Archive for category Purple
Fun with Fuchsia: American Apparel Neon Violet Polish, NARS Desire Blush, and Illamasqua Divine Lipgloss
Posted by Latoya in American Apparel, Blush, Illamasqua, Lips, Make-up, Nail Polish, NARS, Pink, Purple on March 23, 2013
As some of you may know, I’ve been in a slight polish slump for the past while. Nothing has really got me excited much, though I have picked up a few shades here and there (as seen in my last post) that were great additions to my collection. Last week I was admittedly quite enamoured with China Glaze’s new Dandy Lyin’ Around, a sparkling white polish, but by the end of the week, as usual I was ready for a change. I was feeling kinda frisky (huh?) and pulled out American Apparel’s Neon Violet polish, a blue-leaning bold pink, which is part of their Neon collection that came out quite a while ago. I haven’t given this polish much love for whatever reason, though it often draws my eye as it stands out a lot amid the other shades in my stash. As soon as I put it on, my love was seriously revived – guys, this is a fantastic shade!! I’ve shown pics to you before (once as a pedicure and once on a friend’s hand) but I’m not sure I’ve given it enough due – you really gotta check it out. Aside from the glorious color, it’s a near one-coater with a great formula – it’s just FABULOUS.
Anyway, it got me thinking again about skintone and whether I am more cool or warm – this is most definitely a cool-leaning shade, and while I inherently think I’m warm-toned because of my caramel coloring, more and more I think I might actually just be neutral, leaning neither way, because I seem to be able to pull off shades all over the color spectrum (hooray for me!). I also am realizing that it has a lot more to do with just finding the right shade within each color range, rather than whether or not you can wear ‘warm’ or ‘cool’ tones. After all this thought and over the past few months with some of the beauty accruals I’ve made, I have found my jam in one area at least – fuchsia.
A few months ago, I was on this kick where I wanted to collect NARS blushes – I already owned four and I thought I’d just keep going with it. I’ve since kind of gotten over that, but not before I scored Desire in a swap. Initially I thought it was probably a stupid move – a cool ‘cotton candy pink’ on my skintone?? I just wasn’t convinced. And since I received the shade in the late summer, which did not seem like the season for this color, I left it alone for ages.
When winter rolled around, I figured it was time to give this ago and decide if I was going to keep it or not. As true for many NARS blushes, it has great pigmentation, and because it’s completely matte it’s exceptionally wearable (as a general rule, I find bright pink + shimmer = TOO DAMN MUCH). The first time I wore it, I happened to pair it with heavy black liner and naked lips, and BAM! Compliments galore!! It looked smokin’ (sadly, I do not have pics from that day). It was then that I started to think that fuchsia might be a color I want to start giving more of a chance.
One night a couple months ago when Illamasqua was having their last huge sale, I was perusing the site – and on top of discovering that my current blush lemming Crush was on sale, I also could score the Sheer Lipgloss in Divine (a ‘deep fuchsia pink’) for 1/3 of the regular price. When my package arrived, I was pleased to find that Divine was a wonderful addition to my gloss collection, as it was unlike anything I already own. Additionally, it’s smooth, non-sticky formula was a pleasure to use, and while it isn’t as pigmented as it looks in the tube, its a great shade to brighten up my face in a pinch.
Swatches: Illamasqua Divine (left), NARS Desire (right)
As I already noted, I had previously always thought I had a warm-leaning skintone, so when I saw evidence of how yet another cool-based color looked great, I was finally convinced – fuchsia rocks my world!!
Wearing Illamasqua Divine Lipgloss
Out of all this discovery, one thing became glaringly clear – I desperately need a bright fuchsia lipstick!! The lovely Sarah from Beauty and the Baked Goods send me Revlon’s Sweet Tart lip butter, which is a great pink, but it leans more candy-colored. I’ve been doing my research and I’m torn between Bite Beauty’s High Pigment Matte Pencil in Quince $28CAD (described as a rose berry – but looks pretty fuchsia to me), YSL’s Rouge Volupte Radiant Lipstick in Rose Culte $39CAD (a ‘vivid fuchsia’), or new NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Yu $30CAD (a ‘shocking pink’). I haven’t gotten to swatch the NARS pencil in person yet, so not sure if it’s the right tone, but the other two totally do it for me – it’s likely I’ll opt for the Bite pencil as it’s more reasonably priced and I have yet to try a lippie from the brand.
