Nubar Finest Silks Collection Winter 2010

I don't think this is intended to be a winter-themed or holiday-themed collection, it just happens to be being released for winter. More thoughts on this collection after the pictures!





Charmeuse. A soft coral-mauve creme. On the warm side. Looks like dark muted pink with some orangey tones. A little too dated for my tastes but it may look good on someone with a warmer skin tone.



Chiffon. Soft, muddy, mousy grey-taupe. Love these types of colors. Looks more grey in the picture than it does on me in real life- it's more tan toned in real life.



Marabout. Another gorgeous taupe-grey-muddy color. This one is darker than Chiffon, more purple toned (but not purple-looking) and less warm. This one seems to suit my skin tone better but they're both nice.



Moire. This is an odd color! It's a brown-toned medium pink nude... Very difficult to describe. It's fleshy and earthy. It's like coffee with cream mixed with the color of ham. It's breakfast colored!



Organza. Sheer pearly white shimmer. More of a pearl than a frost. Still has the same brushstroke issues as frosts do but it has that shiny, smooth pearl-like reflection on it. I'm sure this is meant to be worn sheer and I think it would actually look better sheer. I bet you could layer it to add shimmer to these colors as well.



Pekin. The lighter of the two reds in the collection. It's a medium bordering on dark red and it seems blue based to me.




Sateen. This is the darker of the two. It's a red wine color with a hint of brown undertone.



Taffeta. Soft warm milky brown with a touch of warm orange or pink in it. Not a pure milk chocolate color, it's more of a pink chocolate. Or perhaps... a brown peach? Skintone shade- most likely intended as a nude color for a deeper, warmer skintone than mine.


The formula on these was just perfect. Dreamy. Flawless, effortless application. Excellent coverage on all shades except Organza (I used three coats to build opacity, it's probably intended to be worh sheer). Drying time is good and I experienced no problems with the texture, application or brushes. The formula was really, really great, I am impressed with it more than I am with the colors....

These are all very soft, conservative, office-appropriate types of colors. Nothing fun or wild or attention-grabbing. I don't believe they were intended to be. Normally I would blast a collection for being this bland and safe, but in this specific instance I'm not going to. The press release states that they were aiming for a collection of timeless colors for every skintone with the benefit of a two-coat coverage formula, and that's exactly what they've created. Seems like Nubar is trying to expand their line lately- adding lots of shades in the same color family but with that lovely new formula. Reds, the greys, the greens, the corals, the purples, the browns....

I do like a couple of the colors- Chiffon and Marabout of course, but I'm also intrigued by Moire. While the collection doesn't suit my personal tastes, I gotta say that the formula was amazing. Their creme formula seems to have been perfected- comparable to Rescue Beauty Lounge's perfect creme formula. So, if you are looking for colors like these I'd recommend based on formula alone.

Though, I must say I was really looking forward to some sort of sparkly, glittery colorful winter/holiday type colors for their winter release.... I am a bit sad that they've done nudes and wines for the winter collection instead. Oh well... Maybe they'll have something more edgy and fun for Spring!

(These were sent to me for review.)

BB Couture For Nails Infamous Lovers Collection 2010: The Ladies

BB Couture once again creates some amazing unique green polishes. I'm thinking they have more greens in their line than any other brand I know... Am I right? Take a look at these:


Bonnie. Wow. Now THIS is a green. It's a midtone green jelly with BB Couture's signature tiny gold and green glitter. It is quite a bit like BB Couture Redwood Forest, but Bonnie seems brighter, a little lighter and has slightly more of a yellow tone. Here's a hideous mani I did with Bonnie as the base that shows the color a little truer because of the flash:

I know... My Funky French turned out to be more of a Fugly French... But, uh, try to ignore that part and you'll see what a great shade of green Bonnie is.



Carla. A super dark purple shimmer. How gorgeous is this? It's vampy purple and I love it. Lots of multicolored shimmer when the light hits it. More red-toned in real life. Great for fall. Amazing application, too.

Cleopatra. This one was really hard to photograph. This picture isn't quite true to life so I'll try to explain how it really looks. It's a blue-green base, you can see the green tone visible in the bottom of the photo, left hand side. But, instead of having just plain shimmer it has this crazy blue duochrome shimmer and lots of it. It sits on top of the color so you're seeing both the green and the blue fighting for attention. It's little bit like BB Couture For Men Pipe Bender in that aspect- the base and the shimmer fighting for attention, blue on green... Very cool effect.


Eve. Oh man, can you believe this? First Bonnie, now Eve? Can't get over how cool this is. It's a murky dark olive green base with red pearl duochrome and it's full of that pretty BB Couture tiny iridescent glitter. Reminds me of Nubar's Gem and Jewel, how there's that pearl duochrome base filled with glitter. Except this one is more iridescent green-gold than holographic like the Nubar ones.

