Honest Babes

This is the culmination of things I've found interesting over the last few days. Sorry, no pictures! The ones I wanted to add kinda stink, so I need to retake them. 

I've been waiting on Ulta to get the OPI Muppets collection, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon. At this point, I may forgo the Muppets and save for the Holland collection instead. Thanks a Windmillion is killing me softly. And speaking of pale greens (I'm surprised this trend is still going, to be honest), I am DYING to get my hands on the Spring 2012 Dior green called Waterlily. Here it is on the nail.

And speaking of Ulta, apparently OPI is discontinuing 14 colors: Calendar Girl, Sit Under the Apple Tree, Give Me A Coral Sometime, Peach-a-boo!, Red Hot Ayers Rock, Chapel of Love, Bullish on OPI, Take the Stage, My Big Break, Paint My Moji-toes Red, Bronzed to Perfection, Clubbing til Sunrise, Bling Dynasty and Chopsticking to My Story. From what I understand, they may all be on sale, two for US$10, but I didn't receive that Ulta ad so I don't have the exact details. (Thankfully this was reported on Ulta's Facebook page.) To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that a majority of those colors are still around.

Is it me or do these Inglot flakies look like the Nails Inc Gossip Girl flakies?

Did Karl Lagerfeld actually have anything to do with the cosmetics and nail polish for a Sephora line? If only WWD was free to read online! Not that I'm a fan of his or anything...

Does anyone else randomly check magazine giveaway pages? I'm not really digging Glamour's stuff this month, but People StyleWatch has the Kardashian Kolors from Nicole and Lucky has Zoya. I really want the Guerlain set from StyleWatch. And speaking of the Kardashians, I support this.

No joke, I have about a hundred different comments about this report from Cleveland on CND's Shellac. Yes, you do have to do research into any beauty treatment you're thinking about getting... unless you're making a snap decision on the spot. You can only do so much in that case. And sure, looking at bottles is probably a good idea, but that isn't the first thing I think of when I'm getting a pro manicure. (The last time I got my tips done with regular polish, the manicurist used clear polish as a base coat, then base coat as top coat before sticking me under a lamp. Whaaaat?) I'm not surprised that some people had wear issues since it seems that not everyone applying Shellac knows what they're doing. But I think it's cool that this news team looked into something nail-related!

If none of that was even remotely interesting, maybe this video will be worth your time. I laugh every time I watch it.

While trying to make my list for the in store and online Sephora Friends and Family sale, I've trawled through more products than I care to count. In case it might be helpful, I'm providing some links and a little commentary here in case you don't feel like going through and looking for all the nail polish items on Sephora. It's very "wall of text," so if you want the highlights right now, here they are: Givenchy has a polish out, some of the nail stickers from Sephora's brand are super cute, and Nails Inc now has flakies for us!Read more »

I'm not normally a pink person, let alone light pink.  But I am really, really into the light pink from the new Hello Kitty collection.  Bubble Gum is described as "opaque pastel pink," and it is pastel.  I did find that I needed to do three coats, and even then I think I had a few less than opaque spots.  It might have been drag from the brush or me not waiting enough in between coats, though.  I've worn this twice already since I bought it, which is so unlike me!

Here's a picture in my regular kitchen lighting (fluorescent overhead lights and some sunlight):

And these next three are inside my light box:

This retails for US$10, and I'm not sure it's worth that even if I inexplicably really like the color.  The brush stem isn't very long, so I suspect it won't reach all of the polish once you use up most of the bottle.  But the bottle itself is cute and the color is fab in my opinion.

One way to take advantage of some of Sephora's better samples is by banking your Beauty Insider Beauty Bank points until you hit (or almost hit) 500 points.  To maximize the amount of samples I received with my order, I also ordered when there was a great promotion offer of... more samples!

On the bottom of the picture are three fragrance samples I picked as my regular three samples with every order.  I had asked for a Versace fragrance, but they substituted Polo by the detestable Ralph Lauren.  It happens.  On your left, in the top of the photo, is the 500 point perk as of... last week?  I'm not sure if it's still the perk.Wanna know more?

Sephora has released a new version of their own house brand nail polish. Their previous line of polish was OK, but not very exciting.  (Except for the Essie Starry Starry Night dupe!)  Some of the names, like Myrtille, and name concepts, like jeans, did get carried over from the old line.  But I think this new line has a lot more cool colors.  I'm not sure if they're in store yet, but once I find them, I'll be buying any other colors that catch my eye (especially of the blue and purple variety.)  I've paid more for some drugstore polishes and they haven't been as nice as these.  US$5 a pop for cheerful colors isn't a bad deal, as long as these last a decent amount of time on the nail.

These new polishes are allegedly pigmented in one coat, fast-drying and long-lasting.  "A unique combination of resins and waxes creates a high-shine, high-performance result. The wide, flat brush makes application a snap."  I did like the thick brush, but it may not be ideal for pedicures.  It may be a bit big for tiny toenails.  I used Lippmann's Addicted to Speed top coat, which dries polish pretty quickly, so I don't know how quickly these polishes dry on their own.  I do maybe see a miniscule bit of tip pullback on the Sephora polishes, but not the Essie I used.  I doubt anyone would be able to see it, even if I pointed it out.  I also don't see any chips or wear on the Sephoras yet, and they've been on for over a day now.

I bought three crème greens- Teeny Bikini (L29; mint sherbet), Picnic in the Park (L13; bright jade green), and Prom Night (L32; smoky forest green.)  Bikini is a pigmented, slightly streaky mint green that's more blue than yellow.  Picnic is an awesome green blue.  Prom Night's more noticably green and not as murky as Sephora by OPI's Dark Room.Nail swatches with bottle pics plus a few brush pics...