Bobbi Brown City Twilight Limited Edition Nail Lacquer Swatches and Review

I tried my first ever products from Bobbi Brown last fall.  Yep, you read that right.  First ever.  It's just a brand that never seemed interesting to me, but then they released this City Twilight nail polish as part of a set and I had to try it for myself.

Bobbi Brown City Twilight.

See why it caught my eye?  It's a shimmery, borderline foily multichrome shimmer.  I think I'd even classify the finish as glass fleck, just a very densely packed glass fleck.  The base color is a warm, taupe-tinged silver, but the strongest duochrome flash is a pink champagne color. Changing the angle reveals green, pink and orange.  It's an oyster/mother-of-pearl color with lots of glittering shimmer crystals.

The formula on it was average.  Not amazing, not bad.  Workable, but it tended to clump a little if I was too hasty with my coats.  Average dry time.  Dried glossy.

The rest of the set consisted of an eyeshadow palette (eh... too muddy, too sheer), an eye cream (extremely rich!), a mascara (did absolutely nothing for me) and an eyeliner (AWESOME), but the best part really was the polish.  I need to dig this out of my stash and wear it again because I've been craving light, sparkly, iridescent 'bubble' colors like this lately.  And yes... that means this picture is nearly a year old.  Heh.

The only other Bobbi Brown polish I have was part of the same Fall 2012 collection, but I haven't actually worn it yet.  Twilight Night.  City Twilight is more interesting.

I'm pretty sure this color is long gone.  I want to say it was a Nordstrom exclusive and only available in the set, but it's probably shown up at a CCO somewhere with the rest of last fall's items.

Essie DJ Play That Song Neon Collection Summer 2013 Swatches and Review

Essie always does really pretty neons and this year's neon collection is no exception.  It's a little different this time around- they're jelly neons, not opaque cremes and they're not quite as fluorescent-bright as usual, but that's not a bad thing.  They look like candy!

Essie Neon Collection 2013 

(press samples)

 Essie Boom Boom Room.

Pale yet vibrant baby pink creme.  This is a true opaque creme, not a jelly. I wonder if the Boom Boom Room is on top of Boom Boom Mountain?

 Essie Bottle Service. 

Bright neon fuchsia jelly. Super saturated and glowy. 

 Essie Bouncer, It's Me!

Vibrant blue jelly-creme.  Stunning.  Dries darker than bottle color.

Essie DJ Play That Song.

Neon plum jelly-creme. 

Essie Saturday Disco Fever. 

Blazing bright dark neon orange jelly. 

Essie Shake Your $$ Maker.

I don't know if I'd call this one neon, but it is bright.  Grassy, yellow-toned green jelly.  The most sheer color in the collection.  Makes me think of lime Jell-O!

The formula on these was lovely.  On the thicker side, but not gooey-thick. Just smooth, slower-flowing thick.  Since these are jelly-finish polishes, they're sheer and need three coats for evenness and opacity.  I still have some visible nail line at three coats.  Four coats made these nearly entirely opaque, but I preferred the more translucent look of three coats.

If you prefer a more opaque look, Essie recommends layering these neons over white.  Layering over white can also brighten the color, but I'm just not a fan of this technique. 

Essie Blanc.

Bright white creme.  Three-coater.  

Two coats of neon over three coats of Blanc.

 

 I think this looks sloppy and doesn't actually save any time unless you can manage to apply them completely evenly with only one coat each.  Blanc is rather streaky and needs three coats to look even, so that's three coats of polish right there.  Then the neons also look streaky applied over bright white, and that's another two to three coats.  Five to six coats of polish, not even counting base coat or topcoat, and they still don't look as good as just applying the polish alone. 

   

I love these.  All of them.  They're bright and beautiful and the jelly finish makes them extra pretty.  The downside is that they're pretty sheer, but they dry fast enough that it makes up for it.  I wouldn't bother with the white layering thing, though. It's an extra time-consuming step and, if you ask me, completely unnecessary.  

