Essie Neons 2014 Preview

Yesterday I showed you OPI's upcoming summer neon collection, so why not keep the ball rolling today with more neons, this time from Essie? Yep, Essie's at it again this summer with their annual neon collection! This one features six new shades with shopping-themed names.

 

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I think this is shaping up to be Essie's best neon collection ever! There are lots of fun colors here--I'm Addicted needs to get on my nails now--so let's hope they're nice and bright in real life! As with past neon collections, Essie does recommend wearing these over a white base to punch up the intensity.

The collection is set to launch this May. Will any of these find their way into your shopping bag?

OPI Neons Summer 2014 Preview

This has got to be the busiest spring/summer season for OPI ever! I can't even keep track of how many different collections they have coming out--not that I'm complaining! We have yet another collection to add to the list with their Neon Collection, due out this June.

The collection includes not only six new neon polishes, but also a special base coat to brighten neons. From these preview pictures, it looks to be a white base coat, so it will probably mimic the effect you get when you layer a neon polish over a white polish.

 

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These don't look like neons we haven't seen before from other brands, but they sure are pretty! If they have a smooth, non-streaky formula, that might just seal the deal for me.

Are you excited to see some neons from OPI?

Barielle Spring Velvets: Review & Swatches - Part One

Spring is (allegedly) right around the corner. It may not feel like it, considering that there is still several feet of snow outside where I live, but dammit, I want to believe! So today, whether mother nature wants to cooperate or not, we'll be checking out three shades from the appropriately spring-y Barielle Spring Velvets Collection. The color palette for this collection places on emphasis on nudes with a few splashes of lady-like color thrown in. The overall feel is demure and feminine. So without further ado, let's get to the polishes!

Cream N Sugar is a sheer baby pink. These types of sheer pinks tend to pull very nude on me due to my skintone, which is pale and Irish as the day is long. This one is no exception. I'm not a big fan of sheers and the formula here was very much so. After five coats, I still had some VNL. Aside from the sheerness, the formula was actually quite nice. It had a good consistency to it and even on the fifth coat, it didn't feel goopy in the slightest.

If you like sheers or are looking for a good French manicure base, this is an excellent quality example of this type of shade. But if you're like me and have to build a polish up to opacity when you wear it, this polish might not be for you. It did make a fabulous base for a glitter manicure though (which I'll show you later this week), so I was able to find a way to use this polish that felt more "me"!

A Little Exotic is a rusty rose creme. This one really is kind of a tricky shade to pin down. It's got some brick red tones to it plus a bit of warm coral in the mix as well. It's a very interesting color and it netted me a ton of compliments when I wore it to work!

 My Tan Blazer is a camel creme. This is a pretty unique tan and it also happens to be my favorite color from the collection so far. I wasn't sure if this shade would work well on me but once I put it on, it was true, fugly love at first sight. This is one of those polishes you'll either love or hate. You know which group I fall into!

Like the other two polishes, the formula is top notch. I used two coats here. As I'm sure you can tell, I took these swatches a while after the first two in this post, so I apologize for the length discrepancy here!

So that wraps up the first half of the Spring Velvets Collection! I'll have the other three polishes from the collection to share with you shortly!

What are your favorite polish shades to wear for spring? Are you getting some warm weather yet where you live or are you still buried under snow like we are here in Michigan?

Twinsie Tuesday: Grunge Mani

I'll admit that I totally had to Google this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme because I wasn't sure what a grunge mani was. But that's part of what TT is all about is introducing us to things we otherwise might never try or even know about, right?

If, like me, you are unfamiliar with grunge manis, how they work is that you start with a base color and then thoroughly wipe down your polish brush before streaking another color over top of it. You can layer as many colors as you like and the intent is to create a distressed or grungy look--almost like a shatter-type effect without the shatter polish. Hopefully I did an okay job of explaining that...? I feel like my description sucks but I can't think of another way to explain how you do this technique. It's easier to show than tell.

So anyways, for my grunge mani, I used Illamasqua Scorch as my white base then streaked on Spoiled by Wet N Wild Did I Dye It Too Blonde?, China Glaze Sun Of A Peach, China Glaze Pool Party and Rimmel Black Satin (which came out kinda weirdly brown-looking with this mani). I wasn't quite sure what colors to use, since this is my first time doing a grunge mani, but I knew I wanted to use some neons to really emphasize the color contrast. The color palette I used turned out to be a little 90s roller rink-esque but I am totally okay with that, hahaha.

I'm really bummed that I broke a nail Monday afternoon, forcing me to chop down my nails to nubbins, because I think this would be an especially cool-looking design on long nails. But this is the first break I've had in ages so I can't complain too much

This mani was a ton of fun to do and it's actually a super easy technique! This is one of only a few Twinsie Tuesday nail art themes that didn't involve a bunch of botched attempts and swearing on my part. I'd like to try doing another grunge mani sometime soon and I'm looking forward to seeing if my Twinsies enjoyed this challenge as much as I did!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Traci at DrinkCitra

Darling Diva Dangerous Driver

Ever wonder what the legendary Clarins 230 would look like as a holo? (*drool*) Well Darling Diva has made that fantasy a reality with Dangerous Driver! You guys, this polish is bananas. It's filled with multichrome linear holographic goodness and I just can't get enough of it! It was really hard not to post a bazillion photos of this beauty!

Like 230, Dangerous Driver takes on a bit of a different personality depending on what you layer it over. Your choice of base will bring out particular colors and shifts. Here I've layered two coats over China Glaze Man Hunt, a rich royal blue. The formula is excellent and I had zero application issues.

So yeah, basically, this polish is insane and if you love a good holo or multichrome, you need this one in your life! It's even prettier in person when you can see the individual sparkles flicker in the light and you get subtleties to the color shift that can't really be captured on camera. I'm curious to see how it looks over black, so I think that will be next on my list to try with this polish. But I'm betting you could layer Dangerous Driver over anything and the result would always be gorgeous!

You can purchase Darling Diva from Carrie's Etsy shop.

Review: Lush Angels On Bare Skin

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After my HG, Herbalism, my next-favorite Lush cleanser is the wonderful Angels On Bare Skin. This gentle cleanser helps calm and soothe even the most sensitive skin and will leave your face feeling smooth, clean and super soft!

Angels On Bare Skin contains ground almonds (exfoliating and toning), kaolin clay (deep cleansing), lavender oil (antiseptic and soothing), rose absolute (soothing and moisturizing), chamomile blue oil (anti-inflammatory) and lavender flowers (exfoliation).

This cleanser's primary benefit is to help reduce inflammation and irritation and I've found it does a beautiful job of that on my skin. The antiseptic properties found in the lavender oil also make this a suitable cleanser for someone with occasional or mild acne (if you're looking to try a Lush cleanser and acne is your biggest skin concern, I would suggest checking out Herbalism first) and it's also a very balancing cleanser the helps keep you skin's oil production in check without completely drying you out. While Herbalism is my go-to, I like to keep some Angels On Bare Skin around when I feel like switching it up every once in a while or for when my skin can start to feel a bit dry in the winter time.

I should mention that since they come in a solid form, Lush's cleansers are different from most. To use it, break off a small piece and enclose it in a loose fist. Then run your hand under the faucet for a few seconds. Open your hand and begin rubbing the cleanser until the consistency is like a milky paste. Then massage it into your face for as long as desired, rinse and you're done! It's extremely easy to use but might take a little getting used to the first couple times.

On the skin, this cleanser feels very softening and lightly hydrating. You can notice some of the granules in the cleanser helping to gently resurface your skin, but they never feel rough or like they're tearing at your skin. You can also mix in more or less water to create the consistency that's perfect for your skin, depending on how creamy or gritty you like your cleanser to be! Like most of Lush's cleansers, Angels On Bare Skin won't remove make-up, so you'll need to pre-cleanse with another product first. (I love Philosophy's Purity Made Simple for this. I'm on my fourth or fifth bottle now!)

Have you ever used Angels on Bare Skin? If so, I'd love to hear what you thought of it!

Deborah Lippmann Pseudo Silk Kimono

I may not be the biggest matte fan but I am really digging some of these satin polishes we've been seeing more of lately. One of my favorites I've tried so far is Deborah Lippmann Pseudo Silk Kimono, a crisp white satin from the Silk Collection. It's definitely a striking shade that will attract plenty of attention to your nails! Very "white wedding," no?

I've found the formula on DL's silk polishes can be a little frustrating at times. You have to be very mindful of where you place your brushstrokes, as this finish tends to show every line and seam, plus it doesn't self-level especially well. But once you get it right, man, does it look cool! It really does seem like you've coated your nails in liquid silk. Satins also wear much better on me than traditional mattes do, which tend to chip quickly in my experience. I'm wearing four coats here, sans topcoat.

White polish has become something of a trend lately. I'm not sure I'd ever wear a white creme on its own but I absolutely love the unique look of Pseudo Silk Kimono. It just looks so soft and clean.

Would you wear white polish?