NARS Zulu

        The weather cleared up a bit, so I was able to take a few minutes and get some pictures of the polish that I've been wearing for the past few days. Yay! This is NARS Zulu, from their 2010 Vintage Nail Collection.

Zulu is a blackened forest green jelly. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

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Sunlight, no flash.

    I've worn Zulu about five times since I bought it (which is alot for me) and I still am so enamored with it. Between the depth and darkness of the shade and the glossy, squishy finish, it's so uber sexy and I cannot stop looking at my hands when I have this on. The only issue with Zulu is that in almost any light, the wearer will be the only one who can tell that it's actually green. And indoors, even I had trouble convincing myself of its greenness. So I'd probably only recommend Zulu to green fiends, NARS fans, or people with serious lemmings. If you're none of the above and are just searching for a pretty dark green, I think you'd be happier with Illamasqua Rampage, because it's actually...green. Ha, I said green like forty times in the past three sentences. 

   Formula-wise, Zulu was okay. It was opaque but a bit streaky in two coats, and if you want a polish that actually reads green, that would be your best bet. I ended up going with three coats, which knocked out alot of the green color but resulted in a perfectly smooth finish. Zulu dried quickly and glossy, but I went with a layer of Seche Vite on top to really give me that wet sealskin look that I like. 

And that's all for today! Thanks for reading, and have a great day! 

NARS Mash vs. OPI At Your Quebec and Call

      As I was decluttering my stash, I ran across OPI At Your Quebec and Call. I felt that it was pretty, but wasn't sure if I wanted to keep it or not, because I thought that I had a dupe in NARS Mash. To be sure, I procrastinated on life did a quick comparison of the two.

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: Mash, AYQaC, Mash, AYQaC

Natural light, no flash.

L-R: Mash, AYQaC, Mash, AYQaC

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: Mash, AYQaC, Mash, AYQaC

And some closer shots:

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: AYQaC, Mash, 

Natural light, no flash.

L-R. AYQaC, Mash, 

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: AYQaC, Mash

      Anyone would be justified in owning both of these guys, because they look quite different.  At Your Quebec and Call seemed to have more gold in its shimmer and Mash's base color is darker, greener and more saturated. The bright center, dark edges effect was also much less pronounced in At Your Quebec and Call.
     In terms of formula, I found Mash easier to apply...the pigmentation was better and I felt that it was more controllable than At Your Quebec and Call. And finally, I think that Mash looked better on me than At Your Quebec and Call did, so Mash was the clear winner in my book.
     I can't imagine ever wanting to wear At Your Quebec and Call when Mash is an option, so with a slightly heavy heart (because it's so hard to say goodbye ;_;), I will relinquish it to the purge pile.


Which one do you like best? o_o

NARS Mash + Egyptian Tortoise

         Like all good things, Earth Week must come to an end. So the last animal we'll be look at will be the Egyptian Tortoise, also known as Kleinmann's Tortoise.

Look at the little legs and toes!

I find this picture particularly amusing because it wasn't photoshopped at all. 

The lying down turtle looks so unconcerned too. 

(Photograph courtesy of Sexecutioner)

    The Egyptian Tortoise is a little desert tortoise native to Egypt and Libya, and is usually yellow, brown, or green. Like the rest of the endangered species we saw this past week, Egyptian Tortoises are largely victims of habitat degradation as a result of development. Also because of their cute tiny-ness, they are very much in demand as pets. So poachers will kidnap them from the wild and illegally sell them, which I guess is better than being killed. But it still sucks. 

I didn't have a color that would perfectly match the Egyptian Tortoise, but when I think of yellow, brown and green, I think olive. And when I think olive, I think NARS Mash. Since I needed to reswatch Mash anyway, here we are. ^_^

Mash features a slightly dark shade of olive green, with small golden, green, and what looks like amber shimmer in it. There's mostly gold though.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    Mash is so super hot. I don't  think it really looks good on me (olive in general doesn't look so good on me), but I absolutely love it. It's so mossy and sexy, and the shimmer gives it that beautiful effect where it's bright in the middle and blackens towards the edges. I'm happy that NARS brought it back, and I'm even happier that I bit the bullet and bought it. If you've been considering it and get a chance, I would surely recommend that you pick up Mash.

    I also have no complaints about Mash's formula. It took three coats before I was really satisfied with the coverage and was a tad bit brushstrokey, but it went on really smoothly and the shimmer helped cover up the brushstrokes. 

And with that, Earth Week is ovah!! 

I hope that these posts were as informative and fun to read as they were to write, and that they've somewhat inspired everyone to be (or to continue to be) more considerate of our planet and all the life forms that also call it home. 

Thanks for reading, and have a great day! ^_^

NARS Tokaido Express

           For today, I've got NARS Tokaido Express, which was released with their Fall 2009 collection. I hadn't heard of it until Sephora had their F&F Sale last year, and I had to go hunting for something to buy. But once I saw it, I knew it had to be mine. 

Tokaido Express is a vampy plum creme base with a ton of small gold, amethyst, blue and red shimmer. In person, you see mostly the gold, although you can see the other colors in sunlight. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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This one shows the shimmer colors a bit better.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Ugh, I really over-filed my ring finger. It looks so crazy. ;_;

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

          I really like Tokaido Express...it's pretty much what I wanted Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine to be. It has this beautiful plum base, with just a hint of brown to it, and the shimmer perfectly accents the base coat. It's not flashy shimmer, but you can always see it. In sunlight, it shows different colors and in lower light, it just looks gold. However, it still looks awesome, because it kind of floats on top and gives the polish this gorgeous depth and sense of luxury. Like really fine velvet.

         Formula-wise, Tokaido Express was problem free. It was opaque in two ultra smooth coats, and dried quickly, with no bubbling or other such polish tomfoolery. It had a glossy finish on its own, but I'd still recommend using a really glossy topcoat to get the most out of it.

And that is all I've got for today. My professors are determined to kill me with homework this weekend, so I'm gonna go to the slaughter now. Thanks for reading, and have a great Saturday! I know I won't. :(

NARS Mash + Konad

           With all the homework yesterday, there was no time to change my polish. Not that I really wanted to...I love Mash. But because I get bored easily plus I didn't want to cover up the color, I matte-ified Mash, and then did some konading on top with clear polish, a la Michèle from Lacquerized. 

This is NARS Mash, with one layer of Essie Matte About You. 

If you use this matte topcoat, do you ever notice that sometimes, these white speckles come on your nails after applying it? What the heck are those? 

I used Duri Rejuvacote to stamp the leopard print pattern from Konad m57.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      When it was fresh, I really liked this! It didn't look anywhere near as good as Michèle's did, but it still looked cool. The only sad thing is that it wasn't very visible, unless my hand was tilted in a certain way. And over the course of the day, as the matte topcoat became more satiny, the contrast between the shiny spots and the base wore off a little. Then it was really really hard to see the pattern. But at least the spots didn't rub off, like they did when I tried to konad on top of a matte-ified  China Glaze Atlantis.

    

    But that's all I have for today! Have a great night, guys!