4 Spring-like Beauty Products

Spring is here, the sun is starting to shine and you can now brave the outdoors without wearing a zillion layers. Well at least some of the time... To celebrate I wanted to write a blog post about some products that are perfect for this time of year. It's still too cold to break out the summer dresses but we can get into the spring mood with our make-up at least! Step one, think pink. Step two, step outside and soak up the sunshine.

Revlon Ultra HD Lipstick in 'Magnolia'

This is a peachy pink that I think is perfect for any occasion. It's a good alternative for a nude or 'my lips but better shade'. I have been reaching for the lipstick a lot lately: it's a fun colour,  isn't as boring as a nude and looks great all the time. The pigmentation is pretty good, the formula is lightweight and super creamy and the lasting power is the typical 1-2 hours. It is really comfortable and feels moisturising. It also smells really nice and sweet.

Maybelline 'Pink Me Up' Lipstick

'Pink Me Up' is a deep warm-toned pink that sits on the line between a 'bold lip' and a 'not so bold' lip - which I love because I don't like wearing bold lips. They look great on other people...just not me! This a gorgeous pink shade that I fell in love with the first time I wore it. It would be great for an evening out or with a natural smokey eye. Maybelline's lipstick formula is becoming one of my favourites and is definitely worth checking out.


Revlon Ultra HD Lip Lacquer in 'Petalite'

A new addition to Revlon's product line are these 'Ultra HD Lip Lacquers'. Expect a full review on my blog soon but meanwhile I will focus on this pretty shade called 'Petalite'. 'Petalite' is a pretty pale pink with gold shimmer. It's a pretty standard gloss - doesn't stick around for ages and isn't super pigmented BUT it is one of those glosses that you can just whack on and you're ready to go. A good shade to reach for when you want a natural looking pink lip.

OPI Nailpolish in 'Hands Off My Kielbasa'

I know this whole post has been brainwashing you to "think pink" but this nail polish leans more towards the orange-y coral side of things. But because it screams "spring" to me it had to be included. This is a super pretty peachy polish with shimmer. I feel like the polish is glowing from within - does that make sense? Gorgeous!!! It's currently on my nails and it's soooooooo pretty and really shimmery! Did I use the word 'pretty' too much whilst describing this polish?

Nyx Mega Shine Gloss in Beige - Review

The Mega Shine Lip Gloss from Nyx is the epitome of your typical gloss. If you closed your eyes and imagined what a lipgloss should be you would be imagining this gloss. This Mega Shine Gloss in 'Beige' is one talked about gloss. But don't let the name trick you, this gloss is pink not beige! I feel like every second person has mentioned it on their blog or youtube video. Naturally when I heard everybody talking about it I had to try it for myself!!! Keep reading to find out more (after the jump!)...

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 :)

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.

Sinful Colors - Bare Nail Polish Review

The Christmas Party season has come to an end, so has Christmas and New Years Eve which means it's back to work and unfortunately it also means conservative nail polishes have to start gracing some people's nails. So I have a beautiful pink polish to show today which is definitely work appropriate but not without being really pretty...introducing Sinful Colors' 'Bare'.

'Bare' is a pinky nude with a subtle micro shimmer from the Bare Necessities Collection. As always with Sinful Colors the brush was good, the formula was good and leaning towards the thicker side of things which I prefer. Drying time was (again) good and it stayed chip free for a good handful of days. Overall I was really impressed with both the colour and quality of this polish. I often find pale pink polishes to be a runny, messy and horrible to work with. But not this one!!! Yay :)

Thanks for reading and take care,
cheers.

Revlon Pink Quartz Review - Pink Duochrome

Hi guys!
Today I have a stunning and unique duochrome polish to show you. I love duochrome polishes, the way they colour shift and come in a multitude of fascinating colour combinations often leaves me staring at my nails, like a crazy lady, in different lights.But this polish goes a step further...it is a pink duochrome polish. I haven't seen many (or any?) polishes with a strong pink duochrome effect and let me tell you, I am in love!

The polish in question is Pink Quartz from the Chroma Chameleon Collection by Revlon. They are now available in Australia :) Pink Quartz shifts predominantly between pink and a golden bronze. You also sometimes get a peachy colour. The duochrome effect from this polish is magnificent, I often find that both the pink colour and either the gold or bronze colour is on my nail at the same time, which looks amazing.

The formula is good, two thick coats gives you opacity. The formula is streak-free. Wear time was good. With the Revlon Quick Dry top coat this lasted well on me and I'm tough with my hands and nails. After a couple of days of wearing this I put another layer of topcoat on and I found it nearly lasted a week which I was very happy about because I adore this polish.

So to sum it all up...a stunning pink/gold/bronze duochrome polish with a good formula that I have fallen head over heels in love with.

Cheers :)

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 :)

Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat - Wool Lite

Recently nail polish has all been about texture, whether it s feather, cement/conrete or leather-look polish, it's been hailed as the trend by many. Me? I haven't been so sure. But I decided for the sake of the blog (or at least that was my excuse, hehehe) that I would try out Sally Hansen's Fuzzy Coat polishes. I believe these are limited edition and are currently on the shelves at places like Priceline. 

