June 30, 2011

MAC Jealousy Wakes Eye Look



Now that MAC has announced a second production run of the Bloggers' Obsessions collection, I can post more looks/swatches of the products without feeling bad! I never like to post products that I know you can't have/have to pay exorbitant prices on Ebay to get. But, MAC says they will have a waiting list on their website soon and you can hopefully get any products you missed the first time!



So for this look, I layered Jealousy Wakes eye shadow over a black base, specifically MAC Style Black Greasepaint Stick (a LE item, but black bases are easy to find). I simply put the black base almost up to my crease, going a bit lighter on the black on the inner 1/3rd of my lid. Then I patted on Jealousy Wakes and went a little above the crease with Jealousy Wakes. I used MAC White Frost eye shadow as a highlight under the brow and in the inner corners of my eyes. On the lower lashline, I used MAC Undercurrent eyeliner (also LE), blended into White Frost. Using Jealousy Wakes on the lower lashline would give a similar look.



I LOVED this look, it's the perfect emerald smoky eye. It was also really easy to do and not at all time-consuming. I am still practicing taking pictures of my eye make-up and lips! It's new to me, so I promise I will get better. This look also looked a bit more blended in person, my camera really loves to accentuate flaws LOL. What do you think of this look? Will you be getting Jealousy Wakes when it is re-released?

Nail de Royale



Hi all, just wanted to share with you a nail supply store I'd never heard of until recently, Nail de Royale. They sell a lot of polish, OPI, Nubar, Essie, CND, etc., but I think the best things they sell are their nail art supplies.

Check out these glitters by Erikonail... OMG would they be amazing for frankening or what??? The metallic blue green and garnet brown glitters are really calling my name. Nail de Royale also sells a HUGE variety of Swarovski crystals. When you start seeing blinged out nails on this blog every day, you can blame this website. I think some of the dark fall colors with Swarovski crystals may have to happen for me.

So, has anyone heard of/ordered from Nail de Royale? What would you franken using their delicious glitters?

June 29, 2011

Pink Skim Milk... Otherwise Known As Prelude to a Kiss



Deborah Lippmann Prelude to a Kiss looks just like skim milk with a tiny dash of strawberry syrup. Totally random comparison, yes, but that's what it reminds me of. A little back story on this polish, I actually won it on Twitter from Deborah Lippmann herself! I follow her, as a good polish addict should, and she one day tweeted something like "The first six people to DM me their name, address, skin tone and hair color will win a prize!". I enter giveaways like a maniac (but rarely win them), so of course I entered. I was very excited to find out that I actually won!



I always wonder, if I had a celebrity stylist, what would they tell me to wear? Or a celebrity make-up artist, what kind of make-up would they advice me to wear? Well, now I know that Deborah Lippmann would advise me to wear Prelude to a Kiss, based on my skin tone, hair color and eye color. Kinda not my kind of color, Deb!

see how streak-free it is though?

Regardless of whether this is my kind of color or not, the formula is lovely. This is three coats and for such a sheer, light polish, it is pretty streak-free. Drying time was good, and application was effortless. I will probably never wear it for long enough to tell you about the wear time though, as this is such a tame, milky color.



I'm sure many women would love this polish, and I honestly don't hate it. I just don't love it either! If you love it, it'll probably end up in my Blogsale, so you can definitely pick it up super cheap there. It would probably be great for jelly sandwiches! Deborah Lippmann does have some insanely awesome looking glitters coming out for fall, by the way. I will be getting a few of those!



Deborah Lippmann polishes are available online at Apothica.

June 27, 2011

Color Club Makes Me (Tangerine) Scream!!



Today's post contains the bright and shimmery Color Club Tangerine Scream that I mentioned when I posted Color Club Volt of Light last week. Tangerine Scream is also from the Electro Candy collection. It's a bright neon orange with blue/green shimmer. I think the blue/green tint of the shimmer is a bit more obvious in the bottle, but you can see it at certain angles on the nail. It adds a cool look to the polish, almost duochrome-y, but not quite.



I really love this polish! I love neon orange for summer and the shimmer in this one makes it apply nicely and dry streak-free. It appears in some of these photos that I got some bubbles in one nail, but I was sitting directly under a fan (it's hot out!). Definitely not the fault of this lovely polish! By the way, I couldn't see those bubbles in real life, damn macro setting!



As this is a neon polish, it dries a bit matte, but that is easily fixed with a top coat. It also has a bit of VNL (this is three coats), but I do find that to be pretty common with neons. It is quite a bit more opaque than Volt of Light. The shimmer in Tangerine Scream also makes it a more flattering color than a stark neon orange creme, in my opinion.



The Electro Candy collection is still readily available online (at Victoria's Nail Supply), so if you missed it when it came out, definitely check it out now! Tangerine Scream is a super bright polish that is perfect for fingers and toes in the summer!



By the way, I see that my poll about creating a new make-up blog/posting here is actually very close now. I still haven't completely decided what to do, but I do appreciate your feedback. For those of you who voted, would you tell me in the comments why you voted the way you did? Thank you!

June 25, 2011

MAC Bloggers' Obsessions Quick Swatches

MAC Jealousy Wakes

Good morning everyone! Thanks to those of you who have voted in my poll so far. I see that most of you think I should just post my make-up swatches and product reviews here on Never Enough Nails. I haven't quite decided what I will ultimately do (make a new blog or post here), but I do appreciate your input! I have a vast and ever-growing make-up and beauty product collection, and I would definitely like to share more of it with you! If you haven't voted in the poll, please let me know what you think!

For today, I have some quick swatches and comparisons of a few products from the MAC Bloggers' Collection. If you haven't heard about this collection, MAC asked a bunch of bloggers to submit their ideas for an eyeshadow or lipglass, and then chose nine of those bloggers to visit the MAC headquarters in Toronto and create their own product! Exciting, right?

MAC Jealousy Wakes

There were four eyeshadows released with this collection, I picked up Jealousy Wakes, a sell-out shade created by Christine from Temptalia. Jealousy Wakes is a gorgeous shimmery emerald green shadow. It is a Veluxe Pearl finish, one of MAC's most popular eye shadow finishes. Jealousy Wakes is super-pigmented and easy to blend. I could not think of an eye shadow to compare this to, so I'd say it's pretty unique! Unfortunately, it sold out rather quickly online, but knowing MAC they'll re-promote it in another collection.

MAC Jealousy Wakes

left to right: Nitro:licious 2046, Sonoran Rain, Caqui, and Evolution Revolution

There were five lipglasses released with this collection and I purchased four of them! I was only familiar with one of the bloggers who created the lipglasses, and that is Karen from Make-up and Beauty Blog. Karen is probably why I started blogging. I have loved her blog for years! Not only does she provide detailed swatches and opinions about product, but she is also a fellow crazy cat lady and I love her cat Tabs. She created the shade Evolution Revolution for this collection, and I knew I had to have it.

bottom to top: Nitro:licious 2046, Evolution Revolution, Caqui, Sonoran Rain

left to right: Nitro:licious 2046, Evolution Revolution, Caqui, Sonoran Rain

Now, on to the comparisons! There haven't been many comparisons online, as all of the bloggers involved refused to really review/compare this collection. They felt it wouldn't be right since they created these shades. Christine from Temptalia did some comparisons for Jealousy Wakes, but that's about it.

bottom to top: MAC Rue D'Rouge Dazzleglass, MAC Sonoran Rain, MAC Red Devil

I wanted to compare Sonoran Rain to something in my collection, but it is definitely not a match to anything I own! I compared it to MAC Rue D'Rouge Dazzleglass (too sheer and blue-toned) and MAC Red Devil (too orange-y and not the same kind of glitter/shimmer).

bottom to top: MAC Mimmy, MAC Evolution Revolution

I thought that Evolution Revolution would be very similar to my favorite everyday gloss, MAC Mimmy (from the Hello Kitty collection, 2009). However, Mimmy is more pink and has less prominent shimmer. Ev Rev leans more on the coral/peach side and has very prominent, gorgeous shimmer. I might have a new favorite daily gloss!

left to right: MAC Nitro:licious 2046, MAC Russian Red

I also thought Nitro:licious 2046 would be very similar to MAC Russian Red lipglass, but they have their differences. Nitro is more blue-based and has a kind of jelly-like finish. Russian Red is more of a true red, and lighter than Nitro.

Overall, I am really pleased with the items I got from this collection. I can't wait to play around with them more! I will be posting lip swatches and an eye look with Jealousy Wakes as soon as I have time.

MAC Bloggers' Obsessions is available now ONLY online at MAC.

June 23, 2011

OPI Jelly and Glitter Sangwich!



I don't know who started doing Jelly Sandwich manicures, but they've been quite popular among the nail blogging community lately. In case you've never seen one, a Jelly Sandwich involves layering a jelly polish underneath and on top of a glitter (or even crackle) polish, essentially making a sandwich! This is the first sandwich I've attempted and I'm sad to say my pictures do not do it justice. It was thunder storming all morning today and the sky is darker than it usually is at 8 p.m. I always photograph in natural light, and there really wasn't any to be found.



Only this picture above shows the real beauty of this manicure. WOW! Look at that awesomeness! For this look, I actually used two different jellies for the base and top, I got a bit confused LOL. I used OPI In The Spotlight Pink as the base, but then remembered it was really too clear to use for this purpose. Then I layered on two coats of OPI Sparkle-icious for the meat of the sandwich. Finally, I topped this sandwich with one coat of OPI Step Right Up! I like how this came out a LOT!



