Essence's Gold Old Buffy

Hi there,

Today I have a beautiful Essence polish to show you: Gold Old Buffy from the Limited edition Vampire collection that came out a little while back.

As it's name indicates, Gold Old Buffy is a green polish infused with tons of gold shimmer (or glass flecks?). It reminds me a bit of a mix between Night Porter (Nars), Warm and Fozzie (OPI) and Wagon Trail (China Glaze).

The formula was excellent: no streaks, bubbles or bald patches and was totally opaque in 2 coats.

As a topcoat I used my usual Revlon Fast Drying TC.

What do you think of this beauty?

Nars - Night Porter

Today I have a gorgeous Nars polish to show you:  Night Porter which is a dark metallic forest green with mustard/gold colored shimmers.

Depending on the light, it can seem very dark, almost black, or rather bright, I'm thinking almost emerald green.

One word: stunning!

I applied two easy coats followed by Revlon's Fast drying topcoat.

There were 3 polishes in this collection that came out during Fall; I also got Night Flight which I will be wearing shortly. Have you tried any of them?

Thanks for reading.

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting.

OPI's Warm and Fozzie

Hello!

The other day I showed you Designer de-Better but today I have even better: Warm and Fozzie!

I won't even try to describe this polish as it is so complex and many other have done it way better than I would.

The formula was great. I applied 3 coats followed by OPI's Topcoat (not the Rapidry, the regular one). I tried using China Glaze's Fast Forward the first time I tried Warm and Fozzie but that combo resulted in terrible shrinkage...

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting (natural light lightbulb) without flash.

Thanks for reading!

OPI's Shim-Merry chic

Hello my dears,

I wasn't able to get my hands on OPI's newly released Warm and Fozzie from the Muppets collection, so I decided to console myself with Shim-Merry chic, a metallic taupe-ish flakie polish that came out a few years ago I think.

This polish is complex to describe and my pictures don't really do it justice. I'd say it's a metallic golden taupe (but not a foil) with multicolored flakes in it. It's simply gorgeous! I didn't care for it much when I purchased it but boy am I happy I didn't get rid of it. I had it on the other day and got so many compliments. A few strangers even came up to me to ask me what polish I was wearing.

I applied 3 thin coats but you could easily get away with 2. For my topcoat I used Sèche Vite, which I shouldn't have because it made the polish shrink. Argghh Sèche, why do we have this love-hate relationship??

What do you think of this beauty? Have you tried it?

Emilie

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting (natural light lightbulb) without flash. And yes, that is my shower curtain you can see in the backround :)

Chanel's Quartz (#525)

Hi!

Ok ok I caved in and got the last Chanel polish from the Fall 2011 collection! 

I tried Quartz the other day when I got Graphite and I've been obsessing a little ( a lot!) about it ever since. Well I just couldn't resist (sigh) and got Quartz today!

Just as the other polishes from the collection, Quartz is a super sparkly shimmery metallic polish with micro fine glitter. This lacquer is certainly more discreet and classical than the other two as it a taupey gray that can easily be worn to work without getting any weird glances from colleagues! There is some glitter in Quartz (holographic, taupe, silver) but it isn't as noticeable as it is with Graphite. It is so fine and discreet that you can't even see it in the photos! Quartz has the most frosty shimmer and isn't a foil like Graphite and Peridot. 

The formula was ok. A bit tougher to apply as it was a little streaky. It seemed a bit sticky too but I think that's only due to the super hot weather and the fan blowing on me as I was putting the polish on. I know that wasn't a great idea but it's so hot here right now and there isn't a breeze.

All the pictures were taken in artificial lighting, without flash.

Please excuse the noticeable shrinkage on the tips of my nails. The layer of Sèche Vite I applied was too thick :(

What's on your nails?

Have a nice evening!

Chanel's Graphite + OPI's Spark de Triomphe (#NL S18)

Hi, 

When I applied Graphite yesterday, I already had in mind that it would look really nice with OPI's Spark de Triomphe (the glitter polish that came with White Shatter in one of the Glam Slam duos) over top. Spark de Triomphe is a clear polish with micro gold and silver shimmer as well as mutli sized and shaped gold and silver glitter. 

Instead of applying the OPI polish on all of my nails, I decided to only use it on my ring fingers.

The colors of these polishes are so similar that you can barely see Spark de Triophe at all! It only brightened (almost lightened) Graphite up a bit by adding some glitter and extra shine. 

Unfortunately you cannot see any of Graphite's multi colored shimmer and micro glitter with Spark de Triomphe over it...

Have a nice day!

Photo 1:   Daylight, late PM, no flash.

Photo 2:   Daylight, late PM, no flash.

Photo 3:   Artificial lighting, no flash.

Photo 4:   Artificial lighting, no flash.

Photo 5:   Artificial lighting, no flash.

Chanel's Graphite (#529)

Hi!

I finally got my hands on Graphite!!! Hurray! 

I've been waiting for it to be released in Switzerland ever since I started seeing swatches of it on US lacqueristas' blogs in July, month when it hit the US beauty counters. Although I wasn't quite sure about this lacquer when I first saw photos of it, I really wanted to see it in person. Peridot was the one I had my eyes on and I was lucky enough to get it thanks to my mother who was in the States when Chanel released their Fall 2011 makeup look. 

Funny thing, last night I dreamt that this polish would be in stores today, and I was right! I love those kind of dreams! I stumbled upon Graphite as I was shopping and couldn't resist trying it on a piece of scotch tape at the Chanel counter. One swatch and I was conquered! This polish is gorgeous!

Graphite is one of those polishes whose color is very difficult to describe. I almost feel like we'd have to invent new words to portray it. 

I'd say it's a metallic oxdized silver base with micro gold, green and holographic glitter. Well I can't decide whether it's glitter or shimmer. It almost seems like the base color has some dusty rose and green duochrome going on there. VERY mysterious polish. I'm captivated by it's almost hypnotizing effect!

Like all Chanel lacquers (at least the ones I've tried), Graphite's formula is excellent. Five stars for coverage, consistency, shine and drying time. 

Even though this polish is VERY shiny on it's own, I decided to wear a topcoat, just to smooth the rather gritty finish caused by the glitter.

I'll leave my mani like this for a day or two but I'm tempted to layer another polish over it.....(Sigh!) I already have an idea of which lacquer to use and actually have to decide between a few, but am not going to tell you! Surprise surprise :)

The photos don't do this polish justice but I tried my best considering the fact that all my pictures are taken with my phone's camera.

Enjoy!

Photo 1:   Artifical lighting, no flash.

Photo 2:   Artifical lighting, no flash.

Photo 3:   Artifical lighting, no flash.

Photo 4:   Artifical lighting, no flash.

Photo 5:   Artifical lighting, no flash.

Photo 6:   Artifical lighting, with flash.

Basecoat:   China Glaze's Strong adhesion basecoat.
Coats of Graphite:   2
Topcoat:   Sèche Vite (1 coat)