NOTD - Enchanted Polish 'Disco Barbie' & MoYou stamping

Merry Christmas! Hope everyone had a lovely restful break. I spent mine at home with my family which was lovely. It's so nice being at home, other than the fact that it feels like Winter here! I just have a quick mani to show you today that I wore earlier in December when my MoYou stamping plates arrived and I had to test them ASAP.

I used Enchanted Polish 'Disco Barbie' for the base and then stamped on top of it using Color Club 'Beyond' and MoYou plate 11 from the Artist Collection. I used the area around her hair for both of these images.


First up I need to mention how impressed I am with my MoYou plates. Not only are the full sized images incredibly beautiful, but they are easier than I expected to use - as far as getting the part of the image I wanted onto my nails etc. 'Disco Barbie' was also really great. I barely needed the second coat I used, as it was so opaque.


I am really keen to get some more MoYou plates, especially some full sized images, so please let me know any that you recommend! If you haven't seen them, make sure you have a look at their website - fair warning though, you may want to buy EVERYTHING!

Polished By KPT - Dark Angels & Liquid Gold

Press Sample

Hi!

I have the last 2 Polished By KPT polishes to show you today. I have one foil chrome effect polish and one holographic effect polish. First up 'Liquid Gold'.

'Liquid Gold'

'Liquid Gold' is a gorgeous pale, almost champagne gold colour and it is full of more yellow gold irregular flakes. I tend to stay away from gold polish mostly because I am so pale, but still with yellow undertones so I don't suit a lot of golds (though I only wear gold jewellery… weird…), but this one is light enough that it was really pretty. I like how the flakes give the polish a sort of gilded effect, it's so Christmassy to me.

'Dark Angels'

Now for a real favourite of mine! This is 'Dark Angels' and it is a holographic beauty. When I first opened up my parcel from Katherine, I saw this and knew I'd love it - dark + holographic is always going to equal love for me - but it was once I put it on, I got a pleasant surprise. At certain angles, there is a slate/blue look to this polish, then on extreme angles it shines red! I love that this is so much more than a black holo, basically I love a polish that can surprise me.


Both of these were, as usual, easy to apply. I used 3 coats for both. 'Dark Angels' was a little thicker (not at all in a bad way), so potentially if you use thinner coats than I did, you may need 4 coats. 'Liquid Gold' was also perfectly smooth after one normal coat of top coat.


Polished By KPT polishes are available direct from Katherine's Big Cartel shop if you're in the USA. For those international people, check out this 'where to buy' tab. All polishes are 3-free and not tested on animals.


MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

These products were provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

KBShimmer - Shade Shifter & Rollin' With The Chromies

Press Sample

Hi Hi!

Sorry for the absence. Long story short, I accidentally ate something I'm quite severely intolerant to and as such have spent the last few days in a very sorry state in bed. In fact I'm still in bed while I write this to try and rest up for work tonight.

Anyway, enough about that, today I have the last 2 multichromes that were recently released in the Winter 2013 collection by KBShimmer (see my previous 2 posts here and here). The last 2 that I am showing you are 'Shade Shifter' & 'Rollin' With The Chromies'.

'Shade Shifter'

'Shade Shifter' is gorgeous, it goes mainly between electric blue and purple, but every now and then a cranberry red colour appears in the mix and then at extreme angles a beautiful copper/gold comes out. As with the other 2 non-holo multichromes that I've shown you ('Pigment Of My Imagination' and 'Urban Camo') the shift is very strong and seems to look different every time I look at my nails.

'Rollin' With The Chromies'

This is the holo sister to 'Shade Shifter' aka 'Rollin' With The Chromies'. It has similar shifts to 'Shade Shifter' but the shifts are a little bit subtler and there is added holo goodness. I love this polish - are you surprised? Holo and multichrome… Mmmmmm.


The formula of these was simlar to the previous ones, both were very easy to apply. 'Rollin' With The Chromies' is shown with 3 coats, but you may or may not be able to get away with 2 if you use thicker coats. 'Shade Shifter' on the other hand is fairly sheer. I used 5 coats, but I would have left it at 4 coats if not for the lighting. If you use thicker coats, of course you could use less coats or on the other hand you could use 1 or 2 coats of this over black to get a similar result.

