Face of Australia Dark Side Nail Polish Collection Review - Voldemort & Maleficent

Face of Australia have a new collection of polishes out called 'Dark Side' which include polishes called Voldemort, Maleficent, Ursula, The Wicked Witch, Darth Vader, Jafar and Mystiqueare. Being a huge fan of Harry Potter I had to pick up Voldemort (black and blue matte glitters) and I decided to also grab Maleficent as I thought a vampy purple might be fun for these cold winter days.

Maleficent is a very dark and vampy purple. I did two thick coats and in most lights the polish looks pretty black. I think if you only did one coat you might get more of the beautiful purple you see in the bottle. Nonetheless, the formula of the polish was good. Leaning towards the thicker side which is exactly what I like. Drying time was also pretty good considering my coats were ridiculously thick. It also dried to a very high shine. The only thing I didn't like about this polish was the brush. Comparing the brush from Maleficent to Voldemort (more on him later) the Maleficent brush is curved and twisted. I don't think it was designed like this and it made applying this polish quite tricky, and streaky for the first coat. Mine is probably just faulty and if you had a brush that wasn't faulty the polish would look a lot better. With my thick messy coats it ended up looking quite black and messy.

Voldemort is a mixture of black and blue matte glitters in a clear base and is an absolutely stunning glitter top coat. I can honestly say I no other polish in my collection like this one. Plus, unlike some glitter top coats this is quite dense. One coat gives you a complete covering of the fine glitters and then if you drag the excess polish off the brush you can easily get some of the larger glitters on your nails. No glitter placement required :) Drying time was really good and this polish was a breeze to apply. In the photos I didn't use a top coat over Voldemort. Voldemort is definitely by favourite out of the two polishes that I have from this collection <3

So in a nutshell, FOA has a new limited edition polish collection out at the moment inspired by evil villains. Maleficent is a very vampy purple polish with a good formula. Voldemort is a dense mix of blue and black matte glitters. You can grab these for $4.95 from Priceline, Big W and K-mart.

Red and White Dotticure

Hi guys, today I have a red and white dotticure to show you. The red polish is Pillar Box Red from Butter London and the white is Snow Me White from Sinful Colors.

Unfortunately I tried out a new topcoat after doing my dots and it smeared some of my dots slightly so that was a shame but I really like this colour combo and want to re-do it using a smaller dotting tool.

Thanks for reading,
cheers

Face of Australia Foxy Roxy Nail Polish Review

Hi guys,
today I am going to share with you my new love...Face of Australia's nail polishes from their core-range. I mean, we all know their limited edition polishes are brilliant...but I had never actually ventured into the polishes in their core-range. Silly me!

So anyway, I guess I should stop rambling and get on with the review!!!

Foxy Roxy is the perfect nude polish, applies effortlessly because of it's spectacular formula, only requires one coat and dries quickly.

What do they say?

Face of Australia say that their Colour Pro Nail Enamel has a 3 in 1 formula (base/colour/top coat) and dries in 60 seconds. High gloss, long-wearing and chip resistant. Application with the flat brush ensures a precision, smooth and streak-free finish.

What do I say?

The consistency of this polish is perfect in my opinion. It's leaning towards the thicker end of the continuum which makes it effortless to apply. No streaks and, the brush is a really nice flat brush. which makes application easy...no clean-up required, yay!!! Drying time was also really quick. It's also 3-free which, for me, is a really important feature of a polish. I won't use any polish that isn't 3-free! It retails for $6.95 and can be brought from places such as Priceline and K-Mart.

As you can probably already tell I really love the polish, colour and formulation wise. I definitely recommend this polish :) 

Thanks for reading, 
cheers :)

ABC Challenge: B is for...blue nails!

Hi guys! I've got another installment of the ABC Challenge for you. B is for...blue nails using my fave blue polish. If you want to join in on this challenge please feel free, there is no strict schedule but I'm personally trying to get one post done a week. The inlinkz is below...blah blah blah.

