Monthly Archives: May 2011

May 30, 2011 · 5:30 pm

Jason Wu for CND: Miss Wu

 I can’t recall the last time I felt overly satisfied with the purchase of an entire set of nail polishes. This Jason Wu for CND collection is great. Although tame in its color palette, the colors are wonderful and a solid group of wearable, neutrals. From the way the colors flow, to the packaging, to the polishes is a home run.

Light, barely metallic grey

Miss Wu is a sexy, modern grey. Jason Wu describes it as a warm grey, but it doesn’t particularly read that way on me. It’s almost more neutral in tone. However, it’s definitely not reading as cool, or blue toned. But there’s something about it that makes it very appealing and lovely. It’s a nice, crisp, light color that’s super fresh for any season. It also has a bit of subtle, hidden metallic sheen that comes to life in the sun.

Perfect, smooth application

Most importantly regarding Miss Wu, is its completely outstanding application and formula. I may just go out there and say this is one of the best formulas I’ve ever used in a polish. It was SO pigmented, saturated, and smooth it took me by surprised. There wasn’t a hint of streaks or unevenness. It was beyond perfect in two coats. This polish dries matte, which is a little surprising, but it looks great matte or with top coat. I couldn’t ask for anything more in a polish. Even if the color isn’t the most unique the application would beat any other similar color by a mile. It’s excellent!

CND Jason Wu packaging

Jason Wu book about polishes and his inspiration

The packaging is a nice, sturdy case that houses all 5 polishes. It pulls in and out very easily and is well made. A little pamphlet comes inside with details and explanations of the collection’s colors and where they were drawn from. I think this is nicely put together and it’s interesting to see where the fashion designer pulled from in his own collections to come up with the polishes.

Where to buy: CND.com / Transdesign.com / $23 from Transdesign and $47 at CND

I love everything about this collection. The polishes perform better than I imaged. If you’re interested, neutrals or not, go for it.

I hope everyone had a nice, long weekend. I like to be a busy bee, so I’m happy to go back to work tomorrow. I’ll leave you with this HUGE beauty:

Hot pink tree peonies!

- Liz

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May 28, 2011 · 10:58 pm

1 Year Blogiversary Giveaway!! THIS CONTEST NOW CLOSED. Thanks for entering!

Win us!! Essie, Borghese, Zoya & more!

CONTEST NOW CLOSED! Thanks for entering and we will post our winner soon!

In a few weeks, Death by Polish’s 1 year anniversary will be here! It’s nuts to think how the past year has gone by. During DBP’s first 12 months, Lauren and I have really enjoyed being able to share our ever growing infatuation of nail polish with more than just each other. It’s been a blast and a great outlet to discuss our hobby with all of you. (And be able to justify all of our spending on nail polishes for the good of the blog, right?)

We hope to keep our current readers and gain new readers that share our seriously crazy obsession. Personally for me, DBP has been somewhat of a rock and helped me to enjoy something in my days or when I needed to take my mind off of things. I’ve also discovered how much I truly enjoy blogging. No matter how I feel, blogging about polish for you guys has always been awesome. I hope to continue to connect with many people in the nail community.

To celebrate, I have decided to throw a little blog party and send someone home with a sweet party favor; a bunch of new polishes!

Here’s what polishes YOU could win:

Ocean Breeze, Goldie, Purple Gleam

Aurora Sunset, Limoncello, It's Genius

Neo Whimsical, SV Base Coat

My Lifesaver, Pixy Stix

Melt down, Tutti fruitti, In the buff

Violet metal, Molten rock, Steel grey

The Prize: (1 bottle of each)

Essie – It’s Genius

Nicole by OPI – My Lifesaver

Sonia Kushuk – Ocean Breeze

Zoya – Goldie

Milani One Coat Glitter – Purple Gleam

Seche Vite Base Coat

Borghese – Aurora Sunset

Borghese – Limoncello

Essie – Neo Whimiscal

Orly – Pixy Stix

Milani – Melt Down

Sonia Kashuk – Tutti Fruitti

Sonia Kashuk – In the Buff

Rimmel – Violet Metal

Milani – Molten Rock

Rimmel – Steel Grey

RULES & ENTRY:

TO ENTER - Please comment ONCE with your favorite nail polish that you own! (It’s a hard one I know, but I’m curious)

Open to US Citizens ONLY (Sorry!)

