Nails Inc. Chesham Street

Seeing Nails Inc at Sephora earlier this week reminded me... I've never posted this! It's the one and only Nails Inc polish I have.


This is Nails Inc Chesham Street. I've seen another Nails Inc polish online named Chesham Place that seems like a similar color, but the label on this one definitely reads Chesham Street. Anyway, I bought this because in the bottle pictures online it looked like an amazing blue/green/purple duochrome. Sadly, almost none of the duochrome shows up on my nails. It's still a really pretty blue shimmer with a purple base, but not what I thought it would be. I'm beginning to wonder if my bottle has something wrong with it because I've seen lots of other pictures with a purple duochrome clearly visible on the nail, but mine doesn't have it. It's pretty either way.

The formula was okay. It's a bit watery so it has a tendency to spread out more than I want it to. This shade is pretty old so the formula may have changed since I got this. The big round cap is a little awkward to hold on to while using.

So, there's the extent of my Nails Inc collection! Now that they're more accessible and I'm interested in trying more colors... Any recommendations for me?

Limited Edition LORAC Tantaleyes Palette Summer 2011

LORAC is making me change my mind about baked eyeshadows. Almost all the baked eyeshadows I've ever used have applied flaky or unevenly pigmented... These are different. But before I talk about how much I love the shadow formula, let me first rave about the packaging:

It's holographic. I mean, seriously... does it even need saying? Of course I'm crazy about this packaging. You all know me well enough to know that I'm insane about cool packaging, especially anything holo or shiny.


And this one is holo all the way across. It's made of a soft, cushiony gold chrome vinyl that shows crazy hologram rainbows when you tilt it. The LORAC nameplate is a solid gold colored metal that adds to the luxe, gold-plated look of the palette.


Inside the palette is even more gold. The inside is entirely covered in shiny gold metallic foil.



Even the shadows themselves are dresesd in gold. Each shade has some gold metallic sparkle to it.


Here they are swatched over bare skin. No base or primer at all and look at how vibrant they are! The first shade is an olive green with antique gold, the second is a dark copper-bronze-burgundy metallic, then a brassy bronze and the last is a white gold.

This palette comes paired with a small tube of LORAC Tantalizer Body Bronzing Luminizer:


This is what it looks like halfway blended on my arm. My skin tone is on the fair side and has pink undertones and this is absolutely the wrong color for my skin. It shows up oddly red-toned, very orangey bronze and very shimmery. There's a ton of gold shimmer in this so it looks a little iridescent on your skin. The upside to this is that it smells amazing. A cool, creamy vanilla scent. Reminds me of the scent of MAC Chromeglass. I adore the smell, they should take out the orangey bronze pigment and sell this as a body lotion! Keep the shimmer, though, cause it's pretty.

Here's an easy look I did using two of the colors from the palette:

This was:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
White gold shade all over lid
Green shade in crease and on lower lashline
Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liner in Flash as liner

Looks pretty on brown eyes, but I think that golden/brassy color would look amazing against blue eyes.

What I liked:

• Eyeshadow formula is AMAZING. Best baked shadows I have ever used. Intensely pigmented, soft, creamy, easily blendable, completely flawless.
• Shadows have a brightening/illuminating effect on the eyes and eye area.
• Palette design is insanely cool.
• Great color palette, all colors go well together.
• Tantalizer bronzer smells really good.

What I didn't like:

• Tantalizer bronzer is the wrong color for me. It's really dark and earthy-orangey.
• Price is a little high ($36) for only four shadows, but the quality and design are worth it.
• The outside of the palette is really delicate and gets scratched and dented very easily.
  

There wasn't a thing I disliked about the shadows. I had no idea LORAC had such great baked shadows. They're so silky and shiny and the payoff is fantastic.

This is limited edition, but it's still around. You can get it directly from LORAC, or at Ulta (but it's not online there anymore)

(This was sent to me for review.)

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Halloween 2011!

OMG you guys! You have to see what just showed up on my doorstep!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail art appliques in HALLOWEEN DESIGNS!!!

I can hardly type because I'm so excited about these designs. These are SO COOL.



The desings are HOT WIRED, which is a barbed wire pattern in black against a lime green background, and GHOULIE GIRL, which is orange and white ghosts over a black background.

The ghosts even have little eyeballs! So cute! And I love that name. Ghoulie Girl. Awesome.


I'll probably be testing these out closer to Halloween, but I just had to show you the packages right away. Summer is over for me now... I've moved on to fall already. I don't care that it's still 85º outside.

(These were sent to me for review.)

Claire's Bedazzled

Saw this one at Claire's a couple weeks ago. It seemed like it might be a cheap substitute for Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday and the polishes were buy one get one half off and I needed a second polish! The other one I got was the Hyper/Relaxed mood polish, which is seriously cool.

Claire's Bedazzled This is two coats. It's shockingly opaque for such a chunky glitter, usually these are best for layering, but with three coats you could get complete coverage. It's thick, but the glitter is super densely packed. It's basically just super shiny multicolor barf in a clear base.


