Fantasy Fire - layering option #4

Savvy - Pink Lady (on its own):

PUP over top of Savvy - Pink Lady

This combo is also a fave of mine, but yet again, PUP is a little shy and does not want to photograph properly.  Naughty little minx!


NN

On Sale

30 days of fashion means Priceline are having a similar sale . . . here is their latest catalogue - on sale from 30 August to 10 September.  There is also a Father's Day catalogue (Father's Day is 2 September, i.e. THIS SUNDAY!!).

NN

Fantasy Fire - layering option #3

PUP over China Glaze's Frostbite (this is my fav so far):


Without flash

Outside:





PUP's not loving the camera, but that's OK - I got to see her sparkling away on my fingers.  I think it's so much nicer on top of blue polish.


Stay tuned for more PUP combos.


NN

BYS Colour Change

I admit, when I first saw that these colour-change polishes were available, I was sceptical. But, being the marketer's dream that I am, I still bought a couple.


What didn't help was the fact that when I tried them out on one hand to take photo for this blog, they didn't really seem to respond to my body heat.  Fail.  Or was it?


Despondent, I tucked them away behind my more preferred polishes . . . until today when I decided I would give them another chance.  But it wasn't until I was washing the spuds for dinner that the magic started to happen.  I must have cold hands because under the warm/hot water, the colour change started to happen.

I have run two of my fingers under the hot tap to reproduce these photos and show the difference between the normal, in the bottle colour, and the "heated"colour (the lighter colour is the result of heat being applied).


My hands must also have warmed up since then, as while typing this, my nails are all a light purple shade.  Cool (or warm, as the case may be).


This shade is Glitter Purple.  I also have Blue (which is really green - or teal at best), which I will swatch and post soon - look out for it.

NN

Fantasy Fire - layering option #2

PUP over top of L.A. Colors - Morning Glory:

In the second pic, you can see the red-orange-green shift ever so slightly, but mostly, this combo shined red on the dark blue/purple base of Morning Glory as evidenced in the first pic.


Next!


NN

Fantasy Fire - layering option #1

My first colour combo using Max Factor's Fantasy Fire (aka Pretend Unicorn Pee (PUP for short)) as the topcoat, and The Face Shop's Face It - BK901 as the bottom coat:

The photos were taken in artificial light and with flash, so they're not showing how spectacular PUP really is.  I'll try and take some tomorrow in the sun.  It's just so much better outside!

On top of the black-ish base, PUP flashes from red to orange to yellow to green.  Fabulous!  I had to hide my hands at work today because every time I got them out, I stared at my pretty nails for the longest time.

I can't wait to try PUP over top of a blue and purple base!

NN

Unicorn dupe

Recently, I wrote a post about Unicorn Pee, and it's expensive and elusive nature.

Along with the copious information on the interwebs regarding Clarins 230, there is also mention of Max Factor's dupe, Fantasy Fire.  Until recently, Fantasy Fire was not available in Australia, only in the UK.  But guess what?  On a lunchtime stroll into Priceline, guess what I found . . .

Thank you, Max Factor.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

If you Google image search Unicorn Pee, you will find many comparisons between the original Clarins 230 and Max Factor's Fantasy Fire.  Yes, 230 is superior to Fantasy Fire in colour, but 230 doesn't cost $6 and isn't available to buy over the counter.  So there!

I'm happy with my purchase, and now I need to find just the right colour to wear as the base coat colour (as this baby works better layered over top of something else).  Any suggestions?

I'll post my trials here soon.  Keep an eye out.

NN

Unicorn waste?

There are countless posts and pictures on the interwebs about "Unicorn Pee" and "Unicorn Puke". For clarification's sake, Pee came before Puke. Puke was inspired by Pee. 

Because I am not rich, and will not (yet) pay that much money* for one tiny bottle of Pee polish, I thought that I might try to mimic the magic by using the current stash I own. So far, I have not been able to recreate the elusive rainbow in a bottle, but my commitment making this happen, remains.  If I get close, I will be sure to post the results.  Heck, even if I don't get close, I'll post the results.

In the meantime, I will admire (read: stalk) the pretty pictures of those who just shelled out and bought it.  It made me wonder, though, what makes a polish special/coveted? Availability? Price?  Your thoughts?

