Category: Swatches

Of Life and Lacquer > Swatches

Two New Essie Greens

Posted on by Cynthia

In my last haul, I picked up two new Essie greens. I never used to wear greens this shade but I really like them! They were both pretty good formula-wise and only needed two coats for the swatches you will see below.

Navigate Her is part of Essie’s Spring 2012 Line “Navigate Her.” Unfortunately, these pictures wash out the color. It’s a little darker and more minty looking. It reminded me of a mojito…maybe I just need a drink. Ha! It’s like I used Thrifty’s ice cream in Pistachio on my nails. You know what made me feel like an old fart? I was at Rite-Aid the other day and some kids where commenting how they could remember when a single scoop was $1.00. I remember when a single scoop was $0.35. How about that? Fuck I’m old.

 

Sew Psyched is from the 2010 Fall Collection. It’s like an olive bar in a bottle. I love this green gray dusty color. I thought that this was a creme but it has the slightest shimmer that makes it even more gorgeous. Ok, why does every nail polish remind me of food?

 

Which one do you like best?

Phantom Color Club Set

Posted on by Cynthia

I found a set named “All About Color” by Color Club but I can’t seem to find any information about it online. It really annoys me that I can’t find any info about it because none of the bottles are labeled and there is no information on the box either. Grrrrr!!!! Despite this, there are some pretty gorgeous colors included in the set.

Some of these pictures really did not come out right no matter how many shots I took. The sunlight was really crappy today because it was raining on and off throughout the day.

 

The only color that was a total nightmare to apply was the light pink color. It was streaky as hell and I had to apply five coats!!!!! That’s just wrong.

What’s your favorite color?

China Glaze Sunday

Posted on by Cynthia

Happy Sunday everyone and thanks for stopping by my blog. As promised, here are the swatches for the China Glaze polishes that I recently acquired.

Brownstone makes me think of The Real Housewives of New Jersey because of that building that Caroline manages but this color is not obnoxious and trashy like most of those women on the show. In the same Italian vein, it reminded me of the terra cotta roofs in Florence–definitely one of my favorite cities anywhere. It’s such a rich and saturated creme that  I could have even gotten away with one thick coat but applied two for this swatch. This color comes from the Fall 2011 Metro Collection.

From the 2006 Wow Factor Collection, here is Purple Panic. This is such a hot color. I love neon colors and this matte applies beautifully. Like all matte polishes, this one dries super fast so you have to work fast.

And here it is with a shiny topcoat just because I looooooooooove shiny nails.

Bahamian Escape is one of those colors that I’ve seen a lot of but I still find it gorgeous.

Passion In The Pacific is like a pristine blue ocean in a bottle. I love it. While I was wearing it, I kept thinking of Paul Gauguin’s paintings of Tahiti for some reason.

Rodeo Fanatic is one of those colors I drool over no matter how many similar colors I may already own. It’s such a gorgeous shimmery smokey dark blue. This comes from the Fall 2008 Rodeo Diva Collection which was simply amazing.

And lastly, this is Blue Sparrow from the Summer 2008 INK Collection which also brought us Flying Dragon and Turned Up Turquoise—two of my favorite polishes. The microglitter is not really visible because it’s a matter color but just wait until you apply a topcoat…

And here it is with a coat of Seche Vite…

Gorgeous, right?! Now I am just anxious to get the Hunger Games Capitol Colors Collection!!!!


More Nicole By OPI

Posted on by Cynthia

Since I liked the polishes I bought yesterday, I stopped by Target again to scope out the sale section. Well, I found two more bottles on sale so I snatched them up.

Make Mine Lime reminded me of China Glaze’s Paper Chasing when I first saw the bottle. The reason I decided to get it is because I recently dropped Paper Chasing and it broke! I have green nail polish on my beige carpet now…and quite a project when I get around to cleaning it up completely. Well, it’s not the same as Paper Chasing because Make Mine Lime is lighter and it seems to have microglitter. I definitely liked this formula better even though I had to apply three coats.

 

Sounds Grape To Me looks more brown than purple. It has a brown burgundy base with magenta and maybe some gold microglitter. It’s like a gorgeous and rich bottle of Bordeaux on your  nails. The formula is awesome. One thick coat might be enough, but I did two thin coats for these pictures.

 

Overall, I’m really liking this brand even though I only have four bottles. I will definitely look for these when they go on sale.

Nubar Jellybeans Part 2

Posted on by Cynthia

I purchased the rest of the Nubar Jellybeans Collection except Lemon. I already have a couple of bright yellow polishes and since I don’t use them often, I decided to pass.

Strawberry was a sheer nightmare. I had to apply five coats for full opacity! I don’t think the color is that pretty or original to deal with applying that many coats.

Cherry is not very original, but I like it. It was not as sheer as Strawberry but was still a three-coater. I’m really liking all these orange reds. However, this looks a lot more like a tomato to me. Is that weird? The first thing I thought of was of V8 juice.

Grape is purple. I love purple. Nuff said.

Blueberry is so my color. I’ve been diggin’ blues a lot lately, and I noticed I’m adding a lot of blues to my collection. This one was not as sheer as some of the other polishes so I appreciated that. I find this is a pretty close to OPI’s Dating A Royal and Essie’s Mesmerize…maybe just a tad lighter.

