Top 4 Best Nail Polishes for Work

When you walk into a shop to buy nail polish you are faced with a billion choices. The bright colours are always eye-catching but not always work appropriate. 

For work, nudes and pale pinks are a safe option. I don't know if it is only me but I find it very hard to find a pale pink nail polish with a good formula - for me they are notoriously bad. If you do want a pale pink I would recommend 'Bare' from Sinful Colours. 'Bare' is a pale pink nude with micro-shimmer. For a full review on this polish click here.

The Maybelline Superstay Gel Nail Colour polish in 'Rose Poudre' could possibly be my favourite nail polish ever (I cannot believe I said that, pretty serious for somebody with 200+ polishes!). 'Rose Poudre' is a dusty pale pink. With two thin coats the polish dries quickly and looks stunning. Perfect for anybody and anywhere.

'All eyes on nudes' from Essie is a matte nail polish however I always put a glossy top coat over it. This is a great basic nude polish, there is no hint of pink here, it is a creamy beige. The formula isn't the best but the colour is great. If you have a little bit of patience when applying it and put a glossy top coat on it, it is a fabulous every day work polish.

'All tied up' from Essie is a stronger pink polish with shimmer. Out of all the polishes I've talked about here this one is definitely the least neutral. It's a darker dusty rosy pink with gold shimmer. Super pretty! For a full review of this polish, click here.

+Bonus Polish -Face of Australia Screen Siren Limited Edition 'Monroe' -  Okay so I didn't want to include this in the top 4 because it is no longer sold. But having said that, if anybody knows of a dupe please let me know! It's definitely one of my favourite ever polishes!!! The perfect nude with a slight pink undertone.

2014 - Favourite nail polishes

My favourite nail polishes of 2014!!! Writing my thesis meant I didn't have time do experiment with much nail art or tedious nail polishes this year. I wanted nail polish that was easy to apply, with a great formula, quick drying, durable and long wearing. So these nail polishes might seem a bit run of a mill but I promise you, these polishes are amazing! 

Lets begin with Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Top Coat. It gives your nails a lovely extra shine, makes your polish last longer and helps to dry your nail polish faster. I love this top coat and will definitely repurchase it. I am one of those people are very prone to ruining their freshly painted nails within minutes so this a very loved top coat.

When Revlon released their Parfumerie collection of polishes I wasn't expecting much. Could nail polish actually smell good? Yes it can!!! I was really impressed with how nice the polishes from the collection smelt, plus how the scent lingered for a couple of days. All the scents do differ though in their strength and longevity so keep that in mind...my favourite polish, scent wise is 'Apricot Nectar' which has quite a strong sweet fruity scent. Plus the polish itself is a gorgeous peachy orange colour that is super bright, nearly neon.  It has a cream finish that is vey easy to work with. 'Bordeaux' is a stunning burgundy colour with a crelly finish (cream jelly). I don't notice the scent as much on this one but still adore it for the colour alone.

You can check out my full review of 'Bordeaux' by clicking here and my full review of 'Apricot Nectar' by clicking here.

Essie's 'trophy wife' is a polish I reach for when I want something a little bit special adorning my nails. Teal is my favourite colour and not only is this polish teal but it has a metallic like formula that is very bright and makes the polish look like it is glowing. A very stunning polish that you really need to see in real life to appreciate. Photos just don't capture it's whole beauty. I went to find the link for the full review of this polish and apparently I have never reviewed it here on the blog! I am absolutely gobsmacked that I haven't reviewed it and will make sure I post a review of it in the coming week.

Inglot's 720 is a gorgeous polish that I frequently wear when I want to wear a pretty but bold colour on my nails. This is another polish that I desperately need to post a review on.

'Monroe' from Face of Australia's Screen Siren limited edition collection has been my go-to nude polish for the year.  It is a very flattering warm nude colour. With 2 coats, a decent drying time and lasting power it is a no nonsense polish that has saved me numerous times when I quickly wanted to paint my nails but needed something appropriate for meetings at university and etc.

Cheers :)

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.

Easter Dotticure

Hi guys,

Happy Easter!!!

I'm afraid this is going to be a rather chatty post so if you don't like my chattiness feel free to just look at the pictures! Anyway, onto the chat...

