Revlon Starry Pink

I was all prepared to ignore the new Revlon glitters because the last ones were so disappointing to me. You might remember them - they were mixed-size, multicolored glitters in a clear base, sold with matching solid colors:

They look beautiful in the bottle but on the nail they didn't really do it for me. I ended up selling these to someone who probably put them to much better use!

So when I started seeing pictures of the new glitters I didn't think much about it. Particularly because one is a pretty close dupe for Deborah Lippman's Bad Romance, which I have and love. But then I saw pictures of Starry Pink and I kept wanting it...and wanting it...and not finding it. I'm not sure if these are Target exclusives or not, but that's where I found them and I haven't yet heard of anyone in the US finding them elsewhere.

Blue Mosaic, Starry Pink. I didn't get Facets of Fuchsia because it is a little too close to Bad Romance to justify having both. (For me anyway. You can do whatever you want!)

Blue Mosaic is in a clear base which, as I mentioned, usually turns me off. But the glitter is dense enough that you could get it opaque or nearly so in three coats.

This is two coats. Crummy pic but you get the idea.

Starry Pink...Starry Pink is just beautiful. It's large silver hex glitter and small round silver glitter in a milky, semi-sheer pink base.

I used two coats over one coat of Essie Marshmallow.

For whatever reason, these mixed-size glitters really grab me. I like the randomness of the pattern that the different sizes make, I guess. And I do love that this one is in a tinted base. This is a manicure that's subtle without being boring.

Did you buy any of these? Will you?

Little White Liner

So this isn't groundbreaking, but on the off chance it's helpful to someone else I thought I'd share it anyway. I've been wanting a flesh-toned or white eyeliner for a while now, having ditched my faithful (and old - very old) Nat Robbins shimmery ivory one a long while back. Once I got rid of it, I forgot how easily white (or just light-colored) liner on my lower waterline makes my eyes look a little brighter, a little more awake.

(BTW, I'm going for something like this, not so much this.)

I've never found anything I liked as much as the Nat Robbins, though I've been getting by using lighter colored shadows applied with a damp liner brush. Mostly I've been using Chase or Vanilla from my UD 15th anniversary palette and sometimes the gold from my Topkapi quad.

I really wanted a liner, though, mostly because I am lazy and also because I tend to poke myself in the eye with a liner brush. Of course the one I have earmarked is from Chanel and costs $28, which is just stupid. So I bought a Wet 'n' Wild eyeliner on Friday for a whopping $.69. I thought oh boy this is going to be great!

When I first tried it on the back of my hand, however, I was a little bummed out. There was the familiar greasepaint smell. The application was uneven and patchy. It took me straight back to the old, bad days of Wet 'n' Wild , when I would ride my bike up to Gray Drug and spend my babysitting money on chalky eyeshadow and dry, pasty lipstick. It's shocking how strong my associations with that smell are - it was like I was right back in the girls' restroom in middle school, shakily putting on blue eyeliner before school.

In the last year or so I've purchased some really nice WnW eyeshadows and nail polishes, so I just assumed the eyeliner had changed as well. Sadly it seems about the same.

However, after working with it for a little while - rubbing in on the back of my hand, sharpening it - the liner has mellowed a bit and I've been using it over the weekend. I'm actually pretty happy with it - it creates enough of a brightening effect for casual looks and I'll probably continue to use shadows as liners if I want a little more TA DAAAA.

More recent NOTDs

Hello there friends!

I have a couple of recent NOTDs to share, but first, let's catch up a little. I am eagerly anticipating my Make Up Store holographic polishes that I got for 40% off on Wednesday, and word on the street is that we will begin receiving Lynnderella invoices over the weekend. I also have a line on the Rivkas I wanted and then of course there are those Fashion's Night Out Chanels coming up. Needless to say this is all being done in the name of WHEE IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!! My birthday is actually September 13 but...I like to spread it out a little.

I've twice tried to get the new Estee Lauder color, Metallic Sage, and twice failed. Yes I could order it online but the shipping cost is bumming me out. I've gone to two Lauder counters and one behaved as though they had no idea what I could be talking about. Sigh.

Also, my blog sale is back up. I have some new things on there that I've decided to part with so take a look if you are so inclined. I've changed up the shipping a little bit because I was losing money on it but I still think it's pretty reasonable.

Anyway, this is NARS Orgasm.

I love the shimmer in this. I do think I used too many coats or perhaps the wrong top coat, because I could still dent it after about 24 hours. I used four coats of Orgasm (hahaha) over two coats of NYC Little Italy. I think next time I would try one coat of Little Italy and three of the NARS. Also, I used SV and it could be that NARS just didn't play well. Beautiful color though. I've wanted this for a while even though peachy colors like this typically don't do me any favors. The shimmer in this one saves it though and I'm really happy with it.

Today I'm wearing Diamond Cosmetics in Chainmail Charm.

I ordered this more than two years ago and never tried it until now! I still remember getting my Diamond order because I ordered so many. At the time they were still $2 each (they're $2.50 now I think) and I had them delivered to a friend's house because I was on vacation.

