4 New “Shades” from Barielle - Island Breeze, Teaser, Lily of the Valley and Silhouette - Swatches and Review

Barielle recently released a mind shattering 90 new Shades, and they graciously allowed me to pick out four of them to share with you today!  Get it?  90 new shades, and the line is called Shades.  I know, I know, I am so punny.)




Island Breeze is a gorgeous aqua shimmer.  Doesn’t this just scream summer by the pool to you?  Even my (male) chiropractor commented on this shade!




Teaser is a smooth green crème that boarders on Forest Green.  It’s actually about two shades darker than Don’t Mess with OPI. 




Lily of the Valley is yellow based grass green shimmer than deepens as you apply additional coats.  Here, I used just one coat over Barielle Teaser.




Silhouette is a blackened gunmetal shimmer, bordering on frost.  I would have loved this if it weren’t for the brushstrokes.

The formula of the new polishes is exactly what I have come to expect from Barielle.  All four of the Shades had great formula.  They all applied easily and dried quickly.  When I wore Island Breeze it easily lasted 4 days without chipping!  I wished I liked Silhouette more, but you can’t win them all!



Today (April 30th) you can get free shipping on Barielle.com - and you can still get the normal B1G1 50% OFF too!  While you are there, be sure to sign up for their monthly contest - you could win 5 new polishes!  And don’t forget to sign up for their newsletter to get 15% off your first purchase!

Check out these posts from my fellow bloggers who also reviewed some of the new Shades from Barielle:

• Candy Coated Tips - Not That Kind of Girl, Starchild, Island Breeze, Lily of the Valley
• Frazzle and Aniploish - Eli’s Magic, Starry Sky, Shannon’s Attitude, End of the Rainbow
• Let Them Have Polish - Platinum Ring, Cosmic Kiss, Sky’s the Limit, Starchild

It's Back! The Sephora Sun Safety Kit!

Sephora Favorites Sun Safety Kit

I personally have purchased this kit 4 times in the past 5 years (one year I waited too long and it sold out).  I have never once been disappointed in the number of products, or the size of the products.  High end sunscreens can be rather expensive, and it is great that you can try out a number of them before making an investment in a full bottle.  Honestly, I think I have only bought a full size bottle one time when I worked outdoors.  Every other time the kit had enough product to get me through the summer - I use the higher end products on my face and drugstore sunscreen on my body.

The price has increased, from $25 to $30, but it does seem to have more products than in the past!

Have you bought this kit before?  Do you plan on picking it up this year?

Disclosures: polish insomniac at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page.

OPI The Amazing Spider-Man collection - Swatches and Review

I finally have the Amazing Spider-Man collection to show you!  I feel so bad that it took me so long to get them up... I wrote this whole post already, but somehow managed to delete it!  Grr!  Now I know my comments will not be as witty as they were the first time!

OPI Shatter the Scales is a green shatter polish that is meant to represent the villian of the movie.  I have no idea who that villan even is, but let me tell you it is a gorgeous green shade!  I like the shade so much I wish it wasn't a shatter...we need this in a full on polish!  (Hint, Hint!)  It was a really easy to use shatter that did not require special attention, and it cracked very easily.  I really loved the matte texture so I did not top any of the swatches below with topcoat.



OPI Just Spotted the Lizard is a gorgeous duochrome that shifts from old gold to green.  It is an awesome dupe for Chanel Peridot, and you can check out my comparison post here.  Here I used three coats.



OPI Into the Night is a gorgeous shimmery midnight blue.  I really loved how it popped against the green shatter -  I felt like my nails looked like earth from space!



OPI Call Me Gwen-ever is a muted coral shade, though it doesn't appear that way in these pictures!  I wish I could have captured it better on camera.



Oh, my favorite!  OPI Number One Nemesis is described as a sparkling nickel, but it is way more special than that.  If you enlarge the picture you will see that there are all kinds of colors hiding in the base that come out when light shines on it.  It is very close to Chanel Graphite, click here to see my comparison post.



OPI Your Web Or Mine? is a pink frost.  Why?  Why include a pink frost?  Especially when you could have included a red.  After all, Spider-Man does wear red?  *Is confused*

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls is a really nice white with a hint of grey.  I liked it because it only took two coats to get to full opacity.  I am always looking for a good white to use as a base, so I love this.  I actually wore it for three days with no chipping, which I thought was impressive for a white!

Are you looking forward to this collection?  Do you think it fits the Spider-Man collection?  What would you have done differently?  And most important, are you going to pick up the Chanel dupes?

Polishes provided in exchange for an honest review.