Juliet. This is an odd one. It's somewhere between rose and nude, a creme base, but with speckles of black and silver microglitter. Very unique. One one hand it's cool because it looks like stone, like granite or even a little bit like a Corian countertop. On the other hand, the black glitter is so sparse that it almost looks like it's not supposed to be there- like you accidentally got ash or mascara flakes or Oreo crumbs on your nails while they were wet. I'm 50/50 on this one, cool but odd.


Pocahontas. Like Juliet, this is a creme base sprinkled with black and silver microglitter. The base color of this is the ever-present purple/grey combo, which, despite seeing 343907 polishes this color being released in the past four years, I'm still not sick of seeing. The speckles aren't as prominent in this one.


The formula on these was quite good. Easy application. I did three coats of each color and all but Carla seemed to need the third coat. No flaws in the brushes or bottles. Drying time was slightly longer than average.

There's supposed to be a set of BB Couture for Men polishes that go along with these, but I have not seen them. I kinda like that idea, though... A line of women for women, a line of men for men? Cute concept.

I'm digging this collection. Eve and Bonnie are my favorites and Carla is great too. But really, Eve and Bonnie... wow. Awesome. Keep making these awesome sparkly greens, BB Couture! We're happy that you do!

(These were sent to me for review.)

First attempts at the 'Ruffian Manicure'

Since I'm always swatching I feel like I never get to play around or experiment much. And then when I experiment or do things just for fun, I feel like I've wasted valuable swatching time! But, I decided I wanted to try this Ruffian thing cause I like the way it looks. Here's a couple combinations I ended up with:



My very first try. I was already wearing this gorgeous Chi Chi Moondust (thank you Kaz!) and decided to put a little China Glaze 2030 on. I like the blue and gold together! I'm going to have to do this combination again!

But I'm not really sure if you're supposed to let the polish on the sides show, or how far down you're supposed to go... Or how wide it's supposed to look?

Instead of taking the whole thing off, I wanted to see what it looked like with a third color, so I added some China Glaze GR8 (can you tell I had my Konad supplies nearby? lol)

Looks kinda cool with the holo!


Wanted to try it with some brighter colors so I picked out some Color Clubs. I can't get that green to photograph properly, it just turns this stupid pale color! Argh! But it's really darker than that, and neon, not pastel.

And before I took that off I wanted to see what it would look like with a third color again:

Can't capture these neons properly! So frustrating! But for once Pucci-licious looks like it's supposed to in a picture! Something about being next to a blue helped... Odd. And if the orange and pink look thick, it's cause they are. There's about four coats of those because the blue showed through too much, plus Seche Vite on top and to make it even worse it's still wet in these pictures. Would look a lot less thick and bubble nail like when it's dry. I like the multicolor look, but to me it looks like lines of gumdrops on my nails! Which reminds me, I had a box of Candy Corn flavored Dots around here somewhere...


Thought matte/glossy would be a good combination so I did ManGlaze Fuggen Ugly on top of Essie Limited Addiction. Looks cool, I like the contrast! But it also looks like my nails are being ripped off my fingers, doesn't it? Like the cuticle is all bloody and my nails have slid halfway off? Gory!! I might have to keep this in mind for Halloween!

And because I couldn't leave well enough alone, this abomination happened. It is really fuggen ugly.

Now I want to try every combination of colors and finishes I can think of. I like this look. It's like a moon manicure but different and easier! I'm going to go try another one right now, actually.

Closer look at the Illamasqua Contest Winners

So, I've now seen them in sunlight and worn them each for a little while and here's what I think.

Eclipse. Let's just get the one out of the way first. This color is nothing like I expected it to be based on the early images. In reality, Eclipse is a dark blue with silver frost. It is slightly purple- it is more obvious in real life, but there are definite purple tones in this. The color is nice but I'm just not really on board with this new Frost Revival thing going on. It's really not a bad polish at all, but my expectations were just super high for this... This was what I hoped it would look like:

Dark purple, blue, green- duochrome looking with glitter or even flakes. Isn't that what it looks like there? It looks incredible. I was so excited about this shade. But now all I can say is this:



Raindrops. Actually... my blurry low-light picture of this was better at showing the cool qualities of this shade. It's a blue-toned light grey jelly-creme (very sheer- this is three thick coats) with lots of random and irregular shaped silver flakes. This one turned out really well, pretty much exactly like the promo shot:



Shrapnel. This isn't as bad as everyone's making it out to be. I rather like it. It's a coppery rose gold metallic- or is it chrome? Yes, it's frosty but it is super shiny and reflective, so it has more of a chrome finish than a true frost. Reminds me of the China Glaze Romantique collection chromes. Very, very shiny. I had expected this to be more of an orangey copper flame type shade with glitter, but it's really quite different! This has a definite 80's dance party look to it. Retro-futuristic. And yes, brushstrokes :( But, I think this might be great for Konad- it is VERY dense and pigmented- this is one coat. But really, nothing like I expected based on this:

Yeah... that's really not the same polish, is it?

