Cabaret Nail Polish Review, Photos and Swatches

I don't think people should have to explain anything.

For example, if I should paint my fingernails green, 

And it just so happens I do paint them green, Well, if anyone should ask me why,

I say: I think it's pretty! "I think it's pretty, " I reply.

- Sally Bowles, 'Cabaret'

Cabaret is one of my favourite musicals and when the chance arose to see it while in New York recently, I jumped at the chance. It's currently starring the incredible Alan Cumming as the Emcee and Sienna Miller as Sally Bowles and being performed at the famed Studio 54. As excited as I was to see the production, I was delighted when I realized that I could get a bottle of Sally Bowles-green nail polish as a souvenir. 

I love green nail polish. I have eight bottles of green polish right now, and this makes nine. But it's the official Sally Bowles green nail polish, so that makes it extra special.

It's a tiny, tiny bottle. The Cabaret logo is on one side, and the Roundabout Theatre (the company putting on the production) logo is on the other side. 

This nailpolish has the tiniest brush which makes it a little tricky to apply, at least for me.

The formula of the polish is quite thin, so in combination with the thin brush, it was a bit tough to apply. The colour though, is stunning. It's a deep green with flecks of silver and gold and it's such a sophisticated colour.

Christopher Isherwood described Sally's nails as being painted emerald green: "I noticed that her finger-nails were painted emerald green, a colour unfortunately chosen, for it called attention to her hands, which were much stained by cigarette smoking and as dirty as a little girl's."

The onscreen and onstage Sallys haven't always worn an emerald green. I've seen photos of Liza Minnelli's Sally, Natasha Richardson's Sally, and Sienna Miller's Sally and their green nails varied in shade from more of a kelly green or apple green to a deep, dark green. 

This one is close to what Isherwood described. I'd call this an emerald green, and it's laced through with shimmery metallic.

Here it is on my nails. And here you can also see how tiny the bottle is. 

I did three coats of polish since the formula is very thin and the thin brush made it challenging to apply. Since the formula is so thin, I had to work quickly and the thin brush made it challenging. However, the final effect is very glossy, and it wore well. It's a sophisticated green, so even though it's green, it works for daytime and the office (depending on office dress code). 

While the bottle is tiny, I bet I'll finish the bottle before it dries out, unlike all of my other nail polishes. Maybe all nail polish should come in this size of bottle?

It strikes me that this shade may have been considered edgy back in the 1930s when Sally Bowles was created, but today, it's pretty tame by comparison. When I first saw it I thought "This isn't a Sally Bowles green." Then I saw Isherwood's description and it is indeed a Sally Bowles green. If Sally existed or was created today, I imagine she'd wear an acid green on her nails. 

Still, this green is a wonderful addition to my green nail polish collection and a perfect memento of a great stage production. 

Grade: B

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Poison Nail Lacquer Review, Photos and Swatches

Another day, another green nailpolish. I reviewed Illamasqua's Viridian a few weeks ago and this week, I have OCC's Poison. Poison is part of OCC's Unknown Pleasures Fall 2014 collection as is the shade Technopagan, which I reviewed here. Poison is a metallic, smoky, silver-ivy green shade. 

I've found that all the OCC polishes I've tried are a good consistency - not too thick and not too thin. They tend to apply evenly and are opaque with two coats, though I tend to do three just to be sure.

I love this colour. It's green, but it's got some smokiness to it, so it's muted. The metallic silver sheen of it is pretty too. It makes it sophisticated and edgy at the same time. Compare it to Illamasqua's Viridian and the two are very similar in tone, but Poison is smokier, muted and silvery. 

Poison made me think of autumn for some reason. Like grass and leaves with a touch of frost on them.

Wear-wise, Poison lasted on me about a week before I removed it. It had average wear-time, no less and no more than most other polishes. 

I'm a huge fan of OCC polishes. I wish they were sold in Canadian Sephoras like the lip tars are!

Grade A

C.

