a-england – Fotheringhay Castle

Press Sample

Hello!

I'm carrying on with another a-england polish from the Elizabeth & Mary collection, even though 'Queen of Scots' is a hard act to follow. This polish, 'Fotheringhay Castle', has also been worn a LOT! Here's why...

Every time I have worn 'Fotheringhay Castle', I've had so many people ask what it is and where they can get it? Their response is always that it's an unexpected colour, but that they love it. I'm not surprised that I love it – a gold-leaning olive green with a blackened edge AND subtle scattered holo.


I feel like a bit of a broken record when I talk about a-england and their formula, but as usual this was super easy to work with. I used 2 coats, but 1 was basically enough. I did thin this polish out slightly at some point, but it's my personal preference to apply 2 thinner coats than 1 slightly thicker one.

a-england polishes can be purchased from a lot of places around the world. You can only order direct from them if you are in the UK, but be sure to check out their list of worldwide distributors to find a place close to where you live. You can also follow a-england on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the latest news from them.

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Takko Lacquer - Curiouser & Curiouser

Hello hello!

I have another reasonably recent Takkito to show you today. This gorgeous green Takko Lacquer polish is called 'Curiouser & Curiouser'.

This polish is so striking! 'Curiouser & Curiouser' is a mint green polish with the most beautiful green shimmer. The shimmer particles are tiny irregular shaped pieces that really catch the light.

I was staring at my pretty nails, as you do sometimes, and I noticed that the shimmer is not just plain green. It shifts to pink! It's reasonably easy to see on the nail, but it was almost impossible to capture in a photograph. After I don't how many photos, I managed to barely capture it - if you look at the middle 2 fingers in these photos. MMMMmmmmm this is a pretty polish.


'Curiouser & Curiouser' was easy to apply. It starts ever so slightly sheer but 2-3 coats gives full opacity depending how thickly you apply your coats. This polish is reasonably thick so I'd recommend 3 thinner coats.


Make sure you check out Sheryl's blog to find out about the inspiration behind her polishes, along with other updates. Also keep an eye on Takko Lacquer's twitter and instagram for info about restocks etc. Takko Lacquers are sold from their own shop, but only with US shipping. For us international ladies, Takko lacquers are stocked at Llarowe, Femme Fataleand Mei Mei's Signatures.

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

piCture pOlish Blog/Insta Fest 2014!!

Press Sample

I'm so excited to be part of piCture pOlish Blog/Insta Fest 2014! This year Blog/Insta Fest is made up of 2 parts so let's get started with part 1…

First up I have a gorgeous shade to show you that was made in collaboration with Sassy Shelly called 'Badass'. We all know how much I adore holos and so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I really like this polish. 'Badass' is a beautiful scattered holo with a black base - I love how black the base is without hiding the holo effect too much at all. To make matters better, the formula is great too. As is the usual story with piCture pOlish polishes, this had great opacity with 2 coats being perfect.

The next part of Blog/Insta Fest is to celebrate not only some more wonderful piCture pOlish shades, but also Nail Vinyls that have just started being stocked there.

This is the look I came up with using piCture pOlish 'Hot Lips' and 'Honeydew' along with the chevron design from Nail Vinyls. I have a quick step by step of how I made this look.

Starting with a white base, I placed the nail vinyls where I wanted them with one small area and one large area on each nail. I painted 'Honeydew' just in the small section and immediately peeled up the vinyls. Next, I top coated to speed up the drying time of everything.

Next up I placed the vinyls right on top of the green and painted 'Hot Lips' on the large area of my nails and peeled up the vinyls immediately again. I actually repeated that step again to make the pink a bit more opaque. Again, wait for everything to dry completely and place some vinyls on top of the pink right against the green. Place another vinyl to leave a really thin gap and then another after a slightly larger gap (see the bottom pic there). Paint these bits white and then once dry place vinyls either side of the larger white stripe and paint with 'Honeydew'.

Et voilà. Top coat to seal everything in and you're done. I really love how this turned out - these colours go so perfectly together and they take me right back to the fashion of my childhood (does anyone else remember slouch socks and hair scrunchies?). It does require a little patience while each layer dries but it's totally worth it in my opinion.

A couple of tips for working with the vinyls - from my experience it is absolutely best to peel them off while the polish is still wet, also I found that if I stuck them down too hard they would leave a slight gluey residue (they are plenty sticky so you don't need to press them hard). Overall, these vinyls are a nail art must have! They make nail art so easy and you can make some really striking nails with relatively little effort.

