The NARS Pierre Hardy Nail Polish Duos

If I ever procure my dream shoe closet (one so vast that you can’t see how far back it goes, and the walls are lined with shelf upon shelf of heels from floor to ceiling), it’ll have one entire row dedicated to the six new Pierre Hardy for NARS Nail Duos.

A collaboration with famed French footwear and accessories designer Pierre Hardy, the new limited edition summer line, inspired by high heels, pits six pairs of polishes together like shoes.

Note: you do not have to wear heels to strut your stuff in these six $29 duos (but you might want to anyway). Your toes would look just as cute if you wore them in flip-flips.

I’ve never put on a pair of Pierre Hardy shoes, but based on the nail polishes and blushes in his collection with NARS, I want to.

Apparently, homeboy likes pigment! — because NARS pumped a ton of it into these polishes, and with the exception of the light yellow shade, Sharks Left, they deliver pretty good coverage from one or two layers.

To keep the fairly thick formula, which dries to high gloss finish in less than 10 minutes, from getting gooey on my nails, I empty as much as I can first from the brush before applying.

NARS Pierre Hardy Easy Walking Nail Polish Duo: Easy Walking Left (a shimmery golden bronze) and Easy Walking Right (a creamy yellowish tan)

NARS Pierre Hardy Sharplines Nail Polish Duo: Sharplines Left (a creamy peach) and Sharplines Right (a creamy dark brown)

Chanel releases a new nail polish called Taboo Le Vernis ($27), and the universe collectively swoons…

Take heed, beauty lover! You’ve been warned…

Get too close to Chanel’s new $27 Taboo Le Vernis Nail Colour, and you run the risk of losing yourself in its galactic shimmer for all eternity.

Gazing too closely at the shimmery blue and bronze stars in Taboo’s deep, interstellar purple base is like crossing the event horizon of a black hole — the boundary in spacetime through which matter and light can only pass in one direction.

It will suck you in!

At least that’s what I told El Hub when he said, “You paid $27 for a bottle of nail polish!?”

Every few millennia (okay, years), a beauty brand Big Bang occurs. Chanel crafts a nail polish so striking that it warps the very fabric of space and time.

Taboo!

When I saw it for the first time, I knew that if I let it pass me by, I would regret my decision for — who knows how long? Maybe years (I have a friend who still regrets skipping Jade, and whenever I bring it up, she gets fussy).

Why do I like it so much?

Well, because opalescent copper nebulae streak through Taboo’s blackened purple like comet tails, while flecks of cosmic blue glitter wink and twinkle like distant stars, and because I only need to wear a single layer — A SINGLE LAYER, OMG! — for total opacity.

If you’ve ever wished (on a star, perhaps?) for a darker, sparklier, more intense version of Chanel Vendetta, the universe answered. It’s Taboo.

(more…)

QUESTION: What do stylish space cadets wear on their nails?

ANSWER: One of the 12 out-of-this-world nail polishes in the China Glaze Hologlam collection, ba-dum-bum!

Sorry. Bad pun, but with these polishes having names like “Strap on Your Moon Boots,” “Sci-Fly By” and “Don’t Be a Luna-tic,” you knew I had to go there, right? If I hadn’t, the piece of my heart that dreams of attending Star Fleet Academy and exploring strange, new worlds would have stopped…

Always have to pick the low-hanging, intergalactic cheesy joke fruit.

Now, let’s just assume that Star Fleet is lax about their nail polish regulations, and that painting your paws in zero-gravity is easier than it looks.

When you’re ready to rocket with glimmering, holographic nails, check out…

• Get Outta My Space: A powdered violet
• Astro-Hot: A soft baby pink
• Infra-Red: A warm magenta-ish pink
• When Stars Collide: A warm maroon
• Not In This Galaxy: A bright warm coral
• OMG A UFO: A warm mossy green
• Don’t Be A Luna-Tic: A turquoise-aqua
• Sci-Fly By: A light silver blue
• Take A Trek: A cool denim blue
• Strap On Your Moonboots: A midnight sky blue
• Galactic Gray: A warm gunmetal
• Cosmic Dust: A silver metal

So what are holographic nail polishes?

Two coats of China Glaze Hologlam in Infra-Red

A long time ago (2007), in a galaxy far, far away, China Glaze started experimenting with reflective nail colors, or holographic shades (holos), and they were one of the first lines to do so in a big way.

