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Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac

Happy New Year's Eve, Dear Reader!I really wanted to use another of the new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears today even though it was just a creme (last year's NYE mani was so blingy I broke off a nail removing it!), so I decided to just go with it and add a little glitter.It turned out that Lacey Lilac, the lavender creme from the Xtreme Wear display I recall nothing about, is a fantastic layering polish. It's super pigmented, so it only took one coat to be completely even and opaque. For a pastel, that's a big deal. If I were to wear Lacey Lilac alone, I'd do two coats so it would be nice and shiny, but as a base for some glitter,...

My 2009 Best of the Best Polishes & Collections

Above: A difficult decision, but these are the top ten picks of my favorite polishes acquired in 2009. In no particular order of preference, the winners are: Top L-R: GOSH Golden Dragon, Lippmann Don't Tell Mama, CND Effects (brilliant invention!), Essie Matte About You (another brilliant idea!), Chanel Gold Fiction. Bottom L-R: China Glaze BFF (or any of the OMG shades that I bought this year!), Essie Huckle Buckle, MAC Toast of the Town, Sephora by OPI Absinthe Makes the Heart (also wins for Best Name of a Polish based on alcohol!), BB Couture Pipe Bender.Below: 2009 saw some incredible collections filled with beautiful shades, unique textures...

Vampy Varnish BB Couture Collection: Part II

Above & Below: Redwood Forest, shown in 2 coats. This is a vibrant, deep Kelly green shade with a jelly-type base and aqua glitter. Pardon the mess on my cuticles! This was my last swatch and I was getting tired!Below: Vampy Varnish, the collection's namesake polish, is actually a very complicated color to explain. It seems to have a charcoal base, but there is definitely green in there as well, although it is difficult to capture with a photo. The glitter is actually Emerald green and quite obvious in real life. When I applied this shade, my first thought was 'this is China Glaze Emerald Sparkle's deep, brooding older brother'. Simply beautiful....

Posted in BB Couture , Glitter , Green

Vampy Varnish BB Couture Collection: Part I

Above: Napa Valley red, shown in 2 coats. This is a deep violet red or deep burgundy red-toned jelly base with coordinated glitter. No matter how many photos I took, they simply do not do this shade justice. Kim at Overall Beauty believes this is the best-selling one, and I can certainly understand that.Above & Below: Union Square, shown in just 1 coat! Unbelieveable coverage on this metallic bronze shimmer with what appears to be tiny silvery pink glitter. Below, with a matte top coat.Below: Mendocino Midnight has a special place in my heart, because I have always been partial to tealish green shades. I used 2 coats on this shade. It looks...

Posted in BB Couture , Bronze , Burgundy , Glitter , Green , Shimmer , Teal

My Beauty Highlights 2010

After being stranded in Paris last week and being ill, all I wanted to do was eat, sleep and watch Christmas TV, hence the major backlog of blogging I have caused myself.I'm going to kick off with my beauty highlights of 2010, these are all products I recommend as my 'Star Products' and have experienced noticeable results with. The first brand I highly commend is Liz Earle. I had heard a lot of talk about the Cleanse & Polishproduct, but had never tried it until this year, it's a lovely cream cleanser which removes all traces of make up, dirt and oils with a muslin cloth. I am most impressed with the whole ethos of the brand, the natural ingredients, the extensive range of glorious products and the wonderful affordable price point. I also had the greatest pleasure in...

Posted in davina peace , gelac , gelez , geniecosmetics , harrods , ibd , inika , Korres , Lena Korres , Liz Earle , nip + fab , OCC , space.nk , the green grocery , Trish McEvoy , urban retreat , zuneta.com

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure: Gilty Pleasure

Gilty Pleasure is the last of five in this line I have to show you. You can find Yellow Kitty just below this post, and 3 others I shared a few weeks back here. I always love shades of metals, so I wanted to give this one a try. It looks like it could be a foil-type finish by the appearance in the bottle, so I was pleasantly surprised that it's not, because I sometimes have problems with streaking on those types of finishes. This is a lovely light gold shimmer that covered very nicely in 2 coats. It dried exceptionally fast, which is always a bonus. The brush on this one was cut evenly, and again, the formula was excellent. I'm very pleased...

Posted in Gold , Sally Hansen , Shimmer

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure: Yellow Kitty

Above & Below: Yellow Kitty shown indoors with an Ott light, no flash. I used 3 coats and still had some streakiness, so I added a thin fourth coat. Surprisingly, it dried quickly even with that many coats. Yellow Kitty is from Sally Hansen's newly re-formulated polish line called Complete Salon Manicure. I picked several of these up at Walmart a few weeks back, and although I'm not too impressed with the formula on Yellow Kitty (this is 3-4 coats!), the color range is excellent. I did add a few drops of thinner to this after trying it once and ending up with quite a mess. I'm not entirely happy with this manicure either, but trust me, had...

Posted in Creme , Sally Hansen , Yellow