KBShimmer is available from a number of places in the USA, have a look at the Locations page for a shop or event near you. For us international ladies, check out Harlow & Co (free shipping on international orders over $75!).

These products were provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Polished By KPT - Nightcrawler, La Catrina & Hot Like Wasabi

Press Sample

Hello!

I have three more Polished by KPT thermal polishes (that change colour with temperature) to show you today and they are just more of the same - in other words more incredibly beautiful and unique polishes (you can check out my last thermal post here). What's not to love? The three polishes I have to show you today are 'Nightcrawler', 'La Catrina' and 'Hot Like Wasabi'. With all of these polishes, I will show photos going from cold then transitioning through to how they appear when hot.

Nightcrawler

'Nightcrawler' was always going to be a favourite. Right from when I first saw swatches of this polish appear, I absolutely loved it and in real life it did not disappoint, in fact it was even better than I expected. The duochrome is so strong - you can see that gorgeous shift from pink/purple to electric blue. The shift is a bit more obvious in the darker cold colour of this polish. When this is transitioning it is so stunning. I'm going to have to say that this is one of my favourite polishes I own I think, yup you ALL need it!

La Catrina

'La Catrina' is so unique! It goes from a dusty green through to a taupe. The shimmer in this shines gold and pink in different light. It's really interesting and I really like it.

Hot Like Wasabi

'Hot Like Wasabi' was a surprise favourite for me. I love these interesting coloured polishes but I had no idea just how incredibly gorgeous this would be in real life. I just want to keep putting this polish back on every time I change my nails. I got a good few mentions and questions about this polish too. 'Hot Like Wasabi' changes from a chartreuse to a hot colour that is really hard to describe - sort of green leaning grey leaning mustard... Just take my word that this is a breathtakingly beautiful polish and the holo in this just makes it perfect in my holo hoarding life.


As usual, the formula on these was great. 'La Catrina' appears slightly sheer in my photos but was ok in real life. I used 3 coats for all of these photos but as usual, depending on the thickness of your coats, some of these may only require 2 coats. The thermal effect of all of these was really sensitive and so changed readily throughout the day.


I'm sure I don't need to spell it out any clearer, but I am so impressed with Polished by KPT polishes. They are unique and easy to apply and they have all worn well without chipping on me too.


Polished By KPT polishes are available direct from Katherine's Big Cartel shop if you're in the USA. For those international people, check out this 'where to buy' tab. All polishes are 3-free and not tested on animals.

These products were provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Quick Update and Weekend Mani

Hi folks!

I have not been able to post over the weekend because I went to Christchurch for a wedding (which I might just add was absolutely beautiful and we had the best time). I will be back to swatching after my trip away tomorrow hopefully, so there will be some more Polished by KPT, KBShimmer and much more coming up soon :)

Until then, here is a very quick and dirty pic of my very worn and very last minute mani that I did before we went to Christchurch - note - they are VERY worn and very much ready for removal, but I thought I would show you anyway.

On my nails - Dance Legend 'Termo Trio No. 1' on my index and middle fingers, Color Club 'Cosmic Fate' on my pinky and ring fingers and then I did a quick saran wrap glob on my ring finger with Color Club 'Over The Moon' and 'Eternal Beauty'.


Hope you've all had a lovely weekend and I will be posting a proper post soon :)

Femme Fatale - Twilight Meteorite & Wickerman Embers

Press Sample

Hello!

I have a couple more Femme Fatale polishes to show you on this rainy (summer?) day. This time, I have 'Twilight Meteorite' and 'Wickerman Embers'.

'Twilight Meteorite'

'Twilight Metrorite' is so beautiful. The base colour is a rich purpley plum colour and it is packed full of duo chrome coarse shimmer. I have shown it here on its own on my pinky and middle fingers and it is shown over a coat of black on my index and ring fingers. I like it for different reasons both ways. The black allows the duo chrome shift to become more obvious, but you lose that gorgeous base colour.

