Chanel SoHo Story Strong and Steel

It's almost Friday!

Today I have two nail polishes from Chanel's SoHo Story collection. Being that I'm from New York, when I heard this about this collection, I was quite excited. I ended up purchasing the SoHo de Chanel highlighting and blush powder and the Quadra eye shadow palette in Stupendous; but I didn't even get to try any of them yet -_-


Cute pouches it came in


SoHo de Chanel Highlighting Powders and Blush - I like the brush it came with :D


The Quadra Eye Shadow Palette in Stupdendous

And now the swatches..


Strong is a a deep burgundy brown. On the bottle it looks more burgundy, but on the nails it looks almost black with hints of brown and burgundy shimmer. Very nice color for the Fall


Steel is a charcoal gray-black with silver micro-shimmer. Here's something very interesting; I was applying this during the night time with a very dim lamp on. As I was painting it I noticed that it was looking a little blue-ish to me. I thought my eyes were playing with me. So I decided to take a picture with flash.


(Please click to enlarge)

See those flecks of blue shimmer?! Cool.. (wait.. or is it just me?)

The formula is decent. It was a little thick, but these are highly pigmented. Seriously, one coat did the job, but I'm never comfortable with one coat, always gotta slab on another coat to smooth out any imperfections.

Though I liked both of these colors, they're not at all unique. For $23, I'm sure you can get a ton of polishes that are alike or similar at least. I *believe* these are still available on the chanel.com website and other department stores that carries Chanel.

Well that's all I have for today!

Some Maybelline, China Glaze, Dior, and ORLY Swatches

So while browsing through my "Nail Polish" folder, I realized I have a few polishes that I've swatched but never posted or did a review on them. And instead of doing each brand one by one, I've decided to just include it all in one post. I have two New Maybelline for the Fall, one old China Glaze, Dior, and two old ORLY's.

Maybelline


Grand in Green is a blackened green which is quite similar to OPI's Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow. Grand in Green is darker than HTAT (in which HTAT shows more green)


Grey-T Glamour is a gray creme with little silver flecks. I really like this one :)

Applications for both of these were good. No complaints

China Glaze


Sunset Glow is a rosey pink mauve with hints of golden shimmer. Gorgeous color but some reason dry time was a little slow

Dior


Black Sequins is a black creme with silver glitter. I got this when it was restocked at Nordstrom, I believe it is not available anymore, but don't quote me :x

Orly


Bailamos is a bright aqua shimmer


Wild Wisteria is a deep purple creme

I've always loved Orly's formulas. Perfect and flawless

Well that's all I have for today, and as a bonus, since this post is so short, November 2nd was my dog Bebe's 10th birthday. And here is a picture of her "making a wish" on her birthday cake :D

OPI Go Goth Mini Halloween Collection & Giveaway Winner!

Ok I've made you guys waited long enough. I meant to write this post sooner, but I was totally distracted by the Yankees games, and then I went to eat dinner and shower. So now that everything is out of my way, I am here to announce my 600th follower ManGlaze giveaway. I used random.org this time just so I can announce my winner faster and ship out the prize faster :)

There were a total of 321 entries including all those extra entries for blogging or tweeting or both. I input everything into excel, and the winner that will be getting three full size bottles of ManGlaze nail polish is:



JACKIE S. of CANDY COATED TIPS

YAY! Congratulations Jackie! Please e-mail me your address so I can ship out these goodies to you ASAP! I will also be e-mailing you in a few minutes after this entry :)

Thank you for all those who have entered, who blogged about this giveaway, and tweeted. It means a lot to me! *smooches*

So today I also have for you the OPI Go Goth Mini collection for Halloween. It consists of 4 mini's and a free lacy cuff bracelet.




Obscure is a black matte. I seem to have a little problem with this one. It's the smoothest I got it (three tries) I think it's because I'm not use to the tiny brush


Sanguine is a deep dark red shimmer. Looks a bit bloody too which I like xD


Unripened is a black base with turquoise glitter flecks


Nevermore is a blackened purple shimmer. Of course my picture looks blue, what else is new? Haha

I think I'm done with minis. Sure they are cute and adorable in their tiny bottles, but I can't seem to get use to the tiny brush -_- that's my issue. I still have the Color Club Enchanted Holiday minis. But I won't be going on those until Christmas is near so I don't have to worry about that.

Well that is all I have for today. Hope everyone enjoy :)

Once again thank you everyone, and congrats to Jackie S!

