Entries for Wednesday November 30

China Glaze’s Harmony

• Manufacturer: China Glaze
• Availability: originally released as part of China Glaze's Romantique collection
• Color Range: metallic soft violet shimmer
• Staying Power: 2.5 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: USD$6 for 14 ml / .5 fl oz
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades: Zoya's Areetha

It’s a lovely purple…but sadly, there’s that spreadability problem that’s dogged every single one of the other polishes from the Romantique collection!! (Though thankfully, China Glaze seems to have fixed that problem as later metallics have been sturdier and have applied better.) This works fine for nail art, though I do wish it was a slightly darker purple.

The 2011 Beauty Blog Advent Calendar

Remember how last year the Beauty Advent Calendar was such a hit? It was literally an advent calendar, and each day you’d find a different sample- or miniature-size beauty product inside? Well, it seems like such a cool idea - but instead of products, what about information (which is what we bloggers primarily deal in) that can be shared with everyone who reads beauty blogs? And isn’t sharing information why so many of us started our blogs in the first place?

So here we go!

Starting tomorrow, December 1, three of us - Sirvinya, Phyrra, and myself - will each be posting a little tidbit every day. It might be a mini writeup of why we love a particular technique so much. It might be a link to another beauty blog post that we found really interesting. It might be a product (commercial or indie) that we think is cool.

The postings will start at 12pm GMT (on Confessions of a Makeup Addict), and come again at 4pm GMT (on Phyrra) and 8pm GMT (on Sparklecrack Central). Then, every day through December 25, the same times, the same sequence of blogs. You never know what you’ll find when you check out each day’s goodies, so keep checking back!

OPI’s Merryberry Mauve

• Manufacturer: OPI
• Availability: originally released in winter 2002 as part of the Victorian Holiday collection
• Color Range: semisheer dusky red shimmer with gold duochrome
• Staying Power: 3 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: USD$9 for 14 ml / .5 fl oz
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades: Sally Hansen's Golden Cinnabar (but less opaque)

There were apparently two Merryberry Mauves in the Victorian Holiday collection: this one, and a glitter. I like this one far better!! (And I haven’t been able to find the glitter anywhere, so I guess it’s synchronicity at work again. What everyone else snapped up I had little interest in, and vice versa.) This takes several coats to reach full opacity, but it makes a lovely layering polish over darker cremes. Two coats isn’t quite enough to hide any VNL, but I get a nice softer manicure with a little bit of extra effect.

Entries for Tuesday November 29

BareMinerals’ Pretty Amazing Lip Color in Savvy

• Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
• Availability: part of the Pretty Amazing Lip Color collection
• Color Range: soft-rosy tan creme
• Staying Power: 4 out of 4
• Cost/Amount: USD$16 for .13 ounces
• Would you purchase again: yes

Full-opacity warm rose-tan - this is not one of those new glosses, though this is one of the newer shades. I don’t love nude lip colors unless there’s a nice finish to them (like NYX’s Earthy Black Diamond lipstick). This does make a good base for some of my darker lip polishes, though. I have to use a lip brush to apply this, since the applicator is a bit odd and either barely applies anything or (in my opinion) applies too much.

NYX Cosmetics’ Volcano Black Label Lipstick (120)

• Manufacturer: NYX Cosmetics
• Availability: part of the Black Label Lipstick collection
• Color Range: semisheer medium pinked red shimmer
• Staying Power: 3 out of 4
• Cost/Amount: USD$7.00 for .14 ounces / 4 grams
• Would you purchase again: yes - but only from etailers, because the tubes aren't sealed

The tube looks orange-red, but the shade itself applies as a semisheer pinked warm red. The color is a little hard to pin down, and it perhaps isn’t as vivid a color as I would have thought for something named “Volcano”...but it’s not the first NYX item name that seemed more than a little strange.

The color applies well, and stays in place very well. It’s more like a heavy lip tint or balm than a lipstick - at least as I’m familiar with them - but the color is good. Just…fainter than you might imagine. And less orange (which is a blessing, as far as I’m concerned.)

Entries for Monday November 28

Lost in Makeupland’s X-mas Special

• Manufacturer: Lost in Makeupland
• Availability: part of the When I Was Young: Nostalgia collection
• Color Range: cool medium red shimmer
• Staying Power: 3 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: USD$5.99 for 1.2 grams
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades:

It’s not semisheer, but it does apply just a tiny bit less intense than it looks in the pot. Not that much, though - it’s a really lovely “antique holiday” red that reminds me a bit of Meow Cosmetics’ Future glow powder, but with the greater color payoff you’d expect from an eyeshadow versus a glow powder. This color isn’t marked as not being lip-safe, so if this won’t work on your lids I’d imagine it would look lovely on lips or cheeks…just use a light hand and a soft brush if you use this as a blush!

Concrete Minerals’ Harlequin

• Manufacturer: Concrete Minerals
• Availability: part of the regular eyeshadow line
• Color Range: medium-deep olive shimmer
• Staying Power: 3 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: USD$7 for 1.5 grams
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades: Bare Escentuals' Festive

Medium olive with a silver-purple shimmer and -=almost=- a duochrome effect. It reminds me of BE’s Festive, which pleasantly surprised me with how multifaceted it was…but CM’s Harlequin costs less per gram and it looks prettier than BE’s Festive. So double bonus there. There’s less of the green color evident when applied than there is in the pot: it looks like it will be a medium moss green, but when I applied it wet there was a silvery-purple color with a slight green base, and when I foiled the shade it was all purple-silver shimmer with sporadic highlights of the moss-green. Harlequin kind of looks like an eyeshadow version of Gray’s Anatomy.

Aromaleigh v1’s Impossible Things

• Vendor: Aromaleigh v1
• Availability: released as part of the Wonderstruck collection
• Color Range: golden olive shimmer
• Staying Power: 4 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: USD$8 for 1.2 grams; $1.30 for a sample baggie
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades:

It’s a lighter green with some yellow-ish tones, but it’s more of an olive than a yellow-green. I don’t know if it was the lighting, or if this is an intended effect, but it’s kind of cool: this shade leans cooler when applied dry, and a little warmer when foiled. The color appears just barely less deep when applied than it does in the pot, but it’s fully opaque with my regular application.

Entries for Sunday November 27

Concrete Minerals’ Hustle

• Manufacturer: Concrete Minerals
• Availability: part of the regular eyeshadow line
• Color Range: warm purple-mauve shimmer
• Staying Power: 3 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: USD$7 for 1.5 grams
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades:

On the vendor site, this looks like a cool muted mauve, but to me, it looked more like a warm purple-mauve. I sometimes have a little trouble wearing warm purples on my lids, unless they’re of a certain color depth. Bare Escentuals’ Magical is a color that I never would have guessed would look good on me, and it looks amazing with my coloring. Hustle isn’t as deep a purple, though, so it doesn’t work quite as easily for me. Folks who love and can wear warmer / mauved purples should love this shade. Application and opacity are excellent, and you get a good amount of product for the money (even more if you have a coupon, or there’s a sale going on.) This is one of the newer shades, released shortly after CM moved off Etsy and onto their own webstore.

Concrete Minerals’ Brat

• Manufacturer: Concrete Minerals
• Availability: part of the regular eyeshadow line; also available in the Color Stacks kit
• Color Range: medium-deep hot pink shimmer
• Staying Power: 3 out of 4 stars
• Cost/Amount: USD$7 for 1.5 grams
• Would you purchase again: yes
• Similar shades: