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

Spotted : Barry M Glitteratti !

Barry M Glitteratti polishes have arrived! What's even better is that they are currently 3 for 2 in Boots :-) well it seemed rude not too...these look perfect for the party season but I'll definitely be breaking out the peel off base coat for these!

Have you tried any of these yet? What's your favorite? In the bottle I'm loving the purple Fashion Icon. Can't wait to try these out!

"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.

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).

Masterpiece - by Cadillacquer

Hello ladies! Today I have a perfect Halloween polish to share with you - "Masterpiece" by Swiss indie brand Cadillacquer.  This polish was part of the Cadillacquer 'Dexter' collection back in 2013.  Here I'm wearing two coats on top of NE base and beneath HK Girl topcoat.

Cadillacquer "Masterpiece" - artificial light

Masterpiece reminds me of zombies...I love the combination of green crelly base and ruby red shiny glitters.  It looks like blood spattered decaying flesh - and what girl wouldn't love that?  I'm a massive fan of all things zombie, so I had to have this.  I know that this is not what the maker intended, but having never seen an episode of Dexter I have no idea what the connection was supposed to be...

I got caught in a zombie apocalypse and it RUINED my mani! AAARRRHHHHGG!

Cadillacquer "Masterpiece" - artificial light

Formula and application were both excellent, and glitter placement was no problem. The glitter particles are red hexes of varying size, and they do seem to love to stick to the sides of the bottle, as you can see here. No amount of shaking would shift them but this polish is so packed with glitters that it's no problem to get plenty of them on the nail.  Not sure what will happen over time though if these settle...it might take some mighty shaking to resuspend them....



Cadillacquer "Masterpiece" - sunlight

I was impressed with the quality of the Cadillacquer polish, and this finish is really something quite unique (except for the other Cadillacquer polish that I'll show you in a later post...).   I bought my bottle from Rainbow Connection for £9.50.

Sparkly Zoya's: "Dream"

Hello Ladies!  Today's post is the final instalment in the sparkly Zoya blogfest :) I give you, the lovely Dream...
 

Morpheus says....buy all the polish!

Ooops, wrong Dream...Zoya Dream is from the Holiday 2013 "Zenith" collection (see collection mate Peyton).  This is a bright blue jelly base, packed with the "micro-fine diamond holographic particles" that the Zenith and Ornate collections are famous for (Ornate posts: Aurora, Blaze and Storm) and it's stunning....

Zoya Dream - artificial light

This rich blue has a real pop on the nail, and like all the other sparkly Zoyas the formula, application and wear time were all top notch.  In these swatches I have the usual two coats betwixt NE and HK girl.  In most lights this polish looks like a lovely shade of deep royal blue (above), but in bright artificial light it has slight denim tones too (below)

Zoya Dream - artificial light

I don't really own many sparkly blue polishes, but I'd say this one is definitely more impressive than Picture Polish Hope but not as cool as Smitten Polish Klaatu Barada Nikto (but then, what IS as cool as the Smitten? Answer....nothing!)



Zoya Dream - sun light

Dream is certainly a dreamy shade.....just look at that pretty colour and all those lovely sparkly bits...

Zoya Dream - artificial light

I have really loved all of the sparkly Zoya's, each is special in its own right, and there is definitely no such thing as too many sparkly polishes in my opinion.  Yes I now have several polishes with the exact same finish, but its such a winner that I really don't mind.  This has also been my first real experience of Zoya polish, which until recently wasn't easily available in the UK.  Now you can find it on Sally Magpies and TNBL (links on the suppliers pages), and for very reasonable prices too.  I've picked all of these up for similar money to OPI polishes and these have definitely been of a comparable quality.  I like the cute shaped bottles too.  Now if only they would adopt the OPI pro-wide brush....

Zoya Dream - artificial light

I bought my bottle of Dream from the Nail and Beauty Link (TNBL, link in the supplier's page) for a bargain £6 :)

Last up we'll have one more Zoya related post, which will be a wee comparison and some links and then I'll move onto something new (quite possibly the astonishingly awesome Crowstoes "9 Realms" collection which I just got  a few shades from)...

Until next time ladies, happy painting!

Sparkly Zoya's: "Peyton"

Hello ladies!  We're nearing the end of the sparkly Zoya bonanza...this is the penultimate offering, and it's a doozy!  Today we have the lovely "Peyton" from the Holiday 2013 "Zenith" collection. 

