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.

a-england - Crown of Thistles

Press Sample

Hello!!

It's a-england time again! I have another polish from the most recent a-england Elizabeth and Mary collection and I think this is my favourite from the collection and possibly one of my favourite a-englands of all. As some of you may know I don't gravitate towards purple polish, but this one is the perfect purple for me. This is a-england 'Crown of Thistles'.

I love how rich this purple is – such a regal colour. 'Crown of Thistles' is a gorgeous scattered holo. The holographic effect is not too subtle and is obvious in most light without taking away from the purple colour of the polish.


Short, sweet post today because my wrist is still a bit unhappy, but I will finish by saying that this polish has the a-england formula that we have all come to know and love. Super opaque (these photos show 2 coats) and wonderfully long wearing on me. All in all, 'Crown of Thistles' is an absolute must-have for everyone.

a-england polishes can be purchased from a lot of places around the world. Unfortunately, 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 - 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.

piCture pOlish - Imperial

Hellooo!

I have a freaking gorgeous polish on here tonight. This is 'Imperial' that was made in collaboration with the wonderful Jeanette from The Swatchaholic. I purchased this a little while ago and have worn it several times, each time trying to capture it accurately. Let's just say this is not an easy polish to photograph, but here we go anyway…

'Imperial' is such a beautiful royal purple colour. Just the right amount of red and blue to make the most perfect, saturated purple. As you may or may not know, I don't tend to wear much purple polish (no idea why, just a random thing), but I cannot get enough of this beauty. The gold shimmer and irregular flakes in it make it even more beautiful and complex. What an amazing job all these girls have done to make such a beauty - definitely an absolute favourite of mine.


'Imperial' is lovely to work with. 2 coats is all that is needed for full opacity. One thing to keep in mind is that this polish dries slightly matte, so top coat is a must (though in my opinion that is always the case!).


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 $10 AUD or you can have a look at their list of distributors. You can also find piCture pOlish on instagram, twitter, facebook, pinterest and YouTube.

Hurt No Living Thing – a-england

Press Sample

Hello hello!

I have a gorgeous new a-england polish to show you today. 'Hurt No Living Thing' is inspired by the poem written by Christina Georgina Rossetti and it is the new addition to a-england's 'Heavenly Quotes' collection.

'Hurt No Living Thing' is a soft grey with slight purple undertones to it. There is also the most beautiful flash of pinky purple - sort of mallow flower or mauve coloured. It's really quite stunning, being vivid but soft at the same time (again with the not making sense - apologies!).So of course the mauve flash is obvious and I thought that was the end of the story - but then I put it on and noticed this little orange flash (which you can see peeking from the bottom of the bottle above) - so off I went to capture it on camera…

So much love! Look at the orangey/bronze shift. It's really gorgeous and I love how it just catches your eye when the light hits your nails at an extreme angle. There are few things that I love more than when something surprises me and exceeds expectation :)


'Hurt No Living Thing' is sheer and is made to be worn as a topper, though it is absolutely buildable and so can also be worn alone. 'Hurt No Living Thing' is so versatile, I tried it over so many of my wonderful a-england polishes and it transformed them all into beautifully unique polishes. My favourites were 'Saint George', 'Dorian Gray', 'Guinevere' and 'Lady of the Lake'. Another combo that I loved was 'Hurt No Living Thing' over 'Bridal Veil' which I have shown you here - this is 1 coat of 'Bridal Veil' topped with 2 coats of 'Hurt No Living Thing'. On my pinky, I also did a little accent nail of 'Hurt No Living Thing' alone (4 coats - though 3 was enough on my non-photographed hand).

a-england polishes can be purchased from a lot of places around the world. Unfortunately, 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.

Polished by KPT - Blossoming & Love In Bloom

Press Sample

Hello!

How are you all? Some lovely polishes arrived at my house a week or so ago and I am very excited to share them, so let's just get started with 2 of the thermal polishes from the recent 'March Into Spring' collection from Polished by KPT - this is 'Blossoming' and 'Love In Bloom'…

Blossoming

First up is 'Blossoming'. Starting from the top is the colour when hot through to cold. This is absolutely gorgeous with the flakes in there that just peek through the gold micro-flake type particles. This is so spring/summer-y to me. It makes me sad that we're heading quickly towards Winter (even though I don't mind Winter at all really). The cold colour especially makes the gold stand out so well.

Check out how packed in those particles are and the way they seem to shift in colour from pink to gold depending on how the light is catching them. 

Love In Bloom

'Love In Bloom' is similar to 'Blossoming' in the style of the small flakey particles and the gorgeous way in which they catch the light, appearing to shift in colour. Again, the photo at the top is the hot colour for this polish with the dark purple appearing in cold.

Both of these polishes have a jelly-like base that is a little sheer, but builds really easily. I wore three coats when I wore both of these and that was plenty for me (though I think for photos, I have used 4 coats of 'Blossoming').These polishes are slightly on the thick side, but not at all in a bad way. It has been very muggy here and these 2 polishes didn't change colour very readily while I was wearing them unfortunately (I had to use iced water to take pictures of the cold colours), I will have to wear them again when the weather is a bit less humid and warm as usually my Polished by KPT thermals change all the time throughout the day.

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. You can also keep an eye out for restocks etc by following on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr or Pinterest.  All polishes are 3-free and not tested on animals.

Make sure you stay tuned for the next couple of polishes from the 'March Into Spring' collection as the one I'm wearing as I type this up is AMAZING!!

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

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Fascination Street - Cirque

Hello!!

How are we all? I am finally getting ready to go back to uni and I'm so excited and nervous about getting started with my project for Honours. I have still been crazy busy, so I have been returning to tried and true polishes that I know are easy to use and will last well. A polish that exactly fits that bill… Cirque 'Fascination Street'.