These are available now on essie.com!

(Collection was provided for review.)

Essentials to Transition from Beach Day to Night Party from CoverGirl (Sponsored)

Essentials to Transition from Beach Day to Night Party from CoverGirl (Sponsored)

Make it an #easybreezysummer for your next beach day with these tips to easily transition from day to night. CoverGirl and Beauty Bean's Alexis Wolfer shows you five multi-tasking essentials to polish your look for the evening, including CoverGirl's Flamed Out Shadow Stick to use as a luminizer for eyes, cheekbones and your upper lip. Check out this video for some more tricks to look gorgeous by the beach bonfire at night. Join the #owntheweekend conversation on Twitter.

Nails Inc. The After Party Glitter Nail Polish Trio Holiday 2012 Swatches and Review

I noticed that the Nails Inc. After Party set has been on clearance for quite a while on Sephora.com and it's still not sold out. I'm actually kinda surprised about that. I bought my set right when it came out 'cause it looked so amazing with all that glitter and holo and stuff, I swatched it and even wore the colors a bunch of times, but for some reason never posted about it??  Whatever, it's still on sale and I'm posting about it now.  Look.  Glitter.

 Nails Inc. Covent Garden Market.  

A multi-size, multi-color glitter in a clear base.  Reminiscent of Lippmann Happy Birthday but not a dupe.

Nails Inc. Disco Lane.

A black creme base with tiny holographic glitter.  Dries rather gritty but evens out with an extra coat of topcoat.

Nails Inc. Soho Street.

My favorite of the three.  A red jelly base with medium-sized chunky red glitter.  I am always drawn to these jelly-glitter reds.  I can't help it, they're just so cool.  They look like lava!

And, just for fun:

One coat of Covent Garden Market over Soho Street.

The formula on these isn't great, but it's tolerable.  Not smooth and dreamy like the Nails Inc. creme formula, these glitter shades are on the chunky and clumpy side.  I needed to be careful to let each coat set before applying the next or I ended up with thick spots.  Three coats of each.  Dry time is average and all the shades need at least two coats of topcoat.  Soho and Covent chip quicker than Disco.

So, yeah, this is still in stock at Sephora, $19 marked down from $25, and they're full-sized polishes.  Pretty good deal for Nails Inc.  Not the best application or durability, but the colors are fun.

OPI San Francisco Collection Fall/Winter 2013 Swatches and Review

OPI San Francisco Collection

Fall/Winter 2013

(press samples)

In addition to the three new Liquid Sand shades, OPI's fall/winter collection is full of warm, autumn-like colors offset by a handful of bold blues, a shiny foil, and even a little duochrome.

 

A-Piers to Be Tan

I shore do like this chocolaty tan.

(Reminds me of one of the most notorious OPI shades of all time: OPI And Apple Pie.  More caramel than chocolate, really.)

Dining al Frisco

Just feast your eyes on this fresh-air blue!

Embarca-Dare Ya!

Betcha can’t pass up this marvelous magenta.

(Has a small amount of pink/red/gold duochrome shift. Subtle.)

 

First Date at the Golden Gate

You and me and this shimmery ruby make three.

 

 

Haven’t the Foggiest

Can’t tell you why I love this misty gray...I just do!

(The most perfect pewter foil ever. Has a strong charcoal/deep grey tone, not pure bright silver.)

I Knead Sour-Dough

Are you bready to wear this toasty warm brown?

 

Incognito in Sausalito

You better keep this almost-black blue under wraps.

In the Cable Car-Pool Lane

Good golly, Miss Trolley, this rich burgundy takes me away!

 

Keeping Suzi at Bay

There’s no holding back this assertive navy blue.

 

Lost on Lombard

Oh garn-et! I’m all turned around!

 

Muir Muir on the Wall

This trailblazing plum is the fairest of all.

