StrangeBeautiful Volume 4 the multi-coaters

This post is Part 2 of two posts (Part 1) featuring the latest StrangeBeautiful volume.

Red

(2 coats)

This volume's red is very orange-y. Finish on this one was jellyish.

Chartreuse

(3 coats)

The photo is weird for this one. Bottle color is much more yellow in person. However, the nail color in the photo matches my reality. I have nothing even close to a dupe for this one. It's a fun color, but I think it's for the pale, Nicole-Kidman-See-Through women of the world (actually it very much reminds me of that rockin dress she wore a million years ago to the Oscars). Anyway, white ladies, enjoy this one on my behalf please.

Finish on this one was even more jellyish.

Putty 1 and 2

(2 coats each)

I put these on and my jaw dropped. Not one but TWO taupes that look good on me? GTFO of here. Awesome.

What makes these different? They strike that perfect balance of not being too brown (i.e. not clashing with my skin like Chanel's Particulière) but not being too grey either (i.e. not making me look yellow like Lippmann's Waking Up in Vegas). In fact, I put them on and noted that they both have a touch of yellow (maybe it's green) in them. Whatever it is, it works. And I'm thrilled. I even got several compliments when I rocked the lighter one.

I thought the wear was great but both could have leveled a little bit better. (I'm pretty much looking for perfection when you force me to pay $80 for nail polish.)

Now, I have to say, clearly Jane (creator of StrangeBeautiful) thinks this color point is the strangest, most beautifullest of them all because, with these two, that makes 5 across the 3 latest volumes. Kinda pushing it imo.

One Note: With every volume released, there seems to be confusion with the colors. People pop up on the NB frequently, saying that their volume's colors don't match those promo'd on other blogs (or even pr pictures), that some bottles in a volume have stickers on the bottom and some do not, and so on. I have been lucky enough that all my packages have been correct. All of my bottles have labels, and there are no repeats among my 4 volumes. This does not, however, seem to be the case for everyone. I would be pissed beyond measure to plunk down $80 bucks and find that the volume I was expecting was not as advertised. StrangeBeautiful would do well to either get its quality control in order or start naming (or at least numbering) their colors so we can all have an easier time keeping track of our collections.

That's it! Can't wait for vol 5!

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China Glaze Vintage Vixen collection swatches, Part I of III

China Glaze sent me the Vintage Vixen collection to review. And my biggest regret is that I've had to nubbinize my nails before swatching because I finally have finished pampering my previously injured pinky nail and am sick of attempting three-fingered swatches: in the interest of having my nails roughly the same length, I quickly sawed off several millimeters off of all of my nails. And now I am sad because they feel and look so stubby. :(

China Glaze Hey Doll

I don't know how quite to describe the color of this polish. A brown-leaning burgundy (redwood, perhaps?) foil. It would be a dull color as a creme but as a foil, it burns beautifully in the sunlight. Two coats.

China Glaze Classic Camel

This is just perfectly named: the color reminds me so much of a camel coat. It's an odd mustardy color... with a texture that also reminds me of mustard. It's great and smooth (and opaque) in three coats but the first two looked kinda... chunky. I don't know if that's due to the color of the pigment or because of the gold shimmer. A little off-putting at first but it's good to go and normal-looking after the third coat. This is probably one of my favorites from the collection: I have nothing else like it and the gold shimmer really does liven it up.

China Glaze Riveter Rouge

I think I would've gotten a great kick out of this name if it were Riveter Rose. But Riveter Rouge it is. This one I'm so-so on, mostly because I think it short nails do it no justice and it does no justice to short nails: it looks like a red shimmer (almost a foil) but is studded with sparse gold glitter. So it has the sort of burning shine that foils have but that burn is enhanced with the gold glitter. It's a very festive color but not my cup of tea. Two coats.

China Glaze Ingrid

I LOVE this color. I have it on now as an NOTD. I was going to put on a light blue or some color my SO really likes because he's coming home today from a four-day trip... but I decided that I wanted this color instead! Perfect dark taupe with the liveliest bronze shimmer. It's such a pretty spin on what's been a very chic, popular color of late. I did three coats for the swatch but my NOTD looks great with just two coats. It dried very quickly with Diamont, too.

