Early Morning Hotness: Misa, Misa, Misa!!!!!!

These pictures are LONG overdue and I apologize. I'm actually still pretty exhausted since I drove 7 hrs back home yesterday! California is a HUGE state. I know Steph and Scrangie have swatched them already, but here are pics from Misa's Poisoned Passion Collection for Fall/Winter 08. Actually, it would be a good idea to revisit their posts because Misa accidentally sent me two Dying Love's so I didn't get A Sin Worth Committing (the blue). Good thing Dying Love is a charcoal grey that actually looks good on me! Summer's not over yet, but these colors are perfect for fall and winter, the time of darker polishes. And it's so making me crave for those times too.

With this collection, Misa has really gone above and beyond. Each polish only needed two coats, no streaking problems at all, and everything is just rich and luscious. Photos are taken in direct full bright sunlight because I swatched outside today, which was fun. But, sunlight pics can be a double-edged sword because it can sometimes wash a color out (and my skin looks super washed out) so I took a picture of it in shade too...and everyone can see the high-gloss finish of each polish too. Like I said, Misa really went above and beyond with this collections.


First up, #175, Love Bite. GORGEOUS vampy burgundy creme. I love this color especially because it reminds me of Icing Redwood, except maybe a pinch darker. I love vampy reds, there's just something so sexy about them.



#176, Dying Love, is one hot charcoal grey shimmer. Ok yeah it's been done before, and dark greys don't really look good on me (and I always get confused because dark greys look so green to me sometimes)...but I will say that this polish is very, very nice. I also think that it works with my skin and the shimmer is just soo pretty.

I think I like it most how it looks here in shade, because that's how it looks most in real life

#178, Forbidden Lust, is a pretty, shimmery purple. Definitely a staple for purple-lovers. I love how it has a glowy look in sunlight.


#179, Toxic Seduction is by far my favorite. A gorgeous green with a touch of teal and is full of gold & multicolored microglitter. It's so beautiful that I'm glad all of these colors are good w/two coats, because then I don't waste as much when I wear this color over and over again. I'm really glad Misa added a green to this collection, it's definitely something that stands out about this collection specifically and also gives it a bit of an edge.


Finally, #180, Fatal Affair, is a very vampy purple with unique blurple shimmer. And try to contain your shock folks, because I actually really love this color too. Me. Loving a purple. Global warming is doing some funky stuff with my head ya'll, because I think I'm suffering from a heatstroke. But I think the pics can speak for themselves



So pretty much I had no issues with any polish in this collection. I especially love how I only need two coats for every single polish here, andI can definitely see where they drew inspiration from the Milan fashion shows. Everything here was so rich and (pardon the pun), polished. I know Misa polishes can be hard to find but they are definitely worth it.

But wait, there's more!

Misa also sent me some other polishes to swatch: Camellia Destiny, Heaven White, I Will Survive and Red Hot Mamma. The colors are pretty straightforward so these were taken in direct sunlight as well.

Camellia Destiny is a milky pink sheer. It was kind of streaky with the first coat but evened out a bit by the 2nd coat. Since I'm not a huge sheer fan, these is three coats here but you can still see that there's a bit of nail showing through. It's very lady-like but the streakiness bothered me a bit

Heaven White is a pure white, the same kind that Pure Ice Super Star! was but only needed two coats. Like with Camellia Destiny, it was streaky with the first coat but evened out with the second one.
I Will Survive is a GREAT song. I love Gloria Gaynor, she's so sassy and fun. This polish is also very sassy, a straight up glossy black polish. It's pretty much as if NYC Black Lace Creme and WnW Black Creme had a baby. It's got the mega-gloss factor of the NYC and the opaqueness and application of the WnW. Here it is in two coats. Plain but pratical.
Finally, Red Hot Mamma is just...well, it's a hot red for sure! It has a pretty hint of shimmer too that makes it a very glowy color.

I'm just about falling asleep at my laptop here so enjoy the beautiful pictures! Good night (or more accurately good morning)!

