Sparkle factor

 I think for all future posts I will give each manicure a sparkle factor. I thought I would give each manicure a score from 1-5.
1= matte finish, very little light reflection
2= some light reflection
3= Glossy finish and reflects light
4= reflects most lights
5= Very sparkly (most likely contains glitter) and reflects lots of light. Think rainbows being refracted across the room in bright sunshine.

This being a very new concept will probably require some evolution. Please check the definition of sparkle factor tab to keep up to dat

w7 Mosaic

So while waiting in line at he pharmacy the other day a nail polish stand was conveniently placed next to me. I usually don't look at really cheap polishes in a retail store. However this $3 stand of w7 polishes was there at the right time and I was in a spending mood. Mosaic was one of three polishes I brought (when was the last time you got three polishes for less than $10?).
I tried this polish last night and I was very pleasantly surprised. It went on nice and smooth (I required about 3 coats), was not skimpy on the glitter and I loved the end result. The brush also allowed for a nice even coverage. I have to say that it does come with a warning that it is flammable, and upon opening I could understand why. I loved the light blue base, the small gold and royal blue glitter. This polish was a great buy and exceeded expectations. Like all glitter polishes I dread the time it takes to remove. Hopefully this one is ok, although I don't hold my breath. Will provide an update when this happens.
The bottle is remarkably similar to an OPI bottle, and they both have a 15ml capacity. The only differences being the OPI brand at the top of the brush and the base being a little smoother on the OPI bottle.


w7 Mosaic bottle



w7 Mosaic

OPI Liquid sands Get your number

Hello fellow polish lovers!
So here is my post on OPI Liquid sands Get your number. So yes I am warming to the textured polish craze (better late than never!) This was my first time using liquid sands and I love how forgiving this polish is when it comes to application. If you knock it, or when it starts to chip it is easily "patched" up. I have to sat this polish wore extremely well and set like concrete so chips were not to much of concern. Because it stuck like concrete it was a little frustrating to remove. Give your self a bit of time when you do remove it.
I was not to sure about the colour of get your number. To me I feel like I would only wear it to a party with a marine/mermaid theme. Although maybe come summer I may feel a little different. The polish was quick to dry (always a plus) and the colour did lighten as it dried which was handy to tell when it was dry. I must say that I did enjoy the sparkle factor of this polish. Maybe I should start a sparkle factor scale on this blog. What do you think?


OPI Liquid sands Get your number completely dry



OPI Liquid sands Get your number still a little wet

OPI Suz'i Hungary again and OY-another polish joke

So I was a little bored yesterday so I made a feature nail of my index finger with my current manicure of OPI Suz'i Hungary again. I added a top coat of OY-another polish joke from the euro centrale collection. Oh-la-la I love it . I wonder what Suzi's Hungary again would look like with some gold shatter? Has anyone tried? let me know what you thought.
OY-another polish joke went on the nail nicely, just as expected. I look forward to using it as a colour on it's own. Maybe at Christmas time for a themed manicure.


OPI Suz'i Hungary again and OY-another polish joke



OPI Suz'i Hungary again and OY-another polish joke

Suzi's Hungary AGAIN!

So I just received my latest order of polish. I am so excited to try them all it was a very hard decision to decide what to use first.

 

Latest delivery

As you can see I got the euro centrale mini set. I was very excited to try these out as all the other polishes from this collection have been awesome, and make up some of my favourite polishes I own. Also in this delivery I got some of the Mariah Carey liquid sands collection. Can't let go, the impossible and get your number. Recently I tried a textured polish (I'm not sharing as a friend did the manicure and I don't want to steel her work, Let just say it was ruby red and sparkled lots!) and I really loved it. I have been a bit resistant to the textured craze but I think I may be converted. Stay tuned for future posts.
Anyway todays post is on the Suzi's Hungary again polish from the mini OPI set. I love, love, love, love this colour! Once again the Euro central collection lives up to expectations. I did find this a little streaky to apply, however I have a sneaky suspicion this was due to the smaller bottle and brush. As the rest of the collection from the normal sized bottles has not had this issue. I am so looking forward to trying the rest of the mini set! Future posts coming. I know this collection is a little old by now, but credit where credit is due. This is a great collection.
The photo I have taken does not show how pink this polish is, it appears quite orange in the photo. Believe me this polish is a lovely pink. Bright with out being to over the top and screaming look at me I'm making a polish statement. In fact I think it looks a lot like Orly Lola.  This photo was taken before I started this blog, so the quality is pretty poor. Excuse the cat photo bombing. 


