EZ Flow We Crave Passion

This is EZ Flow We Crave Passion. I know it's a terrible picture. I'm going to re-do it one of these days. This might be one of the rarest polishes in my collection- I didn't even know EZ Flow did polish! I had never heard of it until I stumbled upon it and I've never seen another since. I've never seen pictures of it or heard anyone mention it. I have no idea how old it is but it's sure as hell not Big 3 Free (you can smell this sucker from a mile away, omg, it's bad). The color is a rich reddish purple with tons of glass-flecky gold shimmer. It's like OPI Peel Me A Gobi Grape on steroids, and frankly, it's about 800 times awesomer.

I have a few other polishes from EZ Flow that I never got around to swatching, but they're pretty cool too... Anyone out there own any from this brand? I wonder what their color line was like. They had at least a purple, a green and a sweet stringy multi glitter!

Recent stash enhancement

Haven't felt much like swatching lately, but I took some bottle pics of some pretty stuff!


Some Ulta brand polishes that were buy two, get two free (isn't that really just buy one get one free?). I forgot the name of the purple one. Material Girl, Envy (yes, envy, not just one but two Ulta green shimmers with envy in the name!) and... Jaded? I must admit I liked the old bottles better because these square caps don't align properly after you open them.



These were on sale at Ulta too! I only had two or three Borghese polishes before this- Espresso Brown and Stellare Notte and one I got on clearance at TJ Maxx which I've never worn and can't find. These are Almondine (really cool nude with speckles!), Plumaggio Purple (which looks awesome with 2010/Hidden Treasure on top) and Menta (super sheer turquoise shimmer that looks too blue in this picture)


Some of the new Finger Paints. I think the multi-colored glitter in the middle of the top picture is limited edition but the rest are permanent! How cool is that?! I couldn't find the one that's supposed to be an Absolutely Alice clone, I'll have to hit another Sally sometime. I think it's awesome that they've added a whole bunch of greens and glitters to their permanent collection.

And of course, the crown jewel... The Ulta Glam Goth collection. This picture kinda turned out weird. But these are awesome. Sure, they're all really similar to other polishes, but they're just so awesome all together like this.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pass out in a miserable allergy-induced coma. *achoo*

Eye of the Day

I'm on a huge makeup kick right now. That silly Bare Escentuals Foiled Eye kit set the whole thing off. I may have hauled just a little too much makeup this month... but... I got a couple of my recent purchases in the mail today and I had to play around a bit. I like how this one turned out.

Natural light.

Flash.


This was:
MAC Paint Pot in Painterly
Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
Fyrinnae Leopard-Print Galaxy on lid
Fyrinnae Dokkálfar in crease
Fyrinnae Arcane Magic Dark Fantasy on lower lashline
Bare Escentuals Emotion with MAC water-based mixing medium as liner
Laura Geller Wonder Wand highlight
Urban Decay Zero tightline
L'Oreal Double Extend with Lash Boosting Serum mascara

The Leopard-Print Galaxy shadow is pretty cool- it's a soft antique gold with kind of a... coral? Coral pink? sheen and shimmer to it. Dokkálfar is awesome in the jar, but I had a hard time keeping the intensity once it was on the lid. I think I need to work on my technique more. Maybe I should use it wet next time.

Bare Escentuals Emotion is *awesome*. It's like if Essie Sexy Divide was an eyeshadow. So glad I got that one. I have plans for this one. Oh yes.

Then I was goofing around taking stupid pictures and ended up with the GIANT SCARY EYEBALL!!!!


OH NOES!!!!!!!

Nubar Night Sky Collection Spring 2010

The Nubar Night Sky collection is a set of three mattes and a bottle of Diamont Seal and Shine topcoat (which is pretty awesome topcoat, I'm a Diamont fan) so you can do a mixed-finish manicure like a matte french with shiny tips or whatever creative idea you can think of. Pics first, my thoughts second.


Midnight Matte. I'm not sure if the name is Midnight Matte or Midnight (matte). The label says Midnight Matte, but I wasn't sure if it was like Borghese's letters (like Espresso Brown F) or Sally Hansen's finish declarations (Trendy Creme!). Anyway. Charcoal matte with lots and lots of silver sparkle. Little bit like Orly Iron Butterfly, but lighter.


Sunset Matte. Medium orange-brown gold with lots of shimmer. Maybe it's just my skintone skewing it, but sometimes it looks like an antique brass shade on me, while in other lights it's definitely gold.


Twilight Matte. Medium silver-grey matte with lots of sparkles. Lighter than Zoya Loredana.