BUT I DIGRESS.

There are, of course, "dud" versions of this. I do not think this is one.

Thanks for looking!

Blog sale!

I've taken the blog sale down for the time being! Thanks for looking.

Comparison: Chanel Peridot and Missha HGR01

Around the time I got Chanel Peridot I heard about a possible dupe, Missha HGR01. Here they are side by side.

As you can see, they're not twins. They are more like cousins...the idea is the same, but the colors are different. In the photo below you can see the color shift.

Chanel on the bottom, the Missha on top. You can see that Peridot is predominately green and gold while the Missha is blue and green/gold.

Color shift on the nail.

In the sun it's amazing.

Fortunately I like both versions very much! Some may prefer the Missha over the Chanel, or vice versa, depending on color preference. Application was good with both polishes. The Missha is rose-scented. It is fairly strong, though things like that don't really bother me.

The Missha *is* less expensive than Peridot, but it's shipped from Korea and if you're in the US you'll probably want to order it from eBay. So a little inconvenient if you're into instant gratification. I think that if you already own Peridot, don't rule out the Missha. It's different enough to own both (I know you love to hear that).

Glitter Gal Light As A Feather

I've been waiting not-so-patiently for the new Glitter Gal linear holos to be available in the U.S. Earlier this week I received the long-awaited email and I quickly ordered Lizard Belly, a dark green (!) linear holo (!!) and Light As A Feather, a white linear holo (!!!).

Before I get into that however I need to tell you about taking off the Missha purple glitter. How much foil, how many cotton balls, how much acetone was sacrificed in the name of getting that stuff off my nails? I hesitate to try and tote up the damages. Not even 10 minutes with foil wrapped around my fingers did the trick. It merely softened the glitter's hold on my nails until I could gently pick it off with an orange stick. Also there was glitter EVERYWHERE. I said on Twitter that it looked like I murdered Ke$ha in my bathroom sink.

After all of that my nails were surprisingly undamaged, but I did use my ridge filler just to be on the safe side.

Light As A Feather. This is a white linear holo with a jellyish quality to it, and as you can see it comes out a soft, delicate mist gray on the nail. I used three coats.

In this nail wheel swatch, you can see that Light As A Feather (far left) looks very white, not gray. My nail wheels are white, and I suspect that if you did two or more coats of the holo over a white polish, you might get closer to this effect. I tried it over two coats of Sally Hansen White On and didn't like my result, but that's probably more the fault of White On. The Asian Girl suggested Essie Marshmallow as a base and I agree. I love Essie Marshmallow's application and coverage. (You can also see Lizard Belly on this nail wheel. It's gorgeous!)

Taken in early morning sun. You can see more of the holo in these pictures. Application was a breeze - the jellyish texture makes it super easy to apply.

I ordered these polishes from shop.llarowe.com and my experience was excellent! I ordered on 8/16 and received my polishes 8/19. Shipping is so reasonable and I think we can all agree that sometimes that is a make-or-break with e-tailers. I have heard international buyers rave about the shop as well. (No I'm not affiliated...just a very big fan.)

As an aside, I'm not having much luck finding the new Halloween releases from Wet n Wild or the new Revlons. I'm not sure how many (if any) of these I want to get, but I do want to see them in the wild. Yesterday I did happen upon the new Maybelline limited edition fall releases, and picked up Cool Couture (a dusty opaque blue-gray with blue shimmer) and Be Scene In Green (a medium green shot through with gold and green shimmer). Here's a quick peek:

L-R: Be Scene In Green, Cool Couture.

More news on those as events warrant!

Missha Purple Glitter

You guys, I can't even...

This polish is so cuckoo bananas.

I just thought it was like...regular size glitter in an extremely pretty color combo. I didn't know it was pieces of glitter big enough to boogie board on.

So the thing about Missha polishes is that they have this horrible brush.

It barely comes out of the neck of the bottle, it's so wide. I had to trim several stray bristles off the brush in my Missha HGR01 (the reputed Chanel Peridot dupe which is not a dupe but might appeal more to certain people based on color preference...post to come, obviously) before using it. But this was another story because of the HUGE glitter pieces.

I glopped it on a nail wheel to see what I was dealing with.

Well.

Because this glitter is in a clear base, I started with two coats of Milani Hi-Res. Although not overwhelmingly holo, I do like this polish a lot. Very pretty and sparkly and spring-like due to the lilac tones.

Then I plastered on two coats of the Insane Purple Glitter From Korea.

In this picture the polish looks better but you can see all my acetone dryness. Sorry.

It's very sparkly and really fun in you're into sequins. It's a little much for me though. It reminds me of the time I glopped on many, many coats of a Street Wear bar glitter for a New Year's Eve party and snagged my nails on everything.

I need to take it off soon though because my Glitter Gal holos are arriving in my mailbox today!

Illamasqua Brigitte

Not long ago my nail pal The Asian Girl helped me get my hands on some Illamasqua polishes I've been wanting. Some of these have been on my wish list for a while now...I don't think I've bought an Illamasqua polish in more than a year. Longer even! Which is just crazy because they are truly lovely.

