Priti NYC Polish: Lambstail Cactus

A little while ago I won two bottles of Priti NYC nail polish from Australian online natural and organic beauty store Bare Naturals in my choice of colours! *does a happy dance*

I'd heard of Priti NYC - 5 Free, non-toxic, vegan polish - but this is the first opportunity I've had to try anything from the range.  Lambstail Cactus was my first choice and I was impressed immediately.  The polish was that perfectly smooth consistency so it applied easily and evenly and I had no issues with flooding or thick application.  And shall I talk about the colour? This is a deep taupe with tiny, almost holographic sparkles.  I just wish I could have captured it better in the pictures below.  This is two coats of colour with - you guessed it - top coat.

All pictures taken indoors in artificial light:

Have you tried Priti NYC polish? Do you have any shade recommendations? The other shade I received is a grape cream called Geisha Girl.

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 :)



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?

 

 

OPI: I Snow You Love Me

As soon as I saw I Snow You Love Me around I knew I just had to have it.  This glittery confection from OPI's Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 collection was irresistible - it's quite simply a whole lot of holographic silver, almost sequin-like glitter in a thick, slightly milky polish.  Now that I have it I want to use it to layer over everything quite frankly but I'm starting with a subtle combination here.

 

I used two coats over my Yokohama Twilight base and - as I have been doing a lot of late - I liked it so much I kept it on for an entire week.  I'm getting pretty selfish with my manicures these days I guess.  If I enjoy them I don't want to take them off, especially if complete strangers decide to compliment them and this particular mani got tons of compliments! 

Shade

 

Sun

That's all for now!
 

Layering with China Glaze Snow Globe

Layering is a much more fun way of correcting a manicure boo-boo than just taking all the polish off and starting all over again.  It opens up all the possibilities of enhancing and contrasting with the base polish beneath.  Of course I often layer just because...

 

In my last NOTD post I mentioned the problem with my thick old top coat rumpling the finish of my Natio Teal manicure but I wasn't in the mood to start from scratch - enter Snow Globe, that amazingly icy looking glitter polish, perfect for layering over practically anything.  Yes it really does remind me of a just shaken snow globe too - it's a pretty fairy tale mix of pearly, holographic glitter of varying sizes and shapes.  I applied two coats over my manicure and the dreaded rumples disappeared beneath the pretty layers of "snow".  My photos are just not going to do this one justice but here they are anyway!

Shade

Sun

It doesn't surprise me at all that Snow Globe was part of a holiday collection - so festive!

Until next time.

Dead Set Babes nail polish: Marls

Yet another purple nail polish post from me because I've been loving it lately!

I was gifted this lovely subtle scattered holo polish with the cute name Marls and it happens to be the first ever indie brand nail polish I've ever tried.  I'm so mainstream really but it's never too late to kick the boundaries at least a little. Dead Set Babes is an Australian custom indie brand nail polish available on Etsy (here).  The product is Vegan, 5-free and cruelty free.

I was really pleased with the application and finish of the polish.  It had an easy to work with consistency, good medium sized brush and it dried very quickly without the need for a top coat.  The holo is quite subtle and needs to be fully appreciated in bright light and (naturally) the day I wore this it happened to be grey and overcast so I've had to rely on artificial light to capture the beauty.  I think I've done it justice though - such a beautiful grape with a kaleidoscopic shimmer.
 

Lamplight

 

 



 What do you think?

Missha The Style Crystal Nail Polish: JBR01

I was digging around for something not purple (or red or blue...) to wear on my nails when I found an interesting little gem from Missha worth swatching.  JBR01 - Can I call this something more interesting like, say, Jackie Brown? -  is the name of today's featured polish from Korean brand Missha's The Style Crystal Nail Polish collection.

According to Missha's official website these polishes actually contain "...little crystal pearls [to] make your nails sparkle..." and are rose scented (I can't say that my nostrils noticed that!)  'Jackie Brown' is a milk chocolate shimmer polish, subtly glinting with holographic micro-glitter.  I applied two coats and omitted top coat so as not to diminish the holo effect however it still appeared on the subtle side in most light and unfortunately the sun wasn't around when I did my nails so...  I couldn't capture the full rainbow holo sparkle here.  Oh well *sigh*. 

All pictures taken in cloudy conditions:

That's it for Wednesday

Rimmel Precious Stones: 001 Diamond Dust

UK brand Rimmel has released some new nail polish finishes over the past few months and the tiny Precious Stones collection (comprising only two shades) released for the 2012 holiday season, was always going to catch my eye.  You'd think I'd be jaded by glitters by now, but no, no, no - not yet!  There's always something new and different to try!

According to Rimmel the point of difference with Precious Stones polishes is they're not traditional layering glitter top coats but standalone opaque polishes.  I chose the darkly interesting Diamond Dust to try and applied two generous coats to get good opaque coverage.  Diamond Dust sparkles with holographic silver glitter and micro-glitter in a deep gunmetal grey base.  This polish dries down to a rough matte, kind of mean looking finish but I applied two coats of top coat to smooth it out and bring out the brilliance of the glitter.  It's a matter of preference and mood as to how you wear this one!

Indirect daylight indoors

Sun

That's it for now!

