365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. Happy Hump Day Fanatics!  My nails were dying for a break and in need of some major TLC so while I am apologizing for the delay in posts my nails aren’t. I made the switch to non-acetone remover a few months ago to help prevent drying and I obsessively apply cuticle oil but sometimes my little buddies just need a rest. btw, Nubar’s Cucumber remover is the business. So getting back to my untrieds, we’re on Day #119 and I’m digging into my Nails Inc stash. I wanted something bright and fun but I was also curious about the 3D Glitters so I paired the creamy Warwick Way with Special Effects Sloane Square. Let’s see how it turned out.

Formula & Application: The Nails Inc formula varies in terms of ingredients.Warwick Way is 3-Free and Sloane Square is 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and free of camphor, which can be an irritant. The round glass bottles are topped with a thick, round, smooth cap of the same width.  The brush is round and pretty thick with bristles that give some resistance when you try to fan it out.

Warwick Way was a dream to apply. The formula is thin and easy to control yet rich with pigment. It flows on the nail effortlessly and levels out nice and even, drying with a high gloss shine. Two coats delivered perfect coverage. Since Sloane Square is a semi-sheer glitter and I used one coat of it to add some glitz to my manicure.

Nails Inc Warwick Way is a BRIGHT, almost neon, teal creme. It’s one baby step away from neon, that’s how bright it is. What’s interesting is that indoors, it looks really green but in sunlight it looks more aqua, though not as blue as China Glaze Aqua Baby. I photographed it in the sun because capturing this color in anything but direct sunlight is a CHALLENGE. That’s why I’m not showing a comparison, it’s too hard to translate this color’s vibrancy to a screen. Though if you’re looking for a color reference, Hard Candy Frenzy has the same base color. It’s just a lighter version.

I thought adding a coat of Nails Inc Sloane Square would make for a fun combo but I’m not sold on it as a pair. Sloane Square has a smoky grey semi-sheer base that is filled with graphite micro-glitter and holographic sequins. The base color darkens Warwick Way, making it a murkier and the sequins look out of place. Indoors it looks really sea-green.

Bottom Line: This is one manicure where the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. I love how bold and vivid Warwick Way is and that I don’t have any almost-neons quite like it. I really dig the gunmetal glitter party that is Sloane Square but together, I’m not feeling it. I think Warwick Way would look much better under a Nfu Oh flakie and Sloane Square would be phenom over one of the sapphire blues or concrete greys that will be making waves this fall.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: I’m STASHing them both but making a mental note not to wear them together again.

Nails Inc Warwick Way and Special Effects Sloan Square 3D Glitter are available exclusively in the US at select Sephora stores (see full list) and online at Sephora.com. Nails Inc nail polishes retail for $9.50/ea for a .33oz bottle.

Thoughts on these colors? What do you think of them layered together? What would you put Sloane Square over? Have you discovered a new Nails Inc fave since the line launched at Sephora?

Disclosure: Product samples were provided by reps for Nails Inc. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. Untried Day #117: I’m already declaring magnetic nail polish to be the new crackle and with LCN being the first out of the gate in the US, I’m sure it will put them on the map with consumers in the States. I met with the owners of LCN USA at Cosmoprof and I had no clue that the brand has been in the US for 20 years. What’s funny about that is I placed an order with a German e-tailer years ago and picked up a LCN polish not knowing it was available here. I didn’t even swatch or blog about it at the time because I know how hard it can be to get nail polishes from overseas outside of swapping. So now that I know that this color is accessible to both my US and European Fanatics, I figured it was time to crack it open. That brings us to today’s untried, LCN Blue Laguna.

Formula & Application: I’m still not clear about the ingredients in LCN nail polish but I will investigate further. The polishes come in both a 8ml size and 16ml size. I have the smaller of the two. The square bottles have a smooth cap with rounded edges and a long, full-size brush.

The brush is thin and round with bristles that have an average firmness but enough give to allow the brush to flatten and fan across the nail. The brush is top notch and allows you to complete a perfectly smooth stroke along the cuticle line.

The formula is nice and thin but well pigmented. I only needed two coats to get the polish opaque. I must be on some kind of kick at the moment because the finish and formula both remind me a LOT of Nubar Indigo Ocean. The only difference is that the metallic/pearl shimmer is a bit stronger in this one so you can end up with some brush lines if you aren’t careful.

