Swatch: Evil Queen

Earlier, I shared Claire's Poison Apple. Now, I have my other polish from that release: Evil Queen. (I didn't get the Space Cadet dupe since I already have the Orly version. But I'll try to do a comparison with my sister's bottle.) Evil Queen is similar to Orly Galaxy Girl and MAC Formidable.

Evil Queen is a dark purple-plum base with duochrome shimmer that shifts from a blue-aqua in direct light to magenta that pretty much disappears into the base colour. Three coats covered perfectly. This was another tough one to photograph, so here's some pic spam.

 The blue shimmer in this polish is stunning. The bottle shows it really well in this picture.

NOTD: Stamping with BM10

Here's Color Club Wild at Heart over Revlon Peach Petal using Bundle Monster plate BM10. I finished it with a coat of Hidden Treasure because I just can't leave anything alone. As much as I love the colour of Peach Petal, it's a pain to use. This is four coats and it's still patchy but I pretty much gave up at that point because I knew I could cover most of it by stamping. I had to overlap the images to cover my nails. I can't wait until I can buy the new Bundle Monster plates with larger designs. Has anyone tried them yet? And are they definitely worth buying?

Fyrinnae Arcane Magic Swatches

What was I thinking, waiting so long to try Fyrinnae's Arcane Magic shadows? The four I chose are all stunning, and the colour change is just the icing on the cake. The effect is hard to capture, but I tried to get a photo closer to(top) and farther from (bottom)  light. Enlarge these pics to see the differences for each.

Dragon Magic, Faerie Glamour, Futuristic Glamrock, Madame & Eve's

Dragon Magic

Dark, almost black, green with bright blue-green shimmer. Colour change is less obvious than others, becomes more green, less blackened.

Faerie Glamour

Vibrant purple base with light blue and pink shimmer. Another less obvious change. Shifts from mostly pink to mostly blue shimmer.

Futuristic Glamrock

Icy blue filled with light blue and sparse pink shimmer. Pink sparkle becomes much more obvious closer to the light.

Madam & Eve's

Dark purple, leaning brown, base with blue-green shimmer. Shifts from purple-brown to turquoise.

Fyrinnae Shadow Swatches

As promised, here are the rest of the swatches for my new Fyrinnae eye shadows. 

Eternal Innocence

Dark shimmery green. I've been looking for a good dark green for a while, and I think I want something just a little brighter than this. So, I'd love to hear any suggestions, whether from Fyrinnae or any mineral makeup company.

Kamikaze

Bright red with red sparkle. On me, anyway, this seems to have slight orange tones.

Meerkat

This is one of the shadows I bought mostly for the name. I think meerkats are one of the cutest animals around. Maybe not the best way to choose eye shadows, but I wasn't at all disappointed with this one. Pink-purple with tons of gold sparkle.

Orangutan

Coppery-peach with an almost metallic look to it. I actually didn't think I would really like this one as much as I do. It's another one I bought for the name. Orangutans are my absolute favourite animals in the whole world. How can you not love a baby this cute?

Hesty the Orangutan (Denver Zoo)

And last but not least,

Tapir

Rich purple-based burgundy. This looked more of a wine red in the jar, but the purple tones came out against my skin. Nearly matte, with only a slight shimmer.

Color Club Untamed Luxury

I'll post more March Greens this week, but I wanted to take a break from that to share a Color Club collection from Fall 2010 that I found recently at Winners.  Here are the seven polishes from Color Club Untamed Luxury: Every Shade of Indulgence. 

Pretty in Platinum

Light, pearl gray. I don't have anything like this in my collection. This was three coats. The formula seemed thick but runny and every flaw in my nails showed through the polish. The color is gorgeous though, so it'll be worth a good base coat and some patience. This was the only one of the set that gave me problems with application.

Wild Orchid

Shimmery medium gray, with blue/lavender tones. Two coats, great application. Another shade without dupes in my collection. I'm starting to think I'm lacking in the gray department.

Positively Posh

A great medium brown creme. Three coats but two might be enough. I have a few similar shades but this is a bit darker than the others; maybe I should do a comparison post for this one.

Soft As Cashmere

Greige, how I love you. Three coats on this one, too. 

Nothing But Truffle

Coppery brown shimmer in a dark chocolate base. Two coats. Similar to SH Xtreme Wear Chocolate Nut or NYC Canal Street but darker than either of those.

Jewel of a Girl

Metallic burgundy-wine shimmer in a blackened red base. Two coats. I have a Wet n Wild that's pretty similar-Under Your Spell. 

Ready to Royal

Dark, almost black, eggplant. This seems like almost a jelly finish. Two coats. Plenty of dupes for this one out there. I have a mini Funky Fingers (no name) that is close, Rimmel Deliciously Dark is pretty close too, and NYC Lincoln Park is just a little more burgundy than purple.

My New Favourite Nail Polish

I hinted on twitter the other day that I had found a new all-time favourite polish. And that is not a title I take lightly. Sure, just about any colour can make it into my revolving top ten for a day or a week, but to declare something an all-time favourite, you know it must be good. Charla good, or even Space Cadet good. Are you all dying to know what has me so worked up?

