Browsing Tag

green

Ginger & Liz – Take It or Leave It

Monday, 3 January, 2011

I’ll take it, thanks!

At first I was a bit disappointed at the color in the bottle because in the picture, it’s a great olive/khaki green. When I saw it in person it looked more grey…then I put it on.

It was a light first coat and I started to doubt it. However, it dried so quickly and had such a high gloss I was speechless. I did a second coat and it started to look more green than grey. Third coat was what it needed…and it was gorgeous. No bubbles and it was so fast in drying I was surprised. Again, G&L have out done themselves. I have yet to get a color from them where I am disappointed in the color or the formula.

See below for my pictures.

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Femme Couture

Femme Couture – Garland

Tuesday, 14 December, 2010

Green, green and more green! It’s a green season.

Sorry no sunlight shots…it was overcast 99.9% of the day so the best I could get was the overcast ones. I shall heave one big dramatic sigh…but hey, I’d rather have overcast than totally rainy days or snow.

This is a very pretty shimmer and it’s a dark green. It vaguely reminded me of China Glaze’s Emerald Sparkle…but this isn’t as vibrant or as striking. Sorry, Femme Couture.

Your formula rocked it, though. Two coats and quick drying. I’ll give ya that!

Just a reminder – to see the biggest version available, click on the image(s) below and then click on the number in the Full Size is 3456 x 1983. Then when the huge image shows up, your cursor will turn into a magnifying glass with a + in it…click on the image with the magnifying glass and then BAM! Full size right there. Talk about larger than life!

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Essie – Going Incognito

Tuesday, 7 December, 2010

This green is…awesome. No other way to describe it. Opaque in two coats, even if you do see visible nail line thanks to my terrible application.

It dried in record time, which is always a good thing.

I like greens like this because it’s partially festive – it is part of Essie’s Holiday 2010 collection, after all! – and it’s also a color I can wear year round whenever I want a little bit of green in my life. I can add a pretty glitter top top coat, too! I’m thinking a certain NFU Oh will have to make an appearance.

Please pardon the rough look to the nails – I had been wearing this color for a few days to see how it would hold up…and it held up through the dish washing, the toilet scrubbing and all around roughery I put my poor hands through. Just minor tip wear!

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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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China Glaze – Holiday 2010 – ‘Tis The Season To Be Naughty And Nice

Friday, 22 October, 2010

This is a seriously image heavy post…28 pictures. I didn’t want to break it up because…well, I didn’t want to. 😉 It’s my eye candy and Friday Red. Enjoy!

All of these were two coaters and they dried in record time.

BOOM! Right out of the gate…this is my favorite red this season. Beautiful. Opaque in 2 coats.

I liked this, but it’s not my favorite red. It’s a bit too light for me. I am sure it would look better on someone else where it looked ok on me.

A gorgeous mulberry with a shimmer that makes it a perfect holiday shade.

I didn’t think I would like these, but I do. CTY is a lovely metallic foil that some other brands didn’t quite get right. This really sparkled and shined, truly reminding me of tinsel. MK was a lovely rich foil gold…absolutely gorgeous and I kept thinking it was a wonderful shade of almost 18k. Jingle bells is a bronze that doesn’t quite shimmer like CTY and MK, but it is very subtle. While not flashy, it’s still a pretty shade to behold.

A sheer white base with white glitter thrown in…it reminded me of snow.

This is a wicked shade of green…it glows. I swear, it generates its own electricity! Wouldn’t you agree? I mean, just look at it.

A wonderful blue, but it really reminded me of OPI’s Yoga-ta Get This Blue.

The jury’s still out on this color. I can’t decide if I like it or not. It’s a pinky/red jelly based color with pinky/silver glitter. Removal was a pain, but I’m not sure about this.

I no longer mourn the loss (that much) of my beloved Chanel Rouge Noir. How can I with these fabulous dupes that are 3-Free?

Oh the glitter…the humanity. THE SHINY! I like it a lot, but ugh…the removal. The removal is a pain.