All said and done, I’m pretty stoked that I’ve stumbled upon a go-to shade that seems to work so well with my skintone. I’ve made several discoveries of this kind over the past couple months while funds have been so limited – I’ve been taking the time to play more and make more informed decisions about what I purchase when I have the means to do so, and it’s been a positive learning experience 
What unlikely makeup / polish shades have you discovered to really work for you?
Fall’s Sexiest Nail Polish Shade – OPI’s Every Month is Oktoberfest
Posted by Latoya in Fall 2012, Nail Polish, OPI, Purple on September 17, 2012
I’m sure you’ve all seen this shade over and over again, but OPI’s ‘Every Month is Oktoberfest’ from their Germany 2012 collection is so fabulous it really deserves yet another mention. I know I’ve said this before, but I really mean it this time – I’m gonna keep the words to a minimum and let the pictures do the talking.
Bottle shot
And lest you think I’m only showing you the best side of the polish with all the sunshine shots, here are a few pictures taken indoors – the glowy awesomeness is more subtle, but still visible!
What else needs to be said, right? SO. GORGEOUS. Two coats of easy flowing perfection. The sunlight shots are without top coat; pics in artificial light with. I want to wear this every day for the rest of my life. Or at least all fall/winter long. It’s just such a pretty yet vampy shade, ahhh!!! It’s 100% absolute LOVE.
Continuing with the minimal verbage – thoughts?
China Glaze Summer Neons Collection: Part II (Swatches and Review)
Posted by Latoya in Blue, China Glaze, Coral, Green, Nail Polish, Pink, Purple, Summer 2012 on May 23, 2012
You remember how yesterday I talked about my admiration of those fabulous bloggers who were in the business of swatching full collections of nail polish on the regular? Well today I’m in admiration of anyone who buys a home!! Holy moley, let me tell you – it is SUPREMELY exciting to buy your first home (I guess, any home really!) – but there is so much to learn and info to absorb, wowza!!! It’s a lot for a brain to handle. Thankfully we’ve had absolutely stellar people working with us to find the condo and get our financing in order, but its been a relatively consuming pastime for the last few weeks. Well worth it, but mindblowing all the same!!
Anyway, we spent some time at the bank tonight wrapping things up, then come home to make dinner, then talked numbers some more…suddenly my evening has gone *poof* and I’ve hardly even done anything! I really wanted to get the second part out for the Summer Neons collection from China Glaze though, so here I am! The second half is just as eye-popping as the first, so get ready!
I’m With the Lifeguard is a ‘glimmering lime green,’ and while I love this shade in theory – makes me think of lime koolaid! – I’m not liking it on my skintone at all, though it is lovely to look at. The last picture is the most accurate for how bright this is. I found 3 coats was best to even out a bit of streakiness, and it had a similar formula as most other shades – thicker but fairly easy to work with. This dried semi-matte.
Sunlight
Sunlight
Sunlight (different setting)
The description of Ride the Waves - a ‘dark ocean blue’ – is so terribly enticing to me. Due to the sheer, thin, jellyish formula, it really made me think of the deeper waters of the Caribbean! To avoid any VNL, 3 coats is absolutely necessary. I really like this shade – it reminds me of Nails Inc. Baker St. (which Beyonce was apparently wearing shortly after she had Ivy Blue, hence everyone wanted it) but it’s not quite as electric, though it’s still really very eye-catching. It’s darker and not as cool-toned in real life, and the squishy nature looks like you could just drink it up. As I was wearing it as my mani this week, I realized it would be perfect as a base for Lippmann’s Across the Universe!
Indoor lighting
With flash
Natural light
Sunlight
Just as juicy and ripe-looking as the fruit to describe it, Under the Boardwalk, a ‘fluorescent raspberry’, has almost the same formula as ‘Ride the Waves’, but not quite as jellyish. Again, 3 coats best, though 2 is workable here, and it’s deeper in tone than it looks in photos. I feel pretty ‘meh’ about this shade – it’s quite nice but nothing stand-out to me in any way.
With flash
Sunlight
Sunlight
Love’s A Beach, a ‘sizzling hot pink’, is slightly warmer than ‘Hang-Ten Toes’, but the differences are slight and I personally wouldn’t feel it necessary to own both. If I had to chose, I think I’d pick this shade, as the blue-leanings are less pronounced. Formula was good; it applied easily without fuss. 3 coats were used here for good measure.
