Friday 31 October 2014

Nine Realms by Crowstoes : Vanaheim

Hello Ladies :)  Tonight we're continuing with the incredible 9 Realms collection by Crowstoes.  Tonight's offering is a simply astonishing polish - "Vanaheim".  In Norse Mythology, Vanaheim is the home of the Vanir, an ancient breed of sorcerer gods.  I don't know much about that, but I think there might be some sorcery involved in the making of this polish...

Vanaheim by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - artificial light
Vanaheim by Crowstoes  - artificial light
Vanaheim is a glittering fusion of emerald, gold, bronze, and tiny flecks of sky blue.  I'm at a bit of a loss to describe the finish of this one - its predominantly made up of tiny foil glitter particles, suspended in an emerald base, and this makes it a duochrome.  In some swatches here (like the above), you can see this clearly coming across as a deep metallic shimmer, and in others the foil glitter finish is dominant.  However you choose to describe it the effect is simply stunning and this is one of my favourite polishes of the whole year.  For me, this polish was like the skin of a magnificent dragon, the green and gold combined with the iridescent glitter would be perfect as dragon skin.   

Dragon skin
In these swatches I'm wearing two coats over my usual NE base and beneath a generous layer of HK Girl topcoat.  The finish was totally smooth, no bumpy lumps on this dragon.  Application, formula and wear time were also all top notch as you'd expect from Crowstoes.

Vanaheim by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - artificial light


Vanaheim by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - artificial light
Vanaheim by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - artificial light
In these swatches (above) you can see the deep emerald shade that dominates in direct lighting (top), and the burnished olive gold (bottom) that appears in side-on lighting conditions.  I really love this antique gold shade, I find that a lot more interesting than a straight gold shade and it works beautifully in transition with the emerald.

Vanaheim by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - natural light

Vanaheim by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - natural light
Vanaheim by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - natural light
The swatches above and below here show this shade in natural light, which is quite different and equally lovely.  The green is a bright jewel tone that really pops on the nail, and the gold is a much deeper bronze.  This was one of those polishes that I just couldn't keep my eyes off, and I was really sorry to remove.  Usually when I try a new shade I stop noticing it so much after a few days and I'm excited to try the next shade in my untried pile.   But with Vanaheim I could have quite happily gone straight back to it.

Vanaheim by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - natural light
Vanaheim by Crowstoes - natural light
I seem to say quite often on here that I'm not really a green person, and it is one of the least represented colours in my stash, but all the greens I post about I then say I really like.  I still don't think I'm a green person, but I think I like the right kind of green, and Vanaheim certainly fits the bill.

Vanaheim by Crowstoes - 9 Realms

Vanaheim by Crowstoes - 9 Realms

I bought my bottle for £10.25 from Rainbow Connection (link in the suppliers page) and I'm really glad I did.  This was my 'wildcard' polish to make my total high enough to qualify for the cheap postage rate and it ended up being my favourite of the bunch.  Vanaheim and Huginn and Muninn would be my two top picks for the collection.

Sunday 26 October 2014

Nine Realms by Crowstoes : Huginn and Muninn

Hello Ladies! Tonight I have a real treat of a polish to share with you, from a collection that is one of my absolute favourites of 2014 and in fact, ever.  There are two standout collections for me this year - the Picture Polish LE duochromes, and the 9 Realms collection by Crowstoes.  As a brand, Crowstoes stand head and shoulders above the rest for me.  The creativity behind each collection is just on a whole other level, so any new collection is something to get excited about, and boy did I get excited about this one!   Over the next few posts I'll be sharing with you all the polishes I picked up, and I'm starting with my favourite: Huginn and Muninn.

Art Credit: Jarnsaxe@DeviantArt
The 9 Realms collection is inspired by Norse mythology. In Norse legend, Huginn ('thought') and Muninn ('memory') are the raven avatars of the god Odin, they flew throughout the world and brought knowledge back to Odin.  The polish of the same name is a stunning multichrome in shades of royal purple, forest green and earthy brown:

Huginn and Muninn by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - natural light (shade)
Huginn and Muninn by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - natural light (shade)
Pictured here I'm wearing two thin coats over black, but from swatches I've seen you can achieve the same effect with three coats and no undies. The colour combination on this is strikingly beautiful, and quite unlike any other multichrome in my collection.  The green and purple complement each other beautifully, and the combination really drew to my mind the image of a mystical forest with dark green shade and purple autumn leaves, and the beady eye of a raven peering out from the canopy:

Art Credit: Ninjatic@DeviantArt
The multichrome effect is most apparent in natural light and shade.  Under artificial lighting one colour tends to dominate, depending on the direction of the light relative to the nail surface:

Huginn and Muninn by Crowstoes - 9 Realms
Upper Row and Lower Left: Artificial light, Lower right: natural light (shade)
In the swatch above you can see the gorgeous royal purple, the golden brown and green transitional shade, and the rich emerald.  In the lower right corner is a swatch taken in natural light and you can see the purple and green clearly together on the nail. In artificial lighting, at direct angles (ie most of the time) it's the purple shade that dominates, with the green appearing at higher angles/along the curved nail edge.

Huginn and Muninn by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - artificial light
Huginn and Muninn by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - artificial light
This swatch captures the closeup detail of the two main colours at the opposing ends of the multichrome spectrum.  In the purple you can clearly see royal blue and magenta shimmer, and the green is a combination of forest green, teal and gold.  Quite how they managed to pack so much depth into one polish is a mystery to me.  I couldn't love this polish more, it's utter perfection.

Huginn and Muninn by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - natural light
Huginn and Muninn by Crowstoes - 9 Realms - natural light
I can confidently say that Huginn and Muninn will make it into my top 3 polishes for the year 2014. It has as sold out faster than any of the other 9 Realms shades but is not LE so keep your eyes peeled for restocks.  I picked mine up from Rainbow Connection for £10.25.

Saturday 25 October 2014

Sea You in Hollywood by OPI

Hello ladies! Tonight I'm shopping my stash for a short and sweet post.  This is 'Sea You in Hollywood' by OPI.  This is a beautiful cerulean blue foil polish that is really pretty to wear.  This was apparently a QVC exclusive shade, but I picked mine up in T K Maxx in a pack of 3 for £10.  This is two coats with NE base and HK girl topcoat.  No issues to report quality wise, and I got a CRAZY weartime out of this...a whole week with no chips.  That's the dream ain't it?

OPI Sea You in Hollywood
OPI Sea You in Hollywood - natural light
Hooray for T K Maxx! It's always worth a visit, and my local one has recently really expanded the brands it carries, they now have Spa Ritual, CND, tons of Ciate and loads more and all for silly prices.  What's not to love?

Friday 24 October 2014

Bend Over Backwards by China Glaze

Hello ladies! Today's NOTD is from the 2012 China Glaze "Worlds Away: Cirque Du Soleil" collection.  This was a fantastic collection from CG, who are renowned for their 'tie-in' collections to movie releases, TV shows etc.  This collection captured the colours of the vibrant costumes of the circus brilliantly.  Tonight's polish is "Bend Over Backwards"....

photo credit: Al Seib and Cirque Du Soleil
My camera didn't know what to do with this super saturated metallic shimmer.  It's an eye-watering orange toned red that is just fabulous.  This is a great fall/holiday colour and as you can see from the swatches it will certainly get you noticed.  To be fair, this super-saturated hue is really brought out by the artificial light, it's more toned down by natural lighting as the swatch at the bottom shows. 

Bend Over Backwards by China Glaze - artificial light
Bend Over Backwards by China Glaze - artificial light
This is an easy two coats, fully opaque, with NE base and HK Girl topcoat.  No issues with formula or application.  I really like CG as a brand, they have such a high turnover of shades there's always something new on the horizon, and for a mainstream brand they have had more unexpected shades in the last few years than OPI for example.  It was CG that I first saw bar glitters in a non-indie polish.  They're not afraid to think outside the box, and always at such good prices.

Bend Over Backwards by China Glaze - natural light
Bend Over Backwards by China Glaze - natural light

I picked my bottle up from Nail Polish Direct (link in Suppliers page) for a tasty £4.95.  NPD are currently having a promotion on CG and this shade is £3.99 along with dozens of others....it's a great time to grab a bargain and with free P&P it's a steal.

