Fall 2008's stunner from Chanel, Kaleidoscope is just perfection. You would think it was frosty to look at the bottle, but the finish is sublime, neither straight metallic nor frosty. I liked that it seemed like a gold that I could wear, since it doesn't seem super warm. The antiqued tone to it, the slight green cast, made it seem like it was made for a gold-aphobic like myself. In some lights it's a quite cool gold, and in others it warms up and seems to have an almost green duochrome. While it may sound wild, it's incredibly office friendly. The brush, as with all Chanel polishes, is a bit thin, but the formula is like buttah and lays down perfectly on the nails. It layers well also, which can be a bit hit or miss when it comes to metallics. Kaleidoscope was my favorite Chanel polish release in 08 and I wish they'd release another sleeper beauty like this one again soon.
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Electric Lilac is available at transdesign.com and head2toebeauty.com as well as select Sally Beauty stores
This is one of my very favorite glitters with a colored base from the China Glaze Specialty collection. It's halfway between a lilac and periwinkle and has lots of opalescent glitter in a jelly base. Two coats are pictured here over two coats of Orly Cashmere Cardigan. The base color of Electric Lilac is just about a perfect match for Cashmere Cardigan and they look great together. These glitters are really amazing, but you may find they get a bit gritty. I like to use a couple coats of Orly Glosser followed by a coat of Seche Vite and it gives me a glimmering, glass-like finish. The wear on these things is like iron, as well. Gotta love it.
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Chanel Nuit de Russie was one of three limited edition polishes from 2008's Moscou collection, and it's a beautiful black base with blue microglitter. In most lights this seems like a dark navy, and at the worst of times just plain black, but in the right light situation this becomes amazingly gorgeous. In the bottle it looks like an amazing night sky viewed from some distant planet. It's like an alternate reality sky, if you get me.
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Medallion is available at transdesign.com and Head2Toebeauty.com, as well as select Sally Beauty stores
As far as I can work out without giving myself a seizure, there are two sizes of gold glitter in this polish; small and smaller, along with some teensy silver glitter and they're topped off with larger and more sparse silver-based holographic glitter. All that in a clear base, making it an amazing topcoat. I'm wearing two coats here over Chanel Nuit de Russie nail polish. I love gold over navy, but this would look amazing over a pink or green, even a red. Actually there aren't many polishes this wouldn't look amazing over. You could also layer it over a silver like Zoya Trixie or China Glaze Millenium for a great mixed-metals manicure. I'm a huge fan of China Glaze glitters and you can check out my photos of Atlantis here, and stay tuned for photos and reviews of Shooting Star, Electric Lilac, Dreamsicle and more!
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Availble on chanel.com, Vamp is an iconic shade that has been a mainstay on the nails of women everywhere since it's original introduction in 1994. The actual original Vamp that flew off the counters that year and when Uma Thurman wore it during her infamous turn in Pulp Fiction, was in fact the blackened cream red we all know as Chanel Rouge Noir today. At some point along the line there became both a Rouge Noir and a Vamp, and the latter is what you see here. Neither a creme, nor really a vamp, this polish is definitely as enigmatic as it is iconic.
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An oldie-but-goodie. Released in 2006 to follow up the smashing success of their Black Satin polish that made the nails of fashionistas everywhere goth-chic, this polish had nailies everywhere stalking makeup counters. I actually was blessed to be given it as a gift from a dear friend, and I think that it makes it even more special than it is on it's own. I'll try to be as unbiased as possible, though;P
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I'm not a nail polish snob. I am a discerning nail polish consumer, but unlike with a lot of makeup, there is a heck of a lot of good nail polish to be found on the cheap at the drugstore. I'm willing to shell out over $20 for a Chanel (if it's a great color), and I'm usually equally happy with my $2 Color Club polishes, but that weird spot in the middle, the $8 Borghese .40oz polish that lives in high-end/low-end pricing limbo, is a spot I don't venture into frequently. You may say, "I know you have a lot of OPI polishes and they're $8.50..." and that's true, but OPI is considered a salon brand, and it can be found for half price on the interwebz at that.
I've always been morally opposed to $8 for a polish at Rite Aid, and Borghese's cheap-ass looking bottle handle wigged me out. Not to mention the profusion of granny shades I usually see on the shelves. However, I spotted Stellare Notte on the endcap this week and was a little taken aback. Say it with me ladies and gents, "sucka."
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Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday for getting girly, so here are a dozen of Beautopia's picks for the best nail polish for that special night.
Read on to see each of Beautopia's picks!
Maybelline EyeStudio Color Plush Eye Shadow Quad in Taupe Temptress - about $10 at Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS, Ulta
Check out that .gif up top that shows how sparkle-tastic this quad is! This is some shiny, happy eye shadow, Beautopians. The new EyeStudio line from Maybelline is full of enticing eye products including 12 of these new quads. Taupe Temptress consists of four super sparkly shadows in an ivory, plum-rose, taupe (huh, imagineer that), and a black based crease/liner shade with plum/rose shimmer in. The "liner" shade reminds me of MAC Raven Kohl Power Pencil.
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Another one from Sally Hansen's newest Xtreme Wear collection, and I'll tell you I think I want them all. Wet Cement is a true light grey creme. I don't have many grey cremes but I can tell you it's lighter than China Glaze Recycle. At first glance it almost appears as a light taupe on my yellow-tinged, light beige skin, but if you really look for a second, you can see that it's grey. I thought that this might have a stronger white base like the new China Glaze pastels, but it's very nearly a jelly. A creamy jelly if you can wrap your head around that. I used three coats here, because that is my habit, but if you're careful and/or use thick coats, two might do. As with all the Xtreme Wears, the bottle is too tall, too thin and the brush is twice as long as I'm used to with most other brands and takes quite a bit of work to get cleaned up before application, but the polish is amazing, so it's worth it. Be sure to check out the other polishes from this new collection that I have reviewed: Purple Pizzazz and the gorgeous Pacific Blue.
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