Moody Grays

Am I the only one who looks at all these wonderfully moody grays and dusky mauves and immediately thinks of Paris? There's something about this kind of palette that brings to mind the seemingly effortless chic of a certain kind of Parisian woman.

I love these kind of shades, especially as an alternative to "workplace appropriate".

From the China Glaze "Anchors Away" collection.

From the Color Club "Alter Ego" collection.

If you're looking for some absolutely gorgeous swatches of these, please check out the reviews on Scrangie and All You Desire. They have the best swatches out there, by far.

Both collections are currently available on our site.

Holiday Collections

I'm so excited about the new things coming in this week! Check out our Winter shop for the selection.

We received the China Glaze 'Tis the Season nail polishes earlier this week, and they're already a hit. If you haven't seen swatches for these yet, I highly recommend checking out those featured on All You Desire or Scrangie's blog. A great mix of classic and whimsical shades.

We're also now featuring OPI for sale to our online retail clients, as an extension of our in-house service. We still have a bit of both Burlesque and the Swiss Collection left.

The Villainess winter items are juuuust around the corner. Literally. They're sitting in the Montreal postal sorting center, and I was expecting them to be delivered today, until I realized that all services are closed due to it being Memorial Day. They should, however, be in by tomorrow. If you want to have an advanced peek, they are listed on both the Winter page and the Villainess LE page.

EDIT (Nov. 12): And they're in!

I am personally really looking forward to Just Desserts - it smells like a vaguely malicious Dreamsicle, if soap could have ill intent. ;-)

No teasers yet about the Arcana holiday update, but we'll let you know as soon as we know. =)

Nubar - Indigo Illusion

Nubar has the most splendid duochrome nail polishes, many of which are still part of the general catalogue. One of the absolute best is Indigo Illusion. It is also, unfortunately, discontinued - though I still hold out hope for its eventual re-release. As it is, I cherish my lone little bottle.

Indigo Illusion is the most hypnotically beautiful violet-grey-green-teal shade I've ever seen. It's the perfect color for a Pisces like me, all mutable seascapes. It's also a PITA to photograph. These pictures are the best I could come up with, and they STILL don't capture the complexity.

In the full daylight, you can see the beautifully shimmery violet flash.

Still in daylight, but at an angle where you can see the teal base, without the flash.

Miraculously, you can actually see all the duochrome transition in this picture - from golden-green to violet.

In indirect light, it looks almost like a greyish purple, but you can see the green at the edges.

So complex and gorgeous. Please Nubar, bring this back.

China Glaze - Let's Groove from Retro Diva

I adore China Glaze polishes. For the most part, they apply very easily, have a fantastic range of shades and the limited collections are usually some of the pretties and most creative out there. Plus, they're more affordable than OPI.

And did I mention gorgeous?

By far one of my absolute favorite purples. It's the most beautiful true purple, packed with violet and reddish shimmer that flashes like whoa in the sun. I thought this one was metallic, but no, it's just THAT shimmery.

I was introduced to the Nubar in the last year, and started salivating almost immediately over both the duochromes and the green polishes. Look at this gorgeousness!

 This is "Greener" from the Going Green collection. 

It is so stunning that I wasn't able to stop ogling my fingers. Every time I looked down I was caught off guard by just how pretty this is. 

This is not just green, it's emerald. Or rather, it's a blackened emerald base with very dense, very fine emerald shimmer. From far it looks like one color, but up close you can see the incredible depth that interplay between base and shimmer gives. And the rest of the colors in the collection are just as beautiful and complex. I am more than impressed by the quality and color selection available from Nubar.

And as pretty as the color is, the Diamont top coat really steps it up a notch, providing a high gloss finish that is almost like laying a piece of highly reflective glass on top of your nail. I mean, almost to the point that it makes photography difficult, because of the way it reflects everything. It's intense. It also dries within minutes, and I've had no problems with chipping. It is relatively thick, so you have to apply it fairly quickly and confidently, but it's more than worth it for that lovely gloss finish.