Nicole by OPI Liquid Metals for Spring 2011

Here's Nicole by OPI's latest: A set of four super-sparkly foils. Technically these came out late last year, but they're part of 2011's spring colors. These feature the new Nicole Perfect Stroke brush, which is similar to OPI's ProWide brush, just rounder and flatter.



It Starts With Me. This is a silver-based peach toned foil. It's not quite pure gold, not quite taupe.


Miss Independent. A pink toned foil. Again, it has a silver base with a pale pink-purple overtone. This one is pretty unique, I can't think of another foil quite like this.



Rich In Spirit. An aqua-blue foil. In certain lights it seems like it has a greenish tinge to it, in other lights it looks pure sky blue.



The Next CEO. A good neutral gold foil with a little bit of a beige tone.

The formula on these is good. Very smooth, not thick, not runny. Good coverage, I only needed two coats on all of these. Drying time is very fast. The new Perfect Stroke brush was much nicer in these than it was in the One Less Lonely Girl collection; none of the brushes in this set were crooked or defective in any way. Smooth, easy application and a nice glossy finish even without topcoat.

These foils are extremely shiny and sparkly. While the colors themselves aren't terribly bold or exciting, the finish is amazing. They're like a cross between a true foil like Zoya Trixie, a chrome like China Glaze Millennium and a glass fleck sparkle. They are both reflective and sparkly/shimmery/borderline glittery and that's what makes these stand out. They aren't as dense of a foil as, say, Orly's Foil FX collection, but they're twice as sparkly.

(These were sent to me for review.)

Illamasqua Nail Quills and Scorn Matte Finish Polish

Illamasqua's latest creation. Once again they've done something totally unique- you won't see these anywhere else! They're nail quills. A set of two matte black and chrome accessories for your thumbs, inspired by one of these:

They come in a ridiculous nice box. It's plain matte black with a shiny Illamasqua logo for contrast. It has a really sturdy suede-ish fabric lined sleeve that protects the matte black jewelry box containing the Quills. I know it's just packaging, but man, it's so fancy and expensive feeling!

With the outer portion on...


The inner box. It looks really light and grey here because of the lighting, but look how it picked up on the texture of the box. That's weird and kinda cool, I don't know how I managed that. The box feels like it's a smooth satin fabric but it also looks like cardboard... not sure which it actually is, but it's pretty.


Open the box...

Two nail quills and a little double-sided card that has some info about the nail quills and Mike Pocock (the creator/designer of the Quills) on one side and the opposite side is printed with the signature Illamasqua wood nymph looking lady. One funny thing to note- there's a legal disclaimer on the card that says that Illamasqua isn't responsible for any damage caused while wearing the Quils...


When you pull up the little ribbon, this chamber is revealed. It holds the application instructions, a little tube of nail glue and four stick-on tabs. I love the design of this box. Secret storage for the less-glamorous items!

Some more shots of the quills in their case:



In case you're wondering just how exactly they're secured:

There's a little sticky tab underneath each quill. Probably not the most permanent solution for holding the quills, but you can always store them under the flap if the tabs lose their stickiness. Also note the construction of the quills from the underside. The rough black part feels like acrylic sealing in the edges of the chrome foil material. The bottom part is a smooth plastic like a nail tip or press-on nail (which is what these are). Each set of quills is handmade and unique and have their own little quirks and imperfections.

Now, these are slightly too big for my thumbs so they look a little 'off', but I just had to try them on. You might be able to file down the edges/sidewalls if they're too big, but I was afraid to... Didn't want to accidentally ruin them. I used the sticky tab with no glue.



So wicked looking. They're quite long and rather pointy so do take care when wearing these. They're a little flexible so that you don't do any major damage, but you could still poke yourself if you're not careful!


Application is extremely easy. For this very temporary application, I used only the adhesive tab. If you've never applied an adhesive tab, this is all you do: Prep the nail by wiping it with alcohol or acetone, peel the tab off of the paper sheet but leave the paper backing on. Place the sticky side of the tab onto your nail and smooth it down so that it lays flat with no wrinkles. Peel off the paper backing and press the nail quill onto the sticky part. Voila! Easy. But, keep in mind that adhesive tabs are not very strong and won't really last more than an evening.

The instructions recommend combining the tabs with the glue for a longer wear and to preserve the life of the Quills. It instructs you to apply the tabs like normal, but then apply a few drops of glue on the tabs before you apply the Quills. This is so you can remove the Quills without ruining them by soaking them off like you'd have to do if you use the glue alone.

To remove them when applied with tabs, you run your thumbs under warm water and just peel them off. It doesn't damage your nail at all because it's just sticky tape. For removal with glue plus tabs, you can do the same thing but you may need to clean the underside of the quill because there will be a little sticky residue left from the tabs.

Easy to apply, easy to remove. Looks awesome and will definitely make you stand out. The only downside I can think of is the price- they're £35, which is about $55 USD. They are quite limited and all handmade, a true collector's item, so they'd have to be a little on the pricey side, but I do think that £35 is quite steep. The info about them says that they're bespoke- which, as I understand it, implies custom made to your specifications, but I'm not entirely sure if/how that works with these. If they are all custom fit, that would definitely justify the price.