And of course, with topcoat:

Midnight Matte with Diamont

Sunset Matte with Diamont

Twilight Matte with Diamont

With topcoat they transform into super-sparkly foil like shades. Kind of a cross between OPI Suedes and Orly Matte Metals. Lots and lots of shimmer.

And since I had my bottle of 2010 (which is Nubar's 10th anniversary special polish- a flaky opal topcoat) next to me on the table, how about with 2010?

Midnight Matte with 2010

Sunset Matte with 2010

Twilight Matte with 2010

I must say, 2010 looks incredible over these. Instead of being super flashy and obvious like it is over cremes (especially dark ones), it lends a subtle yet fascinating iridescence on the top of the polish without changing the color. I actually wore each of these as a full manicure with 2010 over them and I couldn't stop looking at my nails. It's just really interesting, it looks magical and you just kinda want to look at it for a while to figure it all out.

The formula on these was awesome. These are the best formula mattes I've used. They don't dry while you're applying them so they are very forgiving. They're thin like normal polish, not super thick like some mattes. They dry very quickly and the matte finish is a true matte, none of that sorta-matte satiny rubbery halfway stuff. Opacity is good- I did two coats but if you're careful you can probably do only one coat with Midnight and Sunset.

My first impression of the set was, "More mattes? And not even unique colors. Gold, silver and black. You can already get a gold, silver and black matte from other brands!" And that's when it dawned on me. You can get them from other brands. Lots of people have been getting into the matte thing lately. It's only natural for brands to want to secure a place for themselves. While I would have liked to see more interesting and unique matte colors, I understand why they did these. The formula is at least better than average. And I'm not even sure why I complain about mattes not being unique shades when I have at least six different brands of matte topcoat to mattify any color I want.... I'm rambling now. Deep thoughts about matte polish.


(These were sent to me for review.)

China Glaze Vintage Vixen Fall 2010

Finally had a few hours of sunlight. This has been a weird spring. It feels like it went from winter straight to summer for a week and now it's October.... But it's actually May....

Okay. Here goes.


Bogie. Eggplant frost. More of a metallic than a scary frost. Really rich beautiful color. A little vampy, a little sparkly, a little smoky.


Classic Camel. This color is a light golden straw color in some lights and a spicy mustard color in other lights. It has noticeable gold shimmer. It's the type of color that seems like a work appropriate nude shade but it is unique and unusual and very interesting. It reminds me of a more wearable version of Street Wear Dijon. Would look great on darker skintones- I'd love to see this on someone deeper-toned than me.


Emerald Fitzgerald. Sweeeeeeeet. This is a dark blue-green frost. Emerald. Teal? Whatever shade it is, it's blue tinged. This is another one of those little bit smoky colors. Maybe I'll call it... smoky peacock.

First Class Ticket. Can you guess what I'm going to say? I'll say it anyway. This is a purple polish- purple doesn't photograph well- it's less blue in real life. Dark vampy purple that's still obviously purple and not black looking. It's a 'frost' but really it's more metallic shimmer. No icky brushstrokey silvery aging frosty-frost.

Foxy. You've got to be mine, all mine... Oooh... Foxy lady! Totally a foxy color. Autumn red with a little golden brown and a little burgundy. Lots of shimmer. Very cozy.



Goin' My Way? Good gravy do I ever love this color. It's bronzy-brown with gold shimmer and it's gorgeous. It reminds me of late September. It seems almost duochrome because the bronzy base and the gold shimmer are so reflective... It looks... liquid?


Hey Doll! This one reminds me of Sanna! :D This is a pinky-mauvey soft type of color with silver and champagne toned shimmer. Frost. But it's really shimmer.

Ingrid. Soft taupe-brown with gold shimmer. Another new take on that taupe polish trend. I'm not gonna complain- I love it! It looks like suede.


Jitterbug. Gunmetal-silver foil. A little blue, a little grey, a little sliver. Mostly silver. Super sparkly.

Midnight Mission. HOT!!!! Deep blue (but not too dark) with lots of metallic fleck glitter. It doesn't feel like the traditional particle glitter like, say, Dorothy Who has. It feels like very thin metallic flakes, like the kind foils are made of. Sparkle and drama. Perfect.

Riveter Rouge. Autumn red frost with lots and lots of silver microglitter. Teeny tiny glitter, and this one has the traditional glitter, not the thin flake kind like Midnight Mission. It has a tendency to look bumpy because of the glitter in the frost base, but the overall effect is very eye-catching. Sort of a distant cousin to Crystal Ball, just not as flashy.


Swing Baby. Very pretty champagne foil. The particles are a mixture of different colors- I see silver, gold, champagne and even some darker bronze looking ones. Tons of sparkle.


