Wednesday, January 27, 2010

NOTD: Misa Bellacious

One deceptive color, this Bellacious. When I spotted it on a shelf, it looked like a pale, dusty-rose creme. On the nails it turned out to be rather bright pink-peachy jelly, with the slightest hint of lavender. Go figure.
I don't like jell finishes, so I did 3 thick coats; but you can still see the VNL here.

In the direct light pink really pops:
Despite the pinkness, I'd say it's a nice, office appropriate neutral, yet with an edge to it. Like it.

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Monday, January 25, 2010

Absolutely Blue Sparrow Alice

As usual, I'm late with my review. You've already heard: Absolutely Alice is all that plus a bag of chips. I agree.

Dense blue glitter with added gold sprinkles. What amazes me about Absolutely Alice (in addition to its unanimously accepted amaziness) is how the color changes depending on light. From deep electric blue/medium blue to sky blue. Very cool.




It looks nice with a matte top coat, but honestly, Absolutely Alice is born to be blingy:

Another source of amazement: people keep comparing it to Dorothy Who? I cannot agree; in my humble opinion, AA is much closer to another China Glaze polish - Blue Sparrow. Different blues, definitely, but the same happily saturated vibe:
(Sparrow on the left, AA on the right)

I probably risk being polished to death, but I do not dig Absolutely Alice (as I didn't dig Blue Sparrow). Yes, I appreciate it; it's a unique and wonderful and very Alicesque clolor. But I look at my nails and the sentiment is "Ummm... So what?" The same happened to Blue Sparrow. I'm not trying to be original and make a "meh" face at everybody's favorite. I just don't know how to wear such blues. It's way out of my comfort zone.

PS: My friend Karianne posted THE best picture of this color I've seen so far. Enjoy!

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

China Glaze Grape Pop: alone and layered

What a great purple! Pleasantly neutral (not to be confused with boring) - not too warm, not too cold. Pigmented and very reach. The color actually reminds me of a lilac bush in bloom rather than of a grape pop.

Yes, excellent purple, but such an annoying little bitch to photograph! I took 90+ pictures, yet still do not have a perfect one; so I'm showing Grape Pop a-la puzzle.

Here I'm pretty happy with the bottle color. When I saw in on a shelf in Trans Design, I was "Wow, it has some dusty quality to it!" Yep, bottle color does seem a bit muted:
Ring finger and pinky are very close to life as well; pointer and the middle one are way off: much bluer than IRL.

On the nails, thou, Grape Pop is extremely bright and vivid, nothing muted and dusty about it:
It's pretty color accurate.


As much as I love the color, I dislike the formula. I don't know if I got a dud; but I sure hope I did, otherwise it's one disaster of a collection formula-wise. I barely deep my brush into the bottle and somehow end up with a huge blob of varnish; the blob is both runny and too thick. Bleh. Half-full glass: it applied streak-free in two thin coats.

After two days I decided to spruce my mani up a bit... And invented a poor man's Scrangie! Oh well, it's not exactly RBL Scrangie (OK - not really close); but the general idea is here:
Is it pretty or what?

Yes, I got carried away...



Not a bit of PhotoShop involved: I just took some pics under a bright sunlight; and some in the shadow.

CND Sapphire Sparkles over China Glaze Grape Pop.

PS: Did you noticed I was able to visit Trans Design? Yep, brick and mortar. It's heaven.

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