Nubar Elegant Indigo

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I have one of the newer polishes on the list of things to show you today, Nubar Elegant Indigo from their Fall 2011 Polished Chic Collection.  It's a very well pigmented deep blue with a lot of sparkly shimmer bits, and not only did nobody tell me it's this cool, it looks far less impressive in the bottle than it is on the nail.

I used two very thin coats of Elegant Indigo over a base and finished it off with a coat of Poshe.  In applying the color, I found that one not-so-thin coat would have been enough, but I did two super thin since I have a better time controlling application with very thin coats.  The polish was easy to control and apply, and this manicure has no clean-up.

Indoors, it looks like a nice deep blue shimmer, and it's one of those where in low light you can see it has great direct light potential.  After it dried I went out into the sunlight and confirmed that it is indeed spectacular in direct light.  This is Elegant Indigo in the sun.

Nubar Elegant Indigo Nail Polish, Two Coats

I have a super close-up of the shimmer on part of a nail so you can see how lively the finish is.

Nubar Elegant Indigo Nail Polish, Close Up of Shimmer

In both pictures you can see how the polish just lights up and glows when light hits it - it's brighter and more blurple in the directly lit parts and a darker deep blue in the areas not directly lit.  I particularly like the shimmer in this one - normally, dark blues that look loaded with shimmer in the bottle take direct light and a lot of squinting to see any shimmer at all once they're applied, but this one is really pronounced.

That's Nubar Elegant Indigo and my manicure for the day, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



*This product was sent for independent review by the manufacturer.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Himalayan Blue

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After two days of wearing Skyscraper, which is truly spectacular in sunlight, I figured I'd go for something a little more basic and upbeat and chose Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Himalayan Blue, one of the Fall 2011 Tracy Reese shades.

Himalayan Blue is a really lovely intense sky blue creme, and in applying it I was impressed with its quality.  The polish is very well pigmented, with two coats being plenty, easy to control, and dried very quickly to an unusually high shine.  I used a base coat, two coats of Himalayan Blue, and a coat of Poshe.  After it dried, I took a picture of it in sunlight, and you can see in the picture just how shiny it is, especially since Poshe doesn't add much in the way of shine.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Himalayan Blue Nail Polish, Two Coats

Although not a traditional color for fall, Himalayan Blue feels right for an autumn day like today in the Midwest - the sun is out after a couple grey days of rain, and it's a cloudless perfectly blue sky.  These are my favorite beautiful days before the cold begins to set in, so I really like a polish that feel just right for them.  Of course, the temptation was to Konad this, being a plain creme, but a plain particularly happy color is sometimes best left alone.  I might add to it after wearing it for a day, but today I'm just going to savor the pretty simplicity.

This was sent to me by Sally Hansen's PR for review, and the press materials indicated that the Tracy Reese shades would be available in fall with nothing more specific regarding a date.  Sally Hansen limited editions normally tend to show up in my area within the first week or two of release, and I can tell you that they're not here yet.  I've been to the two stores where collections usually show up first locally for other stuff in recent days and took a detour to cosmetics to see if they were around, but they weren't, so just keep an eye out for them because they should be available very soon now.

That's Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Himalayan Blue, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

China Glaze Skyscraper

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I felt like a fun polish today, so I used China Glaze Skyscraper from their Metro Collection.  I think this might be the only one I have from that collection, maybe one other.  Skyscraper is a really striking deep blue with very, very fine silver glitter.

I used base coat, three coats of Skyscraper, and a coat of Poshe.  After two coats, the blue base of Skyscraper had some uneven spots, so I added a third to make it even.  It dried just fine after a third coat of color, so it wasn't a problem at all.  I also noticed that despite being loaded up with glitter, the surface of the polish is quite smooth after drying.  This is Skyscraper in the sun.

China Glaze Skyscraper Nail Polish, Three Coats

This is a fun cool weather polish, so I like it, and a smooth glitter is always a plus.

That is China Glaze Skyscraper and just about all there is to tell you about this morning, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Nubar Jeans

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I just got a promo image that's pretty interesting for Nubar Jeans, which they say will be online within the next two weeks.

Nubar Jeans Nail Polish Collection

Look familiar?  They look like dupes for Les Jeans de Chanel to me.  The only other info I have is that the set of three will be $19.99 and the colors are as follows:

Faded Jeans, a light blue shimmer
Boyfriend Jeans, a medium blue creme
Dark Wash Jeans, a dark blue creme

That's what I know, and now you do too.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!


