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carinaeletoile

Nubar – Iris Dust

Monday, 25 October, 2010

I wanted something happy for the gray rainy days we’ve been having…and this epitomizes warm weather and sunlight to me. Iris Dust is this crazy duochrome thing where it’s kind of a raspberry, then it has flashes of orange/bronze in it. The sunlight shot definitely washed out whatever duochrome goodness may have been going on, but the shade shots definitely caught them. This really is just one bottle of nail polish!

Not sure when this came out, but I happened to find it while browsing the duo chrome section on Nubar’s site.

Formula was a bit on the thin side and I had to do three coats to get it opaque because I didn’t think this was a sheer color.

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China Glaze – Holiday 2010 – ‘Tis The Season To Be Naughty And Nice

Friday, 22 October, 2010

This is a seriously image heavy post…28 pictures. I didn’t want to break it up because…well, I didn’t want to. 😉 It’s my eye candy and Friday Red. Enjoy!

All of these were two coaters and they dried in record time.

BOOM! Right out of the gate…this is my favorite red this season. Beautiful. Opaque in 2 coats.

I liked this, but it’s not my favorite red. It’s a bit too light for me. I am sure it would look better on someone else where it looked ok on me.

A gorgeous mulberry with a shimmer that makes it a perfect holiday shade.

I didn’t think I would like these, but I do. CTY is a lovely metallic foil that some other brands didn’t quite get right. This really sparkled and shined, truly reminding me of tinsel. MK was a lovely rich foil gold…absolutely gorgeous and I kept thinking it was a wonderful shade of almost 18k. Jingle bells is a bronze that doesn’t quite shimmer like CTY and MK, but it is very subtle. While not flashy, it’s still a pretty shade to behold.

A sheer white base with white glitter thrown in…it reminded me of snow.

This is a wicked shade of green…it glows. I swear, it generates its own electricity! Wouldn’t you agree? I mean, just look at it.

A wonderful blue, but it really reminded me of OPI’s Yoga-ta Get This Blue.

The jury’s still out on this color. I can’t decide if I like it or not. It’s a pinky/red jelly based color with pinky/silver glitter. Removal was a pain, but I’m not sure about this.

I no longer mourn the loss (that much) of my beloved Chanel Rouge Noir. How can I with these fabulous dupes that are 3-Free?

Oh the glitter…the humanity. THE SHINY! I like it a lot, but ugh…the removal. The removal is a pain.

How pretty is this? I love that it’s an olive green tossed into the mix…to make it even 700 shades more awesome, they made this a shimmer. Fabulous!

White creme…’nuff said. I think of this as a base for nail art and not just a color to be worn on its own.

This is China Glaze’s answer to OPI’s Tease-y Does It. I like both and I like that this is lighter and has a fine micro glitter.

Of course, I had to include Mistletoe Kisses because it’s part of the collection, even though I had done a comparison earlier in the week. FYI: MMUTM = Meet Me Under The Mistletoe.

And there we go…all 16 colors swatched. Yay! Hope you enjoyed it.

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Deborah Lippmann

China Glaze – Awakening Collection, Halloween / Fall 2010

Thursday, 21 October, 2010

I can’t believe I’ve been sitting on this…but I also know it’s been shown by a slew of other people. I don’t care. Here are my swatches.

Formula was awesome – quick drying and flawless. All of these were two coat applications.

China Glaze is seriously knocking it out of the ball park with their seasonal collections. I enjoyed Awakening and I’m seriously looooving their Christmas Collection – Tis the Season To Be Naughty and Nice. That is up for Friday. All 16 colors.  Anyway…

Here are the three colors from Awakening with a comparison of Mummy May I to Deborah Lippmann’s Bad Romance.

Warning: This is an image heavy post.

 

A black jelly nail polish packed with orange glitter. Very Halloween. Very fun…and I may be rocking it the next few days to support the Giants. Yea, I’m a Bay Area sports girl – born and raised so I feel a lot of loyalty to my home teams.

 

Really liking this green because I don’t have anything like it. I’ve heard it’s similar to SpaRitual’s Optical Illusion, but I haven’t had the chance to compare it because I don’t have OI and SpaRitual is a lot harder to get ahold of than most nail polishes. Pity SpaRitual doesn’t sell on their site because I’d rather purchase through there.

And finally…oldie but goody comparison of Mummy May I and Deborah Lippmann’s Bad Romance. BR is a collaboration she did with Lady Gaga. You can also read the original review here.

Bad Romance has different shapes of glitter and the base is a deeper, denser black. Had I not done a side by side comparison, I’d never have even thought that these were even different aside from the glitter size. Mummy May I is a cute name! I just looked back on my notes when I swatched these and BR and MMI are 3 coats.

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China Glaze – Out On Safari

Wednesday, 20 October, 2010

This is a wonderful shade of green – it’s shimmery, it’s pretty…BUT it took 3 coats to get it this opaque and it took forever and a day to dry. Plus, it’s the old formula and the fumes nearly killed me as I applied this. I swear I smelled the formaldehyde and I was so close to retching. I need to wear a mask next time I apply this.

However, despite the delay in drying time and the overall fun-kay smell while applying, this color made it worth it.

 

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Comparison: China Glaze vs Orly vs Zoya – Mistletoe Kisses vs Meet Me Under the Mistletoe vs Ivanka

Tuesday, 19 October, 2010

Not sure what is up with my comparisons lately. I rarely did them before, but I guess with the whole slew of colors I have…it was bound to happen. 😉

China Glaze’s Mistletoe Kisses is part of their Christmas Holiday 2010 collection of 16 amaaaayzing colors. If all their formulas are like Mistletoe Kisses, I’ll be a very happy girl when I finish my swatching. As it stands, I’ve got Mrs. Claus and Party Hearty down. We’re expecting company this week and it’s only for a couple of days, but the preparation and the cleaning are cutting into my nail polish time.

