Dark Chocolate, Yum! Handbag and NOTD

I FINALLY switched handbags. I'd been carrying my Rebecca Minkoff Nikki in dark crinkled patent since early October, with the exception of maybe one day. Whenever it occurred to me to use one of the other myriad purses on hand, I realized it was going to rain and better to just stick with the patent leather.

Much as the Nikki is working great for me---it's my favorite hobo and now I'm thinking it might be my all-time favorite handbag style overall---I need to snap out of the rut and embrace my other beloved bags. So, I switched to one of my favorites, my tinted chocolate Chiara from Ignes.

The tinted chocolate leather is an Ignes classic. It is textured on the surface yet totally smooth, in a dark luscious brown. And, best of all, it is smooshy soft! My handbag literally smooshes into a soft, smooth pile of chocolaty goodness.

And all this goodness deserves an excellent matching nail polish. Voila! MAC "Rich Dark Delicious" from the 2009 Fall Nail Trends fit the bill perfectly.


Unfortunately, I had some issues applying "Rich Dark Delicious" although with the second coat it started looking a lot better. I did notice some weird bald places...you know, when you have plenty of polish on the nail surface but the color somehow is missing from a spot. And, by the end of the day, I did have some chipping starting on the tip of the nail and accelerating once it got going.

I didn't have issues with the other colors in this collection, so I was bummed. On the other hand, the combination with my Chiara handbag is so awesome, I will try it out again. I wonder if maybe I had some residue on the nail surface, or some other blooper!

Weekend Nails: MAC Dance All Night

This weekend I am wearing "Dance All Night" from MAC's Fall 2009 Nail Trend. I've been meaning to wear this, and I am loving it! It's a wonderful dark red creme. Oh, and the cuticle on the pinky = a small cut, not a polish boo boo! :-P


Friday was OPI "Merry Midnight" from the winter 2009 collection. Its dark purple glossiness fit my need for dark nails perfectly, while the orange flakies and fine sparkles peeking from within the dark purple satisfied my desire for glitter!! More on this awesome polish later, this is just a tease!

Look of the Day!! Wednesday the 9th

Today I am wearing the "Day" eyeshadow look from my "Natural Eyes" palette from Two-Faced Cosmetics. Very nice! Very matte. I'll have a post very soon with pictures and a review on this cute set of shadows.

Still wearing my MAC "Cool Reserve" fall 09 Nail Trend color, which I LOVE! Today I have my Essie "Matte About You" topcoat on to change the look just a little bit. Looks cool, but I prefer it with the creme-glossy look.

Still with my orange handbag and orange wool paisley shawl I got in India, but today I'm wearing a light sweater to combat the AC in my office!!

Also coming very soon: my purchase from the Prescriptives Fall 09 "Well-Suited" collection with swatches, a review with swatches on the Physicians Formula "Baked" eyeshadow trios, and swatches galore from my L'Oreal HIP Duo eyeshadow collection!!

I'll still be featuring my nail color adventures, with my selections from Essie's fall colors and OPI's fall Spain collection....but wanted to inject some other stuff into the mix! I am definitely not a nail blog and could never compete with all the awesome blogs featuring huge polish collections and infinite knowledge on the subject.

But first, must work for a living!! More tonight.

-Euridice

Nail Noob: MAC "Cool Reserve" in Action

Well, in last Monday's look I sported my Essie Chinchilly" gray nails with my blue and gray outfit, orange handbag and shawl, and orange and gray eye look. Fun! The gray nails went nicely with a black top with a pattern of gray and white dots on Tuesday, then I switched it up to OPI "Do You Lilac It?" on Wednesday. I pulled the purple from the print of my black floral top, added my pearl rope and a Juicy Couture bracelet featuring flower blooms ('cause during the September transition, flowers are still blooming like crazy!). Love this pretty lilac nail color!


Just adding a couple of pictures I took when I bought the JC bracelet this past spring, to show it on the wrist and how the flowers are actually a heart-shaped clasp!! Love!

After stopping to pick up a prescription on Thursday evening, I took off the lilac to play around with some fun polishes I picked up from Wet 'n' Wild and Milani. I had to decide, therefore, what to wear for the weekend, including traveling on Friday to visit my family. Since I was going to stick with my Belen Echandia orange handbag, I finally settled on my orange nail color find, the OPI "In my Back Pocket." It had seemed a little harder for me to apply, but hey! I had a quick drying top coat now.