When I got home yesterday it was sunny so the beauty blogger in me thought it was a good opportunity to do my nails and then obviously take photos. Winter is coming and the sun is playing hide and seek behind clouds. Why do you think I decided to do a dotticure?

a) I am an expert in dotticures. 

b) I didn't want to study. 

c) I wanted to spend an inordinate amount of time doing my nails, only to ruin them. 

d) Options b and c. 

Did you guess option d? Give yourself a pat on the back because you are correct. By the time I finished my nails it was too dark for photos so I decided to take the dog for a walk (see, I really didn't want to study!). Let's just say it is a bad idea to take a dog for a walk when your nails are still drying. Then, this morning (the walk was yesterday) I decided to do a bit of a clean which only contributed to making the manicure look even more scruffy. 

You probably didn't want to know any of that so I'll move on. The polishes I used for this skittle dotticure were:

That's What I Mint from Essence (mint green). 

Apricot Nectar from Revlon (peach). 

How Do You Lilac It? from Rimmel (lilac). 

Grey Matter from Rimmel (grey, used for the dots). 

Champagne Kiss from Face of Australia (baby pink). 

Platinum from Face of Australia (matte top coat). 

I think it turned out okay considering I wasn't using my brain when I sat down and did the manicure. I love the matte effect and the combination of pastel colours. Now I need to stop procrastinating and get some study done! 

I hope you enjoy your Easter break and have a very safe Easter. 

Cheers :)

Covergirl - Wine to Five + FOA Platinum Matte Top Coat Review

'Wine to Five' from Covergirl is a gorgeous burgundy nail polish. In the polish it looks more like a raspberry shade but on the nails it definitely looks more burgundy. There is still that slight raspberry tinge to it though. 'Wine to Five' is opaque after two thin coats and dries to a shine. I don't love the formula of the Outlast Stay Brilliant nail polishes, they are very thin and I find that I apply too much which then means they take awhile to dry (even with a quick drying topcoat). But that's just because my preference is polishes with a thicker formula. In the photos the polish looks brighter and less burgundy than it does in real life.

Face of Australia currently has a limited edition range of nail polishes out at the moment called 'Screen Siren'. This range includes a matte top coat called 'Platinum'. I applied one coat of 'Platinum' over the top of 'Wine to Five'. It dries very quickly, wasn't streaky and had a good, easy to work with, formula. Unlike other matte top coats I have tried, this top coat kept my nails looking very matte for around two days before developing an extremely low shine. Nonetheless even after two days they were still noticeably matte.

I think this is the start of a matte nail obsession! 

Thanks for reading, 

cheers. 

Face of Australia Limited Editions Haul

Hi guys! A couple of days ago I went to the shops to do some errands (bills to pay...etc) and wandered into Priceline (big mistake, I know!). As always I couldn't leave empty handed and found myself walking out with a bag of Face of Australia goodies. Now, I must admit I am pretty excited about this haul...

First of all, I found the new 'Screen Siren' limited edition nail polishes on display. Around this time every year FOA releases a limited edition range of nail polishes which are always gorgeous. The 'Screen Siren' range features 4 nude polishes, a bright blue polish, orange polish and a hot pink polish and a matte top coat. Luckily they only cost $4.95 :) I picked up 'Monroe' which could possibly be my favourite nude polish ever. It's only been on my nails for an hour so I will get back to you about that! It's a very warm nude. I also picked up the matte top coat.

Secondly, there was a limited edition range called 'Glamazon' which consists of a contour and blush kit. I grabbed the contour kit which features a matte bronzer and a gorgeous pink highlighter. For $9.95 I am really looking forward to using my contour kit. I have been meaning to get into contouring, especially highlighting, and now that I have this gorgeous highlighter sitting in my drawer I am inspired.

Have a great day,
cheers :)

Pink and plum dotticure

I am absolutely hopeless at titles for blog posts that are not reviews, have you noticed?! As the rather bland title tells you this is a pink and plum dotticure. 

The pink polish is 'Champagne Kiss' from Face of Australia and the plum is 'Plums The Word' from Sally Hansen. 'Plums The Word' is a lovely autumn/winter polish if you are somebody who wants to wear darker polishes in the cooler months and vice versa. A very versatile plum polish with a great formula.