Out of all the polishes in this collection I picked up Wool Lite which is a cute pale pink bar glitter (is that what you call it?) or perhaps I should call it a feather polish? I nearly picked up 'All Yearned Up' because it is a little fugly and I don't mind a fugly polish or two but I thought Wool Lite would look awesome over a brown polish. So here it is, Wool Lite over Sinful Color's Nirvana which is a lovely basic brown. This manicure reminds me of chocolate cupcakes with pink sprinkles - yummy!!!

The formula was really easy to use and these pictures show one coat of Wool Lite. All the bars dried flat and don't feel too rough so top coat isn't a must which is good for a polish like this! Overall, for what it is, it is a great polish because you don't have to waste time placing the glitters where you want them and you get a decent amount per swipe and they dry flat. The only problem I have is a personal opinion, I just don't know if I love how this looks? But as I said that's just me and if you want to try an easy "texture" polish this could be a great place to start. 

I went to IKEA and got myself a Lekaryd lamp which I hope will act as a lightbox kind of set-up for me. With these wet, overcast winter days I felt like my photographs were rapidly decreasing in quality and considering they were never very good to begin with action needed to be taken! I'm still mucking around with it but please feel free to let me know what you think about the pictures...

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great week :)

Innoxa Baby Doll - grab your sunglasses!

Hi guys, today for you I have a swatch of a beautiful polish for you. Meet 'Baby Doll' by INNOXA. It's stunningly bright except in these photos, basically imagine it being ten trillion times more flurescent and you'll be getting closer to reality......better go grab your sunglasses because here are the photographs................

I absolutely love this polish, it is a fluorescent pink polish with a beautiful subtle shimmer to it. It applied effortlessly in two coats and drying time was pleasing too. It's a lovely smooth polish however my nails are in terrible shape. They're splitting, peeling and cracked hence the ugly lines you can see in the photographs. Sorry!

 I got this as a free gift with purchase when I got my INNOXA primer during the Priceline 40% sale.

Thanks for reading and cheers :)

Grey and Pink Stripes

Hi  guys!!!! I have my first ever successful striping tape adventure to show you today. It's only an accent nail because I have a very busy week ahead and didn't want to go too over the top!!!

I had a craving (can you have a craving for nail polish????) to use 'Grey Matter" by Rimmel London even though I generally don't like it's formula. But I don't know....I just wanted to use it :) But I also wanted some colour considering it is grey, overcast and raining on and off. I decided to do an accent nail using 'Oasis' by Sinful Colors. This is the most gorgeous pink, and its coming from a person who use to say she hated pink. Well I still do for most things but I've made an exception in this case. Anyway enough rambling! '

I am actually really proud of myself because normally whenever I get the striping tape out it is an absolute disaster.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day :)

Girly Girl Challenge - Delicate and Elegant

Hi guys! I am so sorry this is two days late!!!! University is crazy at the moment and I have five major assignments due this month so I'm worked off my feet. Unfortunately that means that I don't have time to do my nails very often and when I do....it's nothing superb. Although I did find a beautiful polish in my collection that I had totally forgotten I had! The polish in question is 'Lion Around' by Essie. It is a beautiful pale pink with a pretty shimmer in it.

So the prompt for the Girly Girl challenge was "delicate and elegant" so I decided to do some stamping over Lion Around using my favourite stamper. I know, I know!!!! I am boring and this stamp features way too often on my blog but I love it! Anyway, I used 'Lilac Love' by BYS for the stamping. If you live in Australia you should definitely check out the BYS polishes. They are $4 and can be found in K-Mart and Gloss (and probably other places too!). They are great polishes, especially for the price :)

Hope you have all had a fantastic weekend,
Take Care

Girly Girly Nail Art Challenge - Think Pink

Hi guys! I don't think many people would object to Friday's being called "good" but today it is officially "Good Friday" and a public holiday - yay!!!! - so today is a super good Friday!!!!! I hope you all enjoy your  Friday and have a brilliant weekend.

Today marks the first day of the "Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge" organised by Mani's by Moore so please check out her blog and if you want more details about the challenge it is all explained :)

Today the prompt is "Think Pink - wear your favourite pink nail polish and nail art". I'm going to be honest I'm not a very girly girl and it is only recently that I have started liking pink polish. For day #1 of this challenge I have decided to show you a dotticure. I used the seriously awesome pink polish called "Oasis" by Sinful Colours and the grey polish is "Grey Matter" by Rimmel London.

I was pretty pleased with how this turned out however I am still slightly disapointed in the dotticures I have been producing. The tools are simple enough to use but I have difficulty with knowing where to place the actual dots so that they look good.........I do love this colour combo though :)

Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend!

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 - 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#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 day #9 - saran wrap

Day nine of the 31 day challenge and I have for you a purple and pink saran wrap :)

 This was the second time I used the 'saran wrap' technique and I must say I am growing rather fond of it!It is super easy, fun and there are an endless amount of colour combinations.

 The polishes I used for this manicure: essence's 'english rose' ( a beautiful subdued pink, one-coater) and revlon's 'bold sangria.

 Thanks for reading and please do check out what the participants of this challenge did!

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