BB Couture Hands of Hope Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

BB Couture's Hands of Hope Collection in no longer available, but since I thought the collection was something noteworthy BB Couture did, I decided to tell you about them anyhow.

For one month this collection was available, and 25% of the sales went to the Red Cross for Haitian relief. The colors were available individually or in the collection, but on the last day of its availability, it went on sale with free shipping, so I bought it.

The colors are actually quite pretty, although none is so unique you'll be kicking yourself for missing out. I needed three coats of each, and photographed them in a brief moment of sunlight.

Paradise is sort of between an off white and a beige with a little shimmer in the bottle, but not so much on the nail.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Paradise Nail Polish, Three Coats

Cap-Haitan is a lavender creme.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Cap-Haitian Nail Polish, Three Coats

Labadie Beach is a pretty bright pink shimmer.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Labadie Beach Nail Polish, Three Coats

Kyona Beach is a pretty mint creme, with the down size of having a few stray little white bits in it.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Kyona Beach Nail Polish, Three Coats

Tortuga Island is a lime shimmer which was a bit sheer after three coats.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Tortuga Island Nail Polish, Three Coats

Bassins Bleu is a bluish minty creme.

BB Couture Hands of Hope Bassins Bleu Nail Polish, Three Coats

With Hands of Hope came a freebie bottle of BB Couture's top coat, and I tried it out. It's not for me. It says it's quick dry, but I washed my hair about two hours after doing a manicure and got smudges and dents galore. That was disappointing.

So this noble effort from BB Couture is my effort for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

BB Couture Little Deuce Coupe

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have another one from the BB Couture Hot Rod Collection, the yellow creme called Little Deuce Coupe. The application of this one was a bit odd - if I did my normal thin coats, I got big bald spots on the nail. That meant thick gloppy coats were the only way to go, and even at that, it took three coats for this nail polish to be opaque and even. Yellows are tricky!

It's pretty, but a little plain, so I added floral pattern from Konad plate M8 to it using Olive Green Konad Princess Nail Polish. Much better!

That's it for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

BB Couture Hot Rod Collection, The Oranges

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I recently got the BB Couture Hot Rod Collection, and have two of the six to show to you today, the orange ones. When they arrived, the first I dug into was Hot Spot, a bright red orange shimmer. I had high hopes for Hot Rod, but was a bit disappointed. Three uber thick coats later, I still have VNL with it. In the bright light I photographed it under, it's not as noticeable as walking around, but it's there. It's a really pretty color, so I'll probably do some experimenting with a white base under it to fix that, but that means it's a high-maintenance nail polish to apply.

The other orange in the bunch is Crusin (yes, "Crusin"). This one is an orange creme, a bit too deeply colored to be a pastel. It also took three thick coats, but is opaque and even. What I notice about this one is something I rarely encounter. Since I'm so pale, I don't have troubles with colors clashing with my skintone. Usually. Crusin does - it's likely one of, if not the most, unflattering shades of nail polish I've worn.

I'm wearing Crusin now, and plan to Konad over it in red in hopes of making it look less pukey on me.

Of the ones I've tried thus far, I've found that the application is acceptable - the formula's not bad, but it takes at least three thick coats and the brush is long and skinny, thus somewhat floppy. Not the easiest to work with, but not awful since I'm able to get a decent manicure out of them.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

BB Couture Green Goblin & Venom

Good evening, Dear Reader! We hit 3,000,000 on the nose today - thank you!

I have two more BB Couture nail polishes for you that just showed up on their site: Green Goblin and Venom.

I also have to correct myself on comething I told you this morning. Earlier, I told you that BB Couture didn't have phthalates, and I was wrong. On their site it specifies that they don't have dibutyl phthalate (DBP), so I assumed they were phthalate free. I checked the label to verify that after swatching these two for you, and found they do have both phthalic anhydride and phthalic acid.

Why do I care? Well, Wikipedia tells us that "high doses have been shown to change hormone levels and cause birth defects," that exposure to phthalates may be associated with "the obesity epidemic and endocrine disruption and metabolic interference," and they've also been linked to allergies. Geesh! I just want my nails to look nice.

Anyhow, I took one for the team and swatched these. If my nose falls off, I have only myself to blame...

They are pretty! This is two coats of Venom, a very frosty light green.

And here's three coats of Green Goblin, a dark green creme.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

BB Couture Nail Polish

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been up and around early swatching for you ! I got the the BB Couture nail polishes that my friend L8B finally made me crack on, and I have a few of them here for you this morning. I have more colors to show you, but these are the sparkly ones and I was feeling sparkly this morning.

First up is Balboa Beach Bunny . It's an glittery purple nail polish that's opaque in two coats, and my only criticism is that the stringy bits of glitter stayed in the bottle rather than on my nails.

I forgot to take the first picture of this one...

Next up is Frosty Meadow, a green creme with lots of fine gold and green glitter . This one took three coats to be opaque.

Here's my NOTD, Midnight Malibu, a blurple creme nail polish with lots of fine green and gold glitter .

Moon over Manhattan is a blue creme base with very fine silver glitter . This was another three coater.

The last one for today is Sea of Cortez, which is a lighter and brighter blue base color with very fine but more pronounced gold and blue glitter , and it took two coats to be opaque.

On the bottles, it states that it's a "4-in-1 Formula," defined as a base coat, strengthener, color, and top coat. However, since my nails have stopped staining for the first time in 25 years and are now bulletproof , I still used Nubar Nu-Nails under my NOTD - I'm not taking any chances ! Also, since I don't have the patience for nail polish to dry , I also used Nubar Diamont over my NOTD. Since BB Couture makes a seperate base coat, strengthener, and top coat, and the site that sells them ( Overall Beauty) recommends using a b/c and t/c for a mani, I don't know if it's the best idea to use the polish alone . If you've done it with success, let me know - I'm just not willing to jeopardize my stronger and stain-free nails by being the test subject for it .

On the topic of Nu-Nails, I've had some questions about where to get it in the UK , and I got an answer to that this morning . You can find it at Beauty Shed, and it's well worth getting. My new nail shape is a result of it - normally, when my nails are this square, the corners break off right away, but they've been just fine . My typing's even worse than normal now, but my nails are finally a different shape !

That's what I have for you for now, Dear Reader. There are more BB Coutures, as well as the rest of my sparkling*nails haul, to come soon . How does the creepy Burger King apply to that sentence, you might ask yourself? He doesn't. I just had to work him in somewhere. Him, Mr. T , and Freddie Mercury .Obviously, I'm not over this smiley phase yet... Have that that I will be soon - it takes forever to get all these smileys!

Just a reminder, it looks like today or tomorrow will be the that the hit counter on the bottom right hits 3,000,000 . If you're the one who sees it, send me a screen shot and I'll send you a cool trinket to thank you for sticking with me for three million page views and just as many phases !

Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!