Pointless Cafe: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

30 Day Challenge Day One - RED Starring butter LONDON Saucy Jack

Today marks the start of my first ever 30 Day Challenge. I don't know how well I will do or if I can keep up, but I thought I'd give it a shot. Goodness knows I have more than enough "untrieds" in my stash!

Today is RED. I just got butter LONDON Saucy Jack in a swap, so she gets to make her debut on my blog tonight.

Saucy Jack is what I call a crelly. Not a creme exactly and not a true jelly. It's a great blue-based red. I used three coats here and still don't have full opacity. My nails are hard and thick and are longer right now...but those of you lucky people with pretty white nails will probably be able to get by with 2 coats. No top coat for the photos - it dries super shiny!

butter LONDON Saucy Jack

butter LONDON Saucy Jack in bright lighting

butter LONDON Saucy Jack

As you can see it's brighter in bright lighting. The first photo is the most color accurate regarding what you will see on your nails when you wear it.

If you'd like to join the 30 Day Challenge using your untried polishes, go here to grab the codes to embed in your posts for the next 30 days and add your post using the link below! Thanks to Polished Criminails for starting this one!

Untrieds used:

butter LONDON Saucy Jack

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Doctor Who Collaboration Mani!

A bunch of us bloggers got together for the premier of the new season of Doctor Who to do Doctor Who-themed manis! I am a true, die-hard Whovian, so this was right up my alley...

Except...

I really am NOT good at nail art. Hrmmmm...what to do? Well it's Doctor Who, so I had to give it a shot! Hopefully the rest of you Whovians will cut me some slack with the "nail art" attempt. ♥ So, please be nice!

I initially thought I'd cheat and pull out this older photo from when I got my iPhone case. The Scottish flag could be in honor of MY Doctor, David Tennant, the Scot.

But I decided to give it a real try, so I started with a blase of Nails Inc. Tudor Way...

Nails Inc. Tudor Way as my base

Then I built up "galaxy nails" and a vortex on the thumb with one of the Dr. Who logos on the accent nail. I was fairly happy with the galaxy nails, but I streaked the logo with my top coat. Always too impatient!

Then I decided to see what kind of job I did when I was practicing when I first found out about the collaboration...

I decided it didn't really make much difference. Practice did not "make perfect" for me. Hahaha! But I had fun trying.

Check out the real nail art by visiting all of the other participants in the links below!

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butter LONDON Lippy Autumn Winter 2012 Press Release

butter LONDON LIPPY A/W 2012 Colours Include:

Toff	Colour: A darker, dustier, brownish variation on a rose pink. Stop to smell them. The roses, not the toffs.	Definition: A slightly derogatory name for a member of the British upper class.
Come to Bed Red	Colour: The sexiest red in history, by butter LONDON.	Definition: ENOUGH SAID! A butter best seller for “Coco” wannabes.
Tea with the Queen	Colour: On the pink side of tan, very neutral, but never boring. Understated and exceptional for work, or obviously, tea with the Queen.	Definition: A highly prestigious invitation extended to important and boring members of the British public.
La Moss	Colour: Vampy and full of red wine, just like its inspiration.	Definition: Adding the prefix “La” to anyone’s name implies that they are a diva. A fashionista’s nickname for England’s most famous model.
Queen Vic	Colour: Stunning, elegant and classy. Red wine meets cranberry. Fit for a queen.	Definition: Beloved monarch, responsible for many of London’s most beautiful landmarks. (Also the name of about 3,000 English pubs).

Trends for Autumn/Winter 2012:

The matchy-matchy lip and nail trend is here to stay! Inspired by the high-impact lips seen on the catwalks this
season, the LIPPY A/W ‘12 collection includes bold pops of color, chic nudes and a vampy hue. The shades
are rich and highly pigmented for a look that’s luxe and perfectly on trend!

LIPPY products do not contain parabens, petroleum, phthalates, sulphates or bismuth. butter LONDON™
is available at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport flagship store, www.butterlondon.com, and in
fashion boutiques, specialty retailers, and beauty apothecaries around the globe.

MSRP: LIPPYs are $17 each, 3 Free Lacquers are $14 each

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Ninja Polish Zultanite - Swatches and Review

Ninja Polish just released their first three polishes. I showed you Alexandrite last night and today I have Zultanite for you. It's part of their Facets line and I'm just going to let you read the description provided by Ninja Polish. I made a few attempts to describe it only to find that they did it best...

Zultanite is not well known but is rare and phenomenal. The gemstone is a soft, gold that shifts to an amazing green. In honor of this gemstone we have a polish with equal beauty. This polish is also ideal over black to show its truest coloration but is truly amazing over a dark brown. The gold shifts through to an amazingly bright green. Again this polish is accented with amazing glitter that shifts right along with the polish. The sparkle and color shift of the glitters adds the most amazing brilliance to the polish and lives up to its name.

Zultanite is truly amazing and I think my favorite of the three in the Facets Collection. It's like Magic Autumn in a Bottle. It's a brilliant bright green like Summer and with one slight shift of the hand it turns into Autumn with gold, copper, burnt orange, red - like falling leaves. Application was great, no issues at all. I used one coat over a black creme and one coat of Poshe for all the photos. I still wasn't able to capture its beauty as it appears in person, but here is my best shot...

