Essie Berry Hard: Blood Red Nails for Fall (and If You’re Crazy about Vampires).

September 14, 2010 | 8 Responses

I’m a little late getting on the True Blood bandwagon, but I am now halfway through the first season and loving it. For some reason I am really feeling vampy, blood red for my nails for Fall, and so I my nails this week will be wearing Essie Berry Hard.

Again I am awful at doing my own nails. The dexterity I have for putting on my makeup obviously does not translate to my nail polish application skills. However for the first time ever, I used Essie Fill the Gap Base Coat which made a world of difference in getting a more even application. This was 2 coats of Fill the Gap, then 2 coats of Berry Hard.

I’m not sure if Berry Hard is part of the permanent Essie line because I got it in the Color Chic set ($20) from Trade Secrets.

Essie Color Chic Set: Berry Hard, Fill the Gap, Fishnet Stockings

Essie Berry Hard Swatch (natural daylight)

Essie Berry Hard Swatch (Natural daylight)

What about you? Are you going to wear vampy nails this Fall?

The Poor Girl’s Chanel Paradoxal Nail Polish.

September 8, 2010 | 15 Responses

It seems that everyone and their kittens are obsessing over Chanel Paradoxal nail polish from the Fall 2010 collection. I, too, think it’s gorgeous but sadly I am on a self-imposed Chanel counter ban. So instead of forking over $20+ (likely $30) dollars for the Chanel, I thought I would mix two inexpensive colours that I already have to see if I can get close enough to Paradoxal.

If you’re not familiar with Chanel Paradoxal, have a look-see over at All Lacquered Up for swatches.

Rimmel Lycra Wear in 405 Fantasy, Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in 207 Steel Gray

Wearing 1 part Rimmel Fantasy, 1 part Rimmel Steel Gray
(I realize that I’m probably never gonna be a nail blogger in this lifetime.)

This was my first time mixing two nail colours together and I was pretty pleased. I didn’t really know what to mix them in, so I just mixed them over a sheet of wax paper and it worked out well.

I think I have a pretty good dupe here, judging by the swatches I found all over the Internet. It might be a tad bit too purple, so I’ll probably go 2 parts gray, 1 part purple next time. It just takes a little bit of elbow grease to mix the colours, and some nail polish remover to clean off the brush to not contaminate the colour in the original bottle. And for $0, that’s a pretty sweet deal.

Sneak Peek: M·A·C alice + olivia So Rich So Pretty.

June 29, 2010 | 6 Responses

I am so excited to post our very first sneak peek here at Glitter Geek.

A relatively small collection, M·A·C alice + olivia will feature limited edition Dazzleglass Crèmes ($18 US / $21.50 CDN), Pigments ($19.50 US / $23.50 CDN), and Nail Lacquer ($12 US / $14.50 CDN). I know that this collection will set colour lovers’ hearts aflutter.

I was able to try out So Rich So Pretty Nail Lacquer, a bright reddish purple with pearl. It’s a fun colour but I feel like I’ve seen this colour before. This is the first nail polish I’ve ever tried from M·A·C, and overall my experience was good. There was some streakiness after one or two coats, so it took me three coats (or two thick coats) to achieve a fully opaque colour. It’s worth it though. I’m totally a purple nail polish kinda girl, and just look at that purple! It is very downtown girl chic.