Contrary Polish The Islands Trio

Contrary Polish is a new to me brand. The owner Carrie was so nice and sent me a whole bunch to share with you. Today, I have a newer collection from her called The Islands.

The first photo for each polish is taken in the shade. That way, you can see what the shimmer looks like out of direct sun. They're all visible and not at all of the hidden variety.

Aruba. Three coats. Teal blue with green shimmer. The colour is closest to the second photo. The shimmer in this one is the most subtle out of the three, but I think that's mostly because its complementary to the base instead of being contrasting.

Anna Maria. Three coats. Dark blue-teal with gold shimmer. This one was darker and more blue than I expected it to be from the bottle. I love the way it looks though. That gold shimmer is so perfect. I want it in a whole collection!

Santorini. Three coats. Royal blue with flaky shimmer. The shimmer bits are slightly larger than the other two which are much finer. This one is my favourite of the trio. The blue is so, so perfect. I have this on as a pedi right now... the sandals are finally starting to come out for the season ahead!

The formulas on these were all impeccable  Really smooth and free flowing. Almost opaque at two coats but all needed three to be completely even. Full size Contrary Polish is available at Llarowe and minis directly from Contrary Polish.

Rainbow Honey The Yokai Collection

Rainbow Honey has a trio out for this year's Halloween and I was graciously sent the three to review so... here they are!

The inspiration for the collection is drawn upon Japanese mythological creatures. Not something I am familiar with but it does sound very cool.

Kitsune. Three coats. Camel with heavy gold shimmer and orange, gold and copper glitter. I've seen this one pull quite yellow on others. It almost looks like a nude on me. Not something I'd usually go for but it worked surprisingly well with my skin. On an additional note, a kitsune is a nine-tailed fox... anyone else jump straight to this?

Kawako. Three coats. Deep denim blue with bright blue shimmer and silver flaky-microglitter. There were also large opalescent flakes which I actually did not warm to. I couldn't really spot them on the nail and they made application a little clumpy.

Oni. Three coats. A black base filled with gold flaky-microglitter and red/purple shimmer. Reminiscent of OPI Holiday Glow. I loved that one and I love this one - it's totally up my alley and my favourite of the three. I especially love how heavy those mini gold flakes are.

The Yokai is limited edition for Halloween 2012. Rainbow Honey is available here.

Lynnderella Golden Rules

Holographic gold glitter goodness! My favourite shapes in this are the lovely golden hearts. I don't think they are as plentiful as the others but I did manage to get two on my right hand :)

One coat of Golden Rules over DR 06. Kind of night sky-ish over such a blue! The blue itself was really strange though... can you see how the colour bled onto some of the glitters making them look 'buried within' and kind of fuzzy around the edges? Strange phenomenon but I think the effect was pretty cool.

Lynnderella is available here.

Lynnderella 50 Shades of May-Be

Ahh... 50 Shades. I have not and probably will not read it. Although I am a big devourer of, how would you say, Harlequin romance? The bad kind... Harlequin Presents. LOL. But yes.... it is true. Any other sad souls out there too??

One coat of 50 Shades of May-Be over OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui. Consists of black, white and greys like the name suggests. And if you look closely, you will also see a translucent, large-particle flaky shimmer that runs through it. The glitter is super shiny and I had a hard time taking pictures because I couldn't stop the reflections. Amazing.

Lynnderella is available here.

Lynnderella A Neutral Party

A manicure of oddities... an apparently "fluoro" blue and a neutral glitter. Huh.

One coat of A Neutral Party over two of TBN Blue Fluoro (which is a laughable name, by the way). A Neutral Party is a gold shimmer base full of earthy glitters in tan, brown, gunmetal, black and white. I loved wearing this. Blues and browns together are one of my vices. Love.

Lynnderella is available here.

Lynnderella Deep Blue Seeing

Deep Blue Seeing was one of the Lynnderella's I could not stop staring at when I first got it. The level of depth is seriously amazing and the name is so very perfect.

One coat of Deep Blue Seeing over three coats of Color Club Chelsea Girl. The whole thing is a couple shades more green than these pictures show. Also, my camera wants to make all the glitter look the same - they're not! Lots and lots of different blues in there. The different textures of glitter give an really interesting yet subtle effect which is best seen in person.

Lynnderella is available here and I've heard there is a new collection on the horizon so I better get cracking posting the rest of the Summer ones!

Pretty Serious In The Night Collection

The ever lovely Kaz sent me the six polishes from her new In The Night collection which I have for you today. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the video game it's based on.... but now I'm holding out for a collection based on Bust-a-Groove. Kaz?! :D Just kidding.

Into Dreams. Two coats. Deep purple shimmer with pink flecks. Leans more fuchsia than most of my purple shimmers. And like most purples, it is more red-leaning than my pictures show.

Nightopia. Three coats. It was fine at two but I think the third coat gave it more depth. Blue-teal with gold shimmer. Slightly heavier in shimmer when compared to Bloom Bianca/San Fransisco but it's got that same gorgeous green tinge at the edges that I love so much.

Claris. Three coats. Cool pink jelly with gold glass-fleck shimmer. So nice. The pink reminds me of an artificially flavoured and coloured strawberry milkshake! And the gold shimmer warms it enough for me that my hands don't look grey.

Dream Delight. Two coats. Dense silver glitter in a smoky blue tinted base. The tinted base makes it take on an overall gunmetal shade as well as giving the look of depth in between all the tiny glitters.

Nightmaren. Two coats. Bright red with gold shimmer. This is not as pigmented as a lot of red shimmers which actually works to its advantage. The shimmer doesn't get lost in all the red and actually reads gold. Awesome!

Elliot. Two coats. Bright medium blue with white-silver flaky shimmer. The blue is really saturated and there is no VNL in real life, contrary to what my pictures show.


The Pretty Serious In The Night collection is available now at www.pretty-serious.com. There are also a couple of lip glosses and a loose eyeshadow in the collection as well to match with Into Dreams and Claris.