Nail Lacquers: Lustress, Love & Happiness, Solaris, Golden Gleam, Optical Illusion, Dreams Becoming Reality
SpaRitual Nail Lacquer in Summer Hues
Just in time for summer, here are six fun shades from SpaRitual that are truly representative of the season. Each shade retails for $10.00 and is vegan and free of DBP, Toluene, Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde Resin. Lustress, Solaris, Golden Gleam, and Optical Illusion are from the summer Kaleidoscope collection.
- Lustress is a deep red-tinted pink with flashes of pink shimmer. It almost looks like glass flecks to me. Just two coats for complete color.
- Love & Happiness is a coral-orange cream. It’s not quite neon, but it’s almost there. Two coats for opaque color.
- Solaris is a bright, neon orange cream. Super, super pigmented — two coats shown, but you could almost get away with one.
- Golden Gleam is a bright yellow gold with lighter gold shimmer and a near metallic finish. Some brush strokes were noticeable, but it wasn’t too obvious. Two coats for opaque color.
- Optical Illusion is a deep olive green base with lighter olive green glitter-shimmer. Just two coats for opaque color, though it was nearly opaque with one coat. Truly a stunning shade!
- Dreams Becoming Reality is a shade from an upcoming fall collection, so I’ll have swatches and more information on it then.
SpaRitual knows how to make a good, consistent formula. The application on all six of these was absolutely superb–smooth, rich color that wasn’t too thick or thin. No streaking, fussing, or dragging. Drying time on the brighter creams seemed a little speedier, but otherwise average and nothing noteworthy either way. Optical Illusion stands out something fierce amongst these, though — a really unique shade that just sparkles in the light.
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- Product: 29/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: LOVE Optical Illusion! I also really love and appreciate SpaRitual’s formula consistency–it’s a good formula and it’s found in all six.
Availability: Skinstore.com, SpaRitual
Nail Lacquers: No More War, Diddy Mow, 360
Rescue Beauty Lounge: Hello!
Rescue Beauty Lounge Nail Lacquers ($18.00) are a big splash amongst nail polish fanatics, and I didn’t even realize that they’re the same brand that does all the soaps I have in my house! (I love that they have a hand soap with the word Pamplemousse in its name! One of my favorite French words ever–say it ten times and you better be giggling!) Last week, I purchased several shades from the website to give ‘em a spin for myself…
- No More War is an olive green cream. You could say it’s camouflage green or army green as well. It’s rich and goes opaque in two coats for me.
- Diddy Mow is a muted, gray-green cream with subtle silver micro-shimmer. The shimmer almost looks like grains of sand in the “water.” RBL describes it as “a putty green, the color of sand through sea water.” It was opaque in nearly one coat, though I swatched it with two.
- 360 is a played-down bluish teal cream with subtle silver micro-shimmer. Opaque in two coats for me — it’s pretty pigmented in one, but I find I need two for a good, overall result.
This was my first time trying the brand’s polishes, and I really liked the formula. It’s rich, pigmented, and applies smoothly. There is no streaking, bubbling, or dragging. All three were nearly opaque in one coat, but I still preferred doing two coats for a completely opaque, smooth look. These colors seemed unique to me–perhaps its the subtleties of each one, where they’re not the typical shade and yet wearable.
I just wish they weren’t so pricey. The quality is excellent, but $18 a pop is hard to swallow!
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- Product: 29/30
- Value: 7/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation:
Availability: Rescue Beauty Lounge
Cle de Peau Red Abundance (R2) Extra Rich Lipstick
Decadence in Lipstick with Red Abundance
Cle de Peau R2 Red Abundance Extra Rich Lipstick
($60.00 for 0.14 oz.) is a wicked, wicked, wicked shade of vibrant red. It’s a slightly orange-hued red with ridiculous pigmentation and glossy sheen. This is not an affordable lipstick–this is, quite easily, a lipstick that epitomizes luxury. The color is rich, smooth, and clings to lips for hours (I had six hours of wear, including a meal) and retains much of the sheen throughout. It’s not a heavy, thick, or particularly creamy lipstick, but it’s hydrating and doesn’t leave lips parched after it’s removed.