Other Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Nail Lacquers reviewed by Beauty Squared:

Technopagan
Zoom Zoom

Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Viridian Review, Photos and Swatches

Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Viridian

Illamasqua is on it's way out of Canada, very sadly. It was available at Bay stores and on the Bay website, but soon they won't be available to Canadians apart from on their website. As of today's date, The Bay is having a clearance sale on all Illamasqua products on their website and I believe, in store. 

I picked up a few items from the clearance sale online. You can see my review of Illamasqua's Salacious lipstick here and Illamasqua's nail varnish Vice here. 

This post features Illamasqua's Viridian nail varnish. It's described as a peacock green and has a metallic finish. 

Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Viridian

Packaging detail

There was a promotional card inside the nail varnish box, advertising Illamasqua at Sephora, which of course is no longer true. Illamasqua is not available at Sephora anymore either.

Promo card 

Promo card

From the Illamasqua website:

A spectrum of bold shades with a range of finishes including matt, rubber and high-gloss. Award-winning, extremely hardwearing and chip-resistant, there's an Illamasqua Nail Varnish for every shade of humanity. 

15 mL/0.5 fl. oz.

Illamasqua's nail varnishes are some of the best in the industry, in terms of formula, quality and unique colours and textures. They cost £14.50.

Let's take a closer look at Viridian.

I'm a sucker for green (and blue) nail polish, so while I already have a similar shade in Butter London's British Racing Green, I thought it'd be worth it since it was half price ($12 CDN). Also Viridian has bit more blue to it and was quite a bit more shimmery. I was intrigued.

Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Viridian

It makes me think of the ocean, deep and mysterious. It makes me think of mermaids and fish. 

Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Viridian

All the Illamasqua varnishes I've tried go on beautifully. Viridian was no different. It applied smoothly and was complete with two coats. 

Here it is on my nails. Gorgeous, right?

Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Viridian

I love this colour and have nothing negative to say about the formula. This is an absolutely beautiful nail polish, so if you like blue-green shades, you'll love Viridian. 

I would have no qualms ordering any Illamasqua nail varnishes online, even if I can't see them in person first. Their formulas are excellent and the colours and textures are innovative and unique. 

Grade: A

C.

Chanel Superstition Fall 2013: Les 4 Ombres in Mystère 43, Review, Swatches and Photos

This review is a little late to the game as Chanel's fall collection has been out since August, but the collection is still available online and on counters at such retailers as The Bay and Holt Renfrew in Canada.

I have the American version of the eye shadow quad for review which features the non-baked eye shadow formula (Canadian and European counters get the baked version). This quad is LE and retails for $59.00 US/$62.00 CD. Photos in natural light, swatches on NC 35/40 skin.

Mystère features four shades (clockwise from the top right): a sheer cream with tiny gold flecks, a satin mid tone cool grey brown, a light satin taupe and a deep green/brown/black with tiny gold flecks.

I swatched this quad two ways, the top swatch is on bare skin and the bottom swatch is on top of Urban Decay Primer Potion. This quad got mixed reviews on the interwebs, with some notable blogs such as Temptalia panning it, and other blogs such as Beautezine loving it. 

The apparent deal breaker for some is the level of sheerness of a few of the shadows.  Both the cream shade and the taupe shade are fairly sheer, even on top of primer as my swatches attest. If we use Le Metier de Beaute's shadows as a marker for pigmentation/opacity (100%) then I would rate the cream and taupe shadows at 55% opaque and the two darker colours at around 70-75% opacity.  While I did find using them over primer increased the opacity, only the darkest shade showed a dramatic change, while the cream and grey brown shade showed modest improvement and strangely the taupe shade almost remained the same!

For me, the sheerer quality of these shadows isn't a deal breaker, sheerer eye shadows can mean less blending. In the end, I do think Chanel should offer a creamier, less powdery and more pigmented formula as seen in the Topkapi palette for their regular offerings given the price point of their palettes. What I do really like about this palette is the range of cool neutrals and satin finish shadows. Cool neutrals are a favourite of mine, and these shades can run the gamut of looks from natural to sophisticated to edgy. 