As with all OPI nail lacquers, these shades inspired by The Amazing Spider-Man contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde, and feature OPI’s exclusive ProWide^™ Brush for the ultimate in application.


This limited edition promotion will be available beginning May 2012 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for  $8.50 ($9.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer.


For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com. Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!

CND Effects Ice Blue Shimmer over CND Inkwell

Oh look!  Another CND Effects post!  I hope you aren’t sick of them yet!  Today I am showing you CND Ice Blue Shimmer over CND Inkwell, which a crème that is the deepest navy without being black. 

I love Ice Blue Shimmer, and I could probably put it over ANYTHING and it would look good!  What do you think?

CND Inkwell was sent for review.

CND Raspberry Sparkle over CND Asphalt

I apologize in advance, but this is another “quick” post!  My life has been crazy lately, and I still haven’t figured out how to schedule my blogging around my full time job.  I am just not good at writing posts in advance! 

On to the polish!  You know I love CND Effects, and today I layered one of my favorite ones, CND Raspberry Sparkle, over a gorgeous grey crème, CND Asphalt.  I love how it looks edgy but feminine at the same time!

Do you have any words of wisdom for me on balancing work, family and blogging?

CND Asphalt was sent to me for review.

NCLA Eight Days a Week & I’m With the Band - Swatches and Review

If you have been following me on Instagram, you now that one of my new favorite brands ins NCLA.  They generously sent me two shades from their Summer of ‘69 collection, Eight Days a Week and I’m With the Band.

Eight Days a Week is a gorgeous mix of sky blue and periwinkle.  I am kinda obsessed with periwinkle, I love the shade because it reminds me of the blue hydrangea bushes in my mom’s front yard!  The formula on this was great, but make sure not to pick up too much polish on your brush.  This polish is very pigmented and a little goes a long way!  Here I wore just two coats.

I'm With the Band is a fiery red based coral.  It’s definitely the shade of the season  (thanks Pantone)!  Out of the box it was a little thick, so I added a few drops of thinner.  I used three coats and it dried to the high shine you see in the picture.

Since this is relatively new brand, let me tell you about the bottle construction.  I love the actual bottle shape - a perfect square, and not so skinny that it falls over easily (think American Apparel, Massini, etc).  Very similar to the RBL bottle, in fact. (See picture below).  And please, no saying that they "stole" the bottle design.  The fact is, there are only so many options out there! I like the short handle on the brush, I found it easy to control, though I wish the bristles themselves splayed out a little more.



NCLA's Summer of ‘69 collection is now available at Kitson, Nordstrom, and shopncla.com.  Sign up for their newsletter here and get 15% off your next order!

Polishes provided for review.

Beauty Spotlight: London Makeup Girl

It's London MakeUp Girl's turn to do What's In My... and she's taking us to her special skincare corner. What are the skincare products that find a place in the corner of her bathroom, rather than sitting in a cupboard? These are the items she reaches for daily or weekly. Click on the link/picture to find out what they are!

Disclosures: polish insomniac at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page.

China Glaze Crackle Glitters - Swatches & Review

I will be the first to admit that I was completely overwhelmed by the Crackle bandwagon last year.  After abstaining from crackle polishes since July of 2011, this new collection has changed my mind!



These were all very easy to apply and dried very fast to an interesting matte finish.  I loved the textured look so I did not use any topcoat.  I really liked Glam-More and Gleam Me Up as the colors were vibrant.  Luminous Lavender and Jade-d  were not as dense and therefor made it harder for them to stand out on the silver background shade I used (China Glaze Techno).

I have definitely decided I like crackle again, but ONLY if it’s glitter!  What about you?

Polishes provided for review..

The China Glaze® Crackle Glitters collection will be available at fine salons and beauty supply stores nationwide in May 2012.


China Glaze is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde. China Glaze nail lacquers are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more information, visit: www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook and Twitter: http://twitter.com/ChinaGlaze

China Glaze is a division of American International Industries.


About American International Industries
For nearly 40 years, AII has been the leading manufacturer and worldwide distributor of innovative, quality beauty and skin care products for men and women.  Our product lines include Ardell, Andrea, Body Drench, Bye Bye Blemish, Checi, China Glaze, Clean + Easy, Clubman/Pinaud, Duo, European Secrets, EzFlow, Fright Night, Gena, GiGi, Gypsy Lash, IBD, Jeris-Lustray, No Tweeze/Micro Tweeze, 'N Rage, Prolinc, RAW, Seche, SuperNail, Surgi-Care, Waterworks, Winning Nails, Woltra, Woody’s, and Youthair. For more information, visit our website: www.aiibeauty.com.