Picture Polish "Lollipop"

Hello ladies! Today I have a really amazing shade to share with you - it's one of the latest collaboration shades from Picture Polish - "Lollipop".  This polish is so much prettier IRL than these swatches can capture but I've done my best!

Picture Polish Lollipop - day light lamp

My camera flat out refused to capture this colour properly.  The dodgy cameraphone picture below is much closer to how it really looks, but the best description is that this is the perfect Cadbury's purple.  I'm not sure if this is a UK thing, but Cadbury's purple (from the Dairy Milk chocolate bar wrapper) is instantly recognisable and hands-down my favourite colour of all time.  It's so recognisable in fact that Cadbury tried to trademark Pantone 2865c

This is a purple jelly base packed with small hex glitters and tiny round glitter pieces, both in the same royal purple but with a hint of blue for an extra pop. The first coat was really sparse but it was perfectly opaque in two. I'm wearing it here with a new base coat in fact - Leighton Denny Undercover Base Coat - and a generous coating of Essie Good to Go.  The finish was nice and smooth.

Picture Polish Lollipop - artificial light

I loved this polish and the wear time was surprisingly decent for a glitter.  It was a real pain to remove though, even with the foil method, so it's a definite candidate for PVA basecoat next time - and there will be many next times with this fabulous polish.

Picture Polish Lollipop - day light lamp

I highly recommend this, it's fantastic. I picked mine up from Rainbow Connection for £10.75.

Picture Polish Lollipop - day light lamp

Nine Realms by Crowstoes : Nidavellir

Hello ladies! Tonight I have the final post from the Crowstoes 9 Realms collection.  Tonight's polish, "Nidavellir", takes its name from the homeworld of the dwarves in Norse Mythology.

Nidavellir by Crowstoes - natural light (shade)

  Like collection-mates Muspelheim and Vanaheim, Nidavellir is a duochrome micro-glitter polish.  Densely packed with colour shifting glitters this shade shifts from teal blue to purple.  Pictured here in natural light (in the shade) you can see all the colours on the nail at once, but in all other lighting conditions one of the three shades will dominate depending on the angle of the nail to the light source.

Nidavellir by Crowstoes - artificial light

 The microglitter duochrome formula is really intriguing in these polishes....they remind me of pointillist paintings, tiny spots of colour coming together to make something beautiful.  In artificial lighting (below) you can see the lovely jewel tones of the blue-indigo-purple shades in transition.  The bottom of the bottle lets you see the full spectrum in the polish, but the gold tone you see peeking through doesn't translate to the nail (nails aren't as curved as the inside of a bottle!)



Nidavellir by Crowstoes - artificial light

In these pics I'm wearing two coats over black undies, with NE base and HK Girl topcoat.  No issues with formula and application, all Crowstoes polishes are top notch in the quality stakes.  Below you can see the final swatches which are taken in direct sunlight.  Here you can see that the main shade is far more of a teal green/blue than the royal blue shade you get under artificial light.  Also, the end tone is much more of a magenta than the purple you get under artificial light. This polish, like its collection mates, is a real chameleon.  I really liked this one.

Nidavellir by Crowstoes - sunlight

I picked up my bottle for £10.25 from Rainbow Connection (link in the suppliers page).   This is my last post in the 9 Realms collection series, I hope you've enjoyed it :) This is a very special collection, and well worth a look if you can find it in stock.

Nine Realms by Crowstoes : Muspelheim

Hello Ladies! Today I have another of the fabulous polishes from the Crowstoes 9 Realms collection - tonight's offering is the lovely (but unpronounceable) "Muspelheim":

In Norse legend Muspelheim is the flaming inferno volcanic home of the fire giants.  I don't know that I would have picked a blue based shade to represent a fire planet, by hey I'm not the creative at work here.  Muspelheim the polish is a multichrome glitter in a blurple base.  It is packed with teeny tiny glitter particles in royal blue and golden yellow that produce a multichrome spectrum from royal blue to purple.  The golden particles don't really show on the nail as clearly as in the bottle (except in the closeup thumb nail shots below).

