Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Nubar Fortress Collection Spring 2010

These have been out for a little while now so there's nothing brand new to see, but more pictures of polish are better than fewer, right? Hehe.

A surprising and unexpected set, if I do say so myself. I love the names of these!


Barricade. A medium-light grey creme. Not as much of a blue undertone in this one. I think this is the one that looks best against my skintone as well. Also reminds me of trying to get the Lantern Shield to drop.



Citadel. A light grey creme. Little bit blue toned. All these fortress-themed names... love them. This one reminds me of accidentally killing half the people in Garlaige Citadel while waiting for the gate to open. Oops.


Dark Castle. Nice black shimmer! Looks like black leather to me. Also a little bit of a blueish undertone.



Knight's Armor. Black base with silver glitter. This is the one I was most interested in from the promo pics but it's not as cool as I'd anticipated. I mean, it looks cool, but it's kinda... dull? The glitter doesn't sparkle. It's a little hard to apply smoothly and looks kinda lumpy when it dries. It looks much better matte than shiny, but I forgot to snap a picture of it with matte topcoat.

Marble Tower. Very light grey with strong blue undertone. It is somewhat similar to Citadel but Citadel is more neutral and this is more cool. Different light greys for different skin tones.



Palisade. Medium grey creme with strong blue undertone. This is a little bit like Rescue Beauty Lounge Stormy, if I recall correctly. I haven't compared them side-by-side, I'm just basing that on memory. This is a good alternative if you don't want to shell out $18 for a grey creme, the formula on this is actually pretty damn good despite it being half the price.


Silver Sword. A metallic charcoal-silver frost. Be careful with your brush strokes when applying this because they do stay fairly visible after the polish has dried. As long as you do straight, even sweeps with the brush you shouldn't have a problem.


Stronghold. Once they win, once they drop their guard, we will hit them, we will hit them hard... Totally one of my favorite songs for working out. Anyway. Dark grey creme with slight blue undertone. This one most reminds me of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Dangerous, but this is a little lighter. Shark grey! Very nice, this one is my second favorite.

The formula on these was mostly excellent. The cremes were all very opaque and dense and applied flawlessly. The only ones that gave me trouble were Knight's Armor because it's so thick and kinda lumpy and Silver Sword which had a kinda strange airy texture. Silver Sword didn't apply badly, really, it' s just that it has such an odd texture, like... whipped polish or maybe like syrup? The other thing about these is that the cremes dry pretty dull. You will need a topcoat if you want them to be nice and shiny. Drying time was great, everything else was super. Nubar's new formula is really nice to use, it seems like they've made their shades lots more opaque then when I first started using Nubar.

This is a really weird collection if you think about it in the 'new seasonal collection' sense- I mean... eight greys for spring? But I see this less as a seasonal collection and more as filling out the gaps in their permanent collection. Cause... they didn't have many greys at all in their line... And now they have a grey for everyone. Lots of choices. Looks like they're really broadening their color variety this year! They've also done the same thing with reds, which I'll review shortly.

Overall, I dig this collection. I adore grey cremes even though I know they rarely look good on me. They're just so effortlessly cool and put-together looking. Grey creme is powerful. The formula on these was great, so I think I'll be putting a lot of these into my regular rotation. The only thing this collection seems like it's missing to me is the rare grey-tinged white. You know, that sort of super light grey shade? Like white with a little smoke to it. I would have liked one of those.

I'm noticing a trend now- Nubar frequently does monochrome collections. Purples, corals, greens, browns, greys, reds.... I'm dying to know what's next. Blues? I hope it's blues!!

(These were sent to me for review)

40 comments:

  1. GREYSSS!!! =D Love your swatches as always. =]

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  2. I love this collection. This is one of those collections that I wear wear all of the colours and not just one or two.

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  3. Thanks Scrangie! I don't care if your swatches are late or of polish I already have because I LOVE looking at your nails with ANY kind of polish! AND if I am ever searching for good swatches for reference or comparison, I come to you first, so it's great that you did these too.

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  4. gorgeous swatches!!!! They all look incredible on you, especially the midtone grays. but I gotta say, I LOVE KNIGHT's ARMOR!! Love it. and mine was smooth w/SV. so cool.

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  5. Thank you for this, I had been wondering about this collection and the Nubar brand in general. I haven't tried a gray polish yet, but now I want to!

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  6. This collection is superb, and it looks so fab on you! What a shame grey doesn't really suit me. A friend bought three of these and I drooled after them. I bought Knight's armor and I love it. From distance it really looks like a metal armour and that's why pics don't usually make it justice.

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  7. There are just never enough greys in the world! Thanks!

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  8. I usually have no problem resisting the hype of new collections...until I see them here. GAH! I love the blue tones in these greys. THESE I can wear...and I just love Nubar nail polish, though I am still unimpressed with the company's lack of communication.

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  9. Yea, I noticed all the shades of gray. Not that I'm complaining but they really took one color and ran with it. haha

    I don't think I've seen Nubar in Canada though. : (

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  10. ooo i really like all of these and will totes buy them. i must say that i get excited whenever you post with whatever you post, if it's old or new...i still value your opinion and your swatches are my favourite. you're the blogger that got me into nail polish and inspired me to blog myself! i consider you, michelle and kelly to be on like...another level of nail bloggers, haha!


    xo
    sara

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  11. Thank you for another gorgeous round of swatches. I really like Silver Sword and Stronghold the best!

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  12. I wonder how Citadel and Barrocade compare to Orly's Mirror Mirror. What an awesome collection.

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  13. Thanks so much for the beautiful swatches! I have had my eye on this collection and am saving my pennies to buy most of them -- I am not planning to get the two lightest colors because I think they will be a bit too light with my skin tone.

    Grey is such a cool, strong statement on the nails. I really like it, and I have really liked the way Nubar usually covers my nails.

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  14. Hmm, Barricade, Pallisade and Stronghold. These would definitely fulfill my grey craving. If I'd ever seen them in Canada. *sigh*

    Or should I say /sigh? :P Gotta love Garlaige. Trying to round up people to open the darn gates. Seen a few beetle and bat trains through there in my day.

    ... ok I'm finished geeking out now <.<

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  15. Hey, girl! Great review!
    I wonder, I've been looking for a dupe for UD's White Widow. Would you say Citadel or Marble Tower is similar to that? Or maybe you can suggest another dupe for White Widow? :)

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  16. i love palisade ^^ nice swatches

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  17. These polishes look great. I am a fan of Nubar polishes, they continue to impress me! I was debating on ordering some of these colors and now I am lemming more colors! Yikes!

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  18. Hi Scrangie! I've been reading your blog for a long time and really love your posts and swatches. And I also love the fact that you play FFXI. I played for a long time (XBOX died recently so suspended my account) on Alexander server. I'm not the only geek who loves nail polish!

    xoxo
    Valerie
    www.nailfiles.wordpress.com

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  19. Oh man. I'm sold on Knight's Armor. Thanks for the swatches!

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  20. So nice to see these beauties on your nails! What I really wanted from this collection was to delete a pale grey cream and replace it with a pale grey shimmer. Otherwise, I have been very much in love with these shades!

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  21. wow this collection looks awesome!! barricade and stronghold look great on you (: now i'm sooo lemming for a grey creme polish :p

    i've got a question: are opi and china glaze polishes easy to find retailing over in US? i've got a friend going over for a holiday and i'm thinking of getting her to help me haul 'some' polishes back! :D

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  22. Oh man, Knight's Armour looks SO COOL

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  23. Mmm, pretty....I love your swatches, so "late" is fine. I would love a blues collection too!

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  24. I forgot to add oranges!!! Everything from burnt orange to pumpkin orange to sunny oranges, and in between. Oh, and a bright holo orange!

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  25. Thanks for the swatches. It's been a while since I've wanted a whole collection. I definitely think I will be getting all of these.

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  26. I hope the next one is blues, I'm buying the whole collection!

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  27. Very nice! I love greys but these are really too cool and or too light for me. BUT I think I might spring for my first REAL glitter and get Knight's Armor! I'd like to mattify it~

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  28. When looking at the pictures it strikes me that Nubar makes soo freakin' cool collections - over and over again. Thanks for the swatches, really nice as always :]

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  29. Thanks for reviewing these! I'd wear these all year long. A nice break from all the neons and brights that are currently offered. These Nubar colors have an edge, but are soft enough for my tastes.

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  30. I think this is a gorgeous collection but I won't be getting all of them, just Knight's Armor, Marble Tower and Stronghold. Love the names too!

    Thanks for great swatches! d

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  31. Hi Scrangie, I love your blog and have tagged you for the I LOVE YOUR BLOG award http://phoebespolishedphalanges.blogspot.com/2010/04/tagged-again.html

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  32. Hey, will you be swatching OPI's shrek collection?(:

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  33. I don't think I've seen this collection swatched anywhere else before, so it's new to me.

    Palisade's my favourite from the bunch.

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  34. I love this collection! I think the ones I got are awsome! But I haven't got Knight's Armour och Silver Sword so I kind of got the good ones! ;D
    Citadel is my favourite. So perfect in every way!

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  35. Hi, absolutely love your swatches! &im planning to get Stronghold but is there any polishes close to stronghold or are dupes?

    Thanks.

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  36. Wow on knights armor, so gorgeus!!

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  37. hi, I tried using your name on the coupon code on ocnailart.com and it would't take, did you have a falling out with them or something?

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  38. Teeheehee, nope, Konad USA has banned the use of discount codes for all Konad retailers, so there will be no more discount codes for OC or any other Konad shop :(

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  39. Hello. These photos are amazing!

    Could you tell me whether Marble Tower is anything like OPI's Moon Over Mumbai or Essie's Great Expectations?

    Is Palisade or Barricade anything like Zoya's Dove?

    Thanks very much.

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