Kiko 274

Hola chicas!

After getting back from Spain I haven't really been in the mood for nail polish much - as predicted I massacred my nails while abroad (I ripped one of my right nails off at the nail bed which was every bit as unpleasant as it sounds, although I was trying on a pair of heavily discounted Zara shorts at the time, so I think that may be karma coming to get me). Since I got back I've been repainting the kitchen, so it hasn't really seemed worth it to do my nails.

Nonetheless, here is a colour I wore while away. My boyfriend found a Kiko store near the apartment we stayed in. He did mention that he thought pointing it out to me might be a big mistake, and so it proved. Nail polishes were €2.50 each, so I went predictably ballistic. I got so many that he had to put them in his case so that I wasn't over baggage allowance. True love, ladies.

This is Kiko - a sheer platinum comprised of gold and silver foil particles. It's much more sparkly in the flesh. Sorry for the subpar photography - this was in an alleyway in southern spain!

piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2012!

It's time for piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2012, wahoo! (Some of you might have already seen these swatches before, sorry.)

What this is (as you may have gathered, from the increasing flood of piCture pOlish swatches on the blogosphere) is an event organised by Aussie brand piCture pOlish where a whole bunch of bloggers (80+!) inundate your feeds with the exciting new shades that have just been launched.

I have two pretties for you today. I was originally going to post just a couple of pictures of each, but the ladies at piCture pOlish sent me such multifaceted shades that it wouldn't do them justice. So apologies for the picspam!

First up is Mirage, an iridescent milky blue/purple duochrome shimmer over grey - you all know I'm a duo/multichrome addict! Mirage comes from the new "Collaboration Collection", which features polishes created in conjunction with various bloggers. Sara Hassan is the lady responsible for this beauty! It was inspired by a bird with beautiful plumage.

This is 2 coats swatched over a black creme. In the shade it's a very pretty soft duochrome, with light blue with a teal tinge in the middle and pale purple lurking at the edges:

At an angle, it goes a soft lavender purple, before turning into a plum purple at an extreme angle. I don't have pictures of the plum flash, because at that angle my nail was barely a sliver, but here's the lavender:

Lynnderella: Connect the Dots

Here it is, the polish that started the craze. Or almost. I remember seeing swatches of this very elusive polish on the nail board before Lynnderellas were nigh impossible to obtain (well, they're hard to get now, too, haha) but I wish and dreamed about this polish (and Snow Angel, which I do own now but ironically have never worn). Just the mix of white and black and the different glitter shapes -- it was perfect.

Now there are lots of copy cat polishes and I do own a few of them myself but this is the Original, and amazing.

You can see the hidden shimmer that it has on the huuuuge hex glitter on my pointer finger. It also looks like it's not laying flat because I messed around with it too much trying to place it, lol. Always a favorite when I wear it :)

One More Magnetic - Nails Inc Piccadilly

As promised, here is another magnetic polish! This one is from Nails Inc and instead of the typical 'wavy line' type of magnetic pattern, the magnet sold with this one makes a fishnet design!

Nails Inc Piccadilly

What I like is that the different magnets can be used with any magnetic polish - so let's say one day I'm feeling the colour and finish of Nails Inc Trafalgar Square, I can use this magnet to give it the fishnet pattern! Which I did one day and totally forgot to snap a pic. Doh.

That being said, I DO love this colour. It's somewhere between olive and gold. (NB: If you're into makeup, it reminds me of the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow called Bronze Divine. And it is divine!) I actually like this polish alone without magnetic effect perhaps more than with the magnetic effect. It's rather sparkly and therefore has a chunkier texture than the other magnetics I've tried (here and here) which makes the design less obvious and in a way, messier.

I think that's probably it for me with magnetics! I do love the three that I have, but I think I'm set for this trend. Do you own any magnetic effect polishes? Love/hate?

kittytokaren

Lynnderella: She Lived in a Swamp

Oh no, more dry skin :( another old swatch from last fall/winter. I love non-standard nail polish colors (if you haven't noticed, haha) and the color families of green and blue are at the top for me.

This very green manicure also has a bit of yellow in it and it was very sparkly and awesome, if my memory serves me correctly. I didn't layer it over any other polish, it's about 3-4 coats over Nicole by OPI: Brilliant Idea.