Thursday 23 October 2014

Lady of the Lake by A-England

Hello ladies! Tonight's instalment in the A-England stashathon is the gorgeous 'Lady of the Lake' from the Mythicals collection.  The Lady of the Lake was the ruler of Avalon, and a pivotal character in the Arthurian legends.  Most famously she arose from the lake to present King Arthur with the sword Excalibur.  Since Halloween is almost here, here's an incredible artwork by thejeffster@deviantart depicting the Lady of the Lake to set the mood...

http://thejeffster.deviantart.com/
Lady of the Lake (http://thejeffster.deviantart.com/)
'Lady of the Lake' by A-England is a non-spooky but utterly gorgeous shade of dusky amethyst with the AE signature soft holographic finish.  Easily opaque in two coats and dries to a high gloss shine, the formula and application are flawless.  A-England is a truly luxury boutique brand and their quality is consistently excellent.

Lady of the Lake - by A-England - artificial light
Lady of the Lake - by A-England - artificial light
Pictured here I'm wearing two coats with NE base and Essie Good to Go topcoat to extend weartime.  I really love this shade, apart from being purple (which is my favourite colour in case you hadn't guessed) it's such a pretty balance between the richness of the base colour and the sparkle of the holo finish.  A-England polishes are very rarely an 'in your face' colour, they make sophisticated and elegant shades and this one is no exception.

Lady of the Lake - by A-England - artificial light
Lady of the Lake - by A-England - artificial light
In full sunlight (below) you can see the full rainbow effect from the holo.  In artificial light (above) the holo particles add a slightly silvered sheen to the polish to give it that soft 'dusty' look that I love.

Lady of the Lake - by A-England - sunlight
Lady of the Lake - by A-England -sunlight
I could wax lyrical about A-England polishes until the cows come home.  There really are only so many ways that you can say 'these polishes are awesome, you need them all' and I think I've exhausted them.  If you are new to A-England then I'd say take a chance and try one, I'd put money on it not being your last.  In the UK you can order direct from http://www.a-england.co.uk/.

Lady of the Lake - by A-England - artificial light

I am super excited to hear this week that there is a new collection ready to drop ANY DAY now...It's called the 'Mary + Elizabeth' collection and takes its inspiration from two of Britain's most famous (or infamous) queens.  I've seen early nail wheel swatches and can't wait to see more.  I'd recommend following the fantastic blog of Eugenia - Ommorphia Beauty Bar - she seems to have a special relationship with A-England and is usually one of the first to swatch the new collections.  She also does some of the prettiest swatch photography I've seen, so be warned, you will have major lemmings for basically anything she points her camera at.

Tuesday 21 October 2014

Dragon by A-England

Hello ladies! Continuing the A-England love-in, today's offering is the beautiful Dragon from the 'Legend' collection:

Dragon - by A England - artificial light
Dragon - by A England - artificial light
I'm not a fan of green polished in general but this one is a doozy.  A gorgeous shade of sage/emerald with gold and teal flecks to give it an amazing depth.  This really does look like the skin of a dragon (and on that theme, just wait till you see my swatches of Crowstoes Vanaheim! Yowza!).  The lovely soft holographic finish is a really pretty touch and it really comes alive in sunlight (see below).

Dragon - by A England - sun light
Dragon - by A England - sun light
 This is two coats, with NE base and Essie Good to Go topcoat.  As ever, no issues with formula or application.  This polish (like all A-England's) also dries to a really nice glossy finish all on its own, so I add the topcoat only to extend weartime.

Dragon - by A England - artificial light
Dragon - by A England - artificial light
 In this closeup you can see the gold and teal particles that are threaded through this shade to give it that extra bling factor.  The gold adds fire (especially in sunlight) and the teal really lifts the green.  Like when you add coffee to a chocolate cake to make it taste more chocolaty, somehow the teal makes the green seem greener.

Dragon - by A England - artificial light
Dragon - by A England - artificial light
I picked up my bottle in a sale at http://www.a-england.co.uk/ for £6.  Adina holds these sorts of sales once or twice a year, and it's a great time to expand your collection.  Keep an eye out around Christmas time, alternatively you can check out the 'gem of the month' where each month one shade is at £6.  It's an absolute fricking steal for a polish of this quality.

Dragon - by A England - artificial light

Sunday 19 October 2014

Sleeping Palace by A-England

Hello ladies! Continuing with the theme of A-England polishes tonight we have the last one from the Burne-Jones collection in my stash - Sleeping Palace.  This smoky plum holographic polish is just fabulous...

Sleeping Palace - A England - Artificial Light
Sleeping Palace - A England - Artificial Light
This is a really tricky shade to describe, part smoky charcoal, part plum, with a dash of brown.  Combined it's a beautiful warm toned shade that's super flattering.  This is hardly a surprise, I'm convinced that Adina is incapable of producing an ugly polish.  The holographic effect in this polish is more pronounced than in the others of the collection, and I think this is due to the base colour showing it off.

