CrowsToes - Voodoo

I love surprises, so I was pretty excited to receive my first two grab bags yesterday.

For those that don't know, a grab bag is a random assortment of polishes usually sold by a polish addict who is trying to thin their collection.  You don't know what you're going to get, and that is the fun part!  I am still a relatively fledgling collector - with only around 240 polishes so far - the chances of me getting something I already have is slim.  I'm happy to say that all the polishes in the two grab bags I received did not double up to anything I already had.

Today's NOTD is the first polish I tried from my grab bags.  As soon as I saw it, I was super psyched.  My very first CrowsToes.  I have purchased another CrowsToes in a blog sale, but that is yet to make it to me (fingers crossed it arrives by the end of the week!).

I have read about and seen CrowsToes polishes in various blogs and was intrigued by their awesome glitter combinations.

Voodoo is no exception.

* again, please excuse the nubbins.  The unthinkable happened and I managed to break the ring finger nail on my right hand whilst washing my hair, so I have filed them all down and have gone back to my photographing my left hand*

Voodoo has purple, orange and green glitters in a clear base.  Application was a bit tricky.  There was a TONNE of glitter, so there was no need to fish around in the bottle.  If anything, there was probably too much glitter and I had to actually brush some of the glitter off the nail to get the look I was after.

After doing some searching online, I was tossing up between layering it over purple or orange and ended up going with purple - and I LOVE it!  I love the contrast of the orange and the purple.

The purple base I used is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Deep Purple - a deep purple with blue tones and pink/blue shimmer.  Deep Purple applied a bit sheer, so I needed three coats for full opacity.

I topped it all off with a coat of Essence Gel Look and HK Girl.

I am pretty excited to share that CrowsToes is now available through an Aussie distributor - Femme Fatale Cosmetics.  They retail for $12 and they appear to have quite a large selection of gorgeous CrowsToes polishes to choose from (plus heaps of other awesome indie brands!).

x

Pahlish Train Underwater

I am still currently hypnotised by the total awesome-sauce of this polish.

Pahlish is an American-based indie and I have read a lot about them in other nail blogs and am psyched to have received some of them in my birthday group.

As soon as I saw the bottle for Train Underwater, I knew it would be the very first Pahlish I would try and it sure did not disappoint.

I decided to layer it over OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue from the 2008 India Collection.

(please excuse the oddness of my left hand nails - I am still growing out the break in my ring finger and it is very difficult to hold and take a photo with just my left hand...)

This colour is super awesome on its own and I have worn it a few times just by itself.

Yoga-ta Get This Blue is a deep shimmery blue with purple and teal micro shimmer.  It applied like most OPIs do - flawlessly - and I ended up applying only two smooth coats.

After admiring the amazingness that is this blue, I then layered two coats of Train Underwater over the top.  As I mentioned, I loved the OPI on its own, but OMG, the addition of Train Underwater totally blew my socks off!

Train Underwater is a sheer royal blue leaning violet with medium satin turquoise hex glitters and red/pink/purple holographic teal micro glitters.  Wow.

I topped this manicure with a coat of Essence Gel Look Top Coat and a coat of HK Girl.

This combo sparkle amazingly at all angles and it definitely fuels my love of blue (and sparkly) polishes.

Pahlish has their own etsy store, however they only appear to have three polishes currently available...  I'm not sure where else you could purchase their gorgeous polishes from...  Sorry!


In other nail news, I am currently jonesing for some nail mail!  I have quite a bit of nail mail expected over the next couple of days/weeks including two grab bags, blog sale purchases (including some HTFs I've had my eye on), a small swap, a Cult Nails group buy, both the Color Club Halo Hues collections and a few polishes from the OPI Euro Centrale collection.  Yay!!

x

Classic Red and Black

Today's post is the first non-indie post in a while.  What can I say, I love me some indies!

But of course, indies are not the only polishes I own.

Today I have a stunning polish that has been sitting in my untrieds basket for quite some time.