With flash
Natural light
Sunlight
In theory, Surfin’ For Boys would be the ultimate shade: a ‘glistening bright coral’? Sign me up! However, there’s something off about this color for me; I think it’s the shimmer which looks almost purplish in certain light, and just feels a bit gaudy to me. It’s actually remarkably similar to another shade I own, LA Colors in Magnetic Force, except I think I like that polish better (well, at least the color). However, I think this is still a great shade for summer, and definitely a perfect pedi shade. It went on very easily in 2 coats, and dried semi-matte.
With flash
Sunlight
Sunlight - different setting
Last but not least, we have Flirty Tankini, a ‘shimmery strawberry smoothie pink’ with a particularly good formula. I could have done 2 coats with no problem but I did 3 to be nitpicky. I really liked the sweetness of this shade and though it went particularly well with my skintone. The shimmer was understated (as it didnt’ contrast with the base color) and I’m looking forward to wearing this as a full mani very soon!!
With flash
With flash
Sunlight
That wraps it up for the China Glaze Summer Neons collection! I liked this half equally as well as the first, and I have my faves – Ride the Waves, which grew on me, and Flirty Tankini, which is just too darn pretty! Though I enjoyed the formula of most shades as a whole, it was a bummer to apply 3 coats for almost all of the polishes here. A suggestion was made that I could layer these shades over a white polish to let the neon qualities really pop, and I think I’ll take that recommendation to heart. Every single shade was majorly bright, and to enhance that aspect would only serve to make this collection that much more special (and allow less coats of color overall!).
As a whole, I found a few of the shades in the collection not as unique as I’d like – some seemed to replicate shades I already have in my stash. However, I chose those shades for a reason, so what’s not to like? lol One complaint I have about the collection as a whole is that there are a fair amount of shades that are quite similar to each other – there are no dupes, but they’re close enough that I personally wouldn’t feel like I needed to own both/all. However, in person the differences between them are more obvious, so you may refute me there and I would be OK with that Really, this collection is the epitome of fun, splashy shades for Summer, and if you want them all, who am I to argue?
What is your idea of the perfect Summer polish shade(s)? Would you try out a neon polish?
*Product samples were provided to me by the PR company/brand for my unbiased consideration.
China Glaze Summer Neons Collection: Part I (Swatches and Review)
Posted by Latoya in Blue, China Glaze, Coral, Nail Polish, Orange, Pink, Purple, Summer 2012, Yellow on May 22, 2012
Before I begin, I just want to give some serious accolades to any bloggers out there that have swatched an entire nail polish collection for our viewing pleasure. O.M.G. I’ve done maybe 4 swatches at a time, which was still quite a task, but 12 shades!?! Good grief! I spent most of my day Saturday and part of my day Sunday painstakingly applying each of the 12 shades of the Summer Neons collection from China Glaze, fearful that I was going to lose my sun, waiting between coats, hydrating and rehydrating my cuticles, and taking shot after shot of my nails to capture each shade as accurately as possible. Man Oh Man. It was truly exciting to have the opportunity – receiving the big box in the mail and knowing I’d never otherwise have such a chance – but I just wanted to give a shout out to the more established bloggers who are used to this sort of thing. You rock!! It’s quite a job, and I will forever have a different appreciation for collection swatches moving forward. Thank you, my lovelies 
Ok, with that out of the way – let’s get to the polish, shall we? Today I bring you the first part of my swatchapalooza; there really wasn’t a defined split between the shades, so I just kind of put them together in a way that made sense to me. The collection as a whole was a surprize hit for me. In promotional shots, I was unsure how I felt about a bunch of neon shades with shimmer – typically odd colors like electric green and eyeball-searing yellow do NOT do it for me, and I’m not a fan of shimmer overall – but somehow they made it work in a big way with this collection.
First up, we have Sun-Kissed, described as a ‘hot highlighter yellow’, and it was exactly that! I would never in a million years imagine I’d like a shade like this, but consider me converted! Somehow, this super-bright shade won me over, and I definitely see a full manicure with this in my near future. Obviously, I don’t have much experience with yellow polishes, but from what I hear they can be tricky to work with – this shade, while slightly streaky, was relatively painless to apply; you can get away with 2 coats but I applied 3 for the best opacity. Like many shades in the collection, it dries semi-matte.
Indoor lighting
With flash
Sunlight
Sunlight
Next up, Orange You Hot? - a ‘bright orange with attention-grabbing gold glimmer.’ I find the shimmer particles very fine, and the gold tone is lost in the base shade, but it’s still lovely. I liked it but didn’t love it on my skintone – I think it’ll be more of a pedi shade in my rotation than anything else. I felt similarly about the formula; it was good but not great. I applied 3 coats to get the smoothest application possible.
Indoor lighting
With flash
Sunlight
Sunlight
~Ah~ Pink Plumeria. My personal favorite of the whole collection. A ‘light pink with gold shimmer,’ it came out more like a coral-pink on my nails, and was soo flattering. It retains quite a neon look but in a way that’s tasteful and eye-catching rather than gaudy – it’s actually brighter in person than I was able to capture in these photos. The gold shimmer really gave it an extra-pretty sheen. Application was pretty good – 2 coats was sufficient, and how I wore it as a full mani, but I think 3 would probably be better, as it had a hint of patchiness on a few nails.
Indoor lighting
With flash
Sunlight
Sunlight
Hang-Ten Toes was actually the first polish I tried on from the collection; a ‘bubblegum neon pink with iridescent purple shimmer’, it looked and sounded far too enticing to pass up. In person, this shade is searingly bright – I found it difficult overall to capture the true neon nature of most of the polishes in the collection, this one in particular (I took about a million shots of this polish, and I’m still not satisfied!). Easy flowing with good consistency (you don’t need too much on the brush), it dries to a semi-satin finish. At an angle, the shimmer is somehow both obvious and elusive, which gives it mysterious depth. 2 coats is enough to reach good coverage, but 3 erases any VNL. I found the drying time of this shade was slower than I’m used to – which I found for a handful of shades in the collection (perhaps because I was applying 3 coats for many of them).
Indoor lighting
With flash
Sunlight
Sunlight
On of the best formulas of the bunch, Beach Cruise-r is a ‘glimmering fuchsia grape’, which only required two smooth coats to full opacity. On the nail, it reminds me a lot of American Apparel’s Neon Violet except with shimmer. This kind of color is a bit unexpected in Summer I think, because it has a deeper jewel tone that makes me think more of Fall, but the brightness makes it appropriate and fun for the warmer months too. Like Neon Violet, I’m slightly ambivalent toward it as a mani, but quite like it as a pedi shade. It’s brighter and more richly hued in person – closer to the last shot, below.
Indoor lighting – looks so purple!
Sunlight
Sunlight
Sunlight
Finally, we have Splish Splash, a ‘bright sky blue shimmer,’ also with a great formula, though 3 coats is still best. This is not at all my kind of shade, but is an absolutely glorious color on it’s own – I want to own other things in this shade (just not wear it on my nails). Looking at these photos, I’m mesmerized by this color; but with my skintone, it looks a bit garish. In person it’s much more blue than aqua like it looks in these photos – closer to the last shot, below.
Indoor lighting
With flash
Natural light
Sunlight
Sunlight
And so we conclude Part I of the Summer Neons collection! Overall I felt that there were some beautiful shades, even if they all didn’t ~go~ with my skintone. While many of the shades required 3 coats to look best to my liking, I still felt that the formulas overall were quite good; they didn’t dry too quickly and cause dragging, and applied very easily for the most part, with an excellent consistency in formula. Mostly I found that they were just a touch sheer and just the slightest bit patchy, but applying 3 coats cleared any of those issues up with ease. I also normally do a fast-drying top coat, whereas I used none in the swatches above (nor base coat), which could be why they seemed to take longer to dry than normal. In any case, I liked some of the shades so much that I’d be more than willing to put up with the extra coats. They all scream Summer to me, and just make me happy looking at them!
What are your thoughts on these shades from the collection? Are you into neon brights? Would you prefer them with or without shimmer?
*Product samples were provided to me by the PR company/brand for my unbiased consideration.
Party Nails! OPI’s DS Temptation
Posted by Latoya in Glitter, Nail Polish, OPI, Purple on April 2, 2012
Well, hello my lovelies!! I’ve missed you all terribly – I feel like I’ve been away for ages! It’s been quite busy lately, and not necessarily in a fun, social way 
We’re way busy at my office as we’re just wrapping up our fiscal year-end, and while it’s manageable, staring hard at a computer screen all day does not entice one to come home and do it all night as well. That, combined with my skincare woes and cosmetic funk (which I think I’m coming out of!), did not make for an inspiring nor productive blogging week last week at all. I’m sorry I’ve been sort of absent around these here parts! 
There have been some highlights the past few days however – on Friday night we went to see Rob Schneider at the casino for a stand-up show (part of my birthday gift to my bf), which was pretty good. After shopping all day Saturday in preparation for Jamaica (we leave this Saturday!), I went to a Murder Mystery party for a friends birthday. It was quite fun, and a great change of pace from the regular get-together’s we usually have. It was an excellent way to get people talking – I spent most of the night talking to complete strangers, and I loved that it got me out of my comfort zone.
At the party, everyone played a particular character assigned by the host. My character was a jewelry designer, and in honor of all things sparkly, I wore OPI’s DS Temptation polish – a stunning jewel-toned purple glitter with a touch of blue. 
I have been meaning to show you this polish since last October, when I bought it, but the first time I wore it I forgot to take pictures, and then it started to chip and was too late. I love the way glitters look, but like everyone else, I abhor having to take them off, so I haven’t worn it since. It’s pretty blingy (do people still even say that anymore?) so it really needs an event to wear it to, and my chance finally came with the past weekend’s party!
The base shade of the polish sheer purple, and glitter an electric violet, but throughout is also vibrant blue glitter that gives it some depth and extra interest. In some light I can even see a hint of pink as well. Two coats give you almost total opacity, but I actually applied a base shade of Illamasqua’s Baptiste first in an effort to fully fill any gaps and also in the hope that the glitter would last longer (I find they chip so easily!). Though the bottle is almost full, its already gotten a bit thicker (like I find most glitters do) and care is needed when applying. 
I happened to be in Best Buy on the weekend when I had this on, and I went to test out some cameras (I think I found the winner! Can’t WAIT to get it – the pictures on the blog should improve exponentially). I explained to the sales associate what I wanted to use the camera for and we snapped a few shots of my polish. Even with the excellency of the camera (and her knowledge of how to use it), every single shot ended up coming out far too blue. The moral of this story – it’s not my fault that I couldn’t capture this polish as it is in real life!!! It’s a chameleon and I think because of the blue particles the camera just picks up on that and alters the shade a bit in photos. I can tell you that it’s much more sparkly and a bit warmer than it shows in these shots.
Above photos with flash
As is typical with glitters, the finished product is fairly rough, so I applied one coat of OPI’s Top Coat and then one coat of Revlon’s Quick Dry Top Coat on top of the lacquer for a relatively smooth finish. While the polish still started to chip by day three, it held up mostly well, and was the requisite P.I.T.A. to remove ~sigh~ But, for a once in a while situation, I’ll definitely return back to this polish, as it is one of the most striking shades I own.
OPI’s DS Series polishes retail for about $14.95CAD. I haven’t seen this shade kickin’ around my usual haunts, but you might be able to still get it online. It also looks similar to Nails Inc. Bloomsbury Square, though that has red glitter accents rather than blue.
How was everyone’s weekend?? Have you ever been to a Murder Mystery party? And, what are your thoughts on DS Temptation – worth the hassle?
So, Some Things CAN Still Make This Cold Heart Skip a Beat: Nfu-Oh’s #51 (A Flakie)
Sometimes I feel like nothing fazes me anymore – lately I seem to spend my time equally loving and hating the products I’m coming across. Particularly in the nail polish world, I’m especially fussy, and haven’t come across too many nail polish that WOW me in the past months. However, when I heard that Nfu-Oh polish were coming to Nail Polish Canada, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try out one of the famed brand’s polishes. After much debating, I snagged the Aqua Base – in hopes of making GOSH’s Holographic last longer – and the rich-looking purple-based flakie, #51.
ZOMG.
There, my review is finished. That pretty much sums up how I feel about this polish! As soon as I painted one nail with it, I was hooked; it was game over. Even looking over my swatch photos now, I’m completely mesmerized. I can’t even deal with it, I have this on RIGHT NOW and I just want to stop writing and gaze lovingly at my nails for hours. It is SICK how stunning and gorgeous and captivating and…yea, I could go on – don’t MAKE me look up more words in a Thesaurus!