Ninja Polish Zultanite

What do you think of this one?

Ninja Polishes can be purchased through their website here and retail for $11 for a full .5 oz bottle. Ninja Polishes are 4-Free and Cruelty-Free.

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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Ninja Polish Alexandrite - Swatches and Review

I'm late with my post tonight for TWO reasons. 1) Puppy in the house. I'm sure I don't need to elaborate on that LOL! and 2) The polish I'm showing you is so gorgeous and SO hard to capture. I'm afraid I still didn't do it justice, but hopefully you can get the idea.

Ninja Polish just released their first three polishes. I'm showing you Alexandrite this evening. It's part of their Facets line and I'm just going to let you read the description provided by Ninja Polish. I made a few attempts to describe it only to find that they did it best...

The Alexandrite gemstone is known as the ‘Emerald by day and Ruby by night’ due to how it shifts its coloration based on surrounding lighting. However if you have seen an Alexandrite the ‘ruby’ shift color is often a magenta with glints of purple. The green to purple shift of this polish can only be represented by this captivating gemstone. This polish is ideal over dark colors, especially a dark purple, and shows its truest colors over black. A single coat over black will transform your nail into an exhibition of colors that will hypnotize you. From a deep emerald green shifting into the deepest sapphire and continuing on into a sparkling purple. To set this polish apart from others similar to it, it also contains very fine and special glitter. This glitter not only provides some magnificent sparkle to your nails, but also in tandem with the polish, it shifts in color! When your polish appears a deep emerald green, the glitter will also sparkle with a magnificent green sparkle. As you shift to the blue/purple spectrum the glitter then bursts into a fantastic purple sparkle. These glitters are spectacular at picking up even the softest light in the room and causing your nails to alight with beauty.

Well, that about covers it! Before we get on to the photos, just a quick note about application. I layered one coat over a plain black creme and had zero application issues. It's fantastic. Shown with one coat of Poshe.

Ninja Polish Alexandrite

Isn't she GORGEOUS!

I also wanted to show you what she looks like alone...

What do you think?

Ninja Polishes can be purchased through their website here and retail for $11 for a full .5 oz bottle. Ninja Polishes are 4-Free and Cruelty-Free.

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Models Own Mushroom - Swatches and Review

Good morning! Today I have an old standby for you. Models Own Mushroom. There are so many new collections for Fall coming out right now as well as wonderful indie polishes that it seems I've been overlooking some of the staples lately. I consider this one a staple. It's not flashy or blingy and it doesn't have a catchy name. But it's certainly worth a look.

Mushroom is just that...a great mushroom creme. It's a nice medium-to-dark greyed out taupe with slight purple undertones. Application was perfection - "like butta." Two coats for full opacity. It dries to a shiny finish - shown in the photos with no top coat. Of course, to keep that shine going I applied a coat of Poshe later.

Models Own Mushroom

What do you think of this one? I think it's a great "palate-cleanser" after a glitterbomb. Or just a chic, classic, go-anywhere color. I am so glad I gave Models Own another shot. I'd first tried the Models Own Pro line, which was scented and caused nausea and headaches. It took me a while to try their regular line and thankfully, it's not scented. It just smells like nail polish.

Models Own polishes are available on their UK website, Ninja Polish, Harlow & Company and a few other US e-tailers and retail for around $8.00 here in the US.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Nails Inc. Keats Grove - Swatches and Review

I have a quick one for you this evening. Nails Inc. Keats Grove.

Keats Grove is a vampy red-toned brown (or is it a brown-toned red?) creme. I used two coats without a top coat or cleanup for these photos. Yes, It's THAT shiny! I had no application problems. Any messiness you see in the cuticles is the fault of me being really fast and not doing cleanup - no fault of the polish at all. It has that same great Nails Inc. creme formula I've come to expect.

Nails Inc. Keats Grove

What do you think of this one? Perfect for Fall? Yep, that's just exactly what I was thinking!

Nails Inc. polishes are available in limited colors in the US at Sephora.com and a few other e-tailers. Unfortunately, the NailsInc.com site in the UK doesn't ship to the US...yet. Thankfully I have a few friends in the UK. =)

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Filthy Gorgeous London Blah - Swatches and Review

Happy Hump Day! Today I'll be showing you Filthy Gorgeous London's Blah. Yes, Blah. What a name! This one is anything but blah, though. And the reactions I got while wearing it were mostly "Wow!"

Blah is a bright in-your-face lime green creme. Application was good and I used two coats for full opacity. The key with this one is to make your first coat very thin and let the second coat do its magic. It isn't self-leveling like Judy Baby (perfect formula) that I showed you yesterday so don't over-manipulate it. Definitely worth the color payoff though. Shown here with no top coat.

Filthy Gorgeous London Blah

Filthy Gorgeous London polishes, as well as their other beauty products, can be purchased at their online shop here for £9.00. I'm not sure if they're available anywhere in the US but I ordered online and received my polishes direct from the UK in a reasonable time frame and beautifully packaged. You can also follow them on Twitter for updates and promos as well as Facebook. Their polishes are 3-Free and Cruelty-Free.

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