OPI Suzi's Hungary AGAIN!

I have done three coats, and besides a little bit of streaking this polish went on well.


Orly Lola

Stay tuned for future post with more Euro centrale and liquid sands. I am unsure how I am going to use the not another polish joke. Do I use it on it's own or do I use it over the top of another polish? Let me know your suggestions.


Water marbling OPI eurso euro, OPI Yoga-ta get this blue, and China Glaze splish splash

Ok so I think water marbling is my new craze. I definitely am still mastering the technique, but gosh I love the results.  I have so many ideas in my head, so I think it is safe to presume that there will be many more posts coming up with combinations that I like. I had no tooth picks yesterday to create a pattern in the water so I had to get creative. I have a little tool from a hand knitting kit around the house but I find the polish is really hard to remove from it. So I had a look in the pantry and ended up using raw spaghetti. It worked a treat!
Any way as you can tell from the title of the post I used OPI eurso euro, OPI Yoga-ta get this blue, and China Glaze splish splash. I really love the way the yoga-ta get this blue adds a little bit of sparkle (although it was hard to catch in photos). Anyway here are some pics.
Would love to hear what your fav colour combinations are.


Water marbling OPI eurso euro, OPI Yoga-ta get this blue, and China Glaze splish splash

Water marbling OPI eurso euro, OPI Yoga-ta get this blue, and China Glaze splish splash



Water marbling OPI eurso euro, OPI Yoga-ta get this blue, and China Glaze splish splash



Water marbling OPI eurso euro, OPI Yoga-ta get this blue, and China Glaze splish splash

Water Marbling OPI Pompeii Purple, OPI Eurso Euro and OPI Yoa-ta get this blue

So I had a go at water marbling for the first time yesterday. I have to say that I was quite pleased with the result. Although I can tell there is still a lot of room for improvement. As the title suggests I used OPI Pompeii Purple, OPI Eurso Euro and OPI Yoa-ta get this blue. I am not going to tell you how to water marble because honestly there are already plenty of you tube videos and blogs dedicated this. Put a request in the Google machine and you will find plenty of help.
I have never been brave enough to wear Pompeii purple on my hands. It is to bright for me, therefore I usually only use it in summer when toe nails are on display. However I must say I am plenty surprised at how much I like it in this effect. Perhaps pompeii purple can start to be seen as a feature nail as well. What do you think?
Anyway here are the photos I have for my marbling effort. I promise the quality will get better soon.
Stay cool.


Water Marbling OPI Pompeii Purple, OPI Eurso Euro and OPI Yoa-ta get this blue



Water Marbling OPI Pompeii Purple, OPI Eurso Euro and OPI Yoa-ta get this blue

Butter London Blagger

So todays post is on Butter London Blagger. As you would be able to tell from previous posts I am a fan of Butter London. This polish I have used a couple of times before, although I have never mentioned it, If I was to describe it, it is blue! If you are a fan of Andy Murray and are looking to wear Scottish colours to a match, this is the colour that you would use to do nail art Scottish flags on your nails. I much prefer polish to be on the slightly thinner side when I apply it.; Probably because I am a little heavy handed when it comes to application. This polish is of a "normal" consistency so it doesn't suit my application style. However the end result is good. I am just as happy with the result as I am with Butter London Slapper and disco biscuit (these are still my favourite colours from Butter London.


Butter London Blagger



Butter London Blagger

I am considering giving water marbling a go, so if you have any tips or tricks you would like to share please do so. I think it will be one of those techniques that requires a few attempts. I also have some liquid sands from OPI on order so stay tuned. Hopefully the site I have ordered them from comes through. The last few orders have been cancelled for "stock issues".
Keep your pretty polished fingers crossed!


OPI A Woman's Prague-ative

So I was in fabulous Melbourne the other day seeing Jesus Christ superstar with the all amazing Tim Minchin. An amazing show!! Well done to the whole cast. When I happened to walk David  Jones and buy the OPI A Woman's Prague-ative polish from the OPI euro central range. I also got a free base coat as well so double score!
I love this polish, although I am unsure it suits my skin tone (meh!). This is an autumn colour. A bright orange polish with gold sparkle. All polishes should sparkle in my humble option. I really want to get into all the new sand textured polish, but they really don't do anything for me.  This polish required 3-4 thin coats to get away from the sheer look. I do like it when polishes are more on the thin runny side as I find I get better coverage on the nail, and end up with a better finish. Enjoy.


OPI A Woman's Prague-ative

OPI Yoga-ta get this blue

So this is the polish that first got me started on my polish hobby. I brought it to match a top I was wearing to a work dinner. Not one into nail polish before hand the application was very shonky, but a hobby was born that day I purchased my first OPI from Myer.
I love the glossiness of this polish and the little hint of sparkle that it has. This polish was extremely nice to me that fateful day. It applied nicely , and just sparkled that night. I don't think anyone else noticed that night that I had put some effort into my nails, but I was sold, hook, line and sinker! Never again would I have boring nails when I am not at work (My line of work I am not allowed to wear polish). So on days off I get my creative juices flying. Thankyou OPI Yoga-ta get this blue, for starting me on a fabulous hobby.

OPI Yoga-ta get this blue



Sparitual instinct shimmer and Face of Australia glitterati studio 54

So just in case you thought I only liked OPI and butter London polishes here are a couple of other brands I use.
Sparitual instinct shimmer is a lovely purple. This colour goes on very smoothly, and I find the bottle very easy and practical to use. I have only completed two coats here. However if I was just going to wear it as a singular block colour I would probably do three. I have put two photos of this colour up because I had two very different lights to take photos with. When I purchased this colour I was after a royal purple colour. This is not quite there however I do still love it. In case you can't tell from previous blogs I quite like purple, and as you will see further on in this blog I like to add a little something something to it.

Sparitual instinct shimmer



Sparitual instinct shimmer

After I had completed with the block colour I added two coats of Face of Australia glitterati studio 54. This is the first time I have used a Face of Australia polish. I was not disappointed and it was so well priced about $3-5 from Priceline. After googling a few other reviews I can say that I am joining the band wagon. Well done to Face of Australia for this product. Face of Australia glitterati studio 54 is a clear polish with copper glitter (small circles with slightly larger hexagon shapes). I was also happy to notice that the glitter stays suspended well and does not sink to the bottom. It also applies very nicely and could easily be worn as a colour on it's own.


Sparitual instinct shimmer and face of australia glitterati studio 54



Sparitual instinct shimmer and face of australia glitterati studio 54

On a side note sparitual products advertise on there bottles that they are vegan, and also DBP, formaldehyde resin and toluene free. So most likely an ethical product to be using and supporting. I was listening to the ABC radio the other week and they had an advocate from CHOICE presenting. I was interested to hear that for cosmetics to be sold in China that they MUST be tested on animals. I don't know how true this is as I have not completed any further research. Nor do I complete a whole lot of research on the other products that I use. I certainly am not a member of PETA, however I would like to think of my self as a conscious consumer. However this would appear to be a little naïve. I just thought it is something to keep in mind considering how big the Chinese market is. Does that mean if a company sells cosmetics in Australia they can advertise as cruelty free if all the testing is done in China for market placement? Just an interesting side note to keep in the back of your mind,

OPI Outrageous neons- Seriously Purple

OPI Outrageous Neons

So yesterday I tried my first OPI min kit -outrageous neons. I have to say this was not a wonderful experience sending me out to find similar kits. I tried the seriously purple. I followed the instructions and was less than impressed with the final result. I found the neck on the bottles to small which made application a little difficult, perhaps OPI could re-engineer their bottles on there mini products.
Any way step 1 said to apply one coat of white base . As you can see it didn't go on very evenly and was all streaky.