Now to the important details - where can you get your hands on all these things? piCture pOlish is available from a lot of places all around the world and of course from them direct from Australia. Pop over to their network page to find where is closest to you. piCture pOlish always has really great deals which you can see on their Every Day Deal page too.

Nail Vinyls are available from them direct with international shipping and of course from piCture pOlish too. piCture pOlish will be selling a special exclusive pack that includes Chevrons, Mini Chevrons, Straight and Right Angles which you'll be seeing used inBlog/Insta Fest this year :)

Make sure you follow Nail Vinyls and piCture pOlish to keep up with all their latest news and info.

piCture pOlish - Facebook and Instagram

Nail Vinyls - Facebook and Instagram

An InLinkz Link-up

VT100 - Pretty Serious Cosmetics

Hi!

Long time no blog and for that I apologise! Life and uni got pretty crazy including a big exam. Time is flying by at a scary speed these days. Anyway I have a quick post tonight featuring a polish that I won in a giveaway hosted by a lovely fellow blogger buddy. Lani, from Lani Loves, is certainly responsible for many of my desperate lipstick needs (as well as nail polish and every other makeup item she blogs about). Make sure you pop over and check out Lani's blog. 'VT100' is my first Pretty Serious Cosmetics polish and it just happens to be one I've wanted since the first time I saw it a fair while ago now.

'VT100' is everything I wanted it to be and more. I love the shade of green, it is a bit different to other greens in my collection. The shimmery micro glitter is really what makes this polish stand out in my opinion - so eye-catching.


'VT100' is really easy to apply and 2 coats was plenty for full opacity.


Head over to Pretty Serious Cosmetics and have a look at all the other gorgeous products they make (including makeup). There is lots of polish on sale at the moment (including 'VT100') and the best part is that they ship internationally.


Last, but most certainly not least, thanks so much Lani buddy!

Nomad - Illamasqua

Hi all!

Hope you are all doing well. I'm so close to being able to have some evenings off and I can't wait! Just need to get through these next 2 weeks with my exams and then a tiny bit of freedom. Yahoo! Anywho, I have a couple of photos of a polish I wore recently. This is 'Nomad' by Illamasqua…

This is such a gorgeous polish that I've had for a while now but never photographed. The other day I just felt like wearing a nice crème polish and this one fit the bill. I used cling film with Illamasqua 'Rampage' and Barry M 'Gold Foil' for my accent finger.


'Nomad' has a really easy formula to work with. I only needed 2 coats for full opacity. I absolutely love how vibrant this shade of green is, it was exactly what I felt like.


Thanks for popping by!

Zoya - Chita

Hi hi!

I have a super dooper fast post today as I'm currently in bed sick. I would just like to show you what I am wearing at this moment. I am back to wearing Zoya Pixie Dusts because I simply can't get enough of them. This is Zoya 'Chita'.

I love 'Chita' for many more reasons than I can even list. Basically, you all need this polish. 'Chita' is a beautiful forrest green with silver micro glitter in it. So, so much love for this polish.


'Chita' is super easy to apply and is beautifully opaque. I barely needed more than one coat, but I added a 2nd coat for the texture as much as anything. This polish was a little thick, but completely workable. Pure gorgeousness in a bottle :)


Thanks for popping by! And thanks Mimi for helping me get my hands on these babies <3

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.

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.

Bo Peep - Emily de Molly

Hello!

I have a little post today to show you what I am currently wearing. This is Emily de Molly 'Bo Peep'.

I love this polish. It's different to anything I own. The minty green is really wearable too, it doesn't give me little pink piggy hands like some can do. 'Bo Peep' has an interesting mix of glitters in it. I love the yellow circle glitters especially.


'Bo Peep' was really easy to work with and the glitters are packed in so you get a really good amount coming onto the nail. I used 3 coats in these photos, but on my left hand 2 coats actually gave good opacity, so that's how I wore it there.


Emilly de Molly polishes are available from a number of places. I purchased mine from Femme Fatale, but check out Emily de Molly stockists here.

The Halloween Mani that Isn't...

Hi!