Pictured here I'm wearing my customary two coats with NE base and HK girl topcoat.  In the swatches at the top of this post you can see Muspelheim in the sunshine - in the shade is the only time you'll see both colours on the nail at once, otherwise the main colour is either the royal blue shade or the blurple. The magenta shade here is really hard to capture because it's not really seen except at really high angles to the light source.

 

In the thumbshots below you can see all the lovely details of this polish.  Unfortunately these details aren't quite so obvious on the nail unless you look quite closely.  I really did like this shade a lot, but it's one of those that's just not quite as fabulous as it promises in the bottle.

I bought my bottle of Muspelheim for £10.25 from Rainbow Connection (link in the Suppliers page). This is a lovely shade, I think I was just a little spoiled by this point because I'd tried collection-mates Huginn and Muninn, and Vanaheim, right before - and those are bonkers good!  I do recommend Muspelheim, especially if like me you're a big fan of purple/blurple shades.

Nail mail : Colors by Llarowe Fall 2014

I just couldn't wait to swatch these before sharing :-) The colors by llarowe Fall collection is out now in the UK (@ rainbow connection) and I was so excited to grab three of the shades (although if I had the money I'd buy them all!). I picked (left to right) Burning Embers, Midnight in Montana and Obsession.  I can't wait to try these out!

Shown here are all the shades in natural and artificial light. My initial thoughts are that Midnight is the clear standout of the bunch. Obsession reminded me of A England Briarwood but a quick side by side comparison shows that Briarwood is much redder. I'll compare these properly when I post swatches.

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...

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

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

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

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/.

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.

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

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

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/

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Connie You Saucy Minx! - Colors by Llarowe

Hello ladies! Tonight I have another beauty from Colors by Llarowe to share with you - the intriguingly titled "Connie You Saucy Minx!"...I have no idea what meaning there might be behind that name, if it's a pop culture reference then it's lost on me...What I do know is that this is utterly fabulous!

Connie You Saucy Minx - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light

Connie..is an indigo jelly base with a rich mixture of magenta and gold shimmer particles.  The pink shimmer really comes through strongly on this, and against the indigo background its absolutely stunning.  I have a hunch that this shade might come out pretty close to Cirque's "Coronation" which I had a major lemming for (but sadly not the budget to match).  It does also remind me of Max Factor Fantasy Fire, although with FF it took about 8 coats to approach this level of opacity and it wasn't this pretty.

Connie You Saucy Minx - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light

I'm wearing a generous two coats here, and you can see from this swatch that the jelly base does leave it a little translucent around the tips, but no VNL.  I used my usual NE base, and topped it off with Essie Good to Go.  Formula and application were both excellent on this, and like all the CbL polishes I tried the wear time was a heroic 7 days before it chipped.  The finish is also naturally nice and glossy, but I used the Essie topcoat to extend the wear time.

Connie You Saucy Minx - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light

I'm so in love with this polish, it's one of the prettiest purples I own (and that's saying something because I have a LOT of purple in my stash).  This is all kinds of gorgeous, I highly recommend it :)

Under the halogen bulbs in my kitchen this shade is crazy gorgeous!

This polish is gorgeous in every light, but especially under artificial lighting conditions.  For some reason the bulbs in my kitchen really bring this polish to life...just look at that glow! Phwoar!

Connie You Saucy Minx - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light

I picked up my bottle of Connie...from Rainbow Connection for £8.80.

Billy Jean - Colors by Llarowe

Hello lovelies :)  For UK based nailista's I have some good news - Colors by Llarowe are finally available this side of the pond.  Rainbow Connection are now stocking CbL and I jumped at the chance to order three gorgeous polishes, the first of which is the lovely Billy Jean from the "Tribute to MJ" collection...

Billy Jean is a scrumptious claret red shimmer, with gold flecks that give this polish that 'fire from within' effect.  This shade is perfect for Autumn/Fall.  I'm a sucker for a good red, and this is a very good red indeed.

