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Tag: nail trends

CND Night Factory Duo – Urban Oasis & Teal Sparkle Swatches & Review

By on July 15, 2010
in CND, Fall 2010, Glitter, Teal with 27 Comments
cnd-night-factory-look-fall-2010-urban-oasis-teal-sparkle 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.

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China Glaze Vintage Vixen “Cat’s Meow” Swatches & Review

china glaze Vintage Vixen cat's meow six piece set In spite of the fact that women were called “dames” and “broads” there’s something about the 1940′s that intrigues me.  I wouldn’t want to live in that time but I’m completely fascinated by the style and beauty of that era.  The pin curls, the heavily powdered and made up faces, the structured clothes.  Women put so much work into their look.

Though what the ladies of the 40′s seriously missed out on is nail color.  As we all know, there is more to life than blood red talons. Thankfully when China Glaze looked to the 40s for inspiration, they pulled shades from all aspects of that decade to bring us the colorful Cat’s Meow set from the Vintage Vixen collection.

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Deborah Lippmann Fall 2010 – Across The Universe & Bad Romance Swatches & Review

deborah-lippmann-across-the-universe-bad-romance-nordstrom There ain’t no party like a glitter party cuz a glitter party don’t stop!

Are you ready to kick off the holiday weekend with a blingasm?  I know I am!!  I told you back in February that for the second half of 2010 Deborah Lippmann is hosting a glitter spectacular and it all starts with her Fall 2010 collection.

I’ve always been a lukewarm Beatles fan.  I own a few albums but I don’t live and die for them.  Then the movie musical Across The Universe came out and I was smitten.  Who knew Jim Sturgess could belt it out?

The dreamy, mermaid-esque blue glitter baring the same name is a perfect fit for the trippy, lullaby sounding tune and the whimsical film.  Meanwhile the black-based magenta glitter, Bad Romance, is both hard-edge and feminine much like Lady Gaga.

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CND Monday – Experimenting With Girlie Pink

By on June 21, 2010
in CND, CND Monday, Pink with 17 Comments
alu-cnd-monday-girlie-pink-lavender-pearl Welcome to CND Monday, a regular series here on ALU. On each CND Monday I’ll be sharing a new layering combination from CND Colour & Effects to show you the versatility and creativity of the line.

Recently a reader emailed me asking about some of the lighter shades in the CND Colour range.  After seeing my comparison of China Glaze Something Sweet & CND Tutu she was interested in finding additional opaque, cool-toned pinks in the CND lineup.

Even though pinks aren’t necessarily my bag I’m happy to oblige reader requests when I can.  Though unfortunately for this particular reader there aren’t any colors lighter than Tutu that are cool and opaque.  Instead I went one step darker and pulled out Girlie Pink and some coordinating Effects to play with.

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Orly Plastix Satin Finish Nail Polish Swatches & Review

By on June 18, 2010
in Fall 2010, Orange, Orly, Purple, Red, Satin, Teal with 72 Comments

orly-plastix-collection-fall-2010 “Gretchen, stop trying to make FETCH happen! It’s not going to happen!” – Regina George leader of “The Plastics” in Mean Girls.

For the past year now nail polish brands have been trying to “make fetch happen” with a seemingly never ending barrage of matte nail polishes.  My lazy, always-running-late self loves mattes for their quick dry time and I know I’m not alone but the detractors seem to be in the majority.  I get it.  The wear issues and flat wall paint finish aren’t exactly selling points and most certainly deal breakers for a lot of you.

Enter Orly’s twist on the game, the Plastix Collection, a set of four satin lacquers.  Like their Nails For Males and now discontinued Matte Top Coat these polishes dry with a semi-gloss “plastic” finish.  This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this type of finish but it hasn’t come in fun colors until now.  The Fall runways featured lots of satin nails as well which is why I’m declaring Satin is the new Matte.

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