Nail Polish Hodgepodge Vol II - Studio M, RBL, Color Club, Laura Mercier, Wet n Wild, Zoya, NerdLacquer

Sorry to post two nail polish entries in a row (I'm sure it goes against some unspoken beauty-blogger rule!) but I had a RIDICULOUS amount of fun writing my previous Hodgepodge post and rediscovering old (and oftentimes forgotten) lacquers from my collection. So, here is the next set of my random polish swatches!

 This is two coats of Studio M's Bluecicle, a frosty light blue-silver foil. Studio M is a relatively new brand to me; I first spotted it a few months ago during a rare Meijer visit (the closest store is nearly 30 miles away). I guess the company is kind of a big deal, as Meijer had a nearly full-wall display of their beauty tools and polishes. The lacquers are $2.99 each and come in a range of impressively chic shades. Bluecicle is from the current holiday collection. It's a perfectly wintry color, if not very unique. I do have a complaint about the product, however - the brush is reeeeally long, making for less control during application; sort of like reaching across the room with a broomstick to flip a light switch. (If you've never tried that, you haven't LIVED.)

Wet 'n Wild's Caribbean Frost, a soft, jungle green... frost. I believe this was three coats. The color and finish of this polish seem a bit retro, vintage-y. It's all good! I wish the formula wasn't as sheer, but it's a solid product for the price ($1.99).

Here's the gorgeous Delilah from Zoya ($8). It's a beautiful, bright, cool red with amazing sparse gold microglitter. Overall one of my favorite red polishes. This shade makes me so happy :) The formula is fantastically smooth and the consistency is spot-on. Zoya rarely disappoints!

I love finding new indie brands to try, and above you can see Event Horizon from one such brand, NerdLacquer (formerly By StringTheory). I'm so pleased that I ordered a slew of polishes from the company's Etsy store, as they are wonderfully colorful and glittery and joyous! Event Horizon is a deep blue-green/teal jelly base with multicolored glitter, some hexagonal. A two-coat application lends itself to fully opaque coverage. Lovely and space-y.

Oh, Rescue Beauty Lounge's Insouciant ($18) is spectacular. It's a light lavender-gray base with stunning blue-purple microshimmer, and the formula is first class. A great neutral alternative.

I like the shade of the Color Club polish - a warm, slightly dusted chocolate brown - but I disliked the thin consistency of the lacquer. It would drip off the brush, if I wasn't careful! Three coats were required to bring Color Club's Positively Posh up to snuff, though I must say I quite like the end result.

I'll admit Laura Mercier's Twilight was a thoughtless buy, surely to bring an order into discount territory or to qualify for free shipping. And since that impulsive purchase it has been sitting, lonely and neglected, in my makeup drawer. I'm glad I finally took it out for a spin - it's an ultra pretty murky purple with brighter purple/fuchsia shimmer. Very broody and romantic. Perfect for any season, but especially for the cool autumn days. 

We're almostnearlyhalfway-ish to the weekend, kind of.. :D Thanks for reading, as always. If you enjoy this blog, I would love for you to follow me (no pressure, though!). 

Wet n Wild Petal Pusher, Greed, and Pride Eye Palettes - Review, Swatches, Photos

I've been accumulating more and more Wet n Wild palettes, and think it's finally time to stop keeping them to myself and toss them into cyberspace, in one big photographic aspersion! All swatches are over primer.

Petal Pusher -

First Column, Top to Bottom

Second Column, Top to Bottom

Some goooorgeous purples and pinks here! The dark shades (crease and definer from the second column) are surprisingly lush and pigmented, and the only unusable shade was the browbone of the first column-- it's nearly nonexistant!

Greed (very appropriate for Halloween, no?)-

First Column (Top to Bottom), Second Column (Top to Bottom)

Again, lovely color payoff for every pan besides the upper right gray shimmer; it was quite difficult to remove product from the pan - very hard! 

Pride -

I clearly had a major brain lapse when swatching these. The order is the first and second color of the first and second columns, respectively, followed by the bottom two shades.

 This one is my favorite of the three! Don't you just adore the last metallic blue?? (I do!) And the shimmery grass green! The colors are fun, deep, and, with primer, long-lasting. So pretty, so pigmented. Price is a steal, too!

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was brimming with good food, good company, and a very enjoyable evening watching Don Quixote, one of my favorite ballets. But back to the grindstone...

Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Glitter Palettes in Stage Beauty, Rising Star - Review, Swatches, Photos

This week has been a bit slow for blogging on my end (renovations!) but, in an attempt to end with a bang, I bring you two of the Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Glitter Palettes in Stage Beauty and Rising Star!