MMUTM was the darkest of them all and frankly, I thought it was the lightest. Ivanka was the one that literally glowed while next to these colors. While all of these colors are gorgeous, Ivanka just outshined them. I don’t know how she did, but she did. MMUTM is beautiful with gold glitter throughout. Mistletoe Kisses was a bit jelly-like but I did love it. When I’m done swatching the rest of the collection, MK is going to be on my nails for the weekend.

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comparison

Chanel vs Essie vs Rescue Beauty Lounge – Khaki Vert vs Sew Psyched vs Diddy Mow

Monday, 18 October, 2010

I had to do these three compared because next to each other (or as my friend Kristen from Rhode Island taught me, “Side by each!”) they were so blindingly close that I felt a little ripped off. In my excitement I didn’t take a picture of the bottle side by each, but I will soon and update this post.

These three were definitely in the same color family, but I love the subtle differences…and I love that they’re cremes. Hope you fall for these military greens the way I did.

 

In sunlight you can see the obvious difference between KV, SP and DM. KV has more green while SP and DM have more grey in it. Mr. CarinaeLetoile was so cute when he looked at Khaki Vert on me and commented, “It’s really like a military green. I think Army when I look at it.”

At first glance, SP and DM seem like dupes. But only in the picture. Both have an extremely faint shimmer in it. Both have a good amount of grey in it, but that is it. The difference in person is extremely subtle, but because I’m such a nail fanatic I know the difference – or so I tell myself. LOL I wore SP during the weekend, but kept KV and DM on my swatching hand. It was so subtle that no one could see the difference in the restaurants and dim places we went to this weekend. If you can grab SW, go for it. It’s a cheaper alternative to RBL’s DM. However, if you have DM no need to get SP. If you don’t have KV and want to get it…go for it. While I felt Les Khakis was a bit pricey, I felt it was well worth it.

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OPI – Burlesque, Part II, Holiday 2010

Friday, 15 October, 2010

If I had to choose, I would definitely pick the glitters over this part of the collection. I’m not saying this half is not up to snuff, but when I think Burlesque, I do think of sequins and shiny under the lights…a lot of sparkle and flash.

This half is subtle but still gorgeous.

This post is image heavy…you have been warned!

Hello, Friday Red. What isn’t visible in the picture is the pink undertones. I’m looking at the bottle right now and the pinkness isn’t shown. I love the faint shimmer that makes if glow. Bravo, OPI!

 

Bronze-y orangey goodness…I can’t believe this actually looked good on me!

 

It looks so different in these two pictures, but I assure you they’re the same ones. Sunlight made it appear a more deeper gold. Absolutely gorgeous!

 

A hot magenta.

 

I honestly thought this color from OPI (The Show Must Go On!) would be a clone for MAC’s Bad Fairy. It’s not. Not even close. BF is more on the orange side, while TSMGO is more on the pink/magenta side. Both share the same orange glass flecks. I had to do 3 coats of BF while OPI’s formula was wonderfully opaque in 2 coats. Though vastly different, there are enough similarities to make them seem almost identical. Owning both would be wonderful, but owning either of the two is still good enough.

I’ve posted this comparison before, but to not include it would be silly because Tease-y Does It is part of the collection. You can read more about Tease-y Does It here.

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OPI – Burlesque Part I, Holiday 2010

Thursday, 14 October, 2010

For some reason, I was so enamored with these glitters, knowing full well I hate glitters…yet I just had to have them. They’re a pain to remove, no matter how much foil you use. I’m a sloppy glitter remover. I get frustrated using foil and I end up with the sparkle explosion all over my fingers, as you will see in the pictures.

The formula was easy to use. It dried quickly – yay! No clunky, clumpy glitter. I did two coats of every color. My only regret is that I didn’t do three coats to get the full on glitter effect.

I am going to be doing a blog give-away of these 6 colors. They’ve been swatched once, but I just really don’t want any extra glitter in my collection unless absolutely necessary. So keep watching for the giveaway.

I do like how these glitters look – they’re dense and it’s glitter that’s suspended in clear lacquer. I am generally not a fan of that, but it definitely makes the glitter sparkle and pop. I’ve done some comparisons to OPI’s Absolutely Alice and Mad As A Hatter for a point of reference.

Warning: This is image heavy…you have been warned!

 

I thought this was really close to Absolutely Alice, but it seems I was wrong. So wrong. The glitter in AA is more fine and dense.  The color is also far more popping. Simmer & Shimmer is a bit more subtle…well, as subtle as this whole collection of glitters can get. 🙂

 

I feel like the colorful glitter in here is the same – filled with red, purple and a plethora of other colors. However, the one big difference is the base glitter they used. Mad As A Hatter is silver based whereas Sparkle-icious is gold.

 

I’ve been on a purple kick lately. What appeals to me about this particular color/glitter is that it’s not quite purple and it’s not quite pink. Several years ago I was on a purple and pink design sprees for my jewelry. It sold quite well. I guess I wasn’t the only person who loves purple and pink together.

 

I love this green. It reminded me of the super tiny limes I used to see in India. It’s not the rind, but the inside of the lime…and I always said I wanted a creme in that color. Instead, I’m looking at the sparkling version of it. LOVE IT!

 

Currently wearing this on my nails and on me, it looks more salmon colored than orange. This mercifully is not a crazy Halloween orange, but a nice rich burnt orange. The gold glitter thrown in is absolutely fabulous.

 

How pretty is this? I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of glitter, but this one really made me consider liking gold in general.

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