OPI You Only Live Twice is from the 2012 Skyfall collection - the collection that I own the most polishes from, it really was a winner in all areas.

I love me a good red polish, but have never really considered it a colour I love.  However, the Skyfall collection had quite a few reds, and I managed to purchase all but one of them...

You Only Live Twice is a bright magenta packed with fuschia and gold shimmer.  I know it probably leans more towards pink, but I definitely thought it could pass as a weak red.

I thought to add some pizazz to the simplicity of the OPI, I applied small black circular studs.  Black and red is always a classic colour combination.

Unfortunately, I wasn't too sure if I liked this manicure.  After some deliberation, I thought maybe the studs were too small.  Oh well, it still looked simple, yet lovely and it wasn't something I felt the need to remove straight away.

You Only Live Twice applied awesomely.  While a wee bit sheer, it only required three coats for full opacity and like most OPIs, it wore very well with only minimal chipping and tip wear.

x

PS As you can see by the watermark on my photo, I am on instagram.  Feel free to pop by and have a look - it's not just nail photos either, it is also my personal instagram so prepare yourself to see heaps of pictures of my dog, food and shoes!

Pretty Serious - Emma Louise

Sunday is upon us again...

I am seriously thinking of campaigning for three day weekends to be the norm.  Two days just isn't enough!

Today I am showing you another absolutely GORGEOUS Aussie indie.

Pretty Serious Emma Louise is a stunning limited edition polish (which is now SOLD OUT, unfortunately).  As a gift to a friend of the creator, the friend was given the opportunity to design her own polish for which only 300 bottles were produced.  Each bottle is individually numbered and $5 from every bottle was donated to The Cancer Council of NSW.

Emma Louise is a vibrant jelly base with golden green glass flecks, purple micro glitter and purple and green hex glitter.

It applied a lot easier than I thought it would and it only needed three coats for full opacity.  Clean-up was also very easy, which I did not expect since there are so many awesome micro glitters which are notorious for sticking to your cuticles!

I absolutely loved this polish.  I am so happy that I scored this beauty in my birthday group and did not miss out.

A day after applying this polish, I decided to jazz it up a bit (more) by adding green square rhinstones that matched the green of the hex glitters - I forgot to take a picture... Sorry!

While this polish is no longer available, there are HEAPS more awesome Pretty Serious polishes available.  You can purchase them from their website for $9.95 a bottle.

I am already compiling a list of more pretties to add to my collection - I already have Liquid Leprechaun - with BSOD and Twinkling Lights very high up on my list.

x

Gloss 'n Sparkle - Edge of the World

Gee, I'm really enjoying my journey though my Aussie indie collection.

And today, I have another stunning Gloss 'n Sparkle polish to share with you.

Gloss 'n Sparkle Edge of the World is a teal green jelly with silver and aqua micro glitter; small, medium and large aqua hexes and medium and large green hexes.  Definitely a polish designed to encourage conversation!

I'm not the biggest fan of jellies, usually due to the fact that I hate polishes that you cannot get opaque in less than 4 coats (and even 4 coats is too many!).  Though I'm starting to think I may be confusing jellies with sheers...   This gorgeous polish was opaque in 3 coats and the depth the jelly creates with the glitters is quite interesting.  It's like a tropical lagoon.  So I must invest in some more squishy jellies and see if I can set my prejudices straight!

Gloss 'n Sparkle is available to Aussie girls through their etsy store.  International gals can purchase Gloss 'n Sparkle through international online distributers like Llarowe.

Here's a bonus picture, taken inside like nearly all my nail photos (the one above was my first outside nail photo, and I must do it more often as the colour is MUCH more accurate).

Until next time...

x

My latest (and short lived) manicures...

I have not had much luck with my previous two manicures.

My manicures usually last at least two days with minimal chipping and only slight tip wear.

So on Friday night I decided to paint my nails for the weekend and I dived into my untrieds basket and found a stunner of a polish that I have had for quite a while - China Glaze Stone Cold.

