Considering I'm still on the fence about the liquid sands, I would say these two are my favorites from the collection.

2 coats OPI A Butterfly Moment, 1 coat OPI Pink Yet Lavender

2 coats OPI A Butterfly Moment, 1 coat OPI Pink Yet Lavender

Barielle Elle's Spell, Layla CE 53, Lippmann Sweet Dreams, Raspberry Beret

In my head, I was sure Elle's Spell and 53 would be closer than this, but ES appears to have a much deeper base. I still think those two are worth a swatch comp, though. Sweet Dreams and Raspberry Beret are both pink, so there's that.

Layla CE 52, Nfu.Oh 51

In the bottle, 52's base looks a lot more blue toned than 51. 51 also has shimmer than 52 lacks. These two will definitely be swatch comp'd soon!

I am officially obsessed. L'Occitane en Provence hand creams are by far the best I've encountered. Ever since getting my first tube a few months ago, they have been a staple for me. I love the small 1 oz tubes for my car, purse, gym bag, desk...and so on. They're also perfect for gifting. Who doesn't need an effective hand cream in the winter?






The Sephora exclusive Hand Indulgence set includes three 1oz tubes of L'Occitane's 20% Shea butter hand cremes. The scents are Date Bouquet, Mango Flower, and Rose Flower. I love them all because they're not overbearing, but they do linger for a bit. These absorb super quickly and leave my hands feeling soft and moisturized for hours.



There are two formulations of the hand creme - regular and Shea. The Shea creams are thicker and last longer on my hands, but the regular formulation is great too.

Regular vs. Shea texture

Here's a comparison of Pivoine Flora (a must have!) and Shea butter hand creams. Hopefully you can see the difference in texture.



L'Occitane Hand Indulgence set retails for $28 and is available at Sephora.com.

2 coats over China Glaze Refresh Mint

OPI The Man With The Golden Gun is an 18k gold topcoat. The flakes are larger than Sephora by OPI It's Real but smaller than Zoya Gilty. I'll have a comp up soon.



I didn't love the application because the base is pretty thick, and the gold flakes are smaller than I expected. It is pretty, though, and I don't regret purchasing it.



Golden Gun retails for $30 and is available at Ulta.

Yes, another set. This one is a mini set of three polishes. I just love Lippmann's mini bottles - so cute.

3 coats

Deborah Lippmann Putty In Your Hands is a taupe grey creme. Putty is definitely an appropriate name for this one. It reminded me a bit of Waking Up In Vegas, but Putty is a bit darker and warmer.

2 coats

Deborah Lippmann My Perogative is a navy blue creme. It's a bit deeper than China Glaze First Mate.

2 coats

Deborah Lippmann Raspberry Beret is a raspberry pink based flakie. The flakes are exactly the same as Sweet Dreams, but the base color is definitely different:

Deborah Lippmann Sweet Dreams, Raspberry Beret

The formula on all three of these is really nice. My Perogative is especially great. Raspberry Beret dries with some texture, so top coat will be necessary.



Deborah Lippmann She's Always A Woman set retails for $25 and is available at Barneys.

Sugar Plum Fantasy is trio of full size polishes available exclusively at Bloomingdales. All three shades are packed with flecked shimmer. There seems to be a lot of that this season with Deb.

4 coats, 1 coat over Illamasqua Boosh

4 coats, 1 coat over Milani Neon Purple

Is it just me, or has Deb released a boatload of new polishes for Holiday 2012? I've counted five trios and two singles. Yay for lots of choices, but my wallet kind of hates her. Moving on.

2 coats, with top coat

I love holiday collections because it usually means lots of sparkly polishes. Deborah Lippmann's Rock This Town trio is no exception. These complex flecked shimmers are perfect for the upcoming holiday season.



I left these pics huge so you can click and see all the different colors packed in these polishes.

3 coats

Deborah Lippmann Moon Dance has an overall greyish purple tone. I love the finish, and this one is easily my favorite of the bunch.

3 coats

Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising is a golden copper shimmer. Very autumnal.

3 coats

Deborah Lippmann Chain Reaction is a golden olive shimmer. So full of awesome.



The formula on these is great. They have a nice consistency and offer a great deal of control. I also like that they're sheer but buildable to full opacity. I see some layering combinations in my future.



I love this set, and it's way more interesting than her fall offerings. I'm happy that Deb has taken a step back from Happy Birthday glitter to create something truly beautiful.



