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! ^_^

Sally Hansen Sequin Scandal

        Happy Hump Day ladies! Yesterday, my nails were looking extra jank thanks to cold weather and travelling, so I had to renubbinate. And fresh nubbins always call for a dark color, so for today, I have Sequin Scandal, from Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure Tracy Reese Fall 2010 Collection. 

Sequin Scandal is a very dark and murky olive green creme base packed with golden and copper multi-sized shimmer and some little white/opalescent flaky bits. You don't really see those unless you get close though. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     I had a ton of trouble tracking Sequin Scandal down. Either the damn display was nowhere to be found, or all the Sequin Scandal (and there were only two to a display) had been snatched up. Just when I gave up on it, I found one in the freezer section, behind some Lean Pockets. o_O People hide things in the craziest places. Anywho, now it's mine and I bet whoever put it back there was so salty when they came back to find it gone.  ^___^

   About the color itself, I likey. It's all sexy and deep, and I love how the shimmer looks when the sun catches it. It sparkles and glows, and is almost hypnotic in its prettiness. In lower light, Sequin Scandal not as nice, but it's still pretty enough. You can still see some of the shimmer, which keeps it from being all the way flat. But I'd definitely recommend wearing this on a sunny day for maximum enjoyment. Ooh, also, one thing that I did not like was the opalescent flaky bits. They don't change color or anything...they just sit there, all white-looking. I don't understand why they're there. And they made a polish that would have otherwise gone on smoothly go on a bit bumpy. 

  But aside from the thingy with the flakies, applying Sequin Scandal was very easy. I only needed two coats of color for full coverage, and the polish was drying nicely even before I added topcoat. The formula was also a nice consistency and very controllable, making cleanup minimal. 

And that is all I've got for today! Thanks for reading, and have a nice night! :D

   

Rescue Beauty Lounge Anne

           For today, I have Anne from Rescue Beauty Lounge's the Real Housewives of the Tudor Dynasty Collection. I actually wore this for a few days, and then took it off to try out Revlon Perplex. But since I had time and nowhere to go today, I put it back on and finally took pictures.

Anne is a murky, deep olive green base with multi-sized gold and fuchsia shimmer. 

The base color here is way too dark, but it was the only lighting where the shimmer accurately showed up. The other pictures are color accurate, but unfortunately, don't really do this polish justice.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

       I don't know how many of you guys are fans of Showtime's The Tudors, but if you are, then you might remember a quote from a scene between Tom Boleyn and Anne. In it, he says, "There's something deep and dangerous in you, Anne. Those eyes of yours are like dark hooks for the soul." This polish immediately brought that quote to mind for me. It's dark and dangerous looking, but at the same time, it's so beautiful and complex that it immediately attracts you and doesn't let go. The base color is one of those confusing ones that can look green, brown, or grey depending on the way that the light hits it, and while subtle, the shimmer is wonderful. It mesmerizes in sunlight and in lower lighting, it gives the polish an incredible depth and sense of opulence that just makes me want to stare all day. I really love Anne the polish. Like...for real. Anne the person was my second favorite Tudor wife (which is what pushed me to purchase this color), and Ji did an absolutely killer job interpreting her. It's gorgeous, and I don't even care that it looks not so good on me.

      Anne also boasts a perfect formula. Some of the reviews on the site complained that their bottles were a little too thick, but that wasn't a problem for me at all. Anne was the perfect consistency and applied smoothly and easily...there was no dragging, bubbling, or other sorts of polish tomfoolery. And it was extremely well-pigmented, being perfectly opaque in two coats. In the pictures, there are two coats of polish and one layer of topcoat. Also, this is another one where you will want to break out your shiniest, glassiest topcoat, as it will really showcase the polish.

    I did buy Anne in the sale, but as many of you know, it wasn't actually on sale, which means it was listed at $18. I still feel like I got a bit of a discount, because if you divide the amount of polishes I got by my order total, it comes out to about $12 per polish. But even if that hadn't been the case, I wouldn't have regretted this purchase at all. $18 is a shitload of money for one polish, but to me,(and I can't believe I'm saying this) Anne is 100% worth it. If you've been lemming it and know that it would make you happy, I'd actually recommend grabbing it, maybe as an early Christmas present to yourself. Especially since according to Ji, Anne is almost gone. 

That's all I've got for today though. Have an awesome Sunday night, guys!

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!