Maybelline Shoots For The Stars

Ah, those halcyon days of Dollar Tree Stash-tastic-ness!

I still have regrets - Sally Hansen's glitter frosts - but I have many scores that I still adore.

Meet one of them.

Maybelline Matte Sapphire.

Soon I will be swatching the Maybelline Denim Collection, but for now I have Matte Sapphire to share.

I ran across this polish in many a Dollar Tree, I couldn't pass it up, just look at that! Gorgeous!
Matte, Shmatte! I was going to put it on with a top coat, so hey, who cares?

I honestly thought it would be a shimmer or some sort of metallic frost, but no, it's a nice little navy creme with some silver glitter! Yay!!!

This is before any thinner is added, which probably would help a tad bit, but I love this polish!

I recommend this polish a lot. I won't say anything about comparisions to a certain impossible-to-find Essie, but I think it sates my thirst.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Say What?!!?!?! Can You Repeat That?

I [must] Have a Herring Problem!

I confess I lemmed portions of this collection for a while. It's pretty neat because it's got that flecked finish mixed into a creme.

This is four coats, though, because it's more like a milky base that's been watered down. I will admit I was disappointed in that aspect of things.

What I liked: dried quickly, wore very well, and the glassy fleck shows up really nice and gold in some light.

The other thing I will add is that the color pulled pretty dark on me, but was ranging from a petrol blue to a cadet blue on me, which I am kind of glad, though in some light it reminds me of Gray by Gray (SH).

See, more blue.


But, despite the extra layers, I like it. I think of it as a layer polish built into itself. Sort of like that shampoo and conditioner combo!

Yes, there are problems, thinner base, extra layers, but truly a win.

No complaints! I love a shampoo and conditioner in one that works like a charm! Woot!

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

BLTN Contest Winner!

I had eight entries!

Random.org revealed that 3 was the lucky number!

I sorted the list based on entry date and time and our winner is:

Amanda!

I have an email out to her right now, but if I don't hear back in a couple of days or so, I will announce a redraw. I don't think it's an issue. I am pretty mellow about timelines!

;D

Congratulations!!!

I appreciate all entries so much and all the people who read my blog!

I know that GFC is changing, so I've added Bloglovin', too. I'm pretty unsavvy on these things, but I will try to make my blog - and my following of other blogs - easier for everyone!

Thanks so much!
:D

Dupe Alert: SC See You Soon and NOPI Too Rich For You

I think the Nicole OPI Gossip Girl Collection came out in 2010, but I purchased Too Rich For You on sale at Walgreens. Earlier I posted (cuticle alert on that post!) that Nicole...Spotted was a dupe of SinfulColors' Nail Junkie. I think that it's not hard to see that Sinful and Nicole by OPI have another dupe in the mix.

Here is Nicole by OPI Too Rich For You:

Next up is SinfulColors' See You Soon:

Both are in a smoky black base that is loaded with a deep peacock blue shimmer. Neither fails in the application department: three coats, good dry time and nice wear. I think NOPI was more sheer at the outset, but by coat three, it was fine.

Here is a comp:

Another case of "cover the titling with your hand and see of you can really tell the difference." (<=good gravy, get Strunk and White already!)
I feel like these were bottled from the same vat they are so similar.

I think a bottle shot tells the story on their similarity:

In the bottle there appears to be some sort of duochrome action on the SinfulColors See You Soon, but on the nail I could discern no diffference whatsoever. It could be the NOPI bottle that masks duochrome, though, so I am not 100% sure that it's not there. Some help, right?
I found my NOPI on sale, about the same price or less than SC, plus the Nicole is currently  - by Google Shopping standards - much more expensive than SinfulColors' offering.

I admit in the blue family I love that maritime/peacocky/tealy sort of blue as much as my blue/purpley periwinkles. What am I saying here? I don't mind having two bottles! ;D

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!

A Borghese Bit of Flotsom

I think I picked this set up on sale at Rite Aid or Ross, not sure which.

It's Holiday 2010 and I've wanted to swatch it for ages and ages, but keep putting it on the back burner.

I generally pull many polishes out for swatching and put them aside. Sometimes I will get an idea for a comparison, and pull out those polishes, or like the Mashups, just start putting polishes together visually. This one kept falling to the back of the list.

The packaging has no labeling, so I don't have names, but I recall these from 2010, though not all the names.

These are tiny Borghese heart shaped bottles and have the fabulous Borghese brush, albeit in miniature!

