Is it black? Is it blue? In any case it's beautiful! - Barielle Shades Polish in Blackened Bleu

Hello my pretty dears!

How was your weekend? I spent mine on the sofa, since my poor injured leg is still completely out of order. So I am still doing my routine of watching movies, reading and polish swatching hehehe :-)
The weather has gotten really fall-ish, rain that won't stop and dropping temperatures. But lucky me used one teeny tiny blue spot in the middle of the dark clouds to get a few shots with sunlight.
So for today I chose a polish that had its beauty sleep in my Helmer for like, forever...shame on me for not trying this any sooner!
The talk is about Barielle Shades Polish in Blackened Bleu, which is part of the All Laquered Up Fall Collection 2009. All I can say about this gem is gorgeous! The formula is fine, hassle free but for my taste a bit on the thin side. The Base is black, the rest of the polish enriched with a gazillion saphire blue micro glitters, what an amazing combination!
After applying the first coat, I had bald spots all over and it looked weird, after adding the second one I achieved a nice coverage, but I thought, hey, there must be a bit more to this...so there goes the third coat and hey, do we sparkle now or what?
Looooooooove!

So before I am moving on to the good stuff, I have a serious nail related dilemma...
I am off to a very special date tomorrow and I have no clue which polish to wear! It's armageddon, I swear! We are going to a pretty fancy place and I will wear instead of my little black dress a black satin blouse and black long pants to cover up my Quasimodo Leg. So I can basically do anything, colorwise....

So should I:

1. Go nude, guys like that best anyways
2. Go vamp, anything red will do the trick
3. color is the key, pick something bright and cheerful
4. Go for effects, anything glitter, holographic or matte will draw his attention
or
5. You guys got any ideas? help!


but now enough babbling, here comes the graphic evidence for Blackened Bleu!


Barielle Shades Blackened Bleu
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indoors, natural light






indoors, artificial light






bottle pics






So that's it for today, can't wait for your comments, my lovely readers :-)

One Little Sparkling Blog Award

Hello my dear nail polish fiends!

I have been wanting to to this post for weeks now...so I must sincerly apoligize to lovely Lillith who gave me this award. So all of you who have a dark and mystic side, or if you simply enjoy make up art that is anything but the usual everyday same-same, please visit Lillith right here:
http://lillithsdarktower.blogspot.com






To accept this award, I have to answer this seemingly simple question:
"What do you like most about your blog?"

Darn, that is a tough one! I guess I just love the opportunity to share my passion with people all over the world. I usually get the raised eyebrow when I mention how many bottles of nail polish I own if I am out there in the real world talking to friends. Besides, it is just so much nicer to swoon together over a new gem in my polish collection =)


So now I am supposed to name 10 other blogs that this award goes to...too bad most of the blogs that I read on a regular basis already got this award, so I will just name a few instead of 10, hope you guys can live with that *grin*


1. http://tines-kosmetik.blogspot.com
I really enjoy Tine's Blog, she is very talented in capturing the real depth of some polishes


2. http://technopathetic.blogspot.com
this is Laura's happy little polish blog


3. http://www.peepdeespolish.blogspot.com/
A fairly new but really cute polish blog




So unfortunately this is it already. nevertheless I really enjoyed this award, even though I have been thousands of years backlogged with this. Sorry again!

Soft and delicate like a rose petal - Zoya "Heather"

Hello everyone!

As I am still confined to the boundaries of my living room, I thought I should do something usful and get some polish swatching done =)
The sun played hide and seek with me though, so most of the pics didn't turn out that great. I did get some decent pics from Zoya's Heather though, that's a polish I have wanted to swatch for you guys for ages. It is not one of those soft pinks or lavender cremes that are out there by hundreds, this is something truly unique. To me the color is a very soft baby lilac color, with just a breath of the lightest pink in it. By looking at the bottle, the picture of a delicate rose petal was the first thing that come into my mind.
To sum it up, Heather is my favourite business/work neutral colored polish I have. Not lilac, not pink, just the right mixture to make it stand out =)
The formula was fine, actually I don't think I have a Zoya polish that doesn't work for me. It was a bit on the thick side though, but I don't mind and I guess that is some sort of a personal preference. But I have been talking too much already, on to the graphic evidence please!


Zoya Heather
sunlight







indoors, natural light







bottle pic



indoors, artificial light






Hope you guys liked this! I am already trying to figure out what I want to show next...darn why do I have soooo many choices? Hee hee =)

Being hip and runway ready - Milani Haute Value Collection

Good day my lovelies!