*  EBay: results for Clarins 230

NN

L.A. Colours

I recently found a massive stash of these polishes at a $2 store in Hurstville. I rifled and clawed my way through that bin and could easily have taken home 20 different colours, but I was good, and only came away with four (for now . . . ):

Power outage.  Unfortunately, I could not reproduce in the photo above the lovely blue flecks this polish has :-(

Cactus.  Again, the photo doesn't do this justice.

Aztec Orange

Pacific Blue


All had a nice formula, nice brush, the polishes dried fairly quickly, and the colours are so bold.  Very impressive!


NN

Crackles: Foiled

I now am the proud owner of three OPI polishes.  BUT, I only recently got them, AND only because they were five bucks each, NOT $20!!!  So, I still stick by my refusal to not pay the big bucks for the polishes with the big names.  HA!


OK, now that's off my chest, I discovered there are some colour combos that the crackles just don't work with:


Rimmel - Instyle Coral with OPI - Blue Shatter

And some colour combos that are ok:


Bourjois - Fuchsia Hype with OPI - Turquoise Shatter

But what I've discovered, is that they look really, really good on top of foils:

Base coat:  Ulta3 - Lollypop Lilac


Pinky:  OPI - Blue Shatter; Ring:  Turquoise Shatter; Middle:  Blue Shatter; Index:  Pink Shatter; Thumb:  Turquoise Shatter. 


And check this out:


Max Factor Nailfinity - Angel Nails with OPI - Pink Shatter over top.  Rockin' that crackle!

 You could even say it was "crack-a-licious" (**groans**).


NN

White & Blackground

I was interested to see what a few of my glitter polishes would look like atop a white or black base colour.  Here are the results.

Base Coat:  Ulta - Lily White


Thumb:  Ulta3 - Confetti; Index:  Jordana - Bronze Fest; Middle:  Essence - Choose Me; Ring:  Essence - Space Queen; Pinky:  Gold Glam

Base coat:  Rimmel - Black Out


Thumb: Ulta3 - Confetti; Index: Jordana - Bronze Fest; Middle: Essence - Choose Me; Ring: Essence - Space Queen; Pinky: Gold Glam


For me, the black base was the clear winner.  I also really liked the look of Space Queen and Confetti on the black base so much that I combined them on my thumb nail.

Now I'm ready to go disco dancin'!


NN

Dupes #1

As usually happens when your NP collection gets to a reasonable size, I've noticed I'm starting to get a few duplicates.


So, I thought I would share these with you - can you tell the difference?


Models Prefer - Skinny Leg Jean and Savvy - Flaming Blue are both mid-dark blue polishes with a deep green flecked/shimmer on top:

Index (Finger): Skinny Leg Jean

Middle: Savvy - Flaming Blue

Ring: Skinny Leg Jean

Pinky: Flaming Blue


Orly - Gorgeous and Perma Nail No. 22 are shimmery fushia polishes with a slight blue tinge. This is a sentimental one for me as No. 22 was the colour I wore on my nails when I got married (and I also celebrated my wedding anniversary this week just passed):

Index: No. 22

Middle: Gorgeous

Ring: No. 22

Pinky: Gorgeous



Rimmel - Blue My Mind and Essence - Passion for Fashion are mid-dark purple polishes, and even though the Rimmel is named "Blue", it's definitely more in the purple category:

Index: Blue My Mind

Middle: Passion for Fashion

Ring: Blue My Mind

Pinky: Passion for Fashion



Sally Hansen - Flirt and Savvy - Sangria are both dark maroon shimmer polishes:

Index: Sangria

Middle: Flirt

Ring: Sangria

Pinky: Flirt


China Glaze - Sexy in the City and The Face Shop - BL602 are both aqua-blue shimmer polishes:

Index:  BL602

Middle:  Sexy in the City

Ring:  BL02

Pinky:  Sexy in the City


Some of these were tricky to photograph, and some only showed a difference in shade when the flash was used, but they're all pretty similar in colour and formula.  Only price would be the defining factor.  I bought every polish above for under $5, except for China Glaze's Sexy in the City.

