Nails

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright With the China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Collection, Part 1

October 22nd, 2013 by Karen 34 Comments

Bells will be ringing and fingernails will be blinging when the new China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Collection arrives next month.

Glitters and shiny chromes twinkle, twinkle like little stars in the limited edition 12-piece release, so if it’s the sparkly stuff that stokes your fire, BLING!

Here’s a sneak peek at the first half of the collection. Stay tuned for the second six very soon (tomorrow).

China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Collection: Your Present Required — Your Present Required, a multicolored glitter-fest of glittery hexagons

Teal and purple flecks fill Your Present Required, a multicolored glitter-fest with a clear base.

I’m wearing three coats in the pic above…

China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Collection: Bells Will Be Blinging — Bells Will Be Blinging, a blue and gold multicolored glitter

Glitter comes in all shapes and sizes, from little bits to longer bars, when the Bells Will Be Blinging. They almost create a speckled egg effect, don’t you think?

In that pic above, I’m wearing two coats.

China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Collection: All Wrapped Up — All Wrapped Up, a midnight purple and blue glitter

Purplish blue All Wrapped Up looks downright Zoya-esque with its fine gritty finish. If you like tactile treats and textured nails, give this one a whirl. I’m wearing two coats here.

China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Collection: This Is Tree-Mendous — This Is Tree-Mendous, a green with fine golden glitter

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It Only Takes a Minute To Fall for Dior Minuit Vernis Nail Polish, Especially If You Love Chanel Taboo

October 22nd, 2013 by Karen 12 Comments

Could you please wait a Minuit? I forgot my toasty cat lady socks and boots. I’ll be right back…

There! Got ’em. Now we can proceed. 🙂

But that reminds me, I would seriously consider freezing my toes off in strappy sandals just to be able to show off Dior’s new $26 Minuit Vernis nail polish.

Dior Minuit — Notice the cute limited edition packaging…

One of four Vernis polishes in the new Dior Golden Winter collection, it arrives with the rest of the release on counters next month.

Methinks Minuit will reel in the gals who loved last summer’s Chanel Taboo (like me). The two look quite alike at first glance, thanks to the dark purplish burgundy base, but Minuit is also swimming in golden micro glitter.

And yet the glitter doesn’t dominate. Yeah, there’s a lot of it in there…but you can still see see the base, which I like, and the formula remains smooth and easy to apply.

Depending on the light, Minuit can also look completely different, like when I’m “working” in my office (also known as “the bathroom,” haha!), Minuit looks like a warmish burgundy/reddish purple, but when I take Tabs for a walk outside on a sunny day, it looks more like a cool, plummy blackened purple.

Neat.

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The Illuminati Doesn’t Stand a Chance Against the Orly Secret Society Holiday Collection

October 15th, 2013 by Karen 10 Comments

Pssst…

Come here. NO! Don’t look. Keep your eyes down. Walk toward me, but don’t look like you’re walking toward me. Act like you’re examining the sidewalk, but then mosey on up next to me.

There, that’s it. Shh… Act cool. Now I have a proposition for you…

Before you answer, you should know something, though: it’s a Voyeuristic Adventure.

Orly Voyeuristic Adventure — Two coats of Voyeuristic Adventure, a cool-toned rosy golden chrome

I was going to do it alone, but then I thought, whom do I know who likes secret societies and masquerade balls?

Oh, yeah! You. 🙂 Care to accompany me? It’s a Masked Ceremony…

Orly Masked Ceremony — Two coats of Masked Ceremony, a glittery black and silver with big square bits of silver glitter and hexagonal flecks of purple glitter

As far as what we should wear, it’s a Macabre Masquerade.

Orly Macabre Masquerade — Three coats of Macabre Masquerade, a glittery multicolored royal blue with gold, red, green and purple glitter (I’m wearing three coats here, but I think two coats would have been enough)

Yup, it’s supposed to be quite the Lavish Bash, so I’m thinking formal attire and painted paws.

Orly Lavish Bash — Two coats of Lavish Bash, a sheer golden glitter with multicolored rectangular and hexagonal glitter. Incidentally, this one looks much more colorful in real life than it does in this pic. The colors create an almost holographic rainbow effect.

If we walk in with bare nails, the host may wonder if were even invited. We don’t want anyone asking us, “What’s the Password?” Because I actually forgot it in my car (my bad).

Orly What's the Password — Two coats of What’s the Password, a glittery golden orange

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Looks Like Ombre Is the New Black: The Demi Lovato In Love 5-Piece Ombre Nail Set From The New Black

October 14th, 2013 by Karen 14 Comments

The New Black Demi Lovato Holiday Nail Polish Collection — The Demi Lovato In Love 5-Piece Set by The New Black ($22), one of two new holiday nail polish sets from The New Black

Hmm… Methinks The New Black is on to something with their ombre nail sets.

The one I’m wearing today is called In Love. It’s one of two new The New Black sets en route to Ulta stores next month in a collaboration with pop singer/former Disney child star Demi Lovato (but they’re both available online now).

The New Black Demi Lovato Nail Polish — The five bottles are minis…

I know next to nothing about Demi, but of her music, I’ve liked the stuff I’ve heard on the radio. That song of hers, Heart Attack, always seems to be playing whenever I’m in the car.

It’s catchy stuff! I’ve cranked it up more than once to sing along to the chorus.

Apparently, Demi also likes nail polish (and, really, what girl doesn’t?).

So, what’s The New Black? Well, it’s an up-and-coming nail polish line out of Santa Monica, California. Their products, which aren’t tested on animals, are vegan-friendly and toluene-, formaldehyde-, camphor- and DBP-free.

