Nail of the Day - EssieEssie Chinchilly - Two Coats with Flash Chinchilly

Essie Chinchilly is a gorgeous smokey taupe cream with gray undertones and very pretty at that. This lacquer color actually reminds me a lot of what a glass of cold milk looks like after a few too many oreos have been dunked in it. All day today I was a bit unsure about this polish and I even said a few negative things about it, until I realized just how pretty and unique it really is. This lacquer is actually what I had hoped OPI's You Don't Know Jacques would look like, except with less brown undertones. This lacquer applied evenly and nicely on my nails, however the coats are a bit more sheer than I originally believed them to be, so you may need to apply thicker coats for this same coverage as I achieved here. The photos taken with the flash most accurately depict the true color of the polish. I applied Seche Base as a base coat, two coats of Essie Chinchilly (two thicker coats), and Seche Vite as a top coat for this result. Enjoy!

Essie Chinchilly - Two Coats with Flash

Essie Chinchilly - Two Coats with Flash

Essie Chinchilly - Two Coats with Flash

Essie Chinchilly - Two Coats NO Flash

Nail of the Day - Essie Sew Psyched

Essie Sew Psyched was originally released last fall with the Essie Fall 2010 collection. However, I recently saw it in the collection and decided I had to have it. Essie Sew Psyched is a creamy muted army green color. It's a really gorgeous polish and super easy to apply. I wore this polish for four days. At the end of four days, it was a bit sad and needed a few touch up's. So, the lasting power on this polish is probable around four days before it begins to noticeably chip. I used Seche Base as a base coat, two coats of Essie Sew Psyched and Seche Vite as a topcoat. Enjoy!

Essie Sew Psyched Two Coats with Flash

Essie Sew Psyched Two Coats with Flash

Essie Sew Psyched Two Coats with Flash

Nail of the Day - Essie Coat Azure

This is Essie Coat Azure, the last and final polish in the Essie French Affair four-pack mini collection set. As you can see, this is a pastel blue and my favorite polish of the bunch, because it's of course, blue! This polish has a slight shimmer and is very opaque with the first application. I applied two coats of Essie Coat Azure to get coverage for the photos. I applied Seche Base as a base coat, two coats of Essie Coat Azure and Seche Vite as a top coat. I hope you all enjoy!

Essie Coat Azure - Two Coats

Essie Coat Azure - Two Coats

Essie Coat Azure - Two Coats

Nail of the Day - Essie Nice is Nice

I will admit I really love this color. I know I am usually not a fan of pastel colors, but Essie Nice is Nice is such a cute pastel purple. I know there hasn't been a lot of hype around this color, but I honestly think it's the perfect light purple cream polish. I like lilac colors overall, but they aren't usually my go to colors for nails. This color is a subtle purple lilac and it was just so pretty on my fingers I caught myself looking down to check out my polish throughout the day. I applied Seche Base as a base coat, two coats of Nice is Nice and one layer of Seche Vite as a top coat for this result. I think the reason I love this color so much is because it really compliments the yellow/tan undertones in my skin. What are your thoughts?

Essie Nice is Nice - Two Coats with Flash

Essie Nice is Nice - Two Coats with Flash

Essie Nice is Nice - Two Coats with Flash

Essie Nice is Nice - Two Coats with Flash

Nail of the Day - Essie French Affair

This is Essie French Affair the nail polish which the entire Essie French Affair nail polish was named for. As you can see, it's a creamy pastel pink. It was really nice to apply on the fingers and was opaque with only two coats. The first coat went on a bit sheer, however two coats was only required to get this polish completely opaque. Again, this collection is just meh to me. However, I really do like these colors on my fingers even if they aren't my favorite. I have received numerous compliments from people when I wore Essie Topless and Barefoot, but I still can't help it, I love my brights. :)

I applied Seche Base as a base coat, two coats of Essie French Affair and Seche Vite as a top coat. I recently broke my ring finger nail on my left hand while attempting to avoid the use of scissors (big mistake). Either way, I decided to there was still enough nail to show you it painted! Enjoy!

Nail of the Day - Essie Topless and Barefoot

Please excuse my thumb nail, I broke it while trying to open the packaging to a book I ordered from Amazon...yeah. I had to file it down in a kind of funky way, so it's looking a little messed up right now.

