Lancome Exotique Kiss

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I changed my nail polish to a nice subdued shade for the week, and I went with Lancome Exotique Kiss.  It's an opaque peach with lots and lots of sparkly shimmer in it.  It applied very well and only needed two coats.  I'm a pretty big fan of Lancome nail polish - they're like Dior in that the quality is superb.  After my little rant about Chanel's constant price increases, I was thinking of that with high end brands, and Lancome has recently gone up a buck or two to $18, the only change I recall in several years (also like Dior), and in proportion to the total price that seems reasonable to me.  The only down side to Lancome is that the color selection is pretty slim.

I had good sunlight to take pictures of Exotique Kiss, and here it is.

Lancome Exotique Kiss Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think it's great - I tend to prefer a strong finish like this paired with a more subtle color, so it works well for me.  Unfortunately, the two repairs on my right hand were hastily done and didn't hold, so this manicure got as far as a trip to church.  I changed it when I redid the repairs in the afternoon to something completely different, but I'll show the new one to you later.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Lancome LE 54 & Violet Groove

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I figured I'd show you something other than my super cheesy Valentine's Day manicure, so I took pictures of something a little better over the weekend, Lancome Violet Violet Groove and LE 54 from the Ultra Lavande  Collection for Spring 2011.  I'll still show you the cheesy mani at the end just for fun.

Lancome Violet Groove is a kind of dusty lavender creme.  It seems like a darker and more purple OPI Parlez Vous OPI to me.  When I got the bottle, I was disappointed at seeing it in person because Lancome's little swatch dot must have joined Sephora by OPI's swatch dots in the winner's circle of the Inaccuracy Cup.  Their dot showed a lighter, pinker lavender shimmer.

Lancome's Violet Groove Swatch

Fortunately, the polish was exceptionally nice, barely needing a second coat.  I apologize for the weird reflection my picture - it was bright and my eye troubles were acting up, so I knew I only had one trip for outside sun pictures in me, and this one didn't get that honor.  The picture is color accurate on my monitor, which is why I'm still showing it to you.  This is two coats of Violet Groove over a base and without top coat.

Lancome Violet Groove Nail Polish, Two Coats

So what happened to the shimmer, I ask?  Even though it's not like Lancome's dot, Violet Groove is about what I generally expect from Lancome.  My overall impression of them is that they usually put out nail polish colors that aren't earth shatteringly unique, but they do them extremely well.  For example, the only reason my Violet Groove picture has the weird reflections is that it's so shiny without top coat (it was almost totally dry when I took the pictures) - it's just a very nice polish.  However, I also think that when Lancome does do an unusual polish, they're super cool (like their magnetic ones).  I thought a glitter was kind of bold for them, so I was interested in trying LE 54.  That swatch dot picture is almost as inaccurate as the first.

Lancome's LE 54 Swatch

Here's two coats of LE 54 over Violet Groove, which is a perfect match for the base color of LE 54 to make it opaque.  The second coat didn't change the look very much, so in the future I'd use one coat of LE 54.

Lancome LE 54 over Lancome Violet Groove, Two Coats Each

The hard part of taking a picture of a really good glitter is that a picture catches just one moment in time.  LE 54's glitter is the really good kind, smooth with just one coat of top coat and reflecting light all over the place, and I can't show you how reflecty it is with how it looks in one moment.  You'll just have to trust me that it's truly stunning.  I have several Lancome polishes, and I think LE 54 is my new favorite of them.

Now it's time for the peek at my Valentine's Day (or VD) mani.  It's way too over the top, and that's just how I wanted it.  It's a fair representation of my enthusiasm for my beloved.  It's two coats of Misa Spark My Heart That's a Start with a base and top coat and tons of pink and white stamping.  I went through all my Konad and fauxnad plates gathering all that had anything lovey or with hearts, laid them out, and went to town stamping.  I don't even know which stamps I used on which nails.