Hope everybody is having a good weekend so far =)
Thanks to my injury, I had plenty of time this afternoon to play a bit with Milani's newest Collection. Don't you think as well that Milani has just been throwing one after the other collection on the market? Usually, when you release too many things at once, the quality isn't the best. Not so with Milani! Starting with the Hot Metals, Photo Flash and now with the Haute Value collection, Milani has me totally hooked, I mean, we are not playing in Essie's Zoya's or OPI's league here, we are talking simple drugstore polish! Don't you just loooove unique polishes that apply great and are under 5 bucks? I definitely do!
So what does the Haute Value Collection feature? We have 5 new polishes, which names that are all sort of Fashion Ave/Runway inspired:

1. Tailor Made - featured in pics
2. Hot Hot Hot - like the name, a bright hot red
3. Fashion Design - a romantic coral shade
4. Dress Maker - featured in pics
5. One of a Kind - featured in pics

Additionally, you have a milky golden/orange Topcoat. I guess this is the only "failure" in the collectionon't get me wrong, it is a really pretty glitter topcoat, but I do have the feeling Milani tried to sort of copy Sally Hansens Hidden Treasure here, which didn't work, as the glitter is just glitter and no flakies in sight :-)

But enough talk, I will fill you in on the details with the graphic evidence hee hee

I got all polishes except for the red and coral one, my skin no like colors that are too warm (darn, the coral one lookes gooooood!)


Milani Haute Value Collection

Tailor Made
Now isn't this the prettiest rain cloud colored baby blue gray pearl polish you have seen in a while? This one is the sheerest of the bunch, which makes it great for layering, but you do need at least 3 coats for full color coverage. The first coat looked yuck and streaky, after the second coat: soooooo much better! But see for yourselves:


sunlight:





bottle pic to show the micro pearl shimmer



indoors, natural light






indoors, artificial light






Dress Maker
This seriously is THE STAR of the collection. According to other bloggers, this is a 100% knock-off of Chanels sought after Jade polish. Unfortunately I can't judge that myself, as I don't own Chanel Jade. Nevertheless, this is soooooo beautiful, as it is not another mint color, but a true light green jade color with jade pearl shimmer in it. I was not able to catch its true beauty in my swatches, so sorry for that!


sunlight
I tried different angles to catch the shimmer, but it didn't really work







bottle pic



indoors, natural light



indoors, artificial light





One of a Kind
Pitch black, with a very nice glossy vinyl like finish. This one was a bit on the runny side though and the first coat looked like I dipped my nails in dirt *eek*!
You will need at least three coats to get this baby to look really black. But since the polish is so thin, you could even easily do 4 layers and don't feel like you got a ton of gunk on your nails. This is nice, especially as a black base for layering *whistle*

sunlight



indoors, natural light



indoors, artificial light





High Fashion Glitter Topcoat
As I already said, as a Hidden Treasure Clone a complete failure, as a regular glitter topcoat a nice addition to any collection :-)


sunlight



indoors, natural light




indoors, artificial light






So, we're not quite done yet!
As you gals know me by know, I am Auntie layer-it-all, so here come some layering pics =)


I used One of a Kind as a base, then

Index: Tailor Made
Middle: Dress Maker
Ring + Index: High Fashion

Tailor Made layers beautifully, whereas Dress Maker looks pretty streaky, so this one is not recommended for layering by me


sunlight







indoors, natural light



indoors, artificial light






But now that's the end my dears!
I hope you enjoyed this review! Have a wonderful remaining weekend and read you back here soon!

NOTD Sephora by OPI Club Scene Queen

Hello my dear readers!

What a name for a polish, Club Scene Queen! So I definitely hat to snag that one, love the name! To make it even better, this is one awesome little polish *yay* The color is a smoky blue with a teeny tiny bit of gray and tons of fine blue microglitter. Thank goodness it is one of those glitters, where the glitter is so fine, removal is a breeze instead of a royal pain in your behind. The first coat of this was incredibly sheer, it almost looked like a clear base with some fine blue glitter in it. The second coat wasn't really better, it looked streaky and aneven...
But the came coat number three and boy did it surprise me! Nice coverage, awesome color and beautiful glitter, all without being piled up and looking gunky on my nail.
So I hope you gals don't mind my wacky pics, I have two bandaids on my left swatching hand, so I had to use my right hand this time *arg*

But here comes the evidence of the day, please enjoy!


Sephora by OPI Club Scene Queen, Rocker Chic Collection
sunlight



bottle pic









indoors, natural light






indoors, artificial light






So, to sum it up, Club Scene Queen seems to me like a more smoky Version of OPI's Absolutely Alice, minus the gold glitter of course. I really like it, it is such a perfect color for fall/winter and it just screams to be worn with a pair of dark blue jeans :-)