Have you heard that Clinique brought back their nail polish line? Well, being the insane polish hoarder that I am, I found myself at Bloomingdales this Sunday morning waiting for them to open their doors. It was kind of like those old Mervyn’s commercials: “Open, open, open”…am I aging myself here? hahaha
Anyway, I showed up an hour early so I went to do some grocery shopping to kill time. Damn the mall and Sunday hours! I always hate walking through the mall because I have such horrible self-restraint. I have been a beauty product junkie since I was 15 and I would spend all my summer job earnings at the beauty counters. In fact, Clinique was probably one of the first brands that I loved for skin care. But really, what does a 15-year old know about skin care anyway? Still, I always loved their clean packaging and got a kick out of the white lab coats that the associates wore. Today was almost like walking through a little bit of heaven wandering through all the make up counters: I had to walk by the Tom Ford, Chanel, YSL, Givenchy and Dior counters before getting to the Clinique counter so I could spaz out all over the new polish display. I didn’t really have many details about shades and sizes so I just played around with a few of the colors and settled on two. Today I am going to be sharing Clinique Hula Skirt with you.
Hula Skirt reminded me of a pale pistachio green ice cream cone so of course I had to scoop this one up immediately. The formula on this baby is pretty luscious and creamy. The first coat applied a little streaky but a second thicker coat evened it all out. The swatches above are two coats of Hula Skirt and one coat of Seche Vite. The polish does dry pretty glossy on its own, but I never go without a good top coat to protect my mani. For those of you who are concerned with 3-Free formulas, I didn’t see any information about that on their website so I’m assuming that they aren’t because that’s always a huge selling point. However, Clinique claims that the formulation of their nail polish is ideal for people with sensitive skin and eyes. I don’t know much about that since I pretty much wear anything on my nails without a reaction so I’m curious to hear from people with actual skin sensitivities to normal nail polish. Here is my beef, though: these polishes are $16 for .3oz. $16!!!!!! I would imagine that this is not a problem for someone with skin sensitivities, but that’s way too pricey for me. I would only purchase more of these if they had a truly awesome and unique color which I didn’t see in their display. Yes, the colors are pretty and the formula seems great–so far–but you can get the same colors and quality at a much lower price point.
I also wanted to share something with you which you might have seen on my Facebook page if you’re on there. I was notified by another fellow blogger that Nail Polish Direct was using my pictures from my review of the China Glaze Texture Collection on their website to sell that collection. I was infuriated and posted on their page and tweeted my indignation and demanded that they remove my pictures from their website. I know this is nothing new to our nail polish community–in fact, it’s not the first time my pictures are stolen–but there comes a point where enough is enough. For a “business” to do something like that is really sneaky and dishonest so I have no qualms putting them on blast. What ensued are the following Direct Messages from Nail Polish Direct on Twitter:
Huh? Did these messages even make sense? What I would be happy with is a public apology to me and to all the other bloggers who have had pictures stolen, but since I know I’m not going to get that, I’m happy to share what a slimey company NPD is. If they have no problems ripping off and stealing from bloggers, what can you expect from them from the customer standpoint?
So that’s my story for this weekend. I’ve been pretty busy so I haven’t had a chance to reply to comments and a bunch of emails so I’m sorry, but I promise to get right on it! Thank you so much for all the support on my FB page and on twitter. I saw a bunch of posts on NPD’s FB in support of bloggers but of course they deleted everything, but thank you anyway! Besides the picture thievery, I’ve had a pretty nice weekend so far and I hope you have had the same. Let me know what you think of this new Clinique nail polish line. Have you checked them out yet? What was the very first make-up and skin care brand that you remember falling for? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you later!
Such a pretty polish!! I think L’Oreal Wasabi hint might be a good cheap alternative for this one! I think it’s a bit brighter though. This whole Nail Polish Direct situation is insane. How can people do something like that..?
