Saturday, April 27, 2013

Sugar Spun Fetish - Cult Nails (with Sinful Colors & China Glaze)

I decided to do some major study avoidance earlier in the week and the best way to do that was to try the sugar spun technique. I had already been wearing (and loving) Cult Nails 'Fetish' and that seemed like it would work as the perfect base. Let's start with 'Fetish'...


Fetish, Cult Nails

Fetish, Cult Nails
I have always loved the look of matte black polish but have never quite mastered using Essie 'Matte About You'. Lucky for me, Maria from Cult Nails created these wax finish polishes. I love that sort of rubbery waxy look of 'Fetish'. So different and pretty edgy if you ask me.



Fetsih, Cult Nails, Sugar Spun Nails mani, Sinful Colors, China Glaze
So here's my attempt at a sugar spun mani... I didn't top coat it because I think the texture of this is a big part of the look of it. Overall it went ok apart from that big old glob on my pinky nail. This was the last nail I did and I was gutted when I did that! Must have been rushing to get it finished. Oh well, I decided just to roll with it. The colours I used were China Glaze 'Splish Splash' and 'Surfin' For Boys' on my index and middle fingers and on my other two fingers I used China Glaze 'I'm With The Lifeguard' and Sinful Colors 'Dream On'.


'Fetish' was so easy to apply. I barely needed the second coat, as it's beautifully opaque. I had been a bit worried about the dry time seeing as you obviously aren't putting a quick dry top coat on top, but I was pleasantly surprised by how fast it dried. For the sugar spun technique I searched a lot of videos on YouTube and if you're wondering how to do it yourself, that's what I'd recommend. There are always lots of good tutorials. I think the main tutorial I used was one by xoxo Alexis Leigh.

Cult Nails polishes are available from the Cult Nails website for $12 USD.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Ocean - piCture pOlish

I am so excited, I am about to start a weekly piCture pOlish review. Each Wednesday I will be showing you one of their lovely polishes that they sent me to review. So let's kick things off ASAP because I'm basically dying to show you this gorgeous brand spanking new polish that has just been released. This is 'Ocean' and it is an addition to their collaboration collection. piCture pOlish collaborated with Kelly from Kelly's Kolors for this polish...



'Ocean' is beyond gorgeous! I saw it in the bottle and was like "whoa" then I put it on my nails and was like "WHOA!". So incredibly sparkly it is not even funny! I cannot stop staring at my nails!



The best part about the sparkles is that holo shard type flake that piCture pOlish uses. I love the irregularity of it. It adds a whole other dimension. Also it looks to me like there is some sort of teal shards/particles going on in there too... Regardless, a gorgeous teal colour flashes through in different lighting situations. In dimmer light this polish can pull quite green/teal. I couldn't for the life of me capture that colour!!



MMMmmm! Do you see what I mean about the irregular holo shards? So pretty. And I love how the scattered holo really brings out the blue colour even more.


'Ocean' is a jelly polish so I did need a few coats, but it was really easy to work with. I had 3 coats on and it was looking absolutely fine, then, once again, when I got the macro lens on this baby, you could see through it a bit too much. In real life, this is what 3 coats looks like, in fact I am still wearing 'Ocean' and I have only 3 coats on my left hand (I do not want to take this pretty polish off!).


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.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Attitude - Picture Polish

I've got another glorious piCture pOlish polish to show you tonight. piCture pOlish collaborated with Kim from Overall Beauty for this polish. This is 'Attitude'...


Attitude, Picture Polish, swatch

Attitude, Picture Polish, swatch
Love love love this polish. I have a weird thing where I love the thought of this sort of royal purple polish and I love them always in the bottle, but I always like them less on my fingers. No idea why. Well this did not happen with 'Attitude', it's the perfect shade of royal purple in my opinion and looks so gorgeous on. Also check out the holo colours on my index finger in this bottom picture!



Attitude, Picture Polish, swatch
This picture was taken in lower light and I've just popped it in to show you the moodier side of 'Attitude'. Did I mention love love LOVE!


On to the formula. It was actually really nice. I used 2 normal to thick coats for most fingers but I used thinner coats without noticing for a couple of fingers. This was fine to my eye but when I put light on my fingers and looked through my camera it was noticeable that the coats were thinner so I popped a third thin coat on those fingers. For normal wear, 2 coats will be absolutely fine :)

piCture pOlish is available from lots of places. You can get them from the piCture pOlish website, though shipping can be a bit pricey, but have a look there anyway because there's a list of places that sell them that might be closer to where you live.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Daydream Surprise - Enchanted Polish & Butler Please - Essie

Holy moly!! 4 tests and 2 assignments down, 1 more due on Friday then a WHOLE week till the next thing's due. WOO. I can't believe how busy I have been. So much so that my nails have been naked more than not and they  are getting long again! I am going to finish this post and file and paint them! I CAN'T WAIT!

Anyway... I threw some polishes on about a week and a bit ago for an engagement party and I loved them. This is Essie 'Butler Please' with Enchanted Polish 'Daydream Surprise' from the 'Love a Lot of Glitter' collection. Thanks Mimi for helping me get my mitts on 'Butler Please'.

Daydream Surprise, Enchanted Polish, Butler Please, Essie, swatch

Daydream Surprise, Enchanted Polish, Butler Please, Essie, swatch
OOOooooooeeeee 'Butler Please' was so hard to capture colour-correct. It is slightly more indigo in real life. On top of 'Butler Please' is Enchanted Polish 'Daydream Surprise'. I love the unexpected mix of glitters in this polish. The red glitters really pop against the whimsical iridescent pieces. All the different types and shapes of glitters all catch the light differently so it's always sparkling. I got so many comments on this combo.

These photos show 2 coats of 'Butler Please' with one coat of 'Daydream Surprise'. I just have to take a minute to say it is lucky 'Butler Please' is so gorgeous because its application pretty much sucks. It has a weird satiny finish that doesn't level out on the nail at all, leaving you with little baldy thin bits and then gloopy thick bits. Its one saving factor is that it only needs 2 coats for full opacity so at least after 2 coats the drama is over. I think the colour makes it worth the trouble for me, but some people might not feel the same? 'Daydream Surprise' was easy peesy, one coat, no dabbing, packed full of glitter.

Enchanted Polish is available from lots of places online. I generally purchase mine from Harlow & Co. but they are also available from Llarowe and Mei Mei's Signatures and of course from Enchanted Polish among other places.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Polish Days - Seven Deadly Sins

It's Polish Days time again! I love Polish Days so much although at the time ,it always seems to stress me out. Basically though, no matter how busy I am, I try and make time to do a little something different for this each month. And for that reason, I really want to thank Hannah (Polly Polish) for setting up this whole fantastic thing.

This month's theme was the seven deadly sins. I have to say this one threw me a little and in my very limited time I had no idea what to do. In the end I just went with a simple water marble using colours inspired by four of the sins...




My sins left to right are...
• Greed - a-england 'Holy Grail'
• Lust - a-england 'Perceval'
• Envy - a-england 'Dragon'
• Pride - a-england 'Avalon'
With each of these main colours I used a-england 'Bridal Veil' and Girly Bits 'Hocus Pocus' on all the fingers.



I started out with the idea that I wanted black, one colour and clear polish as the marble on each finger. I love love love when Sarah from Chalkboard Nails uses her natural nail colour in designs and I wanted to incorporate this somehow. But for the life of me I could not make any clear polish work. I tried so many different top and base coats (quick dry, slow dry, everything). I really didn't want to give up though and in the end The Boy pulled this out and said "Will this work?"... Can we all just take a moment... He is a genius! I am so happy with the effect and I think you can expect different marbling variations using this polish in the future.

Make sure you check out how everybody else interpreted this month's Polish Days theme...

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Vampire's Dessert - Enchanted Polish

I am officially drowning in uni work and being sick still is simply not helping matters. One thing that is helping matters is the polish I am showing you today... If you follow me on Instagram you will already have seen my love for this polish (on more than one occasion). This is Enchanted Polish 'Vampire's Dessert'...



In my best Chandler Bing voice, "could this BE any more perfect?". 'Vampire's Dessert' is a gorgeous blackened chocolate/mahogany colour with linear scattered holo (does that make sense to anyone else? Scattered but linear?). In the light, you see these amazing flashes of rich colour that is sometimes a luscious red/brown (see top photo) and sometimes a more coppery brown. It is named perfectly as the two things I think of with this polish is chocolate and drying blood (not in a weird yuck way).

The formula. Well seeing as how this is a polish that I think all other vampy polishes dream of being... it's formula had to be outstanding right? Yep. Two coats that were super pigmented and applied like... melted chocolate :)

I purchased 'Vampire's Dessert' from Harlow and Co. (don't forget they do free shipping everywhere with purchases over $50 USD!!). Echanted Polish is also available from Llarowe and Mei Mei's Signatures as well as Enchanted Polish Big Cartel shop. I have actually just checked and this polish doesn't seem to be listed anywhere. But keep your eyes out on Facebook etc. Hopefully it will make a comeback and soon!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Stand By Your Manny - Nicole by OPI

Hope you are all having a lovely Easter break. I have to say the long weekend is super needed for study reasons etc. Today I have a polish that my most wonderful polish fairy Mimi (from Makeup Withdrawal) helped me to get. This is Nicole by OPI's 'Stand By Your Manny' from the Modern Family Collection...



Stand By Your Manny, Nicole by OPI, Modern Family collection, swatch

Stand By Your Manny, Nicole by OPI, Modern Family collection, swatch
I AM IN LOVE!! I am at my polish happiest when I have periwinkle polish in (on) my hands. This is no exception. It's so wearable and so pretty. I love that it's seems like a sort of pastel-leaning blue, but it's actually quite bright. So eye-catching. The silver shimmer is gorgeous in it too. It just adds that bit of extra dimension to the polish.


'Stand By Your Manny' was ever so slightly sheer but nothing too difficult to work with. I used 3 coats for full opacity.

Thanks so much Mimi for helping get my mits on this beauty!! You are amazing!