It's My Birthday...

...And I can cry if I want to 
Cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you 
*Catchy tune plays*

This song just pops up in my head every time there's a birthday. Today, it just so happens to be mine. Woohoo! And there's nothing to be sad, no Johnny hasn't given Judith his class ring. It is, however, the last day of semester so I'm gonna quickly show you two of my favourite polishes. I used two coats of Choose Me! by essence and three coats of theBalm's You're so Hot and Gold, which I've previously reviewed here (please ignore the stamping bit, it's terrible!), as an accent. I love how sparkly these polishes are and both formulas are pretty amazing. Topped the blue with one coat of Seche Vite and the gold with two as it can get a bit gritty.

I've used Choose Me! a couple of times before and about a fifth of the bottle is already gone. I know essence is not selling it anymore since the bigger bottles came out and I'm a bit heart broken. I believe Choose Me is a dupe for Catch Me In Your Net by OPI, which is nearly impossible to find, and Charla by Zoya, which costs around $20 for Aussie buyersat the time of posting. I'd love to splurge on a bottle but I just cannot justify it at the moment. I guess if I use it for special occasions, I'll be able have it for a few years.  

I couldn't capture how sparkly and deep the shimmer in Choose Me! is but please take my word when I say it is a stunner. If you own it, you would know what I'm talking about.

Are there any polishes that you seldom use because you know you can't reasonably replaced them? Or do you keep polishes for special occasions?

Til next time. I'm running off to finish assignments, eat french food and very likely have some cake.

Laura

Leather, Tats and Studs

I've had this post lined up for about a week because I knew I would get itchy fingers to post but have no time to paint my nails. It's the last week of semester after all...

I present to you yet another version of this technique with a little extra. I used Nubar Toasted Marshmallows from their early 2012 Jellybean collection as a base for all fingers. I then  applied Rimmel Matte topcoat to my middle and ring fingers and pressed my trustworthy, it-came-from-scrap-foam sponge to give it the leather effect. 

On my ring finger, I stuck some black 3 mm studs from Dollar Nail Art and applied the gold 2 mm from Born Pretty Store on each side of the row with matte topcoat so the textured effect wouldn't change too much.

The fakes tattoos  I used on my index and pinky came from a pack of Ed Hardy tattoos I got from the $2 shop last September, of which I only used a couple and was left with a heap. I chose the below design first without nail polish on because well, it didn't look that pretty and I didn't mind ruining it.  Turns out I really like the way those curls and forehead looked so I decided to use it again on nail polish.

Chinese Dragon. Source

I cut the tattoo to fit my nail bed and applied along the length of the nail without trying to bend the paper to stick it to the sides. Instead, I wet my foam sponge that I used above and pressed it against the tattoo so it would soften and mold to the nail slowly.  Even though the fake tattoo didn't apply wrinkle-free, the softness of the finish of Rimmel Matte topcoat improved the look greatly.

Oh goodness... Don't look at those dry cuticles. They're awful.

I really liked the overall look and it was really fun to wear. 

The position of the black studs was slightly off and they managed to snag on a couple of things as they didn't sit completely flat on my nail. Oh well, lesson learnt. 

One other thing I was really proud of was the fact that I've managed to not only create a dupe method for Nails Inc. Noho Leather Effects, but also have created a very similar dupe for Soho Mews with a polish I'd managed to write off because of the funny colour. Then again, I don't own Soho Mews but there are plenty of swatches out there like here or here.

Toasted Marshmallow by itself. It's growing on me... Slowly.

I just have Shoreditch Lane, the burgundy colour, and Old Compton Street, the grey blue one, to recreate and I could say I saved myself about $75, which I could totally use for a polish haul. Completely justified.

What do you guys reckon? Are you a fan of the textured polishes? Do you own any that you love?

Till next time, 

Laura

Leather And Stripes

I had a bout of inspiration from browsing through my mother's fashion bookmarks this morning that went from one idea to another, to another and ended up looking like this.

I used three coats of American Apparel Sheer in Pacific Beach topped with Seche Vite as a base, waited for it to dry completely, then taped my ring finger and finally used this method to create the leather effect.

I'm really happy the way it turned out and was surprised how clean the lines were. All those failed attempts have paid off and have left me with some decent taping skills. Woohoo!

As I mentioned before, the original idea looks nothing like what I ended up creating. It went from contrasting textures with half moons to adding a colour and using chevrons to just using tape for an accent. I thought I'd show you the dress anyway, you may see the resemblance.

Dress by Fatima Lopez, or Lopes? She's Portuguese and
there are different spellings in different websites... Source

Keep reading to see how I created the mani.

Nails Inc Docklands

Super quick post that only includes one photo. There's been a lot of failed attempts at nail art this week and I really wanted to post something. Enjoy.

Last year, I went crazy at a Black Friday sale, which was actually hosted by a UK site*, and managed to snap up a heap of Nails Inc polishes for really cheap, including a pack of fifteen 4-ml bottles for about $30. Not a bad price for the brand and, considering I have never seen the bottom of a bottle, I figured it was justified getting a heap of little bottles rather than 4-5 big ones. 

After reading a few blogs, I was feeling rather proud that I didn't have any untrieds as I tend to put new polishes on as soon as I get them home, even if it's just one finger. Well turns out I was wrong. Looking up towards my rack, I realised I hadn't tried a few of the mini polishes I'd gotten from the above mentioned sale. I took one of the unopened bottles at random and came out with this little beauty, Nails Inc in Docklands. Swatched with two coats and no top coat.

Docklands is a leaning-towards-orange red jelly, which has a pretty amazing formula. I've never been disappointed with Nails Inc product (unless they came free with magazines, I've learnt my lesson -_-). I didn't even realise this was a jelly until the second coat dried up. I applied a first thin coat that turned out very sheer but other polishes from the pack had the same issue. My other red jelly, essence Snow White, is a lot thicker so I assumed all jellies were that thick. Pleasantly surprised it was thinner, very manageable and still had the same amount of shine. I guess that's why Nails Inc has the reputation that it does.

At the moment, I wouldn't know where to get Nails Inc polishes in Australia, apart from Adore Beauty. Considering their prices can go from $19.95 a bottle for 10 ml, I might have to skip this site. Googling for Australian stockists, I found a number to call, however, it seems to be disconnected and not at all useful. If anyone knows a place or site where Nails Inc can be purchased for reasonable *cough* less than $15/bottle including shipping *cough* price, please leave me a comment. I'd really like to know.

That's all for me ladies. Have a good weekend and 

Till next time, 

Laura

*As you may be aware, UK's Royal Mail changed to a stricter Dangerous Goods shipping policies, which means a lot of the UK sites no longer ship internationally. You can still check out Beauty Bay for other awesomely priced makeup products. What a shame, though. I can't feed my greed for English nail polish! 

Sally Hansen Lustre Shine in Lava *Photo Spam*

Sally Hansen has recently released their Lustre Shine Nails Colours collection into our shores. Sally Hansen describes these polishes as  'intense radiant nail lacquers infused with real silver inspired by the lustrous colour flip of molten, liquid metal and iridescence of a peacock feather'. There are 7 duochrome mesh shades and 1 opalescent white polish, all which are available in Priceline.

No, I could not resist buying Lava but I could resist buying the rest as duochromes very rarely float my boat. The best bit about it was the price. Priceline is having a half-price sale on all Sally Hansen products and this beauty came up to a total of $5 for 10 ml. 

Anyway, Lava is a beautiful reddish rose gold and yellow copper duochrome mesh polish. I applied three thin coats and no top coat.

The formula was pretty average. I had to use three thin coats to get an even coverage and each coat took a while to dry. Having crooked fingers didn't help and I managed to smudge my pinky and dint my index finger on the corner. I also found it hard to wrap the tips and it looks like I have tip wear in a freshly done mani.  

Apart from formula issues, I really love the combination of colours. Isn't pretty? It goes from that deep yellow, coppery colour to...

