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March, 2011

MUG SHOT: The Face Shop Purples

March 26, 2011 by pam

This post is for Charly, who wants to see more purples.

These bottles are all from The Face Shop, a Korean cosmetics and skin care brand that has become a mall staple here in the Philippines. I’ve amassed a number of bottles over the years – some I purchased and some that were given to me as birthday and Christmas gifts.

I like The Face Shop not just for the polishes but for the polish remover which I’ve been buying gallons of. (My favorite is the pink one – it smells like strawberries!) Their products are affordable so hauling is guilt-free.

I just wish they named their polishes instead of just using codes. It gets confusing – and you’ll see why later.

This is PP409, a lovely lovely metallic purple.

I tried really hard but I couldn’t capture this color accurately in photographs. It’s less blue and a lot more purple than these photos show.

I used three coats for this one.

PP409 is a keeper. It’s super pretty.

This is PP403 from The Face Shop’s Lovely Mix Nail line.

It’s a nice creamy purple with pink undertones.

This was two coats.

Also a keeper. I love a good purple.

This one is PP404.

It looks more plum than purple. There’s a lot of red in it.

I love how rich this color is. It’s crazy vampy.

This was two coats too.

Here’s where it gets confusing. This next color is also PP404 – but from The Face Shop’s core nail line.

This is such a lovely pale violet in the bottle.

On the nail, it goes on quite sheer, even after several coats.

Girls who love soft colors on their nails would love this. But since I’m not a fan of sheer polish, I will use PP404 over a more solid color.

I think this will look awesome over Chanel Rodeo Drive.

You can find The Face Shop at Alabang Town Center, Ayala Center Cebu, Eastwood, Festival Supermall, Fort Bonifacio Global City, Glorietta, Robinsons Place Manila, Rockwell, Robinsons Galleria, Shangri-La Plaza, SM Cebu, SM Taytay, SM Sucat, SM Southmall, SM Fairview, SM Megamall, SM The Block Level 2, SM Bacolod, SM Pampanga, SM Mall of Asia, Shoppesville Arcade, The Podium and Trinoma.

Category mug shot | Tags: mug shot,pp403,pp404,pp409,purple,swatches,the face shop,violet | 9 Comments
MUG SHOT: Barry M Pastels

March 25, 2011 by pam

After those blinding neons, I now bring you pretty pastels. These are so easy on the eyes – they’re like candy for the nails.

All these colors are from Barry M, a cosmetics brand created by Barry Mero in London in 1982. I love Barry M. The colors are pretty and the price is crazy affordable. Each polish is just £2.99. And the bottles are freaking strong too – I know, because I accidentally sent the yellow one flying out of the car and onto concrete and it survived unscathed. (Yes, I’m a klutz.) I know Barry M Nail Paints aren’t easy to find anywhere in Manila but if you have friends living in the UK, if you have loved ones flying to London, tell them about Barry M. Maybe they can pick up some for you at Boots or Superdrug.

I love Barry M so much that sometimes, I just look for Barry M nail polish pics on Flickr and stare at the pretties. I just love Barry M polish porn.

But now it’s my turn to provide the porn.

This is Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream.

Blueberry Ice Cream is a pretty blue. The formula is nice and super creamy.

This was the most opaque of the lot. I just needed two coats.

This is Berry Ice Cream.

Berry Ice Cream is a lovely lilac.

The formula was nice too but it was a little more sheer than Blueberry.

I used three coats.

This is Mint Green.

I love mint green polish and this one’s no exception.

This was three coats too.

I love this color so much so here’s a closeup:

This is Lemon Ice Cream.

But there’s nothing tart about this yellow.

It’s such a sweet color.

The pictures make this polish look so much brighter than it is. It looks more like this:

It’s a soft yellow. Pretty, pretty, pretty. In fact, my boss, who saw my mani today, liked this color the most.

This was three coats too.

This is Strawberry Ice Cream.

I love the name of this polish. It just sounds so yummy.

And it’s apt because this is such a yummy pink.

This was three coats too.

And when you have five colors as pretty as these in front of you, how can you resist doing a skittles mani?

I sure can’t.

So that’s what I did.

I’ve only worn this mani for a day but it’s already gotten a lot of attention. And I love how different people pick different colors as their favorites.