China Glaze Awakening Halloween Collection

So today I have another Halloween collection for you guys. China Glaze's Awakening Collection.

I liked this collection! Especially Ick-A-Bod-Y! That's seems to be the most purchased one because it's like sold out almost every e-tailer.


Zombie Zest is a swampy green jelly with flecks of glitters and shimmer. This was done in 2 coats, could've used a third. Looks a bit sheer on me. But I got lazy xD


Mummy May I? is a dark vampy purple base with purple glitters. The base looks black but if looked at closely it's really purple! Not to mention, the name is so freakin' cute!


Ick-A-Bod-Y is a brownish green base packed with copper glitters.

And yes, SpaRitual's Opitcal Illusion is a dupe for Zombie Zest. I prefer China Glaze, just saying..

The formulas were nice. Though Ick-A-Bod-Y annoyed me a little. It kept 'balding' so I had some trouble. But all I needed was a little a patience between each coat. I tend to apply my polishes quite fast.

Well that's all I have for today. Gotta go back to the Yankees game :)

Color Club Cast A Spell Mini Collection

Halloween is just around the corner! (OK not really, but still!) I love Halloween. I love eating candy corn and I just love Halloween! I can't wait to do my Halloween manis! Got so many ideas thanks to other bloggers! But for now I have Color Club's Cast A Spell Mini collection.

Hocus Pocus is a semi-sheer base with holographic glitters. This was done in 3 coats

Spellbound is a bright neon orange creme. VERY bright


Charmed I'm Sure is a blurple shimmer. It's more purple in real life, but we all know the cases of cameras.


Bewitching is a black creme. Fully opaque in one coat. Sounds like a good polish to use for konads!

The formulas were nice. It was just a little hard for me to use since I have long fingers, and the tiny little bottle cap was hard for me to hold. Other than that no complaints!

And that is all I have for today!

Nubar Knight's Armor

Hi all!

Today I have a polish for you that I borrowed from Michèle (thanks hun!); Nubar Knight's Armor. I actually ordered it myself, but while I was ordering, it went out of stock. Meh. Anyway, I could play with it a bit so here it is!

Nubar Knight's Armor, two coats in daylight. Knight's Armor has square silver glitter in a black base. It looks alright when applied like this. I expected the glitters to give the polish more dimension, but it doesn't. So, of course, I slapped a coat of matte topcoat on it to see how that would look.

Nubar Knight's Armor, two coats with one coat of Essie Matte About You in daylight. That's better! Somehow the matte topcoats adds depth to it and I'm digging this.

Appliction of Knight's Armor is good. The glitters won't slide everywhere when you're applying it, which is a big plus! The polish dries quickly and was dry before I could take pictures.

That's is for today, dear reader, thanks for stopping by!

Cowardly Lyin' - And a Leopard Mani

Hi all,

While organizing my helmer, I stumbled onto a lot of polishes that I haven't shown you yet. Today's polish is no exception - I bought the complete China Glaze Wizard of Ooh Ahz Returns collection at the end of 2009. We're talking 6+ months ago! Yikes. And I have only used one of them.. Anyway, this isn't really my color (I bought it loooong before I realized golds are not for me) but I thought I'd show you anyway :)

China Glaze Cowardly Lyin', four coats in daylight. Cowardly Lyin' is a frosty gold packed with tiny golden glitter. The polish isn't as yellow as my picture shows it, it's a little more 'faded'. I like the idea of this one, however, golds and frosts are not really my thing. Cowardly Lyin' doesn't clash with my skintone as much as most other golds do, so this is good.

Application on this one was good. I needed four coats for opacity (and still VNL in my pics.. Damn you macro!) but all coats dried quickly although it's about 30C around here. Well done China Glaze!

Since this is not really my color, I thought I'd spice it up a bit.. This ain't no coward!

China Glaze Cowardly Lyin', four coats, stamped with Konad special polish in Black Pearl, imageplate M57 and OPI Suzi Says Da! to fill in the spots. I think it looks alright :) I'm not really into the whole leopard print thing, but I think this looks quite nice.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kitty Ate All The Fish

Hi all!

So today I have a konadicure for you! Well it's not really Konad, but it's stamping alright :) I only have half of my Bundle Monster plates, but these are already a lot of fun.

Kitty Ate All The Fish! I used OPI Princesses Rule! as a basecolor (two coats) and stamped it with Konad Special polish in Black Pearl and China Glaze Awaken. I used Bundle Monster imageplate BM04 for the images. I really like how this one turned out! What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

Misa Wishing On A Star

Hi all!