The formula on these was a little tricky. It has a little case of three-free syndrome. You know how that is- you think you've wiped all the excess polish off the brush and then all of a sudden a drip comes out of nowhere and floods your nail? Yeah, a bit like that. Not horrible or unmanageable like the early three-free formulas, but definitely has that runny-yet-thick thing happening. Application itself was fine once I got the hang of the formula. I did two coats in all these pictures so you can see that the opacity on these is great. The dry time is on the long side.


Overall, I think this collection is perfect for fall. These colors all scream fall to me, and everyone knows fall is my favorite... soooo... It's no great leap of the imagination to figure out that I LOVE THESE! Even the reds. They're so sparkly and velvety and vintage-sexy. I don't know if I can even pick a favorite, I like every single one. I think I might wear Goin' My Way, Midnight Mission, Ingrid, Emerald Fitzgerald, Bogie and Jitterbug the most often... But yeah. I like them all. Good job China Glaze!

When I hear the word 'frost' I shudder. You know how I feel about frosts. I know that I'm definitely not the only one, either. So I was a little worried about these until I saw them. I am extremely relieved that they're not that kind of frost. That would have been a huge bummer.

(The skittle swatches are here in case you wanted to compare the sunlight swatches to indoor light.)

(These were sent to me for review.)

Just saw these too- Orly Plastix

Embrace Retro Textured Classics with…

ORLY’s New Plastix Collection

ORLY, the company that continually pioneers the Nail Lacquer arena with the most cutting edge colors, technology and textures, introduces the Plastix Collection. Complementing the Fall 2010 runway looks that featured bright neon colors amid shiny black plastic, latex, and rubber reinventions of vintage must-haves, Plastix evokes the vintage classic trend with four new lacquers and a unique new formula that coats the nails with a smooth glossy matte “plastic” finish. The exclusive finish and texture is a first in the nail category, delivering a monochromatic, shiny and rubbery look that takes experimentation to an entirely new level, with the focus being on both the distinctive nail surface, as well as the latest in color trends. The unique look can not be achieved with color alone as the finish is a must for recreating the true “plastic” statement.

Old School Orange: classic orange

Retro Red: traditional red

Purple Pleather: shiny purple

Viridian Vinyl: glossy blue-green

All ORLY Nail Lacquers including the Plastix Collection are free of DBP and all traces of Toluene, Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde resin.

The Plastix Collection Lacquers will be available beginning July 2010 for $7.50 each. ORLY Nail Lacquers and Treatment products are available at orlybeauty.com, Sally Beauty, Ulta and fine salons and spas throughout the U.S. and in over 70 countries worldwide.

Orly Fall 2010 Cosmic Fx

Just saw this info :O Sounds incredible!

ORLY Cosmic FX

Next Generation Nail Lacquers Offer the Latest Texture and Color Innovations…

As ORLY continues to pioneer the nail category with distinct and trend setting finishes and color, the brand introduces its latest addition to its portfolio of textured finishes with Cosmic FX. The new, limited-edition collection delivers multi-dimensional flashes of intense shimmering shine that is so electrifying your nails will explode with color! This lighting phenomenon is achieved by ORLY’s exclusive MINERAL FX technology.

The innovation infuses natural rock minerals, crystals, and glass to give nails a special optical effect with extreme luster, rich pearlescence, and a smooth, sparkling spectrum of concentrated color.

The MINERALFX technology includes specialty mica, that allows for a clearer, vibrantly bright lustrous shimmer. Crystals allow for a multi-dimensional color transformation. Glass particles carefully controlled in shape and size create a luminous phenomenon. This combination infused with the Silica and specific colors selected create this exclusive technology that gives nails a unique optical effect that’s magnified as the lighting source intensifies or viewing angle changes.

Cosmic FX perfectly accentuates the looks seen in the Fall 2010 runway collections – from the futuristic Audrey Hepburn at Miu Miu to Ann Demeulemeester’s feathered and metal cuffs and Issey Miyake’s colorful leggings.

The six Lacquers in the Cosmic FX Collection include:

Lunar Eclipse: Blue with Pink Purple Fx

Galaxy Girl: Purple with Blue Green Fx

It’s Not Rocket Science: Green with Gold Blue Fx

Space Cadet: Green with Purple Gold FX

Halleys Comet: Turquoise with Green Yellow Fx

Out of this world: Purple with Pink Silver Fx

Apply two coats of the Nail Lacquer to achieve the ultimate in color.

All ORLY Nail Lacquers including the Cosmic FX Collection are free of DBP, Toluene and all traces of Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde Resin.