Early Morning Hotness: WnW Blazed

Apologizes for the lack of updates and news lately, I've been busy studying since my final was yesterday, and then today I went with my friends to the beach. It's been an exhausting day, but it was really nice to just chill with my friends since I won't see them until next year! Anyway, the real news (besides OMG! Exclusive OPIs to mark the start of 90210 version 2.0 and the fall NYC collection polish) is that I'm finally going home on Monday! I'm going to be more than dead on Monday, but I promise hopefully Tuesday or at the latest Wednesday, I will have some amazing picspam for you guys. That's because I have a HUGE pile of Misa, and I think Essie and China Glaze as well polishes to swatch and review. It's going to be a lot of fun.

It's going to be busy for the next couple of days so I'll just talk about the most G-rated way to get blazed. I'm talking of course of Wet n Wild's Blazed, a fun but demure light orange that has some coral undertones.
This picture makes it look more coral than it is, although it straddles that coral-orange line, it ultimately is more orange.

And well, here's the thing. I'm totally a shimmer girl, but lately I've really been digging creme polishes. Blazed is super shiny on its own (it's two coats here), but add a topcoat and it was still shiny on day 4 as it was on day 1. And I love shine too. For 99 cents the quality is just outstanding....I think I may have to pick up more WnW polishes. I mean I love NYC but WnW is really winning me over. Now if only they could create a non-streaky yellow polish that's as pretty as NYC Taxi Yellow. Actually, if any company could make a non-streaky yellow, that would be perfect.

So Much Awesome

I watched The Dark Knight yesterday with my roommates and just....wow. Yes, it's as good as everyone's been saying. Batman's always been my favorite superhero but it's also a lot darker than other comics. And wow, Heath Ledger's performance was just spot-on as the Joker, someone who from the cartoons is more sugar-coated (as cartoons tend to be, though obviously for a reason) but here is someone who feeds off of chaos and destruction and finds humor in the fallacies of human nature: greed, power, selfishness, and even in love.

But yeah, even though it is much darker than other adaptations of Batman, it's still full of awesome. Which is really what you can also say about OPI's My Private Jet. MPJ, as it's affectionately abbreviated as, is definitely a unique polish in that it's a vampy holographic polish. By itself, it's kind of sheer and a charcoal grey color, so the first time I wore it I didn't think much of it. But on the advice of the nail board, I tried it over black and just...wow. Now whenever I wear it, I layer it over black because of just how great it looks (much better than it is by itself). I'll let the pictures do the talking though....there were so many pretty pictures that I can't just post one:

Close-up shot of the glittery goodness

I used Wet n Wild's Black Creme under it. Gorgeous, right? It really makes me want to wear it now! It's definitely one of my favorite polishes and while it's still readily available online and in Ulta stores, it's slowly dwindling down which is killing me. Hopefully it won't be too hard to find, otherwise I'll have to buy a couple of backup bottles.

Sunny Side Down with Extra Whites

Recently, I'm all about the bright, fun colors. I'm having a lapse right now by wearing a vampy shade (Nina Out of the Blue, see previous post) but last week I was all about the unconventional light colors.

I started last week by wearing Pure Ice Super Star! Yup, there is naturally an exclamation point in the name. With a name so exciting, the color must be great too, right? Well, I love it. Super Star! is a stark white creme polish that happens to be opaque in one coat. I used three because the second coat was a little streaky but topcoat evened everything out for me. Here it is in shade and sun:

I think white and yellow polishes make my skin look a lot tanner, which for me is annoying because for a Chinese girl I have super dark skin and when I go to China no one believes I'm Chinese. But at the same time, I love the contrast of the white against my skin. My fascination with white polish began last year when the girl that sat next to me in calculus class wore white polish once. Her skin was a lot lighter than mine but it still looked amazing, which is why I think more people can pull off solid white polish than they think. Is it a little too white-out looking though? Maybe I'm a bit biased but I think it looks waaaaay better than just painting your nails with white-out. It's a lot smoother (or at least it looks like it would be). Don't forget that you can only find Pure Ice polishes at Wal-Mart too. As you can maybe kind of tell with the shade picture, it's very glossy with a topcoat, as cremes tend to be, which adds onto the whole not-looking-like-white-out thing.

