Essie Braziliant Collection… and a long update… ermm… thing!

No, no, I’m not dead… life has just been kicking my ass lately!  Let me give you a little recap of my world since I last posted:

May 2nd – Went back to work, which was killer.  We were super-short-handed, so I worked a ton of hours this week and absolutely wore myself out.

May 4th – Our car wouldn’t start in the evening when I went to pick Daniel up from work.  He had to find a ride home and my dad had to come down to look at it.  They eventually got it started, and everything seemed ok, battery and alternator were both working fine… couldn’t figure it out.

May 5th – Car almost dies when I stop at a stoplight on my way to work.  I had to floor it to get it to go, which then caused a ton of smoke to shoot out of the back and it overheats.  Then again at the next stoplight.  All in the < 7 minutes it takes to get to work.  I made it there, but car was smoking and the temperature was way too high by the time I got parked.  Checked it out after work and sure enough, the coolant is leaking into the oil.  Looks like a chocolate milkshake.  This explains why it wouldn’t start the night before, and why it had been giving off white exhaust instead of the normal exhaust.  Had to find a ride home and Daniel’s parents loaned us their van.  Car needs a whole new engine – about $2000.  Car’s value is less than $1500.  Car becomes a permanent fixture in the bank parking lot and we begin looking at our options for financing another vehicle.

May 9th-13th – I have jury duty – yay.  :P  Pretty much the worst experience of my life.  I have absolutely no desire to judge anyone or hold their fate in my hands.  I had to attend every day, much to my dismay.  Fortunately, all but one of the trials I was in the jury pool for settled, but I did have to go through the selection process for one.  I was hoping they would choose their jurors before calling my name, but no, they called me.  I think I would have been excused either way – the prosecutor questioned me first and I was excused based on our close friend who is currently in prison (and I had visited the week I was on vacation), but I think the defense would have excused me based on my husband’s best friend being a police officer, my dad working for the police department for 15 years and me being around cops my whole life and some of them like family.  So, I never ended up on a jury, but I was so stressed out by the whole thing that I basically came home and hid for an entire week.  Also wore the same polish for 7 days straight – OPI’s Hot & Spicy.

May 16th-20th – Work is basically kicking my ass again.  Hired someone based on a phone interview because I never could actually meet her face-to-face – too busy!  :P  She had been interviewed by two other managers though and was hired both times, but on the first they had an internal application at the last minute and it is nearly impossible to turn those down (no training!), and the second upper management decided to split the full-time position into two part-time.  So, she comes well recommended, but it’s still a bit scary.  I run a drama-free zone, and I explained that to her – hopefully she doesn’t mess that up!  Also currently training a new employee, and having to issue verbal warnings to others, based on that new sales program I have mentioned before.  And looking at cars every evening when I get off work.  Realizing that they are EXPENSIVE!  My mom keeps telling me I can get her car (2002 Chevy Impala, 84k miles) for $5000, but that is absolutely not true.  The only Impala I found under $6000 had 175k miles.  Have one hopeful, but everything else has been a bust.  Stressful week!  I did manage to wear a different untried every day this week though!  :D

May 21st – Go to visit hopeful car in a town about 30 minutes away.  Very short on time – have a wedding to be at early in the afternoon.  Test drive car, ask lots of questions, decide to buy.  2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue, 104k miles.  Silver.  Good price.  Try to hurry very nice salesman as I now have less than an hour before the wedding starts.  Eventually get papers signed, hand over check, and tear out of the lot, flying to get home.  Have to stop for gas because, of course, no car on a sale lot has any gas in it.  Have less than 15 minutes to get ready for wedding.  We did make it, and we weren’t the last couple into the sanctuary, but it was close.  Thank god there was a long line at the guestbook, so the wedding did not start exactly on time!  So stressed about buying the car and trying to get to the wedding that I get a little bit drunk at the reception – just the nice buzzy drunk that doesn’t make you do stupid things or have a hangover!  Collapse on couch at 10pm.

May 24th – My brother and sister-in-law welcome their new baby, Bradley!  This is baby #3 for them.  They already have Nathaniel, 4, and Lorelei, 2.  Planning on another baby in the next 2 years – yikes!  We also have a nephew from Daniel’s brother (Sam, nearly 2), so this makes nephew #3!  Hoping there is at least one more girl so poor Lorelei doesn’t grow up being a complete tomboy – and I need someone’s nails to paint!  ;)

Soooo… yeah.  Thank you for reading all of that, if you made it through.  I won’t hold it against you if you scrolled down to pics – it was a loot to read!  ;)  I have lots of polishes photographed and lots more to swatch, so hopefully I won’t be taking such a huge break again!  Are you ready to finally see some swatches?

I fell in love with the Braziliant collection as soon as I saw promo pics.  I love bright oranges, and who can resist perwinkles and pale greens?!  This one did not disappoint.  Fab summer collection!

Absolutely Shore is a gorgeous pale green – it’s almost white with a green tint.  I really see this more as spring than summer, but I love it either way.  Didn’t really love the formula though… streaky, streaky, streaky!  This was 3 coats, and the last one was rather thick.  I’m pretty sure I used topcoat on this one to even out the application.  I don’t have anything in my stash comparable to this, but it might be similar to Nubar’s Baby Sprout, from the Spring 2011 collection.  I think it’s less white and more blue tinged.

Braziliant is a deep orange with a really dense pink shimmer that I have found nearly impossible to photograph.  I swear, it’s not a crème!  The shimmer is so dense that it doesn’t show up well unless you hit the right light… so kinda secret shimmer-ish?  If you really want a good look at the shimmer, check out Temptalia’s post here.  She really captures it in the last 2 pics she took.  I’m jealous, I never could capture it!  It is a gorgeous color, I went looking for it specifically when I started searching for this collection.

I LOVE Meet Me At Sunset – I am a sucker for these reddish-orange jelly-ish things!  This is the most color accurate pic, most of them came out more red than it actually is.  I have seen others refer to it as a red, but it’s orange – orange, I say!!  Similar in base color to Braziliant, just a touch more red.  Actually, when I bought these, the clerk thought they were the same and looked at the tops to be sure they weren’t.  To any polish-a-holic, they aren’t very comparable (hello?!  one is a shimmer, the other a crème!), but muggles just see orange.  The formula on this one is incredible.  It’s a little more opaque than a jelly, but sheerer and shinier than a crème.  Two coats to perfection.

Here you can see how amazingly shiny it is – no topcoat!!  :D  I really do love this one, but it is the one I have something quite similar to.  I compared it to OPI’s A Good Man-darin Is Hard To Find because I thought they looked close, but as you can see in the pic below, they really aren’t that close.  AGMIHTF (wow, what an acronym!), middle, is pinker and more crème-like than MMAS.

Once it was on the nail, I realized that MMAS is pretty darned close to Revlon Top Speed in Chili, which is one of my faves.  They aren’t quite dupes, but very very similar!  Chili is in the middle again.  It is a bit redder, but the finish is the same, and both polishes had fabulous formulas.

Finally moving on from Meet Me At Sunset… ;)

The finish and formula of Too Too Hot is the same as Meet Me At Sunset, so this was an instant love for me.  It’s an orange based pink that will look lovely on tips and toes.  It reminded me of Essie’s Watermelon, which I don’t actually own.  However, I do have Essie’s Rose Bowl, which is almost a dupe, just slightly warmer – I compared them in store before purchasing Rose Bowl and I could barely tell the difference.

So, Too Too Hot is not as close to Watermelon as I thought, seeing how it is warmer (and oranger) than Rose Bowl, which is a warmer version of Watermelon.  I have been loving Rose Bowl lately, even wore it as a pedi for over a month, but I think I prefer Too Too Hot after comparing them!

Super Bossa Nova was the hardest one for me to track down, which seems so bizarre – it’s a shimmery pink, I never dreamed it would be the first to go!  I went to 4 different stores before I finally found this one at Target.  Every other display I found, Super Bossa Nova was the only one gone!  I can see the allure though – a bright shimmery pink that will look great on almost all skin tones, plus it is super-pigmented, so you can get away with one careful coat.  I’m wearing 2 in the pic, but not because I had to… but because I’m weird and always do at least 2 coats!  It has a purpley/blue shimmer that is quite dense, but like Braziliant, it doesn’t always let itself be shown.  It isn’t quite as subtle, but she really sparkles when in the spotlight.  Because of the color of the shimmer, I thought I’d compare with China Glaze – 108 Degrees, middle.