I love dotticures for a manicure that is a little different but still very easy to do and doesn't take too long.

Cheers :)

Flakie Nude Nails

In one of the many youtube videos I watched this week somebody mentioned (I can't remember who, maybe Fleur de Force?) that they were loving nude nails with glitter. This inspired me to dig out a flakie I hardly ever reach for, Revlon's 'Heavenly'. I love nude nails and thought this could be a cool combination...

Face of Australia 'Champagne Kiss' Review & Swatch

Face of Australia's 'Champagne Kiss' is a pale, baby pink that reminds me of candy floss. With a creamy formula, a lovely shine and requiring only two coats this is perfect when you want an under-stated but girly polish to adorn your nails.

Christmas Day Nails 2013

Hi guys, I am finally getting around to posting the nails I wore on Christmas Day. I wore 'Hot Fever' from Kit Cosmetics, which is a deep red based fuchsia, with Face of Australia's 'Studio 54' over the top. I think the polish looks slightly more red in the pictures, than it does in real life as well.

Part of me regretted not going with a more christmassy nail but oh well. The combination of 'Hot Fever' and 'Studio 54' looked great and 'Studio 54' is simply amazing. I have the same combo on my toe nails and I think 'Studio 54' will be gracing my toe nails with different combinations of colours all summer long.

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and are having a relaxing break. I can't believe it's been days and days since I last posted.This time of year always seems to fly and then in a blink of an eye it's all over and back to the long hard slog that uni is. Not that I'm complaining because at the end of the day if I want to get my dream job I have to get qualified first! :) 

Cheers :)

NEW!!! Limited Edition Face of Australia Glossy Lip Crayon

Face of Australia has yet another limited edition collection on their shelves at the moment. The 'Glossy Lip Crayon' in seven amazing shades. If you let your memory wander you might recall last year they released a limited edition pack of three of these lip crayons. Well they're back...and even better than before :)

Huh? You're saying...how could they be better? Well for one thing look at the amazing range of colours here. Dare I say there is a shade for everybody? Plus, they are being sold separately so you can pick and mix what colours you want rather than have to buy a pack of three when you really only want one or two of the colours. And finally, the price...at $4.95 these must be some of the best quality cheapest crayons out there. I tried out a few of the testers and they all had really good colour payoff. 

I am super excited about these (can you tell???) as I loved the original glossy lip crayons and there are definitely some new shades here that I want need!!! They would also make great stocking fillers :)

The shades are: 

• Berry Brulee (Purple berry colour)
• Jam Fancy (blue-based pink)
• Pecan Pie (pink based nude)
•  Pie A La Mode (brown)
• Raspberry Coulis (warn pink)
• Peach Parfait (orange tinged coral)
• Apple Crumble (warm red)

 Will you be picking any of these up?

Thanks for reading,
cheers

September Favourites

September has been a busy month for me, with the majority of my assignments due for the trimester falling in a two-week period my month has included sleep deprivation, running late, battling to get my essays within the word count (I always write too much, sometimes 1000 words too much) and so my favourites for this month are products  that have allowed me to get my make-up on with only 5 minutes to spare. Having said that there are a lot of products I have worn and absolutely fallen head over heels in love with!!!

I have already raved about this but, the Maybelline Pure Dream BB Cream is absolutely amazing. I was expecting the worst because bb creams never seem to do what you want but that all changed when I put this on my face. Perfect for everyday wear and when you're in a rush. I also find that this helps keep my skin under control, bonus! :) Coverage is light-medium and it lasts a good 5 hours before showing any sign of wear. 

Face of Australia's 'Foxy Roxy' polish only came home with me a couple of weeks ago but it is already one of my favourite polishes. I wrote a review on it where I raved about how awesome it was (click here to read that review). 

Another polish, I brought Revlon's 'Copper Penny' nail polish when MyChemist Warehouse had 50% off Revlon. I haven't gotten around to writing a review on this yet but there is one in works...long story cut short, it's a stunning metallic warm copper colour, formula is divine and requires only one coat. It also dries pretty quick which is great for clumsy old me.

