Free beauty tips: purple

Showing posts with label purple. Show all posts

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, one coats was plenty. I added one coat of FingerPaints Floatin' on a Cloud to it, topped it off with top coat, and now I have a glitterific pastel manicure.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac with FingerPaints Glitter, One Coat Each

I hope you have a safe and happy New Year's Eve, Dear Reader, and until 2011, love and nail polish to you!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Posh Plum

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I ran into a little countertop display of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears recently, presumably another limited edition release, so I got a few of the colors and tried one out today. I'm always happy when I run into a Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear display because I'm quite fond of the line - the colors and quality are usually good, and they're cheap. Unfortunately, the other thing that's consistent is that I forget to read anything on the display, such as a collection name or whether it's LE...

Today's polish is Posh Plum, a really vivid and glowy red-violet shimmer. It went on well and was good in two coats.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Posh Plum Nail Polish, Two Coats

Not bad for $3, huh?

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Long Nails , nail polish , purple , Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear

Chez Delaney Plates H3 & H9

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I decided to play around with a couple of the Chez-Delaney plates I got not too long ago, two I hadn't used yet. From plate H3, I wanted to check out the big plain French tip pattern, and I added a little something to it from plate H9.

For color, I figure I can't go wrong with purple, so SpaRitual Shoot for the Stars is the base color. I did the tips from H3 using Konad Pastel Violet Special Polish, and the pattern was a challenge to get a feel for. By the last few stamps I did, I had it, but in the picture you'll see that a couple nails aren't quite right. The thing is, it's hard to scrape the big empty engraving evenly and without sliding the corner of the scraper into the pattern. I did want to master this one though, because double stamping my tips with the French patterns from Konad plate m19 leaves a darker line where the two stamps overlap when I use anything other than black or white.

After the tips, I added a little heart pattern from H9, applied top coat, and called it done. It's by no means the most attractive manicure ever, but not bad for playing around with new plates.

Chez Delaney Plates H3 & H9 over SpaRitual Shoot for the Stars

That's it for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Chez-Delaney , Long Nails , Nail Art , nail polish , purple , SpaRitual

Revlon Perplex

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have another non-holiday manicure for you, this one using Revlon Perplex. Perplex is the Revlon that's essentially a dupe for Chanel Paradoxal - I see a bit more violet shimmer in Perplex, but since it looks just the way I wanted Paradoxal to look, that's a good thing.

Perplex was easy to apply, and it was almost good in one coat. I finished it with Diamont, and the dry time was average. Since Perplex is what I wanted the much pricier Paradoxal to be, I'm really happy with it.

Revlon Perplex Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's it for today, Dear Reader. Untl next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Long Nails , nail polish , purple , Revlon

RBL Purple Haze & H4

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I just got around to changing my manicure today, and I realized that at this point I'm already weary of winter and holiday manicures. I still have a long way to go! I decided for a change, I'd go with Rescue Beauty Lounge Purple Haze and try out one of the Chez-Delaney plates I got this week.

Purple Haze is, of course, as fabulous as always. It's a great shade and it virtually applies itself, and it's perfection in two coats.

For the stamping, I wanted to see how Chez-Delaney's gargantuan tip patterns worked, and I went with the one on plate H4. That's actually the main reason I ordered these, some of them have tip patterns that are friggin' enormous, so much so that I could literally have double the free edge I have now, and they'd still cover in one stamp. For me, that matters because having to double stamp is a bit of a hassle, so these are great. Just for a sense of scale, here's a picture of the plate from Chez-Delaney's site. I used the one in the middle.

Chez Delaney Nail Stamping Plate H4

As you can see, the tip pattern and the full nail pattern to its left are the same length. That's good news!

I did the stamping using Konad White, and they turned out well for the most part. At first, I had a little trouble getting the Konad stamper to cover as much of the pattern as I wanted to pick up (I just used about half of it), and for some reason I start on my left hand. So the stamping's a lot better on the right hand, but I have a heck of a time getting a picture of my right hand, so I'll just have to show you the imperfect left.

RBL Purple Haze Nail Polish, Two Coats, with Chez Delaney H4

I like it, and I'm excited to have some fun new plates.

On an entirely unrelated note, a few days ago in the comments, Cat from Australia asked about summery Christmas manicure ideas for those in the southern hemisphere. I have two ideas I'm tossing around which are not complete, but I thought I'd ask you for your ideas as well, if you'd care to share them. We can consider what it would be like to have late June weather at Christmas while the snow falls outside (like now!). I'll be showing you at least one of the two ideas I'm working on this week.

That's just about all I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Long Nails , nail polish , purple , Rescue Beauty Lounge

Barielle Jess' Champagne Toast

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Last night I finally changed my manicure, and it wasn't as bad as it could have been at all. I think I'll be a little skittish about chunky glitter and any extra top coat for a while though!

What I changed to was Barielle Shades Jess' Champagne Toast from their 2010 Holiday Hustle collection, which was sent to me for review. Since five of the six colors in this collection are frosts, it didn't seem like swatches would be a fair representation of them, since frosts look different when they're dry. Instead, I figured I'd show you a dry manicure with them for each of the next six posts.

I used Jess' Champagne Toast first because it was the one that really caught my eye. Barielle calls it "a metallic violet with rose gold glitter," and I'd agree with everything but calling it metallic - I think it's a frost. Anyhow, I used two coats and it was good, but the polish is very thick so I had to really spread it thin. I finished with one coat of top coat, and it's not perfectly smooth but not gritty.

Barielle Jess' Champagne Toast Nail Polish, Two Coats Dry

I think it's a bit more impressive in the bottle than on the nail because the polish is opaque and covers the glitter from the first coat, so it look grittier than it is. It's not as if that's a huge, obvious issue when it's not a magnified picture, so I'm still pleased with the polish.

That's the update for now, Dear Reader. I'll try to get the rest of these posted quickly so I'm not wrapping up the collection just as Summer 2011 shades are coming out. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Barielle , Barielle Holiday Hustle , Glitter , nail polish , purple

FingerPaints Winter Dreams Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Sally Beauty Supply sent me samples of their FingerPaints Winter Dreams Collection for Holiday 2010 to review, and I have swatches of them for you today. I'm a fan of FingerPaints in general, particularly the seasonal collections, but the FingerPaints holiday collections are always my favorites with great colors and finishes. The Winter Dreams Collection does not disappoint, either - every one of these polishes is a winner.

Winter Wishes is an elegant champagne shimmer with very fine gold glitter. I used two coats of Winter Wishes and topped it with a coat of Seche Vite so you could see how it really looks (the glitter was making it look less than attractive without top coat).

FingerPaints Winter Wishes Nail Polish, Two Coats

Holly Good times is a mixture of gold and red fine glitter in a clear base. I used two coats to make it opaque, and somehow this one reminds me of apple cider.

FingerPaints Holly Good Times Nail Polish, Two Coats

Just Plum Fun is a rich plum with a subtle shimmer, also a two coater.

FingerPaints Just Plum Fun Nail Polish, Two Coats

Merry Mittens is a rust red shimmer with fine gold glitter. In two coats, the polish is opaque and the fine glitter shows through very well without being over the top - it's festive without being too much at all.

FingerPaints Merry Mittens Nail Polish, Two Coats

Mistletoe Mischief was the only one of the six that required a third coat for me. The polish was a bit thin, but for a Christmas green shimmer with tiny flaky bits, I'll do a third coat.

FingerPaints Mistletoe Mischief Nail Polish, Three Coats

Last up, in keeping with the traditional ordering of things, is my favorite of the collection, Mulberry Madness. This one's a mulberry base with silver and mulberry glitter. It's gorgeous and it's good in two coats.

FingerPaints Mulberry Madness Nail Polish, Two Coats

So those are the six colors in FingerPaints' Winter Dreams, and I really like every one of them. As for generalities regarding the collection, I found the shimmers with lots of glitter (Winter Wishes & Mulberry Madness) were quite thick, but after two thin coats and two coats of top coat, they're perfect. With the other four, when applying them I questioned whether they could be possibly opaque in inly two coats because the first looks really thin, but they're just fine. No changes have been to the brush or bottle, and I had nary a wonky brush, so I really have nothing at all to complain about.

The FingerPaints Winter Dreams Collection will be available online on Sally Beauty Supply's site and in stores in November. That's all I have for you today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Beige , FingerPaints , Glitter , green , nail polish , purple , red

Sally Hansen Haunted & Emerald Amethyst

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Since duochromes seem to be making quite a return right now, I thought I'd show you one of my favorites from the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms line, Emerald Amethyst. The sun is absolutely not cooperating today, so the best I can do is give you a sense of how cool this one is.

Since Nail Prisms seem to be pretty sheer, I picked a charcoal shimmer base for it, which I find to blend a little better than a black creme, and the one I used was Sally Hansen Haunted, which is a New Lengths from a few years ago, and I think it was a Canadian exclusive. Haunted needed two coats over a base, and while I gave it a few minutes to set, I took a picture of it alone.

Sally Hansen Haunted Nail Polish, Two Coats

I added two coats of Emerald Amethyst to it, waited a few minutes, then added Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine to dry it all. Here are a few pictures under a completely overcast sky to give you a hint at what it really looks like in decent light.