The cool thing about these manis is that the glitter looks kind of captured inside a pool of polish or something. Make sure you click on these pictures to enlarge them and see the detail. I now want to purchase the three jellies from OPI Texas so that I can do many many more jelly sandwiches!



What do you think of the jelly sandwich look? Have you tried one? Do you have a favorite combination?

OPI In The Spotlight Pink and Step Right Up! were sent to me for review by a PR agent for OPI. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

Color Club Fall 2011 Preview- Back to Boho

While you're waiting for my real post of the day, feast your eyes on Color Club's fall collection, Back to Boho.





The colors in this collection are:
Nomadic in Nude – a must have neutral for the season; off white and creamy
Earthy Angel – Gorgeous creamy camel
New Bohemian – a new 70’s take on Tiffany Blue
Shabby Drab – Purple Greige The ultimate boho color
Rad Nomad РPurple brown cr̬me
Red-ical Gypsy – Boho chic red, a new take on a vintage classic red
Boho Mojo – Silvery, beige pearl
Nouveau Vintage – The perfect understated vintage frosty gold
Voodoo You Do – The perfect charcoal grey for the season with blue undertones
Artsy Crafty – The ultimate muted military green
Blue-topia – Just as it sounds, the perfect shade of deep blue
Rebel Spirit – Deep chocolate brown creme

So, which ones jump out at you? Right now, I like the sound of New Bohemian (I'm a sucker for Tiffany's anything!), Nouveau Vintage, and Artsy Crafty (love me some military green!). It sounds like several of these will have that "dusty" feel that many of us like.

These beauties should be out in September.

June 21, 2011

OPI Navy Shatter over Color Club Volt of Light



For my second day of wearing Color Club Volt of Light, I added a coat of OPI Navy Shatter. This is a really bold combination, and I am loving it! I really enjoy the dark Shatters over neons, it's really graphic looking. I like a lot of contrast in my outfits as well, it's a big part of my personal style, so this fits right in!

My favorite nail this time was my pinky!

This is quite a lot of coats of polish though, so I'm kind of expecting it to chip soon. It's base coat, two coats of a Color Club white (from a Halloween mini set), two coats of Color Club Volt of Light, one coat of CND Super Shiney, and one coat of OPI Navy Shatter. I did not put top coat over Navy Shatter. Sometimes I like the Shatters with no top coat, they dry a bit matte-looking.



How's your week going so far? Mine is pretty good, I managed to place an order for the MAC Blogger's Obsessions collection last night when it came online for about an hour. I ordered Jealousy Wakes eye shadow and FOUR of the lip glasses! I'll definitely be posting some swatches when I receive them!





Color Club Volt of Light is available online at Victoria's Nail Supply.

OPI Navy Shatter was sent to me for review by a PR agent for OPI. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

June 20, 2011

Oldie, but Goodie: Color Club Volt of Light



Color Club Volt of Light is from the Summer 2009 Electro Candy collection. Electro Candy was a really great collection of shimmery neons. Back when this was released, I picked up Volt of Light and an orange called Tangerine Scream, which I'll be showing you later this week. This collection also contained a neon pink, purple, green and blue, along with a "Vivid Intensifying Top Coat".



Now, I purchased this polish because I saw the lovely Scrangie's swatches. She stated that she used three coats of this polish and topped it off with the Vivid Intensifying top coat. I did not buy the top coat, but it must be amazing, because three coats of this lacquer on my tips is crazy sheer. It looked nothing like Scrangie's! You can imagine that I was disappointed at first, but now I layer it over a white polish, which works quite well. These three pictures are two coats of a Color Club white from a Halloween mini set under two coats of Color Club Volt of Light.



This was a very confusing polish for my camera. The closest I could get to the actual color is in the very first picture at the top there. I also had to color correct that picture in editing, which explains why I have very red hands. Volt of Light is a bright NEON yellow with lots of pretty, almost duochrome-like shimmer. I know my pictures don't look very neon! This polish also tends to look more neon without the white underneath, but I find I need about five coats for it to be acceptable-looking (for me anyway). So... bottom line, I LOVE this color. I do wish it was less sheer though. But Victoria's Nail Supply has the whole Electro Candy collection, including the Vivid Intensifying top coat! Maybe I'll pick up the top coat and see if it intensifies!

Color Club Volt of Light is available online at Victoria's Nail Supply.

June 17, 2011

OPI Miss Universe Preview and Thoughts

Let's check out this collection preview from OPI, and then I have some thoughts about it for ya!


"OPI Launches Limited Edition
Miss Universe Lacquers

Pageant-pretty nail lacquers in the new Miss Universe by OPI promotion give fingers and toes added glitz and glamour. Featuring four shades packed with shimmer and sparkle, these limited edition colors capture the energy of the 2011 MISS UNIVERSE® competition, to be held September 12, 2011, in São Paulo, Brazil.

