MAC Style Clan AKA Magic Poo

Today's manicure is the new MAC Style Clan from their Holiday 2010 A Tartan Tale collection launching this Thursday, October 28. I picked this up from the local PRO Store, which gets collections early. Style Clan is a muddy taupe brown color with subtle copper glitter. This mani is one coat Nubar Nu Nails, two coats polish, and one coat Nubar Diamont topped with Seche Vite. As you can see, these t/c did not play well with the MAC and I ended up with gross bubbling. The formula is typical MAC, thick and still somehow patchy. The copper accent is just too subtle in this polish. It looks nice in bright light, but in anything else it barely shows and the base ends up looking like a creme identical to OPI You Don't Know Jacques.



Comparison:


All photos were taken indoors using an artificial light source.

Essie Going Incognito

Today's manicure is Essie Going Incognito from the new Holiday 2010 release The Winter Collection. The tagline: "Intriguing Color Is The New Sexy" *barfs in mouth*.
Anywho, most of the colors were boring. EW was all, "hey guys, how's about we take the fall collection and make it a little darker." I wasn't really interested in any of the other colors, but I always fall for the greens.
Going Incognito is a slightly blue toned/a little jelly-ish green creme. It's very nice, though the formula is kinda meh - runny/streaky syndrome. Plus, I had a few dupe-y greens in the collex.
This mani is one coat of Nubar Nu Nails, two coats of polish, and one coat of Nubar Diamont topped with one coat Seche Vite.
These photos were taken indoors using an artificial light source.



Comparisons:
All of these swatches are two coats with no top coat.
Sorry about my cuticles...

I messed this one up. Accidentally swatched pa A9 instead of the darker A32 I intended...
Thumb to Pinky: LA Girl Flare Envy?, Nubar Forest, Essie Going Incognito, Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle, pa A96
I am guessing on Envy because I bought it from Urban Outfitters and it has no label (I think purposefully, which is frustrating).


Thumb to Pinky: BB Couture Poison Ivy, Ciate Stiletto, Essie Going Incognito, Finger Paints Scenery Greenery, Cosline 708


Here are the two shades closest imo:
Finger Paints Scenery Greenery (which is a tad darker with less blue tone) and LA Girl Flare in what I believe is Envy (see explanation above) which seems like a dead dupe to me. I think Envy, or whatever it is, is hard to find. I'm not sure LA Girl makes the Flare line anymore. Scenery Greenery is part of Sally's FP Core Line.

Tis the season for deals....

Ciate.co.uk
25% off
code: CIATE25MC
exp: 10/27/10


Sephora.com
20% off
code: FF2010
exp:11/2/2010


Beauty.com
20% off
code: BTY20
exp: 10/29/10

UPCOMING:

RescueBeauty.com
RBL 50% off sale
11/1/2010
11am-4pm EST
Newsletter subscribers only, so go sign up!

Please post any additional np deals I missed in the comments.

Red Dead Vamps

Today I'm bringing you MAC Concubine from the Fall/Winter 2010 Nail Trend Collection and Loreal Femme Noir from the recent drugstore LE collection Midnight Muse (only one bottle per display). I was surprised to like Concubine because I went to the counter with the express plan of buying just Jade Dragon and Ming Blue and when I swatched this, I grabbed it too. It's a lovely deep red jelly full of pink shimmer and looks better than it photographs in my opinion. Femme Noir is a lovely lit from within blackened red, that looks black indoors. It's only in good lighting that you catch this shimmery majesty.
Both these manis are two coats of polish over one coat of Nubar Nu Nails and topped with one coat of Nubar Diamont and one coat of Seche Vite.
These photos were all taken indoors using an artificial light source.

The Buck Stops Here

Today I'm presenting two greens. One is high end and the other one is drugstore. Illamasqua Viridian is a sparkling blue-toned green shimmer from Illamasqua's Autumn/Winter 2010 Art of Darkness collection. I purchased it at Sephora in South Coast Plaza. You can't purchase these LE Illamasqua shades online, but brick and mortar Sephoras do get them in stock. (UPDATE NOTE: This has recently changed - both varnishes from the Art of Darkness Collection and two polishes from the Body Electrics collection are now available at Sephora.com)
They retail for $14 here, and $20 something if you order them from overseas because of the unfavorable conversion rate between USD and GBP.
The other is a blackened olive/golden green shimmer from Brucci called Black Emerald. Interestingly, under a microscope this polish has sparse orange and red shimmer mixed in with the dominant green. Indoors it's virtually imperceptible, but the polish flashes a fall leaves-color in direct sunlight (making this polish a gorgeous duochrome. Brucci is based in New York, and I believe on the east coast it is more readily available in drugstores than on the West Coast. I bought this in an independant beauty supply for $3. It is also available on eBay if you can't find it in a store near you. Both of these manis are two coats of polish over one coat Nubar Nu Nails and topped with one coat Seche Vite. These photos were taken indoors using an artificial light source.