This is Illamasqua Brigitte. We are going to get married.

Brigitte is a jelly. Such a jellyish jelly that I was terrified when I opened the box because wow does it look sheer. It put me in my mind of my Ruby Kisses American Clear Pink, which made my nails look like a nuclear accident. I've also purchased other iterations of that color with equally disappointing results. Oh how I craved the perfect pink jelly!

This is four coats.

I used my Palladio ridge filler, which I haven't in a while, because it has a slight creamy tint to it. Just enough to take the edge off any stains on my nails.

With the first coat of Brigitte you definitely think "I have chosen...poorly." But with the second coat you can tell it's definitely going to build properly. I might have even stopped at three, but most of the swatches I found online that I liked showed four coats, so that's what I did.

Brigitte is a UK-exclusive Illamasqua shade, although when I tried to find it on Illamasqua's site this morning, I couldn't. So it's possible it's been discontinued. I couldn't find it on eBay, either! There are other UK-exclusive shades, though, and they retail for about $22US, depending on the conversion rate.

Revlon Craving Coral

I'm not overall super jazzed about this manicure. Part of it is that I bought this polish for a kind of dumb reason.

Revlon Craving Coral came home with me during the Revlon/CVS frenzy earlier this year. I must admit I only bought it for the ExtraBucks. This is annoying to me because the first rule of ExtraBucks is buyeth not stuff you don't need. Otherwise you just end up wasting money, which sort of defeats the whole point. (This is why shows like Extreme Couponing drive me nuts when they show someone buying 93 bags of Texas Toast croutons. YOU DO NOT NEED 93 BAGS OF TEXAS TOAST CROUTONS.)

Anyway.

It's a pretty polish but it is still a little bit translucent at three coats, plus it was a little runny. Fail on both counts. Also, my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat left these drag marks (you can see them in this picture, on my middle finger), which it tends to do if you use too thin a coat. Additional fail.

For funsies I pulled out everything in my stash I thought might be dupish.

Essence What Do U Think?, Diamond Cosmetics Cameo, Essie Chubby Cheeks, NYC Spring Street, Revlon Craving Coral, Revlon Chili, Sally Hansen Azalea. As you can see, many are not even close. The best candidates are Chili and Spring Street.

I struggled to get a shot where these didn't all look identical. From L-R: Spring Street, Craving Coral, Chili.

It's difficult to see here, but Craving Coral is closest to Chili. I like Chili a lot better so maybe Craving Coral will get re-homed. I should mention that NYC Spring Street is a superior orange - I bought it in lieu of a more expensive Essie polish and I really like it.

Here's a swatch of Revlon Chili, which is part of the Top Speed line.

Tony Moly Galaxy Glitters

I joke about his happening often enough, but it's pretty rare that I see a picture of a nail polish and immediately go buy it. But when I saw pictures of the Tony Moly galaxy glitters on MUA, I went directly to eBay and snapped up Neptune, which is (of course) the green one.

This is small green and gold glitter and larger round green glitter in a very pigmented green jelly base. If that sentence sounded like "magical magic magicky magic time" to you, that's because IT IS.

The cap of this polish is a little clumsy to hold, but the brush and formula are great so I had zero application problems. This jelly base is so pigmented and so full of glitter that this is what one coat looks like:

I mean, !!!!!!!!!!

I don't think my photo captures the amazing shiny blingy goodness of this polish, but:

My only tiny nitpick is that this dries pretty heavily textured. I used a coat of Gelous between the polish and a thick coat of SV and I still have some texture. Not enough to detract from the awesomeness, but next time I will probably use an additional coat of Gelous.

I LOVE THIS. I would like to buy more at some point but I've got other stuff percolating right now. This was $9.99 from the eBay seller where I found it, with free shipping from South Korea. I ordered it on June 3 and received it June 11.

Highly, highly recommend!

Lipstick break!

The pictures I've taken of the Sally Hansen Prism in Ruby Sapphire are making me mad, so I'm going to share this fun lip gloss with you today.

I first read about Maybelline Shine Sensational Pop Sticks on Scrangie's blog and the 7th grade girl in me wanted one real bad. I saw them a few times at different drugstores but couldn't pull the trigger (mostly because I kept seeing them at Rite Aid and my CVS bucks don't work at Rite Aid, and I am a cheap bastard). I finally relented today, on the rationale that I am nothing if not a lip balm addict.

These are billed as "tinted" but if you can tell a difference in the color of your lips after using them, you're a better woman than I and surprise, they actually are! There is a definite raspberry pink tint to this one, which surprised me. It is moderately shiny and a bit moisturizing. I'll probably use it under or over lipstick that I find drying.

They have a slight fruit scent but it's not terribly overpowering. And the container is super cute!

They're kinda neat - translucent jelly, but not mushy or melty. They're slick and shiny.

This is Fruit Punch. It provides a nice coat of shine for your lips and would probably be fine over or under a lipstick you find a little too dry. I'm pretty happy with it! If nothing else, it comes in a fun package and you know how appealing that can be all on its own!