Illamasqua Charisma

Illamasqua Charisma was released with the Generation Q Collection for Fall/Winter 2012. It consists of a berry base with red and gold shimmer. This is 3 coats, with top coat, in the shade.

And in the sun:

The formula was great. It's solid in 2 coats, but I found that a third added depth. I'm one of those people that never ever matches my tips and toes because I find it boring, but I love this color enough that I sported Charisma tips and toes for a week straight. Here's another sunlight pic, because...why not.

OPI Diva of Geneva is similar, but it's much cooler-toned, with pink and purple leanings. Charisma is definitely warm. As it's a berry shimmer, I'm sure there are other similar colors, but Diva of Geneva is the only one I can think of at the moment. Either way, it's awesome.

Have you tried Charisma, or any similar colors? Thoughts?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Top 30 of 2012! (part 1)

So, about a year ago I showed you my all-time favorites. I was going to do it again on the same day, but obviously that didn't happen because I am lame. I was also going to show you how my all-time favorites have changed in the last year, but I don't think they've changed a whole lot, so instead I will show you three lists over the next three days: my ten favorite polishes released this year, my ten favorite indies, and my ten favorites for layering (both base colors and layering polishes).

Several of them, I have not yet blogged about, so you'll be getting a sneak peek of some upcoming posts. And there are a few polishes for which I've not even taken photos, so you'll get a few bottle photos here and there. So, let's get started!

OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh?

This year, I tried nude cremes! I'm still overwhelmed by all the combinations of hue, undertone, etc. but this one kinda works! It's greyish and cool-toned, but I think it has enough yellow in it that it sort of works. Regardless of my skintone weirdness, this is a great color with a great formula.

Revlon Urban

LOVE. Shiny, squishy dark blue creme with slight purple undertones. Great formula.

Essie Penny Talk

I've told you of my weakness for coppers, and this pretty much epitomizes it. One of the worst formulas I've ever worked with, but I can't resist the color! I'm even willing to forgive some brushstrokes for it.

Illamasqua Charisma

As you probably know, I'm not a pink fan. But this dark berry has some reddish undertones, and that shimmer. I just love it. Great pedicure color, too.

OPI I Have a Herring Problem

This is definitely one of OPI's better names, and one of their better colors too. Despite the sheerness, I love the finish and color, and the application is great.

Essie Ole Caliente

Coral is not really my thing but this is so pretty. It's reddish enough that I don't feel that weird wearing it, and Ole Caliente makes for an awesome summery pedicure.

Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra in New York

I'm not sure how she does it, but Deborah Lippmann really nails the balance of base color to glitter. The black base is opaque, but the gold still shines through, and the end result has so much depth. Plus, you can't go wrong with black and gold. (cue Sam Sparro playing in the background)

Essence Walk on the Wild Side

Really, I could have put all four of the new Colour & Go's on this list, but since I only left space for one, I chose this. Formula could be better, but the finish is great.

Nails Inc. Baker Street

I bet no one was expecting this. /sarcasm
Seriously though, how can you resist such a bold blue?

Revlon Guest List

In addition to nude cremes, I also tried an olive green for the first time this year. The formula is less than stellar, but I really like this.

Thoughts? Do we have any mainstream/mass-produced favorites in common? Tell me about yours!

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week! 

Verity Midnight Green + Comparison

Verity Midnight Green is a squishy, super glossy dark green jelly. It's opaque in 4 coats, and I had no issues with bubbling. In indirect light:

So squishy!! The formula was excellent too. It was thin, but workable, and didn't get all up in my cuticles or anything. In the sun:

LOVE. Now, as you may have realized, I've posted quite a few greens. Perhaps you're wondering how they compare? Even if you weren't, I went ahead and compared them anyway. Out of my greens, I found that the closest (in the bottle) are Verity Aqua Blue, Illamasqua Rampage, and NYC Flat Iron Green. Bottle shots:

Aqua Blue is pretty clearly different from the others, so I decided to leave it out when doing my comparison swatches. And you can see that my bottle of Rampage has been pretty well loved, haha. In the shade, Rampage, Midnight Green, and Flat Iron Green look pretty similar. Rampage is a bit lighter, but not by much. Midnight Green and Flat Iron Green look pretty much identical.

In a brighter lighting situation, the differences become more apparent (or maybe it's just my green addiction that becomes more apparent.....).

