Barielle Archives - Of Life and Lacquer

Tag: Barielle

Of Life and Lacquer > Barielle

Barielle Elle’s Spell

Posted on 21 December, 201231 December, 2012 by Cynthia

Beejus, can you believe that Christmas is in a few days and then it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to 2013? I am actually really excited about the new year just because I want to close the chapter on the crapfest that 2012 has been. Don’t get me wrong–things have definitely improved these last few months of 2012, but I am just looking forward to a fresh start.

For my first real holiday mani, I decided to stick with a combination of red and white.

I started out with two coats of Nails Inc. Gatwick. Great Odin’s Raven! this polish is awesome. I usually have a love/hate relationship with matte polishes, but this one just blew me away. The formula is super thin so it doesn’t get goopy at all, and it’s really easy to control.

And here is the belle of the ball: Barielle Elle’s Spell. This gorgeous polish is from Barielle’s 2010 holiday collection and I definitely think it was the stand-out from that collection. It has a slightly red-tinted base that is pretty sheer and it’s chock-full of golden-red flakes. I have not tried to wear this polish on it’s own and I don’t think I will–I prefer an opaque base as opposed to a sheer jelly.

Lastly, I applied a snowflake design from Bundle Monster plate BM 319. Snowflakes are definitely my favorite holiday design right now. Just because I couldn’t help myself, I ended up mattifying the whole manicure.

Which version do you prefer: shiny or matte?

Well, my dears, there you have my holiday mani. This year I have decided not to buy any Christmas gifts. I feel kind of like a Scrooge, but I’d rather save the money right now. My parents aren’t coming for a visit this year so I will probably be spending Christmas with my brother and sil–along with my youngest brother whom is also known as “The Mooch” to my long-time readers. Are you prepared for Christmas? What are your plans?

This weekend I am going to have 2 guests posts for you from two of my lovely blogger friends: Amanda and Siobhan. I can’t wait for you to see their awesome designs. There is one more day left to enter my 1 year blogiversary giveaway so don’t miss out!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend.

Barielle Falling Star

Posted on 17 September, 201217 September, 2012 by Cynthia

You know the feeling when you finally find a polish you’ve been wanting but initially passed on because you were being dumb? Well, I finally found this beauty. I picked up Barielle Falling Star this weekend at TJ Maxx, and I was beyond happy. I actually don’t remember the exact price, but I think it was $2.99 which is a steal in my book.. I had seen this polish in a blue themed set of Barielle polishes that I had neglected to pick up and then they disappeared. I should know better than that because when cool polishes show up, they will disappear just as quickly so don’t ever hesitate because you will lose out.

When I got home, I immediately searched online for swatches and I was super sad about the reviews for this polish. I read a lot of reviews stating that this polish was an application nightmare: that is was goopy and gross and almost impossible to apply. I armed myself with my bottle of thinner and was determined to make this polish work. Normally I am heavily against the idea of thinning a brand new polish, but if the reviews were accurate, this baby would need a whole bunch of thinner.

Behold, Falling Star:

I normally don’t post this many pictures for just one polish, but I actually really love this shade of blue. It was an antique and dusty feeling to it and I adore the copper/pink glitter. Even more amazing, the glitter doesn’t get lost in the base color despite the color being so pigmented. As far as the formula is concerned, yes it is thick and can get unruly and goopy in an instant. I added quite a few drops of thinner and found that the formula improved tremendously.

So what do you think of Falling Star? Is it a color you would wear? I honestly can’t think of any other similar color in my collection so I’d love to hear if you have any dupe suggestions.

If you haven’t entered yet, make sure that you check out my post here with the information for my latest giveaway which features two mini sets of Jessica Cosmetics polishes.

Thanks for stopping by and catch you later!

Barielle – First Impressions

Posted on 28 July, 2012 by Cynthia

Barielle is not a brand that I’ve ever had easy access to so it’s not a big surprise that I hadn’t used any of their products yet. When I stopped at TJ Maxx the other day to scope out their cosmetics section hoping to find some Deborah Lippmanns (is this just an urban legend??), I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of Barielle sets so I didn’t hesitate a second and bought one. Out of all the sets I saw, these dark vampy colors seemed the most interesting especially because I spotted a few cremes in the set and we all know how I feel about cremes.

REMEMBER ME

FRIDAY NITE PARTI

BLACK ROSE

MYSTERY WOMAN

HIDDEN HIDEAWAY

I really do like these colors especially Hidden Hideaway and Mystery Woman because of that beautiful lit-from-within shimmer. I think that Remember Me and Friday Nite Parti are way too similar to be together in a set, but both colors are nice. Remember Me was probably the only one I didn’t appreciate as far as the formula is concerned. It seemed really sheer despite how dark the color is. You can see in my pictures that it looks somewhat streaky and uneven which I did not notice until I uploaded the pictures. In case you’re interested, I got this set for $9.99 so check out your TJ Maxx. They had tons of these and other sets. I know stock varies from store to store but I think these are worth a look.

And for my food chronicles, today I decided to make some chicken strips and Rice-a-Roni. I had seriously been craving potato salad, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of time to make such a small amount so I bought a little side container of it from Sprouts. I love Sprouts!

I’m getting really pumped for some interviews next week so I have to do some boring nail look…can’t go in there with some sparkly stamped up nails…or maybe I can! I am happy to report that I have seen some slight nail growth and that makes me really happy. I ordered the latest MASH plates today because I found a 20% off code online which made them around $11 and they ship for free! I hope that by the time they get here, my nails won’t be so crazy short anymore so I can really try out my new plates!

I hope you have a lovely weekend and thanks for the visit.