OPI Fall 2008: La Collection De France Swatches

EDIT: Now with 100% more commentary!
I promised I'd have these up on Monday, and damn it, I am going to post them before midnight!

The odds were against me today. I was supposed to have these on Friday, but UPS decided to reschedule my shipment! So today I waited and waited as all the good sunlight disappeared. No OPIs! I was about to give up hope when I heard the UPS man pull up... at 7:30PM!!! By this time the sun was setting and I had no light for swatches. (I took over 200 pictures of these outdoors in the sunset and not a single one turned out!)

But, here they are, finally, OPI La Collection De France!

I'm tired, so I'll spare you the commentary and let you admire the images without my constant nonsensical babble ;-)

A Oui Bit Of Red
This actually has a bit of fuchsia shimmer to it that wouldn't show up in the picture. You can see the hint of shimmer in the botttle if you look closely. It's your average red shimmer, very pretty, but not something I would wear.

Baguette Me Not
Really odd muted salmon brown sort of color. Another "mom" color, but I really like it. It reminds me of fall. Very soft.

Bastille My Heart
This is a bit more purple in real life. A deep, shimmery, stainy (yikes!) wine shimmer. Pretty, but holy crap does this ever stain.

Crepes Suziette
This is less red in real life. More of a muted burnt orange type of color. Another soft "mom" color that's extremely similar to Baguette Me Not, just a shade darker. In fact, this is a creme version of one of my favorites- Cheyenne Pepper. It's like Cheyenne Pepper without the beautiful golden shimmer.

Eiffel For This Color
Hot. Seriously. It reminds me of Black Cherry Chutney. A deep, dark black cherry color with shimmer. Not terribly unique, but still awesome.

I'm Fondue Of You
LOVE this one. Chocolate brown with a touch of red and gold shimmer. Very 'fall'. It's similar to Rescue Beauty Lounge Noisette, but more subtle (and not quite as pretty!)

Yes... I Can-Can!
Another cherry-colored polish! This says "Moulin Rouge" to me. Vampy, sexy, shimmery dark cherry.

You Don't Know Jacques
This is probably my favorite out of the collection. There aren't too many colors that look like this. It's very unusual! Is it grey or taupe or mousy brown? I'll probably wear this the most often out of all of these.

Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not
Hey, is this Zoya Jacy? Close, but a tad darker. Medium purple/plum with pink shimmer. Gorgeous.

Parlez-Vous OPI?
This is wicked cool. It's a greyed lilac. Like Do You Lilac It's undead zombie sister. This *might* be tied with You Don't Know Jacques for my favorite of the collection. I can't decide. Maybe it's my second favorite.

Tickle My Francey
A coffee with too much cream nude. I don't wear nudes or pale colors, but I really love the way this looks. It's not your average nude, there's just something about it that's unique. It has that Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge feeling to it, but more natural looking. Elegant, for sure.

We'll Always Have Paris
A deep wine cream. Well, maybe not wine exactly, but purple-red-brown. Man, I think I really suck at describing colors. That's what pictures are for, I suppose. Vampy and rich, definitely not unique, but still beautful anyway.

These colors are not what I expected from seeing the promo pictures. I think there are really only three totally unique colors in this collection -You Don't Know Jacques, Parlez-Vous OPI, Tickle My Francey. They are all really pretty, but I feel that OPI played it too safe. What happened to the OPI that released Night Brights? I can see what they were going for in this collection, and I'm sure the average nail polish consumer would love all of these, but for a nail polish junkie like me, I've seen all these colors before. Red shimmer, vampy shimmer, vampy creme, wine creme, ho-hum.

I'm not saying that I don't like these- I think they're all gorgeous- but I think OPI could have been a little more, I don't know, exciting? Look at China Glaze's Rodeo Diva collection! They did a mixture of traditional and non-traditional colors and every single color came out awesome.

Then again, this is just my opinion and I know that I like my polish colors to be more "out there" and over the top- bring on the glitter, the duochromes and the neons! I do love my vampy colors, but the nail polish market is becoming SO saturated with them I'm starting to become bored! At least I have OPI's Halloween and Holiday collections to look forward to.

There.... I made it! I'll add in my comments when I've had some sleep. Enjoy!

More Fun With Konad

Some more reader requests- Konad stamps!

I know these are a little sloppy and there's pieces of cotton ball all over my nails- I had to rush a little!

I also stupidly forgot to write down what the plate numbers were, thinking I could remember them by looking at them- hahaha, yeah, right Scrangie! I apologize- I will go look at my plates and add them to this post :)

The base color I'm using is Color Club Pink Rush (and Power Play in a few pictures) and the Konad polish is Konad Special Polish in Black Gold.