Some would say that shelling out for a top-notch polish is a must, but when you're changing them as often as I do, I don't see much point in spending anything substantial (which is also why I haven't yet bought any OPI's).  Whats more, if you find a colour you just absolutely love in a more expensive brand, chances are that a less expensive brand has attempted to copy it. 

NN

Mani of the week

I have so many NP's now that I'm starting to notice patterns of colours, similarities and dupes. So much so, that I'm making an effort to be more selective about the new NP's I purchase. What I'm looking for now is something I new, something completely different to what I already have.

I reckon Missha's HRG01 is that "something different":


With flash:

Without flash:

I have seen it written on a few other blogs that this is "supposedly"a dupe for Chanel's Peridot (a very very expensive, pretty freaky NP that I want, but just can't justify spending the money on). But it's not. I reckon it's better.

These pics just don't do it justice. You may not know, but I'm not a big fan of green as a colour. But when I saw this in store, I new it was just so different from anything I had seen before, and that I had to have it. The best part is that it throws a blue around the edges (see the with flash pic above).

I discovered Sydney's Missha store one day when treking through the QVB. I don't know how long it's been there, but I'm so glad I found it. A happy accident, let's call it.

I also got a holographic brown NP, JBR01, which is also very pretty:


Soft focus (to show the pretty colours):

With flash:

Good wide brush for application and the formula is nice and smooth - you only really need two coats with both of these colours.  Check 'em out here.



NN

Spicks & Specks Marathon

I am a late-comer to the Spicks and Specks phenomenon (for all that don’t know, Spicks and Specks is an Australian music trivia quiz show). The final series ended in 2011, and it wasn’t until earlier this year that I saw my first full episode. But I was hooked! Music trivia is a secret passion of mine and so I’m happy that I get to see a music trivia show again (I used to watch Face the Music in NZ in the ‘90’s and loved that).

Anyway, this weekend just gone, in an effort to clear my HDD to record the Olympic closing ceremony, I watched 25 episodes! Phew! So entertaining and educational at the same time. Such a shame that the show has ended, but hooray for re-runs!

Aussie comedian Adam Hills is the host, along with Myf Warhurst and Kiwi actor Alan Brough as the team captains.  And there's not just music trivia - it's pretty freakin' hilarious too.  There are often repeat appearances by comedians, the standouts being Stephen K. Amos, Denise Scott, Hamish Blake and Scott Edgar from Tripod. 

For Aussies, Spicks and Specks is showing on the ABC (ABC2 I think?).  Check your program guides.

A crappy mani - what to do?

Recently, I tried out Essence's Where's the Party.  In the bottle, it has a purple base and throws a slight greeny tinge.  On my nails, however, it turns out it's just a really weak pearly purple and no green to be seen.  Bleugh. 

Okay, so it's only a little 5ml bottle which was super cheap, but I hate waste, and I couldn't be bothered starting all over again with a different colour, so what to do?

Crackle.

I coated the mediocre pukle with Sally Hansen's Crackle Overcoat in Antiqued Gold and et voila, mani saved :-D . . . until tomorrow when I do have time to change it!


Without flash (W/O F):

With flash (WF):

NN


PS - As mentioned in my post yesterday, I changed my mind about Where Is The Party.  It's not so bad.  But I still like the gold over the purple - something about those regal colours.

Mani of the week

This one gets the mani of the week, not because it was a spectacular colour combo, but because those thems there are purple. glitter.  hearts.  Jordana's Lilac Hearts (if you're being particular) over top of Savvy's Mint Julep.

Apologies for the quality of the nails/pic - this is after a day of thrashing my fingers at the office AND the pic is of my right hand, aka, the bad hand.  Bad because I have very bad eczema all over my hand and fingers (lord knows why).  Sorry!  My left hand (aka my good hand) had been extra thrashed that day and so there was a bit of chipping, making it not ideal for photo duty.

Anyway, Lilac Hearts is a cute, clear gel-based holo glitter, with the addition of the lilac hearts.  Mint Julep is a creme . . . I thought they might work well together, and they did!





NN

Heartbreaker

Contrary to how the name sounds, Orly's Heartbreaker is spectacular.

After two coats it was still not quite opaque, so I thought I'd leave it at two, however, I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  Initially when I acquired it, I thought it was another shimmery red, but oh contrare, it is a shimmery burnt orange, and very very pretty.  Summery even.