I love how there's a random smattering of darker and lighter glitters, giving the polish a depth like most Lynnderellas have, along with the glitter shapes! Square, hexagonal, bar, etc. It was also a very hungry glitter and needed more topcoat, haha.

Neon Hot! Essie Camera

In honour of how crazy hot it's been here in the South lately (and tons of other places), I thought I'd show you a neon. This colour captures very well the feeling I get when I walk out of my door and slam into a wall of blazing hot humidity.

Essie Camera (over OPI Alpine Snow)...

This is the only colour I picked up from the Essie Poppy Razzi (ughhhh what a name) collection. I don't wear neons on my fingers very often, but I ADORE colours like this on my toes in summer!

Do you wear neons? Tell me your favourites!

kittytokaren

Lynnderella: Cauldron Drippings

This is one pretty polish. Very Halloween-y. In fact, this swatch is from last Halloween! Notice the super dry skin :( I need to be more consistent with my moisturizing, haha, especially in the fall/winter, even if I am in the South.

I like glitter gradients, and this one is a more subtle one, and looks more amazing, in my opinion, because the glitter lays flat. The polish itself is a mishmash of orange, green and whatever else Lynnderella threw in there -- this polish had a disclaimer stating every batch would be different because it would consist of whatever leftover glitters she had.

I remember this one garnering a bit of admiration even from those who aren't into polish :) Very pretty!

Another let down - OPI Just Spotted the Lizard

I hope you guys don't mind that I share some of my "polish fails" with you. I sometimes feel like all I do is rave about polishes, and never show you the ones that don't quite make the grade, so I've dabbled in sharing the ones that look less-than-amazing on me - like Essie Navigate Her. Honestly, I usually end up taking them off and getting rid of them so quickly, I don't have time to take pics! But this one I did mull over longer, only because it was quite popular and a dupe for a MEGA popular polish. This is of course, OPI Just Spotted the Lizard...

Widely acknowledged to be a dupe for Chanel Peridot (I wouldn't know - never had it), this is a crazy interesting polish, especially in the bottle! It seems to flash green, gold or even blue in the bottle, and really is quite entrancing. However, on my nails it just seems to stay this one colour that you see in the pic above - something akin to a substance that might come out of a baby from time to time. Not cute. Maybe it's my skin, I don't know, but I pretty well hate it. I made myself wear it for a full day to see it in different lights, and it was torture.

I was a little hesitant to post my true feelings, but I figured I had to be honest!

What do YOU think of OPI Just Spotted the Lizard? Or Chanel Peridot for that matter?

kittytokaren

Matte charcoal, yes please! China Glaze Stone Cold

China Glaze Stone Cold was part of the Hunger Games collection - I haven't watched the movie or read the book, but this is the most beautiful matte charcoal polish with silvery shimmer particles. It looks like dark lead pencil, and dries super quick. I wasn't expecting to love it so much, but I do!

Annoyingly, the black matte base rubs off over a few days, and by the third day my nails were noticeably more silvery than I would've liked (if you look closely near the cuticles, you can see where cleanup has gotten rid of the darker base and left the silver shimmer behind). But a quick 10 minute touchup fixed that and it was back to gorgeous graphite glory. Definitely my favourite matte polish so far!

What's your favourite matte polish?

Lynnderella: Bibbity Bobbity Boo Blue

I'll be out of town until early August so I'll be posting up some unseen NOTD pics for the next few posts -- and they're mostly Lynnderella! I should have planned better but summer school got to me :( Federal income tax as a whole is a big bummer! But it's all done now and time for a little vacation. I'll be visiting family in Colorado, attending a wedding in New Orleans and then visiting friends in California :)

This polish is simply amazing. I layered 3-4 coats of Bibbity Bobbity Boo Blue over China Glaze: Blue Year's Eve. I love the different types of blue in the polish, and I'm glad my base color didn't mask too many of the blue glitters :)

China Glaze Harvest Moon

This polish ticks my boxes. I love bronzey colours (I find them a great neutral), I love foils, and I loved the inspiration behind the Capitol Colors collection. Indeed, when this goes live, I very much hope I'll be by a pool reading the Hunger Games books...and hopefully not covered in sunburn and insect bites, as usually happens when I go away.