The Exra Rich line-up includes a total of eight shades: R1 Black Bacara, R2 Red Abundance, R3 Leonardis, R4 Danse du Feu, T1 Halloween, T2 Just Joey, T3 Baby Julia, and T4 Calliope.
The lipstick itself is shaped into a baguette, where the edges are designed to help you apply it as if you were using a lip brush. While I didn’t have any trouble applying it without a lip brush (the swatch is an application straight from the tube), I don’t know about it being particularly owing to the design. It’s pretty and unique as far as lipsticks go, but in terms of making it easier to apply, it felt about the same to me. The lipstick also contains Vitmain A Acetate, which is supposed to be the first lipstick formulated with it, which gives it both the texture and the moisturizing properties. I found the lipstick easy to apply–no drag–but it’s not creamy like YSL Rouge Voluptes; it’s smooth and feels like silk against lips.
Where this lipstick excels, as with Cle de Peau’s lipsticks in general, is de-emphasizing lip lines, giving lips a fuller, plumper look (but make no mistake, it’s merely from smoothing out lip lines–no actual lip plumping here). R2 also happens to be a very pigmented shade that really showcases the brightness and depth of this particularly red hue. I’ve also experienced particularly long wear with this shade (which does lightly stain even as it begins to wear off in the sixth hour), but even in the lighter shades (to-be-reviewed), wear is surprisingly lengthy.
Price aside, is this a red you’d wear?
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- Product: 30/30
- Value: 7/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 5/5
Recommendation: If you’re in the market for a truly stunning red and don’t mind the splurge, Cle de Peau’s R2 makes an excellent orange-toned red.
Availability: Saks
Bobbi Brown Beach Collection: Long-Wear Cream Shadows
For summer, Bobbi Brown’s collection includes Metallic Long-Wear Cream Shadows ($22.00 for 0.12 oz.) in four new shades: Moonstone (pale shimmering green), Opal (opalescent pink), Pink Oyster (shimmering pink), and Surf (pale shimmering blue), as well as Long-Wear Cream Shadow ($22.00 for 0.12 oz.) in Shore (pale nude).
- Opal is an opalescent pinky-purple. It’s very sheer and light–it’s nice as an all-over wash on the lid. It could possibly be used as an eyeshadow base, too, since it’s more on the neutral side. Since the base almost feels and goes on clear, it looks glittery on the lid.
- Surf is a cool-toned baby blue with a silver-white sparkle-sheen. It has a soft colored base, so it looks smoother on the lid compared to Opal and more metallic and less glittery. It’s not a deep blue, but it’s a lot more representative of the color it looks like in the pot, so it’s the color I would expect!
- Shore is a creamy, matte beige. This is not an exciting color, but it’s incredibly versatile. It can be used to brighten up lids a bit, but it can be used as an eyeshadow base, too. It’s neutral and easy-to-use, particularly because of the matte finish.
I’m actually not a huge fan of Bobbi Brown’s Metallic Long-Wear Eyeshadows — they’re just incredibly sheer and more glittery than metallic. I reviewed a few shades earlier, when they first launched. I still wish they had more of a metallic finish, because they do feel more on the glittery side. The Metallics have an almost wet feel to them–it’s a thinner creamy consistency with a wet feel and applies very smoothly and evenly without any trouble (better than the other three I tried!). They also last all day without creasing or budging or fading.
I prefer the texture, feel, and color pay off of the original Long-Wear Eyeshadows for sure. I think having a couple of the Metallics can be fun, but they’re not as versatile as the more opaque ones. Like the Metallics, the original Long-Wear Eyeshadows last all day without budging, smudging, or fading. I just don’t think the Metallics are nearly as versatile or as multi-tasking as the original ones, which are more pigmented and very, very smooth.
Because these are two different products, I’m not going to give out an overall rating for all three. Instead, I’m going to break it down between the two — for Metallics, they work really well in terms of staying power and not creasing, but the color payoff is sheer and not buildable as purported, so they’re more of a B product for me. They’re better than the first ones I tried, because I do think these have a smoother finish and are truer-to-color in the pot. Shore, on the other hand, has excellent pay off and quality, so it’s much more of an A- product and shade.
RECOMMENDATION: Shore is an excellent neutral base that works well and looks great. It’s something that doesn’t inspire excitement, but it’s a very useable product. The Metallics don’t grab me and neither shade gets me any closer to loving them at the moment.