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Straight On View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst, Angled View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Angled View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst, Close Angled View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Close Angled View

Sally Hansen Salon Emerald Amethyst, Final Angled View

Sally Hansen Salon Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Final Angled View

You can see that straight on, it's kind of a purple mauve, but from any angle it's really green, which make it a lot of fun to play with in the light. I'm glad to see a return of duochromes, and hope that some of the new ones coming out are as cool as the old ones with some different color combinations. I haven't seen any yet that strike me as unique, but hope springs eternal.

That's my ode to Emerald Amethyst, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Duochrome , green , grey , nail polish , purple , Sally Hansen , Sally Hansen Nail Prisms

MAC Rain of Flowers

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was looking for a purple to wear today, and I settled on an untried polish, MAC Rain of Flowers. It's a deep purple shimmer which is well pigmented, completely opaque in two coats, and easy to control.

MAC Rain of Flowers Nail Polish, Two Coats

Other than that, I don't have a heck of a lot else for you today. If you're not wearing purple yet today, Google "wear purple 10/20" to see why you might want to, then go slap on something purple. Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in MAC , nail polish , purple

Konad Plate M44

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been Konading more in recent days, and have pictures of a couple of Konadicures for you today. Both use Konad plate m44, a tip pattern, for the stamping.

First up is two coats of SpaRitual Shoot for the Stars stamped with woven tip pattern in Konad white.

Konad Plate M44 over SpaRitual Shoot for the Stars Nail Polish

The other I'm wearing today, and I had to use artificial light. It's three coats of Essie Pretty Edgy with the inverse basket weave tip pattern from M44 in Konad Blue.

Konad Plate M44 over Essie Pretty Edgy Nail Polish

Those are my recent Konadicures with plate M44. I have a bunch of stuff to swatch for you, but lately I've just been so tickled by Konad that swatching waits...

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Essie , green , Konad , Nail Art , nail polish , purple , SpaRitual

Zoya Fire & Ice Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Zoya sent me samples of their Fire & Ice Collection for Holiday 2010 for review, and I have swatches of them for you. There are six shades in the collection, all of which were just fine to apply, all good in two coats. I took the pictures in the sun, and they're just in alphabetical order.

Crystal is a foily blue with gold bits, a really cool winter blue.

Zoya Crystal Nail Polish, Two Coats

Gloria is a very warm rose pink foil with gold.

Zoya Gloria Nail Polish, Two Coats

Lisa is a very bright, slightly pinkish red that has the sort of sparkly finish we've seen a good bit of lately.

Zoya Lisa Nail Polish, Two Coats

Sarah is also red, a bit deeper and cooler than Lisa. Note: Thre press release calls this Sarah, the label says Sara.

Zoya Sarah Nail Polish, Two Coats

Tiffany is a peachy foil, and although I normally shy away from peach, I really like it with this finish.

Zoya Tiffany Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last one, Valerie, is a great sparkly wine shade. I haven't been able to compare them yet, but I think it's similar to Nubar Vino.

Zoya Valerie Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's Zoya's Fire & Ice Collection, which is available today. I'm quite a fan of them - I really like the colors, the finishes, and how they work together, and the polishes are easy to work with. There's nothing I would call a dud in this collection.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Blue , nail polish , Peach , purple , red , Zoya

Some Limited Edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicures

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I swatched a few of the new limited edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polishes, and I have pictures of them for you today. The sun wasn't the best I've ever had for pictures, but good enough to get by. I swatched three of the shimmers before my patience for swatching wore thin.

I only got the colors from this collection that I really like so I don't have all the names in front of me, but of those I got, I can't make sense of the names or see how they're related to one another. They're pretty bad. But truthfully, if the worst thing about a polish is its name, I can live with that.

These all applied really well, now that I'm used to the wacky brush they have, and the colors are strong. First up is Perfect Match (which immediately makes me ask, "To what?"), a great red shimmer. It's on the dark side of real red and has a really glowy shimmer - I'm thinking it might be the perfect pedicure red. This is two coats of Perfect Match (completely dry).

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Perfect Match Nail Polish, Two Coats

The one with the worst name has received a good bit of hype, Sequin Scandal (a scandal related to one sequin). It reminds me a lot of the old Revlon Blacker Lacquer Talk Dirty. Here's two coats of Sequin Scandal, which I think I like better in the bottle than on my nails. It's smooth, it's the small flaky bits that make it look lumpy.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Sequin Scandal Nail Polish, Two Coats

Back to one I like: Problem Child (not an inherently bad name, I just don't see how it's related to the other color names). This one's a deep plum with flaky shimmer bits. It looks deep plum indoors, not black, and I like it.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Problem Child Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's a good start to what this display offers. Although I got most of them, I did leave behind a few cremes that just weren't sufficiently noteworthy to buy. Now I've worn two and swatched two more, and I like them quite a bit. A happy surprise about Starry, Starry Flight was that it was easy to remove - I think the glitter's fine enough to make it completely not a hassle to take off, which also bodes well for the red glitter.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader. I'll show you the rest of my picks from this display as the week wears on. Untl then, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in brown , nail polish , purple , red , Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure , vampy

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Bewitched

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was looking for something dignified this morning, and I picked Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Bewitched, which is one of the upcoming limited edition Tracy Reese polishes for fall 2011.

