Nubar Venetian Glass Collection Fall 2010

EDIT:  Sorry... have no idea how I managed to type "2008" up there... O_o

Finally.... Nubar's fall collection! I know, I'm probably the last person to post this... Sorry :( Not intentional! Just kept getting sidetracked by other things!

This collection is inspired by beautiful Venetian glass.


Arencia. Deep red-orange glass fleck shimmer. The flecks and particles seem very golden and have a little hint of a pink duochrome in this shade.



Bronzo. Soft rusty bronze glass fleck. Maybe another way to describe it would be dirty red-coral? I usually think of bronze being browner and not quite as red, this might be more copper-bronze.



Caramello. Oooh pretty. I think this is my favorite of the collection. Really rich sparkling caramel golden-brown. Orange tones. Reminds me of fall!


Oro. Very orangey-yellowy gold glass fleck shimmer.



Rosso. Medium red glass fleck shimmer.


Vaso. Light lilac purple glass fleck shimmer. This one has a soft silvery look to it. Purple-silver fusion.



Verde. Smoky blackened blue-green and gold shimmer fusion. Not as sparkly as the other shades. Similar to Zoya Edyta, but Verde appears to have stronger green tones to me.



Vino. My second favorite! Rich burgundy wine with a slight hint of brown. The glass fleck pearls in this have a pink duochrome like the ones in Arencia!

The formula on these was good! A little on the thick side but very opaque. I didn't have any application issues. Nubar's formula is pretty consistent and I think it's usually consistently good. The only issue I had with these wasn't related to application- some of them dry quite dull- which really is a non-issue because I never skip topcoat, but I did need to use topcoat in my pictures and thought it was worth mentioning.


I'm torn on this collection. On one hand, I love the super pretty glass fleck finish. On the other hand, I feel like there's no variety. It seems like nearly all the colors are orange, gold, red or a variation on those colors. When I think of Venetian glass (or Murano glass) I think of bold bright colors in patterns. I think of swirling veins of gold, orange, yellow and brown glitter encased in glass... but I also think of really rich blue and yellow and orange! I think this collection is missing that typical Venetian glass blue. And I'd just really like a glass fleck Nubar blue. :)

Despite the lack of variety in shades, these do make me think of Venetian glass and the colors are pretty nice though some of them do appear kinda dull and not as sparkly, like Vaso and Verde. I think they're just too opaque and dense and it drowns the shimmer because it's so packed together. You don't hear me say this often but I wish they were more sheer! I think they would sparkle more that way. Think of the Milani Molten Metal collection- sheer but super sparkly.

Lots of glass-fleck style polishes coming out this year! Interesting!

(These were sent to me for review)

China Glaze Vintage Vixen Fall 2010

Finally had a few hours of sunlight. This has been a weird spring. It feels like it went from winter straight to summer for a week and now it's October.... But it's actually May....

Okay. Here goes.


Bogie. Eggplant frost. More of a metallic than a scary frost. Really rich beautiful color. A little vampy, a little sparkly, a little smoky.


Classic Camel. This color is a light golden straw color in some lights and a spicy mustard color in other lights. It has noticeable gold shimmer. It's the type of color that seems like a work appropriate nude shade but it is unique and unusual and very interesting. It reminds me of a more wearable version of Street Wear Dijon. Would look great on darker skintones- I'd love to see this on someone deeper-toned than me.


Emerald Fitzgerald. Sweeeeeeeet. This is a dark blue-green frost. Emerald. Teal? Whatever shade it is, it's blue tinged. This is another one of those little bit smoky colors. Maybe I'll call it... smoky peacock.

First Class Ticket. Can you guess what I'm going to say? I'll say it anyway. This is a purple polish- purple doesn't photograph well- it's less blue in real life. Dark vampy purple that's still obviously purple and not black looking. It's a 'frost' but really it's more metallic shimmer. No icky brushstrokey silvery aging frosty-frost.

Foxy. You've got to be mine, all mine... Oooh... Foxy lady! Totally a foxy color. Autumn red with a little golden brown and a little burgundy. Lots of shimmer. Very cozy.



