Ulta3 Triple Threat Swatch & Review

Do you ever feel like glitter nail polish always looks better in the bottle than on the nail? Well, Triple Threat by Ulta3 is positively, absolutely, an exception...yep it does look pretty freaking awesome in the bottle but it is drop dead gorgeous on the nail.

Triple Threat is a black polish with a ton of holographic, blue, red, silver and red glitters. Despite the formula being quite thin and runny the density of the glitter is perfect and it builds up really quick, 2-3 coats is plenty. I am really impressed not only with the formula of this polish but also, how it looks on the nail! One quick word though, a top coat makes it a lot smoother and shinier too :) 

So lets get onto the swatches...

I just LOVE the depth this polish has and how it sparkles, so pretty! It was tricky capturing it because it was so shiny it reflected everything...grrr...but despite the pictures this is a super smooth polish that is really sparkly. Also, I used a peel-off base coat because I can imagine this being a pain to remove but that ofcourse meant that when I went to do the clean up I couldn't get too close to the edge of my nail so these macro shots look disgusting...you honestly cannot tell in real life! Anyway, enough excuses and thanks for reading. Have a great day :)

Black Matte Glitter Accent Nail - Ulta3 Outasight

I'm not a huge glitter lover, I'll be honest, probably because it can be annoying to remove and I find it wrecks my nails...but now and then I come across a glitter I cannot say no to. I have a special place in my heart for matte glitter so a few months ago when I heard that ulta3 had released a few matte glitters I knew I needed them. So for most of the year I have been searching high and low for these polishes...finally on the weekend I found them =) YAY!!!

Anyway, I'll stop rambling and introduce you to 'Outasight' by Ulta3 which I layered over a coat of Sinful Color's 'Feeling Great'.

'Outasight' is a matte black glitter combo comprised of small circular glitters  and larger hexagonal shaped glitters. It's not a very dense glitter so you do need a minimum of two coats and I found that within each coat I had to do multiple brushes, as well as wiping the brush against the side of the bottle to try to leave as much of the clear base at possible on the side of the bottle...well worth the result though!

Overall  I am pretty pleased with 'Outasight' although I do wish it was a little more dense. I think it will look great layered over a multitude of different polishes and I'm kinda kicking myself for not getting a second bottle since it took me all year to find this one...silly me :p Also, as a side note, I want to mention that these photographs show the polish with a layer of clear quick-dry top coat, because I was inpatient and wanted to get photos before the good lighting disappeared.

Cheers :)

Meet an old favourite - Brandy Wine by Ulta3

Hi guys,
hope you are all well and have enjoyed your weekend. I had a massive backlog of photographs to sort through for the blog so I did that this weekend and I went to the homemaker center and found myself a lovely lamp for a bedside table. I'm very happy because my old one constantly fell over which was infuriating.

Anyway today I decided to paint my nails red because I haven't worn red polish for awhile. My eyes leapt immediately to 'brandy wine' by Ulta3 which is an absolutely stunning red polish and definitely my favourite red polish.

'Brandy Wine' is an absolutely stunning red polish with a strong red shimmer effect that gives the polish a nearly  metallic and super shiny effect. Words can't describe how wonderful this polish is and apparently neither can photographs because my camera refused to show the shimmer :(

I only used one coat for these photographs and honestly didn't feel the need for a second coat (which I normally do with other polishes) and drying time is great. The formula is great and there is not really anything bad I can say about it! For $2 I highly recommend this polish and it is definitely a polish that is better than other, more expensive polishes.

So there you have it, a shimmery red polish that only requires one coat and dries quickly. What more could you want? Thanks for reading :) Cheers

Green and Blue Striping Tape Nail Art

Hi guys, 

today I have some nail-art to show you. Well I say "nail-art" but it's really just an accent nail. I don't really have the time do extravagant designs on all of my nails and I think less is more.I love nail-art but I also think simplicity is stunning so I like this compromise! What do you think?

Anyway I started with one coat of Ulta3's 'Mermaid Green' which is a fantastic one-coater polish and only costs $2, bargain! Then I used some striping tape and Ulta3's 'Blue Merlin' to create the accent nail. 

I'm pretty pleased with the accent nail and love colour combo. These polishes applied effortlessly and dried quickly. Thank you all for reading and enjoy your weekend, 

cheers.

Funky French: Teal/Black

You have probably noticed that there has been an extreme lack of nail posts lately. That would be because all I seem to be doing is epic failures :( I just purchased some striping tape so I have been experimenting with that but with no luck, I still haven't been able to pull of a manicure with it that looks semi-decent. So, when I got a chip near the end of my nail with my NOTD I was exasperated. But then I had a lightbulb moment and thought FUNKY FRENCH!

The polishes I used were 'paradise valley' by MUD, a brand that I believe is exclusive to Woolworths and retails for $2. The black polish is my loyal 'Black Satin' by Ulta3.