Holos contain fine flecks of micro-glitter, finer than regular glitters, that appear to change colors in the light (from green to yellow to purple, for example).

CG’s first two holographic nail collections, OMG and 2BKEWL, were was so well received that they quickly sold out.

Arresting effects

Two coats of China Glaze Hologlam in Astro-hot

With holos, you get galactic nail effects without the drama of full-fledged glittery nail polishes (plus, I think they’re much easier to remove).

One of my favorite things about holos is how they can look like a regular nail polish one minute, but then take off at warp speed in bright or directional light (like when you walk outside in the sun).

One minute, you’re an inquisitive Vulcan — calm, efficient, restrained. Next minute — BAM! — you’re a rambunctious Romulan ready to play!

But these are subtle, and this kind of subtlety comes at a price…

Two coats of China Glaze Hologlam in Get Outta My Space

Guerlain’s new Le Vernis Nail Lacquers ($23 each), for when you get over your matte nail polish phase

Maybe it’s the glittering wet rooftops I’ve been gazing at from my office window today, or the dream I had last night (Surfing at daybreak in Waikiki. Between sets I’d plunge my hands into the water and check out how shiny my nails were, haha! I’m a nerd.), or perhaps I’m just tired of the whole matte polish trend.

Lately, all I’ve wanted to wear on my tips and toes are super shiny finishes. Shiny, like Kate Spade spring patent-leather shoes gleaming on a pristine shelf, or shirtless Ryan Gosling’s oiled torso and glistening white teeth.

I want a maraschino cherry-like shine so blasted bright that passersby whisper, “Did you see her nails? Is she wearing three layers of Seche Vite? Who has the time?”

“NO MORE MATTE NAILS!” I yell to the universe, arms wide and head tilted back. “I want shine like I’ve never seen before!”

Of course, I suppose I could patiently wait for a shiny top coat to dry, but my schedule’s pretty packed. I have to budget time for episodes of that dumb-@ss celebrity diving show (Splash) and the slow-slow-quick-quick-slow-ing on Dancing With the Stars. (Who knew Lisa Vanderpump could werk like that?)

No, I’d rather have the polish do all the work — have it harness the high-voltage brightness of the sun — and I’d also like it to dry quickly.

Blasting counters with brightness this April

From the left: 463, 143, 121, 165 and168

Ideally, I’d like something like the 10 new $23 Guerlain Le Vernis nail polishes coming to Guerlain counters (and the permanent line) at select Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores next month.

Part of the Gloss d’Enfer Maxi Shine collection

The polishes are part of Guerlain’s Gloss d’Enfer Maxi Shine collection, a family of 20 glosses and 10 polishes with a wet-look finish inspired by classic ’60 pink-up girls.

Mirror-like shine

The biggest draw for me? The glistening finish, which still looks wet after it dries, gleams so brightly that I could probably wave my hands and flag down a plane (I kid you not).

Quick drying

Guerlain doesn’t market these as quick-dry polishes, but they probably could if they wanted to. Each of the shades I’ve tried dries within 10 minutes (two coats).

Granted, that’s not 30-40 seconds, but still. Not bad. Next time I have a nail polish emergency (you know what I’m talking about), I just might grab one of these.

Guerlain Le Vernis in 165 (two coats)

Guerlain Le Vernis in 143 (two coats)

Things that make you go hmm…

Most of my nail no-nos pertain to my toes.

I have freakishly long toes — like “E.T. phone home!” long — so I don’t get too crazy with nail art or french manicures on my feet.

Much more than plain polish, and my toes begin to look like alien fingers/toes…

For the same reason, I don’t grow out my toenails. Open-toed shoes with my long digits, with even longer toenails hanging over the tips of my toes?

No, no thank you. Not a good look for moi.

The moment I start to feel my toenails nudging up against the inside of my running shoes, I immediately stop whatever I’m doing AND CUT THEM.

I don’t really have many nail no-nos for my fingers, which are also freakishly long (came in handy when I played piano), other than keeping my nails short. My fingernails are like the Wild West of Lacquer Land, although I don’t do a lot of nail art, but that’s mostly because of my schedule and Tabs (he keeps me on a pretty short leash).

There was an incident in college where a friend of mine accidentally scratched her cornea with one of her acrylic talons (yikes!). Ever since then, I’ve been afraid of long nails. The longest I’ll wear mine now is just a fraction of an inch beyond my fingertips. Longer than that, and my typing (and iPhone) error rate skyrockets, LOL!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen