I've been lazy........again

I have been slack with my blogging for the past few weeks, so I do apologize for that! With class, homework (which although doesn't have due dates, I feel very behind as classmates hand their work books up), gym and nails my life has been hectic lately!

Anyway, I did mean to post these last week, I wore them on Friday! ( I also have manis from earlier last week to show you :S ) These are Sally Hansen Nail Strips in Groove. My first time with nail strips, and I did not enjoy it...

Left top/Right bottom - in sunlight

Left bottom/Right top - indoors

As you can see, they are totally different colours in different light... and I don't think that was intended. Neither 'shade' show the true colour, it's about halfway between these.


Applying them, frankly, was a bitch. You can see that my pinky isn't covered properly. Thats because I struggled to put them on, and the only one that was left that would fit my nail was that one lol. I did manage to ruin a few, at least 4 I think! They're very fiddly, I couldn't get them to stay down, they peeled, and I don't think I would wear them again. They were also really bad to remove. Sticky and goopy and annoyingly time consuming.

The only good things about them were that I loved the colour, I really did, and that I didn't have to wait for them to dry. Though I did sub-consciously keep thinking that my polish was wet lol!

I usually love everything I post, so this is hard for me to publish. But, its my honest opinion and experience, I'm sure others have had different. I would love to hear of some good experiences though, so feel free to share!

Until next time

♥ Bec

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CQ Golden Green

Something non-holo! Nice change, huh? I realised that a fair chunk of my untrieds pile were for my Secret Valentines package (which I have found out came from the lovely Emma) so I decided to start swatching them!

This is CQ's Golden Green. CQ is a new brand to me, and I got a great first impression with this baby! Golden Green, while not having an original name, it has the best descriptive name possible. It's a yellow based olive shimmer, which looks like it could be a duochrome, but I'm not sure! If there is any colour change, it's a very slight one.

That said, it is lovely. I'm quite fond of this colour. And I love the shape of the bottle, almost like an oval cylinder... hard to describe really. Very unique though. The formula was a dream too, applied like butter, dried quickly, 2 coat opacity, and the brush was fantastic.

 I do have one question though, WHY do we not have polishes like this in Australia?!

My Love Affair With Nubar Continues...

...but don't tell my other polishes! ;)

Another day, another Nubar. And, another holo. I've come to realise I have a big addiction to holos atm. And I just picked 4 up today. And another should be arriving this week. I can't help myself, they're too pretty!

So meet Nubar Reclaim.  Part of the 'Going Green' collection that came out in 2009. Frankly, green is my favourite colour, but Reclaim is the only colour from the collection I HAD to have, when I had the option to get as many as I wanted on Friday.

It's a very pigmented, very GREEN linear holo. I know it sounds odd to say that its 'very green,' but it really is like no other green I've got. You can even see in these two pictures alone that its a different shade in different lights. The first picture was taken at about 12pm, the second at 6pm.

The holo effect in it is very strong too. Even in my kitchen I could see it. Again, as holos do, it dried quickly and was opaque in two coats. Though instead of the 'flat' finish that some holos have, this one is SO SHINY! I have no base or top coat on, and it still looks amazing! Super smooth too...

So, another fantastic holo. I have 4 more holos to show you, but I have a rather large collection of untried polish at the moment, so no more holos! At least for a few days... And  I may have just bought another... and I have one of the new A-England's due any day too!

Until next time!

Cookies and Cream?

I've been surrounded by delicious looking nails lately! And these are no exception! Not to mention, I've had an ice cream craving since doing these on friday!

Nubar Black Polka Dots. My new favourite glitter! (sorry other glitters!) It's black micro glitter with larger black hexagonal glitter in a clear base (though you really can't tell from the jar).

See? It looks murky grey, not clear! It looks densely packed with glitter, but I found it a bit hard to manage. Mainly the hexagonal glitters, they didn't come off the brush as well as I had hoped. All the bigger glitter kinda ended up at the tips, so i dabbed the brush onto my nails to get a few more.

I also used two coats (under 2 coats of Ulta3 Lily White), and it still seems a bit sparse. All that aside, I do love the way it looks, black glitter is new to me (I'm a bit behind) and I love the idea of it.

I also topped my ring finger off with a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic, just to see what its like. And I can't really see a difference!

You can see in this pic, but its hard to see in person!

All bad things aside, I really love my Black Polka Dots, I think I need the white one too!

Making up for a lost week!

Hello there Ladies (and Gents ;p)

It's been a hectic week for me! One post since Sunday?! UGH, so not like me! So, prepare for an epic catch up! It's now 11:35pm friday night, what better time to catch up?