It's Joe Fresh in Peacock. A gorgeous dark blue-teal-green shimmer with purple duochrome. In most light, it's about equal parts blue and green, but at certain angles or lights, this looks royal blue or emerald green. And if you move your hand just the right way, you see the most amazing purple/fuchsia. I played with the bottle for seriously ten minutes before I painted my nails, turning it each way to watch the colour shift. (I know, air bubbles...eek.)

Joe Fresh is a grocery store brand available in Canada and what I've tried from them is so much better than I would have expected. These polishes retail for $4 and are sold at Real Canadian Superstore and Fortinos (and probably any of the other Loblaws brand stores, but I'm not certain of that). I never bought these before because $4 for 6mL seems too pricey. (It's like paying $12 for an Orly or $10 for a China Glaze.) But I got this one for just $2.33. Much more reasonable. How?

Superstore has a store coupon right now for $1 off any nail polish. And if you buy three of the Joe Fresh polishes it's $10 (instead of $4 each). So combining three of the coupons, you save a total of five bucks! I wasn't sure if they would let me use three, but it wasn't a problem. Have I mentioned how much I love couponing?

Now on to the swatches. This was a tough one to capture so check out the pic spam after the jump.

My First Water Marble

I've been meaning to try water marbling for ages but never got around to it until now. I think a lot of the reason I waited was just because it seems too intimidating. But it's actually pretty easy. Well, the basics are easy, but I know it's gonna be a lot harder to do some of the designs I've seen. 

I used SH Xtreme Wear in Twisted Pink and Plum Power for the marble, over a base of Elf Passion Pink. I just wanted to try out the technique this time, rather than an actual design, so I ended up with a very random marble effect.

I think next time I will choose colours that contrast more so the marble effect is not so subtle. You know, I'm not a big fan of subtlety.

Have any of you tried water marbling yet? I know I'm probably the last person not to, so I'd love to see what you guys have done. Any tips or tricks to share?

SH HD DVD

This is Sally Hansen HD in DVD. It's a light purple (lavender, lilac?) packed with light blue shimmer. And even if that was it, this colour would be stunning. But, there's more. If you catch the light just right, the blue shimmer seems to turn pink-purple and the overall colour is a dark fuchsia. So I tried over and over to capture that effect on camera. I don't know if it's just my lame camera, or if the duochrome is that elusive, but at the very least, I did get some color-accurate shots of the blue shimmer. This took three coats because it's so sheer and I'd probably need at least two more for opacity.

Here's a blurry shot to show all the gorgeous blue shimmer. 

And this is as close as I could get to capturing the fuchsia duochrome. Definitely less blue than the other shots, but nowhere near as pink as it gets.

I love duochromes. And contrasting shimmer. And purple. And I like the formula on these. Not too thick, not runny. If it wasn't so sheer, this could easily make it's way into my top ten. Maybe next time I'll try layering over a light purple. Revlon Gum Drop would be perfect if that didn't need about six coats itself. Maybe Elf Lilac. Or I might try over a pink to pick up more of the fuchsia in this polish.

What do you think of these new(er) HDs? What are your favourites of the collection? I'd love to hear your opinions.

FOTD using Sleek Circus Palette

This is the look I did yesterday. Nothing too special; just a quick look for work. The pink is almost faded from my hair so it's about time to change the colour. I've got tons of half-jars of Manic Panic so I'll choose from those and dye it sometime this week.

The eyes in this look are all from the Sleek Circus Palette. After priming my eyelids, I used the bright pink in my crease, the light purple over the entire lid and blended into the pink in the crease, light blue on lower lashes, and the dark blue as a liner. Very straightforward.

So, I'm curious, what colour do all of you think I should do my hair next? I have most of the rainbow so I'd love to hear suggestions.

NOTD: Hidden Treasure + Gum Drop

This is Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure over Revlon Gum Drop (with flash). Hidden Treasure is tough to photograph so this doesn't show how amazing it really is. Over dark polishes, it looks like green and copper flecks. But my favourite way to wear it is over pastel creams for pale blue, pink, purple, and green reflections. Up close, the flakies are noticeable but from a bit of a distance, it just looks like a really cool duo-chrome-y effect.

This is without flash. It's a bit blurry but shows more of the flakies in the polish.

And, since I've been meaning to use nail stickers more often, I added a flower to one nail:

NOTD: Fauxnad-icure

I love the look of Konad images on nails but there was no way I could justify paying $6.99 for one image plate, not even including a stamp and scraper. So, I found a knock-off on ebay for under $8 (including shipping) that had six image plates, a stamper, and scraper. All for the price of one Konad plate! 

Anyway, I've been experimenting with different combinations of colours and some polishes definitely work better for stamping than others. (I'm not about to pay extra for special polishes.) Since I couldn't find my charger I haven't been able to take pictures of my NOTDs for a few days, but I finally have batteries in my camera, so here is my first "fauxnad-cure" to show you.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue It over Virtual Violet. I unashamedly stole this colour combo from Susie because I loved her Konadicure over Gum Drop. Check it out here.