LCN Blue Laguna is a deep aquamarine shade that borders on teal. Another similarity between it and Nubar Indigo Ocean is that the depth and intensity of the color just doesn’t translate. That’s true for almost every nail polish but this color has a fire behind it that the camera just can’t capture.

In looking for comparisons I pulled a few shades hoping to find a match. The glorious MAC Whirlwind is way too dark and duo-chromatic to play in this pool but China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic and Icing Deep Pool can definitely hang.

Ignoring the difference in finish between Rodeo Fanatic and Blue Laguna, which I keep wanting to call Blue Iguana btw, the base colors are actually very similar however RF dries quite a bit darker. Deep Sea on the other hand has the same finish but it has a lighter, greener hue to it.

Bottom Line: I’m not like over the moon for Blue Laguna but it has a solid formula and a great depth of color. It will definitely cause me to try more LCN polishes in the future. In all reality, even though they are different, any polish looks flat next to Rodeo Fanatic. It’s almost unfair to Blue Laguna that I even compared the two because it’s clouding my judgement.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: Since I don’t have a dead-on dupe for it, I’m STASHing it.

LCN Blue Laguna is available online to consumers at LCNBoutique.com and licensed professionals at LCNUSA.com. LCN nail polish retails for$7.50/ea for a 8ml bottle or $9.90/ea for a 16ml bottle.

Thoughts on Blue Laguna? Have you tried LCN’s nail polish before? Any favorite shades from the line? Do you plan to pick up either the magnetic or regular nail polishes from the brand?

Disclosure: I purchased this nail polish. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. I only own one bottle of L’Oreal Paris nail polish and it didn’t come in to my collection until this past spring. Why is that? For starters, their core lineup of colors are so the opposite of me (pinks, reds, neutrals) that I never give it a second glance. Second, when I do happen to see some more fun colors, they usually resemble something I’ve seen somewhere else. I’m looking at you Passport to Paradise, aka Essie North Fork dupes. However, L’Oreal Blue Marine caught my eye on the seasonal makeup display shelf because of the duo-chrome promise made by a flash of blue-violet in the bottle. Let’s see if it delivered on that promise, shall we?

Formula & Application: L’Oreal Paris nail polish is 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and free of camphor, which can be an irritant. The bottles have an interesting cap with its curved back that lays comfortably against your finger when polishing. The brush is flat, thin and long. It’s not as wide as OPI’s, which I find to be a plus. The bristles are flexible but dense so it doesn’t fan out too wide.

The formula itself is pretty thin and easily spreadable but it’s low on pigmentation. Even after three coats I could still hints of VNL (visible nail line). Also because of the amount of smooth glitter in the lacquer, it is a bit problematic to remove.

L’Oreal Blue Marine is a blue-green foil-esque shimmer. The color falls somewhere between a turquoise and teal and unfortunately, that cool duo-chrome look from the bottle was nowhere to be found on the nail. I wouldn’t go so far to call the finish a true foil glitter as the particles are much smaller and don’t look as sparkly on the nail.

In terms of color comparisons, LA Girl Rock Star Head Banging has a similar base color as Blue Marine though Head Banging is more vivid and certainly more glitzy. Another color cousin is China Glaze Watermelon Rind though it’s a bit darker with a more unique finish.

Bottom Line: While this is a color range I love, Blue Marine lacks the depth I was hoping for. Considering that I have two other polishes with a similar hue that I love, love, love, Blue Marine just doesn’t stand up against them.  The thing is, I really liked the formula and application but this is a limited edition color. If L’Oreal wants me to stop and stare in the future, they really need to include more shades like this in their permanent line.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: I wanted to love this but it fell flat. SHARE!

L’Oreal Blue Marine was a limited edition release from Spring 2011 so I don’t know if it’s still available anywhere. If you like this color, I suggest you pick up LA Girl Rock Star Head Banging from LAGirlUSA.com or CherryCulture.com.

Thoughts on L’Oreal Blue Marine? Are you a fan of L’Oreal nail polish? What are  your favorite colors from the line?

Disclosure: I purchased this nail polishFor more info view my Disclosure Policy.