The formula and brush were great (like all Orly NP's).  The only thing that I didn't like was that it seemed to really show up the scratches and bumps as the day went on.  That might have been because I was doing housework and my nails copped it, but no, it didn't last well.

Despite that, I rully rully likes it.

NN

Colour throwing

Originally, I had planned to do a post on how to fix a crappy mani using Essence's Where Is The Party as the example crappy choice of NP.

When I initially applied it a month or so ago, I was very disappointed.  In the bottle, it pretended to be a duo-chrome purple/green shimmer.  However, one coat in/on, it turned out to be a weak, even dusty purple shimmer and I thought . . . what's so special about that?  And more importantly, where did the green go?

At the time, I was so annoyed, that I didn't bother with any subsequent coats, and just applied my Sally Hansen - Antiqued Gold crackle over top, the end result of which I was quite happy about.  Although, I forgot to take a photo (dammit).

In an effort to complete and publish the post I had originally written, I decided to reapply Where Is The Party to replicate the previous conditions.  But something had changed.  Or maybe it didn't and two coats are all that this polish needed?

Don't get me wrong, most of the time in artificial light, the colour is mainly that dusty purple I spoke of earlier, but true to the bottle, if you catch the nails in a certain light, you can see the green.  YAY!

Unfortunately, my camera doesn't show the color throwing, but it does differentiate between the two colours with and without the use of the flash:

With flash:

Without flash:

Needless to say, I've changed my mind about this one.  Neat trick, Essence!  And for all those wanting to see what it looks like with the gold crackle over top, stay tuned.  Pics to follow soon.

NN

Gothic Glitz

Recently, I have been wearing a lot of black on my nails (can't get enough of it), and those of you who know me will go, "oh, not black again!" because that's my staple colour (or absence of light for all you art buffs) for what I wear. It's also my second favourite "colour" behind blue.

But black, or dark colours are great to wear on thine fingers if you have short nails, like moi!  Thout shall not wear long talons and dark nails.  No no no no no.

As a spin on plain black, I have also been wearing colours that are almost black, Like Sally Hansen's - Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear - Flirt. This choice was inspired by the fourth season of True Blood that I'm currently watching.  I lurve this colour - it's like crimson, but doesn't cross over into the dark plum territory.  It looks like bottled blood (I'm guessing!!).

I also have China Glaze's - Lubu Heels (to satisfy my glitter fetish). China Glaze also have a fully red one called Ruby Pumps, and my guess is that this is a different take on that, but instead has a black base with the red glitter (which is very subtle).

Revlon's - Black Star has a slight shimmer in it. I picked up this bottle REALLY cheaply, and I don't know whether it was because it is discontinued (I haven't been able to clarify that), but it is just heaven to apply, and once dried, just beautiful and a silk-like finish. Really! I can not recommend it enough!

Australis' Nail Colour 62238/Black was a surprising one.  Nice formula, and when applied sparkles away. Once dried, the sparkles settle down to be more suble, but the finish is nice and smooth and shiny.  I will have to properly check it out in sunlight because it may throw a few other colours by the looks of it (difficult to see under artificial light).  Impressive.

The Face Shop's - Face It - Black (I can't read the foreign text, so "Black" will do) is almost like Lubu Heels, but with a bluey/greeny glittery shimmer through it.  In the bottle, it "throws" blue, green and purple, but the purple seems have disappeared once applied.

And altogether:

Thumb:  Australis' Nail Colour 62238/Black;

Fingers L-R:  Lubu Heels, Face It - Black, Flirt, Black Star

These colours are freakin' awesome!

NN

Olympic (nail) fashions

Are you loving the Olympics?  I am!  Whilst I can't stay up all night to watch (I have to work!), I do get to see some events after work, and before bed.

On a more important (ahem) topic, nail art is popular this London Olympics with the female competitors, and I have found a few online articles here, here, here, and here which showcase some designs.  Apparently there is a Minx nail salon in the Olympic village!  How cool is that!!

You, too, can get into the Olympic spirit by ordering some Minx Olympic Collection nails here.

GO [insert the country here that you cheer for]!   ;-)

NN

On Sale #3

Priceline's new catalogue here from 2-13 August 2012.  Some good deals in this one!

NN