As some of my beloved readers may know, I have just started a course to become a qualified Nail Technician. Only had two classes so far, but I'm loving it! This week we learnt how to do 'proper' salon style mains, complete with arm massage. It's a lot to take in, but very fun! I had to grab a quick pic of my work, on a classmate.

I was also asked by a friend to do some nails for a photoshoot on Thursday. I haven't seen any photos yet, but she was amazing enough to take one for me!

I love them! I used; CG Turned Up Turqoise, OPI Zom-Body To Love, Orly Androgynie, CG Cosmic and KleanColor Holo Green.

I had a few etsy orders too, so I've spent some time on them, I am SO in love with Milani One Coat Glitter!





And lastly, I must show you one of the perks of my Nail Tech course, wholesale priced polishes! A friend took me to one of the stockists today, where all they sell is Nubar, for very cheap! I was stunned at the range, there were even some extremely hard to find discontinued ones, like Nubar Peacock Feathers! Ugh so gorgeous. I was a little strapped on cash today though, so I only grabbed three, but they were three of my most sort after Nubars!

Nubar Reclaim, Black Polka Dots and Peacock Feathers. Cost me $18 all up, which is less than what one jar of Peacock Feathers would cost online! Not bad huh?

DS Extravagance

I love OPI's DS range. Granted, I will never own most of them (I can't justify spending more than $20 per jar, no matter how good!) but the few I can get, I will. I have 2 now, DS Coronation and this one. DS Extravagance.

Gorgeous, isn't it? A rich purple leaning on the pink side, with scattered holo throughout. I think I prefer scattered holo over linear, but that could be because I only have one linear! (Remind me to show you that one!)

The application on this, like Coronation, was perfect. I know bloggers say it a lot, but this really applied like butter. So smooth, so easy. I love OPIs brush, it's perfect for my nails.

Two coats was all it needed to be opaque, and I used OPI Ridge Filler (best base coat ever!) as a base, and Ulta3's Non-Chip top coat, and luckily this is not a holo that dulls with top coat.

All in all, another great holo, really loving the options available with polish these days.

...and look at the (obligatory) blurry photo. Taste the rainbow!

I feel pretty...

And with this beauty, could you blame me?!

Outdoors, direct sunlight

Yes, my one and only Lynnderella! I've had her for a few weeks now, and have only JUST plucked up the courage to use her.


Very Pretty Vampire is a wine red sheer base, packed with black, red and burgundy glitter, in a range of sizes and shapes. It's a very complex polish, and would make for a great layering polish, but i wanted to try it on its own.

Bottle shots, direct sunlight

This polish takes a bit of work though. Because of all the glitter, making it a bit chunky, its a little hard to apply, nothing terrible though. It dries a little gritty, a good top coat or two wouldn't hurt. I needed 3 costs to get it opaque, but I did grab a photo to show you the differences between layers...

  One coat over black or red would look fantastic!

Epic Close Up!

I'm loving this polish, definitely worth the wait, and lives up to the hype! Lynnderellas can be found at  Llarowe and are $15 per jar.

Galax-E (pic heavy!)

I am SO excited about this post! I won a giveaway (my very first!) from Pretty & Polished last month and part of the prize was one of her Frankens, Galax-E.  I'd been eyeing off a few of her polishes on her etsy too, so that was a bonus! I totally need to buy a few more (I'm looking at you, Martian Salad!)

Galax-E is a black, jelly-ish base PACKED with silver and holographic glitter. It is, essentially, a galaxy on your nails. And boy, is it AMAZING! I wear a lot of black, both nails and clothes, and this has become an instant classic! Application was perfect, went on smoothly, and didn't dry gritty at all. In my pictures, I have 3 coats, and a coat of top coat. I could have gotten away with 2 but I've gotten into a habit of doing 3.

I adore Galax-E, I really do. I think I'm going to need to order another bottle soon! Now, onto the pics, shall we? They were all taken in direct sunlight, and I did (as usual) include a few blurry shots, to show off the awesome holo effect!

 

Glow In The Dark French

I am such a kid at heart. I love glow in the dark stuff. So I was bored, and sitting around, looking for a mani idea and saw OPI's Zom-body To Love and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green with Envy sitting next to each other. I love this combo, And if it weren't for me messing them up while doing the dishes, I'd be wearing it still...

I started off with the Green With Envy french tip style. Just one coat on each nail, then when it dried, I added 2 coats of Zom-body to Love and voila! Funky (and glowing!) French mani! I'm a big fan of unusual french manis, and this is very 'Spring' to me!

 Outdoors, in direct sunlight

Outdoors, direct sunlight

Outdoors, shade

Quick NOTD!

