MAC Unconditionally Fabulous Nail Lacquer - Swatches and Comparisons!

So let me start off by saying I don't have a good track record with MAC polishes. I have purchased Soiree, Style Clan and Very Important Platinum and was so unhappy with the formula, I returned all but Soiree (was better than the other two). I see reviews all the time, and they seem to always be so hit or miss. I can NOT deal with inconsistency in a brand. If I am spending 19.00 on a polish (yes, that is the price in Canada! More than YOU pay for a Lippmann polish) I want to KNOW that it will be good quality. But I saw this and had to ask a friend to pick it up for me. She picked up for herself all three from the collection and I am still debating asking her to go get me Festive Finery but I am holding strong so far!!!!!!

Now I had just gotten Julep Vanessa and immediately wanted to compair the two, but then while sorting my moms collection saw this OPI Servin Up Sparkle and decided to add that to the mix.

MAC Unconditionally Fabulous, Julep Vanessa, OPI Servin Up Sparkle. 

Now these are all one coat. I was actually very impressed with how easy MAC Unconditionally Fabulous was to spread. This was one coat, and I didn't have to stress or worry about placing the glitter (as we quite often have to do with other glitters like Lippmanns). Now both Julep and MAC were easy to apply, though the Julep one is much heavier. Almost TOO thick in my opinion. It felt kinda goopy. But both were easy to apply so can't really complain. Julep is fine glitter though where as the Mac is teeny tiny chunks of glitter. The OPI one is a hybrid of the two. Its less dense, less evenly distributed fine glitter with slightly larger than MACS chunks floating in it. These WERE heavier than the base and needed to be carefully placed on the nail, if you know what I mean? Like as you brush the polish on, the big pieces want to all come with you. You have to kind of adjust? Hope I am making sense!

Anyways, I am not a fan of the OPI one. Too much work, too much effort, and I really hate the wear of OPI (at least on me). When it comes to MAC versus Julep, which look do you like better? Thats really the only debate. They both were one coat, though I am sure you could build up to a more opaque (especially on the MAC one). Personally? I like both.

New MAC Collections! $30 Nail Polishes? For MAC?

MAC Glitter & Ice Collection for Holiday 2011

Release Date :October 27, 2011 in North America, October/November for International

($16.00 U.S. / $19.00 CDN) 
Unconditionally Fabulous (Super sparkle white Frost)
Get Noticed (True bright red Cream)
Festive Finery (Dirty mid-tone greyed violet Cream)

I just saw these and while I am NOT a MAC fan in general, I picked up Unconditionally Fabulous and almost picked up Festive Finery. I am debating running back for that one. But trying to hold strong!! Will have pictures, swatches and comparisons of Unconditionally Fabulous up today or tomorrow!


MAC & Gareth Pugh Collection for Holiday/Winter 2011
Release Date: November 23rd in North America, December 2011 for International

$23.00 U.S. / $27.50 CDN
Inert (Creamy mid-tone greyed nude Creme)
Ascension (Grey with blue violet reflective pearl Frost)
Hyper (Deep blue with violet pearl Frost)

27.50 for a MAC polish???????? Thats more than Dior, YSL and others!!!!!!! ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME??? I am both outraged, amazed, and totally totally curious! I MUST SEE THESE!!!!!!!

MAC & Daphne Guinness Collection for Winter 2011
Release Date: December 26th, 2011 in North America, International release date unknown
$15.00 U.S. / $18.00 CDN
Endless Night (Pale gray pink with iridescent pearl)
Hyperior (Light gray blue-green)
Blueblood (Deep eggplant )


MAC and Iris Apfel Collection for Winter 2011
Release Date is January 5th, 2012 in North America, January for International
$15.00 U.S. / $18.00 CDN
Oriele Orange (Bright orange coral)
Toco Toucan (Bright blue-fuchsia)
Sandpiper (Creamy pale stone beige)

Gosh Nail Lacquer Collection Box Set

I had to stop by the Shoppers Drug Mart today (the ONLY place I get to these days), and OH MY GOSH!!! Look what I found!!! Sorry, I just had to go there. It was to obvious a pun to ignore!!

Now normally I know long ahead of time what collections are on the horizons, what to look out for, and what Gosh products I NEED to find. But I had heard NOTHING about this box set. Google has produced nothing even today when I brought it home!

The colours look similar to ones I already have (the first one looks like miss grey, the second one looks like miss mole, the last one like blue monday) but they are all new colours as far as I can see by their names. The colours are (from left to right) 017 ashy grey, 018 brown grey, 002 classic red, 023 light rose and 014 deep sea blue.

