My first Maybelline?! Maybelline - Cool Couture

I've never met a Maybelline polish that I want to buy. But last weekend while I was in the states shopping I found this in Rite-Aid. It's Maybelline Cool Couture. It's an amazing dark grey teal creme with subtle micro shimmer that flash light blue in the light. 

This is a great work colour. It's not your boring old nude or beige. It's a great colour that could go well with almost anything you wear throughout the week. This was two coats and the application was a little fussy but nothing major. It is one of those colours that shows bumps and lines in your nails, so base coat is a must. It was $4.15 US. I haven't seen these limited edition colours here in Canada yet.

SPOTTED: Drug Store Fall Displays Bellingham, WA (Labour Day Weekend)

So I, along with thousands of others decided to take a little shopping trip over the boarder this past weekend. I didn't go very far just to Bellingham which from Vancouver is about 45 minutes. I really just wanted a few new tops for work and to check out the new fall nail polish... so heres what I saw. Above it the new Revlon polishes from The Expressionist collection. I've done a post on it here. As you can see in the post I bought all of them, from left to right, Starry Pink, Blue Mosaic, Facets of Fuchsia, and Smoky Canvas. This display was in Target. They were $3.74 US each.

Also in Target was this Sonia Kashuk display, which I believe is a Target exclusive brand. They are $4.89 US each. This is her Fall/Winter 2011 Collection. I didn't buy any of them, I did buy her Limited Edition pink blending sponge and a few of her makeup brushes. Below is my favourite from the collection, it's called Blank Slate. I'm kinda regretting not buy it now, but it really looks like China Glaze's Concrete Catwalk. 

This was from Rite-Aid. It was 7 polishes from Maybelline and their Express Finish line. I bought the one the very right called Cool Couture. It's the only Maybelline in my entire collection, the bottles are very unattractive to me. The colour looks so pretty in person, I just had to have it. There was one more Maybelline display beside this one with nail polish on it.. 

I loooove shopping over the boarder. I go about once a month, this time it was just a quick trip just to Bellingham. Bellingham is about 20 minutes from the actual boarder, if you looking for nail polish, they have a Sally Beauty Supply, Target, and Wal-mart. If your trying to reach a Ulta from Vancouver the closest one is Lynnwood, while your in Lynnwood you can check out Nordstroms too, which carries Butter London, MAC, and Deborah Lippmann. 

My two other favourite things about the states are: EOS lip balm and Pink Rockstar :) both I can never find here in Vancouver. 

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pumpkin Spice (Halloween 2011)

I don't know about you, but here in Vancouver it feels like Summer just started. It's September 4 and it's the first day my apartment was too hot to handle. Hence, I made my way to the air-conditioned mall to grab a cool drink and take a look around. Now Pumkin Spice I've seen around for almost a month now and just never picked up, but for some reason today I had to have it. I kept telling myself it was too much like China Glaze's Ick-A-Bod-Y from last years Awakening Halloween collection to justify me buying it... but I still bought it. No will power.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pumkin Spice (three coats)

After I swatched it I thought it was terribly ugly. Like really really fug. So I played around with it a bit and compared it to last year China Glaze's Ick-A-Bod-Y. And I'm glad I didn't just give up on it, over black I think I like it better then Ick-A-Bod-Y.

Left to Right

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pumkin Spice (three coats)

China Glaze - Ick-A-Bod-Y (three coats)

OPI - Black Onyx (two coats) & Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pumkin Spice (one coat)

OPI - Black Onyx (two coats) & China Glaze Ick-A-Body (one coat)

As you can see both polished look much better over Black. They both have a clear black base that takes many coats to build up something more opque. They both have the same orange glitter but China Glaze's has much more. I think I might like Pumpkin Spice more... I'm a little torn, it all depends on how much sparkle you like I guess. 

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear retails for $3.50 CND (and about the same in US). It can be found many places, this particular bottle is from London Drugs, I haven't seen the displays with Pumpkin Spice out anywhere else yet. London Drugs usually has the Limited Edition displays out first. 

China Glaze is a little harder to find in Canada. It' retails for about $7 CND. Ick-A-Bod-Y was a limited edition colour from last Halloween collection only sold at Sally Beauty Supply. In the lower mainland there are two in Surrey and one in Abbotsford and one in Bellingham (if your a cross boarder shopper). China Glaze is also sold at many salons.

I'd love to read our comments on the two! Thanks!

Deborah Lippmann Waking Up in Vegas & Revlon Smoky Canvas Comparison

In my post about the new Revlon fall collection called The Expressionist (click here) I mentioned that my favourite was the polish called Smoky Canvas. Smoky Canvas right away reminded me of Deborah Lippmann's Waking Up in Vegas. Just like Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia comparison to Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance (click here), I'm going to give you another quick comparison. 

Deborah Lippmann - Waking Up in Vegas (two coats)

Revlon - Smoky Canvas (two coats)

This one is a lot easier to compare. Both applied amazingly well. Both were smooth and opaque in two coats. You can see the tone of them are slightly different though. Revlon's Smoky Canvas had a very slightly more brown undertone while Deborah Lippmann's Waking Up in Vegas had a slightly more grey undertone to it. While not exact "dupes" they are very close. Again just like the other comparison from a distance they both look the same. You could be wearing a different one on either hand and I doubt anyone would know the difference.