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. Ah, where to begin. I’m not really one to overshare the details of my life that include other people but I’ve been kind of a mess the past of couple days. I came home Thursday from Put-In-Bay to find out that my dad went to the emergency room, thinking he had a heart attack. As an only child with very little extended family, my parents are my whole world and my father is my rock. He may tease me like he’s the older brother I never had and he may be more stubborn than me (which is a feat) but he’s funny, smart, caring and, most importantly, always there when I need him. So needless to say, I’ve pretty much been a crying mess ever since. Even now as I wait to see if he will be released, I’m crying just typing this. While I have every belief that he will be okay, if you could send a positive thought his way, it would mean the world to me. As you can imagine, talking about polish is about the last thing I care about right now so I’m not even going to apologize for effing up my 365. Some things are just more important than polish. Needing a little cheering up, I put on Barielle A Bouquet For Ava which came out with the Barielle Wildflower Collection last year and was created to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. There’s even a group that raises awareness for the disease through nail polish called Teal Toes.

Formula & Application: Barielle nail polish is 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and free of camphor, which can be an irritant. The long, thin plastic caps house a round, dense brush with flexible bristles. Barielle’s brush was definitely developed with a professional in mind even though it is a consumer brand. It doesn’t hold too much polish and it easily fans out, giving great coverage and control, without any resistance that could cause dragging.

The polish is highly pigmented, barely needing two coats, and has a thin, creamy consistency that allows you to lay down thin coats without streaking. The only downside I can see is that the color does stain a bit so be careful during removal to avoid smurf fingers.

Barielle A Bouquet For Ava is a medium teal creme that leans heavily towards blue. I wouldn’t quite classify it as a “bright” even though it is rich and vibrant. I think that’s what I like about it. It feels very season-less in that it isn’t some moody muted color more suitable to fall/winter yet it isn’t a screaming bright aqua that some may deem “too loud” outside of summer.

Back when I reviewed the OPI Hong Kong collection, I included A Bouquet for Ava in my Suzi Says Feng Shui comparison and against all the polishes featured, the Barielle shade is much brighter/greener than its competitors.

The closest I’ve come to finding a twin is MAC Morning After from the Alice & Olivia collection though A Bouquet For Ava isn’t quite as murky or green.  Though, since that one is discontinued, it’s kind of a moot point unless you own Morning After and want to avoid having too many polishes of that color family.

Bottom Line: The formula is full of win and the color is gorgeous. It’s not the most unique shade I’ve ever seen and I certainly have plenty of teals but this one takes me to my happy place and right now, that’s a very good thing. If you haven’t tried Barielle before or you’re looking to beef up your blue-green arsenal, A Bouquet For Ava won’t let you down.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: I’m STASHing it.

Barielle A Bouquet For Ava is available online at Barielle.com. While Barielle treatments are carried in a number of retailers, Shades nail polish availability will vary by location. Visit their store locator for details. Barielle nail polishes retail for $8/ea for a .5oz bottle but they regularly offer specials to their email list and are always BOGO 50% off.

Thoughts on A Bouquet For Ava? Are you a fan of Barielle nail polish? What is your favorite teal? Have you ever polished your toes teal in support of ovarian cancer?

Disclosure: A product sample was provided by Barielle. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. I first learned of Cult Nails from my friend and fellow Ohioan, Styrch from Pretty In Dayton. The brand intrigued me but being that I didn’t know the founder, Maria from R3Daily, I was a bit skeptical. As we’ve learned, some brands rely on private label companies to throw together a nail polish line using stock colors that can be easily found at a much lower cost. What convinced me to give Cult Nails a try is Maria herself. Learning about her passion for nails and desire to cultivate the brand by building slowly with custom colors is truly inspiring. I was thrilled to put her formula and colors to the test and I’m starting with Cult Nails Living Water.

Formula & Application: Cult Nails nail polish is 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and free of camphor, which can be an irritant. The bottle is pretty plain in that it looks like the empty bottles I buy for frankening from beauty supply stores. I’m sure creating a custom bottle is pricey but I hope that the success of the brand will bring a more unique bottle shape.