(Very good duochrome effect on this.  Goes from plum to bronze to green.  Reminds me of some of OPI's best discontinued colors, namely Black Tie Optional.)

 

 Peace & Love & OPI

This holographic sage and eggplant is far out!

(Steel blue to purple to teal multichrome.  It's not a dupe of Not Like The Movies, nor is it a dupe of Lippmann Wicked Game.)

The formula on these was mixed, but generally good.  The creme shades were perfect.  A dream to apply.  The shimmers were more sheer and uneven than I was anticipating and took an extra coat for evenness and opacity.  I did three coats of each, but only the shimmer shades needed the third coat.  Dry time is fast.  

A couple ho-hum colors, but also a couple of very cool ones.  My picks are Muir Muir On The Wall, Peace & Love & OPI, Haven't The Foggiest, and Keeping Suzi At Bay.  Two gorgeous duochrome shimmers, my new favorite silver foil and a vibrant but not neon blue creme.  

Don't forget to check out the Liquid Sand polishes that are part of this collection!

(Collection provided for review.)

OPI San Francisco Collection Fall/Winter 2013 Liquid Sand Swatches and Review

OPI San Francisco Collection Fall 2013

Three New Liquid Sand Shades

 (press samples)

Along with the usual set of twelve shimmer and creme shades, OPI is releasing three new colors of Liquid Sand.  Two cremes and one mind-blowingly pretty glitter!

 OPI Liquid Sand polish in Alcatraz Rocks.

Whoa.  Look at this masterpiece of a polish.  It's a deep blue base with the typical Liquid Sand/textured polish grit, but it also has tons of multicolor glitter.  I think I see every color of the rainbow in here.  It looks fantastic as-is, but if you don't mind doing two or three coats of topcoat, you can turn it into a glossy glitter polish with a smooth finish instead.

 OPI Liquid Sand Polish in It's All San Andreas's Fault.

This one is a creme-finish medium taupe brown.  Dries a shade or two darker than bottle color.  Never becomes fully matte after it dries so it has a tiny bit of gloss to it.

OPI Liquid Sand Polish in Wharf! Wharf! Wharf!

Gorgeous, rich blue creme base with textured grit.  Also dries a bit darker than bottle color.  And the name... I know it's supposed to be woof, woof, like a dog, except wharf because it's by the ocean, but all I can think is... Wharf! Wharf!

.... Worf?

The formula on these is a dream.  Perfect thin texture.  Absolutely nothing to even criticize as far as the application is concerned.  One tip for applying, though: Do thin, even coats.  If the polish base is too thick in some areas, it'll gloss out your sandy texture.  Dry time on these is fast.  They do chip faster than a normal polish, but not as fast as a true matte.

If you're only going to get one textured polish this year, seriously consider Alcatraz Rocks.  It's AWESOME.  The other two are cool, but seem unimpressive next to Alcatraz Rocks.  It's a scene-stealer for sure.

(Collection was provided for review.)

Sephora Color Hit Nail Polish in Blackjack Swatches and Review

Sephora Color Hit in Blackjack

Shimmery charcoal grey with iridescent shimmer flecks.  The main shimmer color in this is a blue/purple duochrome (starts to flash gold at extreme angles), but there's also silver and blue-grey with little glints of teal-green here and there.

The formula on this was good.  Not too thick, not too thin, nice even consistency, no application problems.  This is a mini-sized polish but it still had a decent brush.  Dry time was good.  Dries a little dull but looks better once I add topcoat.

This is the first color I've tried from Sephora's new Color Hit line and I'm disappointed in the color but not the formula.  I expected this to be a black with rainbow glitter but it's actually a blue-grey with a little duochrome shimmer.  No contrast to the color at all and it looks all faded and bleh to me.  No life, no sparkle. Also brings out a ton of redness in my skin (the dreaded lobster hands, oh no).  I'd like this a lot more if it had a true black base to give a little lift to the shimmer, cause the shimmer is pretty cool if you look closely at it.  Oh well, it was only $5.