Nubar Parisian Collection Summer 2009

Nubar's new Parisian collection is a set of sheers, pinks and french manicure shades.


Champs-Elysees Pink. A warm, pale pink. This has a very soft peachy tone to it, I'd call this in between baby pink and pastel peach. This looks like a creme, but if you look really closely you'll see that it has a faint amount of soft shimmer. This is three coats.

Cineaqua Shimmer. A metallic coral-pink. This is a very shiny and reflective shade of warm pink. When applying this one you should be mindful of the frosty metallic formula to avoid brushstrokes as much as possible. The brushstrokes fade slightly when the polish is completely dried. Three coats.


Eiffel Tower Sparkle. Sheer crystalline pink shimmer. My favorite of the collection! It's so pretty and sparkly, it starts out sheer and builds opacity with each layer. This reminds me strongly of OPI Princess Rule!. Three coats.

Hotel Baby Pink. Pastel pink creme. This one is a very mod-60's looking pale pink creme. It really stands out despite being soft and pale. Three coats.

La Siene Shimmer. A sheer warm pink with strong blue flash. This is a really cool color. The blue flash is really nice and it's great for layering. It looks really nice over neon pink as well as on top of these sheers. I've been trying out a few different layering combinations for this one. Three coats.

Louvre Nude. Sheer nude-pink jelly creme. This really does have a jelly-like texture. It is transparent and milky. This can easily be worn with one or two coats because it's not the least bit streaky. This is four coats.

Notre Dame Nude. Milky nude-pink creme. This one is similar to Hôtel Baby Pink in finish but it's a slightly cooler shade of pink. Very hard to describe. It also has that 60's-retro look to it. Three coats.

Parc Floral Pink. Sheer petal pink creme. This one almost has a jelly finish to it, but it's a little more milky than Louvre Nude. This shade of pink is particularly delicate- almost white but pink enough to blend with your natural skintone. Another very sheer polish that isn't streaky. Four coats.

Since this is designed to be a french manicure collection, I did a little layering with the two shimmer shades to give some examples of what you can achieve with these shades.

The base for layering here is the Revlon Charlotte nail from the Naturally Chic line.

Eiffel Tower Sparkle (one coat) over a french manicure.

La Seine Shimmer (one coat) over a french manicure.

As you can see, these are all very soft, natural, feminine shades of pink and peach. They would make great colors for the traditional french manicure, or they can be worn alone either as sheers or with more coats for full coverage.

Siobhan at The Nailphile did a great post about this which includes some great pictures of La Seine Shimmer and Eiffel Tower Sparkle layered over the other shades in this collection

The formula on these was very good. Smooth and thin, non-streaky and quick drying. I had no issues applying them aside from the brushstrokes on Cineaqua Shimmer, but that's more due to the finish than the formula. I normally have a problem with sheers and milky pinks being extremely streaky, but these didn't have that problem. Very cool.

Not the most exciting collection I've ever seen, but if you're into sheers and pinks, you may really enjoy these, especially if you've had issues with streaky sheers in the past.

This collection is available now at ByNubar.com. As a bonus, until May 15th, Nubar is including their Foundation base coat and Diamont Shine topcoat free in every order of $50 or more. This entire collection is priced at $49.95 if you buy them all together, five cents short of the free gifts with purchase... Kind of odd, but maybe they'll include it anyway since it's so close.

Another French Manicure Kit from Nailene

This second french manicure kit from Nailene is a little more adventurous. It includes the standard bright white tip polish, but also a sheer pink shimmer with strong green duochrome.

Like the first kit that I reviewed, this comes with everything you need to complete your look. Base and tip polish, sealant top coat and 42 tip guides.

Since tip guides were included with the kit, I used them for these looks.

Here's one coat of white with one coat of the pink and green shimmer polish on top. Wow, my nails are stained... Oops!


Here's the same, but with two coats of the pink and green shimmer polish instead of one. Two coats gives you a lot more coverage. That's good, that way you can't see how bad my stained nails look!

Since the base polish has more tint to it than your traditional sheer nude french manicure color, it discolors the white tips. If you prefer a bright white tip, apply the white tip polish last. This is what it will look like:

Can you see all the pretty green shimmer? This polish seems like it would be great for layering. I think it would look pretty cool over a hot pink or coral, and it would be amazing over black.