... Gold rose, strongly leaning towards a mauve pink. 

Here you can see the duochrome effect.

I'm spamming you with photos because I love this polish. That and I had the opportunity to use my light box with sunlight. It made everything look softer and the colours not as grey as they would otherwise.

Gold...

... Pink.

Close up. I'm in love.

One last time, gold...

... Duochrome...

... Pink.

I noticed this polish look darker in the sun but it had a pretty sparkle.

Back in the box. 

Before the Blogger app in my phone decided to delete half my post after fixing ONE word, I had a really witty rhyme for this polish right about here.

 Hahaha! I wish I was witty with my writing. I guess you can give me the benefit of the doubt with this one... :)

Have you guys tried any of the Lustre Shine polishes? Are there any duochromes that rock your world? Let me know. I really like hearing what you think, so leave us a comment.

Till next time, 

Laura

Picture Polish Revolution

Last year, when essence's Ready For Boarding Peel Off Base Coat came out on the shelves, I was lucky enough to get a bottle before they run out within the day. From that day on I haven't looked back and have used it for all my glitter manis and, lately, I've been using it every time I put polish on as the smell of acetone was starting to put me off. I could keep going on about how good it is but this is a post to review Picture Polish Revolution.

I was actually a bit undecided as to whether or not to post this. After trying Revolution as a base coat for glitter, I couldn't help to compare it to the PVA base coat and the difference was enormous and not in a good way either...

If you haven't seen the bottle a million times on the blogsphere, here's a picture.

Revolution promises to ease the process of removal of glitter manicures. The Picture Polish website recommends soaking the polish for 15 seconds, removing what you can and continue the process until you are done.

I decided to put it to the test with a mani that I would normally wear with PVA glue as a base coat. First, I applied two coats of Revolution, which dried within 30 seconds per coat, then applied American Apparel's Office as the colour base, followed by three coats of Nails Inc's Emerald, a beautiful, foil glitter, and finished it with a coat of Seche Vite.

Not my best mani but it looked really good from afar. :)  I wore it for a day to see how it would hold up. As you can see on my index finger, there was a tiny chip after about 24 hours. I'm not sure if this had to do with my application, the terrible shrinkage I got on the glitter polish from using Seche Vite or from the base coat. Either way, it's something to note.  Two things that put me off were the curling that popped up when I tried to clean up Office and the residue on my cuticles, which I had to pull off with my fingers and made the edges pretty untidy.

Now, the removal. I haven't used acetone in a while so I was hoping this would work quickly. I used a quarter of a cotton pad and worked finger by finger. I applied the pad for 15 seconds at the time to see how it would work.  

First try, nothing came off. Time to keep pressing that pad onto my finger. Waiting... Finger stretch... Waiting...

After a few tries, very little came off. Maybe I put it to a very harsh, five-coats-of-a-mani test. I then read on the Picture Polish website that you need to give it a bit of a scrub. Mine was a tough scrub and there was glitter coming off in small chunks that went everywhere. 

This is what my hand looked like after I finished and gave it a final swab with a clean  pad soaked in acetone. Excuse the yellow nails...

There was a lot of base coat residue left on my cuticles as well as glitter stuck to my fingers. It took me about 10 minutes in total to remove all the glitter, including the stuff on my skin. 

From my understanding and reading the ingredients on the bottle, Revolution forms a plastic base on your nails that dissolves a lot quicker with polish remover compared to you polish alone. I see this would be an option if you want your glitter mani to last longer than by using PVA glue as a base. I really can't find any other reason to use it... As I change my polish every two to three days, I wouldn't use it for that purpose. Quicker than removing it with the foil method? Yes. Tidier? Maybe not for me. Would I use it again for glitter? Very unlikely. I'm sticking  to my essence PVA coat.

After all this whinging, I must admit, if you haven't seen this post, I got Revolution to use as a top coat for foils. I have used it for that purpose and it works really well. I felt like I needed to post about its original purpose before I moved on to better things.