Revlon Gum Drop

Revlon Gum Drop. Four coats, with flash. Matte swatch is here.

NOTD: The (nearly) Perfect Lilac Creme (FINALLY!!!)

Revlon Gum Drop with matte top coat. With flash. I love this colour. And it smells like candy! But the formula is too thin. This is 4 coats and there's still a bit of streaking. That seems standard for Revlon polishes though.

EOTD: Lavender

I felt like doing a purple look but didn't want anything too harsh so this is what I came up with. It's a very easy look to do, but blending is important for this one. And I just realized that (again) all the products are ELF, so it can be done for less than $15. But of course, use whatever you have.

Products Used:

Elf Studio Eye Primer & Liner Sealer

Elf Brightening Eye Color-Drama (matte white), Punk Funk (purple)

Elf Studio Eye Transformer (lavender shade)

Elf Studio Cream Eye Liner-Black

Elf Studio Mineral Infused Mascara

Start off by priming your lid up to the brow bone. Brush the matte white on your lid. Apply a vibrant, medium purple (Punk Funk) to your crease and blend up to the brow bone, using the white to blend it out and as a brow highlight. Blend the lavender shade from the eye transforming palette over the entire lid and crease to soften the look. Also, use a little of the lavender under the eye. Using an angled brush, draw a thin line along your upper lashes with the black cream liner. (Or, if you prefer, use a pencil or liquid liner-whatever you're most comfortable with.) Finish off by curling your lashes and applying two coats of black mascara.

If you like this look (or even if you don't) please vote for it in ELF's Thanks a TWO Million contest!

Nail Polish Fail: Sally Hansen New Lengths Ceramics

I've been looking for a really great lilac creme for a while now, but since it seems impossible to find just the right shade (that doesn't cost a small fortune) I was ready to settle for a frost. So I picked up Divine Purple yesterday and had high hopes for it. Well, I painted my nails last night, had some wear on my tips this morning, and chipping this afternoon. Tonight, after less than twenty-four hours, the polish was just peeling off in big pieces.

I'm really disappointed in this polish. The colour would be great if it stayed on more than a few hours. And I haven't had problems with Sally Hansen polishes in general before. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Even More Xtreme Wear Swatches

I've had these three colours for a while but just keep forgetting to post swatches. The photos aren't the greatest; it seems lately that none of my photos are turning out. The bottom is without flash, artificial light; top is with flash.

Left to Right:
Purple Potion-Violet with a blue highlight. Most similar to the flash pic. It's close to Deep Purple but lighter and brighter.
Fuchsia Power-Bright pink frost. Very similar to Twisted Pink, without the shimmer. Really don't need both these colours.
Black Out-Black. Not much else to say about this. Except it goes on smoothly and it's completely opaque with two coats.

The rest of my Xtreme Wear Swathes are here and there.

Xtreme Wear Swatches

As promised, here are the swatches for my newest Xtreme Wear colours. (The first set of swatches is here.)

(Left to right:)
Virtual Violet: Lavender with a blue iridescence. It makes me think of what Lime Lights would be if it were purple, if that makes sense.
Deep Purple: Dark purple with blue and pink shimmer. Brighter than this pic shows, but dark.
Pacific Blue: Medium blue creme. Somewhat darker than this pic. It dries a lot darker than it looks in the bottle.


And, I forgot to mention with the rest of the swatches, my one big issue with these polishes is actually more with the bottle. The caps aren't always consistent. Some are white (I think these are the older ones), some are dark metal, and some are taller and skinnier. Not really a big problem, but it kinda bugs me that they don't all match.

EOTD: xsparkage cheshire cat inspired

I love xsparkage's youtube tutorials. So I decided to recreate one of her looks but change it up just a little bit. This is done entirely with elf products (except brows--just because I am faithful to my brow powder). And the entire look costs about $15 (another thing I love about elf!). I'll try to do a video for this look, but for now here's some pics.

Products Used:
Shimmering Facial Whip in Persimmon
Studio Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter in Fair/Glow
Studio Eye Primer & Liner Sealer
Studio Mineral Infused Mascara
Brightening Eye Color in Punk Funk
Studio High Definition Powder
Liquid Liner in Midnight

I used the concealer under my eyes (obviously) and above my brows, just to give them some definition and set that with HD powder. Then, primed my eyelids and used persimmon as a cream colour base to make the shadows really pop. (Writing that reminded of that NSYNC song from way back in the day..now it's gonna be stuck in my head.)

Anyway, getting back to this, use the pink from the punk funk quad from the lash line up to the brow bone and the purple over that just to the crease. Then, I used the studio highlighter just under my brow and the lightest shadow to set that and blend out the pink. Line top and bottom (and inner corner) using midnight on an angled brush and set it with the blue shadow. Smudge a bit of purple and pink under your eye, add a couple coats of mascara and you're done.