This is Essie's Topless and Barefoot from their new French Affair Collection. I purchased the four-pack of colors, which includes Essie French Affair (pastel pink), Essie Topless and Barefoot, Essie Nice is Nice (pastel purple) and Essie Coat Azure (pastel blue). As you can see, Essie Topless and Barefoot is a light tan brown (if you can even call it that) cream polish. It applied nicely to the nails, like all Essie nail lacquers. I found out just the other day that Essie polishes are made for natural nails, whereas OPI is marketed toward those in the nail industry who paint on acrylic nails. So, I'd assume Essie polishes are expected to last longer on natural nails than acrylic nails. Either way, I wasn't super impressed by this color at first, but it's really starting to grow on me. I am not a huge pastel fan, but this collection is starting to make me reconsider my skepticism.

I applied Seche Base as a base coat, three coats of Barefoot and Topless (it was a bit sheer on the second coat), and Seche Vite as a top coat. Enjoy!

Three Coats Essie Topless and Barefoot with Flash

Three Coats Essie Topless and Barefoot with Flash

Three Coats Essie Topless and Barefoot with Flash

Three Coats Essie Topless and Barefoot with Flash

Another Nail of the Day - China Glaze Black Mesh with Essie Forever Young

I really wanted to pair China Glaze Black Mesh Crackle Glaze with a color that would really make it stand out. I decided on Essie Forever Young because it's such a beautiful deep red on the fingers. I applied Seche Base as a base coat, and then two coats of Essie Forever Young which is a deep rich red cream. I then applied one coat of China Glaze Black Mesh. I decided to apply a top coat (Seche Vite) to give the nails a real shine. I left my pinky without a top coat so you all could see what China Glaze's Black Mesh looks like without a top coat. It dries matte like all the other polishes in the China Glaze Crackle Collection and like OPI's Black Shatter.

I have been asked by many people whether I prefer OPI's Black Shatter or China Glaze Black Mesh. I honestly think China Glaze Crackle Collection has a much better formula than OPI's Black Shatter formula. I think OPI's Black Shatter dries too quickly to get an even coat of the polish on making the polish apply chunky. I find it much easier to work with the China Glaze Crackle Collection as a whole. However, I think OPI's Black Shatter lacquer creates a bit more unique of designs on the actual nail. What do you think? I've included a photo of OPI's Black Shatter on American Apparel's Mac Arthur Park for you to compare the two black polishes in each collection.

Essie Forever Young - Two Coats with Flash

Essie Forever Young - Two Coats, China Glaze Black Mesh with Top Coat and Flash

American Apparel's Mac Arthur Park - Two Coats, OPI's Black Shatter One Coat with Flash - No Top Coat

Essie Forever Young - Two Coats, China Glaze Black Mesh - One Coat with Top Coat and Flash

Essie Forever Young - Two Coats, China Glaze Black Mesh - One Coat with Top Coat and Flash

Essie Forever Young - Two Coats, China Glaze Black Mesh - One Coat with Top Coat and Flash

Essie will be releasing its Spring 2011 Collection entitled French Affair this February 2011. I have seen Coat Azure on other blogs, which was really gorgeous and a beautiful blue. French Affair is also a lovely color, but reminds me a lot of colors I've seen recently in other collections. Honestly, again, this collection isn't really surprising me yet. I don't know about you all, but I really love color. I am a fan of the smokey taupe colored nails and lilac nails which were extremely popular this past season, however I am getting a little tired of seeing the same colors re-released over and over. There isn't a smokey taupe in this collection, but there is a lilac. It better be an extraordinary lilac to convince my wallet. I am waiting to see how each of the polishes look on the nails before making any purchases. Of all the colors I think Coat Azure is the most unique in color. What are your thoughts?

 

Left to Right: Kisses and Bises, Nice is Nice, Coat Azure, Sand Tropez, Topless and Barefoot, French Affair

Smokey Taupe Nail Polish Comparisons

Laura, our resident nail expert, was kind enough to show us her collection of Smokey Taupe nail polishes. (Smokey Taupe nail polish has been so in this season and Laura has clearly been on top of the trend!) Check out her awesome comparison of the polishes below!

First, Laura asked that we ignore the application...she does not intend to actually wear five different color smokey taupe nail polishes out and about. Laura did all this painting for you guys! :) :) :) Let's focus on the color people...

The 411 on Smokey Taupes from Laura

Over the Taupe, Bad Influence, You Don't Know Jacques, Mink Muffs, Chocolate Moose

Coats and Formulas
Pictures are all of 3 coats (except for Over the Taupe, which was 4); no base coat or top coat.

On the first coat, Bad Influence was the hands down winner.  I could have stopped after one coat with this - it was not streaky, almost completely opaque, and so creamy looking.  Absolutely gorgeous formula.  Too bad I started off with it because the other formulas seemed SO bad in comparison even though they're pretty decent generally speaking. For the other colors: Over the Taupe was really watery and transparent, pretty disappointing.  You Don't Know Jacques wasn't bad, a bit more opaque than Over the Taupe but still pretty transparent on the first go as is the norm.  Mink Muffs was similar, not as watery as the OPI polishes, but very transparent.  At first glance, these Over the Taupe, You Don't Know Jacques, and Mink Muff looked exactly the same after only 1 coat.  Chocolate Moose is obviously not even close to the same color as the rest of these, but I'll leave it on here anyway.

Nothing newsworthy about the second coat except that Nars looked finished while the others still needed another coat to show their bottle colors.

Third coat - all colors were opaque except for Over the Taupe - it still showed through in the cuticle area, so I actually had to do a 4th coat on this one to get it totally opaque, which is pretty disappointing.  Nars again had the best formula - it didn't even need a third coat but it didn't get thick or clumpy when I added one anyway.  Mink Muffs and You Don't Know Jacques came out nicely - opaque and creamy after 3 coats.

Thumb: Bad Influence, Left to Right: Over the Taupe, You Don't Know Jacques, Mink Muffs, Chocolate Moose

Color
As far as the colors go, it's pretty obvious from the photos that You Don't Know Jacques and Chocolate Moose aren't dupes for Bad Influence.  Chocolate Moose is in a different ballpark of colors completely.  You Don't Know Jacques is in the same family but several shades darker with a much bluer/grayer base.  Bad Influence, Over the Taupe, and Mink Muffs are really similar overall.  All are creams (no shimmer at all) and definitely in the taupe family.  If you look really closely at the super close up pics, you can see that Bad Influence is slightly grayer/greener/beiger (somehow it is actually all of those!) than the more warm/chocolately toned Over the Taupe and Mink Muffs.  The differences are so minor though - I can't imagine anyone on the street catching a glimpse of your nails would be able to tell which color you were wearing!  I can't speak to chipping yet because I've only worn these as swatches for comparisons so far. I'll give more details when I do a full manicure with these!

Thumb: Bad Influence, Left to Right: Over the Taupe, You Don't Know Jacques, Mink Muffs, Chocolate Moose

Recommendations
If you can afford it, Bad Influence is totally worth it for the formula and application.  It's described as "smoky taupe" on Sephora's site, which seems pretty accurate to me.  I can't really recommend Over the Taupe given that it took 4 coats to even be presentable, although it is a similar color to Bad Influence.  Mink Muffs is very slightly darker and a bit warmer/browner than Bad Influence, but it's a great and very similar alternative if you don't want to shell out twice as much (.5 oz on both for $16 for Nars vs. $8 for Essie or even cheaper if you can find Essie deals online).  But if you're a fan of this color family, they're different enough to justify having both!

Thumb: Bad Influence, Left to Right: Over the Taupe, You Don't Know Jacques, Mink Muffs, Chocolate Moose

Halloween Makeup, Part 1

For Halloween I was a Planeteer from Captain Planet, the popular 90's cartoon series. If you never watched the show, it's awesome. Each of the planeteers has a special ring that has powers related to the earth, such as: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Heart. When the teenage characters of the cartoon combine their powers together they can summon Captain Planet - a hero who saves the planet from evil polluters. :) I know, kind of cheesey.

Needless to say, here is a photo of the Planeteers:

Here is my Halloween makeup complete with matching vest and ring! Go Planet!

Products Used:
Face:

• Chanel Teint Innocence in Beige 40
• Laura Mercier Mineral Powder in Real Sand
• Mac Select Moisture Cover Concealer in NW 25
• Mac Translucent Powder to set concealer

Eyes:

• Mac Eyeshadow in Show Stopper
• Rock & Republic Eyeshadow in Humid
• Mac Eyeshadow in Ricepaper
• Clinique Gel Liner in Black
• Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in Zer
• Make Up Forever Smokey Lash in Black
• Mac Eyebrow Pencil in Lingering   
• Ardel #305 lashes 

Cheeks:

• Nars Blush in Exhibit A
• Mac Blush in Blunt for Contouring
• Laura Mercier Shimmer Block in Peach Mosaic - as highlight

Lips:

• Mac Lip Pencil in Redd

Nail Polish:

• Essie Exotic Liras