China Glaze
The ALU Archives – China Glaze Dorothy Who?
 The ALU Archives focuses on older, beloved shades from the All Lacquered Up stash.
Last night I went to a screening of the Wizard of Oz with the winners of my giveaway courtesy of China Glaze. In select theaters across the country the film is being shown in Hi-Def to celebrate its 70th Anniversary. Being that I had never viewed the film on anything larger than a 27″ TV it was a thrill to see Judy Garland singing on the big screen. In lieu of the standard previews they showed a whole package about the making of the movie with casting info (I never knew Buddy Ebsen was the original Tin Man) and cast interviews. It was really cool. If you can find a screening in your area I highly suggest going. Of course such an event requires a WoO themed manicure and naturally Dorothy Who? was my pick. Check it out along with a fun pic of me and the giveaway winners after the jump! |
You guys I can NOT WAIT until the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection returns. Mainly so I can stop using my old bottle of Dorothy Who?. I love the old gal but she’s not in the best shape. I’d like to preserve her as is without attempting to add thinner. As you can see Dorothy Who? is a glitter packed gem.
Similar to Ruby Pumps the blue and silver glitter is suspended in a sheer electric blue base. It does dry with texture so you need a thicker high gloss top coat (ie Seche Vite) for a glass like finish. I just wish my camera could capture how truly magical this shade is. There is a fire and brilliance that the camera just doesn’t see. 
Here we are pre-movie. Julie even wore sparkly red heels to match her Ruby Pumps manicure. Though talk about a small world. I’ve known Julie via Facebook for a couple years now though we met for the first time backstage at Fashion Week and Julie did Gena’s nails for prom. I love those kind of random coincidences.
So who else is dying to see the new Wizard of Ooh Ahz polishes?? It’s got to be one of the most anticipated collections of the year. I just know it will be a sensation.
Guess Who’s Wearing China Glaze?
 Can you guess which celebrity sported black, gold flecked tips? Find out after the jump! |
If you’re following China Glaze on Twitter you probably knew the answer. That’s right, China Glaze is tweeting now and sharing all sorts of fun nail pics, celeb nail scoop AND holding contests. Last week, they posted this behind the scenes pic of Rihanna wearing China Glaze Liquid Leather taken by Celebrity Manicurist Kimmie Kyees. Remember when I interviewed Kimmie last year after she gave Rihanna her famous Japanese Koi tips for the Grammys? If not, read more about her HERE.
For more great China Glaze nail gossip, follow them on Twitter.
Oh and I mentioned Contests, didn’t I? Every day from now through August 4th China Glaze is giving away a set of Retro Diva polishes to a follower who tweets “@ChinaGlaze I want 2 win a ChG Retro Diva Collection.”
So seriously, what are you waiting for? Join Twitter already. All your fave nail people are there!
image credit: Kimmie Kyees via China Glaze
COSMOPROF Day 2 Recap
 Fanatics, Vegas can really suck the life out of you. I returned on Tuesday and slept for almost the next 24 hours after. I woke long enough for the boyfriend to drag me to dinner and that was about it. So now that I’m recouped and somewhat back on track, here are the highlights from Day 2 at Cosmoprof.
I’m sure my fellow China Glaze fans will be uber-excited by what I have to show you. Lots of great goodies are on the way from one of my fave brands. Let’s take a lookie loo, shall we? |
We started our day attending an education class for brands on how to retail their products online. Beth Mayall, Editor In Chief of TotalBeauty.com, was speaking on the tools brands can use to gain online exposure including blogs, like ALU.
Next stop was the Entity Beauty booth. I’ve seen Entity’s products on TransDesign.com but I haven’t tried them before. I couldn’t help but be drawn to their sleek bottles and fun colors. So far they only have the two color collections and a set of french mani colors but if these do well, they may release more in the future. Any Entity fans in the house??
Of course, my trip wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the AII Beauty booth, parent company of China Glaze. I met up with my pal Anne to check out what’s coming next from the fanatic fave.
Created for the Japanese market, China Glaze is releasing a set of 50 glitters/chromes in mini sized bottles here in the US. There are sparklers in a range of shades and glitter sizes. There’s a pink glitter that reminds me of Good Witch? on crack. ***Edited to add: Apparently the minis won’t be available here, the glitters will be full size in the US.***
Instead of jumping on the matte bandwagon, which is sure to burn out, China Glaze is launching a set of Fall metallics called Khrome. Think, Romantiques in shades more appropriate for the season. Though I’m told they are much less streaky than the Romantiques. Yay for that!!
Folloing Khrome comes the return of Emerald Sparkle for Holiday. This time it’s being packaged with a new gold glass flecked polish, 5 Golden Rings, in addition to Tinsel and Ruby Pumps from last year’s Sleigh Ride collection.
Dark Secrets is this year’s Winter collection and I’m so drooling over the purple, teal and gray. I can’t WAIT to try them out.
And as my Twitter followers know… the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection is making a triumphant return. A long, long time ago I sent swatches of my original WOOA polishes to China Glaze to help them recreate the collection. It was originally slated to release this year but was pushed back to Spring 2010. It’s been so hard keeping my yap shut on this one. I know news of it leaked a bit on MUA but nothing had been publicly confirmed until now. So those of you who have been lemming Dorothy Who?, Good Witch?, C-c-courage, Cowardly Lyin’ and The Tan Man, your wait will soon be over. Can you even contain your excitement??
