Colours by Llarowe - Pretty Woman Collection, Spring 2015 - Part 2 The Holos

Press Sample

Hi team!

I'm back with part 2 of the recently released collection by Colors by Llarowe for Spring 2015, inspired by the 25th anniversary of Pretty Woman. Make sure you check out part 1 (the shimmers) if you haven't already, This part of the collection is all holographic and I will start by saying that I love every single one of them (hardly surprising based on the fact I love most every holo I'm faced with).

As with the last post, I didn't have any problems with application - all were amazingly self-leveling and really easy to work with. I will just mention how many coats I used each time.

'Well Done! Woo! Woo! Woo!'

'Well Done! Woo! Woo! Woo!' is a gorgeous teal leaning mint green with scattered holo and gold shimmer and flakes. OOOoooooEEEeee it's quite a complex polish that simply can't be captured in a photograph - particularly the warm gold flash of the shimmer. This is one you'll just have to see in real life! I used 2 coats.

'A Lot More Help Sucking Up'

I think this is my favourite of the whole collection, though that was a tough decision. This is the most perfect denim blue, almost periwinkle holo polish. Such a sunny, happy colour. I've worn this multiple times in the short time I've had it. Only 2 coats required.

'Divot Dance'

'Divot Dance' is a deep teal and another favourite for me. To me this polish has an air of mystery – it reminds me of the night sky reflecting off the ocean. It really is beautiful. I used 2 coats.

'What's Your Dream?'

'What's Your Dream?' is a purple holo with deep red undertones. A beautifully rich colour that is quite sophisticated in my opinion. One thing to note with this polish is that I had a little bit of staining on my skin when I removed this, but it  didn't last long and wasn't too obvious. I would just recommend using lots of cotton pads so you're not rubbing the already removed polish on your next finger that you're removing (if that makes any sense). I used 2 coats again.

'Vivian+Edward'

This is another super happy, bright polish. 'Vivian+Edward' is a brilliant hot pink holo. It is so bright, without heading into neon category - it is definitely eye catching and fun to wear. This polish only required 1-2 coats depending on how thick you do them.

'Kit'

The slightly different polish of this post – 'Kit' is holographic AND is packed full of glitter (what's not to love?). The base is a very red-pink jelly that is full of various different glitters, including iridescent blue hexes. It is these blue glitters that make this polish so spectacular as they really pop against the base colour. Because of the slightly more sheer base (so that you can get the full impact of the glitter), this polish required 2-3 coats.

'Babe'

'Babe' is a deep raspberry pinky red. There seems to be red glow about this polish - one of those classic "glow from within" polishes. 'Babe' only required 1-2 coats for full opacity. Another quick note is that this one stained my skin and very slightly stained my nails. Again this staining didn't last too long (on my skin or my nails) and wasn't too obvious in real life.

'Pirates of Penzance'

Another firm favourite for me. A true red holo that is my perfect polish in every way. If I'm not sure what to wear, I wear red and I know this will become a go-to. This is more red than 'Babe' (less pink). 'Pirates of Penzance' is another polish that appears to glow beneath the surface. LOVE. Again, only 1-2 coats needed. And I didn't get any staining from this polish.


Overall, this part of the collection was spectacular. I loved the shimmers (seen in part one), but holos will always have my heart - especially when they are of such high quality. I love the formula of these polishes - super opaque and very forgiving with their unbeatable self-levelling ability. There was not a single polish in this part that I didn't love.


These polishes are all currently available on the Llarowe website and will be until mid June. After that, keep your eyes out because some of these beauties may be headed for the core line. These shimmers are all $10 each and can be shipped worldwide. Also keep an eye on the Colors by Llarowe Facebook, Twitter and Instagram  pages for updates.

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

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Colours by Llarowe - Pretty Woman Collection, Spring 2015 - part 1 The Shimmers

Press Sample

Hello!

I have just got home from a big old uni exam and I was about to start some more work for the next test on Friday. So before that, why not share some gorgeous polishes with you. These polishes are from the very recently released collection by Colors by Llarowe for Spring 2015, inspired by the 25th anniversary of Pretty Woman. I will break this collection up into 2 or 3 posts. First up, the shimmers...

First of all, the formula for all of these was similar in that all of these polishes were really easy to work with so I won't mention this individually.

