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.

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.

Wildlife - Nubar

I have the last of the polishes that I borrowed from my mum to show you all tonight and I have to say this is one of my absolute favourites. This is the wonderfully unique Nubar 'Wildlife'. Also as I started writing this I had a moment of thinking "is it called Wildlife or Wildfire?" so I started searching on google (mum took the bottle home) and people seem to use these names interchangeably even within one post. I got so confused because I was so sure it was called Wildlife. So weird, it must just be one of those funny things where you just read what you want to read. Anyway to clear up any confusion this is definitely 'Wildlife'.

Holy duochrome shimmer Batman!! I am so much in love with this polish. At first I thought it was one of those real ugly-pretty colours when I saw it in the bottle, but to be honest on the nail it's so flattering and just plain gorgeous!

Welcome to the red side of 'Wildlife'. It shifts from quite a pink-red through to a gold/orange. This is the unique part. It's so striking to see the pink against the olive green colour of the base.

'Wildlife' shifts right through to a bright gold/green too. Again it is so striking. Did I mention that I'm in love? Man my mama has a polish collection that could make a lot of us green with envy ;)

Formula wise, 'Wildlife' was so easy to apply. I think I used 3 really thin coats just for photos, but 2 is fine for regular wear. Love love love, that's pretty much all I have to say and now I can't wait to borrow this or some other equally fun polishes from my mum next time we head down that way. Thanks Mama Bear!

Deep Space - Candeo Colors

I have for you today a polish that I don't think I have discovered the full potential of just yet... 'Deep Space' by Candeo Colors is a polish that looks absolutely amazing in the bottle but just wasn't quite what I expected. It is gorgeous, but I think it could be even more so. I have one coat over black in these photos.

'Deep Space' has a most wonderful emerald green to blue shift in the shimmer and it's this that I feel can be even more amplified over a slightly different base... Haven't quite thought of what yet but I will have to have a little play.

'Deep Space' has little holo hexes as well as larger ones. The little ones were easy to get enough on the nails, but I didn't mix my bottle really before i used it, so the larger hexes were a bit more few and far between. I didn't mind though.

This polish would be perfect for galaxy nails and speaking of which, I have made a mission (after a little push from the lovely Ally over at Reach For The Polish) to try galaxy nails when life gets a little less hectic :)


So there you have it. Like I said, gorgeous polish, no doubt about it, but I think maybe I'll try it over a navy blue or something. Maybe over something like a-england 'Lady Of Shalott'...

I purchased 'Deep Space' from Candeo Colors for $9, but it can also be purchased from Llarowe for $11.

Edit: I have taken a new photo of 'Deep Space' that much better shows the duochrome shift. This is over black again. (How freaking long were my nails before!!)

MMMMmmmmm I love that bright blue shift that you can see on the index finger. This does look awesome with other colours too by the way. I need to eventually take some pics.

Kaleidoscope Eyes - Takko Lacquer

Hi folks!

I had originally planned to post Enchanted Polish 'Hey Jude', but I changed my mind. Instead I would love to show you a gorgeous polish by Sheryl, from Takko Lacquer. I just want to say first up, that Sheryl is just so lovely and add that to this amazing polish and I'm telling you, we have a winner! I can't wait to buy more of her polishes (in fact there's already some more on the way)! On to the polish... this is 'Kaleidoscope Eyes'...

'Kaleidoscope Eyes' is essentially a blue to purple duochrome polish, but it's so much more than just that. Other than the fact that it's also holographic, I get a grey shift too. In fact when I removed this polish, it looked really grey on the pad. The main colour you can see in most light is this gorgeous teal-y, aqua colour.

You can see here the aqua to grey shift I was talking about. I love this side of this polish. I think it's so ethereal. It's certainly the softer side of 'Kaleidoscope Eyes'.

Next up purple. This is the first of the purples 'Kaleidoscope Eyes' shifts to. A softened lavender colour, again with that veil of grey just shading the sides of my nails. Did I mention that I love this polish?

This is where 'Kaleidoscope Eyes' comes alive. The shift here is more toward a brighter pinky purple, almost fuschia leaning. Still you see that grey, only this time it's looking a little more charcoal.

Last up, you can see the darker blue to purple shift. Love love love love love.



I am on such a multichrome kick at the moment (queue 'Hey Jude' post next). I just stare at my nails constantly when I wear them. Add holo to the mix and I am a goner! 'Kaleidoscope Eyes' was everything I hoped for and more after seeing the first swatches of it by Rie over on Nails & Noms. I used 2 care-free coats for full opacity in these photos. 'Kaleidoscope Eyes' was a little on the thick side, but not in a bad way at all. More in the way that it glides on like butter. My bottle leaked ever so slightly on it's long journey to NZ, but not much (just into the lid), but that just means I'm not sure if it may have thickened up a little.

