She Aromatherapy Nail Varnish: Golden Sequins

Ah, the over the top appeal of gilt coated nails.  To quote Goldmember, the Dutch accented baddie in the third Austin Powers instalment, "I love gooooold!"and the polish featured in this post is the epitome of all things crazy gooooold!

 

Due to the uniformly fine micro-glitter, She Aromatherapy's Golden Sequins wears like golden lamé on the nails and is undoubtedly over the top yet beautiful at the same time.  It only took two coats to produce this showstopping effect and as I don't need to say any more I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

 

Sun

 

 

Shade

 

 

This is my idea of a party polish and as with all of the micro-glitters in the She Aromatherapy range this polish provides plenty of glittery bling without the headache of difficult removal. 

 

Until next time!

 

 



She Aromatherapy Nail Varnish: Pink Diamonds

Rose gold was a big trend in beauty and accessories over the last couple of years and I still love it.  Cue Pink Diamonds from She Aromatherapy's All That Sparkles collection!

 

Pink Diamonds is another quite simple but high impact, dense micro-glitter polish from this 'mystery' All That Sparkles collection (see my first swatch, Lustrous Pearls here) and is a soft rose gold on the nails.  As per usual this is two coats sealed with a top coat.

 

Shade

 

 

Sun

 

 

I've been enjoying wearing these micro-glitter polishes because they have all the sparkle without the stubborn removal.

 

 

Until my next post!



She Aromatherapy Nail Varnish: Lustrous Pearls

A couple of months ago I won an entire collection of nail polish called All That Sparkles from Australian brand She Aromatherapy.  The All That Sparkles collection is a selection of 6 micro-glitter polishes and somewhat of a mystery collection in that I can't find any reference to it on the She Aromatherapy website or anywhere else online! It may be an upcoming collection or it may be a sample collection.  If I happen to find out I'll let you know...in the meantime here's the first swatch.

 

Lustrous Pearls is more of a metallic pewter than a pearl shade as such and is a dense micro-glitter polish.  I applied two coats and finished with top coat to set the polish and add shine.  I was expecting difficulties with removal but this wasn't too tough at all for a glitter - although it did leave minute stubborn sparkles around my cuticles and fingers afterwards...

 

 

Shade

 

 

Sun

 

Until next time!

 



Sephora: Full Moon Party

I'm posting a polish from my recent Sephora expedition and considering this shade has probably been around for a while I'm surprised by how few decent swatches are out there!

Full Moon Party is one complex little purple polish, livened up by pink and blue micro-glitter so it appears multidimensional in the light.  It's not in your face but it has interest.  Application was a breeze with the wide, curved edge brush and the polish was almost a one-coater.  I won't say any more. I will let the pictures hopefully do justice to this little gem for purple polish lovers out there...

Indoors

 

 

 

Shade

 

Sun

 

 

 Thanks for looking!

 



Missha: Crystal Nail Polish GPK01

I know some of you requested a swatch of this Missha polish after I recently posted my Missha haul (here) so here's a quick dose of a sparkly pink confection to brighten up the middle of your week :)

I actually wore this hyper-feminine manicure to another beauty blogger lunch last Sunday just for fun as I knew the girls would appreciate it!  Crystal Nail Polish (GPK01) from Korean beauty brand Missha is simply a very dense mix of silver micro-glitter in a medium pink base.  Application was a rather easy two coats with the very wide flat brush and finished with two layers of top coat.  I can see this thirsty glitter could have done with another coat to smooth it over perfectly as the finish was a little bumpy but I like the sugary effect and it gave off some serious sparkle in the sun!

Full sun

Shade

Indoors

Enjoy the second half of your week!

Vita :)

OPI: Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It

I've been indulging my addiction to embellishment again -

I can't help myself, I'm always looking for ways to add to my manicures and my new girly layering polish from OPI seemed the perfect sugary topping for my existing lilac and gold mani (here).  Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It is the only shade I could get my hands on the other day from the Vintage Minnie Mouse collection but it is the cutest so I'm not complaining!  It's a very sheer and icy polish made up of shimmery pink micro-glitter with large paler pink heart glitters thrown in for good measure.  I did find it took a bit of finesse to apply and I'm not sure I've done it total justice here. I had to swish and twist the brush around in the bottle to capture those large glitter pieces and position them on the nail using the brush.  The polish itself is a strangely thick, almost gluey consistency, obviously to prevent the hearts from sinking to the bottom. It took a bit of getting used to when applying.

This is one coat and I do love the iridescent shimmer it gives to the lilac creme base.  Please don't look too closely at my hands. The cold weather has really dried them out and they're more shriveled than usual *applies more hand cream*.

Full sun

Shade

I promise this is the last of the lilac and gold series!

Vita :)

Missha: Crystal Nail Polish GVL01

More cloudy day swatches *sigh*.

I've finally got around to wearing a few of my new Missha polishes.  My first choice was always going to be GVL01 because of the purple microglitter combo - made for me really!  Looking at it more closely this polish is actually a mix of silver and magenta microglitter in a grape purple base polish.  It satisfies my desire for sparkliness without being too out there.  The polish itself was reasonably good, albeit little on the thick side and a little tricky to apply at first because of the brush.  I had trouble with the odd stumpy brush and overloaded it, flooding my cuticles initially but once I mastered it I kind of liked the idea of covering the entire nail in two strokes.  On the plus side I'd say this is a super opaque one-coater and only needs one layer of top coat to smooth out the gritty finish.