Maybelline ColorSensational Lipstick in 'Warm Me Up' has been sitting my lipstick drawer for ages and I've barely worn it...for some reason I thought it was too bold for me. Well obviously I was off with the fairies because this is such a lovely colour, it lasts a really long time and feels super creamy. I'm going to have to write a review on this because it flew past all of my expectations. Also, there is a funny story behind this lippy. I had been watching a lot of youtube videos last week (in an attempt to avoid doing my assignments) and one of them raved about this lipstick and said how they had heard heaps of good things about it from other youtubers. I didn't even realise I had this lippy in my collection until a few days later when for some unknown reason I decicded to wear it and glanced at the name label. This couldn't be a sign that I have too many lipsticks, could it???

Burts Bees Ultra Conditioning Balm has been my go to balm for this month. I think I included it in last months favourites too so won't say too much about it. I really enjoy using this balm though.

Covergirl Lip Perfection Jumbo Gloss Balm in 275 'Mauve Twist' knocked my socks off when I first wore it. It is such a versatile colour, is surprisingly pigmented and has good lasting power. It also seems to stain the lips ever so lightly without drying them out. I feel like a broken record because I keep raving about all of these products, but it is a "favourites" post and I have discovered and used some fabulous products this month.

Schwarzkopf Hair Repair Colour Protect Express Repair Leave-in Conditioner. Late last month I went ombre and having heard that ombre was bad for my hair I picked this up in an attempt to keep my locks healthy. Don't usually look after my hair that well but I have really liked using this product (when I remember). It is really easy to use and makes my hair feel really healthy. I'm not really a "hair-care product person" so don't really know what to say...but I do like this!

Nivea Pure & Natural Facial Cleansing Wipes I'm not really a "wipe" person but I received these for free when I won them in a competition so decided to use them to take off swatches. Sometimes I will be studying and if I notice the sun peeping out from behind the clouds I rush around collecting lipsticks and whatever to swatch. Which is great until you realise your arm is covered in lipstick and you need to get rid of them before you have spread lipstick over everything...cue these wipes...They work pretty well to remove any products I've swatched that are refusing to budge. Never used them on my face though so can't say if they fulfill their purpose.

So that was what I loved for the month of September. A lot of lip products when you think about it...I think it was the month of lip products!!! It also appears that there are a lot of products I need to write reviews for. 

What have you been loving this month? 

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 :)

3 A.M.A.Z.I.N.G glitter polishes

Hi guys, if you visit my blog from time to time you might notice that I occasionally on a Monday I do a "by the numbers" post...basically I go to a random number generator and then use whatever number gets generated as inspiration for a post. This week the number generator (from random.org) spat out the number 3...so I present to you 3 awesome glitter polishes. Who doesn't love some glitter?

1. Models Prefer - Stardust $2.50
Stardust is a mixture of white and black matte glitters in different sizes and shapes in a clear base. It came in a two pack with a black cream polish that retailed for $5 from Priceline (exclusively). I really LOVE this polish because it is foolproof (don't have to mess around with placing the glitters), the glitters dry flat and it looks amazing over a ton of polishes. If you are falling head over heels with this polish run (don't walk) to your local Priceline because I know these packs are still available. Priceline also has a set of 3 lipsticks for $10 and there were other cream polish / glitter polish combinations for $5 too.

2. Face of Australia - Studio 54 $4.95
Chunky hexagonal copper glitters and a decent sprinkling of smaller copper glitters makes this polish my favourite "normal glitter" polish. It's pretty dense and I love how it looks when layered over a copper polish. I wrote a review on it back in May, click here if you want to read the review and see an excessive amount of photos of it!

3. Face of Australia - Boogie Wonderland  $4.95
Finally, we have a milky, indie reminiscent polish called, Boogie Wonderland. Although quite sheer after two or three coats you get a good amount of colour and a healthy dose of glitter. The long bar glitters don't always dry flat and like to curl up, but that can be easily fixed. Overall this is a really fun polish and again if you want to read a review of it...click here. 

Thanks for reading,
Cheers

Nail Art - Teal and gold stamping

Hi guys,
this weekend I finally got around to doing some actual nail art. For the past couple of months I've really only done boring old manicures and swatches and used the striping tape occasionally. With that in mind I pulled out my stamping stuff. I always feel like stamping is a "risk" because if done improperly you can completely stuff up your manicure and have to start all over again...but this time I think it worked out relatively well. Especially when you consider that I haven't stamped for a really long time!

