CHI Ceramic Nail Lacquer Out On The Town Brown

I got a chance to dig through my Aunts nail polish collection. Yay! She has colors and brands I usually don't purchase so this was a lot of fun. First is CHI Ceramic Nail Lacquer. Color is Out On The Town Brown.

CHI Ceramic Nail Polish Out On The Town Brown (Flash)

This color is gooooorgeous. With flash or warm lighting it comes off very orangey, but it's really not that orange. More of a medium brunette brown with sparkles of gold and orange. It applies nicely, but the brush is very skinny so sort of a pain to work with.

One coat provided good application, although two was needed to clear up any streaking. This would be a great polish to layer with.

Natural lighting, color more true

I hope I get a chance to use this color again soon for Konading as it has a lot of depth to it.

OPI Review You Don't Know Jacques!

So far, I've been using O.P.I. a lot lately for my nails. Honestly, I haven't used O.P.I. much since I was pregnant, which, at the time most O.P.I. polishes contained formaldehyde.Thing's have changed. 

To sum it up formaldehyde essentially causes polish to last longer. I've noticed that my new O.P.I. polishes actually last longer than previous versions (but dry slower).

So I wanted to sum up my O.P.I. Review with some swatches of You Don't Know Jacques!

O.P.I. You Don't Know Jacques!

Review: O.P.I. Polishes now have a wider brush on most of their bottles. I personally, love this. I'm good at application with any size brush but the Pro Wide brush makes my life much easier. Some may not like this, as you can easily pick up too much nail polish. (note, I still sometimes find bottles with the skinny brush, but usually it's part of the other lines like O.P.I. Feet)

OPI Nail Polish You Don't Know Jacques!
in creme colors is also slightly thicker than most of my other brands. However, sometimes it still takes 3 coats for good coverage depending on the color (tip: lighter colors usually mean more polish coats).

O.P.I. polishes take FOREVER to dry. At least it seems that way to me. I use a hair dryer set on "cold" to speed up the process. You really have to make sure the first coat is dry before applying the second coat, otherwise it will NEVER dry.

However, once fully dry, they don't chip as bad as other polishes. With a good top-coat I can keep my polish on for 3 or more days. Without a top coat its 1-2 days.

The price is the one thing I'm not fond of in most retail settings. I can get O.P.I. for $2.75-$4.25 a bottle at a local beauty supply store. However, I've seen the price go easily to $9 or more in consumer settings (Salons and even grocery stores).

O.P.I. You Don't Know Jacques! Is a beautiful deep rich grey-taupe tone. I don't really know how to describe it. Sometimes it seems it has hints of purple(it doesn't, I think cooler lights have this effect), other times it just seems deep taupe or a warm grey. I guess it depends on how you describe colors. Regardless, it's a beautiful color that's totally in this season.

You Don't Know Jacques! in cooler light

It's also super shiny, even without a top coat. I couldn't stop staring at my nails. The shine was so much that my camera had a rough time focusing (check photo above). This color in particular is also more durable than my other O.P.I. lacquers, I have been wearing it since Tuesday with nail art on top and have not had a single chip. I'm very rough with my nails.

You Don't Know Jacques Under warmer light

The potential for this particular color is amazing. Even plain it's gorgeous and sophisticated. However, with nail art on top it's perfect too. The only thing I might not suggest is using it for a french tip as it'll probably just look like dirty nails. I did a Halloween theme for the past week on my nails that I'll post up Monday.

So what do you think of the current O.P.I. polish vs their old polish from a few years back? Do you like it more or less? Do you think it's important nail polish is more "green" and safer?

O.P.I. Ali's Big Break

The last installment of my O.P.I. Burlesque collection swatches. I only purchased one set of Mini Teasers by O.P.I. on my last shopping trip. So far I've really liked all the colors. While Ali's Big Break is nice, it's just not me. However, for all other reasons it's a really great polish. If you like red, I'd highly suggest it.

O.P.I. Burlesque Collection Ali's Big Break

This nail polish is a deep red, with lighter red sparkles. It's so shiny on its own, but also very sparkley. The pictures look like a creme red, which it is not at all. I suppose there was so much shine from the polish that the sparkles did not show through properly.
While it's beautiful, I suppose I'm not confident enough to sport red nails? Now that my nails are growing longer I suppose I could sport it well.

Burlesque Box

I think however, for me, I would only wear it IF I did some serious nail art over it. To me, red nails remind me of 1980's secretaries. I guess that's what I get for watching too many 80's movies. Hehe. Red polishes in this general hue also tend to make me look paler and wash my skin color out. this color would look amazing on my asian sister-in-law who has beautiful naturally tanned skin. She can always pull off red MUCH better than I can.

O.P.I. Nail Polish Swatch Ali's Big Break

The great news is, this color glided on like butter. I didn't do much post clean-up on the polish. It also seemed easier to remove then the other colors in the Burlesque collection.  Afterwards I began thinking I might wear this color on Halloween (if I dress up in a costume) so I have that "Hey LOOK at me!" thing going on.
It took about 2-3 coats for full coverage, and is slightly sheer. It's a very dynamic lacquer and I'm sure most red lovers will appreciate it.

M.A.C. Venomous Villains Mean & Green

Today is horribly crummy out, rainy and cold. Luckily, I had prepared my photos for todays swatch post today. I had promised to show you all MAC Venomous Villains nail polish in Mean and Green.



I really can't stop staring. I really thought this would be my least preferred off the three in the Venomous Villains collection. I really enjoyed Bad Fairy, and while it's beautiful it seems to lack some depth that both Formidable! and Mean & Green contain. I suppose because Bad Fairy is pink on pink while the other two are two clashing colors.


Mean & Green under warm light

As you can see, like the other two in my earlier posts, Mean & green also takes on a different look in different lighting. It's a deep forest green with pink sparkles. It reminds me of the beautiful colors of gasoline floating on water. Beautiful and dangerous.


Mean & Green under 14k light

It definitely doesn't come off as dark as Formidable, nor as light and airy as Bad Fairy. It also took 3 coats for full coverage of the lacquer. As I was staring at my nails I really wished the beautiful shimmer Mean & Green has would show up in my other MAC nail lacquer - Earthly Harmony. The similar pink sparkles barely show through.



The collection sold fast, and I'm sure while you can probably find a few bottles scattered between M.A.C. Stores and Macy's it'll be a hard time finding some. On a good note ORLY Space Cadet is an almost exact match.



I'd actually suggest tracking down ORLY Space Cadet first only because it's cheaper and because M.A.C. seems to be having brush issues.