Here's one coat over black. Well, almost black. It's a-england Lancelot, which is a very dark wine color that looks pretty much black. Anyway, this brings out the colors in the glitter more than wearing it alone and lets you see the different shapes that are in it.


For reference, here's Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday over black. You can see from this picture that they're not exactly duplicates of each other, but they're similar. Milani Gems is closer but it doesn't have the pretty pink glitter that's in Happy Birthday. I really like the square glitter in Happy Birthday.

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear Pumpkin Spice

My first Halloween polish of the year! I'm so excited!


Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear in Pumpkin Spice. This is the polish all by itself, four coats. It is very sheer, good for layering, but looks just fine by itself. It's a shiny pumpkin orange glitter suspended in a murky green-grey base. It's sort of similar to China Glaze Ick-A-Body:

But not a dupe. China Glaze Ick-A-Body has a greener base and a lot more glitter.


Here it is layered (two coats) over my existing Finger Paints Cordur-Orange mani. Looks great over orange.



This is one coat of Pumpkin Spice over Sinful Medusa. Medusa is a rich brown shimmer and it really brings out the orange-ness of the glitter.



Then I had to try it over OPI Black Tie Optional (thanks for the layering suggestion, Anne-Marie!), which is a dark purple/grey duochrome color and it looks really nice with little glints of purple shining through.


Sure, it's a little sheer, but it doesn't bother me. It's called PUMPKIN SPICE!! And I have this thing about pumpkins.

Speaking of pumpkins, you'll never guess what I have. Okay, well, I suppose I gave it away by saying "speaking of pumpkins," but... I still have a pumpkin from last Halloween! I know, I can't believe it lasted this long. It was the Halloween pumpkin... Then it was the Christmas pumpkin... The Valentine's pumpkin... The St. Patrick's pumpkin, the Easter pumpkin and even the 4th of July pumpkin... And just this morning I noticed it starting to get its first soft spot... Doesn't look like it'll make it to another Halloween, but wow... I bought that thing in mid-October 2010 and here we are, end of July 2011...

Physician's Formula Eye Candy Collection Shimmer Strips Palettes and Liners

I've been drugstore makeup shopping a lot recently... I've been really impressed with how much drugstore makeup quality has improved since I stopped buying it ages ago. I've had some supreme misses, but a lot more surprising hits! Anyway, I've been dying to try out those Physician's Formula eyeliners with the gorgeous chrome packaging and saw these sets. I took it as a sign that I finally had to try them! These sets are a really good deal because you get the color coordinated Shimmer Strips eyeshadow plus the three liners for only $11.99. These were the only two my store had, but I'm curious to try the other eye color sets now.

Physician's Formula Eye Candy Collection kits; left one is for hazel eyes, right one is for green eyes. I have neither... heh.


This is the Shimmer Strip eyeshadow for the hazel eyes set. Nice shimmery taupes, silvers and greys plus a candy pink.


The green eye color enhancing Shimmer Strip. Purple, lavender, pink and green. Very shimmery.

I've tried Physician's Formula Eye Color Enhancing Shimmer Strips before, but I haven't used these ones yet. The other one I used was pretty nice. I just realized that the other one I have is the Hazel Eyes one, but it has slightly different colors!

The liners. Oh man, will you LOOK at that PACKAGING?! It's chrome! Bright, colorful chrome! This needs to win some sort of 'awesome packaging' award. Can't get over how awesome these tubes look. Sadly, the liners aren't shiny chrome metallic like the tubes, but they're still pretty great:

You're going to want to enlarge these photos. The first three are the green eyes trio colors, the last three are the hazel eyes trio colors. The black shades from each set have colored shimmer corresponding to the color of the band on the liner tube! The green one has bright green shimmer, the hazel one has pink/purple shimmer. Amazing.

I love the colors, but I have some minor complaints. The first being that they're not chrome like I had mistakenly assumed they'd be. That's okay. The second is that they're kinda sheer and I need to go over my line a few times to get the color intensity I wanted from them. They are nice and smooth but not as smooth as an Urban Decay 24/7 or Milani Liquif'Eye. They last just as long, they're waterproof but you can still smudge them a bit.

The shimmer isn't really that noticeable, but if you do a thick enough line you can see it when the light hits it just right.

I like these liners enough that I'd buy them again. The packaging ROCKS and the colors are really cool. I don't know about the shimmer strips because I haven't worn them yet, but I really just bought these for the liners since the set with both only costs $1 more than the liners by themselves. Next time I'm out I'm going to see if I can find the blue and brown eye sets.

So... heads up if you've been wanting to try the liners or the shadows, these sets are an awesome deal.

Finger Paints Fall Fashionista Collection Fall 2011

Finger Paints' Fall Fashionista collection is all creme. No shimmer at all! I'm really surprised to not see a single shimmer or glitter, but also relieved that there aren't any frosts.


Catwalk Queen. NICE! A murky, dirty dijon mustard color! This is much more yellow than China Glaze Trendsetter (and it's a creme), Street Wear Dijon or China Glaze Classic Camel. It has a tan/cafe tone to balance the yellow and a very dirty/cloudy element that keeps it from looking stark or chalky.



