Archive for March, 2008
Tracy Reese for Sally Hansen Spring 2008
For Spring 2008 Tracy Reese drew inspiration for her Ready-To-Wear collection from the culture of North Africa. She translated that concept into her fourth collaboration with Sally Hansen’s Salon collection.
I have to tell you, I’m extremely impressed with their Big 3 Free formula. Unlike the majority on the market, these lacquers flow very smooth and even on the nail. The consistency is thin and workable yet highly pigmented. It’s no wonder Sally Hansen dubbed this the Salon Line as it puts most drugstore polishes to shame.
All polishes are shown with two coats of color and no top coat. Exceptions are noted.
Feverish Rose is bright hot pink creme. It’s even more vibrant in person. As with all the cremes in this collection it dries to a high gloss finish. FYI, Feverish Rose is a close relative of OPI I’m Indi-a Mood For Love only Feverish Rose is a little less cool toned. 
Sultry Fuchsia… is the perfect name for this shade. It’s bold and sexy and has me mesmerized. I loved testing it out so much that I made it my vacation tip shade. It has a bit of warmth in spite of its cool pink base. 
Spicy Scarlet has that juicy tomato quality. A red orange creme that is very vivid in person.
Arabian Night is the one that’s causing a ruckus on the MUA nail board. Ever since I posted a preview swatch this golden grape sparkler has created many a lemming. I’ve read tales of gals calling six or more drugstores trying to hunt this shade down and I don’t blame them one bit. It’s totally worth it. An added bonus; regardless of its glittery goodness Arabian Night dries smooth and is easy to remove.
Cherry Glaze isn’t your average cherry bomb red. It has the faintest whisper of shimmer running throughout. It’s not visible it just adds pizazz.
With its jelly like finish, Sumptuous Petal is a carnation pink semi-sheer concoction. I chose to show it opaque with three coats but thanks to its streak free quality it’s also lovely as a one coat sheer. 
Tunisian Sand was the shade chosen for the Tracy Reese runway show last September. It’s very cafe au lait which as a creme would be iffy on me. In my opinion, what makes this golden nude work is the multi-colored micro-glitter. The silver shimmer cools the shade’s warmth while the gold shimmer adds depth. 
The Tracy Reese for Sally Hansen Spring collection is available even if it’s hard to track down. Check with your local drugstores for availability.
Blogdorf’s Cult Classics
Have you all been following the Cult Classics series over on Blogdorf Goodman? If you haven’t, crawl out from the rock you’ve been living under and check it out. Every year Annie and her group of beauty gurus feature a beauty topic for 40 days and 40 nights. In years past the focus has been on Primers and Beauty Brands but this year Annie has really outdone herself by covering the Cult Classics of beauty.
I’m honored to report that the dear Miss A tapped yours truly to report on the infamous OPI Rainforest. And what better day would there be to feature it than St. Patrick’s Day. So hop on over and check out what I had to say about the green to top all greens.
40 Days and 40 Nights of Beauty Cult Classics – OPI Rainforest
image design: Melanie Parker
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
For ’tis green, green, green, where the ruined towers are gray,
And it’s green, green, green, all the happy night and day;
Green of leaf and green of sod, green of ivy on the wall,
And the blessed Irish shamrock with the fairest green of all.
~Mary Elizabeth Blake
I am not the least bit Irish but that doesn’t stop me from loving St. Patrick’s Day, the greenest day of the year. With my undying love of all things emerald, is it any wonder. It’s the one day when draping yourself in it is perfectly acceptable.
Of course that means green is shade of the day for nails and I’ve put together my picks to best express your Irish Pride or just join in the fun. All the polishes featured are current and available for purchase.
My St. Paddy’s Day manicure is of the gorgeous Sinful Colors San Francisco. Sinful Colors is a drugstore brand that you can find at Walgreens. They have a wide variety of shades and are very reasonably priced. The formula on this one is similar to a jelly finish. It spreads like jam on the nail. But the color is so outstanding that I’m willing to play to get it right.
For a darker more forest green look, check out NYX Las Vegas, butter London Thames, Zoya Suvi, China Glaze Outta Bounds and Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle.
