It's all about the polish: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

a England She Walks With Beauty and Rainbow Honey Whimsical

Sorry I've been sick and slack on posting and I've missed a challenge day. I also didn't get around to taking photos of the bottles of these ones which I really wanted to as Rainbow Honey Whimsical is just gorgeous. It is a metallic gold green with tiny pink shimmery pieces, that have been lost with She Walks With Beauty.

She Walks With Beauty deserves a bottle shot too, so girly, soft and feminine. I do love this look and it's a very 'me' mani, something I could wear for a long time.

2 coats of Whimsical - a little on the thick side and did show brush strokes so I will add thinner next time. I can easily forgive it as it is just so so pretty.

1 coat - She walks with Beauty - just gorgeous, applied perfectly with no glitter placement needed at all.

Enjoy and check back for bottle shots :)

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Zoya PixieDust - Chyna

Finally I am able to share Zoya's PixieDust with you. I've been so excited since the first pictures started showing up online and finally I have some. I was concerned as the Liquid Sand texture was just too gritty for me. However PixieDust is just the right amount of texture for me. The Chyna is just gorgeous and much more sparkly in real life, I just couldn't get my camera to pick up the sparkles. The formula is sheer but very easy to use, drying time is a little longer than usual but as you don't add base or top coat the time to do the mani is still less than your average. The red is gorgeous and a blue toned red which is one of my favourites. Removal was a breeze and while it's not going to be a daily look for me it is a polish I will get a lot of use from.

Have a great Tuesday!

Monday, February 25, 2013

Aussie Nails Monday - Favourite Brand - Zoya

The theme for Aussie Nails Monday this week is favourite brand. Mine hands down is Zoya. Not only are they 5 free, they have an incredible formula and a huge range of colours and finishes. I haven't come across a Zoya nail polish that hasn't applied beautifully

Sometimes there are problems with Zoya shrinking when used with a fast dry top coat. This is because of a chemical called Cellulose acetate butyrate. Long name but because of Zoya's formula any base coats or top coats that contain this chemical react with Zoya. Of course most quick dry top coats contain cellulose acetate butyrate. There is a much better explanation by All Lacquered Up that you can see here.

For me I use Zoya Anchor base coat for all my mani's as I find it the best one to use. My favourite quick dry top coat is HK Girl, it does not have the same negative impact on Zoya as Seche Vite but still causes a small degree of shrinkage. The shrinkage is far more of a problem in Zoya polishes that aren't creams. For creams I can safely use HK Girl as long as I remember to wrap my tips for every coat. For the foils etc I use Zoya Anchor top coat. If I'm in a hurry I leave it to dry for about 5 minutes and then use HK girl. If it's a mani I want to last a long time I will just use the Zoya top coat and try and be patient. :)

For this look I have used the gorgeous Zoya Song, such a beautiful blue! Then I added a top coat of Zoya Gilty an 18K gold flake top coat. I find the gold doesn't ever photograph well enough to show it's true beauty. Trust me it is stunning in real life.

Happy Monday and please remember to visit the other bloggers take on Aussie Nails Monday.

Members:

Lissa’s Polish Addiction

Nail Gun XS

Marie’s Manicure Madhouse

Shatter Me Claire

A Polished Prance

Shades of Phoenix

The Epitome of Superficiality

Lacquer Dreams

NananaisNails

Enamoured With Enamel

Adelle1985 (Instagram)

JennLojko (Instagram)

Erinzi’s Nails

Lovessweetas (Instagram)

Jas’ Blingtastic Nails

Mckfresh (Instagram)

DamoJess (instagram)

Lili_Bete (Instagram)

polished_off (Instagram)

jennersx (Instagram)

thepolishedclaw (Instagram)

Julzperrinails

Nails In Oz

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Laidback Challenge - Skittle

Skittle nails started off being nails of different and bright colours - drum roll like Skittles of course :). Now a skittle mani means that every fingernail is different. For this skittle look I based it on the ring finger polish which is Femme Fatale Cosmetic's A Tisket, A Tasket.

A Tisket, A Tasket has a semi sheer white base with glitters in shades of green, teal and coral pink. It;s very soft and girly. I picked two glitter colours to use on my other nails.

For the green I chose Essie Navigate Her, I was a bit disappointed that it dried a deeper browny green than it looked in the bottle but it is still close to the glitter colour I was aiming for. The coral pink is one of my new favourite polishes, Essie Van D'Go. It's such a pretty colour and sits just on the border of being coral or pink. The lighter green stripes are Essie Absolutely Shore.

This was fun and I like it but I do wish Navigate Her was the brighter green it seemed in the bottle.

Enjoy your Sunday, nasty Monday is creeping up on us very quickly :(

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Picture Polish - Jade and Femme Fatale Cosmetics Abyssal Reflections

Yay it's green :) I do love green. The case colour is a super pretty green by Picture Polish called Jade. It applied beautifully in three coats and has a lovely shimmer to it. I like having just one accent nail, it brings a pop to the look without detracting from the gorgeous Jade colour.

The accent nail is from the fabulous Femme Fatale collection and is called Abyssal Reflections. This polish has a deep green jelly base and is packed full of hex glitter and in turquoise, teal and green. I used 2 coats over the Jade. The combination of colours is amazing and it truly sparkles on your finger tips.

Both Femme Fatale and Picture Polish are Australian.

Wishing you all a very happy weekend!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Cosmic Forces - EmilydeMolly

This new polish by EmilydeMolly is exquisite. The ingenuity of this polish is amazing and definitely has the potential to take on the amazing glitters of Deborah Lippmann. It's unique and simply stunning on your nails.

In a deep purple jelly base, the polish is saturated with gorgeous small and large round glitter, lavender hexes and small hot pink and lavender glitter. The large round holographic discs just add that extra wow factor. This is just two coats with no underneath polish and cosmic forces covered beautifully. My only gripe was that there was a little fishing for the larger pieces and they did need to be placed with the brush. However if you stand the bottle upside down before use the large pieces are easier to pick out.

It is truly a beautiful unique polish and at $9.50 a bottle it is money well spent.

EmilydeMolly can be purchased at etsy for Australians and is also available for world wide shipping at

http://shop.llarowe.com/

http://www.shoppe-eclectic.co/

http://www.norwaynails.com/

Yay it's Friday, have a great day!

Just look at those amazing glitters!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Gloss 'n' Sparkle - Unicorn Droppings Australian Indie

I just love this polish! How cute is it? It's such a fun polish, my hubby calls it the 100's and 1000's polish. The name itself Unicorn Droppings is a great description and if there was a Unicorn I think this is what it would leave behind :).

Unicorn dropping is in a white cream jelly base, filled with rainbow hex glitter and with tiny holo pieces that lead to a silver white finish. I wanted a whiter look so I applied one coat of Zoya Purity as a base. I then added two coats of Unicorn droppings and topped it off with a coat of Hk Girl top coat.

Unicorn droppings applied beautifully there was no fishing for glitter and it spread easily and evenly on it's own. Gloss 'n' Sparkle is an Australian Indie and is off top quality, there is a huge range of choice of unique colours and glitters.

Gloss 'n' Sparkle is on vacation at the moment but can be found at etsy for Australians or Shoppe Electicco for world wide shipping.

Have a great Thursday, I can see Friday from here :).

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Zoya Greens - Laid back Challenge

Today's Laid back challenge is favourite colour family. Of course mine is green and I didn't realise how many green nail polishes I had until I went to search for the right polishes for this look. Oh well I adore green and every polish is different so therefore it needs to be in my life, right? :)

I decided to go with a gradient of colours using striping tape and a Color Club silver holo - Harp on it as a base. The green colours from darkest to lightest are:

Zoya - Holly

Zoya - Ivanka

Zoya - Apple

Zoya - Meg

I really like this look, well of course because it's green but the colours really compliment each other.

Have a happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Stuck on Blue

Stuck on Blue is the name of the EmilydeMolly polish I'm wearing in this look but also seems like a good name for this mani. I'm really pleased with this one, I love it and it's very 'me'. I love the bright blue tones and the glitter.

Pointer finger - butter London Scallywag

Middle finger and pinkie - Zoya Robyn

Ring finger and thumb - EmilydeMolly Stuck on Blue

Stuck on Blue is in a gorgeous Aqua jelly base with silver and gold glitter in hex and square shapes.

EmilydeMolly is available at etsy

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Aussie nails Monday - Rainbow

This week's theme is rainbow. It was nice to have fun with colour. I'm not sure what I was aiming for with my accent ring finger but hey it's a 'different' look :)

Polishes used

Essie First Dance - red

Essie - Fear or Desire - orange

Essie - Mojito Madness - green

Essie - Azure - blue

Essence - I can't remember the name yellow