CG Stone Cold is from last year's Hunger Games collection and is a matte charcoal gray/black with silver shimmer.

I have mentioned before that I am not a fan of the matte look and while I originally thought I'd give it a go as a matte, I caved very early (I hadn't even left my nail room!) and decided to add top coat.

It applied flawlessly - like most China Glaze polishes - and due to its matte properties it also dried very quickly.  Unfortunately, also due to its matte properties, it also chipped very quickly.  I noticed my first chip less than 3 hours after application, and this is with a top coat and wrapping my tips!  I fixed up the teeny chip on my thumb, however by early afternoon the next day, there were some more chips and I decided I had to remove it.  Unfortunate, as this polish truly is stunning,

After removing Stone Cold I decided to choose another simple (but stunning) polish and also have a go at rhinestones.

The polish I chose is my one and only A England.  Lady of Shalott.  Another awesome gift from my birthday group.

Lady of Shalott is a blue shimmer in a blackened base with micro particles of blue and pink/purple.  It is AMAZING.

Application was fairly simple, though it wasn't as 'smooth' or 'thin' as I would have preferred and I might just add a teeny bit of thinner next time.

I loved this polish with the rhinestones, and can't wait to play with my rhinestones some more.

Unfortunately, this manicure barely lasted six hours...  A couple of hours after I had applied it, I was being lazy and putting some strappy sandals on and instead of unbuckling them like a normal person, I tried to pull them on and the polish smudged off my middle finger!  I tried to fix it but it looked lumpy and... yuck.  Then when I got home, one of my rhinestones fell off.  So this manicure was removed before I went to bed.  Bugger!

Loki's Lacquer - I'm Too Rich To Be Kidnapped!

Today we have another absolute cracker of an indie polish.

Here is the other Loki's Lacquer that has recently been added to my collection.

I'm Too Rich To Be Kidnapped has a variety of different size pink glitters in a shimmery pink base.

In this pic I have layered it over two coats of Essie Lion Around, but I reckon it would look awesome over many other colours too, such as black, purple and white.

I am super impressed with the quality of this brand of Aussie indie.  I am already scouring their etsy page trying to decide which lovelies I will add to my collection!

Loki's Lacquer is available through their etsy page, with minis retailing for $5 and full size retailing for just $9.

I highly recommend you check them out!

xx

PS For those that are wondering why my photos have been of my right hand lately, well, I have had the world's biggest break on my ring finer on my left hand.  It was growing back rather nicely (thanks Duri!), but then it broke AGAIN - like not snapped, but split/peeled right down on the smile line.  Fingers crossed Duri continues to work its magic quite quickly!

Loki's Lacquer - Omicron Persei 8

No lame titles today!

Just another absolutely ah-maze-ing Aussie indie.

This super clever Aussie label has created a whole collection inspired by the supremely funny TV cartoon, Futurama, called The Space Pilot 3000 Collection.

Omicron Persei 8 is, of course, the home planet of Lrrr.  It has a green and blue glitter base with duo-chrome properties and depending on the light, the green pigment will shine red/brown.

I was completely in awe of this polish.  I was lucky enough to receive this as one of my birthday group gifts, along with I'm Too Rich To Be Kidnapped.

Most of the swatches I have seen of this polish pair it with black undies, but I was not in a dark colour mood.  So I decided to pair it with a really light undie - OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  I am soooo happy with this combo, as while the red/brown colour shift in the green pigment wasn't as obvious, the green shimmer was, and it looked stunning no matter what light it was in.

It applied like a dream and only required two extremely easy coats.  There was also no need to dab and place the glitter where I wanted it.

Our Aussie girls sure know how to make a quality polish!

Loki's Lacquer retails for $9 and are available through their etsy store here.

Striping Tape Debut

As I mentioned a few posts back, my Born Pretty order arrived and I have lots and lost of nail art goodies to experiment with.

