Monday, October 26, 2009

Finger Paints Holiday collection

Wow. Wow-wow-wow. I have no idea that "nonconformist" is a new word for "ass-kicking"; but this certainly is the case with Finger Paints 2009 Holiday collection. It's truly stunning and not exactly traditional color-wise.

Let's start with nonconformist part. Seriously, who includes pink in a Christmas collection? Finger Paints does; and this pink is absolutely dazzling, living up to its name, Decked with Dazzle:
I don't like pink at all, and even I must admit - this is a stunner. Foily finish, multicolor sparkles (it seriously sparks); opaque in three coats. The only problem this it was the smell - for some reason, Decked with Dazzle reeks. Weird chemical smell, not at all like a "normal" polish smell.

It works great with a matte top coat. Here I used Essie Matte About You:



Now, another gem of this collection is Evergreen Dream:
It's very close to both Nubar Greener and legendary Emerald Sparkle by China Glaze. Evergreen Dream has the same velvety depth as Greener features; but it sparks almost as intensely as Emerald Sparkle does. This is an absolute must for those of you who love green. It's just... I don't know... OMGOMGOMG it's so gorgeous. One coat was enough; but I did two out of habit.

A little comparison pic, Greener and ED; Greener on the left:

As you can see, ED's texture is a bit rougher than Greener's - this is because ED has more prominent shimmer, or, rather, golden sparkles.


Last, but certainly not least - Icy Iris. Purple lover's dream comes true.
Eggplant purple, loaded with unbelievable multicolor shimmer/spark. It's breathtaking. Instant top 1 in my vast collection of purples.

Please click on the pics to look at this wonderful, magical, I-can-stare-at-this-forever shimmer. Yes, I'm drooling with Barbie-pink drool. Just wait till you see this color on your nails and then judge me.

Icy Iris formula is opaque in one thick coat; unfortunately, it stinks as badly as Decked with Dazzle does.

This collection also features a pale sparkly silver and two reds: one with multicolor shimmer and one with a distinctive gold hue. I didn't care for either one of them; so no pics of these three will follow.

Finger Paints Holiday collection is available at selected Sally's. Good luck finding it!

PS: Special thanks to my friend Hanna who made this post possible.

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Saturday, October 24, 2009

Random Nubar NOTDs - Greener and Iced Licorice

Just pics, without me blabbering:

Greener by itself and Konaded:


I really think this green doesn't need any comments.


Iced Licorice, one of the prettiest polishes ever:

Please keep in mind these pictures are not exactly color accurate. This polish is more duochomeysh IRL; and it has a distinctive warm brown undertone to it.

PS: As you probably noticed, I really got into Nubar lately. I have plenty of pics to follow, as well as a couple of words about their treatment.

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Friday, October 23, 2009

China Glaze Glacier aka Twihard NOTD

Yes, that's right - I just said "Twihard". I know it's lame, but I'm sure Glacier is exactly what Stephenie Meyer had in mind when she described Edward's sparkly butt vampire's skin under the sunlight.

Glacier is a multicolor - mostly pastel - glitter (with some holo particles) in a milky-white base. It is very pretty, very sparkly and very difficult to photograph.

Here is the best I could do (click on the pick to enlarge):
This pic shows the different colors pretty well, but there is no way you can see how incredibly sparkly it is; serious driving hazard, really.

I figured Glacier would be too cool for my skin tone, so I layered two coats of it over one coat of a neutral beige - Color Club Sugar Baby.

Formula is really good: not too thin, not too thick and easy to work with. I was afraid it would be very gritty, but one coat of TC smoothed it out completely.

So far, I have just two of new China Glaze glitters - Glacier and Cleopatra - and I truly love them both. Very happy polishes.

PS: Twihards, take no offense - I'm one of us, just closeted. Yes, I'm closeted Twihard, Team Jacob. Now you know.

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Sunday, October 11, 2009

NOTD: Nubar Moon Shadow

Long time no see, huh? I'll explain my extended leave of absence in the following posts; now on to the polish.

Moon Shadow. One of Nubar duochromes. Nubar makes really mean duochromes (check Scrangie - I'm sure she posted a bunch of Nubar duos a while ago). This one is purple/brown/amber-green. Really complex and really gorgeous. Main color - purple - has this glowy quality to it. I'm very picky when it comes to purples, but I love this one.

Under some light purple leans a bit on a brown side; very warm brown:


Moon Shadow is not one of the subtle duochromes, when you need to squint to see a change in color. It's a bold and true duochrome; as obvious as a chameleon.

I dunno about you, but I said "Wow!":



Couple of words about application. This one required three coats; in two coats it still looked like an ugly, weird muddy gray (huh?). Talk about ugly duckling.

PS: Don't forget to click on the pics to enlarge them. Totally worth it.

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