Thursday, May 10, 2012

NOTD: LA Girl Matte Lilac

Hello Everyone!

A few years ago we were hit with a matte polish trend. Personally I still love this look and I wear it quite often.  The polish I have for you today is LA Girl Matte Lilac. To my eyes this isn't exactly what I'd call lilac. I would say it's more of a blue based pink. When I think lilac I think of a color somewhere between pink and purple leaning more towards purple.

At any rate, Matte Lilac had very easy application. One thing I will note is that I let the first coat dry before I added a second. Mattes dry on the surface very quickly but if you use a thicker coat it will still be wet deeper in the layer so I like to let the first coat dry completely to prevent any dragging or bald spots. I used two coats of Matte Lilac over one coat of CND Stickey. I did not use topcoat for the picture below.  I had no removal issues.
I love the rubber like texture

There are many companies now that make matte topcoats that allow you to make any polish matte. With this in mind I decided to compare a few creme polishes I own to see if I had a dupe of Matte Lilac. 

From index to pinky- Matte Lilac (with topcoat), OPI Sparrow Me The Drama, Matte Lilac (with topcoat), Essie Splash of Grenadine.

Now that I'm looking at this I wish I'd swatched China Glaze Dance Baby along with these polishes. As you can see there are no dupes here but Splash of Grenadine is quite close.


How do you feel about matte polishes? Do you own any?

Thursday, May 3, 2012

China Glaze Glitter Crackle Swatches

Hello Everyone!

Today's post has proved to me that you can't always judge a polish on first impressions. Yesterday I decided to go hunting for new collections. I was quite surprised to find the China Glaze Glitter Crackle collection. I didn't expect it to be out so soon. Of course I had to grab all of them.



Right To Left:

Jade-d: a yellow green, possibly chartreuse, glitter

Glam-More: a rich fuchsia glitter

Luminous Lilac: a delicate lilac glitter

Gleam Me Up: light to medium blue glitter



When I first got these I immediately added them to my current mani. I was disappointed that they weren't opaque and only Glam-More cracked significantly for me. I decided not to give up and to swatch them over a fresh mani that's not completely dry but still tacky. Here they are over China Glaze White on White


As you can see they cracked much better for me using this method. I liked these results so much that I decided to swatch them over China Glaze Liquid Leather.




I figured this will give you a good idea of how they'll look over both dark and light colors. My favorite from this collection is Glam-More. Glam-More seems to be more opaque to me, but I think it's just because the color is so much bolder than the other three. I especially like how amazing Glam-More looks over black. I will be wearing that combination as a mani very very soon.

I picked these lovelies up at my local Sally's Beauty Supply. The display was quite picked over. If you're interested in these I suggest looking for them soon. They seem to be going quick.



What do you think of crackle polishes? Are you over them? Still in love with them?




Tuesday, May 1, 2012

NOTD: Studio M Lost In the Forrest

Hello Everyone!

I've completely fallen in love with the polish I'm showing you today. If you've been following me you'll know I am head over heels for green polishes. I cannot get over how shiny and easy to apply this polish is.
Studio M (formerly Massini) Lost In The Forrest (yes, like Forrest Gump. Their spelling error, not mine) is a highly pigmented blue toned green polish that falls somewhere between a jelly and a creme. Lost In The Forrest was opaque for me in two coats but if you're careful with a thicker coat it could be a one coater. Picture shown is two coats Lost In The Forrest over CND Stickey and topped with China Glaze Fast Forward top coat.

Look at that shine! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

I did not have any removal issues with this polish and I wore this mani for a few days with very minimal tipwear. Also worth noting, Lost In The Forrest did not stain me. I find that unusual (in a good way) because I am so fair lots of polishes will stain my skin upon removal, but not so with Lost In The Forrest.