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carinaeletoile

Chanel – Les Khakis

Wednesday, 13 October, 2010

I was trying to play around with these colors. I am apologizing for my mega n00b attempt at nail art. I can add these to my epic fail manicures. 😀

This is why I just paint my nails and not attempt anything else.

I was surprised – this formula was like butta. It took a smidge longer to to dry but I suspect it was my ‘nail art’ that really made it take forever and a day to dry. After all the lemmings for Khaki Vert, I found I preferred Khaki Brun with my skin tone. In the end it was Khaki Brun that really looked green on me. I’m not slamming Khaki Vert because I did like how it looked on me as well, but for me it was Khaki Brun that was the star of the show. Khaki Rose was a bit…meh. It didn’t really look all that wonderful on me.

These were a hefty price to pay – $25 each. I am sure there are dupes/polishes that are similar out there to keep your wallet from screaming in pain.

 

Please pardon the lack of clean up and the dry cuticles. I wasn’t expecting to take a picture of my right hand but decided to at the last minute.

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OPI Tease-y Does It vs Nubar Raspberry Truffle

Tuesday, 12 October, 2010

Got my Burlesque glitters. Got the rest of the Burlesque collection, too. I was thrilled because OPI really outdid themselves on the glitter collection for Christmas 2010. I hate glitter, but I had to have these. Anyway, the one color that really had me holding my breath was Tease-y Does It.

I was so happy to have finally been able to put Tease-y Does It on my nails. It looked totally gorgeous in the bottle, but in the back of my mind a tiny voice was saying, “You have something like this…You have something like this…”

I was like, “Shut up. Shut up. No, I don’t.” Conversations with yourself really doesn’t bode well, but at least I wasn’t talking out loud.

Then I started doing a re-org of my 2 Helmers (I am going to need a 3rd now, btw) and started a drawer for Nubar…What is this? Raspberry Truffle? It looks like…No, it can’t be. Ce n’est pas vrai! Non. Mais oui, mes amies. Mais oui.

I actually dare to call OPI’s Tease-y Does It a dupe for Nubar’s Raspberry Truffle.

Don’t weep if you can’t get Tease-y Does It. Nubar still has Raspberry Truffle on their site.

OPI’s formula was the winner of the two. While both were easy to apply with no problems, RT tended to take about five minutes longer to dry than TDI.

Check out the dupeness for yourself – RT is on the pointer and pinky while TDI is on the ring and middle fingers.

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Nars – Zulu

Monday, 11 October, 2010

I had been wanting Zulu for a long, long time. But not for $100+ price tag I had seen on eBay. I wasn’t willing to pay $39.99 for it when I last looked. Why do that when I could wait 2 months and get it for under $20?

It was worth the wait. I don’t know how the original Zulu compares to the re-release, but I do love this version.

Drying time was a little slow, but 2 coats and this baby was lovely and luscious – a deep green, but not like OPI’s Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow. I felt like this was almost like a jelly, but the finish was so creme-y that I couldn’t make up my mind!

Absolutely fabulous and worth every penny. I ordered this online at www.nars.com along with 5 other colors from their retro collection. I can’t wait to show them to you. However, for now…here is Zulu!

 

 

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Orly – 'Tis the Season – Holiday 2010

Friday, 8 October, 2010

Orly’s Holiday collection is filled with some pretty fun colors. I love the application and the glitter. The red creme and the color Naughty Or Nice is just wonderful. What I’ve done is try to layer some of the glitters over the cremes. It’s an epic fail, but you’ll still see it. 😀

All the colors dried quickly and were opaque in 2 coats. The glitters were wonderfully dense and very fun to look at on their own.

This is an image heavy post – beware.

 

How awesome is this red? It is freaking gorgeous and I’m happy to include it in Red Nail Polish Friday. On the middle finger is one coat of Winter Wonderland and on the ring finger it’s 2 coats.

 

2 coats of Winter Wonderland on three fingers and 2 coats of WW over Naughty or Nice. I love how WW really does remind me of snow.

 

Normally I don’t like golds like this, but for some reason I found I liked this a lot. Naughty Or Nice is on three fingers while G&G is on my pointer finger. G&G is a dense, heavy glitter. Removal wasn’t so bad! One coat of G&G over NON to see how it would look. Meh.

 

I thought this color was so fabulous in the bottle. Then I put it on me. All the initial beauty of it was washed out by my skin and the sunlight. It’s much, much prettier in person and the shimmer/glitter is well done.

I’ve heard that MMUTM is a dupe for Zoya’s Ivanka. I don’t think so. Below are pictures of Ivanka. Ivanka is lighter while MMUTM is darker, more of a holiday green.

 

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Essie – In Stitches

Thursday, 7 October, 2010

This is part of Essie’s Fall 2010 Collection – and I love it. It is a dusky salmon pink. I thought it was super pretty…and then I wore it for a few days. Friends looked at it and agreed – very pretty. Too bad it made my hands look old. Grrr.

I rarely wear pinks and the few times I do I seem to choose those colors that make me look like…2,010 years old!

Great formula and opaque in 2 coats. Fast drying. No cuticle pull. Woo hoo!

 

 

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Essie – Merino Cool

Wednesday, 6 October, 2010

I love colors like this. Part of Essie’s Fall 2010 Collection, this color is one of my favorites out of all the polishes I have right now. Colors like this have always had a special place in my heart.

Formula was good – dried fast and was opaque in 2 coats.

 

 

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Inglot – 709

Tuesday, 5 October, 2010
Inglot 709

I bought this color for my friend Kelly when I was living in India. This was my introduction to matte nail polishes and this was a fall 2008/spring 2009 color. I love it and the coverage was a dream. This dried quickly and was opaque in two very easy coats.

I wish Inglot was here in Northern California. I miss the store! 🙂

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Monday Morning Blue – OPI's Glacier Bay Blues

Monday, 4 October, 2010

I sometimes like and can tolerate Mondays. However, today with the overcast skies and funky cold weather, I can’t deal with it. I haven’t uploaded this swatch, but it’s been sitting in my archives for forever and a day. I busted out with it to cheer me up.

Great flashes of color – the base is a dark blue that’s a wonderful ocean color with flashes of green and just a host of other surprises that are good. The only truly bad thing is that this formula is OPI’s old formula. You know – formaldehyde, tuloene and ethyl blah blah blah. In short it’s not 3 free. And it stanks. Yuck.

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