Hallmark Holiday = Over the Top Mani

I won't try to convince you this is anything other than over the top and fun because it's not - I'm silly and enthusiastic, so the manicure is as well.  I hope you're wearing a good playful one today too!

With that, I'll wish you happy VD, and until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Lancome Indigo Paris

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a beauty for you which I've been meaning to show you for a while, Lancome's Indigo Paris. A while back, I showed you Lancome's Midnight Glam, and I was all sad and disappointed because it looked so good in the bottle, but was just another blue shimmer on the nail. As it would turn out, Indigo Paris is exactly what I wanted Midnight Glam to be!

This is two coats of Indigo Paris, topped with Diamont.

Lancome Indigo Paris Nail Polish, Two Coats in Sunlight

How is that for "not just another blue," huh? I think it looks like I Photoshopped it, but I did not.

Since I've been doing subtle Konadicures as of late, and was recently reminded of how well Konad Princess Violet Pearl Nail Polish stands up to color, I thought I'd add the ribbon-y pattern from plate M69 to this one. I think it adds to it. Blue and purple are my two favorite colors, and I love them together. Here's the finished manicure with top coat.

Lancome Indigo Paris Nail Polish & Konad M69 Konadicure in Sunlight

That's what I have for you this morning, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Lancome Rouge Bordeaux

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Even I had to finally say, "Enough with the pinks already!" Today I went for someothing a little different from my box of older polishes, a Lancome that is, I think, from 2007.

This is three coats of Rouge Bordeaux with the new treatment regimen.

I like it. I like Lancomes, and specifically like this color.

On a side note, the service that provides my little comments thingy changed it. Change is bad. I don't care for it, I find it harder to follow, but I can't do much about it...

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

High Maintenance & Midnight Glam

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have a couple of Nails of the Day for you today. After my Illamasqua Swatchfest, I used Lancome Midnight Glam. It looked more unique in the bottle than on. Here's two coats with a top coat.

I used the bottle for inspiration for some Fauxnad fun, and stamped it with Revlon Lily Chrome.

That was Sunday. Yesterday, I kept it simple with a nice red, Sephora by OPI High Maintenance. This is three coats.

Now that's a red!

That's all for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Magnetic Magic

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm pleased to say that I have a few of L'Oreal's new Star Magnet colors on their way to me from Finland - they began their journey yesterday.  Nail polish ain't cheap outside the US, so I had to select only three of the available colors - I chose Purple, Prune, and Silver.  The ones I'm missing out on are Red, Grey, and Chocolate.

The special property that all of these polishes possess is that the polish is iron based, and they come with a little magnet.  When the magnet is held up to the the nail, the polish creates a star pattern on the nail.  This is the same principle as last year's Lancome Le Magnetique, which came in only one color, was more expensive, and is super tiny.  In anticipation of the arrival of my new pretties, I took out my Le Magnetique and used it.

The way it works is that I applied one coat normally, then for the second coat, applied polish to to a nail, held the magnet up to it for about five seconds, and repeated that process for the remaining nine nails.  For the pattern to be centered, nails have to be much shorter than mine, but for me it created a pattern pretty well centered on the free edge of my nails.  This is what the finished manicure looks like:

I love the effect, and am really fired up about receiving the three that are on their way to me.  As soon as they arrive, I'll show them to you.  The only (big) down side to them is that they've only been spotted, as far as I know, in Sweden and Finland, so they're well into the "hard-to-find" category.  I am fortunate enough to be blessed with an online friend from Finland who procured them for me.

Speaking of hard-to-find, this month's giveaway!  I managed to get my hot little hands on a brand new bottle of China Glaze's Moonpool for you, Dear Reader, and will be taking entries for a random drawing for two weeks.   We'll find out on December 4th who the winner is.  Your name will show as you enter it on the form (so you don't have to enter your full name), and your email address will only be used to contact you if you're the winner.  If you haven't put your name in the hat yet, please do!

 

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  Until later, love and nail polish to you!