Sleeping Palace - A England - Sun Light
Sleeping Palace - A England - Sun Light
This is two easy coats with NE base and HK Girl topcoat.  As with the others in this collection (see:  Rose Bower and Briar Rose, and Briarwood) application and formula are both top notch.  No complaints here.

Sleeping Palace - A England - Natural Light
Sleeping Palace - A England - Natural Light
This is a really lovely shade, and great for the autumn. It's a sophisticated take on the Grey/Mauve trend that I really love.  I bought my bottle for £6 when it was the 'gem of the month' on  http://a-england.co.uk/ and I highly recommend it :)

Sleeping Palace - A England

Friday 17 October 2014

Briarwood - by A-England

Hello ladies! Tonight we have the second instalment of the A-England swatchathon (if three polishes can count as a 'thon ;) of anything). Tonight polish is the much belated post of Briarwood, collection mate to the fabulous Rose Bower and Briar Rose from the amazing 2013 Burne-Jones collection.  The collection takes its inspiration from the four paintings of The Briar Rose series created by Sir Edward Burne-Jones depicting the fairy tale of the Sleeping Beauty.

Briarwood - A-England - full sunlight
Briarwood - A-England - full sunlight
I'm wearing two easy coats here, with SV topcoat and NE base.  As ever the quality, application and finish are flawless from A-England.  This is a gorgeous complex shade, I'm going to call it reddened brown, and its perfect for Autumn.  I'm surprised it has taken me this long to blog this shade because it was definitely in my top 5 polishes for 2013.  I love love love it!

Briarwood - A-England - natural light
Briarwood - A-England - natural light
This is still one of my top pick polishes, it's really unusual and the holo finish is just so pretty with this shade.  I can't recommend it highly enough.  I loved this whole collection, but Briarwood is definitely the star of the bunch.

You can Buy direct from A-England at http://a-england.co.uk/  RRP is £9 but I got mine on offer for a bargain-a-licous £6, and P&P is free.  Keep an eye out for A-England offers, its a great way to stock your A-England stash :)

Thursday 16 October 2014

Perceval by A-England

Hello ladies :)  Kicking off tonight I have a series of A-England polishes to share with you.  A-England are one of my favourite brands, and hopefully over the course of a few posts you'll see why.  So onto today's offering - this is "Perceval"...

A-England "Perceval" - full sunlight
A-England "Perceval" - full sunlight
Woo mama! There is no other way to describe this shade other than it is the PERFECT metallic red.  Formula, pigmentation, application, finish, all A*.  I love a good metallic red and this is hands down my favourite.  It's perfect for Christmas (which is only 10 weeks away apparently - yikes!).  Every last detail of an A-England polish is quality.  Boutique brand owner Adina knows her stuff.  I also love the titles of the polishes and collections - (usually) inspired by English myth and legend.  Perceval was a knight of King Arthur (at least according to Prof. Wikipedia).

Pictured here I'm wearing two coats with NE base and SV topcoat (hence the tip shrink!).

A-England "Perceval" - indirect natural light
A-England "Perceval" - indirect natural light
I have only ever bought A-England polishes when they have been on offer - occasionally there will be a promotion where shades are typically £6.  There is also a monthly promotion where each month a different 'gem of the month' is picked and sold for £6.  With free P&P this is a mahoosive bargain.  Even the RRP of £9 a bottle is well worth it in my opinion.  Buy direct from A-England at http://a-england.co.uk/

Wednesday 15 October 2014

Top Trumps : Battle of the Top Coats

Hello ladies!  Today's post is something a little different.  I'm going to talk about the unsung hero or ultimate nemesis of every mani : the topcoat.  Like base, this is something that is likely to be present in every mani that you wear.  So if we spend so much time and thought on the shades we buy, what would be the point if we cover it with a crappy topcoat?


 If you're not convinced of the use for topcoat then you're not alone. Personally I never go without it, for two reasons - extended wear time, and shine.  I have never got on board with the textured or matte trends, I want my mani to be so shiny that I can see my face in it, and for that we need serious topcoat.  I'm also a busy girl, so I want my mani rock solid in minimal time too.  Over the years I've flirted with many brands, perhaps my longest held darling was Seche Vite.  In the end it was a bitter split, and I went off in search of the perfect topcoat to replace it.  In this post I'm going to talk about several topcoats that I tried recently.