That said, this sat in my polish box for ages before I reached for it. I kept meaning to, but because I knew I'd like it, it seemed like the 'safe' choice. So eventually I picked it up last night and threw it on, and I don't just like it, I love it. The flecks are very slightly different colours (a bit like LA girl Copper Alloy, which I will get better swatches of one day....) so it sparkles orange and gold in the sun. It's pretty.

Blaming this one on you guys - Essie Bikini So Teeny

Soooo...after my last post on Essie Off the Shoulder, I talked to a couple of you lovely readers in the comments about Bikini So Teeny from the same collection. I had a bunch of expiring CVS Extrabucks, and decided to pick this up on a whim - thanks to the seed planted in my brain!

And I just want to say THANK YOU! I looveeee this polish! It's the perfect sky blue. It's a colour I will only wear in spring/summer - it's a great cool contrast to the warm coral tops I've been wearing, and also offers a nice counterpoint for casual hot pink T-shirts. The formula is fantastic to apply. There is some shimmer in the bottle, but I really don't see it on the nail - which is fine, I'm a creme finish girl!

So happy about this purchase - and thanks to coupons, it only cost me a couple dollars! What's your latest purchase? Tell me how you ended up liking it!

kittytokaren

Lush Lacquer: Party Rockin

I love indie glitters, especially the ones that are a good and varied mixture. Some indies catch my eye because of that, but not all. One company that has some cool glitters is Lush Lacquer :) It's aptly named "Party Rockin" and it's definitely a party on your nails!

sunlight

 

shade

matted, in the sun

Party Rockin is made up of purple, orange, magenta, gold and light blue hexes, both large and small, with some light blue bar glitter in a blue jelly base. This is 3 or 4 coats of it by itself. It's very eye catching and really sparkly and pretty, the pictures couldn't capture it. The hex looks a tiny bit taco but it's smooth on the nail :) I have a few others from Lush Lacquer and I'll definitely be ordering more -- only thing to be aware of is the shipping time leaves something to be desired, but I've only ordered once (a while ago) so maybe that's not the norm :)

Another toned-back glitter for me! Revlon Scandalous :)

I like relatively subdued glitters, such as China Glaze Some Like It Haute, and I've found another! Lise suggested Revlon Scandalous (Lippmann Bad Romance dupe) as a toned down glitter - it's magenta glitter in a black jelly base, which really gets rid of the super shine. To my eyes, it's as blingy as a flakie topcoat, i.e. not eyecatching enough for people to comment during a serious meeting. The black base really tones it down too. This is 2 coats over a coat of black. Of course, I couldn't leave it alone, so a few days later, I did some diagonal taping and painted ulta3 Twilight Fever, a Paradoxal dupe (purple shimmer in purple-brown creme) on half:

I really like Scandalous, much more than I expected to! One of my top 5 glitters so far, for sure.

The Best Medicine - Essie Off the Shoulder

I've been feeling kind of glum lately - I couldn't go to my high school reunion and I'm stuck at home, etc etc. While polish isn't going to turn my spirits completely around, a bright pink polish the colour of Pepto Bismol might be one step in the right direction!

Essie Off the Shoulder...

Bright, shiny, and PINK! It's fun and silly and makes me giggle a bit looking at it. After all, laughter is the best medicine - right?

What polish cheers YOU up??

kittytokaren

Lynnderella: Change

Despite all the drama surrounding Lynnderella, one must admit, if you are into glitter, that she makes some beautiful polishes. I have a lot of Lynns, probably won't be able to acquire anymore, though, sadly.

A manicure that I loved a lot is a polish that I actually didn't buy first time around. I changed my mind and got it in another order (a long time ago) and so glad I did. It's Change.

China Glaze: Blonde Bombshell

For the base, I use China Glaze: Blonde Bombshell. A very very pretty and sparkly gold glitter, I loved it a lot on its own!

Incredibly sparkly!

Here it is matted. I love the random green and red glitters (you can see on ring finger). It adds a little something that's different.

Any polishes that you passed up the first time around, purchased, and then loved way more than you thought you would?

Grey glitter - Models Own Juicy Jules

I never know if it is Models Own or Models' Own. Or even Model's Own. I'm turning into the people who write into Pedants/Pedants'/Pedant's Corner in Private Eye.

