Swatch: Poison Apple

Today I have Claire's Poison Apple. My sister found this and the other two "dupes" for the MAC Venomous Villains polishes that were released last year. Ten for $10! Poison Apple has been compared to MAC Bad Fairy, which I don't have so I'm not sure if they are identical. Dupe or not, this polish is a beauty.

The base is a sheer reddish plum and it's filled with duochrome flaky glitter. Depending on the light, I've seen it shift from a pinky-red through copper to a murky yellow-orange. I've heard some complaints about it being too sheer, but the glitter is dense enough that I had no problem with that. I used three coats, which is fairly standard for me.

I had some trouble capturing the duochrome effect, although it is visible in the bottle. These show the shift from pink-red to coppery-orange better than the above picture.

Does anyone have Poison Apple and Bad Fairy? Dupes or not?

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.

Fyrinnae Haul and Swatches

Those of you who follow me on twitter got a sneak peek at my recent Fyrinnae haul. I'd been planning what to buy for ages, but the site has had a lot of down time lately. So once the site was up again (temporarily) I went all out on samples. And once again, they do not disappoint. Even colours that I was a little iffy about or bought just for the name *Orangutan* are gorgeous. And they're are more than a few that I would buy the full size of if the samples weren't so generous. Anyway, let's get to the haul, shall we?

After reading Phyrra's rave reviews about the Velvet-Gel Silica Primer, I needed to try the dry skin version. I'll have a review up for that after I try it out a bit. Onto the samples: top row is Glow Blushes, then Arcane Magic shadows, and the last three rows are the loose eye shadows. I also got a sample of Pixie Epoxy for my sister. The lashes were a freebie included with my order. I can never get enough false lashes, so these are perfect for me.

For today I have swatches of the loose shadows; Arcane Magics and Glow Blushes should be up later this week. All swatches are patted on over Elf Studio primer. And as always, click on any pic to enlarge it.

Banana Mochi

Light shimmery yellow. Much softer than Bifrost and without the contrasting sparkle.

Biker Chic

Black base filled with aqua sparkle. This looks a little patchy in the photo, but I didn't notice any problems when swatching. You definitely want to enlarge this one to see the sparkle.

Bite Me

Somewhat dark, but still bright red with red shimmer. Fyrinnae describes it as "the hue of fresh blood" and that's entirely true. Darker than Kamikaze and more of a true red.

Chaotic Evil

Bright pink filled with silver shimmer. Actually reminds me quite a bit of the new Revlon, Sublime Strawberry. The base colour isn't identical, but overall they're pretty similar.

Curiouser and Curiouser!

Bright blue filled with blue/turquoise shimmer. This is much lighter and brighter than 1.22 Gigawatts as well as more aqua-leaning.

Damn Paladins

I'm not much of a neutral eye fan, but I saw a swatch of this taupe on a blog and became obsessed with it. The base is a fairly basic medium taupe but it has an amazing light blue hidden shimmer that makes this a must-have.

More shadow swatches coming! What are your favourite Fyrinnae shades?

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.

Christmas NOTD 5: Candy Canes

Today I have candy cane nails. This is super easy. Just Wet n Wild French White Creme and loose red glitter. It looks kinda orange-red in this photo, but it's actually a true red. I ended up with glitter EVERY WHERE. But a co-worker complimented my nails and said they were very festive, so I guess it was worth it. I think if I were to do candy canes again, I would probably just use a red glitter polish for the stripes. And maybe add in some thin green stripes as well.

Christmas NOTD 1: Orly Moonlit Madness

I thought I'd start my month of Christmas themed manis with a simple one. This is Orly Moonlit Madness, a classic dark red full of red shimmer. These pics don't quite show how deep and rich this colour really is, but the flash photo is closest.

Swatches after the jump.

NOTD: Cherry Red

I'm sorry for not posting lately. I was on vacation for a bit (more on that later) and since I got back, I've slowly been getting back into things. But I'm hoping to make up for it this week with lots of looks and reviews. So, to start things off, today's nails are Sally Hansen Extreme Wear in Cherry Red with matte top coat.  I wanted something red for Canada Day but a glossy red creme seemed too obvious. The matte finish adds just a little something special. Photo is with flash.

How did everyone else celebrate Canada Day? Or, for American readers, any special plans for the weekend? We ended up going to the city's celebration. I overdosed on cotton candy and the fireworks weren't anything special but it was fun anyway.

NOTD: Red Carpet

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet

This is three coats, but you can get away with two. First photo is with flash, second is in natural light. This tends to photograph lighter than it actually is. The flash photo is closest. It also has more sparkle, and just shine in general, than shows up in these photos.

I also swatched this with matte top coat:

Does anyone have China Glaze Ruby Pumps? How does it compare to Red Carpet? I wonder if it's worth having both.