... Celestial Cosmetics - LE February 2014 ...

The fantastic Nicki over at Celestial Cosmetics has made a limited edition polish for February and it's gorgeous! It's simply called LE February 2014 and it's a stunner! As you can tell from the name, it's a limited edition and it's only available from Celestial during February, so if this grabs your fancy, get on it this week before it's gone forever!!!

It's an awesome chocolately brown scattered holo. Mmmmm Chocolate! *homer drool* I think it's a fantastic colour and the holo appears extremely bright.  All these swatches are 2 coats with top coat in full sun.

The closest colour I can find in my collection is Emily de Mollys Ground Control but they are definitely not the same shade of brown and then there's the fact that the EdM is a linear holo.  I always love finding a shade of holo that I don't already own! YAY!

And because I couldn't resist ... DOMO!!!!

I thought he suited this fantastic colour and I thought of him as soon as I put it on. I've reverse stamped the domo outline from the excellent FUN 11 plate. So simple and so effective! LOVE!

So, if this grabbed your attention, get yourself over to Celestial Cosmetics now and get yourself one of these beauties! If you are outside of Australia and want one desperately, please email Nicki or myself and I'm sure we can work something out for you!

Polishes were provided for review but all opinions, Aussie humour and dodgy photography are my own!

... Aussie Nails Monday - Birthday ...

Right-o ... I signed up for a series in hope that I will get motivated. I really enjoy having a set plan of what to blog about otherwise I just procrastinate my blogging time away on Pinterest!

Today "Aussie Nails Monday" is Birthdays!! And this was great timing as my youngest "Mr I-just-turned-6" had a birthday party on the weekend [pics about that will be coming soon as I've been asked a bit about it!!]

He wanted a dress up party and his friends to come as their favourite movie characters.  I ended up just going as someone from Josie and the Pussycats as it's easy to find some cat ears and a long tail.

So here are my nails that I made up to match my "ears" - as you can tell I took these after the party which is why they are looking pretty ragged and feral.

I painted with Ulta 3 Lily white stamped with Face of Australia Molten Metallics in Bronze and as I was pressed for time I used the Bundle Monster BM221 plate for the design.

I tried to double stamp the middle finger but yeah - lesson learnt there. Still looked ok though.

Oh and here is me - one super tired mumma with super bloated puffy face thanks to wisdom teeth!

** Other Aussie Nail Monday Blogs to Visit **

Lissas Polish Addiction

Nail Gun XS

Marie’s Manicure Madhouse
Tales From The Makeup Bag
Shatter Me Claire
A Polished Prance
Tee Bee’s Nails
The Epitome of Superficiality
Lacquer Dreams
NananaisNails
Enamoured With Enamel
Pretty Polish Please
Adelle1985
Kelly's Kolors
Polished Peripherals

Nicki!!
Every Little Polish
All Things Charmed
Mel My Issta
Walk In My Eyeshadow
JennLojko
The Polish Haven
Nails In The Desert
Erinzi
Strawbrie

... Essence Sun Club - 05 BBC Golden Sands ...

Essence Sun Club - 05 BBC Golden Sands

Purchased from Target - $3.50 AUD

Woohoo! Lucky last!  This is Golden Sands and if you buy the whole collection this one stands out straight away. Mainly because the other 4 polishes are all cremes while this is definitely a foil.  I'm torn on whether it was a good or bad marketing ploy to have 1 totally different as I love the fact it's so beautiful but I don't like the fact that it's so different from the other 4. I love the fact that it stands out but I don't like how it looks out of place. Ah - the never ending cycle.

So this is 3 coats of Golden Sands and it's a gorgeous metallic brown with brown glitter and there appears to be a handful of gold flakes included. The name of this polish definitely fits though. Golden Sands. Mmmmm Beach!

Photo sourced from Google Images - http://www.virtualbay.co.nz

As the other polishes it dried quickly but being a foil it likes to show any nail imperfections. If you have bad ridges a ridge filler would be the way to go underneath. Also removal is not as easy as the cremes due to those little flakes that like to cling to the nail.

** Final Verdict **
This a beautiful foil. A fantastic colour that screams beach and definitely reflects summer. I can see that this is going to be a well worn colour for me ... well if summer decides to return *looks outside at overcast weather*

... OPI - DS Classic ...

OPI - DS Classic

Gifted from Jamie

 I recently came into possession of a few OPI DS polishes - and they are so lovely. The first one I've tried is DS Classic which really is a classic neutral polish ... but with extra holo goodness!

It's a beautiful warm brown with a scattered holographic surprise and the colour is just gorgeous. This is 3 coats and I found it dried quick and without any unsightly bits. It also dries super smooth - hoorah!

