Covergirl: Inferno

I changed my hair colour a week ago and now that it's a warmer, strawberry blonde I've been inspired to go with warmer shades all round!

I bought Covergirl's Inferno from a Walgreen's store in Hawaii as I hadn't seen this polish colour available in Australia (my research has since informed this was from the LE Capitol Collection released in 2013) and Covergirl do some of the most amazing flecked polishes.  This polish lived up to the promise in the bottle with a fiery mix of gold flecks peeking through the deep red base and full coverage was easily achieved in 2 coats.  The obligatory top coat provided a glassier shine to seal it off.  Even a gloomy winter's day couldn't hide dull the fiery glow of this one...

I think this shade will be staying in my collection for the long haul because it's so unique.

Until next time!

Revlon Parfumerie: Autumn Spice

I bought this polish for the interesting colour but I ended up falling for the scent!

 

Autumn Spice is from Revlon's still available (phew!) Parfumerie range of scented polishes.  The colour is perfect all in itself - a rich warm red-brown with golden flecks which play in the light so I'm loving it.  Now for the scent:  this one smells just like spice cookies or my old aunt's homemade gingerbread.  I found it literally craving inducing so my own little joke is this particular scented polish should come with a warning cos it's not suitable for those on a diet! Okay enough silly musings and down to the nuts and bolts.  Application was non-problematic and considering I chose to go without top coat because I preferred the slightly textured finish the polish didn't take forever to dry and wore well for most of the week.  Onto the all important pics:

 

Sun:

 

 

Shade:

 

What's your favourite scent from this range?

 

Ulta3: xoxo

Well, it's almost December and that means Christmas is around the corner.  Almost time for something a little festive then? I have just the thing if you're into all things frosty...

Ulta3's xoxo is an ivory glass fleck with a myriad of iridescent sparkles.  It's one of those sheer shades best put to work layering but I was in the mood to wear it over bare nails.  It took 3 coats to get semi-opaque coverage but I wasn't unhappy with the look.  It did take forever to dry though and was prone to dents for a few hours afterward even with the use of a quick-drying topcoat - I was babying it because I didn't want to damage it.  Luckily it was one of those rare lazy days otherwise I would have been in a world of trouble with this one!

Shade

 Sun

What's your pick for festive nails?



OPI: You Only Live Twice

I still have a few unworn shades from OPI's Skyfall collection and I finally had the opportunity to wear this glass-flecked beauty not so long ago.

You Only Live Twice does live up to its name as it has a multi-faceted appeal about it with its flashes of pink glass fleck lifting the magenta base.  I think this is a very pretty but still sophisticated jewel-like shade and will be perfect to wear when the Autumn weather (and wardrobe) finally takes hold.  In terms of application I got great coverage in two coats and added top coat for extra shine. I know I'm a little late to the party with my swatches but better late than never, right?

Sun

Shade

 

 What are your picks from the Skyfall collection?

Until next time.

BYS: Pop Princess

Here is a nail polish I can tell you I absolutely, unreservedly looooooooved wearing!

Pop Princess is another polish from BYS and one of the two shades I recently chose from their Mardi Gras collection (see my vacation haul here).  This collection is all about glass flecked goodness and Pop Princess was a standout for me because of its electric pink brightness.  Pop Princess is a 1980's party girl fuschia pink jelly with blue and pink sparkly flecks.  Because of the jelly finish I needed to apply three coats to get sufficient opacity and prevent any dreaded visible nail lines.  Shades like this are very hard to photograph and capture the complexity of but I've tried my best here. 

Shade

Sun

Indoors

Enjoy your weekend!

Vita :)

NOTD: Wet n Wild - Ferguson Crest Syrah

A quick Friday night mani post for you lovelies!

Ferguson Crest Syrah from Wet n Wild's recent Fergie collection is a polish with different personalities.  In the bottle this glass fleck burgundy polish has a distinctly warm golden duochrome shift: 

However when I wore it the gold was not as visible and the polish looked a lot more sombre and understated and rather more of a plum than a burgundy.  Was I disappointed?  Perhaps a little because the duochrome did not translate to the nail, but on the other hand the colour that resulted was beautiful in its own right.  Two coats of polish created a deep, classy plum nail with a subtle burgundy fleck which comes to life in strong light.  This polish was durable too and stayed chip free for the working week.  To sum up - this polish is unexpectedly understated but still a stunner. 

All pictures taken in (unfortunately) cloudy conditions:

What do you think?

That's it for tonight.

Vita :)

Orly: Chocolate Martini

I was able to get a few more Orly minis a little while ago and here's the first one I've chosen to share with you.

Chocolate Martini is not actually chocolatey in colour as the name suggests but is more of a coppery bronze highlighted with golden flecks.  And it is utterly beautiful especially as it sparkles in the light.  I wore Chocolate Martini to work last week and, among other things, I loved the surprising versatility of it as it worked well with orange, nude and red lipsticks - not that I go around holding my hands up to my lips all the time!  I applied this in two smooth coats and had no difficulty with the little brush.  It's pretty durable too and I got through the week with only minor tip wear.

I believe this polish is only available in the mini range which doesn't bother me as a polish whore but means a backup would be required if you really love it...

Sun

Shade

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Vita :)

Avon: Sequinned Turquoise

Hello again,

I'm under the weather today - I managed to catch the dreaded cold that's been lurking around the house the past week.  I won't bore you with the symptoms and the general misery, rather than that I'm going to share the fun mani that graced my fingertips for a special occasion...

I wanted to wear something a little special for the Melbourne blogger meet and greet lunch yesterday so I glammed up with one of my new Avon polishes.  I applied a single coat of Avon's Sequinned Turquoise to add a bit of extra sparkle to L'Oreal's Magic Croisette and it zhushed up my mani just nicely thank you very much!  Sequinned Turquoise is a stunning mix of silver flecks in a dark turquoise base.  It can be worn alone but I think it stars as a layering polish.  Here are lots of pictures...

Outdoors cloudy conditions.  Even clouds can't obscure the beauty...

Sunlight

Lamplight

That's all for now.

Vita :)

Max Factor Max Effect mini nail polish: Bronze

This post is brought to you from the comfort of my snuggly-buggly bed!  It's cold, wet and miserable tonight so I've taken myself upstairs to write this in the warmest location of my house...

I remember when these tiny 4.5ml/5g polish bottles from Max Factor were first released in Australia they were selling at the ridiculous price of around $10AUD.  Obviously someone's seen sense since then and they now sell at a more reasonable $5.95 making them much more appealing.  Right - that little observation's out of the way!

The polish I chose to try first is called Bronze - I think!?  I can't find a label anywhere on the bottle so I had to do a little 'net research to match the name to the polish and I'm about as sure as I can be without being the full 100%.  This is a really nice and quite wearable golden glass flecked coppery bronze.  It was a little sheer on application and I've got some VNL happening after two coats but I'm still reasonably happy with the finish.  It really comes into its own under bright light so I've included some lamplit pix in the absence of any sun around here at the moment...

Outdoors natural daylight

Lamplight

 

Have you tried Max Factor's Max Effect mini's?

That's it for tonight.

Vita :)

China Glaze: Midnight Mission

Now for some car coloured nail polish...

...Well that's what my husband says!  As soon as he saw my mani he declared it to be the same colour as the dusty old blue '65 VW Beetle parked in our garage.  No, I didn't go and compare but I took it to be a slightly unusual compliment on the colour.  Midnight Mission is from China Glaze's Vintage Vixen collection released in 2010 and is a unique deep blue shade in my stash.  MM is a navy (almost black) blue with loads of silver fleck sparkle.  It's a perfect autumn/fall shade and is understated edgy attitude in a bottle, and on the nails.  I just loved wearing this as a dramatic change from all the lighter, brighter colours I've been sporting lately.

Sun

Shade

I'm back at work tomorrow after enjoying a mini Easter break with the family.  I hope you all had a great Easter too!

Vita :)

Festive fingertips: OPI - Don't Toy With Me!

Because we're heading towards the holiday season I'm dragging out my beloved old limited edition holiday polishes!

The first holiday polish I'm posting is one of my absolute favourite reds of all time(!) and is from OPI's 2008 Holiday in Toyland collection.  Don't Toy With Me is an amazing glass-flecked deep ruby red.  It's like wearing crushed rubies on my fingertips as the sparkle is crazy in bright light.  The depth and complexity of this polish is fabulous.  Gorgeous for a party manicure!

It's so stunning and I don't think my pictures don't do it justice...

Full sun

Lamplight

Outdoors shade

That's all for now.

Vita :)

OPI: Rising Star

Happy Friday!

Here's the last of my vacation manis.  I packed a few mini OPI bottles for my trip - Rising Star was the only one I got around to wearing.  Rising Star is from OPI's glitterific 2010 Burlesque Collection and is a metallic coppery gold.  This glamorous shade sparkles in the sun with its smattering of glass-fleck and is bling for the fingers (and my toes)!

Full sun

Shade

Just for fun, here I am doing my best hand model pose on the Empress of Uruguay, the world's largest amethyst geode.  This was at The Crystal Caves in Atherton, Far North Queensland:

For reference here's the full geode which is over three metres/eleven feet tall!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Vita :)