The big round plastic cap houses a brush that is clearly of Maria’s choosing. It is a round brush of average length and noticeable girth. The bristles are nice and flexible so they fan out easily across the nail plate without causing any dragging. In short, I love the brush. It is definitely in contention for my favorite nail polish brush.

The consistency of Living Water is that of a watery, squishy, jelly. The first coat applies a bit patchy, and I found that if you don’t wait a minute between coats, you end up with dragging near the cuticle and pooling near the tip. With two medium coats or three thin coats you get full coverage. My only real disappointment is in how it dries. The glitter gives it quite a bit of texture and even though the base is jelly it dries a bit flat. I found that using a coat of Gelous between the polish and the top coat resolves that as Gelous acts like spackle to fill in the bumpy spots.

Cult Nails Living Water is a blackened teal jelly with blue and green micro-glitter. It was created by a nail blogger, as part of a contest run by Cult Nails, who hoped to find a color that mimics phosphorescence in the water. Being a boater, I knew this had to be the first color I tried from the line and it lived up to all my expectations. The base color reminds me a LOT of one of my all time favorite polishes, CND NFS, though it’s not quite as blackened.

Since Styrch has mentioned that Cult Nails polishes “wear like iron” I wanted to see for myself. I put Living Water to the test, keeping it on my nails for seven days with Gelous base coat and Out The Door top coat. With the exception of a minute chip on my index finger and some slight tip wear, it looked flawless. Note: I did this wear test without the Gelous buffer between the polish and top coat and as you can see, the surface has texture and isn’t as glossy as the swatch above.

Bottom Line: Cult Nails puts out a quality product and Living Water is an interesting and gorgeous color so I suggest you get involved. Outside of the texture issue, my only real gripe is the bottle design as that cap and generic bottle shape do a serious disservice to what is clearly a unique brand.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: STASH, duh!

Cult Nails Living Water is available online at CultNails.com. Cult Nails polishes retail for $10/ea for a .5oz bottle though you can buy it as part of the Inaugural Collection ($35) or Cult Convert Pack ($70) at a discount. Also, I suggest you follow @CultNails on Twitter as Maria has offered discount codes to followers in the past.

Have you heard of Cult Nails before? What do you think of Living Water? Are you planning to make a purchase from the brand in the future? If you’ve tried Cult Nails, what is your favorite shade from the line?

Disclosure: A product sample was provided by Cult Nails. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. The other day when I posted about Wet n Wild Blue Wants To Be A Millionaire I mentioned that I found it in a bag with a couple other WnW polishes. Well Teal of Fortune was one of them. Even though I don’t remember exactly when I bought the polishes I do remember that shopping trip. The boyfriend and I had stopped at Walgreens before a movie to pick up some candy to smuggle in (I know we’re terrible). And no matter how little time I have, I can’t enter a drugstore without perusing the beauty section. There wasn’t anything that caught my eye in the seasonal displays but when I got a glimpse of these new Wet n Wild Fastdry polishes I had to take a closer look. Are any of you surprised that I snapped up Teal of Fortune without even inspecting it? To paraphrase Miss Violet Beauregard, “So long as it’s [green], then that’s for me.”

Formula & Application: Wet n Wild Fastdry nail polish is 4-Free (including Formaldehyde Resin). The bottle has an odd shape as the back looks like a hexagon and the front is a smooth half circle. The cap is also unique in that it’s kind of a bulbous round shape with ridges in two sides to give you a place to grip.

As I stated in my initial review of the Fastdry brush it reminds me of a horse tail. It’s fat and bushy with stiff bristles that appear to be cut on an angle. Flat out, I’m NOT a fan but this polish’s brush was a bit better than the first. It wasn’t as much of a pain to work with but I still wouldn’t call it user friendly.

The formula on this one had the same squishy texture I had previously experienced but because this is a foil and not a straight up glitter the pigmentation level was much higher. I ended up using three coats of polish but if my free edge wasn’t so dominant, peeking through the polish, I could have gotten away with two.

Wet n Wild Teal of Fortune is a seawater blue-green foil. The semi-sheer jelly base is actually more turquoise but when you factor in the gold and green and turquoise foil glitter flakes, the overall color become more murky and green.

