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

gemmed

Orly - Nite Owl
Color Club - Covered in Diamonds

This has got to be my favourite combination of nail polish! :-) The minute I swatched both after receiving Covered in Diamonds in the mail and purchasing Nite Owl from a local nail store, I was in love!

Firstly Nite Owl was a stunner. A nice nude hue with bits of tiny silvery flakies. Very unconventional from the typical creme shades. (I dislike cremes.) It would give a very pretty sheen in the night, just a subtle one. Sort of like how owls are pretty hard to spot at night!

Then I layered Covered in Diamonds over. I was like... OMG. The 'diamonds' are super chunky and sparkly and I LOVE CHUNKY AND SPARKLY! The 3D effect is nice too, unless you can't stand the roughened surface... But it really is a topcoat-eater for it to be smoothed out! In my case I left it bumpy. In addition, some of the chunky glitters are kinda sharp and pokey! Especially the larger and harder ones. But I do love the mix of irregular shapes! Gives your nails texture.

Come to think of it I do wonder what material these glitters are made of. Plastic, I'm guessing. But some turn up like foil-flakes, some are actual plastic fragments, and they all flash colours like crazy in the light. (Hahaha no clue, never mind...)

Also another note on the colour: the chunky glitters do not actually look pink, yellow and blue like they do in the bottle. (Unless layered on a white base, I guess.) The pictures were taken under artificial light, and hence do not accurately capture the true beauty of the gems; they were flashing orange, purple and green. Yes, orange, purple and green. (And other colours but predominantly these.) THE LOOK IS SO MAD, SERIOUS. At night or even in the day when you're like texting or whatever it'll flash rainbows. The effect of the flashes can be best seen when Covered in Diamonds is layered over a black base. The flashing of the jewels are definitely not as exaggerated as flakie polishes like Nubar 2010 (which I'll feature...some other time) but it gives a very very different finish. One of a kind, I must say.

Anyways, I'm so glad I own this polish! Though I admit... I kind of dread removal! (As in, the tediousness of it...) Will update once I do.

x, Ish.