Etude House WH004

Today's manicure is Etude House WH004. Etude House is a (very cute) Korean brand of cosmetics. For a time their polishes were available from etudehouseusa.com, ostensibly the brand's US distribution arm, but the site was actually unaffiliated with the brand and was shut down due to copyright infringement. This information is gathered from the internet, so take it with a grain of salt. For the time it was active, polishes were often massively backordered. These polishes can be ordered from eBay, and likely other webstores.
This polish is a vampy black with blurpley teal duochrome macroshimmer particles. It's tough to catch the shimmer without a strong light source, but it is lovely when viewed in sunshine.
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual bc, one coat CND Stickey, two coats of varnish, and one coat of Out the Door tc.
These pictures were all taken indoors using artificial lighting.

RBL Spring 2011: The Quick and the Dirty

I ordered from RBL on Saturday and to my surprise and delight, my package of new spring colors from the 2011 Iconic/Ironic collection was on my doorstep when I got home from work today. My cuticles are a disaster, but I did quick 2-coat (no base or top coat) swatches to share with you. These are all so lovely. I am the most ambivalent about Recherche because of it's simplicity, but I look forward to doing full manis with all of these interesting colors.
These pictures were taken indoors with artificial lighting.

l to r: Recherche, Iconoclast, Decorous, Insouciant


Recherche
a plummy, brownish, blackened purple super-vampy creme
The closest thing I have in my stash is Hard Candy Normal and a Strange Beautiful brown, but neither is a match.
\ ruh-sher-SHAY \ , adjective;
1.Uncommon; exotic; rare.
2.Exquisite; choice.
3.Excessively refined; affected.
4.Pretentious; overblown.


Iconoclast
black with multicolor flashes of microshimmer
I have nothing like this in my collection.
[ahy-kon-uh-klast]
–noun
1.a breaker or destroyer of images, especially those set up for religious veneration.
2.a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc., as being based on error or superstition.


Decorous
milk chocolate with a flash of purplish shimmer
The closest thing in my stash to this is Chanel Particulare and that has no shimmer.
[dek-er-uhs, dih-kawr-uhs, -kohr-]
–adjective
characterized by dignified propriety in conduct, manners, appearance, character, etc.


Insouciant
soft lilac with a flash of blue shimmer
I have nothing like this in my stash.
[in-soo-see-uhnt; Fr. an-soo-syahn]
–adjective
free from concern, worry, or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant.

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.

Chanel Blue Satin and Hard Candy Walmart Mr. Right

As per a reader request, I am providing comparison swatches between Chanel Blue Satin and Hard Candy Walmart Mr. Right. I left Mr. Right on my thumb, middle finger and pinky (hence tipwear and dulled shine of topcoat - sorry) and applied Chanel Blue Satin to my pointer and ring ringers.
The Hard Candy Walmart is three coats over one coat SpaRitual resurface bc with one coat SpaRitual tout de suite tc.
The Chanel is two coats over one coat SpaRitual resurface bc with one coat SpaRitual tout de suite tc.
I think you could get away with two coats of Hard Candy Walmart, and one coat of Chanel Blue Satin for that matter, but I finished with an extra coat on each for good measure. Both applied well; Blue Satin is more pigmented - but four times as pigmented? Nope.
I included two overexposed photos so you could see more detail - since this is a dark and vampy polish. I think they are a pretty close match.

Hard Candy Walmart Mr. Right

Today's manicure is Hard Candy Walmart Mr. Right.
Mr. Right is a vampy navy shimmer that looks black in low light. You catch the shimmer (as seen in these photos) in bright fluorescent lighting or sunlight.
I noticed a similarity between this and Chanel Blue Satin on my swatch wheel. They may not be exact dupes, but indoors they look identical and I think that this Hard Candy polish would make a great low cost alternative (see bottle comparison pics).


This mani is one coat SpaRitual Resurface bc, three coats polish, and one coat SpaRitual Tout de Suite tc.

Hard Candy Walmart Envy

Today's manicure is Hard Candy Walmart Envy.
Envy is a dark and vampy green polish that appears creme in low lighting but is actually a shimmer. Indoors it generally looks like a soft black creme. These pictures are more accurate to how the polish looks in direct sunlight.
This polish reminds me of a super-blackened China Glaze Emerald Sparkle. It's much more subtle. If it's too subtle for you, you may prefer Emerald Sparkle.
I also think it's funny that the ring looks like it was made for NARS Zulu instead of this darker green shimmer.
This mani is one coat SpaRitual Resurface bc, three coats polish, and one coat SpaRitual Tout de Suite tc.

Bloom Jessica Mauboy II

Today's manicure is Bloom Jessica Mauboy II. I have no idea who Jessica Mauboy is, but I think she has good taste in varnish colors - scratch that, in today's information age I decided to google her. Apparently she was the McPhee or Clay Aiken of Australian Idol. Anyways, this polish is a dark teal that leans very green. I'm afraid the photos made it appear a little more blue than it actually is. Notice that after much effort of my last glitter mani, I still managed to get one speck of red glitter stuck right in the center of my middle finger nail. How apropos.
I quite like these Bloom polishes. They are opaque in two coats, dry quickly, and the colors I have are lovely. I wish they were sold here in the US.
This mani is one coat SpaRitual resurface base coat, two coats varnish, and one coat of SpaRitual tout de suite top coat.

Lippmann Collection Ruby Red Slippers

Today's mani is the spectacular Lippmann Collection Ruby Red Slippers. Yes, it is worth all $35 I paid for it. This amazing polish is part of a limited three piece set put out for Lippmann's 10th Anniversary. It is packaged with a repromote of another great Lippmann polish that I already owned - Superstar (brown with chunky bronze glitter) and a truly heinous polish by the name of Funky Chunky (black with big black chunky glitter-looks like badly applied black). But buying the set was worth it for this shade. You can pick up the set here:
Lippmann Collection 10th Anniversary Set.
Ruby Red Slippers is a sheer black jelly loaded with red glitter and chunky red hexagonal glitter pieces. The black does build, but after swatching I decided to put one coat of black creme underneath to make the base more opaque. It looks amazing outside, but it's flashy enough not to be mistaken for black indoors as well. It's everything I wanted RBL Black Russian and Chinoiserie Black Magic to be. Both have a similar tone to Ruby Red Slippers, but are much more subdued. My husband says, "I like that. It's different then your other polishes." I concur.
This mani is one coat SpaRitual Resurface base coat, one coat Wet n Wild Wild Shine Black Creme, two coats of Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers, and one coat of SpaRitual Tout de Suite top coat.