Goin' My Way? Good gravy do I ever love this color. It's bronzy-brown with gold shimmer and it's gorgeous. It reminds me of late September. It seems almost duochrome because the bronzy base and the gold shimmer are so reflective... It looks... liquid?


Hey Doll! This one reminds me of Sanna! :D This is a pinky-mauvey soft type of color with silver and champagne toned shimmer. Frost. But it's really shimmer.

Ingrid. Soft taupe-brown with gold shimmer. Another new take on that taupe polish trend. I'm not gonna complain- I love it! It looks like suede.


Jitterbug. Gunmetal-silver foil. A little blue, a little grey, a little sliver. Mostly silver. Super sparkly.

Midnight Mission. HOT!!!! Deep blue (but not too dark) with lots of metallic fleck glitter. It doesn't feel like the traditional particle glitter like, say, Dorothy Who has. It feels like very thin metallic flakes, like the kind foils are made of. Sparkle and drama. Perfect.

Riveter Rouge. Autumn red frost with lots and lots of silver microglitter. Teeny tiny glitter, and this one has the traditional glitter, not the thin flake kind like Midnight Mission. It has a tendency to look bumpy because of the glitter in the frost base, but the overall effect is very eye-catching. Sort of a distant cousin to Crystal Ball, just not as flashy.


Swing Baby. Very pretty champagne foil. The particles are a mixture of different colors- I see silver, gold, champagne and even some darker bronze looking ones. Tons of sparkle.


The formula on these was a little tricky. It has a little case of three-free syndrome. You know how that is- you think you've wiped all the excess polish off the brush and then all of a sudden a drip comes out of nowhere and floods your nail? Yeah, a bit like that. Not horrible or unmanageable like the early three-free formulas, but definitely has that runny-yet-thick thing happening. Application itself was fine once I got the hang of the formula. I did two coats in all these pictures so you can see that the opacity on these is great. The dry time is on the long side.


Overall, I think this collection is perfect for fall. These colors all scream fall to me, and everyone knows fall is my favorite... soooo... It's no great leap of the imagination to figure out that I LOVE THESE! Even the reds. They're so sparkly and velvety and vintage-sexy. I don't know if I can even pick a favorite, I like every single one. I think I might wear Goin' My Way, Midnight Mission, Ingrid, Emerald Fitzgerald, Bogie and Jitterbug the most often... But yeah. I like them all. Good job China Glaze!

When I hear the word 'frost' I shudder. You know how I feel about frosts. I know that I'm definitely not the only one, either. So I was a little worried about these until I saw them. I am extremely relieved that they're not that kind of frost. That would have been a huge bummer.

(The skittle swatches are here in case you wanted to compare the sunlight swatches to indoor light.)

(These were sent to me for review.)

OPI South Beach Collection Spring/Summer 2009

OPI South Beach Collection - Spring/Summer 2009. Release date is February 4th.

Pics first, opinions second :)


Bronzed To Perfection. A warm reddish-bronze with awesome flaky shimmer. Very strange shade choice for spring, but I'm digging it. The shimmer in it is what makes it stand out to me- instead of tiny, round particles it has itty-bitty little irregular shaped shimmer.


Clubbing Til Sunrise. Shimmery, orangey gold. Reminds me of maybe a cross between OPI 18k Ginza Gold and OPI Live From NY... It's OPI!



Conga-Line Coral. Shimmery reddish coral. I like the shimmery finish, but I can't say I really like the shade. It's too in-between for me. I need something that stands out.



Done Out In Deco. Pale lilac that leans a little bit blue. I love this one. Very spring-appropriate, another "Easter Egg" type shade. It's a lot lighter than I had expected it to be, and it is somewhere in between lilac and periwinkle.


Feelin' Hot-Hot-Hot! Bright pink creme. I know that a lot of people will really love this color, but it's just not for me. First of all, I hate the name- it instantly brings to mind that incredibly irritating song that drives me insane. Second, this could easily be mistaken for a dozen different OPI polishes... Elephantastic Pink comes to mind first. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the color itself, it is a very pretty hot pink. It's just that it feels done to death.



Miami Beet. Rich beet-purple creme. Whoa, this one was a surprise! it looked really uninteresting on the promotional shot, but I love this on the nail. Just goes to show me that I can't always judge my favorites based on the promo pics. This is a little more of a vibrant purple in real life, my camera couldn't pick up the richness of this shade.


