Nails

Spotted on Nails This Spring: Illamasqua’s Speckled Nail Varnish in Scarce

February 6th, 2013 by Karen 24 Comments

Illamasqua Scarce Swatch — Wearing two layers of the new Illamasqua Specked Nail Varnish in Scarce, one of five nail varnishes in the new Imperfection collection, available now at Illamasqua counters and illamasqua.com

When I was a kid, I really had no concept of time or seasons (seriously, some things never change). In fact, if it weren’t for candy, I wouldn’t have followed any calendars at all!

What I mean is, I used to figure out what season it was by the kinds of candy I was eating, like “Oh! Cadbury Mini Eggs? It must be spring.”

Illamasqua’s new limited edition $16 Speckled Nail Varnishes remind me of the chocolate Easter bunnies, Peeps, Jordan almonds and, of course, speckled Cadbury Mini Eggs that always used to signal the arrival of spring.

The Cadbury Mini Eggs were always my favorites…

I’d eat the pink ones first, which is probably why Scarce, a pastel pink with navy blue speckles, sings to me like the birds outside my office window, and makes me want to nibble at my nails (probably not a good idea).

I’m wearing two coats here, but I’ll have to get back to you about the wear time, as I’ve only been wearing it for a few days (so far, so good). Already, though, based on how smoothly it applied and the pigmented color, it gets a thumbs up from me.

I dig the combination of tiny micro-glitter and bigger hexagonal pieces. Really reminds me of Easter candies, or little bird eggshells.

Cool!

Here’s something my fellow nail nerds might appreciate: when you apply more than one layer, the glitter in the bottom layers shows through but looks like it’s further away, so you get a mix of shiny glitter in the top layer and dimmer glitter in the bottom layers that gives the effect extra dimension.

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More a Slow Burn Than a Blaze, Sheer NARS Disco Inferno Nail Polish

January 15th, 2013 by Karen 21 Comments

How do you feel about sheer nail polishes? If you answered, “Yes! Love ’em. Gimme-gimme-gimme!” I’d like to direct your attention to a Disco Inferno.

NARS Disco Inferno. It’s from their new 2013 spring collection, and I see it as a provocative counterpoint to the makeup it parties with in the release.

“Intense” barely comes close to describing many of the color products in the collection. This spring at NARS has been a full-on pigment party.

But for nails, the brand decided to go a different, sheerer route.

I like it in the context of the rest of the collection — the contrast between the vibrant, 1,000-watt stereo pigment products, and Disco Inferno’s almost whisper of color.

Sure, if you don’t like sheer nail polishes, this won’t light your fire, but if you do, look out!

Like a real fire, Disco Inferno plays with light. It’s constantly changing colors.

It also reminds me of a mermaids tail…

No, not a tale like, “Once upon a time, a lonely mermaid longed to walk along the shore above her underwater world.”

Nope. Tail, as in T-A-I-L.
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I Can’t Get Enough of EstÃ©e Lauder’s New $20 Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Insatiable

December 20th, 2012 by Karen 17 Comments

Estee Lauder Insatiable Pure Color Nail Lacquer — EstÃ©e Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Insatiable ($20)

She probably doesn’t remember this, but I have this memory of my friend Jen and I sitting at a bookstore one day looking at wedding magazines. We were in our early 20s at the time and had absolutely no husbandly prospects in sight.

You know those phases you go through where you’re like, “All boys suck”?! Well, we were both in one of those phases, but you know how it goes. One minute you’re reading Cat Fancy, but then you catch a glimpse of a gorgeous dress on the cover of a glossy wedding magazine, and all of a sudden you’re like Fox Mulder from the X-Files, and you really, REALLY want to believe.

So we sat there for hours, flipping through pics (“I like that dress,” “Pretty flowers!” “Do you think you might like a big train?”), until at one point in the conversation, we decided that bridesmaids’ dresses in periwinkle — kind of like the color of EstÃ©e Lauder’s new $20 Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Insatiable that I’m completely and totally mad about — were the way to go.

Of course, wouldn’t ya know it? — years later, both of us ended up with completely different bridesmaids’ dresses at our weddings. No periwinkle at all.

Jen went with bronze, and I chose a chocolate brown.

jck-4ever — With my childhood friends, Cindy (left) and Jen (right), on my wedding day in 2006

But if I had gone with periwinkle dresses, I hope they would have been as pretty as Insatiable.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting spectacular the first time I saw Insatiable in its bottle…

Then I applied a layer on one nail. And it was ON!

The only polish in the new Pretty Naughty spring collection, it’s a creamy deep violet gray, wonderfully moody, like the bad boys you know you should stay away from but can’t, or the color of angry storm clouds…

Gawd, I love this color.

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Get Red, Haute and Naughty: The Super Saturated EstÃ©e Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquer Red Hautes Collection Gets Nails Ready for Anything

December 18th, 2012 by Karen 15 Comments

estee lauder pure red hautes — The EstÃ©e Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquer Pure Red Hautes Collection, available now at counters and esteelauder.com

A valuable lesson learned from the EstÃ©e Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquer Pure Red Hautes Collection and Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones: prepare, prepare, prepare.

Before Indy went looking for the Holy Grail, homeboy researched his cargo pants off! — filling his mind (and his man purse…so forward thinking!) with every bit of knowledge he needed for his quest.

You don’t just go running off, willy-nilly, looking for the Holy Grail based on the secondhand rumors of a friend of a friend of a friend, you know? You gotta prepare, and you gotta prepare the right way.

Proper preparation is also important when it comes to EstÃ©e Lauder’s Pure Red Hautes Collection, but not in the “let’s go chasing after ancient relics” sense. More in the “now I’ve got a perfect shade of red polish for every occasion, yay!” way.

Thanks to EstÃ©e Lauder Creative Makeup Director Tom Pecheux, if you’re on the market for red tips and toes, the collection’s five $20 crimson polishes have you covered.

With each one, Tom tried to channel red’s sophisticated, romantic side, while coaxing out their propensity for naughtiness and play. 🙂

estee lauder pure red hautes beautiful liar — Beautiful Liar

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We’ll Always Have Paris: The Sparkling LancÃ´me Petit Tresor Holiday Collection

December 18th, 2012 by Karen 18 Comments

lancome moonlight rose closeup — LancÃ´me Blush Highlighter in Moonlight Rose ($42) from the Petit Tresor Holiday 2013 collection

It’s December 18, barely a week before Christmas, and I have so much holiday shopping left to do that all I can do at this point is succumb to procrastination’s warm, snuggly embrace — to wrap myself up in it like a living, breathing procrastination burrito (with extra guac on the side, haha!).

I’m behind. Way behind. Which, of course, means that the only logical thing left to do now is watch Casablanca for the umpteenth time and put on a few pieces from the LancÃ´me Holiday Petit Tresor collection. 🙂

The 19-piece Parisian-inspired collection’s gold, taupe, bronze and garnet makeup and nail polishes glided onto cosmetics counters and lancome-usa.com last month.

I don’t know where you are with your holiday shopping (I sincerely hope you’re further along than I am), but what do you say we do a little more procrastinating this afternoon, and check out a few pieces from the collection?

The Color Design 5-Pan Palette in Sapphire Fling ($49)

lancome sapphire fling — Color Design 5-Pan Palette in Sapphire Fling ($49)

I like the way this five-pan palette of taupe, gray, peach, blue and black powder eye products (four eyeshadows and one liner) sparkles on my lids.

One of three quints in the collection, Sapphire Fling is “my rockstar quint,” because the products take on that lived-in, distressed look as the day goes on (like they’ve been out partying on Hollywood Boulevard all night long).

I like it — the whole rocker chic vibe — but if you’re averse to any creasing or fading, you’ll probably want to carry it with you for touchups throughout the day.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B

The Blush Highlighter in Moonlight Rose ($42)

lancome moonlight rose — Blush Highlighter in Moonlight Rose ($42)

A shimmery, yet subtle, peachy pink blush and highlighter in a gorgeous pan with rose detailing. This long-wearing cheek product lasts a good 12-14 hours on me and lovingly steers clear of my pores.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A- ($42 seems like a lot)
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Deborah Lippmann’s Limited Edition Trio of Radiant, Glittery Holiday Polishes Promises to Rock This Town

December 14th, 2012 by Karen 8 Comments

deborah lippmann rock this town top — The new limited edition Deborah Lippmann Rock This Town Trio ($42)

NOTE TO SELF: do not from multitask while thinking about Deborah Lippmann’s $42 Rock This Town Trio, because if you try to do anything more complicated than walking while contemplating the glittery polishes in this limited edition set, you end up doing bone-headed things like stepping out of the shower and rubbing face wash, instead of moisturizer, on your legs and only realizing it a full minute later.

Whoops.

Light seems to love the glitter in mauve Moon Dance, copper Phoenix Rising and blackened khaki Chain Reaction more than usual.

As do I. 🙂

I don’t know why, but these polishes are downright dazzling…like getting caught in a tractor beam powered by Ryan Gosling’s smile.

deborah lippmann rock this town all — From the left: Chain Reaction, Moon Dance and Phoenix Rising

deborah lippmann chain reaction swatch — Two layers of Chain Reaction

deborah lippmann phoenix rising swatch — Phoenix Rising

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Dior’s New Cherie Bow Vernis Nail Polishes in Gris Trianon and Rosy Bow Make Manicures Quicker Than a Speeding Huffy Capri

December 12th, 2012 by Karen 36 Comments

dior cherie bow gris trianon rosy bow — The new Dior Vernis nail polishes in Gris Trianon and Rosy Bow ($24 each)

Pardon me while I sit here with the two new Dior Cherie Bow Vernis Nail Polishes, Gris Trianon and Rosy Bow ($24 each), and allow these waves of ’80s nostalgia to wash over me…

I’m holding on to ~~a hero~~ the memory of a pink and gray Huffy Capri 10-speed bicycle I desperately wanted in middle school.

The pink handle bars, the gray seat, the striped detailing!

All of the older girls in my neighborhood rode the Huffy Capri, and they’d zoom around the block like a cycling team, giggling and snapping Hubba Bubba bubblegum as their bicycle gears went click-click-clack.

They’d zip by me and I’d think, “So cool…”

I’d huff with jealously from outside the peleton, peddling down the street on my old white and yellow bike, which was defintely more Harriet the Spy than Sweet Valley High. It had a banana seat, flower decals and streamers on the handlebars.

When I added the Capri to my Christmas list one year, my accountant mom vetoed it immediately. “What’s wrong with your bike?” she asked, before reminding me how much the children in the Philippines would love to have a white and yellow bike like mine.

“Well why don’t you send it to the Philippines then?!” I suggested, which promptly got me sent to my room for the afternoon.

Like the Huffy Capri I wanted all those years ago, Dior’s two new Cherie Bow nail polishes are also bright and shiny.

And manicures done with them are equally speedy, thanks to the extra wide brush and pigmented polish. Two swipes from the brush covers one of my nails, and fully opaque coverage only takes two layers.

dior cherie bow gris trianon swatch — Two coats of Gris Trianon

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Decorate Your Nails, and Deck the Halls, With Essie’s Festive Winter Collection

December 11th, 2012 by Karen 48 Comments

essie winter 2012 collection — The six-piece Essie Winter 2012 collection ($8 each)

Over here!

Look over here! This way!! Look at me!!!

Essie’s six-piece Winter 2012 collection hands nails a highly pigmented loudspeaker with a funky mix of bold blues, royal reds and sparkling glitters.

THERE’S NOTHING QUIET ABOUT THIS LAUNCH! The bright, intensely pigmented colors are anything but shy.

Even though I feel like we’ve seen many of these colors before, I like the way they all look together as a collection here.

Where’s My Chauffeur (the bright turquoise) and Beyond Crazy (the shimmery golden glitter) are the standouts for me. I’m definitely gonna play matchmaker and introduce the two of them on my nails this week… 🙂

essie snap happy swatch — One coat of Snap Happy

essie where's my chauffeur swatch — Two coats of Where’s My Chauffeur

essie leading lady swatch — Three coats of Leading Lady

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