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.

A few polishes from the Orly Spring 2009 Prepster Collection

I have mixed feelings about this collection. I love the colors, but I hate the name! It brings me back to high school. I think I will always have a permanent distaste for anything labelled "preppy".... Maybe Orly should re-promote Goth, the beautiful black polish with silver glitter, and put it on it's own display and set it all by itself off to the side of the Prepster collection... Ha!

Okay, that was random. Sorry. Heh. Anyway, I only ended up with the colors from this collection that appealed to me, so this isn't a complete set of swatches. I just have no desire for another sheer pink or sheer frosty lavender. I don't like them, I don't wear them and I don't like swatching them.


Here are my favorites from this collection:




Cashmere Cardigan. From the promo pictures of this, I had expected it to be more purple, but it's really more blue. I'm not complaining- I love this color! It's soft and muted but since it's such an uncommon color it still has a bit of edge to it.





Country Club Khaki. I was hoping that this would be like a Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge with less red in it, and it was! It's one of those unusual dirty-but-super-cool colors that always catch my eye. Kinda like Grunge, yes, but also 'mushroomy' like Butter London Fash Pack or Zoya Pasha. I can't think of any dupes for this.




OMG! This polish is way better in real life. My picture does it no justice. It's an ultra bright but not neon pink/red/coral creme with a near-jelly texture. You have to see this one in person, it's really beautiful.


Tennis, Anyone? This wasn't the color I was expecting but it's not too bad. It's a sheer nude creme. It's kind of sheer and hard to apply- this is four coats and you can still see my nail through it.


The formula on these is spotty. Cashmere Cardigan and Country Club Khaki were smooth, thin and easy to apply- no issues at all. OMG! and Tennis, Anyone? were on the thick side and I found it a little difficult to build coverage without the polish on the nail becoming too thick and stringy. OMG! was nicer to apply than Tennis, Anyone? but still thicker than the other two colors I tried.

The drying time on this is pretty long. I have worn each of these colors at least once (twice for Cashmere Cardigan) and I used my usual combination of Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator and Seche Vite with them but they were still dentable after 24 hours. I have also had drying time issues with a lot of my other Orly polishes, so I don't think it's unique to this collection. Some people don't have a problem with them taking too long to fully dry, I do, your mileage may vary.

The bottles and brushes are perfect. The bottle sturdy, that's for sure- I dropped one on my ceramic tile floor and it BOUNCED. Didn't break. The handle is really nice. It has a natural curve so it's comfortable to hold and it has a rubberized coating so you don't drop it. The brush itself is average- bristles are on the long side but no defects. No complaints about the bottle here.


Other than the thickness of certain shades and the long drying time, this is a pretty good collection. I really love three of the four colors I have and I at least like the fourth color. They are all much better in person- especially OMG!.

OPI Fairytale Bride: Soft Shades 2009

OPI's soft shades for this year are actually quite interesting. Instead of being plain pale cremes, each color has a soft base color with a contrasting flash of another color. They're not true duochromes- the flash is strong enough to be noticed but not so strong that it overpowers the soft base color.

There are only four polishes in this year's collection. They are:




At First Sight. A very pale and soft nude/neutral base with gold flash.




I Pink I Love You. A soft baby pink with blue flash.



Isn't It Romantic? A very pale pink with green flash.




Otherwise Engaged. A pinkish-white with purple flash.


All pictures are three coats of polish. All of the colors are very sheer, as you can tell by the visible nail line even with three coats of polish. Four coats would make them almost entirely opaque. These can easily be worn with only one coat because they are not the least bit streaky and add an interesting shimmering pearl effect to the nails due to the colored flash in each shade.

The formula on these was fantastic. I had no application issues. They were neither runny nor thick like three-free polishes tend to be. The drying time on these was quite a bit longer than other OPI polishes. I'm not sure if it's because I did three coats or if it's the polish itself, but even with Seche Vite I could dent these up to two hours later.

Overall, they're not too bad for soft shades. They're not streaky! Not that I'm happy about more sheer pinks being released, but at least these have the fascinating colored pearl flash and there's only four of them instead of six.


I wish OPI's next Soft Shades collection would be a set of sheer crystal shimmers like Hollywood Blonde and Up Front And Personal, but in soft shades of blue, purple, gold, silver and green. That's my dream soft shades collection!

Preview: OPI Breathe Life

OPI Breathe Life. Four coats, indoors.

Just a quick shot of it for now- it's stormy outside so I can't get a nice, sparkly sunlight picture. Not that I'm complaining- I love the rain! Only... not when I want to take pictures of polish. I'll do a more detailed picture of this as soon as the lighting cooperates.

