Showing posts with label Maybelline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maybelline. Show all posts

Friday Follower Freebie!

One winner will receive an assortment of 11 discontinued Maybelline Express Finish polishes! These have been turning up at Dollar Trees lately, and why they discontinued some of these is beyond me. The prize package contains 11 shades, including glitters, mattes and shimmers. Here are the shade names, starting at the Top Row left to right: Bronze Aluminum, Blackened Teal, Blackened Bronze. Middle Row left to right: Blue Chill, Shooting Stars, Planet Pluto, Khaki Fringe. Bottom Row left to right: Matte Plum, Matte Blue, Matte Stone, Purple Comet. My personal favorites include Blackened Teal, Khaki Fringe, and Shooting Stars. I still have my originals of these 3, but I picked some up for myself as back-ups.

The rules are simple: You must be a follower of some sort, you must leave your eMail below in the comments section as your entry, all entries must be received by midnight tonight.


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Maybelline Poptimistic: Exu-Blue-Rant & Grape Times (with CND Limelight)

Above & Below: Exu-Blue-Rant shown in 2 coats, outdoors with no flash.

Above & Below: Grape Times shown with 3 coats, outdoors with no flash.
Below: Grape Times with 2 coats of CND's Limelight.

Here are the last 2 shades, both cremes, from Maybelline's recently released Winter Trend Poptimistic collection. I posted the other 4 colors over the last couple of days, so scroll down if you're interested in checking them out. Exu-Blue-Rant is a deep Cadet blue creme that covered very nicely in 2 coats. Indoors, it seems to have a slight dark teal hue, while outdoors and under brighter lighting it shows more of a Cadet blue color. It dried to a high gloss shine and the application of the formula was very nice. Grape Times, although a lovely Royal purple shade, took 3 coats to get even coverage. The color builds quite a bit darker with each coat and it dried to an almost jelly-type finish, which I love. I added 2 coats of Creative Nail Design's Limelight over it, and it reminds me of an Nfu-Oh polish with the glowing flakies. While I'm a big fan of CND's new Color & Effects line, I still treasure all of my older CND's.


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Maybelline Poptimistic: Glad to be Green & Cloud Nine


Above & Below: Glad to be Green shown using 2 coats, no top coat. Photos were taken outdoors with no flash.

Above: Click the picture to enlarge and you'll see how the glitter looks green, turquoise and gold.
Below: Cloud Nine shown indoors with a flash using 3 coats. You can always tell how much I like a polish by how many pictures there are of it! Cloud Nine is not one of my favorites.

Today I have 2 more shades from the Maybelline Winter Trend Collection Poptimistic to share with you. There are 6 polishes in this collection and if you missed yesterday's post, the first 2 can be found just below. Poor Cloud Nine, having to compete for my affections against Glad to be Green. Cloud Nine is just not my style, as it's a frost finish, it's very sheer, it's a pearl white shade...just not my thing. I'll hang onto it in case I ever want to transport back to the 60's, but I can assure you, this won't get used often by me. I used 3 coats and I probably could have gone with 5 and still been dissatisfied. The brush was a little wonky, a few stray hairs that were longer than the others, but because it's not a favorite, I don't really care. Glad to be Green on the other hand, is a shade that I love. It's a brighter shade of olive green with very fine shimmer. This shade is further beautified by the fact that it has a charcoal base, giving the polish more depth and the glitter more clarity. On the nail, the glitter itself looks to be a slightly lighter shade of green, but it tends to shift and change a little with movement and brighter lighting, causing it to also look gold and turquoise at times. Next up are the last 2 in this collection, both of which are cremes.


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Maybelline Poptimistic: Charcoal Cheer & Opti-Mist-Ic

Above & Below: Charcoal Cheer is a beautiful shade of several different shades! I can see blue, teal and grey, depending on the lighting.


Below: Close up of the finish.

Above & Below: Opti-Mist-Ic is very appealing to me, and the gold shimmer makes it even more appealing.


Below: Close-up of the finish.
Today I'm starting in on Maybelline's Winter Trend 2009 Poptimistic collection, but it's 60 degrees and sunny outside, so I've only taken the time to swatch 2 of them. It's been a long time since we've had weather this nice, so I need to get out and do some yard work. I'll hopefully get a chance to swatch the other 4 tomorrow. I found this collection at Rite-Aid a couple of weeks ago and they retail for $4.99 each. They were buy one get one free and I picked up all 6 of them because I thought it was a nice range of colors and finishes. The two I have for today are my favorites from a "bottle look" perspective, but once I actually use the other 4, my opinion could change on that.

