Road Trip

I didn't want to leave my couple of readers hanging, so...
I'm going on a road trip and I won't be back (and posting) until Friday, Sept.4. Don't expect to see anything new until Friday.
See you soon!

Shades by Barielle Polished Princess

Today's manicure is Shades by Barielle Polished Princess. Ugh, that name makes me want to barf. Anyways, this is a frosty golden green with orange and green microglitter - much in the style of several BB Couture greens I have.
It is thin and runny and requires a minimum of 3 coats. This mani has not achieved opacity and shows some brush strokes.
I decided to test out a few matte-ifying top coats, since matte polish has resurfaced as the "it thing". It's cheaper to buy a bottle of matte top coat and slap it on your existing polishes, after all, than buying up a bunch of matte polishes while they're cool.
This mani is one coat Barielle Camouflage, three coats polish, and one coat Nubar Diamont.



Here are the matte top coats: Essie Matte About You, Rescue Beauty Lounge Matte Top Coat, and Orly Matte Top.

Here are the top coats slapped onto my mani from two nights ago.

Matte Top gives a satin finish, while Essie MAY, and RBL Matte Top Coat have a similar flat matte finish. I tested using a shea butter hand lotion on all three of these and it doesn't appear to affect the finish. We'll have to see how they wear.

Shades by Barielle Falling Star

Today's manicure is Shades by Barielle Falling Star. This is a new shade from the "All Lacquered Up Collection" which was co-designed by Michelle from ALU and released mid-August.
The first collection from Barielle released fall of last year made it into CVS, but I believe that this collection can only be purchased on the Barielle site. There are 12 shades in this collection and the site always has a buy two, get one free promo. I like their black creme Monique Jet and they have a few nice greens.
I think this is the standout of the ALU collection in terms of color. It's a vivid blue creme with chunky, but sparse copper glitter.
Unfortunately, the formula is not great - I have several other barielles that have great formulas, but this one is a pita. I did my nails last night while watching a double feature of Wanted and Fight Club, and I was too lazy to get up and grab some thinner from the other room. This polish is runny and thick. One coat is super chunky and patchy. I did three coats to smooth it out and it's still not opaque or smooth. This polish DEMANDS thinner. All the coats made bubbles, so these aren't the prettiest pictures, but you'll get a feel for the fantastic shade. The copper glitter is so unexpected. It's subtle, but makes the polish pop.
This mani is one coat Nubar Nu Nails, three coats polish, and one coat Nubar Diamont.


Avoid potholes.

These two are indoors with flash from right after I finished my mani last night. The glitter stands out better, but the blue appears brighter than irl.

Bloom Bonnie and Illamasqua Phallic

Today's manicure is Bloom Bonnie. When I finished my nails, my husband examined them.
What's that?
Bonnie.
Is there a Clyde?
All of the polishes in the line are named after women.
There should be a Clyde.
Clyde's not a girl's name.
You should make a Clyde.
Anyone have any suggestions on what kind of polish Clyde should be? :-P
Here's Bonnie.


With Flash:

Anyways, I got to thinking that Bonnie looked a lot like Illamasqua Phallic


...and decided to take some comparison shots for you.
Both varnishes are a midnight blue base with teal blue microshimmer. I would say they're pretty much dead dupes for each other in all lights, though the Illamasqua is more opaque and a tiny bit more vivid. Bloom is not available in the US, but Illamasqua Phallic can be purchased from Sephora.com and select Sephora locations.
This mani is one coat Nubar Nu Nails, three coats of Bloom Bonnie, and one coat of Nubar Diamont. The Illamasqua nails are each two coats of polish.



With Flash:

Bloom Catherine

Today's manicure is Bloom Catherine. Bloom is an Australian line and unfortunately, the manufacturer (bloomcosmetics.com) does not ship internationally (some Bloom cosmetics are sold here in the US - but not nail polish).
Catherine is a pale purple/mauve loaded with silver glitter. Like most chunky glitter polishes - this applies a little thick, but it settles well. It's practically opaque in one coat, but I applied two for more even coverage.
The sun has been in and out this weekend, so I apologize about the overcast pictures.
This mani is one coat Nubar Nu Nail, two coats polish, and one coat Nubar Diamont.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Film Noir

Today's manicure is Rescue Beauty Lounge Film Noir. I have to say, this is the worst mani that I have ever even considered posting on this blog. I apologize in advance. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong, but I guess I'm out of practice with Rescue Beauty Lounge. RBL is my favorite polish company in terms of formula and colors - but I am not in love with their base/top coat. I decided to pull them out again for today's mani.
I chose this in honor of Quentin Tarantino since I'm going to see Inglourious Basterds (what a spelling atrocity, btw) at a midnight show tonight. It seemed appropriate; plus, I love vampy short nails.
Film Noir is a very dark vampy purple that appears almost black indoors. It appears more purple with less coats and builds toward a dark eggplant - I believe I would've been better off with three as the pigment appears uneven.
This mani is one coat Rescue Beauty Lounge base coat, two coats polish, and one coat of Rescue Beauty Lounge top coat. I got lots of lumps and bubbles with this one. I'm going to do my next RBL mani with Nubar bc and tc and hope for better results.