When compared to 108 Degrees, the already kinda subtle shimmer in Super Bossa Nova looks almost invisible.  The base colors are similar, but the blue shimmer in 108 gives the color a blue cast Super Bossa Nova lacks.

I almost passed up Smooth Sailing – it’s gorgeous, but I was just sure it was a dupe for RBL’s Catherine H.  I picked it up and put it down about 5 times in the store before I finally just grabbed it and went to the register.  It’s a bright periwinkle / cornflower blue with tiny little flakes in it – the finish is the same as Mochacino from the retail collection.  I love this finish and hope Essie keeps using it!  It reminds me of little rain drops, all irregular shaped.  It might even be similar to the little flecks in Illamasqua’s Raindrops, but I have only seen pics, so I’m not positive on that one.  I’m lusting after it big-time though, so if anyone has it available, please let me know!

Back to the real question… is this a dupe for Catherine H?  Sorry to be a bummer to those of you who didn’t get your hands on the RBL before it sold out, but they aren’t that close.  Depending on your level of obsession, it might hold you over until Catherine H is available again, since it did get chosen in the Bring it Back vote, or it might kill your lemming altogether.

Catherine H is much deeper, dustier, and has a pink shimmer that is quite a bit different from the little flakes in Smooth Sailing.  However, the flakes in SS seem to have a bit of pink and blue in them, so it’s almost like a toned down version.  I love them both, but will probably not wear the RBL in the summer, since it is dusty and kinda murky looking.

Overall, the formulas on this collection were outstanding – the only one I had any trouble with was Absolutely Shore, and we all know how those white-based shades are.  I used 2 coats in all the pics above, except AS.  I love them all, but my top pics are Smooth Sailing and Braziliant for originality and Meet Me At Sunset and Too Too Hot for formula and perfect summer shades.

This collection is being spotted in Walgreens and Targets across the country, but Cilucia heard from Essie that they won’t be available at Ulta and other salon retailers until June 1st.  For those of you who need your e’s on the caps, there is still hope!  ;)

What do you think of Braziliant?  Any favorites?

Basecoat: none
Topcoat: none, except for Absolutely Shore – Beauty Secrets Fast Finish
Number of coats: 2, except for Absolutely Shore, 3

China Glaze - Island Escape Collection

I had planned on posting Chanel Mimosa next, but umm... you're going to have to wait on that one.  I did wear it, but ugh, application was terrible and it didn't look good.  It didn't seem so bad when I initially swatched it, but a full mani was not good.  I'll try it again when I get over being angry with her!  ;)

I knew I had to have the entire Island Escape collection the first time I saw swatches, but I've been lazy and haven't gotten around to posting it, though I've had it for, umm... at least 2 weeks.  Oops!  I really like the collection as a whole, though a couple of the formulas were a bit disappointing.  There is nothing earth shattering here, but it is a great summer collection that I will get a lot of use out of!

108 Degrees is a glass flecked pink, perfect for summer.  A bit on the sheer side, but I don't mind VNL when it's crazy-hot out.  I don't have an exact dupe in my stash, but it didn't seem all that original.

Seniorita Bonita is mostly purple, but it has some heavy pink shimmer, which is quite hard to capture.  This was the sheerest of the collection, and slightly disappointing because of it.  I really had to layer this one on to get it to show up.  It did dry though, and super-shiny at that, so maybe I shouldn't complain?

Blue Iguana is the last of the glass flecks in this collection, and I really love it.  I have seen a lot of complaints of how sheer it is, but I've seen worse.  It's a bit of a stainer, so be careful!  I can't wait to wear this one!  There is a slight pinkish duochrome to it, which makes it awfully similar to Nicole's You're S-Teal the One - I've compared them below - NOPI is in the middle.

These two are pretty much dupes.  Blue Iguana is much more pigmented than You're S-Teal the One, so if you're torn, I suggest it.  You can usually get China Glaze's cheaper too!  :)

Cha Cha Cha is the lone shimmer in this collection, supposedly similar to the famous Moonpool.  I don't own it, so I can't compare, but I prefer this to the pics I've seen of Moonpool - less frosty!  However, the application on this one wasn't great.  You can see some bald spots on my index nail, and this was 3 coats.

Electric Pineapple is a bright green/yellow creme which applies easily, especially after the sheerness of the previous polishes.  It looks similar to OPI's Fiercely Fiona, but they aren't dupes, as you can see below.

Fiercely Fiona is much more yellow than Electric Pineapple, but I love 'em both!

Papaya Punch is the last of the collection, and the best formula.  It's a gorgeous bright orange, not neon at all, but it will get attention!  It leans to the yellow side of orange, so depending on your skintone, this one might be troublesome for you.  I am addicted to oranges - it seems like I gotta have every one I see!

The cremes in this collection apply much better than the glass flecks, but the only real problem children are Seniorita Bonita and Cha Cha Cha.  SB was kinda watery and extremely sheer, CCC is prone to balding.  I <3 the colors, so I will deal, but if you don't have much patience, you might want to avoid these!  I LOVE Papaya Punch and Blue Iguana - both of them were stunning and pretty easy to apply.

Are you thinking about picking up any of this collection?  Tell me which ones you like!  :)

In other news, I head back to work tomorrow... ugh.  Can't vacations last forever?

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: varies, 2-3

Revlon Top Speeds - Chili, Espresso, Stormy

So... moving right along here...

This is Chili, an orangey-red jelly that I just adore!  It's so shiny and squishy!  *squee!*  Formula on this one was great, perfect in 2 coats!

Espresso is a deep dark chocolatey brown with a gorgeous, almost hidden shimmer.  It's there, but not super noticeable.  Formula was great here as well, 2 coats.

And here is Stormy, a greige neutral tauple cream.  I showed this in comparison to Below Deck here - it's a little less purple than many similar polishes.  Formula wasn't quite as great on this one, kinda reminded me of Vintage in the previous post - thick and unable to self-level.  I didn't use topcoat in the swatch, but it really would have helped!

Of these, I prefer Chili - I'm suddenly starting to love all these bright colors on me, though I have shied away from things so bold in the past!  I can't wait to wear this one in the summer months.  Espresso is actually one of my favorite browns, the shimmer in it makes it not quite so severe.  I love the color of Stormy - I think it is my favorite of all the greige colors, but the formula is lacking - I'll try to thin it out and see if it improves.

One more post to go in this series!  :)

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: 2

China Glaze - Anchors Away Comparisons

I didn't do comparisons for all of AA because I had some that were totally unique in my collection, but here are the ones I did do!

First up, Pelican Gray.  I filled a request on the NB for it compared to Zoya Harley and then I thought about it later and decided to compare it to Recycle as well, so sorry there are two pics instead of just one on this one.

Pelican Gray vs Harley Bottle:

On nail:

As you can see, Harley is more purple-toned than Pelican Gray and its shimmer is no secret!

Here it is compared with Recycle:

I thought these looked pretty similar in the bottle, though PG is a little lighter and has shimmer, but on the nail, they really don't have much in common...

Recycle is much browner, darker, and has no shimmer.  Not really anything alike at all!

Cilucia over at Spaz & Squee compared Pelican Gray with Zoya Dove and Diamond Cosmetic's Concrete Jungle (which is a dupe to RBL's Concrete Jungle I hear) as well, so stop by and check our her AMAZING pics!

Next we have Below Deck.  It is supposed to be similar to Channelesque also by China Glaze, but I don't have that one to compare it to.  I have a ton of greige/gruples/whatever you call this color, but I decided to go with a couple of drugstore ones since those would be the easiest to procure - Confetti's Moonstruck and Revlon Top Speed in Stormy.

Bottle:

You can see from this bottle pic that the Revlon is more brown than Below Deck and Moonstruck, but those two are nearly identical.

Moonstruck is just the tiniest bit browner than Below Deck, but they are close enough I doubt anyone but a NBer would notice the difference.  If you have a CVS in your area, you can pick up Moonstruck for $1.99 and maybe save yourself a bit of cash?

When I showed Knotty, I mentioned that it had the same kinda shimmer as Sally Hansen's Fairy Tale Ivory.  The base colors are quite a bit different, but they both have a rainbow shimmer that really perks up a neutral.

