Category Archives: *Swatches & Comparisons

L’Oreal Project Runway Nail Polish for Fall 2012 Swatches & Review

the queen’s might; the mystic’s fortune; the mystic’s future; the temptress’ power; the muse’s attitude

Today at Rite Aide I came across a full display of the new limited edition L’oreal Project Runway collection for Fall 2012. There are four color stories – each has a lipstick, a gloss, an eyeshadow quad, a blush, two nail polishes, and nail stickers. The color stories are named the Enchanted Queen, the Wise Mystic, the Seductive Temptress, and the Artsy Muse. You can see press images of everything but the nail stickers here. I decided to buy five of the eight nail polishes and one lip gloss (which will be reviewed separately) – it helps that L’oreal was on sale!

For completeness, here are the three nail polishes I didn’t buy, along with “the mystic’s future” which I did buy (I wasn’t going to, but changed my mind).

l’oreal the muse’s inspiration; the temptress’s touch; the mystic’s fortune; the queen’s ambition

Note: In the promo photos the two temptress nail polishes (temptress’s touch and temptress’s power) are switched from what I found in-store.

I also have photos of the nail stickers since they aren’t online with the other images. Click to enlarge.

As for the five polishes I purchased, the quality was uniformly good – all five were thin and flowed smoothly, but the opacity varied significantly. I’ve noted how many coats each required. I did not use topcoat for any of the swatches so you can see the actual finish. Any lumpiness is due to the fact that I was swatching quickly and the fact that my nails are not particularly smooth at the moment, not the polishes.

the queen’s might; shade with flash

the queen’s might – full sun

The Queen’s Might is a pink-based red. I did two coats, but it probably requires three to be fully opaque. I would describe it as a shimmery jelly.

the mystic’s fortune, shade

the mystic’s fortune, full sun

The Mystic’s Fortune is definitely my favorite of the set. As soon as I painted one nail I knew it would be difficult to photograph – it’s in that space in between blue and purple – blurple – and photographs don’t show the complexity and beauty of the color. It is gorgeous, unique in the 200 or so polishes I own, and if you buy just one polish from this collection – this is the one to get. This was almost opaque in one coat, but I did two.

the mystic’s future, shade

the mystic’s future, full sun

I almost didn’t buy this one, but I’m so glad I did. It’s a shimmery, lit-from-within red-based violet. It looks like a duochrome in some photos, but I couldn’t really see much, if any, duochrome in person. This is two coats and fully opaque.

the temptress’ power, shade

the temptress’ power, shade with flash

the temptress’ power, full sun

The Temptress’ [sic] Power is a really interesting shade – I haven’t seen anything like it. It is a very sheer, sparkling gold with a strong pale green duochrome. It’s nothing like the numerous Peridot dupes, because the gold is more orange based and the green is more blue-based and much lighter. It’s a little closer to Maybelline Boho Gold, but the tones are really quite different. This is a sheer polish; I did three coats and have visible nail line.

the muse’s attitude, shade

the muse’s attitude, full sun

The Muse’s Attitude is really lovely dark green polish that leans teal. The first coat was VERY patchy – totally unwearable. The second coat looked good – wearable, but I did a third coat for the photos. I don’t know why the first coat was so patchy, but it’s not a problem since it evens out so well. This color reminds me of A-England St. George without the holo shimmer.

Overall, these are fantastic polishes. The formula is great, and I love all five of the colors I picked out. The other three colors are lovely too, just not right for me – I skipped the orange and black with sparkles since I have multiple similar polishes and the lime green is not something I see myself wearing.

Sinful Colors Polar Opposites NOTD and Magnetic Nail Polish Magnet Strength Comparison

Sinful Colors Polar Opposites

One of my favorite nail polish trends of the past year or so is magnetic nail polish – I know some people are getting tired of it, but don’t think I ever will; it’s like nail art for dummies!

My newest magnetic nail polish acquisition is Sinful Colors Polar Opposites. As you can see, it’s really lovely – silvery grey with a blue shimmer. The blue shimmer is more prominent in person. The formula was great – thin and even. I might have been able to get away with one coat, but I did two. And, the design didn’t smear or change at all when I applied topcoat.

Sinful Colors Polar Opposites

The magnet that the Sinful Colors polish comes with is very strong, and it inspired me to pull out all of nail polish magnets I’ve acquired and compare them – something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now! I used Nails, Inc. Trafalger Square magnetic nail polish – I applied two coats to each nail on the wheel, and while the second coat was wet, held each magnet near the wheel for a count of ten.

Nail polish magnets

The nail polish cap magnet is from the Nails, Inc. polish. The horseshoe shaped magnet with three designs is (obviously) China Glaze. The magnet with a ring on the back is the Sinful Colors magnet. The small boat-shaped magnets are from the Pretty Woman Magnetix polishes found at Rite Aide – the black one is wavy lines, and the red one is straight lines.

The results:

Magnets used:
Nails, Inc; Sinful Colors; China Glaze chevron, star, lines; Pretty Woman wavy lines, straight lines.