All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Color Club Lumin-icecent

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm sorry I've been neglecting you, but I have something very cool to show you this morning to make up for it.  Color Club sent their Foiled collection, which is a collection of six really nice foils (or chromes), and when I finally had a chance to change my polish, I picked Lumin-icecent to wear.  That's a super Suzi name, but more like Suzi on a good day since the color of this one is a good ice blue.

I meant to take a picture of three days' wear on Facets of Fuchsia because I had no chips or tip wear at all, but it really needed to be changed because that Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle serum I'm using really seems to be working - the manicure looked a good five days grown out.  However, it was 11:30 at night when I had a chance to change color, so here wasn't adequate light to be had.

For Lumin-icecent, I used Nailtek II as a base since it's a ridge filler.  I have pretty pronounced ridges in my nails and chromes are the absolute least forgiving finish for that, so I figured ridge filler would help me out.  I then applied two coats of Lumin-icecent, which went on very easily and was no problem at all to control.  To avoid brush strokes, I just used a light hand with the brush and it worked out well.  I finished it off with a coat of Poshe, and now I have a perfect manicure for a very chilly day.  Here's Lumin-icecent totally dry on a cloudy day.

Color Club Lumin-icecent Nail Polish, Two Coats

I love this because it's foily enough to look like metal, but isn't bad on brush strokes or showing my ridges too much, and it's a perfect ice blue.  The other five shades are equally good - Color Club left out the obligatory silver and gold that have been done to death and gave us just cool colored foils.  I had a hard time choosing which to wear and just picked this one so I could put it on and get to sleep.

Lumin-icecent is just the first of the Color Club Foils I have to show you, so there will be more to come.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Chanel Blue Rebel

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today is the last installment of Les Jeans de Chanel with Blue Rebel, the darkest of the three.  I put it on last night and managed to scuff it up a little bit before I took a picture, but I can still show you the color.

Blue Rebel is really saturated with color, and one thin coat is almost enough for a manicure.  Two makes it really shiny and rich.  It's just a standard blue, but very nicely done.

Chanel Blue Rebel Nail Polish, Two Coats

This is in direct sunlight, for reference on the color.  Although it is a very nice blue, this is the one of the three with which I'm least impressed.

That's the update for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Les Jeans de Chanel

I bought myself the Fashion's Night Out exclusive Les Jeans de Chanel polishes for my birthday. This is a limited edition collection and they are sold individually at selected Chanel boutiques and online. (At the time of writing this post, they are still available.) I'm not certain if you can find these at Chanel counters or not.

(You may remember the Les Khakis de Chanel from last year's FNO. I treated myself to Khaki Vert, which I love but oddly enough don't have a swatch picture of.)

Anyway.

The three shades are Blue Boy, Blue Rebel and Coco Blue. Coco Blue is a shimmer, the other two shades are cremes.

Blue Boy, the medium shade.

Blue Rebel, the darkest shade.

And finally, Coco Blue. The shimmer is quite subtle.


In my memory, Nouvelle Vague was a light blue with subtle shimmer, just like Coco Blue. However! They are very different.

I don't have Riva to compare to these shades, unfortunately.


Here they are on the nail wheel at one coat. Blue Rebel, Blue Boy, Coco Blue.

And at two coats:

You can see some drag at the bottom of the nails for the two lightest shades, but I did a full manicure with Blue Boy and that wasn't the case. Two coats covered perfectly. The application on these was very nice, though I haven't done full manis with Blue Rebel or Coco Blue.

Some comparisons:

Misa Office Polish-tics, Blue Reble, Blue Boy

Blue Boy, Coco Blue, Nouvelle Vague. It's amazing how green NV looks next to Coco Blue!

Here's Blue Boy on the nail.

I do love this color. The formula is almost jelly-like and I had excellent control of it going on. Definite A+.

Of course this release brings up the usual hate and resentment about Chanel. There will always be people outraged at Chanel for the simple fact that it's Chanel, and there's nothing anyone can do about that.

Are these polishes 100% unique? Nope. I don't have any dupes in my collection, but I am sure they are out there. If all you want is a blue creme you have hundreds of choices. But I've never regretted buying a Chanel polish.

This brought up an interesting question...what kind of Chanel release would I not buy? Well I didn't buy Riva (I had purchase NV not long before and it just didn't whet my whistle) and I didn't buy Quartz. I passed on Particuliere and its friends Inattendu and Tendresse.

