Saturday, January 29, 2011

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI's The Show Must Go On, from the Burlesque collection, is a reddish pink foil with gold duochrome. This was my favorite from that collection. It applied very nicely, and perfectly opaque in 2 coats (which is what most of my swatches/manis are).  The picture below (while washed out) shows the duochrome goodness in the bottle, and the true color of this one is a bit lighter than the above photo, but darker than the one below... Unfortunately the gold doesnt show up very well on camera, but trust me, it's there!
(Slight tipwear is due to second-day pictures hehe)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Urban Decay Naked Palette Review + Swatches




A few weeks ago I finally managed to get my hands on the very elusive Urban Decay Naked Palette, and have been playing with it non stop ever since! Behold...

 Packed with a mini-UD Primer Potion, perfect for travelling!

View below photos in full size!


Swatched on bare skin, no primer.
 Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked

 Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal

Pigmentation on all these shadows is phenomenal! Smooth, silky, velvety...these blend beautifully. I have not had any fallout issues with any of them, and they stay on all day!

Zero, Whiskey

As with all of UD's 24/7 Glide-On Eyeliners, Zero and Whiskey are creamy, pigmented and very long lasting. Once these "set" they don't budge!


Overall, I love everything about this palette. Every color, the packaging, everything! I have been using this a ton, and it's the only palette I bring for travelling (I keep it in it's original packaging to keep it safe, and to have the convenient mini UDPP). If there is one thing you decide to get from Urban Decay, let it be this. Fantastic work, UD, fantastic!

Currently the Naked Palette retails for $44, though soon they will be sold sans eyeliners, and with an UD shadow brush instead, and will retail for $48. So if you want to get the dual eyeliner, you better hurry before they make the change!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Zoya: Zara, Roxy and Crystal

OMGFREEZOYAZOYAZOYAZOYAZOYA.....*breathes* Okay. Lets try that again...

At the beginning of this month, Zoya gave out 3 free bottles of nail polish to everyone who had their 20k likes on facebook code. The promotion lasted for 4 days, and instead of the intended (I assume) 20k orders, they received over 300k orders (that's 900k+ bottles of free nail polish!). Wow. 

Being a huge fan of Zoya's polishes, and their Remove+ (which is amazing, and I will do a review on it soon!), of course I had to grab my 3... so here they are!

Crystal
Crystal is an icy blue metallic foil with gold flakes. I've been eying this beauty for a while now, and when I applied the first coat, I had a fan-girl moment! Not only is it beautiful, but it's also an exact dupe for the rare and elusive OPI Reflecting Pool, which was released in the Reflection Glitters collection exclusively in Japan. The huge amount of sparkle from this one made it very difficult to photograph, and even in this photo, the color still isn't spot on, but after taking 120+ shots, I gave up. Make sure to view this one in full size :)

Close up of the gold flakeys!

Roxy
Roxy is a sheer dark reddish purple with tons of hexagonal glitter. The first coat reminded me of China Glaze's Mrs Claus, where the glitter seems to sit on top of the base color instead of mixing in, which made me think "Oh god... this is why I didnt get Mrs Claus!" But after the second coat, that little issue was old news, and the glitter blended in beautifully. Personally, I love this shade of purple, pair it with glitter, and it's like happiness in a bottle for me!

Close up of the glitter.

And last, but certainly not least...
Zara
Lets take a moment to be mesmerized by this particular Zoya... ...k. Say it with me.... oooooo, aaaaah :)
Zara is a lavender frost with fine gold shimmer. By far one of the most beautiful shades I own, and have come across. Definitely going into my favorites. Not only is it a joy to look at, but it applied like a dream, very few polishes apply this smooth and even. Love it in every way.

Keep an eye out for more Zoya posts!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

China Glaze OMG

Hello lovelies!


Today I have for you, one of my favorite polishes: OMG by China Glaze. Now, this is both the name of the color, and the collection that it was released in.


Silver holo. Probably one of the best rainbow holo effects I've ever seen in a polish! Only thing about it is that it tends to look a little dull in poor lightning, but aside from that, it really is "OMG!" haha Isn't it gorgeous? :D


Lookit all the pretty colors from the holo!

Tips:
As beautiful as this holo is, it can be tricky to apply if you haven't done it before. It dries super fast, and because of this, I find it nearly impossible to water marble with. Also, I've learned that you must avoid using a base coat (top coat too, as the gloss from the top coat ruins the holo effect quite a bit), otherwise, this happens:

Base coat used on the left, no base coat on the right

The other colors in the collection are: L8R G8R (green), FYI (tan), 2NITE (blue), IDK (purple), LOL (deep purple), TTYL (peach), QT (hot pink), TMI (coral), GR8 (gold), BFF (pink), DV8 (teal)


This collection was released in 2008 (if I'm not mistaken,) but you can still get the polishes on ebay and other etailers :)

Friday, January 14, 2011

Mint Chocolate Eyes

I decided to start my youtube channel with something simple, yet with a pop of color. So here it is! Enjoy :)


Thursday, January 13, 2011

Welcome!

Hello lovelies!


Welcome to my new blog! This is a conjunction blog for my YouTube channel where I'll be posting swatches, exclusive reviews, etc. I hope you enjoy what I have to offer here!


Love,
Annette