To the swatches!

An unusual glitter, by glitter standards. A deep walnut colored jelly base with scattered silver, black and red glitter. I kind of like it's singular quality to add Espresso to the pantheon of glitter polish, don't have it, kind of love it!
This is three coats, though, and as a layering type of polish I'd limit it to the same color family: brown, maroon, charcoal/brown gray, etc. Who knows, though, how it would play over burgundy?
I don't know the name of this one, though, I know it was out on a Borghese display at some point.

This one is easily recognizable as Stellare Notte. It is a gray base that has shimmer which shifts from green to magenta. Very beautiful. I believe it's in the Borghese main display and was not a limited edition.
Three coats and pretty similar to Misa's It's You!, though I think this is a little bit more of a neutral gray. I have both and didn't swatch a comp because I after I did this swatch session, I sat down and reorganized my gray polish and saw that SN and IY! are right next to each other in the drawer! The weird part is that I had one bottle in the gray and one in the purple....too many back ups I feel at this point!

A very beautiful multi-color small glitter. Pretty evenly weighted in red, gold, silver, blue, but extra doses of red, fuchsia and magenta, turning it into a pink glitter.
I think this is three coats and it's completely a topcoat glitter, I looks dense in the bottle, but takes a while to get anywhere with layers.
I might reblog this one over some other colors, it's a really great glitter, I love the combo and it predates a bunch of multi-glitters that hit in 2011.
Bottom line: it cries out to be in a mashup!

****Update****
This is Bella Berry
****End Update****  ;)
Best for last? or...Why don't I have this in a large bottle?
I believe this is Carnivale Grape (Grappa?) and I do think it's a staple in the main Borghese line, but, I could be wrong. (And here's why: Borghese is $8 a bottle and whenever I stroll into the drug store that carries it, I rarely give the display a glance, it's usually out of my reach at the time I'm shopping and I kind of ignore it because I figure I can always get it later....hmmm....maybe I need to keep an eye on Borghese  a little more)
Two coats and a gorgeous rich grape shimmer. Unable to fault this one, I can only say if this were an Essie/OPI/China Glaze, etc, it would be so absolutely a hot item on the list of those recommending purple shimmers.

OK, so that's that little set. I will say that Stellare Notte is kind of a let down, especially since the Misa is so fabulous.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Silver Foil Dupes

Spring has been toying with us here, some days the sun is out, then it's a chance of snow, then rain. I don't feel the urge to crack out the springtime colors yet, but it's coming.

I have been wanting to do this comparison for a while. Silver foils:

From left to right:
Zoya - about $3.50 from a sale
L.A. Colors - $1, Dollar Tree
Diamond Cosmetics - $2
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - $2.99

I've accumulated these over time, not thinking much about whether I already have it, etc. I kind of feel like this is a case of "get yer bunz onto yer data base, woman!!"

I realize that it's really a matter of performance. Quality over quantity, per se. To coin a phrase, to trot out a hackneyed phrase.

Moving on to the comp!

Same order.

The best of the lot? Hard to say, each are different in some way or another. All are two coats, which I really think I'm growing to enjoy versus, say, three coats.

For me, though, the Zoya is the hands down winner in three categories: coverage, shine, and texture.
For two coats of work, it's got a glistening shine with a smooth texture, but nothing to suggest a shimmer or frost. Pure foil love!

L.A. Colors, though, is a contender, surprisingly! Good coverage and somewhat smoother texture than the Sally Hansen.

Sally's Xtreme Wear has been my Holy Grail silver flashy foil for a while now. So much so, that I have a back up bottle. I realize now that it's got quite a bit of texture. It wears well, but isn't as bright as the Zoya Trixie because of the texture, I admit, this bugs me, but it may not be any big difference to you, plus, SH Xtreme Wear is so easy to find.

Unfortunately in last place falls the Diamond Cosmetics. It was in the first batch of DC I'd ordered and so it has the older bottle design. All of the others are two coats, there is some patchiness that might be helped by a third coat, but the fact that it showed balding in two coats, kind of bugged me.

This shows how close they really are, in fact, so perhaps it's just my own preferences. It also shows the texture of the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, too.

I will add that I've worn the Zoya Trixie a few time before this comparison and feel that for some reason - basecoats, topcoats, shaman witch doctors - it didn't chip off. So that helps boost it on up the ladder!

In a pinch, the L.A. Colors polish is quite a win, too. Who can beat a dollar? I have to say that I am impressed with these polishes, a lot more than I expected!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!!