Grade: B

Soft Fall Green FOTD Featuring Charlotte Tilbury's The Rebel Luxury Palette

On my recent trip to London I was lucky enough to stumble across a preview launch of legendary makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury's new makeup line. The day I caught them, they only had eye shadows for sale - I spent a long time swatching and playing with the palettes and I came away very impressed and of course, not empty handed!

One of the two brand new palettes I picked up was The Rebel (£38.00, approximately $63.00 CA), a gorgeous, bold palette including four shimmery eye shadows in cream, bright grass green, deep teal green and a golden khaki green cream/powder glitter, review here.

On my way home I spent a few days in Toronto and used this palette on Catherine to create a soft yet bright fall green eye. Catherine usually keeps her colour choices neutral, particularly on her eyes, so I wanted to create a colourful but soft and wearable look for her.

Clockwise from upper left: Tom Ford Lovelust Blush, Charlotte Tilbury The Rebel Luxury Eye Palette,

 MAC Face and Body Mixing Medium, MAC Smoke and Diamonds Eye Starflash Eye Shadow, 

MAC Wedge Eye Shadow, OCC Skin Conceal in Y1, Shu Uemura Eye Lash Curler, Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Gel, MAC Jazzed Lipstick, MAC Select Cover Concealer in NW20, Bobbi Brown Lash Glamour Extreme Lengthening Mascara in Black

Charlotte TIlbury's The Rebel palette, clockwise from top left.

1. Prime - shimmery cream with a slight pink overtone
2. Enhance - bright, pigmented grass green shimmer
3. Smoke - a deep, pigmented teal
4. Pop - a creamy smokey khaki with tons of golden shimmer

I began by priming Catherine's eyes with MAC Select Cover concealer and a slight dusting of powder. To create a neutral base I applied MAC Wedge to the whole of Catherine's lid, buffing it out on the edges and slightly into the crease. I then applied the grass green Enhance shade of The Rebel palette into the crease and on the outer 1/3 of her lid. I applied the grass green shade quite strongly using a flat stiff brush then buffed and blended it out in the crease towards the brow and out onto the lid using a clean MAC 217. I then layered MAC Smoke and Diamonds on the outer 3/4 of the lid, making sure to overlap where the green shadow had been blended onto the lid.

I then mixed Smoke and Diamonds together with the Enhance shade and lined her bottom lids 3/4 of the way, making sure to blend out the line for soft definition. I then used the deep teal Smoke shade to deepen the outside edge of the crease and the top lash line. I then used MAC's Graphblack fill in between Cath's top lashes, curled her lashes and applied mascara. Lastly, I took the Pop shade in The Rebel palette and using my fingers, patted it onto middle of the lid for added sparkle. I also groomed Cath's brows with Anastasia's Brow Gel to give them definition.

After her eyes were finished, I applied a mixture of MAC Select Cover Concealer and Face and Body Mixing Medium as foundation, applied OCC Concealer to any blemishes and powdered only the center of her face. To complete the look I dusted Tom Ford's Lovelust blush high onto Cath's cheekbones, then buffed some onto the apple's of her cheeks for added warmth. I then mixed MAC's Jazzed lipstick with a smidge of the Select Concealer to lighten then tone, then filled in her lips.

I think the finished look is soft, pretty and colourful without being over-the-top garish. Because I hid the brightest shade in her crease, you only get that flash of bright green when she lowers her eyes, and the neutrals on her lids keeps the look sophisticated. 

What do you think readers? See yourself in greens for fall?

J

Sephora + Pantone Universe Graphic Lift Liquid Eyeliner - Review, Swatches and Photos

I love green. LOVE LOVE LOVE to wear it. But I've never tried it on my face. Sephora and Pantone teamed up this year again for the colour of the year, which is emerald for 2013. 

They have a number of products available including eyeshadow, blush and lip colours. I picked up the Sephora + Pantone Universe Graphic Lift Liquid Eyeliner recently. 

The packaging (pictured above) is pretty neat. Excessive, but pretty neat. 

The eyeliner wand itself is white, which is a nice switch from the typically black and dark gray packaging of most makeup brands. 