I then ended last week with Rimmel Sunny Side. Jen's been egging me to get this shade for forever because it's just gorgeous, a light orange/slightly coral color that has fine, but not micro-sized, gold glitter. I went through a lot finding it because it looks as if Rimmel is revamping some of their bottles and stuff. I even had a terrible moment where I got the last one at Walmart, but then someone stole my cart. It was a crushing moment for a polish addict. However, I eventually got it.

Application was pretty bad, there's just something about the 60 Sec. Vinyl Shine polishes that are very difficult to apply because it's as if the polish is drying mid-air so there's a bit of drag. I was also a bit disappointed because even with topcoat, the color wasn't as shiny as I hoped it would be (I LOVE gloss and shine). I normally use INM Out the Door topcoat, which is pretty glossy but it did nothing for this polish. I think Jen had more luck with Seche Vite topcoat in creating a shiny finish. She loves this polish but I think my favorite Rimmel so far is probably still Pop Apricot. Sunny Side isn't a bad color, but I was just expecting a better finish.

Hello Pretties, Goodbye Money

As I mentioned I would, I got Chanel Rose Tourbillon today, the Nordstrom exclusive Chanel polish for their annual anniversary sale. It actually had been an Asia-exclusive earlier, which is why and how ebay scalpers have been able to get their hands on it. I can hardly blame them though, this color is absolutely amazing. It's delicate and a must-have to pink lovers, I think. I really can't think of a dupe for this color off the top of my head. It's sheer with the first coat, but buildable and opaque at 2 coats. I did 3 coats just to bring out the color more. It's a light pink with incredible light shimmer that is really cool. I have to say even though I was unimpressed with Gold Fiction, Fantastic, and Kaleidascope, Rose Tourbillon was really worth every penny (I ended up not getting anything from the Robertson collection. I wanted LA Sunrise and Sunset but budget-wise at this time it's just not feasible and I didn't want them that badly. Ok, kind of but I have to be realistic with my money).

Here it is in the bottle, it actually looks pretty plain:

On the nail it's just so pretty though!

I'm not going to lie, I really love this polish and I'm happy with the money I spent. Maybe for some people they will think it's too conservative and blah, but I think it's very versatile. It's work appropriate but sparkles like no other close-up. It's also one of those perfect pinks that can go with any outfit because it's a very light pink. I'll be attending a wedding in August so you better believe that I'm going to be wearing this!

After enduring the madness that was the Nordstrom anniversary sale, I dropped by a nearby Sally's Beauty to see if I could find either China Glaze For Audrey or Turned Up Turquoise. The one I went to didn't have many ChGs, though I think they added some more Orly polishes. I ended up getting ChG Rainbow and Fairy Dust, as well as Nina Pro Out of the Blue.

Rainbow is really pretty in the bottle, a light pink with a blue flash. But translated onto nails? Ehhhh...I don't like how I can see the brush strokes.
You can see the bit of duo-chromeness happening, as my pinky is pretty pink while the rest have that blue flash. I like the color, but I'm iffy on whether to give it another chance. I was really rushing with this swatch so maybe I should be more patient? Anyone else have this color? Thoughts?

I was much happier with Nina's Out of the Blue, which is an inky blue with blue microshimmer. It actually reminds me a lot of Chanel Blue Satin, except maybe a bit more lighter since Blue Satin is pretty dark. And has more shimmer. But this is a pretty good, and much cheaper alternative:

These pics are with two coats, though the application was a bit gloopy. I've added some thinner because I plan on using it tonight.

Yesterday, I went to Ontario-Mills and Victoria Gardens (both in Rancho Cucamonga, CA) which I must recommend for anyone in the area who wants to do serious damage with their credit card. Ontario-Mills is HUGE and has some great stores, though after the first couple of times the excitement wears off. Victoria Gardens is really chill and kind of a romantic place to shop actually, because it's all outdoors and very quaint, despite the huge crowds of people. Victoria Gardens has both a Sephora and an Ulta actually...but I was good yesterday and resisted the pull of Ulta because of the Chanel price tag.

Anyway, I ducked into the Hot Topic at Ontario-Mills yesterday to get their Kelly Green polish after seeing pictures of it from my amazing friend Jen. It looks so....blah in the bottle. Look like an average green right?

I think the lovely Stephanie (aka Polish Addict) will LOVE this one, it's a gorgeous dark green creme

Soooooo opaque, this is two coats! It's so rich...so dark....so GREEN

It really is a beaut. I'm sure Stephanie can tweak this into a NARS Zulu dupe since it's pretty close to the base color I think. I do have a bit of a gripe with this polish though: the formula is super gloopy/thick, and the brush is a bit more difficult to deal with. Some polish ended up dropping onto the palm of my hand from the brush "stem'. Really, I think the easiest way to deal with these problems is to add some thinner and pour it into an empty bottle. Otherwise, you really have to be careful while putting it on because luckily the polish globbed on my hand instead of the carpet or my friend's wooden desk! Ahhh! I had to dip the brush against the sides a LOT to prevent more polish from free-falling everywhere. Also, the name 'Kelly Green' comes from the website, the bottles are NOT labeled with names.

And, because I'm a Nintendo geek, look what followed me back from Victoria Gardens:
It's 1-up mushroom candy tin! It has mushroom-shaped sour candies inside, which is so cool.

Oh, I also saw China Glaze Naked in Sally's today, for anyone looking for it. Have a great night everyone!

Lacquerice

I've planned my day out so that tomorrow I will get Chanel Rose Tourbillon as soon as my local mall opens! I've had a rough week, so I think that will cheer me up considerably. So look forward to pictures of that tomorrow.

For now at least, enjoy some pictures from the fabulous mzprec1ouz of another Nordstrom exclusive, Dior Liquorice, a dark plum with gold sparkles:

Misa Fall/Winter '08 Preview

So yesterday I finally got around to watching Batman Begins as preparation for The Dark Knight that came out today. This morning I decided to randomly Wikipedia-surf through the Batman universe and was reading up quite heavily on Harvey Dent, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. The last page I visited was Poison Ivy's page, so it's really fitting that I got an e-mail right after on Misa's fall/winter collection called Poisoned Passion. Sound enticing? Just wait until you see these promo pictures!

Look! Gunmetal grey! Hopefully it's a gunmetal grey that looks good on me.

Oh this looks like a perfect preview/complement to the China Glaze Bahama collection! I'm excited because you can never have too much blue

I hope my eyes aren't deceiving me and this is really going to be a green...or at the very least, a pretty tealish color. But this is definitely the polish I'm looking forward to the most!

Gorgeous colors right? They were actually created especially for the designers the Misa team worked with for the Milan fashion show.

Also, select Sally Hansen polishes (10 Day No-Chip, Salon, Diamond Strength, and Maximum Growth) are on sale at Rite Aid now for $3.49, which is a fantastic deal.

Make sure you head over to Polish Addict and ALU to see the pictures of the new Color Club collections and a preview of a green ChG coming out later this year!

Pinktastic!

I know I've mentioned a couple of times that I used to not be adventurous with my nails at all...I used to ONLY wear pink nail polish. But, well, given this batch of swatches can ya blame me? Pink is pretty hot!

Sinful Forget Now is a bit more on the fuchsia side, but it's still a gorgeous color with sparkles:


Sally Hansen 10 Day in Forever Mango is a pinkish mango color:

If you want a lighter pink, Sally Hansen Salon in You-Gurt Style is perfect, though it was a bit streaky. It's a great milky pink though, just requires a bit of patience:


L'Oreal Trust Fund Baby is a great slightly pearly pink, not super frosty but adds a bit of extra shine, a very classy pink:

Boots Rendezvous is a dark rose-pink with a punchful of gold shimmer:


Naturally, I saved the best for last. Rimmel Pop Apricot is a truly juicy pink color with a bit of pretty gold glitter:


I hope you enjoyed this mini picspam of delicious pinks. This post is dedicated to the very kind and very sweet duffimac over at MUA, who used to not like pinks at all! Hopefully this post will inspire her to give pinks a chance =)