Last weekend, I used striping tape for the first time, by experimenting on my sister's gorgeous nails.

I was stoked with the results, and so was she!

For the base I used Nailed It! Moonlight Sparks from Sportsgirl.  A sparkly gold/green chrome.  And for the  top colour, I used Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear Blue It.

I then put a layer of Seche Vite on the base colour to speed the drying time and then applied the striping tape and top colour one nail at a time topping with SV once all the nails were done.  The striping tape was a bit tricky to work with.  It kept on breaking or stripping and then I couldn't find the end.  Oh well, I persisted and am soooooo happy with how it all turned out.  The lines were very crisp and there was no bleeding.  For a first attempt, I couldn't be more proud!

I was looking forward to attempting a striping tape manicure on myself this weekend, but unfortunately I broke a nail and had to file all of my lovingly grown nails down to the same length - that was heartbreaking, as my nails grow excruciatingly slow and I had worked so very hard to get them to the length they were at (which to be honest, was still quite short!).  So nail art experiments on myself will have to wait for a while.  Though I think a rhinestone or two might be calling my name...

xx

Midnight Date with a Mermaid

Today I have an absolute stunner of a manicure to show you.  Unfortunately, it was very hard to photograph - and yes, this time I used my Nikon, but it still didn't capture its true awesomeness.

I was very lucky to score a bottle of Sally Hansen Mermaid's Tail from their Complete Salon Manicure collection.  It is very widely regarded as a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Across The Universe.  I don't own ATU, I actually don't own any Deborah Lippmanns, but there are quite a few blogs out there that show comparisons, and I actually like Mermaid's Tale more.

I saw another blogger layered it over Essence A Date in the Moonlight and funnily enough, it is the ONLY Essence Colour and Go I own, so I decided to follow suit and do the same.

First, here's a pic of just A Date in the Moonlight.  This pic was taken on my phone, as I quickly took it before layering Mermaid's Tale on top.

A Date in the Moonlight is a gorgeous dark navy blue with a lighter blue shimmer.  Gorgeous on its own, and for less than $4, a bargain.

Now as I mentioned before, it was near impossible to capture the true beauty of this completed manicure, so I have included a few photos, hoping that you get the general idea.

Mermaid's Tale is a blue jelly with small blue glitters and blue and green hex glitters.  It applied rather nicely, but I did have to 'dab' a few glitters on, as the hex glitters appeared a bit scarce on the nail.

If you get a chance, I definitely recommend you pick this beauty up.  I scored it for only $10 from Priceline!

xx

Shades of Phoenix - Apollo

Wowza!  Do I have an absolutely stunning indie polish to show you today!

Shades of Phoenix is a brand new Aussie indie brand and all her polishes reflect Greek Mythology.  Her debut collection is full of so much sparkle and fantastic glitter and colour combinations, I can't wait to add more to my collection (I also have Aphrodite - both polishes were generously gifted to me by their creator in our birthday group).

(please excuse the smudge on my index finger - my nails were practically dry, but obviously not dry enough...)

Apollo has a yellow base with white pearl shimmer through it, matte yellow hex glitter, tiny flecks of gold glitter and two different bright orange glitters.

This polish makes me instantly feel brighter and cheerier.  Again, I am hypnotised by what is on my nails.

It applied so smoothly and the glitter spread out evenly with no need to dab or place the glitters where I wanted them.

I used undies in this pic - OPI Samoan Sands - but I don't think that was at all necessary.  I believe this polish could  be completely opaque in 2-3 coats.

Shades of Phoenix is available through etsy here (unfortunately, they only post in Oz - so international gals need to find an awesome Aussie swap buddy to score these lovelies)  and her polishes retail for $9 each.

xx

Color Club - Wink Wink Twinkle

This is my first scheduled post.  Fingers crossed it has posted when I wanted it to!

This manicure is another one of the GORGEOUS polishes I received as a part of my birthday group.  I was so completely spoilt!

I absolutely loved this polish - is there a polish I don't love?