Do you guys own Revolution? Have you found it to be amazing or would you give it a miss? Any other methods you have for the removal of glitter? I'd really love to hear what you think about this product.

Till next time, 

Laura 

Revlon in Fire Fox

It's been a little bit over a year since I started posting in this blog with Tasha. Going back to uni last semester put the blogging from my part on hold for almost four months but it has now become something that I thoroughly enjoy. It's had the added benefit of breaking my imaginary writing wall that stopped me from putting two sentences together correctly. Maybe I wasn't that bad to begin with, but at least I can write often about something I really like.

In the last year , my collection has grown from 67 bottles, including top coats, to more than 330, not counting base, top coats and other treatments. In the last year, my favourite polish has also changed from time to time. I've loved Bloom in Lisa II, B Collection by Bloom in Dubai, then came various Topshop polishes and finally Penny Talk by Essie. Every colour in my collection has something special and I really love them all but there's always that polish that you keep going back to for a while. Also if you've been reading this blog, you may have noticed I'm a B I G fan of Rimmel Pro Matte Finish Top Coat. I absolutely love that soft, chalky finish of suede in all my polishes.

In the last couple of weeks, my go-to polish has been a beautiful red, suede finish polish by Revlon called Fire Fox. I don't think there could have been a more aptly named polish because this one is one firey, foxy suede polish, I'll explain why I think a little later. 

If applied carefully, a coat would be enough but I went with two for full opacity. No top coat. The formula is slightly thin but the brush offers enough control to have a very smooth application. 

I'm in love with this colour right now. It's been a while since I've had a period of red nails, which about ten years ago was what I wore for 95% of the time. Fire Fox has been in my stash since September, when I picked it up at Cosmetic Fragrance Direct (usually located within DFOs in Australia) for $5 but you could say I've rediscovered it.

I almost, almost prefer this polish in its shiny version. When top coat is applied, this polish transforms into what looks like a bright red jelly with scattered shimmer, which has sooooo much depth. That's why the Fire name fits so well, it lights up from within when a tiny ray of light hits it. Photo below was done with flash as the sun didn't wanna come out play today.

I wish I could have photographed it better but that's the best I can do without sun. :( Either way, shiny or semi-matte, this polish is amazing. I 'd recommend it if you can find it. It's worth every cent.

Do you find you rediscover polishes in your stash? Or do you stick to a favourite? 

Till next time, 

Laura

Face Of Australia in Funky Town

Funky Town, 

I saw you at Kmart a couple of weeks ago and I almost got you but unfortunately I saw Boogie Wonderland first and it stole my heart. Today, I wandered into the same shop and saw you again. I thought 'Why not? I have the funds to purchase your pretty little bottle'. To my surprise you were only 71 cents! Pity you were the last one there or I would have grabbed another one to gift. 71 cents! You have become my cheapest polish ever!

I must admit, you have so much potential to be amazing but there's something about you that stops me from getting my mind blown. I mean, look at that periwinkle blue base with hex silver, blue and black glitter all over you. What's that? You have larger hex gold and black square glitters too? I can see all the glitters you mention but I'm sorry to tell you the black square glitter hasn't made an appearance yet. 

After two coats of your slightly thick but very manageable formula, you became very opaque but I couldn't see the glitter from the first coat anymore. I hope you aren't trying to hide anything. I must give you credit for being fast drying, allowing the glitter to come up with the brush and not having to dab it to get good placement. 

I think I know what's bothering me. The glitter looks very dense in the bottle but it doesn't translate to the nail. I'm not mad, I'm just a tad disappointed.

Is that a square glitter I see in the middle? Why couldn't I get it on the nail?

You also dried quite chalky and bumpy so I had to add a coat of Seche Vite to make sure you evened out and shone like you should.

Funky Town. It may seem like I'm complaining a lot but I like you. I really do. I wouldn't consider you my favourite but I hope we can remain friends. You have so far taken the title of cheapest polish in my collection, something I think may take a while to beat. Maybe if I layer you onto another polishes, we can have a close relationship. We'll see.

