"New" Sinful Colors Glitters for Fall 2009

I say "new" in quotations like that because even though they were just added to the displays, I feel like I've seen these before. Some of these might have been renamed, or maybe re-released from the old Sinful days when all the colors were awesome and came in round bottles and not this weird onion shape... Anyway, here are the ones I picked up- not sure if this is all of them or not!


All About You. A really fascinating gold combination- it has very small, fine warm gold glitter and then some slightly larger sized coppery gold glitter. Really gorgeous in the bottle. It looks cool on the nail, too, but it seems to lose some depth. I think this is four coats, Sinfuls are usually really sheer.


Call You Later. Light, yellowy-golden green glitter and larger medium grass green glitter. I love this! Green glitter! This is a great layering glitter because it's not too dense to cover the base color. My friend loved this one over purple on me. I prefer it alone, but there are so many layering possibilities. This is four coats, it is sheer.


Frenzy. A red-toned purple and blue glitter combination. This is similar to a lot of other polishes, but this one also has its own distinct features. Frenzy is an even mixture of the two colors and the two glitters are also the same size. This is three coats, it's slightly less sheer than the others.


I Love You. Sweet merciful crap. PURPLE GLITTER. Real purple glitter!!!! With slight duochrome!!! This is a color I've been waiting for for a long time. This is very fine, shiny purple glitter with slight gold duochrome in a deep purple jelly base. So many "purple glitter" polishes I buy end up being gross grey-lavender glitter in a murky grey base (LA Girl and Nubar come to mind first) but this one is all purple. It is glorious. We're best friends now. Three coats.


I Miss You. Small silver glitter and a sprinkling of larger holographic glitter in a mauve-purple jelly base. This one isn't purple enough for me but I still like it. I'll never reject a glitter! I bleed glitter. Anyway, this one is also probably better suited for layering as it is rather sheer. I think this is three or four coats. I did these swatches a while ago and my memory isn't what it used to be.



Nail Junkie. Turquoise-aqua sheer base with fine silver glitter and a touch of larger holographic glitter. It's so beautiful. Like sparkling ocean water. I just love to pick up the bottle and stare at it. Why yes, I am easily amused! But seriously. This is awesome. It looks great layered over pretty much everything, and if you can stand having visible nail line it looks good on its own as well. This is four coats.

I'm really not a fan of Sinful's formula, but I put up with it because they have such great colors. I've always been a Sinful fan- I used to have a huge stockpile of Sinful in the 90s. I miss the 90s. Anyway, the formula. It's a little on the thick side and also sheer for these shades so it can be a tricky combination. Let each coat dry for at least a minute before the next coat to avoid that weird gloppy smudgy thing that happens when you try to apply too much thick polish. These also take quite a while to dry. They set pretty quickly with quick dry topcoat but are still dentable for over an hour. When layering, these polishes have no formula problems. One coat will dry quickly and be a good texture. It all depends on how you plan to wear these.


Another score for Sinful. Anyone who gives me glitter gets a gold star in my book.

Color Club Dark Romance Mini Matte Collection

Ooh, more minis! Minis are so cute. This time they're mattes. Just your standard colors, nothing exciting, but they might be a good choice for someone who wants to try mattes and doesn't want to commit to a full bottle of just one color.

Here's the set. The first bottle is supposed to be a matte topcoat, mine accidentally got swapped for regular topcoat. Smoke and Mirrors, Alabaster, Dark Romance.


Dark Romance. Matte black creme. This is a pure black, no shine, no shimmer. Well, okay, it has a little shine. Mine was more of a satiny finish than a matte. If you prefer a totally shine-free matte, you could always top it with some matte topcoat. Great coverage on this one, was opaque in one coat but I did two anyway.... Cause I'm like that.


Smoke and Mirrors. Matte foil silver. A matte foily metallic, like a matte version of... say... Zoya Trixie? This reminds me a lot of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Spanglemaker- a metallic silver that's neither sparkly nor shiny.

Alabaster. Pure matte white. This is bright clean white, no undertones or hints of color to it. White-Out white. Unexpectedly smooth for a matte white. This has the most matte finish out of all of them.

I wish I had a bottle of Color Club Matte Topcoat to show you, but my kit had a little mix up and I ended up with shiny instead of matte, like I mentioned above. If I do get my hands on a bottle of Color Club Matte Topcoat, I'll definitely review it. I was waiting to get *all* of the matte topcoats until I did my comparison, but there's still a few I don't have, like this and the Barielle.

The formula on these was good. I had no problems. They were smooth, didn't dry *too* fast while applying (mattes have a tendency to thicken while applying) and the end result was a matte nail that was completely smooth and dry in under 10 minutes.

I love the mini bottles, I think they're adorable. The packaging is super cute. The colors aren't really unique or exciting, but I'd call this the Entry Level Matte Kit. It's a good way for a first-time matte user to test the waters. The mini bottle of matte topcoat makes this even more versatile. For less than the price of a bottle of OPI, you can try three matte shades and a matte topcoat. Or, if you're like me, you'll just take them out and admire them cause the little bottles are just too freakin' cute.