“Miss Universe is the most popular and publicized beauty pageant in the world,” said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “We are excited to partner with the Miss Universe Organization, whose contestants provided so much inspiration for rich, high-fashion color.”

With shades ranging from berry and golden pink to electric blue and glittery silver, Miss Universe by OPI provides high-shine lacquers, including:

Congeniality is My Middle Name- And berry-wine shimmer is what I do best!

It’s MY Year- It’s about time for this champagne-rose to shine!

Swimsuit…Nailed It!- An itsy bitsy teenie weenie vibrant shiny-blue bikini.

Crown Me Already!- A sassy silver sparkle that knows what it’s worth.

The Miss Universe Organization named OPI its official nail care sponsor this June. Additionally, Weiss-Fischmann will be a judge for the 2011 Miss USA® pageant, a precursor to the Miss Universe competition. "

OK My Thoughts:
1. I don't watch any of these pageants. I basically disagree with their existence. I think having females judged on their appearance in a swimsuit in this day and age is ridiculous.
2. Some of these colors look awfully familiar.

Now, you know I have really been loving OPI lately. The Pirates collection and Silver Shatter= amazing. The Blue Shatters= Full of Win. Nice Stems!= Super Pretty. Serena Williams England= Basically Made For Me. And of course, I am SUPER OFF THE WALL EXCITED for the upcoming Touring America and Muppets collections. But this Miss Universe situation is kinda lame.

Now, I may change my mind upon actually trying the polishes. Especially because Swimsuit... Nailed It! looks pretty awesome and so does Crown Me Already! Maybe I'll just change their names in my head and pretend they are from another collection. I'm curious, what are your thoughts on the OPI Miss Universe collection?

June 16, 2011

This Glam Slam is a Grand Slam! OPI Serena Williams Glam Slam

OPI Grape Set Match with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

OPI has released two more Serena Williams Glam Slam! sets for the Wimbledon tournament in England. The previous three Glam Slam! sets have been quite popular and have all contained an OPI Shatter polish. This time, OPI changes it up a bit and features a glitter top coat in place of the Shatter polish. I knew I was doomed to love these three polishes from the very first time I laid eyes on the press release. There is a metallic silver polish (I can never have enough metallic silvers), a metallic purple (purple is my favorite color, plus this polish is vampy and shimmery at the same time!), AND a glitter! Read on for the love fest.

OPI Grape Set Match

Grape Set Match is a metallic grape purple with loads of shimmery goodness. I took that picture above at that weird angle because it seems to show off all of the shimmer better than pictures taken straight on. I did three coats of this polish and it covered nice and evenly and was very opaque.

OPI Grape Set Match

OPI Grape Set Match

This is one of those polishes that is equally gorgeous indoors and out. You don't need to be standing in full sunlight for this baby to sparkle. I am sure some people don't consider this a particularly summer-y color, considering that these are being released in June, but I love to wear colors like this year round. And it's purple!

OPI Grape Set Match

OPI Grape Set Match with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

If you thought Grape Set Match couldn't get much better, you were obviously wrong! Check this out! This is just one coat of OPI Servin' Up Sparkle over Grape Set Match! I did this as a full mani immediately after I swatched this combo. I am obsessed. If the night sky was purple, this would look like stars in the night sky LOL.

OPI Grape Set Match with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

OPI Grape Set Match with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

Servin' Up Sparkle has lots of small holo glitter along with some large pieces of octagon-shaped holo glitter. The overall effect is very sparkly and pretty. I'll definitely be sporting this one over everything!

OPI Grape Set Match with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness

In case Grape Set Match isn't doing it for you (if this is the case, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?), OPI has kindly provided Your Royal Shine-ness, a darkened metallic silver. This is a slightly darker metallic silver than some of the others I own, and it's a welcome addition to my collection. This was three coats again, and also applied nice and evenly. Unlike some silver foils, there were no patchy spots or VNL (Orly Shine, I'm talking to you).

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness

Your Royal Shine-ness is definitely darker than Orly Shine and my other favorite silver, a LE L'Oreal holiday polish, but I have heard it's lighter than OPI Lu-certainly Look Marvelous from the Swiss collection.

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

And who doesn't love silver glitter over silver polish??? This is a gorgeous combo, I LOVE it! I did do two coats of Servin' Up Sparkle for this look. I thought two coats stood out a bit more than one. If you want a more subtle look, one coat also looks excellent. Subtle is totally NOT my thing, so I went for two! Again, this might not say "summer" to you, but I would rock this look any day of the year.

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

OPI Serena Williams Glam Slam England is available/will be available soon at an Ulta near you.

These polishes were sent to me for review by a PR agent for OPI. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.