But, the formula was great as usual. It's Illamasqua. Their formula is one of the best I've ever used. Thick, opaque, smooth- with the exception of Raindrops which is sheer. Drying time was good. Brushes were nice and even and thick. No problems with the formula or brushes.

You know, this is really sticky territory for me. On one hand, these polishes definitely weren't what I was expecting, but on the other hand I don't want to insult or upset the winners of the contest because I was disappointed. Also, I am a giant Illamasqua fan and this is the first time I have been let down by the colors, that kinda stings... I think Raindrops turned out the best and truest to the original pictures, but I really loved the inspiration behind Eclipse and Shrapnel too. If any of the winners are reading this- how do you feel about the end result? Is it what you imagined it would look like?

And also because I'm really super curious about what the other entries were like- how many of you entered? What was your color going to be like? I'm positively dying to know this. Please comment and tell me all about it if you entered.

I have seen a disturbing amount of frosts this year... I hope this is just a phase.

(These were sent to me for review.)

Preview of the Illamasqua contest winning shades

Please refer to my previous post about these for details, cause I can't remember what they were! XD

These just arrived and I couldn't wait to get them on my nails, so I snapped a few dimly-lit and not so fantastic pictures and figured I'd share :) I will attempt to get 'real' pictures when the sun comes back, but for now I'm really enjoying this rain, even if it means crappy swatches!

(And I apologize in advance for all the smudges and fingerprints on the bottles... this acetone + glycerin swatching remover makes my hands kinda sticky... ew.)


Eclipse. A frosty dark blue with hints of purple. I had really high hopes for this one based on the promo images- it looked like a dark blue/purple duochrome with silver microglitter, but alas, it is not.


Raindrops. This is prettier than I expected! It is sheer- this is three coats- but the sheerness really helps the little silver flakes shine through. And it reminds me of this:



Shrapnel. This one doesn't quite look like I imagined it to look based on early images, but it's really interesting! It's a bright copper or perhaps rose gold metallic, a little frosty but more shiny/chrome/metallic than true frost and it has really tiny silver microglitter. Super opaque, this is one coat. Great coverage. Very flashy.

I want to evaluate these in sunlight to get a better understanding of the colors.... Will come back to these.

(These were sent to me for review.)

Color Club Untamed Luxury Fall 2010 Part 1: Every Shade of Indulgence

Every year I look forward more and more to Color Club's collections... They seem really willing to think outside the box and make awesome colors but also offer them at a reasonable price without sacrificing quality. Definitely one of my most favorite brands of all time.

It goes without saying that I've been eagerly awaiting their fall collection, and now it's finally here!

I'm going to do this in two parts for one specific reason: The second half of the collection had a few casualties in shipping and I hate posting partial sets! So hopefully I can get a replacement soon and post the glittery half of this collection :)

This set of 7 - Indulgence- seems to be the 'trendy' set while Diamonds seems to be the fashion/edgy set.

Jewel of a Girl. Really rich, dark mahogany. This is mostly red with some brown and some wine, maybe a little purple. It's one of those deep dark lit-from-within glowy shimmers that I love so much. You know, the ones that look bright and glowing in the center and dark around the edges? Love them. Can't get enough.


Nothing Butt Ruffle... er, I mean Nothing But Truffle... Similar to Jewel of a Girl in finish and depth but this shade is a glorious chocolate brown. It's so amazing... look at it... it looks so smoldering hot!

Positively Posh. This is a dirty brown taupe with a slight hint of purple. This color seems to be really hot right now... everyone and their uncle are releasing this color lately. Not that that's a bad thing cause I love these types of colors!

Pretty In Platinum. Interesting! It's a light pearl grey/silver. Sort of reminds me of another one with Platinum in the name that I used to use all the time- OPI Gone Platinum in 60 Seconds. Not that they're the same, they're just similar. This is a really good example of the difference between frost and pearl. The shimmer in this one is extremely fine and smooth and sits on top of the polish to provide a layer of smooth pearl reflectiveness- just like a real pearl. Whereas with a true frost you get streaks of silvery, shiny reflective brushstroke-filled shimmer.

