Big 3 Free
China Glaze Bahama Blues for Winter 2008
Kids, China Glaze keeps hitting it out of the park. I can’t even handle it. I’m already on serious color overload after Rodeo Diva and Operation Colour. Now a collection of all blues?? You know how I love my blues.
OK I know what you’re thinking. How many are repromotes, dupes, etc? China Glaze already has a bunch of amazing blues, how can they put out more? Well, I don’t know HOW they did it but I can attest to not having a SINGLE dupe for any of these shades. I own practically every blue China Glaze has produced.
For Winter 2008, China Glaze is whisking us away from the cold, drab bleakness and transporting us to the warm, vibrant tropics. Blue skies, sandy beaches, crystal clear waters. Can you feel it? Girls, I am so in need of a vacation. You don’t even know. As I was testing the colors, I couldn’t help but wish I was back in the Caribbean. On a cruise, a beach in Belize, a swim-up bar in Mexico, wherever. Get me out of the Cleveburg!
Bahamian Escape dries darker and more vibrant than the robin’s egg bottle color would suggest. It’s a very opaque creme that hardly needs two coats. As you can see below it’s not the Color Club Blue Light dupe I expected it to be.
Caribbean Blue‘s speckled silver micro-glitter is what drew me in. The color has a slightly dusty quality which keeps it from becoming garish. It’s my favorite color in the collection.
Blue Island Iced Tea will charm all of you Stroke of Midnight fans. It has the same micro-glitter packed jelly formula that made me fall in love with China Glaze in the first place. This unique deep sky blue has a foil-like finish depending on the lighting but it’s a bit sheer so you need an extra coat. Love it! LOVE IT!
Blue Paradise falls somewhere between cornflower and denim on the blue scale. Its metallic shimmer does equal brush strokes but if you’re careful they aren’t too problematic.
Bermuda Breakaway is a fantastic indigo creme. What some may call burple. It flowed fantastically on the nail. In fact it was thinner in consistency than Blue Paradise yet just as pigmented.
Calypso Blue is the only color that didn’t make me jump for joy. It’s a blue-black and we’ve seen a lot of those. Though I give it credit in its application, pigmentation and glossy finish. And while I didn’t have a dead on dupe, it’s so dark that only true fanatics could tell.
The Bahama Blues collection is on sale now at Head2ToeBeauty.com and 8ty8beauty.com. You can also find China Glaze at Sally Beauty and ULTA but call for seasonal collection availability.
China Glaze Operation Colour for Fall 2008
 POW! BANG! SPLAT!
Operation Colour from China Glaze will certainly make an impact when it hits shelves this month. Inspired by the bold splashes of color found in graphic novels and comic books, this is not your typical Fall look. You won’t find any burnt, vampy or dreary shades here. Instead, China Glaze is taking on Fall in technicolor. |
 With the Costume Institute’s Superheroes exhibit coming to a close this weekend, it seems appropriate for this collection to come along as a way to keep a little superhero fashion alive in everyday life. It’s almost as if these shades were ripped right from the exhibit and red carpet. Just look at the Emilio Pucci dress Joy Bryant donned for the exhibit’s gala in May or the Thierry Mugler graphic novel inspired bodysuit on display at The Met and you’ll see what I mean. |
Overall, I think this collection is a fun change of pace. A nice twist on what we’d normally expect for the colder months. Though I must admit that I’m more in love with the concept and palette as a whole than I am with the colors individually. But I am impressed with the pigmentation. It makes the formula a bit thicker than I would prefer but even the lighter shades only take two coats. The first will be a bit streaky but the second smooths it out. The only one I had any major issue with was Agent Lavender, it didn’t spread out on its own. It required a bit of coaxing.
Secret Peri-Winkle is by far my favorite color in the collection. A gorg mid-toned combo of violet and sky blue, this creme is perfect for cool and neutral tones. I just love it!
Code Orange, like the other shimmers in the lineup, isn’t at all sparkly. The shimmer just adds a little glint of sheen to this tangerine hue.
As I mentioned above, Agent Lavender was my problem child. There’s one in every bunch, isn’t there? But what I love is that unlike most light purples I wear, this one doesn’t make me look like an alien. I find it quite flattering.
Golden Opportunity reminds me of the yellow brick road from the Wizard of Oz. Gleaming goldenrod at it’s best.
Revolution is a tomato ketchup red creme. Not utterly unique but a nice warm red.
