Paradise

Take me down to the Paradise City where the grass is green and the girls are pretty…. This polish makes me think of that particular Guns N' Roses song.  Yes because it's named Paradise, but also becuase I can see it all in my mind…electric colored spandex, big crimped hair, bright pink lips and nails, music blasting.  How fun does my imagination sound?!  I was a little young when all that big hair music was happening, but I still rocked spandex like nobody's business and loved neon pink on anything and everything!  Of course it was all with New Kids shirts and buttons.  Yeah maybe that scene torally passed my by.
Now onto the present…Dior Paradise.  This was a huge lemming for me.  Why?  I really don't know.  It's from the Dior Electric Tropics Collection from 2011 and it's been quite hard to find these days.  I actually had a friend from Denmark find it for me.  Mind you it was no cheap find…but I still wanted it.    Thanks so much Marie-Luise!!  Now I have both from that season/year and you can see the pictures of Aloha here.  
Paradise is a strange color.  It is definitely neon, but sometimes is it orange, other times bright pink.  So I guess you could say I got 2 for the price of 1?  Ok, mabe that's a stretch.  I used 3 coats of Paradise and my nail line is still visible.  Me not happy.  But I still like it well enough.  As with all the Diors I own, it went on like butter.  Perfectly smooth, no ridges, lumps, bumps or imperfections.  Perfect consistency.  It dried to an interesting rubbery-matte finish.  I used the provided topcoat, but I think it still had the rubbery look so I applied a coat of Out The Door over it.  Glossy perfection!  Oh as another selling point…this baby GLOWS under a backlight!!  If I had one I'd show you.  *rushes off to add blacklight to shopping list*
What do you think of Paradise?  Is it really Paradise?  

Sold Out Forever + Attitude Adjust-Mint

Minty combination time…yeah!  I love mixing and matching polish - it's so fun!  I was fortunate to receive some beautiful Catrice polishes from my friend Dulce and hadn't used this particular one yet.  Well I am happy I have it on today because it is really lovely.  Sold Out Forever is a pastel minty green with a deeper green shimmer.  It went on light and streaky with the 1st coat but did a great job of leveling itself out and becoming opaque with the 2nd coat.  The formula wasn't to thin, maybe a bit on the thicker side but not difficult to work with at all.  



I have had a bottle of Lynnderella Attitude Adjust-Mint in my stash for a little while now and thought it would be a nice addition to SOF.  In real life this comibination is so much better than in the pictures.  It's glossy, shimmery and glittery.  AA-M is a slightly milky based, white-minty green polish.  It's jam packed with an irridescent shimmer and glitter: micro glitter, small, medium and large hexs in an irridescent green shade and light green squares.  I sponged AA-M onto the tops of my nails near the cuticle area.  It went on easily, I didn't have to dig for glitter to get a good assortment on each nail.  I finished it all off with a layer of top coat.
On a side note I have Essie School of Hard Rocks on my toes…LOVE it!!

Jungle Queen

China Glaze Jungle Queen…the name of this polish makes me want to ride the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland.  Just a little useless personal factoid I wanted to share.  Now my real thoughts on Jungle Queen.  I love it!  It's so pretty.  I am really enjoying the darker colors on my nails right now.  I must be ready for Fall.  Jungle Queen is part of the Exotic Encounters collection that was recently released.  The theme of the collection is really fun - being on safari, jungle animals, safari suits, etc.  But when I first saw the colection I was underwhelmed.  The longer it's around and the more swatches I see the more it appeals to me.  

I picked up 2 the other day - Jungle Queen and Elephant Walk.  I will do a review of Elephant Walk later - today I am focusing on Jungle Queen.  JQ is a dusty purple with a red shimmer.  It's almost like an elegant purple behind a smoky curtain, if that makes any sense.  It's a stunner.  I would have totally skipped it if I hadn't seen a post showing the shimmer and complexity of the polish.  I've also heard it's very close to Chanel Paradoxal - but I don't have that so I can't give you a yay or nay in regards to that statement.  I used 2 coats of JQ and it went on perfectly.  Smooth, opaque, no lumps or bumps, no ridges.  It was already fairly glossy but I added a top coat to help it last longer.  
Do you have anything from the Exotic Ecounters collection?  What did you think of Jungle Queen?

Deviantly Daring

Ok this is the last of the China Glaze New Bohemian posts you will see from me.  Mainly because I don't want the 6th color as it just seems boring to me.  I did find a bottle of Deviantly Daring, the uber pretty teal, so that's what I'm going to show you. 


