Orly Metal Chic - Fall 2009/Spring 2010

Orly released a matte line of 3 colors called Metal Chic.

I'm not usually a fan of matte nail polish, but I found this collection cool, even if it's not for me. I did two things on them - I took them as they were originally meant to be worn - as a matte. Then I slapped on a super shiny top coat because I was curious how it would look. Both were pretty and I really preferred the shiny version.

Removing the colors were a PAIN thanks to the glitter...but anyway, please excuse the dry cuticles. Acetone and a strict, "DO NOT USE ANY LOTIONS WITH THIS MATTE NAIL POLISH" makes for a very ooglay cuticle display.

Admittedly this wasn't the best color for my skin tone...either matte or not, it just didn't look right. But if I had to choose, I'd say the matte version is much better on me than the one with top coat.

With or without topcoat, this color is freaking gorgeous...

I prefer this with top coat. Can you blame me?

Zoya Polishes - Adina and Midori

Blogger's being lame...and I've followed their directions, but my posting date still isn't showing up.

I really enjoyed the Zoya colors I purchased...I find that of the two, Midori was my favorite.

Going Green!

Well, sort of.
I bought some nailpolish from Nubar (www.bynubar.com) the other day. I balked at paying so much for 8 bottles of nail polish...and only 6 were color. Hubby said said, "Just buy it. You'll figure out if you like their products or not. You'll learn your lesson or fall in love."

I FELL IN LOVE!!!

Big time. Fell hard.

I now present Nubar's limited edition Going Green collection...

 Conserve

Shade (Top), Sunlight (Bottom)

Love this bangin' shade of green. It's got some gorgeous shimmer to it...it's absolutely gorgeous and goes on like a dream. I did 2 coats and when the 2nd coat dried, it was a lovely finish. I topped off the color with some super shiny fast drying topcoat (Poshe) and this just looked like a million bucks.

Earth

Shade (Top); Sunlight (Bottom)

This has love written all over it for me. When Urban Decay was doing nail polish, this was the color that was one of my absolute favorites. If I remember the color from Urban Decay was called Peacock...and this is pretty close to it, but the UD one had a bit more blue. This stays on this side of green. I love this color...I feel like I'm looking down on earth from outer space.

 

Forest

Shade (Top), Sunlight (Bottom)

This is a gorgeous green and it reminds me of the Orly greens - Clinging Vine and Enchanted Forest. It's a lovely creme that is like butta...

Greener
Shade (Top), Sunlight (Bottom)
Move over China Glaze's Emerald Sparkle, I've found your prettier, younger sister. Less streaky and less frustrating to work with, this girl takes the cake. Plus, she's not jelly based...she's actually got some substance to her formula.Take that, Emerald Sparkle!

**** Now here is where Nubar totally makes me die ****

Reclaim
Shade (Top), Sunlight (Bottom)
I die. Seriously. I. die. A freaking GREEN HOLOGRAPHIC? Even China Glaze didn't have a green like this in their Kaleidoscope and OMG Collections. The closest they had was L8R G8R and that was more like a lemon quartz in color - freaking beautiful. However, there is no green holographic like this. *swoons*

Wildlife
 Shade (Top), Sunlight (Bottom)
I died with the last color, but Nubar seriously shut it down with this. It's billed as a duochrome...and it sure is. It's got some gorgeous pink-gold thang going on and then a pretty mossy green. It even looks good on my skintone, too! I just didn't know what to say. I'm wearing it right now. I'm in love.

I loved the formula for all the polishes - it's by far, the best formula I've ever used...Nubar is a total winner in my book and I'm a fan.

Color Club Spring 2010 - Rebel Debutante

This is actually the first time I've willingly purchased Color Club. My fellow nail polish girlfriends have sent me bottles of the stuff and in turn, I've forwarded them on to other people.

I made the decision to buy when I saw the swatches on Scrangie's blog...and I've got to say, I'm not impressed by the colors. Well, there are two that I like. There were 9 colors, but I only bought the 7 that enticed me the most...and if I could do it all over again, I'd probably only get 5.

Just a note - these pictures were taken with a mixture of sunlight and indoors. Normally I do my swatching during the day, but the sun set and I decided to finally try the light box set up hubby used for my jewelry. I used my same lil old camera and maybe it's time for me to graduate to the big kids stuff...but anyway, this is my first time using the light box so please don't be so harsh on me.

 

Who Are You Wearing?

Not one of my favorite colors. When I saw it in the bottle, I thought it could quite possibly be a dead ringer/sister/twin/dupe to my all time favorite OPI's Tickle My France-y. Nope. Not a chance. While I appreciated the efforts put forth by Color Club, this didn't do it for me.

 Rebel Debutante

This is the name of the collection and I thought the signature color would be...well, kind of stand out. I was disappointed that it was a close to but not quite neon. I mean, it's green and it looks pretty, but it wasn't my cuppa.

Best Dressed

It's a little too much brown going on for me...I can do my best mannequin hands impersonation with this color!

 

High Society

A very pretty mellow mushroom taupe color! I love these kinds of colors.