The Cosmic FX Lacquers will be available starting September 2010 for $10.00 each. ORLY Nail Lacquers and Treatment products are available at orlybeauty.com, Sally Beauty, Ulta and other purveyors of beauty throughout the U.S. and in over 70 countries worldwide.

Playing with MAC Old Gold Pigment

I've been obsessed with Old Gold lately. I've been wearing it for nearly a week straight, I only broke my streak on Sunday when I wore that BE Foiled Eye kit again.

I've been doing a variation on the same look, trying to get the most duochrome/iridescent effect as possible out of my shadows. I only got two looks to sort of turn out in pictures. I think I'm pretty good at taking pictures of my own hands now, but I haven't quite gotten the hang of eyeball pictures yet. I guess I need more practice. I can't seem to get the lighting right to catch the colors.

Anyway, I liked this one:

Natural light.



Flash and blurry, the shimmer and sparkle really shows up this way! So weird, the blurrier the picture, the better the glitter looks!

This one was:

MAC Paint Pot in Painterly
Fyrinnae Sake and Sashimi wet on outer half of lid
MAC Old Gold on inner half of lid
Too Faced Galaxy Glam shadow in Moon Beam in the crease and lower lashline
Urban Decay Liquid Liner in Lucky
Urban Decay 24/7 in Zero to tightline
Laura Geller Wonder Want highlight

This makes me think 'dryad'.
I love how it shifted from brown to different shades of green when I turned my head or blinked. All the shadows had some level of iridescence but it still seemed kinda dark to me. I needed to lighten it a little without losing any duochrome so I tried slightly different colors:

This one was:

MAC Painterly
MAC Old Gold all over lid
Too Faced Moon Beam in crease, lower lashline and mixed with Old Gold on outer edge of lid
MAC Golden Lemon on inner corner
Urban Decay Lucky liner with Fyrinnae Ink in Lovers Quarrel layered over it
Urban Decay 24/7 in Zero
Laura Geller Wonder Wand

Slightly different overall look. Not quite as dark, which I liked, but it didn't seem as duochromey. I tried one with Blue Brown and Old Gold and I didn't care for it. Must experiment more...


EDIT: D'oh! Forgot to say! Any recommendations for duochrome/iridescent shadows? I have quite a few but I am so crazy about them that I think I need all of them... ever. Every duochrome shadow in the universe. lol

First try with BundleMonster

I just found out about this BundleMonster thing what... last week? But I wish I'd learned of it sooner!

For the people who have no idea wtf I'm talking about, BundleMonster is a company that sells various things and among them are these marvelous Konad-style image plates. Basically they're off brand Konad plates with more interesting designs.

The first design I tried was the stars and I forget which plate number that is, but I think you can only order all the plates at once now so the star will be in there somewhere.

First, with Konad Black special polish over BB Couture Coal Miner. I like this very much.


Then with China Glaze Millennium over Coal Miner. Pretty, but after wearing these around for a day, I think I prefer the black-over-grey. That and my chrome designs sometimes come out funny cause I work too slowly.

A strange thing I noticed with this particular design is that it seems... too deep? After I scrape the plate and pick up the image, there's always a lot of polish left in the large star.

The plates seemed pretty similar to real Konad plates with a few obvious differences. First, these BundleMonster ones are SHARP!! They have no paper backing like Konad and they feel really thin. They require you to remove the protective plastic film on the face of the plate before use and I nearly sliced every finger open trying to complete that task.

Second, the full nail designs aren't as big as Konad's designs so if you have larger nails, you'll have to stamp twice or something because they're short and narrow.

I'll try out some more designs next time I'm inspired to do so, but my first impression of these was definitely a good one.

OPI Summer Flutter Collection Summer 2010

This is one of those mini-collections OPI does right around summertime... Like last year's Sunbelievable or Night Brights.

I actually thought this was going to be just like Sunbelievable when I saw the promo pics, but I was totally wrong.

Oh, it's a bummer, but I couldn't get any sunlight pics of these. Because... there was no sun. But I think they look pretty good indoors!


Catch Me In Your Net. Super sparkly glittery blue with gold glitter and subtle green duochrome. It's so sparkly my camera couldn't focus on it! Kinda sweet. You may be thinking, "Why, that looks like Zoya Charla!" I would have to say to you... You're right. It does. It's practically dead-on identical. Look:

Index and ring fingers: OPI Catch Me In Your Net
Middle and Pinkie: Zoya Charla

The reason I'm not calling it 100% identical is visible in that comparison. Charla is sparklier. It's more opaque, too. Those are both three coats and you can see visible nail line on the OPI but not on the Zoya. It also seems that the sparkle/glitter particles in Charla are larger. But, color-wise, they're the same. Only minute differences.

