Barielle – Falling Star

This one’s a weird one, guys.

Barielle’s Falling Star. Got this at Winners last week, the only place that seems to sell Barielle in Vancouver. This is definitely a polish that I haven’t seen before – mid-toned, slightly dusty blue creme base, packed with medium-sized bits of copper glitter. Wha? A combination that I’ve  never really thought of. Props for originality, Barielle!

Uniqueness aside, I’m debating whether this colour combination really works for me. I feel like the copper clashes with the blue, making the glitter look dull at certain angles. My nails sort of looked like they were flecked with little piece of…dirt? Hmm. Not sure I’m sold on this.

Of course, since this is full of glitter, removal was a horrendous process. It wasn’t even as bad as it could be – I peeled off most of it in the shower (which is not a good habit, but if you’re desperate to remove glitter polishes easily…give it a shot. Something about the steam makes the polish easy to lift from the nail). I couldn’t quite get my pinky finger, so I went with good ol’ nail polish remover route – ugh! Blue base comes off easily, leaving behind an armour of copper glitter that you must scrub furiously with your cotton pad. Glitters…it’s a love/hate relationship.

Maybelline Express Finish – Cool Couture

Bought this several months ago and never got around to reviewing it. I think it’s limited edition as well, so hopefully you can still find this!

Maybelline’s Cool Couture, from the Express Finish line. A stunner and truly a unique colour from a mainstream drugstore line. I can honestly say I never expected Maybelline to come out with such a sophisticated, yet trendy polish. The base is a cool gray creme with a fair amount of “hidden” blue-teal shimmer running throughout. This is the gray/teal sister of Chanel’s Paradoxal, which has a smokey dark gray-purple base with purple shimmer. Yes, I just compared Maybelline to Chanel!

The Maybelline Express Finish brush is great. Not the widest out there, but decidedly flat (which makes it much easier to work with, at least for me). The formula on this was fine too – two coats, no dragging or opacity issues. I’m a happy camper.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure – Grass Slipper

There was a sale on the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure line at Shoppers a few weeks ago, and of course I took advantage of a good deal! I took this chance to buy a colour that I knew I didn’t own – one that is unique, attention-getting, and mood-boosting :)

I think Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Grass Slipper fits the bill! A simply gorgeous, clean-looking lime-yellow green creme. Not much to say about it, except that just looking at it makes me happy! Formula on this was was superb for a drugstore brand. Two easy coats, no streaking issues or weird consistency at all. The brush, which I usually hate (it’s one of those “sculpted” ones) worked decently. I think these kinds of brushes are a hit or miss. If they’re cut well, they work well. If they’re cut poorly, it’s just a big ol’ mess. Luckily I got a good one with this bottle.

I have read that this colour can stain quite a bit (I certainly experienced this with another one Sally Hansen’s bright colours), so make sure you use a good base coat before applying!

Nails Inc. – Warwick Way

So let me tell you a little story about how I came to buy this lovely shade of nail polish.

It was two summers ago, and I was in Hong Kong shopping with my mom. We came across a tiny  shop that sold inexpensive bottles of OPI minis. I bought three, and quickly fell in love with the super bright, teal creme.

I had my suspicions, though, that the minis were fake (the polish smelled especially terrible, and a quick Google of OPI colours didn’t bring up any old OPI bright teal cremes). At that point, I didn’t even care…the little fake OPI mini became one of my favourite colours. Alas, being a (supposedly) fake polish in miniature form, it quickly became unusable.

Ever since, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect bright teal creme to replace it. I hoped that this might be the one.

Is Nails Inc. Warwick Way the perfect replacement? It’s close enough to satisfy me. Warwick Way is significantly greener but it’s certainly just as clean-looking and mood-boosting in the same way as my fake OPI. This is bright, people. It does weird things to my camera and my top coat (Seche Vite) doesn’t even look right over it. It also stains my fingernails into something awful. I haven’t used a polish that stained my nails that badly, ever! Took me half an hour alone just to remove as much of the stain as I could, then buff the surface of my nails into oblivion. I can’t say that amount of effort is worth it for this polish.