I used a polish from Face of Australia's Barbados limited edition series called 'Let's Go Scuba Diving' which is absolutely gorgeous. Requiring two coats or three thinner coats, this is a really striking teal shimmer polish with heaps of depth. I used 'A Piece of Forever' to stamp.

And now I am finishing with a bit of a random picture (which I hope you enjoy). Whilst I was trecking around the backyard looking for good lighting I snapped this photo of a camellia bush which is about the bloom. It's all furry!!!

Thanks for reading, cheers :)

Studio 54 Face of Australia

Hi guys, today I am going to show you the glitter polish that changed my mind about glitter. I have admitted before that I'm not a huge glitter lover. Probably because glitter polish always looks better in the bottle than on the nail!!! But I have found a truly beautiful combo that made me love this glitter polish. You can probably tell how much I love this polish by the excessive number of photos below.....

This is Face of Australia's limited edition 'Studio 54' layered over Maybelline's 'Toffee'. It's a pretty dense glitter that applies pretty easily and dries reasonably quickly too......

I wore this on my 21st birthday when I went out for dinner with my family and I loved it! It wasn't super out-there nail art but it felt special and when the night was over I peeled it off because I used eseence's peel-off base coat which I L.O.V.E! It's so much peeling of your glitter polish, hahaha.

I want to write more about this polish and how awesome this combo looks but I don't think it is required. Just look at the pretty pictures :)

Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend,
cheers.

Boogie Wonderland Accent Nail

Hi guys,
Face of Australia has recently released their Glitterati limited edition collection of polishes. The collection consists of 4 clear-based glitters and 3 milky glitters reminiscent of indie polishes. I'm not a huge glitter lover but I don't mind an accent nail! And if you apply a peel-off base coat removal is super easy and fun too!!!!! Remember when you were a kid and you were put PVA glue over your fingers and peel it off?

Anyway, today I have for  you a manicure using Rimmel London's Grey Matter and the accent nail is Boogie Wonderland. Boogie Wonderland is amazing, I love it to bits!!!!! Maybe this is the glitter that will turn me into a glitter lover?!!!

 In a milky white base you have medium sized blue, fuchsia and orange hexagon shaped glitters as well blue and green bar glitters.

You need a couple of layers however the glitter applies relatively easy - you don't need to place the hexagon glitters however the longer bar glitters can be a little troublesome. They don't all sit perfectly flat and a couple curl up. I had one that was sticking up out of the polish but I pulled it out and it didn't mess the manicure up or anything....easy solution!

Overall I am super impressed by Boogie Wonderland. They normally retail for $4.75 at K-Mart and Priceline however I believe K-mart has $4 off all FOA products making these only 75 cents? I read this somewhere so I don't know if its right but I assume so....

Thanks for reading,
cheers

31 day challenge day #6 - favourite colour family

Day 6 of the 31 day challenge, we are 19.4% of the way there! Today's theme is 'your favourite colour family' and unlike most people I couldn't instantly think of my favourite colour....weird? I definitely have favourite colours for different things (clothes, my bedroom, notebooks...etc) and a few years ago I would have said black black black but this last year or two I have emerged from my gothic phase and have become quite friendly with colour. I love coral, teal, purple is obviously another liked colour (especially for nail polish) but yeah....finally, I decided........my favourite colour is teal. See, I told you!!! I am indecisive :)

 So I picked out two of my favourite teal polishes. For summer, Face of Australia's 'Lets go scuba diving' is a magnificient teal polish that blows me away. It is a shimmer that just glows from the inside and the shimmer gives this polish amazing depth.Also, this is a very vibrant teal colour. The only down-side is that the polish is a little difficult to work with - you have to have only a tiny bit on your brush and because it is sheer you need 3-4 coats. But once it's on, it is simply amazing and well worth it!

 

 My favourite teal polish for the winter time is more of a petrol teal called 'in style' by essence. I decided to use 'in style' for an accent nail but I kind of regret it. Don't get me wrong..... 'in style' is a fab polish and so is 'lets go scuba divinng' but they look best when worn on their own.

 What is your favourite colour?