Seche Vite

On the blogosphere SV is one of the most popular choices for a rock hard mani, superfast dry time, and bonkers shine.  It is also equally well known for its foibles - by the time you reach halfway through the bottle it will become a gloopy gluey mess that will give you awful tip shrinkage and apply like a pig.  This problem is so well known that SV themselves released a product called 'Seche Restore', which is basically Toluene with a dropper, to mix with your SV to make it liquid again.  I know people that have had success with this, but I personally haven't.  My SV went pink, and stayed gloopy.  The other fact that works against SV is that it smells god awful, and the reason for that is that it's stuffed with every nasty ass chemical that all other polish brands advertise they're 'free' from.  Yes ladies it turns out that rapid dry time, solid finish and shine are all the byproducts of the nasty chemicals.  So let's take it as read that SV when it's behaving will give you undoubtedly the best top coat money can buy.  It just might also give you a terrible deformity.

CG Howl you Doing - SV tip shrink
Don't Get Your Tips out in Public!
Seche Vite tip shrink at its worst (over China Glaze 'Howl You Doin?')
In the end I just couldn't stand the tip shrinkage any more.  On bad days it was up to 2mm, and really then what is the point?  So I searched for a successor and found...

HK Girl by Glisten and Glow

HK Girl by Glisten and Glow
HK Girl by Glisten and Glow
HK Girl caused quite a stir when it hit the market.  Bloggers worldwide reported that this was SV without the Achilles heel.  They said it's just as shiny, just as fast drying, 2-free, and best of all it will work that way right to the last drop.  I was sold, I grabbed a bottle right away and used it....until it was about half way through, and then instead of going gloopy, or tip-shrink, it went HAIRY.  What the hell?  How can nail polish be hairy?  What happened to mine is that it forms really fine filaments, like spider's web, that float out from the end of the brush and are highly attracted to the sticky polish on your fingers.  This leaves little fine hairs all over your mani.  The hairs form every time you dip the brush in the bottle, and I couldn't succeed in wiping them off before the brush went near my nails.  It was infuriating.  This might not have some of SV's worst traits, but the hairy problem made me madder than anything SV ever did.


HK Girl by Glisten and Glow
Hairy Polish! HK Girl is a bad bad girl indeed.
Also, HK Girl smells exactly the same as SV.  I challenge the idea that it's full of kittens and hugs instead of nasty chemicals.  It might be 2-free, but rest assured there's some nasty shit in there too.

HK Girl by Glisten and Glow
HK Girl on a good day, lovely shine, but it will only last half a bottle
(atop Liquid Sky Lacquer 'Strawberry Mojito')
So although I respect the views of my fellow bloggers, there's no way I can recommend this.  It's maddening.  So the search continued and I went back to my stash and found....

Top Coat by OPI

OPI Top Coat - disaster

Good lord this is AWFUL! My bottle was a little on the elderly side, so perhaps a bit thicker than a fresh bottle would be, which made application a sticky tricky mess.  It bubbles and pits something terrible - my mani looked like I'd gotten the pox. 

OPI Top Coat - disaster
Pox! Nail bubbles and pits with OPI topcoat.  Urgh!
But by far the biggest issue with this top coat is that IT DOESN'T DRY.  Now I may have been spoiled in the past by the dry time of SV and HK Girl, but when I say it doesn't dry I mean that I polished my nails two hours before bed, and I woke up to sheet wrinkles in my nails.  So it was still squishy hours after application.  There is just no way that's practical for anyone.  Avoid like the plague.  It's 3-free but who cares.

OPI Top Coat - disaster
After two hours of dry time, this is what happened when I went to bed...
(Disastrous OPI topcoat atop OPI 'Embarca Dare Ya')
I then was kindly leant a couple to try by the lovely Hannah.  In true scientific fashion I conducted an experiment....

CND Super Shiny vs. Essie Good to Go

CND Super Shiny and Essie Good to Go
CND Super Shiny and Essie Good to Go
For this test I used the same base coat, and the same shade (see recent post Human Nature by CbL).  On my left had I used the CND, on my right the Essie.  Since these were both by far the best candidates I'll give you some more detail on these...