'Endless Blue' from Sinful Colors is an amazing blue polish and I absolutely love it! It's a one-coater, dries quickly and applies effortlessly. And because it was Friday afternoon and because, well I just felt like it...I added some holographic glitter on top! This was only one coat of 'Diamond Glitter Crystal' from BYS and boy is it sparkly!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was kind of ridiculous how many photographs I took of this NOTD. Generally you would think that the better the lighting the better the photgraph...yeah? But I found, after lots of frustration, it nearly turned out better when I was in darker room. What the heck? So I want to assure you this was seriously sparkly ( and therefore, awesome) but my camera fails to show you how it really looks :( Any tips for photographing holographic glitter?

And to finish on a happy note here is a picture of my dog looking at me while I was photographing my nails...she probably thinks "humans" do really weird things. Hahaha

You can grab your inlinlz code for your own blog here:
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Revlon Beguile Review

Hi guys, today I have Revlon's Beguile to show you. It is the first polish I have ever tried from their 'Brilliant Strength' series however I must confess that I did still use my usual base coat and top coat in these photos. Normally I don't put a topcoat on my nails before taking photos but you have to change things up sometimes, don't you?

Beguile is a beautiful navy blue nail polish with an absolutely stunning teal and blue shimmer to it that makes it seem like it glows from within. 

The first coat of polish was a little streaky but after two thin coats this polish is ready to go. Drying time is reasonable and the formula is easy to work with however it is important to make sure you don't have too much on the brush. If you do you could end up with a massive blob landing on your nail (talking from experience here...).

I wore Revlon's quick drying top coat over this which added depth to the polish and made it even shinier. I'm kind of like a pigeon, I love shiny polish! It lasted around two days before it started to chip from the tips however that could be because my nails are peeling and quite weak at the moment. 

I absolutely love the shimmer in this polish, it is really stunning especially how in some lights there is a shift of teal in shimmer. It is a very wearable colour and the way that it glows from within makes this polish a polish I definitely recommend buying. This polish was annoyingly difficult to photograph, especially on an overcast and rainy day. I'll give it another shot when the sun decided to shine...Maybe try clicking on the images to enlarge them? GAH!!!

Formula score: 8/10

Colour score: 9.5/10 

Overall score: 9/10

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day :)

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Hardener Review

To be honest with you I have no clue why I haven't shared this product with you before. I'm on my second or third bottle of the stuff and it has been used as a base-coat for pretty much all my nail posts for the past year or so. What am I talking about? The Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Hardener.

The Diamond Strength Hardener is 3-free and claims to prevent your nails from splitting, cracking and peeling by giving you stronger nails within 5-7 days. I use it as a base-coat when I paint my nails and find it dries quickly which is great because I don't have much patience! When using this product I do notice that my nails feels stronger and they break less :)

The only bad thing I can say about this is that it goes a bit thick and gloopy after you've had it open and been using it for around 6 months. But I don't mind because it is often on sale and I use it a minimum of two times a week anyway so the bottle is probably nearly empty by the time it starts getting thick.

So even though it's not a pretty coloured polish or a sparkling glitter I think this product deserves somebody to pat it on the back because it has served me well, acting as my base-coat for a very long time. Nobody wants stained nails, split nails and weak fragile nails do they? Well if you do, don't buy this but if you want strong, healthy nails and a good base-coat for your manicures I think you can guess what I'm about to say...
I highly recommend this Diamond Strength Hardener from Sally Hansen. It retails for $16.95 and can be found at places like Priceline and Myer.

Thanks for reading :)

omSHE Black Tulip Nail Polish Swatch / Review

Hi guys, today I have a lovely plum polish called ' Black Tulip" to show you from the Australian Brand omSHE. You can find them at Priceline and their polish retails for$9.95 and is free from DBP, Formaldehyde and Toluene.

This polish has a good formula,slightly on the thin side, that is easy to work with. It requires two coats as the first coat can be a bit streaky however this is fine because it dries pretty quick. The brush, whilst not being anything super-special, is good. The hand of the brush is really easy to hold though which means the nail polish ends up on your nails and not your skin...I know that this isn't important but how cool is the bottle? I love how it doesn't look like 'just another boring bottle'.