Please note that it is harder to use magnets on a nail wheel than on your nails – everything would look clearer and better on nails. However, it’s obvious that some magnets are far better than others. The Nails, Inc. and Sinful Colors magnets are very strong, and they will be my go-to for wavy lines and stars from now on. The China Glaze chevron also did well, so I will continue to use that. Everything else was both disappointing and a repeat of a stronger magnet, so there’s no need for me to use it.

Are you a fan of magnetic nail polish? Or are you over it already?

Inexpensive Drugstore Red Lipstick Swatches & Comparison

Today, I have something slightly different for you – a comparison of eight different drugstore red lipsticks. And, not only are these drugstore brands, these are cheap drugstore brands – NYC and Wet n Wild. Each lipstick is either 99 cents (the -->NYC lipsticks --> and Wet n Wild Silk Finish lipsticks) or $1.99 (the WnW Mega Last lip colors).

WnW Stoplight Red, WnW Red Velvet, WnW Hot Red, WnW Cherry Frost, WnW Cinnamon,
NYC Retro Red, NYC Sheer Red, NYC Ruby

I am fairly picky about texture, but I really like all three of these lipstick formulas. The WnW Mega Lasts are probably my favorite – just because I love matte lipstick – but the Silk Finish and NYC lipsticks are also very nice; creamy, moisturizing, and not greasy. (I can’t stand a greasy – slippery feeling lipstick – I avoid Wet n Wild’s Mega Shield lipsticks and NYX lipsticks because of their textures.)

Here are the lip swatches; please note that bright red lipsticks often pull pink on me (which is why I tend to prefer deeper reds). All photos are in natural light.

WnW Mega Last Stoplight Red – matte, slightly cool

WnW Mega Last Red Velvet – matte, slightly warm

WnW Silk Finish Hot Red 519A- creme, a slight sheerness, bright

WnW Silk Finish Cherry Frost 514A – sparkle/shimmer – not really frosty

WnW Silk Finish Cinnamon 509A- deep red creme with some sheerness, very lovely

NYC Retro Red – very pigmented, classic pin-up true red

NYC Sheer Red – buildable deep sheer red

NYC Ruby – sort of pink and frosty, do not like

My favorites are Stoplight Red, Cinnamon, Retro Red, and Sheer Red – if you bought those four, you’d spend $5 and have your matte, dark, bright, and sheer red lip options covered!

You can also check out my drugstore nude and neutral lipstick post here; my drugstore vampy lipstick post here; and my mid/high end red lipstick swatch post here.

Inglot Eyeshadow Swatches

Inglot Eyeshadows

I’ve swatched most of my Inglot eyeshadows for the blog before, but I thought it would be useful to collect all my swatches in to one post. And, there are a couple in here that I hadn’t swatched yet.

For reference, here are most of my Inglot eyeshadows, labeled with the color names:

Inglot Rainbows: 120, 117, 112, 116; Inglot Mattes: 249, 342, 363, 353;
Inglot Pearls: 419, 433, 421, 423

I also have two eyeshadows in my blush palette:

Inglot Eyeshadows (used as blush) – 366, 382

And two matte colors hiding in another palette – I had forgotten about these when I originally took photographs for this post.

Inglot Eyeshadow: 377M, 388M

First, the rainbows. I found these to be disappointing as compared to Inglot’s other eyeshadows; read my full review here.

Inglot 120R

Inglot 117R

Inglot 112R

Inglot 116R

Then, the matte neutrals – I love these, all four are soft and silky.

Inglot Matte Neutral Eyeshadows – 349, 342, 363, 353

The pearls – all four of them are lovely, silky and very pigmented. It’s not as hard to do a pearl eyeshadow well though.

Inglot 421P, 423P

Inglot 419P, 433P

The two matte brights bought to be used as blush don’t have the same perfect, buttery texture as the neutrals, but are still very nice.

Inglot 366M, 382M

The other two brights are similar; they’re good, but not great.

Inglot 377M, 388M

Sixteen eyeshadows! I didn’t realize I had that many Inglots, I’ve acquired them just a few at a time for the most part.

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Sinful Colors Enchanted Collection Swatches & Comparison

Sinful Colors Enchanted Collection; missing Inkwell (did not buy) & Rain Storm (rolled out of photo)

I recently stumbled upon a full drugstore display of a new Sinful Colors Enchanted collection – filled with murky, dusty cremes – my favorites! I bought five of the six polishes – I skipped Inkwell, since it looked like a black creme, and I have plenty of those already.

Update: Per commenter Stella, Inkwell is not black – it’s a purple! Based on her comment I purchased it, and I would describe it as a dark, vampy eggplant purple. Thanks Stella!

The seven colors I bought are Last Chance (deep green creme), Rain Storm (dusty blue creme), Mesmerize (deep purple creme), Muse (dusty greyed out purple creme), Jungle Trail (pale grey creme), Smokin (medium grey creme), and In The Mist (dusty/murkey green/grey creme).

