Green
Best of Orly Spring & Summer 2009
 For Spring and Summer 2009, Orly hit us with three, count ‘em THREE, colorful new collections; Prepster, Carnivale and Tiki Time.
While all three have some fun colors, none of them wowed me as a whole so I chose my favorites to show to you. Check out my Top 5 of the season after the jump! |
One thing I noticed is that most of the bold creme shades are jelly-like in texture. They’re semi-sheer but buildable and have that glossy, rubberized look that makes jellies so cool. I know the sheers in the Prepster collection are great for layering but they just weren’t doing it for me.
Cashmere Cardigan is a stunning periwinkle blue creme. It’s well pigmented but looks best with three coats. To me this shade looks a lot like Essie Huckle Buckle, minus the shimmer.
I knew I would love Mint Mojito before I even saw it. I’m all over this bright spring green. It also needs three coats but who cares. It’s lovely. It’s actually more vibrant in person but it’s really hard to capture. Actually you should check out the manicure Brittany (aka Clumps of Mascara) did with Cashmere Cardigan and Mint Mojito. She did it herself and it’s way gorg!
Festival Lights is a beautious melon tinged orange. Like a perfectly ripe canteloupe, it’s vivid but not BRIGHT.
Country Club Khaki is the shade celebrity manicurist Jenna Hipp raved about when I interviewed her for WOYN? and it’s no wonder. This is a great neutral mushroom hue. It’s like the spring version of You Don’t Know Jacques.
Finally the shade that made my heart skip, Calypso Breeze. I can’t think of a blue in my stash that looks quite like this and I don’t even know how to describe it. It makes me think of lake water, the sky before a storm and denim all mixed together.
All these polishes are limited edition but still available online at Head2ToeBeauty.com and TransDesign.com. Orly is also carried at Sally Beauty Supply but seasonal collections tend to sell out fast so availability will vary by location.
So what did you think of the Orly Spring/Summer collections? Which colors did you pick up?
MAC Nail Trend FW09 by Jin Soon
 BACKSTAGE AND FRONT ROW, NAIL TREND HAS ARRIVED! More than a colour statement, an of-the-moment approach that dazzles with innovation and style.
I’m sure by now you’ve heard the rumors that MAC is releasing a collection of six creme nail lacquers created by renowned nail artist Jin Soon. I met Jin last fall at her UES spa and she hinted at a future brand collaboration but wasn’t able to release details since it was still in the planning stages. Well, all I can say is BRAVO Jin! As a leading nail artist in the fashion and beauty industry, Jin has worked with top fashion designers like Oscar de la Renta, Derek Lam and Doo.Ri, as well as famed photographers Steven Meisel, Irving Penn and Annie Leibovitz. She is a master at nail art (see March’s Teen Vogue) and a lover of editorial nail colors. When we met we discussed our mutual love of green and wow did she bring it to this collection. There are two, count them TWO, gorgeous greens in Nail Trend. Check them out! |
The deep green was chosen by the designer to work with the romantic, gothic look that makeup artist Tom Pecheux created using a palette of white, black and gray MAC products. When asked about the inspiration for the colors Jin said, “My husband is an architect, and I am constantly drawing inspiration and colour ideas from his creations. I also have tons of exposure to fashion trends through my work at the fashion shows and on magazine shoots. I wanted to create colours that were not only incredibly fashion-forward and edgy, with an editorial feel to them but also were totally wearable for the everyday women. I love all of the colours but am especially excited about the green hues: Dry Martini and Beyond Jealous. I think come Fall ‘09, green is going to be THE colour.” We are so on the same wavelength because I couldn’t agree more! I had the opportunity to test a few of the colors prior to launch and while some MAC colors give me application issues, the three I tried were fab. I’ve always said that MAC does dark and shimmery shades best and these are no exception. All three are well pigmented and applied with no streaking. Only Dry Martini required three coats. Dry Martini – is a deep olive that leans towards brown, like a dark army camouflage green. It’s edgy and funky and a nice change from the more emerald/forest shades we’ve seen in seasons past. In case you’re wondering, and I’m sure you are, it’s much darker and more browned than last fall’s RBL No More War. The MAC Nail Trend collection by Jin Soon launches on August 27th and the polishes retail for $12/ea. You can buy them online at MACCosmetics.com and at MAC counters nationwide. You know I’ll be first in line to pick up bottles of the rest of these colors. I can’t even think about Beyond Jealous and Cool Reserve not being in my life. Which ones will you be adding to your collection?
Dance All Night‘s brick red hue reminds me of one of my all time fave OPI reds, That’s An “EL” Of A Color, minus the golden shimmer. It’s rich, warm and very fall.
For Fun is just that, a spunky, bright red-grape. It’s a bit more red based looking in person but I just couldn’t capture it dead on.
The entire Nail Trend lineup includes:
Cool Reserve – DIRTY GREY LAVENDER
For Fun – RICH CLEAN PURPLE
Dance All Night – BRICK RED
Dry Martini - KHAKI OLIVE GREEN
Rich, Dark, Delicious – RICH BLACKENED BROWN
Beyond Jealous – BLACKENED BLUE GREEN
Lippmann Collection Fall 2009 Swatches and Review
 Let’s keep this Lippmann party going, shall we? Last March, I gave you an exclusive sneak preview of Deb’s 2nd designer collaboration, Marquee Moon. It’s the shade she created with CFDA Womenswear Designers of the Year, Kate and Laura Mulleavy; the sisters behind fashion label Rodarte.
Deb paired this unique sequined shade with a vampy teal for her Fall collection and I have your first look. Check it out, after the jump! |
As I mentioned in my review of the Celebrate set, the sequins in Marquee Moon apply sporadically so one nail might end up with ten sequins while another only has a few. This is what Deb intended; for each nail to have its own unique look. On the polar opposite of that we have Don’t Tell Mama, a shimmer that applies smooth, even and buttery. Each polish is shown with only two coats and no top coat. Don’t Tell Mama is a luscious deep blue-green shimmer that sent my little green loving heart a racin’. The depth on this jewel toned beauty is incredible.
Greens are having a quite a year, aren’t they? From the amazing MAC Peppermint Patti to the Nubar Going Green collection to the upcoming Chanel Jade, green polish lovers are being overloaded with options and I’m NOT going to complain. Well, now Lippmann is jumping on the green bandwagon with Don’t Tell Mama, named after the Cabaret tune.
Of course I was hoping maybe I’d discovered a dupe of beloved but long gone treasures, CND NFS or OPI Jasper Jade. Alas, the best I could do was Sleek UK’s Poison Ivy which is close but a little lighter in hue.
Marquee Moon‘s silver sequins are much larger and a bit more difficult to control than the Celebrate sequined polishes. However because they’re set in an opaque metallic silver base, you only need two coats to achieve bottle color. What I love is that after a glossy top coat, the particles sitting on the surface become tiny glittering mirrors, like pieces of a disco ball. When Deb said the look was futuristic, she wasn’t kidding!
These Lippmann Fall 2009 shades retail for $15/ea and launch in July. They will be available online at LippmannCollection.com and Beauty.com and on counters at Nordstrom.
Zoya Dare Collection Review and Swatches
 Zoya Dare has landed and after much anticipation, I’ve got your first look at them on the nail. As you may remember, the Dare collection of Zoya’s Truth or Dare Fall lineup is a group of chic, dramatic shades with five cremes and one shimmer. Let’s get right to it and check out the colors, shall we? |
With the exception of Ibiza all the Dare collection polishes are cremes. They all glide on smooth and even in spite of the formula’s thickness. The shades are well pigmented requiring only two coats and dry with a high gloss shine.
Demi is a midtone reddish purple, you might call it a mauve. In the bottle it looked a bit Barney-ish but it’s a very pretty on the nail.
Ciara has a sundrenched raspberry look about it. Don’t get me wrong it’s vivid and rich, not at all dusty, those are just the first two words that came to mind when looking at it. 
Vanessa is a berry based cool red. It applies very close to bottle color on the first coat which is always a plus with reds.
Pinta is the definition of burple (bluish purple). It definitely leans way blue but you can see its purple roots in bright light. My issue is that it’s so dark that unless you’re in sunlight, you’re the only person who will know how truly stunning this shade is.
For that reason I decided to take a sunlight shot of it. You see I shy away from direct sunlight swatching because I find it to be SOOOO inaccurate and I don’t want you kids buying a color and being disappointed when it looks NOTHING like what I showed you. So for the purposes of displaying the base color only, I did this sunlight shot for you.
Envy is a mossy deep forest green that has an earthy, camouflage feel to it. What’s funny is that as I applied it, the first coat had a graininess that looks like watercolor which I originally mistook for shimmer. With the second coat it’s pure glossy creme. Though if you want the bottle color and not an “almost black” make sure you apply two thin coats. Three is way too much.
Ibiza is a shimmery deep sapphire blue. The color is so dark and the shimmer is so subtle that you barely notice it outside of direct sunlight. Honestly, I love Indigo, with its multi-colored micro-glitter, so much that Ibiza is just OK for me.
The Zoya Dare Collection polishes retail for $6/each and are available for PRE-ORDER now on Zoya.com with a ship date of July 15th.
So all my DARE girls out there, what do you think?
The Chanel Green Is Coming!!!
Since the Style.com Beauty Counter Blog has officially spilled the beans I guess it’s OK for me to say that YES, that gorgeous GREEN we saw on the Chanel Fall 2009 runways will become an actuality. Launching in October as part of an exclusive two polish collection called the Jade Nail Collection, Jade will be partnered with Jade Rose, a pale pink.
Can you even stand the excitement? I know there have been some amazing pale greens of late but you know Chanel putting one out will cause polish hysteria.
And FYI, they have some other amazing polishes on the horizon but that’s all I can say for now.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
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