"Urban
Ballerina" is Sephora by OPI's newest collection for Spring 2011. I
picked up the Urban Ballerinas mini set to try out, which consists of
four tiny (and they are tiny! They were pretty hard to hold onto
in photographs) bottles: Leotard Optional, The Way Tutu His Heart, Who's
Spinning Tonight?, and Break A Leg-Warmer! I
usually love Sephora by OPI polishes, but the formula on these were a
bit of a let down (is it because they're minis? This is my first time
buying minis). Thin, watery, and two were streaky.Leotard Optional
is an opaque, very pretty neutral cafe latte creme. The formula was
pretty good on this one, albeit a little thick and somewhat streaky (I
used three coats for this picture). It looks warmer in the bottle than
it did on my hands, where it seemed to magically become pinker. This
reminds me a bit of OPI's Kreme de la Kremlin, but not as rosy. It's a
nice, work appropriate neutral:
The Way Tutu His Heart
is a very pale semi-opaque whitish pink. So many people are always
after the nail polish color Giada de Laurentiis often wears; a creamy
pinky white that looks like really clean nails (it's
been said that OPI Bubble Bath is it, but BB didn't look anything like
it at all on me). When I saw this in the bottle, I thought it just might
be that color on me. While this is a very pretty version
of that shade, the formula is difficult: streaky as hell! I needed three
coats. Opaque pale pinks are pretty much always hard to work with,
however, so I just may suck it up and end up buying the full size (I'd
also like to compare the formula of a mini to the full size version's,
just to see if there is any difference). Especially since most opaque
pale white pinks are too pastel. This one looks natural in comparison to
those:
Who's Spinning Tonight? is
a warm purple with magenta and blue sparkles. Really cool,
but....again, the formula was just "eh": extremely thin and watery on
the first coat, better on the second but streaky, and the third covered
up all previous sins:
Break A Leg-Warmer!
is a grey creme with strong blue undertones. Not my favorite on myself,
but still a very cool shade. The first coat was very watery and thin.
The second coat went on evenly, however, so I only had to use two coats:
There
are two other shades that are part of the Urban Ballerina collection
which are not included in this set: Shiny Dancer (a metallic slate
grey), and Let's Plie (a metallic beige- which I really want to try
since I love shimmery nudes).
Chanel released a new lipstick recently; a
shiny, sheerer version of their already popular Rouge Coco. The
appropriately named Rouge Coco Shine lipsticks are housed in slim
versions of the classic Chanel/ RC tube (black and gold) and retail for
$32 (crazy, I know, but it seems there's a sort of war going on with
high-end makeup companies to see just who can make the priciest and most
luxurious lipstick).I
purchased Biarritz and Cavalière after playing around with the testers
at the display (although I wanted a few more, to be honest ;). Biarritz
is a gorgeous soft natural peach with golden microshimmer, and Cavalière is a beautiful "my-lips-but-better" shade of shimmering mauvey plum that is very similar to Dior's famous Addict lipstick in Chestnut Chic, only much, much better in my opinion. While Cavalière
looks very cool-toned in the tube, on my lips it turns into one of the
most gorgeous and flattering MLBB shades I have ever worn. Biarritz:
Cavalière:
Swatches (Cavalière on the left and Biarritz on the right):
The
shimmer in these two shades is extremely fine and hardly noticeable
once on lips; nothing frosty or even remotely disco ball. The formula is
to die for. As smooth as butter, cushiony, and super hydrating,
these almost feel like liquid on your lips and leave behind a soft
shine. Although they are soft and glossy, I didn't experience any
bleeding with these lipsticks.While
I think $32 is a ridiculous/ borderline hilarious price for a lipstick,
these are definately worth it. The only thing that might deter anyone
from buying is if you are sensitive to scent: they have the somewhat
heavy Rouge Coco floral scent (a mix of rose and vanilla), but I
honestly don't notice on my lips. And I am concerned about how these
will fare in even slightly warm weather- they're so soft, I fear they'll
melt in no time flat.The other shades (of the 18 available) that caught my eye were Liberté
, a peach-coral; Unique, a strawberry pinky-red shade which looked like a lipstick version of Spark Glossimer; and É
vasion,
a pale pink-peach. The sales associate tried to sell me on Boy, a pinky
mauve that is the most popular shade right now, but it looked too cool
for my NC40-ish coloring.