BYS Glam Glitter: Dazzling

Well hello there lovelies!  Yes, a live post from me while I'm on vacation because I just had to squeeze in one more for the year!  I'm struggling with super slow WiFi so I apologize in advance if I don't get around to getting many more posts up or replying to your comments as quickly as usual :p

I wanted to share my latest embellished mani courtesy of BYS' Dazzling from their Glam Glitter range.  Dazzling is a wild combination of giant holo green hex glitter swimming together with loads of smaller silver holo hex glitter and tiny silver holo glitter in a green tinted polish.

Now I've read some negative reviews of this polish:  poor glitter coverage, impossible to get the large glitter pieces out of the bottle and slow dry time issues.  I don't know whether the formula has recently improved or I have the power of positive thinking but in all honesty I was able to overcome all of these issues.  I applied two coats over my blue S-he Stylezone base (from my last post), and was able to fish out the larger hexes with a good swish and twist of the brush.  I basically persisted until I picked one up, even though I admit that sometimes it took more than a few dives into the bottle with the brush.  Dry time issues were overcome with two coats of quick drying top coat, which also served to smooth out the finish.  The final result was a rather pleasing 3D effect - kind of oceanic I think!

All pictures were taken in indirect daylight:

What do you think of this combination?

Until next time.

Vita :)

Ruby Kisses: Red Romance

I hope you've all had a merry Christmas and/or happy holidays!

I'm sharing my Christmas mani with you and it was a simple one too this year - no nail art, no embellishment, just the polish speaking for itself.  I wore metallic raspberry polish Red Romance from a brand I've only just been introduced to, Ruby Kisses.  Ruby Kisses is a budget US brand and in the roundabout way things happen I actually received this all the way from Slovenia via a polish swap!  Red Romance was an obvious pick for Christmas as this raspberry red also has holo bar glitter and a subtle smattering of microglitter mixed in.  The formula was a little on the gloopier side so it was a little difficult to control, so I very carefully applied my two coats of colour.  I would have liked to see some more of the bar glitter shining on my nails too, to give them a more tinsel effect but it was a very subtle take on glitter and suitable to wear in front of the older family members with no questions asked!

Sun

Indoors natural daylight

Before I go, for those of you who haven't seen it on Twitter, here's a picture of our family's Christmas tree and lights decorating the window:

Until next time.

Vita :)

BYS: 3D Glitter Top Coat - Cold As Ice

After the last glitter post, today's features another pretty glitter but something altogether different!

Cold As Ice is another new release from Australian brand BYS as part of their 3D range, but rather than being another chunky confetti-like polish this glitter top coat is a holographic silver micro-glitter polish.  A single coat transforms a plain base colour into something more special with an ethereal holographic glow and sparkle.  I applied one coat of Cold As Ice over a basic black polish (Revlon Black Lingerie) and it turned it into something else indeed - I'm in love with this combo!  I did apply a coat of top coat out of habit but have since found out there's no need - part of the appeal of this top coat is the rough to the touch, 3D finish and it still twinkles like mad!

Outdoors - sun

Outdoors - shade

BYS 3D Glitter Top Coats can be purchased online from the Fashion Addict website here.

That's it for now - I have to go draw the winner of last month's giveaway, work on my empties post, and finish decorating the Christmas tree!

Vita :)

(These products have been provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.)

Coral Colours: Emerald Superstar

I had to squeeze in at least one glitter mani post for the month and this one's a hairy holo glitter!

Australian budget beauty brand Coral Colours have released (without any fanfare) a set of holo bar glitter polishes.  I spotted them in my local chemist so bought one for a bit of crazy layering.  Emerald Superstar is a blue tint polish crammed full of holographic bar glitter which look like tiny holographic needles in the bottle.  I applied a single coat over FOA's After Dinner Mint and it was transformed into a holographically hairy Tiffany blue mani. 

All pictures were photographed in indirect daylight to best capture the holo effect:

I'll finish with a gratuitous bottle shot:

What do you think of this hairy combo?

Until next time.

Vita :)

Layering with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

Have I put up a layering post this week?  No??  Well it's about time for one then!

I bought the Serena Williams Glam Slam duo last year and being an unapologetic purple-holic I bought the Grape...Set...Match/Servin' Up Sparkle duo.  Not sure why I've not worn it yet and here I am cracking out the glitter top coat first!  This glitter polish is a silver 'party in a bottle' combo with its combination of holo hex glitter in a sea of silver microglitter.  I applied a single coat over the magenta China Glaze Fly base.  No top coat here so the effect is rough textured rather than the glassy snow globe look...

Full sun

Indirect sunlight

Thanks for looking!

Vita :)

Japanese NOTD: Tokuya # 90

Hello :)

TGIF is all I can say.  For no explicable reason I'm feeling like it's been a long week.  I won't ramble tonight so let's get onto the polish!

This is the last of my little Tokuya holo glitter polishes and I had mixed feelings about it.  #90 is simply described as a silvery blue with a smattering of holographic glitter.  While I liked the icy silvery colour and the pretty, pretty glitter (of course!) the finish was a little streaky and unfortunately there was significant shrinkage of the polish at the tips.  Yes well, you win some...

Full sun

Shade

What do you think? 

Until next time.

Vita :)