So there are many I don't buy. What else would I pass up? Bar glitter...though to be honest if Chanel actually did lose its marbles and released a bar glitter, I might have to buy it for the sheer noteworthiness of such an event. Perhaps a red creme...though I have from time to time given red Chanel cremes as gifts.

So it's not a knee jerk reaction to just buy them all regardless of what they look like. People like to say that Chanel could bottle a frosty mauve and people would go nuts for it, and while that might apply to some people I'd like to think I'm immune to label whoredom.

I mean I'd like to think it. I guess we'll have to wait for that frosty mauve to really know for sure.

Chanel Coco Blue

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have Chanel Coco Blue to show you, which is the lightest of Les Jeans de Chanel.  It has a nice mica shimmer that give the polish kind of a glow and is distinctly visible as shimmer only in direct light.

For the manicure, I used SpaRitual Laquer Lock base coat, two coats of Coco Blue, and one coat if Lippmann Addicted to Speed to finish it off.  Here's Coco Blue in natural light on a slightly cloudy day.

Chanel Coco Blue Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's all for today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Chanel Blue Boy

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I received a fabulous gift of Les Jeans de Chanel today, so it seems that my waffling over whether to purchase them resolved itself without a decision ever being made.  All three polishes are quite pretty, but I'd say Coco Blue is the standout of the collection.  It's lighter than I was in the mood to wear, so of the other two I chose Blue Boy, the middle one, to wear today.

Blue Boy is a medium kind of slate blue creme, but bluer than slate blue and I don't know the official name of the shade, but that seems like a close enough description since I'm about to show you a picture anyhow.  I used SpaRitual Lacquer Lock for a base, two coats of Blue Boy, and I topped it off with Addicted to Speed.  At one coat, Blue Boy looked like it might be a jelly, but the second coat made it a super shiny Chanel creme.  Blue Boy is to medium blue what Dragon is to red and Imperial to brown, where the color itself isn't out of the ordinary but the incredible gloss to the polish is.  Whether that's $29 special is a personal call, I think, and I'm just glad my birthday falls when it does so I can stop evaluating whether it's $29 special and just enjoy wearing it.

This is Blue Boy in sunlight after it had dried.

Chanel Blue Boy Nail Polish, Two Coats

I haven't tried a new Chanel creme in quite some time, perhaps since last September, and I'd forgotten the high shine they have.  It makes a simple color really a standout for me, so Blue Boy makes me happy.  I think my reluctance to purchase high-end polishes has made gift giving very easy for people who like me - I'm suddenly really easy to shop for!

That's what I know about Chanel Blue Boy, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Revlon Blue Mosiac

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I changed my polish to Revlon Blue Mosaic, one of Revlon's new glitter polishes, and I thought I'd give you a peek because it's a nice one.

Blue Mosaic is fine blue glitter along with blue and silver hex glitter in a clear base.  I used three coats of Blue Mosaic, and at three I figured it covered well enough to skip the fourth that would have made it better since I've always had drying troubles with Revlons.  I left a few minutes drying time between coats, then added one coat of regular clear polish to even out the surface and one of Lippmann Addicted to Speed since it's high-powered on drying and I had it out from yesterday.  That seems to have worked well, and I think it's totally dry now, but I still don't trust it enough to test by digging something into it to find out.

This is Revlon Blue Mosaic in the sunlight.

Revlon Blue Mosaic Nail Polish, Three Coats

It looks kind of mermaid-y to me, but without the touch of green most like this have.  I like it, although I'm not looking forward to removal.  It really does take pure acetone to remove glitters like this, which is kind of rough on my skin.


That's Blue Mosaic and what I know today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Les Jeans de Chanel Online

Hello, Dear Reader!

I'm doing some work way, way too late tonight, but it worked out well in the sense that I checked Chanel's site for Les Jeans de Chanel, this year's Fashion's Night Out nail polishes, at 11:01 p.m. thinking that it was the release date of Les Jeans de Chanel in the Eastern time zone, and as luck would have it they were there for the taking.  Here's their promo image for the category for all three Les Jeans de Chanel shades on their site.

Les Jeans de Chanel Nail Lacquers

Their price is $29 each, and while that's far better than the rumored $39, it's also a heck of a lot for a bottle of nail polish.  Given that my 40th birthday is next week and I was really happy with the Gift to Self of a Chanel order last year, I'm now waffling about these.  There's also a corner of my brain that's been fixated on the shimmer of one of their recent polishes, Graphite, for some time, so I'm still evaluating whether my overtired brain is simply trying to rationalize a Chanel order.

I'm guessing these will go quickly, although I'm open to being proven wrong on that.  If your heart is really set on any of these, my experience is that limited edition Chanels can rarely be found for less than retail, so I wanted to let you know that they're there for the taking at what might be the lowest price for which they can be purchased.

I'd better get back to being productive so I can get to sleep, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Franken Toesies

I made a couple of frankens the other day and I did my Toes with oneIt's a sweet baby blue with a great pink shift that obviously does not show on cameraI didn't take any macro shot because ummmm....they are feet and do you really want to see my toes THAT close? Yeah I didn't think so.I made this with the TKB glamour base and pigment and honestly I love the color but the bases kind of suck as far

Orly Stone Cold

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I changed my polish today to one of the Orly Mineral FX shades, Stone Cold, the bright blue one.  I got it at Sally's, and they're definitely pricey at $9 on sale.  The quality of Stone Cold seemed worth $9 though - it's well pigmented and great in two coats, and the polish is very easy to control.  Still, it's in that giant 0.60 oz bottle, and I think I'd be happier if it were 0.30 oz for $5...

For the manicure, I used a base coat, two of color, and one of top coat.  After growing weary of my shrunken tips on the last one, I used Diamont here so it wouldn't shrink.  Here's Orly Stone Cold in sunlight after it dried.  There's no cleanup here at all - Stone Cold is that easy to control.

Orly Stone Cold Nail Polish from Mineral FX, Two Coats

I like it a lot, it's so vivid and sparkly.  Bright blues always ring some alarm bells for staining, so my hope is that I'll be able to take it off without leaving anything behind to remember it by.

That's Orly Stone Cold, so until next time, Dear Reader, love ans nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI has got THE Blues

I had the urge for blue the other day so I grabbedNicole by OPI It's not me it's Blue and OPI Road house Blues from the Touring America CollectionI was feeling polk a doty so I played with contrasting dots on all my fingersI just used my smallest dotting tool and got a little randomHmmmm....My ring finger has dots of It's not me it's blue all the way up the outer side but the lighting makes it

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Deep Blue Sea

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have another polish to show you from that display of glittery Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears,  Deep Blue Sea  It's a pretty faded denim blue with a silver super cool sparkly finish similar to that in Midnight Sky.  It only took two coats to be even and opaque, and it dried particularly fast.  Here's Deep Blue Sea in kind of cloudy sunlight.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Deep Blue Sea Nail Polish, Two Coats

I took the picture about twelve hours after I applied the polish, so it stays really sparkly and shiny.  Both Deep Blue Sea and Midnight Sky sparkle a lot in normal indoor light, which is unusual and certainly a good thing.  You can see how well it applies, too - there was zero clean up to this manicure.  It's just really easy to make clean lines with this pairing of polish and brush.

That is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Deep Blue Sea and also just abuot all I have to tell you about today, so until next time, love and nial polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Glitter Gal Marine Blue

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have a new-to-me brand to show you today, Glitter Gal.  It's an Australian made brand, and their new U.S. stockist got in touch to ask if I'd want to try some out, so she sent a few for review.  I have the first of them today, Marine Blue, and it's really a nice one.

It's a holo, not too surprisingly marine blue in color.  I used Nfu Oh Aqua Base, then two coats of Glitter Gal Marine Blue.  The polish is much thicker than many holos, like Nfu Oh's or China Glaze's, more like some of the Nubar ones.  That made it a lot easier to apply and control.  After the two coats of color, I added Poshe and the Sally Hansen shiny top coat.  Here's Glitter Gal Marine Blue.

Glitter Gal Marine Blue Nail Polish, Two Coats

Nice one, huh?  I have two more I'll show you this week - I'm excited to try them.  I applied this last night (I'll update that Revlon post - the polish dented badly a few hours later) and did about an hour of housework this morning with no thought of avoiding chips until I was finished, so it's clear to me that the wear on this is better than many holos, which can be a bit on the chippy side.

