We’re still running the Color Club Franken Polish Contest. I decided to extend the entry date until Halloween. The people who entered so far have some amazing custom mixes, but we need more entries! I’m happy to announce that the judges for the contest will be myself, Scrangie, and Dami of Perfect Polish Tips.

We’re also still running the Give Us Zulu Campaign! If you haven’t signed it the petition yet, please do so! If you feel the way I do about Zulu, get the word out!

Since the consensus seems to be that dark chocolaty browns are much loved, here are the two dark browns that were recently released with the new fall colors by Adorée.

Adoree 247, a darkish milk chocolate creme, is the lighter of two dark browns. Excellent application. This is 2 coats.

Adoree 248[1. Please excuse the embarassing stray polish marks on my palm. My laziness knows no bounds.] , my current NOTD, is a dark chocolate brown. 248 is as dark as Misa Passion for Fashion, the difference is that Passion for Fashion is a redder dark brown. For this mani, I used Barielle Camo as the base, 2 coats of color, and 1 coat of Seche Vite. I usually only use Camo for polishes with problematic application but this time I’m using it because I started a nail whitening treatment, Dr. G’s, recommended by Scrangie. It’s working, but now I’m afraid of wearing dark colors and setting my progress back. Camo is supposed to prevent yellowing so I’m using it in conjunction with the whitening treatment. I’ll post about Dr. G’s whitening product soon.

Adoree is available from Esther’s Nail Center in the U.S. and Pro Nail Store in Europe, specifically Sweden.

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Disclosure: 247 and 248 were sent to me for review by Ether’s Nail Center.

Misa Runway Collection was released several seasons ago but its awesomeness goes mostly unappreciated. I love collections that have themes that relate the colors to each other in some way. Runway is composed of chic dusty shades, very reminiscent of haute couture, that look as though they were meant to be together. Despite being an older collection, it’s surprisingly relevant as far as this fall’s newest trends. It’s almost as if Misa had some insight into the future with this one. All these colors have excellent application (except where noted.)

Misa Runway Diva is a dusty rose. Excellent application, this is two coats. Love it.

Misa Fashionista is a dusty purplish mauve. Again, excellent application, this is two coats. *Love it.*

Misa High Waist Hue is a dusty pink. It’s actually a pinker version of OPI Ticke My France-y, which I passionately love. It also has really subtle, practically nonexistent blue shimmer. I only noticed it under my photography lighting. This is 3 coats but the application was good.

Misa Moody Model is a milk chocolate creme. Ah, this is that elusive and rare wearable brown. 2 coats. And again, great application.

Misa Passion 4 Fashion is a dark chocolate creme. Everyone has been wondering how this stacks up against Lippmann Maneater. Lippmann is a much darker ‘almost black’. Passion 4 Fashion is as dark as chocolate can get without looking ‘almost black’. This is 2 coats, also great application.

Misa Hot Couture is a dusty honey mustard creme. I wore this one was a mani earlier this week. I really *really* wanted to love this one because it’s so unique and chic looking in the bottle. Sadly, it didn’t flatter my skin tone at all. Maybe when I get a tan again? I’m sort of a pasty yellow color right now. : P This is 2 coats. My bottle was a little on the thick side so I used 3 drops of thinner and it was fine.

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Disclosure: This collection was sent to me for review by Misa.

I *love* Color Club Fast Woman. Normally, I’d classify this color as a straight up vampy but it’s actually a really deep brilliant red. I suppose the distinction is irrelevant because this color is obviously well within the vampy realm. Colors like this can only be described as disgustingly gorgeous, period. For this mani, I used one coat of Color Club Stuck on You, 3 coats of Fast Woman, 1 coat of Seche Vite. It applied well, no complaints. Fast Woman is from the Color Club In the Fast Lane Collection which also includes another great vampy, Color Club Killer Curves. I plan to swatch the entire collection soon, so stay tuned.

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Disclosure: The Fast Lane collection, which contained Fast Woman, was sent to me for review by Color Club.

I feel silly covering winter collections already when, in Florida, we’re still having 90 degree days. Honestly, the winter collections sort of crept up on me. In actuality, I haven’t even finished covering all the fall collections yet. In any case, here are swatches of the Essie Winter 2008 collection.  It’s a solid collection with several purchase worthy colors, but there’s nothing ultra extraordinary or ground breaking. Most of these colors dried fairly matte, and as always, my swatches don’t include a top coat. No major application issues with this collection but I had to use 3 coats with all of them in order to get full coverage.

Essie It’s Genius is a light tyrian purple with complex green to gold shimmer. Essie calls it a ‘violet quartz shimmer’. This color applies pretty sheer, so I used 3 coats for this swatch. I know I will love this one madly when I get over my purple discrimination phase. This image was taken with flash.

Essie Shift Power is a gold frost. It’s not what I would consider a true gold, to me it looks like there is a slight coppery tinge to it. Like It’s Genius, Shift Power also applied pretty sheer so I used 3 coats for this swatch. The name of this color is a little perplexing to me… is it supposed to evoke car imagery? or elicit the idea of a powerful business woman? I don’t get it. I don’t have Chanel Gold Fiction so I wonder how close these two are to one another? (Paging Scrangie.)

Essie Damsel in a Dress is a deep reddish purple (apparently the name for a reddish purple is currant – you learn something new everyday). Vampy lovers will dig this color. I probably could have gotten away with 2 coats on this one, but I used 3. This image was taken with flash.

Essie Sexy Divide is a dark purple with bright violet shimmer. We’ve had several similar colors released this season, all of which haven’t made any significant impression on me – Sexy Divide is different. It’s less flat than the others, definitely brighter. The shimmer gives this shade depth. My image doesn’t do it justice, it was taken with flash.

Essie Rock Star Skinny is a vampy brownish red with very subtle shimmer. I used 3 coats but I probably could have used two and still achieved the same depth of color. A lot of girls are not a fan of the name, but I don’t find it offensive.

Essie Bold and Beautiful is a gorgeous vampy dark red crème with a jelly-like quality. This, too, was a three coater.

This collection hasn’t hit the e-tailers yet but it’s been spotted in brick & mortars all over the U.S.

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Disclosure: This collection was sent to me for review by Essie.

This isn’t nail polish related but anything BCA related is kosher with me, so check out Casual Lavish for the details on how to enter and win. : )