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I have no idea! It seems like they do it all the time so I doubt it will be the last. I just hope that people continue to call them out.
I’m going to look into Wasabi because I would love a brighter version of this color. I’m not too happy with the price point of these polishes.
What a great shade! I love creme finishes too 🙂
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Thank you! 🙂 Cremes are always my favorite.
It’s a pretty color, but $16 is way over my price limit.
Honestly, I am kinda regretting these purchases right now…lol
Oh, dear, if you are aging yourself, than I am right there with you. I kinda miss Mervyn’s, but I guess Kohl’s filled that gap in my shopping repetoire.
This is a pretty color, but I don’t think it would look good on me, so I’ll admire it on you. I guess that is OK, though, since it’s $16. However, it’s still good to hear about a nice, two-coat formula.
Especially confused by the last message from NPDirect. At least they took the photos down, although I can tell you right now their “permission email” was most certainly a hot crock of b.s. I kind of secretly love that I don’t think they even realize how many people hear about these things and would therefore never shop there.
I did the same thing you used to do back in the day and would spend money at Sephora on my lunch breaks. Urban Decay was my first “designer” cosmetic love.
I was never really a huge fan of Mervyn’s. For whatever reason, my mom would drag me to Montgomery Ward’s…how’s that for a throwback. lol
This color is pretty but man…I’m kind of regretting purchasing these because they are so damn tiny and at $16 they are hella expensive. Now that Illamasqua has increased their prices to $17, I’m kinda sad and feel like maybe I am not going to be able to buy every single new color….yeah, let’s see how that one plays out.
And yeah, NPD…they’re kind of a bunch of morons. Who runs their twitter account? I thought they were from the UK and yet they can’t put a coherent sentence together?
Oh, man, I also remember Montgomery Ward! In fact, it was really close to where Mervyn’s used to be! 😉
hahaha…I hated going there but that’s where my mom would take me back to school shopping. Geez…I remember the summer I got purple, burgundy and green jeans there. LOL
Oh, I totally had green jeans. With a button fly, I believe. That I wore with my flowery bodysuit, and probably a choker necklace. There is unfortunately photographic evidence of this.
Omg…chokers. LOL I was obsessed with those. Ahh…we sound like we were extras on Blossom.
I would recommend adding a watermark to the bottom of your pictures to keep them safe! Artist do the same, and I think it would be a good idea, that way if your pictures get out where they’re not supposed to people can either tell or be directed to your site :3
I actually used to watermark all my pictures on my actual nails. Well, rather…around my cuticles. They were still being stole and people actually blurred out the watermark. If people want to steal pictures, they will no matter what we do. Doesn’t that suck?
Oh man I loved mervyn’s!!! They were better than Kohl’s, I think! And I remember montgomery ward’s too. Ahh the old stores. 😉 I really like this color, but you know I’m cheap so no $16 dollars for a teaspoon of polish for me! I’m still pretty disgusted with NPD, although I mean, at least they took down your pictures like you asked- well, actually did you check?? Plus is it just me or did it sound like their MO is to post pictures and THEN send out a permission form? That’s just weird all around. I just don’t see why companies think so little of stealing pictures. Don’t they know they can be sued? Whatever. I’m glad you told them to take them down cuz sending you a few polishes for an indefinite number of pictures off your blog is NOT compensation.
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A teaspoon of polish…LMAO!!! That was hilarious and kinda sad because it’s so true and I’m the chump who buys into the hoopla. Well, at least I didn’t buy more than two and I actually bypassed the Tom Ford counter altogether because that could have gotten real ugly…real fast.
As far as NPD is concerned, they can go suck a giant dog doodle. I can’t believe that they thought: Oh, she’s dumb. We’ll give her 6 polishes and she’ll be happy.” Uh, think again NPD…6 polishes are like a 30 second haul to me. Don’t they know anything about the people they steal from? lol Anyway, yes, they did take down my pictures and I am so going to keep an eye on them.