Honest Babes

My local Nordstrom had Chanel's fall collection out already, as well as most of the upcoming Lippmanns that are available for preorder for the Anniversary Sale.  Of course I had to swatch what I could find, particularly because I had already ordered the Lippmanns sight unseen.

I believe I had Lippmann's Lady Sings the Blues on my thumb.  (It was in front of the set, not to the side like Bad Romance was.)  LStB has a navy base with regular silver glitter and hexagonal silver glitter.  The base is kind of sheer, so the glitter sometimes looks blue or navy versus silver.  Some Enchanted Evening, on my index finger, has a clear base with bubblegum pink glitter, both regular glitter and hex glitter.  Occasionally I swear I can see a dark pink fleck of glitter.  Razzle Dazzle is on my middle finger, and it has a dark red base with lots of fine sparkly red glitter.  I slipped Chanel's Paradoxal onto my ring finger.  It looks more muddy gray/wet slate on me than it does on Sabrina of The Beauty Look Book, and Karianne has a great picture of the shimmer.  I had trouble getting the microshimmer to show up most of the time, until I slapped on a coat of Seche Vite and stood around some lights.   I did get bubbles with this one, so I suggest thin coats when applying it.  I applied Lippmann's Bad Romance on my pinkie, and it was the color I was most underwhelmed with.  Gaga deserves a wilder polish color.   It is indeed a magenta version of Lippmann's own Ruby Red Slippers, down to the regular and hex glitter in a sheer-ish, smoky black base.  The only difference is the color of the glitter.  All swatches are at two coats, which pleased me.  Yay opacity!  Well, except for Some Enchanted Evening, which has a clear base to begin with. I got tired of editing pictures... hope these'll do...

Are today's taupe and putty shades tomorrow's "grandma" colors?  The "edgy," "sophisticated" and "neutral" combination of gray, beige, brown and purple is really popular right now, but who knows how much longer it'll be fashionable.  My suggestion, if you like these sorts of colors, is to wear the heck out of them until you're sick of 'em.  Fashion be darned!  You could do greiges in the hotter months and darker putties in the cooler months, instead of the regular pastel Spring, neon Summer and vampy Fall/Winter.  But wear what you like, whenever you like.  Whether or not your color becomes a granny color that you can find by the truckloads at your local Dollar Tree.

Here are a couple of suggestions if you haven't gotten into this trend:

Drugstore: Rimmel Steel Grey, Sally Hansen Commander in Chic

Mid level: Essie Jazz, OPI You Don't Know Jacques!, Orly Country Club Khaki, Sephora by OPI Metro Chic, American Apparel Mouse

High end: Lippmann Waking Up in Vegas, Chanel Particulière, MAC Wham Bam Glam, RGB Toast

I thought I was so clever coming up with a list of these polishes, only to find out that Little Music Boxes has done not one, but two posts on similar colors!   Tobywoo also has a comparison of taupes.  Be sure to check those entries out if you can't get enough of taupe-y purple brown grays.  I also added some of the recommendations from InStyle and People StyleWatch.  I don't necessarily agree with all of the recs, but I figured I'd add them anyway.  Some of them are more brown and some are more purple in my opinion. Some colors lean more warm and some more neutral-cool.

Orly's Country Club Khaki is a beige with some brown and gray, while SOPI Metro Chic is darker with a tiny bit more brown plus more purple.  These are two of my favorite shades from this trend.  Pure Ice Taupe Drawer (the crème version, not the shimmer version) isn't really taupe at all.  It's more mauve than anything, so names can be deceiving.  My favorites are CCK and MC, and I'm pretty fair with cool-toned skin.  The one putty color that really makes me want to vomit everywhere is Chanel Particulière.  I absolutely hate it on my nail.  If I'm going to wear a brown Chanel, it's going to be the more chocolate-y Madness.

Also, don't do swatches and then reach into your handbag for your wallet.  It's just not a good idea. Don't even think I'm kidding, for real...

A month ago, I swatched some of the newer Lippmanns at Nordstrom, so if you're interested, check 'em out!  I did two coats on my nails, though three would have been more appropriate on the sheers.  And I'd suggest ridgefiller with the sheers as well.  If you aggressively push your cuticles back, you'll end up with horizontal ridges like I have in my ring and pinkie nails. *facepalm*Pictures, descriptions, etc.

Chanel's Les Pop-Up collection contains some lipsticks, some glosses (including two new shades of Fluos), some bronzers... and three nail polishes.  Riviera is a magenta/dark hot pink crème.  Mistral is a bright bubblegum pink with shimmer.  Nouvelle Vague is a light turquoise with slight silver pearl.  Riviera seemed to be the most dupeable, so I only opted for Mistral and Nouvelle Vague.

Two pretty colors I couldn't get decent pictures of...

Is there any way to avoid paying US$18 for Lancôme's hot Fall 2009 polish color, Indigo Paris?  Yes and no.  Let me explain...My Blue Heaven