Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Nail Lacquer

I wouldn't have discovered this brand if it weren't for a wonderful reader recommending them to me, so thank you!

Before I post these pictures I want to apologize for the quality. I was too anxious to swatch them and spent a couple hours battling clouds. They are a little blurry and have lots of reflections of clouds on them, but the colors still show accurately. Sorry!

Okay, hold onto your hats!


Blackboard. Chalkboard green creme. Wow. Totally unique color. Exact same shade as the chalkboards (blackboards) from when I was a kid. I love this to death. I don't own a single dupe for this color.




Dangerous. Medium grey creme. This is the color of sharks. Gorgeous grey creme with easy application.

Grandma. Bright coral creme. The name of this one had me practically rolling on the floor laughing. I love a company with a sense of humor. This is totally something my grandma would wear. Despite the fact that it's a grandma color, it's still nice! Bright and summery.


Swamped aka Swamp Thing. Dark olive creme. My bottle says Swamped, website has it listed as Swamp Thing, I'm not sure which is correct. This is such a perfect color. It's the olive I've been looking for. Not bright and clean olive by any means, this is a murky, dirty, stagnant swamp green and I couldn't be happier.

Traffic. Taxi cab yellow creme. This is a bold bright yellow creme that has a surprisingly good formula. I've been trying out a lot of new yellows lately (including this one) and the formulas seem to be improving drastically. Maybe they have finally figured out how to make a yellow smooth? Either way, this had great formula and opacity, especially for a yellow. It could be a two coater if you're careful, but I did three because I was too excited to apply it properly.

Wasabi. Wasabi-paste bright spring green creme. This is almost the exact color of that little ball of wasabi that you get with cheap sushi. It's bright but at the same time it's a little murky, if that makes sense. It's crisp with a little dirtiness. Fantastic and also pretty unique.

The formula on these is great. It's on the thin side but it's very pigmented. All but Traffic and Wasabi were two-coaters. I'm pretty sure these are three-free but the texture of the polish wouldn't make you believe so. I had zero application issues. Drying time was very good as well.

I am so impressed with these polishes. All of the names are pure genius, the formula is impeccable and the colors are mostly unique and not boring. I'm always complaining that polish companies are playing it too safe, but you won't hear me say that about Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics.

After a quick browsing of their website, I can say they're definitely not afraid to think outside the box. They seem to be focused mainly on professional, theatrical and special effects makeup, but when looking through all the shades of products you'll see every color of the rainbow represented. Not just boring safe pinks. Their polish line is the same- it's a small, limited selection but every color is represented, and for once, someone has more than one green. Awesome.

Overall, I am ridiculously pleased with my new polishes from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. Blackboard and Swamped/Swamp Thing were instantly added to my 'favorite polishes ever' list the minute I opened the package, and the rest of the ones I tried were very memorable. I especially love the names of all of them, even the ones I didn't try- Uber, Lucretia, Pallid, Bone Daddy and Anime, just to name a few. I hope that in the future they will expand their polish line to include even more colors and finishes! I, for one, would love to see a little glitter.

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics nail lacquers and cosmetics are also vegan and cruelty-free. The polishes can be purchased directly from their website and retail for $8.00.

Blue...

I'm feeling pretty sad today, so I thought I'd post some swatches to match my mood.



China Glaze Blue Sparrow


China Glaze Blue Without You



China Glaze Drinkin' My Blues Away (Which may or may not be what I'm doing...)



China Glaze Martini Pedicure


China Glaze Rain Storm



Nicole by OPI It's Up To You



Lippmann Collection Rehab


NARS Midnight Express




Misa Pour Me Something Tall And Strong


Misa On The Edge


Sephora Brand Glittering Nail Polish Blue Sapphire



OPI Glacier Bay Blues


OPI Blue My Mind


OPI Blue Moon Lagoon


Naturistics Crystal Blue Pearl


OPI Midnight Blue Glitter



Rescue Beauty Lounge Dead Calm



Sally Hansen Magical Nail Makeup Blue Aura



And now I'm going to go listen to...



Clarins 202 Metallica.....


.... Damn it, where's my picture of Lippmann Collection Fade To Black when I need it?!?!


*sigh*

Color Club Spring 2009: Catwalk Queen

All of these spring pastels are really depressing. Year after year after year we get the same old boring, lifeless pastels for spring...

Luckily, we have Color Club to save us!

They've released two collections for spring that literally made me jump for joy. Sure, there's some pastels, but they're different. Different and awesome.

Take a look for yourself, you'll see what I mean!



Catwalk Queen. Good gravy, this is one of the hottest purples ever! It's a rich, dark, vampy purple with dense particle shimmer. Super sexy, not at all spring-like and right up my alley! I'd say this is a must have for purple lovers- it's a dark purple that still looks purple and not black!