OPI On Collins Ave. Very bright orange-red. Maybe more orange than red. This is a really cool color- for some reason it reminds me of shrimp. OPI Cajun Shrimp maybe? I want to do a pedicure in this color. I've really been drawn to near-neon orange-reds lately.


Overexposed In South Beach. Shimmery purple. My favorite out of the collection! Again, looks nothing like I thought it would from seeing the promotional pictures. It's saturated and shimmery and reminds me a lot of OPI Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not.


Paint My Moji-Toes Red. Muted red creme. Very muted, actually. So much so that it looks almost mauve in the bottle. I know that the use of the word "mojito" in the name is just so they can make a toes pun, but I really think that this should have been green. Mojito says green to me! Again, this color will probably be really popular with the average salon client, but I can't see a whole lot of nail junkies being excited about another red polish.


Party In My Cabana. Bright pink creme. Wait, didn't I just see this color? Zzzzz, booooring. Okay, I'm being harsh. Again, nothing wrong with the color, but it's been done to death.


Sand In My Suit. Shimmery, sandy nude. This really does remind me of sand. This is not my type of color at ALL, but I have to admit, I actually like it. At first I thought it was ugly, but then I put it on and it really grew on me. I like the silvery shimmer.



Suzi & The Lifeguard. Shimmery light pink. The shimmer in this baby-pink shade is very fine, almost to the point of being a frost. Very cute, very sweet. It reminds me of seashells.


I have very mixed feelings about this collection. Nothing in this collection really excites me. On one hand, it's all very work-appropriate, conservative and feminine and will most likely be a well-loved collection by a lot of women. On the other hand, it's too safe and there's really not a unique shade in the whole collection.

I do really like a few of the shades- Overexposed In South Beach, Miami Beet, Bronzed To Perfection, Done Out In Deco, OPI On Collins Ave. Wait... that's almost half the collection, isn't it? Okay, I like half the collection. That's reasonable. I was just hoping to really love the entire thing, like I have with so many OPI collections in the past.

I will admit that I know absolutely nothing about South Beach. The only thing that comes to mind when I think of South Beach is the South Beach Diet. I can picture the cover of the book, a metallic shade of green and aqua. Sparkling sea water. And that's what I think is missing from the collection. Water! South Beach is still a beach, and beaches have water, right? This collection could have used a seafoam green, an ocean blue, even a turquoise or a mother-of-pearl seashell shade. When I think of beaches, I think of fun, lively colors- swimsuits, sparkling water, beach balls, tropical drinks, sunshine. The OPI South Beach seems like a sleepy, vacant beach next to a retirement home. The colors look weathered and washed out, like they need a new coat of paint.

I know, I'm probably in the minority here, but I feel like this collection is missing something.

That being said, I'll move on to application issues. There are none. These polishes apply amazingly well, they're silky smooth and most shades only need two coats for complete opacity. Even with one coat, these colors aren't streaky or uneven at all. OPI must have really been working on their three-free formula, because this is a huge improvement! No running, no globbing, no overly thick polish. Just perfect. Dreamy, even.

That's my take on it. I don't love it, but I don't hate it. It's just okay. I wish they would have been a little more 'risky' in the color choices, or at least had a little more variety within the collection. Red, red, pink, pink, pink, nude, brown, purple. Maybe OPI has something really super-exciting planned for us in upcoming seasons. What do you think?

Don't forget about the free polish from Misa!

I just wanted to remind you that the Misa promotion is still valid for a while longer!

Free Misa Polish: A Gift To My Readers.

And here's an update on all of the questions regarding this promotion:

Update On Misa Promotion.

And just for fun, here are a few more Misa swatches :) I'm working on a ton more, and I'll post them as soon as I can.

Burnished Bronze

Blue Over A Boy


A Sunny Smile Makes Me Go Wild

Amethyst Anemone

A Sin Worth Committing

Disco Queen


Dance Fever

Confection Section


Chocolate Icing

Candy Girl

Moody Model

Sweet Pleasure

Sepia Stained Cotton


Ghetto Fabulous

Toxic Seduction