The eyeliner itself is a shimmery medium-toned green with a touch of gold to it. 

Here's what the Sephora website has to say about it: 

An all-day liquid eyeliner with a metallic finish and a striking Emerald hue. What it does: Discover the renewing, energizing power of Pantone’s Color of the Year with this smudge-proof eyeliner. The defined felt tip applicator promises ultimate precision and accuracy, allowing you to create looks both sophisticated and dramatic. The quick-dry, water-resistant formula promises excellent color payoff and a gorgeous glimmer from day into night. 

Swatched on NW15 skintone.

I'm not a fan of this style of liquid eyeliner applicator, with the brush tip. I prefer using a brush or a pen-tip applicator. Brush tip wands are difficult to use, I find. And the eye liner is quite liquid so it's not the easiest to work with. In the photo above, the eyeliner is still wet. After it dries, it deepens in colour

Here's a quick eye look I tried with it. I ringed my eyes with the liner and then used a black eyeliner pencil and smudged it into my lashline. I added a bit of silvery-white to give it a bit of highlight amd a bit of contour colour in my crease. Black mascara too - top and bottom. Simple, but with a bright colour and one I'm not used to wearing, it's a good way to start. 

The black grounds the bright green. This is an easy way to wear a bright colour - ground it with some black. 

My liner lines are a bit wobbly but that's due to the applicator wand and the sheerness of the product. I had to go over it again and again to get enough colour. It's almost watery in consistency, even after shaking it.

Disappointing. I also wish this had been a deeper, more jewel tone emerald green. 

It cost $18 CDN. 

Grade: C

OCC Nail Polish in Zoom Zooms - Review, Swatches and Photos

OCC is best known for their revolutionary Lip Tars but they've got other great products such as their loose colour concentrates (pigment powders that can be worn on the eyes, lips, cheeks and body), cream colour concentrates (cream colours that can be used on the eyes, lips, cheeks and body), tinted moisturizer, airbrush foundation, concealer, and nail polish. 

While in NYC recently, I picked up a bottle of their nail lacquer. This was one of their sale shades, so I'm not sure how easy it is to find now, but I wanted to do a post on it because it's a great shade and I wanted to highlight OCC's nail lacquers. 

The shade I chose was $5 and called Zoom Zoom. It's a metallic deep green-blue. When I first saw the bottle I thought the glitter looked really obvious but I LOVED the way it looked out of the bottle. The metallic swirl and glitter so evident in the bottle translate beautifully on the nails. 

It's not a subtle shade. It's deep and dark and metallic and gorgeous. 

I'm impressed with how Zoom Zooms applies. The brush is a touch on the long side and it's also thick so it takes a little getting used to. Zoom Zooms goes on well, these photos show only two coats. I love how dramatic this colour is, and also how 3D it looks. It's like looking into deep water. 

The bottle reminds me of the American Apparel polish packaging.

I'll definitely get some more OCC polishes. Zoom Zooms was on sale so that made it easy to snatch up but regular price ($10 US) they're not unreasonable. And the interesting and unique colours OCC comes out with are totally worth checking out, if that's your thing. OCC polishes can be found in OCC stores, on their website and at Sephora online. 

Grade: A-

C.

butter LONDON Two Fingered Salute - Review, Swatches and Photos

When Jill and I were in New York City recently, we went to a store called Ricki's. There are a quite a few Ricki's in Manhattan, and they carry a wide range of hair supplies, some make-up, cosmetics and nail supplies. For beauty junkies, it's well worth a stop for lines like NYX, Stila, OPI, Essie and butter LONDON. While it's not as flashy as a Sephora, it's got products that you may not be able to find elsewhere, such as butter LONDON's Two-Fingered Salute, a Nordstroms limited edition exclusive.

I was sooooo curious about this shade when it was first launched last summer but as always, was hesitant to buy it without seeing it in person first. So when I saw it on the shelf at Ricky's I squealed.

Two-Fingered Salute: Similar to giving the bird in the states. Naughty! A muted, patinaed green-creme with copper micro-glitter.