So, now you have pointy matte black and chrome thumbs, what do you do with the rest of your nails?

That's simple- Scorn nail polish. It's designed to compliment the quills- it has the same color and finish.

This is two coats of Scorn. It has amazing coverage and smooth, even formula. The finish isn't really a true matte- it has some shine to it. You know I'm all about the super chalky matte-mattes, so this isn't exactly my favorite finish, but it does match the Quills. It looks like leather to me, so that's cool. If you wanted to continue the matte black and chrome theme, you could put a little silver gem or stripe of foil nail art tape on each nail, too.


I think these are really crazy and I love them! They're a weird combination of beautiful/glamorous and intimidating/tough. They're delicate but at the same time they're knife-like dangerous! I was expecting a true stiletto shape, but they actually are quill-shaped, which also impresses me. If you want this look but can't afford the price tag, you could always go to a salon to get your thumbs done in black and silver acrylic stilettos, but they won't be quite the same and they won't be re-usable.

This would be a good gift for a nail fanatic who loves to be different and stand out. The box and packaging and presentation makes them very gift-able. Available only on Illamasqua.com and at the flagship store on Beak Street in London.

(These were sent to me for review.)

My Vacation Mani - Nail Bliss Chrome Metallic Nails

I can't wait to show you these... I *just* finished editing the pictures. They're soooo cooooooool!!!


So, I was in Sally renewing my beauty club card and also checking to see if there were any new releases when I spotted these in the far corner of the store. You know the one, with all the nail tips and fake fingers and disembodied featureless heads? Where no one ever looks? Yeah! These were there. They came in three or four styles, the display was a bit of a mess so it was hard to tell how many there were.

There was a zebra print like the Broadway metallic nails (which I plan on reviewing, I just haven't worn them yet), what seemed to be a lighter silver chrome, and the ones I picked, a darker purple-toned chrome:

Super shiny... Nail Bliss Metallic Press-On Nails, style number seems to be 158800- no other identifying markings?

And then these, which I haven't worn, but holy crap, look at them:

They are beveled... textured... what do you call this style? I know there's a name for it but I can't remember what. They do it to metal jewelry to make it more shiny or something like that.

Another angle to show you that they are actually three-dimensional:


So crazy.

Each set comes with 24 nails- not enough, really. Mostly large thumbnail/toenail sized nails and very few small enough for my hands. One thing to note- these do not come with glue. They come with adhesive tabs and if you want to wear these for more than a few hours you'll need to supply your own glue. I used a bottle of Revlon NailStay nail glue I had floating around in my junk drawer.

You apply them as you would any press-on nail and this is what you end up with:


Dude. How freakin' amazing are these?! I can't get over how much I love them. Though, I did find them a little too flash at that length so I filed them down to match my natural nails:



I got a bit of glue on the pinkie and I scratched the other slightly while filing... oops. You can see some of the downsides of these nails in this picture. One, they're thick. Two, they're so flat they don't conform to the shape of your nail bed leaving you with a gap at the fingertip where dirt and bacteria can get trapped. And three, the shiny surface isn't that durable. You can see that they look a little wide and flat and not quite real compared to my natural nails.

Some more shots of post-filing metallic nails:


Flash brings out the darker base color of these chrome nails. It's not a pure light silver, it looks a bit like marcasite.

I wore them for five days. Truthfully, I couldn't stand having them on my fingers after the first two hours, but they looked so amazing I didn't want to take them off for a month! Fake nails feel weird. They're too blunt, you can't scratch with them.

This is with five days of wear. Note the index finger- a stripe of the chrome finish has worn off entirely! Partially due to a filing accident, partially because of wear. There's a bit of tipwear and quite a few scratches. They still looked good enough at arm's length for me to keep them on, but I just had to take them off! Despite the package claims they are NOT thin and flexible or best fitting, but damn, do they ever look cool.


Here's my evaluation:

• PRO:
• Cheap - $6 a box
• Easy application- can be done at home in 10 minutes
• Your nails become mirrors. Finish can't be achieved with polish
• No chipping
• Available locally, don't need to order online
• Gives you the Minx look without visiting a salon or paying a professional to apply
• Can be painted over without damaging the finish
• Comes in a length long enough for my nail beds- most press-ons are too short
  
• SHINY!!

• CON:
• Doesn't come with glue
• Shiny mirror surface is easily damaged
• Feels funny, can't scratch
  
• Not enough small sizes
• Slightly unnatural shape and curvature- very flat and wide
• Surface must be filed off for removal

Removal is easy if you get one of those scrubby-bristle acetone jars from Target. One thing to note- the chrome won't dissolve. You have to file off the shininess to remove the nails.

Anyone who has been wanting to try Minx but can't find a salon who does it may be interested in trying these. A lot less expensive and you can do it at home.

I'd totally wear these again. I loved them so much I think I could wear them for the rest of my life and not get tired of it. The mirror finish is just SO AMAZING. I couldn't stop looking at my hands. Neither could anyone else- everyone who saw my nails commented in amazement. If you're looking for compliments, these will do the trick. Seriously, I was so infatuated with these that I was thinking of ways to have metal permanently fused to my nails.