I'm having a hard time photographing the rainbow part of the shimmer, but trust me, it's there!  You can see Fairy Tale Ivory's in the post I made about it - the shimmer in Knotty is identical.  I think the base color of Fairy Tale Ivory flatters me a bit more, so I probably won't wear Knotty as often, but it is nice to know I have another option when I'm looking for an interesting neutral.

White Cap vs CND Jade Sparkle:

In the bottle pic, you can see how dense the sparkles are in Jade Sparkles - White Cap just looks white in comparison!

On the nail, the differences are much more subtle.  They both have a lovely green-to-gold sparkle that will easily get noticed, but White Cap has that milky white base instead of the clear Jade Sparkles has.  I guess the question here is what you are planning on doing with it - if you are looking to layer this polish, you probably should do Jade Sparkles instead.  However, if you are planning on wearing it on its own, White Cap is the one for you.

Cilucia also compared these and you can see her layering experiment (scroll down) and decide which one you prefer, or both!  After seeing her pics, I ordered Orly Enchanted Forest!  :)

Now I'll move on to the Knotty Nauticals set.  I know others are comparing Ahoy! to lots of other China Glaze pinks, but I really have no pinks that look even remotely similar, so I didn't do anything for it.  I haven't seen it confirmed as a dupe to anything yet, so if you love it, get it!

I don't have very many red cremes in my collection, so I pulled out the two brightest I could find to compare to Hey Sailor! - Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Rapid Red and American Apparel's Poppy.

They look pretty danged close in the bottle, don't they?

Not so similar on the nail, which I am glad to see!  Hey Sailor! is more distinctly red than Poppy, but not as dark as Rapid Red.  I have been seriously lemming OPI's Color So Hot it Berns (is it sad to say that it is the only one I'm missing from the Swiss collection?!) and All You Desire did a comparison of it and Hey Sailor! - maybe I don't need CSHIB?

I had originally gotten AA Poppy out to compare it to Life Preserver.  They really aren't too much alike, but it was the closest I had - I need more oranges!

My photos all show Life Preserver being more vibrant than it really is.  There is a dusty quality to it that you can't see here.  I'd like to see it compared with OPI's Hot & Spicy, but I don't have that one yet.  Do you?  What do you think?

Now, I know that there is no way that Lighthouse and Sally Hansen's Sunflowers would be dupes because of the different finishes, but I did want to compare the base colors for you so maybe you could decide if this is a yellow that would work for you!

In the bottles I thought they looked close, but on the nail, they don't really seem like it... but odds are if you can't wear one, you probably can't wear the other and vice versa!

I was really concerned that Starboard and Essie's Pretty Edgy would be dupes... so much so that I almost didn't get Starboard, but then I decided to just get all of them.

When I started pulling out greens, Nina Pro's Salsa also seemed pretty close.  You can see here that there is a smidge of dustiness to Starboard that Pretty Edgy doesn't have.

On the nail, Salsa dries darker than it's bottle color, so it's definitely not dupey.  However, Pretty Edgy and Starboard are pretty darn close.  Again, there is just a hint of dustiness to Starboard that separates them.  If you aren't a NBer or a green lover, you probably could get away with just one of the two!

The last one I have for you is First Mate.  I pulled American Apparel's Mt. Royal and OPI's Dating a Royal.

I was a bit surprised how much Dating a Royal and First Mate looked similar in their bottles, but you can definitely see differences on the nail.

While they seemed similar in the bottle, you can see here that First Mate is definitely navy, whereas the others are more cobalt blue.

Whew!  Thanks for sticking with me there, I know the last two posts have been majorly pic heavy!  Can you think of other polishes the Anchors Away collection should be comped to?  Let me know!!

Also, while you're letting me know about that... do you like the text being on the pics, or would you rather I just told you what order they were in under?  I couldn't decide, so I added the text, but it might look tacky?  Someone make up my mind!  :)

Basecoat: None

Topcoat: None

Number of coats: varies

China Glaze - Anchors Away!

I apologize that I didn't get these swatches put up before you'd seem them 1000 times... I've had this collection since a couple of days after they were released.  I should have gotten them done sooner, but my job has stressed me out beyond belief and I really didn't feel like swatching for a few days.  However, here they are, hopefully better late than never!