Truth be told I can't remember how much I paid for these ($3.99? $4.99?), but the palettes contain nine colors of cream eyeshadows each.

Here's Stage Beauty -

I put the same amount of effort into each application and, as you can see, the quality varies greatly.

Unusable, for all practical purposes - 1, 2, 4, 6

Fair - 3

Decent - 5, 7, 8, 9

Note that 7 looks deep blue/purple in the pan, but once you get past the stiff top layer, it goes on as a pretty burgundy!

And now the better of the two, Rising Star -

Sooo puts me in the Halloween mood! Great and festive color combo.

Some beautiful, rusty autumn shades are featured in Rising Star and the quality/pigmentation is, overall, heads and shoulders above Stage Beauty's--the only irredeemable failures were 1 and 2. Otherwise, it's not hard to get even, opaque coverage without the annoying chunkies the other palette couldn't resolve. 

The formula is smooth and slick, a bit like grease paint. It seems that you are using up a good portion of each pan with each application - I already made significant dents with just these swatches! In terms of longevity the Fantasy Makers palettes are so-so: after about eight hours of wear, with primer, I got MAJOR creasing (like, chunks of product were accumulating in the folds of my lids!). Not very suitable for everyday use, BUT these shadows are billed as Halloween makeup and for that the wear time is appropriate; they will last nicely the few hours through a costume party or a night out.

Wet n Wild produced very fun, colorful palettes for this equally fun season! Even if almost half the shadows are throwaways these Fantasy Makers products are a great deal at their low drugstore price. I don't know that I would purchase Stage Beauty again but Rising Star is especially lovely, though also not intended for regular wear.

Have you picked up any of the Fantasy Makers collection?

Attack of the Yellow Nail Polishes! Swatches Revlon Pineapple Fizz, WnW Wonder Yellows, Sinful Colors Pull Over & Let's Meet, CG Lighthouse, Misa Golden Tan, SOPI IM Beauty

Summer is the only time of year one can get away with wearing sizzling yellow and orange polishes, and I take full advantage! I've swatched some of my yellows:

1- Revlon Pineapple Fizz

I finally caved and bought Revlon's Pineapple Fizz to complete my collection, even though I can't stand the smell (reminiscent of sickly-sweet artificial coconut). However revolting the scent is to me, I can't deny the beauty of the color! It's a semi-sheer sunny yellow with flakes. (Check out swatches and a review of the rest of Revlon's "Fizz" collection here!)

2 - Wet n Wild The Wonder Yellows

(Silly name!) This is also a great medium yellow shade, but with shimmer. The formula is solid, opaque in three coats.

3 - Sinful Colors Pull Over

In terms of color, this is the PERFECT taxi-yellow creme for me and very complimentary to my skin tone (while shopping the other day a women came up to me to tell me how pretty Pull Over looked, and how it's the first time she saw a yellow look good on somebody. Totally made my day! :). I love it so much I'm even willing to overlook that the formula is a tad streaky and uneven. A nice, inexpensive little polish to satisfy nearly all of your yellow needs!

4 - China Glaze Lighthouse

Sooo sparkly, it nearly blew out my camera (hah!)! Lovely nonetheless, and the formula is exceptional (as China Glaze often is).

5 - Misa Golden Tan

Hm, this is an oddball! Reminds my of a light yellow-gold pearl. It's unique and unlike any other shade I own, though unfortunately it doesn't play well with my skin tone. Still, I can't bear to part with Misa's Golden Tan, due to its willingness to march to the beat of its own drum!

6 - Sinful Colors Let's Meet

A bright yellow with fine, fine glitter. The formula is pretty sheer (what you see below is three coats and the nail line is still visible) and somewhat streaky, but I do like the color and finish of this SC polish.

7 - Sephora by OPI IM Beauty

Finally we have Sephora by OPI's IM Beauty, a pastel-y banana creme. I confess I don't often reach for this buttercream as it reminds me a bit of Easter and spring, but some may like this soft yellow. The formula is decent albeit somewhat sheer, very few streaks in sight after three coats!

That concludes my "yellow" series! Do you like to wear yellow nail polish?

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PS - Have you ever stumbled across something you felt you should have already known? I recently learned that the largest Hindu temple (mandir) in the US is located just an hour or so outside the city in which I live and have lived all my life. We paid a visit today, and it was the wholly satisfying experience I hoped it would be; peaceful, beautiful, and intellectually enlightening. Not to mention, a staff enthusiastically willing to endure all my possibly ignorant questions :p There was also a little shop within the adjacent cultural center where I was able to purchase the most delicious kopra pak - yum!