Makeup Withdrawal

OPI Texas Collection- Sneak Peak! Swatches and Display

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Howdy Readers!
Guess what I have to share with you today? A sneak peak at the upcoming OPI Texas Collection. Here we have both the display at CosmoProf and a picture of the swatch wheel. Now pay no mind to how blue the display picture is, I had to take it with my cell phone camera and chose the wrong setting. The swatch pictures on the other hand, are much truer to the actual colors.
The girl working at CosmoProf gave me such a weird look when I asked if I could take a picture of the display- equal parts disdain, I-think-you're-crazy eyeball rolling and surprise. But what do I care? I get to show you a new collection.
Half of this collection contains warm, fruity colored cremes while the other half contains a few interesting surprises.

The shades that intrigue me the most include I Want To Be A-Lone Star (a pale pearly blue with lavender shift) and Don't Mess With OPI (a cheeky green creme) but I wouldn't associate either one of those shades with Texas!
Maybe it's just me- what do you think of this upcoming Texas collection?

China Glaze Tronica Re-Swatch and Comparisons (Sunlight)

Monday, January 10, 2011

Hello Readers!

It took me a while, but I finally got the sunlight Tronica pictures done. I normally leave home at 8:30am and get home around 5:00pm, which means in the winter- my only window of opportunity to photograph swatches is during my lunch or on the weekends.

So all this week I brought my polish and camera to class. My friends were greatly amused by my efforts to paint each shade with the comparisons and photograph them. Needless to say, this second round of swatching pretty much killed my already suffering cuticles- but I hope my efforts were not in vain! Hopefully someone will find these pictures helpful.

All of these were done without top coat, in direct sunlight.

3D Fantasy

Digital Dawn

Mega Bite

Laser Lime

High Def

Hologram

Cyberspace

Hyper Haute

Electra Magenta

Gamer Glam

Virtual Violet

The verdict:

It's true that the Tronica collection isn't as holo-y as the linear OMG collection, but I still like them quite a bit. I do think it's a bit of a shame that colorwise, the two collections are ridiculously similar- when the promo pictures for Tronica came out, I thought they would be rich, dark holos. On me, Tronica shades wear a heck of a lot better than the OMG holos! I've worn the skittles all weekend and not a single one has chipped. One thing to note is that unlike some holo polishes where the rainbow effect is diffused by a glossy topcoat, in my experience a high shine top coat actually helped bring the holo out in the Tronica collection.

Many of the polishes in this set remind me of the Color Club holo formula, which I adore for stamping.
In fact, Hologram is a dead on dupe for Color Club Worth The Risque (it looks a little different in my pic, but they look exactly the same in person) while Virtual Violet and Color Club Wild At Heart are so similar, it's not worth having both (personally I like Wild At Heart more, it's richer).

Anyways, I'm off to nuture my poor abused cuticles!
Love,

Lace & Pearl Look

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Hello Readers!
I wanted to show you a bit of what I've been working on in class. Last week our teacher gave us free reign and let us use a whole class day to create a 'total look'. My classmate Troung let me use her as a model and this is what I came up with! Another one of my classmates, Sandra worked on her hair while I did makeup and nails.
I used repetition of lace and pearls throughout the look, starting with her finger tips.

I started with acrylic nail enhancements (using CND products), then painted the nails a soft pearly-white. I then overlaid the lace with Odyssey Nail System's Gel Me Now. Boy did I learn a lot about working with lace! It's much harder than I thought it would be- it has a tendency to shrink and fray.

Man, I hope I look this beautiful when I'm pregnant!

I used lace and e.l.f. Cream Eyeliner in black and Savvy cake liner in black to stamp Troung's neck and arm.
That didn't come out nearly as crisp as I had hoped, but I was pretty pleased with the effect overall.
For her face, I used:
Brows: La Femme Brow Sealer, Ben Nye Taupe Brow Pencil
Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion, Stila Kitten, Milani Storm shadow, e.l.f. Cream Eyeliner in black and falsies.
Face: Graftobian HD foundation, MAC Plum Foolery blush, Smashbox Green Room Bronzer, Boots N*7 High Lights
Lips: Bobbi Brown Crystal Gloss

It was such a fun hands on learning experience, I wish we could do it again!
Oh- I also wanted to show you my friend Vina's creation.

Her model was our pal April, isn't her work exquisite?

Thanks to Nuket for the pictures, Troung for being my model, Sandra for the work on the updo and Sandy for the dress!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Love,

NOTD: China Glaze Naughty and Nice, Mrs. Claus

Friday, January 7, 2011

Hello all!
Usually I like to alternate nail posts and makeup posts but I've been feeling a little under weather and couldn't get myself to whip up a makeup related post today. So you get to look at polish again today!
I bought Naughty and Nice with Mrs. Claus in a set with a bottle of Peppermint Cuticle Oil at Sally's after the holidays on clearance. It cost me a whopping $2 something. Since I don't see why these shades can't be worn year round, I thought it was a great deal!

1x Essie First Base, 3x Naughty and Nice. Indoors, lightbox and flash.

Isn't Naught and Nice a really pleasant vampy wine creme? I really like how dark it is but with this type of dark shade, it always is a little tricky with the application. I end up with patches on the part of my nail closest to the cuticle, grrrr.
I decided to try out Mrs. Claus right on top.

Er, not that great of an idea. Mrs. Claus is silvery glitter in a really sheer red-pink base. On its own, I find it pretty hideous. Added to Naughty and Nice wasn't much better, I found myself wishing that I hadn't layered it after all.
I'm not sure what I'll do with Mrs. Clause! Usually I try to franken with colors I don't like but this contains that type of glitter that I'm just not very fond of.

What do you do with polishes that you just can't stand?

Products were purchased by me, for my own use.

NOTD: Zoya Veruschka (And Details on Zoya Free 3 Polish Code)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Hello Readers!
I don't know if you know about this yet but Zoya currently has an amazing code. Thanks to all the people who 'liked' their facebook page, they've gone ahead and given us a code for three free polishes (you pay $6.95 for shipping and handling). This is a great deal since Zoya polishes are $7 each, and they have some amazing colors. Just put three polishes in your cart, enter 'FB2011' as the code and you'll be on your merry way! Er, actually not quite- with about half a million people currently trying to get in on this deal, their site is a bit jammed up. I had to re-enter my credit card info about 5 times trying to get a confirmation, but hey! Don't look a gift polish in the bottle. This offer is good until tomorrow, I believe.
Anyhoo, I thought I'd share with you a polish that blows my mind. Zoya Veruschka came out a while back (2009?) in a collection with other mattes. Even if you don't like matte finishes, keep reading!
Veruschka is my bad-mood-buster polish. It's kinda weird, but I wear this polish sparingly. I'll bring it out every once in a while when I'm really blue and it really works- seeing this polish dazzle really perks me up, even if it's only temporary.

1x Essie First Base, 3x Veruschka

The application is somewhat tricky- the matte formula wants to dry really quickly so it doesn't level very well on your nails. In fact, look at the matte picture. See how some of my nails look lumpy and streaky?
I like it matte, it looks like brushed rich green velvet. But when I put a coat of clear top coat on it, Veruschka looks like a magical vial of pine needles and emeralds crushed together.