You can also add a little flair to it with Nailene's Bedazzle Nail Art Decals. I chose a swooshy one from the kit. I think it would also be pretty with one of the snowflake designs as well.



Overall, this is another great kit for people who love french manicures. It's not the same plain pink-and-white french because this one has a little duochrome green shimmer added to it. It's extremely easy to use and there's no confusion because everything you need is right in the kit. It's an inexpensive and easy way to achieve a french manicure look without having to go to a salon. I'm all for being able to do your nails at home!

This kit is available at any drugstore and can be found in the nail art section near the decals and artificial nails.

Revlon Runway Collection 'Stella' Artificial Nails

Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but I'm sure you're all aware that french manicures and I do not mix. I feel very... strongly about french manicures. Indeed.

However, there are some exceptions. I have seen or worn french manicures that I actually liked. For example, french manicures with glitter for tips instead of chalky white.

So, when I received these artificial nails from Revlon, I was quite pleased. Finally, a french manicure I actually like!

Sorry, guys!  These are actually Stella nails.  Mine were mislabeled- sorry if I have confused anyone!  :)

These are the Starlet nails from Revlon's Runway Collection series of artificial nails. There are two styles of nails named Starlet- this is the first version. I'll post the second version soon- I just wanted to clear up any confusion caused by having two different styles with the same name.

Anyway, this is a set of false nails, also known as press-on nails. It comes with 24 nails that come in 12 different sizes, a bottle of nail glue and an orange stick.

The interesting thing about this set of fakes is that it has half sizes. Woohoo!! I am often complaining about sets of press-on nails that I would like to wear but can't because all the sizes are too large for my nails. These ones fit much better than any nails I've tried so far. I do have one complaint though- there aren't enough of the small sizes! I only do one hand for my pictures, but I used all but one of the smaller sized nails. I wouldn't be able to do both hands. They need to include more of the smaller sizes and less of the huge toenail sized ones.

But then again, maybe my nails are just freakishly petite and regular people have nails the size of the ones in the kit.

To apply them, you simply drip some glue onto your natural nail and press the artificial nail onto it. The glue bonds instantly. The application process is very fast and straightforward.

I do have a few tips on applying them, though- it can be very messy if you haven't done it before. The directions say to put glue on the fake nail and on you natural nail- DON'T!! You will have glue everywhere if you do this.

What I recommend is to put a very modest amount of glue onto your natural nail- don't cover your entire nail. The glue spreads out when you press the fake nail onto your natural nail, and even with a tiny amount of glue on your natural nail it can make a bit of a mess. The glue is a very thin texture and it oozes out from under the nail onto your cuticles. So, go easy on the glue.

Since these are a transparent french-style nail, you need to be careful of air bubbles under the nail because they will be very obvious. To prevent air bubbles, press the nail down firmly, making sure to provide firm, even pressure across the entire nail. Do not release the nail until the glue is completely dry- it should only take about 20 seconds. If you don't apply pressure until the glue is dry, the nail will lift from the natural nail and cause an air pocket.


Now that that's out of the way, here's what they look like on me!

Pretend that you can't see my pinkie nail sticking up over the top of the fake nail. I filed my nails down as short as they will go without bleeding and they're still a little too long to be covered completely by these nails.

Here's what I like about this particular french manicure design.

As you can see, instead of a thick bright white tip, these have a subtle semi-sheer natural looking tip with a fishnet/lattice design. I love the design on the tip- it has personality!

The shape of the tip has a subtle and natural smile line that perfectly mimics the line of my naked nails. The shape of the nails themselves is also very flattering- soft square. This shape looks good on everyone and it gives the nails a very groomed and professional look.

The colors of the nail are completely natural and clean looking. The base matches the color of my natural nail but provides just a hint of sheer milkiness. The tip is also very natural and has just a hint of pink to it. If you can see from the pictures, it's not a solid color. It's made of teeny-tiny dots of sheer color!

The best part about this nail for me is that from a distance these don't look french. They look like clean, shiny natural nails. Only when you look at the nails up close can you see that there's a french manicure with a fishnet design on the tips.

One more thing I love about these particular nails is the thickness of them. They aren't thick at all- they are perfectly thin and not obviously fake looking. I know I've used the word 'natural' about a million times already, but these are so natural looking, no one would be able to tell the difference!