Ready To Royal. Extremely dark eggplant purple. Is it just me, or are all the polish companies mimicking each other a whole lot this year? This is really similar to Essie Velvet Voyeur and also kinda like OPI William Tell Me About OPI (though that one is lighter than both of the others). Really dark, really glossy, nearly black. Inexpensive alternative if you can't get the Essie or OPI!

Soft as Cashmere. Grey/beige... Greige? I'm not quite used to using that word. Is it a real word or is it like 'blurple'? Either way it's a really nice cozy color. I don't know if it's just the power of suggestion or what, but it makes me think of a warm cozy sweater on a cold fall day. Or maybe a fluffy bunny!

Wild Orchid. This is a blued grey shimmer. It's on the medium to light side of grey with a pretty strong blue undertone and some really interesting iridescent/silver shimmer particles. It flashes different tones depending on the angle of your hand, but indoors it just looks silver. Very nice!

The formula is perfect as usual. Color Club usually has excellent application and these are no exception. I had zero application problems. Pigmentation is great and all are two coats and don't need a third. Drying time is fast and most of the colors stay glossy without topcoat, but you should use topcoat anyway. No flaws here. Brushes are good too.

I really love these shades. Not a single ugly color in the bunch! Wait till you see the glitter ones, though! I'm wearing Untamed Luxury right now and it's fan-freakin'-tastic. More to come soon, hopefully!

(These were sent to me for review.)

Essie Fall 2010 Collection

Fall is almost here... I'm getting excited! These colors are super appropriate for fall.


In Stitches. This is a medium rose mauve creme. Soft, muted, maybe even a little... dated. My mom had carpet and some decorations this color when I was growing up, so it brings back happy memories, but I can't say it's really modern looking! It's along the lines of Eyeko Tea Rose Polish or Diamond Cosmetics Smoky Rose to give you something to compare it to.

Limited Addiction. Super dramatic glossy sexy blue-based red creme. Wow. It is very rare for me to pick a red as my favorite color in a collection, but this is just too gorgeous. It's sort of a cherry red bordering on blood red. A little darker and deeper than the reds I tend to like, but it's so striking and bold that it was love at first sight. It's a creme, but it has that deep, glassy jelly look, though I can't call it a true jelly. My pictures don't do this justice, you have to see this one in person. Smoking hot.

Merino Cool. Purple-grey. This seems to be the new 'it' color and frankly, that's a-okay with me cause I love these types of colors. This isn't totally unique but it's still beautiful. It looks darker in my picture than it seems in real life and I'm not sure why because sunlight usually has the opposite effect on my pictures. It's a little like OPI Parlez-Vous OPI or Confetti Moonstruck.


Sew Psyched. Muted grey-green with very subtle silver shimmer. Almost a secret shimmer, lends a softened and almost dusty finish to the polish. This seems really similar to Rescue Beauty Lounge Diddy Mow, but I haven't taken out my bottle to compare. If you're looking for a cheaper alternative, though, this would do nicely.

Little Brown Dress. Deep, dark coffee brown creme. Glorious. Super dark and vampy. A little different than plain black- though this isn't quite as dark as pure black. It's not as dark as Lippmann Maneater but it's darker than Essie Chocolate Kisses. A little closer to Zoya Angelina but a bit lighter. I love this color for fall, dark chocolate goodness!


Velvet Voyeur. Very dark purple creme. This is almost what I'd consider to be eggplant, but it's a little redder than true eggplant. It's a dark purple wine or perhaps a brown-toned purple. Very dark at two coats but quite different looking at only one coat. If you can apply this carefully enough at one coat you'll get two totally different looks out of it. I was sloppy so I did two here and it's near-black but still purple. Mmm, vampy.

The formula on these was excellent. Lately Essie's formula seems to be getting thinner and thinner, almost too watery, but the texture of these is back to normal. Thin-medium. I find the thicker formula of these much easier to control, especially combined with the thin brushes (which are also back to normal, not super thin like last fall/winter). I had no problems applying these at all. The only one that wasn't perfect was Merino Cool which seemed runny and thinner than the others so I had to do three coats. All the rest are two coats, no basecoat, no topcoat. Very rich and pigmented.

I'm digging this collection. It is perfectly 'fall'. The only color I'm not in love with is In Stitches, but the rest are perfect. Not extremely exciting or super unique, but they're all colors I love wearing and they're all really pretty. I love the drama in this collection- lots of vampy and dramatic shades- blood red, eggplant, dark coffee... Then you have the ever-popular grey/purple shade and a muted green, seeing more and more of these lately but that's fine with me! No complaints here, formula and colors are both making me happy. In fact, I'm about to go put on Limited Addiction...

(These were sent to me for review.)