Ok, gotta slowwww down…
First of all, Nfu-Oh bottles are insanely cute! I didn’t realize that they are actually shaped like a Victorian dress, with a faux bustle and a lace-up back – pretty much the sexiest bottle of nail polish ever. They’re also larger than average, at 0.6 oz (the norm is 0.5 oz), and you can really notice the difference.
I happened to have OPI’s Dutch’Ya Just Love OPI? on earlier in the week, which was a perfect base to use for this with it’s dark grape-y tones. I haven’t tried it out on a bare nail, but I suspect it is a sheer polish that’s really meant for layering, as I have done here. One coat is sufficient to get a magnificent depth, but I opted for two because I wanted to ensure maximum flakie-ness. 
The polish has a deep yet luminous violet base, with orange-red microshimmer and small flakies that turn orange, pink, blue and green depending on the light. Oh yea. The formula is of medium thickness but with a great flow to it that makes it supremely easy to use. Dry time is OK – not super speedy but just average.
I am SO enamoured with this polish. It reminds me of Milani’s Totally Cool, but even more spectacular, and with a great duochrome effect that I’m helpless against. I was never a huge fan of flakies, until now! If this is what I’m in for, sign me up – I’d like a dozen more of these, please!
Stock of Nfu-Oh’s polishes are limited on Nail Polish Canada, so head on over and snag a bottle of your own while you can! They retail between $9.50-$12.50CAD.
So…what do you think? Are you hooked now too?
Yay, Springtime Shades! OPI’s Parlez-Vous OPI?
Posted by Latoya in Nail Polish, OPI, Purple on March 7, 2012
As of March 1st, my nail polish roster switched up and became full of lighter, more feminine shades, as opposed to the dark, brooding shades of the Winter. Even though it’s still very much Winter here, I was DONE with the heavy colors – which I love so much at the beginning of the season, but which start to seem oppressive as the Winter drags on. I haven’t picked up many new Spring shades, interestingly – I find a lot of them aren’t what I consider traditional Spring colors and don’t really pique my interest right now. I’m finding that I’m actually delving into my old shades from past years to get the lighthearted gratification I need. Today’s color is from OPI’s France collection, Parlez-vous OPI? – a muted plum that somehow has a brightness to it. This is one of my favorite shades to wear – it looks great on my skintone, and I actually find it suits almost every season. In the last photo you can see that depending on the light it can take on a more murky tone.
Ahh, it brings me such happiness This is two coats, although it was *nearly* a one-coater. My bottle is slightly thick as I received this in a swap and so it’s been used a bit. Nonetheless, if you are patient you can get this to go on no problem. The color for me is totally worth the little bit of effort to apply. I have applied a top coat here so it’s not naturally this glossy – though close. Not much else to say about it – I lurrrve it!
On another (nail polish related) note, check out my new storage doohickey for my polish! Don’t laugh (I know some of you have oodles more bottles than I do and probably think this is oh-so-quaint lol) – I really wanted to have something that displayed some polishes too, and not just hide them all away. This seems perfect to me!
Notice I have all my pretty Spring shades in the top compartments?
I picked this up at Oddjects – a little kitschy store full of odds and ends in home decor. Unfortunately, smarty-pants here didn’t think to look if the bottom drawer would be high enough for my polish – only very short bottles (think Chanel or Essie) can fit upright; the rest are too tall I’m a bit concerned about having them laying down, but I made sure to screw all the caps on tight and I’ll check them periodically, just to be safe. In the meantime, doesn’t it look pretty? Small stash or no, I like that I can see my pretties sitting there for all to see!
What do you think of Parlez-vous? I read today that crazy shades of nail polish are on their way out – do you believe that statement? And in what way have you chosen to store your polish?
Getaway Weekend: My Mani/Pedi Combo!