The colour is lovely, the application was easy and smooth; no complaints in those regards. However, I think this is going back to Sephora as the staining just isn’t worth it. It’s also quite pricey (~$11CAD). Though I am very excited that Nails Inc. is now available at Sephora here in Vancouver! Maybe I’ll exchange this for another, more subdued shade from the line.

Essie – Power Clutch

Don’t feel like writing a preamble today, so…I won’t :)

Essie Power Clutch is from their Fall 2011 collection “Brand New Bag”. I bought this thinking I needed a true slate gray creme polish to add to my collection. I was…wrong?

The official shade description calls this a “striking, deep gray-green”. I didn’t believe the description when I bought the colour. In the store, it was clearly gray. But upon closer inspection, this is certainly a gray that leans a bit to the green side. Can’t see it? It’s hard to tell in the photo, but this is definitely not a blue gray or even a true gray. Quite a unique colour, I’d say! The green doesn’t come out to say hello all the time, but when it does, it’s a pleasant surprise.

As for application, I don’t know if I bought an old bottle or what, but it was the tiniest bit too thick. The brush wasn’t able to spread itself easily and I had just had an all-round nightmare trying to apply this the first time around. A few drops of polish thinner did the trick, though, and it applied smoothly and beautifully.

OPI – Steady As She Rose & Silver Shatter

It’s been a while! Almost two months in fact, since I’ve written a new post. Hope all of you have had a wonderful summer in the meantime!

I didn’t have a chance to swatch (or even use) many polishes while on exchange in Europe. I did receive several new ones from friends for my birthday when I returned to Vancouver (thanks guys!) but I left for Hong Kong only a few days after that. And the lighting in my room in HK leaves much to be desired; couldn’t get a decent photo of anything.

But enough of the excuses! I’m back now to spread some more nail polish love, and that’s all that matters, right? :)

Okay then, here goes nothing. I’m clearly a little rusty. I have here a nail polish that my dear friend Antin got for my birthday (pictured above is me with two of them. Doesn’t she have good taste? :p)

OPI Steady As She Rose, another pale and muted hue from the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides collection. I would clumsily describe this as a light, grayed, rose-lavender creme. Looks really clean on the nail. Applied somewhat streaky in the first coat; my advice is to apply as little pressure as possible with the brush to prevent dragging. It’s a great colour for those looking for something relatively neutral, but that is still a little out of the ordinary.

Here it is, shatterized (a word I just made up, what).

OPI Silver Shatter, which I believe came out in the same collection. I really love the look of Silver Shatter over pale, muted colours, so it was a perfect addition to the Pirates collection.

I bought Silver Shatter myself while I was in Hong Kong. I usually shy away from purchasing OPIs in HK as they are grossly overpriced – they run for about $120HKD/$15CAD on average, which is almost twice as expensive. However, I found this in Bonjour Cosmetics on sale for $64HKD, which makes it cheaper than the usual places I buy OPIs from in Vancouver. Nice!

The OPI Shatters are irritating, though. My Black Shatter is so goopy, it’s almost unusable. Silver Shatter turned goopy near the opening of the bottle within minutes. I fear the shelf life of the OPI Shatters is going to be very short indeed, so keep that in mind when purchasing. I’ve actually still got two more Shatters to review, so keep an eye out for them!

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure – Kook-A-Mango

 

Hope everyone’s having a wonderful summer, because I certainly am! As you may know, I’m currently on a summer exchange program to Europe, and I am having a blast. The problem with traveling around several countries is that packing light is a necessity. As a result, I’ve only brought (gasp) two nail polishes with me. I’m already getting bored of them. It’s times like these that I wish I had this colour with me.

That is, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure’s Kook-A-Mango. A flat coral-orange creme. It leans towards orange in the above photo and in real life as well. There’s not so much red to speak of, and it’s not really pink either. It is a very wearable orange colour which would be perfect as a mani or pedi for lounging around on the beach (could’ve used this when I was in Barcelona…). Formula was decent. Opaque in two coats. I’m not a huge fan of the brush, but somehow I managed. I wanna wear this nooooow. :(

I’m a Belieber: Nicole by OPI – My Lifesaver

Was there any nail polish obsessed person out there who didn’t cringe when they heard about the Nicole by OPI collaboration with Justin Bieber? I don’t know what else to say but…why? It’s so unnecessary. Thankfully, either JBiebz has really good taste in nail polish, or I just caught a lucky break.