Wink Wink Twinkle - from the Spring 2011 Starry Temptress collection - is a neon pink with HEAPS of silver glitter.

It applied fantastically.  It dried to a matte finish, which was interesting with the glittery bits.  It also dried VERY fast, most probably due to its matte properties.

I am not a fan of matte, so I shinied it up straight away with two coats of HK Girl. I loved it, and wear time was kind of good, except I did get a little chip on my thumb the next day, but I tried my very best to ignore it, as I like to wear my manicures for at least two days.

Oh, and just to show off, here is ALL the pretties I received for my birthday group month.  I scored 36 new polishes, plus heaps of fantastic little extras.  As I said before, I was VERY spoilt.

xx

I'm a Unicorn!

Hehehehe.  That little beauty in my post title was a line said by one of my six year old students on her birthday.  In the middle of a wee growl by the PE teacher, this particular little girl had her party hat on and decided to announce to the entire class that she was indeed a unicorn.  How can you stay growly after that?!

Onto the nails!

Firstly, I would like to welcome my new followers.  I was quite shocked the other day to see that I had had 50 page views in one day.  That was like 10x more page views than I normally get.  Then I remembered that I had requested to join the Gum-leaf Mafia and I had been accepted!  The Gum-leaf Mafia is a group of talented and passionate beauty bloggers, and I am honored to be accepted.

Gee, I had better pick up my game then!  Don't worry, as I mentioned in my A New Direction post from last month, I have no intention of turning my little hobby into a career.  I still don't plan to build a light box, but I am making an effort to take more nail pictures with my camera instead of my phone.

To go with today's post title, I am wearing Gloss 'n Sparkle Unicorn Droppings.  Another practically flawless Gloss 'n Sparkle polish.  It applied smoothly and I am loving the subtle shimmer in the white base.

The only issue I had with this polish is I wish I had managed to apply more multi-coloured glitter to the nail.  My pinkie and ring finger have the glitter on there, it is just hidden under the subsequent coats of polish.

I am still LOVING this polish though!

You can purchase this lovely on the Gloss 'n Sparkle etsy page.

For the international gals, it is also available from Llarowe, however, they are currently sold out of this little beauty.

A have a few more manicures to show you, but to prevent this post from being HUUUUGE, I am going to attempt to schedule some posts.  So fingers crossed I can make it work...

xx

Elevation Polish - Pic de Subenuix

The weekend is nearly over.  My first weekend since school started back and I am already wishing for long weekends!

Oh well, onto the nails!

Not to tease you or anything, but I did my first ever skittle-type manicure on Thursday night.  I used all the colours in the Wonder Woman set I got for my birthday group and then topped it with CG Golden Enchantment.  It looked pretty loud, but I quite liked it.  Unfortunately, it chipped before I could get a photo, so I will be sure to photograph it much sooner when I do it again.

So the polish I'm wearing right now is another gorgeous gift from my birthday group.  Elevation Polish Pic de Subenuix.  As soon as I unwrapped it on Friday afternoon, I knew that I wanted to put it on straight away.  I wanted to wear something that was simple to do but still looked awesome, and this polish ticked all the boxes.

Again, please excuse the craptastic photo.  I really need to stop being so lazy and pull my awesome Nikon camera out of its drawer and put it to use.

Pic de Subenuix is a blue leaning purple with blue iridescent shimmer and micro-green shimmer.

This polish is absolutely stunning.  I catch myself constantly looking at my nails at different angles just to catch a glimpse of the generous shimmer.

It applied fantastically and only required two easy coats for full opacity.  I also used my posche topcoat for the first time with this manicure and I am quite impressed - it dried super fast and is super shiny and so far only a teeny tiny bit of shrinkage at the tips and it hasn't chipped.

Elevation Polish is available here.   I'm not sure on postage though.

I got my nail art goodies the other day and am looking forward to having a bit of a play.  I'm going to experiment with striping tape this afternoon on my sister's nails.

xx