So here I was totally thrilled with my manicure but then I took photos and my camera refused to take a single colour-accurate photo. I even snapped a few with my mobile phone camera that too refused to incorporated. So I would like to point out that this polish, 'paradise valley' is a stunningly vibrant teal.

Cheers and thanks for reading

Valentines Day Nails

Hi guys! Super quick post from me today because I am studying for exams and really shouldn't be painting my nails or reading blogs BUT I just can't help it! After seeing so many amazing valentines-day themes nails, I had to jump on the bandwagon.....

So I quickly did these after lunch and I am rather pleased with them. Last time I used the red glitter polish it had a pretty bad glitter-coverage ratio but it's gone all thick now and is a lot easier to use! You would think thick lumpy polish would be a nightmare but perhaps this is the exception to the rule?

So this is a couple of coats of Revlon's 'Mystical' which was part of their 'just tinted' range with ulta3's 'red glitter' layered on top. I might have done two or three coats of the glitter.....forgot to count!

Hope you enjoy your day and you'll be hearing from me again once my exams are over :)

31 day challenge - merge or melt - day 21

Okay I'm going to be honest I had to be do a bit of research for the "merge or melt" prompt and I'm still not 100% sure that this is technically correct but oh well. Here is my attempt,

I started with two thin coats of Revlon's Midnight Affair and then using a wooden cuticle stick dabbed on Blue Marlin by Ulta3.

Cheers

31 day challenge - favourite polish

Today for the 31 day challenge I had the very difficult task of deciding what my favourite polish is. If you don't know already, I am a very indecisive person so picking favourites is something dread! I couldn't pick one favourite polish but instead separated my polish into colours and "special effect" polishes....it made it slightly easier for me to decide that from my "special effect" polishes I love MaxFactor's 'Fantasy Fire'.

'Fantasty Fire' caused quite a buzz when it was first released but for some reason I haven't worn it much. BUT when I wear it I find it captivating. 

 Alone 'Fantasy Fire' it sheer so I usually layer it over another polish. Previously I have layered it over 'Purple Haze' a purple creme by MaxFactor but for today's challenge I decided to layer it over 'Orchid' a darker purple metallic polish by Ulta3. It gave 'Orchid' a beautiful depth and shimmered like crazy. But I just couldn't capture the flashes of colour or the 'depth' today. And to be honest I don't think I will layer it over 'Orchid' again, but still it is an amazing polish and when you witness the colour flashes you can't help but be amazed. Over 'Orchid' you get mostly a bronze-y purple shimmer and inside you get green and the bronze-y red shimmer.

If you want this polish (of course you do!) I saw it at Priceline recently for $5.95. It is a small bottle and a TINY brush but well worth it. 

I have decided to include a photo of 'Fantasy Fire' layered over 'Purple Haze' too because I think you can see it more clearly?

Layered over 'purple haze'

 GAH why do the most amazing polishes ALWAYS have to be the most difficult to capture on camera? Actually....that reminds me! I have investigating buying a new camera - mostly because of this blog. I have just been using my camera phone because my that is just what is closest to me. Do you think my photos need improvement? Please do let me know! Also, I have heard that colourful camera (e.g. purple, pink, red camera) reflect onto your nails and mess up the colour of the photos. Is this really true? 

Cheers and please check out the other participant's favourite polishes!

31 day challenge day#18 - oldest untried

Woah! We are 58.06% of the way through the 31 day challenge :)

left hand

Today the prompt was "your oldest untried" so it was a pretty easy day for me since I only have 5 polishes untried (4 of those were given to me by one of my best friends in the world for christmas) and the other I bought while christmas shopping (mostly because it was a mega-bargain). Like as if I need another purple polish!

left hand

Anyway this is 'Lilac Love' from BYS and it is a beautiful purple creme. Slightly dusty it is the perfect colour for autumn and winter and applies effortlessly. It probably could be a one-coater if you were careful but I did two coats here (no top coat) and then since I loved my dotticure from yesterday I decided to have some more fun with dots today (sorry, I know its boring. I promise - no dots tomorrow!). I actually liked the dots more on my right hand but stupid me only did one coat of 'Lilac Love' on my right hand (and it's messy) so it could look better. Also, I found it impossible to take a steady photo of my right hand!!!

right hand 

The dots were done using a wooden cuticle stick and 'Black Satin' by Ulta3.

Thanks for reading and cheers! Enjoy your weekend (can you believe it s Friday already?)
And don't forget to check what the other girls have done :)

31 day challenge day #17 - a new technique

Hi guys!!!! Hope all is well :) Today for the 31 day challenge the theme is "a technique new to you".

