Color Club Alter Ego : Reveal Your Mystery Review

Today I have Color Club's Reveal Your Mystery set to show you! This is the lighter half of the Alter Ego collection.

At the very end of this post I have an awesome Color Club deal for you New Zealander ladies. 

Going Incognito

Incognito is a very pretty nude creme. It also looks great on different skin-tones. My mum is more pink in her toning and it looks like a mannequin shade on her. Incognito is a little too blue toned to do that for me but it still looks just as delicate.

The formula is nice, very easy to control and smooth. However, it does take 3 coats to get full coverage. Perhaps layering it over a ridge-filler that gives a tinge of colour would help with this.

Sheer Disguise

Oh, Sheer Disguise. It just wasn't meant to be. You bring the red out in me and I just can have that. However! As mentioned above, Mum is warmer than me in her toning and Sheer Disguise looks amazing on her! (I should get her to take a photo sometime) Sheer Disguise is one of her favourite greys now.

The formula is quite consistent through-out the collection, smooth, a little bit chalky but easy to control.

Revealed

Revealed is the only shimmer in this collection. The pink shimmer is very apparent in the bottle but doesn't quite apply to the nail in the same intensity. I think this one may be my favourite from Alter Ego: Reveal Your Mystery. I adore peachy shades like this one! 

The coverage and formula are really nice, typical frosty/shimmery Color Club formula. I'd call it a little bit frothy? Kind of like a milkshake. You know, it's soft but a bit thick?

Secret Rendezvous

Secret Rendezvous was one of the main reasons of purchasing this collection. I cannot stop myself buying these light lavenders and lilacs. Because very rarely do I actually like them on myself. This is a very real problem. I think, in my head that I'm just hoping that I'm going to find 'the one' and be done with searching. Secret Rendezvous is hitting pretty close, but I think it needs to be a tiny bit less... white. I'm not too sure but I do like it and will be wearing it through-out Summer!

The formula is just like Sheer Disguise's and Get A Clue's. It has that chalky-ness to it and those kind of polishes I find always need 2-3 coats for full coverage.

Give Me A Hint

I've never been too fussed with these kind of shades. They don't really do anything for me. I tend to either like something very bold or very subtle. I think Give Me A Hint falls in between like many of it's taupe/mushroom/purple predecessors (Channelesque, Parle-vous OPI, Particulere). Some people though (like my Mum) love these kinds of colours. They have seemed to have jumped into that stereotypical safe color along with sheer pink and red.

I found the formula for this one to be like Going Incognitos. Easy to control and smooth. Give Me A Hint does give more coverage though, only needing two coats.

Get A Clue

I love Get A Clue when inside or in the shade. It looks so squishy! The sunlight tends to pull out the chalky-ness. Get A Clue was another reason why I decided to buy this collection. I wasn't too sure on it as first but I think it's a perfect colour for summer! Although at the moment I'm on a dusty pink kick and I think Get A Clue will make the perfect base for it!

Three coats needed with Get A Clue as well, but I suspect that a ridge-filler that is slightly white or nude in colour will do the trick for this collection.

Milky White Base Coat

Just to be confusing, in the top photo all of the nails have Milky White on them, only in the second photo has the ring finger changed to a different base coat. I was a little bit confused as to why this treatment was included with the Alter Egos, it seems like it'd be more beneficial with a sheer collection. Incognito is the sheerest but it still gives quite a bit of coverage. 

I do however think that Milky White is one of the best things since sliced bread! The blue/purple tint in it counteracts the yellow and orange tones in your nail that may be there from staining, among other things. 

As with all treatment like products, I was quick to dismiss it all together. But once I had discovered that it actually does something, my mum, sister and I were up all night painting it on some our nails and comparing our favourite sheers over the top to see the difference. Great stuff!

Overall:

I believe Reveal Your Mystery is only one half of the Alter Ego series. The other half seems to be quite intense! Duochromes and shimmer galore! But I think this set is perfect for all year round. You've got Summer (pink, peach and lavender), Autumn (taupe and nude), Winter (grey and lavender) and Spring (peach, lavender and pink) covered!

The formula is ok. Nothing mind-blowing but I do insist on using a nude or off-white ridge-filler for these girls. Some of them are a bit chalky and need that extra help to hang on. Where as others like Revealed (peach) and Give Me A Hint (taupe) are quite capable on their own. Going Incognito is a nude so you may not want that extra help if you want to have it a bit jelly-ish and see a bit of nail.

Where to buy in New Zealand:

Usually you can order them from USA Nails Online for $11.90, but these will only be distributed to Amazon stores. They retail in store from around $15-$17 usually.

