Sportsgirl Nail It! polish: Speckled Lilac

After my last rather wordy piece I wanted to lighten it up a bit around here with a pretty little nail polish post!

Now that I'm focusing on Cruelty Free products I've been digging through my nail polish collection on a mission and finding some hidden gems like this one from Australian fashion chain Sportsgirl.  I often go looking through Sportsgirl's bargain baskets for discounted polishes and that's how I ended up buying Speckled Lilac.  This polish melds the prettiest lilac creme with a rainbow mix of glitter which remind me of candy sprinkles, known fondly as "100s & 1000s".  This polish was very easy to apply and looked perfect in two coats.  Sadly, the fact that I found this in the bargain basket means it's discontinued. On the upside, Sportsgirl continue to roll out wonderful affordable Cruelty Free polishes so that will give me an excuse to visit their counter again!

All pictures taken in indirect daylight

And just in case you haven't seen 100s & 1000s...

That's enough eye candy for now!

Cruelty Free: Yes 
Vegan: U/K
Certified Organic: No

Until next time.


(This product was purchased by me.) 

I.Color Focus Nail Polish: VN24

After my last disappointing manicure it was nice to wear something unashamedly pretty...

This I.Color nail polish was a random find in Hong Kong beauty store Bonjour a few years ago and it has not been worn until now.  VN24 is an unfortunately non-descript name for what is a really pretty jelly glitter polish.  I just adored the soft mauve-pink with the shimmery aqua blue glitter floating about and considering this probably cost me next to nothing it applied beautifully - and - lasted a full week too.  I was full of superlative, creative descriptions for this polish the other day but I'm drawing a blank tonight so I will let these pictures hopefully do the talking.  But, can I just simply say that I loved wearing it!

  All pictures taken in indirect daylight:

Sometimes it's good to embrace the pretty...

Do you have any obscure branded nail polish or makeup in your collection that you absolutely love?

Maybelline: Sapphire Stitch

I was running out of inspiration last week when I did a random dive into my nail polish collection and came out with something, well, completely random...

Sapphire Stitch was released as one of the shades in Maybelline's limited edition Brocades collection and as I'd enjoyed the previous few I'd worn from that collection (apart from the chipping!) I had high hopes for this one too.  In the bottle Sapphire Stitch is a dramatic black polish densely packed with silver and purple glitter and had the potential to be amazing...but it was impossible to apply smoothly.  The texture was extremely thick and gluey so it applied in thick globs and required a lot of care to get it to look somewhat decent.  Besides that I was underwhelmed with the finish - normally I'm a bit partial to textured polish but this was begging for a shiny topcoat because it looked dull and murky on its own so I did what was necessary.

All pictures taken indoors under artificial light:

I'll put this one down as one of my failed choices...

Until next time.

OPI: Blush Hour

I came across OPI's Blush Hour at a 50% off sale last month and I scored a bargain with this one!

From the Spotlight on Glitter collection released in 2014 this polish is a dimensional mix of multi-sized hex and round pink and silver glitter in a sheer pink jelly base.  Now the best bit is this is a one-coater when used for layering! I applied it over Australis bethatgirl (featured in my last nail polish post here) and ended up with a dense coverage normally only achieved after 2-3 coats.  All I had to do was add a single layer of topcoat to seal the deal.  And the result?  In my opinion this one is just freaking gorgeous!

Sun

Shade

Until my next glitter fix!



Orly: Red Carpet

I'm still playing catch up around here so that will explain why I'm posting my Christmas Day manicure in the middle of January!
 

I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas beauty and so I'd always planned to go with a red (or gold, or green!) polish.  Red Carpet is one of the Orly polishes I chose at the Salon Melbourne event last year and it's a cherry red jelly with a subtle glitter sparkle. I'll tell you right now these pictures will not do justice to this little gem because it actually sparkles madly in the right light! This is two coats, finished with a single coat of top coat.

 

Sun:

 

 

Shade:

What did you choose for your Christmas mani?



W7: Dawn Raider

Hi everyone! I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season :)

 

Sorry for my unannounced hiatus.  I was feeling quite a bit tired towards the end of my working year and I guess I didn't realize quite how mentally tired I was until I after I finished work on the 17th.  One day dragged out to the next and the next until a few weeks slipped by. Anyway I hope you get what I mean.  Now I'm finally getting ideas swirling away in my head for future posts - and I also have a ton of nail swatches - so let me get back on this blogging bike again starting with this nail post!

 

I wore this deep blue polish from W7 a few weeks ago when the weather was kind of dreary and I wasn't feeling in the mood for bright spring/summer colours.  Dawn Raider is basically fine silver glitter swimming in an inky navy blue jelly base so the glitter itself appears quite blue on the nail. The glitter mix and colour base are very dense so two coats easily did the job for me.  I finished with a single layer of top coat but would recommend two for a smooth glassy veneer - I still had some bumpiness on my nails although obviously not enough to annoy me to apply that second layer!

 

Shade

 

 

Sun

 

Until next time!



Maybelline Brocades: Beaming Blue

I've been noticing a lot of teal and aquatic blue nails around this spring - in my office of all places! - so I jumped onto the bandwagon with a glittery aquatic blue from Maybelline's LE Brocades collection.  The Brocades were released late last year and while no longer on the shelves you can still find them selling on some online pharmacy and retail sites if you're keen.

 

Beaming Blue is a very dense, textured blue/gold micro-glitter polish with a light smattering of larger blue hex glitter.  The effect is almost like shot silk as the colour subtly shifts from blue to gold in the light in a kind of faux gradient.  Two coats was all it took for 100% opaque nails and I left it as is with no topcoat.  That decision turned out to be a mistake because the polish did chip off in ghastly chunks again - topcoat really is recommended for durability when wearing these.  At least it was sparkly perfection for a few days anyway...