CND Super Shiny
CND Super Shiny - notice the sheet dents on the middle finger
(atop Colors by Llarowe 'Human Nature')
The CND has a fantastic shine, and bizarrely almost no smell.  You need to stick your nose right close to the bottle to smell this at all.  It has a really nice sturdy bottle, easy grip long handle, and an excellent brush.  All important points given that you will mostly handle this product with wet nails.  I had no shrinkage, no 'pooling' of thick formula (formula was a nice thin consistency) and fast drying.  However, it did dent slightly 40mins after application, and I did wake up to sheet marks (although I went to bed less than an hour after application).  

Essie Good to Go
Essie Good to Go - no dents at all
The Essie had a slightly thicker formula than the CND, and the brush isn't as good.  The shorter handle is a bit fiddlier to use than the CND one, and the smell is stronger (although still fairly light compared to the other topcoats in this post).  The level of shine was, to my eye, identical (and I really looked hard, under all lighting conditions).  Dry time was also very similar.  The big plus with the Essie is that there was no denting or sheet marks.

Essie Good to Go and CND Super Shiny
Spot the Difference?
I asked several people to look at my nails and pick the topcoat they preferred.  They all picked the CND.  Reasons given were that it looked shinier (I'm convinced it didn't) and interestingly that it made the colour of the nail polish more 'vibrant'.  I really puzzled over this one too.  I think there is something in that.  The CND has a purple-ish tint to it, which they say is a UV protector coat, and I think that this did have an effect on the perceived colour of the polish underneath, I think it made it slightly darker.  It reminded me of the effect that a polarising filter has on a camera lens - by reducing reflective glare colours seem more vibrant.  But this was a really tough call, so unless you stare at your nails under a microscope all day long (hey I'm not judging) this is likely not something you'd notice.  Both topcoats also lasted EXACTLY the same time before chipping - they both lasted a whole week, and chipped within minutes of each other.  Both polishes are 3-free, and their pleasant smells would back that up.  Given this, I think the finish of both and their dry time are fantastic.  SV-like results but without the risk of growing an 11th finger...

And the Winner IS....

In the end I went with the Essie, due to the lack of dents. I've been using it for a while now and I'm delighted with the results. Great shine, great weartime, fast drying and so far no downsides.  I will be interested to see how it fares as the bottle wears down, so I'll follow this up if I find a gotcha later.  I also really liked the CND.  I liked the feel of the bottle, the ease of the applicator, the light smell, I think I'm likely to get a bottle of this in future too.

So there you have it.  I hope my many spoiled mani's will be of some use to you!

Where to buy/What to pay

Seche Vite is widely available, shop around for bargains.  I bought mine from QVC, Amazon and Nail Polish Direct. If you look hard you can usually find it for £5-6 a bottle.  HK Girl is sold on Rainbow Connection for a similar price to SV.  OPI topcoat is available from all OPI retailers like Sally's, Lena White, and is probably around £10-11.  CND is available from Amazon for about £8.  I bought my Essie from Boots for £8.95.

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Human Nature - Colors by Llarowe

Hello ladies! Today I have the third and final polish from my recent Colors By Llarowe purchase - this is a lovely nude holo called 'Human Nature' from the Tribute to MJ collection...

Human Nature - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light
Human Nature - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light
Now you will be seeing this mani again, in an upcoming post on top coat comparisons.  In the meantime I apologise for the denting in this picture...what topcoat was responsible for this terrible crime?  You'll have to wait and see...but I assure you it was no fault of the CbL.

Human Nature - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light


I used two easy coats, I felt it did need two although it was almost opaque in one.  Here I'm wearing it with NE base and a mystery topcoat :) The formula and application on this, like the other CbL's I've reviewed (Billy Jean, Connie You Saucy Minx) was superb.  Flawless quality through and through.  It also had the, quite frankly legendary, week long wear time with minimal tip wear.  Even rarer for a mani that lasts that long, I didn't get bored of it!

Human Nature - Colors by Llarowe - natural light
Human Nature - Colors by Llarowe - natural light
I'm terrible at describing these nude colours, but here is my best shot...This is a warm toned taupe with a strong pink and bronzed gold shimmer blush and an (almost linear) holo finish.  It's a very flattering shade, and like most nudes I've tried it was very flattering on my pale pasty Scottish complexion.

Human Nature - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light

I bought my bottle for £8.80 from Rainbow Connection (link in the suppliers page).  I'd definitely recommend this one, and the CbL brand in general which at least with my purchases has been 3 for 3 on quality and wow factor.  I'll definitely be adding more CbL to my stash in the future.