It's a deep purple colour that is stunning (if I do say so) and perfect for winter!I'm pretty hopeless at describing colours but it kind of reminds of eggplant (in some lights) and can also look a bit vampy in the shade.I am so glad that I picked this up because it is a lovely colour and a no-fuss polish, very easy to apply. It's also made in Australia which I think is fabulous. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend! :)

31 day challenge - inspired by a blogger

Today I wanted to bring to your attention the awesomeness of Scrangie, who has the most amazing swatches ever! If you haven't checked out her blog you seriously should click here and pay her a visit! Amazing, I tell you!

So in honour of Scrangie's consistently awesome swatches I decided to have a go at doing a perfect swatch (using my new camera which I'm still figuring out how to use ). I used two coats of Sinful Color's 'Endless Blue'. This polish applies brilliantly, dries quickly and has a lovely shiny and creamy finish. All Sinful Colors polishes are 3-free which I love!

Not perfect but passable? I hope! 

Thanks for reading and take care :)

31 day challenge - day 27 - inspired by you

Hi guys!!! Today the prompt for the 31 day challenge was "inspired by you". Now I don't particularly like skittle mani's and crackle polish isn't my favourite type of polish but this manicure which is suppose to represent me includes both! Weird huh? 

Anyway who am I? I am a student studying to be a clinical neuropsychologist, I love nail polish, handbags, shoes, books, interior decorating and I am a TV junkie. I consider myself to be a bit quirky, a bit unique, very  conscientiousness, fun ....and a bit random! And perhaps most importantly, I don't care what people think, I am who I am :) I don't believe in following trends and having to think what everybody else thinks!

 Oh and did I mention I was indecisive? I couldn't even decide what type of mani I wanted to do today!!!! I ended up doing a skittle with the following colours (and then adding OPI's 'silver shatter' ontop): Unamed polish by Solace, Timbleberry by Sinful Colors, Endless Blue by Sinful Colors and Be Happy by Sinful Colors.

These photographs are of my rarely seen right hand so apologies for the weird photos. I find it so difficult to hold the camera in my left hand!

I am really in love with how this crackle turned out. Crackle, I find, can be quite unpredictable but this crackle turned out quite awesome I think. 

Thanks for reading, take care :)

P.S --> sorry for the wonky formatting on this post. My computer just won't behave! GAH!!!!

31 day challenge day #4 - pink

Hi guys, here is the next instalment of the 31 day challenge. Today's theme is pink and as it is a stinker of a day here (predicted to be over 40 degrees Celsius)  I went simple and used my new favourite pink polish: Dancing Nails by Sinful Colors. The colour, formula and wear-time are all 10/10 for this polish and at the moment this is, without a doubt, my favourite polish my collection!

Dancing Nails is a rosy pink metallic polish. 

You can easily wear it for 3 days (no top coat) without getting chips although you might get a tiny bit of tip-wear.....depending on if you type on the computer a lot. 

Quickly popped outside to take photos but it was too sunny so the photos don't do this polish justice....I'll try and swatch it properly for you one day soon :) Yep I know, I always say my photos are terrible (and they are) but I am planning on buying a new camera soon so don't fret.....improvement is coming soon :) yay!!!!

Please don't forget to check out all of the other awesome bloggers participating in this challenge!
Cheers and take care,

Prince Charming + Tokyo Pearl

Prince Charming.....don't we all want to find our guy? Well while I am still waiting I will review the 'Prince Charming' special effect topper from the Snow White Collection by Essence. In a clear base we have small silver holographic glitters and larger hexagon-shaped blue glitters.

I have been waiting and waiting for these special effect toppers and when I finally found the Snow White Collection they had all gone but luckily I kept persevering and found the display to be re-stocked. Yay!!!! 