Barielle Holiday Hustle Collection for Winter/Holiday 2010

I was at Costco this week and noticed that they had already taken down the Halloween decoration aisle and put up the Christmas decoration aisle! It's September! I've never seen them do that before. I feel like I'm being rushed! Luckily that is not the case with Holiday polish collections... I'm the opposite with those- I want them in June! Ha!

Here's Barielle's Holiday offering:


Coaldest Day Of The Year. Yes, Coal-dest. I know. *groan* I think it wants to be OPI's Baby It's "Coal" Outside, from the looks of things. This is a black/charcoal with blue-toned silver large particle shimmer. It's not round shimmer, it's more like broken pieces of shimmer. Icy.



Elle's Spell. My favorite of the collection. This is a dark candy apple or light wine red sheer base with red/orange toned opal flakes, a la Nfu Oh. This is rather sheer and not quite as jelly like as I had thought from looking at it in the bottle so it may look better layered if you want a stronger flaky effect.


Get Me To The Party. A deep bronzy gold. Looks sort of duochrome, doesn't it? Has the lighter gold area in the center and the deeper more bronze color on the edges. A little frosty but more metallic than pure frost, but definitely not chrome.



Jess' Champagne Toast. This one is painful. Look how AMAZING it looks in the bottle! It's spectacular! I could barely believe what I was seeing when I held the bottle up in the sunlight. It's a periwinkle leaning toward light lilac frosty metallic base with lots of pink microglitter. Sadly, it doesn't translate on the nail. It looks lumpy and bubbly because the frost base is too, well, frosty? And the glitter is too delicate to be seen through the thick frost. It always makes me wonder when I see a polish like this.... Did they actually wear the color on the nail before they decided to release it? This totally could have been saved with a thinner, more sheer metallic base!


Snow Day. This one is more like a chrome. It's a super reflective metallic blue-toned silver. Very blue toned... Maybe it's actually a silvery blue! Ha! But yes, you will need to be careful with brushstrokes. Frosty.


Wrap Me In Ribbon. This does remind me of ribbon. Pretty. It's a mauve metallic frost, again not a plain frost but more of the China Glaze Romantique Chrome reflective type of frost. You can see how reflective it is in the picture but you can also see some brush strokes.

The formula on these was odd. Elle's Spell and Coaldest Day Of The Year were really thick and a little goopy but the rest of the colors were oddly... soft feeling? I can't even describe it. It's like they're oily or too soft or maybe airy? Know what I'm talking about? They feel strange going on. Maybe it's the too-soft brush. I'm really not digging Barielle's brush lately, it doesn't conform to my nail and I can never get a nice application with it. Drying time is long.


I don't know what to say about this collection. I like some of the colors like Elle's Spell and Get Me To The Party. It just seems like Barielle is making so many frosts lately. I miss the Barielle I fell in love with in 2008.

(These were sent to me for review.)

First attempts at the 'Ruffian Manicure'

Since I'm always swatching I feel like I never get to play around or experiment much. And then when I experiment or do things just for fun, I feel like I've wasted valuable swatching time! But, I decided I wanted to try this Ruffian thing cause I like the way it looks. Here's a couple combinations I ended up with:



My very first try. I was already wearing this gorgeous Chi Chi Moondust (thank you Kaz!) and decided to put a little China Glaze 2030 on. I like the blue and gold together! I'm going to have to do this combination again!

But I'm not really sure if you're supposed to let the polish on the sides show, or how far down you're supposed to go... Or how wide it's supposed to look?

Instead of taking the whole thing off, I wanted to see what it looked like with a third color, so I added some China Glaze GR8 (can you tell I had my Konad supplies nearby? lol)

Looks kinda cool with the holo!


Wanted to try it with some brighter colors so I picked out some Color Clubs. I can't get that green to photograph properly, it just turns this stupid pale color! Argh! But it's really darker than that, and neon, not pastel.

And before I took that off I wanted to see what it would look like with a third color again:

Can't capture these neons properly! So frustrating! But for once Pucci-licious looks like it's supposed to in a picture! Something about being next to a blue helped... Odd. And if the orange and pink look thick, it's cause they are. There's about four coats of those because the blue showed through too much, plus Seche Vite on top and to make it even worse it's still wet in these pictures. Would look a lot less thick and bubble nail like when it's dry. I like the multicolor look, but to me it looks like lines of gumdrops on my nails! Which reminds me, I had a box of Candy Corn flavored Dots around here somewhere...


Thought matte/glossy would be a good combination so I did ManGlaze Fuggen Ugly on top of Essie Limited Addiction. Looks cool, I like the contrast! But it also looks like my nails are being ripped off my fingers, doesn't it? Like the cuticle is all bloody and my nails have slid halfway off? Gory!! I might have to keep this in mind for Halloween!

And because I couldn't leave well enough alone, this abomination happened. It is really fuggen ugly.

Now I want to try every combination of colors and finishes I can think of. I like this look. It's like a moon manicure but different and easier! I'm going to go try another one right now, actually.