Chanel - Taboo

I'd been holding out for so long. I always thought I could find something similar for less money. My spending had gotten extreme but I felt like as long as I didn't do that ONE THING I could justify it all. Well, I finally broke down you guys...I bought my first Chanel polish & boy, is it a GOOD one!

There's not much to say about Chanel Taboo other than 1) it's so multifaceted & simply GORGEOUS [burgundy AND blue shimmer!?], 2) the formula was a dream [almost a 1 coater!] & 3) I am completely obsessed with it! Of course my photos don't do it justice, but here they are:

The rest of the photos are AFTER THE JUMP!

Ludurana Aurora Boreal - Admirável

It's been a pretty hectic work week, so I've got a quick post for you today. I won this polish in a Llarowe giveaway a while back & never got around to using it. I finally pulled it out of my un-trieds & I'm so glad that I did! Ludurana Aurora Boreal Admirável is a gorgeous multichrome that flashes mostly emerald green, gold & a lighter green. There is also a tiny bit of purple & blue at some angles. Also, unlike its near-dupe Ozotic 503, it's opaque in 2-3 coats!

Of course I couldn't capture all of the amazing color shift on camera, because that would be too perfect, but here are a bunch of pics I took during my attempt! As always, click the photos to enlarge.

In some of these photos it doesn't even look like the same polish! Oh man, I love it. The photos above are 2 coats of Admirável with a coat of NYC Grand Central Station (the newest quick dry top coat that I'm experimenting with) on top. It honestly could have used another coat of polish, but I was in a bit of a hurry & therefore was satisfied with 2 coats. Formula was thin but good, dry time was super fast. The only thing that took my by surprise with this polish, mostly because I didn't fully read the bottle that says "perfumado" on the label, was that it's scented. Like, smells like men's cologne kind of scented. It's not a bad smell, but it is a little strong so best be prepared. It does fade pretty quickly, though, so your nails won't smell like a middle school boy for too long.

I can't believe that I left this polish un-tried for so long! It's a beautiful color & I do love a good multichrome. This is also my first Ludurana (or Brazilian in general, I believe) polish, so hopefully I can try out more in the future. They can be purchased from Llarowe & Ninja Polish!

Have you tried Admirável? Or Ludurana in general? What are your thoughts??

Zoya - Neely & Vespa

Happy Mani Monday! I've had this combo on my nails since yesterday morning & I'm loving how fresh & Spring-y it is. I don't think that Zoya did it on purpose, but these 2 colors are made for each other. Neely is a dusty, soft mint green creme from the Spring 2013 Lovely collection & Vespa is a deeper, mossy matte mint with small silver "sugared" glitter from the PixieDust textured matte glitter collection (similar to OPI's Liquid Sand polishes but, in my opinion, much better). A match made in monochromatic, multi-textured heaven!

Zoya Neely w/ a Vespa accent nail

First of all, I apologize for the sorry state of my cuticles. My hands have been so dry lately that there's just not much I can do about it. Also, this color didn't make my hands nearly as lobster-y as they appear in the photo. Anyways, the photo above is 3 coats of each polish w/ a coat of Orly Sec'N Dry (my latest quick dry top coat experiment...so far, so good) over all but the accent nail. Formula-wise, Vespa was a dream. Each coat went on smooth & even & dried very quickly. Neely was a bit of a different story. The formula was thick & had a sort of glue-like texture, which made it go on streaky & uneven. The first 2 coats were a bit of a nightmare until I had the sense to add some polish thinner before the 3rd coat & that greatly improved the situation. I would definitely recommend thinning this polish if you have the same problems, it seems to have solved the issue.

Did you pick up any of Zoya's Spring or PixieDust offerings? What are your thoughts? All of these pastel shades have me seriously wishing it was Springtime!

Nails Inc. - Whitehall Magnetic Polish

I purchased Nails Inc. Whitehall from Sephora many months ago, but for some reason it sat on my shelf unused. Maybe I was a little intimidated by the whole magnetic polish thing since I'd never used one before. Either way, I finally busted it out recently & I LOVED the results!

Whitehall is a shimmery deep teal polish that pulls black when exposed to the magnet. The pictures don't do it justice...it looks so amazing & sort of 3D in real life, like a cat's eye stone!

I did one coat of Whitehall on all of my nails & let it dry, it was pretty opaque & the formula was thick but easy to apply. Then on each nail individually I put another thick coat & held the magnet over it for 10-15 seconds. Voila! I finished it off with Duri Miracote topcoat, but I probably should have waited a little longer before I applied it because it kind of blurred the magnetic design. Oh well, you live & you learn!

I think it turned out pretty well for a first-timer & I'm sure it will look even better next time. I know I'm a little behind the trend, but I can't wait to get my hands on more magnetic polishes!

Revlon Brilliant Strength - Beguile

Revlon has really been stepping up their polish game lately! Every time I visit the drugstore I see a handful of new Revlon polishes that immediately go on my wish list. One such polish that I finally scooped up is Beguile from their new Brilliant Strength line.

According to Revlon's website, the Brilliant Strength line has a "strengthening formula that combats breaking and brittleness and features a built-in protective base and top coat". Sounds good to me!

The swatch photos below are two coats with Duri Miracote topcoat & were taken with flash.

Beguile is a deep blue with green & purple duochrome. The duochrome effect isn't super strong, but you can definitely see the shift in good lighting & it has a nice shimmer to it. The formula was good, nice consistency & opaque after 2 coats.

Like I said before, I'm super excited about some of Revlon's new polish offerings & hope to feature more of them here soon!

What do you think of Beguile? Have you seen any interesting polishes from drugstore cosmetics brands lately?