Flower, flower arch, two flowers with dots, swirly design, large flower with vines.


French tips: Fishnet, animal print, hearts, flowers. Paisley design.


Plaid, dot gradient, argyle, fishnet, zebra.


Double bows, stars, hearts, double flowers, bow with ribbon.


Lovelt with hearts and stars, polka-dotted bow, heart cluster, french tip swirl design, french tip leaves design (my favorite!)


Konad french tip plate.


Butterfly, squiggly thing, weird star with arm things, flower arch, fleur-de-lys



The plate I use most often! Spider, jolly roger, scorpion, cobra, unicorn!


I have tons of Konad plates, so if there's a specific plate or design you're interested in seeing, drop me a line! If I have it I'll be sure to do a picture.

Konad is super fun. If you like nail art at all, you would really like this. I get mine from www.wowsocool.com.

Comparison: Dior Gold Nugget and China Glaze Prize Winning Mare

When grabbed my bottle of Prize Winning Mare and started applying it, the first thing I thought was, "This reminds me of Dior Gold Nugget!"

And I was sort of right, but not 100%. They are very similar in texture, similar in color, but they are distinctly different. Observe:


Pinkie and ring finger are Gold Nugget. Middle and index finger are Prize Winning Mare. Thumb is Prize Winning Mare and Gold Nugget side by side.

Gold Nugget is definitely brighter and more metallic. Both colors seem to have the same multi-colored microsparkle thing going on, but they're not as similar as I first thought they were.

Prize Winning Mare is Gold Nugget's less flashy, more antique looking older sister. Looking perhaps like she's tarnished a little with age- maybe it's the Future Gold Nugget after too many years of hard partying and late nights. Still very pretty and glimmering, but more subdued, a little more dull, a bit more mature- Gold Nugget post-rehab. Like Lindsay Lohan, without the ability to eat your arms. (Kidding, kidding! I think.)

Reader Request: China Glaze Kaliedoscope, Part 1

A request from lovely reader Rose! I'm sorry I've been so late in getting these pictures posted! Anyway, here's a few from one of my all time favorite collections, China Glaze Kaleidoscope.

These are very strongly holographic, much more than the China Glaze OMG collection. They require two to three coats each, but they dry lightning fast. Faster than any polish I've ever used!

These are all the colors I could find- I have the entire collection but I seem to have misplaced over half of them! I'll post these for now, and continue to search in between the couch cushions and under the bed....


Sexagon. My go-to polish that looks good with everything. Light silver based holo.


He's Going In Circles. Green-based holo.


How About A Tumble? Light Purple or Rose-based holo.


It's My Turn. Rich gold-based holo.



Kaleidoscope Him Out. Baby blue based holo.




Let's Do It IN 3-D. Black/Charcoal based holo.


As soon as I locate my missing Kaleidoscopes, I'll have those up. OMG is all lined up and ready to go as well!

I'll also be following up on a request for Konad stamps, so hopefully I'll have those posted soon!

Again, I always love requests! Sometimes it takes me a little longer than I'd like to finish them, but I love them nonetheless! If you have a request, always feel free to email me or leave a comment and I'll do my best to fulfill it in a reasonable amount of time.

I feel like I'm forgetting one, though... I checked through my email and my notepad and didn't see it, but I still have that "I forgot something!" feeling... If it was your request, please let me know!

China Glaze Fall 2008: Rodeo Diva Collection Swatches

These are unbelievable! Out of all the fall collections this year, this one is definitely my favorite, and in my humble opinion, the best. Every single color in this collection has that WOW factor, that extra something that makes you want to stare at your hands all day. Rodeo Diva is a masterpiece, plain and simple. After a few disappointing releases, China Glaze has stepped up and really delivered a gem of a collection.


Branding Iron. Fantastic glowy burgundy, shimmery and eye-catching!!


Cowgirl Up. Shimmery, sparkly, frosty purple.



Golden Spurs in sunset lighting and in bright morning sunlight. It looks very different in both of these pictures, and the real life color is right in between the two. The first picture has a bit of a yellow cast to it, but it really shows the golden shimmer. The second picture is slightly washed out, but it shows the soft, mellow tone of the polish and the depth of the shimmer.


Gussied-Up Green. Not exactly what I was expecting, but still awesome! A dark blackened forest green with shimmer. Finally, some more green!



Lasso My Heart in sunset lighting and in bright morning sunlight. The top picture is accurate color-wise, but the second picture really shows off the frost and shimmer that didn't quite show up in the sunset lighting.