Winner will be contacted via email and has 24 hours to respond

CONTEST IS CLOSED!

This contest is open for a couple of weeks; do DBP a favor and promote our 1 Year Blogiversary Giveaway if you have a blog, twitter, etc. We have a lot of avid readers, but would like as many as possible to be able to enter. Who doesn’t like a giveaway?!

Thank you so much for reading Death by Polish and participating. Good luck!

- Liz & Lauren

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May 27, 2011 · 6:54 am

CND Jason Wu: Veronica

This nail polish makes me think of comics. Why? Because I loved Archie comics and the two female characters were Betty and Veronica. I used to collection them and have hundreds. I obviously loved Veronica because she looked like me. So, Veronica will forever draw that connection. Nerd!

I haven’t seen many swatches of this CND Jason Wu collection yet. I have really been appreciating neutrals lately and wanted to beef up my CND collection. So, this collabo fit the bill nicely. The set comes with 4 full sized polishes and 1 CND Effects polish.

Closest to actual color. Gorgeous, deep red.

I need to start off by saying, I LOVE this polish. I don’t like reds and this has me wrapped around its finger. Jason Wu describes Veronica as “a pomegranate seed tone.” It is deep and richly red like a pomegranate. It has a certain darkness to it that is stunning. It also has both blue and brown undertones in it, so it’s pretty much perfect! This photo is most color accurate; it captures its deep hue. It’s almost oxblood red but with duo cool / warm undertones. Just gorgeous.

Glossy, saturated and perfectly pigmented

The formula on this was absolute perfection. It was SO smooth and buttery, it almost didn’t need my help to apply itself to my nails. It was so rich and pigmented on the first coat, I barely needed a second. It was a touch runny, but it was easily spreadable. The finish on this polish was full of high shine, and it’s slightly squishy. It’s among the half jelly / half creme hybrid taking over.

Where to Buy: CND.com / $47 (PSST! – I got mine off of Transdesign.com for $23!!)

Are you interested in this collabo? Did the neutral collection turn you off or on?  Have you heard about how WEIRD the effect top coat is? It’s suppose to be “tweed” inspired (cool idea) but looks like hair in your manicure! No thanks.

I wanted to mention that the packaging of this collection is really nice. It also comes with a cool little flipbook about Jason Wu’s inspiration for the polishes and some other info. I’ll post some pictures of it with the next polish I wear from the set. Sorry I forgot!

- Liz

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May 25, 2011 · 6:52 pm

Butter London: Lady Muck

Cool blue

Liz and I have been eyeing the Butter London polishes for the past couple months. I ended up finally getting my first one! Lady Muck is a pale blue with silver micro glitter. I just loved this polish

Surprisingly enough, I don’t have another color like this. I have seen it compared to CG Sea Spray and a few others, so I’m not sure how many light grey blues you need, but I think this is so pretty. You can see the silver microglitter in the bottle and it comes out really nicely when you put the polish on as well. It’s not gritty, so don’t worry about laying on the top coat.

more of a close-up

This applied nicely for me, smooth and opaque right away. I believe I used two coats, but I don’t think three would hurt. I was also very impressed with the wear on this, it stayed nice and unchipped for several days.

I like a lot of the Butter colors available and definitely plan on getting more. I though the brush, application, and wear on the polish were all great. I would definitely recommend checking these out and I know I’ve seen them in more and more places. Now, one more before I go!

in the shade

Where to buy: Nordstrom’s / Ulta / Beauty.com /$16

Can’t wait for my nails to stop peeling!

-Lauren

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May 23, 2011 · 3:07 pm

Wet n Wild Shine: Blue Moon

I couldn’t decide on a polish today. I thought that this color was going to too dark for what I was feeling, but I was happily surprised. I saw swatches of this polish randomly and loved it. I love blue polishes, and have noticed I could use some more dark blues & Blue Moon fits right in that gap.