Now for the cloudy day pics - I wanted Sun! Sun! Sun! to bring out this polish in all its glory but no...

Outdoors

Indoors

 

...a sunny day reswatch may be called for with this polish!

That's it for now.

Vita :)

NOTD: Layering with Winmax 145

When I did my Japanese polish stash post a few weeks ago I'd forgotten about a few bottles of polish I'd bought when Japanese discount store Daiso opened in a local shopping centre last year.  When I got there after the initial stampede all of the most interesting shades had been cleared out but for a few.  Winmax 145 is one of those little gems and is a very sheer layering polish with its mix of blue, almost opalescent microglitter.   

I couldn't leave yesterday's green creme mani alone so I added two coats of this fine sparkle to make it subtly more interesting.  I like how my nails have taken on a sparkly glow.

Sun

Shade

Now, if you want to see some more truly amazing swatches of these layering polishes check out Kristy's blog here.

That's all for now.

Vita :)

Japanese NOTD: Anna Sui - 201

I promised you a pretty swatch and here it is.

I bought this bottle of Anna Sui polish a few years ago duty-free before flying out of Japan.  I fell in love with the rose-themed packaging so bought this polish, a pink eyeshadow and a lipstick. 201 is a soft mauve lilac cream with a very subtle hint of multi-coloured micro-glitter - in bright light I could detect pink, silver, blue, green and orange.  More obvious in the bottle, the glitter becomes a subtle shimmer on the nail and dries to a smooth finish.  The other thing about this polish is the rose scent.  It permeated through my topcoat and my nails smelt subtly of roses for days - we're talking lasting through several rounds of hand washing and showers!  I remember my Anna Sui eyeshadow initially had a subtle rose scent too but that has faded over time.

This was beauty in a bottle and a very classic, wearable look for me.  I loved wearing it on my nails all last week.  I couldn't narrow down which pictures I wanted to post so here are quite a few...

Full sun

Shade

What do you think about scented nail polish?

Enjoy your weekend.

Vita :)

Japanese NOTD: Nail Color 216

Oh, what a cliche this is but what a boring, nondescript name for such a gorgeous polish...

I knew 216 would be a layering polish so I tried one coat over Revlon's Black Lingerie.  Well, this was just stunningly beautiful!  The combination of green, orange and blue hex and micro-glitter over the black base made my nails look like black opals according to the Husband. I wore this all weekend and was tempted to wear it to work but relented at the last minute.  Gotta say removal of this was a breeze too so this glitter polish is a winner all round!

This is as close as you'll get to a flakie-looking polish which isn't actually a flakie. The illusion of depth in just one coat is amazing.  It feels like I'm staring into deep space via my fingernails (Cue the Star Trek music)...

Both of these pictures were taken in cloudy daylight:

That's all for now.

Vita :)

Essence - Let's Get Lost + China Glaze - White Cap

**Scheduled Post**

While I loved wearing Let's Get Lost alone and unadorned I wanted to see how it would look topped with some golden shimmer.  I added a single coat of China Glaze White Cap and the result was an ethereal shimmery aqua blue.  The crystal-dipped look was instant love for me.  White Cap is probably my favourite layering polish and it never disappoints...

Full sun

Outdoors shade

 

Do you have a favourite layering polish?

That's all  for now.

Vita :)

What my nails wore to work: Rokk 96 - I'll be Frank

This is my office manicure from last week and yet another polish from my vacation mega-haul (see the original post here to refresh your memory)...

I'll be Frank is a deep, vampy polish which has that glow from within quality.  It's a burgundy/plum base with gold micro-glitter which gives it an insane warm glow in the sun and under incandescent light. The formula was easy to control, with smooth application and full opacity in two coats.  My manicure held up for four days before I got some minor chipping so I was also satisfied with the wear of this.

I loved wearing this shade although it probably doesn't flatter my hands so much,  making them look a little on the pasty side.  See what you think - I've put up a lot of pictures in this post to admire the beauty of this polish:

Full sun

Outdoors shade

 

Lamplight

I've one last shade from the Rokk 96 to try, which is the polar opposite of this - a soft pink creme!

That's all for now.

Vita :)

Rokk 96: Silver Screen

Happy Wednesday to everyone - I've made it half-way through the working week and I'm surviving so far...

Here's one of the mani's I sported on holiday from my megahaul.  I bought three Rokk 96 polishes from Price Attack and I had to wear Silver Screen first because it screamed summer and water to me. Silver Screen is a glittery, shimmery metallic blue polish comprising loads of silver micro-glitter in a blue base.  The result is a blingy standout mani which looks amazing in bright sunlight.  I must admit I had a bit of trouble with the consistency of the polish when applying because it was a bit goopy and tended to drag, however the wear was outstanding and it did not budge until I was ready to take it off.

Full sun

Outdoors shade

Rokk 96 polishes retail at around $7.95AUD each.

That's all for now.

Vita :)