Anyway, this is one coat of Juicy Jules over one coat of Illamasqua DWS. Opaque, sparkly, easy to apply and quick drying - what's not to like? DWS you've seen before - it's a great basic grey with a hint of blue. It took me ages to find Juicy Jules since it's always out of stock at Boots, but I was putting in an order for Lab Muffin - we're doing a swap, coming soon to a blog near you! - and using the 'two for you, one for me' principle I threw this in the basket as well.

OPI and Rainbow Honey layering: grey and pink

I must say, this has been my most favorite recent manicure. Of course, my favorites change often, but recently, this one. THIS ONE. It was beautiful and full of depth and glitter.

While I personally love jellies in theory, a lot of the time I don't like it on myself. But the hype of the OPI Ballet collection got to me and I got the full set and I love them! My first full manicure with the sheers is OPI: My Pointe Exactly + OPI: Pirouette My Whistle.

I think this is about 4 layers of My Pointe Exactly and 2 of Pirouette My Whistle. The glitter is so delicate and sparkles lightly, if that makes sense. I kept this manicure for about 3 days before messing with it, haha.

Rainbow Honey is another indie that makes amazing glitters. When she offered a pre-order a while ago I jumped on it and got four. I layered one of them, Hanami, on top of this mani, and it was instant love! I feel grey and pink are one of those pretty color combinations, too :)

I did two layers of Hanami and a whole bunch of top coat -- it was a hungry glitter! But so worth it. Pink hexes along with more translucent shards, translucent hex glitters and iridescent smaller glitters jam packed in a pink shimmery base. There's so much in this polish! It garnered a lot of compliments, too :D

You could still tell it was layered of a sheer/jelly base, and it all worked beautifully together.

Worth Another Shot - Essie Mint Candy Apple

Essie's Mint Candy Apple is a polish that has confused me since it's release. I bought it instantly as I'm attracted to that soft-but-bright kind of aqua colour. My sheets are a light Mint Candy Apple colour! I remember trying it that winter and it was horrific on me. I swapped it away. Spring came and I got curious, picked it up again - hideous. Swapped it away. This pattern continued a few times. (Seriously. It was not smart.) Finally I decided just to keep the bloomin' thing. I felt the moment was right and busted it out again a few days ago...lo and behold I LOVE IT. WTH.

Something must have snapped in me, or the weather is right for it, or some strange voodoo is at work... It doesn't seem to make my hands look red anymore (less so in reality than in this picture actually!) and it's the perfect shade of mint green to pop against my 'brightpastel' summer wardrobe.

I'm still confused by this polish. I'm half convinced I will hate it again the next time I try it, but for now, we're in love...

What do YOU think of Essie Mint Candy Apple??

kittytokaren

Zoya & Sally Hansen: turquoise, white and gold

I'm not especially great at picking favorites at anything, from type of food or color or beverage... but I think in terms of color family, turquoise may be my favorite. But of course, that depends on my mood.

Zoya always has great promos and I pick up the lemmings I have every chance I can when there is a deal or two... and one of the colors I got a little bit ago was Zoya Wednesday. I looove the color, but I can't just have a creme by itself, which is obvious in my NOTDs, haha.

When Sally Hansen: White Veil was released, I knew I wanted it, but when I found it at Walgreen's, I couldn't buy it then :( So I had to pass it by. And then it was gone! Fast forward a few weeks later, I run into CVS for Red Bull (staple of any student's study diet) and I find one! I grab it, perfect, love it, mine!

I have my newer polishes in a rack near my computer desk (where I spend most of my time when I'm home) and I stared at it after putting on Wednesday and saw it. And decided to combine it, and it was so pretty! I love white and translucent white glitter.

sunlight

shade

So so pretty! No problem with the Zoya formula, if I recall correctly, about 2-3 coats and 2 coats of White Veil. :) Gold always goes well with turquoise and the translucent glitter adds a bit of depth.

What colors do you like White Veil over?

Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Ahh, the multichrome glory of Fantasy Fire! I've had this one sitting in my collection for a while now, just waiting to be tried, but I couldn't find good underwear for it. Luckily as I was browsing through Gloss the other day, BYS Matte Royal Blue caught my eye. It's a very bold, inky blue - a girl I work with grabbed my hands mid-conversation to marvel at how blue they were! It dries matte, but not very matte, like anodised aluminium.