Well, it came out kind of gloppy and not a very good application. It was decent, but not something I was really proud of. Great bright orange color, but just so gloppy to apply! A little challenging for this nail newbie. So, yesterday, Saturday, I got ready for a day of college football by switching to my new MAC "Cool Reserve," the awesome FW 2009 Nail Trend color that mixes gray and lavender.

Thus, time for a report and a review of how the nail wears in real life!! This one is a definite "Euridice YAY!" It applied so nicely and looked great in two coats. The gray is subtle and neutral, but the lavender gives it a bit of color. The really cool thing about this nail color is that the gray and lavender can give off a kind of muddy look. At times my nails look purpley gray or grayish purple, but also a kind of putty shade, depending on the lighting. Fascinating!!

I tried to capture the look of this nail color. Below are pictures taken inside but with lots of natural light coming in. I tried to take different angles from the light. Gee, my cuticles and skin need some work, eek!



Well, let me snap a few more in the evening indoor, not in any direct light source. Maybe this will show the taupe-ness that I am noticing.


Yay!! Very pleased with this nail polish, and looking forward to wearing it this fall with dusty lilac handbags!!

Nail Noob -- MAC Haul, Y'all!!

Yes! It's MAC Nail Trend FW09 by Jin Soon!! And it's mine!!

TA DA!!!!

Above, lounging on my Belen Echandia orange handbag, as the photo shoot locale of choice, in an indoor room with overhead light on, but no natural light, and no flash. And below, with flash (my camera's "night portrait" setting) to show up the colors.


Left to right: "Rich, Dark, Delicious," "Dry Martini," "Cool Reserve," "Dance All Night," "For Fun," and "Beyond Jealous."

These 6 lacquers embody fall-winter 2009 fashion---in just 6 colors! Of course, MAC nail colors are straight from the runway....hard core!

Let's try them on!! Oh, and word of warning: don't try this at home! That is, don't sit at home drawing conclusions about these polishes based solely on my pictures. Go to your favorite beauty blogger, or better yet, go to several, and view their swatches. Or go to the mall and try them on for yourself!! They are the bomb!



First up, let's look at "Cool Reserve." I'm really feeling grayish tones, and lilac in particular, for fall 2009. This is "dirty, grey, lavender." Perfection!! You can see the grey in the pic above. In the pic below, with the flash, you can see the lavender. LOVE!!! This color is a very subtle, lovely grayish pale lavender.


But let's keep going. I've been hearing for months now about the importance of brick red for fall. I am still curious exactly what the color is, but I now have it in my own nail color wardrobe:

I have stated before that I am not after reds and pinks....these colors seem like the traditional, basic nail colors...I'm just not interested. This color, though, is a must have in a fall nail wardrobe. It's rich, dark, and red. Perfect.


If I had had to choose just one of these colors, I would have gone for the "Dry Martini." I thought this color would be an olive green, and I was really intrigued by pictures I 've seen of it. It is actually more of an "olive brown." Someone described it as the color of 'poo' in a comment I read somewhere. I wouldn't go that far!! I really like it and can't wait to rock it when I need a neutral, lighter brown, olivey toned color!


Next up is probably the most exciting color in the group. "Beyond Jealous" is a perfect description for this color....it's no longer a green kind of jealousy by somewhere past green in a whole different dimension. Well, it's a black-teal color. So, in addition to your forest greens and blackened forest greens, you have a great blackened teal to change it up a bit. This color RAWKS!



I really didn't think I was interested in dark chocolate browns. Then I became acquainted with "Rich, Dark, Delicious." I need this gorgeous chocolate brown in my nail wardrobe, stat!

The last one is a fun purple color---and MAC appropriately named it "For Fun"---that I wasn't really sure I was going to get. I've just gotten a bunch of nail polishes, and purple seems a pretty common color. I'm typing this with purple nails. OPI's "Do You Lilac It?", to be precise. The color of "For Fun" is really gorgeous, though. I weakened in its presence. What the heck!

Below it is showing, in the indoor room lit from above, in a grapey kind of way.

Check them out now, the MAC Nail Trend FW 09 colors were released August 27 and are available at MAC counters (unless they are sold out! They have been selling well!) and online at www.maccosmetics.com. I am liking the way these are applying and am looking forward to wearing them for real.