I’m sure you could guess based on the picture above where I looked first in terms of comparisons. The dupe trifecta that caused such a craze last summer; OPI Catch Me In Your Net, Orly Halley’s Comet and Zoya Charla. Since they are all essentially the same I chose to use the OPI for comparison purposes.

The base colors are pretty much identical in these two polishes. The only difference is the amount of foil glitter. Teal of Fortune looks much darker and less sparkly on the nail due to a lower level of foil particles. This picture doesn’t capture the differences as much as I would like but they are definitely there.

Bottom Line: I was a fan of Teal of Fortune’s predecessors last year so I’m definitely a fan. If you missed out on buying one of its older triplet sisters, your wallet will love you for picking this one up.  However, if you did manage to scoop up the OPI, Orly or Zoya dupes you really don’t need this unless you are in the market for a less glitzy version. The only major downside is the staining. I mean holy stains, Batman! Have the Orly Cutique on standby when it’s time for removal.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: I’m very happy with OPI CMIYN so I don’t see the need for keeping this one. SHARE!

Wet n Wild Teal of Fortune is available at drugstores nationwide.Wet n Wild Fastdry polishes retail for $1.99/ea for a .46oz bottle though prices can vary by store.

Thoughts on Teal of Fortune? Do you plan to pick up a bottle? How many of you own all three of the dupes I mentioned?

Disclosure: I purchased this nail polish. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. In December we talked about Essie entering the mass retail market with an edited selection of their core collection colors and new retail exclusives.  ”Retail exclusives” made my ears perk up so I was curious to see what kind of colors the mass consumer would get versus what Essie offers to salons. To be honest when the L’oreal buyout of Essie became public I was skeptical of how this type of change would be received.  Unlike a lot of salon brands that have ended up filtering into mass retailers via the gray market, Essie was one that I rarely came across.  At least in my tiny piece of the universe.  But I have yet to hear a big uproar from the salon community about L’oreal bringing Essie to the mass crowd. Anywho, as soon as I spotted my first Essie retail display I zeroed in on the blues and greens and came home with Dive Bar and Trophy Wife.  Of course I rush to buy these colors and where do they end up?  Good question.  This past weekend I was cleaning out a drawer looking for receipts (oh joyous tax season) when I found the polishes still in the drugstore bag.  I must have hid them in a fit of de-cluttering before they made their way to the polish room.  I decided to give Essie Dive Bar a whirl first.

Formula & Application: Essie nail polishes (including the retail line) are 3-Free.  The formula hasn’t changed even though the packaging has.  The bottle still includes the Essie molded logo on two sides but there is now a clear sticker with white lettering on one of the smooth sides.  Also, the cap doesn’t include the embossed “e” on top.  Everything else seems the same with the exception of the volume of polish.  Salon Essie bottles list the volume as .5oz and the Retail Essie bottles say .46oz.  Even though the bottles look the same size there a difference of 1.5mL.  Hmm…

***UPDATE: I was informed by a representative for Essie that there is no difference in the fill amount between Retail and Salon packaging. Due to a change in regulations brands are now required to list fill levels using 2-digits instead of rounding to a single digit. Essie bottles have always contained .46oz of polish and the bottles stating .5oz are being phased out.

Dive Bar had that somewhat watery feel that I’ve come to expect from Essie.  It kind of slides on the nail and feels a bit squishy but, not to worry, the pigmentation is all there.  It’s an easy two coater.

Essie Dive Bar has an oil spill-esque look to it in the bottle.  The tinge of purple on the edge of the bottle is a great indicator that there’s more going on in this party than one would expect.  At its core, Dive Bar is a blackened teal with metallic shimmer.  It teeters on “almost black” territory but I’d say it’s just light enough to avoid that moniker. I love that it can lean either blue or green depending on the light.  And that hint of purple, you can see it hovering around the edges of the nail like a frame.

Bottom Line: I’m a bit puzzled by the polish volume discrepancy between the salon and retail bottles but that’s not enough to turn me off.  I rarely go through a bottle of polish so the 1.5mL isn’t a deal breaker but I think there should be consistency in size if the price is the same at both the retail and salon level.  Outside of that, I’m loving that there are some shades, like Dive Bar, in the Retail Exclusives that appeal to my more adventurous sense of color.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: Oh it’s already filed away in my Helmers.  STASH!

Essie Dive Bar is part of the Essie Retail Exclusives that can be found at mass retailers nationwide. Essie nail polishes retail for $8/ea for a .46 oz bottle.

Are you loving or hating Dive Bar?  Who else picked up a bottle?  Which of the other Retail Exclusive shades have you tried?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on them and the whole Essie Retail concept.

Disclosure: I purchased Essie Dive Bar at my local grocery store.  For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

Remember way back in February 2009 when I had a CalGel Gradation Manicure done at Sakura in NYC?  If you’re not familiar, a gradation manicure creates an ombre effect where the polish fades down the nail.  I wore a version with a purple tip that faded into clear but you can also fade two colors together. As much as I loved the look of my CalGel mani, the thought of spending two hours at the salon to get it done and another half hour or longer to remove it does not sound appealing.  There has to be an easier way.  An at-home method to get the look for less.  Enter butter LONDON Stroppy.

Let me back up a second.  Not long after my Sakura experience I spoke with Celebrity Manicurist Elle and we talked about gradations and how there is such a thing as Gradation Liquid but that it’s somewhat hard to obtain.  I believe unless you have an Asian hookup you’re S.O.L.  Anyway, Elle suggested I try DIYing a jelly polish to create the ombre effect I desired.  That by layering it and moving the starting point of each layer up the nail, I could get the same gradation look at home.

Fast forward to the present and have I tried Elle’s suggested method?  No.  Why?  I have no idea.  Either laziness or I just plain forgot about it.  Regardless, I was attempting to clean up the polish room before my trip to Vegas when I came across the butter LONDON Jelly polishes and inspiration struck.

On its own butter LONDON Stroppy is a sheer, red grape hue packed with red and blue micro-glitter.  Creative Director Nonie Creme specifically designed the Jelly line to be worn as either a sheer wash of color or built up for a more see-through candy look.  These aren’t the kind of jellies that will ever become opaque so, to me, they’re best used for layering.  What you see below is three coats.

Yesterday, I still had on the CND Night Factory Duo and for the heck of it I layered butter LONDON Stroppy on top in the manner Elle suggested.  The result… a stunning gradation blending sparkly teal and glittery purple.  It’s a ridiculously gorgeous combination.  I actually like it so much, I decided to wear it to Vegas for Cosmoprof.

Get The Look: I started with a base of CND Urban Oasis with Teal Sparkle on top.  After that dried I layered Stroppy starting approximately 1/3 of the way up the nail from the cuticle.  I split the top 2/3 of my nail into four sections and those became the starting points for each layer of polish (see below).

With each additional layer the color intensifies so that by the time you get to the fourth coat, the tip is an intense purple.  As you apply, you will be able to see the starting points for each layer but don’t worry, once you add a top coat, they all blend together.

Application Tip: Use thin coats.  Because you are putting at least six layers of polish, plus base and top coat, you want to use extremely thin coats so that your polish dries thoroughly and doesn’t bubble.

The butter LONDON Jelly collection includes two other jelly finish polishes; Chuffed (tangerine) and Twee (raspberry tinged pink). I’m thinking Chuffed would look fantastic over yellow and that Twee would pair nicely with a glitzy purple like Zoya Mimi.  Of course any sheer jelly would work for this look so dig through your stashes and start layering.

The DIY Version: If shelling out for the Jellys isn’t in your budget or you’re just the crafty type, try mixing up your own version at home.  Blend your favorite shade into clear polish a little at a time, until you achieve a sheer wash of color.  Remember, the clear polish should be more predominant in the mix.

Test the polish after each addition, making sure to apply a few coats of color so you can see whether it’s buildable.  If the jelly is too sheer it won’t have enough impact.  If it becomes too opaque, thin it out with a bit more clear.  Think of this as a science experiment and have fun with it.  There is no “perfect” here so mix until you’re happy with the opacity.

The butter LONDON Jelly collection is on sale now at butterLONDON.com and Beauty.com.  The polishes retail for $14/ea for a .4 fl oz bottle.

Let’s hear it Fanatics.  What do you think of my gradation manicure?  Are you into it?  Have any of you created a similar look using a jelly polish?  What are your favorite color combinations?