If these polishes weren’t so sheer, I’d like them a whole lot more. I don’t regret purchasing them because I like the collection as a whole but just wish the formula was better. Which is your favorite color?

OPI Holland Collection Part 2

Posted on by Cynthia

Yesterday I found out that I was able to score some polishes from the Holland Collection a month early because my beauty supply place had put them out by mistake. Ooopsies. I previously picked up 6 colors and now I went back to look at the others that didn’t catch my attention right away. I purchased three of the cremes and passed on Thanks A WindMillion, Pedal Faster Suzi! and Did You ‘ear About Van Gogh? for now.

Kiss Me On My Tulips is such a pretty hot pink. Yeah, I probably have a million dupes of this, but the formula was ah-mazing! I mean, it was like butter and was perfect with two coats. Plus, is there anything more gorgeous than a beautiful creme with a shiny topcoat? It’s like patent leather if Hello Kitty ruled the world. Maybe it’s just me, but this is not the color I think of when I imagine Tulips. Even though I know it’s a pun on lips and Holland being known for tulips (of all colors), all I can think of is fields of red tulips.

A Roll In The Hague is a color that I probably wouldn’t have gravitated towards in the past, but I am totally diggin’ these orange colors. It’s almost neon. Again, the formula on this one was gorgeous and smooth. The only problem I have with it is that it stains like a mofo. You can see some of the residue on the swatches for the next polish even though I used pure acetone for removal. I haven’t done a side-by-side comparison, but this looks like a pretty darn close dupe for Essie’s Orange, It’s Obvious!

Red Lights Ahead…Where? is also a dream to apply but the color is just…meh. I mean, it’s not really exciting but it’s pretty enough.

So what do you think of these colors? Are you going to get any colors from OPI’s Holland Collection?

First Impressions: Nicole By OPI

Posted on by Cynthia

I had been wondering how Nicole by OPI differed from the regular OPI line. I mean, they are basically the same price so I would imagine that the quality would be about the same, right?  I am pretty loyal to the brands I know produce quality lacquers such as OPI, China Glaze, Orly, Essie, Nubar and Color Club so I tend to stick to those brands and only occasionally spring for a more high-end polish; it just really has to wow me if I have to shell out more money. At $7-$8 a pop, Nicole by OPI is a bit pricey compared to what I pay for most polishes, but I saw a couple of shades on sale today at Target so I decided to try them out.

 

I really liked the colors. I can’t really speak for how long these polishes last since I only swatched them, but the formula was not difficult to work with. They both seemed a little thinner than I’m used to and one of the polishes had a crazy short and awkward brush. Green Up Your Act! required three coast for full opacity and It’s Not Me, It’s Blue needed four. Even with four coats, there was some visible nail line in the sunlight. I have read that these polishes chip like a mofo in a day or two so I’m curious to see what happens when I use these on a full manicure. Overall, I don’t regret purchasing these since I got them on sale for $3.52 each. I will definitely pick up some more colors if they are on sale. It will take a really amazing and unique color for me to pay full price for these polishes.

I still haven’t swatched the polishes I purchased yesterday, and I just got another set. I stopped by Ross to check if they had any Color Club sets and they did!!!! The sucky part is that none of these polishes have names on them, and I am not sure what collection this is…if any. Usually the names of the polishes are listed on the box, but nothing is listed on these. It almost seems like they threw a bunch of different colors in there. All I see is “All About Color” as a possible collection name but I can’t find anything about it online. For $7.99, I can overlook all this because there are some pretty colors in there for sure.  I’ll eventually swatch these as well.

How’s that for a polish frenzy?


 

Sephora by OPI – Just a Little Dangerous and Silver Blasted

Posted on by Cynthia

I few months ago I saw that Sephora was selling this set for $10. Normally, one nail polish is $9.50 so two full-size bottles for $10 is a great deal.

Yes, this is definitely a cute set. The best part is that one of the colors is PURPLE!!!!!!!!!! Last year was the year of the crackle/shatter polish, but I never really jumped on the bandwagon. Sure, I bought a few shatter polishes but I wore them maybe once or twice and wasn’t really sold on the trend.

Here are some swatches of Just A Little Dangerous. It’s a beautiful dark plum/purple with microglitter. It can definitely look black until the light hits it just right and you see the depth of the color and the beautiful sparkle. This shade was opaque in two thin coats. I noticed a difference in the brush from the other SOPI polishes that I own. I loved this brush. It seemed a little wider and easier to manage.

And here it is with a coat of Blasted Polish in Silver:

I am not that impressed by the formula of this blasted polish. I much prefer OPI’s Shatters and even China Glaze’s Crackles. The patter definitely was not as pronounced as other colors I have used but it could be a slight difference because this is a metallic shatter with glitter. I would have liked to get a more chunky shatter, but this is the best I was able to get.

What do you think of shatter polishes? Are they so 2011 or are you still using them?

 

Bisous mes chéris et à bientôt!

Color Club – Holiday Splendor

Posted on by Cynthia

I’ve never really been that interested in glitters until recently. This is such an amazing jelly-based glitter especially because the glitter doesn’t disappear into the base. This reminds of China Glaze’s Atlantis, but I like the formula from Color Club better.

And here is a very blurry picture that shows how this sparkles in the light:

Isn’t it gorgeous?

Bisous mes chéris et à bientôt!