Deborah Lippmann Rock This Town retails for $42 and is available at Nordstrom

This season, Dior has released a collection of nudes that will suit almost any skin tone. There are four colors total - 115 Charnelle, 223 Trench, 413 Grège, and 715 Dune.

2 coats

Dior 413 Grège is a warm tan creme. It makes me think of a classic trench coat. This is the first Dior I've tried that actually made me appreciate its signature secret shimmer (alliteration!). It's a nice touch. After naming Deborah Lippmann Naked my all-time favorite nude, I might be bumping it for 413 Grège.

2 coats

Dior 715 Dune is a deep, grey toned brown. I guess you could call it taupe, but it definitely leans brown. Dune is not too cool, so I could see this looking great on warm, cool, and neutral skin tones. Also, is this not a perfect Autumn/Winter shade? Makes me want to pull on a sweater and some boots.


I had no issues with the application of either shade. I'll spare you my usual long-winded rave about how much I love Dior's formula.


Dior 413 Grège and 715 Dune retail for $23 and are available at Sephora.

Beauty Envy Bag

Are you a beauty sample subscriber? Never heard of the Beauty Envy Bag? That is because it is something new the four of us beauty bloggers decided to put together. The Fall Edition is the inaugural Beauty Envy Bag. This is what a beauty bag of goodies should look like. Full sized items, deluxe samples (not tiny bits of product swiped onto a card), and with a beauty bag so nice you can wear it on a night out. Luxe brands fill this bag. This was a lot of fun for us to put together, choosing items the we have used and love and being able to share them with one of you. This is something we hope to do quarterly, so look out Winter Edition!



Since some of you reading this may not know all of the bloggers involved, we would love to introduce ourselves:

Lakeisha is a nail polish blogger from Florida. She is obsessed with polish, fashion, and merging the two together. She is the blogger behind Refined and Polished.

Latoya is a beauty blogger from the East Coast of Canada. While she loves all things girly, she's also a closet gamer and is a die-hard Walking Dead fan. She is the blogger behind Beauty Obsessed.

Leticia is a beauty blogger from the Pacific Northwest. She is a dog lover, sci fi nerd, handbag collector, and makeup junkie. She is the blogger behind Cosmetics Aficionado.

Lola is a Midwest blogger with a passion for polish, science, and music. She is the blogger behind Burb Beauty.

So what will be included in the awesome beauty bag you might ask? First we will look at the full sized items. These are to accompany the Calvin Klein red nylon wristlet with red leather trim. You can click through each one to read the reviews:

• Zoya FeiFei nail polish (picked and reviewed by Lakeisha)


• Zoya Natty nail polish (picked and reviewed by Lakeisha)


• Zoya Suri nail polish (picked and reviewed by Lakeisha)


• Zoya Frida nail polish (picked and reviewed by Lakeisha)


• Givenchy Acoustic Purple nail polish (picked and reviewed by Lola)


• Make Up For Ever Aqua Liner in Shade #14 (picked and reviewed by Latoya)


• Estee Lauder Pure Color Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Pop Pistacio (picked and reviewed by Leticia)

I've decided to take a new approach to my stash chronicles. To better benefit you (and me), I've decided to take better, closeup bottle pictures of my entire stash. Of course, this is a project that will probably be never-ending, but I think it will eventually be a great resource. I also hope to have everything swatched one day...



Of course it's easier to start small, so here are my relatively teeny Illamasqua and NARS collections

Illamaqua Milf, Nomad, Muse, Rampage

Illamasqua Jo'Mina, Force (faded), Phallic, Baptiste

Illamasqua Load, Purity, Lament, Collide, Stance

NARS Pokerface, Jungle Red, Purple Rain

NARS Bad Influence, Desperado, Zulu, Galion

NARS Ecume, Orgasm, Versailles, Kismet

NARS Candy Darling, Arabesque, Chinatown, Saratoga

I included Essie Bikini So Teeny in the comp as a reference point for the other two.

Essie Bikini So Teeny, Butter London Sprog, Essie Lapis of Luxury

While the shades are similar, Sprog is more pigmented and brighter than Lapis of Luxury. Lapis has almost a dusty quality in comparison to Sprog. In terms of finish, Lapis of Luxury is a crelly, while Sprog is a true creme.



If I had to choose, I'd pick Lapis over Sprog, but I don't mind owning both.



I believe Essie Lapis of Luxury is core now, so it should be readily available.

Butter London Sprog is exclusive to Ulta and butterlondon.com.

China Glaze has recently released nail appliques (along the same vein of Sally Hansen's) in several different styles. I had the opportunity to try some, and I chose Cherry Blossom.







If you've had any experience with nail apps, there's nothing new here. Each pack comes with 16 nail apps, an orange wood stick, and a small file.



Applying these was fine. I have weird nails, so only three sizes fit my nails without manipulation. Luckily, they stretch pretty well, and they are long enough to cover two nails for every nail app.



The wear was great. I wore these for a full week and didn't experience any chips until day 5. I used Barielle Manicure Extender as a topcoat. China Glaze's estimate of a 7 day wear is very realistic - much better than Sally's 10 day estimate.



While I wouldn't wear nail apps on a regular basis, they are great for travel and special occasions. If I had a set for my recent vacation, I definitely would have worn them.



I received my China Glaze nail apps from Nail Polish Canada.

2 coats

Givenchy Acoustic Purple is a navy shimmer base with bright, slightly duo fuchsia flecks. The purple flecks are what gives the blue polish its overall purple hue. In normal lighting, it looks like a glowy blurple. In the sunlight, the depth of this polish is unmistakable.








Acoustic Purple does have a slight case of amazing in the bottle, less amazing on the nails. It's that gorgeous shimmer that sticks to the sides of the bottles. I wouldn't call the shimmer in this hidden though. It's present without being ostentatious.








The formula is amazing as well. It's like, Dior amazing. Acoustic Purple is also pigmented enough to be a thick one coater, but I prefer two thin coats. On day three of wearing this, I have no tip wear or chipping.



One final note: the price. It's $17 for .17 fl oz or 5.5 ml. If I tried to fill up an OPI bottle with Acoustic Purple, I'd have to spend $50. In my opinion, the color is special enough to own, but it's not at all cost effective. I've never used up a bottle of polish (full sized or mini), so I don't really mind.



Givenchy Acoustic Purple retails for $17 and is available at Sephora.com

2 coats

2 coats

Here's part one, in case you missed it.

2 coats

Color Club Ho-Ho-Holly is an evergreen foil packed with gold shimmer. I like that the base color is not overwhelmed by the gold. It's the perfect balance. Definitely one of my favorites from the collection.



The formula was just okay for this one. It's not great at self-leveling, but a careful application should yield pretty good results.

2 coats

Color Club Berry and Bright is a pink toned red with silver shimmer and red glitter. I'm not usually a fan of any red that isn't creme or jelly, but I don't mind this one.



I had some serious application issues with this. The consistency was quite thick and the glitter applied in small clumps. I had to take it off, thin it, and swatch again. Thinning helped, but it still isn't perfect.

3 coats

Color Club Gift of Sparkle is a warm purple with holo glitter. This is actually more sheer than I thought it would be, but it still builds nicely up to full opacity.



Gift of Sparkle is so pretty, but it is extremely thick and goopy...probably the worst polish I've ever encountered. Thinning it didn't really do anything, so I'm going to try a few more things to try to get this to work.


The Color Club Winter Affair collection is available for purchase at Head2ToeBeauty.com 

I've heard a lot of great things about A-England, and I finally got around to ordering a few. I was most excited to try Tristam.

I'm back! I apologize for the lack of posts during my absence. I planned to schedule some posts, but time got away from me. Anyway, I have some gorgeous polishes to show you.

3 coats

with flash

Color Club Glitter Wonderland is a lovely warm purple packed with blue and red microglitter. Because the glitter is so abundant, it overtakes the warm base, which is why it looks so cool in my photos. Imagine this a bit warmer.

2 coats

with flash

Color Club Winter Affair is a deep wine colored flecked shimmer. It's vampy without looking black in dim lighting. There's a gorgeous depth to this that I just love.





Color Club also did their first (to my knowledge) non-mylar flakie. It's nothing we haven't seen before, though.

1 coat over Color Club Winter Affair

Color Club Snow-Flakes is a red to orange to green flakie. Pretty, but it's just another duplicate of Hidden Treasure, Shine of the Times, 2010, Flashy, etc. The only difference is probably density. Hopefully we'll see more unique flakies from Color Club soon.





The formula on these was thick but manageable. Glitter Wonderland was slightly finnicky because the microglitter clumped up a bit. Waiting a minute or some in between coats worked for me.



We're probably all just waiting for the Halo Hues collection, but the Winter Affair collection holds its own with some gorgeous polishes. Definitely worth checking out.



The Color Club Winter Affair collection is available for purchase at Head2ToeBeauty.com