Barielle Velvets Spring 2014 Collection Swatch And Review

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Woot woot! After nearly a month I've been struggling to catch up with my daily blog reading and I finally caught up today.  I feel like I'm back in the blogosphere loop once again!

The lovely ladies at Barielle were kind enough to send me the spring 2014 Velvets collection to review, and I have to admit that I'm looking forward to trying out these spring influenced nudes.  Contrary to the name none of these had a velvet finish and all dried to a high gloss shine.  I added topcoat to enhance that innate shine.

To start, Sexy Mood is a mauve pink cream that glides on effortlessly in two coats.  It leans on the cool side but I can see this being flattering on most skin tones.

Barielle Sexy Mood

Barielle Sexy Mood

My Week Away is the only shimmer in the collection, albeit a hidden shimmer in a pale pink base.  This took three coats for full coverage.

Barielle My Week Away

Barielle My Week Away

Uptown Girl is a pale nude cream and the lightest shade of the collection.  I needed three coats here for full opacity with no streaking or issues to report with application or formula.

Barielle Uptown Girl

Barielle Uptown Girl

One of the brighter colors of the Velvet collection is a coral cream.  Only two coats needed here with a smooth and silky application.

Barielle A Little Exotic

Barielle A Little Exotic

Cream & Sugar is the sheerest of the collection.  It's a pale nude that reminds me of WnW 2% Milk.   I used four coats here for my long nails.  I bet this would be lovely for glitter sammiches

Barielle Cream & Sugar

Barielle Cream & Sugar

Finally we have a chamois tan cream called My Tan Blazer, and just like a trusty tan blazer I see this being a shade that can be reached for any time during the spring months.  Only two coats needed here.

Barielle My Tan Blazer

Barielle My Tan Blazer

Well there you have it! The Velvet collection surprised me with its versatility and didn't seem as mundane as I'd imagine.  The colors lend itself to be perfect for all seasons and complimentary for all skin tones.

Stay tuned for an upcoming giveaway hosted by Barielle here on the blog! I'll be giving away two prizes for my lucky readers.

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Halloween Blood Watermarble Nails With Bettina Julietta And LA Spash Red Sea

Another Sunday Funday for all! I hope you you're enjoying the rest of your weekend.  Any spooky pre Halloween plans today? I'm doing some regular weekend cleaning and then later heading down to the OC to pick up my dad.  I may or may not stop at the nail supply...  Afterwards, we plan on resting up for the work week!

Last year I did only one Halloween nail art post and that was a bloody splatter mani that was clearly my newbie attempt at nail art. I'm still no expert but I've definitely picked up some trick such as watermarbling.  I plan on using that technique today to bring you an updated version of that original bloody manicure.  I used Bettina Julietta as my nude and LA Splash Red Sea as my blood to do a basic watermarble.  Of note, the Bettina had easy and opaque coverage when I used a layer of it as my base color.  This is finished with some accent dotting and topcoat.

Halloween Blood Watermarble Nails With Bettina Julietta And LA Spash Red Sea

Halloween Blood Watermarble Nails With Bettina Julietta And LA Spash Red Sea

Halloween Blood Watermarble Nails With Bettina Julietta And LA Spash Red Sea

Halloween Blood Watermarble Nails With Bettina Julietta And LA Spash Red Sea

Halloween Blood Watermarble Nails With Bettina Julietta And LA Spash Red Sea

This still has a bloody appearance to it but with some extra artistic eye appeal.  The only downside is that it doesn't have as much drama as a splatter mani.  Instead it has a subdued gory effect.  Of the two styles, which do you prefer?

Barielle Nude And Naughty Collection For Fall 2013

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Great news!!  Barielle is hosting a giveaway of ten prizes consisting of both their fall collections as well as a Cole Haan handbag as their grand prize.  All you have to do is enter below.  It's open from September 12th through the 26th, so enter now before you forget!

Barielle released two collections for fall this year, and today I have for you the second collection called Nude And Naughty.  This is comprised of subtle yet sexy nudes that are great for days when you need a palette cleanser or something work appropriate.  The colors range from light to dark, cream to shimmery and will be a great addition to anyone's collection.

Starting from the lightest shade is Very Bare, a nearly white nude cream with a touch of pink color.   Application was a little streaky and needed three coats to become even.  No topcoat here.