LA Girl Rock Star Swatches

So.... I've had these since June and didn't finish swatching them until August.... And now that it's almost October I'm finally getting to post them...

Anyway, these are awesome. I've found two new favorite polishes with this collection, and I just looooove looking at these. My first experience with LA Girl has been very positive!


Addict. This is kind of a jelly red-burgundy-wine shade with tons of tiny little shimmering flakes. Some of the flakes look gold, but some take on a redder shade because of the jelly base. Really sexy looking and it reminds me of fall. It's a warmer version of China Glaze Stroll.


Backstage. My least favorite... it's pink. Actually, it's not so bad, it's really pretty cool. It has a bit of duochrome to it. It's a medium almost-dusty pink with tons of shimmer. Different kinds of shimmer. Sort of glass-fleck, little round particles like OPI Hollywood Blonde, tiny broken flakes... And it has a little gold duochrome or flash.


Crowd Surfing. I'm thinking this was meant for layering, it's very sheer. I think this is four coats? Three or four, it's been a while and I don't remember. Haha. It's a sheer blue-green base with green pearly shimmer particles and opalescent flakes.



Double Platinum. A taupe-grey-charcoal toned holographic glitter. It looks cooler indoors and warmer outdoors (I didn't get an indoor picture). I think there's a mix of regular silvery glitter and holo glitter in this, and the base is slightly tinted a smoky color. This is three coats. I've had issues with this one settling- the glitter settles in the bottom a bit so be sure to shake it a lot before you use it.


Electric Guitar. Golden orange shimmer base with glitter and flakes. I can't decide if the glitter in this is holographic or opal-type glitter... It changes colors, but not all of the colors like holo... Either way it's really, really fascinating and pretty.



Groupie. This is one of my new favorite polishes. It may have taken OPI Ink's spot in my top favorite polish list. It's a rich, eye-catching purple (I know, it looks blue in the pictures) with a glass-fleck-like shimmer... The shimmer particles are large and sparkly, like little pearls or diamonds. It also has crazy awesome duochrome that I wasn't able to capture in a picture. It goes all different shades of purple and blue, a little red, maybe a *hint* of gold and green if you catch it at sunset. I need backups.


Head Banging. Shimmery bold teal. Teal doesn't normally make me think of fall, but this one does. I have no idea why. I want to wear this with plaid. This is another shimmer that seems glass-fleck- it has those large, defined shimmer particles and it looks awesome in the sunlight.



Heavy Metal. Black with silver shimmer particles. I'm not calling this glitter, it's too small and fine and not as sparkly/reflective as true glitter. It's large particle shimmer like the rest of the polishes in this line. I am not normally wild about the black with silver shimmer combo, but this one gets my attention. I don't know why... it seems like it stands out more than other similar shades. The shimmer in this one is... more shimmery?


Live On Stage. Gold and holographic glitter in a slightly gold-tinted base. This is kind of similar to Claire's Goldmine and CND VIP Status, but it's not a duplicate of either. The main differences between Live On Stage and those other polishes is that this is a more neutral shade of gold, the glitter balance is slightly different (this has less holo glitter) and the glitter is less dense in this. This is three coats. This one also settles on me like Double Platinum, so I make sure to shake it before applying.


Overdose. A combination of bright blue glitter, red-toned purple glitter and tiny silver glitter. This is so pretty. Right off the bat, I'm sure people will say this is a duplicate of Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink, Wet n Wild Glitz, Sinful Frenzy or Pure Ice... something... Pure Ice has one kinda like this but I can't remember the name. Anyway, this is different than all of those- the overall tone of this one ends up looking blue once applied, and the tiny flecks if silver really brighten the whole look. I prefer this to all of them.

Paparazzi. Pretty hot pink shimmer. Okay, you know I'm not crazy about pink but this isn't so bad. It has depth. It is pretty- look at it! It has large particle shimmer and a sort of violet-pink duochrome.



Party Animal. This one is really cool but wouldn't photograph well. My bottle had also dried up significantly when I went to swatch this so I kinda globbed it on and covered it in topcoat. LOL. Anyway, this is a super, super dark and rich vampy burgundy with lots of little metallic broken flakes, or really big, flat shimmer. Sort of like Addict but darker. Definitely one of my top favorites from this collection.


Punk. Ahhh, this is so cool, I wish I could have gotten better pictures of this!! Are you tired of hearing me say "large particle shimmer" or "glass fleck" yet? Cause I have to say it again. This one is also. It's really vibrant blue with lots of duochrome. The most dominant color of the duochrome is a darker blue or purple shade. There's some pink too... There is more duochrome in the bottle than on the nail, but it is still ridiculously hot.


Rock Star. This is a tough one to describe. It's kind of like that awesome Hot Topic Iridescent Black I had last summer... It's a dark base, black, or maybe black-red. It has tiny little flecks of flat, weird shaped shimmer and they change color. When you change the angle of your nails, you can see that the flecks are iridescent. I didn't seem to capture any of the color shift in either of these pictures, but it's there in real life.



