodka & Caviar, one of my favorite reds ever. V&C is much more of a jelly versus Sooki which is a true creme. (Memo to self - must do a comparison soon!) Sooki has a place in my collection now, but if it turns out to be a dupe for V&C, it may be facing the 'true death' and leaving my collection.

What do you think? Do you have any of the polishes from the Zoya Summertime Collection? Are you a True Blood fan? And doesn't Sooki seem to be the perfect polish for Sookie Stackhouse?

The Untried Diaries: China Glaze Hot Apple

Welcome to the weekend, everyone! Anyone got great plans? I'm out hunting for some CND polishes this morning (I'm so in love with the effects polish that I just have to temporarily lift my ban), then gym, chores, etc. Hoping to get out and go hike one of the beautiful trails in the Southland tomorrow - we shall see!

I decided to switch up my polish for this weekend, but had no clue what I wanted to try next. Being the tech nerd I am, I went to random.org in order to use their random number generator to pick a polish from my collection to try out! LOL! The generator gave me a number... and I'd already tried the polish. Picked another number... and I'd already tried the polish. This (surprisingly) happened a few more times before I landed on a polish I hadn't tried before. I started to pull it out, but then realized I'd much rather try out China Glaze Hot Apple, and so here we are at the next entry in The Untried Diaries.

Hot Apple is a bright tomato red jelly polish. Quick education session: a creme polish is a polish with no glitter, shimmer, etc. - just the pure color with no added fixin's. A jelly polish is like a creme but is more sheer, almost like looking at jello or jelly (hence the name) and have a higher gloss finish than a creme. Hot Apple applied very easily in two coats and minimal VNL (but a little on a few fingers). Take a look (two coats, no top coat):


I really liked this polish. I normally do not wear reds, and this is only the second red that I have been excited about. (The first was OPI Vodka & Caviar, which is also a tomato red jelly polish. Hmmm...)

To spice up the polish, I added one coat of Nubar 2010. I always struggle with glitters, as I think they just never class you up, but can make you seem young/immature. 2010 though is not a glitter - it's what we call a 'flakie'. While most think of glitters as micro, flakies use a larger reflective flake to show a rainbow of colors; they can be worn over a nude nail or layered over a polish. Not sure if that description helps at all, so take a look:


And a close-up of the 2010 flakies:



This is not the best pairing of 2010, as the reflective flakies tend to dominantly reflect orange and this is a red polish - not a lot of contrast. However, over a blue or green or potentially nude color polish, the reflective flakes would stand out even more.

In any case, both polishes are keepers! I loved the creme formula of the Hot Apple, and application was breezy easy (especially after dealing with streak-master that is essie), and the 2010 adds texture and depth to any polish, making any regular creme or jelly bling without feeling too high school.

Hot Apple is discontinued but is still available online, or you can always pick my favorite option and go hunting for it at local beauty supply stores and salons. Hey Sailor from the recent CG Anchors Away collection may be a dupe (and is easily available), but I'm not sure as I don't have a bottle to compare. 2010 is still available and can be purchased at bynubar.com.

What do you think? Do you like these tomato red polishes, or do you go for reds with a more blue coloring? And how do you feel about bling nails - totally okay, or more a trend for the young'ins?