Here's what OPI says about this gorgeous shade:

So We Can All Breathe Easier …

New OPI Breathe Life Nail Lacquer Supports

New Lung Cancer Foundation of America

The facts can leave you breathless: Lung cancer is the #1 killer of women, making it more deadly than the six next largest cancer killers combined. And 60% of new lung cancer victims will be non-smokers.

For these reasons, OPI is proud to join with the Lung Cancer Foundation of America (LCFA). LCFA’s primary goal is not just to prevent lung cancer, but to cure it. To help “breathe life” into raising funds for early detection, diagnosis, and a cure, OPI has created an exclusive new Nail Lacquer called Breathe Life – a fresh-air, silvery-blue.

“The statistics are shocking. Lung cancer has stopped our breathing long enough, and we need to stop it now,” says Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director.

In addition to this new Nail Lacquer, OPI has also made a donation to LCFA. “Because LCFA is a new organization, working on the frontlines at the grassroots level, every dollar contributed makes a tremendous impact,” Weiss-Fischmann says.

Release date is April 1.

OPI Princess Charming Collection

In my post about the Essie Bridal Collection I mentioned that there was a collection of sheer pinks and whites that I actually like. Here it is- the OPI Princess Charming Collection.

This collection is already a few years old, but it still holds the title of "Only collection of soft shades that I like." The difference is that these soft shades have personality. Observe:




Got A Date To-Knight! A light petal pink creme with a shiny, jelly-like texture. You know me- you know I never wear these colors! But I have actually worn this. Twice. Because I wanted to. There's just something about it that I like, I'm not quite sure what. It's just so... cute...?




I'm A Princess, You're Not! A sheer shimmery iridescent shade that flashes green, pink, silver and soft gold. It's sheer, yes, but it's a duochrome! If you haven't noticed, I use the term 'duochrome' loosely- there are often more than two colors present but I don't feel like counting how many. Would that make this a quadrachrome? See, that sounds weird. Anyway, this color is really pretty on its own, but it's also really cool over black.




My Daddy's The King! A soft, pearl-finish peach. One of the few peach polishes in my collection, actually. I can't believe how much I truly like this. The unique shade and the pearly finish make me love it. That, and it just looks so nice on me. (Wow, I sound like a total narcissist!)




Princesses Rule! A sheer pale pink shimmer. If you do not have this polish, run, do not walk, to the nearest nail polish store and get it! It's the pink version of OPI Hollywood Blonde... well, I guess Hollywood Blonde came out later so maybe Hollywood Blonde is the gold version of Princesses Rule!. Also looks hot over black. One of the things OPI does very well are these sheer crystal polishes. I always look forward to them. Some other examples besides Hollywood Blonde and Princesses Rule! are Up Front And Personal, Pink Before You Leap, Pink Ulta-Matum and That's All Bright With Me (just to name a few.)




Who Needs A Prince? A soft white jelly with red pearl. The red pearl in this shade gives the illusion that the polish is pink. At a distance it looks like shimmery pink, but up close you can clearly distinguish the white and red. So cool.





Your Royal Shyness. Very delicate light pink with a pearl finish. This is a very pale pink. This is the only one in the collection I'm not completely crazy about. It's pretty, yes, but it's so delicate! Delicate colors just aren't my thing. I love the pearl finish- it's not frosty and it's not shimmery, it just looks like a real pearl. It's hard to find polishes that are truly pearl and not frost. This one looks smooth and shiny, even without topcoat.


These polishes used to come with a really fabulous crystal flower toe ring with an invisible band. I think I have one or two of them, but most of the time people just stole the toe rings of of the bottles so I couldn't collect them all. Boo, thieving bastards. You suck.

The formula on this collection is excellent. I am pretty sure it's old-formula OPI, but I don't remember old-formula polishes having the Pro-Wide brush. The label on the bottom is black, so I can only assume it is. They all apply smoothly with no notable issues and they all dry very quickly and to a shiny finish, even without topcoat.

I really do not like sheers, pinks, soft colors, neutrals, what have you- but this collection is too good to resist. They all have character! They're interesting! They all remind me of fairy colors or something. Fairy-tale, for sure. And the names... how could you not like the names? Okay, I'm not into princess stuff at all, but Who Needs A Prince? Genius!

I'm almost positive that this collection is still available, and I've even seen it with green-label new formula bottles, so some of the shades might even be Classics now. If you're in the market for ladylike colors with character, you might really like these. I do.

*watches a pig fly past the window*