There are a couple things I don't like about the nails. For one, they're very short. Like I mentioned above, my nails are filed down as short as they can go, yet my natural nail is still longer than the artificial nail. I have long nail beds, so my nails are long even when they're short. A slightly longer length would be perfect.

The other thing I don't like about the nails is the size. Again, like I mentioned above, there aren't enough of the small sized nails in the kit to do both hands. I think I used the same size nails on all but my pinkie- 7 or 6.5 and then an 8 for my pinkie. I think there was one leftover 7 in the box when I was done.

So, overall, this is a really great nail. It's not something I would normally wear, but the fun design and the natural, non-tacky look of this french manicure are really appealing to me.

They're fast and easy to apply, and they're inexpensive to purchase and maintain. Think about it this way- a fill on a set of enhancements will set you back around $50-$70 a month (not including tip!) depending on where you go... Four boxes of these press on nails will cost you around $20 tops per month, and you can do them yourself. You might be able to get two full manicures per box if you have larger nails than I do. No damage, no unhygienic conditions, no appointment, no tip!

These can be purchased at any drugstore (though they're with the nail art section and not the regular Revlon section) and they're around $4.50 a box.

Nailene French Manicure Kit

I'm sure you all know by now how I feel a bout french manicures, so I won't get into that in this post. :)


Despite my feelings about french manicures, I get a surprising amount of emails and requests for them! So, when I received the opportunity to try out some french manicure kits from Nailene, I thought it would be the perfect chance to address all of those requests.

This is the first kit I tried. It includes a clear topcoat, an opaque white creme, a sheer pinky beige and a sheer warm pink with blue duochrome plus 42 tip guides.

Since guides were included in the kit, I used them for these french manicures.

Please excuse the 'bruises' on my nails. French manicures aren't ideal for hiding them!





For this manicure, I placed the tip guides on my nail after my base coat was completely dry. I painted one coat of the opaque white over my tips, waited for it to dry and then removed the tip guides. I used two coats of the sheer pink beige on top and I sealed it with the included topcoat.



Here's the same manicure with a few decals from the Nailene Bedazzle line.

For this look, I started with white tips and then applied two coats of the sheer pink with blue duochrome and sealed it with the included topcoat. Since this polish has a little more color than the other one, it caused the white tips to appear yellow. Normally, I would start by painting tips first, but for this shade I would recommend doing the tips last.

Here's what it looks like with the white on top instead:



I should point out the difficult part of doing the white tips second while trying to use the guides. I'm sure you've all experienced it before. If you try to place the guides on top of an already polished nail, they will often peel off the polish when you remove them. You can remedy this a little bit by removing some of the stickiness from the guides. Put them on the back of your hand once or twice- it causes them to become less strong and sticky and reduces the chances that it will peel off the polish on your nails. You also should wait until the base polish is 100% dry before attempting to use guides on top.

And here it is with a Bedazzle decal:



This decal was a little too stiff and wouldn't lie flat on my nail. You can see in the photo that the edges of the decal are sticking up and visible. It may have been too cold out when I tried to apply the decal- it might become more flexible if you warmed the sheet between your hands or near something warm first.


This kit was extremely straight forward and easy to use. It would be perfect for beginners and people experimenting with the french manicure look. People looking for a more natural looking french may not be satisfied with the white tip polish included in this kit because it is very bright and stark.

If you're looking for a more natural french manicure look, try using two coats of the sheer pink beige color as your tip color and then one coat of it as your base color. Alternately, you could add some white and sheer pink into the clear topcoat to create a custom tip color.

Nailene French Manicure Kits can be purchased at any drugstore.

Color Club Spring 2009 Collection: Femme Fatale

Part two of Color Club's spring collections for 2009! In case you missed the previous post, Catwalk Queen is part one.

(Also, be sure to check out The Nailphile's swatches of Catwalk Queen and Femme Fatale and The Polish Addict's promo pictures for Catwalk Queen and Femme Fatale. )

Femme Fatale is meant to be a racy, seductive and freakin' sweet collection of French manicure shades. Here's what they say about it:

"The French Manicure gets revolutionized with dark to light duo-tones from Color Club."