Barielle Very Bare

Barielle Very Bare

Pillow Talk is a traditional peachy nude cream that would probably be a good nude for fair colored skin tones.  It has a similar application as Very Bare meaning it was a tad patchy and needed three coats to even out.  No topcoat here.

Barielle Pillow Talk

Barielle Pillow Talk

No Not Now is a shimmery barely there pink nude.  This one is very pretty and the silver shimmer is fairly visible on the nail.  I used two coats here with no topcoat.

Barielle No Not Now

Barielle No Not Now

My favorite of the bunch is I Got A Headache, which is a darker nude shimmer, almost like a cafe au lait shade.  The gold shimmer really pops and I added a picture of it in low light so you can see it better.  No topcoat here.

Barielle I Got A Headache

Barielle I Got A Headache

Barielle I Got A Headache

And finally the darkest shade of the collection, In Good Taste, which is a dark milk chocolate cream that has some green undertones to it.  I used two coats here and it had perfect pigmentation and consistency.  I did finish this with topcoat because I planned to wear it for the next day.

Barielle In Good Taste

Barielle In Good Taste

Overall, Barielle managed to come out with a lovely collection that isn't your typical boring nudes by combining shimmer and hints of untraditional undertones.  Application overall was good considering that nudes are frequently streaky.  I loved all the names of the polishes in the collection as well, with some bordering on hilarious.

Barielle is available at some retail outlets as well as their website barielle.com.  Remember to sign up for the emails because they frequently send out promotions that make their polishes very affordable.

As mentioned above, their having another sweepstakes and here is a what the prizes will be:

The September Sweepstakes will start on September 12^th and end on September 26^th.   There will be 10 prizes given out and one Grand Prize of a Cole Haan Silver Satchel, RSP of $175.00. The Barielle kit will consist of:

1                     Two of the Fall Collections 5 Packs (Sophisticated Lady and Nude & Naughty) - $50

2                     One Nail Rebuilding Protein Base Coat - $17.50

3                     One No Chip Speed Dry Top Coat - $12.50

4                     One Nail Strengthener Cream - $17.00

The value of the total Grand Prize is more than $200.00

The Grand Prize will include the fashion accessory plus the Barielle Kit.

Visit the Barielle facebook page to enter now!

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Hare Polish Flight Of The Flamingos Swatch And Review

Purchased

Wow, I just realized that Labor day is right around the corner!  Summer is coming to an end, and fall will soon officially be here.  Living in SoCal, fall doesn't really exist here so I don't get as excited about it as I did when I lived on east coast.  Fall here feels more like an extension of summer with the evenings getting a little more cooler than usual.  I really miss east coast fall, like watching the leaves change color, the crispness of the air, and the anticipated change of wardrobe.  What do you look forward to in the fall?

What, you want another Hare Polish?  Alright, alright, I have one more for you.  This one is Flight Of The Flamingos, a nude based crelly with gold and matte pink hex and square glitters.  Once again I didn't have any similar cream base to use as undies so I used FotF alone and achieved opacity with only three coats.  No clumping of the glitters and the formula was easily workable.  It's a bit topcoat thirsty - here I used a layer of Essence Gel Look Nails and NYC GCS but there was still some texture after the two layers of topcoat once it was dry.

Hare Polish Flight Of The Flamingos

Hare Polish Flight Of The Flamingos

Hare Polish Flight Of The Flamingos

Hare Polish Flight Of The Flamingos

Hare Polish Flight Of The Flamingos

On camera, there's still a little VNL, but IRL it appears opaque.  I like that this is a nude based glitter which makes it easily work appropriate.  I wore it for a meeting and didn't feel like my nails were screaming for attention.  Marvelously, there were still pops of pink and glints of gold when the light hit it the right way.  It's like having a little secret but on my nails.  I wasn't expecting to like this color as much as I did, but I think it may be one of my favorite from this collection.  Of the Hares that I've shown you from this collection, which one is your favorite?

Hare Polish Washed Ashore Swatch And Review

Purchased

Happy Monday!  Another work week for another paycheck.  One of these days I'll hit the lotto and be able to stay home all day with a nanny and paint my nails all day long.  A girl can dream, can't she?  On a good note, I did manage to sell some of my Evilbay listings and only had to relist about half of them.  Crossing my fingers that the items all arrive safely to their buyers and that the relists sell!  

