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?