I’ve been ignoring my paws lately and think I’ll treat them to Deborah Lippmann’s creamy grayish Waking Up in Vegas ($16).
What are you wearing on your nails?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Nails
The Buzz on Burt’s Bees Holiday Kits at Target
I was at Target today buying Halloween candy when I stumbled on these cute holiday kits from Burt’s Bees. There’s a whole bunch of them for lips, body, hands and nails, ranging from $14.99-19.99. Some even come with little purses, too.
Ahh, the temptation! I want the $19.99 manicure set. It comes with a jar of Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Cream, Cuticle Cream, a lip balm and a little purse.
But for some reason I feel like I should be starting to think about holiday shopping for other people and not getting any of these for myself…which is bizarre because it’s only Halloween. I’ve already been seeing Christmas decorations all over the place. Target had a small but growing Christmas area. Can you believe it? Before Halloween? I guess they couldn’t wait for Thanksgiving this year.
MAC A Tartan Tale: These 5 Naughty Little Vices Nail Lacquers Hope You Misbehave
From left: Asiatique, Vintage Vamp, Nocturnelle, Beyond Jealous, Vice Is Nice
Sometimes it’s good to be naughty, no? The new MAC A Tartan Tale Collection is very naughty, and I couldn’t wait to get naughty, too. The 5 Naughty Little Vices Nail Lacquer ($25.50) set comes with five small bottles of nail polish (four creams and one frost) in shades befitting the collection’s plaid tartan theme.
For starters, these bottles are wee little things (0.09 oz. each), but can you remember the last time you finished a full-size bottle of nail polish? Because I can’t.
Size isn’t what concerned me about these polishes when I first got wind of them (sadly, the fact that they’re from MAC is). I gotta be honest — MAC isn’t my favorite lacquer line. They does MANY things extremely well, but their polishes, at least the ones I’ve tried, tend to chip like crazy on me, with textures I can only describe as inconsistent.
I haven’t worn these particular five long enough to gauge them for chips and wear time, but in terms of color and texture, I’m impressed by all of them save streaky Vintage Vamp, and Beyond Jealous, which seems a little too thick.
The following swatches are two coaters…
Asiatique
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What Nail Polish Are You Wearing?
I’m wearing Estee Lauder Nail Lacquer in Extravagant Night ($18), a dark plum with gold, pink and purple glitter. It’s one of two nail lacquers in the Estee Lauder holiday 2010 collection available for pre-order online.
Extravagant Night feels very holiday to me, and I really like the multi-colored sparkles. The formula’s thick, though, and it takes forever and a day to dry, grr.
Anywho, watchu got on your paws on this lovely Tuesday?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
‘Tis the Season for Red, Green and Gold: The China Glaze Holiday 2010 Nail Polishes
‘Tis the season, lacquer lover! Soon we’ll be hearing the Sound of Music on the tube, watching Uncle Erwin overdo the eggnog and getting packages of granny panties stuffed in our stockings from mom (yep, that has happened to me).
In the beauty world, ’tis also the season for red, green, silver and gold — like the colors in the new 16-piece China Glaze Tis the Season to Be Naughty and Nice Holiday Collection.
With so much variety among the shades (about $6 each) and textures, there should be enough here to satisfy those seasonal color cravings.
I haven’t finished testing these for durability and wear time yet, but if they’re anything like the China Glaze polishes I’ve worn before, and I see know reason to suspect otherwise, they should last about 10 days on nails with the help of a base coat (with minimal chipping).
The limited edition collection lives in beauty stores now, and like all of China Glaze’s nail polishes, these are also DBP-, toluene- and formaldehyde-free.
Swatches from left: Phat Santa, Ruby Deer, Mrs. Claus, Party Hearty
China Glaze starts the party with a couple of really fun reds. Phat Santa and Ruby Deer look almost alike in their bottles, but they come into their own on nails. Phat Santa looks a smidge darker than vibrant Ruby does to me.
Red also makes sparkly appearances in Party Hearty (green, gold and red glitter in a clear base) and Mrs. Claus (red glitter in a red tinted jelly base). If you’re a fan of Lippmann’s glitter polishes, these might be worth a peek (they’re also $6 vs. $18 for the ones from Lippmann).
Mistletoe Kisses, Jolly Holly, Peace on Earth, Little Drummer Boy
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The Chanel SoHo Nail Polishes: Steel Yourself for These Strong Fall Shades
Chanel says, “It’s fall. Time to go to work.”
Well, it’s official. Elvis and summer have left the building. They walked out the back door, the one by the loading dock, and met for brewskies down at the Harvest Moon, you know, that little pub where all the classic fall nail colors hang out after work.
Every fall I pack up my warm weather must-haves — my neon nail polishes, fuchsia glosses, booty shorts with “I heart the Jersey Shore” written across the back (kidding!) to make room for autumn’s awesome goodies. This year, I’m clearing space for a couple of real workin’ stiffs called Steel (a shimmery gunmetal gray) and Strong (a shimmery blackened plum), Chanel’s two new SoHo Le Vernis nail polishes for fall ($23 each).
Why do autumn leaves make me want to paint mah talons with darker colors? Is it a cavewoman thing? Who knows, but if you like the look of dark fall nails, feast your Bette Davis eyes on these.
Have You Ever Finished a Bottle of Nail Polish?
Oh, Chanel Jade, how you tempt me…
In Sunday’s open thread Beth asked a logical follow-up question to Have you ever finished a bottle of perfume? (two thirds of us have).
She wonders…
Has anyone ever finished a bottle of nail polish? I love nail polish and buy it all the time. But I never finish a bottle before it gets too thick and gloopy. Even my high end ones… I don’t polish constantly, but I do almost always keep it on my toes and at least a few times a month on my nails. Anyway, just curious!
Now that you mention it, Beth, I don’t think I ever have finished a bottle of polish (but I have had to discard a few that gave up the ghost to the gloopy monster). Wow, did I just say that?
There is one shade that I could potentially polish off (ha!) someday — Chanel Jade, released as a limited edition color back in fall 2009.
After a year, I’m about a fourth of the way through the bottle, and I 
it just as much today as I did the day we met (it was love at first sight).
I can easily see myself getting to the bottom of Jade and shedding a tear crying a river.
Loading ...Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I’d Fly Across the Universe for a Lippmann Bad Romance: Lippmann Collection Fall 2010
I’d travel across the universe to have a bad romance with Deborah Lippmann’s two new glitter-ific fall polishes ($18 each).
Fun, flirty, and catching more light than Vampire Edward’s bare chest in broad daylight, Bad Romance (a glittery fuchsia in a black base) and Across the Universe (a glittery blue-green in a navy base) sing siren songs of shimmery seduction LOUDER than the other Lippmann glitters I’ve tried in the past.
They owe their new singing voice to a shinier jelly base, ooh la la!
Compared to the almost matte-like finishes of Lippmann’s Ruby Red Slippers (2009) and Superstar (2008) glitter polishes, these are practically flood lights!
And I like it. 🙂 What’s glitter, after all, without the shine? It’s like toast without Nutella (or Justin Bieber without the fever).
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