Nicole by OPI’s My Lifesaver is a dead-ringer for the previously-blogged Gumdrop by Orly, an extremely clean-looking light/pastel turquoise creme. This colour is perfectly on trend, but I don’t know if I can give Justin Bieber the credit. Formula is very good on this, two coats and you’re looking at fully opaque coverage and a smooth finish.

However, I HATE THIS BRUSH. The Nicole by OPI Perfect Stroke brush is a perfect nightmare. I don’t mind the “sculpted” brushes so much (I just came up with that. Good, right?). I’ve used them before (like the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri line), but for some reason these Nicole by OPI ones are particularly difficult. They’re not consistent at all, and are not shaped into a nice semi-circular shape that can fit nicely with your cuticle line. Every one I’ve tried has had a very strange shape and is so difficult to work with. The bristles are also quite stiff and can cause some dragging of the polish on your nail. If it weren’t for the superb formula, this polish would have been a nightmare to work with.

All I ask is for nail polish companies to use flat, rectangular brushes, much like the OPI ProWide ones. Or at the very least, use a traditional brush shape (thin, and circular at the base). If you’re going to do a “sculpted” brush, please make sure it retains its shape properly. Ugh.

Apart from that though, My Lifesaver is an outstanding colour with a great formula. Definitely worth checking out! Props, JBiebz. Props.

Canucks Nails!

In case I have readers who don’t know, I’m based in Vancouver, and the Canucks are in the Stanley Cup finals! Canucks fever is absolutely palpable in the atmosphere, and I’m loving every second of it. My celebratory walk frolic down Granville Street after our Game 1 win was exciting and nostalgic – brings back memories of the 2010 Winter Olympics. For my friends who are fans and are out of the country right now, I’m sorry that I’m rubbing it in your face a little bit. Miss you, and wish you were here to celebrate with the rest of us!

I’ve been planning to do a Canucks manicure for a while, and even tried out a few things but failed MISERABLY. I ended up simplifying the design down to just blocks of colour and stripes, like the bottom of the jersey. Simple enough? It’s really nothing spectacular. But it still took me forever. And you don’t even want to see what my right hand looks like (horrific, the white lines are not straight at all). BUT WHATEVER. At least it looks Canucks-esque.

I’ve blogged about the blue and green before – Orly La Playa and OPI Jade is the New Black, respectively. The white stripes were done with the Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen. It looks like a felt pen with a narrow tip and dispenses a rather watery liquid. I call it a liquid and not lacquer because it behaves a little differently than typical nail polish. When I use the pen over top coat (which is completely dry), I am able to scratch off the white stripes without disturbing the polish underneath. This is brilliant for nail art because you can fix mistakes very easily. Obviously, you’ll want to seal in the pen’s design with a layer of top coat afterwards.

If I was patient enough, or my hand steady enough (probably both), I would have drawn in the little white hockey stick…but the stripes were hard enough as it is. I guess I’m just not cut out for nail art! But for my team, I will at least try :)

WOOOOOO CANUCKS! ONLY THREE MORE WINS! BRING IT HOME!

Joe Fresh – Butter

Haven’t blogged in a while, sorry about that! But now I’m back to show you some more Joe Fresh polishes.

Joe Fresh Butter, a light pastel yellow creme. I’ve been wanting a colour like this for a while and finally settled on this one. Application wasn’t particularly smooth, but it was decent, considering the reputation that yellow creme nail polishes have for being thin and streaky. As a result, I needed three coats. The brush can cause quite a bit of drag on the nail, so use a light touch when applying. All things considered, the end product (with top coat) looks pretty flawless. And I can’t find it in my heart to fault Butter on its application issues when it looks so pretty and perfect for spring!