Ciate - Spending Spree

Ciate is one of those brands I picked up because the color was pretty and I knew they were bunny safe. Generally I'm not branching out much on new brands these days. It's expensive enough keeping up with the ones I already collect and love. I don't need to add even more to keep up with. I have good luck with British brands and these are intriguing. I had wanted to introduce all kinds of new bunny friendly brands, and I still want to, but keeping up is so expensive. The other thing is, as much as I would love to support the independents, I can never seem to find their collections when they actually have any. That can be a real challenge when you can't be online every day. Well, not at home, anyway. So, the moral of this is, I only have a few Ciates.

This one is Spending Spree, ironically, which is a lovely rose gold metallicky almost duo-chromey sort of thing.

Unfortunately, my crap camera didn't pick up the duo-chrome effect though I did take about a bazillion pictures.

This is with flash, it's washing it out a little. This color has a curious almost dirty look to it...kind of similar to a patina, if you can imagine. As you can see here, it's really pretty, the micro shimmery goodness lends so much.

You can see some tipwear here, this manicure is really kind of old at this point. I believe this was maybe 6 days? I can't tell you how it was done, either. BMWWU did this one.

Without flash it's a little darker and I think you can possibly see what I mean about the darkness to this. It's difficult to describe.

Again with no flash. This is closer to the real color here, but it's still not quite it. I never did really capture it and I apologize. This one wasn't cooperative.

This is quite true, as close as I ever got, though I will still show you a bunch more pics!
That little bow is glued on there and so far it's stayed put.

If you look at the right corner of the bottle you can see some of that patina like effect I'm trying to describe. I was trying everything to get it to show, but it no deal.

This pic was really altered in the editing. I apologize it has such a weird aura to it. I almost didn't use it.

uh-huh! Seeing now why I gave you that side of the bottle swatch? I was trying to get you a clear view into the bottle! I kind of don't like this about this brand, actually. You have a very small window to see the lacquer color in truth.

Many More attempts to capture the color more accurately:

So what do you think? Like? I enjoyed wearing it, even though I confess I do realize it's not the best color for me. It's still pretty and was really appropriate as I went Christmas shopping right after this manicure!

Happy Talons!

Deborah Lippmann - Private Dancer

Private Dancer is from Deborah Lippmann's spring metallics collection. I fell in love with these on sight and immediately ordered all three. Immediately that I had the cash, that is. Much as I love Lippmann's, they are NOT cheap.

Private Dancer was the one I was most excited to get, though once they arrived they were all so stunning. But still, this has fire in it.

I think the lacquer may still have been wet when I took this. It was downright hypnotic. That shimmer you see is both part of the metallic quality of this as well as a shimmer added in.

This had some wear issues, oddly enough. I suspect it was more an old top coat problem than a polish problem.
I always seem to have old top coat!

Look how this blackens around the curve of the nail, this is so complex. It's sparkly, it's mirror like, the color is intense, it's very highly pigmented.

Different lighting, a little overexposed. It's a chameleon, for sure, but there is no hint of duochrome really. This polish knows what it is and it's good at it. It so incredibly gorgeous.

Very color true picture. Ugh, my cuticles need HELP! But you can see the shine and complexity here. You can even see that it has a slightly silvery particle feel, though I don't know that you'd say you saw silver per se.

 You can see it reflects the metallic properties better on the nail than in the bottle, but this is very true to color. it has different properties in different light but it's very true to what you see. It's really exceptionally gorgeous.

Different light again. This is probably more direct but with flash. I thought it was important to try to show all the facets of this color.

The label shot. This one was a good one!

Lots going on with this color. And the color itself! One of my favorites, this is a lovely amethyst purple. It's a little darker than this in real life, check the label shot, it's very true.

Last one.
You can see some weirdness happened on the thumb nail here. I kinda bungled it, but you can see it fixed up OK

This wore for only about 4 days. Not the best, which really surprised me. As it was a first wearing, I would be inclined to blame the manicurist (moi) rather than the polish as Lippmann's really are the best quality. This was incredibly stunning while it lasted.

I don't exactly remember the mechanics, which might be a good thing. Next time I will need to try something different.

I hope you like this. This one was chosen by my guy friend who is willing to look at nail polish with me. For hours. He's dedicated. He loved it! So there is the male opinion on this one!

Happy Talons!