MMmmmmMmmm. This polish is so gorgeous. I have worn this so many time and I love it every single time. 'Fascination Street' is a rich royal purple with a fairly strong linear holo effect in direct light. The colour of 'Fascination Street' is just so luscious. I have said so many times that I tend not to reach for purples, but this is one of those purples that could change my thinking.


Cirque polishes are available from a number of places online and otherwise - have a look at their list of stockists. Cirque polishes are also, of course, available from their website, so check that out too.

Lincoln Park After Dark - OPI

Hi everyone!

We have had a busy weekend with a quick trip home to Wellington for a very important family occasion. I'm so glad that we could go home to be with our family at this time. Anyway, these are the nails that I wore last week. This is again, one of my first polishes that I got and so it always has had a special little place in my heart - 'Lincoln Park After Dark' by OPI.

Just as last week I said I loved wearing red, there is something about wearing really dark polishes too. It took me a long time to get up enough courage to wear dark polish when I was new to nail polish, but now I absolutely love it. 'Lincoln Park After Dark' appears black in lower lighting, but is in fact a super dark purple colour, which I think just takes the edge off to remove the starkness of a pure black.


I used 2 easy coats of 'Lincoln Park After Dark' for this mani. I also used some 2mm square studs from the Born Pretty Store for my accent nail.


Thanks for popping by, and I promise life will settle down and blogging will become more regular soon!!

Eternal Beauty - Color Club

Hello!

Sorry for a slight lack of posts in the last week, life got a bit crazy. Anyway I have a short and sweet post today of what I am currently wearing on my nails…

This is Color Club 'Eternal Beauty'. In case you didn't realise already, these Color Club Halo Hues are some of my most loved polishes in my whole collection and this one is no exception. It is gorgeous and like all the others has a very strong linear holo effect. What I love best about these polishes is how versatile they are. I use them in so many different nail art things - they stamp so well. On top of 'Eternal Beauty', I used some of my new coloured studs on top that I just purchased from Born Pretty Store.


I used 2 coats for these photos, but the 2nd coat was barely needed. These polishes are really easy to work with and beautifully opaque. They don't pull, they dry fast and they don't dull with top coat.

Devotion - Emily de Molly

Hello

I have a short post today on a beautiful Emily de Molly polish that I purchased late last year. This is my first try of Emily de Molly holos and all I have to say is I wish so much that I'd bought some more of the holos, because this is so gorgeous. This is 'Devotion'.

What did I say? GORGEOUS!! This is the exact sort of purple polish that makes me wonder why I don't wear much purple polish. It is a vibrant, saturated lavender colour. The holo effect is fairly strong and linear and is not at all shy, even in lower light.


Formula - perfect. I used 2 easy coats of 'Devotion' and I didn't need any mucking around (it didn't pull or anything). These photos show 'Devotion' with top coat on top and this didn't appear to dull the holographic effect as far as I could tell.


Emily de Molly can be purchased from a range of places worldwide. Have a look at the 'stockists' page to find the best place for where you are in the world.


I'd love to eventually get some more Emily de Molly holos so let me know which are your favourites :)

Stevie - Zoya

Hi hi!

How are we all? Keeping warm? I was very excited to see that Zoya nail polish can finally be purchased in store in New Zealand (in Kirkaldie & Stains in Wellington), trouble is at $26 a bottle, I lost some of that excitement and will probably purchase it overseas again. Anywho, I bought one because I have been itching to try the Zoya Pixie Dusts for a long time. I resisted the whole texture polish trend for a long time until I tried OPI 'Jinx' and loved it. In swatches, the Zoya's always looked the prettiest to me. So this is a quick snap of the one I bought, Zoya 'Stevie'.

I love this polish! I've mentioned on here that for whatever reason I don't tend to wear purple polish, but this is one of those exceptions where the texture and the gorgeous lilac shade scream to be on my nails. The silver shimmer in it is really lovely too, giving it that look of pixie dust having been scattered in your polish.


So all in all, texture has won my heart once more and unfortunately for my wallet, I NEED MORE! I have been lusting over 'Godiva' for a long time so I think that will be coming home next. What I especially love about this (and 'Jinx' that I tried earlier) is the ease of application. 2 coats was all that was needed for full opacity and my favourite part is that these polishes wear like iron!


So my question to you, lovely people… What are your must-have Pixie Dusts? Or any other textures for that matter?

Dancing With Nureyev - a-england (with MoYou Stamping)

Press Sample

Happy new year lovely people! Hope you all had a fun and safe celebration. We've been so busy while visiting at home. Has been lovely to spend lots of time with family. Anywho, there hasn't been a lot of time for nails and I have been wearing my new a-englands basically the whole time. The new Ballerina Collection is just so beautiful. I have to say that this collection also has an extra special place in my heart because I trained to be a professional dancer. I was so excited when I saw the theme of this collection announced. To start off, I am showing you 'Dancing With Nureyev'.

I knew from the moment I saw these, this one would be my absolute favourite and let's just say I was not wrong. It is just the most beautiful shade of purpley-blue. I'm not sure how to describe the shade of purple (or is it blue?), but just trust me when I tell you that it is perfect and you NEED this polish! The holo is fairly strong and just makes this polish that little bit more amazing.

I did a little stamping on top using a-england 'Camelot' and MoYou plate 06 from the Pro Collection. I quite like how this all turned out and the black seems to play perfectly against the base colour of 'Dancing With Nureyev'.


As for the formula, I'm sure no one is surprised that it was super easy to apply. I used 2 coats, but the second was barely needed. This polish is really nicely opaque and a steady hand may mean that 1 coat is all that is needed.

a-england polishes can be purchased from a lot of places around the world. Unfortunately, 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.

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.

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.