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

Crown of Thistles by AEngland

Hello ladies! Today I have a gorgeous polish to share with you from the brand new A England "Elizabeth + Mary" collection.  A new A England collection is something to get very excited about, and this one is no exception.  Taking inspiration from two of Britain's most famous Queens - Elizabeth the 1st, and Mary Queen of Scots. The history of these two women is steeped in murder, betrayal and intrigue.  Mary was considered by many to be the rightful heir to the English throne, and Elizabeth in turn kept her cousin imprisoned for 18 years before finally having her beheaded for treason. 

A England - Crown of Thistles - artificial light

Today's polish is 'Crown of Thistles', a shade inspired by Mary, the Queen of Scotland, whose national emblem is the thistle.  This is a beautiful shade of Orchid (pinky purple) that really captures the colour of the tufted top of the thistle:

Crown of Thistles is also a very strong holo finish, far more prominent than the usual soft dusty holo finish that A England are famous for.  Seen here in the bottle shot you can see the polish comes alive with a rainbow of colour from that dense holo finish.

Crown of Thistles was a lovely polish to wear, and for someone that owns a lot of pink and purple shades this one also has managed to be unique in my collection which is quite some feat.  I'm in awe of Adina at A England and her creative polishes.  Each one is truly a piece of art in a bottle.  Application is butter smooth, glossy and flawless.  Pictured here I'm wearing a couple of coats with NE base and Essie GTG, although this polish is easily a one-coater.

A England - Crown of Thistles - artificial light

I love this shade, and I'm looking forward to getting more from this collection.  I particularly fancy Fotheringay and Virgin Queen, so expect to see those at some point in future! In the meantime, UK customers can head over to A England http://a-england.co.uk/ where I picked up my bottle of Crown of Thistles for £9.  They are also currently having a special offer for November on the Gothic collection, with individual shades for £6 or bundled for even less.  With free P&P on all orders it's a bargain for polish of this pedigree.

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.

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)

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:

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

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

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.

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.

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.

"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

China Glaze "Let's Groove"

Hello Ladies!  A quick post today to show you a luscious purple polish from China Glaze....feast your eyes upon "Let's Groove" from the 2009 "Retro Diva" collection:

China Glaze "Let's Groove" - artificial light

Phwoar! his polish is all kinds of awesome!  My crazy lemming love for all purple polishes is well documented and this one is a fantastic addition to the stash.  With an almost neon blurple base, this is a royal purple shimmer packed with pink and purple flecks.  It has that 'inner fire' that the best shimmers have and a lovely shine.  It was love at first brush stroke....

China Glaze "Let's Groove" - artificial light

I'm wearing my usual two coats between NE base and HK girl topcoat.  Application was perfect, no complaints about wear time either.  Just look at that amazing shimmer...

Phwoar!

I picked up this beauty from Nail Polish Direct (link on suppliers page) for a bargainous £4.30 with free P&P.  I highly recommend it if you're a lover of purples (and really, what sensible nailista isn't?)

Picture Polish Altered State

Hello ladies! Today I have the final instalment in the Limited Edition Picture Polish collection - "Altered State" (see collection-mates : Aurora, Borealis, Illusionist, Solar Flare, Gravity).  Please excuse the nasty cut on my index finger.  It's not pretty and it stings like a beyotch when rubbed with acetone I can tell you...anyway onto the swatches...

Picture Polish Altered State - artificial light

Altered State is remarkably similar to Gravity -  it's a Purple-Blue-Magenta multi-chrome (whereas Gravity is Blue-Purple-Magenta) with the 'scatter chrome' finish.  The shade of the blue is different, the blue of altered state is more of a denim/royal blue, and the blue of  Gravity is slightly more green leaning to come out as more of a teal blue in the sunshine.  But in essence, these polishes are very similar and just have the order of the multi-chrome effect reversed.  In each case, in most lighting conditions, the polish will appear to be the dominant colour.  So Gravity looks blue most of the time, and Altered State looks purple most of the time.

Picture Polish Altered State - artificial light - the dominant colour is purple

In these pictures I'm wearing my usual two coats of colour atop black undies ('Just Black' by No.7) and NE base, finished with HK girl topcoat.  Like all the Limited Edition shades the formula is great.  It's a sheer polish, so you will definitely need some type of base colour if you don't want to wait for 20 coats to dry...

Picture Polish Altered State - artificial light

This is a very pretty polish, and if I hadn't seen the other polishes in this range I'd think this was amazing. But as it stands, this is my least favourite of the bunch.  In order of awesomeness I'd rank these (best to last) Aurora, Solar Flare, Borealis, Gravity, Illusionist, Altered State.

Picture Polish Altered State - artificial light

The multichrome effect on Altered State is the weakest of the bunch.  It's almost impossible to catch a glimpse of all the colours on the nail at once.  Your best chance is in natural light, in the shade.  This crappy phone pic shows the best I was able to capture.  Nothing like the wow factor of Aurora, but still a very pretty polish especially with all the sparkly scatterchrome particles which look gorgeous in all types of artificial lighting.



Picture Polish Altered State - natural light

I picked up my bottle of Altered State from Rainbow Connection UK (link in the suppliers list) for £12.50.  It's currently out of stock, but I believe there is a restock due sometime in March so keep your eyes peeled :)