LEGO My Eggo!

Today's manicure is for my pal John. He is the biggest LEGO nerd I've ever met. EVER. When we used to work together, his entire cube had lego creations filling it! I've had this manicure on my list to do for ages and ages, so I decided that tonight was the night!!

I used Nubar Sexy Red for the thumb and index, Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for the middle finger, ALDO Sea You in Ibiza for the ring finger, and American Apparel Manila for the pinky. For the LEGO nubs things, I used Nubar Sexy Red mixed with American Apparel Hassid for the red LEGO, American Apparel Hassid mixed with Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for the white LEGO, ALDO Sea You In Ibiza mixed with American Apparel Hassid for the blue LEGO, and Zoya Jancyn for the yellow LEGO. To highlight them, I mixed each color with Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud. For the logo on the thumb, I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud, outlined with American Apparel Hassid, then outlined with American Apparel Manila. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Also, since a lot of you expressed an interest in seeing a tutorial for What's the Mod-der, so you asked, I delivered! Hope you like it! :)

Chanel - Côte d'Azur Collection - Le Vernis Riva - Swatches & Review

Back from my break!

Hello everyone! Long time no see! As you might have noticed I took some time off from blogging, but I'm back. And with a long awaited review on Chanel newest nail polish: Riva.

There is already quite a buzz going around concerning this baby blue polish. I've heard it will cost $39 a bottle and apparently it is already sold out before even hitting the stores. Well, this is not true! With all these rumors going around, I'm almost expecting it to get at least half as famous as its big sister Jade.

Chanel's latest nail polish releases really knew how to grab me, I absolutely loved the Khakis and Paradoxal made it to one of my favorite polishes of the moment. But, will Riva have the same impact as these OR Jade? Let's see.

Secret Shimmer

After the promo photos had been posted, quite a few people were hoping Riva would be a light blue version of Jade. The promo shots showed us a marvelous shimmer, the same kind of shimmer that made Jade beyond famous. Unfortunately, this shimmer doesn't translate really well onto the nail. You'll need to get out your magnifying glass to make sure it's there. Other than that, I really love the color. Le Vernis Riva is part of the Côte d'Azur Collection and it does give me that relaxing, but joyful vibe. I have to admit though, without the shimmer this polish is nowhere unique. Chanel is a brand that usually sets the trends, but I don't think that's the case here..

Chanel Riva catching some sunbeams, almost no shimmer..

Formula

The first Chanel polish I ever bought was Nouvelle Vague. I loved everything about it, except the formula. After that I managed to get my hands on Particuliere, Les Khakis and Paradoxal. They proved me that Chanel is capable of making fantastic polishes when it comes to application. But, I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed in Riva. Riva's texture is a bit thick and streaky, which can lead to some bubbling. I have to say though, I was expecting Riva to be very sheer, but luckily it builds up to an opaque finish in three coats. I can't comment on the wear yet, since I only just got it..

Comparison

A lot of people were expecting Riva to look rather similar to Nouvelle Vague. As you can see, Riva is much blueer than Nouvelle Vague. And a whole lot lighter as well. I went through my stash to see if I had something similar, and while I don't own a lot of baby blue, I thought China Glaze's Moody Blue is quite close! A little bit more saturated than Riva, but still. Unfortuanely, you won't find Moody Blue that easily anymore, since it's pretty old..

Overall

Riva is absolutely beautiful, there's no denying that. Awfully unique? No, I personally don't think so. The formula doesn't really make up for that either, but it's nothing a drop of thinner can't fix. I am quite fond of this color, but I can understand if people don't want to pay $27 for something rather dupeable... So, what do you think of Riva?

Exclusively available in CHANEL Fashion Boutiques starting December 1st 2010. The price will be 25 EUR or 27 USD for 13 ml. I'm expecting these will be sold online as well starting the 15th of November. If you're in the US and you want to pre order, you might want to check out this link.

The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for review. For more information please read my disclaimer

What's cuter than tiny snowmen heads??????

I found these little cuties at Rite Aid in Philadelphia. I am such a sucker for novelty polishes, and even though my thought as I was grabbing these was....these are going to be a pita to store in my telmer, I must get  them. They don't have individual names, but the formula was great on these. The only downside.....the brushes were AWFUL! They were just wonky and too big. Now I love the big brushes, but these were just silly.

Here are the 6 that I got. I did pick up a 7th, like 2 weeks later, but I haven't had a chance to swatch it yet. There are tons out there though. A few just didn't appeal to me even a little.

This had a tiny bit of holo, but it was hard to capture. You can kind of see it in the bottle

This 1st pic of the light pink is color accurate, the 2nd, I had the flash on

Do you see all that crazy holoness!!!

This was way prettier in person. For some odd reason, when I am taking pictures of really glittery reds, my camera and I end up fighting.