Pink Underground is a shade with a twinkle in its eye. The fine bright pink shimmer gives this polish a slight blue/berry cast in the sun. This isn’t your average pink.
The Operation Colour collection is on sale NOW at 8ty8Beauty.com and I’m sure Head2ToeBeauty.com will have it up soon. What I really love… is that they’re releasing the set in minis (pictured right). I first saw them with the Immaterial Gurl collection and they’re just adorable.
So what do you think girls? Comic book colors for Fall. Is it genius or not for you?
Images: All Lacquered Up, China Glaze, Style.com & Flickr.com
Misa Poisoned Passion for Fall 2008
Jewel tones and vampy nail shades are carrying over from last Fall and Misa Cosmetics is putting their twist on the trend. The recently launched Poisoned Passion collection is a lineup of six rich shades. With five shimmers and one creme, these colors pack a lot of punch. They are all very lush.
The last time I reviewed a Misa collection, Love Connections, it was right after their switch to become Big 3 Free. You may remember that I was non-plused with the formula then but, I’m seeing an improvement in this new lineup. While I still had issues with application of a couple shades (Dying Love & Fatal Affair) the rest flowed quite nicely. One thing that has remained consistent is the high level of pigmentation. Each polish only required two coats.
Toxic Seduction – Let’s start out with my favorite color of the bunch. Of course it’s the green, duh! You might call the base color a blackened teal or blue-green but the hints of gold shimmer warm it up a bit. Though I wouldn’t say its a forest green. More like a franken of Gussied Up Green & Rodeo Fanatic. Regardless of how you describe it, I have just one word – WINNER! I looked for it’s closest living relative in my stash and found Poison Ivy from Nailed by Sleek UK (shown below).
A Sin Worth Committing’s base color is royal blue, like OPI Dating A Royal. No purple undertones in the slightest. It’s most definitely a superb navy shimmer however, I found that OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue is close enough that you wouldn’t need both. A Sin Worth Committing is just a touch bolder.
Dying Love is a tricky one. Both in application and color description. I guess it’s appropriate for the punkiest color to be the problem child. Not quite jet black yet too dark to be gunmetal gray, Dying Love falls somewhere between Lippmann Hit Me With Your Best Shot and Sally Hansen Salon Black Orchid (a LE color).
Fatal Affair is similar to Misa Blueberry Glaze in that BG is a purple tinged blue and Fatal Affair is a blue tinged purple. Though the blue shimmer affected my ability to show the true color. It’s more purple in real life. Compared to one of my favorite purples, Misa Dreamy Purple, it is deeper with a red-violet base.
Forbidden Lust is a deep red based purple shimmer. Like a dark amethyst. In looking for a dupe, I found that it’s a deeper version of NYX Wild (#2 on the linked image).
The only creme in the group, Love Bite, is a vampy browned red. It’s bright berry base makes 2-3 coats necessary to achieve bottle color. I have to say that this is the one color I wasn’t all that jazzed over. As you can see below, it’s very similar to Misa Stiletto so not really a must have for me.
The Poisoned Passion collection is available for sale online at MisaCosmetics.com and Head2ToeBeauty.com.
So fanatics, what do you think? What did you/are you buying from the collection?
SEPHORA by OPI Autumn and Eve Collection
A few weeks back I introduced you to the SEPHORA by OPI collection with some bottle pics and product photos. Well, I’ve had a chance to give the polishes a trial run and am very pleased to share the deets with you all.
I was sent the first seasonal collection from the product line, Autumn and Eve, to test out. A great mix of funky and vampy shades, the lineup is very on trend for Fall. Which makes me wonder if OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director Suzi Weiss-Fischmann held out and saved the best colors for SEPHORA.
The formula is Big 3 Free and on the medium-thick side yet it goes on smoothly. The brushes are firm and dense, allowing the polish to flow nicely on the nail without streaking or dragging. And since the OPI Pro Wide Brush is almost too big for my pinky and index nails, I’m liking the SEPHORA polish better.
Run With It! – So are you sick of hearing how much I’m in love with light gray? Well, I’m not gonna stop and Run With It! is another swoon-worthy winner. Only this one includes silver and gold shimmer that instead of adding sparkle, it gives the overall shade a slightly rubberized look. It’s one of the coolest colors I’ve come across.