Harry Potter (Slytherin) Themed Franken Collection

Left to Right: Emerald Encrusted Assets, Avada Kedavra, Malfoiled

Left to Right: Crabbe & Goyle's Death Burger Deluxe with Cheese, Nagini, Dead As A Dumble-Dorenail

I made all six of these in one evening. I had been gearing up for frankening and my manglaze franken juggs package arrived on Saturday. My favorite is Emerald Encrusted Assets, though Dead As A Dumble-Dorenail looks better in person (and it's my favorite OPI-esque name). I split the Malfoiled franken between two jugs (because it was super thick. You see, it was perfect until I went and added Green Sparks! mineral pigment from TKB and the franken immediately turned into a gel/paste. DO NOT RECOMMEND these for frankens) and added more clear to the Malfoiled and black to make the Avada Kadavra. I made Nagini by splitting the Dumble-Dore Nail between two jugs and adding NYS Amaranth. Some of these turned out great texture wise, but Malfoiled and the two Vintage Leaf Glitter heavy ones (Dumble-Dore Nail and Nagini) where a gooey bear to work with. All of the following swatches are three coats and topped with Seche Vite. These photos were taken indoors with an artificial light source. Now I have to decide which of these to wear with my Draco Malfoy halloween costume...


Avada Kedavra

1/2 bottle of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Toast
1/6 bottle of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Clear
1/4 bottle of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Black Creme
1/4 tsp Apple Green Pop Pigment from TKB
1/8 tsp MAC pigment in Green Brown
+ some Green Sparks! mineral pigment from TKB
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Crabbe & Goyle's Death Burger Deluxe with Cheese

1 bottle of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Clear
1/2 tsp Martha Stewart Nephrite Glitter
1/2 tsp Martha Stewart Peridot Glitter
1/2 tsp Martha Stewart Sterling Glitter
2/3 bottle of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Confetti
Special Note:
The amount of clear polish I put in this franken means the glitter won't stay suspended and the nephrite glitter bled into the base and turned it black after I took these pictures. I don't know if the glitter would have bled if I had only used Confetti base, but the glitter would probably not sink to the bottom. The glitter did not appear to bleed into the silver foil based polishes I made.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dead As A Dumble-Dorenail

1/2 bottle Hard Candy Trailer Trash
1/2 bottle of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Clear
1/4 tsp Martha Stewart Olivine Vintage Leaf Glitter
3/4 tsp Martha Stewart Verdalite Vintage Leaf Glitter
1/4 tsp Martha Stewart Nephrite Glitter
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Emerald Encrusted Assets

1 bottle of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Confetti
1/3 bottle of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Clear
1/4 bottle Wet n Wild Craze Morbid
1 tsp Martha Stewart Sterling Glitter
1 tsp Martha Stewart Sterling Vintage Leaf Glitter
1/4 tsp MAC pigment in Emerald Green
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Malfoiled

1/2 bottle of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Toast
1/6 bottle of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Clear
1/4 tsp Apple Green Pop Pigment from TKB
1/8 tsp MAC pigment in Green Brown
+ some Green Sparks! mineral pigment from TKB
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Nagini

1/2 bottle Hard Candy Trailer Trash
1 bottle of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Clear
1/4 bottle New York Summer Amaranth
1/4 tsp Martha Stewart Olivine Vintage Leaf Glitter
3/4 tsp Martha Stewart Verdalite Vintage Leaf Glitter
1/4 tsp Martha Stewart Nephrite Glitter

The A-pa-calypse Continues!

More of the pa swatches. Same drill. Three, two, and one coats descending from top to bottom of each pic. Photos taken indoors with an artificial light source.

pa A109



pa A32



pa A86



pa A83



pa A81



pa A72

Hard Candy Walmart Halloween LE

I happened to run into the three new Hard Candy Walmart Halloween bottles - Wicked, Zombie, and Mischief, when I spotted a Walmart off the freeway in SGV and made a quick detour. These polishes are a little thick and goopy, but didn't really give too many application problems and they have pretty good coverage. All of these swatches are three coats.

Wicked

Mischief

Zombie


Comparisons:
Mischief is a pretty generic shade, I have more than five black loaded with silver glitter, so I picked the ones with denser glitter for comparison.


Wicked is a bright orange glitter loaded into a greenish sheer black base. It's pretty similar to China Glaze Ick-A-Bod-Y from their current halloween collection (Awakening 2010) but the glitter is a little brighter and more dense.


Zombie had two dupes right there at Walmart. Pure Ice Cheatin and Nicole by OPI Gone Wishin. I couldn't bring myself to buy three identical bottles, but i did get the cheaper Cheatin to do a comparison. Cheatin is pretty much the same, but much less dense. It would take several extra coats to build to the same opacity as the Hard Candy.


These pictures were all taken indoors with an artificial light source.