no shit, sherlock

OPI - You Don't Know Jacques!

This colour is one of the most coveted OPI shades in the history of OPI. It was featured in the Best of The Best Minis, and indeed is a very interesting shade.

You Don't Know Jacques! is a taupey-brown, which leans very heavily on the brown side. Brown with a tinge of mushroomy taupe.

Initially from pictures, You Don't Know Jacques! looked a little lighter, just like it's pictured here. I'd wanted to match them with my other pair of Guess heels. I've included a picture below.

In real life, it's about like... 3 shades darker. But it's a lot more chocolate than this brown, so it didn't exactly match but at least I did achieve the earthy pink-taupe palette I was aiming for.

~~ On a side note, does anyone want these heels? They're too killer for me. My sister-in-law's called dibs on them but meanwhile, if anyone can offer me something I like these shoes are yours :-) US 8M (which is basically a size 8). ~~

Anyways, application for this baby was a dream. Except that the polish is such a chameleon. It looks one colour through the bottle, another on the brush, another while it's wet on the nail, and finally a taupey-chocolate when dried on the nail. Well I guess we really don't know Jacques... Haha pardon my bad joke.

Well the best part about this polish is that the colour doesn't look clayey, as if I were a potter's assistant. It's a rich creme, very shiny and very sophisticated. It takes a mature woman to wear this shade, which is why I think it looked better on my sister-in-law than it did on me. Hence I have a lot of respect for this polish, haha.

I think the cremes are out to get me on Team Creme. We'll see :-)

x, Ish

totally joining the cult

Cult Nails - Clairvoyant

OPI - OPI Ink

This has got to be my favourite polish, ever!!! (Possibly until I finally wear Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe... I do love my glitters. Especially Deborah Lippmann's signature style of glitters suspended in jelly bases.) Okay anyhoos...

Clairvoyant (aka Unicorn Puke) consists of rainbow-coloured flakies suspended in a very sheer purple jelly base, designed to be used as a layering polish. I saw Swatchandlearn's swatch which featured Clairvoyant layered over OPI Ink, and was immediately head over heels in love with the combination of the flakies and the deep and shimmering purple. I think that the shimmer peeks out so nicely from between the varying sizes of flakies and are sort of ''muses'' to ''back up'' the real stars of the show - the multi-coloured flakies!!! Do you get what I mean!?? Like the muses singing back-up vocals in the Disney version of Hercules:



Hehe I love the muses!!!

Anyways back to Clairvoyant. The coverage on the OPI Ink base was excellent. As comparisons from various renowned nail bloggers have revealed, Clairvoyant is the most jammed packed with rainbow-coloured flakes out of all the ones offered by other various brands, namely Picture Polish's Festival, Finger Paints' Twisted, etc. (Oh I'm not sure about Ludurana though... I've not tried them but they have a wonderful collection of flakies which btw is going to be discontinued, as reminded by the sweet girls over at Inky Polisholicious; do proceed to their blog to find out how you may purchase Ludurana polishes!)

However, I am a little bothered by the purple-tinted base of Clairvoyant, because this limits the kind of base colour shades to be paired with the flakies. For instance any hopes of pairing it with a light colour would be tarnished (not destroyed, at least) by the altered look of the base after the application of Clairvoyant. In their defence, though, flakies are best shown off on a dark base as a dark shade can create a sharp contrast between flakes and base and hence, draw one's eye's immediately to the shiny flakes! The tinted Clairvoyant wouldn't cause any (or much, if there is) any changes to the colour of the base polish.

On a side note, the flakies in Clairvoyant look like fish food:



Oh my gosh, isn't that hilarious!?

Okay anyways to wrap up this review: dry time was excellent (it is a little fast though, considering we have to even out the flakies), OPI Ink was of course gorgeous even on its own, and the look is amazing. However, because the flakies aren't evenly shaped and sized, some flakies are thicker and hence do not permit a perfectly smooth surface to the touch after drying - unlike what I had expected. This did not bother me much though, Seche Vite always saves the day. ;-)

If you are interested in purchasing Clairvoyant, it can be purchased directly from Cult Nails' website, but only after it's been re-stocked!!! It sold out in an instant (despite being produced in larger quantities unlike its debut as Unicorn Puke where only something like 285 bottles were produced?) so I suggest you keep your eyes peeled for that coveted polish!!! ;-)

Oh Clairvoyant, thou art beautiful :'')

x, Ish