The ALU Archives
The ALU Archives – Color Club All In
 The ALU Archives focuses on older, beloved shades from the All Lacquered Up stash.
Since last month was all about greens in honor of St. Patty’s day, i decided to give April a theme as well. They say April showers bring May flowers so for the entire month of April the ALU Archives will feature rainy day blues. What makes a shade a rainy day blue? It either has that dark, gloomy feel of a rainy day or it’s so bright and fun that it instantly brightens your grey weather mood. To kick of rainy day blues month, I chose something peppy and fun… Colo Club All In. Check it out after the jump! |
All In came out with Poker Mania, a collection of gaming themed shades like Poker Face, Bluff and Royal Flush. All In was definitely my fave shade of the bunch. You all know how I love a blue and in the spring, a bright slightly turquoise blue like this one is the perfect pick me up! Like all the Color Club cremes I own, All In applies beautiful, even with perfect pigmentation. Two coats and you can call it a day!
Color Club All In is currently available on 8ty8Beauty.com for $2.50. At that price how can you resist?
The ALU Archives – OPI Hey! Get In Lime!
 The ALU Archives focuses on older, beloved shades from the All Lacquered Up stash.
This week’s Archives pick is the result of your comments and emails regarding MAC Peppermint Patti dupes. A number of you suggested or asked whether OPI Hey! Get In Lime! is a match. Since it fits with the green for March theme I have going I decided to end the month with your request. Check out my comparison after the jump! |
Hey! Get In Lime! is a pastel mint creme that released with the second set of OPI Brights in 2006. It’s in the old OPI formula so it’s thinner and needed three coats. It’s definitely a perfect fit with the minty trend we’ve been seeing of late. Too bad it’s discontinued. I try to only include attainable shades in the Archives but since so many of you wanted this comparison, I hope you don’t mine me sharing this one.
As you can see, next to MAC Peppermint Patti, Hey! Get In Lime! is a little softer, a little lighter but not dramatically so. I’d say that if you own the OPI and missed out on the MAC, don’t stay up at night crying about it cuz you have a pretty close dupe. If you don’t own either, get to frankening you own or try Essie Greenport.
That’s it for the month of green kids. I hope you enjoyed it. Next month I’ll have a new ALU Archives theme so check back next Thursday!
The ALU Archives – Sinful Show Me The Way
 The ALU Archives focuses on older, beloved shades from the All Lacquered Up stash.
This week, we continue on with the Archives’ green theme for March. It’s been so incredibly beautiful and warm here in the Cleveburg and I noticed some of the ten billion daffodils in our yard starting to pop up. The previous owners were major green thumbs. The boyfriend and I, not so much. However, the new growth inspired me to look for a grassy green. That brought me to drugstore fave Sinful Colors Show Me The Way. I seriously don’t write about Sinful enough. It’s such an underrated brand. They have a wide color range with some outstanding greens and blues and if you’re looking for a cheap, glossy jet black for frankening or just to wear, you can’t beat their Black On Black creme. |
Show Me The Way is a mossy, yellow tinged, metallic looking sparkler. The formula is semi-sheer with a jelly-ish feel that requires three coats. What I love is that the specks of micro-glitter float in the polish so you get a completely smooth finish, similar to the China Glaze glass flecked formula. Also, it prevents the metallic nature of the gold shimmer from leaving brush strokes on the nails. Basically, it’s pretty damn fab.
Sinful Colors polishes retail for $1.99 and are carried at a number of drugstores but I have the best luck in my area at Walgreens and Discount Drug Mart. At Walgreens, the display is typically on fragrance counter. According to the Sinful Colors website their products are also carried at Eckerd, Longs, Meijer, Safeway and number of other regional chains.
OK raise your hands kids. Where are my Sinful lovers? What’s your favorite shade?
The ALU Archives – Orly Green Apple
 The ALU Archives focuses on older, beloved shades from the All Lacquered Up stash.
To celebrate the coming of Daylight Savings Time (finally!) and the ability to leave work in daylight, I decided to continue my green for March theme with a lighter, brighter shade. This week I pulled out Orly Green Apple from my stash. |
Green Apple is a vivid lime creme. The bottle color is very deceptive in that the polish dries darker on the nail. It has an almost pastel quality that goes away once applied. And holy pigmentation batman!! I barely needed two coats, it just flows on the nail so perfectly. If you’re looking for a fun spring green, this one is definitely a winner.
I picked up my bottle of Orly Green Apple from Head2ToeBeauty.com ($3.50) but you can also find it on 8ty8beauty.com ($3.18) or TransDesign.com ($3.19)
The ALU Archives – NYX Jungle
The ALU Archives focuses on older, beloved shades from the All Lacquered Up stash.
The only reason I love March is because it contains the “greenest” holiday of year, St. Patrick’s Day. Now I’m not even 1% Irish but I still embrace the day because it gives me a reason to green out. So for the rest of the month, all the ALU Archives posts will be green!
To kick things off, I turn to one of the most unique greens I own, NYX Jungle. Jungle isn’t full on emerald, it falls somewhere between jade and teal. It’s got this deep, murky, sea water look that transforms depending on the light and angle. What you see below is two coats but with three the shade leans even more towards green.
If you haven’t used NYX polishes before, you really are missing out on a great discount brand. The flat NYX brush is thinner and easier to use than some other brands that have converted to flat (cough, OPI, cough) and the price is fantastic ($4.00/ea).
I order NYX direct from NYXCosmetics.com. The shipping is fast and reasonable. 12 bottles via USPS is around $8. I’ve seen NYX polishes at outlet mall fragrance shops but other than that, finding them in stores is kind of hit or miss. You can also order online from MyDivasCloset.com and CherryCulture.com.
What do you think kids? Any other NYX fans? What are your fave shades? Who else is loving Jungle?
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
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