Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Couture Swatch And Review

Purchased

What a crazy day I had yesterday!  My father was leaving to go back to the East Coast on Friday, and of course which airport does he have a connecting flight into yesterday afternoon?  LAX.  Talk about me having a near heart attack!  Luckily his terminal was no where near terminal 3 but his flight was still delayed by the terrible events that happened.  I'm very grateful that he's ok and my heart goes out to the families and workers that were affected by the incident.

Onto better news, my swatch today is from the newest collection by Maybelline Color Show called the Brocade Collection.  And much like brocade, there is a rich saturated color intermixed with metallic shimmer and lots of texture.  I picked up Amethyst Couture, a blackened plum with purple hex and gold and purple microglitter suspended in a blackened jelly base.  Application was a bit tricky because the formula was thick and chunky, so thinner would be beneficial here.  I used two slightly thick coats which dried with some texture as you can see in the shots below.

Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Couture

Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Couture

Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Couture

Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Couture

This screamed for some topcoat so I used a layer of my trusty Gelous and finished with my Poshe and NYC GCS mix.  You can see the gold shimmer more easily here.

Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Couture

Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Couture

Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Couture

Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Couture

Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Couture

Maybelline Color Show Amethyst Couture

I love the complexity of this polish and I think there's lots of dimension to it once the topcoat is applied.  Without topcoat, it looks too flat and gritty for my taste.  From what I've observed, I think most of the polishes from this collection have a similar finish so expect to have your thinner nearby and lots of topcoat if you're like me.  Fortunately, the results are worth it!  Have you seen these at your local drugstore yet?

Purchased

Maybelline Clearly Spotted Over GOSH Berry Me Swatch And Review

Wow, I'm mentally disturbed right now.  I just watched the Sardinia episode of Bizarre Foods, and I think it totally topped the worst most disgusting foods I've ever seen eaten before.  I know that aging cheese can be a long and difficult process, but the two cheeses that I saw on this episode was enough to trigger my gag reflex.  Gross.  I was in Sardinia a few years ago, and I left it with some amazing memories of great architecture, wonderfully friendly people, gorgeous beaches, and delicious food.  Now I have a feeling that this episode will always leave a small stain on that experience.  Did anyone else see this episode?

Moving on.... I was in the mood to go with a bright berry color and settled on using GOSH Berry Me, a highly pigmented berry wine cream.  The formula on this was amazingly smooth and easy to apply, and possibly one of the best drugstore polishes I've had the pleasure of using.  I could have gotten away with one coat, but I used two to be safe.  No topcoat so you can see its natural shine.  I really love how complimentary this shade is against my skin, and I think it would probably work well with most skin tones.

GOSH Berry Me

GOSH Berry Me

GOSH Berry Me

GOSH Berry Me

I though this gorgeous color would be a great canvas for Maybelline's Clearly Spotted.  Clearly Spotted is their version of matte black and white multisized hex glitter in a clear base.  I had no trouble with application - the glitters didn't stick together and they spread out nice and evenly.   This was finished with a layer of Essence Gel Look Nails to help smooth out the finish.

Maybelline Clearly Spotted Over GOSH Berry Me

Maybelline Clearly Spotted Over GOSH Berry Me

Maybelline Clearly Spotted Over GOSH Berry Me

Maybelline Clearly Spotted Over GOSH Berry Me

Maybelline Clearly Spotted Over GOSH Berry Me

There are so many drugstore brands that are coming out with this now classic combination, and it's wonderful to see that they each have a unique take on the combination.  I do miss the bar glitters, but the hex only glitter variation is a fun change of pace.  Compared to the other mainstream black and white glitters, this is probably my favorite so far in terms of formula, application, and density.  Have you tried any lately? 

Guest Post on Swatch Me Now With Maybelline Drops Of Jade

How's your week going so far?  My week has been long - LO is finally mobile and crawling everywhere.  I've had to quarantine her to certain rooms of the house because she's getting into everything!  I knew to expect it but I didn't really understand what to expect until she was actually crawling and getting her hands on EVERYTHING.  Needless to say, my weekend will be full of reorganizing the house and steaming the floors so that she can crawl safely. 

