Summer Vacation Displays

Yes, it's been a month since I last posted. I was overly optimistic about what I could get done between my long trip and the shorter one I got back from earlier this week. But now I've managed to get through all the display photos I took on the long trip. I didn't document the shade names for these as I was limited in the time I could spend browsing in stores. Speaking of stores, I only went to ones I came across, so it was all Boots and Superdrug locations in London, Birmingham, and Southampton.

I'd never seen a Barry M display in person before this one. It was mostly filled with Gelly shades, but there were treatments in the upper left and lower right. The bottom row had a few Hi Vis shades.

 

The same store had a little section with six Gelly shades, at least one of which was in the bigger section shown above, so I'm not sure what this was about ... seasonal collection of repromotes maybe. I did note the shade names here: All in One Basecoat Topcoat and Nail Hardener, Espresso, Chai Latte, Raspberry Ripple, Grape Soda, Pistachio, Pineapple Punch.

 

A Superdrug in Southampton had a wider selection of Barry M. This display had In a Flash quick dry colors on the left side, with Hi Viz neon color on the top right, with Velvet matte shades, Gelly Rose Tinted collection, and some glitters below that in the right hand side.

 

That same Superdrug also had a big display with Gelly colors and top/base/treatments. It was so big I didn't get it all in the frame of the photo ... ooops.

 

There were six more Gelly shades featured in that Superdrug in a separate display section. These weren't the same six as in the Boots in London, so not sure what's going on there.

 

 

I admit I was sorely tempted by the Boots brand fake nails, but resisted as I knew I had lots of sets of other brands at home.

 

I'd never heard of the Collection brand before, and only ran into one display for it. The top two rows were Spotlight Shine colors and the bottom two were Gel Effect.
Like the Boots fake nails, I was also tempted by the Elegant Touch ones, as I can't get that brand at home, but again, even though fakes are easier to use up than polish, I really need to use what I already have. (I was not tempted by the Kiss nails, as I have easy access to those.)

 

Essie isn't hard to find at home but it was still interesting to see the displays in England. This one at Superdrug had mini bottles, a line called Love by Essie that I don't recall seeing before (it's plant based), a bunch of shades in the regular line, a smaller selection of Gel Couture, and top/base/treatments.

 

At Boots, the display was similar, but had more shades and instead of the Love line, had an Expressie section.

 

A different Boots had a trending shades section above their main Essie display. This had Ballet Slippers, Birthday Girl (sold out), Cute as a Button, Lilacism, Salt Water Happy, and Mint Candy Apple.

 

I only saw a Kiko display once, at what I thought of as the fancy Boots (it was at least twice as big as any of the others I went into). This had removers, top/base/treatments, and shades from the Power Pro and Smart lines.

 

The only Makeup Academy polishes I saw were in this standing display with neon makeup for summmer.

 

I miss the days when Maybelline had lots of polish releases, so many with interesting colors and finishes. I saw two lines from them in England, both with a fairly tame selection of shades. Here's the Super Stay:

 

And the Fast Gel:

 

I have a soft spot for Max Factor as it was a brand my mom used. Their presence in the US seems to have faded a lot since then but it seems going strong in England. This display had three lines of nail polish: Nailfinity (longwear gel-like colour without a UV lamp), Miracle Pure Nail (plant-based and 100% vegan), and Masterpiece Xpress Quick Dry (60 seconds high shine rich colour).

 

A different store had this arrangement of Nailfinity and Masterpiece Xpress:

 

That store's stock of Miracle Pure Nail appeared to be a limited edition collection from Priyanka Chopra Jonas, with her name printed on the labels. I did get these shade names. Top row: Sparkling Light, Sunrise Glow, Radiant Rose, Vanilla Spice. Bottom: Winter Sunset, Daring Cherry, Bold Rosewood, Starry Night.

 

Like Collection, I hadn't heard of the My Mood brand before I saw the display. This was arranged by groups: Need a Top Up (glitters), Nude Mood (a range of skintone cremes), Nail the Dream (shimmery pastels), Next Level Neon (neons plus a white base), On the Brightside (seems a few pastels snuck into this part), Cult Classics (surprised the blue was here and not with brights), Treatments (bases, topcoat, oil), and Power Couples (pairs of compatible shades).