Now the bottles are a completely different shape and size than the normal bottles. A normal Gosh polish is 8ml and simply say GOSH on the bottle. These are 5ml and say OH MY GOSH on them. Now considering a normal bottle is 7.00 here, this set at 16.00 for 25ml (more than 3 normal bottles worth of polish) is a steal of a price!!! If you can find this set, I say go get it!

I will get comparison photos up of the colours later, but I just wanted to show you the set! At this price, I really don't think they will last very long! 

Dolce & Gabbana Precious Stones Holiday Collection

For holiday 2011 Dolce & Gabbana are coming out with two new Intense Nail Lacquers in 168 Amethyst and 230 Grey Pearl. All I have to say is I NEED BOTH OF THEM! NOW!!!! The problem of course is they are not sold in Canada to my knowledge. May have to somehow track these two beauties down!

The only place I know where these will be available is Saks Fifth Avenue and they will retail for $20.00 each.

Julep Nail Mail!! (Maybe I order Too Much.............)

So this week I got four packages from Julep! I will of course do swatch comparisons but I thought I would just show you the packages I got over the last week!
Julep Emilie

Julep Nail File (was a waste to buy this by itself, but it was out of stock for SO LONG and on sale and I didn't want to wait for the holiday colours to show up in case it sold out again!)

Then they FINALLY put up Kim, Chloe and Vanessa!!

And then, FINALLY Leighton came up for sale two days later!

And because I cant show you pics without at least a few swatches!

Emilie, Vanessa, Leighton, Kim, Chloe

And close ups of Vanessa and Chloe!

Holt Renfrew Private Label Paramount Beauty Bag

Taken off of Holts Facebook site!!!

CALLING ALL BEAUTY BUFFS! 

For the ultimate girl on the go, it doesn’t get any better than the Holt Renfrew Private Label Paramount Beauty Bag. Complete with two luxe removable pouches and deluxe miniatures including a shu uemura mini eyelash curler, Sisley Hydra-Global Moisturizer, and Laura Mercier Foundation Primer, its truly the must have of the season! Plus, you’ll receive a $10 beauty voucher that goes towards your next purchase at Holts!

Available NOW at Holt Renfrew for only $25.

A close up of the eyelash curler and the description:

So it really only costs 15.00 and I want that mini eyelash curler!!! I ordered mine today, will pick it up later this week along with Lippmann Good Girl Gone Bad! It JUST came in this week and the rest of the holiday colours are STILL not here! The joys of living in Canada! Glamorous Life is also in but I have no interest in it! I am still waiting on Stairway to Heaven, and possibly I Love the Nightlife I keep going back and forth on that one, so we will see!!


Are YOU getting a bag?

Dior 981 Black Plum & Julep Keira Swatches & Comparisons

Black Plum is a gorgeous colour from Dior that has been long discontinued and quite a pain in the u-know-what to locate. Ebay is often an answer though it can be a very EXPENSIVE answer. So the solution? Well when I saw Keira for the first time, I remember opening the Julep box, seeing it, and thinking "OMG!!! Dior Black Plum!!". Now as you all know from reading my blog, I am often quite wrong in actual reality so I ran to go get the bottle and do the actual comparison.

In the bottle Julep looks quite a bit redder and less of the purple when actually placed side by side. When swatched, well, yes. They are still very different. So once more, similar but certainly very different.

In normal light they look very very similar, but in hte sunlight as you can see, Dior Black Plum is much more purple and probably a good 3 shades darker. Julep Keira is more of a true berry, a purpled out burgandy, where as Dior is a darkened, berried plum. Both colours are gorgeous, just very different!

Quo for Orly Holiday Mini Set & Full Polish Set Rundowns

So I actually left my house today!!!!!!!!!! I had to stop by Shoppers Drug Mart to pick something up today and look what I spied? Sorry the picture is so awful but you are not allowed to take photographs in the store and my blackberry was therefor the only thing I had.

This set contains 18 miniature polishes and has a price tag of 39.00. At less than 2.00 a polish, it seems reasonable except I already own night sky, turquoise moonlight and celestial star and would never wear love game, or true love. But Filthy Rich, First Class and Mystic Night are all on my wishlist and that's 75% of the price tag right there. Now these polishes are a third the size, but for 10.00 more I can get an extra dozen colours, at least 5 of which I really really really like and are not available on thier own......... Sigh....... Decisions, decisions!