Until next time, 

Laura

Dorothy For The Land Of Oz

Back when I was about 9 or 10 years old, I went to my dad's place where he had a computer game about Leonardo da Vinci, this was back on 1995/96 so it was super exciting. It was basically a game that run you through all of his career paths and all the inventions that came out of that, think the very early stages of helicopters, forts, painting, discoveries in anatomy, scuba diving. He was an painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, planner (source), and who else knows what would run through his head that he didn't put down in paper. Since then, I found the man utterly fascinating and have been jaw-droppingly amazed at what the human mind can do and create. 

Now you may think, why is she talking about Leonardo when I came here for nails? Well, I'm just having a bit of a rant. Skip the next couple of paragraphs if you only came here to see Dorothy. I don't want to put you off. Anyway, I'm finding a tad difficult to think that I have to sit exams and take a lot of pressure for four years to do ONE thing for the rest of my life.  I know I will get bored, I know I will need  a big change every decade or so. I wanna have twenty odd careers in my life, like Leonardo (not saying I'm a genius but it would be nice). I'm really over the fact that I have to pay $40,000 for uni to work for when I could be learning through experience and inquisitiveness. I guess I won't beat the system on this one.

I think I'm just having a shitty time trying to get my assignments done and pushing myself past a mental barrier that's stopping me from thinking freely and getting them done. I can also be a perfectionist with what I do and if it's not great, I'd rather not do it.

In the meantime, I'll keep going with this colourful hobby of painting my nails to cheer me up a little and stop that mental block. 

I present to you Dorothy from Picture Polish, a raspberry red jelly with tiny silver glitter.  the formula was pretty good, if a little thick like Peacock, but still manageable and expected from such dense glitter. Photos done below with two coats and no top coat.

I've checked out other blogs to make sure there's only silver glitter but I swear it looks like there is pink glitter. I had to take some macro photos of the bottle and nail to convince myself that there's only silver. The polish on the nail looks a lot pinker and the glitter may even look golden in some lights.

To be completely sure, I applied some Rimmel Matte Top Coat, which made Dorothy even lighter. I'm still in doubt.

Hmm... Either way it is a beautiful polish that shines and sparkles like you would expect a piCture pOlish glitter to do. I added a tape accent nail with Layla's Mirror Effect in Metal Chrome and dotted Dorothy on top. 

Funny how that perfectionist streak hasn't translated to this blog because I can tell by the above photo, that's not my best work. 

It is still fun and very sparkly, though. Hope you guys can take some enjoyment from the swatches and my tiny rants.

Till next time, 

Laura

Do You Wanna See My Peacock?

I've had an exam and handed in assignment in the last three days, I think I need some down time. Really, what better way to do it than by painting my digits with my new polishes?

I thought of doing swatches according to how much I liked them but the other three have holo glitter/flakies. Unfortunately, every time I tried to take a photo the sun would hide behind a cloud and the holo goodness wouldn't show.

That left me with Peacock by piCture pOlish, a beautiful dark purple jelly with tiny green hexagonal glitter and silver rectangular glitter. According to the piCture pOlish website, there is blue hexagonal glitter in there but I can't see it. Maybe it's hiding behind the purple jelly. Peacock shown with three coats for opacity and no top coat (still waiting on that Seche Vite!!!).

A closeup of all the glitter goodness.

 A few more for fun.

If you've seen other swatches (who hasn't?) or own the polish, you may notice the photos above a little overexposed. I really wanted to show the colour of the jelly as it isn't overly noticeable in real life. Either way this polish had buttery formula but after three coats it got a little thick on the nail. It also dried fairly smooth for such a dense glitter, which wouldn't bother me anyway but it's something to note.

This is such a pretty polish and the first time I saw it in Pshiiit, I fell in love straight away. When I got the polish earlier this week and saw the bottle, I was a little confused as I thought there was purple glitter in it.I still love and I'm very glad I FINALLY have it in my collection but it turned out to be something different to what I expected.

Have you ever had a massive lemming and turned out to be different when you finally got it?

Till next time, 

Laura