CND Indian Rhubarb & Violet Shimmer Effects

So last week, I got home and there was this little box from CND (Creative Nail Design) at my doorstop.  The bad part is that it wasn't my name but it was my address.  After posting on Twitter and talking to other bloggers, I was reminded that I had filled out a survey on their website [official website] awhile back, and turns out I won!  Well, I think I won... it was my address...  Oy.  I've read a few other bloggers who said that it was just a mail merge problem - so I think I'm a winner and someone got a box with my name, but their address.


CND complete redid their polish line, removing all their old polishes and coming up with a new concept - 50 "base" colors and 15 "effect" colors.  You take a base color, then layer it with an effect color.  Here is an amazing blog from The Edge of Sanity where she swatched several of them. [CND Effects: The Pile Up!]


From what I've read, all the winners received CND Indian Rhubarb #528 as their color.  Indian Rhubarb is listed as a Warm Opaque.  It's a solid cherry tomato red that goes on smoothly in one coat.  However, some winners received Copper Shimmer and some received Violet Shimmer.  I received CND Violet Shimmer #558 which is listed as a Cool Sheer.

I used only the Indian Rhubarb on my middle and pinky fingers, and Violet Shimmer on my pointer and ring fingers.  Here are pictures in the sun.

I also took some shade pictures - you can really see the shimmer here.

Indian Rhubarb is definitely a show stopping red - It's a little starking for me but the Violet Shimmer makes the color more wearable for me.  I'm still trying to embrace starking colors.  I also really would like to try more of the "effects" line.  I found the colors for $4.50 and the effects for $5.50 on both TransDesign [official website] and Head2ToeBeauty [official website].

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company because of a website survey giveaway.  For more information, please read this post.

Polish Bloggers Network: Lacquer Link Love 1/22/10

* Chromatic Misadventures has put together a wonderful array of swatches that include nail colors from Nails Inc., Zoya, Butter London, Essie, and so many more.

* Polish Up brings you the sparkled beauty OPI Blues in the Night.
* Can you appreciate a good haul? Well if so, let Black Nail Polish and Lipgloss show off the awesome goodies that she received from Lisa of Glammed Up.
* The Nail Nerd has a polish sweet tooth caused by Orly's Sweet Collection.
* Happy Vamp Valentines Day! The Swatchaholic shares a wonderful Konad sweet... I mean treat with all of you.
* Raz from Manicure Mommas swatches her CND survey goodies and gives you an up close and personal preview.
* Are you quite unfond of the scent of polish remover and feel you could live without the smell?! Well if so, Polish Galore gives a wonderful review of the lavendar scented polish removers Seche Erase & Zoya Remove.
* Kellie from "Also Known As" dazzles us with the gorgeous new shades of OPI's Designer Series featuring polishes infused with diamond dust.
* Probably one of the most popular colors in the China Glaze Up & Away Collection, Prim and Polished brings you gorgeous swatches of Four Leaf Clover.
* Naive Nails gives us a little Absolutely Alice from OPI's Alice in Wonderland
Green is the hottest color of the season.
* polishSWATCHES brings you a shade you'll adore.

and now for the goodies....

Bring on the Network Giveaways!!!

* How would you like to add 3 bottles of China Glaze polish to your collection? Well, let Polish Galore show you how! <- That's me!

* You'll definitely want to be sure and check out the Nail Nerd Giveaway... she's giving away some gorgeous Viva la Diva Nail Lacquers.

* Black Nail Polish and Lipgloss is having a fun and creative contest that you just have to see for yourself. I just can't spill the beans on this one!

* And lastly, have you been dying to get your hands on polishes from the China Glaze Up & Away Collection?! Well, if your answer is yes... check out the Polish Freak and she'll be glad to give some to you.

Claire's Magic with Nfu-Oh 40

On Tuesday, I stopped at Claire's and found some crazy Jolly Rancher scented nail polish and the manager told me that all cosmetics were buy one, get the second one half off - so I started looking at the 3-1 Color Polishes but some jerk had shaken up the bottles, and then I found this.

Claire's Magic is a beautiful dark purple with a dusty rose shimmer to it.  I thought it was originally a duochrome, but especially on the nail I saw that it was really a shimmer.  Because of the half off sale for this, I paid a whole $2 (instead of the normal retail of $4).  Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of just the Magic because I was way too excited for this.

Nfu-Oh 40!!!!  This is a green and blue flakie suspended in a clear polish.  Flakies are awesome - it's not glitter, it's not a shimmer... it reminds me of mica flakes.  Depending on the light, you either see a deep royal blue or a emerald green.  This is definitely more expensive at $12.50 a bottle, but I received free shipping so that helped.

Here's a couple of sunlight pictures and you can tell the Magic has the red shimmer, and you can see a strong blue flakie.

A couple of pictures in the shade - now you can see the deep purple shade with the green flakie.  This was a seriously fun manicure to wear.  I originally called this my stepchild to Scrangie from Rescue Beauty Lounge, but especially with it on, there's no comparison - it's pretty but it's no Scrangie :)


Claire's is available world wide or online [official website] and I purchased Nfu-Oh at Fabuloustreet.com [official website].

China Glaze Raspberry Festival vs Heli-Yum vs Sneaker Head

I have a quick comparison post for you of some of the newest raspberry shades from China Glaze.  On the far left is China Glaze Raspberry Festival from the 2009 Summer Days collection, in the middle is China Glaze Heli-Yum from the 2010 Up & Away collection, and on the right is China Glaze Sneaker Head from the 2009 Kicks Collection.

In the sunlight it's obvious that Raspberry Festival is one of the glass fleck glitter polishes and has a slightly darker base than the others.  However, Heli-Yum & Sneaker Head are pretty close to each other - both cremes, both 1 coaters, both the same shade of raspberry.

Then I took a picture in the shade, hoping for something - anything to tell Heli-Yum & Sneaker Head apart.  Honestly, I couldn't find one.  Are they exact dupes?  Well it was hard for me to say no on this - Sneaker Head was SLIGHTLY darker with a tiny bit more blue in the base but it was very hard to tell, especially at a glance.  Do you need both?  Well, if you ask me, the answer is always yes, but that's because I love having complete collections ^___^

China Glaze [official website] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty [official website], Sally's Beauty Supply [official website] as well asTransDesign [official website].

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

150+ Followers Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed


I am truly humbled and honored that I have so many blog readers. This will be my last giveaway until I reach 300 followers, but I really do appreciate that you have chosen to read me.

[1] You must be a follower of my blog.
[2] You must leave a comment on this blog entry and make sure to include your email address!

Simple, huh? I'll draw one winner Wednesday January 27 at midnight:01 GMT. (That's 6 p.m. on Tuesday January 26 for people in the central time zone like me!) International users are welcome - I can ship anywhere that the United States Post Office ships to.

* 1 brand new bottle of China Glaze Atlantis (from the Glitters and Cremes Specialty collection)
* 1 brand new bottle of China Glaze Medallion (from the Glitters and Cremes Specialty collection)
* 1 brand new bottle of China Glaze Cleopatra (from the Glitters and Cremes Specialty collection)
* 1 brand new bottle of China Glaze Matte Magic (top coat released in 2009)

Bona fortuna!