Posted by Latoya in Essie, Illamasqua, Nail Polish, Purple, Red on February 24, 2012
Happy Friday everyone! I’m in great spirits today – my bf and I are headed away for the weekend to a chalet! This was one of my Christmas gifts from him so it’s something I’ve been looking forward too all Winter In preparation for the event, I did a mani/pedi combo – I usually don’t bother to paint my toenails at all during boot season, but for this I’m making an exception. I really wanted to use Essie’s Limited Addiction, which is a rich slightly blue-leaning red, but I also wanted to give him the choice, so I showed him four shades and had him pick two. Smart ducky that he is, he picked Limited Addiction and Illamasqua’s Baptiste – a winning combo if I say so myself!
I’ve shown Limited Addiction before, also in a mani/pedi combo as my toenail color, but here it is on my fingers:
As for the combo, here’s a couple sunlight and artificial light shots, respectively (for the mani, three coats; pedi, two):
It’s hard to capture the glorious shimmer in Baptiste without direct sunlight – and it’s darn near impossible to take pedi shots with one foot stuck high in the air! LOL! Just check out my original shots of Baptiste to see it in it’s full loveliness
I think this combo works well for Winter – both colors are rich and decadent, but complement each other well. It makes me excited for this year’s installment of my Summer mani/pedi combos – quite far away yet, but something to look forward to!
I hope everyone has a great weekend and is enjoying some unseasonably warm weather like we are in Halifax (though we’ll be driving into some snow for our trip…lol)!!
Busting Out the Spring Shades: OPI’s Dutch’Ya Love OPI? and A Roll in the Hague from the Holland Collection
Posted by Latoya in Nail Polish, OPI, Purple, Orange, Spring 2012 on February 13, 2012
And a fantastic Monday to you all! If you’re the type who hates Mondays (like my Mom), well…it’s almost over 
Last week while I was working The Bay’s GWP, on my break I happened into Chatters salon and discovered that they had the new OPI Holland collection on sale – the very day it was slated to arrive (unfortunately, in Halifax that’s not necessarily a given). I found this collection terribly hard to diagnose; the swatches online didn’t help me decide which shades I wanted to pick up, as they all appeared to me that they may be unflattering on my skintone. 
One shade I was fairly certain I wanted was A Roll in the Hague, a vibrant orange shade that I knew would look great on. I wasn’t wrong!
However, I didn’t realize just how lovely this polish would be! Sorry for all the shots, but I just couldn’t whittle them down! The glossiness is unreal – in the shots above, I’m not wearing any top coat, if you can believe it. I am honestly stunned by how shiny the finish is, it’s mesmerizing! The formula of this polish is not completely ideal; I found it a bit thick, though it was mostly self-leveling so it ended up not being a huge problem. Strangely, though it was thick, two coats didn’t leave it satisfactorily opaque enough for my liking – I could still see a touch of VNL so I did three coats to be sure. Note as well that without a base coat, this shade will stain the nails a bit. Regardless of these things though, I still really liked the polish and adored the shade. I can’t wait to wear this when the weather warms up!
The second polish I picked up was the shade that I didn’t intend to buy at all – a medium purple creme with golden shimmer: Dutch’Ya Love OPI? In swatches it looked too bright and garish for my tastes, particularly for my skintone, but when I took a closer look, it ended up being much prettier than I imagined. And like absolutely nothing I own in my stash!
The formula on this polish was very similar to ‘Hague’ but only required two coats rather than three. The shade, as you can see, is quite a chamelon – it changes depending on the lighting, which actually is a favorable trait as in dull light, the shade looks deeper and more suited for Winter. In sunlight, the radiance of the shade comes out in full force, and looks stunning and bright and perfect for warmer days. Another plus is that the shimmer is not a ‘secret shimmer’ as many brands love to use, and in most lighting you can see it peeking out at the right angle, giving the polish warmth and depth.
I always find it challenging getting in the mind set for makeup or nail polish shades for a season we’re not presently in – I just can’t get ‘into’ colors that don’t feel appropriate for the current weather conditions. It’s not about trends, its just that I like to match colors (including clothing) to the season – I guess it’s a way to make sure that all shades get their fair chance (with a little OCD thrown in for good measure 
). The purchase of these two shades was a bit difficult leading up to, but now that it’s done, I’m feelin’ pretty good about it! And it’s getting me more in the mood to grab a few more Spring shades – maybe it’ll be like ‘The Secret’ and I’ll bring about the sun just by acting like it’s already here! Doesn’t hurt, right??
What colors do you consider Spring shades? Do you wear polishes according to the season, or just whatever floats your boat?
a-England’s ‘The Legend’ Collection – If You Haven’t Yet…What’s Taking So Long!?
