YSL Jade Imperial

YSL Jade Imperial was released with the Arty Stone collection this past spring. It's a lovely jade green creme. I am weirdly picky about my minty greens. Off the top of my head, the only ones I can think of that fit my tastes are Sinful Colors Open Seas, Milani Dress Maker/Chanel Jade, and YSL Jade Imperial. Of course, I didn't actually decide I liked Jade Imperial until right after it sold out locally, and I'm not big on online shopping. I got lucky though, and the SA that was helping me said I could have the tester! Sure, it's missing the gold outer cap, but I don't care about that. The tester is in pretty good condition, and it's about 75% or 80% full, so needless to say, I am very happy.

Now, onto the polish itself. Jade Imperial has a flawless formula. Almost perfect in 1 coat, super smooth application, dries shiny...I am in love. The brush is quite large, and I was a little worried about how that would affect the application, but I had no trouble. In fact, I didn't even need to clean this up.

I did leave gaps that are a little too wide, but that's because I did my nails in dim lighting while dying watching HBO's Oz. I know I'm ten years too late on that show, but OMGGGG. Kirk Acevedo. Rita Moreno. Lauren Velez. Eamonn Walker. Dean Winters. BD WONG. And holy crap, JK Simmons. That guy has RANGE. Seeing him go between Jameson and Schillinger and that Farmers Insurance guy...damn. I have a hard time thinking of him as anyone other than Vern, though.

Thoughts? Did you fall in love with Jade Imperial too? I've pretty much heard nothing but raves about it. And what about Oz? Have you watched it?

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

Milani Dress Maker + Comparison

Milani Dress Maker was released with the Haute Value collection from Fall 2010, and is known to be a dupe of Chanel Jade. I believe it's also similar to Dior Waterlily, minus the revolting rose scent of course.

Unfortunately, Dress Maker is really sheer. This is 5 coats, with top coat, in the shade.

I rather like Dress Maker. It's got enough yellow in it that it works with my skintone, but it's not so yellow that it borders on lime green, which I thoroughly despise. I'm also quite a fan of the green shimmer. It's subtle, but in this case, I think it works. Unfortunately, you can still see a bit of VNL at 5 coats...not good. In direct sunlight:

I also compared it to my 2 other mint greens, Sinful Colors Open Seas and Sinful Colors Mint Apple. I used 3 coats of each in the following photos.

Obviously, they have very different finishes. Open Seas is a creme, Dress Maker has small particles of subtle green shimmer, and Mint Apple has larger particles of silver and yellow/gold shimmer. Dress Maker is the most yellow-toned of the three, and I think Open Seas is the most blue-toned. It almost looks aqua next to Dress Maker. 

Thanks for looking and commenting!

Sinful Colors Open Seas + Essie As Gold As It Gets

Sinful Colors Open Seas is a polish that I showed you back in December, but since my original photo isn't accurate and my nails were in pretty bad shape at the time, I figured I'd reswatch for this post. 3 thin coats, no top coat, artificial light.

The formula is thin but smooth, and it levels itself out nicely. I just can't seem to leave cremes alone though, so I decided to put a thin coat of Essie As Gold as it Gets on top.

I had my doubts about mint green and gold together, but I actually rather like the result. It's subtle, but really cool.

I know the Essie stands out more against dark colors, but I like it much better over lighter ones like this, or Essence What Do U Think.

Thanks for looking!

Sinful Colors Mint Apple

Good evening! Sorry I've been MIA for the last few weeks; the spring semester started recently and I'm still not quite used to my schedule. But today, I come with an awesome drugstore polish! I usually have trouble with pastels and minty colors against my skintone, but Mint Apple has enough yellow in it, and it's dark enough that it works. The formula is a little thin, so it needed 3 coats, but it's very smooth and I barely needed to clean up this mani. Here it is in artificial light, and as always, you can click on the photos to enlarge:

In natural light, it's a little more blue-toned, but not by a whole lot. In direct sunlight:

The shimmer is primarily silver, but you can see bits of yellow or gold shimmer! It's fantastic. In the shade, Mint Apple turns much bluer, but still not to the point that my hands turn into lobster claws.

It almost reminds me of a shimmery version of Essie Turquoise and Caicos in the shade. Such a fantastic color! And it's only $1.99 most of the time. Right now, Sinful Colors are 99 cents at Walgreens. I think that deal lasts for the rest of the week, but don't quote me on that.

Thanks for looking!