Specializing in nail varnishes - rare, unusual, and obscure

Monday, January 30, 2012

Lynnderella Forget You Not



These pictures were taken outdoors in full sun:

You should be able to purchase Lynnderella's new collection, Lovely is as Lovely Does, here in the near future:
llarowe.com
Today's manicure is Lynnderella Forget You Not over Essie Orange, It's Obvious! from the new spring collection.
Forget You Not is a clear base with periwinkle/cornflower blue small round glitters and hex, iridescent glitters, and blue-pink shimmer. It is mush more densely packed than Nosegay.

This manicure is one coat CND Stickey bc, two coats of Orange, It's Obvious!, ONE coat of Forget You Not, and one coat of Seche Vite.


Saturday, January 28, 2012

Lynnderella Nosegay (kind of a fail)



Pictures taken outdoors in natural sunlight:

I received my package of Lynnderella's new collection, Lovely is as Lovely Does, yesterday. You should be able to purchase them here in the near future:
llarowe.com
Today's manicure is Lynnderella Nosegay over Hard Candy Just Nails Splendid.
Nosegay is a sheer milky base with purple and lavender small glitters, square glitter, and hex, some iridescent glitter, and blue-purple shimmer.

I first tried this polish layered over Sephora by OPI Taxi Cab. Taxi Cab is a sheer yellow shimmer and the results were abysmal. I didn't consider that Nosegay is not a clear base, but a milky one and the combo of sheer yellow and milky lavender was vomit-inducing. Not that this result is amazing, but it's much better. I'm sticking with this because I have decided to try doing the new collection of lynnderella varnishes over complementary bases. I usually do mostly tonal bases, but after seeing cilucia's amazing swatches (which I doubt I could equal) I decided to take a different approach.
This manicure is one coat CND Stickey bc, two-three coats of Splendid (not the best coverage, so some nails got another coat), ONE coat of Nosegay (any more makes the contrasting base coat look weird and milky), and one coat of Seche Vite.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Revlon Rain Forest (and Comparison to China Glaze Glittering Garland)


Today's manicure is Revlon Rain Forest. I know some people have discussed a similarity to China Glaze Holiday's Glittering Garland, so I decided to compare the two. They are similar and can look dupey in low light, but you can see the differences in bright lighting. The Revlon is a little darker/more blackened in base. The Revlon is a little streaky; I think the China Glaze has a better formula and brush.
Rain Forest is a blackened green base with golden green macro-shimmer.
This manicure is one coat CND Stickey bc, two coats of Revlon Rain Forest, and one coat of Seche Vite.
Pictures taken outdoors in natural sunlight:


COMPARISON


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

nails inc primrose hill


Today's manicure is nails inc primrose hill. I bought it from Sephora for $19.50. It's a limited edition polish that is only available in the more expensive, decorative crystal cap bottle.
primrose hill is a mellow grayish lavendar with pinkish purple shimmer. It's fantastic because it has a secret color shift. As a massively crazy nail polish addict and collector, I can't tell you how many times a beautiful duochrome/color shift that looks entrancing in the bottle just doesn't show up on the nail at all. It's such a disappointment. I can't really catch the color shift looking at this bottle, but at certain angles to the light, the normally pinkish purple shimmer flashes green.
Sorry about the tipwear. I did this manicure on Sunday night and it was raining on Monday, so I had to wait until Tuesday for the sun.
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual Lacquer Lock bc, one coat CND Stickey bc, two coats of nails inc primrose hill, and one coat of Seche Vite.
Pictures taken outdoors in natural sunlight:


Here's the color shift:



Pictures taken indoors with artificial light:

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Nars Super Orgasm from Yorokobi Set


Today's manicure is Nars Super Orgasm from the Yorokobi set. I bought the set at Sephora for $39. It contains mini blush, lipgloss, and nail polish in quantities as follows:
- 0.12 oz Blush in Super Orgasm (peachy pink with gold glitter)
- 0.14 oz Lip Gloss in Super Orgasm (peachy pink with gold glitter)
- 0.25 oz Nail Polish in Super Orgasm (peachy pink with gold glitter)

