Essence Colour & Go in Chic Reloaded Swatches and Review

Did you know that Essence Colour & Go polishes recently received a bottle makeover? It's true. They went from a straight-sided circular bottle to a new hourglass shaped bottle. Ulta had some of the new-style Essence polishes in stock and this one really caught my eye- A multichrome! With purple and green! It's called Chic Reloaded.


Essence Colour & Go in Chic Reloaded. This is a dark grey shimmer base with strong teal, blue, green, purple, red/dark pink and gold multichrome color shift. It's really tricky trying to catch all the different colors on camera because the polish is so dark, but I sure tried! You can see them quite clearly in the bottle and they're only slightly less subtle on the nail. The strongest colors are the blue and teal at one angle and the purple and grey at the opposite angle. The red and gold come out on the purple side, but they're not as strong as the other colors.

The formula on this was pretty good. The only problem I had with it was bubbling. It seemed to bubble despite waiting at least 5 minutes in between coats. It dries pretty quickly, so next time I wear it I'll let the coats dry fully before applying the next one to see if it eliminates the bubbling.

I love this color. Kinda reminds me of Borghese Stellare Notte and GOSH Purple Heart. Great color shift, decent formula, and I am really very fond of color-matched handles on nail polish bottles, but the best thing about this polish is that it only costs $2!

Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzing Powder in Milk Chocolate Swatches and Review

If you recall, I previously reviewed Too Faced's original Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzing Powder and found it to be not quite the right shade of bronzer for my skintone. Luckily for those of us with lighter complexions, Too Faced very recently released a second, less deep shade of Chocolate Soleil bronzer called Milk Chocolate. I've been testing out the Milk Chocolate shade and I'm happy to say that it's a much better match for my skin than the original. Here's what it looks like:

Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzing Powder in Milk Chocolate

The new Milk Chocolate shade has the same smooth, silky, chocolate-scented matte formula as the original Chocolate shade, but it's much, much lighter. It is the lightest bronzer color I own.

Too Faced Retractable Bronze-buki Brush

To apply this product, I've been using Too Faced's Bronze-buki instead of my usual flat, square Benefit brush (taken from one of their boxed powders) or my Bare Escentuals Handy Buki. Since the powder is so light I don't have to worry about precision, and the soft, flat bristles of this brush not only feel good on my skin, but do a great job of creating a natural, seamless blended look.

What I liked:

• The Milk Chocolate shade looks perfectly natural on my skintone. Since I don't usually use bronzer to look tan (I use it to add dimension to my cheekbones), this color gives me the subtle shading I need without looking like I'm wearing bronzer. When I want something a little darker, I'll go for Sun Bunny instead.
  
• It blends very well into the skin and doesn't look powdery, chalky or rough. Like I said before, very natural finish.
  
• Since it's matte it doesn't highlight my pores or any rough areas on my skin.
• So far it hasn't made me break out or caused any other skin irritation.
  
• It's chocolate scented!
• The packaging is different from the original Chocolate Soleil that I have so I can easily distinguish between the two.
• Packaging is pretty.

What I didn't like:

• This isn't something that I personally dislike about it, but it is something to take note of: It's very light. It works for me because I'm fair, but if you have medium to dark skin, this may be too light for you.
• The chocolate scent could be a little more realistic. The formula does actually contain real cocoa powder, but I still think it smells like chocolate candle more than actual chocolate.

I'm quite happy with this. It worked out much better for me than the original shade and it's a pretty unique color. It's a lot lighter than any other bronzer in my collection, which makes it easier for someone with very light skin to wear. It doesn't look orange or obvious on me, it just blends in with my skin to create a soft warmth and shading. Too Faced Sun Bunny is still my holy grail bronzer, but this is better for when I want something more subtle/less obviously bronze.

On a semi-related note, Too Faced is currently having their semi-annual vintage sale right now, so you may want to take a look to see what they have. This bronzer isn't on sale, but they do have my favorite glitter eyeliners on clearance for $6 each.

Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzing Powder in Milk Chocolate retails at $29 for 0.10 oz and is available from TooFaced.com.

(This was sent for review.)

Pretty Serious Cosmetics In The Night Collection Swatches and Review

Pretty Serious Cosmetics' newest collection comes out today. It's called In The Night and it's a collection I'm pretty excited about. Why? Because the colors were inspired by one of my favorite video games of all time. I spent so much time with that game when it came out and I'm still obsessed with it today, so it has a lot of meaning for me. It's really not often that a nail polish / cosmetics company comes out with a collection inspired by something that I actually care about, let alone something that I'm fanatic over... so, without further ado... Pretty Serious Cosmetics' In The Night collection.


Pretty Serious Claris. Claris is a bright, slightly milky pink jelly with gold flakes. It looks more cool-toned in the bottle and more warm-toned against my skin. It's very fresh and pretty looking and the gold crushed flake shimmer is shiny and noticeable and looks extremely attractive against the pink base.



Pretty Serious Dream Delight. This one is a deep blue-grey sheer base packed with small sized dark silver glitter and random holographic glitter accents. The holo glitter particles are few and far between and not a major component of the polish. This glitter looks darker than your average silver glitter when it's on the nails, comparable to Butter London Gobsmacked, but lighter and with different sized glitter. One thing I've noticed about this glitter in the couple times I've worn it is that it's really smooth and doesn't eat topcoat. I used a coat of Gelous and a coat of Redi and it stayed glassy smooth until I removed it.


Pretty Serious Elliot. A medium sky blue creme base with shiny, foil-like silver flake shimmer. The shimmer is about the same size or slightly smaller than the flaky shimmer in Claris and just as shiny. At certain angles the shimmer seems to flash blue and it sparkles really nicely in direct sunlight.


Pretty Serious Into Dreams. Into Dreams is a dark red-toned purple with smooth purple shimmer and slightly chunkier pink shimmer. It's dark enough to look vampy and dramatic, but not so dark that it looks black and has invisible shimmer. It's a little bit glowy, but not quite metallic.


Pretty Serious Nightmaren. A rich, glowy warm red with superfine golden shimmer. My pictures do this one absolutely no justice- it's gorgeous. It's deep but not particularly dark, it's warm and soft but it gleams with a golden fire when the light hits it just right. To me it seems like a perfect fall/Thanksgiving to winter/Christmas transition color.


Pretty Serious Nightopia. This one's cool- it changes colors depending on how I look at it. The base is a blue-teal jelly but the shimmer is gold combined with a warmer, more yellow-toned green color. So, depending on the angle, it looks like a sea green that's mostly blue-toned or a grassy green and gold with blue background, a little like Bloom Bianca.

The formula on almost all of these was great, but I did have some trouble with Into Dreams. Into Dreams seemed to dry too fast and clump up as I was applying it and it seemed to bubble every time I wore it. The rest were flawless- thick but smooth, opaque, non-bubbling. I did three coats of each but only Into Dreams needed the third coat. Dry time was average- not crazy fast, not slow either.

Very cool collection. Love the theme, love the colors. Each one reminds me of a different character or level in the game and you can tell that Kaz took the time to mix exactly the right shade for each one instead of just picking random colors to go with the theme like some companies do (*cough* OPI Spider-man *cough*).

The Pretty Serious In The Night collection is available now at pretty-serious.com. Each polish is $9.95 AUD and they ship internationally.

(This was sent for review.)

NARS Andy Warhol Collection Nail Lacquers Fall/Holiday 2012 Preview

I was hoping that NARS would release more nail colors than just Storm Bird for fall, and it turns out they are! There's actually quite a few new polishes coming out with the NARS Andy Warhol collection. Here's a quick preview of the upcoming shades:

NARS Andy Warhol Collection Sephora Exclusive Nail Lacquer Shades

BACK ROOM
Black

NEW YORK DOLLS
Purple

SUPERSTAR

Teal

15 MINUTES
Lemon Yellow

TV PARTY
Vivid orange

Retail: $18
Available October 1 at Sephora and sephora.com

PHOTO BOOTH GIFT SET NAIL POLISH

Silver Factory, Chelsea Girls, Soup Can, Back Room

Andy believed in a trademark look. His silver hair made him look ironically young. His shades added mystery. He looked like he had a secret, even if he didn’t. He was shy of strangers but he liked being famous. He said it gave him an aura.

The gift set includes: BACK ROOM (Black), SOUP CAN (Perfect red), CHELSEA GIRLS (Innocent, flesh-toned beige), SILVER FACTORY (Aluminum)

Retail: $35
Available November 1 at narscosmetics.com

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE GIFT SET

Silver Factory Illuminator, It nail polish, Orgasm Larger than Life Lip Gloss

In 1964 Andy painted flowers because he wanted to make something pretty. Decades later they still look fresh, popping out of any background like a pretty face.

The gift set includes: SILVER FACTORY ILLUMINATOR (Aluminum), IT NAIL POLISH (Black violet), ORGASM LARGER THAN LIFE LIP GLOSS (Peachy pink with golden shimmer).

Retail: $39
Available October 1 at Sephora and sephora.com

BEAUTIFUL DARLING GIFT SET

Candy Darling nail polish, Woman in Revolt Larger than Life Lipgloss, Femme Fatale Duo Eyeshadow

Candy was the ultimate blonde bombshell. She was Andy’s greatest actress. She said “You must always be yourself no matter what the price. It is the highest form of morality.” She thought beauty was a duty and worked harder at it than anyone.

Accompanied by a silver deluxe cosmetics bag, the gift set includes: CANDY DARLING NAIL POLISH (Electric Pink), FEMME FATALE DUO EYESHADOW (Sheer white shimmer and fresh mint green), WOMAN IN REVOLT LARGER THAN LIFE LIP GLOSS (Hot pink).

Retail: $49
Available November 1 at narscosmetics.com

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