'Slippery Little Suckers'

'Slippery Little Suckers' is a peachy pink with electric blue shimmer. I really like the softness of this polish, but the blue shimmer really brings it alive. I thought this polish was going to look terrible on me against my pale skin, but actually I quite liked it. 3 coats used.

'Big Mistake. Big. Huge.'

LOVE this polish. A lilac purple/pink base that is jam-packed with warm gold shimmer. The shimmer is so beautiful and prominent in 'Big Mistake. Big. Huge.'. An unexpected favourite. And only 2 coats needed.

'Barney'

'Barney' is a gorgeous pink-leaning purple polish with pink/purple shimmer. The shimmer appears a fairly similar colour to the polish and so it just acts to bring this polish to life a bit – making it catch the light perfectly. 2 coats needed for this one too.

'Blue Banana'

This blurple/indigo polish was such a pain in the butt to photograph. It was so tough to capture the beauty of 'Blue Banana' especially that purple shimmer. The shimmer is not quite as obvious on the nail as some of the other polishes, but it is still very visible. I used 2 coats.

'I Want the Fairytale'

An electric blue/turquoise polish with purple shimmer - another one that I loved, but did not love photographing (I think my camera just doesn't like blues). Well I finally got it close to colour accurate, but again the shimmer just isn't quite what it could be in these pictures. In bright light this polish is really eye-catching. This one is a little sheerer than the other, needing 4 coats, but totally worth the extra coat or 2. One thing to note is that there were a few little bits of unmixed pigment, but with a couple of coats these were really not visible.


Overall, I really liked these polishes, none of them disappointed. As I said, there were no problems application-wise.


These polishes are all currently available on the Llarowe website and will be until mid June. After that, keep your eyes out because some of these beauties may be headed for the core line. These shimmers are all $10 each and can be shipped worldwide. Also keep an eye on the Colors by Llarowe Facebook, Twitter and Instagram  pages for updates.

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

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Takko Lacquer – Dazed and Confused (i.e. I'm back baby!!)

Press Sample

Hi guys!

Good news, my wrist is heading towards being better. It still hurts a bit when I'm taking photos, but not enough to stop me anymore. So I'm back! It's going to take me a while to get back into the swing of things, but I'm looking forward to it. So to kick off again, I have a gorgeous multichrome polish from Takko Lacquer – 'Dazed and Confused'.

'Dazed and Confused' is a perfect multichrome. The colours are so rich, making this polish a definite favourite for me. The scattered holo adds that little extra wow and with the blackened colour at extreme angles this polish can appear like galaxy nails with no nail art skill required :) (see my pinky in the photo above).

The main colour of this polish in normal light is a royal purple with flashes of blue. I found it difficult to capture the rich purple under my lighting setup even though this was how 'Dazed and Confused' appeared more often than not.

The colour changes of this polish are not shy and there are many. It goes from purple and blue through to a rich rusty red, to cranberry and at extreme angles through to bright orange/copper. Need I say more as to why this is a must-have polish?


On to the formula… In true Takko Lacquer style, this polish was simple to apply. Depending on how thick your coats are, I would say 2-3 coats would suffice. This polish wore really well on me too, lasting a good 5 days or so.


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 Fatale and Mei Mei's Signatures.

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

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Takko Lacquer - Dark Paradise

Press Sample

Hi all!!

I hope everyone has had a lovely and safe Christmas and New Year! We are visiting my family in Wellington and it's so nice to be home. I haven't been able to paint my nails much lately as my wrist is still immobilised, but I let it out of my brace to take these pictures. Also please excuse the still slightly broken nails, it is taking me a while to get on top of it all. Anywho… this is the ridiculously gorgeous Llarowe-exclusive polish by Takko Lacquer – 'Dark Paradise'.

'Dark Paradise' has a beautiful deep, but very sheer, inky base and is packed full of multi chromatic flakie glitter. The flakes change from red to gold and blue to green, with all the shades in between. Pictured here is one coat over a-england 'Queen of Scots'. I actually wore this mani for New Years as it reminded me of fireworks.

In lower light, the more copper tones peek through the blackened blue base. In bright light and more extreme angles, this polish really comes alive – bright green and red glow from your nails. 'Dark Paradise' was stupidly difficult to capture (even after 100-odd photos) and so you will just have to take my word that you NEED this polish.