Zoya "Peyton" - artificial light

Of all the holiday collection Zoya holos, Peyton is the one that I'd actually class as a 'holiday' shade.  It's a scrummy dark cranberry jelly, packed with the same 'micro-fine holographic diamond' particles that Zoya used in its hugely popular "Ornate" collection from the previous year (Ornate posts: Aurora, Blaze and Storm).  This shade is utterly fabulous on the nail, deep and complex it's not as flashy as some of the other holos, instead it has a rich depth of fire that's mesmerising and no less pretty.

Zoya "Peyton" - artificial light

As per usual, this is two coats of colour sandwiched between NE base and SV topcoat. Application, formula and wear-time all excellent and removal is easy peasy which is always a nice surprise from a glittery polish.  The finish on all these polishes is naturally nice and glossy, but I always add topcoat to extend weartime (especially since I sit typing on a computer all day long, my tips take a battering so I need all the help I can get!)

Zoya "Peyton" - artificial light

What I love about this shade is that its a real in-betweener....it's too pink to be a red, and too red to be a pink, it's just a perfect balance of the two.  After my final individual post (on Zoya Dream, also from the Zenith collection) I have one last post planned to show you a side-by -side of Peyton, Blaze and Aurora so you can see the comparison of the tonal range.

I bought from the Nail and Beauty Link (link in the supplier's page) for a Christmas miracle price of £6....Like the 'Ornate' collection shades, I think the 'Zeniths' will also stay on Zoya's catalogue for a long time to come.  They hit the jackpot with this jelly/holo particle formula combo...here's hoping the holiday 2014 collection will have more! (Zoya, if you are reading this...think PURPLE!) :)

Next up is the final sparkly Zoya in my stash....the mesmerizing 'Dream'....until then ladies :)

Sparkly Zoya's: "Storm"

Hello Ladies!  The sparkly-themed Zoya posts continue....this time with the final polish I own from the "Ornate" collection - the lovely "Storm"...Storm is a true black jelly with the same micro-fine diamond holographic particle finish found in collection mates Aurora and Blaze.  The depth of this polish is fabulous, it's a galaxy in a bottle. 


Zoya Storm - artificial light

I've been looking for a true black (not a crumby charcoal-y black) holo for a looooong time. There are many out there, but I want the one.  My mind was finally made up by this fantastic post from Jen at the PolishAholic...in it she compares Zoya 'Storm', A England 'Bridal Veil', Butter London 'The Black Knight' and Girly Bits 'Into the Night' (scroll to the bottom of her post to find the swatch).  For my money, "Storm" is the clear winner from this bunch....Also checkout this great comparison on Globe & Nail of Storm with "Starry Night" by Picture Polish.  It shows that while the particles are similar, Storm is a much truer black base.  That's right ladies, I've done the legwork so you don't have to...ain't I kind? Seriously though, I give big props to all those lovely blogger gals out there that have made my shopping easier (and my bank balance significantly less....).

Zoya Storm - artificial light

As with its collection-mates I have nothing but praise for the quality, wear-time and formula on this.  It's fantastic and I'm so pleased to finally be able to add it to my stash.  This is what I had hoped to find in OPI's "My Private Jet" (which was controversially reformulated, see this archive post from the PolishAddict) but sadly I got the crappy reformulated version, which just looks like speckly charcoal with virtually no holo at all.  The disappointment with 'MPJ' is what started my long-term lemming for the true black sparkle-fest polish that is finally satisfied by Storm :)

Zoya Storm - artificial light

In all these swatches I'm wearing my habitual two coats of colour with a single coat each of NE and HK girl topcoat.  I bought my bottle from the Nail and Beauty Link (link in the supplier's page) for a bargain £6.

Zoya Storm - artificial light

So what about you ladies? Have you got a polish lemming that you've been chasing down all these years?  For me there's nothing quite like that feeling of swiping on the first stripe and thinking 'Yes!! this is exactly what I was looking for!"

That rounds out my "Ornate" collection polishes...next up will be a couple from the more recent "Zenith" collection: Peyton and Dream...

Until then :)

Sparkly Zoya's: "Blaze"

Hello Ladies! Continuing the Zoya Sparkly polish post series with "Blaze".  This lovely polish was also from the Holiday 2012 "Ornate" collection (see collection mate Aurora).  Blaze is a raspberry red jelly base with the same "micro fine diamond holographic glitter" finish as Aurora, but at a slightly less dense concentration. 


