Misa
The ALU Archives – Misa Wishing On A Star
 The ALU Archives focuses on older, beloved shades from the All Lacquered Up stash.
I hate Valentine’s Day! Hate, hate, hate it. To those of you that love it, enjoy it, celebrate it, don your best pink & red… that’s great. Me, not so much. I’m not a big holiday person to begin with but one that puts so much pressure on couples to make grand romantic gestures and singles to not be alone just doesn’t do it for me. In fact, when I first started dating the boyfriend I told him that a. I never want him to buy me flowers (waste of money & they die) and b. that I NEVER want to celebrate V-day. Call me an unromantic cynic, that’s fine. So instead of being all sweet and girly with a pink or crimson nail, I decided to pull out one of my fave black/gunmetal polishes, Misa Wishing On A Star. |
Note: I bought Wishing On A Star when the Dance Fever collection was first released so my bottle contains the old Misa formula. They have since gone Big 3 Free but not all of the shades have been transitioned. Be sure to check your bottle or ask the retailer before purchasing if you are concerned about the chemicals.
What I love most about Wishing On A Star is the micro-shimmer. Instead of just pumping a lot of silver glitter in a black base, there are randomly dispersed burgundy and green specks to add character. The finish is actually very similar to Dior Black Diamonds, it’s just not as inky black.
What’s your favorite black polish? Are you planning to wear red or pink for V-day? Anyone else on the anti-Valentine’s Day bus with me?
Misa Poisoned Passion for Fall 2008
Jewel tones and vampy nail shades are carrying over from last Fall and Misa Cosmetics is putting their twist on the trend. The recently launched Poisoned Passion collection is a lineup of six rich shades. With five shimmers and one creme, these colors pack a lot of punch. They are all very lush.
The last time I reviewed a Misa collection, Love Connections, it was right after their switch to become Big 3 Free. You may remember that I was non-plused with the formula then but, I’m seeing an improvement in this new lineup. While I still had issues with application of a couple shades (Dying Love & Fatal Affair) the rest flowed quite nicely. One thing that has remained consistent is the high level of pigmentation. Each polish only required two coats.
Toxic Seduction – Let’s start out with my favorite color of the bunch. Of course it’s the green, duh! You might call the base color a blackened teal or blue-green but the hints of gold shimmer warm it up a bit. Though I wouldn’t say its a forest green. More like a franken of Gussied Up Green & Rodeo Fanatic. Regardless of how you describe it, I have just one word – WINNER! I looked for it’s closest living relative in my stash and found Poison Ivy from Nailed by Sleek UK (shown below).
A Sin Worth Committing’s base color is royal blue, like OPI Dating A Royal. No purple undertones in the slightest. It’s most definitely a superb navy shimmer however, I found that OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue is close enough that you wouldn’t need both. A Sin Worth Committing is just a touch bolder.
Dying Love is a tricky one. Both in application and color description. I guess it’s appropriate for the punkiest color to be the problem child. Not quite jet black yet too dark to be gunmetal gray, Dying Love falls somewhere between Lippmann Hit Me With Your Best Shot and Sally Hansen Salon Black Orchid (a LE color).
Fatal Affair is similar to Misa Blueberry Glaze in that BG is a purple tinged blue and Fatal Affair is a blue tinged purple. Though the blue shimmer affected my ability to show the true color. It’s more purple in real life. Compared to one of my favorite purples, Misa Dreamy Purple, it is deeper with a red-violet base.
Forbidden Lust is a deep red based purple shimmer. Like a dark amethyst. In looking for a dupe, I found that it’s a deeper version of NYX Wild (#2 on the linked image).
The only creme in the group, Love Bite, is a vampy browned red. It’s bright berry base makes 2-3 coats necessary to achieve bottle color. I have to say that this is the one color I wasn’t all that jazzed over. As you can see below, it’s very similar to Misa Stiletto so not really a must have for me.
The Poisoned Passion collection is available for sale online at MisaCosmetics.com and Head2ToeBeauty.com.
So fanatics, what do you think? What did you/are you buying from the collection?
Fanatic Feedback – Matching Tips and Roots?
So I was reading this post from the Jet Set Girls about matching your nail polish to your hair color. She wore Naturally Rich from MAC’s N Colour Collection and had people comment on how well it worked with her auburn locks. To be honest, I’ve never thought about that pairing. Only about how the color works with my skin tone or outfit. Just off the top of my head, I think that Misa Chocolate Icing would be my hair match due to it’s reddish undertone.
What about you? Have you ever purposely matched your tips to your roots? What lacquer best matches your tresses?
Ding, Ding, Ding… We Have A Winner!!!
I want to thank everyone who entered All Lacquered Up’s Guess Me game. I received a lot of great guesses but none of them were correct. Though a lot of you thought it was OPI Bogota Blackberry or Changing of the Garnet and I don’t own either of those shades.
Drumroll please… It’s Misa Wine Burgandy.
Misa Love Connections
I’m way late in posting these pics due to my break. Love Connections was meant for Valentine’s Day but I think the colors translate well for spring as well. Also these colors are made with Misa’s new formula using nanotechnology to make the polish adhere to the nail better and last longer.
When I was swatching the colors on my nail, I definitely noticed a difference from the old Misa formula I’m used to. In my opinion, this new formula is much thicker and more difficult to apply. I had a lot of difficulty getting my coats smooth due to the thickness of the polish. I found that I needed to remove a LOT of polish from my brush before applying in order to get a good result. In fact, I needed to redo these swatches just to get them presentable for you all. 
I have to say that Ur Beautiful is my favorite shade in the bunch. It works really well with my skin tone and is a color I don’t have in a creme finish. Unfortunately because all the polishes are cremes the shades aren’t extremely unique but they are opaque and very pretty. Since I don’t have a lot of cremes, these will fit nicely into my collection but there aren’t any I would call “must haves.”
I plan to do an experiment comparing this new formula to the old Misa formula in terms of durability. I hope to have the results for you all in the next few weeks.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
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