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StrangeBeautiful Vol I

StrangeBeautiful Volume I

Strange Beautiful – Puce – Volume I

Friday, 9 July, 2010

I love that Jane Schub has has inspirations for her collections of StrangeBeautiful…however, for the lesser artist that I am, I have a hard time figuring out some of the colors. I think I’ve pegged about five of the eight colors. I keep thinking I’m being inaccurate and to be so would be a big injustice to Jane’s collection of … fabulosity.

This particular color I dubbed raspberry merely for generic purposes, but I think it’s “…the color Puce which I remember mixing when oil painting as a child, …” I do hope I’ve got it correct.

Puce, while not a pretty sounding word, means flea in French. However, the color has a bit of an extended range. While technically a dark red, it can run the gamut from purple-red to gray-red. I think Jane got a good handle on it here as it’s a purple red. Frankly, when I saw it on me, I identified it as Alexandrite…an extremely rare stone that is far more precious and expensive than a diamond. While diamonds are a girl’s best friend, Alexandrite was once the birthstone for June babies (and named in honor of Tsar Alexander II of Russia) – before it was discovered to be an extremely rare stone. So rare it is now that when I last checked, it ran for over $11,000 a carat. Yea, try to one up that, diamonds! What makes Alexandrite so unique is that it has the ability to change colors in ambient lighting and…Ok, I digress…Sorry. Back to my regularly scheduled nail swatch review.

Again, color and application is flawless – two coats that dried quickly. No bubbles. Yay!

See why I am so enamored with StrangeBeautiful…

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StrangeBeautiful Volume I

StrangeBeautiful – Red, Volume I

Monday, 14 June, 2010

This shade of red is…flawless. I rarely wear red nail polish because…well, um. Because. I have no excuse now. Actually, let me clarify – I do wear red nail polish. Just not OPI. There we go. I’m a bit tired of OPI always having some shade of red in their collection. I was pleased that OPI didn’t have it in their Shrek Forever After or Flutter collections.

Jane Schub doesn’t give nail polish color names. Instead, she tends to tell you what her influences were when she produced the color. In this instance, it’s a red Valentine Typewriter. In case you do not know what she’s referencing, here is a link to it.

It’s a beautiful red. It’s shiny. It’s pretty and looks fabulous on me. Formula was great – quick drying and opaque. Two coats were needed. Woo hoo!

Enjoy.

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StrangeBeautiful Volume I

StrangeBeautiful, Volume I – Olive Green, MAC Dry Martini

Friday, 7 May, 2010

Since StrangeBeautiful doesn’t name their colors and this is part of their Vol I collection, I gave it the generic name of Olive Green. Khaki wasn’t quite the right one. This reminded me of MAC’s Dry Martini, which I’ve also included in this post. Killing two birds with one stone.

MAC’s formula dried quickly and was not opaque on the first coat. With the initial application it was kind of gross – it looked like…well, poo. I’ll stop right there and let your imagination fly.

Once again, SB’s formula is superb – flawless application, fast drying and opaque when it should be. Strange Beautiful would be my favorite brand, but the fact that they’re limited editions and don’t come out with nearly enough colors to appease me bumps them to the bottom part of my top 7 fave brands.

Enough of the rambling, on to the polish!

Oddly enough, this color looked fabulous on me!

This was a gorgeous color and I really liked seeing it on me. I didn’t put a top coat on this because I forgot to. I had been in a rush. Oops. Sorry it’s not as shiny and perty as it could be!

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StrangeBeautiful Volume I

Earth Day – 2 Greens – StrangeBeautiful and Rescue Beauty Lounge

Thursday, 22 April, 2010

Yes, I have fallen prey to the Earth Day thing…but maybe it’s because I was born in raised in the Bay Area and we take our Earth Day seriously, as does the rest of California and parts of the U.S. as well as the rest of the world.

I am showing you two greens – the first is from the StrangeBeautiful Collection Volume I. That was sent to me by my very awesome friend Kelly. Thank you! When we’re in Vegas I definitely owe you several drinks. 🙂 The green from the StrangeBeautiful collection didn’t have a name so I generically called it…green. Hah. Good thing no one’s ever asked me to name a nail polish or anything. The other is a Rescue Beauty Lounge green called Recycle. C’est très à propos, n’est-ce pas? Oui!

These two colors are 3 free and vegan. Rock on!

Finally, kudos to Zoya for re-instating (however brief it is) their nail polish exchange from April 22, 2010 – June 30, 2010. Take advantage of it! Get rid of your old bottles of polish (except those that fall under the Zoya umbrella!) and Zoya will exchange it for a color of your choice from any of their collections. How freakin’ awesome is that? If you haven’t used Zoya before, I suggest you give this promo a shot – it’s well worth it. I’d suggest going for Ivanka – it’s green, shiny and sparkly which is perfect for your toes or your tips.

Go green, Happy Earth Day, Love Your Mother and all that.

This polish went on like a DREAM. No problems whatsoever in application – 2 extremely light coats. I could’ve actually gotten away with a single coat. It dried quickly, too! I spent about 5 minutes between each coat and each of them dried completely. How awesome is that for girls on the go?

A gorgeous green that really defies most greens for me. The color was awesome, but the formula was a lot easier than my previous bottles of RBL. 2 coats – completely opaque!

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