Don’t Go There is a pretty midtone reddish-grape creme. Like if Barney had been rolled and kicked down a dusty road (how fun would that be?). Knowing that you’d want to see it next to Parlez Vous OPI? I included a comparison below. Obviously PVO is more muted, smokey and violet based.
Metro Chic is the shade I was most intrigued by. As much as I love me a unique polish, when I first spotted Metro Chic on the Sephora Blog I thought it was hideous and had no chance of being flattering. Color me wrong. I can see why the other editors/bloggers are giving it raves. This oddball, brown, gray, khaki, purple, Heinz 57 of a shade is pretty damn chic. And nothing like Parlez Vous OPI? or You Don’t Know Jacques! (see below).
Meet For Drinks is a deep burgundy/cranberry shimmer that will pair nicely with the berry lip look that will be popular this Fall. It’s not blowing my skirt up but I don’t hate it.
I’m With Brad is a black based lacquer with red shimmer. Very much in the same vein as Midnight in Moscow and China Glaze X. Super vampy, highly pigmented and very glossy.
Never Enough Shoes is not your average black polish. It has these specs of gold & silver micro-glitter running throughout. What I love is that the glitter is way more visible than the shimmer in say, Chanel Black Satin or Zoya Raven, yet it dries perfectly smooth. Everyone can say what they want about black polish being passe or “so two years ago” but it’s not dying out any time soon.
Finally, a little sunlight action for you. The gold shimmer in Run With It! really pops in direct sun.
The SEPHORA by OPI nail polish retails for $9 is available now on Sephora.com and starting to roll out into retail locations. Call your local store for availability.
Anyone seen the new line at your local Sephora? What do you think? I’ve been testing some of the treatment products as well and will be sharing my thoughts on those soon. Stay tuned for a peek at the core collection colors.
China Glaze Fall 2008 – Rodeo Diva Hay Ride
Giddy up little cowgirls for the Rodeo Diva collection from China Glaze is here. Twelve nail polishes divided into two sets, warm and cool, these shimmering beauties will be causing a frenzy. And even though I tend to go the cool route (blues, greens) the gold shimmer in the Hay Ride polishes is incredible.
I would describe the shimmer as micro glitter yet it doesn’t affect the finish or cause that skin crawling glitter scratching as you remove it. All in all, the polishes applied well. Though I did notice the formula getting thicker as I went from lighter to darker shades. The lacquers dry glossy and the pigmentation is excellent, I only needed two coats to achieve bottle color.
Now you’ll notice that my skin tone looks a bit funky in the swatch pics below. That’s only because I altered the images to best show the polish color, which resulted in my skin looking a bit jaundiced in some and flushed in others. You’ll just have to excuse that.
Yee Haw! is a golden peachy orange that just radiates in the sunlight. I don’t think it necessarily works on me but the shimmer really gives it a punch to take it from being just another peach.
Golden Spurs is actually one of my favorite shades in this group and I’m not a big fan of tans. There’s something about how the shimmer really adds dimension to what could be a totally boring color that draws me in. It’s a sexy evening neutral.
Prize Winning Mare is a hard shade to capture. It’s golden brown but not chocolaty and very chameleon-like. In every light, it looked different. Very unique
Lasso My Heart’s golden shimmer makes it look more rosy in person. In fact, in the bottle, I thought it was a duo-chrome because of the way the shimmer affects the color.
Wagon Trail was the one color I most look forward to testing and it didn’t disappoint. You know me, any mention of green perks my ears up. This golden green is dirty, funky and totally fun. Like nothing else I own. I know there are fans of the discontinued China Glaze shade, Cat’s Eye (I don’t own it). Well I’d say that Wagon Trail is its blackened, trampy cousin.
Side-Saddle is for all you vamps. A browned plum peppered with gold, this shade represents the “diva” in Rodeo Diva the best. The minute I saw it, I thought of my pal Sara from Bit By The Beauty Bug. Even though I’ve helped encourage her to explore the lighter, brighter side of polish this summer, she’s a vampy girl at heart. I just know she’ll love this!
And since I knew there would questions of how Side-Saddle compares to NYC Cognac Sparkle, I beat you to the punch. Cognac Sparkle is more berry/wine based and a tinge lighter. Sorry gals, no twin here.
The Rodeo Diva collection can be found online at Head2ToeBeauty and is coming soon to 8ty8Beauty. China Glaze can also be purchased at ULTA and Sally Beauty Supply, call for seasonal collection availability.
Lisa N.
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