Now, if you know me at all or you've read this blog for five minutes, you'll know that I am not a fan of the French manicure. However, when it's done with fun colors or different finishes, I'm all for it. I've heard this referred to as a "Funky French."

This collection would be perfect for that. It's also perfect to wear each color alone, which is what I did.


Femme Fatale. This is really nice. A sheer polish with pink/red crystals. It's different than just a plain shimmer, and while it looks similar to Ready To Wear from the Catwalk Queen collection, it's quite different. The shimmer particles are what make this polish really special. They're like... little... balls? Shimmer balls. Tee hee!


Oooooo La La. Beautiful, clean, crisp white pearl. A white that's opaque without being chalky, it's softened by the pretty pearl finish. Very wearable even by itself.


Oui! Oui! Oui! A sheer, shimmery silvery/green/blue duochrome. Another seashell type color that looks incredible over black. Like its Catwalk Queen Cousin, Runway Muse, Oui! Oui! Oui! reminds me of OPI Think It's Pink?/Sea The Change?.




Revvvolution. Yes, three V's. I like saying it... Revvvvvvvvvolution. Hehe. This is a stunner. A heart-stopper! A true black holo, like OPI My Private Jet but BETTER! It's so dense and smooth that you can get away with one coat, whereas My Private Jet needs three or four. I have a feeling this is going to be a huge hit. It's too beautiful to ignore. Color Club did an amazing job on this shade.



Where's the Soiree? The only disappointment in this collection. From the Polish Addict's promo pictures, this color looks like it was supposed to be a black with shimmer or glitter, somewhere along the lines of Misa Wishing On A Star. But, unfortunately, Where's The Soiree? is just a plain black creme. It's a nice black creme, but not what I was hoping for based on the promotional images. Maybe they had to change it at the last minute. Ironically, this is the only one that gave me trouble with application- it was rather runny and watery and kept pooling at my cuticles. Had to redo it three times.





Worth The Risque. Gorgeous. It seems like I'm repeating myself a lot with these collections: gorgeous, beautiful, stunning, spectacular, sexy, fantastic, wonderful. All of the above are true for any polish in both Catwalk Queen and Femme Fatale, so it bears repeating. This is a perfect silver holographic polish that's much, much more dense than any holographic polish I own. It's perfect and beautiful, and like the other Color Club holos, blinding.


And, because they were just begging to be layered, here's the sheers from Catwalk Queen and Femme Fatale layered over Where's The Soiree?





Index: Runway Muse
Middle: Ready To Wear
Ring: Femme Fatale
Pinkie: Oui! Oui! Oui!

See how spectacular they are layered? It really brings out all the colors of the duochrome polishes and makes the shimmer in the sheers stand out.


I can not even express to you how positively thrilled I am with the new Color Club holos. This is the first time I've ever seen them do a holographic polish and they totally nailed it. Perfect in every way. I hope there are more Color Club holos in the future! They rock!!

Application on all of these was perfect, with the exception of Where's The Soiree?, which was watery.

I haven't used the holos with Konad yet, but they seem like they would be perfect. I'm going to try it as soon as I can find where I left my stamper....


Overall, both Catwalk Queen and Femme Fatal are awesome. Amazing. Breathtaking. Color Club saves spring! They've delivered us from the usual blah colors and given us something new and interesting. I think it's my top spring collection. Zoya Twist and Misa Living On The Fast Lane are tied for a close second. But, it's hard to compare this collection to the other spring collections because it's so different. I love different.

If you've never tried Color Club before, you really must. They're such high-quality polishes and they have some of the most unique and amazing colors (Glitter Vixen, Dance To The Musique, Neons, remember those??) but they are extremely affordable. High-end quality for a low-end price. You can't beat that.


*sigh* So pretty....

(With a spring collection this amazing, I'm dying to see what they have planned for summer!)

The Worst Manicure I've Ever Done

It started out innocently enough. I hadn't worn black polish in a while, and really wanted to do a shiny black mani.

I applied my favorite, Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers Black Pearl, which isn't pearl at all, but a perfect, smooth, shiny opaque black.

As I admired my shiny black nails, I just couldn't help but feel that they were a little too plain.

So, I got out my trusty Konad and decided on plate m65 with China Glaze Adore from the Romantique collection as my stamp color.

It was just what I needed! It looked awesome.

Fast forward to the next day.