I have a mani on today that was originally going to be very different and was set to be my first Halloween mani of the year. I always try what I'm going to do on my left hand first, but when I stamped over the polishes I used on my left hand it didn't show very well, so I decided to use the same colours with paler polishes... Long story short, it is no longer even remotely Halloween-ish other than the fact that the Dollish Polish glitter is part of a Halloween collection :D

So as you can see, not overly Halloween-inspeired in the end, but oh well. Once I saw how the gradient on my middle finger looked, I knew I had to use a chevron stamp inspired by my biggest nail crush of all time, Lauren of Tales About Nails!

Polishes used... The base for the glitter is Lime Crime 'Peaches <3 Cream' and the glitter is Dollish Polish 'What's This? What's This?' from last year's 'This is Halloween' collection (which has been rereleased in limited quantities this year). On my middle and index fingers is a gradient and water marble using Lime Crime 'Peaches <3 Cream', 'Pastelchio' and 'Lavendairy'. These are both stamped using Color Club 'Beyond' with Bundle Monster plates BM-408 (index) and BM-423 (middle).

As mentioned, Dolly has brought back last year's Halloween collection by popular demand. At the time of writing this post, these are still in stock, so hop over to her shop ASAP and grab them because they are awesome!!

As You Wish - Dollish Polish & a Bit of a Skittlette

Hey hey,

How are you all? Yesterday I received the polishes I ordered from the new Dollish Polish collection based on The Princess Bride. I had to get some of them because of the inspiration alone. What a classic movie. In fact, I watched it again last night. Naturally, the first polish I had to try was 'As You Wish', but as soon as I saw them, I knew that it would need to be paired up with 'Hello, My Name Is Inigo Montoya' (does everyone else say the end of that quote every time they see the name of that polish?). I did a bit of a skittlette with 'As You Wish'. If you don't know what a skittlette mani is, make sure you hop over to ChitChatNails. The wonderful Marta, one of my favourite bloggers, coined the term and her skittlettes are always so beautiful.

This is my first skittlette attempt and I'm digging how it turned out, albeit slightly Australian feeling. I love, love, love the look of 'Hello My Name Is Inigo Montoya' over top of 'As You Wish'. It's just one coat and it gives such a beautiful olive colour. For the stamp, I used a-england 'Saint George' and the LeaLaC XL-B plate. On my index and pinky fingers I have a couple of glequins from Born Pretty Store.

I love 'As You Wish'. Surprised? Nope, not a bit. It's a gorgeous olive leaning gold holo. I find it difficult to wear gold often, but 'As You Wish' is a really soft gold and very wearable. The olive undertones also help with the wearability in my opinion.


'As You Wish' is a little bit sheer, but over all really easy to work with. Shown is 3 coats and in the photos you can see a wee bit of VNL, but it's perfectly fine in real life for me. I didn't use any special base coat for this polish either, just my usual Duri 'Rejuvacote' and Cult Nails 'Get It On' combination (these are my absolute holy grail strengthener and base coat by the way). The photos of 'As You Wish' alone are without top coat.


'As You Wish' and 'Hello, My Name Is Inigo Montoya' are available from Dollish Polish (at least they are available at this very moment). The LeaLaC XL-B plate is available from Llarowe and 'Saint George' is available from a bunch of places (check out the 'Where To Buy' tab on the a-england website).

Kryptonite - piCture pOlish

HI!

I am so sorry for my lack of posts! I have one word... University! Gah... Anyway, I have the next in the series of piCture pOlish polishes to show you and this one is a outrageously beautiful! This is another collaboration shade and the collaboration this time was with Cathy of the wonderful blog, More Nail Polish.

MMmmmmm look at this mysterious beauty! 'Kryptonite' makes me think of a gorgeous wintry pine forest. So deep and rich and just plain delicious!

In some lights, 'Kryptonite' becomes brighter looking. I love how it's a super yellow based green but it doesn't make my fingers look weird and pink or otherwise strange coloured. I have to say, 'Kryptonite' is one of those polishes where you have got to see it in real life to understand the magic of it.

Just in case you've missed all my other piCture pOlish posts... here is another close up of the holo flakies that really makes these polishes. 'Kryptonite' is packed with these little particles and even though this polish is so deep and moody, the holo particles are really prominent.

'Kryptonite' is a bit more opaque than some of the others I've tried and 2 coats is definitely enough. These photos show 3 coats, but the last coat was almost entirely unnecessary. As usual, really really easy to apply.

piCture pOlish is available from a whole bunch of places. Make sure you check out the piCture pOlish website, you can order this polish direct from them for $12 AUD or you can have a look at their list of distributors.

This product was 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!