Orly Space Cadet: Dark Rainbow Nail Polish

 Space Cadet is from Orly's "Cosmic FX" line that was launched in Fall 2010. Although it is limited edition, I was able to pick it up yesterday at my local Ulta. It seems to be Orly's most talked about nail polish- I've seen it and heard it mentioned in so many YouTube videos, I've read about it on blogs, etc... I can totally see what all the fuss is about- IT'S GORGEOUS!!!!

Have you ever seen a puddle of oil sitting on asphalt, glistening in the sun? And you know how it's a dark-rainbow color? Like you can see all the colors of the rainbow but they're darker in a way? Or have you ever seen a black beetle with a dark iridescent exo-skeleton? Well that's exactly what Space Cadet looks like. I guess the base itself is mostly a dark forest green, but there are so many iridescent/holographic effects to this gorgeous duo-chrome polish that it looks all different colors in different lighting and in different angles. And there's this gorgeous micro-shimmer floating through it that gives it a super shiny mirror effect. Space Cadet looks a greenish golden bronze with amber-gold glitter running through it in daylight. In more dim lighting, it appears to be an amethyst violet color with pink glitter. This is one of the prettiest, most interesting nail polishes I've ever encountered. One coat is kinda sheer, but then it builds up intensity and reaches opacity in about 2 or 3 coats, although I like to wear more because I like my polish a little bit thicker.

It's just as difficult to photograph as it is to describe lol... In my opinion, it looks a lot like Chanel's Period Nail Polish from their new Fall collection. I definitely recommend Orly's Space Cadet to anyone that enjoys more unique nail polishes. It's really fun but it still has a certain sophistication to it. It's really nice layered on other nail polishes, so far I've really enjoyed it over any black polish. Later on I'll experiment with glitter top coats over Space Cadet. This color was from Orly's Mineral FX collection or whatever, so it was a little pricier than their usual polishes, at $10, but Ulta often has special deals going on and coupons available. Here's Ulta's Orly Nail Polish Web Page: http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod1460066#sku2220656

I took the pictures on my own. It was kinda difficult to effectively photograph this color, but check out this blog post- it has amazing pictures of Space Cadet: http://www.lacquerized.com/2010/09/orly-space-cadet-sci-fi-on-your-nails.html

MY PICTURES, MY WORDS!!!!!!!!!
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MAC's Contrast Eyeshadow

MAC's Contrast eyeshadow is another gorgeous dark color that I've been wearing for years. It's a very very dark cobalt blue with dark blue reflects. It's perfect for doing a smokey eye, especially a dark blue smokey eye. I've heard of a lot of people wearing Contrast as an eyeliner because of it tends to pop a little more than a flat black, and the subtle sparkle is nice along the lashlines. I recommend Contrast to anyone looking for a very dark sparkly blue eyeshadow :]

OPI's Light My Sapphire Nail Polish

OPI released Light My Sapphire in their Spring 2007 Night Brights collection. It's a gorgeous black nail polish with dark cobalt blue shimmer. I have an immense appreciation for any dark polish and I LOVE all shimmery black polishes. Light My Sapphire is the nail polish equivalent of MAC's Contrast eyeshadow. I totally recommend this stuff to anyone that loves black or dark blue nail polish :] Do you love it? <3333

Poison by Dior

Poison is a very romantic fragrance that was launched by Christian Dior in 1985. It's been classified as a luxurious, oriental, floral fragrance and is very well-known as being both provocative and intense.  I've been wearing this iconic perfume on and off for years, ever since I was a very little kid - I absolutely LOVE it. I've always had an appreciation for more dramatic fragrances, and Poison is truly that.

I feel that it was very appropriately named because it is a very dark, macabre perfume. It's a great perfume to wear at nighttime. It's notes are orange blossom, honey, cinnamon, coriander, pepper, plum, rosewood, rose, tuberose, wild berries, cistus labdanum, carnation, jasmine, cedar, sandalwood, vetiver, musk, vanilla, heliotrope and opopanax. If I had to sum up this scent in three words, I would say that it's dark, spicy, and fruity.

I love how it's an extremely unique scent - you really won't find anything else out there that smells like Poison. And although Dior has launched a few re-interpretations of Posion, like Hypnotic Posion, Tendre Poison, and Pure Poison, I personally feel like none of these are anywhere near as beautiful of a scent as the original. Although Poison is not a scent made for everyone, it really has made a name for itself over the years.

Feline Kohl Power Pencil by MAC

I had heard so many of my favorite makeup people on YouTube talk about how amazing and exceptional Feline Kohl Power by MAC was, so I made sure to call my local Nordstrom and have them put one on hold for me as soon as MAC's Champale collection came out like a month or two ago... I was all excited when I got it... I'm always excited to try new things, especially when I hear a lot of buzz about a product. I swatched it on the back of my hand when I got home. It was just as gorgeous and dark and pigmented as everyone had always described it. Yes, it glided on effortlessly and smudged like a dream. But what so many other people LOVE about this eyeliner, I didn't really like. Although I do love a messy, sexy, edgy rock-chic smokey eye, I also love for my eyeliner to set finally, and stay on as long as possible. That will not happen with this product. Even when I put a primer underneath of this stuff and set it afterward with a black shadow like Carbon or Beautmarked, this stuff still moves around on your eyes and will leave you with raccoon eyes by the end of the night, or even after just a few minutes. Because it's so silky smooth and greasepaint like, it really warms up when it gets on your skin and gets all over the place, so you really have to control where you put this stuff. I find that I really don't even like to use this stuff all that much on my tearstrip either, because it doesn't stay there long and transfers everywhere. Sometimes, however, I do want a really messy smokey eye with eyeliner all over the place, so I will use Feline well-blended underneath some dark shadow, so this purchase wasn't a complete loss I guess. I probably won't ever repurchase it though because I barely ever use it and there are so many other things out there that will actually stay on my eyes long enough.

NARS Eyeshadow Duo in Cordura

I was at my local Sephora the other day looking at my favorite section for some new eyeshadows. Of course, NARS is my favorite aisle at my Sephora, and their products never seem to disappoint. I swatched a few of the singles, then some of the duos, and this set really caught my eye. The eyeshadow on the left side of the duo is a rich, warm shimmery bronze color, which is the more wearable of the two. It's a great color to wear on its own all over the lid and is great for daywear. My favorite of the two, however, is by far the one on the right. It's a very very sophisticated black coffee color concentrated with lots of golden shimmer. This is a GORGEOUS color for nighttime. I like to wear it in the crease and on the lower lashline, then I pack it on in the outer V area. These colors go together perfectly to make a deep and dramatic brown smokey eye, but when worn very sheerly, could almost pass as neutrals. NARS shadows are EXTREMELY PIGMENTED and blend so beautifully. Generally, what you see in the pan is what you get on your eyelids, when applied with the proper brushes over the right eyeshadow base. Cordura is such a gorgeous duo and I find myself grabbing for it pretty often. Soooooo, is anyone else currently OBSESSED with this eyeshadow duo from NARS right now too?!?! What's your favorite color of the two? :]

MAC Carbon Eyeshadow

Carbon eyeshadow by MAC is one of those staples that we all seem to have in our makeup bag, but never really seem to glance over twice. It's just a flat, matte black. No shimmer, no glitter, nothing amazing really. But what I LOVE about it is that it gives depth and drama. Life would be so boring without deep, dark smokey eyes! I love this stuff because it's got the perfect amount of pigmentation. It's not too dark, but not too grey. I love using it all over the lid up into the crease for a perfect simple smokey eye. Black eyeshadow all over the lid is just so vampy and glamorous and sophisticated, especially with a glossy nude lip :] Sometimes I just like to apply it in certain places, like on my lower lashline, or just in my crease, and it's perfect for setting eyeliner on the waterline. It's not the MOST pigmented black eyeshadow ever, but that's not such a bad thing- it's easier to blend :] I can even use Carbon very very lightly to shade in my eyebrows if I need to... If I feel like my eye makeup is boring or underwhelming and I need to kick it up a notch, I'll take a pencil brush or a fluffy blending brush and apply some of this stuff in my outer V area and blend it a bit. This shadow is so overlooked, but it really has a LOT more uses than w give it credit for, and I couldn't see myself NOT using it on a daily/nightly basis. I love the staying power that this stuff has too. Use it with the right primer, and it'll stay on all day and all night :] Sooooo who else loves this shadow? Anyone else use Carbon all the time? How do you incorporate it into your eyeshadow looks? :]

BEAUTYMARKED EYESHADOW. CREATURE OF THE NIGHT.

Beautymarked is one of my favorite eyeshadows from MAC's permanent collection, if not my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE. It's a gorgeous velvety black eyeshadow with LOTS of reddish burgundy glitter. I remember first buying it many years ago because I saw it sitting on the eyeshadow display at the MAC counter and thought to myself that I'd never really seen anything like that at all. Since then, Over the years, I have used copious amounts of this smoldering color. To this day, I have not found a similar eyeshadow that's as intensely pigmented, rich, gorgeous and glittery as this beautiful color. I've seen lots of eyeshadows slightly similar, but no other company has really been able to duplicate it. I've always been drawn to dark colors. The darker, the better. I'm terribly addicted to black eyeshadows, and I just cannot resist a black eyeshadow that contains shimmer or reflects. I love richly pigmented vampy shades that look amazing when used to create a smokey eye. Beautymarked is extremely pigmented. It is easily grabbed by eyeshadow brushes, and yes, it shows up exactly on the eye as it does in the pan. I've found, however, that if you want all of the red reflects to show up on your eyes, you have to use a sticky eyeshadow base or else the glitter will get eaten by your brush instead of adhering to your eyelid. In the past, I've had some trouble with fallout from Beautymarked, but after a while of using this color, you'll learn how to apply it in a way that avoids creating fallout. I've seen that a lot of people will use this color to line their eyes, or they'll wear it in the crease or to smoke out their outer V. Personally, my favorite way to wear it is all over my lid, from lashline to crease, then blended out very well. It looks good with just a little big of a shimmery silver or white color on the inner corner, and I usually don't care to wear a highlight color on my brow-bone. Sometimes too much highlight can take away from the effect of a dramatic smokey eye. Is anyone else completely obsessed with this color? Anyone have it but not use it very often? Tell me about your experience with Beautymarked... How do you like to wear it?