Fashion Addict. Different lighting and angles to show just how insanely holographic it is. HOLO!! FOR SPRING!!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!! Fashion Addict is an amazing light purple holo. It's extremely dense and blindingly prismatic.



Front Row Diva. A lovely, unique light grey with a tiny touch of purple and a beautiful pearl finish. For those of you confused about the difference between frost and pearl finishes, this is a perfect example of a pearl finish. It looks like expensive grey pearls on your nails!




Ready To Wear. A sheer, pearlescent pink/grey near-duochrome. Very dreamy and romantic. This picture is three coats, and you can tell that it's nearly opaque. One more coat might have made it totally opaque, but I actually like the sheer look of this. It even looks nice with just one coat.


Runway Muse. It's not really obvious from my picture, but this is a strong aqua/pink/silvery duochrome. Very seashell-like. Gorgeous. Reminds me a lot of the rare, discontinued OPI Think It's Pink?. It gives me the impression of a layer of sheer, dreamy fabric. Fairy colored. This is extremely pretty on it's own, but it's even better over black. I'll get to that in part two.



Vintage Couture. A mod lilac-baby-pink creme. Very pretty and delicate, but kinda 'edgy' at the same time. It's so stark and strong that it's very unusual compared to the types of pinks you usually see.


This collection is amazing. I'm floored by it!! I'm so utterly impressed with Color Club- they tend to be more daring, more fun and definitely not afraid to take a chance with their colors. I love them for that. And this is only one half of what they've released for spring!

Application was perfect. Great formula on all of them. The only one that gave me a little trouble was Vintage Couture, because after I applied the second coat, it kept wiping away a spot of polish at the cuticle and leaving a little bald spot. This was fixed with a third coat. A little annoying, but not a deal-breaker for me.

Fantastic collection, I love every single color.

Aren't you curious about part two? The second Color Club spring collection? Stay tuned :)

Zoya Twist Collection Spring 2009

Zoya Twist. Swatches first, then I'll give my take on this awesome spring collection.



Barbie. Just as the name implies, it's a bright Barbie pink. It looks like a creme, but there is a small amount of subtle hot pink shimmer in this. This is a really cute color. I don't normally wear pink, but I can definitely see myself wearing this because it's a pink that's not subtle. This pink says, "Yeah, I like girly pink, you got a problem with that?" Barbie is sheer on the first coat, but completely opaque on the second coat. If you wanted to wear this as a sheer, you definitely could because it's not streaky at all.




Cassi. A medium pinky coral with silvery shimmer. Another Barbie-type color. This would make a really cute pedicure. Cassi has that pretty Zoya shimmer that I love- it's like tiny little crystal flakes! This is also sheer on the first coat and mostly opaque on the second coat (this picture is two coats).



Harley. Oh hell yes. This color is awesome! It's a light shimmering concrete grey with just a hint of coppery sparkle. It's like a cross between OPI Sheer Your Toys and Sephora By OPI Run With It. I love this. I have been waiting for Zoya to release a nice grey polish and I am soooo excited that they created Harley! Woohoo! Grey rocks!!!



Jo. First of all, please excuse the tipwear. The minute I saw it, I HAD to wear it, so I slapped it on just-oiled nails with no basecoat or topcoat, and then I decided to scrub the bathtub. I'm surprised it lasted long enough for me to take a picture of it! Anyway, Jo. Dreamy overcast blue. It really says spring to me- it reminds me of a rainy day. There's a small amount of blue and silver shimmer in this, but again, it's subtle. I really adore this color. It makes me feel calm. It's odd for a color to effect my mood, but this one makes me feel all sorts of unexpected emotions. Strange. Awesome.


Malia. Light purple cream. Love at first sight. And you know what's really cool about this color? It's totally opaque in one coat. Shade-wise, it's somewhere in between Rescue Beauty Lounge Purple Haze and OPI Do You Lilac It?. Very springy- reminds me of Easter eggs! It's also not a bright purple shade- it's muted. Cloudy purple.


Moxie. The oddball of the collection. It's a rich crushed-berry creme. Also opaque in one coat! I suppose that this color is also a little muted, but it really stands out among the pastel shades in this collection. I'm not complaining- this is a beautiful color! This is just screaming for some Konad art.

Overall, this is a strong collection. Three feminine colors for the traditionalists and three unique colors for the hardcore nail people like us. I am quite pleased at that trade-off. Normally spring collections are very blah for me, but this one is different. I can foresee Harley being a big favorite with everyone. I'm already wearing Jo and I can't stop looking at my fingers.

The formula on these is top notch. All of them were the perfect texture and didn't even hint at giving me a problem. They were all smooth and perfect without having that gooey, drippy three-free texture. No issues in the formula department.

