NOTD: Borghese Stellare Notte

Hi everyone!  I hope you are having a wonderful holiday!  The new year is right around the corner!
I say this is NOTD because I only wore it one day and then changed to CG Bogie.  This is a beautiful nail lacquer, but just isn't for me.  I just do not like wearing greenish blue or teal on my fingernails.  Toes, I am ok with wearing blues.  It is a duochrome in an almost black base or maybe even navy blue, not really sure.  It mostly shows flashes of teal, but if you hold it just right.....you can see flashes of purple.  The purple was almost impossible to photograph, I almost gave up on it.

 





































In the bottle you can sort of see the color of teal, then the purple below it.  Well almost, I wasn't able to capture a very good bottle photo.

I actually like how it looks in the above photo.  But it always seems to look teal to me.  :(  

I was FINALLY able to capture some purple!  Now this is pretty, I love that.

I think I actually captured both colors of flash in this one.  Overall, the application was smooth and was the typical "two-coater".  Oh, and it started chipping within a few hours as well.  So I was definitely not happy with that.  I used my usual base coat and top coat and it still chipped quickly.  I haven't tried any other Borghese nail lacquers though, so I do not know if this is typical of the line.  Have you tried any others with success?       

NOTW: SH CSM Haute Chocolate

This nail lacquer is pretty typical of the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes as far as ease of application and durability.  





It's a metallic, frosty shade of brown.  Kind of coppery and rusty all at the same time. 

Here it really looks brown, doesn't it? 

In these 2 pictures, it almost looks like a burgundy or wine shade.

In this extreme close-up, it looks more rusty.  I'd say IRL it appears more brown than anything.  It was hard to capture the true color of this polish.  I am not in love with this color, but I do like it.  Very nice wintry shade.  On a side note, how do you like my nubbins?  I keep breaking one and have to keep making them all even.  Obviously, I am OCD.......ya think?

NOTW: China Glaze Heart of Africa

This is one of my favorites.  It's a wine/burgundy shade that almost looks metallic.  Kinda reminds me of a sports car paint.

 

Love this, so beautiful!

Paradoxal & Perplex Comparison Swatches

 Revlon has released a new nail lacquer called Perplex being advertised as the new "IT" shade.  I had seen a few swatches of it online, and it looked like an exact dupe of Paradoxal.  So I decided to try it IRL to see if I could see a difference.  I am not going to say ahead of time which is which on the nails until you see the pics first.

I personally cannot tell a difference.  Can you?  Looks like we have a much more affordable winner here from Revlon as far as the color and hidden shimmer matching Chanel.  The consistency is pretty much the same as well.  Perplex was almost a one coater though.  But all swatches are 2 coats for comparison.  Thumb, middle and pinkie fingers are Paradoxal.  Index and ring fingers are Perplex. 

Left is Perplex, Right is Paradoxal.

Haul/Swatches

First off, let me just say that I really suck at taking pics.  These pictures do not really show how pretty these nail lacquers are.  All of the swatches are 2 coats except Mystic Lilac which is 3 coats.  Please excuse my sad cuticles (100% pure acetone wrecked them) and there was no clean-up on all swatches. So here we go!

SH CSM Fedora, SH CSM Sequin Scandal, OPI YDKJ Suede, OPI My Private Jet, OPI Tease-Y Does It, Maybelline Gray-T Glamour, SH Xtreme Wear Mystic Lilac

I have to say that I really, really love the brush on these Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes.  I can usually get by with little to no clean-up with these.  This lacquer is from Tracey Reese for Sally Hansen Fall 2010 color collection.  Fedora is a nice "nudey" neutral with some gold microshimmer.  I wasn't really able to capture the shimmer, again, I suck at taking pics.  I love nudes, so this one is right up my alley.  Almost a 1 coater, smooth formula.

Hmmm, what can I say about this one?  Well, it appears to me to be an olive green glitter and maybe some silver glitter in a black base.  It almost looks like antique gold in certain lighting.  This one is also almost a one coater.

