BB Couture for Men, "Tools" Collection + some CND Effects

Happy Monday everyone!

Did you guys watch the Golden Globes last night?  I wish they had given Ricky Gervais more to do and I was disappointed in some of the winners (I haven't seen Avatar yet, but James Cameron comes off like a bit of a douche every time he speaks at awards shows), but overall it wasn't a terrible show.  Meryl was lovely as usual, some of the ladies looked great (I think Sandra was the best of the night - maybe Marion who is my girl crush, but too many played it safe), Glee won, Chloë won and was appropriately aghast that her Valentino got ripped (can you imagine if Rachel Zoë had been her stylist? she would have flipped her shit), and George was so cutely excited that Julianna Marguiles won.  Okay, onto the polish!

I bought 4 out of the 6 polishes from BB Couture for Men's "Tools" collection.  I didn't get Hammer Drill or Vise, but you can find swatches of them on Vampy Varnish and Body & Soul (here, here, here).  I used 2 coats for all of these pictures and the application was good for all of them.  These were taken indoors on a wintery day with little sunlight, so please forgive the picture quality of some of them.  Here we go!

BB Couture for Men in Stud Finder

Stud Finder is a golden brown with prominent gold shimmer.  It reminds me a bit of a couple of the polishes in China Glaze's "Rodeo Diva" collection (maybe Prize-Winning Mare and Golden Spurs smashed together?), but I have no dupes in my collection.  Kelly and Mary said it was a taupe shade, but I don't see it.  This one looks warm in most lights, but as you can see in the lower picture, it can take on a cooler cast too.

BB Couture for Men in Stud Finder with Essie Matte About You

Here I added a coat of Essie MAY and I think it looks great - I can't decide which way I like better.  Matte, it looks a bit darker, but the shimmer is more defined as well.

BB Couture for Men in Wire Stripper

Wire Stripper is gorgeous and again, unique.  The gold shimmer makes it look kind of like a blackened brown, but it really is a deep blackened plum jelly with tons of gold shimmer.  You can see the plum base around my cuticles where I did some (poor) cleanup.  This isn't a shimmer that hides in low light - it glows.  

BB Couture for Men in Wire Stripper with Essie Matte About You

First let me say sorry for the white bit on my middle finger.  The Essie top coat dries where you brush the excess off at the lip and then when you re-dip your brush in, it can get stuck and apply on the nail.  I usually wipe off my bottle with remover before I use it after it's been stored for a bit to avoid this, but I forgot this time!  Wire Stripper is another one that looks good matte.  The shimmer definitely becomes more subtle, but it's still there.

BB Couture for Men in Pipe Bender

As you can see, the dominance of the blue shimmer in Pipe Bender can vary.  I took a lot of pictures trying to show this and didn't put top coat on, so it got some bubbles.  I tend to get bubbling no matter what in my polish if I don't use Seche Vite, so I wouldn't blame the formula for this.  Pipe Bender is a forest green base with a ton of blue shimmer that brings it almost into the metallic realm of finishes.  At times the blue shimmer takes over the polish, but at other times it's more of a subtle flash.  It's different from all my other greens, but I must say I prefer its more subtle side...

BB Couture for Men in Pipe Bender with Essie Matte About You

...which is why I love it matte!  It's not totally obvious in this pictures, but the blue shimmer still comes through, it's just a ton more subtle.  It's like the green is glowing a halo of blue.  I have no idea why that weird splotch on my middle finger happened, nail polish is weird!

BB Couture for Men in Impact Driver

Impact Driver is another great one!  I was really happy with all four of these.  I love slate blue and I wish there were more of them, but I have only found a handful.  This is a nice deep slate blue creme with iridescent shimmer that flashes pink, purple, and blue.  The shimmer is more subtle on the nail than in the bottle, but it breaks up the creme.  It's the kind of shimmer that you wouldn't notice from a distance, but that you would miss if it weren't in the polish.

BB Couture for Men in Impact Driver with Essie Matte About You

I wasn't a huge fan of this matte because the shimmer just gets lost and I like shimmers and glitters better matte than I do cremes.

Looking at the shimmer in Impact Driver, I thought it looked similar to a couple of the new CND Effects, so I thought I'd try them out to amplify the existing shimmer in the polish.

CND Effects in Raspberry Sparkle over BB Couture for Men in Impact Driver

This was the least successful of the three Effects I tried.  I think the pink was a bit too different from the polish.

CND Effects in Sapphire Sparkle over BB Couture for Men in Impact Driver (top),

CND Effects in Sapphire Sparkle over BB Couture for Men in Impact Driver with Essie Matte About You (bottom)

This was my favorite combo.  You can see that Sapphire Sparkle has a bit of a duochrome effect - it's a teal-ish blue but around the edges it goes more violet.  It looks pretty matte as well.

CND Effects in Raspberry Sparkle (pinky, ring) and Sapphire Sparkle (middle, index) over BB Couture for Men in Impact Driver with Essie Matte About You

Here's a shot from further away with Raspberry Sparkle on the left two fingers and Sapphire Sparkle on the right two fingers, both mattified, to give a better idea of how it looks from a distance.

CND Effects in Sapphire Sparkle & Amethyst Sparkle over BB Couture for Men in Impact Driver,

CND Effects in Sapphire Sparkle & Amethyst Sparkle over BB Couture for Men in Impact Driver with Essie Matte About You

For this last look, I layered Amethyst Sparkle over Sapphire Sparkle.  I think this one is pretty, but it just might be overkill.  Sapphire Sparkle kind of covered Amethyst's bases and kept it more subtle (as subtle as these Sparkles get).  Mattified looks nice too.

I'll have a separate post showing off my CND Effects (I got all of the Sparkles, plus Copper Shimmer), but overall I think they're great.  The concept works, since they're like a sheer topcoat with an effect in them, so you can play around with them and it doesn't really add to your dry time.

This was a great collection, not only were the polishes pretty, but they're unique - and not in that, well if you compare them right next to each other you can see the subtle differences way - the number one thing I love about BB Couture brand!  As I've mentioned before, you can buy these polishes from BB Couture's website or Overall Beauty.  I've used both sites and not had problems, but Kim at Overall Beauty has the absolute best customer service and fastest shipping, plus she offers BB Couture for about $1 cheaper as well.

Hope you enjoyed this collection and I'll see you later this week!