Deviantly Daring had the easiest application of the 5 colors I tried.  It went on the smoothest, showed the least amount of brush strokes and is very pigmented.  Of course it is one of those colors that I drool over anyways - a color that belongs on a mermaid tale, or a peacock feather.  DD isn't really a duochrome to me.  I don't see the color shift - so it's either not there or it's really similar colors (like teal to green).  But it's perfect in every teal way it can be.  As with all the others I tried, I used 2 coats, no top coat. 
Index & ring: DD over blackMiddle & pinky: 2 coats of DD alone

You can see my other posts about the New Bohemian Luster Chromes here and here.  So now which are your favorites?  Deviantly Daring is by far my favorite with No Plain Jane coming in second.  

Poco A Poco

Poco A Poco is my first Rescue Beauty Lounge polish.  It's not a new collection, but it's new to me.  It's from the RBL L'Oiseau de Feu collection which debuted in Fall 2011.  

PAP is a dusty rose polish with a red shimmer.  Some of you probably think dusty rose is a color for an older woman, but I think it's really beautiful.  The red shimmer makes it glow and not only inthe sunlight.  You can see it beauty indoors as well.  It's one of those perfect colors to wear to work, or when you want to have a more subdued look.  It is almost a pink-nude against my skin tone.
I've heard mixed reviews on RBL's and I guess I will throw in my opinion.  I didn't like the brush, it was really skinny and didn't pick up much polish.  The formula was a bit on the thick side.  So between the brush and the formula I had to "double dip" to get one coat on each nail.  I used 2 coats for full coverage.  I probably should have used 3 but didn't want my nails to feel heavy.  I also noticed tip wear relatively quickly, but it was likely my quick paint job.  I usually have very limited time to get my nails done with 3 littles running around.   The sun didn't want to come out and play this morning, so the pictures are a bit dark - you can see the shimmer in a few though.
Regardless, PAP is very beautiful and it wasn't so difficult to work with that I wouldn't wear it again.  It also won't deter me from trying other colors from this brand.  I have Jack at home and am waiting for Piu Mosso (also from the L'Oiseau) to make it's re-debut in the RBL Bring It Back program this November.  Yay!  Do you own any RBL's?  What do you think of them?  Which is your favorite?

New Bohemians over black

Per a request received from one of my friends, I am putting up a few pictures of the China Glaze New Bohemian Luster Chromes over black.  I'm so glad I was asked to do this because they look so much more stunning over a dark base coat.  I used 2 coats of Orly Liquid Vinyl, a black creme, then one coat of the Luster Chrome.  No top coat.  And sorry for the dry cuticles and indoor pictures.

Index: No Plain JaneMiddle: Rare and RadiantRing: Swanky SilkPinky: Unpredictable

China Glaze New Bohemians

China Glaze New Bohemians is the new duochrome collection for Fall 2012.  They are being called "Radiant Luster Chromes" and they are really lovely.  I have seen the collection at 2 of my beauty supply stores and decided to pick some up.  Out of the collection of 6 I purchased Swanky Silk, Rare and Radiant, No Plain Jane and Unpredictable.  

I don't have many (if any dupchromes) so I can't compare them to any other brands.  But I will say that Rare and Radiant looks alot like OPI Just Spotted The Lizard (which is a known dupe for Chanel Peridot).  
For each set of photos I used 2 coats, no top coat.  They all had a similar formula, which was easy to apply, not too thick or watery.  No Plain Jane was the thinnest, but I had no issues with it.  I did notice each showed brush strokes and I don't think it matters how carefully you paint your nails….the chrome formula will always show stroke lines.   I noticed that the duochromey-ness of each color showed up better in the shade or indoor lighting than outside in teh bright sunlight.
I am very excited to show you these because I haven't seen ANY swatches online yet and it is my first post featuring several polishes from a collection!  Yay me!  And now on with the show!!

Rare and Radiant, No Plain Jane, Swanky Silk, Unpredictable

Rare and Radiant is the only one in the set that reminds me of other colors I have seen pictures of online…mainly OPI Just Spotted the Lizard.  But I don't own it so don't quote me on it.  It's a green/gold duochrome.

No Plain Jane is my favorite.  I love how it changes from a dusty greyed out purple to a vibrant purple.  NPJ has a red shimmer to it as well.  It was hard to capture the bright purple on camera for some reason, trust me - it's lovely.

Swanky Silk is my second favorite of the 4 I purchased.  It's a rose gold - almost coppery.  It actually flashes a pretty bright gold color out in the sun.

Last but not least, Unpredictable.  It's a beautiful green, leaning lime at times, a golden green at others.  It even appears to be a teal-green when outside.  

So which did you like?  Which will you buy?  Hope you liked this post!