Super Orgasm is a sheer salmon pink base with pink shimmer and loads of chunky gold glitter. It swathed sheer in three coats on my wheel, so I decided to layer it over Rescue Beauty Lounge Smitten since it's a mini bottle and I didn't want to waste layers and not achieve opacity.
I like this polish, but the quality is not up to NARS standards and it could be duped easily enough with a pink shimmer and gold glitter layering combo.
Sorry about the tipwear. I did this manicure on Sunday night and it was raining on Monday, so I had to wait until Tuesday for the sun.
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual Lacquer Lock bc, one coat CND Stickey bc, two coats of RBL Smitten, one coat of Nars Super Orgasm, and one coat of Seche Vite.
Pictures taken outdoors in natural sunlight.


Pictures taken indoors with artificial light.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Dior Garden Party Spring 2012 Forget-Me-Not


This manicure is Dior Forget-Me-Not. Forget-Me-Not is a slightly brownish purple creme(plummy). There is a tiny/microscopic bit of shimmer in the bottle, but I don't really see it on the nail.
I have 250 purples and the closest thing I had in my collection was Illamasqua Velocity (though it is noticeably lighter).
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual Lacquer Lock bc, one coat CND Stickey bc, two coats of Dior Forget-Me-Not, and one coat of Seche Vite.
Pictures taken outdoors in natural sunlight.


Comparison pics with Illamasqua Velocity (one coat on pointer and ring fingernails):

Friday, January 13, 2012

Dior Garden Party Spring 2012 Waterlily Comparisons

So, I bought both of the Spring Dior polishes at Nordstrom. I was thinking, Forget-Me-Not probably has a million dupes and Waterlily is beautiful and unique! Not so. It is beautiful, but not unique. In fact, I think it's pretty darn identical to Chanel Jade and the three Chanel Jade dupes I have, except it smells like roses. Here are the pictures, taken outdoors in full sun. I apologize for the bubbles on my Dior thumb, I think I accidentally did a double coat of Seche Vite. Waterlily is pretty pigmented, but I find the Dior brush to be a pain.










This mani is one coat Spa Ritual Lacquer Lock bc, one coat CND Stickey bc, three coats of every polish (but only two for the Dior), and one coat of Seche Vite.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Butter London Spring/Summer 2012 Bossy Boots + Knackered over black

Today's manicure is Butter London Bossy Boots. Bossy Boots is a slightly yellow toned pastel mint green - a pistachio color. The formula is decent, but a little thick and not perfectly self leveling. The coverage is excellent, only the formula defects required a second coat.
I have almost 350 greens, and I actually couldn't find a dupe. It's a very white and yellow loaded pale green. I thought of the Pirates collection, but it's much whiter than Stranger TIdes and Mermaid's Tears. I don't have Skull & Glossbones to compare though, so I can't speak for that one.
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual Lacquer Lock bc, one coat CND Stickey bc, two coats of Bossy Boots, and one coat of Seche Vite.

Photos taken indoors in artifical light:

This pic captures the whiteness, but it's a bit more yellow IRL.

Photos taken outside in natural sunlight:




I had more than one reader comment on the opacity issues with Knackered in this post:

Butter London Spring/Summer 2012 Knackered
and Liz actually requested I swatch over black, so here it is:

Indoors in artificial light:


Outdoors in natural sunlight:





When it's sheer it flashes purple, light blue, and green in some lights, but the black underneath makes it pretty strongly purple or teal. It also seems to make the holo less noticeable when the base is more saturated.
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual Lacquer Lock bc, one coat CND Stickey bc, one coat of Illamasqua Boosh (black creme), two coats of Knackered, and one coat of Seche Vite.