OPI White base coat

Step 2 was to apply  two coats of your chosen neon shade- in this case seriously purple. This is when it went all pear shaped. Perhaps I should say eggplant shaped keeping with the purple theme! It just looked really streaky, magnifying the streaks from the base coat. Even a third coat didn't provide any assistance.



OPI seriously purple

Step 3- apply top coat.
 This was the only step that worked. I liked the way it transformed the polish from a matte finish to a glossy finish. I love a bit of sparkle in a polish. On the positive side I really like this purple colour.
After being so disappointed with the result I hit Google to see what others have thought about it. It seems I am not alone in my opinion that this polish could do with some improvements.
On the plus sign there did seem to be some positive feedback about the other polishes in the kit. So hopefully some more positive results next time.



Orly liquid vinyl and Zoya Gilty

So here is my staple black polish. I can not express how much I love it. It is glossy, goes on smoothly is quickish (don't think that is the word, but I am sure you get my drift) to dry. I really am to scared to try anything else. something along the lines of if it ain't broke, don't fix it!


Orly liquid vinyl

 When this photo was taken i was yet to apply any top coat. Its so glossy. Gosh I love it.

The next photo is of Orly liquid vinyl with Zoya Gilty



Orly liquid vinyl and Zoya Gilty

This was the first time I have used Zoya Gilty. I found it a bit gluggy and difficult to get the desired effect. Mind you perhaps I should have been a little more patient and waited for the liquid vinyl to dry completely. Patience is not one of my key strengths.  I might need a little more practice with this one. Does anyone else have an opinion on Zoya Gilty? I would love to hear it.



China Glaze splish splash

So I tried splish splash. This is the first time i have used a china glaze product and I was very nicely surprised. I had ordered about half a dozen to try but there were "supply issues" and I only ended up with splish splash. I really liked it. It took two coats and went on nicely. The other thing I did like that the bottle was easy to open with my dominant hand. Nice engineering! The colour was nice bright neon without being over the top. I really thought this was a nice polish and will  buy more of there product in the future.



China Glaze splish splash

 

China Glaze splish splash or OPI outrageous neons

So I have a dilemma. What polish do I try next? China Glaze splish splash or OPI outrageous neons. I have never used a china glaze polish before so I am keen to see how it applies and looks. On the other hand I love the idea of having a multi-coloured mani. What do you think I should do?

China Glaze splish splash

OPI outrageous neons

OPI Eurso Euro and OPI Gold shatter

Feeling a little lazy today so not much typing. Lets just say I love OPI Eurso Euro on its own, but I also love this combo! The final result really became lovely and sparkly once a layer of top coat had been applied. Enjoy

OPI Eurso Euro

OPI Eurso Euro and OPI gold shatter

Butter london slapper and OPI white shatter

This was my first attempt at using a shatter polish. I quite liked the effect. however ore practice is required for a neater more polished polish. pun intended. I did find however after I added a OPI top coat the white shatter did yellow slightly. Not sure if this is due to the applicator, or the product used.

london butter slapper and OPI white shatter



london butter slapper and OPI white shatter

Zoya Storm from the ornate collection

This is Zoya storm from the ornate collection. There is a good review on this collection here on this blog. I am not responsible for this polish work although I am the model, hopefully my skills will improve. She has a great write up about these polishes so will leave you to read her review. Enjoy.

O.P.I number one nemesis

Ohhhhh, I have to say that this is one of my favourite polishes that I have tried recently. Number one nemesis was from the spider man collection in 2012. I think it also suits the lace, leather fashion that is out this winter in Australia. This may be my staple polish of the season!
Any way have a look.

This is a metallic polish so it does change colours in different lights. In most of these it has a gold shimmer, In some lights it also borders on a metallic grey colour. If you are looking for a staple colour that is not black, perhaps give this one a go.
I found this polish very runny to apply, and thus required three thin coats plus a top coat to get the effect I was after. I think it works for this product. After finishing I'm not sure that a 4th coat would have done any harm. It was also easy to remove when the time came. Always something I like in polish because I can not wear polish to work. Occupational hazard!
Give this one a go.