This is the first time I've bought an entire collection at once - I did end up with a couple of other entire collections, but I've bought them in pieces.  Not this one - I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.  A lot of people were meh about it, but I think it is absolutely stand out!

We'll start with the Knotty Nauticals, which is the brighter of the two sets in this collection.

Oh yeah, and see all that shine?  It's all polish, baby - I didn't use topcoat on any of these!!

This is Ahoy!, which might actually be my favorite here.  I hardly ever wear pinks - I can't find any that really flatter me.  I think this one looks pretty good - I actually wore it for a couple of days this week!  You might be saying "it's not really pink...", but this is as close as I get!  It's a really saturated almost jelly base with gold flecks that really make it glow.  Stunning!  Two coats

Gak!  A pink and a red that I like on me in the same collection!?!?  Crazy!  This is Hey Sailor! an incredibly shiney orange-based red jelly/cream combo.  I actually saw someone post on the NB the other day that they think this might be a new type of finish and I totally agree.  This collection is the first I've seen to have these jelly/cream things.  They're as opaque as a cream, but they have the glossiness of a jelly - I love it!  Two coats.

Life Preserver is a dusty orange version of this jelly/cream thing - opaque in two coats (one if you are careful!) and it shines like crazy.  It's dustier than my picture shows, but still a bright vibrant color.  I love oranges and this one does not disappoint!

I had the hardest time capturing the glass fleck in Lighthouse correctly.  It blurred no matter how still I held my hands!  I don't have a lot of yellows, but most of the ones I have are not fun to work with.  Lighthouse was a breeze!  My friend said it looked like sparkling urine, but he's a boy, what does he know?  It is sparkly though... three coats.

Starboard is another jelly/cream opaque in two coats.  I think this one will be great to wear during the summer.  It reminds me of thick lush grass squishing under your bare feet!

First Mate is amazing.  I own several blue creams, but nothing tops this one.  That wonderful jelly/cream finish, perfectly opaque in 1 coat if you are careful (I used two because I'm not careful!), and it never looks black, which is a problem for a lot of navy blues.

Next up, the Sand & Sea set!

Pelican Gray is a pretty neutral gray, not leaning overly blue or brown.  It has a slight bit of shimmer (the secret shimma!) what you can barely see on the nail.  Mine seemed a bit goopy though, probably needs to be thinned for better application.  Three coats.

Sea Spray  has that same secret shimmer that you can just barely see, it it makes it so special!  I also found it a little thick and hard to apply evenly.  This is three coats.

Sunset Sail is not as horrible looking on me as I thought it would be, but it still doesn't look good.  It's a really pretty peachy nude with a subtle silver shimmer.  It might be more flattering on cooler skin tones - I thought it looked pretty good on All You Desire!  Three coats

Below Deck is another one of those purple/grey/taupe things, but I think I might like this one better than the others I have.  It looks good on warm skin and is edgy, but still work appropriate.  This was two coats, but it could have used a third.

I wore Knotty for about 3 days, which is pretty decent for me!  It has the same multi-colored shimmer as the previously reviewed Sally Hansen Fairy Tale Ivory, but it is more beige than nude.  I was hoping it would be like a sparkling Your Nails But Better, but it was just a tad too dark for that.  I kept it on for 3 days though, so I wasn't too disappointed!  Three coats.

And finally we have White Cap, another glass fleck.  The flecks seem to change from gold to green depending on the angle.  My camera freaked out on this one and refused to get a clear shot.  I think it would look great layered, but it also works on its own for a interesting sheer.  Three coats.

All in all, I love this collection.  The only one that I don't know if I will wear is Sunset Sail, but I still like it - how often do you find a collection where you like everything?

To be honest though, I was a little disappointed in the application of the Sand & Sea set.  I was really looking forward to Pelican Gray and Sea Spray, but I had troubles with both of them.  I'm hoping a little thinning will make the difference.

I was FLOORED with how amazing everything in the Knotty Nauticals set was - color, formula, finish - it truly is a winner!  If you only decide to pick up part of this collection, make it this half - you won't be disappointed!

Let me know which ones you love (or hate!) in the comments!

And... I have done a bunch of comparisons on these... I will post them next!  :)

Anchors Away is popping up in Ulta and Sally's now and retail for $5.99 each.

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: NONE!!

Number of coats: varies