Cordur-Orange. Hands down, my favorite polish in the collection. This may even become my top favorite orange, and that's saying something. This is the most perfect autumn orange. It's warm and cozy, not bright but not too muddy and has this most autumnal 'spiced pumpkin' look to it that's hard to describe. It's muted, yes, but also bold. Saturated. Very, very orange. But not neon, not pure pumpkin, not candy corn... I can only describe it as fall in a bottle. Love this SO much.


Haute Taupe. Light taupe creme, muddy finish, hint of purple but mostly grey and brown. I like it, but I'm still completely taupe'd out.



Military Green. Ooh, interesting. A light and very greyed-out green. Blue toned green, not yellow. Sorta reminds me of Essie Da Bush, but darker and bluer. It bubbled a little on me, but that's probably my fault for doing such a thick coat on the first coat.



Purple Pinstripe. Sort of a... berry purple? A medium red-toned purple with a dusty finish. Nice color, but not unique.



Raspberry Taffeta. (Spelled Raspberry Tafetta on the label, not sure which is the actual name) And this one's a true berry, strong red-purple look to it. DO NOT WANT.



Stunning Stilettos. Very light cloudy grey creme with a pale blue undertone. Again, pretty but not unique.



To-Teally Chic. This looks way more bright blue in my picture, but it's really a medium teal. More green tone. Think Barielle A Bouquet For Ava.



Vintage Velvet. A really dusty/smoky/faded light teal. Makes me think of Misa Dirty Sexy Money, but this is darker and bluer. Same dusty finish on a teal creme.


The formula on these was beautiful. They were very thick, but completely smooth and even. One coat opacity on all the shades except Stunning Stilettos. One coat! I love that. I did two anyway because I was curious. Long dry time, but all shades dry to a super glossy finish even without topcoat.

Overall... I feel indifferent toward the collection as a whole, but I am in LOVE with Cordur-Orange and quite fond of Catwalk Queen. Most of these are colors we've seen before, but the advantage these have is a one-coat opaque formula. That, and they're inexpensive. I do wish this collection wasn't so somber looking, but I see the theme they were going for. Maybe they'll do something more cheerful for winter.

I think these fall collections are starting to look depressing to me... Anyone else? Such faded, drab colors... And I do like drab colors but there's so many of them this year with no sparkle to balance them! Really have my fingers crossed that all the holiday collections will be sparkly and happy this year.

(These were sent to me for review.)

Nina Ultra Pro Mossy Britches

I need a little break from posting fall collections. I'm almost done with them, but right now I just want to post something random and fun from my stash!


Nina Ultra Pro Mossy Britches. I think I've only posted about Nina Ultra Pro one other time (Purple X-ing), but I really should post about them more often! They have a fairly small range of colors, but most of them are interesting ones, like this... Mossy Britches is the most gorgeous olive green with a gold shift. I don't know if I'd call it a true duochrome, but it can look more green or more gold depending on the angle. It's a little bit streaky, but most of the streaks disappear after the polish dries.

The formula is pretty good, a little runny, but nothing too extreme. The bottle and brush are very basic, generic even, but again, not bad. The dry time is a little long.

The only place I've ever seen these is Sally Beauty. They have them listed online, but it looks like only a small selection compared to the in-store displays. They're $4.29 each, $3.79 if you have a Sally Beauty Club Card.

Maybelline Limited Editon Shine Sensational Pop Sticks Summer 2011

Saw these while out grocery shopping and I just HAD to have them!

These are the new Maybelline Shine Sensational Pop Sticks. Check out that packaging- it's transparent neon pink plastic! So 90s. Love it. Okay, maybe it's a little tacky, but still... It looks so cool and glowing!

I picked up two of the four shades: Fruit Punch and Raspberry Ice. The other two were Pink Lollipop and Citrus Slice.

This is Fruit Punch. Gaaah, this is the coolest looking lipstick/lip balm/lip gloss/whatever this thing is EVER. It looks like it's made of plastic, or candy or Jell-o or something fun like that! Fruit Punch is sort of an orange-red shade, but it doesn't look like much on the lips. It has a fruity-perfumey-sweet smell.


Raspberry Ice. This is a more pink-red shade than Fruit Punch, but they're really not that different from each other. Like Fruit Punch, it provides only the barest hint of sheer tint on the lips; it's essentially clear. The scent of this one is a slightly more acidic fruit scent than Fruit Punch, but still with that perfumey-lipstick undercurrent.

I'm generally not a fan of Maybelline anything so I didn't really expect these to be amazing. I bought them as a novelty because they look like a less expensive version of the Clarins Crystal Smooth balms:


And you know, these Maybelline ones aren't so bad. They're nothing amazing formula-wise, but they're certainly not bad! They feel really hard and don't melt like a balm. They apply like a thin lipstick, but the hard feeling is so bizarre! It's like they're made of plastic. They leave a thin layer of somewhat balmy product on the lips, with a light scent and only a hint of color. They aren't shiny like a gloss. Very odd product, but cool nonetheless.


I might buy the other two shades if they go on sale or there's a coupon, but for now I'm happy with the ones I chose. They really don't do much, they just look cool!