China Glaze Nail Lacquer in Sin-derella, swatch

China Glaze — Sin-derella (Nail Lacquer) Swatch & Review

2017-10-022017-10-26 fivezero7 Comments

Collection: China Glaze 2017 Fall, Happily Never After (Halloween)

Have I got a gorgeous polish for you guys, today!

China Glaze recently released their Halloween-themed collection, which incorporates some clever fairy tale darkness. (Seriously, those original fairy tales are pretty gruesome!)

Sin-derella (84080) is a shimmery shade with loads of iridescence. The base color is a beige-y taupe, but it picks up a slightly olive tone with the addition of some fine gold shimmer. It also contains a load of pink shimmer that, in combination with taupe, gives it the look of lavender.

theBalm Hot Ticket Nail Polish in All You Ever Do Is Taupe, swatch

theBalm — All You Ever Do Is Taupe (Hot Ticket Nail Polish) Swatch & Review

2017-06-142017-06-15 fivezero16 Comments

Brand: theBalm

I actually stayed up late last night (I’ve been averaging about 5–6 hours of sleep a night, not good) swatching a polish for today, but then in my morning stupor, I accidentally deleted the pictures. Hooray for me. It was Zoya Temperance, which is awesome so I have to reswatch it for you guys soon. But anyway, this morning, I decided to do something different.

theBalm is not a brand I normally associate with nail polish—I think of blush and maybe eyeshadow. It’s also not a brand I run into very often, mostly since in Canada, the only brick-and-mortar retailer I know of is Rexall pharmacy, which until recently was not one I went to very often. (I’m a Shoppers Drug Mart girl, OK?) But in the last couple of years, Rexall have opened up bigger stores downtown that are more convenient for me to visit, so I’ve been popping in occasionally to check out the brands they carry that aren’t available at Shoppers.

Some Rexall locations carry theBalm, and last week, I finally visited a location that had a display, at Queen & University in Toronto. Luckily, this display stocked around twelve to fifteen shades of theBalm’s Hot Ticket Nail Polish and they were about half off! Or perhaps not so luckily, since it probably means they’re getting rid of them.

I picked one up last week for $4.96—they’re normally $10 (US and CA, for some reason)—then returned this week when Rexall was running a “Buy 2 Get 1 Free” sale on nail polish. So, I managed to get three more theBalm polishes for a tidy sum of $9.92!

theBalm actually produces 31 shades of polish (not quite Baskin-Robbins) and unfortunately, the Rexall I went to mostly carried tame shades of red, pink, and brown. Gah! No pretty blues, yellows or greens.

But here’s what I got, anyway:

Strawberry Fields Forevah
Girls Just Wanna Have Plum
All You Ever Do Is Taupe
You’re So Hot and Gold

The names are on the wordier side, aren’t they?

L'Oréal Colour Riche Le Vernis à l'Huile in Moka Chic, swatch

L’Oréal — Moka Chic (Colour Riche Le Vernis à l’Huile) Swatch & Review

2017-04-042017-05-22 fivezero4 Comments

Collection: L’Oréal Summer 2016, Le Vernis à l’Huile Nail Lacquer [Launch]

This morning, a woman walking ahead of me carried an umbrella that read in brush calligraphy:

The tears I shed yesterday have become rain.

I guess that’s supposed to be inspiring—and yes, upon Googling it, I realize it’s a quote from a Buddhist monk—but my first thought was, You must have been utterly despondent, because it’s raining cats and dogs today!

I’ve been pretty on the money with matching up my nail polish of the day with Toronto weather. Yesterday, it was crisp and cool, and I posted a crisp, cool red. And today, I have Moka Chic (662), a dreary brown cream for a dreary day.

Please don’t let that description put you off, however—this one actually lives up to the Chic in its name.

It’s a mouse brown cream that is well-balanced: it’s neither too yellow-toned nor too red-toned. It has the right amount of grey to keep the color interesting, and not enough to give me dead hands.