 

A closer look at the glitters, which almost made me break my no buying polish rule for this trip:

 

The Nails Inc display I saw had two rows of Plant Power shades (vegan and halal-friendly) on top with the traditional line below (neons, nudes, pastels, pinks, glitters, top/base/treatments) along with a row of the 45 Seconds Speedy Gloss shades.

 

The polish in the Revolution display at Superdrug had neons in round bottles and high gloss shades in squar ones.

 

At Boots, the Revolution polishes were not showcased as well but they had more varieties: Express Nails, Neon/Candy Nails, Gel Effect, and Nail Care.

 

This Rimmel display had Super Gel colors in the top rows and 60 Seconds Super Shine below with a few Glitter Bomb shades as well.

 

At another store they had a Rimmel Nail Bar section with a wider range of shades, including a couple glitter top coats. These were mostly 60 Seconds Super Shine with four rows of Super Gel in the upper right.

 

My old friend Sally Hansen had some represention over the pond. At Superdrug, they had a selection of Good Kind Pure, Miracle Gel, Insta Dri, and treatments.

 

At a Boots, they had a similar assortment of Sally Hansen.

 

I am still amazed that I managed to not buy any nail polish on my trip. Whenever I got tempted, I'd remind myself of the many many many beautiful untrieds waiting for me at home. I did buy three concealers and a foundation (and sunscreen and a few other things I used on the trip), and have bought a few polishes since I've been home, so as always I'm a work in progress.

Wheel Q8: Magnetics from Nabi and Barry M

Today I've got the rest of my Nabi magnetics that didn't fit on last week's wheel, plus a quartet from Barry M.



(all are two coats; usual caveat about the awkwardness of using the magnets on tips that are not on movable fingers applies)

1. Nabi Lavanda II
2. Nabi Cloud
3. Nabi Baby Green
4. Nabi Mystique
5. Nabi Sky Blue
6. Nabi Ocean Blue
7. Nabi Silver [I like the sparkle in this one]
8. Nabi Black
9. Nabi Lime
10. Nabi Dark Gold [my favorite on this wheel, and I don't even like gold usually]
11. Nabi Khaki
12. Nabi Candid [probably my second favorite; I like the cool/warm contrast the magnet makes]
13. Nabi Green
14. Nabi Dark Green [almost wonder if I got a mislabelled bottle here, as doesn't seem much different than 13; the lines brought out by the magnet are a little lighter in this is all I see to distinguish it]
15. Nabi Teal [I'd call this dark green, not teal, but it's lovely regardless of the name]
16. Nabi Navy Blue
17. Barry M Burgundy
18. Barry M Violet
19. Barry M Blue
20. Barry M Dark Silver

Bottles 1 through 5:



6 through 10:


11 through 16:



17 through 20:

















Destash notes: Just looking at this wheel alone, I don't see a lot of room to get rid of things. Maybe 11 and 14 could go. I'll need to stack these up against other brands' magnetics to really get a good overview of where I have excess.

OPI Brazil Collection Part One, The Hot Hues, Swatches and Comparisons

OPI kindly sent all twelve shades in the Brazil collection for Spring 2014 for me to review (plus the four mini Liquid Sand colors). That's a lot of colors, especially when I want to do some comparisons, which I most certainly do, so I'm going to split up my coverage of the collection into three posts. Today I've got six hues from the warm side of the color wheel: I Just Can't Cope-acabana, Where Did Suzi's Man-go, Toucan Do It If You Try, Live Love Carnaval, Kiss Me I'm Brazilian, and Red Hot Rio.



Perhaps because I still have my Valentine's Day decorations up in my office and have pink and red together on my brain, I combined Kiss Me I'm Brazilian, the warm pink creme, with an accent nail of Red Hot Rio, the red creme. Kiss Me I'm Brazilian was very pigmented and opaque; I used two coats but with a good base and top coat, I think it might even be fine with one (my swatches as per usual lack topcoat). In contrast, Red Hot Rio had a thinner, less pigmented formula, with a bit of a squishy crelly look to it. I used three coats of it to get the opacity I wanted.