AVAILABILITY: Bobbi Brown
Melt Down, Melt With U, Metal Gear, Melt In the Sun, Molten Rock, Hot Metal
Milani Liquid Metal Intense Color Nail Lacquer Collection
This six-shaded limited edition collection is perfect for summer, and it’s even better for the nail polish addict on a budget. Each polish is $4.49 and available at CVS through July 2010.
- Melt Down is a deep ruby red base with flecks of brighter ruby red glitter-shimmer. When you move your hands, you can also see a glimmer of a coppery-red shimmer, too. It only needed two coats.
- Melt With U is a rich, liquid lava orange-red with orange shimmer. It only needed two coats.
- Metal Gear is fantastic tangerine orange with flecks of gold and orange glitter-shimmer. It keeps the theme going — just two coats here.
- Melt In the Sun is a sunrise gold with flecks of brighter gold and deeper amber gold. For some reason, I didn’t snap a photo of this shade with flash, so I’ll describe it instead — brighter, lighter yellow gold with a metallic flash. I found this one to be more of a three-coater.
- Molten Rock is a deep sea blue with just a touch of darkened teal and lighter blue-teal glitter-shimmer. I thought this shade looked particularly metallic under bright lights. Just two coats here.
- Hot Metal is a reddened purple with brighter fuchsia-pink and deeper violet purple shimmer strewn through the pinky-purple base. This is such a pretty shade, but it was the most troublesome of the six. I found you had to use at least three coats, but those who use thinner coats may find a fourth necessary. The base color is a lot redder than I expected, and it almost looked jelly-ish, but it’s not quite.
Overall, I really enjoyed these! They were easy to apply — just did my “Temptalia” method (LOL!) and didn’t encounter any streakiness, patchiness, or issues with getting the shimmer/glitter to go on evenly. This feels like a microglitter to me, rather than a shimmer or a glitter. They dry pretty smooth, even without a top coat, but they lose some of the glossiness (but not all of it).
Some of these had more of a metallic look than others, but I don’t think any of these are true metallics–which isn’t a bad thing, since many metallics show glaring brushstrokes–in formula. They do flash a bit metallic-like though, especially Metal Gear, Melt In the Sun, and Molten Rock.
The formula felt thinner than the average polish, but five of the six shades had no pigmentation issues (only Hot Metal was iffy by three coats)–four of the six needed just two coats for rich, opaque color.
Have you spotted these at your local CVS yet? Any catch your eye?
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- Product: 28/30
- Value: 9/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you love your bright, near-metallic, shimmery shades in affordable doses, Milani’s new Liquid Metal Collection does a pretty nice job!
Availability: CVS
Illamasqua Move Intense Lipgloss
Ultra Wearable, Ultra Opaque Lipgloss!
Illamasqua Move Intense Lipgloss
($19.00) is a bit of a reprieve from some of the brighter Illamasqua glosses, yeah? Move is a muted, played-down pink-plum. It totally makes me think “sugar plum fairy” as a description, actually. It’s a truly opaque gloss that completely covers my natural lip color and really works on its own–it doesn’t take on the characteristics of my natural lip color at all.
Intense Lipglosses are amazing for the gloss addict who struggles with the multitude of sheer glosses on the market. They’re so rich and pigmented, so they’re great worn alone for color, but you don’t have to worry about layering a gloss on top to achieve the glossy finish. They’re scent-and taste-free, which makes them good for those with more sensitive senses, too! Oh, and they’re non-sticky, too. Not super thick but not featherweight either–it’s smooth, thin enough to move around, but not so thin it slips around.
The packaging is so-so — it’s a squeeze tube with a slanted tip for application. I think a wand applicator may have been more appropriate, just because you could really get some precision with it, since this isn’t a product you can be loose with! It’s slim, though, which makes it convenient to stash in purses or makeup bags. Each tube contains plenty of product, and you really don’t need much to get full color-coverage, either, which is nice.
I’ve found that I get quite a bit of wear out of these, too. The glossiness does fade after two hours or so, but the color itself works hard for four to six hours, sometimes longer.
More Intense Lipglosses…
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- Product: 29/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you love rich, opaque glosses that aren’t sticky, wear well, and are scent- and taste-free… Illamasqua glosses are a must!
Availability: Sephora
