Chanel Black Pearl...Ho Hum

I swatched the mighty lemming last night at Nordstroms and left it there after comparing it to real black pearls in the jewelry department.  I love black pearls and so I was excited to see if it was worth the hype.

I have to say, for me, it isn't. But then I really wanted it to look like a black pearl on my nails. In my opinion, this color is too green. That would be ok, but there should be some brown duochrome in there to make it work like a real pearl.

I realize that the black pearl comes in many tones, from gray to brown to green and even almost silver, but they all have a duochrome that is, sadly lacking in this polish.

So today, while trying to cram all the new polish in with my existing stash, I rooted through the stash to find comparable shades that might make my fussy ass happy!  I found it in Misa's "It's You!"  It's got the right balance of green/brown duochrome with just a little too much sparkle to completely pull it off but, I can keep my 25 bucks and have the color I want don my nails anytime I want it to. :)

That makes me happy!

Here are a few comparison shots: Thumb is always Chanel Black Pearl. (I realize my cuticles look like hell, just look at the pretty colors!) But first, let's begin with a few pictures of some ACTUAL Black Pearls:

Source

With Gosh Purple Heart (too much like Nubar Peacock Feathers and Borghese Stellar Notte ie: too much purple)

With Nubar Moon Shadow (thought the brown might work, but nope, it shows up very purple too.)

Sally Hansen Prisms Emerald Amethyst is actually very close, just reversed, but I can live with that.

And with Misa "It's You!"  is an almost perfect dupe only better! It shows the duochrome better in the shade, the sunlight brings out the shimmer and it's a bit more sparkly than the Chanel and/or a real Black Pearl. This one actually has the green in the middle with the purple around the edges. It's gorgeous!

I also compared it to the new Estee Lauder Wild Storm, very similar, but WS is more silver...still, I think I see a trend here. :)

And since I swapped my untried Lippmann Hit Me With Your Best Shot, I had to swatch that (I'll replace it with my Apothica gift cert won from Evil Angel) Love this color so much!

This is what my hands looked like after all the swatching. :) And again, please ignore the horrible condition of my cuticles. I've been doing a bunch of house cleaning and it's time for a deep moisture treatment. That week in Las Vegas was hard on my skin!

Why yes, that IS Lippmann Marquee Moon...which shall be mine one day. I love it, it's so different! The sparkles is me comparing Lippmann Happy Birthday with Milani Gems. I know they're not exact, but they're similar enough I can live without HB.

All in All, this Lizard gives Chanel Black Pearl a rating of Chilly. I'd say Tepid, but for the price...it's definitely chilly!

Which color do you like best or do you have an even better "Black Pearl" color? Tell me about it please!

Charla Pedi and Painting a Friend's Nails

A couple weeks ago (the weekend before knee surgery) I did a little shopping, a little visiting, treated myself to a mani-pedi done by someone I know at a very clean, high end salon, shipped out a bunch of packages (finally got my giveaway packages shipped as well as the box to Trincess and a friend in Canada who swapped me some ChG for some Gosh. Yep, Gosh is available in Canada. (Swatches of the Gosh' coming soon)

I know I mentioned Charla for my pedi so here she is and she is <3 <3 <3 to me, right up there with Atlantis. I need multiple backups of this lovely lady, she's amazing.  This is the color the people at the surgery center were wowed with when they saw my feet. Hehehe, after the surgery, one of the assistants stopped by when I was recovering and said, "I took a look at your toes while you were out, and you were right, those are  pretty!" he was funny.  Here are my tootsies, fair warning!

Why yes, those ARE my King Neptune Deep Sea Diving Flippers! :)

Love my new Sandals and I Love this gorgeous color!

After that, we had lunch, then I went and grabbed a few Zoya's to add to Trincess' box so she didn't have to wait for the next box and then we went to Macy's so that my friend could pick up Estee Lauder's Ultra Violet. She loves purple and we'd swatched it the night before, then Sunday we added Zoya Mimi and NARS Purple Rain to her fingers so she could choose one. She picked the most expensive one, but it truly is a gorgeous color. She offered to let me do my laundry at her house so I went home, picked that up along with nail polishing supplies, and then it was off to her house where we had some wine, I painted her nails and we had some fun.

My friend has the cutest Beagles. I call 'em Bagels just because it's fun. Maggie is the gorgeous older gal and Jack is the handsome young pup.

This is Magg-pie. :) She's 12 or 13 or something like that.

This Jack, isn't he purdy?

Jack up close and personal. :)

And I usually take my doggy over there, as they all get along well together and Ally has spent sometime at my friend's house while I travel to faraway places. 

Ally Keeping a sharp eye on the door to make sure I don't leave her there. 

We had some wine and I got to painting and this "Ultra Violet" is so pretty, I'm going to have to borrow it sometime.

Ok, I suck at painting OTHER people's nails. But she learned a lot about nail care and she LOVED the color so I was happy for her. 

I know you've all see this one, but I like showing my friends nails with color because it shows how the color might look on a different skin tone from where you've seen it before, and I like to share the fun I have sharing my passion for polish with my friends. Do you share yours with your friends that don't share your penchant for polish? Look at me, I'm being witty!

Have a great night, more to come...

Lacquered Lizard