Essence Chic Reloaded

   It's the weekend!  Everyone have their plans ready?  Also don't forget the time change is this weekend.  So we get an extra hour of fun.  Or sleep, which is pretty fun to me.  
   Today, well tonight, I'm showing you Chic Reloaded from Essence.  

   Chic Reloaded is a dark almost black based duo-chrome.  Purple and a green/teal color are the most predominant colors, but there is a bit of a pink shift at certain angles as well.  The formula was good and application was smooth, though you will see a few brush strokes.  I used 2 coats for these photos, but if you use thick coats, you could possibly get away with just one.  Unlike a lot of duo-chromes, the color shift shows up well on its own, without layering this polish over a darker color.  Probably because of how dark the base color is to begin with.  I used Finger Paints  base coat and no top coat in these photos.

Direct Sun

Indoor Natural Light

Indoor with Flash

   See how well both the purple and the green/teal show up?  Chic Reloaded reminds me a lot of Borghese Stellare Notte, which is now discontinued I believe.  The color shift is a little different, but they are very close.  If you like duo-chromes, you should definitely pick up this polish, especially if you wanted Stellare Notte but never got it.

China Glaze Rare & Radiant

   Rare & Radiant is another polish from the China Glaze New Bohemian collection.  

R&R is a green gold duochrome.  The formula was good, but because it's a bit foil like you will have to be careful with your application to avoid too many brushstrokes.  It will also show any flaws in your nails.  I only needed 2 coats for full coverage over a base of Finger Paints base coat.  I did not use top coat in these photos.

Direct Sun

Indoor Natural Light

Indoor with Flash

   The duo-ness is much more evident in Rare & Radiant than Want My Bawdy.  It's a good color, but very over done at this point.  As I'm sure you know by now, or have guessed from my pictures, this is yet another dupe of Chanel Peridot.  I don't have any on nail comparisons, but I do have a bottle shot comparison for you.

   The color shift shows a bit more on the edges of the China Glaze bottle because it's a more rounded shape bottle, but if you look at the middle colors you can see they're the same.  I didn't swatch Peridot for you because I wanted to return my bottle.  The $26 price tag was a little more than I really wanted to pay and once so many dupes started showing up, I just couldn't justify keeping an unused bottle.  By the way, if you've never shopped at Nordstrom's you should just for how easy returns are.  I was extremely impressed with my experience, and I work retail.

Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were sent to me by the company for consideration.

China Glaze Want My Bawdy

   Happy Monday everyone.  I hope you all had a good weekend.  Mine was a mixed bag of good and bad.  I had an early morning meeting on Sat, but that was followed by a trip to a new nail salon in town, which I'll tell you about in a couple of days.  So that evened out, but then I had a migraine hit Saturday night and the remains are still sticking around.  
   Today I'm bringing you Want My Bawdy from the China Glaze New Bohemian collection.

   This is a deep blue shimmer polish with a subtle purple shift/flash around the edges.  The purple is hard to capture on camera, but you should be able to see it in person.  The 1st coat went on a little sheer, but the color builds nicely and I only needed 2 coats for full coverage.  I didn't have any issues with formula or application.  Want My Bawdy dries to a satin finish without top coat and will show any flaws in your nails, so you might want to use a ridge filling base coat.  I used Finger Paints base coat and no top coat in these photos.

Direct Sun

Indoor Natural Light

Indoor with Flash

   The duochrome properties of Want My Body are very subtle, but I do really like the base color and inner glow feel I get from the polish.  I wish the purple shift was more obvious though.  

Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were sent to me by the company for consideration.

China Glaze New Bohemian Press Release

   I have more Fall 2012 news for you today.  China Glaze is bringing us their New Bohemian collection of Luster Chromes this August.  The promo pics show some seriously promising duochrome goodness.  Please enjoy the following press release:

“NOT ALL THOSE WHO WANDER ARE LOST.”

China Glaze® Introduces Six Radiant Luster Chromes for Fall 2012

Los Angeles, CA – (June 2012): Say the word “Bohemian” and most people automatically
think bell-bottoms and fringed vests. Today’s Bohemian look is refined, feminine and carefree, epitomized by fashion icon Nicole Richie’s modern Bohemian look. China Glaze® gives the free-spirited look a fresh, trendy spin with its latest specialty collection, New Bohemian. China Glaze® New Bohemian will leave you mesmerized as the color shifts and moves across the nail, traveling with the light. The chrome-like finish radiates with high shine and intense color, captivating your senses with every twist and turn.

Push the boundaries of color and fashion with the unconventional collection of six lustrous
shades including:

Unpredictable – Multidimensional gorgeous green
Rare & Radiant – Extraordinarily rich gold
Swanky Silk – Brilliant beige with peach undertones
No Plain Jane – Lavish lavender-pink
Want My Bawdy – Sexy sapphire blue
Deviantly Daring – Adventurously bold peacock teal

The China Glaze® New Bohemian collection will be available at fine salons and beauty supply
stores nationwide in August 2012. Individual polishes retail for $6.99 MSRP.

China Glaze is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde. China Glaze nail lacquers
are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more
information, visit: www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook (@ChinaGlaze), Twitter (@ChinaGlazeOfficial) and Pinterest (www.pinterest.com/ChinaGlaze). China Glaze is a division of American International Industries.

About American International Industries
For nearly 40 years, AII has been the leading manufacturer and worldwide distributor of
innovative, quality beauty and skin care products for men and women.  Our product lines
include Ardell, Andrea, Body Drench, Bye Bye Blemish, Checi, China Glaze, Clean + Easy,
Clubman/Pinaud, Duo, European Secrets, EzFlow, Fright Night, Gena, GiGi, Gypsy Lash, IBD, Jeris-Lustray, Nail Tek, No Tweeze/Micro Tweeze, 'N Rage, Prolinc, RAW, Seche, SuperNail, Surgi-Care, Waterworks, Winning Nails, Woltra, Woody’s, and Youthair. For more information, visit our website: www.aiibeauty.com.

