Nubar Jellybeans Collection for Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

I love jelly beans. They're not necessarily a seasonal-only candy (they're around all year), but I tend to only think about them in spring, especially around Easter. My grandma used to make me an Easter basket every year and decorate the tufts of plastic Easter grass by sprinkling large jelly beans around it. Those were usually the very deceptive Spice jelly beans- you know the ones... They're fruit colored, but then you bite into them and they taste like burning band-aids? I don't mind them now that I'm older, but I'd still much rather have the fruit kind. I remember when the Starburst jelly beans first came out, I used to love those. But my all time favorite are Jelly Belly jelly beans. When I buy them, I always have to make a mix of Buttered Popcorn (best jelly bean flavor ever), Kiwi, Juicy Pear, Cantaloupe, Pink Grapefruit, Dr. Pepper, Watermelon, Peach, Toasted Marshmallow, Cream Soda and Root Beer.

But... what does any of that have to do with nail polish? Not much, except that Nubar has just released their spring 2012 collection called Jellybeans.


Nubar Blueberry. Gorgeous bright primary blue creme. This is a clean blue- no muddiness or dustiness, no other colors in it, just pure Crayola blue.



Nubar Blue Raspberry. This is a light turquoise creme. Actually, to my eye, it looks like a near-perfect Robin's Egg Blue. Can't think of a more spring-appropriate blue than that.



Nubar Cherry. This red it a little different than most. It's lighter and has an odd sort of faded look to it. It leans more warm than I'd think of for a cherry red, more like hot sauce than cherry candy. I can't think of another red creme that looks exactly like this (Zoya America or Tamsen are the closest to compare it to), and I know my picture doesn't really convey it, but this is a pretty unusual one in my collection.



Nubar Grape. Bright grape candy purple creme. This one has a bit of a creamy jelly look to it, but mostly because it's pretty sheer. This is three coats and I can see a little nail through it still, so it could probably use a fourth. Really pretty purple color, though.



Nubar Kiwi. A pale sea green. This has more yellow in it than a lot of the mint colors in my collection, so it's slightly less harsh looking on my hands (doesn't bring out too much red) and it's easier for me to wear.



Nubar Lemon. It's a very bright yellow creme. I think it's great! It's really bright but not neon and has a super creamy finish.



Nubar Strawberry. This is a creamy strawberry ice cream color. Or, even better, the filling inside one of these:

Nubar Toasted Marshmallow. This is the oddball of the bunch. It's a light brown caramel-suede type of color and it looks very strange next to all the brights and pastels in this collection. I can see where they were going with the jellybean/toasted marshmallow or maybe even toasted almond look, but it really stands out like a sore thumb in this collection!

The formula on these wasn't what I expected. Recent Nubar cremes have been very smooth and opaque, these weren't. They were very sheer and unexpectedly runny but thick in texture. I had difficulty with most of the shades. I did three coats of each and they needed all three. Some might even benefit from more. The dry time on them is rather long and I experienced some bubbling with them. I would recommend doing very thin coats and waiting a few minutes in between each. That's my usual method for preventing bubbles on polishes that dry slowly.

Judging from the name of the collection (Jellybeans) and the sheerness of the formula, I think these were supposed to be a set of jelly finish polishes. None of them really look like jellies to me, maybe Blueberry and Grape come close, but not exactly what I think of when I think 'jelly'. They're just sort of diluted cremes that take three coats to even out. If jelly finish was what they were going for, they missed the mark... but the colors are still really pretty.

Overall, I like the colors but not the formula. I wish that they were either more jelly-like or more dense and opaque like Nubar's other cremes. The colors are gorgeous, though. My favorites are Grape, Lemon, Blueberry, Kiwi and Blue Raspberry. I actually wore Cherry, Lemon, China Glaze Gaga For Green, Blueberry and Grape as a Skittles manicure last week and the colors looked really fun and colorful together. Just don't forget the quick-dry topcoat!

This collection will be available soon (no exact date given on the press release) on ByNubar.com.

(This was sent for review.)

OPI Nicki Minaj Collection Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

Here's another little spring mini-collection from OPI. I'm beginning to wonder if they're doing these pop star/celebrity collections from now on instead of the little mini Valentine's Day collections they used to do (like the e-Romance collection, remember that one?). Last year this time was the Katy Perry collection. Now we have a collection for Nicki Minaj.


OPI Did It On 'Em. This one reminds me of OPI Who The Shrek Are You? from spring 2010. It's a bright spring green creme. Very fun/funky type of color. But I don't quite understand the name... It sounds kinda... wrong. Makes me think of that one Mighty Boosh song (language may not be safe for work!).



OPI Fly. This one is one of those bright blue-teals that never look quite right in pictures. It's definitely brighter and more teal-colored in real life, not this duller, bluer looking color my camera picks it up as.



OPI Metallic For Life. This is a black base with multiple sizes of silver glitter. This was thicker, chunkier, and harder to apply than the other colors in the collection.



OPI Pink Friday. A very bubblegum-candy-Pepto Bismol type of light pink. It's a little bit dirty looking and has a little more pink than most to keep it from being too bright or too pastel. It has a very creamy finish- extremely dense looking.