Happy monday! The weather has been a bit rainy around here, so I thought it was time for a darker polish to show you: Misa Wishing on a Star.

Misa Wishing on a Star, three coats in indirect daylight. Wishing on a Star has a black base, filled with tons of silver microglitter. I'd almost say this is glassflecked, but not just yet.. The microglitter flashes green and blue before my eyes, but I wasn't able to capture that with my camera. Since this contains a ton of microglitter, let's take a closer look, shall we?

*insert ooh and aah here* Doesn't that look great? I can't help myself staring at these kind of shades when they're on my nails. It's just so sparkly!

Application was good, a bit watery at first but all evens out in two to three coats. Drying time was alright - not too quick. I managed to smudge the polish on one of my nails, so I had to redo my nails to be able to take some pictures of it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Too Much Contrast..

Hi all,

A quickie today since I feel horrible and want to go to bed as soon as possible. I lost my job today and it was a real shocker when my boss told me. Tomorrow will be my last day and I will be officially unemployed as of monday.. *sigh*

Anyway, on to nails, because that's what this blog is about :) After yesterdays Lemon Fizz mani, I decided to do some stamping. I chose a design that I never use - the leopard design. I think I went a little overboard.

China Glaze Lemon Fizz with Nubar Diamont, stamped with Konad Special Polish in Black Pearl and imageplates M57 (ring finger) and M81 (other fingers). I thought it would make a nice combination, but the yellow is just to light and pastel to work with such a dark color. The contrast is too big. I decided to show you anyway because I don't see these plates too often on other blogs :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Glaze²

Hi all!

Today I have a short post for you, but I like it so I hope you will too.

ManGlaze Matte is Murder with one coat of Nubar Diamont and China Glaze Awaken for stamping. I used M70 to stamp, it's one of my newer plates - I ordered a bunch of plates with mostly full nail images. I really like the contrast with this one, but I think it doesn't pop Matte is Murder as much as it deserves.. But I do think these two make a lovely combination.

Thanks for stopping by!

It Doesn't Get Any Matter Than This!

Hi all!

So today I have something awesome for you! Dear Michèle was so kind to order me a few bottles of ManGlaze as well when she placed her order <3 so I have my first ManGlaze to share with you today! Curious? I thought so! On to the pics..

ManGlaze Matte is Murder, two coats in daylight. This is the best matte black ever! It doesn't get any more matte than this.. Most dark mattes are more of a charcoal or grey color, but this one really is super matte black. This is only two coats and they went on really smoothly without dragging or leaving bald spots.

You know me well enough to know that I can't go by any matte polish without putting some topcoat on it..

ManGlaze Matte is Murder with one coat of Nubar Diamont. Look at it! Isn't this gorgeous? Matte is Murder has a very pretty shimmer in it that makes it also interesting to look at when it's glossy.

See what I mean? This rocks!

This is the best matte polish that I ever tried and I like this even better than my Orly Iron Butterfly - which is definitely in my top 3 polishes. It's super duper matte and very easy to work with so I can't do anything else than love this..

ManGlaze can be purchased at www.manglaze.com and they also ship outside the US!

Thanks for stopping by!

China Glaze Blk-Bila-Bong

Hi all!

Have you enjoyed your Queensday? The weather wasn't great but we had a nice day, hope you did too! Today I have China Glaze's Blk-Bila-Bong for you. Blk-Bila-Bong is a part of the 2007 Surf Collection. I managed to get hold of a bottle a couple of months ago and it's about time I show it to you.

China Glaze Blk-Bila-Bong, three coats in daylight. Blk-Bila-Bong is a blue or aqua glass flecked black polish. It's a part of the China Glaze surf collection of 2007 and it was the only dark color in this collection, but it is a true stunner. I believe this color is discontinued; it was not easy getting my hands on this polish. The blue/aqua glass fleck makes this a very interesting and pretty shade to look at. I love dark colors, but I rarely wear black because it's just a little too dark for me. The glass fleck in this is truly gorgeous and this is gonna be a new favorite of mine!

Application was good. The first coat went on a little watery, but all was well in two coats. Of course, I have to deal with macro, so I did three to avoid showing VNL. Dyring time was good as well! It dried pretty quickly, considering I applied three coats.

I made a closeup as well, for you to see the blue/aqua glass fleck:


Ain't that gorgeous? What do you think of Blk-Bila-Bong? What's your favorite older China Glaze polish?

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

PS: There's a little contest coming up at Nailswatches somewhere next week! Stay tuned for details :)