Bewitched is an interesting shade in a good way, kind of a cross between plum and the (I can't think of a more savory description for this) dried blood shades with a creme finish. I used a base coat, two coats of color, and a top coat for this manicure. I found that Bewitched almost gives full coverage in one thin coat, but I did need the second to make it completely even on all ten nails. It dried to be pretty markedly darker than bottle color, as you can see in the picture. This is Bewitched on a cloudy day.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Bewitched Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's quite a big difference between bottle shade and dry-on-the-nail shade, but I'm happy with how it looks on the nail. The down side to a significant difference in bottle color versus dry color is that I have to remember that Bewitched is one of that dries darker, but if that's its biggest trouble, I can live with it.

Bewitched does have the usual Complete Salon Manicure brush, which I know is not the most popular design ever, but it's worth noting that it does a really nice job once you get a feel for it. I don't recall what the first shade from this line that I used was, but I do recall thinking that it looked like I'd let a little kid paint my nails the first time I used this brush. It has an unusually long stem, lots and lots of short bristles trimmed to a rounded shape, and it's wider than average, and the result is that it holds a lot of polish and is a little harder to manipulate than most. Since I have great big nails by some standards, that might seem like a good thing, but it's easy to pick up way more polish with it than I want for one nail. I found that wiping off both side of the brush inside of the bottle's neck rather than just one side as I normally do fixes the issue of quantity, and once the excess polish is wiped off, I found it's way easier to control where the remaining polish goes. Having gotten a feel for using the CSM brush, it does a great job (there was no cleanup on this mani), but it took several crappy to marginally bad manicures to get to that point. Since the colors in this line are so often very nice, it was worth the effort of learning to work with the brush.

That is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Bewitched, the first of the Fall 2011 Tracy Reese polishes that Sally Hansen's PR sent for review, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in nail polish , purple , Sally Hansen , Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure , Tracy Reese

SpaRitual Endless Possibilities

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm still working my way through the SpaRitual Imagine collection, and today I have Endless Possibilities for you. It's a super dark plum creme, so dark that it's kind of hard to tell it's not black even in the bottle. I used three coats of it - was was almost sufficient, but the color wasn't totally even at two. It applied well and dried in average time, but I'm a little dissapointed in this one just because it's so dark it looks black in normal light.

Here, under bright artificial light, it looks a little lighter than it does in normal light. Even at that, the picture's pretty close to black.

SpaRitual Endless Possibilities Nail Polish, Three Coats

I don't hate Endless Possibilities because I really don't have a ton of blackened cremes, but I was a little let down that it's not more interesting. The others in this collection are very strong, which makes this one seem even weaker in comparison.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in nail polish , purple , SpaRitual , SpaRitual Imagine , vampy

SpaRitual Health, Wealth & Happiness

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I got some polishes from SpaRitual's Imagine Collection, their Fall 2010 release, and I have one of them to show to you today.

Health, Wealth, & Happiness is a deep blue/purple duochrome, and a really good duo chrome at that. It flashes blue to purple even in low light. It's a little sheer, and I used three coats, which seems to be the absolute minimum (the coverage isn't really 100% at three coats). Here it is finished with a top coat.

SpaRitual Health, Wealth & Happiness Nail Polish, Three Coats

I like this one a lot, and haven't seen a whole lot like it.

On an entirely unrelated note, the Chanel Khaki polishes became available on chanel.com today, but the site is painfully slow. I got an order through, it was just a matter of waiting about five minutes for each page to load. It wasn't too bad while doing something else in another browser.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Blue , Duochrome , nail polish , purple , SpaRitual , SpaRitual Imagine

Chanel Soho Nail Lacquers

Good evening, Dear Reader!

Today I have the two new limited edition Chanel nail polishes released for the re-opening of Chanel's Soho boutique. Although I like both, neither is so unique that I'd trample anyone to get them.

Strong is a dark eggplant shimmer. The polish was thick but easy to work with, and required only two coats. Strong has the subtle Chanel shimmer, which shows up well in brighter light bu not so much in lower light.

Chanel Soho: Strong Nail Polish, Two Coats

Steel is a dark gunmetal grey shimmer. It's very dark, kind of like a softened Chanel Black Satin. Like Strong, it was thick but easily controlled, and also a two-coater.

Chanel Soho: Steel Nail Polish, Two Coats

They're both quite nice for cooler weather, but neither is terribly unique.