For Spring 2012 NARS offers a pretty seashell pink nail polish named ‘Trouville’ for fishing village in France. The name goes along nicely with this interestingly edited collection. I can’t say this isn’t a color that is easily dupeable (because it is) but it is a beautiful color that is muted enough to go well with everything yet provides enough of a pop of color to make itself known when seen.
NARS Trouville nail polish for Spring 2012 (w/ HDR)
I knew this was a dupeable color but I purchased it (with a 20% off code) because it was a creme finish and I wanted to test the formula. It streaks pretty badly at one (1) coat, evens out at two (2) coats but looks the most flawless with three (3) coats. Performance-wise it held up as well as I have come to expect from NARS polishes. I wore it for only three days but within that time there was some tipwear (I was typing like crazy during that time) but no chipping. I would highly recommend using a ridge filler and waiting at least 5 minutes between coats to allow the polish to dry.
NARS Trouville — two coats with a very streaky start
Because the color is so easily copied by other (and cheaper) brands, this isn’t what I would call a ‘must buy’. But if you’re into collecting NARS polishes, this is a very pretty color that is work-safe and conservative office safe.
NARS Trouville comes in the standard 0.4oz bottle and currently retails for $18 USD. It is available for purchase at NARSCosmetics.com, Sephora.com and Nordstrom.com as well as other upscale beauty retailers.
Various coat levels of NARS Trouville nail polish
NARS Trouville with flash — two coats and you can see some streaks
NARS Trouville nail polish for Spring 2012 (no flash/HDR)
Just when the Fan Collection came out, a new one by Ji Baek of Rescue Beauty Lounge is almost ready for pre-order. The theme? The illustrious American painter, Georgia O’Keefe!
Usually Ji’s collections only have a max of four colors. This time around it is a whopping SEVEN (7) polishes. The color craziness is so awesome that I’m going to pack as much into this post as possible. Get comfortable–you’re going to be clicking for awhile.
RBL’s Georgia On My Mind 2012 Collection! From left: Abiqui, Bella Donna, Faraway Nearby, Ghost Ranch, Jack In The Pulpit, Oriental Poppy, Santa Fe Road
Bella Donna
It would be insulting not to include white in an homage to Georgia. My challenge was to make a porcelain white or to convey bleached bones in all of its glorious opaqueness without making a streaking mess. This was difficult to achieve and Bella Donna took the longest time to perfect, but I was finally able to produce a self-leveling second coat. I envision luscious blooms of Bella Donna in every hand gesture and blossoming Bella Donna petals beautifully resting on your toes. — Ji Baek
Picture yourself standing in a strikingly sweeping and voluminous desert. A shimmery heat wave flirts with your vision, producing huddles of dancing mirages. Your eyes are tricked by a desert hallucination. The heat wave levitates and soars up into the spacious, serene, cloudless desert sky. — Ji Baek
Clusters of brushed desert plants sway mesmerically with the wind. After a thunderous rain that cleanses off dust and sunburns, Abiquiu captures the moment when that first sunbeam appears and flashes them with a warm kiss. — Ji Baek
I was offered a trip to Santa Fe when I was working on this collection, but turned it down. I wanted to capture the soul of Santa Fe solely through Georgia’s images. This color would be an aerial view of my imaginary Santa Fe—the baked earth tones of ocher with the shimmery, glisteningly ubiquitous dotted greens. — Ji Baek
Finding yourself amongst a sea of poppy fields, you toss your bike aside to lie down for a rest to swallow and inhale the beauty. Lusciously vibrant petals bob their heads up and down with the flirting wind. As a sign of approval, the glorious, piercing golden sunlight casts a spell and what you see is the electrifying vibrancy of a mysterious red with spots of color aglow with the sun. — Ji Baek
This is the magical place that captivated Georgia’s heart—her home. “…the shadows are long and the sun hits brightly on unexpected spots,” she wrote to Stieglitz–taken from Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O’Keeffe by Laurie Lisle. In the twilight, the adobe casts its nebulous glow, and the mistress is on her rooftop wrapped in a Navajo blanket, walking stick in hand as she watches the first appearance of the muted, twinkling stars. – Ji Baek
Her Jack in the Pulpit series totaled six pieces. The way Georgia used greens, blues, and especially that bastardized teal, put me in a hypnotic state. When I actually saw the paintings in person, the oil paint brush strokes that mixed the three colors came alive in certain lights. — Ji Baek
I have to say I am extremely impressed at the color palette Ji has come up with as drawn from Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings. While I am far from an art fan, I’ve always loved Georgia’s paintings of flowers. Even without seeing the pantings, I got the impression from the colors Ji came up with that they were truly inspired by Georgia’s iconic work. As a fan of cool colors, my favorites (in no particular order) are Abiquiu, Faraway Nearby and Jack in the Pulpit.
As with the fan collection these polishes will retail for $20 USD each. Pre-order is scheduled for early June but if the date slips a bit please don’t freak out. Make sure you get on over to RescueBeauty.com to sign up for the VIP list if you’re not already on it.
So are you planning on ordering? Of course you are! As you wait to be able to whip out that credit card, be sure to check out the individual shade reviews from the bloggers lucky enough to get a hold of these shades first:
I know I said I wasn’t going to pick anything up from this collection but when I saw the pieces in person, I just had to have the lipgloss and nail polish.
Chanel Summer 2012: Calypso Glossimer and Les Vernis in Delight
Glossimer in Calypso
In general I’m not a big fan of Chanel’s glossimers because while it is big on shine, most of them are bland in color.