Posted by Latoya in a-england, Aqua/Teal, Duochrome, Grey, Holographic, Metallic, Nail Polish, Purple, Spring 2012 on February 6, 2012
A few weeks ago, after viewing Eugenia from Ommorphia Beauty Bar’s first-look swatches of the new a-England collection, The Legend, I felt compelled to email Adina and thank her for…well, pretty much just being absolutely amazing. I’ve said this before, but I’m still shocked to say that I seriously got emotional looking at the shades because they just took my breath away. I’ve also heard nothing but lovely thing about Adina, from her gracious nature to her enlightened spirit, and I was so pleased when she responded to find that she is all that and more. It’s comforting to know that in this sometimes superficial world, you can still be successful without losing yourself and being something your not. I found our brief correspondence to be quite inspirational, and it truly made my day.
In this same conversation, I expressed my delight at ‘The Legends’ collection, and was able to pre-order a few shades before they were publicly available on her site (as they are NOW!). I received my order a few weeks ago…I know, this is a travesty that I am only posting these now, but let me tell you – they are worthy of serious time and effort, and I could not for the life of me get the right lighting to showcase these lacquers properly – until now The shades I picked up are Ascalon – a shimmering deep silver with prismatic qualities and a slight lavender duochrome; Princess Tears – a prismatic lilac with gray and green duochrome; and Saint George ~swoon~ – a deep teal with multicolored shimmer. Once I saw Eugenia’s full-blown swatches of these polishes, I wished fervently that I had also ordered Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes) – a gorgeous golden olive shimmer. Alas, I did not, but I am kept quite happy with the shades I did procure, so let’s check them out!
Note that all descriptions below were created by Eugenia as well, which must be such an honor! Her way with words will win you over every time.
ASCALON
Forged by magic and guided by our hero’s sainted hand, the steely grey of his spire is alive with a swirling heart of lavender fire.
Indoor lighting
With flash
Sunlight
Sunlight – blurred
Sunlight – See the slight purple flash playing at the edges?
PRINCESS TEARS
As the twin lilac trails of tears stream with an incandescent glow down our doomed heroine’s face, they are made even more poignant by luminous grey/ green flashes.
Sunlight
Natural light
Natural light – Notice the duochrome?
Natural light – Taken with a different photo setting, the duochrome is quite apparent
SAINT GEORGE
Bearer of a valiant & courageous heart, this fathomless teal reveals the strength of the brave knight’s convictions with his gleaming, fiery core.
Natural light
Sunlight
Sunlight
I was initially concerned when I got these that Ascalon and Princess Tears would be quite similar, but as you can see they are not. Ascalon has the lilac tinge of Princess Tears, but is somehow has a warmth to it (you can see the golden tones in some of the swatches) which makes it more wearable on my skintone. I was quite surprized just how much I liked Princess Tears in person and on my hand; it’s not my typical kind of shade but it’s really beautiful and feminine. The prismatic effect is most readily apparent in that one, and the duochrome adds such interest. In the bottle, Saint George has the most obvious multifaceted shimmer, but on the nail, it’s the most illusive – nonetheless, it’s my favorite of the three and probably one of my top 5 favorite nail polishes I own. I stared and stared at my hand for days while I wore it. I’m a sucker for teal, and add some intriguing prismatic shimmer and I’m all over it!
The application of these were all good, which is standard for a-England polishes, though I found Ascalon dried a bit quickly so you have to move fast. They all have a thick but easy-flowing formula, that dry with a nice, smooth finish, but could use a top coat to give it a high-gloss shine (I did not use base or top coat for any of these swatches). Two coats were required for Ascalon and Saint George (the latter could almost get away with one), but three were required for Princess Tears to get the best opacity. I’ve only worn Saint George so far as a full mani, and it had good wear while I had it on (though I only wear polish for a maximum of four days!). The small chip you see on my pinky for the swatches of Saint George were due to me washing a huge load of dishes just before taking photos, and I didn’t notice it until too late – my apologies!
Overall, I’m really pleased with these lacquers and can’t wait to wear them again and again. I think they’re all seasonless shades and so terribly eye-catching! They retail for around $14CAD with the exchange rate, and are 4oz. So, now’s your chance – if you haven’t already, go get ‘em!!
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