3 coats of Matte Royal Blue, 1 coat of Fantasy Fire and Insta-Dri anti-chip topcoat:

So nommy! I love that it's not super super sparkly, like Orly Space Cadet, but it's still gorgeous and eyecatching. I kept this one on for a week with just a bit of tipwear, and I was NOT gentle on my fingers - Insta-Dri anti-chip topcoat is amazing, period.

Here's a different angle, where you can see the green:

I took heaps of pictures but unfortunately most of them turned out blurry. But that just gives me an excuse to put it on again, right? :D

A jelly sandwich

It's been raining endlessly in the UK. I've scheduled this in advance since I'll be away for a fortnight in July toasting myself in Spain, from which I'll likely return with ravaged nails and freckles so I am trying to schedule as many posts as I can for that time.

Still, imagine this as being weather appropriate to drizzly England, not sunny Spain. This is Illamasqua raindrops sandwiched between OPI Last Friday Night which I got in a swap on MUA and am a little bit obsessed with. It is super sheer so I'm thinking of layering it over one of my other blues, maybe Illamasqua Caress or CG Frostbite. It would look amazing over a blue jelly, but I don't think I have any.

Playfully Purple - Essie Play Date

I love the colour purple. Oddly enough though, I don't own or like many purple polishes! I wear purple clothes all the time, but someone on my nails it's not my jam. I surprised myself by getting a summery purple craving so I ran to CVS and picked this little guy up - Essie Play Date:

I think it's a fun, punchy colour for summer that is a nice change from coral or hot pink! I liked it even better on my toes - I've worn it twice as a pedi so far this summer. Play Date is an adorable name and I think an equally adorable polish.

Are you purple polish person? Any recommendations for me?

kittytokaren

Having a go at gradients

This is my first go at a gradient manicure. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to pick a colour - marine green/bright teal - that doesn't photograph well. So you'll have to imagine this 'tip' colour as much more saturated and awesome and therefore the gradient as much more visible and contrasty.

I used the nailsaurus' tutorial (if you don't read her blog, you should, it's awesome) and a piece of kitchen sponge. In future I'd use a better/less hole-y sponge because I think the texture is a bit too obvious. I used Ilamasqua Nudge as the base with Nails Inc Warwick Way for the gradient. I only used two coats of Nudge for the base when really, it needed three (I assumed the sponging would cover up any gaps, but it didn't really). Overall I was pleased and I'll definitely try it again - although it does use quite a lot of polish so I think I'll stick with shades I don't mind using up!

Super Patriotic -- red, white, and blue :)

I like doing theme nails around a holiday or an occasion -- kind of gives me more focus on what kind of manicure I want to do next, something that has actually gotten increasingly more difficult as I acquire more and more nail polishes. I've slowed down on buying the mainstream brands but the indies have captured my wallet lately, haha. So much for slowing down, always something new in the nail polish world... anyway!

And so, here is July 4th, Independence Day. I managed to do a couple of manicures that pertain to July 4th, but I'm also including the nails I did for Memorial Day, as the color scheme is the same :)

red creme: OPI Vodka & Caviar
aquamarine glitter: Lynnderella Thank Blue!
red glitter: LA Girl Glitter Addict: Animate

red creme: OPI Vodka & Caviar
aquamarine glitter: Lynnderella Thank Blue!
red glitter: LA Girl Glitter Addict: Animate
darker blue glitter: LA Girl Glitter Addict Jostle
silver glitter: LA Girl GLitter Addict Explosion

the never seen right hand! my test hand, looks cool though :)

blue: China Glaze Dorothy Who?
white glitter (can't really see, but): Omega Labs Crystal Mix

my official Independence Day manicure :)
Striping tape used to outline the star

blue: China Glaze Dorothy Who?
white glitter (can't really see, but): Omega Labs Crystal Mix
red glitter: LA Girl Glitter Addict: Animate
darker blue glitter: LA Girl Glitter Addict Jostle

and my Memorial Day nails, inspired by Polish & Pearls
blue glitter: Pure Ice: Strapless
white: China Glaze: Snow
red creme: OPI: Got the Blues for the Red
red glitter: LA Girl Glitter Addict: Animate
silver: OPI: Crown Me Already!

So, did you do an Independence Day inspired manicure?