Deborah Lippmann - Careless Whisper

I wasn't that excited about Careless Whisper. I bought it because it's a Lippmann, it's the new collection...I'm a collector. An OCD one. Another neutral. **yawn**

I'm not so arrogant I am incapable of admitting when I was wrong.

When these arrived, I beelined for Moon Rendezvous because that was what I really wanted out of the three. Unlike most of the Christmas collections that underwhelmed me, these three were each unique and beautiful. The pink I have some issues with but I will share when I get to that one next. It's not the polish. (Wait for it!)

Careless Whisper is a perfect (for my skin tone, anyway) pinky beige neutral that surprisingly had a silvery shimmer to it. I expected blah and instead received a lovely versatile polish with depth and character.

Let's take a look!

If you read this blog at all, you know that I don't like sheers. However, if you're going for sheer, this is a good one. It adds a little shimmer, a hint of color and then it's done. It's simple and elegant and lovely.
But I don't want that. So I put on another coat.

Ehhhh...brings out the shimmer and the color but the VNL looks non-committal...I want more opacity. So this is a three coater if you're not going for a sheer look.

There we are. This is still a little thin, you can see some VNL, but I think all told, with a good covering nail strengthener or base coat such as Seche Rebuild or Orly Nail Armour...butterLondon Nail Foundation...something in that line, three will do ya. I don't typically wear these dustier colors well, but this one is pink enough to work on me. The shimmer adds depth and interest without overwhelming or being distracting. This is a perfect conservative office kind of color. This can easily do an interview. I've kind of faked this color with layering, I think I've talked about it before.

Finally a label shot. This is pretty washed out and I didn't attempt to correct it. The other pictures are more color accurate. If you're caught in a police interrogation under one of those bright lights it would look like this...

You know that when I paint my nails it can look like drunken monkeys have been partying on my fingertips, but this, as thin as it was, was so easy to control. I don't expect less, but it's always nice when I can prove it.

Isn't this lovely? **sigh**

A nice successful close-up swatch. I think I'm improving! This really shows the shimmer off. I love how it's so understated. Chunky glitters are fun and they have their place, but I really prefer this subtle stuff. And you don't look like a Vegas stripper when you take it off.

The last one. I think this will work on many different complections, it is neutral enough, but there will be some it won't. If you can see it in person if you doubt it, just do the bottle test. You know, hold the bottle on the back of your hand. If it makes you go ICK then it's not for you, but I think those will be few and far between.

So to sum up!
*Makes a beautiful sheer in one coat
*Fully Opaque in three (With a good base coat, which you do every time anyways. Right?)
*Understated shimmer in a beautiful pink neutral base
*Perfect office or interview color

What's not to love. Just order this one at the same time you order Moon Rendezvous if you haven't already. If you haven't then why are you waiting??

Happy Talons! And how can they be anything else in a color like this?

Zoya Pandora

The name Pandora always makes me think of Samantha's mother from Bewitched. Her name, however, was Endora. Regardless. I always think of that. I don't know why.

Pandora is what I wound up wearing for my most recent interview and it was a good choice. It wore amazingly, which is what this post is about: a review of Zoya Pandora the polish.

This is Pandora one week old. Not bad, right? Some wear but nothing ridiculous. Nothing you'd take the time to repair. It's a pretty pearly pinky neutral, it suits my coloring very well.

You can see the creamy pearly finish here, it really takes the light but it's not overpowering. It's a pretty shade.

There is a slight shimmer, you can see a hint of it here, but overall it's a very subtle color. It's pretty without drawing attention to itself. It's the kind of color that finishes a look.

I can't believe this wore this well for an entire week. I am notoriously hard on my nails, and I have very bad luck with Zoya on the whole. I know that it's a very popular brand and I really love the colors and I have quite a bit of it, but I have never got this kind of wear out of it. Maybe it really is a product of my own nails being stronger, maybe I found the right combination of supporting strengtheners, top and base coats to really make it last. I'm not sure. I was very surprised, though. This went Sunday to Saturday and was still going when I had my manicure.

The right, just so you can see. You can tell this is getting ready to lift and chip here, but it hadn't yet. I think I may have gone over the tips once on this manicure. I believe I did. It's been awhile now. I'm just getting around to blogging it. I've been having a lot of wifi problems so I'm taking advantage while I can. It's up and running right now. May not last!

Zoya Pandora - a very reliable color, good for the office, no matter how conservative, and for interviews. Good wear.

Happy Talons!