As I mentioned, this polish is jam-packed with flakes and so you can easily control how much you have on the nail. I think it would be relatively easy to build up. I didn't experience any dragging or anything, however one thing I noticed was that even after 2 coats of top coat, my nails were still slightly textured. I think a thicker top coat would be recommended.


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 Fatale and Mei Mei's Signatures.

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

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Takko Lacquer – Physical Graffiti

Press Sample

Hi!

I have nearly grown out all my breaks! Fingers crossed I don't get any more now. Another update, I have busted my wrist, so typing is not super easy right now so I'll just get right on with the pics.

'Physical Graffiti' is a grey polish with irregular silver flakes of glitter. So simple, but the irregular glitter makes this polish really interesting. I love the soft look that the slight jelly finish gives 'Physical graffiti'.


Because 'Physical Graffiti' has a slight jelly finish, it is slightly less opaque – in saying that though, I only needed 3 coats to get full opacity and the glitters are still really visible. I think the formula is spot on in that respect.


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 Fatale and Mei Mei's Signatures.

Takko Lacquer - Cheshire Cat

Press Sample

Hello!!

I am still here, broken nails galore and all! Silly nails are making me pay for not looking after them when I was so busy. Every nail on my right hand that I photograph has now broken in the past couple of weeks and it's starting to drive me crazy! Anywho enough about that, I have another Takko Lacquer for you and this is another BEAUTY – this is 'Cheshire Cat'…

Funny story, I forgot this was a thermal polish and I put it on thinking I was applying a purple polish, looked back at my hand and saw that it was pink and I thought I'd gone crazy :D

I love 'Cheshire Cat' and especially how perfect this polish is suited to its name. 'Cheshire Cat' is really sensitive and so it changes really readily between the colours. The purple colour at the top is how it appears when cold and then in warmer temperatures, it turns pink. I love how much gold shimmer is packed into this polish - so eye catching.


'Cheshire Cat' was really easy to apply and opaque in 2-3 coats depending on how thick you apply your 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 Fatale and Mei Mei's Signatures.

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.

Takko Lacquer - Babycakes

Press Sample

I'm back baby!!!

I have handed in my dissertation and it feels oh so good to be done! So I am now going to try and give this poor little blog some serious loving and get it back up and running. It's going to be baby steps because I'm pretty out of practice photographing my nails etc, so be gentle with me :)

Anywho, what better way to get back into blogging than with one of my absolute favourite brands, Takko Lacquer. This is 'Babycakes' which was released earlier this year.

'Babycakes' is a really pretty antique rose polish with a slightly scattered, but linear, holo effect (Yes, I'm right back to making not much sense!). 'Babycakes' also has this gold shimmer that catches the light and makes this polish that bit more complex (one of the many things I love about all my Takkitos). This is one of those polishes that is really inoffensive and could be worn to any occasion, but the holo and gold flash just amps it up enough to keep it interesting.


'Babycakes' had a really easy formula to work with. I used 2 coats for these photos and that was plenty - no pulling or dragging or any of that silliness at the cuticles. Also, this polish is wearing really well. I have had this on for 4 days so far without the slightest sign of tip wear and I haven't been particularly gentle with my hands this week either.


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 Fatale and Mei Mei's Signatures.

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

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Colors by Llarowe - Come Dance the Hora

Hello!

I'm still alive and I'm about 5 weeks away from my thesis being due so unfortunately I'm going to be all over the place for a little longer. Anywho, I have a quick post of a polish that I adore from Colors by Llarowe - 'Come Dance the Hora'.

'Come Dance the Hora' is a silver linear holo polish with various sizes of royal blue hex glitters. It is GORGEOUS! There's nothing really subtle about this polish, but I think the blue glitters in there just off-set the silver holo perfectly.


This polish is really buildable on its own, but a few coats might be needed. I think I used 3 here and you can see that's enough.


Colors by Llarowe polishes are available from Llarowe (obviously), but it is also available on Harlow & Co. These babies sell out seriously fast though! Luckily Leah Ann does pre-orders reasonably often though. Keep an eye on Llarowe's Twitter andFacebook pages for details on restocks etc.