Billy Jean is apparently not his lover...and his tailor is not his friend...no wonder his voice was so high

Application was a bit tricksy with this polish, I found it to be quite streaky on the first coat and it took a generous second coat to even it out and achieve full opacity.  This is two good coats, atop NE base and beneath Essie Good to Go.  I love the magenta flare from this polish that you can see here, its a complex little red and a very flattering shade.

I was impressed by the quality and finish from the CbL polishes I bought and one factor deserves special mention - the wear time is redonkulous! I got a full 7 days out of all three polishes, with only the teensiest amount of tipwear on my pointer and middle finger of my writing hand.  These were some of the hardest wearing polishes I've ever tried. 

This is a lovely polish, and even though I have a ton of red shimmers I'm really glad I got this one too.  A girl can never have too many reds...I picked up my bottle for £8.80 from Rainbow Connection (link in the Suppliers page).  If you think this is good, just wait until you see the other two!

"Imperio" by Smitten Polish

Hello ladies! It's been a while since I last posted a Smitten polish, so here is the final polish I own from the Words of Magic collection (see also Elekha Nahmen and Klaatu Barada Nikto) - this beauty is Imperio, and it's a doozy :)

Smitten Polish "Imperio" - artificial light



Like its collection-mates, Imperio is an astonishingly packed glitter polish.  I have no idea how  Noelie, the genius behind indie brand Smitten, has managed to make these polishes this sparkly...I have a ton of sparkly polishes and not a one can hold a candle to any of these.  Like its collection mates however, it does have the same application issues.  It's a bit like trying to apply gloopy gravel paste to your nails, and it dries to quite a matte grainy texture.  Slap on a bit of topcoat though and it bursts into life!  I don't own any 'liquid sand' type texture polishes, but I do wonder if these are bordering on that kind of formula.



Smitten Polish "Imperio" - artificial light

Imperio is a cobalt/indigo jelly base packed with blue, red and magenta sparkles. Interestingly I've seen the swatches of Imperio on the Smitten website which look like a royal purple...I wonder if Noelie has changed the formula recently, because certainly my bottle is a purple leaning blue rather a straight purple as her swatches appear.  It is significantly different though from Klaatu...(see bottle comparison at the bottom of this post).

Smitten Polish "Imperio" - sun light

In indirect natural lighting this polish tones down to a dark purple blue jelly with a speckled finish...but as soon as some direct sunlight, or a lovely bit of artificial light, and POW glitter bomb explosion!

Smitten Polish "Imperio" - natural light

In these pictures I'm wearing 2-3 coats of colour, I needed a varying amount to make up for the patchy/uneven job I made of the first coat.  I've got NE base and a single coat of SV topcoat.  Despite the glitter content, this isn't a 'thirsty' polish.

Smitten Polish "Imperio" - artificial light

Sigh....just LOOK at that sparkle...it's like a gorgeous purple galaxy on your nails...

Smitten Polish "Imperio" - artificial light

Here is the comparison with the other polishes in the Words of Magic collection...the main comparison to make here is between Imperio and Klaatu - you can see here that these are very different indeed.  Klaatu is a much darker shade, and a true Navy blue base.  Imperio is definitely purple, but leans more towards blue on the nail.



Smitten Polishes from the "Words of Magic" collection

These are three very special polishes, but if I had to rate them I'd say Klaatu Barada Nikto, then Elekha Nahmen, and then Imperio, although I'd strongly recommend them all.  "Words of Magic" is an apt title for this collection, because there has certainly been some wizardry involved in their creation...

I bought my bottle of Imperio from Rainbow Connection for £8.20.

Cap N' Cook - by Cadillacquer

Hello ladies! Today I have my third and final Cadillacquer post for you, and it's another tv show tie-in: "Cap N Cook" from the 2013 Breaking Bad collection.  Yet again I've bought a polish from a collection where I have no clue about the show that it's inspired by, so the name means nothing to me but woo mama would you look at that purple!...

