Max Factor's Fantasy Fire

I'm sure we're all aware of the existence of Max Factor's Fantasy Fire. When I first saw it in real life, I fell in love with its rainbow coloured shimmer and jelly appearance. It was perfect in the bottle and I wanted the effect on my nails. 

I actually purchased this bottle a little while ago for 72 cents at Big W but had waited a loooong time as I couldn't really justify spending $5.95 for such a little bottle. 

Aren't those colours pretty? 

I've tried a few ways to use Fantasy Fire to maximise the amount of colours seen and so far, layering over Max Factor's Purple Haze has worked best. This polish has a very similar to the jelly in Fantasy Fire so there's no streaks or bald patches. I used two coats of Purple Haze and two coats of Fantasy Fire in the swatch below.

I have to admit, the polish in the bottle is amazing but it didn't blow my mind once it was on the nail. You could say I was... disappointed. Only one colour shimmer can be seen from a particular angle and to see the others, you need to move your hands around so the light hits the nail differently. Too much effort in my opinion. 

In one last effort to fall in love with it, I applied my trustworthy Rimmel Matte top coat.

Much better...

I'm sure that if my nails were cubical, all the colours of Fantasy Fire would show like they do in the bottle. Until then, I'll just have to  live with the matted version and hold that little bottle up to the the light to admire its greatness.

Do you guys own Fantasy Fire or any of the many similar polishes out there? Are you in love? How do you wear it?

Til next time, 

Laura

Australis Milky Way: It's Almost A Trap-Eze dupe

It's been a while but instead of making excuses, I'm getting straight onto the post.

Indie polishes have always caught my attention but I was always demotivated by their high prices, inaccesibility (eg. not being able to be posted to Aus) or the long postage times. I would rather turn up to a shop and get the polish then and there or get it from a seller on eBay that I know will arrive in my postbox in 5-7 days.

When China Glaze came out with their Cirque De Soleil collection and introduce the indie look to the masses, I was pretty happy to know that I would be able to go for the look without the wait or price tag. Unfortunately for me, my trustworthy eBay seller has had It's A Trap-Eze, the one that caught my attention the most, out of stock for a while. 

I was ready to patiently wait for it be restocked as I wasn't really in a hurry to purchase it. However, a few weeks back, I went into Priceline and found this little beauty. Australis' Milky Way from their A Galaxy of Nails Collection. Close enough, I thought and took it home.

The swatch below is four coats and the formula was a little gloppy, you can see it on my pinky, but was still rather managable. No top coat used for the photos below.

 

I ended up using my trustworthy Rimmel Pro Matte Top Coat and I liked the way it looked much better. It made it look smoother and the layers of glitter were a tad more visible. 

The thing that I like about Australis is that they keep up with up-to-the minute trends and create similar, if not exact, dupes of popular polishes. They are available in more than one place; Kmart, Priceline, Target and Big W all stock this brand and unless you live in the middle of the Australian desert, they'll be near you. Lastly but not least, they are very affordable. I picked up this bottle for $7.95 out of complete impulse but I'm sure if I had waited a week or two, I could have gotten at least a couple of dollars less. 

Bottle shot for show.

Even though Milky Way is not an exact dupe of China Glaze's It's A Trap-Eze, I'm very glad with my purchase and I might give It's A Trap-Eze a miss.

Til next time, 

Laura