And if you want a bolder emerald or springier green, look for Rimmel Underground Camouflage, Carolyn New York Greenwich Ave, Sinful Colors San Francisco or China Glaze Treehugger.
So what are you wearing for St. Patrick’s Day? Have a favorite green I left out?
Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle
Well I can tick one item off of my 2008 Wish List. Thanks to the brilliant Ji Baek, founder of Rescue Beauty Lounge, my dream of finding a quality green creme has come true.
Recycle, part of RBL’s Spring collection, is a glossy forest green creme. The highly pigmented lacquer applies smooth and even; a steady hand could get away with just one coat. I needed two.
The wear on this one really impressed me. I had swatched it on a bare nail to show my mom and thanks to my own laziness I left it on for a couple days. To be honest, when I realized there was no tip wear or chipping after two days I decided to leave it on, just as a test. By day four I had to lose the crazy one green nail look. That’s when I gave it the true test. A five day run with base and top coat and let me tell you, this one really holds up.
Overall, Recycle gets two enthusiastic thumbs up. I just wish it wasn’t so expensive because I really wanted to get Yellow Fever as well. I kind of hate the my eternal love of green forced me to shell out $18.00+ shipping. I know compared to a lot of beauty products on the market that’s nothing but in nail world it is.
China Glaze Summer 2008 – INK
Tattoos are a controversial topic. You either love or hate them. They’re regarded as both beautiful and tacky, depending on who you ask. But no matter what your opinion is, tattoos are extremely personal; a memorial, an artistic expression, a memento of a wild escapade, a drunken regret, a terrible reminder of past events or loves. Inspired by this colorful body art, China Glaze has put together a collection of neons that you can use to create your own tattoo-like nail designs.
Tattoo art has moved out of back alley parlors onto the couture collections of fashion’s top designers. INKâ„¢ by China Glaze is a collection of neons for brilliant self expression. Customize and personalize
…Ink My Nailâ„¢.
INK includes six bold new shades, a set of nail decals and rhinestones, a black nail art lacquer with fine tipped brush, a limited edition bottle of their yummy smelling Orange Cuticle Oil AND the six existing neons from the WOW collection. Now that’s a lot of neon.
A quick word about the finish. As with other neons I’ve used, these all dry to a semi-matte finish. It must have something to do with the type of pigment used to create neon shades. So if you’re looking for high gloss you’ll have to add a shiny top coat. Therefore I’ve shown all the lacquers with two coats of color on the nail and no top coat; exceptions are noted.
Blue Sparrow is a royal blue peppered with light blue glitter. The glitter leaves a gritty feel to the dried polish so between that and the matte finish you really need to use a coat of a thick glossy top coat to bring out the lacquer’s true brilliance. I’m showing you the color without top coat but I included an up close swatch with a coat of Seche Vite.
Celtic Sun is a neon yellow with a hint of green undertones. The polish is shown with three coats on the nail yet the smile line still shows through. I personally prefer a more lemony yellow. This color has a very 80s retro feel to me. It’s a shade right out of the Wham! Wake Me Up Before You Go Go video.
Japanese Koi is the shade of a perfectly ripe tangerine. It’s got a slightly pink base that keeps it from being day-glo orange.
With it’s hot pink base Rose Among Thorns is no average rose. I found this image of the beautiful Cerise Rose and thought this could have been the inspiration for the shade. 
Sacred Heart is a dusty red that is unlike any red I own. There’s something about the satin finish on this one that reminds me of the skin on cherries. Odd reference I know, but it keeps popping in my mind. 
Flying Dragon is my personal favorite from the collection. It is a deep purple that has a reddish tone to it in person. The red and blue glitter really makes this polish unique. Like I mentioned above, the finish is my only real issue with both glitters. For some reason this seems to be a bigger problem with Flying Dragon. According to a rep for China Glaze it is the unfortunate downside of blending neon with glitter. Their suggestion, two coats of Seche Vite to avoid a rough finish. 
The INK collection is available now in salons and online at 8ty8Beauty and coming soon to Head2ToeBeauty.
So who’s going to be sporting bold, bright neons this summer? Which colors are standouts?
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
