May 17th, 2013 § § permalink

Chanel’s Avant Premiere de Chanel really feels more like a Fall / Autumn Collection, when in reality it came out during the northern hemisphere’s Spring! This collection is inspired by the French film industry, so the names are very appropriate. With the collection came a number of lipsticks, and here today I wanted to go over the nail polishes.
They all lean on the darker more reddish end of the spectrum, really perfect for Australia as we’re experiencing quite cold weather at the moment. No major issues regarding formula, I generally find Chanel is quite good with their darker more vampy shades in terms of application. Very pigmented and goes on smooth. All swatches are 2 coats with no top coat.
Cinema

A vibrant orange red (chilli red?) crème, it a real stand out colour of the collection.
Paparazzi

A muted reddish rusty colour with very fine micro shimmers, probably the least favourite of the collection as I find it would be a more difficult colour to wear.
Provocation

A deep plum purple crème, very vampy and reminds me of OPI’s Lincoln Park After Dark released quite a number of years ago.
Starlet

The lightest of the collection, a semi-shimmer coral shade and probably my favourite.
I believe these polishes are still available at Chanel counters for $39AU.

May 6th, 2013 § § permalink

Face of Australia recently released a collection of glittery nail polishes they’ve called “Glitterati”. This collection comes with three polishes with a crème polish base with glitter, and the rest are clear polishes with a ton of glitter which make them perfect for painting over existing colours on your nails. Or can be worn on their own as well.
These polishes are really aimed at a specific niche, and that is those who love glitter polishes. I tend to wear more wearable colours on my fingers, but I love rocking glitter on my toes!
One thing to keep in mind with these polishes is method of application, which is really important. If you just slap on the polish then you will likely get an uneven distribution of glitters, so as you are applying make sure you move the glitters around for even coverage.
This collection is limited edition and out now, they go for just $4.95AU each, so if you’re keen, best to hop on these now before they sell out!
Boogie Wonderland

Semi opaque lilac with navy blue, purple and red glitters, silver chunky glitter and turquoise and navy blue string glitters.
Dancing Queen

Clear polish with round black and gold yellow glitters.
Disco Inferno

A mixture of light blues, reds and magenta glitters of all different shapes and sizes.
Funky Town

A periwinkle crème polish with silver, blue and black glitter pieces.
Heart of Glass

A crème pink polish with red and magenta chunky glitters and small purple, magenta glitters with long silver ones. Apologises for the poor photo, I only realised how blurry it was as I was putting the post together, but hopefully you get the idea.
Lookin’ For Some Hot Stuff

Love the name for this polish! It’s a beautiful mixture of red glitters of different sizes and black chunky glitters.
Saturday Night Fever

This is probably my favourite from this collection because of the range of different glitters, it’s like a rainbow! And it does remind me of the Saturday Night Fever movie
Studio 54

Probably the most “tame” of the entire collection, a rusty copper glitter polish.

April 29th, 2013 § § permalink

It has been a while since I did a polish post! So introducing Dior’s latest Summer 2013 collection as my first in a while seemed pretty appropriate.
Dior’s latest collection consists of a range of pink feminine colours, each polish is infused with micro shimmers that looks amazing on most skin tones and dries to a smooth finish. The formula is relatively thick so a single decent swatch is enough to give adequate coverage. Dior is currently my favourite polish brand, and that is mostly because of their large rounded brush that makes application quick and easy.
If you’re keen you can check these out for $39AU at your local Dior counter. All swatches are two coats alone.
Delice

A bright coral polish with a mixture of gold and orange micro shimmers.
Diablotine

The deepest of all four shades, an almost red polish with gold and red micro shimmers.
Princess

An almost bubblegum pink shade with light gold and pink micro shimmers.
Spring Ball

My personal favourite from this collection, a light watermelon shade with gold and pink shimmers. I find this shade suits my skin tone the best

February 4th, 2013 § § permalink

End of last year Face of Australia celebrated the conclusion of 2012 by sending me a beautiful package that contained a number of different products from their line, these polishes were some of them
These polishes are from their Colour Pro Triple Action Line, you’ll notice most of the colours below have appeared in their previous collections which I’ve already reviewed here and here. The packaging has changed quite a bit too~
Each polish goes for $6.95AU from Priceline, Big W or Kmart. All swatches are two coats with no top coat.
Flaming Lava

A micro-shimmer vampy red polish, your stereotypical red polish that everyone must own at least one of
A re-promote from their Molten Metallics.
Foxy Roxy

A crème taupe, another re-promote in this collection.
Ocean Villa

A matte crème deep blue colour, again another re-promote in this collection.
Show Off

A semi-matte watermelon shade, a little hard to pin down the colour here for me. Sometimes it appears more red, other times more pink.
White Gold

Metallic white gold shade, the last re-promote from this collection that appeared in their Molten Metallics.
January 21st, 2013 § § permalink

Trying to find work appropriate polishes that have a little extra something than the standards nudes and pinks is not an easy feat, that is until I came across the Zoya Flecks range from their Spring 2012 collection
Suddenly I’ve found a great way to give my standard polishes an extra boost without being too outrageous.
In the photo above, it has two coats of Essie’s Good Morning Hope with a single coat of Zoya’s Chloe. It is a beautiful transparent pink with iridescent flecks (the entire collection contains a similar green and blue), that dries to give you a very smooth finish. I don’t use top coat anymore since I find it makes it harder to remove polishes later on, and this combination managed to last an entire week without any chipping at all
January 7th, 2013 § § permalink

If you watched one of my videos during my Once Upon a December series, then you’ll know for a while now I’ve been considering switching up my Monday posts to feature just the current nail polish I’ve been enjoying, rather than doing full blown collections.
The reason for this is because doing collection posts caused me to stop actually using and enjoying my polishes. I had to keep my nails constantly polish free to avoid staining and honestly, after swatching 40 different polishes within one evening (which is what I’ve been doing for years) you kinda lose the excitement for waiting to use polishes.
The other benefit to featuring basically my Nail of the Week is I can now given proper commentary to the longevity and quality of the polishes since I can actually test them out
Don’t get me wrong, I will probably still do entire collection swatches every now and then, but don’t expect them to be as regular as they used to be
After all this blog is becoming more a reflection on my life
So without further to do, this polish by Butter London was a gift from Sefie~ It’s a beautiful dark blue/green shade with very fine light blue micro shimmers. Gorgeous polish that lasted me a good 5 days before I removed it for something more wearable as I was going back to work. I did experience a small chip on my little finger, but besides that I wouldn’t consider this a nail polish that is prone to chipping. Love it <3

December 24th, 2012 § § permalink

Happy Christmas Eve! I know this collection has nothing to do with Christmas, but I wanted to post it anyways because it is one of my favourite collections and it’s for a good cause
This collection is filled with pinks, which are all highly wearable and perfect for everyday! I hope you enjoy them and have an amazing Christmas Eve <3
All swatches are two coats with no top coat.
Check Up

A light magenta crème polish, the deepest polish from this collection. You’ll find something similar in ORLY’s Butterflies.
Good Morning Hope

A soft pink crème shade, the lightest from this collection. If you need a dupe, check out Essie’s French Affair.
I Am Strong

An almost bubblegum pink shade, probably just a touch too dark for the bubblegum title. A similar shade would be ROS’ Beauty Queen.
We’re In It Together

My favourite polish from this collection (save the best till last), you can’t see it in the first photo, so I took a second photo for you below so you can see that this is the only polish from the collection that contains micro glitters. Not easy to see even in person, only when you angle the polish, but I just love it! If I had to find a dupe, I’d recommend Essie’s Vandigo which is a bit lighter.


December 17th, 2012 § § permalink

A holiday collection! We are getting closer and closer to Christmas, not to mention this is my last week of work before I get time off to relax at home~ So even more excited! This collection from China Glaze is festive and jolly, lots of reds, greens, silver and golds~ All traditional Christmas colours <3
All swatches are two coats with no top coat so you can see the true finish for each polish.
Angel Wings

A gold holographic glitter, kinda hard to tell in this photo as it mostly looks gold, but in real life it is definitely very holographic. The glitters whilst very fine still leave a rather rough finish. Color Club’s Enchanted Holiday is similar but has a richer golden tone.
Cranberry Splash

A dark red shimmer shade, I love the finish for this polish. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I can see myself wearing this a lot, especially in December. Similar shares are ORLY’s Torrid and Face of Australia’s Flaming Boa.
Glistening Snow

A silver holographic glitter, pretty much the silver counterpart of Angel Wings. Even though you can’t really see it, this too is very holographic, with fine glitter and a relatively rough surface.
Pizzazz

A multi-glitter overlay, this needs to be applied over a solid shade to really stand out. I reckon with a pearl white or shimmery slate black would be gorgeous with this!
Red Satin

A red crème shade, another beautiful almost gel looking shade. I think I’d have trouble choosing between this shade and Cranberry Splash. Similar shades would be China Glaze’s Ruby Deer and ORLY’s Candy Cane Lane.
Winter Holly

A true green with gold glitter, again in texture and finish similar to both Angel Wings and Glistening Snow, just green.

December 10th, 2012 § § permalink

Introducing Essie’s Winter 2012 collection, I can’t really see the relation to winter for all shades, especially the aqua shade threw me off. This collection in general was very hit or miss. On the one hand, the reds were pretty impressive. On the other, the blue and aqua shades were pretty disappointing and would have been better off without them.
As always all swatches are two coats without any top coat.
Beyond Cozy

A silvery gold glitter polish, so densely packed that having an under coat isn’t really necessary. The finish is unfortunately rather rough, though maybe a top coat may help to soften it. A close dupe would be China Glaze’s I’m Not a Lion, which has a very similar texture but also leans closer to gold.
Butler Please

A bright semi-matte royal blue polish, unfortunately I didn’t noticed the photo I took is a little out of focus but hopefully you get the idea! This was probably my least favourite polish out of this collection, the formula is not great. Streaky and hard to work with
So if you like the colour, then I’d recommend Face of Australia’s Ocean Villa which is similar but completely matte.
Leading Lady

A deep red gel like polish with glitter, even though the surface for this isn’t smooth, it is probably one of my favourites from this collection. Very unique and beautiful on the nails.
She’s Pampered

A strong vibrant red crème, beautiful formula. Easy to apply and so pigmented even one thick coat would be enough. ORLY’s Unlawful and China Glaze’s Poinsettia are very close dupes.
Snap Happy

Another red crème, very similar to She’s Pampered only just a touch lighter. Again, just like She’s Pampered, the formula and pigmentation is impressive!
Where’s my Chauffeur

A turquoise crème, lighter than your typical mint shades. The formula here is okay, honestly I think you can find better. It took a bit of extra work to ensure the coverage was even and not streaky. China Glaze’s Aquadelic and ORLY’s Gumdrop whilst lighter are similar dupes.

November 26th, 2012 § § permalink

ORLY’s Flash Glam collection is packed full of glitter and glam. ORLY kindly sent through one of the six polishes from their collection, I received Mermaid Tale which contains a mixture of large and smaller green glitters.

It would work great as a top coat for any more pigmented polishes, or a few coats should be enough to cover the entire nail. Be warned however, if you dislike glitter polishes for their chunkiness then this polish is chunky. The swatch contains 2 coats without any top coat.
You can purchased ORLY polishes for $18AU a bottle online from the 1st of December 2012.