Now I wish I could show you pictures of what Essie and OPI have cooked up but they keep their polishes under lock and key away from spying eyes and cameras. With so many manufacturers in one place, all competeing for our attention, is it any wonder?
We finished our day at the show with a lovely relaxing dinner at Zeffirino in the Venetian. Being that my red eye flight home was already delayed and time was on my side, we decided to indulge ourselves. We had a gorgeous view from our table of the Canal Shoppes and gondolas below as we dined on delicious fish (all of us went the fish route) and yummy wine. We even witnessed a couple getting engaged on a gondola. How sweet!
And what dinner is complete without a decadent dessert? We all tried something different so we could share. Mine was the pyramid shaped confection. It was a cappuccino creme covered in a creme brulee-esque toasted chocolate shell with raspberry sauce. Perfection! Though the pear filled, caramel covered creme and cannoli were delicious as well.
It’s a shame drama with my plane’s auxillary power had to ruin the night but it didn’t wreck my trip. I had an absolute blast with my fellow blogger Phyllis and the ladies from Total Beauty. It was great getting to see some of my blogging pals and my fave nail brands. I’m already counting down to Cosmoprof 2010!
btw, Phyllis has some pics of the CND Colour & Effects polishes she brought home on her blog. Check them out!
The ALU Archives – China Glaze C-C-Courage
 The ALU Archives focuses on older, beloved shades from the All Lacquered Up stash.
You asked for HTF’s well you’re gonna get them. Thank you to everyone who voted in the poll last week. An overwhelming majority of you want to see some of my favorite discontinued polishes pop up in the Archives. For those of you that weren’t a fan of the idea, not to worry, you’ll still get plenty of available shades to ogle.
I decided to kick off the DC’d Archives with China Glaze C-C-Courage. Check it out after the jump! |
My WOOA shades (pictured above): C-c-courage, Cowardly Lyin’ and Dorothy Who? It’s the multi-sized glitter in these polishes that make them special. C-C-Courage has tonal shimmer and silvery light purple glitter trapped in a semi-sheer grape hued base. Though don’t let semi-sheer scare you off. This one is totally opaque in 2-3 coats. It does dry a bit flat and satiny so I am showing it with a glossy top coat. Have any of you run across the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection? Do you own any of the shades? What do you think of C-C-Courage.
C-C-Courage was released as part of the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection. With Wizard of Oz themed names and colors the collection also included Cowardly Lyin’, Dorothy Who?, Good Witch?, The Ten Man and the lone core collection survivor Ruby Pumps. I owned Good Witch? at one point thanks to a special MUA friend but I decided she belonged with the queen of all things pink, NikkNack.
Now because this collection was released prior to AII Beauty acquiring the brand, the formulas were lost. But I have it on good authority that China Glaze has been working on re-creating the colors so if you would like to see these beauties make a triumphant return, let them know. Leave a comment here or email them directly through the contact form on the China Glaze site.
China Glaze Retro Diva Swatches – Part 2
 Strap on your roller skates, put on a little Earth, Wind and Fire and let’s get this party going. We’re wrapping up the 70s themed China Glaze Retro Diva collection with the six warm toned polishes in the group.
Just to recap, the twelve colors in this collection are all shimmers with a slight metallic look. If you missed the first half, check them out HERE. Now let’s get down to it, shall we? |
Part of the reason I swatched these colors second is that even though I consider my hands to have warm toned skin, I find that a lot of colors classified as “warm” don’t work on me. Also, in the bottle I wasn’t like jumping out of my skin to try them. HOWEVER, what I discovered is that there’s quite a few winners lurking behind that glass.
Again, these all apply smooth and well pigmented, requiring only two coats each.
Far Out is a hard shade to describe other than FAB. It’s a caramel brown with a rosy undertone and gold shimmer that combine to create something truly unique. I compared it with VI which is too red/coral and Golden Spurs which is too golden brown. I have nothing like this!
Cruisin’ is a tangerine shimmer and very much my speed. It’s got a burning embers quality that works well for fall but also makes for a great summer pedicure.
Cruisin’ is the one shade I thought for sure I had a dupe of. Looks like I’m wrong. Instead it falls somewhere between OPI Burning Love (All Shook Up collection) and China Glaze Cross Iron 360.
While Free Love has a different finish than that glass flecked polishes, this bold reddish orange shimmer is somewhat of a cross between Orange Marmalade and Orange-Pacific, both must haves for me. 
Street Racing oddly makes me think of crushed under ripe tomatoes, is that weird? It’s got this faded, rusty, not quite red quality that I’m totally digging. Actually of all the shades this one reminds me of corduroys the most as I had a pair almost this exact hue as a kid.
Drive In is a pretty date night red, the color of Red Hot candies with a hint of warmth. 
Thunderbird gives me flashbacks of my mom’s giant 70s era boat. She only had it a short while in my lifespan before getting the monstrosity that was the gold Cadillac Coupe De Ville (yes I said GOLD) but I clearly remember the dark red Ford taking up major real estate in our driveway. This shade perfectly captures that but puts a much more positive connotation on the word Thunderbird. This deep, luscious red is gorgeous though a bit unremarkable save for the name.
The Retro Diva collection will hit shelves in July and can be found at Sally Beauty Supply and online at 8ty8beauty.com, Head2ToeBeauty.com and TransDesign.com.
How are we feeling about Retro Diva on the whole? Which shades are on your must-have list?
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
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