Chanel Black Pearl - No Jack Sparrow

Chanel Black Pearl had the potential to be one of those legendary polishes. It's so gorgeous in the bottle and while I was a little hesitant about the green flash (I'm not a big fan of green. It's OK.) I took forever to finally wear it. I'm not a huge fan of Chanel polishes. They're over-priced, I rarely get good wear out of them...the thing is, they are right up there on originality of color. Chanel will probably generate the next big thing and being a polish hound...I buy into it almost every time. Almost.

I know there are some that just love this polish. I've read a couple other blog reviews and they are loving it. I felt it did not live up to the hype the bottle generates.

Sorry about the glare. This does show the metallic particles in the polish, which does redeem it for me somewhat. I did think it was an accurate portrayal of a black pearl. If you've never seen one, they do have a greenish cast at times. They're quite beautiful, really. I suppose this is, too. I wasn't in love with it, though. It was meh.

My desk! Best swatch lighting IN THE WORLD! OK, so this shows both the metallic feel on the nails and the green in the bottle. See what's happening in the bottle? A lovely wonderful world of green and black and ooo. On the nail? Pencil lead. That's what I kept thinking as I looked at it. It looks like pencil lead. Blah. I had quite a few compliments on it and I might wear it again just to see if I like it better, but....not what I wanted it to be!

Here you can see hints of the green. This doesn't apply streaky and I have to admit, for a Chanel it wore well. No major tip wear or anything. It's rather thick, which I personally like, I think it's easier to control, and it went on nicely. This is two coats.

*sigh*
I don't own anything quite like this, it is very original, I just didn't love it. I wanted to be ecstatic about it and I'm not. I'm not even moderately amused.
Pencil Lead.

So this was mechanically:

1 coat Seche base coat
1 coat Nailtiques 2
2 coats Fiberglass Network (Because my rebuild is about dead and my nails are showing it's lack. Broke 2 yesterday.)
2 coats Chanel Black Pearl
1 coat Poshe Top Coat


I don't know. What do you guys think? Am I just being too particular? Did I have my hopes set too high?

Happy Talons. **grumble, grumble**

Deborah Lippmann Brick House

Deborah Lippmann Brick House is part of the new Fall collection. These have been out about a month or so. I did post bottle pics when the haul arrived, but I didn't swatch. Well, now I have.

This is a really lovely copper metallic. It's not so much brick, which I associate with red, but instead a metallic terra cotta? It's really gorgeous. It's very wearable. Here's a better swatch:

I believe this may have been only one coat...Judging by how thin it looks in the first swatch, it might be. I know I had two lacquers that I swatched that were one coaters. This may have been one. A second and third coat sure won't hurt it, if it was. This is so stunning, and so wearable. It's a tricky color for some skin tones, having that much orange in it. Mine should be one of those, however, and it's not.

It's not frosty or shimmery, that is just the metallic finish to it. It's probably my favorite of the Fall collection. They are all beautiful, of course, but this is lovely, lady like, but still a little edgy. It's definitely Fall but I see no reason this can't come out in the Summer and Winter, too.

So...I know when I did the bottle shots I did a comparison to Illamasqua's Shrapnel. In the bottle they are so different. Shrapnel looks more pale, softer, pinker...I had to try it anyways.

This picture really shoes the differences in the bottle colors, but the nails...not so much. You can see Shrapnel is pinker here.

Let's try that again.

Ah. Here we go. This is pretty true to color. It's a tad washed out...and don't ever punch someone like this, you'll break your thumb. I just didn't paint the thumb nail so I hid it. These have about the same kind of metallic finish. Shrapnel leans more towards a foil. They are in the same color family, to be sure, but Brick House is darker, redder, while Shrapnel, denying it's rather fantastic name, is pinker, softer and more delicate. They are both gorgeous. I would say Brick House is a more true copper while Shrapnel is the color of rose gold. And they both look good on my super white skin, which normally rejects anything passing for orange. I just wear oranges anyways!

So what do you think? Brick House, totally beautiful? I think so too.

It went on nicely, like a Lippmann should. You're paying top dollar for it, it better go on nicely! I think this was two coats, to be honest. I think I took that first swatch and slapped another coat on. It's two coats of Shrapnel as well. Both polishes apply so nicely. I can't complain about either brand, honestly.

I think when it comes down to it, if you love this color, get a hold of both of these. They are different enough. If you like this color then I'd choose one, purely on your own preference or skin tone. These are top shelf lacquers with top shelf prices, and I confess, if I hadn't purchased Shrapnel some time ago, I would likely have not bought both. That, my fellow polish hounds, is up to you!

Happy Talons!!