Cap N Cook by Cadillacquer - artificial light

Cap N Cook is a gorgeous soft purple holo, with a beautiful pink shimmer that glows through the purple to add warmth and depth to this shade.  I'm a massive fan of purple polishes, and holo polishes, so this one pushes all my buttons...fabulous!

Here I'm wearing the usual two coats with NE base and HK girl topcoat.  No application issues, glides on smooth as melted butter.  What this shade really reminds me of is an A-England polish.  The finish is that perfect sophisticated dusty soft holo that A-England have perfected, in a shade that A-England have never quite done ("Lady of the Lake" is probably the most similar, but they're not dupes by a long shot).

Cap N Cook by Cadillacquer - artificial light

There really isn't much more to say about this polish, so I'll let the swatch porn do the talking...it's absolutely lovely and I highly recommend it :)

 

I picked up my bottle for £9.50 from Rainbow Connection (link in the Suppliers page).

Cap N Cook by Cadillacquer - artificial light

Seek the Fire - by Cadillacquer

Hello ladies! Today I have another polish from Swiss indie brand Cadillacquer to share with you - it's called "Seek The Fire" and it is from their Spring 2014 "The Last of Us" collection...The Last of Us is a survival adventure video-game set in a post-apocalyptic world where the characters are hunted by zombie-like creatures.  I have never played the game, so I have no idea where the inspiration for this shade came from but I find it funny that this one is actually about zombies, whereas the Cadillacquer polish Masterpiece which reminds me of zombies has nothing to do with them.  Anyhoo...



Seek the Fire - NOTE: SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT IRL *SEE BELOW*

This has a similar finish to Masterpiece - it's a milky crelly base packed with ruby red shiny hex glitters of varying size.  "Seek the Fire" is a dusty cornflower blue shade that IRL is a lot less intense than it appears in this photo.  For some reason my camera just refused to photograph this one properly.  In the picture above the blue looks more intense, and the red particles stand out more boldly from the background colour than they do IRL under a range of lighting conditions.  Don't get me wrong - this is a pretty colour, it's just not quite as intense as these swatches (or any others I've seen online) suggest.  I think that under the artificial light of my desklamp it just gets an added pop.  Based on other people's swatches I was a tad disappointed with this one, and I'm annoyed that my swatches have come out the same as theirs...tricksy polish *grumble*.



This is a bit closer to IRL, but still a slightly darker shade of blue

In these photos I'm wearing my habitual two coats with NE base and HK girl topcoat.  Like Masterpiece I had no trouble with glitter density, but it does love to hug the bottle and won't come unstuck.  I just hope that all the glitters don't sink with time because I'm not sure how well they'd resuspend.  For such a glitter rich polish it glides on really well, and if memory serves it wasn't too painful to remove either.

I really love the combination of the milky crelly with the pop of the red glitters coming through.  On balance though I much preferred Masterpiece for this effect, it's more pronounced against the green.

In general I'm not sure how I feel about the trend for indie polish makers to take a popular film/series/book and bring out a series of polishes 'inspired' by it.  In some cases it's done remarkably well, and with a lot of love, but in other cases I'm not sure that I really see the connection between the polish collection and the source material.  In those cases I wonder if they are in some sense cashing in on the popularity of the show by hoping that fans will buy a polish because it has a funny name or a connection to a show they love (I'm guilty of this one...I did buy the Deborah Lippmann "True Blood" polish and the Revlon Spiderman ones...oh and the OPI Spiderman ones...oh and the recent Urban Decay Pulp Fiction one...oh hell, yeah I'm really guilty of that one...).  Homage or cash cow? I don't know.  Having never watched/played any of the shows/games that Cadillacquer reference I have no idea which camp they fall into.  What I do know is that these are decent quality polishes with an unusual finish and well worth a look.

Seek the Fire - Cadillacquer - natural light

I got my bottle for £9.50 from Rainbow Connection (link on the Suppliers page).