Entries for Monday October 31

Meow Cosmetics’ Phlegethon

• Manufacturer: Meow Cosmetics
• Availability: available as part of the Neptune's Grotto collection
• Color Range: bright medium blue shimmer
• Staying Power: 4 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: USD$8 for 1.2 grams
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades:

BareMinerals’ High Shine Vapor

• Manufacturer: Bare Escentuals (purchase)
• Availability: part of the regular line
• Color Range: metallic cool grey shimmer
• Staying Power: 3 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: $16 for .05 ounces / 1.5 grams
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades:

Entries for Sunday October 30

MAC’s Idyllic paint pot

• Manufacturer: MAC Cosmetics
• Availability: MAC webstore and channel partners; released as part of the Posh Paradise collection
• Color Range: maroon-red frost
• Staying Power: 4 out of 4
• Cost/Amount: USD$19.50 for 3.5 grams
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades:

This reminds me of Artifact, without the blackening - just the main color, and the finish. I had initially thought that this color might be closer to a reddish brown than a dark brownish red, but either way works. Unfortunately, this one was a bit like Buried Treasure: patchy application. I don’t know if this is typical of frost-finish paint pots or not, but it doesn’t seem to happen with my Rubenesque or Bare Study; and both of those are frosts.

I’m glad that I got this color, but I hope MAC solves the patchy-application problem before they release too many more frost paint pots.

Entries for Saturday October 29

MAC’s Nubile paint pot

• Manufacturer: MAC Cosmetics
• Availability: MAC webstore and channel partners; released as part of the Posh Paradise collection
• Color Range: peach-nude creme
• Staying Power: 4 out of 4
• Cost/Amount: USD$19.50 for 3.5 grams
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades:

Compared to the other colors in this release, Nubile is pretty tame…but that’s one of the reasons that I like it! It was a nice mix with the other, deeper shades; and it was something that had been missing from the regular paint pot lineup for some time. I love Rubenesque, and there hasn’t really been a peach creme shade released in a while. There was Perky, but that was a brighter peach-orange, not a peach-nude. Bare Study is more pink than peach. Groundwork is too brown, with not much peach to it at all. Nubile brightens my eye area a little (though not as much as Soft Ochre), but also adds some color.

I wish I could reliably use these on my lids without primer. If I do that, though, I run the risk of creasing after three or four hours (or less, if it’s extremely warm.)

Entries for Friday October 28

LaurEss’ Crowning Moment blush

• Manufacturer: Sassy Minerals
• Availability: part of the regular line
• Color Range: sheer cool gilded pink shimmer
• Staying Power: 4 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: USD$ 11 for 5.5 grams / .19 oz
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades:

Entries for Thursday October 27

BareMinerals’ Putting on the Glitz kit

• Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
• Availability: beginning October 2011 through Sephora (exclusive)
• Contains: three eyeshadows, one face powder, one blush, one eyeliner, one lip color, and one mascara (and a bag)
• Cost/Amount: USD$54.00
• Would you purchase again: yes

BE’s holiday kits tend to be hit or miss, for me. I’ve also noticed that every year, BE seems to be on a different “color kick”. Last year it was green and purple; the year before that, browns (but no surprise, as it seems like every other year is a BE brown-stravaganza.) This year seems to be purple and yellow, or purple and peach. The respective holiday kits at Sephora, at Ulta, and at boutiques contains one purple and one gold or peach eyecolor.

Meow Cosmetics’ X collection

• Vendor: Meow Cosmetics
• Availability: beginning October 2011 (and presumably, Octobers thereafter) through the company's webstore
• Contains: 13 eyecolors
• Cost/Amount: USD$8 for 1.6 grams; $1 for a sample baggie
• Would you purchase again: yes

I love that Meow re-releases previous years’ seasonal collections each holiday! I also love that they keep adding more! The Friday the 13th collection, released for Halloween 2009, purported to have a lot of duochromes…but I found the duochrome quotient a little lacking. This collection, along with Zombie Apocalypse, seems to have gotten the duochrome formula locked down fairly nicely - or perhaps it’s just that the word ‘duochrome’ is being bandied about less freely, and only applied to the true duochrome shades? I don’t know, but either way, it makes me feel more confident about Meow’s color descriptions.

OPI’s Route 66 collection

• Manufacturer: OPI
• Availability: beginning fall/winter 2005 through salons, retailers, and some etailers
• Contains: 12 nail colors
• Cost/Amount: USD$8.99 for 14 ml / .5 fl oz each
• Would you purchase again: yes

I don’t have tons of colors from this collection - there aren’t too many still available, though Chicago Champagne Toast apparently became part of the regular OPI line at some point.

Most of the colors were browns, nudes, and of course the lots-of-reds that seem to be in most OPI collections.

Entries for Wednesday October 26

China Glaze’s 2030

• Manufacturer: China Glaze
• Availability: originally released as part of China Glaze's Khrome collection
• Color Range: metallic soft gold shimmer
• Staying Power: 4 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: USD$6 for 14 ml / .5 fl oz
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades:

Metallic, and gold…and no brushstrokes!! (Of course, by now - mid-autumn 2011 - China Glaze has released several other gold and silver metallics with good spreadability. But this collection went so fast because durable metallic polishes that didn’t show brushstrokes were not all that common from *any* manufacturer.

I got every single color in this collection, and got backups of several, including 2030. That way I can have my manicures AND metallic gold nail-stamping polish. (Yes, I am that sad of a person.)

Zoya’s Mieko

• Manufacturer: Zoya/Art of Beauty
• Availability: originally released as part of Zoya's Flourish collection
• Color Range: metallic magenta-rose gold shimmer
• Staying Power: 4 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: USD$8 for 14 ml / .5 fl oz
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades:

Bright rose-red that manages not to be garish…with widely scattered gold sparkle. I was able to get full coverage in two coats (which, happily, seems to be standard for Zoya 4- and 5-opacity polishes) and the red wasn’t so vivid that it really messed up my cuticles. It also didn’t stick around after three days, when I changed the manicure. (Deep red nail polishes tend to leave traces behind that only the most careful, strong scrubbing will really totally eliminate…at least on me.)