 

All pictures taken in indirect daylight

What colour statements do you like to make in spring?

 

BK Nail Polish: Natural 15

I have to laugh at this nail polish from BK being called Natural 15 because it's anything BUT natural in appearance!

 

Just one coat of this insane holographic yellow gold glitter turned a nude cream manicure into disco ball madness!  The downer was most definitely the smell...or should I more accurately say fumes - 100% toxic scariness so I was careful not to get too close with my nose.  I tamed the texture this time with two coats of top coat and there you have it...

 

Shade:

 

 

Full sun

 

That's all for this post folks! Enjoy your weekend :)



Maybelline Brocades: Knitted Gold

Time for a bit o' glitter!

 

When Maybelline brought out their limited edition Brocades collection a few months ago I went a little crazy and bought 4 shades from the range.  Glitter is clearly still a weakness of mine isn't it!  The first shade I'm posting, Knitted Gold, is a flamboyant mix of large rose gold hex glitter pieces floating in a dense sea of yellow gold glitters.  As I'm still loving the textured look I didn't seal this polish with any top coat and that may have been a mistake because...after 3 days the polish started chipping off in chunks, and I mean CHUNKS!

 

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Sun

 

 

Oh well, it did look blingy for a couple of days.

 

Until next time

OPI Gwen Stefani Collection: In True Stefani Fashion

I bought In True Stefani Fashion from OPI's Gwen Stefani collection a few months ago and this wonderful holographic silver glitter polish was my sole choice from the collection - I'm kicking myself and part of me now wants the whole collection. I may be a little naughty (breaking my nail polish no buy) and treat myself to the minis before it's too late - perhaps...

 

In True Stefani Fashion is a dense mix of larger square pieces of holographic glitter with a generous smattering of silver micro-glitter.  A single coat is all it took to cover my charcoal grey base and I'm back in glitter heaven again.

 

All pictures taken in indirect daylight: 

 

 

What were your top picks from the Gwen Stefani collection?

 

 

Sally Hansen: Midnight In NY

Midnight in NY is the second of three Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes I'm posting and the one which looked most interesting. 

Midnight In NY is one of those sneaky, teasing polish colours.  It appears flat black in most situations - and yet when caught in bright light it lightly shimmers with a multidimensional galaxy of tiny sparkles.  Damn those sneaky polishes because I always expect so much more of them!  This time I remembered to skip the base coat so I needed 3 coats of colour to get complete coverage and despite the 7-in-1 claims I still needed to apply top coat the next day to bring up the shine.  On the positive side wear time was easily one week and removal was quick with no messy staining on my nails - I was a little worried about that because of the lack of base coat.  These pictures show the results of 3 coats of colour with no top coat.

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Indirect daylight indoors

 

 

What do you think of the subdued sparkle?

 

 

OPI: Gaining Mole-mentum

You know it's not very often that I get hyper-excited over glitter nail polishes these days.  They're all variations on a theme, right??

 

Not always it seems.  Take Gaining Mole-mentum from OPI's Muppets Most Wanted collection.  I'll be perfectly honest and admit that I still wasn't that excited about Gaining Mole-mentum until I applied that first coat onto that first nail - then I was mesmerized and hooked! Some lovely person said it looked like I'd dipped my nails into a broken mirror and I really couldn't say it better myself.  These jagged silver, yellow gold and rose gold glitter pieces do look like broken mirror shards and they are so reflective that you can actually see the colour of my turquoise tee in them.  Oooh, I have renewed enthusiasm for shiny things!!  This is two coats over a black cream base.

All pictures taken in indirect daylight:

 

 

Until next time!

(This product was provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.)

Rimmel Space Dust: 006 Moon Walking

I was going to ignore Rimmel's Space Dust line of nail polishes but then I saw someone sporting Moon Walking on their nails.  Of course I had to ask what they were wearing and - of course - once I knew what it was, I had to have it! Just to reassure you this was a few months ago before I swore off buying any more polish for a while...

  

Moon Walking is a super duper sparkly, glittery, textured silvery-lilac hued polish.  It's a very dense polish filled with multi-sized glitter which gives nails that crazy rendered look which I still love - the only downside was removal was on the stubborn side due to the larger glitter chunks.  I've forgiven it though because I enjoyed wearing it so much!

Sun

Shade

Thanks for putting up with my glitter obsession again.

Until next time!



Face It Nail Polish: PP409

I've been wearing a lot of cream polishes lately so it's time to mix it up with a bit of glitter!

 

Face It nail polish is from Korean brand The Face Shop. I love venturing in to their Melbourne Central store from time to time for skin care - in particular sheet masks -  and to "incidentally" check out their affordable nail polish as the range is largely made up of bright colours and some pretty glitter mixes.  PP409 is one of two Face It glitters I bought around a year ago and it's a medium-dense mix of round pink glitter with blue and purple micro-glitter in a clear base polish.  I applied two coats over my L'Oreal Flaming Lilac base then sealed it with a thick layer of top coat for a glassy finish.

 

All pictures taken in indirect daylight:

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy this combination :)

 

Until next time.



L'Oreal: 916 Confetti Top Coat

I grabbed this top coat a few weeks ago and because it's something slightly different from my usual glitter top coats I had to put it on immediately - literally the same day I bought it! 

 

L'Oreal Confetti is one of those one size fits all glitter top coats because the monochrome mix of black and white glitter means it can be used over anything. I threw mine over a hot pink base just because that's what I happened to be wearing and it looked great.  I look forward to dressing up many other colours with this little topper...

 

All pictures taken in indirect daylight:

 

 

 

What do you think of Confetti?