I tried to take a picture of Marine Blue's little bottle, but my camera lens fogged up really badly and all of my bottle pictures look like I took then through a frosted shower door (like it's an aging starlet!), so I'll just give you all the details.  The bottle is small by U.S. standards at 9 ml rather than our usual 14-15 ml and is similar to Color Club's in shape and proportion, so it's a practical shape.  I hold the bottle in the hand I'm painting when I apply polish, so bottle shape actually matters to me, especially smaller ones that can be harder to hang on to, but this one was good.  The stockist has just opened a brand spanking new site where we can buy them for $14 a pop, and it does accept Paypal.  The owner of the store was previously selling them on ebay, where she has a good deal of 100% positive feedback, so there's a history available even though the site is new.  The price is a little less on the store site than it was on ebay because the seller is able to reduce the price without the ebay fees (which are steep).

That is Glitter Gal Marine Blue and what I know about the brand, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen.

Konad Sky Pearl Special Polish & m63

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I did a manicure that came to mind the other day when I came across my Konad Sky Pearl Special Polish, and it turned out really well.  Not perfect, but I like it well enough that I don't especially care that it's imperfect.

I started out with Orly Frolic, the lovely two coat purple creme, which I thought would look really cool with Sky Pearl stamped over it.  For the pattern to stamp, I used the swirly one from Konad plate m63 that looks a lot like water marbling.  Since I liked how it was coming out off the bat, I used a coat of Konad top coat to prevent any smudges prior to finishing it off with Poshe.  Here's Orly Frolic with m63 in Konad Sky Pearl in the sun.

Konad Sky Pearl Special Polish over Orly Frolic with Konad Plate m63

You can see the the pearl finish in the Special Polish is very subtle - this is in sunlight, and the shimmer doesn't really show otherwise.  What I like about the Konad Pearl polishes (Black, White, Sky, Violet, ...) is that they don't seem to smudge anywhere near as easily as the cremes and they make exceptionally crisp stamps.

That's all for today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Zoya Cynthia

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm wearing Zoya Cynthia today  because I swatched Zoya's Smoke Collection for you at the same time that I swatched Zoya Mirrors, but  in the time it took me to swatch twelve polishes the light changed and I wasn't pleased with the swatches so I figured I'll just show you the Smoke colors one at a time this week.  Why not start with Cynthia...

Zoya's description of Cynthia is that it's a "smoky Prussian blue cream," and that sounds just about right.  Cynthia 's application was very good, and two coats were plenty to make it perfectly even and opaque.  Here it is after the manicure dried (two coats of color with base and top coats).

Zoya Cynthia Nail Polish, Two Coats

I like Cynthia - it's like an updated navy blue and it's nice and shiny.

That's the beginning of Zoya Smoke and just about all I have for you today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



*This polish was provided by the manufacturer for review, that fact has no bearing on the review itself.

Duochrome duo anyone?

After my franken failed at showing it's duochrome I needed my duochrome fixGood old Nubar to the rescueI used Nubar Indigo Illusion with an accent nail of an old Nubar Shock in Iris DustOh yeah that's what I'm talkin' aboutIndigo Illusion is more of a pale blue teal with a lilac shimmering duochromeIris dust is a gorgeous wine with a bronze to pink duochromeI love these so much as you can see by

L'Oreal Summer 2011 Limited Edition Nail Polish

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm a bit late with them, but today I have L'Oreal's Limited Edition Summer Siren Collection, their four polish shades for Summer 2011.  I'd seen these a few times before and kept walking, but today I took a look and liked what I saw - they're really spectacularly sparkly and shimmery.

I used Pink Shells, which you could probably guess is the pink one, today.  Two coats could have worked, but mine were very thin and with the clear fake tip I have, I needed a third.  It applied really easily and dried very fast.  Here's L'Oreal Pink Shells.

L'Oreal Pink Shells Nail Polish, Three Coats

I took bottle pictures of the other three for you.  The only picture I'm not thrilled with is of the blue, Blue Marine, which seems to have some purple duochrome going on in indoor lighting, but that got washed away in the sun.  Here's Blue Marine.

L'Oreal Blue Marine Nail Polish Bottle

Yellow Seahorse has the potential to be what I wanted Chanel Mimosa to be, and I'm really hoping its shimmer shows up well.

L'Oreal Yellow Seahorse Nail Polish Bottle

The last one is called Coral Starfish, and it's a blazing orange with gold shimmer.  It's really pretty.

L'Oreal Coral Starfish Nail Polish Bottle

It's my hope that the remaining three shades sparkle the same way that Pink Shells does - it's hard to take my eyes off of it.

That's L'Oreal Summer Siren and the update for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!