Scandal. I didn't think I'd like this one as much as I do. It's a soft purple, maybe lavender? But it has strong pink duochrome. So it's like a pearly, pinky, purply glass-fleck shimmer with a subtle touch of gold. Not a whole lot of gold, but there's a little in there. This is really sheer, I'm pretty sure this is four or five coats. Probably meant to be sheer, but I don't like sheers. Might be good for layering.


Supernova. A smoky grey base with stringy holographic glitter. This is so cool! I love these types of glitter. It's thinner than bar glitter, so I think that makes it stringy. This is great for layering, but I like it alone too. I did four coats in this picture (and I smudged my middle finger right before I snapped the picture, ugh).


I think this is all of them.... Am I missing one? I ordered all of them so they should all have been photographed... I just can't remember!

The formula on these is... just okay. Not awesome, not horrible. They're a little thick and some are pretty sheer. The drying time is kinda slow but not awful. With Seche Vite these seem to take maybe half an hour to an hour to be *fully* dry and non dentable. They're set almost instantly, and mostly dry in about 10 minutes, but they stay dentable for a little while. I think it's cause I do so many coats.

I love these. Love love love. This is one of the coolest polish lines EVER. I mean... it says Rock Star right on the bottle, I had to have them! I love the names, I love the colors, I love that they're packed with shimmer and glitter and flakes and duochrome. I could go on about these for hours. They rock.

I got all of mine from LA Girl's website. That model on the main page... omg... So cheesy.

Stila 24k Collection

Stila recently released a few products that all contain real 24k gold. The gold is supposed to have 'skin revitalizing effects' but I just think it looks cool! All of the products go really well together, and they're not glittery like I had expected. Just a really delicate, textured shimmer.

There's the Golden Noir Smudge Pot, the Charmed Eyeshadow Palette and 24k Glaze.



Here's the Charmed Eyeshadow Palette... (which appears to be 50% off right now)
Edit: I just noticed that it's $5 cheaper on Sephora.com- $10 for the palette, that's almost like stealing it, LOL


There's a dark golden warm pink shimmer, a bronze-gold shimmer, a teal/aqua shimmer and a black with red pearl. I've looked everywhere on the packaging but I can't find any names for the shades, so they may not actually be named. The texture is true to Stila standards- SUPER soft, smooth, silky. The teal and the black are not very pigmented, but the gold and pink are super pigmented. The look I've been doing with this palette is the pink on the lid, the black in the crease and a little of the gold in the inner corner. I took a picture of it but I can't seem to find it... When I find it or remember what I named it, I'll post it. The other look I've done with this is Gold all over the lid, black mixed with gold in the crease and the blue on the lower lashline.


The Golden Noir smudgepot. I love this. It's so cool. It's a matte black gel liner with big flakes of gold that ACTUALLY SHOW UP!!! The texture is more dry than a MAC Fluidline but not as dry as a Smashbox Creme Liner. It sets pretty quickly so you're not accidentally wiping it off when you try to curl your lashes or rub your eyes later in the day.


This is the Stila 24k Glaze in Brilliant Pink. Unfortunately, I can't find this anywhere online, I didn't realize it but it must have been limited edition. It will likely end up at BeautyCrunch or the CCO at some point, so I don't think it'll be too hard to find.

The 24k Glaze came in a bunch of shades, but this one really stood out to me. It's a deep, bright pink. Not neon-bright, but it definitely adds a little freshness. It's packed to the brim with fine shimmer pearls- a lot like a MAC Dazzleglass. This isn't the standard Stila Lip Glaze texture, either. It's sort of thin and silky, not really thick and sticky. It does need to be re-applied often. It smells really good too, like a... nondescript fruity cake smell? I enjoy it. The only thing I don't like about this gloss is the packaging- yes, it's adorable, but the twisty part that you have to turn to dispense the product leaks. Gloss oozes out the side of the packaging. It's a very flawed design, as I unfortunately discovered by reaching into my purse to pull out a hand full of gloss.


Are you guys Stila fans? I'm a Stila fan. Have you seen THIS????

I think I'm about to faint. Is it getting hot in here???

Nicole by OPI for Fall 2009

Here are two of Nicole's new shades for fall. I hear that there are also two glitters that go along with these- a star-shaped glitter and a holo glitter- but I haven't been able to find them! The glitters were spotted recently in Canada so maybe they'll make their way here soon.

Violet Vibe. Light, frosty, pearly purple shimmer. A purple with more pink tones. It's like an almost pastel version of Nubar Pasadena Purple. Same kind of soft pearly finish. This one was kind of tricky for me to apply. It's thin and frosty plus it's on the sheer side... Not a good combination! I think this is three coats.


You're Blue-tiful. Bright sky blue frosty shimmer. I don't know why my hands look so red in this picture... that's bizarre. Anyway, I really like this polish! I always tell myself I have a million blues and they're all so similar to each other, but every time a new blue comes along I go "Ooooh!" and have to have it. I just really love blue polish! And this is a nice one. Much more opaque and lots easier to apply than Violet Vibe. It's still kind frosty/pearly but not as much as Violet Vibe.


I can't wait to see the glitters in person... I'm a sucker for glitter. I need glitter. I put glitter in my oatmeal.