Cali represent! 🙂

The sets ($22 each) are basically little nail polish collections, each one with five nail polish minis in coordinating shades.

The idea? To wear all of the colors at once, one shade per nail, to create sort of like an ombre-ish effect across your fingers and/or toes.

The New Black Demi Lovato Nail Polish: In Love Set — From the left: Dark purple pearl, purple foil, medium purple pearl, light purple pearl and loose rhinestones

They’re like nail art paint by numbers, LOL! Which is great for me, because they take all the guesswork out of figuring out what colors to wear together. There’s even a handy (get it??) picture on the side of the box to make it really easy.

Sorry…bad pun, I know.

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Glitz, Glitter and Glam Steal the Spotlight in the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 Collection

October 11th, 2013 by Karen 34 Comments

You don’t have to admit to watching Glitter, Mariah Carey’s cinematic tour de force, to love the new OPI Mariah Carey Holiday Collection, but an appreciation for sparkly stuff certainly helps.

The new limited edition collection glistens with glitter, and gobs of it. Fifteen of the 18 bottles blaze brighter than the twinkle in Mimi’s eye when she’s in the spotlight, as giant stage fans whip her hair into full-on diva mode, and she does that thing where she sings along to the high notes with her hands.

You know what I’m talking about. 🙂

Yeah, I’ll come clean. I saw Glitter in the theater…ON OPENING DAY! And yes, I’ve seen Mariah in concert (I even wore jeans that were frayed at the waistline, coupled with a crocheted crop top, BAM!), and I own most of her CDs. Even the hard-to-find remixes.

Team Mimi, y’all! — is all I have to say.

So yeah, I’m a Mariah fan, and I hummed Dreamlover when I heard about the new collection (available now at professional salons, Pure Beauty stores and Ulta, and coming soon online, for $9 a bottle, or $10.95 CAD).

The rich reds, golds and burgundies in the release made me feel plenty of Emotions as I swatched them in my bathroom today…

And because we’re talking about Mimi, of course there’s a healthy dose of glitz and glitter here, which the gals/guys who like to sparkle should welcome with Open Arms.

If, rather, you prefer textured polishes, you might find the six Liquid Sand shades Irresistible.

Take a peek down below, and let me know which of these is your number one. I’m wearing two coats of each.

OPI All I Want For Christmas (Is OPI) — All I Want For Christmas (Is OPI), a maroon

OPI Cute Little Vixen — Cute Little Vixen, a deep reddish violet

OPI In My Santa Suit — In My Santa Suit, a pearly red

OPI Warm Me Up — Warm Me Up, a dark brown-gray with pearl

OPI Sleigh Ride For Two — Sleigh Ride For Two, a dark chocolate burgundy with pearl

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At the China Glaze Monster’s Ball, the Ghouls Will Glitter and Glow

October 9th, 2013 by Karen 12 Comments

Come one, come all! Wraiths, vamps, ghouls and guys — everyone’s invited to the China Glaze Monster’s Ball.

Contrary to popular belief, the road to a rollickin’ Halloween isn’t paved with candy corn and Mini Snickers (although that would be hella awesome). It’s paved with glitter — and lots of it! — because the contractor was China Glaze. 🙂

Monster’s Ball, the brand’s new limited edition Halloween collection, is a monster mash of glitter. Of the six new shades ($7.50 each), four of them sport sparkle in spades.

And that’s not all, ghouls and guys. There’s also a midnight-black textured polish and, for those who aren’t afraid of things that go bump in the night, a shade that glows in the dark.

In each of the swatches below, I’m wearing two terrifying coats…

China Glaze Monsters Ball Bat My Eyes — Bat My Eyes

China Glaze Monsters Ball Boo-gie-Down Swatch — Boo-gie Down

China Glaze Monsters Ball Fang-tastic Swatch — Fang-tastic

China Glaze Monsters Ball Howl You Doin' Swatch — Howl You Doin’

China Glaze Monsters Ball Bump in the Night Swatch — Bump in the Night

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What Are You Wearing on Your Nails?

October 4th, 2013 by Karen 36 Comments

Guerlain La Laque Couleur in 861 Sulfurous — Two coats of 861 Sulfurous

I’m still wearing La Laque Couleur in 861 Sulfurous ($23), which is from Guerlain’s new holiday collection. I think I may have heard my nails sighing in relief after I painted them, LOL! I’ve been neglecting them for so long, and they needed some attention.

How about you? What are you wearing on your nails today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S.

Unsung Makeup Heroes: Chanel 505 Particuliere Le Vernis Nail Colour

September 6th, 2013 by Karen 7 Comments

Chanel Particuliere 505 Le Vernis Nail Colour

About the Author
The following guest post was written by Sabrina of thebeautylookbook.com. You can also find Sabrina on Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin and on her new lifestyle blog stylednotes.com.

Chanel Particuliere 505 Le Vernis Nail Colour ($27 for 13 ml/.04 fl oz) is a classic taupe putty grey cream. Former Creative Director of Makeup Peter Philips designed the color for the spring 2010 collection (read about how he chose the name in his interview with the LA Times here), and years later it’s still a classic, universally flattering staple.

I love it for its no-fuss polished look. Particuliere is an office appropriate neutral with a little bit of edge to prevent it from looking boring. It applies smoothly with just one coat; two coats give fully opaque coverage.

It’s one of those go-with-everything shades, and whenever I can’t decide what to wear on my nails, I end up going with either taupe Chanel Particuliere, or another classic, deep red Dragon.

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