SWATCH: Julep - Lisa

I'm going to IMATS LA today, and this polish is what I'm wearing.  It's Julep Lisa, which is a green-based gray.  This polish is a bit of a chameleon in color, changing depending on the light.  Sometimes, it looks olive green, other times it looks taupe-y. Either way, it's a pretty neutral creme!

The formula for this was kind of watery, but it still applied pretty well.  It was smooth going on, and I used two coats to achieve the opacity in the pictures above.

I'm hoping to catch up on a bunch of swatches this long weekend, so expect a bunch of posts coming up! :)  Also, look forward to an IMATS haul post.  I love seeing other people's, so I thought I would do one too.  Stay tuned!

Julep Maven: October 2012

I'm back with my October Julep Maven box.  I almost skipped this month, because most of the boxes came with crackle, and I didn't like the 1 box that didn't have crackle.   The crackle trend is pretty much dead, IMO, and I think many people felt the same way because Julep came out with another option this month and that is the Maven's Choice box.  It came with 3 creme polishes from the October boxes, but no drops.  I really wanted to try the drops, so I debated whether to get the American Beauty box or the Maven's Choice box.  The American Beauty box came with a dusty indigo creme polish named Eloise and an orange crackle named Sabrina, which I thought was a pretty unique color for a crackle and was the reason I was thinking of getting it.  But then I decided it would be better to just get Maven's Choice and add on the drops, since I was also going to add on Sofia anyway.  And ta-da:

l-r: lisa, eloise, keira, sofia, quick dry drops

Julep included several extras this month.  As you can see in the last picture, there's glitter!  I got orange and black, which is perfectly fine with me because it's October and those will be great for Halloween.  But I know some people got white and silver, which would have been nice and more versatile.  The other extra was candy corn, which is a Halloween staple, but I'm not a fan of it.  I'll probably give it away.  Anyway, I hope to do swatches soon!  At the very least, I will do skittle swatches if I can't do full hand swatches right away.

Also, I was playing with lighting and angles and stuff today, so that I can try to be better about swatching and photographing for this little blog.  (Maybe you can tell, by some of the over-brightness of the photos, lol.)  That's one of the main reasons my blogging schedule is so wonky.  By the time I get home from school and/or interning, it's already dark.  And that'll be even more so with winter coming up.  Can't believe it's already October!!

Until next time~

SPOTTED: Sinful Colors Fall Fairy Tale Enchanted Collection (Fall 2012)

So I've been on the hunt for the Barely Beige Color Tattoo from the Maybelline Scene on the Runway limited edition collection.  I know, I know...I'm a bit late hunting for them now.  But I didn't think I was going to get them.  That changed over the course of time, as I saw more and more swatches.  Anyway, long story short, I haven't found it yet!  It seems to be sold out everywhere.

However, I did spot something new at Rite Aid!  The Sinful Colors Fall collection called Fall Fairy Tale: Enchanted.

The colors from left to right: Inkwell, Muse, Smokin, Rain Storm, Last Chance, In the Mist, Mesmerize, and Jungle Trail.

Close up of Inkwell, Muse, Smokin', and Rainstorm.

Inkwell looks to a be a purple-black color, Muse is a dusty gray-purple color that has become very common, Smokin' looks to be a straight up concrete gray color, and Rainstorm is a dusty blue color.

Close up of Last Chance, In the Mist, Mesmerize, and Jungle Trail.

Last Chance is a dark forest green color, In the Mist is a dusty gray-green color, Mesmerize is a dusty blurple (blue-purple), and Jungle Trail is a light gray-putty color.

All of the polishes seem to be creme finishes.  As you can tell from my color descriptions, a lot of the colors have dusty and/or grayish quality to them, which I like.  But I don't think the colors are overly unique, and I didn't pick anything up this time around.  However, I am thinking about going back for In the Mist and Mesmerize.  Also, Last Chance and Rainstorm are repromotes.  The rest are new, I think.  

Ok, actually, I picked up Rainstorm from Walgreens yesterday.  But that was before I found out about this collection, so that doesn't technically count as picking something up from this one. :P  It was part of my big SC Walgreens haul (yay 99 cent sale!), and I'll have swatches of it up soon!

Are you thinking of getting anything from this collection?  Or any other Fall collections?  I think Fall collections are some of the best collections of the year!

SWATCH: Revlon Moon Candy - Supernova

Hello~ It's been so hot for at least the past two weeks!  It makes a person not want to do anything but sit in front of the fan/air conditioner, haha.  Anyway, today I have a polish from the Revlon Moon Candy collection.  This is my first time trying any of these Revlon duos.

I originally wasn't going to buy anything from this collection because it just didn't seem worth it.  They're quite pricey for the amount of polish you get.  But this week, CVS is having a pretty good deal on Revlon polish, so I decided to give it a try.

This particular duo is called Supernova.  It has a dark gray base with pink/peach flakies that also flash green and yellow.

The above swatches were done with 2 coats of the base color and 1 thick coat of the flakies.  I knew there could be some problems getting the flakies from bottle to nail, since I read some reviews before buying, so I just didn't wipe the brush at all before applying.  Whatever was on the brush went on the nail.  I had  no problems with application for the base color, and the flakies didn't give me much of a problem either, as can be seen from the pictures.  I didn't use a base coat for these photos.

If you're interested in this polish or any of the other Moon Candy collection, CVS is having a sale on Revlon polishes.  It's currently $4.99, which is a deal in itself since these are regularly priced at $8.29.  But you also get $3 ExtraCare bucks, which is like getting this polish for $1.99.  

Do you have any of the Moon Candy polishes?

SWATCH+REVIEW: Revlon Carbonite

I decided to continue with a kind-of Chanel theme for my next mani.  I say kind-of because this is NOT a Chanel polish.  Instead, it is a supposed Chanel dupe!  

Carbonite is a pewter polish with silver and copper shimmer creating a foil finish.  This color is great for fall and winter!  Also, it applied very well!  I was able to get full opacity with one coat, though I used two to be safe.  Below, you can see it photographed both cool and warm, which makes me think it would look great on any skin tone. :)

cool

warm

I think Carbonite is really pretty!  This is supposedly a dupe for Chanel's Graphite polish.  Not dead on, but a pretty good one.  I don't have that polish, so can't do a dupe comparison on my own, but you can definitely Google it and find plenty of others who have done so.  And unfortunately, I am not sure if Carbonite is still available.  You may still find a random one here or there at drugstores and G, from Nouveau Cheap, had posted a couple months ago that they could be found at Big Lots.  So if you're looking for it, I'd say look through the regular Revlon polish display at the drugstore, as leftovers may have been placed there, or check Big Lots.

What do you think of Carbonite?