I love 'dotticures' but haven't got any dotting tools so I though this would be the perfect opportunity to kind-of 'make my own' dotting tools. I gathered a whole heap of pointy things from around the house and found that the two things that worked best were:

1. A wooden cuticle stick
2. A bobby pin

Well at least I think it is a wooden cuticle stick. Found it in the bathroom cabinet and goodness knows how long it has been in there - over a decade?

The bobby pin also worked but it was less reliable - the dots were not always perfect whereas with the wooden cuticle stick I found the dots to be perfect 100% of the time and it was super-easy to use!

I'm not saying this manicure is perfect or well-planned, it was just some experimentation on my behalf. And I must say I am inspired....expect to see a lot of dotticures in the future :)

I used Butter London's 'Pillar Box Red' which is a gorgeous red creme and ulta3's 'Black Satin'. I love how this turned out because at the beginning I wasn't even sure I had anything that would work as a dotting tool! My favourite finger would have to be the middle finger (done with the wooden cuticle stick) whereas the other two fingers were done with the bobby pin.

Thanks for reading :)

31 day challenge - day#10 - geometric

Hi guys, hope this finds you all well and happy!
Today I have a nail-art fail for you :( In my head this looked awesome, but it didn't pan out quite how I thought it would.....Maybe my black lines are too thick?
The one redeeming quality of this manicure (in my opinion) are the colours, most of these polishes were literally brought at the shops less than hour before I did this manicure. I just couldn't wait to try these lovelies.

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

• Endless Blue - Sinful Colors
• Timbleberry - Sinful Colors
• Black Satin - Ulta3
• Emerald - Revlon

Endless Blue and Timleberry are the lastest additions to my ever-growing collection. I also grabbed Australis' Spek-tacular and Ulta3's Lagoon. 

This manicure was inspired by a piece of artwork by Piet Mondrian. 

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day! 

Cheers :)

31 day challenge #7 - pacman nails!

Today for the 31 day challenge we had the option of doing either ombre or skittle nails. I attempted sponging ombre nails but failed miserably. I cannot sponge to save my life! I've lost count of the number of times I have attempted it. So it had to be skittle nails.....I have admired all of the 'pac man' inspired nails that are floating around the internet and decided to have a stab at them myself. So today I present to you PAC MAN NAILS!!!!

The polishes I used for this design were:

• Sinful Colors - Be Happy {minty blue}
• Essence Snow White Collection - Doc {orange}
• Essence - Meet Me Now! {fuchsia}
• Ulta3 - Black Satin {black}
• Konad white stamping polish {white for the eyes}

I am really really really happy with how these turned out and while they are not perfect I still think they look pretty damn fine for my first attempt, especially considering my lack of skill in regards to nail-art! 

Thanks for reading and please do not forget to check out the other bloggers' designs :) Cheers

31 day challenge day #5 - purple

Okay so technically it is the 6th of jan, 28 minutes past midnight....but somewhere in the world it is still the 5th so technically I'm not late for this challenge! Yay!!!!! Anyway, I will stop rambling now......

Today's theme for the 31 day challenge is purple. The first obstacle of this challenge was what polish to pick, I do love my purple polish...... I ended up using one of my favourite purple polishes, 'Orchid' by Ulta3 and 'how do you lilac it' by rimmel which is actually one of my less-liked polishes (formula is hard to work with but colour is nice). AND, I decided to try a technique I had never tried before.....here are my first saran nails (paint your nails, let them dry, paint a second colour in a different colour and while the second colour is still wet dab your nails with a ball of crinkled glad wrap).

I was quite pleased with how these turned out and look forward to trying out this technique again with different colour combinations. I'm not 100% sure if this is something I will wear out of the house a lot. Would love to know your opinion, do you think this looks wacky or trendy? Anyway, I think it looks pretty cool in picture-form at the least.

Sorry if there are any typos.....too tired to proofread and I have to wake-up early in the morning to write an essay. The plan was to have the introduction of the essay completed today but I really don't know where time goes! Also, the first paragraph took me hours. Always so hard to start writing. Once I've started I'm as good as gold and usually end up writing too much and having to cut stuff out!
Goodnight,

The NEW 31 day challenge - day#1

Hi guys, I hope you all have an amazing 2013!!!!
I've been struck down with a stomach bug so haven't been feeling too good but hopefully I can start posting again today and I will be diving into the NEW 31 day challenge!!!!

I am super excited about this new 31 day challenge although I really probably shouldn't be doing it right at this moment since I have an enormous amount of deadlines this coming fortnight and being sick and all everything is wayyyy behind schedule. I think this new version of the 31 day challenge is super fun and I can't wait to see what everybody comes up with. Day #1 is black & white so I decided to do some stamping. 

I used my favourite konad plate & konad white polish with ulta3's 'black satin' which is a wonderful one-coater that dries super quickly so was ideal for this manicure. 

Thanks for reading, have a lovely day :)