I had been cleaning with my hands in water all day, and by the time I was done I had serious tipwear. I didn't have time to re-do my manicure completely, so I resorted to my old lazy manicure trick: Cover up the tipwear with a french tip!

And so, a horrible monstrosity of a manicure was born.

Small children and those with weak stomachs, look away now.


I present to you, The Abomination:


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! MY EYES!!!!!!!!!! OH, THE CHUNKINESS, THE HUMANITY!!!!!!!!

Reader Requests!

Well, it's midnight and I can't sleep, so what better thing to do than to catch up on some awesome reader requests?

Here we go!

For Alison:

One coat of OPI Alpine Snow for tips and one coat of OPI Bubble Bath for the main color. A teeny bit streaky, but you can hardly tell, right? Both of these dry really quickly. This is a very easy look to do!

For Grace:


Thumb to pinkie: Zoya Snow White (3 coats), Rescue Beauty Lounge Underwear (one coat), OPI Alpine Snow (2 coats) , Essie Marshmallow (3 coats), Essie Moon Struck (3 coats). All of them are fairly bright. The brightest is Underwear, followed by Alpine Snow, then Snow White and the least bright are Moon Struck and Marshmallow. Moon Struck almost has a greyish cast to it, and Marshmallow is a nice, soft, squishy 'jelly' white.


Here's one coat of Rescue Beauty Lounge Bikini Bottom over those whites in the same order.
I really like how it looks over Marshmallow. The translucent look of Marshmallow gives Bikini Bottom a watery quality that's really pretty.


Here's Rescue Beauty Lounge Square Pants over the same whites. So soft and lovely! Man, these colors make my hands look like lobster claws or something... Do they look bright red to you?? Freaky.


Here's a shared request- a few different people were asking for these so I decided to do them all at once!


Thumb to pinkie: OPI Parlez-Vous OPI?, Sephora By OPI Don't Go There, Sephora By OPI Domestic Goddess, Rescue Beauty Lounge Purple Haze, OPI Do You Lilac It?

Why do my purples always photograph so BLUE? Well, imagine that these colors look the same, only, uh, purpler. Purpler. I think I like that.


Thumb to pinkie: OPI You Don't Know Jacques, Sephora By OPI Metro Chic, Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge, OPI Parlez-Vous OPI, Sephora By OPI Call Your Mother.

OMG. I think this could be my favorite mani of all time!! These colors look like they were made to go together. It reminds me of river rocks or something... I am going to wear my nails like this tomorrow!


Currently in the works: OPI Creme de la Kremlin, Silent Mauvie, China Glaze OMG and Kaleidoscope, "car paint" polishes, Konad tutorial, Half-Moon Mani, Red Stallion and Bitches Brew dupes, Rodeo Diva and Downtown comparisons, duochrome mania, Nubar Moodies, China Glaze In The Mood, New York Summer and Sally Hansen Nail Prisms and my favorite polishes.

If you don't see your request in that list, please let me know! And if you have a request, by all means, drop me a line or leave a comment!

More Fun With Konad

Some more reader requests- Konad stamps!

I know these are a little sloppy and there's pieces of cotton ball all over my nails- I had to rush a little!

I also stupidly forgot to write down what the plate numbers were, thinking I could remember them by looking at them- hahaha, yeah, right Scrangie! I apologize- I will go look at my plates and add them to this post :)

The base color I'm using is Color Club Pink Rush (and Power Play in a few pictures) and the Konad polish is Konad Special Polish in Black Gold.


Flower, flower arch, two flowers with dots, swirly design, large flower with vines.


French tips: Fishnet, animal print, hearts, flowers. Paisley design.


Plaid, dot gradient, argyle, fishnet, zebra.


Double bows, stars, hearts, double flowers, bow with ribbon.


Lovelt with hearts and stars, polka-dotted bow, heart cluster, french tip swirl design, french tip leaves design (my favorite!)


Konad french tip plate.


Butterfly, squiggly thing, weird star with arm things, flower arch, fleur-de-lys



The plate I use most often! Spider, jolly roger, scorpion, cobra, unicorn!


I have tons of Konad plates, so if there's a specific plate or design you're interested in seeing, drop me a line! If I have it I'll be sure to do a picture.

Konad is super fun. If you like nail art at all, you would really like this. I get mine from www.wowsocool.com.