I hope to get the rest of the Vintage Vixen collection swatched soon. :)

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After dinner mint green

Mint greens or a variation of it have been such a trend recently. I don't have a ton of them, but have tried the one from Maybelline which was a nightmare for me. It was stringy, streaky, and such a horrible brush. I didn't even bother to try the one Revlon released because of my bad experience with one of their scented polishes, Gum Drop. Other than the one from Maybelline, I haven't bothered to try any other ones, EXCEPT for this Brucci since it was only like $2 and some change. This is absolutely AMAZING. It was perfect in two coats, no streaks or bald spots. So easy to control and is MUCH cheaper than drug store polishes.

I'm glad i didn't buy any of the more expensive mint greens and just waited it out and got this one because it was definitely worth it! I have a feeling Sheri's Pistachio Creme and I are going to have a long affair :) Sheri's got great taste! It does make me want after dinner mints though instead of pistachios hehe... I found this at a local beauty supply, but I *think* Bed Bath Beyond and Harmons carries Brucci. I know for sure Duane Reade carries Brucci too. There were also a few other pastels that the beauty supply had, but I had no interest in those -- sorry! I haven't come across a Brucci I didn't like though :)

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Trend-cum-Classic: Sephora by OPI Metro Chic

My life has been pretty hectic as of late. Family issues are ruling my life, and I spend every waking minute that I'm not in lab dealing with them. Lab isn't going all that great either, and my apartment is a complete disaster. Even though it is summer and 'pastel weather' (about 90ºF and humid here!) I needed a sort of Heimkehr - a return to home, to feel like myself again.

So I put on a polish that I wear a lot, but for some reason have never shown you. I think it is because I wear it when I'm super busy/flustered and don't have the time/energy/patience/awareness to snap pictures. I only own back-ups of two polishes (Essie Tennis Corset and OPI DS Glow) but I consider this baby totally back-up worthy! You can't tell from the pictures, but I'm definitely going to need another bottle soon.

Sephora by OPI ($OPI) Metro Chic - a colour that was super trendy a couple years ago but has proved its staying power and become a total classic in my opinion. I know this one has been reviewed to death, but here it is on me:

I took a couple pictures because the colour of this is hard to accurately capture - it's a dusty, milky, silky, smokey ermine colour with purple tones. Basically, grey + brown + purple = Metro Chic. It sounds bizarre, but on the nail it is just super chic and elegant, and whenever I put this on I think "Why on earth do I wear anything else?!" - truly the sign of a great polish!

The one tick I would put in the 'con' column for Metro Chic is that is a Sephora by OPI polish - not that I dislike the polish itself - I just hate hate hate that long skinny brush!! However, I made a HUGE discovery - the OPI ProWide brush fits in the $OPI cap! I ripped out that awful brush, stuck a ProWide in there, and now my absolute favourite brush is now in what might be my absolute favourite polish!!!! It improved application tremendously, and I did two easy coats - in the dark, I might add - and I think it turned out great.

Is there a colour you go back to again and again? Do you think taupe colours have become classic or would you still put them in the trend zone?

kittytokaren

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StrangeBeautiful Volume 4 the 1 coaters

I am a weak SOB and I bought StrangeBeautiful's latest volume. Full price.

Thankfully I was rewarded with an improved formula and great, though a little less strange than expected, color selection.

I thought SB's latest effort was especially impressive because there were so many 1 coaters (unlike the past 3 volumes where there was 1 or maybe 2). I also thought that dry time was much improved.

I've worn every one of these as a NOTD; the staying power is pretty good. The only draw back is that I find the polishes don't level as well as I would like. But all in all I'm happy.

As usual, I'm breaking this up into 2 posts. In this one I feature the 1 coaters.

Blue

(1 coat)

This is a very true blue in person. I find that on my mac (firefox) there is the slightest, slightest hint of green. That is absolutely not the case in person.

Teal

(1 coat)

Slightly dusty, this teal leans green (in photos and in person - heh).

Orange

(1 coat)

I did not enjoy how this one looked on me. I quickly konaded it with white houndstooth. I wore it 3 days in a row with no chipping.

Pink

(1 coat)

This one ended up reddening a touch once it dried, which made it quite a bit more boring.

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