Zoya Blaze - artificial light

In a lot of online swatches, this shade comes across as a deep true red, but that wasn't my experience.  In my opinion this is a pink leaning red, more of a raspberry than a vampy Hollywood red.  I absolutely love it though, it's a gorgeous shade.  I think the picture below has captured this pink/red tone quite well.

 Zoya Blaze - artificial light

As with Aurora the application/formula is fantastic, glides on smooth for a glossy finish and did need two coats for full opacity.  I'm wearing two coats in the pictures, with NE base and HK girl topcoat.  Wear time was excellent - you might notice some tipwear in the pics (sorry for that) but when you consider I took these photos after redecorating my kitchen, then this is pretty impressive.  This mani took an astonishing amount of abuse and stayed really well.  That's a nice surprise with a glitter polish, which in my experience tend to be a bit more fragile.  Removal was also easy, no different to removing a crème.

Zoya Blaze -sunlight

Just look at that sunlit glow! This is a fabulous shade in any light, and it just explodes when the sun hits it.  I'm a big fan.  Previous to this I only owned one Zoya polish (Valerie, which is frankly a bit disappointing, it's a very dry purple foil) so I was a bit unsure what I'd make of the brand.  Based on Aurora and Blaze I'm very impressed with the quality. My only complaint is that their brushes are a bit on  the narrow side.

Zoya Blaze - artificial light

I bought my bottle from the Nail and Beauty Link (link in the supplier's page) for a ridiculous bargain £6.  I'd say this polish is easily worth twice that. 

Next up will be my final "Ornate" collection polish: Storm...until then!

Sparkly Zoya's: "Aurora"

Hello ladies! Today I'm kicking off a run of Zoya posts, showcasing the sparkly polishes that I have in my stash.  I recently went on a Zoya lemming hunt, and these were the spoils :)

First up is hands-down favourite of the bunch: Aurora.  This polish was released in the Holiday 2012 "Ornate" collection.  These jewel toned holo glitters are described as containing "high concentration micro-fine diamond holographic glitter".  Whether this contains actual diamond I don't know, but it certainly sparkles like it does....

Zoya Aurora - artificial light

Aurora is a cool toned magenta, that appears purple in some lights.  It has a jelly base and flawless application.  The glitter particles are fine enough to allow smooth application with no clump-and-drag and leaving a glossy smooth finish.  Removal was also a breeze.  I'm wearing my usual two coats betwixt NE base and HK girl topcoat.  It did need a couple coats to reach opacity.

Zoya Aurora - artificial light - close up

This polish is mesmerizing in every light.  I find some holos can be dull in indirect light, but there is literally not a dull face to this beauty, indoors or out the holo effect is clearly evident and in sunlight this polish is a riot of rainbows.  I found I was still staring at my nails just as much on day 5 as day 1. Wear time was also impressive, I only had minor tip wear after a full week.

Zoya Aurora - in different lights

I've had a major lemming for this polish since I first saw it swatched by the legendary Scrangie...its such a shame she doesn't seem to blog much anymore.  I can't believe I waited to so long to add this to my collection, but it was definitely worth the wait. 

I bought mine from Nail Polish Direct (link on the suppliers page) for £8.95, which is utterly bargainous for a polish of this quality and beauty.  I got it just a few weeks ago, so even though this was a 2012 polish it still appears to be in circulation.

More "Ornate" polish posts to follow...(and a couple from the follow-up "Zenith" collection).

Pretty Serious "Bloody Bride" and review of OPI Glitter OFF! base coat

Hello ladies!  Today I have a dual purpose review for you - "Bloody Bride" a gorgeous glitter polish from Pretty Serious, and a first test of the new OPI "Glitter OFF!" base coat.

I have only worn Bloody Bride once before this, and removal was so unbelievably god-awful that I vowed never to wear it again.  I used the foil method, I used pure acetone, I buffed, scrubbed and basically destroyed my nails to remove this stuff the first time round.  I have never had another glitter polish this bad for removal.  So when I got my mitts on a bottle of Glitter OFF this seemed like the ideal test case.  If it could make this polish wearable it would be worth it.  I'll start with a review of Bloody Bride and then the cover the base coat separately...OK on with the show!