And on a slightly related note, I got the chance to try out Zoya's new ridgefiller, Get Even, and I'm in love! Due to some health issues, I have recently developed severe ridges on two of my nails and I've been using Seche Base to fill them, but it wasn't quite cutting it. I've also used Lippmann ridge filling base coat as well as OPI ridge filler, but Seche seemed to be the best so far. Not anymore! Zoya Get Even is exactly what I needed. I used it in these pictures- can you even tell where the ridges were?

I'll post more about that later (as well as the new Polish Exchange program Zoya is doing!)
but I wanted to mention it before I got distracted by shiny things.

Zoya's Twist Collection is available for purchase on Zoya.com.

50% Off Every Order at Carolyn New York!

Just got this in my email, thought I'd share:

Carolyn New York is wishing you a happy 2009 with a limited-time New Year's sale guaranteed to keep your lacquer lasting long!

50% off plus free shipping for one week only. Must end January 7th. Use promo code HAPPYNEWYEAR

Sweet. The bottom of the email also says you get a free base coat and top coat with every order.

I have a few Carolyn New York polishes that I've never gotten around to reviewing, but I do like them. Here are a couple of the ones I've swatched:


Subway Surfing


Hangin' On The Stoop



Handball Courts


Greenwich Avenue


Frankie Joins The Navy

Good gravy those are terrible pictures... but you get the idea. Pretty sweet grey, green and blue polishes!

MAC Polishes and Purple By Night Dupe..?

About that Givenchy Purple By Night frankenpolish idea I had... I had an epiphany! Givenchy Purple By Night = OPI Ink?

Last night I wanted to do a purple color for my mani, and I grabbed my all-time favorite polish: OPI Ink. It's so close to Purple By Night but better! I don't have a good picture of it because for some reason it turns blue in every picture I take. I don't know why it does that- it's very clearly and obviously purple on my nails. I will get a good picture of this color if it kills me!

So why do I like OPI Ink better? It's more purple. It has DEPTH. It's super shimmery and it makes me happy.

But, it's not an *exact* match to Purple By Night. It's pretty flippin' close though. I think adding a touch of pastel shimmer and maybe a little black would make it exact. I'll find out when I get another bottle- I can't sacrifice my precious bottle to duplicate a polish I don't like as much.

After a while I got curious and added a coat of Misa Confection Section on top. Not a match, but it sure looks cool. Great combination for you layering lovers out there- OPI Ink and Misa Confection Section.


Now that that's out of the way, how about some pictures?

Here's my entire MAC polish collection. As you can see, I really don't have very many. This is because of the experiences I've had with MAC polish. It's very hit-or-miss, formula wise.

The old formula was pretty bad, watery or sometimes too thick, takes too long to dry, hard to apply. As a result of the formula issues, for quite a long time I completely avoided MAC polish. I regret that now, because I passed up some very cool colors.

I'm happy to say that the new formula MAC polishes are 100% better. I have not had any problems with the polishes released in the past two or three years.



Blue Sprinkles. Silvery blue shimmer with slight rosy duochrome and copper squares. Sweetie Cake collection.


$$$$$ Yes. Smooth, foil metallic silver. Heatherette collection.


Dark Angel. Deep cream purple. I'm not sure which collection this is from, but it's a few years old. I bought it because it's the name of a VNV Nation song.


Gold Veneer. Perfect metallic light gold. Antiquitease collection.




Illegal Purple. Deep, dark vampy brownish eggplant. Cult of Cherry collection.


Kid Orange. Impossible to photograph properly- it glows. Bright orange red. No idea what collection this was from.



Lola Devine. Gorgeous squishy-looking peachy pink cream. Heatherette collection.



Metalist. Smooth and highly reflective coppery gold metallic. Neo Sci-Fi collection.


Neon 8. Bright orange shimmer with slight pinkish duochrome. Neo Sci-Fi collection.



Naughty Nautical. What a horrible, horrible picture of this! I'm ashamed. It's a deep blackened-blue shimmer. Naughty Nauticals collection.


Phosphor. Amazingly gorgeous glowy golden yellow shimmer. Neo Sci-Fi collection.


Plasma Blu. Hot turquoise blue shimmer that practically lights up on your nails. Neo Sci-Fi collection.


Rainy Day. Blue-grey gunmetal metallic shimmer. Blue Storm collection.


Seasonal Peach. Drop-dead gorgeous vintage pinky-peach cream. Cremesheen collection.


Silverstruck. Antique metallic with a hint of reddish tint. Cult of Cherry collection.


Wildfire. Seriously watery blackened purple shimmer. Smoke Signals collection (I think...).

I might be wrong on a couple of the collections, so please feel free to correct me if you see a mistake!

That's my MAC polish collection (minus Nocturnelle because it seems to have escaped!) as of now. I plan to expand this at every chance I get! Most of these colors are discontinued but I've seen almost all of them at Cosmetics Company Store outlets fairly recently. They run about $10 retail and from $7 and up at the CCO.