SOLD OUT!

On USA Nails Online, they are selling Wild Orchid, Positively Posh, Soft As Cashmere, Ready To Royal, Red Velvet and Covered in Diamonds all together for 6 bucks! Usually this would cost you $71.40. Postage is $3.90, so $9.90 for the whole lot including postage. 
Doesn't take much brain power to realise that this is well and truly a bargain. Dad would be proud!

Well that self restrain didn't last long! 

http://www.usanailsonline.co.nz/categories/color-club-wild-at-heart-/6-pack-of-untamed-luxury-1-each

Well, I think I've procrastinated enough from doing my homework now. Enjoy ladies!

More about → Color Club Alter Ego : Reveal Your Mystery Review

Color Club Positively Posh

This is Positively Posh from Color Club's Untamed Luxury Indulgance collection.

The formula with this one was exactly the same as Soft as Cashmere. A little bit more watery than the others but the opacity still layers up quite quickly with more coats applied.

A very nice taupe creme, but I feel like I have seen this many times before. Essie Mink Muffs, OPI Over the Taupe, Chanel Particulaire and i'm sure many others. It does offer as a cheap alternative to those others however.

More about → Color Club Positively Posh

China Glaze Stellar At Disney World

Wow! What a crazy week I've had. Last Sunday I drove from Tulsa to Brooklyn with a very good friend who is moving to Long Island. We got to go to the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibit at the Met in Manhattan. It was so amazing that we went through twice! Here are a few of my favorites. Look at the feathers on the one pictured above. Truly spectacular!

Then I flew from New York to Walt Disney World to meet up with Will & his family. Here are my nails with Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom. China Glaze Stellar is one of my favorite polishes and I knew I wouldn't be able to change my nails for a whole 9 days! This is day number 7 and it still looks great.

Sorry I missed last week's Giveaway Roundup. I'll be posting today's later tonight. I'm so behind on my blog reading since I didn't have my computer for over a week.

Look for some nails coming soon that are inspired by my vacation!

Thanks for reading!
April

More about → China Glaze Stellar At Disney World

Color Club Soft As Cashmere

Here we have Color Club's Soft as Cashmere. A delicate mousey taupe. 


I really love this colour, I don't have anything quite like it. I did think Essie's Chinchilly might be similar but Cashmere is a lot greener. I just looked through my Essie posts and see that I haven't reviewed that one yet... I have mid-semester break coming up shortly so I will catch up on everything then :)


Application was alright. It was a little bit watery on first coat. I did need three coats to get complete coverage, I think it might have needed a little shake before hand though.

My mum loved Cashmere, but then again she loves any polishes knitting related :P


She tried it on and while it still looked nice on her, it looked completely different to how it looked on me. It looked more grey than mousey-taupe on her. She does have more red tones in her skin.


Soft as Cashmere is from Untamed Luxury Indulgence. The whole collection is so pretty and very winter. They will be coming very shortly. I'm visiting my friend today because she wants to have a play with OPI's Black Shatter but I will most definitely be taking this collection around too!

More about → Color Club Soft As Cashmere

Zoya Jules and A Half Moon Manicure

This is 2 coats of Zoya Jules. It's a lovely taupe shimmer with one of the nicest formulas I've ever used! Another winner from the excellent Zoya Intimate Collection.
The next night I did a quick half moon with Zoya Dannii.
You can see my thoughts on the Zoya Intimate Collection in this post.

Thanks for reading!
April

More about → Zoya Jules and A Half Moon Manicure

Essie Merino Cool

This is 3 coats of Essie Merino Cool, a medium toned, purplish taupe. I like it much better in my photos than I did in real life. Does that ever happen to you?

I finally started a Concrete and Nail Polish facebook page for those of you who like to keep up with blogs through facebook. I've also posted galleries of my favorite colors & my favorite manicures that I've done since starting my blog.

Thanks for reading!
April

More about → Essie Merino Cool

Zoya Underrated Beauties Giveaway! Ends 6/1. (Closed)

I asked Zoya if their staff had any favorite polishes that often get overlooked. They have over 300 colors and I felt sure that there were some gorgeous colors that hadn't gotten much attention. They sent me six colors to show you & I'm also including Pasha and Gaia which I purchased myself. So here we go, eight lovely Zoyas that you don't see very often. Lots of pictures!

First we have Zoya Bailey, shown here with four coats, but it would have been fine with three.

Zoya describes this color perfectly.

Light neutral pink sheer base with cool pink duochrome shimmer and sparkling silver microglitter.