Gray by Gray Layering

Have I blogged about Gray by Gray by Sally Hansen?


A Complete Salon Formula that touts to have "5 Steps in 1 Bottle: Base Coat, Strengthener, Growth Treatment, Color and Top Coat". NO pressure there, Sally! 
Personally, I can't imagine how mixing all that business into one bottle gives you a success. It's like shampoo and conditioner combined! It's like peanut butter and jelly in one jar! No, I say! You need a base coat to at least try to protect your nails from staining. You need a top coat to protect your polish. The rest, sure, throw it in.


Ok, anyhow, excuse the diatribe, let's get down to the polish!


Gray by Gray. Well, it really isn't gray at all, is it?

It's really more of a petrol blue. At times it really feels like a gray, but here, in the cloudy light of day, it pulls blue/gray with an implication of greenish blue.
What is not to love, I ask you?


I then added a coat of WetnWild Rock Solid Pretty In Pink Diamonds. 

In the bottle it looks orange/coral pink with these glassy flecks of golden goodness. Fortunately the base is jelly and vanishes leaving the golden sheen. Found at Ross and becoming my hot number one layering device, I have a few bottles and rue the day I run out. I have eBay on speed dial for this one. I do have some iterations - Princessa's, Picking On Waikiki is a cousin - and think that China Glaze's White Cap would do great in the same job.

Suddenly Gray by Gray does indeed look very gray and the gold shimmer pops against it. I feel like it's the sun shimmering through the clouds after a stormy afternoon.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

A Dusty Rose By Any Other Name

Would probably smell better than a bottle of nail polish.

But here are five mauve/rose polishes that I think are worth taking a second look at for various reasons.


O.K. Let's roll.

L'Oreal Future Rose

I know, not a mauve bone in it's body. They even call it rose. A seriously awesome formula. Two coats. I've worn this baby numerous times and have yet to blog it. I can't speak more highly of L'Oreal's formula here. This is with a top coat. It wears like I'm clawing barehanded to get out of a tank of sharks and need to be camera ready immediately afterwards. AKA, primo formulation.  Found at the Dollar Tree or eBay, and that's about it, except sometimes at Discount CosmeticOutlet.com
The color itself is earthy, warm, perhaps a taupe rose. It can look a little flat, and I love that crushed rose color.
Did I mention that I love the formula? ;)

This is the old flat/square bottle that has now been replaced by a columnar tube, which is great, but I kind of love the older 80's feeling font on the old L'Oreals. They feel kind of more now in some ways. New 80's retro. Maybe it's 90's retro these days.




Oasis Dawn Creme

Lighter and distinctly more pink, yet still somewhat dowsed, is Sally Hansen Hard As Nails/Nylon/Teflon/Something old school Sally. I think I picked this up a couple of years ago at the Dollar Tree in a two-pack and pretty much ignored it ("meh, blah, mauve/rose/whatevs) while I ogled a dark green or something.

Think Sally isn't doing her usual playing with you on names and finishes? She is!

Secret Shimmer! Hard to capture under my lights, but definitely there. For sure.
I love this polish just for that little feature!

Two coats, great coverage and a soft, wearable color that probably is adorable to even the most conservative polish wearer. I call this "office OK".
Formula is nice, dried pretty fast for Sally Hansen. This is with a top coat, too. Nice!




Diamond Cosmetics Meditate

I might have blogged this one before, but I pulled it out because it really is pretty nice. Two coats, with a top coat. Another fabulous formula.
Pushing into the berry realm, it's similar to Future Rose above, but not as crushed down into the gray tone.
Diamond Cosmetics is another one with a really nice formula. I love it. This color, unfortunately is now discontinued. Bummer.




Borghese Murano Mauve

Akin to Meditate above but a bit more exuberant. Mauve? Why? What? I am confused!!

Seriously though, this one has a bit of translucency, not so much to call it a jelly, perhaps a bit of a sorbet - who comes up with these?
This took about three or four coats to reach opacity. Though it is a bit of a beauty when done, I feel that in general Borghese is a bit stingy on pigmentation. A lot of their bottles seem to need many more coats than I expect. Although I really don't mind this when I love the color. See? It's all good when something makes me happy in a polish!
I found this at Ross or TJ Maxx for either $1.99 (Ross) or $2.99 (TJM) I can't recall.


China Glaze Fifth Avenue

Soft and dusty and easily on the list of office OK polishes here are two coats of wonderful. Similar to Oasis Dawn Creme, but lighter and warmer, it can pull a little brownish. But, really, it's gorgeous. I love this color a lot. Reminds me of the Color Club Haute Brown collection, but much less brown. Dusty warm pink rose.


Here is the full comparison:

You can see where DC  Meditate and L'Oreal Future Rose are similar, but in a lot of ways DC Meditate and Borghese are similar, too.

I think in large part the only reason I added ChG Fifth Avenue was for a reference since the polishes are all discontinued except for Fifth Avenue, unless you check out eBay.


Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Legendary China Glaze? Grape Crush

Well, it isn't very often I get into the heady realm of HTF and VHTF without some blood, sweat and tears involving price, machinations and near misses.

I do, though, have my good days.

I have mentioned a salon near the Dollar Tree I occasionally check into when I'm out that way, it's one of those nail salons run by people who think their lungs are optional equipment and running exhaust fans are a waste of time, but they did have a pile of polish to browse through.

In that batch was this little pup:

I kind of choked with glee when I found it!

Nice!!!

A purely perfect grape shimmer with holo pieces floating about hither and thither.
This is three coats shown without a topcoat - yes there is a bit of texture and it's a little dull in the finish.



There is the holo pop in lower light.

While I think this is a pretty fabulous polish, I feel it is eminently frankenable. If frankenable was a word.

This is a before 3-free polish, aka stanktastic, but it dried well and wore pretty decently, though I wouldn't call it above average.

I paid $7 for a bottle of it, and will add that I certainly should have thrown on a top coat to show it in all its glory. Perhaps I am subconsciously bringing this HTF down to earth so people will appreciate the obscure polishes that I love and seem to get ignored.

Yeah, silly, and probably ridiculous.

It's lovely, it's old formula and fairly dupable, and probaly there are a couple of loosely configured dupes (a WnW and a Sation or a similar brand come to mind)

City Colors....Duochrome...$2.99? Whut Up???

City Colors.

I know little about them. I do see them periodically in my Rite Aid and they are generally pretty inexpensive. Normally I look at them, then ratchet through a list of colors that I probably have that are similar to the color I see on the shelf, so I tend to pass on them.

But, this one grabbed my attention!

It's an interesting thing in the bottle:

Square bottles rock!

It has the glassy particle thing going on, but it also looks like there is silver in it, too.

I loved the aqua/purple/blue shift and thought, this I must own.

I love it a lot. It's no dupe of any sort of highly coveted "starry" polish that we all know and love and can dupe, but a pretty duochrome with some silver thrown into the bag.

No, that's not a mirror, it's just two photos that were so similar I flipped one 180 and then horizontally and patched it onto the top one.

Indeed, I can honestly say it's a nice polish. Two coats, easy dry time and really easy to wear. I like how the highlight looks aqua rather than white, so it's pretty easy to get the duochrome out of it, too.

I believe this was a holiday color, which may have been pulled from the shelf, this is a brand with a sporatic presence at my Rite Aid, so it's hard to say if it's going to be out there when you go to look for it.


Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

204 Sweet Peeps...A Thank You...Yes, BLTN Give Away!

Thank you all 203 followers!!! I have to say that you are my inspiration! I love that people care enough to use google to "bookmark" my efforts!

Thank you!!!!

I never imagined it!!!

Wow!!!

In an effort to thank you, I am putting together a quick give away. It is simple, U.S. only because of shipping costs, and limited to existing people only, no need to call your neighbor, shout my blog from the rooftops, tweet, twaddle, or blabber.

What you do need to do is email me at paillette.a.nail.journal@gmail.com with your GFC name. That's it!
I will email you back that you are entered as a confirmation. If you don't hear back in 2 days, comment to me, I will double check if there is a glitch. Easy

Good gravy, rules drive me wild! I want that easy.

Last day to enter? February 19th.
I think that's a good day, plenty of time to get it done, contemplate the pros and cons of the contest and enter!

The prize?

I found this set at Ross:

An assortment of cremes with a silver glitter as a bonus.

Plus an assortment of glitter top coats, in keeping with the whole couple of months of glitters I attempted!

I have added a black in there, too.

The glitters:
Cover Girl City Lights - holo top coat
e.l.f. Golden Goddenss a multi sized golden glitter with holo
SinfulColors Flower Girl Nail Art polish, maybe you have skills I lack?
Sally Hansen Pumpkin Spice

Simple give away! Don't forget to enter!