Butter London disco biscuit

I have to say that I do like the Butter London range. The names are amusing and they generally apply very nicely and easily. The below pictures are of Butter London Disco Biscuit.


Butter London Disco Biscuit

When I first tried this colour I thought it would be to bright for my liking for my finger nails so it went straight to my toes to see what it was like. Lucky I liked it a lot or else it may have been a picture of my foot uploaded. Is it just me or does photos of feet make everyone squirm in their seat?
Anyway I loved this lovely pretty feminine colour that I had to try it on my fingers. There is a lovely amount of sparkle, and when it is time to be removed this is completed easily.
I also Like that Butter London does not use formaldehyde, toluene or DBP. As a chemist I know how dangerous these chemicals can be. I have works with some nasty ones at times. I also think in today's modern lifestyle the more chemicals you can avoid, the more beneficial to your health it is. This is why I always stick to acetone free polish removers. Exposing yourself to these organics is not recommended.  Yes polish and remover is made up of other chemicals. Chemicals simply are unavoidable. However we now the dangers of these ones, so if you possibly can avoid them.
The one thing I have not chased up is if these polishes are animal friendly. There are brands out there that are such as sparitual. I will try and do a post on them in the future.
Be kind to yourself, and the environment.

OPI Eurso euro and polka.com

So now for something a little more contemporary.  This is OPI eurso euro with polka.com. These two are form the OPI euro centrale collection. I picked these two up in Singapore, as long as a few others. I went a little overboard because they were so much cheaper to buy retail than in Australia. I usually wait for Internet specials to come up when buying polishes. I would love to support retailers more, however sometimes the cost is just to much.
Anyway here are some pics.....

OPI  Eurso euro and polka.com



OPI  Eurso euro and polka.com

I must say I often caught myself looking at this combo once I had completed it, the photos provided are pretty accurate when representing the colour. I also felt like it was a duo that matched both summer and winter seasons. The only annoying thing about this combo was like with most glitter polishes polka.com was hard to remove.
I loved this duo, will defiantly use again.

Orly liquid vinyl and Zoya opal. 2 very versatile polishes

So today I am showing you what happened when I completed two coats of Orly liquid vinyl followed by a coat of Zoya opal. This was a very pretty sparkly effect. I loved wearing it over Christmas because if felt slightly festive without being over the top.


Orly liquid vinyl and Zoya opal

 Again apologies for the dodgy paint job. Technique is still a work in progress, I think you get the idea though. The orly liquid vinyl is the only black polish I own, and I don't feel the need to go and find another. It is just beautiful to apply. In some cases only 1 coat is necessary. I have also used the Zoya opal with the London butter Slapper. See pictures below.


Butter London slapper and zoya opal

I did these for an outing to see Cirque Du Soleil's production of Ovo. I thought not only did it match the colourfulness and brightness of Cirque Du Soleil's shows it also matched the nature theme of the production.
As you can see from both sets of photos Zoya's opal can appear very different depending on the background. There is more experimentation to come with this polish.
Stay cool.

Butter London: Slapper

So for my first post I thought I would write about my favourite polish in my small but expanding collection of nail polish. Butter London Slapper. I have few of there polish's and I have to say I have not been disappointed so far. I have however found that when I have used it with their nail foundation flawless base coat and hardwear P.D quick top coat that the polish chips very easily and does not last as long. Anyway here are some photos I have. As you will tell, I am no professional when it comes to my painting and photography skills. Hopefully they will improve as I continue.

In the photos the polish does come out quite blue, I have to say that this polish is green. It is an absolutely lovely shade and I can't get enough it. It feels like a LBD for nails, it just goes with everything. I will try and provide better photos in the future of this shade (trust me there will probably be a few because I match it with a few other polish's ). I find this polish has a lovely texture and glides on easily. If you get the application right you could probably get away with one coat. I however always do two followed by a top coat with O.P.I top coat.
I have to say I have a very good friend who started me on this polish craze. I will add her blog link on the side Polishedmakeup44. She knows her stuff when it comes to polish and makeup. So if you are after and recommendations or want to see her comparisons on products, I highly recommend her page. Please stay tuned for future posts.
Stay cool.