Midnight Ride. Deep, dark, black eggplant. Striking!




Prize Winning Mare in bright morning sunlight and in sunset lighting. Actually, both of the pictures are accurate color-wise, as this one seems to change a little bit in different lighting. It reminds me of Dior Gold Nugget! Shiny, sparkly metallic gold. Beautiful!


Rodeo Fanatic. Breathtaking, luminous, shimmery blue. Can you believe how hot this is?!



Red Stallion. A hot, glowy, shimmery metallic red.



Side Saddle. This one changes colors a bit. It's like the lovechild of OPI Black Tie Optional and Lancome Lizzy Jagger. It's dark brownish plum, but it's also gold and brown and maybe a touch greenish in some lights!


Wagon Trail. HOLY MOLY! It's black with deep golden shimmer. It looks olive green in some lights, but it's really a black/gold fusion. Unique and utterly fabulous.



Yee Haw. Peachy pinky golden metallic. So awesomely pretty, this picture doesn't do it justice. This color GLOWS. It's just too pretty!


Aren't these fantastic? This could be one of the best collections of ALL TIME. China Glaze did an amazing job with this collection, and I can see myself wearing all of these colors all year round. None of them are strictly "fall" colors, and there's a great variety. The only thing lacking in this collection is the formula. It's difficult to apply, runny and goopy at the same time as 3-free polishes tend to be. The colors only needed two coats, but the formula was so gooey that it took a little extra work to make them look even. They also took a bit longer to dry- usually when I'm swatching, the polish is slightly dry by the time I'm done taking the picture. With these, the polish was still completely wet after 5 or 6 minutes. Nothing I can't live with, but disappointing nonetheless.

To paraphrase: Rodeo Diva PWNS!!

Zoya Fall 2008: Pulse and Vibe Collection Swatches

Quick and dirty swatches of Zoya's Pulse and Vibe collections.

VIBE

Alix. Actually, I think I swapped Alix and Dakota when I was naming them, so this might actually be Dakota. Either way, it's a red creme.


Dakota, which I'm pretty sure is actually Alix. I will fix my pictures later, but really, it's just a red creme.


Asia. Another red creme! Zzzzzz.... Snorefest.


Riley. Kind of a berry red creme.


Nina. Ah, that's more like it! Rich chocolate brown creme.



Sam. A pretty reddish brownish vampy color. I can't decide what color this is. Blood red? Brown?

Overall, the Vibe collection doesn't wow me. Sure, the colors are nice enough but none of them are unique, and the only one I can see myself wearing is Nina. Red lovers will love this collection, but it's just not for me. I rarely, if ever, wear red. The formulas were great, I only had application problems with Sam and Nina, which were on the thick side. A word of warning: all of these caused major staining when removed.

PULSE

Sloane. This might be my favorite from the Pulse collection. Unbelievably beautiful deep vampy sort of eggplant shimmer. It reminds me of those almost-black OPI shimmers like Black Cherry Chutney. I really love the way this look when light hits it.



Jacy. A really fascinating medium purple/plum color with purple shimmer. The shimmer is more subtle than the other colors in this collection. I like the muted purple color with the addition of purple/pink shimmer. Very interesting!



Rihana. This picture came out slightly brighter than real life. It's a very pretty purple or burgundy shimmer. Wow, I am really terrible at describing colors. All I know is that this color is awesome!


Mikka. Muted frosty purple. It's like a dusty looking purple with a veil of silver frost. I think this picture makes it look almost wine colored, but it's really purple. Why is it that my purples rarely photograph well? Maybe it was the sunset and the orange cast it was giving to some of the colors.


Blair. Awesome blackened red. Reminds me a lot of OPI Wine Me And Dine Me. I love this type of color that looks bright in the middle and dark around the edges!


Colbie. Almost identical to Blair, but more on the maroon side. Another one of those colors that's bright in the middle and dark on the edges! Maybe it's Mulberry?? I need to take a color describing class!

I *really* like the Pulse collection. All of the colors are extremely sexy, have depth and shimmer and all that good stuff. I see myself wearing every single one of these! The formulas were excellent, I had no application problems at all. They didn't cause much staining, surprising for such dark colors. I'm really impressed with the Pulse colors. They all looked so similar from the promo pictures, but in real life they're quite different! Love them.

I apologize for the quality of the swatches. They were very rushed and the lighting wasn't ideal. If I get some good lighting tomorrow (still playing around with my indoor lighting situation!) I'll try to get better, less blurry, more detailed swatches!