Neutral Indoors

Scattered bling outside

** Final Verdict **

When I go back to work this is going to be a favourite polish. Seriously. It is just so cool and neutral inside but it's so beautiful in the sun when you least expect it.

... Orly - Chocolate Martini stamping ...

Hi all. I'm still feeling poorly but on the mend. Here is some stamping on Orly Chocolate Martini that I put up yesterday. I actually wasn't impressed with how this turned out when I did it but I had a lot of comments that I will definitely try this Konad plate again on a plain base and also the copper/black combo reminds me of Tigers so I'll have to do something with that in the future.

Konad Plate - m83

Stamping Polish - Rimmel 60 second 800 Black out

Thanks for all the comments and everything while I've been unwell - it's really been appreciated to know that people out there care and that I'm missed.

... Orly - Chocolate Martini ...

Howdy readers. I'm still not well so there will be another few days of randoms coming your way. I'm praying I'm well by the weekend as I've got a big one planned but until then I'm trying to rest up [well as much as you can with 2 active kiddies] and unless I can pull my finger out and decide what to wear for said occasion I'll be resorting to the never fail flakies for my nails ... especially as I've just had to file them down short again.

Orly - Chocolate Martini

Purchased from Carrig Chemists - $7.95 AUD

I'll start off by saying - I was so so so so excited to see bottles of Orly in the shops near me. Even if they were only the mini bottles. Now I'm sure any overseas readers are currently having a coronary at the thought of paying $8 for a mini Orly. Luckily this gem found it's way into the $2 bargain bin ... fantastic.

I wouldn't describe this colour as "Chocolate" ... maybe a caramel ... mmmm caramel. But in all honesty it's a copper colour and it's bright and definitely got a shimmer too it. This is 2 coats of fun and it applied quickly and easily, no lumps or bumps and it dried quickly. The downside was that I started to get tip wear on this before 24 hours - bummer as it's such a pretty colour.

[Ewwww - hand of wrinkles!!]

** Final Verdict **

It's a happy and bright colour that is easy to apply with no hiccups. I do want to retry in the future to see if the tip wear was a one off or if it's constant. I ended up doing some Konading on this colour and had a lot of comments on it but I'll leave that for tomorrow as I'm not sure I'll be back on my feet properly by then.

... Chemistry 241 ...

Chemistry 241

Purchased from Essential Distribution - $4.70 AUD

Here's another fab polish from Chemistry. I really need to get my butt down to the warehouse and get some more gems. This is 241 which is a lovely green duochrome that turns to a fantastic brown. I've actually been quite taken with this one and worn it for the past 2 days. It's pretty without being totally in your face.

As with all the other Chemistry polishes I've reviewed this one is fast drying and has no lumps or bumps. It does however have slight streaking if you coat on too thick but I didn't find it overly annoying or anything [and I'm generally pretty picky!] It's also pretty chip resistant without a top coat!

So here are some swatches - I'm actually trying out a different camera so hopefully they come out ok.

Looking bright green

 

Starting to turn brown

Hello brown *waves*

** Final Verdict **

I'm a fan of this one and it's going into my "wear again" pile - I like the green. I like the colour shift to brown. It's just a nice subtle polish - score!

... Ulta 3 - Twilight Fever ...

Firstly - I've made a "Oz Polish" tab up the top with a list of brands that are available in Australia ... just to show that there is more to Australian polishes than Glitter Gal [which is amazing don't get me wrong]. If there is anything you want to me to get swatching let me know - what I have is listed up the top on the "Stash" tab ... I'll be trying to swatch at least 1 of each type listed on the Oz Polish page in the coming days/weeks! Aussie gals - if I'm missing any off that list please let me know!

C xxxx

Ulta 3 - Twilight Fever

Purchased from Carrig Chemists - $2.25 AUD

I'd been meaning to get this polish for like forever - even since I'd read about it being the dupe for Chanel Paradoxal ... but I kept forgetting about it or when I did remember I wasn't able to locate it in the Ulta3 bins. I made a point of making this the first polish I could buy after my no buy finished [next on the list is Inglot! I'll be there Friday stocking up on Flakie goodness]

For those not in the know it's a brown polish with exciting flashes of purple that appear! As like any of the other Ulta3 polishes I own it easily dries quickly and smoothly with no lumps or bumps or bubbles - this is a fantastic polish that you could use 1 coat for if you wanted too. I love easy polishes that are everything that you expect it to be.

** Final Verdict **

I don't have the Chanel to compare it too but I've seen enough via google images and other peoples swatches to know it's the dupe and for just over $2 it's definitely in my budget!!! Oh yeah!!

... Glitter Gal - Copper ...

Glitter Gal - Copper 3D Holographic

Purchased from GlitterGal - $11.95

I promised that I would swatch a few more Glitter Gal polishes so I thought I'd do a Glitter Gal weekend for you guys - they'll be another one tomorrow. This one is "Copper" and yes the Glitter Gal bottles are smaller than most but they definitely make up for that with the WOW that comes with it.

Copper is a light brown colour with that fantastic holographic effect thrown in for fun! It's streak free and fast drying and unlike a lot of other holographic polishes I've tried out - this one is fine with a top coat and doesn't seem to loose it's shiny properties.

This is a single coat [yes it doesn't take much to sparkle] over two coats what's fast becoming my favourite nude Nfu.Oh 23

Inside with no light

I got up super early to take this pic for you! My house is generally well lit so I had to get in before the sun did!  Without light directly on it, well as you can see it's still a bright colour and you can see a little bit of the glittery holographics coming through. It's a nice enough colour on it's own.

Under artificial light

Sparkle sparkle!!! Look at that rainbow of awesomeness radiating out the bottle! *drools*

In the sunlight ... kinda

As close as I'm going to get to sunlight today - it's winter and cloudy out there! One day I'll learn to photograph holos better.

** Final Verdict **

If you like holos then get your hands on some Glitter Gals - I believe there is an eBay stockist in the states who will supply worldwide. I don't mind this colour - it's nice and subtle indoors and you could really get away with wearing it for work as long as you don't work near a lot of bright lights!! 

... Chemistry 523 ...

Chemistry 523

Essential Beauty / Essential Distribution - AUD$11.95

As requested today by Kitties26 from More Nail Polish -  it's Chemistry 523 in all it's glory - well if you ignore the kids Shampoo bottle in the background! Whoops. 523 is a multichrome that shifts from dark brown to bright copper to burnt orange to shiny gold - like all of the multichromes it's very pretty and mesmerising.

First things first - this is shown over my super favourite nude Nfu.Oh23 but I'm sure it would look fantastic layered over black aswell. Unfortunately this one streaks and took ages to dry [so excuse the smudged finger] but the colour goodness definitely made up for that.

Apologies in advance for the dodgy photography - I like to hope that one day I'll be fantastic at capturing these in their awesomeness. My poor pinky finger has decided today not to photograph nicely *sad*

** Final Verdict **

If you ignore the streaks and everything this is a fantastic polish like all the others in the Chemistry/Ozotic/Artform range. I tried to Google to see if there is another multichrome brown to gold but it wasn't bringing up much success with the keywords I was using.

If anyone else has a request for something I have in my stash please ask! I'm more than happy to help out!

... Inglot O2M Breathable 627 ...

Inglot O2M Breathable 627

Brought from Inglot Cosmetics - $21.00 AUD

The correct title for this post should be "the most expensive polish I've ever brought so far". I'm quickly learning that depending on where you live in the world there is a different opinion on what expensive polish is. While there cheaper polishes in Australia majority of the bigger brands are expensive - OPI is around $20 here, Revlon is around $15. I definitely didn't walk into that store expecting to buy this at all - I just got sucked in to the hype.

This polish is from their O2M Breathable range ... which supposedly according to the sales chick is supposed to make it last longer and chip free and be better for my nails? I'll believe it when I see it!

Now on the whole - it's a pretty brown colour with shimmer through it but ... it's rather sheer. I needed 3 coats to totally cover my nails but on the plus side it's not streaky and dries quickly.

I decided to put this to what I consider the Ultimate Test ... I go swimming at the local public pool once a week and it's hell on my nails! I'm yet to have any polish survive an hour in the toxic chlorine wastepool since I started this blog. It's hard not to put your hands in the water while swimming laps and generally I end up leaving nail polish behind when I go [which I'm sure is disgusting for the next person]

Here is a pretty swatch taken 24 hours before I went to the swimming pool [Note the only top coat I've used is Sally Hansen Insta-Dry]

[excuse the unsightly skin around my middle finger - I've caught it at some stage *sad]

And here is the after picture. To be honest I'm quite impressed - only one finger suffered a slight chip which was the middle on my right hand on the tip. Generally every finger ends up with some damage and half my manicure left behind.

I'm going to come back and review this one on longevity at some stage as I know some people like their polish to last the entire working week - I just need to wait for some pool free time to be able to test this properly.

** Final Verdict **
This polish is easy to wear, easy to apply and easy on the eyes ... too bad it's not easy on the bank balance. I'm not sure if I'm entirely sold on the "breathable" part but I will come back to this polish as I really want to see how many days I can make it last before making a final call on it.