L'Oréal Le Vernis à l'Huile Nail Lacquer in Moka Chic — L’Oréal Le Vernis à l’Huile Nail Lacquer in Moka Chic

Pure Ice Shine with Gel Tech Nail Polish in Good Glistener, swatch

Pure Ice — Good Glistener (Shine with Gel Tech Nail Polish) Swatch & Review

2017-01-272017-05-10 fivezero6 Comments

Collection: Pure Ice 2016, Shine with Gel Tech Nail Polish [Launch]

Pure Ice, a brand developed with and exclusive to Walmart, is one that I haven’t tried very much in the past. I think I may have owned one or two before I recently bought this one.

Shine with Gel Tech Nail Polish is their newer line of nail polish. I believe their regular Nail Color line is still available, but it’s not on Walmart Canada’s website.

Good Glistener (1280) is a semi-opaque light taupe with gold shimmer.

Pure Ice Shine with Gel Tech Nail Polish in Good Glistener

MAC Studio Nail Lacquer in Rack 'Em Up, swatch

MAC — Rack ‘Em Up (Studio Nail Lacquer) Swatch & Review

2016-11-252017-05-06 fivezero4 Comments

Collection: MAC Fall 2016, It’s a Strike!

I hope all my American readers had a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving!

I had the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on for Peanut yesterday morning, and he wasn’t too interested, except when the Thomas the Tank Engine balloon showed up.

As usual, I thought Ronald McDonald was kind of terrifying.

I did get a kick out of this:

MAC Studio Nail Lacquer in Rack 'Em Up — Mr. Peanut dabbing at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, November 24, 2016.

Now, onto the polish!

Earlier this fall, MAC decided to discontinue their line of Studio Nail Lacquer, which was actually only introduced in Spring 2015. I can’t say I’m entirely surprised, as I have personally found the line of little interest and only bought a few over the last two years. This is after they reduced the nail polish prices so that they were not almost as expensive as the lipsticks!

MAC will still be releasing limited edition nail lacquers with some of their collections, however:

@fivezero_ca Sadly yes, but they’ll still be featured in new collections and be sure to sign up for what's next: https://t.co/wEnp9XRZfE.

— MACcosmetics (@MACcosmetics) October 24, 2016

A few of their remaining Studio Nail Lacquers have been clearanced online (at least in Canada and I think the US, as well). I picked up a few, just because it was CA$6 nail polish. I only passed on Babysplit, a too-sheer pastel green, and Style Matters, which I already owned.

Here’s one of the clearanced shades I did get, Rack ‘Em Up, which is from this fall’s bowling-themed It’s a Strike! collection.

Rack’ Em Up is not the kind of color I usually go for: it’s a medium taupe brown cream with a slightly cool undertone.

Essie Nail Polish in Sable Collar, swatch

Essie — Sable Collar (Nail Polish) Swatch & Review

2016-10-122017-06-30 fivezero13 Comments

Collection: Essie 2013 Winter, Shearling Darling

Sable Collar (852), is described by Essie as a “luxurious pearlescent cocoa plum”. It’s a dark, though perhaps just a touch shy of vampy, mix of plum, brown, and taupe, with some interesting shimmer. The shimmer is extremely fine and only very visible in bright light; otherwise it just gives the polish a pearl gloss finish. In bright sunlight, you can see plum, brown, taupe, and a sprinkling of cranberry shimmer. In both dim and bright light scenarios, this polish appears to have an odd overlay of grey, as if there’s a halo of dust around it. It’s an odd effect and I can’t remember the last time I saw a shade like that. I’m not in love with the effect—perhaps I just prefer my colors with more vibrancy! It’s no doubt a fascinating shade, though.

Revlon — Elegant (Nail Enamel) Swatch & Review

2016-05-182017-07-01 fivezero14 Comments

Brand: Revlon

Here’s yet another Revlon from the current core collection. Revlon Nail Enamels are great fun to pick up on a whim whenever they go on sale: it’s why I have so many!

Elegant (380) is a pretty decent drugstore option for a opaque nude cream. It’s a warm, light café au lait (au lots of lait!) with the slightest pink taupe undertone that doesn’t sit terribly well with my yellow-toned skin. I think if your skintone runs a little more neutral/pink, you’ll have better luck with this one.