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carinaeletoile

Nubar – Purple Rain Glitter

Monday, 22 November, 2010

Everytime I was writing Purple Rain Glitter on the images, I kept thinking I got the name wrong. Maybe it was Purple Rain and I added the word “Glitter” as a reminder of what it was. Nope. Checked the label, Purple Rain Glitter.

Ok, so for once my desire to constantly edit didn’t stand in the way!

What was cool about this purple is that it’s like a royal purple – very pretty and very flattering. Tossed into all of that is this nutty sparkly glitter. I don’t know where this all came from, but I’m suddenly having a huge love of purple nail polish. Like I don’t understand why when I normally never gave purple a second glance. Lately, I’ve been gravitating towards purple and I’m a bit dismayed/puzzled by my choices.

Oh well, I won’t dwell on it, but I do know that I love purple polishes now.

Ka-ching! Check out the Purple Rain Glitter goodness. Of course, I did have Prince’s Purple Rain running in my head as I was applying this color, but only because I’m so utterly predictable.

Sunlight, once again, shows my deficiency in polish application. I wish I weren’t so heavy handed!

Wimpy macro shot

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Essie – Limited Addiction

Friday, 19 November, 2010

I haven’t worn red nail polish a lot in the past few years. I think it’s mostly because I wore it for 6 years straight. Loved red nail polish…no other color would do.

Then Chanel’s Rouge Noir (aka Vamp) came along, relegating all my reds to the end of the line.

Lately, I’ve been feeling the need for red again. Like I’m going to seriously binge on red nail polish until I feel I no longer need to wear it again.

That said, I’m wearing Essie’s Limited Addiction in these pictures. LA is part of Essie’s Winter/Holiday 2010 collection. *swoons* I loved how it looked on me – it was lovely and so seductive, but not in a trampy way! Application was flawless – dried quickly and was opaque in two coats, despite my heavy handed application. See for yourself!

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comparison

Essie – Smokin’ Hot vs Zoya – Kelly

Wednesday, 17 November, 2010

Essie’s Smokin’ Hot is literally, smokin’ hot. It’s gorgeous. It’s plummier, yummier. So gorgeous. Hotter. It’s a great way for Essie to say hello to the Holidays for 2010. Zoya’s Kelly holds its own quite well and is gorgeous, but when pitted against Essie, I definitely prefer Smokin’ Hot.

While Essie shines in color, it is, quite sadly, deficient in application. A bit moody – in that godawful once a month kind of way. It took three coats to get it to the color you see in the pictures and it took forever and a day to dry. It held me up for the day I had allocated for swatching. Zoya dried quickly and only needed two coats.

I really should’ve had taken a picture of these colors in artificial lighting because that’s where they both fall extremely similar – you would almost never be able to tell the difference.

Anyway, come see what I mean below. I also tested for wearability on both and found they held their own after 3 days – all you’ll see is tip wear and my ghetto cuticles. It’s my right hand – what can I say?

Essie Smokin Hot Zoya Kelly

.Essie Smokin Hot Zoya Kelly

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China Glaze – Peace on Earth vs NARS – Mash

Tuesday, 16 November, 2010

When I saw these greens separately, I thought, “Could one be a dupe for the other?” Well, let me just test it out!

While both formulas were excellent – quick drying and opaque in two thin coats, there was a world of difference between the colors themselves. See below for the comparison.

As always, click the thumbnails until they become huge.

Mash is more on the green side while POE has more yellow in it. Both were flattering on my skin, despite the warm undertone. Yay! Please excuse the big old chip on my pinkie finger. I had been wearing the color for a week and then remembered to take a picture.

Sunlight couldn’t really bring any real depth to the shade shot, but you can still see the difference.

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American Apparel – Factory Grey

Monday, 15 November, 2010

First off — check out Belle, Bath and Beyond’s giveaway for Asian nail polishes: http://bellebathandbeyond.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/elianto-racing-green-other-nail-polishes-from-the-far-east-giveaway/

Definitely my first time trying out American Apparel. While I chose a color I feel has been done to death, the application for this was pretty good.

I chose grey for Monday because … it’s Monday and I have a blue on tap that really isn’t worthy of being dubbed a Monday Morning Blue, either. It’s bright and perky…and will be displayed tomorrow. I promise! Today’s Monday was (I thought) going to be grey and maybe a little depressing. Instead, the sun is shining and it’s feeling a little on the warm side. As I said yesterday in my Twitter – it’s mid-November, where the heck is my fall weather?!

Formula was a tad bit on the streaky side, but I could manage that. It was also fast drying. Woo hoo!

See below for the pics.

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OPI – Burlesque Glitter Givewaway

Monday, 8 November, 2010

Congrats to Jessica v Polish – the winner of this contest.

Keep an eye out because on December 1, I will be having another giveaway – this time for China Glaze’s Holiday Collection.

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED — THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

Winner will be announced on Monday.

It’s my mother’s birthday this Friday…so in honor of her, I decided to stage this giveaway that ends on her birthday.

Why did I choose glitter as the giveaway? Well…my mother and I have this crazy love for anything that glitters and shines. The glitter loving apple doesn’t fall far from the glitter loving tree!

Yes, you are reading correctly.

Yes, I am giving away these 6 awesome OPI Burlesque Glitters. See the prettiness on me in this blog entry.

How do you score a chance at winning them? You have 3 ways to enter, so that means 3 shots at winning!

But before I go on, here are necessary details you must know.

Contest ends on November 12, 2010, at 11:59PM (23:59) PST. Any entries time stamped after that will not be considered.

Now, how do you enter, you ask…

1) Follow this blog on Google Friend Connect to the right of this entry.

2) Follow me on Twitter: carinaeletoile then Tweet the following: @carinaeletoile is giving away the glitters from OPI’s Burlesque collection – enter for a chance to win!  http://wp.me/pUcSL-Ah

3) Reply to this entry with your name – please make sure you have an email address attached to your name when you post a reply.

4) BONUS ENTRY! If you’re a member of Yelp, add me as a friend – http://carinam.yelp.com

Final notes:

If I reach over 100 followers on my blog and over 100 followers on Twitter, I’ll be tossing in an extra something something along with the prize. You never know what it will be, but I guarantee you you will be surprised in a good way. Not a scary way. I promise! *pinkie swear*

This contest is open internationally as well as domestically.

Good luck and let’s hope I reach 100+

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Orly – Lunar Eclipse

Monday, 27 September, 2010

This blue is amazing. I wasn’t able to capture the gorgeous purple shimmer that was in it. I get compliments on it – even from people who don’t like blue nail polish. I love this color and I wear it whenever I can, even bumping aside tried and true colors that I wear. I have to get a back up for this one, too!

This lovely polish is part of Orly’s Cosmic F/X for Fall 2010.

The formula is amazing – quick drying and opaque within two coats.

In the shade shots you can see the gorgeous purple shimmer in the bottle, but it didn’t translate well into the picture, but in real life the purple shimmer/flashes were just…amazing. This is definitely a color that’s well worth the purchase.

The sunlight drowned out the purple shimmer, but it is there! But it’s just beautiful, isn’t it?

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Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War

Thursday, 23 September, 2010
Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War Sunlight

I missed the boat on the first round, but when Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War was re-released you can bet I was all over it. I am so glad I did.

While some hated Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War, on me when I was wearing it, I liked it and didn’t really care what others said.

I didn’t count on posting 3 Rescue Beaty Lounges in a row, but in case you can’t tell I am a huge fan. Formula on this was a bit runny, but it was opaque in two coats. Please don’t mind the heavy handed application on the ring finger. Loved that this dried super quick. I was done in under half an hour – that’s pretty darn good.

I know a few bloggers who are not fond of shades like this. They call them ‘poo’ colors. I saw this and just thought, “What a pretty olive green this is…” I’m so glad that I totally scored Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War.

Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War Sunlight.

Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War Sunlight

Now that you’ve seen Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War, do you feel like you’ve missed the boat on this? Will you be trying to find a way to get your hands on a bottle?

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