Are you ladies tired of Hare Polish yet?  I have another from the newest collection, and this one is called Washed Ashore.  It's a delicate looking pink leaning nude jelly base jamed with iridescent and white hex and square glitters.  It's reminiscent of last year's Illuminated Life collection but in a more neutral shade.  I used four coats in these pics and had no problem with clumping or dragging.  This is finished with Essence Gel Look Nails and NYC GCS.

Hare Polish Washed Ashore

Hare Polish Washed Ashore

Hare Polish Washed Ashore

Hare Polish Washed Ashore

Hare Polish Washed Ashore

Washed Ashore makes for a great palette cleanser after a summer of bright neon shades.  It's appropriate for work too, which is good for me because I have a lot of meetings this week.  I probably could have layered this over a base color, but I have a severe deficit of nude colored polishes in my collection.

Oh, and scroll quickly down.... I did some stamping and had a bit of a fail when I smeared it with topcoat.  With my longer nails, I have trouble getting a full plate to stamp.  I gotta practice somehow!

Hare Polish Washed Ashore Stamped

You gotta give me credit for trying!  :)

Enchanted Polish Afternoon Delight, Purple Roses, and Beautiful Rule Breaking Moth Swatch And Review

Hello my dears, I hope you had a fabulous weekend!  I'm sorry that it's Monday already, but luckily for me I only have to work today and then I'm off for the week.  It'll probably be my only vacation for the rest of the year, so hopefully I'll enjoy it to its fullest.  Do you have any vacations planned for this summer?

To start the week off, I have some Enchanted Polishes that I picked up from her last restock.  This sold out in mere seconds, and I was lucky to score some.  I had to check out one at a time though, it seems like after a few minutes of refreshing, a color would magically come back into stock and then I'd try to rush through the check out process as quickly as possible.  I didn't get the color I really wanted, but I'm pretty happy with my selections overall.

First is Afternoon Delight, a not so typical nude holo.  I really like this one because there is slight green shimmer that adds some interest to an otherwise boring nude.  It was hard to capture on camera though, so please just imagine that you can see it!  I used two medium thick coats for this, no basecoat or topcoat.  First pic is in the light tent, the rest are under direct light.

Enchanted Polish Afternoon Delight

Enchanted Polish Afternoon Delight

Enchanted Polish Afternoon Delight

Enchanted Polish Afternoon Delight

Enchanted Polish Afternoon Delight

Enchanted Polish Afternoon Delight

Enchanted Polish Afternoon Delight

Next is Purple Roses, a lovely pink leaning light purple metallic foil holo.  Whew, that's a lot of adjectives.  I've never encountered a foil holo before, but that's the only way I could explain this.  This was the sheerest of the three I purchased.  I used two thin coats followed with a third thick coat.  No topcoat or basecoat. First pic in the light tent, the rest under direct light.  This was super blingy in real life.

Enchanted Polish Purple Roses

Enchanted Polish Purple Roses

Enchanted Polish Purple Roses

Enchanted Polish Purple Roses

Enchanted Polish Purple Roses

Enchanted Polish Purple Roses

Enchanted Polish Purple Roses

Finally my favorite of the three, Beautiful Rule Breaking Moth.  Who wouldn't love a polish with a name like that?  This was really a stunning yet unusual holo shade, a mixture of grey, gold, and green.  I would probably describe it as oxidized fool's gold, the kind that you find while hiking.  I used two easy coats with no topcoat or basecoat.  First pic is in the light tent, the rest are under direct light. 

Enchanted Polish Beautiful Rule Breaking Moth

Enchanted Polish Beautiful Rule Breaking Moth

Enchanted Polish Beautiful Rule Breaking Moth

Enchanted Polish Beautiful Rule Breaking Moth

Enchanted Polish Beautiful Rule Breaking Moth

Enchanted Polish Beautiful Rule Breaking Moth

Enchanted Polish Beautiful Rule Breaking Moth

I'm not sure if the green or the gold translated well onto camera, but in real life it's truly a stunning shade.  I don't know of many polishes that are similar in color, holo or not, but if there are, believe me, I would snag all of them!  Enchanted has done it again and created some amazing holos that are incredibly unique in an already saturated market of indies, holos, duochromes, and shimmers.  It's no wonder that they sell out as quickly as they do!  Have you managed to snag any Enchanted Polishes lately, and which is your favorite?