How pretty is this? I love that it’s an olive green tossed into the mix…to make it even 700 shades more awesome, they made this a shimmer. Fabulous!

White creme…’nuff said. I think of this as a base for nail art and not just a color to be worn on its own.

This is China Glaze’s answer to OPI’s Tease-y Does It. I like both and I like that this is lighter and has a fine micro glitter.

Of course, I had to include Mistletoe Kisses because it’s part of the collection, even though I had done a comparison earlier in the week. FYI: MMUTM = Meet Me Under The Mistletoe.

And there we go…all 16 colors swatched. Yay! Hope you enjoyed it.

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Deborah Lippmann

China Glaze – Awakening Collection, Halloween / Fall 2010

Thursday, 21 October, 2010

I can’t believe I’ve been sitting on this…but I also know it’s been shown by a slew of other people. I don’t care. Here are my swatches.

Formula was awesome – quick drying and flawless. All of these were two coat applications.

China Glaze is seriously knocking it out of the ball park with their seasonal collections. I enjoyed Awakening and I’m seriously looooving their Christmas Collection – Tis the Season To Be Naughty and Nice. That is up for Friday. All 16 colors.  Anyway…

Here are the three colors from Awakening with a comparison of Mummy May I to Deborah Lippmann’s Bad Romance.

Warning: This is an image heavy post.

 

A black jelly nail polish packed with orange glitter. Very Halloween. Very fun…and I may be rocking it the next few days to support the Giants. Yea, I’m a Bay Area sports girl – born and raised so I feel a lot of loyalty to my home teams.

 

Really liking this green because I don’t have anything like it. I’ve heard it’s similar to SpaRitual’s Optical Illusion, but I haven’t had the chance to compare it because I don’t have OI and SpaRitual is a lot harder to get ahold of than most nail polishes. Pity SpaRitual doesn’t sell on their site because I’d rather purchase through there.

And finally…oldie but goody comparison of Mummy May I and Deborah Lippmann’s Bad Romance. BR is a collaboration she did with Lady Gaga. You can also read the original review here.

Bad Romance has different shapes of glitter and the base is a deeper, denser black. Had I not done a side by side comparison, I’d never have even thought that these were even different aside from the glitter size. Mummy May I is a cute name! I just looked back on my notes when I swatched these and BR and MMI are 3 coats.

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China Glaze – Out On Safari

Wednesday, 20 October, 2010

This is a wonderful shade of green – it’s shimmery, it’s pretty…BUT it took 3 coats to get it this opaque and it took forever and a day to dry. Plus, it’s the old formula and the fumes nearly killed me as I applied this. I swear I smelled the formaldehyde and I was so close to retching. I need to wear a mask next time I apply this.

However, despite the delay in drying time and the overall fun-kay smell while applying, this color made it worth it.

 

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Comparison: China Glaze vs Orly vs Zoya – Mistletoe Kisses vs Meet Me Under the Mistletoe vs Ivanka

Tuesday, 19 October, 2010

Not sure what is up with my comparisons lately. I rarely did them before, but I guess with the whole slew of colors I have…it was bound to happen. 😉

China Glaze’s Mistletoe Kisses is part of their Christmas Holiday 2010 collection of 16 amaaaayzing colors. If all their formulas are like Mistletoe Kisses, I’ll be a very happy girl when I finish my swatching. As it stands, I’ve got Mrs. Claus and Party Hearty down. We’re expecting company this week and it’s only for a couple of days, but the preparation and the cleaning are cutting into my nail polish time.

MMUTM was the darkest of them all and frankly, I thought it was the lightest. Ivanka was the one that literally glowed while next to these colors. While all of these colors are gorgeous, Ivanka just outshined them. I don’t know how she did, but she did. MMUTM is beautiful with gold glitter throughout. Mistletoe Kisses was a bit jelly-like but I did love it. When I’m done swatching the rest of the collection, MK is going to be on my nails for the weekend.

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