'Wickerman Embers'

This is a coat of 'Wickerman Embers' over a burgundy polish (the cold version of Polished by KPT 'Naughty & Nice'). This is a gorgeous glitter polish with all sorts of shimmer in there too that catches the light beautifully (also how great are those little star glitters in there?!). The base is a darkish burgundy colour, much like the colour I put it over. As was the case with Femme Fatal 'Coldwraith', this is so full of glitter that a thin coat gives amazing coverage.


Both of these were very easy to use. 'Twilight Meteorite' is slightly sheer and I am showing you 4 thin coats - as usual though, I have used more than needed as 3 coats was sufficient on my left hand. I only used 2 very thin coats over the black. 'Wickerman Embers' is so full of glitter that I only used 1 coat. The best part is that although it is very packed with glitters, I only needed one thick coat of top coat and it was reasonably smooth.

Femme Fatale polishes are available from their website (these are $10 AUD each) and they are also stockists of a whole lot of other polish brands and also makeup, so go check them out. Femme Fatale polishes are also available from some other places - be sure to check out the list of international stockists. Note - Twilight Meteorite is discontinued, so pick it up quick while it is still in stock.

You can keep up to date with Femme Fatale by following them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

These products were provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Polished by KPT - Naughty & Nice, Blood As Thick As Gold, Harvest Moon

Press Sample

Hi Hi!!

I was so lucky to receive a parcel from Katherine, the brains behind Polished by KPT. I am a big fan of Katherine's polishes, in particular her thermal polishes that change colour with temperature. I have 3 thermal polishes to show you today - 2 from the Fall 2013 collection and 1 Holiday 2013 polish.
Note - Polished by KPT are restocking on the 1st of December at noon PST. All 3 of these polishes are included in the restock along with a few others. 'Naughty & Nice' is being sold as part of a collaboration trio that also includes a polish made by Serum No. 5 and one by Lacquer Lust.

'Naughty & Nice'

'Naughty & Nice' transitions from a beautiful berry red/purple when cold, to a pale candy pink when hot. It is packed with irregular gold micro glitter pieces and there is iridescent blue shimmer in there too.

I love how the shimmer appears so different in the hot and cold looks of 'Naughty & Nice'. In the darker cold colour, the blue really pops and the gold shimmer is a bit more showy. In the hot colour though, the shimmer appears to give the pink colour a more delicate and ethereal look. Love it.

'Blood As Thick As Gold'

'Blood As Thick As Gold' changes from a gorgeous deep claret colour when cold to a nude when hot. It is full of gold flakes and also pink shimmer. The nude colour leans very yellow toned on me - in fact it is almost exactly my skin colour - truly nude.

The flakes in 'Blood As Thick As Gold' make it appear so luxurious to me. The look of it reminds me a lot of brocade. So gorgeous.

'Harvest Moon'

On to my favourite of all so far, 'Harvest Moon'. I absolutely love everything about this polish. The cold colour is so beautiful and autumnal, just slightly burnt, but still bright. The hot colour is what really makes this polish for me, a stunning icy nude. The holo is reasonably strong in this polish, but very fine.

This is 'Harvest Moon' transitioning - apparently this is the pattern that my fingers heat up in. These 2 colours are so complimentary. This is a real must-have polish in my opinion.


I am coming to learn that a good formula is the norm with Polished by KPT polishes. These 3 were all easy to work with, if slightly on the thick side (though not in a bad way at all). All were opaque in 2-3 coats depending on how thick I made the coats. These were all very sensitive to temperature change and changed colour fairly readily.


Polished By KPT polishes are available direct from Katherine's Big Cartel shop if you're in the USA. For those international people, check out this 'where to buy' tab. All polishes are 3-free and not tested on animals.

These products were provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Urban Camo & Pretty In Punk - KBShimmer

Press Sample

HI!