Check out Barry M’s other colors HERE. I want to try Barry M’s Instant Nail Effects too but they haven’t been easy to find.

Category mug shot | Tags: barry m,berry ice cream,blueberry ice cream,lemon ice cream,mint green,pastels,skittles,strawberry ice cream | 8 Comments
MUG SHOT: Color Club Electro Candy Neons

March 24, 2011 by pam

I had been reading a lot about surprise polish finds at Ross from the girls at MakeupAlley. But I was all shopped out polish-wise by the time I made it to the west coast that I wasn’t really looking for bottles when I did my mini tour of Ross in November. (It’s become my LA tradition and it drives my friend Lala crazy: “Ross na naman?!”)

But then I found this Color Club set and I just couldn’t resist.

And at just $7.99 for all six polishes, why should I?

I’m so glad I brought these crazy neon bottles home. These colors bring me back to the 80s, back when we were kids dressed in Maui & Sons shirts, neon cycling shorts, neon socks and white Tretorns.

This set is called Electro Candy and it was released in Summer 2009. The formula is nice, smooth but a little sheer. All these shades dried to a satin matte. These swatches taught me that neons are difficult to photograph. I wish the photos were more accurate but the camera couldn’t capture just how insanely bright these shades were.

This is Pure Energy.

Pure Energy is a neon blue.

This was three coats.

This is Tangerine Scream.

This crazy neon orange is one of my two favorites from this set. I love the shimmer.

This was three coats too.

This is Electro Candy.

This neon pink makes me think of Barbie.

Again, three coats.

This is Volt of Light.

This neon yellow reminds me of Stabilo highlighters.

As you can see, three coats isn’t enough to make this opaque. This was the sheerest of the six colors. And this was my least favorite.

This is What A Shock!

This crazy neon green is my other favorite from this set.

Two coats was enough for this baby.

And finally, Ultra Violet.

This neon purple with blue shimmer underwhelmed me. And it’s sad because I thought I would love it.

This was three coats too.

Let’s look at my favorites again.

Tangerine Scream.

What A Shock!

It’s a neon world here at Polish Police.

Category mug shot | Tags: color club,electro candy,neon,pure energy,tangerine scream,ultra violet,volt of light,what a shock | 10 Comments
POLICE FILES: Sarah and Lex Cosmetics need your votes

March 23, 2011 by pam

Today I got an e-mail from sweet Sarah from California:

Hello!

I’ve been reading your blog for a while and I really love your blog! I constantly look at your blog to see what is new and gorgeous in the nail polish world I’m not emailing you to ask you to check out my blog, but rather my dream nail polish!

Thanks to Sarah’s e-mail, I discovered Lex Cosmetics, a US-based nail polish brand that believes in giving women the power to create the products they buy.

Alexa, a twentysomething polish lover, couldn’t the perfect seafoam green nail polish and decided to make her own. Realizing that other women would want to create their own colors too, she founded Lex Cosmetics and has given polish lovers the chance to see their dream colors turn into reality.

Lex Cosmetics currently has a lineup of polishes all created by polish fans – there’s Alexa’s seafoam green, which she called Cayman Cabana; First Grade, a peach that was the color of Liz’s childhood bedroom; Yes!, a pinkish red that reminds Jackie of the roses from her engagement; Himalaya, Natalie’s dark green; Abbey Street, a blue that Leslie created for her friend Abbey; Seattle Sunshine, which is Jamila’s tribute to her city’s overcast sky; Sweetie Pie, which Andrea named after her hamster and others.

The bottles are pretty, the polishes are three-free and have been getting good reviews.

And here’s the awesome part – $1 from each bottle of polish sold goes to different causes and charity groups – ASPCA, World Wildlife Fund, Room To Read, Girls On The Run, Habitat for Humanity and more.

Lex Cosmetics continues to accept color submissions and regularly calls for votes for the next Lex color.

And this is why Sarah wrote to me.

Sarah, a 21-year-old Psychology student, is one of the finalists of the ongoing poll. And her color sounds awesome.

My color is “seashell.” I have wanted this for a long time. I’ve come up with something I think is beautiful, chic, and most of all, unique. This is an iridescent/oil spill color that not only captures the beauty of the seashell but also the beauty of nature in general. I know we’ve seen duchromes/multichromes, but this looks far different than others I have encountered. I think this nail polish should have every color that is present in this seashell: purple, turquoise, aquamarine, pink, mother of pearl. It should be dense, and look different at every angle.

I definitely want to see this gorgeous color in a bottle. And I definitely can’t wait to wear it. That’s why I voted for Sarah’s color. You can vote for Seashell too. Sarah is in the lead and I’m pretty sure she will win this.

Go and vote! And submit your dream color too! And if your color gets chosen, I’d love to hear all about it too.

Category police files | Tags: contest,dream color,lex cosmetics,seashell,vote | 10 Comments
MUG SHOT: StrangeBeautiful Taxidermy Caribou Head and the ugliest mani you’ll ever see

March 22, 2011 by pam

If you are eating, I apologize. If your threshold for disgusting things is low, I’m sorry. If your stomach gets queasy easily, I suggest you leave now. But if you enjoy looking at ugliness, if you can’t tear your eyes away from accidents, if you are drawn to images of disaster like moths to a flame, then stay. Put your feet up, grab a bag of chips, make yourself comfortable because you’re going to like what you’re about to see.

I wish I had something prettier to show you, I really do.

These two colors are from the brand StrangeBeautiful and the name is apt because one polish can be called beautiful and the other is just strange.

I really wanted to love this polish. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, then you know that those crazy StrangeBeautiful polish libraries by artist Jane Schub are on top of my polish wish list.

I couldn’t find the polish sets anywhere when I was in the US last year – then I remembered that Jane created exclusive polish duos for Anthropologie. I finally found some at the second Anthropologie Jill, Peter and I went to.

I had a hard time choosing which duo to get but I finally settled on Aged chartreuse and The gradation of color on the fur of a taxidermy caribou head. Yes, instead of giving the colors names, Jane just lists the inspiration behind them, thus the insanely long sentence.

The duos aren’t cheap – they’re $18 each.

But I didn’t mind the price because I’ve heard great things about StrangeBeautiful’s formula. But I was a little concerned about how hard it would be to paint my nails with that other nail polish bottle weighing the brush down. It turns out I shouldn’t have been concerned about that. I should have been concerned about the color.

But I thought the color would be just fine. I’ve always loved weird nail polish colors, colors that can be classified as ugly pretty.

Which is why I went crazy over MAC Dry Martini.

And RBL No More War, the queen of ugly pretty.

But StrangeBeautiful Aged Chartreuse isn’t ugly pretty, it’s just pretty ugly.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

First, let me show you The gradation of color on the fur of a taxidermy caribou head which might pass as pretty.

Taxidermy caribou head is a cream taupe.

It looks gray in the bottle but it looks brown on my nails.

The formula was nice and smooth.

I didn’t have a problem with application, I just held the brush like a pen – yes, with the other polish on the other end of it.

I could have used two coats – it was opaque enough.

But I decided to go for three.

I have nothing bad to say about Taxidermy caribou head.

I might even have loved it – if I didn’t meet its evil twin.

And now, are you ready for ugliness?

Meet Aged chartreuse, Taxidermy caribou head’s nasty twin.

Formula-wise, I have no complaints.

Aged chartreuse is a jelly.

It went on nice, smooth and shiny – not goopy, not streaky, not bubbly.

It didn’t seem to be too sheer but strangely, after three coats, my nail line was still visible.

But the sheerness isn’t the problem.

The problem is the color. In the bottle it looks like a slightly greenish yellow and on my nails it’s just a dirty yellow mess.

I swear, I’ve never found a nail polish color revolting until now.

Aged chartreuse looks like I dipped my nails in a mustard jar. And I hate mustard.

I know you have more disgusting comparisons in mind and I do too but I refuse to go there.

Yes, I will try to be an adult and not mention things like baby diaper. Oops. Too late.

If I ever decide to push through with a blog sale, this color will be the first one posted. Sadly, I don’t think anyone will want to buy it.

I still like StrangeBeautiful though. And yes, I still want all volumes of the Library of Colors – even the camo one. But first, let me recover from this abomination.

Category mug shot | Tags: Aged chartreuse,polish police,strangebeautiful,swatch,the gradation of color on the fur of a taxidermy caribou head,ugly | 10 Comments

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