Disclosure: Product samples for this look were furnished by butter LONDON and CND. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

Like your favorite pair of jeans, the CND Night Factory Duo of Urban Oasis and Teal Sparkle can take you from day to night based on how you wear it.  The blue-green denim creme can be worn alone with a high gloss finish for a chic day look, electrified with Teal Sparkle for a night on the town, or sandblasted with a satin finish matte for a casual weekend look. As I shared with you in previewing “The Look” for Fall/Winter 2010, CND was heavily influenced by the heathery blues, hunter greens and taupe greys as seen on the Marc Jacobs and Rag & Bone Spring 2010 runways.  Those colors came together to form Urban Oasis.  To pair with it, CND chose the largest of their Effects micas to create the illuminating Teal Sparkle.

Formula and Application: CND polishes are 3-Free with a thin, flat brush.  The triangular brush bristles soak up polish like a squeegee mop which means you should allow the brush to hang out in the polish for a couple seconds between strokes.

My experience with the majority of the CND Colours is that they are extremely pigmented and smooth.  Urban Oasis is no exception.  It glides on the nail with ease in three simple strokes, requires only two coats and dries to a perfect, even finish.  Unlike the old CND formula, the Colours all dry very fast with none of those denting issues of the past.

Urban Oasis is a dark teal creme.  During Fashion Week, CND Co-Founder Jan Arnold kept referring to it as spruce and I can’t think of a better descriptor.  To me it’s a throwback to the heavy denim influence of the late 80s.  I remember walking through the mall as a teen and seeing the walls of my favorite clothing stores covered in sweaters and shirts that all incorporated this shade.  In fact there was a v-neck sweater this color from J Riggins that I swear popped up in at least ten school photos one year, including mine!

Comparisons: As far as dupes go, I want to hear your suggestions of course but I think the closest I’ll find in my stash is the blue-green from StrangeBeautiful Volume 3 and Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal. Though Teal is definitely darker.

Teal Sparkle has a clear base packed with teal colored micro-glitter that looks like tiny flakes in the polish.  It’s a particle that dries smooth and reflects varying shades of blue and green depending on the way the light hits it.  Layering it over Urban Oasis amplifies the base color like lighting up a Christmas Tree.

Here’s a closeup where you can see how irregularly shaped flakes lay on the nail.  Doesn’t it look a bit like fish food flakes floating on the surface of an aquarium?

Sunlight

Wear Test: I’ve been meaning to test drive the new 3-Free formulations of CND’s base and top coats for a while now but just kept forgetting.  A few weekends ago I finally got around to it.  I was curious to see how the whole CND  product team would work together.  I paired Stickey and Super Shiney with Urban Oasis and was amazed with how fast the polish dried.

I tend to stick with quick dry top coats due to time constraints even though I know they don’t wear as well.  Well color me impressed when I was able to function in less than 20 minutes.  I put the polish on right before bed and was pleased to wake up the next morning with perfect, dent-free nails.  I kept Urban Oasis on for six days and with the exception of some tip wear, it lasted pretty well.  The shine dulled a bit but nothing drastic.  If it wasn’t for how fast my nails grow I could have left it on another day or so.  I just hated how extreme my gap was getting.

Bottom Line: Green lovers will appreciate Urban Oasis and as I’ve been saying I think teal will be one of the hot colors come fall.  Considering the high quality of CND’s Colours, you won’t be disappointed if you add Urban Oasis to your stable of colors.  Teal Sparkle is a great companion but not as essential as the color itself.

The CND Night Factory Duo of Urban Oasis and Teal Sparkle is limited edition and will go on sale in August 2010. CND Colours retail for $9/ea for a .33 fl oz bottle and CND Effects retail for $11/ea for a .33 fl oz bottle. CND products are sold in salons nationwide and online at BeautyBrands.com, BeBeautiful.com and GoIndulge.com.  Locate a salon near you at CND.com.

Are you loving teal for fall as much as I am?  What do you think of CND’s newest addition to the Colour & Effects line?  Has anyone tried the new version of Stickey or Super Shiney?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Don’t forget to post your comparison requests!!

Disclosure: Product samples were furnished by CND.  For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

If Alice fell down the rabbit hole and met a Makeup Artist instead of the Mad Hatter, M·A·C alice + olivia is the curiously gorgeous collection she’d be rocking!

Hip, playful, unpretentious and unabashedly fun, M·A·C is thrilled to announce the latest collaboration with the most adorably fabulous fashionista we know, designer Stacey Bendet of cult-fave line, alice + olivia.  Celebrities, socials and all-around cool girls from coast to coast are obsessed with a + o’s uptown-meets-downtown aesthetic and colourful, playful vibe, so the inspiration for the makeup collection was a cinch!

Fun, playful and hip all come to mind when I think of MAC and their consistently inventive collections so teaming up with Stacey Bendet of alice + olivia seems like a perfect fit.  When asked why she became involved in a makeup collection Bendet said, “Well, to me it’s all about colour, whether it’s a crazy pair of striped bell-bottoms or the perfect purple nail polish. It’s about a girl having a great time when she dresses up; and who dresses up without makeup?” Ah, a girl after my own heart.  The fact that she appreciates a good purple polish instantly endears her to me. Including a teal in her collection is icing on the cake.

Formula and Application: MAC polishes are free of the Big 3 and Formaldehyde Resin.  The brush is firm and short and the cap is rubberized giving a sturdy grip. I have to admit that when I was applying Morning. After I sounded like Mia Michaels talking to Alex Wong last week on SYTYCD.  I was all, “Who ARE you?”  Seriously this polish applies like a dream and is so easy to control. It’s not that MAC polishes have sucked lately or anything but I think I set myself up for disappointment with their cremes because of their past history of being streak fests.  My MAC mantra has always been that they do glitters & darks best so I was happy to be proven wrong. Now if they could get a harness on the pigmentation their polishes would be the complete package.  All three of these required three coats.

Morning. After is a deep sea blue-green that definitely has enough green in its base to categorize it in the teal family.  I know MAC describes it as a turquoise but it seems too dark for that.  The polish dries to a high gloss shine and even though I’ve been wearing this shade since Saturday it’s still super shiny with very little tip wear.

Is Morning. After the most original polish on the block?  No, but it doesn’t have any true dupes in my collection.  There are some definite close calls in China Glaze Shower Together and Barielle A Bouquet For Ava.  You could probably skip out on the MAC if you own the Barielle but Shower Together is quite a bit lighter.  In fact ST looks like a brighter version of ABfA.

Based on promo pics I was expecting So Rich So Pretty to be a true purple shimmer.  Another in the long line of purples that have come out this season (Funkey Dunkey, Grape Pop, etc.) but it’s so not that.  Instead it’s a punched up red-violet, like magenta and violet had a baby.  The shimmer in this one is tonal so you don’t get flashes of any other colors.  Just pure color.  I wish my camera could have captured the glassy finish on this one.  Even dry it looks dripping wet.

Military is the blackened sister of last winter’s Studded from the Riveting collection.  They are both glittery mattes that dry to a crepe paper-esque finish.  You know I love mattes for their quick dry time but I prefer the shimmery/glittery shades like this one as opposed to flat wall paint.  The only thing that threw me off was the application.  Normally mattes show every imperfection and even though Military applied a bit lumpy and bumpy it dried smooth and even.

I know Studded is completely different but I thought showing them side-by-side would be beneficial.  I also found a somewhat close match in Nubar Midnight Matte.  Midnight Matte has a lot more glitter in its base so it dries a bit lighter but you really only need one of these.

Bottom Line: Are any of these essential to life as a polish fanatic? Not in my opinion. Though I see teal as being the next big thing this Fall after a Turquoise-drenched Summer so if you’re at all into trends, it wouldn’t hurt to pick Morning.After up if your budget allows. MAC packaging collectors (raises hand) will appreciate the a+o themed boxes.

The MAC alice + olivia collection is available now at MACCosmetics.com and is set to hit MAC counters nationwide on July 8th.  MAC Nail Lacquers retail for $12/ea for a .34oz bottle.

What do you think of the color choices?  Do you think they’re a good fit for the alice + olivia brand?  Are you a packaging collector like me?  What products from the collection are you planning to pick up?  Do you have any dupe suggestions for Morning. After or So Rich So Pretty?

Disclosure: Product samples were furnished to me by MAC. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.