 Uptown Girl

You can't really see how pretty this color is - it's a beautiful, rich purple creme...and I totes blew it with my incompetent light box skills. Sorry.

Ms. Socialite

Yea, I messed up on the name on the pic. Oops. :) If I had been able to use the light box properly you would see this as a gorgeous purple plum. My bad.

 

 Gossip Column

An epic fail on my part in trying to capture the prettiness of this color...it reminded me of a peacock kind of blue. Actually, I'll take it back, both of the swatches are very true to life despite my ineptness with a light box.

Loved a handful of colors and the formula for that green wasn't the best. For the most part all of them needed 3 coats but only Gossip Column and High Society were the ones that could get away with 2 coats.

For my first time with Color Club, I'm pretty happy.

Spring 2010 - OPI's Hong Kong Collection

13 February, 2010
4:29PM

Let me first start out by saying that there hits and misses for me in this collection. There are some bright colors in here and that's what I'll be showing first. They hurt my eyes...big time. I definitely enjoyed the rest of the collection, too. Very pretty and very not what I expected. I had seen it on some other people, but on me...I fell in love. For once, there was no black nail polish involved. :D

The formula itself was pretty good, too...I normally have issues with cremes because I am little miss heavy handed in application. You'll see it here and there throughout the pics but overall no problems. Please excuse the messiness of the manicures. I'm normally a lot more careful in application, but all the colors and the excitement got to me. Haha. Sad, but true.

As always, click to make the pics bigger!

 

A Good Man-Darin Is Hard To Find

Shade (L), Sunlight (R)

Yea, this was the brightness I was talking about...ouch. My eyes. They feel like burning!

 Chop-Sticking To My Story
Shade (L), Sunlight (R)
Ok, for some reason, I loved this color...a lot. It's not quite pumpkin orange on me and there is enough orange mixed in with a hint of brown that makes it very appealing. I normally would never wear something this color, but for some reason, this really made me excited!

 

 Dim Sum Plum
Shade (L), Sunlight (R)
While it wasn't my favorite color, I was having flashbacks to their previous Fall 2009 collection's color Ate Berries in the Canaries. I'll do a comparison side by side if I remember to after I do a write up on all of these. :D I won't swatch it but I will put my previous pics up. DSP is a pink that I think will go well with people who love these kinds of shades. I really have to be in the  mood for this sort of color. While it's fun to swatch, it's not one I'd actively wear if given a choice.

Hot & Spicy
Shade (L); Sunlight (R)
Wow. In the bottle it looked like a bit of an orange coral. Out of the bottle and on me it looks like...an orange coral. Not me. So not me.

 

Red My Fortune Cookie

Shade (L) and Sunlight (R)
It's not quite tomato and not maraschino cherry...It didn't look bad on me, but it didn't look good either.

 Pearl of Wisdom
Shade (L); Sunlight (R)
Even in the shade the polish was able to capture a beautiful shimmer and give off a slight hint of the pinkness within. In the sunlight you can really see the prettiness. This is a sheer color and I think wearing it over a darker color would definitely be the best thing you can do with it.

Now this is where I think the Spring Collection starts to really shine...

Lucky Lucky Lavender
Shade (L) Sunlight (R)
This wasn't quite as lavender as I was expecting. It's really kind of...well, a pink lavender, don't you think? I don't know why, but the sun really washed out any hint of lavender in this color.

Panda-Monium Pink
It's actually even prettier in person. I thought I had this confused with Lucky Lucky Lavender, but no...this was the correct bottle and swatch. I'm not a fan of pinks or pastels, but this didn't stand out on my fingers like spring colored M&Ms. (BTW - love that I went a little nutso with the cleaning of my cuticle on my index finger?! Haha. Silly little Sally Hansen manicure clean-up pen.)

Meet Me On The Star Ferry
Shade (L) Sunlight (R)
Now this color...blew me away. Only because waaaay back in the mid 80s, I found a color by Sally Hansen that was very similar to this. I used it until it dried out and I threw it away. I never was able to get another bottle because for some reason, the jr high kid in me had managed to pick the ONE color that was a limited edition. That alone should've been an indicator on my nail polish obsession...anyway, here it is, looking just as good, if not better than what I had in high school. Beautiful berry with a lovely shimmer running through it. The shot of it in the shade reminds me of my much loved and much lamented Chanel's Brown Sugar. This color really defines the collection for me.

 Bling Dynasty
Shade (L); Sunlight (R)
I LOL'd mightily at the name of the polish. I cringed when I saw it in the bottle, but I fell in love with it when I put it on. What a gorgeous shade of gold this is. Definitely a keeper in my book!

  Jade Is The New Black
Shade (Top); Sunlight (Bottom)
What rockin' shade of green this is...I have a dark green that's more forest green and a light green...and a minty green. I don't have this kind of green...and I'm in LOVE. Very very pretty.

 

Suzi Says Feng Shui
Shade (L); Sunlight (R)
This is a gorgeous teal/dusty blue. In fact, it was a color I wanted to paint the walls of our bedroom in but Colin said no. I guess I'll have to settle for it on my fingers! :)