Now, in the mini set comes the following colours (if ** precedes it then it is not part of the regular lineup): Top row of set contains: Very Vixen, Mystic Night, **Garnet, **Precious, **Saphire Sparkle, **Cold Stone, **Rock Show & Night Sky. The bottom row contains: Turquoise Moonlight, Celestial Star, First Class, Filthy Rich, Red Hot, Wine and Dine, Old Hollywood, Love Game & True Love

The entire range of the polish line consists of:

Twinkle Twinkle, Lilac Lust, Sweet Pink, Soft Spot, Just Married, Cotton Candy, Purple Daydream

Red Hot, Poppy, Cream Pop, Love Game, True Love, Wine and Dine, Rosy Cheeks, Old Hollywood

Turquoise Moonlight, Blue Skies, Blue Lagoon, Green Meadow, Celestial Star, Night Sky, Mystic Night

Queen Bling, Filthy Rich, First Class, Chestnuts Roasting, Violaceous, Coffee & Cream, Very Vixen, French White

NARS Holiday Gift Sets

So right now I have two new holiday sets to show you. The first is by NARS. I was soooo excited to see the promotional pictures for this set, but was sadly disappointed when I saw it in person today. I might wear the gold, but all the other three are certainly  not me.

The colours in this set are: Yoshiwara, Shiro-Nuri , Kata & Senryou (in the same order as photographed above. The other holiday set of NARS that had crossed my eye I am SUPER DUPER EXCITED to announce will not make its way over here. I can NOT afford it, do NOT need it, and probably could not stop myself if I saw it in person.

How freaking awesome is that set????? Now the truth is of the five brushes (Kabuki Eye Brush, Botan Brush, Ita Brush, Yachiyo Brush, Kabuki Lip) I have the Yachiyo brush and I have the lip brush which while they say is exclusive to this set, it came in last years STUNNING bento box set (the one with two lipsticks) and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the lip brush. It is my favourite lip brush I own and i use it daily! But at 225.00 USD for  the 5 brushes, it is definitely out of my price range!

Beauty Crazed is Doing Another AMAZING Giveaway!!!

Fall into a great big bunch of makeup! Contest!

Let's face it, fall kind of sucks, the weather gets colder, the days get shorter and your skin loses it's healthy summer glow and starts looking kind of pasty. In an effort to cheer you up, we thought we'd but together a few of our fave things from the fall collections so you could remember the positive thing about fall - fall makeup! Here's what one lucky person will win:

Chanel Ombres Contraste Duo - 27 Noir - Ivoire  from the Les Scintillances de Chanel holiday collection and Rouge Allure Velvet in 39 La Somptueuse from the new Chanel matte lipstick collection
Dior 3 Couleurs Smoky Eyes Palette in 781 Smoky Brown
Yves Saint Laurent La Laque in 127 Black Lapis and Effet Faux Cils in 1 Deep Black - from the YSL New Blacks collection
Giorgio Armani Woven Eye Color Palette - 1 Jacquard and Blushing Fabric Blush in 6 Carmel from the Armani fall Jacquard collection
Lancôme Les Oeillades Eyeshadow and Brow Compact Quad  from the Lancôme 29 St-Honore fall collection and Blush Subtil in Miel Glace from the Denis Gagnon collection
Shu Uemura Prima Palette and Cream Shimmer Highlighter in Radiant Pearl and Cream Cheek in Gentle Amber to fill it from the Shu Uemura Novadiva collection and Ethnic Charm Premium Edition Lashes from the Shu Uemura Ethnocolor Scope collection
Clarins Ombre Minerale 4 Couleurs Palette - 02 Nudes from the Clarins fall Colour Definition collection
Stila Brighten & Correct Concealer - 04 Tan and Stay All Day Waterproof Brown Color - Medium from the Stila fall Backstage Beauty collection
Cargo Voyages Gloss Collection just because it's so cute!
Quo All About Eyes Palette in Go For Gold from the Quo fall collection, Quo Women collection Brush Set and Quo by Orly Nail Polish in Coffee & Cream and Red Hot from the new Quo by Orly nail polish launch.
Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare All-In-One Facial Cleanser with Toner - 75ml - just because it's awesome!
Benefit They're Real Mascara because it looked so good on me!
It Cosmetics Universal Brow Pencil
Mary Kay Beauty That Counts Creme Lipstick in Give Joy and Luxury Liner in Black from the Mary Kay Redefining Elegance collection
The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes Palette in Blue Moon, Carbon Brown Eye Definer and 100% Natural Lip Roll-On in Coconut
Avon Mega Impact Eyeshadow in Berry Electric because you know you want it!
eos Lip Balm in Honeysuckle because you like things that are round!
Sweet Leaf Bath Co. Beeswax Lip Balm in Pomegranate because environmentally friendly is your middle name!
Marcelle Lux Eye Dust in Go-Violet and High Voltage because things that shimmer rock!
Sleek MakeUP Oh So Special Eyeshadow Palette
IntraCeuticals Skin Care samples because Madonna wants you to!

This is copied from BeautyCrazed website! Click here to enter!

REDS: Dior Gruau, Chanel Rouge Fatal, Dior Red Tea, Julep Catherine, Julep Demi & Lippmann Lady is a Tramp

This originally started as a project to compare all my Julep polishes, but now I am on a RED MISSION! I am slowly working through all my reds and hope to have swatches of most of them up in the next week. The first 6 up are; Dior 837 Gruau, Chanel Rouge Fatal, Dior 853 Red Tea, Julep Catherine, Julep Demi & Lippmann Lady is a Tramp

Now both Gruau and Rouge Fatal are reds with more of a brown tinge. They look to me very much like lighter versions of red blood if you understand the comparison? Sorry, I seem to be not the most articulate person in the universe, but they feel like "bloody reds" to me though Gruau is a shade brighter than Rouge Fatal.

The next red up, Red Tea is a shade less brown and more of a true red. I don't see it lean blue and seems to be a great pure red berry crème.

Julep Catherine is described on the Julep website as THE classic red. I find it is the brightest by far of all of the colours swatched here, most similar to lady is a tramp but much more primary of a red. It reminds me of brightly painted children's toys. That bright pure red though it leans a tiny bit to the tomato/orange side of things, but just barely.

Julep Demi is described as an elegant burgundy, like a fine wine. I dont see it as a burgundy to be honest. It IS a darker red, but certainly not dark enough in my books to get the title burgundy. It is more like a deep dark classic red. Certainly a blue red.

Lady is a tramp is in my opinion right in between Catherine and Demi as a darker than Catherine, lighter than demi clean and classic red that maybe leans a tad bit blue, but not too much

L-R  Dior Gruau, Chanel Rouge Fatal, Dior Red Tea, Julep Catherine, Julep Demi & Lippmann Lady is a Tramp

L-R  Dior Gruau, Chanel Rouge Fatal, Dior Red Tea, Julep Catherine, Julep Demi & Lippmann Lady is a Tramp

Cult Nails Crusin' Nude & OPI Fiji Weejee Fawn

So I was nosing around in my moms polish stash the other day and I saw a polish by OPI called Fiji Weejee Fawn. I was stunned when I saw it. All I could think was "CULT NAILS CRUSIN' NUDE!!" I grabbed it and ran to my stash to pull out my Cult Nails bottle to compare

Now as you can see, they are certainly different. I would describe the OPI one as a pearly, champagne colour. The Cult Nails on the other hand is a neutral taupe with this intense and gorgeous pink shimmer.

Its hard to tell in this picture, but the shimmer in the cult nails swatch on the left really does shine! I love it! To me its a hands down winner over the streaky less exciting OPI. The Crusin' Nude is to coats and the OPI is four, just so you know!

Gosh Holographic & Nfu Oh 61 Swatches & Comparison

A big lemming on a lot of polish lovers lists is Gosh Holographic, I thought today I would post swatches of it, along side a much easier to find and in my opinion better option; Nfu Oh 61. I find in the bottle the Gosh option looks about a shade in a half darker than the Nfu Oh one. Now on the nail I see NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever. But don't take my word for it. Maybe you will see the difference.

Now the big difference is the wear. For both polishes you either want to use the aqua base (both Gosh and Nfu Oh make one) or if you don't have the aqua base, I highly recommend NO base. I know that goes against the "rules" of polish, but thats the way it is with holographic shades. I can get about 2 days to 3 days wear out of the Nfu Oh, but the Gosh seriously chips in your sleep. You can almost just stare at it and watch it flake off.

2 is Nfu Oh, 3 is the Gosh

2 is Nfu Oh, 3 is the Gosh

Cult Nails A Day at the Races

I can NOT believe I get to type this, but I was just speaking to Maria (yes, THE Maria. The blood, sweat, tears and visionary behind Cult Nails) and I realized, I never posted my swatches from her second collection!!! How did THAT happen??!!

Cruisin' Nude, Captivated,  Let Me Fly

Now there are two other colours in this collection; Devious Nature (a pink) and Always Winning (a seemingly complex green/olive sparkle). While beautiful in their own rights, they just didn't speak to me. The formula on all these was fantastic and all thee of these were one coat.

Now on first swatch I was very disappointed with Captivated to be honest. In the bottle, it is a sparkling-orangey goodness. Swatched however, it was just a pink glitter. YUCK (Remember - I HATE PINK!!!). But I was unwilling to write a colour off all together. Especially when it comes from a brand I admire as much as I do Cult Nails. So I grabbed a couple other colours to use as a base coat. My FAVOURITE was anything orange or coral. Over a coral or orange it looks like exactly what I had originally expected and what the bottle looks like to me. So it certainly is still a LOVE!

So one of my favorite results was over Deborah Lippmann's It's Delovely. Captivated over this Lippmann is exactly what I wanted and wished it to be on its own! I also grabbed Black Passion by Gosh to try something totally different.

Over It's Delovely, Black Passion, and by itself

And what a great Halloween manicure it makes over Black Passion!! Talk about perfect swatching-timing on my part!!

Julep Pink Swatches - Carrie, Natalie, Cameron and Mandy

Now I really wish I could take each pink and swatch them individually and compare them to the other pinks in my collection. The problem is these are not mine, and I own no pinks. These are all pinks that I gave to my mom (minus the one that came in her maven box). I hate pink myself and do not own any aside from Jennifer which I find much more neutral. I know its classified as a pink but I will swatch that one separately at a later date.

Now there are 12 pink colours on the Julep website. Aside from reds, this is the colour with the largest selection. I thought I would show you some swatches and how they compare to each other.

Colours as described on the Julep webpage

Carrie – Classic, cotton candy pink. Embrace your girly side! 

Natalie – Chic, retro honeysuckle pink.

Cameron – Energetic, summer pink. 

Mandy – Fresh, bright, deep coral-pink. A favorite for summer pedicures, but surprisingly fetching on manicures, too. 

Now Carrie is described as a cotton candy, but when i see it, I just see bubble gum. For me it just screams BUBBLE GUM PINK!!! Natalie to me is certainly pink, but its very much a coral pink. I see it leans very orangy (yet certainly in the pink not coral category). Cameron is a bright pink. I wish I had better descriptions, but seeing as I am about as far away from a pink person as one can possibly get, its hard to expand more. Mandy is a deeper, brighter version of Natalie in my eyes. A bright in your face coral pink!

Carrie, Natalie, Cameron and Mandy

Julep Gayle & Dior Purple Mix Swatches & Comparisons

So a lovely lady I know was honoured to get this BEAUTIFUL wonderful purple crème colour from Julep named after her. So the minute I found out this little piece of information, Gayle SKYROCKETED to the top of my wishlist. I knew I HAD to have it. And to know that it was not only named after one of my favourite people,but that it was my favourite COLOUR?? How much better was it going to get than that??? But when it actually came, would I STILL love it just as much?? As it turns out, YES!!!

The colour is creamy and smooth, easy to apply, and opaque in one coat. And lets be honest, I EXPECT that out of Julep. I dream of the day they come out with the Dior brush. That day I will do the dance of joy (Perfect Strangers anyone?? You be Larry, I'll be Balky!). The colour is a deep, clear, true purple. It doesnt lean blue, it doesnt lean red or pink, its just a great purple!

The closest thing I had in my stash (and I have more than 60 purples) was Dior Purple Mix from the Rock Your Nails collection. The Dior one is slightly lighter and has a slightly dustier, greyer tinge to it than the Gayle as you can see in the swatches below. Which one should you get? Well, Dior has the brush. The wonderful, amazing, paint your entire nail in one swipe of the brush brush. The Julep will take a little more in the swiping department, but needs one coat whereas Dior certainly needs two. The Julep is 14.00 for just under 8 ml of polish, whereas the Dior is 10 ml for about 21.00, so Julep wins the price war. Basically, which shade do YOU like better? I personally need BOTH!!!

Juelp Gayle, Dior Purple Mix

Julep Maggie, Butter London Prince's Plums & Illamasqua Baptiste Swatches & Comparisons

So seeing as how Maggie is an option you can get in the upcoming Julep Maven Box I figured I should post comparisons of this colour as fast as I could. And since I have a zillion and three purple polishes it should be easy, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!! Julep Maggie is so completely unique and unlike any other purple polish I own. It is described as a frosty amethyst, and a gemstone in a bottle

Now let me start by saying they are all totally different. Julep Maggie leans navy when painted, but is still very purple. Princes plum is FAR FAR FAR lighter on the nail than in the bottle and leans more magenta. Illamasqua is much more purple and lacks the blue leaning tinge in the Julep.