BSB: Beauty news, makeup swatches and pictures, nail polish articles, makeup tutorials, product reviews, and how-to's from a MAC-trained makeup artist.

The Nail Ninja says: Green nail polish lovers, rejoice! Ginger + Liz made Blowin' Money Fast just for you! (swatches, pictures, review)

The Ninja will start with a pictures because they're worth more than a lot of cheap talk.

• 

The review is after the jump.

The Nail Ninja: Ginger + Liz - Not on the First Date (nail polish swatches, pictures, review)

Another great shade from Ginger + Liz, but this one has The Ninja eating her words.

Not on the First Date seemed to be a pretty beige-nude-mannequin-hands shade the first time The Ninja looked at it in the bottle. When she slicked it onto her nails, though, what she found was a putty-purple. Or you could call it a lavender-greige. Not completely unusual, but the exact shade is one that found no duplicates in The Ninja's stash.

In fact, The Ninja was yearning for a shade like this all Spring, but had long since abandoned hope until meeting this polish. Reading a bit more grey indoors (but still with a lavender bent), outside brings a new perspective: this is a greyed-pale purple. Perfection! 

On the downside, application was a bit runny and the Nail Ninja found some of the lacquer pooling in her cuticles if she hurried. This was not an issue when careful, and the color was opaque in two coats. As with all of the other experiences The Ninja has had with Ginger + Liz polishes, wear was great- 4 days of hard ninja use before a small chip. 

The minor shrinkage visible on some of these swatch pics was an anomaly, and can be blamed on a new base coat technoque The Ninja was trying out, and not the polish. A previous wear of this shade had no such issues.

 

 

 

• 

 

 

Guest swatcher, Pippa, makes an appearance:

So what do you think? Are you "over" colors like this? Interested in adding it to your  stash? Do you ever feel stalked by ninja cats?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nail Ninja: Best Manicure Ever? Ginger + Liz Tuck Me In, Illamasqua Harsh (nail polish swatches, pictures, review)

Could this be it? The Nail Ninja's  best manicure ever? The one that, if forced, she'd wear for the rest of her days? It's quite possible. Pictures first, then we'll talk...

 

_{Note: The Ninja's new iPhone 4 takes great pictures, but for some reason her
skin always comes out a bit red. The nail color, though, is true.}

That's Ginger + Liz's new silver polish, Tuck Me In. It's opaque in two coats with zero brushstrokes. NONE. Application is smooth, with no dragging or pooling. Wear is excellent - The Ninja gets 4 days until a minor chip, with only minimal tipwear. The brush is also stellar - flat, even, with just the right number of bristles.

The Ninja adores silver polishes. Wearing a silver manicure is, if it suits your skintone, a chic and sexy classic that really looks nice in almost all situations. It's pretty, it's tough, it's uptown, it's downtown. Some people wear white as their signature; The Ninja wears silver. The is The Best Silver Ever, no question.

For a bit of extra bling on her ring fingers, The Ninja topped Tuck Me In with Illamasqua's Harsh, a midsize silver glitter in a clear base. What you see here is only one coat of Harsh. Sure, it's a bit difficult to remove, but holding a pure acetone-soaked cotton pad on the nail for a few minutes will allow you to slip it off of the nail without too much trouble. Wear is, as with all Illamasqua polishes, excellent.

To summarize: this is officially The Ninja's favorite manicure. If pressed, she'd wear silver polish (this silver polish) on her tips for the rest of her life, and wear China Glaze's Coconut Kiss (purple) on her toes. And that, friends, is all there is to say.

_{This polish was sent to me for consideration.
For more information, see my About tab.}

The Nail Ninja: Ginger + Liz - Trance (nail polish swatches, pictures, review)

Ginger + Liz polishes glide onto the nail really easily. There's no pesky pooling or cuticle drag or gloppy maneuvering. Add one of The Ninja's favorite things, holographic glitter, and you're sure to have a winner. Take the shade Trance, for example. It just makes The Ninja want to dance.

Unfortunately, it appears they discontinued this color, since it isn't on their website anymore. It's a shame, because this gunmetal grey-nearly black base is so loaded with holo glitter and it's just tough, and pretty, and bad-ass, and sexy all at the same time. Keep reading for pics...

 

Ginger + Liz give The Ninja a (much needed) Reality Check

Hot new brand alert: Ginger + Liz. The buzz: fun colors suiting an array of skintones, formula to rival Chanel's, two-coats to opacity (at most), great brush.

The Ninja bought 4. Here's the first, Reality Check:

Review and swatches after the jump.