This is a two-fingered salute - a UK version of giving someone the finger. 

Yes, you read that correctly, a green with copper glitter. Sounds weird, right? It looks a little weird too, but it's also really cool, very pretty and very different. I don't know if I'd wear this shade of green without the copper, it's verging on pastel. 

Two-Fingered Salute goes on beautifully, as do all the butter LONDON polishes I've tried. In the photo below I'm wearing three coats, but that's more my application technique than the product. This would probably work fine with two coats. The copper glitter is subtle and embedded in the polish, so it's not an uneven finish. 

You see mainly the green but at certain angles, the copper glitter creates a sheen and at other angles you see the individual copper particles. 

This is a great shade. I'm a huge fan of butter LONDON polishes as you may know from reading this blog. Each new one I try, I fall in love a little bit more. It's a combination of the names of the polishes as well as the uniqueness of many of the shades. butter LONDON is not an inexpensive polish, but they're beautiful polishes. They cost around $18 CDN. 

Grade: A

My First MAC Eyeshadow: MAC Tilt Eyeshadow Swatches, Photos and EOTD

I would suspect that a good number of women would say that the first eyeshadow colour they bought was a blue-green frosty colour. Mine was. Well, at least, the first MAC eyeshadow I ever bought was. 

I still have the very first MAC eyeshadow I ever bought and thought I might show you. I would have bought this in 1998 or 1999. It's Tilt eyeshadow, which MAC still makes, amazingly. Tilt is violet with blue-green frost, according to the MAC website and this surprises me, I actually have never noticed any purple in it at all. Now I can see it. 

To compare the old MAC packaging with the new MAC packaging, I photographed my Tilt next to a recent purchase (Wedge). 

The newer MAC packaging has the flip-top while the Tilt packaging has a screw-off lid.

White wording on a black sticker on the bottom. Note also, the raised MAC lettering along the edge of the eyeshadow. The newer MAC packaging has the fainter writing on a not-so-black sticker on the bottom. I can see aesthetically why they made the switch, but I've noted that it doesn't take very long for my eyeshadow labels to become very, very difficult to read. They get coated with product or get worn from rubbing against other eyeshadows. I wish the black on the stickers was darker and the writing was brighter. 

And here's that 12-14 year old Tilt. As you can see I didn't use much of it. I grew out of the frosty blue-green phase, I suppose, or perhaps I just never figured out how to wear it. 

Tilt's got a lot of shimmer, and depending on the angle, it can look green-blue, or blue-lavender.

I don't remember how I used to wear it at all. Probably as an all over the lid shade or as a simple eyeliner shade. Since it's still in pretty good shape, still creamy and not dried out, I thought I'd see if i could still do an EOTD with it.

Here's what I came up with!

I applied Tilt all over my lid (look how lavender it looks now!) with my Real Techniques Base Shadow brush. Along my upper lashline, I smudged MAC Contrast (purplish-blue with blue pearl) using an angle brush. Using my Real Techniques Deluxe Crease brush, I applied a small amount of Contrast up along my crease, very lightly. On top of that, and using the same angle brush, I applied MAC Mega Metal Shadow in Unflappable (frosted black with purple pearl) more heavily in the outer crease and lighter towards the inside. Blending, blending, blending and adding a little more and blending again. Using the angle brush I used what was left of the Contrast on it to smoke my lower lashline a little and pulling it up towards the crease in the outer corner of my eye. I wasn't sure if I wanted to use a purple or a blue to line my eyes and I only had one blue and one purple eyeliner to chose from so I opted for the blue. It's Philosophy eyeliner in Creativity, a bright navy-teal blue. I think a dark purple would've worked well, or a navy blue. Or even black depending on how fun or chic you wanted to go. 

I'm kind of amazed how different Tilt look on my eye. It looks like a completely different eyeshadow colour! I might be bringing it out more often now....

If you like the look of Tilt, MAC still makes it. 

Hope you've enjoyed taking a look at my first MAC eyeshadow! Do you remember what your first MAC product was? 

C.