OPI Save Me. This one is a small silver glitter mixed with medium blue and holographic bar glitters. Clear base. It's a little dense for layering- the glitter covers most of the base polish. Looks good over black, though. I like it best alone.

The set also comes with a new shade of OPI Shatter crackle topcoat- Super Bass Shatter. It's a deep purple shimmer that looks like a different color on the nail than it does in the bottle. It's quite pretty, actually:

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Did It On 'Em.

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Fly.

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Metallic For Life.

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Pink Friday.

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Save Me.

The formula on the cremes was perfection. The formula on the glitters was not as good. The cremes were smooth and opaque, zero trouble with application. The two glitter shades were thick, chunky and slightly stringy feeling. They would benefit from a little polish thinner to loosen the formula and give them a smoother application. I did two coats of each- they didn't need any more than that. Drying time on these was excellent, even on the thicker glitter shades. The glitters and the Super Bass Shatter dry very textured, so you'll need at least two coats of a thick topcoat if you want it to be glass-smooth. A third over the Shatter would be even better.

I'm not actually familiar enough with Nicki Minaj or her music to know if these are really true "Nicki Minaj" colors, but I have seen pictures of her... For someone with such amazingly out-there, fun, colorful and outrageous outfits, I kinda expected more creative or wild colors in a collection named after her. I mean, just Google "Nicki Minaj"- her makeup and outfits and hair are awesome. Although... The colors in this collection do actually match this outfit she wore here, maybe that's where the inspiration came from:


I do really like how Super Bass Shatter looks over the colors. The rich purple sparkles were a surprise and I think they look especially good over Fly. Fly is my favorite one of the collection. Save Me is also really interesting and definitely worth a look if you are in the market for some bar glitter.

This collection is available now! There is also a mini set that has Pink Friday, Did It On Em, Fly and Metallic For Life, in case you wanted to try some but didn't want full bottles.

(This was sent for review.)

Anastasia Wish You Were Here Set Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

Anastasia Beverly Hills has a new gift set out for spring. It's a light, beachy-themed color palette and it's really quite nice. The set is called Wish You Were Here and it contains three full sized Anastasia products.

The Illumin8 shadow palette in this set is one of the eight shade ones. This one's called Pacific Coast.

Anastasia Illumin8 Eyeshadow Palette in Pacific Coast. Fluorescent light, flash and natural light. Click them if you'd like to see a closeup of the shadows. None of the shadows have names, but they are numbered on the back of the palette.



Swatched over bare skin (no primer), with flash and without. 1, 2, 3, 4.


5, 6, 7, 8.


The gloss in this kit is a full-size Anastasia Hydrafull Gloss in Guava. It has a very odd paddle applicator.

The Guava shade is interesting because it has tons of tiny rainbow-colored flecks. Click this to enlarge. Isn't that pretty?


On the lips, Guava is just a sheer/clear shade with only a hint of a warm tint. No real color on my lips. The sparkles aren't in-your-face or glittery, but they look very pretty and twinkly when the light hits them just right.

The Wish You Were Here set also includes a full-size Anastasia Clear Brow Gel. Since it's a clear gel, there's not really anything to swatch, but you can see how it looks on my brows here.

What I liked:

• The set is an excellent deal; three full sized Anastasia products for $44. That's about half of what it would cost if you bought all three individually.
• The shadow colors are really pretty and they all go together.
• The shadows are smooth, easy to blend and fairly well pigmented.
• The shadows contain anti-aging skincare ingredients.
• The brow gel holds my brows in place all day without flaking.
• The brow gel is clear and you can only tell it's on your brows by the subtle sheen it leaves.
• The gloss has pretty rainbow sparkles!
• The gloss feels cushy and hydrating.
• The gloss smells nice. A very faint fruity vanilla.
  

What I didn't like:

• The brush that comes with the palette is kinda scratchy.
• The spatula applicator on the Hydrafull gloss is hard for me to use.
• The Guava shade doesn't feel as smooth and non-sticky as the other Hydrafull shades I've tried.
• The prettiest shadow in the palette, the sparkly taupe, has the least pigment of all the shades. They can all be used wet for more payoff, though.

Overall, I like the items in the set and I think it's a good value. The palette is pretty and versatile and I like Anastasia's Illumin8 shadow formula. The gloss is sheer but adds a nice subtle rainbow sparkle. Would probably be nice over lipstick, too. And I'm a huge fan of the Anastasia clear brow gel, so that's a nice item to have in here. That stuff has been the key item for taking my brows from okay-ish to nice and now I use it every single day without fail.

Also, Anastasia is holding a contest where you can win a trip to LA for sending in your photo. Check out their Facebook contest page for more rules and details. It ends tomorrow (February 3rd 2012), so you only have a day left to enter!

The Sephora-exclusive Anastasia Wish You Were Here set is limited edition and retails for $44.

(This was sent for review.)

China Glaze The Hunger Games Capitol Colors Collection Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

The China Glaze Capitol Colors Collection... or is it the Colors from the Capitol collection? My press materials say it both ways. This collection is based on the Hunger Games series and the release is supposed to coincide with the brand new Hunger Games film that's scheduled for March. The names of the polishes has changed since we first saw that leaked image, but the colors are still the same. They are:


China Glaze Agro. An amazing leafy olive green shimmer. It has a semi-foil finish and really impressive depth of color. If you look closely, you can see that the metallic shimmer particles are all different colors. It dries a little darker than it looks in the bottle, but the glowy finish keeps the color looking bright.



China Glaze Dress Me Up. This is an odd one. It's a dusty, dirty warm rose creme. It has a little peach and a little brown in it and the finish is very dense and creamy. It's a rather mature looking color and it doesn't feel like it goes with the rest of the collection.




China Glaze Electrify. A gold and red glitter mix in a clear base. It's like a chunkier, redder cousin to Nicole Glitter in my Stocking. The red and gold look like they're about 1:1 in here. Maybe a *little* more gold. But they look pretty even.



China Glaze Fast Track. A light taupe creme base with flaky gold shimmer. This is a lot like Essence Irreplaceable, and like a lighter, less brown version of China Glaze Ingrid. The gold flecks look amazing in the dusty greyed base.



China Glaze Foie Gras. A dusty purple brown creme. It dries a lot darker than it looks in the bottle, but still retains a bit of the dusty looking finish.



China Glaze Harvest Moon. Wow. I mean... wow. Speechless. This is a super shiny metallic copper shimmer. It's not as dense as a foil but it's not chunky like glitter. The shimmer particles are iridescent and shift colors when they light hits them. You can see little flashes of red and orange and gold in it. I think this is my favorite in the collection, but I could be biased due to the name, because I really love this:




China Glaze Hook and Line. This is a super frosty light grey. The application on this one is not nice and it's extremely streaky and shows every flaw in my nails. Once it dries, the color looks okay... But I really can't say I'm a fan of the brushstroke-ridden frost finish.



China Glaze Luxe and Lush. A chunky mylar flake glitter in a clear base. It's a pastel-opal type duochrome finish. Each flake and chunk is a different shape and size and reflects pink, blue, green and gold. It's similar to Color Club Covered in Diamonds, but a lot smoother, easier to apply and with smaller chunks.



China Glaze Mahogany Magic. This is a warm olive-tinged medium brown creme. I like how creamy and glossy it looks, but there's just something kinda... fecal... about it. It's that yellow undertone and the touch of olive in it. Sorry! Sorry. I know. That's gross. And this is coming from someone who loves colors like OPI And Apple Pie. I don't think I have the right skin tone to pull off this shade of brown. Someone olive toned would probably look great in this.



China Glaze Riveting. Did I already say that Harvest Moon was my favorite? I did. But this one is a close second. It looks like fire. It's a bright, saturated red-orange jelly base with lots of large gold metallic shimmer. It's not quite a flake shape, but not really a glass fleck, either. The shimmer sits nicely in the jelly base and glows like embers. It's amazing. It also reminds me of an old China Glaze I have, but I can't remember the name...



China Glaze Smoke and Ashes. This one has a very dark base. I can't tell if it's pure black, or if it's a nearly-black blue-green shade. It seems to have a blue-green tint to it to my eye, but that might just be coming from all the shimmer. Anyway, Smoke and Ashes is loaded with a blue-green-gold duochrome shimmer. It changes colors depending on the angle. It's very interesting in person, a lot more complex than it looks here. Definitely worth seeing for yourself if you get the chance.



China Glaze Stone Cold. A matte! I wasn't expecting that. It's a dark grey base with large silver shimmer. It looks near-black after it dries. More grey-ish if you use topcoat to make it glossy. Gorgeous application on this one. Very smooth and opaque. And I like the name.

Luxe and Lush is pretty cool all by itself, but I wanted to see how well it layered with other colors, so here's a couple combos I tried:

China Glaze Luxe and Lush (one coat) over China Glaze Riveting.

China Glaze Luxe and Lush (one coat) over China Glaze Stone Cold.

The formula on these was not so good. I found most of these to be very gloopy and runny yet thick at the same time, like early three-free polish formulas used to be. Not all of them were weird; some of them applied perfectly. Stone Cold, Smoke and Ashes and Riveting had perfect formula, not runny or drippy at all. The others felt thick and sort of oily or fluffy feeling. Just be careful to remove all the excess polish from the brush and stem, apply thin coats and wait a couple minutes in between coats and you'll be fine. The colors all have great coverage. I did two coats of each and that's all they needed. I didn't have any bubbling with these and the dry time was only marginally longer than average China Glaze dry time.

I don't really know anything about the Hunger Games trilogy (I haven't read it! Shame!), so I don't know how well these go with the theme of the series, but the colors are nice regardless. Well, most of them. I can't say I like Dress Me Up, Hook and Line or Mahogany Magic, but the rest are great. I love Harvest Moon, Riveting, Agro, Fast Track, Smoke and Ashes and Luxe and Lush. At least there are more cool colors than bland ones. But, I'm sure fans of the series will probably want the entire set anyway, right?

This collection will be available at salons and retail stores like Sally Beauty and Ulta starting in early March.

(This was sent for review.)