This is the result of a gorgeous polish that is too sheer. The base coat, Wet n Wilds Fast Dry 'Everybody Loves Redmond'. I LOVE the colour, it's an orangey red, but its a very sheer jelly. I'm wearing 4 coats and theres still visible nail line, so I decided to spruce it up a bit, first by leopard printing one nail, then adding french style tips to the hand. I like it, its funky!

Milani Hi-Tech (pic heavy)

Green. Holo. Two of my favourite words EVER and when you put them together, I almost pee my pants with excitement. And I nearly did with this one! Milani Hi-Tech from the 3d Holographic range. A bright green with yellow tinges with a scattered holo effect.

unfortunately, no sun today! 

The holo effect is MUCH stronger than my pics show, as it's cloudy as all hell today, but sitting indoors under a light I cannot stop staring! 

  This is 3 coats, but it would make an awesome layering polish too. 

It's funny, I almost paid $15 for this on ebay, and then got it in my Valentines Nail Mail... I really need to hunt down the rest of them though, this is an amazing polish from start to finish. Application was perfect, it dried quickly, was easy to apply and I needed very little cleanup.

blurry, indoors, with flash

Look at the rainbow in the last pic! I really wish holos were easier to capture!


So, what other polishes from this collection are worth having?

Valentines Nail Mail!

I LOVE getting nail mail! It's really the only mail I get, and I've been getting it a lot lately...

I'm in a polish group on facebook, PolishAholics Anonymous (PaA) and we recently did a Secret Valentine swap, similar to secret santa, but with polish! And I recieved my package yesterday! I'm not sure who it was from though, she really kept it 'Secret!'

She REALLY spoilt me! I got Milani Red Sparkle, Milani Hi-tech (OMFG!!!!!), Scherer Zodiac, WnW Everybody loves Redmond, scherer golden green and WnW Sparked, and lots of candy (which the bf ate most of)

So a HUGE thank you to my mystery valentine, I love you!

China Glaze - Flying Dragon

Oh how I love this one. I am SUCH a sucker for any purples by China Glaze. I also needed something pretty to perk up my bad mood about having to have shorter nails for my nail tech course. And this had done the trick!

This is the '2nd version' of Flying Dragon, the 'original' came out as a part of the 2008 Ink Collection and was a more purplier (it's a word, I swear!), darker purple, whereas this one is more magenta, more red toned.

The glitter in this is subtle, but gorgeous. It has small pink glitter and some blue glitter. Its a combination I haven't seen before, and have nothing like.

close up bottle shot. 

Application on this was okay, the brush seemed a little smaller than my other CG's. I used 3 coats, and like most CG neons, it dried semi matte, but I really don't like how it looks matte (which is odd for me) so in these photos I've used top coat.

But it is a pretty polish, definitely one for any purple lovers out there!

Dupe-y Goodness!

Picked up a polish today that I'd been umming and ahhing over for a few months now, Ulta 3 Twilight Fever. The main reason I wanted it is because it's a dupe for Chanel Paradoxal, and the other Chanel dupe, Revlon Perplex.

Its a pretty mousy gray/purple shimmer, almost duo-chromey, and it is just GORGEOUS.

 I used 3 coats, formula was a bit thin, i thought it would be a sheer polish, but it built up well on the second coat. I did need a third coat though, as I had a few bald spots.

So I finally decided to snag it today, can't say no to such a pretty polish, especially for only $2! And they always seem to have multiple jars too!

What do you think? I don't own either the Chanel or Revlon, the Chanel is at LEAST $20 here, and Revlons are around $17 here, so a $2 alternative is fantastic!

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

Man I love this colour. Its neon, shimmery, matte, eyecatching and a true turquoise. I got it opaque in 2 coats, it applied well and dried quickly.

I made an accent nail by putting a layer of top coat over my ring finger, I think I prefer it glossy.

NOTD - Holo Goodness! (pic heavy!)

Can I just tell you now how good blog sales are? I’ve managed to snag some amazing polishes through them and this is no exception!

What I have here is Nubar Gem with an accent nail of a holo gold franken I was sent as an added bonus, both from the lovely Carli at Vintage Musings of a Modern Pinup.

Just look at Nubar Gem. Isn’t it AMAZING?! 3 Coats, and no top coat. The gold holo is just one coat, which rocks! Nubar Gem is a part of the Prism collection, and is a taupe base which sometimes looks a bit purple, almost duo-chromey, packed with densely scattered holo. 

The gold holo, just labelled "magnetic holo", is gorgeous as well, and i'm not a huge fan of gold! The holo is not as strong as in the Nubar, but it is definitely there. it's more linear than the Nubar as well, and it looks nice alongside the Nubar. I also think that it would make a good stamping polish, if i can ever master the art of stamping LOL!

And a couple of blurry shots to show off the awesome holo-ness!