I have 2 more KBShimmer multichromes to show you today that were just recently released as part of the Winter 2013 collection (you can see the first 2 here). This time is 'Urban Camo' and 'Pretty In Punk'. These are again the holo and non-holo versions of each other and they are GORGEOUS!

'Urban Camo'

The shift in this polish is SO strong. These pictures show a pretty good summary of the shifts in 'Urban Camo'. Right from a greyed out green through bright green, aqua, blue, right through to bright purple. I love this polish.

Straight on, in regular light, 'Urban Camo' appears mostly green. Sometimes it has quite a silvery cast, but in brighter light it becomes the most vivid jewel green.

'Pretty In Punk' 

'Pretty In Punk' has basically got the same colour shifts as 'Urban Camo', but they tend to be just ever so slightly muted due to the holo. That is in no way a bad thing as the holo really brings this polish alive. As with 'Myth You Lots' the holo is scattered, but linear. It's not shy, but it is also not obnoxiously in your face. Beautiful.

Again, 'Pretty In Punk' mainly appears green. The bottom picture shows that greyed out green I mentioned with 'Urban Camo'. This polish also gets that gorgeous bright green, but this time with the added bonus of holo.

Both of these polishes applied easily. 'Urban Camo' is slightly sheer, but 3 coats gives full opacity (though as usual I have used an extra coat for the purpose of these photos). Depending on how thick you apply your coats, 'Pretty In Punk' could be opaque in 2-3 coats - I used 3 in these photos. One thing I will suggest is to wait a few minutes between coats when applying 'Urban Camo'. If I didn't let it dry enough, I got just a small amount of pulling or dragging, not too bad though.

KBShimmer is available from a number of places in the USA, have a look at the Locations page for a shop or event near you. For us international ladies, check out Harlow & Co (free shipping on international orders over $75!).

These products were provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Winter Hyacinth & Coldwraith - Femme Fatale

Press Sample

Hello!

I have a couple of Femme Fatale polishes to show you today. I'm really excited to try these as I think that Aussie indies are really some of the most exciting. Today I have 'Winter Hyacinth' and 'Coldwraith'.

'Winter Hyacinth'

I really like this polish. It's really pretty and there's something romantic about it (which is difficult to say in a glitter, I think). The shade of blue is really gorgeous and soft. The pink holographic glitters really catch the light and play so well against the blue of the base.

The base is perfectly jelly-like, to add to the soft look of this polish. Due to the jelly nature of the base, it is fairly sheer. This is 3 thinnish coats and though it's not fully opaque, I like this level of opacity (remember also, my camera and lighting makes it look slightly more sheer in these photos than in real life).

'Coldwraith' 

This is 'Coldwraith' and it is another beauty. Femme Fatale suggests putting this over dark blue or black and I did try that and it was gorgeous, but my top coat shrank it horribly so I couldn't take pictures. Looking online, that's how it is mostly swatched, so I decided to try something else. This is one very thin coat of 'Coldwraith' over a-england 'King Arthur' and I really like how this looks together.

The base in 'Coldwraith' is a very dark blue and this photo shows what it looks like with 2 coats over 'King Arthur'. The different blue glitters that are PACKED into this polish all catch the light differently, giving a really gorgeous eye-catching polish against its dark base.

With both of these polishes, the glitter is jam-packed into them. I did actually pop a few drops of thinner into 'Colwraith' and even then I wiped quite a lot of the glitter off the brush. I think that is fantastic, it means you have total control over how dense you want the glitter. 'Winter Hyacinth' was packed full too and that meant that there was absolutely no fishing for the larger glitters - the white hexes and diamonds. Keep in mind that I have minis so that may have helped a tiny bit. Because of the density of the glitter, a thick top coat will be needed. I use a very thin top coat (Essie 'Good To Go') and I needed 2 coats and I still had a bit of texture happening.

Femme Fatale polishes are available from their website (these are $10 AUD each) and they are also stockists of a whole lot of other polish brands and also makeup, so go check them out. Femme Fatale polishes are also available from some other places - be sure to check out the list of international stockists.

You can keep up to date with Femme Fatale by following them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

These products were provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.