Sinful Colors Enchanted Collection:
Last Chance, Rain Storm, Mesmerize, Muse, Jungle Trail, Smokin, In The Mist

As an aside, let me also note that I am aware of the recent controversy over Sinful Colors stealing bloggers’ images. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, start here, then read this update. G. at Nouveau Cheap, who I respect and admire very much, has decided not to cover Sinful Colors polishes on her blog for now. While I respect that decision, I have come to a different conclusion for now. Until I know what’s going on, I will continue to buy Sinful Colors polishes and swatch them for the blog; if new information comes to light I will reevaluate. You are welcome to comment on this, but please be respectful.

Back to the polishes themselves – some of these polishes are new, and some are repromotes. In order to determine which was which, I googled for color names. As best as I can tell:

Inkwell (not swatched here) is new.
Last Chance is a repromote.
Rain Storm is a repromote – I actually realized when I got home that I already owned this, and swatched it previously here!
Mesmerize is new.
Muse – I’m not sure about this one – it is probably new.
Jungle Trail is new.
Smokin is new.
In The Mist is new.

Here are some comparisons:

Sinful Colors Jungle Trail, NYC Sidewalkers

Sinful Colors Jungle trail is just a little bit darker than NYC Sidewalkers.

Sinful Colors Mesmerize, Nails Inc. Belgrave Place

Sinful Colors Mesmerize is a bit duskier and deeper than Nails Inc. Belgrave Place, which is brighter and cleaner.

Sinful Colors Muse, Sinful Colors Nirvana

Sinful Colors Muse is more purple than Sinful Colors Nirvana, which has more brown.

Sinful Colors Muse, Sinful Colors Winterberry

Sinful Colors Muse and Winterberry are very similar, but Muse is a creme and Winterberry is a shimmer/frost.

Sinful Colors In The Mist, Sinful Colors Leap Flog

Sinful Colors In the Mist and Leap Flog are very close, but In the Mist is a tiny bit darker and duskier than Leap Flog.

Here’s a picture of the display so you can recognize it if you see it:

Sinful Colors Enchanted Display

Overall, I love these colors. Cremes are my favorite finish, and I love the dusty colors of this collection.

Update! I saw this collection at Walgreens today – all the polishes are the same, but it’s called the “Muse” Collection instead of the “Enchanted” Collection. I have no idea why.

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ELF $1 Eyeshadow Primer Review, Swatches, Photos

E.L.F. eyelid primer

Given my success with NYX HD eyeshadow primer – it’s my daily eyeshadow primer now – I decided to try an even cheaper eyeshadow primer, the ELF (or is it E.L.F.?) $1 eyelid primer. I have normal (non-oily) eyelids, so the most important purpose of eyeshadow primer for me is to intensify eyeshadow color; almost any primer is sufficient to prevent creasing.

To cut to the chase: the ELF primer failed completely to intensify eyeshadow colors, and I am pretty sure that it actually decreased the wear time of my eyeshadow.

First, the packaging: the ELF eyelid primer is in tube, with a doe-foot applicator. I’m fine with that style of packaging. Squeeze tubes (like Too Faced Shadow Insurance) seem more hygienic, but I actually find the tube-with-doe-foot easier to use, because it’s easier to control how much I use. I usually lightly tap the applicator to my eyelid, which applies a tiny little drop – then I blend out with my fingers.

heavy swatch // mostly blended swatch

When I first swatched the ELF primer, I was taken aback – texture of the ELf primer was lightly grainy, a little bit separated with some very small chunks. Ew. The color was fine – it’s similar to my skintone, and blends out to be almost invisible.

Next, to test out how the primer intensifies eyeshadows, I took a shimmery eyeshadow with sheer to medium pigmentation (NARS Lhasa), and swatched it four ways; alone, over Too Faced Shadow Insurance, over NYX HD eyeshadow primer, and over the ELF $1 eyelid primer.

eyeshadow primer comparisons

As you can see, TFSI and the NYX primer intensified the eyeshadow significantly; the ELF swatch is slightly more intense than the “no primer” swatch, but significantly less intense than the other two primers.

So, I thought I would swatch a fairly sheer, matte shadow over the same primers to see how it performed. This is the red side of the NYC halloween Devilish Duo.

more eyeshadow primer comparisons

Again, Too Faced Shadow Insurance and NYX HD primer intensified the shadow beautifully. The NYX application looks a little less smooth than the TFSI one. However, the ELF eyelid primer did not intensify the eyeshadow at all – it looks identical to the sheer application that you get without any primer at all.

So – ELF eyelid primer is a poor choice for intensifying eyeshadows. But how does it perform at preventing creasing?

As I said, I rarely have any creasing – my eyelids just aren’t oily. But, on the day I tested out the ELF primer, my eyeshadow didn’t just crease. When I checked back after two hours, it was about 50% missing – it had just disappeared entirely. I had put ELF primer on one eye and NYX HD primer on the other eye, and the NYX eye still looked perfect. So, I’m comfortable in stating that the ELF primer is terrible at extending eyeshadow wear as well.

One last note: I don’t hate ELF – I have several ELF brushes I use regularly (in general, the studio line is soft and well made), and I’ve tried several other products that were nice quality as well. ELF does a great job of making affordable, good quality products overall – but like every brand, they have some hits, and some total misses – and the eyelid primer is a total miss.

Project Swatch

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