Takko Lacquer is available on Etsy. The polishes are $15USD. They are slightly pricey, but if they're all like 'Kaleidoscope Eyes', they're worth every penny. International Shipping starts at $8USD, but if it costs Sheryl $2 or more less than that, Sheryl will refund you the difference (as was the case when I ordered this polish). Takko Lacquers are all made using cruelty-free, natural pigments and minerals (the holo isn't Spectraflair) and they are also 3-free.

Lapis Amethyst - Sally Hansen

Earlier in the week when I was wearing 'Unfor-Greta-bly Blue', I had to go to work and I didn't really have time to take that off, so I had to quickly put something on it to tone it all down. I do this quite often, but this time I had to show you guys because it actually looked really pretty. I used Sally Hansen's Nail Prisms 'Lapis Amethyst'.

I know it looks kind of frosty here and believe me, I run from frosty polish as much as the next guy, but I actually really liked this. It is just such a gorgeous duochrome, shimmer top coat that goes from a bright aqua blue through purple to pink. I couldn't seem to capture the bright aqua colour but this is showing the more blue side of it (plus look at those bright purple sides of my nails).

This is the more pinky purple side of 'Lapis Amethyst'. It's really glowy and looked really gorgeous in the sun (these photos are taken in late afternoon sun).


I really liked how the stamped lightning bolts just peeked through from underneath this polish. This is just one quick coat of 'Lapis Amethyst' and I think it was just the right coverage in order to still see the manicure underneath.



And now for something a bit different, when we were on our way home from work last night, a little electrical storm started. I love storms and I especially love going to sleep when it's raining, I find it so calming. We took some videos just on an iphone and then screen captured some of the frames (so please excuse the quality). The pictures that we got actually quite remind me of this mani so I figured I may as well show you them too. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram (@PinpointPolish), you may have already seen them :)

Order Of The Garter - a-england & Fantasy Fire - Max Factor

As I said to you the other day, I got Max Factor 'Fantasy Fire' from Esther from Fab Fingertips. Well it was just sitting on top of my Helmer next to a-england's 'Order Of The Garter', so I just thought I'd try it on top of that first. I think this isn't the best combo to show you 'Fantasy Fire' in all its glory as it wasn't super obvious, but I still loved it...

In full sunlight, 'Fantasy Fire' (on my ring finger and pinky) is very subtle and really just gives 'Order Of The Garter' a little bit of extra red shimmer. Speaking of 'Order Of The Garter', this is one seriously magical polish. I originally didn't get this polish with the rest of The Legend collection and when I did finally get it, I could've slapped myself for taking so long! It has the most gorgeous turquoise-y glass flecks in it that just make it come alive! I love blue polish and I think this may well be at the top of my list of loves!

'Order Of The Garter' is such a beautiful vibrant blue. I think this is a really wearable blue as well. I know that some people tend to shy away from blues, but this polish, though quite bright, is one that will look beautiful on everyone, I think. See how 'Fantasy Fire' just seems to turn 'Order Of The Garter' into a shimmer bomb. Love.

In lower, indirect light, you can see a little better the red veil that 'Fantasy Fire' gives 'Order Of The Garter'. In artificial light, at night, 'Fantasy Fire' really comes out to play and becomes much more obvious. You can really see the duochrome action of it. Trouble is, I couldn't really capture it on my camera.

You can catch a glimpse of the duochrome effect of 'Fantasy Fire' here and other than that, you'll just have to take my word that this combo is absolutely gorgeous! One of those things you have to see in real life.


As far as formula goes... It's not a surprise to anyone that a-england gives me another perfect formula. I used 3 thin coats of 'Order Of The Garter'. Two coats was so close to being enough, but the third coat just gave it a little extra oomph. 'Fantasy Fire' is just one quick thin coat, no problems there.

As usual, a-england polishes are available from their website with free worldwide shipping. Unfortunately, 'Fantasy Fire' is a UK exclusive so unless you live there or know someone who does, it may well prove elusive :(

Striping Tape Mani... Camelot - a-england & Aurora Borealis - Dollish Polish

True to my word, I'm busy trying my hand at different types of nails and todays... Striping tape. I recently bought a whole lifetime worth of striping tape from the Born Pretty Store for $8.99 USD and I gotta say I really enjoyed this mani a lot too!

For this mani, I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen 'White On', I then added the striping tape in the design that you can see, next I added 1 awesome coat of a-england 'Camelot', pulled the tape off and topped everything off with one quick coat of Dollish Polish 'Aurora Borealis'. Please excuse the tip wear you can see here - I'd already worn this for around a day and a half and I didn't wrap the tips with black (knowing me and my butter fingers, I would've got black all around the pretty white lines!)!

Holy duochrome batman!!! 'Aurora Borealis' is so incredibly GORGEOUS!! look at the duochrome action!

You can see the electric tealy blue that shines through in this photo...

Now see the purple! Serious love of this polish right now!

And still the colours keep changing! My index finger shows how pinky 'Aurora Borealis' can appear. I love how my index finger has its own little gradient thing going on in this pic :)



I loved wearing this mani and I really liked the contrast between the black and the white. I won't bore you with details about the formulas because to be honest, they were all great. I just recently purchased Sally Hansen 'White On' because I've never had much luck with my only other white polish (OPI's 'Alpine Snow'), 'White On' is really really thin but it's certainly easy enough to work with. The only thing I had a bit of trouble with, was that the striping tape seemed to leave little marks on the white polish. Not so obvious in real life though as they appear in theses photos. Anyway, overall fairly successful I think :)

Princess Tears - a-england

I am just gonna cut straight to the chase today because I cannot wait another second to show you this beauty! Never mind my line of things to be posted, this had to be shown right away. This is 'Princess Tears' from a-england's 'The Legend' collection.

Each time I put on one of Adina's a-england beauties, I think to myself, it cannot be possible that there is a polish more beautiful, that I could possibly love more (think Bridal Veil)... Well, it turns out there is... 'Princess Tears' is the most jaw-droppingly beautiful polish and, right now, more loved by me than much else I can think of...

Let's start with the holo. It has a gorgeous subtle linear holo effect. I just want to be clear that when I say "subtle linear", I don't mean that it isn't obvious, because it really is in most light.

Add to that a duochrome effect and we have a winner! The duochrome was really hard to capture but it too is really quite obvious in real life. It shifts from a gorgeous pinky-lilac to a steely purple-grey. 

Here you can see a tiny bit of how the duochrome effect plays in full light, with each nail appearing slightly different. At times, the edges of the grey even appears ever so slightly green.

In slightly lower light, a lavender/silver veil is cast over this princess, softening her ever so slightly.

But by far my most favourite part of 'Princess Tears' is this surprisingly bright pink/purple flash that lights up my nails. I didn't expect this to be so vibrant and on top of that, it's not at all shy and jumps out in all lights in real life. The one thing is, that I could not for the life of me capture its true splendour. It's just one of those things that you will have to take my word for, or preferably see for yourself!

Another glimpse at the flashes of pink. It forms stripes of colour down my nails and I keep imagining that this is the streak of the princesses tears.

A quick macro and you can see that 'Princess Tears' is jam-packed with those holo particles that I love so much.

First up, I have to give a word of warning... 'Princess Tears' is super distracting and that's pretty dangerous in the last few lectures before exams. It also doesn't bode well for me focusing on studying for said exams. 

As to the formula... Once again, Adina has made a perfect colour all the more perfect by giving it a foolproof formula. I had read that this was a 3 coater and I was all prepared to do that, but no, 'Princess Tears' surprises me once more with only needing two oh-so-simple coats. I used 'The Knight' base coat and 'The Shield' on top and had zero issues with dragging or any other holo related problems one might imagine.

So the message for today... Actually there's two... If you have this pretty, don't take as long as I did to try it (in my defense, I was waiting for the perfect weather to capture all its glory) and secondly if you don't have this pretty... Get your butt over to a-england's website and order it because it's only £9 and the ever-generous Adina still has free worldwide shipping! Well, what are you waiting for?

Nicole by OPI - Sea How Far You Go

My first nail polish swatches and review had to be something that I love and 'Sea How Far You Go' is definitely that. Nicole by OPI polishes were almost impossible to come by in New Zealand (except for the Justin Bieber collection) and had to be ordered online, but to my absolute delight (not so much to my wallet's delight) they are now available at Life Pharmacy and Smith and Caughey for $19.90. I picked up this beauty yesterday.

'Sea How Far You Go' is a beautiful gold and blue duochrome. Dan has named it "baby Chanel 'Peridot'" and I love that description. This polish has instantly become one of my absolute favourites!

This is 3 coats of colour and in some lights it is still ever so slightly see-through (though you would have to be peering at it with very beady eyes). You can notice the duochrome effect quite well here with the blue and gold shining through.

I love how subtle this polish is, yet when you actually stop to look at it, you see so much more than you'd ever have expected. I just keep looking and looking at it!

You can see here with backlighting that the gold is much more prominent than the blue, though the blue still peeks out from behind the gold, not wanting to be forgotten.

Finally for some close-up action of this beauty! I can't find a single thing not to love about this gorgeous polish.

As for the formula, it was a dream to apply even though the brush was so odd and will take a little getting used to. I should mention the 'New perfect stroke brush' that is in this polish is now in fact the "old perfect stroke brush". Any of the newer Nicole collections (like the 'Kardashian Kolors') have a much smaller and more normal brush. This brush is huge and paddle shaped and holds SOOO much polish that it's ridiculous. I have seen so many bad reviews of this brush and it was not actually anywhere near as bad as I was expecting, just different. For these swatches I used Essie 'Millionails' as my base coat and Essie 'Good To Go' as my top coat.