I know I am late getting with the suede/matte scene, but honestly I am not too fond of it.  As you can see in the last pic, I added topcoat.  I like it better that way.  Certainly does not look like the original You Don't Know Jacques! now does it?  Great formula and very fast drying.

Well now, this is OPI My Private Jet.  I think I got the version nobody likes, because I am not thrilled with it.  Where is the holographic goodness?  It just looks like multi-colored glitter in a dark brown base.  Don't get me wrong, it's pretty, I like it, I'll wear it.....maybe.  Meh......kinda bummed with this one.  Great formula, nice and smooth.

This beauty is OPI Tease-Y Does it from the Burlesque Collection 2010.  It appears to be a brownish red base with lots of gold flakes and glitter.  It almost looks like a sparkly black in some lighting.  Awesome formula, but definitely needs 2 coats.

The following pics will have both nail lacquers, either alone or layered.  I present to you Maybelline Gray-T Glamour and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mystic Lilac.

Gray-T Glamour is gorgeous!  This appears to be a periwinkle base with greenish, maybe turqoise, teeny tiny flakies.  I do love this one.  The formula is not the greatest though.  It is streaky on one coat, definitely requires 2 coats.

Mystic Lilac is a lovely muted lavender with green microshimmer.  The formula is very smooth but is shear, so this needs at least 3 coats to be opaque.  Perfect spring and summer color.

Here I did some layering with Gray-T Glamour and Mystic Lilac.
#1 is GTG with 2 coats of ML.
#2 is GTG with 1 coat of ML.
#3 is GTG alone.
Phew, this was a super duper long post.  I sure hope you are still with me and didn't fall asleep.  Is that snoring I hear?  Oh that's just Billy, my daughter's cat.

NOTW: China Glaze Bogie

Bogie is another nail varnish from the Fall 2010 China Glaze Vintage Vixen collection.  It's a dark metallic plum shade that is kind of antique looking with a vampy feel.  The microshimmer really gives it some "oomph" if you know what I mean.  I think it's really beautiful and appropriate for fall and winter.  

It's not sunny here at all today so it was kinda hard to capture the microshimmer, but you can definitely see the metallic feature.

So far, this is my favorite purple/plum nail lacquer that I own.  I am not really into wearing purple on my nails.  But this one is definitely lovely.

What do you think?  If you like wearing plums or purples shades on your talons, what are you favorites?

NOTD: China Glaze Ingrid

Ingrid is from the Fall 2010 China Glaze Vintage Vixen collection that was released in July 2010.  She is a medium brown with a micro gold shimmer.  The shimmer isn't as noticeable unless in direct sunlight.  I still like her though, just not in love.  She is very office appropriate, which is great for me.

 These are the products used:

• CND Stickey Base Coat (Love this!) - 1 Coat
• Gelous Advanced Nail Gel Coat (Love this too!)  - 1 coat
• China Glaze Ingrid - 2 coats
• Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat - 1 coat
• Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream (Smells yummy)

See how she kinda looks like a regular dark brownish taupe creme indoors?

This was taken next to the window.  I was able to capture some of the gold shimmer.

Had to open the front door to get some sun for this shot.  Pretty gold shimma!

Navy Baby and Sinful Frenzy....

Yah, my first post on my first blog!  Well, this mani was done a bit ago, probably back in August or September sometime.  I started off with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Navy Baby".  It's an awesome navy blue creme.  I have to say that I really love the new SH Complete Salon Manicure polishes.  They have great lasting power and the brush is my favorite part.  I can do a nail in 2 strokes (except the thumb) and not get any on my cuticles.  It is definitely a "2-coater".  Then I added a coat of Sinful Colors "Frenzy".  Wow, is this a beautiful purple and blue glitter!!!  Seems to be equal amounts of the 2 colors and the glitter is small but not micro.

This is a blurry pic so you can see the distinct 2 colors of the glitter in Frenzy.

See how pretty "Frenzy" is in the bottle?

 Close-up.  Sorry didn't have my macro setting on.  But you can still see the glittery goodness.