Top: Revlon - Smoky Canvas

Bottom: Deborah Lippmann - Waking Up in Vegas

Final verdict?

Defiantly "dupe" realm. Not exact, but so close. Honestly you could be wearing Smoky Canvas and tell me that you have Waking Up in Vegas on and I would have no reason to doubt you, they are just that close. So again the only question is would you like to spend $5 or $22? For more on where to get these brands and the prices click here.

Get up and shake the glitter off your clothes now, 

thats what you get for waking up in vegas!

I'm just starting to blog, and I'm loving watching the stats go up and seeing people from other counties are reading my posts. Thats so exciting for me! Please don't be shy to ask questions or tell me what you you think in the comments :) Thanks

Revlon The Expressionist Collection A/W 2011

Exciting!!! This is Revlon's newest collection called the Expressionist collection and it is influenced by art by Franz Kline. It has four polishes from left to right: 

• Facets of Fuchsia  (a black jelly base filled with purple glitter and a sprinkling of purple hexagon glitter)

• Blue Mosaic  (a clear base packed with blue glitter and sparse hexagon glitter in blue, green and silver)

• Starry Pink  (a light purple/pink milky cream with silver glitter and silver hexagon glitter)

• Smoky Canvas  (a light brown cream with grey undertones)

When I saw the first bottle pictures of these a few month ago I got so excited. I only started paying attention to drug store nail polishes about a year ago. They have come a long long way!

Revlon has been putting out look a-likes for some time now. But it was mostly Chanel colours they copied so now it looks like they've moved on to Deborah Lippmann. I'm a little torn on this idea. I personally like wearing my Chanel or Deborah Lippmann polishes and knowing there isn't anything else like it. The other part of me thinks that it just pushes brands like Chanel to work even hard to come out with the next big thing, and that keeps things exciting!

My first impression...

• Facets of Fuchsia is a possible dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance (one my my all time favourite polishes) (See comparison here)
• Blue Mosaic is a possible dupe for Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe
• Smoky Canvas is a possible dupe for Deborah Lippmann Waking up in Vegas (see comparison here)
• Starry Pink was the only one I wasn't sure if it copied another polish, from another brand maybe? If anyone knows, let me know!

I have Bad Romance and Waking up in Vegas so I'll be doing a comparison post soon. Now my thoughts on the colours... Smoky Canvas by far my favourite of the bunch, application was perfect. I was opaque in one coat, but I did two coats out of sheer habit. I can tell already that Facets of Fuchsia will be the one of the bunch to get the most hype.  Starry Pink was a hot messy after 3 coats, goopy and just not flattering. To get the three sparkle polishes opaque it took 3 coats, my guess is that these are best layered with other polishes.

Revlon is sold nearly everywhere! In Vancouver its available at London Drugs, Shoppers, SuperStore, Wal-Mart... You never have to go very far to find Revlon. It retails for $5 CND. Limited Edition collection displays I find pop up in London Drugs stores first. These are set to be release in October.

This was my first impressions of the collection, I wanted to get a few pictures up cause I'm sure they will be in a store near you soon. I'm going to have some DL comparisons coming. I would also love if you let me know what you think in the comments :) 

OPI Pair'em Scare'em Limited Edition Halloween 2011 Pack

Ummmmm cool! K I love this set. This is OPI's Pair'em Scare'em Halloween pack. OPI also came out with a pack of four minis called the Spookettes (see pictures here). Both packs had Zom-Body to love a green glow in the dark polish. Pair'em Scare'em had two full size bottles, one Zom-Body to Love and one Black Shatter. 

You can see the packaging is so adorable. Glow in the dark is usually a little hard to work with and usually clumpy but ZBTL was actually not so bad. I suggest shaking well, it doesn't take very long for it to separate. First I'll show you pictures of it by itself. Kinda reminds me of Chanel Jade? Click on the pictures for a closer view!

And now to experiment...

Top: 1 coat plain white polish & 2 coats of Zom-body to Love

Bottom: 4 coats Zom-Body to Love by itself

Top: 1 coat plain white polish & 2 coats of Zom-body to Love & 1 coat Black Shatter

Bottom: 4 coats Zom-Body to Love by itself & 1 coat Black Shatter

From Left to Right:

-4 coats Zom-Body to Love by itself & 1 coat Black Shatter

-1 coat plain white polish & 2 coats of Zom-body to Love & 1 coat Black Shatter

-4 coats Zom-Body to Love by itself

-1 coat plain white polish & 2 coats of Zom-body to Love

Conclusion: I think it looks better (especially in person with a layer of white underneath).

Excuse the Black Shatter mess! I didn't want to open the new bottle that came with it because I have a OPI Black Shatter opened already from when it first came out and it already seemed chunky/crusty. Hmmmmmmmm

Now the fun stuff! Time to turn the lights down...

Final thoughts... Zom-Body to love is amazing, I'm loving it. In the light and in the dark I think it looked more vibrant over a white base (I just used Joe Fresh in White). To see it glow brighter it has so be able to absorb some light.