Petites Hazel

   With all the salon and high end polish brands it's easy to overlook some of the smaller, lower cost polishes available.  This is a shame though because sometimes these smaller brands have some amazing colors.  Today I'm going to show you a coppery plum duochrome from Petites.  Petites can be found at Walmart and Rite Aid and is usually under $2.

   I do apologize for the quality of these pictures.  They were all taken from my cell phone in various indoor lighting.  But I think you can still get the idea of how beautiful the polish is.  Also please ignore the state of my cuticles in some of the close up photos.  

   I used one coat of China Glaze Strong Adhesion base coat, 2 coats of Hazel, and 1 coat of Barielle Manicure Extender on top.  Application was very smooth and pigmentation was nice.  I almost could have gotten away with just 1 thicker coat of polish instead of 2.

   So what do you girls think?  Want to try out some of the cheaper polishes now?  Wearing Hazel the last couple days reminded me that just because something doesn't cost a lot doesn't mean it isn't just as good.  I'm going to try to keep this lesson in mind.  I know my wallet will appreciate it.

Chameleon Blue Sky

   One of the big thrills for a polish fanatic is finding a new brand to try out.  Will it be your new best friend or will it be added to the never buy again list.  Sadly I have a polish from the latter option today.
   I first discovered the Chameleon polishes while searching for info on the CQ brand.  Chameleon, CQ, and Petites are all part of the Scherer company.  I have 3 CQ polishes and really like those.  So when I found a line of all duo/multi-chromes from the same company, I was excited.  Chameleon polishes are sold only at Rite Aid and are priced under $3.  I picked up Blue Sky, a blue/teal/periwinkle shade.

   Formula was ok, not the best, but not the worst.  Very sheer though.  I used 3 coats and could have used 4.  The polish dries very quickly so that can lead to some application issues.  The finish is foil and very unforgiving of ridges or imperfections in your nail and application.  I would definitely recommend buffing or a ridge filling base coat.  This was supposed to be my vacation mani.  I applied it the night before I left for CA.  I honestly can't remember what base coat I used right now, but it was probably China Glaze Strong Adhesion or Seche Base or Restore.  Then 3 coats Blue Sky and 1 coat Seche Vite.

Direct Sun

Shade

Indoor

   Somehow I could not manage to catch any duo goodness in these shots.  They all look purplish to me.  But in person there is a lovely teal that appears as well.  I managed a shot from my cell phone in the car on the way to the airport that sorta shows the teal.

   So why am I putting this polish in the never buying again list?  Wear.  I painted my nails Wed night right before bed.  Thursday morning as I was putting a shirt on to go outside to take pictures, it already started trying to chip.  I managed to catch that one, and a few others, and fix them with an extra layer of Vite to get the above pics.  However as I was packing my laptop and toiletries right before leaving another chip happened that I couldn't fix.  It was downhill from there.  By the time I arrived in CA, at least half the polish on EVERY nail was gone.  Ok, I helped the process along some from stress and frustration, flying is not my favorite thing so adding an hour and a half delay and a plane swap to that not so good.  But I didn't start picking at the polish until the chips were already pretty bad.  

   If you need a pretty foil duochrome for only a couple hours, these could work if you need a quick cheap polish.  Otherwise, I definitely say give these a pass.

Models Own Golden Peach

    Happy Monday!  Today I have for you the first of my new Models Own polishes.  Trying to decide which color to try first was not an easy decision.  I finally left it up to my husband and best friend.  Luckily they both chose the same color.  Which was, as the title says, golden peach.      

   The color on Golden Peach is just as the name would suggest.  It's a soft peach shimmer with a hint of gold duochrome.  The formula was great and applied flawlessly.  It is however a bit on the sheer side, but not too bad.  I used 1 coat China Glaze strong adhesion base coat, 3 coats Golden Peach, and 1 coat Seche Vite top coat.  At certain angles I can still pick up on a tiny bit of VNL.  The first day I wore this and tried to take pictures, and the couple days after, it was of course overcast and rainy.  First time in a couple weeks naturally.  I got lucky with some sun yesterday afternoon however and I managed a quick sunlight picture with my cell.  I think you can see the duochrome in the sun picture.

Overcast Shot

Direct Sun Shot

   I'm not sure how I feel about the color on me.  I don't dislike it, but I'm not sure I completely like it either.  Normally I'm a fan of orange polishes on me, but there's something about this one that keeps me from loving it.  What do you guys think?

   Probably because of the ambivalent feeling about the polish, I decided to play around a little bit.  I pulled a couple polishes to layer on top to see if they made me like it any more.  Here's a quick shot of what I did.

   Sorry for the blur.  I left my thumb plain to compare.  Left to right: Sally Hansen Hidden Treasures, Finger Paints Floatin' On a Cloud, China Glaze Nova, China Glaze Swing Baby.  Try as I might I just could not get my index finger to photograph well.  Which makes me sad because I really like the way that one turned out.  If you're one of the lucky ones who got a hold of Hidden Treasures you'll be able to get an idea of how pretty it looks.  If you've never seen Hidden Treasures, it's a flaky the shines red and gold in the light.  I will edit this post later if I can get a clear photo in the daylight.

EDIT: I never got a chance to get a clear photo of Hidden Treasures over this sadly.  I got called into work on a day off so I had to remove the polish sooner than planned.