March Madness! Greens All Month - Green Flakie Franken

My green franken!

Hi everyone!  Just a quick post for y'all today.  This month I'm going to highlight some of my favorite greens from my collection.  Hunter to grass, mint to pine, emerald to peridot... it's all happening.

I couldn't decide what green to kick off this series with, so I made a franken.  The base is NYX Blue Ave. with some Orly Wandering Vine and Orly It's Not Rocket Science.  It was rather sheer so I layered it on top of a base of American Apparel Hunter.  All really good greens!  More to come this month!

Glad to be green?

What are some of your favorite greens?  Do you wear green nail polish to work? 

Happy New Year - 2011 Will Rock - A Look Back at 2010

Peace, Love, Beauty in 2011!

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope everyone's NYE was safe, happy and  most of all FUN!  We have a lot of high hopes for 2011. 

Not to dwell on the past, but we had to mention some of our favorite things from last year.  We are looking forward to all the exciting things in the world of beauty that 2011 has to offer.  We wish everyone the best this year.  Thank you so much for helping Beautyburg get off the ground in 2010, and we know that this is just the beginning of a really exciting future.  Beautyburg's New Year's Resolution is to try to be the best blog it can be!

So... Let's just revisit some of our favorite things from 2010.

These are in no particular order, and some products shown were not launched in 2010 but new to us that year.  For more detail click on the appropriate links to the reviews.








MAC Venomous Villains



E.L.F. HD Powder


OPI Shrek Collection - Fiercely Fiona on the right



Burberry - the makeup line


What were your favorite beauty items of 2010?  What are you looking forward to in 2011?  Do you have any beauty resolutions for 2011?

Hello Kitty by Sephora Liquid Nail Art - Blueberry and Minty

Hello to cute nails!!!

Minty and Blueberry.

As part of the upcoming and highly anticipated Hello Kitty by Sephora line, here are two nail colors from the collection.  If you missed our first look, click here. Sephora had a two day private shopping event online for VIBs, and even when I got to the sale on the first day, many of the items were sold out.  I was able to grab two of the Liquid Nail Art ($10) colors in Minty, a pastel Shamrock Shake green, and Blueberry, a blurple creme, and a set of Nail Art Stickers ($5) in Classic Icons.

I was hoping that this line's products would have some substance, and it wouldn't be all about the packaging.  Generally, I steer away from bottles that are short.  The short neck leads to a short brush, short handle, meaning less control of the overall application.  I also found the formula a little thick.  I couldn't find the exact amount on the bottle, but it does seem small. 

Hello Kitty Blueberry and Orly Snowcone.

These two are similar but not a complete exact match.  Blueberry has a little bit more of a purple base.  Snowcone is just more of a straight up medium blue creme.  

Blueberry with Classic Icons Nail Art Stickers.

Nail Art Stickers in Classic Icons. 

The Nail Art Stickers come in four varieties Classic Icons, Lace, Modern Icons, and Rhinestone Flowers and are $5 each.

Hello Kitty Minty and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mint Sorbet.

Now these were **exact** dupes.  I swatched them on alternating fingers and could not see any difference what so ever.  I prefer the Sally Hansen however.  The application and formula are just a lot nicer.  Also a bottle is only $2.99.

 All Minty.

 Left to right: SH Mint Sorbet, HK Minty, Mint Sorbet, Minty.
Can you tell the difference?  I can't!

So is this line all about the packaging?  At $10 a polish, for not such a great polish, I would say yes. 

When does cute packaging mean more than quality product?  Or does it all have to come together?

Say Hello Palette in Super Fun coming soon!

MAC Cham-Pale Soirée Nail Lacquer vs. Orly Rage - Comparison & Possible Dupe?

Are we related? MAC Soirée and Orly Rage.


I recently picked up the two nail lacquers from MAC's Cham-Pale collection (see my review here).  One from the collection, Very Important Platinum, was an epic application fail.  Streaky, thin, blech.  Reminded me of how bad MAC used to be at nails.  Then was Soirée a pretty dusty-rose metallic foil.  Very pretty on, but it seemed somewhat familiar.


Digging through my stash, I found Orly Rage.  A gorgeous rosy silver foil from a few collections ago and still easily available.


I decided to do a side by side comparison since one is about half the price of the other.  From the bottle, they seem almost identical.  You can see that Orly's Rage is more silvery and the duochrome particles seem finer.  Soirée seems more rosy and dustier, but overall they are very, very, very close.  Maybe fraternal, not identical, twins.


Left to right: Soirée, Rage, Soirée, Rage.


I think the ring finger shows off Soirée's dusty, copperiness best.  However, from a distance (of 6 inches), they look almost the same.  I think most people wouldn't even notice a difference.  Click on the photo to enlarge.


 A photo of all Soirée.  
You can see the copper and dustier elements in the shade here.


All Soirée.  Let's party! 

MAC Soirée is $13 for 10ml 0.34oz, limited edition at MAC counters and MAC online.
Orly Rage is about $7 (depending on store) for 0.6oz and available at salons and Sally Beauty supply.


If you missed the review of Soirée and Very Important Platinum, click here.


How close does a dupe, comparable have to be to cancel out the original?  Do you go by price difference, meaning the cheaper one?  Or sometimes do you just have to have it?

More Holiday Offerings from Orly

Glitz and Glamour, Rockin' Rockette

Rockin' Rockette, Glitz and Glamour

Here are two more holiday offerings from Orly. Glitz and Glamour is a rich, opulent, gilded coppery gold. Rockin' Rockette is a mauve-raspberry with silver. These aren't as literal of translations on holiday/Christmas as some of their other offerings, and I think that's why I like them. These colors are rich and capture a sense of warmth and richness that are perfect for fall and will work through the holiday season. I would like to do a French mani with these, but I just don't believe I look good in French manis.

Click here to see the rest of Orly's holiday collection.

I purchased mine from Victoria's Nail Supply.

Orly It's Not Rocket Science with Comparisons

China Glaze Zombie Zest, SpaRitual Optical Illusion, Orly It's Not Rocket Science

Left to right: Orly, SpaRitual, China Glaze, China Glaze

Left to right: Orly, SpaRitual, China Glaze

Left to right: Orly, SpaRitual, China Glaze, China Glaze

From the photos would you call these dupes? I guess it all comes down to what micro level do you want to get down to. To the plain eye, and possibly a non-nail polish lover, they may all seem to be exact matches. But to those that are probably taking the time to look at a blog devoted to nail polish, they probably want to get to the nitty gritt. So that said, let's discuss the differences.

Orly - It's Not Rocket Science
  • Most opaque
  • Most shimmer and duochrome
  • Best application (two coats does it, three coats for *wow*)
SpaRitual - Optical Illusion
  • More olive, moss colored than the other three
  • Least concentration of shimmer, duochrome
  • Thinnest formula
China Glaze - Zombie Zest
  • Cheapest of the three
  • Finest shimmer, duochrome (more concentration than SpaRitual)
  • Thinner than Orly, better application than SpaRitual
I hope that this is helpful! My pick is the Orly and I think the China Glaze over black would look very pretty.

Orly Cosmic FX - Space Cadet

I have been in a love affair with Orly recently. Cosmic FX has seriously blown my mind on a brand, that I always assumed was more conservative in colors. Space Cadet is a galaxy of so many colors. In some lights it's just a deep purple, violet. At other times, it looks olive green and gold.

I had so much fun photographing this shade. When reviewing the photos, it was surprising to see the spectrum of shades that came in different lightings. Sorry if I went overboard on the photos, but Space Cadet seriously has no "bad side." It's so beautiful from every angle. Very, very back-up worthy.



In sunny shade, gold and purple are dominant.


Detail of the bottle and the texture on the nail.

Seriously mesmerizing!

Direct sunlight, very purple in this shot.

Daylight: green to purple with gold caught in between.

Daylight, at this angle the green seems more dominant.

The different shimmering effects are highlighted here. I cannot stop photographing this polish.


The spectrum of green, gold, purple. Can you believe this is all 1 polish?

Thanks for looking! :)

Orly Cosmic FX - Lunar Eclipse with Comps

I am having a love affair with all of the Cosmic FX. I love staring at each bottle and watching all the duochromes change in the light. Here is Lunar Eclipse from the collection. It is a vibrant sapphire blue with purple/pink duochrome. I thought out of the entire range of the Cosmic FX collection that it would be most matchable to something I own already. I found a couple colors to comp to, but after the comparison, I think that Lunar Eclipse is worth having on its own.



Left to Right: Orly Lunar Eclipse, Sally Hansen HD Laser, Sinful Colors Femme Fatale


Left to right: 2 coats of Lunar Eclipse, 4 coats Sally Hansen HD Laser, 2 coats Sinful Colors Femme Fetale.


The Sally Hansen Laser is more similar to Lunar Eclipse in duochrome-ness and overall effect but lighter and doesn't apply as densely. The Sinful Femme Fatale is a closer shade match but doesn't have all the cool light catching, falling a trance, staring at your nails all day effect of Lunar Eclipse.


Bottle shot: Orly Lunar Eclipse is more pigmented and thicker in the bottle vs. SH HD Laser.



Bottle shot all three in daylight.


Thanks for looking.

Orly 'Tis The Season - Christmas Holiday 2010


Meet Me Under the Mistletoe (Index and Ring fingers have Ingot UV Top Coat giving it a purple/blue tint)



Candy Cane Lane - a real Santa Claus red. Such a gorgeous vibrant red shade. Would work well for Konading.


Winter Wonderland - At first I wanted to paint this over Candy Cane Lane, but the glitter was TOO DENSE! Pictured here is two coats. Can we say :-o ?!

Three pack with free clutch