Godiva - Zoya

Hello!

I have another quick Zoya Pixie Dust post today. This time, it's Zoya 'Godiva'…

'Godiva' is a gorgeous nude Pixie Dust. It is pulling ever so slightly too yellow in this photo. It is reasonably close to my skin colour in real life, but the texture and the micro glitter in it stop my hands from looking too mannequin-y.


'Godiva' was a little bit sheer at first but it built up well. I used 3 thick-ish coats for full opacity.


As usual, thanks for popping by :)

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.

Anybody Want A Peanut - Dollish Polish

Hey hey!

Quick post today to show you a mani I wore for a freakishly long time last week. I actually wore it twice in a row because I didn't take photos the first time round, but I liked it so much I redid it (though ever so slightly different) and wore it over again. This is another polish from the reasonably recent 'The Princess Bride' collection from Dollish Polish. Every one of the polishes I bought from that collection has been brilliant by the way (see here and here)!

'Anybody Want A Peanut' has a really pretty nude crelly (crème/jelly) base with brown, copper and gold glitters through it. I love the mix of glitters in this. It's such a nice subtle glitter. It looks yummy and always makes me hungry when I look at it! Does that make sense to anyone else? No? Moving on then...
For the accent finger I did a gradient using OPI 'Tickle My France-y' and 'You Don't Know Jacques' and then stamped over it using Barry M 'Gold Foil' and LeaLaC XL-B stamping plate.


'Anybody Want A Peanut' was easy to work with, though naturally it was a little sheer (expected from a crelly base). In saying that, I only used 3 (thick-ish) coats for full opacity, which is very reasonable in my opinion. Overall this is another big win from Dolly for me.

At the time of writing this, 'Anybody Want A Peanut' is still in stock on Dolly's Big Cartel shop, so hop over there and grab it for $10.

Blushing Nude - Takko Lacquer

OOOOhhhhhh YEA! I have finished work for the year and that means I can give my nails a much needed holiday without banging them up every day.

Today I have another GORGEOUS Takko Lacquer polish to show you. I have quite a big love for nude polishes, add some of that brilliant Takko Lacquer shimmer and this was always going to be love at first sight. This is Takko Lacquer 'Blushing Nude'...

MMMMMMMhhhhmmmmmm. I love this polish. So incredibly sophisticated and that pink shimmer gives it a perfect edge.

Polishes like this are so flattering. I feel like my fingers and nails look so elegant with this on them. The shimmer in 'Blushing Nude' is just like the other Takko Lacquer shimmers (e.g. 'Wanderlust' or 'The Electric Apple: NYC') in that it is not at all shy. The pink flash is visible in all light.



Again, like the other Takko Lacquer polishes 'Blushing Nude' was really opaque, barely needing 2 coats. It also dried really fast and slightly satiny. I found the nude colour of 'Blushing Nude' was very wearable even on my pale skin. Excuse my red cuticles (I had just pushed them back and they did NOT like that!), it is not the tone of the polish making my skin appear like a little piggy!

Takko Lacquer polishes are all vegan, 3-free and not tested on animals. They are available through Sheryl's Etsy store. Keep an eye on her blog for updates.

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.
For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Fast Track - China Glaze

I've got for you all today a beauty that I know has been on pretty much every blog already, but I figure the hype has settled a bit now, so I may as well throw my piece in too. This is China Glaze's 'Fast Track' from The Hunger Games 'Capitol Colors' released just recently.

From the very first moment I saw the previews of this collection on all the blogs, this was by far the colour that I was most excited about (weird I know). I love neutral shades and the gold in this just made my heart skip a beat every time it popped onto my screen! When this beauty arrived at my door, it was even better in real life! I LOVE this polish!!!

'Fast Track' reminds me of those suede couches where if you brush the fabric one way it changes colour. I used to love visiting people with these couches and making all sorts of pretty patterns! The simple things in life ay?! Anyway 'Fast Track' is a gorgeous soft beige colour with that kind of glitter/flake/glass fleck that I love!

In lower indoor ambient light, the polish deepens slightly and somehow the gold becomes more apparent! Now this polish reminds me of cashmere. 'Fast Track' represents District 6 (transportation), but it makes me think of District 8 (textiles) lots! Best thing about this polish... the gold never becomes lost!

I love this type of finish but I just don't know how to describe it! And I also love that 'Fast Track' is jam-packed with these little glass flecks/flakes/glitters.

The formula on this polish was also perfect! I used two coats on my left hand and it was opaque to the naked eye, but I did a third coat on my right hand for photo purposes as the macro settings on my camera love to make polish look like it's less opaque! Overall we have a major winner! I used a-england's 'The Knight' as my base coat and Essie 'Good To Go' on top.

Kiwi's, this polish is available on Candy Girl for $14.95.

Tickle My France-y - OPI

Today I have a gorgeous nude colour to show you. This is one of my absolute favourite polishes! 'Tickle My France-y' was released in 2008 as part of OPI's La Collection de France, although it is a classic colour.

So gorgeous and neutral. 'Tickle My France-y' is a bit of a chameleon of a polish. You can see here it's fairly skin-toned with a mauve leaning. This photo was taken in sunlight and you can see how pure a crème this polish is.

In this indirect light, the more pink skin-tone comes out to play. 'Tickle My France-y' always retains its slightly purple-y brown tone meaning it doesn't ever get too pink.

Here again, you see that oh-so-flattering mauve tone. This is one of those polishes that is so subtle and so simple, it makes your hands look incredibly elegant.


Formula wise... 'Tickle My France-y' is pretty thin but this is far from being a bad thing. The first coat can be a little uneven due to the thin nature of this polish, but on the second and third coats everything evens out perfectly. This is three thin coats with a-england's 'The Knight' base and 'The Shield' top coats.