Rampage is definitely lighter and brighter now, but Flat Iron Green and Midnight Green still look the same. The sun was not cooperating when I took the comparison photos, and my artificial light source wasn't cutting it, but there are indeed minute differences between Midnight Green and Flat Iron Green. I mentioned this when I posted Flat Iron Green, but that one's a murkier, swampier green. Midnight Green is a pure forest green. 

I'm probably going to wind up purging Flat Iron Green, because it's not really that good, and Rampage & Midnight Green are so much better. I'm glad I've got Midnight Green though, because it's so much cheaper than Rampage! $1 versus $14....Needless to say, I no longer want NARS Zulu!

Thoughts? Feelings? Do you even like dark greens? Are there any colors that you automatically gravitate towards even though you know you've already got similar ones?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great week!

Illamasqua Rampage and Verity Aqua Blue

Lazy blogger is lazy....and also procrastinating :( Not looking forward to my presentation tomorrow...freakin' DNA sequencing, man.

Anyway, let's talk polish. I have no idea when Illamasqua Rampage was released, but whatever. This is my all-time favorite green. It's dark, but never black, and it's a jelly. Perfect in 3 coats. Squishy, glossy, jelly awesomeness.

In direct sunlight:

I'm pretty sure Rampage has a permanent spot in my Top 5. Illamasqua also has my favorite bottle design! Well, at least before they changed the bottles....they are not as nice and angular anymore. :(

On a slightly related note, once, I commented on someone else's blog post and said something about the bottle change...the blogger had no idea what I was talking about and was like "uhhhh ok" and she had bottles of both types featured in that post. Aaaawkwardddd.....

tl;dr this is the best green ever and if you like greens and/or jellies you need this

As for Verity Aqua Blue...I don't know much about Verity polish, but they caught my attention thanks to the lovely jyj and her swatches! Thanks to her, I got this green, and Deep Violet, which I will show you some other time.

Despite the name, as you can see, it's pretty clearly green. Similar to Rampage, but more blue-toned, and the formula is not as nice. This is 4 thin coats over a ridge filler. I do like Aqua Blue, but I think it'll be used more for tinting frankens.

Thanks for looking and commenting, and enjoy the rest of your week!

Illamasqua Rampage + Lynnderella All Hallow's Eve

Good morning! Today's post is a little bit out of order, considering I haven't even shown you Illamasqua Rampage (which is so amazing it deserves its own post) on its own yet, but it's worth it! I am so ridiculously excited about this one. It's a Lynnderella. If you haven't heard of her, where have you been? Google her, NOW. At any rate, All Hallow's Eve is a truly spectacular green glitter. It's my first green glitter, and honestly? I think it will be my last. I am a green lover, but I don't think that there are any other green glitters that will pique my interest quite like this one.

I love the look of glitters suspended in jelly bases (eg. Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers and Revlon Facets of Fuchsia), but rather than tamper with All Hallow's Eve, I elected to layer it with Rampage, a deep green jelly. It's an open-faced jelly sandwich of sorts. I layered in this order: 1 coat of Rampage, 1 coat of All Hallow's Eve, 1 coat of Rampage, 2 coats of All Hallow's Eve (though I really could have just gone with one). This way, I still get the look of glitter embedded in jelly, and it's still super sparkly. Now, enough with the talking. I have photos to show you!

A picture in my usual style:

In indirect light. This one's a bit blurry (sorry about that), but it gives you a pretty good idea of how this mani looks indoors:

At an angle:

At another angle:

And here is a macro shot of my thumbnail. This one is not color-accurate, but the colors are edited such that it is easier to see the different types of glitter in this amazing polish!

And now, I'm off to do Chemistry work...have a great week!

My first attempt at a half-moon mani....

I can't really say it went too well, but at least I tried! This was for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2! I always liked Slytherin best, so I chose Slytherin colors for this mani. I used Illamasqua Rampage for the green, and Essie Loophole for the silver. Rampage is seriously one of the best greens ever!! I'll cover it in a separate post because it is so amazing! A forest green jelly, opaque in 3 coats. Essie Loophole is a slightly frosty silver...I'm not a fan of it on its own, but it makes a pretty good base for Rampage.

As you can see, I have a LOT of work to do on my half-moon manis.....I have no illusions that this one is a mess! I do like the colors together though. I think I just need more practice with those reinforcement labels...