There's a change of programming today!  I was asked by a fellow blogger for a guest post today because she's going to Vegas for the weekend.  I'm stoked that I get to provide her with a lovely swatch for her blog, Swatch Me Now.  Please head over there now and check it out!

Vacation Polish Haul!!!

I'm baaaaaaack!!   I hope I was able to keep you entertained while I was away on vacation.  I had to scrounge for some swatches and had the very appreciated help of some wonderful guest bloggers to get me through the trip.

I did manage to get some shopping done, albeit not as much as I wanted to.  I didn't get to really explore the outlets or get to the mall - I was too busy trying to catch up with old friends and letting LO meet everyone.  In terms of nail polish, I was only able to go to Wal-mart and Big Lots - nothing really exciting but I very rarely get to go to those stores when I'm in LA.  Here are my scores from those two stores:

Walmart Kiss Nail Art and Polishes

Walmart Maybelline and Hard Candy

Big Lots Colormates - that purple has iridescent shimmer!

I also picked up Duri Rejuvacote but then ended up giving it to one of my BFFs because she needed something for the peelies.  I'll have to find it another time.  My other BFF was very sweet to pick me up some Bettinas while in Puerto Rico and a Lisa Watier while in Montreal.  I wish I knew about Bettina when I was in Puerto Rico - I got married there five years ago and this BFF got married there three years ago.  Each time I walked by the display and thought, meh, I already have those colors.  I wish I knew how great they were for watermarbling at the time!

Bettina and Lisa Watier

Once I got home, my nail mail was all waiting for me.  First is my order from Rescue Beauty Lounge's Blogger 2.0 collection:

Rescue Beauty Lounge Blogger 2.0

And then a new polish from Pipe Dreams, and Lemony Flutter.  I hope it's as good as everyone says it is for the cuticles!

Pipe Dreams and Lush Lemony FLutter

And then my swap items from a sweet fellow TPFer that I found on MUA.  For some reason I recently decided I needed all the polishes from the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection, and she happen to have some other polishes that I wanted to check out.  My OPI Pirates collection is now complete!

Swap polishes OPI and China Glaze Hologlams

That's it for tonight!  I would do a swatch but I still haven't unpacked my bags.  I've taken off my nail polish - I was wearing Enchanted Polish Beautiful Rule Breaking Moth for the last half of the vacation and during the wedding.  It lasted really well for the entire time I wore it up until today while I was at work, in which two fairly large chips ensued.  If I have any energy left, I'll try to do my nails rather than going nekkid.  Heaven forbid!! 

Maybelline Summer LE Turquoise Paradise Swatch And Review with Bonus JulieG

I hope everyone had a quick and easy week!  The weekend is almost here and I hope you've all got something fun in store.  We'll be working on baby proofing the house because LO is starting to crawl.  It's nerve racking thinking about all the trouble she can get into, especially in a two story house with tile stairs.  Eeeks!

I was browsing the CVS clearance sale that was reported on Noveau Cheap and saw the new summer Maybelline display.  There was a pretty blue limited edition polish that I picked up called Turquoise Paradise.  It's a well pigmented cream and I used two coats for this mani.  No topcoat because I found it to be really shiny on its own.

Maybelline Summer LE Turquoise Paradise

Maybelline Summer LE Turquoise Paradise

Maybelline Summer LE Turquoise Paradise

Maybelline Summer LE Turquoise Paradise

Maybelline Summer LE Turquoise Paradise

I did a little nail art with the mani as well, by adding JulieG Rock Candy as accents - I used it to fully coat the ring finger, to add dots to the middle, and to do a quick gradient on the index finger.  Warning, this stuff is really hard to clean off your skin without leaving a bunch of glitter residue.

Maybelline Summer LE Turquoise Paradise

Maybelline Summer LE Turquoise Paradise

I really like the monochromatic look of this mani and found the JulieG texture polish super easy to work with(aside from cleanup).  Rock Candy has multisized hex glitter in the sand finish and it gives a nice multidimensional sparkle.   I love the color too, I've been gravitating towards a lot of cool summery blues and greens this season.  Have you been falling in love with blues this summer?