Flit a Bit. Standard orange creme. Not too red, not too yellow. I love it , but I can't say it's unique. Why is this the only creme in the collection? This might have been cool with some glitter, too. Maybe that's why they decided to make Nicole Traffic Cone. Not many glittery oranges in existence!


Flower to Flower. Under fluorescent lighting, the shimmer in this looked gold to me. In daylight I can clearly see that the shimmer is silver. That's... weird. Anyway. This is a bright cool bubblegum pink with fine silver shimmer. Very pretty, and it adds a surprising pop of color on my cool skintone.



Wing It! This as a very unusual color. It's very hard to describe. It's a deep reddish pink at some angles and it's weird murky pink-orange at others... So weird murky orange-pink jelly totally packed with blue-violet iridescent glass fleck shimmer. Or glitter. Glittery shimmer. Gorgeous. I wish OPI would do more of these duochrome-glass fleck- glitter type polishes cause I think they're AMAZING! Really eye-catching, even in low light.


The formula was great. Much better than the Shrek ones and more like the OPI formula I'm used to. Not thick, not thin, not goopy, not runny. I did three coats of all, but only the two glitters needed the third. Dry time was good. Dries to a shiny finish without topcoat. I don't know why I mention that in my review, cause you should be using topcoat anyway. But not all polish does dry shiny without topcoat, so... it's relevant, right?

Overall, I think this is a cute little collection. I'm happy with it. It has two glitters and orange! I want OPI to do more of these glass fleck style of glitters. They look awesome. Do a purple one!

(These were sent to me for review)

China Glaze Vintage Vixen Fall 2010 Quick Skittle Swatches

I really want to get some full swatches of these in sunlight before I do my full review. I haven't seen the sun in over a week so... I don't know when I'll be able to get that finished... But, I like these so much I couldn't wait to post them.

All are two coats.

Left to right (pinkie to index):
Jitterbug (smoky grey foil)
Midnight Mission (midnight blue with silver glitter)
Bogie (eggplant frost)
Hey Doll (rose mauve frost)

Classic Camel (pale golden yellow with gold shimmer)
Ingrid (taupe with gold shimmer)
First Class Ticket (deep purple with blue shimmer)
Emerald Fitzgerald (smoky blue-green shimmer)

Swing Baby (champagne-gold foil)
Goin' My Way? (brown with red-gold shimmer)
Foxy (autumn copper with red-gold shimmer)
Riveter Rouge (deep red-burgundy frost with lots of microglitter)

So cozy and fall-like. Makes me want to get out my plaid skirts and corduroy pants. Hope to have better pictures for a full review as soon as possible!

Bottle pics of new stuff including China Glaze Vintage Vixen, OPI Summer Flutter and MAC Superglass

I'm actually really super excited about these new collections. Finally, something I can't wait to post!

Why am I so excited about this stuff? One word.

Glitter.

Hopefully I'll get good enough lighting to swatch these soon, but for now, how about some bottle pics??


OPI's Summer Flutter 2010 collection. Wing It! (weird duochromey murky shimmery pink), Catch Me In Your Net (glittery blue-green duochrome shimmer, looks just like Zoya Charla), Flower to Flower (bright candy pink with gold shimmer), Flit a Bit (orange creme).



China Glaze Vintage Vixen! These seem right up my alley. Dark and full of microglitter. China Glaze keeps calling them frosts, but they don't look all that frosty to me- a few of them look like foils! I haven't tried them on to be sure, but I don't think they're frosty ick like we've been dreading.

Classic Camel, Ingrid, Swing Baby, Goin' My Way?, Foxy, Riveter Rouge.

Hey Doll, Bogie, First Class Ticket (which is dark purple, not blue), Midnight Mission, Emerald Fitzgerald, Jitterbug.

Oh yeah, don't forget that you can click the pictures to enlarge them. They're huge. You can see more detail that way.

These are Nicole's summer ones... But I don't know anything about them. I don't know the name of the collection or if they're exclusives or anything... All I know is... glass fleck!! Foily blue! Glittery sheer pink! A New Kind Of Blue, Rent A Magenta, Nail Ya Azalea (lol), Yum-Egranate (running out of name ideas, OPI??), Traffic Cone, Oy Oy Oyster (OPI goes punk?)


And my Superglasses that arrived yesterday. I love them. I want them all now. This is Fab Frenzy, Tunnel of Love and Superflash. I've only worn Fab Frenzy so far and that one looks great on me. Ahhhhhh so cool! Look at the little blue flashes of glitter in there!!