Dark blue with green microshimmer

This color is awesome. It’s super dark, but you can still tell that it’s a dark navy and not black. It may have a touch of green in the base color. It’s packed with navy and green micro-shimmer that lights up the polish in the sun, it looks so pretty. It’s super rich and full of depth. I don’t have any blue like this in my collection.

Great, dark pigmentation

The formula on this was excellent. It was super pigmented and went on smooth. I applied more polish on the first coat that I normally would just to get a nice, dark base. It was a touch runny but was really saturated. I used two coats and everything looks perfect. This polish also has somewhat of a jelly finish? It’s somewhat squishy and super shiny. Another reason to love it!

I’m worried about the wear on this bad boy though; the rest of the Wet n Wild Shines I’ve tried had chipping right away. This color is so nice, I hope that doesn’t happen.

Where to Buy: Drugstores / 99 cents!!

Do you own Blue Moon? If not, do you own anything dupey?

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May 21, 2011 · 3:21 pm

China Glaze: Techno Teal

So, we all know that China Glaze’s Tronica got a bad wrap. The scattered holographic effect wasn’t strong enough for a lot of polish lovers, and many of the colors seemed to be repeats from the OMG collection. But, I really didn’t have too much of a bone to pick with Tronica regarding that. I liked the colors and the scattered holo’s don’t bum me out. Whatever!

Pretty, saturated teal. In shade

Techno Teal is a really nice color. The teal is almost a perfect tone. It’s saturated, but not too dark. If I had to say, on me at least, it seems to lean slightly more blue. But I like how the color is still bright, but not too light or dark. I’d love this color without the holo.

Hello, holo!

I will admit, the formula on this holo was a little bit fussy. I did have some bald spots.  However, I don’t use a holographic specific basecoat. But compared to how OPI DS’s apply, I would say this collection is harder to apply. I used two coats and with the exception of the couple bald spots, I got pretty good opacity.

I think overall I really like the color of this polish, so I didn’t mind the little problems I had with the formula. If it was a different color, I probably would have been more annoyed. Unforunately, the wear on this polish was typical holo; as in, not very good. Though I did really enjoy this manicure while it lasted!

Where to Buy: Online Retailers (or I recently found these on clearance at Sally’s for $1.99!) / $ 5 (ish)

Were you anti-Tronica? Do you feel that linear holo’s are a little too intense sometimes? I do.

- Liz

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May 18, 2011 · 5:44 pm

OPI: My Chihuahua Bites

I started an awesome, new full-time nanny job this week and am wiped out!

But, I’m back with another polish that is one of my favorites, believe it or not. Regular readers know that I’m just not a red girl, but I LOVE this polish. And I’m not really sure why, to be honest. It’s not that unique of a shade, but there’s something about it that makes it look great on me, and it’s great for warm weather.

Bright, saturated red / orange

My Chihuahua Bites is part of OPI’s standard collection. I think I actually purchased this polish at Target on a whim. The color is awesome. It has a really nice balance of both red and orange. It also has a noticeable pink hue to it, but doesn’t read as coral, which is cool. Something about this shade is just perfect and it looks great on my skin and nails. It’s bright and poppy.

Glossy and shiny, almost jelly finish

The formula and application on this polish couldn’t be better. It goes on very smooth and easy. The first coat is almost fully opaque and I wouldn’t see ever needing more than two coats. The finish on this polish is basically a half jelly / half creme but I would say leans more jelly. There’s the slightest bit of VNL, but it doesn’t bother me at all. I love everything about this polish!

Where to Buy: Ulta / JCPenny / Professional Salons / Target / Trade Secret / Dillard’s / $ 8.50

Do you own My Chihuahua Bites? Do you love it as much as I do? Or is it a shade you hear about and mean to snag but forget?

P.S. – Enjoy this beauty.

I love this color combination

I want a polish the exact color of that light and airy citrus green-y yellow so bad!

- Liz

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May 16, 2011 · 9:08 pm

Revlon: Siren

bright orange sherbet!

Hey everyone! It’s great to be back, it’s been so long since I’ve posted! I’ve been very busy lately, but have been taking plenty of pictures and still have lots of polish to share with you all. I’ve had this one for a few weeks now and finally got around to wearing it: Revlon’s Siren.

This packaging was revived for the Revlon Limited Edition Fire & Ice Collection and for whatever reason, I was beside myself trying to get my paws on some of it. I succeeded in picking up Siren and was waiting for the perfect weather for this bright orange.

To be honest, I thought that this was going to come out more coral on me, but it definitely did not. What you see is what you get with Siren: bright and bubbly orange creme. It’s not as dramatic or intense an orange as some other polishes, when I compared it to a piece of orange clothing I had, you could tell this was somewhat softer (if that’s possible for orange), almost kind of like an orange sherbet.

yum!

I ended up liking this color a lot, however I felt the finish of it was rather dull. For me, a creme has to be either nice and smooth and shiny or smooth and matte. This came out kind of lackluster on that end. It did apply nicely in two coats and is opaque, it wore fairly well too. Overall, I’m pleased with Siren and think it’s a great summer color. I’m looking forward to putting a nice shimmer over it next time and think it’ll look really good on toes.

Hope warm weather is coming everyone’s way!

-Lauren

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May 13, 2011 · 1:26 pm

Essie: Demure Vixen

Believe it or not, this is one of my favorite polishes in my collection. We have already blogged it on Death by Polish, but I wanted to write about it personally since I do really love it.

Demure Vixen was part of Essie’s Summer 2010 collection. The bright, violet microshimer flash in this polish is incredible. And I think the name of this color captures everything that it is. It’s reserved, but sexy.

Purple flash in the sun

Demure Vixen’s base color is pretty, interesting and kind of hard to describe.  It’s an edgy neutral that mixes beige / taupe , mauve, and even pink. Even if this color didn’t have the purple flash, I think it would still be a great color because it’s hard to describe. But the violet flash is something really unexpected, especially for Essie, and is awesome. It has the contrast of pretty and cool. It’s a juxtaposition that really works well.

Demure Vixen

Another thing I like about this polish is that you can build up the color easily, or wear it more sheer with just one coat. It becomes quiet opaque after three coats. The formula is a little thin, but is really easy to apply and manage. The one downside is, well, I would take more violet flash in this polish. It’s noticeable in the sunlight, but does disappear indoors. It doesn’t bother me really, but just something I would like more of.

Where to Buy: Online Retailers / $5 – $8

Were you surprised by Demure Vixen last summer? Or did it not do it for you? I know Pretty Edgy was the main attraction of this collection, but I think Demure Vixen was a show stopper.

- Liz

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May 11, 2011 · 1:09 pm

OPI Pirates of the Caribbean: Mermaid’s Tears

First of all, I think this polish name is really cool and not too cheesy like some of the other ones in this collection.

And for some reason, I’m pretty interested in some of the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean polishes. Although they seem somewhat typical at first glance, they aren’t. They all have a bit of dustiness and a bit of dirtiness to them which is appealing to someone like me who normally doesn’t gravitate toward pastels.

Dusty sea foamy green

Mermaid’s Tears is not your typical sea-foam green. It’s a bit dingy and less saturated than all of those other minty / sea-foam greens you already own. I actually love it. The muted color is so pretty. The color is tweaked just the slightest bit, but it adds a big difference and allows this color to be more relaxed and polished.

Glossy

The formula and application on this color was great. It went on very smoothly. It also evened itself out very nicely after the second coat. It seems to be one of those half creme / half jelly hybrids, which sometimes needs three coats to even out, but this one was great in two and dried quickly.

Mermaid's Tears VS Turquoise & Caicos

Here you can tell that Mermaid’s Tears is a bit more greyed out that Turquoise & Caicos. It looks more grown up and less minty than the typical sea-foam green, which I feel is a great change.

Where to Buy: Ulta / JCPenny / Dillard’s / Trade Secret / Salons / $ 8.50

A lot of us polish collectors are suckers for sea-foam greens and they are all the same, but Mermaid’s Tears offers something different that makes it worthy of getting. I really like it!

How are you guys feeling about the Pirates of the Caribbean colors? A little bit let down or do you like them? Did Mermaid’s Tears suck you in?

- Liz

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