Calypso (and also Jalousie if you can find it) is VERY pigmented which make it a must-have for me. Caylpso is a tangerine orange with shimmer and will give your lips a nice tropical kiss of peachy orange with or without lipiner.
It reminds me of SpaRitual’s Laughing In Pink. A beautiful warm beachy color that reminds me of the sun reflecting off of the hot sand on Miami Beach. Gorgeous next to tanned, deep and especially dark skintones. While it is paque in one coat, I can’t speak to the longevity of the wear until I’ve worn it for more than 1 day. The finish is slightly gritty but I like how it reminds me of beach sand.
Chanel Summer 2012 Nail Vernis in Delight–shimmering sand for your nail
Retailing for $29.50 and $26 respectively, the Calypso Glossimer and the Les Vernis in Delight are limited edition products.
Yet again Neiman Marcus thrills me by shipping me the new Deborah Lippmann 3D holographic nail lacquers before the promised ship date. These are such fun, playful polishes that you should start stalking your store of choice for. Review to follow at a later date but in the meantime, enjoy the picspam!
Two more polishes from Deborah Lippmann for Spring 2012!
Brand-new 3D Holographic Glitter polishes from Deborah Lippmann
Ray of Light 3D holographic glitter nail lacquer by Deborah Lippmann
Sweet Dreams 3D holographic glitter nail lacquer by Deborah Lippmann
Deborah Lippmann’s news 3D Holigraphic Glitter Nail Lacquers — I’m partial to Sweet Dreams (Outside Natural Light)
How intense are the new Deborah Lippmann Mirrored Chrome finish polishes? So intense that each time I open a bottle of it I hear the legendary Grace Jones belting out, “Pull up to the bumper, baay baayyy!”. Don’t know the song? I suggest watching the below clip first:
As regular readers will know, I’ve already posted a preview of these polishes. I’ve had a little while to play with the three colors of this collection which are Sugar Daddy, Private Dancer and Swagger Like Us. So let’s pull up to these chrome bumpers, shall we?
Deborah Lippmann’s new Chrome finish polishes in Sugar Daddy, Private Dancer and Swagger Like Us.
Sugar Daddy (antiqued champagne/mirrored chrome)
A sweet, young light pinkish beige chrome with eyecatching pink shimmer. This has more of a warm yellow cast as compared to the cooler pink cast of Glamorous Life. For those who want the chrome look but not so ‘in your face’ this is the color for you. It is opaque in two coats but I think it looks darling with just one light coat on the nails. Definitely a great color choice for a conservative office, church services or the bride wearing a cream-colored gown who wants her nails to look just a little bit different than the usual.
This deep purple shade is efinitely darker than Wicked Game without the green duochrome. Even without the duochrome it has a wicked chrome finish that will appeal to purple polish fans. As nice as this is, it just can’t compete with Baptiste by Illamasqua (hardly any metallic finish purple nail can). Still, this is more violet where where Baptiste is more purple. Still I had to have this color as the name reminds me of a song by one of my favorite rockers, Miss Tina Turner.
Swagga Like Us (oxidized copper teal (mirrored chrome)
At first glance this Chrome finish shade reminds me a little of Chanel Peridot but upon closer inspection Chanel Peridot reflects more green while Swagger Like Us is more copper-teal. In addition to the finish, it is because of this close comparison which makes this color my favorite out of the three. For those who hauled the color en masse, Chanel Peridot is definitely unique and eyecatching, and so is Swagger Like Us. Wear this color with your favorite pair of jeans and heels for a casual yet edgy appeal and ‘swagga’.
In Conclusion
In general, all three colors perform as well as I’ve come to expect from Deborah Lippmann. As with her other metal finish polishes I own, drying time is speedy and the finish is eyecatching. If you’re a shiny metal polish junkie like me, you’ll want these for your stash. Definitely consider using one of her topcoats to punch up the shine and wear. Deborah Lippmann polishes usually wear about a week on me with some tip wear but absolutely no major flaking or peeling.
The Chrome polish collection from Deborah Lippmann retails for $18 each for .4oz bottle and is available at Bloomingdales , NeimanMarcus.com and LippmannCollection.com.
Deborah Lippmann’s Glamorous Life vs. Sugar Daddy (no flash/HDR)
Deborah Lippmann’s Glamorous Life vs. Sugar Daddy (flash)
Sugar Daddy Chrome Finish nail lacquer by Deborah Lippmann (no flash/HDR)
Sugar Daddy Chrome Finish nail lacquer by Deborah Lippmann (flash)
Private Dancer Chrome Finish nail lacquer by Deborah Lippmann (no flash/HDR)
Private Dancer Chrome Finish nail lacquer by Deborah Lippmann (flash)
Deborah Lippmann’s Wicked Game vs Sugar Daddy Chrome Finish nail lacquer by Deborah Lippmann (no flash)
Deborah Lippmann’s Wicked Game vs Sugar Daddy Chrome Finish nail lacquer by Deborah Lippmann (flash)
Deborah Lippmann’s Swagga Like Us Chrome Lacquer (no flash/HDR)
Deborah Lippmann’s Swagga Like Us Chrome Lacquer (flash)
Chanel Peridot vs. Swagga Like Us by Deborah Lippmann (no flash/HDR, fashion kitteh in background)
Chanel Peridot vs. Swagga Like Us by Deborah Lippmann (flash, fashion kitteh in background)
The Beauty Is A Geek 