Pretty Serious "Bloody Bride" - artificial lighting

Bloody Bride was a special project for Kaz - the woman in charge of the Australian brand 'Pretty Serious'.  This was the polish she created to wear on her own wedding day, at her horror themed wedding.  It was one of two polishes in the "Till Death Do Us Party" collection (Gruesome Groom was the zombie green partner to this).  It's a densely packed glitter polish, with holo particles aplenty, suspended in a suitably bloody jelly base.  Pictured here I'm wearing two coats atop the GlitterOFF base and beneath a thick coat of HK Girl topcoat.

Bloody Bride

In some ways I find this quite a disappointing polish.  Application is terrible, it really lives up to its bloody name as it applies like clotted blood.  The dense glitter makes it very clumpy, streaky as hell, and suffers from the classic 'clump and drag' effect.  Applying two thick coats and waiting for the first to dry completely allowed for a smooth finish, but took patience.  I really like the colour of this when it's on, but it's one of those polishes that looks nothing like it does in the bottle.  Look at the shot below - see all those lovely rainbow holo sparkly bits in the bottle? See them on the nail? Nope!  The thick jelly base covers the sparkly nature of the particles that are contained within, which is a real shame.

Disappointingly the holo particles in the bottle don't translate onto the nail

On the nail this polish has some similarity to Toggle to the Top by Essie, which you would not expect from a bottle comparison (pic of this comparison is on the Toggle...review, link above).  The difference is that the particles in the Bloody Bride are a lot larger, so the effect is less subtle than in the Essie, but the base colours and overall effect are quite similar.  I'd recommend getting the Essie instead - it's cheaper (£7.99 vs £9.50), more easily found (in Boots, Bloody Bride is often out of stock in the UK), and most importantly its easy to remove!

So, on the topic of removal, let's move on to the OPI base coat review...

OPI GlitterOFF is almost certainly just watered down PVA glue.  There really is no mistaking that smell as soon as you open the bottle.  The blogosphere has long talked of mixing your own, which requires an empty bottle that I've never had (really who finishes their polish? Who could be bothered to clean out a bottle?) so I'm happy to go with the commercial product but I'd put money on them being the same thing.

The first thing I noticed on applying this is that it immediately shrank significantly from the edges of the nail.  In other reviews I've heard people complain that when peeling off their polish they found it firmly stuck down at the end of the nail and I wonder if this could be the cause.  The bottle says to use a single thin coat, I used two coats in a effort to get more edge coverage (and on the theory that the coat would adhere better to itself than to my nail plate).  This did help, but as you can see in this photo there is still some tip shrink.

The other thing that I noticed about this base is that my usual clean up method (of a small brush dipped in pure acetone and run round the edges of the nail) didn't dissolve the base coat.  This left me with the unsightly edge effect you see in the picture above.  I was reluctant to try peeling this bit off in case it took the polish with it.

As for wear time and durability, I was happy to discover it was the same as I'd expect from a regular base coat.  Since this is a peel-off product I thought it would push away from the tips quite easily but I was pleased to find this wasn't true.  When it came to removal I used a wooden orange cuticle stick, and pushed from the middle at the cuticle end upwards.  I had to apply a reasonable amount of force to push the polish off, which might have been due to using two coats. On most nails the polish split into fragments that were pushed off separately.  I didn't have any issues getting it off the end of the nail, so I think my double coat method really helped for this.

Below (top) is a picture of my nails straight after the orange stick removal.  You can see that there is a lot of residue on my nails, and quite a yellowy effect.  I was really worried that this flaky stuff was my nails and not the base coat.  I spent some time with nail polish remover, rubbing at the residue, and then gently buffed my nails.  The picture in the middle shows how my nails looked after this - most of the residue was gone, and most of the yellowing went too.  HOWEVER I'm not convinced that my nail plate wasn't damaged.  I think a small amount of this peeling was actually from the surface of my nail (from the way that it took off a thin strip when I peeled it off.  Had it been PVA it should have just been the PVA that came off).

If you've reached the end of this mahoosive entry - well done!  To sum up, here's what I learned: Bloody Bride is a good looking polish, but I don't feel its worth the hassle (or the pricetag), if you like the effect then get Essie "Toggle to the Top" instead.  The OPI base coat certainly makes removal a lot easier, but I'm not convinced you're not doing a small amount of damage to your nails when you use it.  I will use the OPI base again, but I don't think I'll use glitter polishes much more often for owning it.

I bought my bottle of Bloody Bride from the lovely Sally Magpies (link in supplier page), currently the only UK based dealer for Pretty Serious.  I got my bottle of OPI basecoat gratis, thanks to my lovely mum who gave me it.  Thanks mum!