I will get a reminder up on the right side pretty soon, too.

Ends at Midnight -8:00 Greenwich Mean Time (I know, goofy, but I love to say that)

:D
Thanks so much for reading my little nail polish journal!

A Little Late, but, SinfulColors Holiday 2011

Hey!
How is that for timely?
Not so much.

I will admit I only got these around the middle of December, these swatches are from about the 22nd of December. I finally found my way around to editing them. Yoiks!

The upside: first, the formulas were fantastic and these are not limited edition colors.

Yay!

SinfulColors sent me these, very kindly, and patiently I might add, so it's high time I got them blogged.

Right, let's do it!

This is a set of 5 polishes and two nail art polishes.

First the polishes:

Midnight Blue

Two coats, great coverage and a beautiful royal blue shimmer. You can see a little bit of the brushstrokes, but it's as nice as the Color Club I blogged about here. Dried well, and I found that it was pretty easy to control, too, which on my small fingers, really is something I've grown to love.




Sugar Sugar

Another two coater! Red shimmer that has an orange glassy particle floating around, perhaps a mini flake kind of the size of the pieces in say, SH DVD. Orange pops here and there, warming up and making look a bit like a flame. Unfortunately my camera wasn't up to the challenge. It is a neutral red, but the orange flash warms it up a bit. I need to delve into red a bit more.




Last Chance

One thing I will say is that over the few years I've been into nail polish, I've noticed a strong affinity for a great dark green. There was the ever-coveted Nars Zulu. Now Nars Illamasqua Rampage has become highly sought, there was New York Summer's Amaranth as a franken base for Zulu, the famed Chelsea Psycho Green, etc. I think that this is an amazing green: not too dark, not too yellow and certainly not too milky. I can't say for sure, but based on this formula, it would be a great franken for a jelly version of this polish, it's very beautifully pigmented.
Forgot to say: two coats, easy to use, great formula. I love this one a lot.



Daddy's Girl

If you only ever buy one SinfulColor's polish - aside from the green above for green lovers - you probably need Daddy's Girl. Yes it's sheer, it's a jelly. I think I have three possibly four coats. No worries, put it over a purple, navy, medium blue, etc, and you have yourself a winner. What is neat isn't the jelly so much, but the combination of jelly and PINK glassy gorgeous pieces! Yay! I think I have two bottles. What isn't to love here? I can't think of many companies that have this combination of colors, very awesome!



Out of this World

I blogged about this polish here, so I don't have a whole lot more to add. This is three coats and it is so luminous.
Of course it does double duty as a layering topcoat over the other polishes:

A little on the "too dense side" for the darker colors, but over a light color, I think it's a rock star. I have a billion layering top coats, a whole Melmer drawer of this finish alone. A lot. Perhaps too many, different blog post for a different day.

OK, polishes done, now on to the nail art.

First off I will warn you, I suck at nail art. I admire and ogle nail blogs where the bloggers - Another Bottle of Polish's blog immediately comes to mind as does Canadian Nail Fanatic - who can do it, I just have got nothing approaching that skill...as you are about to see.


Flower Girl

A warm brassy gold that is a small glassy particle, that really is foily and not translucent. Very pretty.

I did some stars and I filled in part of one nail, then used my clean up brush to draw a flower in the Midnight Blue.
Flower Girl has a long supple brush designed for nail art, unfortunately, I am not an adept, as you can see.
I do love the foil finish, though.
There is some other sort of solvent in the bottle that has a strong acetic acid kind of smell, so wretched that I have not opened the nail art again.


Fashionista

A platinum/silver glitter that is a bit large and therefore somewhat difficult to apply with the brush. You can see the areas where I tried to make three or four lines on my right two fingers, but there is some definition where there is thickness in the formula. I really didn't have much luck.
The left finger I tried to cover my whole finger using the brush included, but it's very supple and that was difficult.
Same issues with the odor, so I really wasn't very into either of these,  though the size of my nail bed could also be an issue.

I recommend the polishes for sure, but I wasn't particularly happy with the formula of the art polishes on the basis of smell alone, otherwise they dried nicely, despite my Neanderthal attempt at cave...er...nail art.

All right! Thanks so much for reading my little nail polish journal!

ps These were sent to me for review, I didn't purchase them, but I have purchased my own bottles of Last Chance and Daddy's Girl and Out of this World, I think I had Sugar Sugar in my paw one day and passed because I am still getting my head around red! ;D