Also, Sinful Colors have just arrived at my local Target (I'll tell you the story later but lets just say I was SUPER EXCITED)......and when I saw 'Tokyo Pearl' I instantly knew I had to do this manicure :) So I present to you Two coats of Tokyo Pearl by Sinful Colors and a coat of Prince Charming by Essence. 

This is what Tokyo Pearl looks like on it's own.

You don't get heaps of the larger blue glitters on your nail if you apply Prince Charming normally but I actually don't really care. How I applied this polish was to swipe my nail first which got all the awesome smaller holo glitters in place and then by wiping my brush on the edge of bottle I could locate the larger glitters and place them where I wanted them. This might sound tedious but it isn't!!! And trust me....I'm no glitter over-my-head lover. 

I wanted this manicure to look like it was "snowing" the larger blue glitters and overall I must say I am rather pleased with myself *big grin*. Please feel free to let me know what you think by commenting below and/or voting in the poll. Cheers and take care.

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My first holographic polish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Um, okay yeah I am a tad over-excited but OMG OMG OMG OMG I finally have a holographic polish in my collection AND to make today even more awesome I'm going to a concert tomorrow :) Yay!!!!!!

sunlight

sunlight

sunlight

sunlight

Anyway I guess I should apologize for the excessive use of exclamation marks in this post, in advance, and stop rambling. Today I brought Butter London's Fishwife which has been described by others as a teal linear holographic polish. I'm not going to mess with that because it's pretty much spot-on. However, I would add that it's a pretty subtle teal, especially when you are inside and there is no sunlight.

As soon as I got home I painted one of my fingers and was a little disappointed but then once I actually sat down properly and painted all of my colours, experimenting with layering it over another polish too, I was much more happy. And THEN the sun came out and I was one super-excited / happy polish addict. In the sunlight this polish is AMAZING!!!!!!

On my middle finger I layered two coats of Fishwife over Essence's ' In Style' which is a dark teal polish and on my thumb I used one layer of Sportgirl's 'Love Potion' and two or three layers of Fishwife. My other fingers are purely only Fishwife. Three coats seems to eliminate any visible nail line but because this is the most expensive polish I have ever brought ($19.95) I will definitely be layering this over another polish....haven't found the perfect polish to layer it over yet but considering I only got it today I think that's totally fine!

Inside, no flash. 

I really love this polish, the colour is fantastic and the formula is really easy to work with. The formula is pretty thin but drying time is super-quick so it definitely is not an issue :) It is also 3-free which I consider to be very important and the linear holographic effect I would consider to be of moderate strength  however I have no prior experience with holographic polishes apart from admiring pictures on other people's blogs.

Outside, no flash. Sunlight

I took 150 or so photos of this polish and annoyingly a ton of them came out blurry but I did get some good photos!!! Okay so I don't feel like this post does justice to this polish at all. It is just random ramblings!!! But overall, long story cut short: Great holographic polish, formula is easy to work with and it dries quick. 

Cheers, :)

Date in the moonlight

With the new Essence polishes that were just released came a lovely navy shimmer called "date in the moonlight". This polish is a lovely navy colour with subtle blue shimmer. It is a great colour, sparkly and glossy :)

This polish which is part of the new Essence range consists of the new formula. I am really pleased with the new formula (thus far, anway). The formula wasn’t thick and wasn’t too thin, on a continuum I would probably say it is slightly leaning to towards the thin end. The formula was easy to work with and dried quickly.

With the new range also came with a new brush and bottle shape. The new bottles are larger. The old bottles were 5ml and cost $2.55, the new bottles cost $2.75 but you get 8ml. I love how the new bottles are the same colour as the polish they contain which makes them easy to find : )  The new brush is interesting to say the least…. I haven’t decided if I like it yet, it is quite wide and an unusual shape. I think I will have to use it a couple of times to decide.

Overall I really like this polish even though the shimmer wasn’t as prominent as I wanted it to be. It is a gorgeous navy polish, very versatile and dries quickly. It is best applied in two thin coats and I am definitely glad it is in my stash of polishes!!!