The silver microglitter reminds me of lightly sprinkled sugar. This one looked pretty sheer, so I asked my sister Alisa to swatch it too, since my nails are lightly stained. Here's her photo. Thanks Alisa! Alisa used just two coats.

I ended up liking Zoya Bailey a lot more than I thought I would. It's a nice color, not really my style, but it works GREAT as a layering polish! I'll show it over Zoya Coco later in this post and will show it over other colors soon.


Next up is Zoya Brizia, shown with three coats. I love this one!


Zoya Brizia is a taupey lavender metallic with a silvery blue duochrome effect! I've never seen anything else quite like it and it goes with nicely with most of my wardrobe.


Zoya Coco is one of those colors I would never pick up, since I'm not really drawn to anything in the red family but I ended up really liking this one.

It's a dusty burgundy creme that looks like a dusty reddish brown in low lights. Beautiful color and easy application. This is two coats. Here's Zoya and my dog Wally with some very silly looking fur. What happened that day Wally?


Zoya Flowie is my least favorite because I don't find it very flattering with my skin tone. This is 3 coats.

I would call this a light, peachy brown creme. Easy application. This will probably look great on ladies with much paler or much darker skin tones than mine.


From my least favorite we go to my all time favorite, #1 nail polish, Zoya Gaia! You can read my full post on this beauty here. This is the polish I would keep if I could only have one for the rest of time. Soft white with gold microshimer. This is 4 coats and yes it's totally worth it!


Zoya Pasha is another favorite. You can read my full post about it here. This is 2 coats. I think it looks like iced coffee.


Zoya Raine is another sheer that works as an AMAZING layering polish. This is 4 coats.

This is another one that I thought might be too sheer for my nails. Here it is on my sister Alisa with just 2 coats. Thanks again Alisa!

Zoya Raine is a pink/purple duochrome. You can see Raine layered over Coco later in this post. I tried it later in the week over a green creme and it looked INCREDIBLE!


Last but certainly not least, we have Zoya Sasha. This is another color that I would never pick up but I love it!

Zoya Sasha is a cool toned, blood red creme.

This is 3 coats. I tried it with 4 coats but couldn't tell a difference.


Golly, that was a lot of pictures. This is the longest post I've ever done! Here's a couple of bonus pictures.
This is Brizia with a little Konad. I used Zoya Coco on my pinky and middle fingers and Zoya Sasha on my ring and pointer.


And this is Zoya Coco with one coat of Zoya Raine on the left & one coat of Zoya Bailey on the right. So cool!!! You can really see how lovely both Raine and Bailey are once they are layered over other colors! I'll be showing them over more colors in the next couple of weeks. See what I mean about Bailey's lightly sprinkled sugar effect?


So we have eight lovely, underrated beauties from Zoya! Zoya has kindly offered one lucky winner their choice of any three of these polishes!! You have Bailey, Brizia, Coco, Flowie, Gaia, Pasha, Raine & Sasha to choose from. This prize can only be shipped within the continental US shipping, no P.O. boxes.

RULES:
PLEASE READ ALL OF THE RULES BEFORE ENTERING.

• You must be a follower of our Concrete and Nail Polish blog. If you have a question on how to become a follower contact April at lirpaskoorb@gmail.com.
• This prize can only be shipped within the continental US shipping, no P.O. boxes.
• This giveaway starts today, May 16th, and will end Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 11:59PM Central Time.
• We'll select the winner with random.org's random number generator and notify the winner by email on Wednesday, June 2nd.
• The winner will have 24 hours to respond. If the winner doesn't reply within 24 hours, that winner will forfeit the prize and an alternate winner will be selected via random.org.

HOW TO ENTER:
Each person is allowed to enter up to three (3) times as follows:

• Be a follower of our blog and tell me which of the underrated Zoya polishes you would like to win. No entries will count unless this first entry is completed.
• You can earn an optional second entry by posting about this giveaway on your blog. You can do this in a post (it doesn't have to be it's own separate post) or by posting in your sidebar. Just make sure you leave the link in your entry.
• You can earn an optional second entry by tweeting about this giveaway. Leave the link to your twitter status update in your entry.
• You only need to fill out the form once. This works MUCH better than comments, so I've turned them off for this post to avoid confusion.

I received six polishes from Zoya that I reviewed above. Gaia & Pasha were purchased by me at an earlier date. All opinions are my own & were not influenced by Zoya! For more information you can read my disclosure policy.

Thanks for reading!
April

More about → Zoya Underrated Beauties Giveaway! Ends 6/1. (Closed)