Charcoal Cheer is a shimmer (4 are shimmers, 2 are cremes in this collection) and although the name implies that it's a grey shade, it's more of a grayed out dark teal to me. The shimmer is very fine and is basically the same color as the polish, although it is light reflecting and changes colors in various lighting. I used 2 coats and it applied nicely. It does take on a more grey appearance in darker lighting, bit I wouldn't classify it as a true grey shade. I am really at a loss to define the color of this, because I see cadet blue, grey and teal. It reminds me of Creative Nail Design's NFS, only more grey-toned.
Opti-Mist-Ic, also a shimmer, is a lovely shade of pale taupe. I would almost call it a light beige, but it seems to have hints of dove grey in there also, pushing it more toward a taupe shade. The shimmer is very small and fine, but what I love about this one, is that the shimmer is gold. This is a really different shade and the shimmer makes it all the more unique. I ended up going with 3 coats on this one, because there were a few streaks. I'm certain the streaks were caused by the less than perfect brush, however.


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Guest Blogger Series: Of Faces & Fingers Shares A Stunning Layered Look!

Today's guest blogger is Jerlene, from Of Faces & Fingers (also known as Musical Houses). If you aren't familiar with her blog, check it out and become a follower! She covers nails and beauty products, and also has an extensive swatch gallery. You can also follow her on Twitter here.

It looks like two of the Spring/Summer trends for nail polish are dusty jade green, thanks to OPI's Jade is the New Black, and flakies, thanks to the frenzy caused by Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure. So I decided on a whim to put the two trends together in an NOTD! For the base I used two coats of a Boots No 7 Stay Perfect polish, and this one is called Totally Teal. I love this shade - it's a jewelled teal that's dusty enough to make it as wearable as a teal can get. And it's not a dupe for Jade is the New Black - it's less green and more blue. But it's such a beautiful colour, and now seemed like the appropriate time to wear it! I was really surprised by the application of Totally Teal. I've heard that Boots polishes can be pretty lousy, so I was expecting a difficult application. But I have to say - I actually really like this! The brush is big, wide and flat, which may not be what some people like, but works perfectly fine on my huge "man hands", and the polish was smooth, not streaky and reached opacity in two coats. Then I put on a flakie, and this one unfortunately is one of those awesome Maybelline Coloramas that got discontinued a long while back. This particular one is called Pink Pinata, and it's supposed to be a topcoat, although it doesn't dry fast enough or smooth enough for my liking. Anyway, this one was awesome. Flakie-packed, and very beautiful and duochrome-y!

Above: This is two coats of Totally Teal, and one and a half coats of Pink Pinata. I say one and a half because one coat left me with a couple of bald patches, so I went over those areas again to distribute the flakies more evenly. I really love how you see so much awesome duochrome you get. Look at that! You can see green and orange on the same nail! Cool! Depending on which angle you view your nails from, you get a lot of different colours. Most of the times, I see orange flakies, but sometimes they're green, and sometimes, they do cool things like glint yellow!
Above: Here's a close up, so you can see the rainbow on my nails. Awesome, no?!!
Below: And here's a closeup of my nails from another angle. You can really see the green here, with some yellow, and a bit of orange at the tip
The thing I love about flakies is that they really jazz up any colour, even a colour I thought was totally hot on its own! And depending on what colour you put them over, the duochrome effect they give seems to change, too. I really love this, and I can't stop staring at my own little nubbins!
Thank you Jerlene, for participating in my guest blogger series! That's a beautiful look you attained from those 2 polishes. And for the record, you do not have man hands, and you do not have nubbins! If you'd like to be a featured guest blogger, just send me an eMail and let me know. Also, if you'd like me to add you to my blog roll, leave a comment or send me an eMail. I sometimes forget to update it, so please feel free to remind me!


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Maybelline Minty (brush fail!)

Above: Maybelline Minty is not among my favorite mint shades, which may be due to the lack of quality control on the brush itself. I used 3 coats on this creme shade and it looks a mess!
Below: You can see the mess that the brush made, even after 3 coats. The formula was a bit thick, so it didn't even out the brush streaks. My skin isn't really that red, I think it's the lighting.
Below: The culprit was really the brush, much more so than the formula. Nice quality control, Maybelline!
Below: Bottle comparisons with some of the other Mint green shades I have L-R: Sinful Mint Apple, Barry M Mint, Jessica Cloud Mine, Maybelline Minty (devil brush!), American Apparel Office, Essie Mint Candy Apple, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, Nicole Hint of Mint. Click to enlarge photo, but in my opinion, Minty falls in between Office, which is a bit more muted, and Mint Candy Apple, which is ever so slightly lighter.
Even though Goody Plum Drop applied nicely for me yesterday, I can't say the same for one of the other shades from Maybelline's Spring LE collection. Minty, although a nice shade, was rather disastrous upon application. The formula itself wasn't too bad, although it was a little on the thick side. I ended up having to go with 3 coats instead of my preferred 2, but the real problem was in the cut of the brush. I seldom do any clean-up, but was forced to on this shade, and it's still rather a mess around the cuticles. It was quite streaky after the first coat, but that could be from the poor quality of the brush. I did some comparison bottle pictures for those of you trying to locate this one, and I wouldn't say it's an exact dupe to anything I have, although it is close to a few of them. Other than the brush issue, which ruined everything for me, it's just 'okay'. Nothing terribly unique in the mint green realm, but it is what I would call a true mint--not too blue, not too green. Damn brush!