The other four cremes in this group seemed to want to be together, so I swatched them that way. Starting at the top, it's the yellow Just Can't Cope-acabana, then the yellow-leaning orange Where Did Suzi's Man-go, the soft coral Toucan Do It If You Try, and the vibrant coral Live Love Carnaval. All of these had a formula similar to Kiss Me I'm Brazilian and needed only two coats for full coverage, even the yellow, which was pleasant surprise given how finicky yellows can be.





This quartet was fun on its own, but I wanted to amp it up even more so turned to my trusty dotting tools. On each color, I did dots of the other three hues in diagonal rows. Toucan and Carnaval are similar enough to each other that they blend more than I'd like for this particular look, but I still thought it looked quite festive. I did use topcoat at this point, to help the dots blend into an overall look rather than just sitting there as individual entities. The shiny-ness did give my camera some issues with glare but to the naked eye it looked fine.







I promised comparisons, and comparisons there shall be, starting with yellows. I am not overly endowed in the yellow creme area, so one subtle shimmer joined the party. Left to right below: Sally Hansen Insta Dri Glow With It (from Spring 2014 limited edition release), OPI I Just Can't Cope-acabana, Barry M Lemon Ice Cream, Milani Hi Speed Fast Dry Yellow Whiz.



Shown in the same order on the nail below. Glow With It is the shimmer, though you really can't tell unless you're way too close or the light is really bright. The Barry M is the only one that took three coats; the others were two. The Barry M is a slightly less intense, more lemony color. I think Yellow Whiz wins this group, at least for U.S. based folks, as it's core and reasonably priced and has an amusing name (that's fast and easy to type, as well).



Where Did Suzi's Man-go reminded me of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Dreamsicle (another Spring 2014 LE), so I put those side by side, and one of the new Gold Label Milani colors, Colorful Coral, seemed like it might be a good match for Toucan Do It If You Try. Left to right below: Sally Hansen Dreamsicle, OPI Where Did Suzi's Man-go, OPI Toucan Do It If You Try, Milani Colorful Coral. Neither of these pairs are dupes. Dreamsicle is more yellow than Man-go (and less flattering on me). Colorful Coral is a touch more pink than Toucan.



In the vibrant coral/red orange arena, I had two possible matches for Live Love Carnaval in the scrum of bottles in the process of making their way through my swatching queue. Left to right below: Nicole by OPI Some Hearts (Carrie Underwood collection), OPI Live Love Carnaval, Barielle Fifth Avenue Boutique (from the New York Style box set, which I'll be reviewing of soonish). No dupes here, either. Carnaval is more orange than either of the other two (and Fifth Avenue is brighter than Some Hearts).



Surely I could find a dupe for Kiss Me I'm Brazilian. It's pink, and I have many many pinks. I didn't even have to go into my Helmers to find likely candidates; I just pulled from my recently swatched and soon to be swatched piles and found two Milanis and a Nicole by OPI. Left to right: Milani Popping Pink, OPI Kiss Me I'm Brazilian, Nicole by OPI Color Me Country, Milani Splendid Strawberry.



Same order on the nail below. Popping Pink is a pretty good match for Brazilian; the other two are a touch too orange-leaning (Splendid Strawberry more so than Color Me Country).



That Barielle New York Style box set I mentioned above also had a red creme in it, Big Apple Red, so grabbed that, along with the very subtly shimmery Nicole by OPI American As Apple Pie, to compare to OPI Red Hot Rio. Left to right below: Barielle, NOPI, OPI. The Barielle is the coolest toned of the three. Despite the shimmer, the Nicole by OPI actually looks a lot like the OPI, maybe a touch less warm.



So there you have it, the hot hues from OPI Brazil. My favorite of this group is Where Did Suzi's Man-go; it's bright yet also soft, a happy pretty color and not a shade we see all the time.

If you've got an opinion on bottle shots for comparisons, let me know in the comments. I usually take at least a casual bottle shot when I do comparisons (like for the pinks), so if I lose my notebook I will at least know which polishes I used, but I don't know if seeing those is interesting and/or helpful to anyone other than me.

The polishes shown in this entry were provided free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider.