Neon? Yeah Baby, Yeah

Pourquoi le fluo me fait-il penser à Austin Powers? Allez comprendre... Donc, puisqu'on a parlé Burton hier, aujourd'hui on parle rose (this one's for you Odile Sacoche Vuitton). Et quitte à y aller dans le rose, passons direct au flash et au fluo, au diable les varices! L'été arrive (si, si, regardez votre calendrier et pas le temps dehors, j'vous jure, l'été arrive), et avec lui sa cohorte de vernis fluos (on peut appeler ça color-block ou neon, mais sérieusement, tout ça c'est du fluo comme quand j'avais dix ans et que je passais mes vacances à Pezenas). Alors histoire de me raisonner et de me convaincre que certes ces nouveaux vernis sont jolis mais je suis déjà amplement pourvue, j'ai fouillé dans mes tiroirs pour ressortir mes merveilles de l'an dernier. Trois de ces quatre vernis ont déjà été présentés sur le blog (avec plus ou moins de bonheur esthétique), donc je ne vais pas en dire plus et vous redirigez vers les articles correspondants.

 

Evidemment, je commence avec le seul qui n'a pas eu son article, c'est un vernis de chez Claire's répondant au doux code de D16, rose fuchsia avec des reflets bleus, opaque en deux couches, application facile.

 Urban Decay Miss T

OPI Be a Dahli-a Won't You

Urban Decay Woodstock

OPI New York City Ballet - Pirouette My Whistle & comparisons

We finally reach the last instalment for my presentation of OPI NYC Ballet collection. As you know if you've looked the collection up, there are two other shades, one beige pink and one sharper pink that I don't have. I wanted to try the formula with unusual colours but now I admit that I'll probably get Barre my Soule at some point, because as much as I like OPI Bubble Bath's colour, I hate the streakiness. But that's another story. Now to the last bottle of the mini-set, the glitter top-coat Pirouette My Whistle. You've seen it layered on other shades, so I'm going straight to what makes this t-c special. I thought it would be a dupe to my H&M Confetti Kisses, but as you can see below, it's not the case at all.

 

 

 

The theory is the same, but the hex glitter in Confetti Kiss are silver, pure and simple, like little foil leaves, while the glitter in Pirouette my Whistle is more of a matte/milky silver quality, which makes it very delicate and really suited to the collection it belongs too. I love them both, and I think that a full-size bottle of PmW is likely to end up in my Helmer sooner or later.

To finish this review, I added below a comparison of Don't Touch my Tutu with two other non-opaque whites that I have, Essie Waltz on the left and Urban Decay Love Train on the right, all in two coats.

Love Train is shimmery/frosty so it's quite different, but Waltz and DTMT are really close in colour and texture, the only difference being that Waltz is streaky and DTMT isn't... So if you love Essie Waltz but would love a better application, I really recommend the OPI!!

I had intended to post this earlier so if I want to stick to my schedule, I'll be publishing another message this afternoon (lucky girls) to tell you about my meeting with a star! From now on, I will also switch the languages in my post, putting the French first: my French readers now far outnumber my English-speaking ones, and it seems only fair to make things more comfortable for the majority, I hope you won't be too mad at me...

OPI Mad as a Hatter

Today's polish is really, really special. Not because it's an OPI, you've seen a lot of these in here, but because it was my first one. I've always loved taking care of my nails (I remember buying the Yves Rocher French manicure sets when I was a teenager to master the technique), but my journey into "real" nail art and polish addiction started with OPI's Alice in Wonderland collection. I'm a huge Burton fan, a huge Johnny Depp fan and I love English litterature, especially of the Victorian era, so I was really excited at the prospect of the Alice in Wonderland movie. It came out roughly at the time of my birthday and I had planned an Alice in Wonderland party, complete with decor, costumes, themed cooking, and gifts! I was spoiled rotten since I got this ring:

 as well as the Urban Decay Book of Shadow palette and the two OPI glitters in the cutest pouch:

That's how I discovered OPI, I fell in love with Mad as a Hatter and no other glitter can compare. Right now, I'm finishing my second bottle, and I have two others as back-ups!! And funnily enough, I always managed to pay less for them than what they cost in Sephora in France (we are cursed for that, in here a bottle of OPI is 14 euros). My only complaint about this polish is that it dries awfully fast. I clean up the neck of the bottle and screw it tightly each time I use, and my polish is a thick mess. I thinned it before doing my manicure and I could barely manage the second hand, it would have needed thinning midway... But it's so beautiful that it's worth the effort!! Get ready for many pics (I kept the blurry ones on purpose to show the different colours of the glitter), here is Mad as a Hatter in two coats with Orly Shield: 

Silver with tons of colors giving it a lavender metallic hue, what's not to love?? Ok, it's a glitter, but with polish remover baths such as Sally Hansen's or Sephora, removal is not so much of a pain now, I dread the cuticle cleaning much more!!

Another thing you  have to be careful about is which top coat you use. Of course you need a top-coat, and while Seche Vite is great because it gives a smooth finish, there's the problem of shrinkage. It usually doesn't bother me, but with that polish (maybe because it's so thick), it was awful. I took pictures and just couldn't bear the sight of it, so I re-did my manicure completely, this time with Orly Shield. No shrinkage, but the result is far from being as smooth and shiny, you need at least two coats of top-coat, and with the glitter, it does make a thick manicure. I'll see when I start my new bottle of MaaH if the shrinkage is as bad, it had never bothered me so badly before...

And just because I'm so proud of our Alice in Wonderland party, here are some picture of the decoration and food we had done. There were three parts in the living room, the Mad Tea Party, the Red Queen's corner and the Flowers/Caterpillar part. I kept the pics tiny but they are clickable.

This was in the corridor, where we had placed the welcoming cocktail and some tiny bretzels that I had shaped in keys, and the door had been free-hand-painted by Minnie (it's a copy of the one from the Disney movie)

The Mad Tea Party with the red chair (and on the ceilings, decorated lamps like the ones in the Mad Hatter's Cups attraction at Disneyland)

The Flowers/Caterpillar corner (click to see - among other things - the chocolate caterpillar and the flowers with faces). The coloured leaves are also inspired from Disneyland, you can see them in the Labyrinth.

And the red Queen corner (the playing cards in the tray were actually fresh cheese and fish-eggs toasts).

All pictures are copyrighted ©Minnie for The Purple Fairy Book

And a very merry Unbirthday to you all!!

UD Rollergirl part 3 + nude and gold comparison

Last part of the Rollergirl collection. First up is Fame, a very light taupe with silver microglitter that gives it a pearly finish. Once again, easy application, no brushstrokes, opaque in two coats.

I have a soft spot for taupey nudes and taupe polishes, and it was one of the colours that appealed to me, but with a guilty voice that said "come on, you already have colours like this". So once it was home, I took out other bottles to make a comparison and decide if I should feel guilty or not.

This is Sephora Killer Trendsetter and China Glaze Below Deck with UD Fame. In the bottle, they seem to be in the same family, but on the nails, there's absolutely nothing comparable:

So no guilt on the horizon, and I'm really about to have bought the UD kit!!

And the final polish in this kit, Superfreak, the golden foil.

If I thought the other polishes in that kit were easy to apply, this one is a dream. Two coats, a perfectly smooth finish, super fast drying, this one is nothing short of perfect. 

I only had one golden polish previous to that, China Glaze Passion, but the comparison is interesting to show the true shade of Superfreak.

On this picture, you can see the difference in finish, Superfreak is a foil and Passion is a metallic (streaky one since it's from the Romantique collection, I'm still considering buying 2030). Even under this light, you can see that Passion is yellower than Superfreak

And here it becomes obvious: Superfreak is lighter and warmer and there's still no guilt on the horizon, I'm happy to have both bottles. 

So that's it for the Urban Decay Summer collection. The quality is top-notch and even if the colours don't seem very original, the different finish and mostly the absence of brushstrokes for the pearly ones make them really unique. The only two who haven't bought me completely yet are the pinks, Woodstock because I find it too flashy to wear alone, but I'll sure wear it with an effet top-coat or use it for stamping, and Miss T. because I want to try it in the fall or winter. 

But as a final word, if you can still grab one of those kits in your Sephora, go for it!

Urban Decay Rollergirl Kit part 2

Today we continue with the Urban Decay Rollergirl collection and Miss T, Xanadu and Love Train.

Let's start with the pink Miss T.

 

 It applies easily, even with the small brush, is opaque in two coats, the pearl finish doesn't leave any brushstrokes and it has a pretty glossy finish. Quite a perfect polish on the paper and yet... I wore it for two entire days but couldn't warm up to it, and I still can't find out why. It's not your usual summery pink, there's a strong blue tint and I think it's what bothers me. I'll try it again in winter, on short nails, but for summer it didn't feel right. To be continued then...

Here comes Xanadu, the violet glitter, in two coats.

I kept all the pics, even the blurry ones, to show the various colours in the glitter. I find this polish to be very unusual with its violet jelly base and silver & violet particles, it's very pretty. I'll have to try it layered on a violet base. Since the particles are very tiny, the finish is far less gritty than with most glitter polishes, but a top-coat is necessary for a glossy look. I really like this polish, though I wouldn't call it a summer polish, this is something I would wear all year long.

And the last one for today, Love Train, in three coats.

 

Another very unusual polish, a milky pearly white. White polish can easily look like paint on the nail, but this one doesn't since it's not really opaque. Just like the other polishes of the collection, it applies easily, there are no brushstrokes and the drying time is good. Another crush, and one I really didn't expect!

 I still have Superfreak and Fame to review, and I'll have comparisons as well, which is why I keep them for tomorrow.

See you!

Urban Decay Rollergirl Kit + Woodstock

Today I have for you a collection that I haven't seen much in the blogworld, actually I haven't seen it anywhere except at Scrangie's. I had been eyeing it at Sephora for a long while, but none of the colors screamed "get me now", or at least, not enough to spend 22 euros. And then it went on sales and I couldn't resist any longer. The kit is composed of 6 bottles of 5ml in a cute 70's inspired box.

Here they are in the following order: Xanadu, Miss T, Woodstock, Superfreak, Love Train, Fame, all in two coats (which is not enough for some, but we'll see that more in details in the individual articles).

And I start right away with Woodstock. It's a cream neon pink, with good formula, applies evenly in two coats and dries quite quickly with a semi-matte finish.

Sorry about the smudge, I had a little adventure with my cat at the wrong moment, and I knew I wouldn't keep the polish like this so I didn't re-do my nail.

We all know that neon polish are really hard to capture, but that pic is quite accurate. This is really "in your face" neon and it's a bit too much for me, so I decided to tone it down with OPI Silver Shatter.

I had a bit of fun trying different applications for the shatter: first the "usual" way on the ring finger, then sideways on the middle and horizontally on the pointer. I actually went randomely like that on all my fingers and the result was way better than the classic vertical application.

See you tomorrow for some more of the UD Rollergirl collection.