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Maybelline Goody Plum Drop (with sprinkles on top!)

Above & Below: Goody Plum Drop is such a pretty shade of lavender, and the subtle shimmer is a nice delicate touch. I used 2 coats and although the formula was a little on the thick side, it caused no problems.
Below: The sprinkles on top are Chelly Cosmetics Shade #83 Rainbow Sparks, a clear polish filled with tiny multi colored holographic glitter. Read more below about where I got this polish.
Yesterday's Friday Follower Freebie contains 4 of Maybelline's LE Spring shades, and I wanted to check mine out too! You can still enter the FFF until midnight tonight. Goody Plum Drop is a medium lavender shade that appears to be a creme, but upon closer inspection, it has very fine shimmer...an added bonus to me, because pastel cremes are not always my favorite. I love the looks of them, but I sometimes have application issues with them. This shade applied nicely in 2 coats and dried quickly. I love the subtle shimmer and the color itself reminds me of my Lilac bushes blooming in the Spring. We are still getting lots of snow, so this shade makes me happy and gives me hope.

Speaking of happy--thrilled, elated and touched beyond words would be more like it--yesterday I received a FedEx package from someone for no reason other than because she wanted to. She has purchased Massini polishes from me several times and we've chit-chatted a bit in eMails about our love of nail polish. She sent me the sweetest note and the items she sent were all perfect for me. She took the time to wrap everything so neatly and attach little notes to each item. The fact that she took the time out of her life to do something like this means so much to me. That's where the Chelly polish pictured above came from. Brooke posted about this brand yesterday and I'd never heard of it, but thought they looked very interesting. Then this package showed up with a couple of them, along with many other wonderful items. I'll do a post about everything she sent soon, but it just shows once again how kind the people in our nail polish community are. As I told her, it's people and acts like this that restore my faith in humanity, especially in this sometimes sad and destructive world in which we live. Isn't it amazing how some pretty colors and a simple act of kindness can do that?


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Friday Follower Freebie!

Today's FFF features four of the new Maybelline LE Spring shades. I chose these four for myself as well, so if I'll be swatching my own soon. It looks like the lavender one may have a hint of shimmer, while the others are cremes. One winner will receive all of the polishes pictured. L-R: Pie in the Sky, Sweetie Pie, Goody Plum Drop, Minty.
The Rules: You must be a follower. You must leave your eMail in the comments section below as your entry. You must leave your entry no later than midnight tomorrow (2/27/10). Good Luck!


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Guest Blogger Series: Kelsea's Possible Dupe Comparison

Today's guest blogger is the exuberant Kelsealaurel. Check out her blog and upbeat writing style and show her some follower/link love! She is presenting us with a 'possible dupe' comparison today, using OPI's At Your Quebec and Call and Maybelline's Khaki Fringe. Both can be a little difficult to find, but that just makes them all the more desirable.

I have a possible dupe for you guys! Well, depending on your definition of dupe, I suppose. I purchased OPI's AYQ & C for about $8.00. Then a week later, I found Maybelline's Khaki Fringe at my local Dollar Tree (go check it out if you have one near you. AMAZING!). I knew when I bought it, that I may have a dupe for my newly acquired AYQ & C. I was excited for all of you who get to save money now, but sad for me, since I'd spent eight bucks on that sucker! Although now that I'm looking at the side-by-side comparison, I can't be too disappointed in AYQ & C, because it's one of my favorite nail polishes that I own.

Above: AYQ & C is on my index and ring fingers, while Khaki Fringe is on my middle and pinkie fingers. This photo is taken with a flash.
Below: Taken with no flash.
Below: Shown again with a flash.
Below: Shown with no flash.
Below: Here's a close-up if you want to look at the shimmer! Khaki Fringe is on the left, while AYQ & C is on the right.
I wouldn't call it obvious that they are two different shades, but they aren't exact dupes either. To tell you the truth, I didn't take off this swatch...I just painted the rest of my nails with AYQ & C and called it a day. I'd bet a lot of money that no one noticed. However, up close, there are differences. AYQ & C looks best with 3 coats and is very thin and a tad difficult to work with. Khaki Fringe was thicker (maybe because it was so old!) and needed only 2 coats, but it also was difficult to work with. The brush strokes are much more obvious with Khaki Fringe, and this shade is slightly lighter than the OPI. AYQ & C has a cool effect making it appear to be layered over black, even though it's not. Overall, while Khaki Fringe only costs $1.00, AYQ & C is a much better polish. $7.00-$8.00 better? That's for you to decide. As for me, I still love my AYQ & C. It's frikkin awesome! Thanks for reading!
~Kelsea
Thank you Kelsea, for taking the time to be a guest blogger for me, and for such a nice comparison piece. If you'd like to be a guest blogger, just send me an eMail and let me know.


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