The secret to glitter removal

Since I had to take off my Sinful Colors glitter polish today to do my new mani, I was reminded just how difficult glitter removal can be. There are three secrets - Pure Acetone remover, Felt (as opposed to cotton pads or balls), and Patience. It is inevitable that glitter removal will take longer than the removal of any other polish texture. The best approach is to soak the nail, either in a bowl with acetone or by loading the felt with acetone and holding it still on the nail. After soaking, rub vigorously to dislodge the glitter from the nail. You may have to use an orange stick and cuticle remover to get the glitter particles out of your cuticles. I like to wash my hands with a nail brush after I'm done to help clean up strays. Voila. Good luck!

Sinful Colors Call You Later

Today's manicure is Sinful Colors Call You Later. Another impulse buy; I was at Walgreen's picking up something for my husband (who's sick) and grabbed a few Sinful colors. From my experience with Sinful, I find them to be best for layering - as they have pretty sheer coverage. You can purchase Sinful Colors from Walgreens for 1.99 (the display tends to be up high or close to the floor - so you can miss it if you're not looking out), also some colors are available from cherryculture.com and sinfulcolors.com. I don't believe this polish is available anywhere other than Walgreens yet as it is fairly new.
Since I was already wearing OPI DR 1968 from yesterday, I decided to layer Call You Later on top. Based on the coverage, I would say it's not worth the effort wearing this solo (unless you LIKE sparse coverage) but it makes a great glitter top coat over another creme or shimmer.
Call You Later has a clear base loaded with gold microglitter and chunky green glitter. You can add coats depending on how much glitter you want. This mani is one coat Nubar Nu Nails, three coats OPI Damone Roberts 1968, one coat Nubar Diamont, another three coats of Sinful Call You Later, and one coat of Nubar Diamont.

OPI Damone Roberts 1968

Today's manicure is OPI Damone Roberts 1968. This is an exclusive to Damone Roberts salons in New York and Beverly Hills and can be shipped from these locations, the contact information is available at damoneroberts.com. I saw the post on ALU and realized that Damone Roberts' salon is practically around the corner from me, so I went and picked it up after lunch. It's a very nice green, and appears unique in my green creme collection.
This is the official description: "It is not your typical mint green. It has a little touch of gray in it and a little touch of brown." I would say it's pretty accurate - it's less blue than MAC Peppermint Patti and Ciate Apple & Custard. It's at least one shade deeper than the pale mint of BB Couture Laguna Lagoon and Illamasqua Milf. (see the comparison photos at the bottom)
The polish is smooth, but thin in a streaky way - you need three coats to reach opacity. This mani is one coat Nubar Nu Nails, three coats of polish, and one coat of Nubar Diamont.




Here are comparison photos with other pastel mint green cremes. I also did bottle comps of Orly Mint Mojito, Nubar Green Tea, Barielle Sweet Addiction - but all were several shades deeper.

BB Couture for Men Grenade

Today's manicure is BB Couture for Men Grenade. BB Couture is a Los Angeles based company that sells directly from their website bbnailpolish.com. BB Couture is also available on overallbeauty.com; oddly, overallbeauty usually has more up-to-date and complete selection available than BB Couture's official site. I have ordered from Overall Beauty several times and I can heartily recommend it. BB Couture for Men was just released this past Tuesday, and consists of 6 colors - 3 grays, a black, a blue, and a green. I love BB Couture greens so I had to order Grenade.
BB Couture for Men doesn't seem to have any formula differences from their regular line - it's smooth and opaque in two coats. Grenade is a deep olive green shimmer with peach and green microglitter. This mani is one coat of Nubar Nu Nails, two coats of polish, and one coat of BB Couture Top Rock.



You may have noticed that my nails have shrunk. I didn't break a nail, but I just got fed up. I don't mind experimenting with different nail lengths, but I am a shorty at heart and I can't stand it when my nails get too long.
For your viewing pleasure, I swatched 4 other BB Couture greens along with today's mani polish.