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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Sportsgirl Arctic Glamour

Hello!

Another lovely bright creme for you today. This is Sportsgirl Arctic Glamour.


I'm not really sure why this is called Arctic Glamour, as it seems more of a 'hot' colour to me, but this is a saturated turquoise which is more green-leaning in real life but surprisingly does not give me lobster hands. Application on this was ok. I didn't give the bottle enough of a shake before I tried my first coat and so it came out a bit watery with clumps of pigment, which might actually be an interesting look, but  after a vigorous shake it's very even, with a nice shiny finish. This is three coats with topcoat but the topcoat didn't make a huge amount of difference to the shine (I just wear it out of habit otherwise my manicures would never last more than a day). This colour is currently in stock at Sportsgirl but if you want it it's probably best to head down to grab one sooner rather than later, as Sportsgirl tends to change their colours fairly often.

Robyn x

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Ulta3 Eighties Fushsia (sp)

Hello!

Oh gosh. I love this polish. I already gushed about it in my skittles mani, but holy CRAP is this polish ever the most wonderful piece of $2 polish magic I have ever had the pleasure of randomly pulling out of a plastic bin.


Thin, even, buttery, perfect, perfect brush, opaque in two coats, and a ridiculously flattering bright-without-being-neon pink which made me go "hey, maybe I should wear more pink". Sure, they spelt "fuchsia" wrong on the bottle, but I'm willing to let it slide because this polish is glorious. If it weren't for the fact that I'm trying to wear everything in my stash at least once before doing a repeat mani, I would wear this again for sure. This is two coats with top coat.

I should add that this is the Australian-made EF, and the newer PRC version is (I think) a bit more purple looking than this. However, you might still be able to find this - I got this only a couple of weeks ago at Target on Bourke Street in Melbourne.

Robyn x

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Ulta3 Skittles!

Hello!

Another skittle manicure today, I think this colour combination works a lot better than the last one. I used all Ulta3 polishes for this manicure and they are:


Silver Glitter, Frog Prince, Blue Marlin, Honolulu, Spring Break and Eighties Fushsia (I know it's not spelt like that but that's what it says on the bottle!)

Application on these varied. Eighties Fuchsia was the BEST. Buttery, even, self leveling, perfect brush, made me want to happy dance, opaque in two thin coats. Spring Break was ok but had a DREADFUL brush, weirdly fluffy on the end which made it fricking difficult to make a neat line. Honolulu was a bit of a gluggy nightmare and needed four coats for full opacity. Frog Prince was ok but a little thick and was opaque in two thick coats, as was Blue Marlin. Silver glitter smells frickin WEIRD and was super thick but not as gritty as I was expecting, only needed the regular one coat of top coat to smooth out, and was super dense - I only used one coat on each nail. Ulta3 recently moved production of their polishes from Australia to China, and many people have commented that the formulation has suffered somewhat from the move. Eighties Fuchsia is the only polish in this manicure which was made in Australia (I only bought it  a couple of days ago, but you can still find the odd Aussie Ulta3 here and there) and it had the best formulation. Go figure...

Below is before I put glitter and top coat on:

Thumb to pinkie - Blue Marlin, Frog Prince, Honolulu, Eighties Fuchsia, Spring Break.
Blue Marlin and Honolulu had quite a glossy finish, Frog Prince slightly less so, and Eighties Fuchsia and Spring Break had the same slightly rubbery finish as Sunset Pink.

And here it is with glitter!


The top photo is more colour accurate (surprisingly so, as I didn't even have to colour correct it - maybe having so many bright colours in the one image helped the camera's sensor calibrate properly or sumfink?) but yay! Glitter! I love me some glitter.

Robyn x

Monday, October 15, 2012

Essie Smooth Sailing

Hello!

A gorgeous, gorgeous Essie for you today. This is Smooth Sailing, which I picked up with my other Essie in Adelaide. Smooth Sailing is a dusty cornflower blue with tiny glass flecks in it - they look silver from a distance but if you look reeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaally closely you can actually see that they're a mix of pale pink and pale blue flecks.


Application was glorious! I have heard time and again from many bloggers how much of a joy it is to do a manicure with Essies and I have to say, it's all true. This picture (as are all my pictures) is with absolutely no cleanup. The brush was perfect and made it super easy to get a neat line, and it was the perfect consistency, like butter. I bought 14 Essies from Ozsale when they had their Essie sale (and my bank balance hated me for it!) and can't wait for them to arrive :)

Robyn x

Saturday, October 13, 2012

China Glaze Paper Chasing + Lush Lacquer Lite Brite

Hello!

A super bright and cheerful mani today - my flatmate said my nails looked like Christmas :)


This is three coats of China Glaze Paper Chasing, a sheer apple green shimmer, and one dabbled coat of Lush Lacquer Lite Brite, a clear base with small brightly coloured square and hex glitter, large pink hexes and tiny holographic glitter. To get this coverage I swirled the brush around in the bottle, then plonked the brush horizontally onto the nail to get all the glitter on, and didn't swipe as this just wipes the glitter right off again. I've had Lite Brite for maybe three months and in that time I think the large pink hexes have "tacoed" slightly (curled up, like a taco shell) so I needed a lot of top coat (three coats I think!) to smooth out any pointy edges. Still, it's a super pretty glitter and I'll give this another go over a different coloured base - although next time I might try and flip the hexes so the taco-ey points are pointing into the nail bed :)

Robyn x

PS Lush Lacquer is available at Etsy and they currently have Lite Brite in stock. Shipping can be a little slow as this is a small mother and daughter team making the polishes but they are really good at keeping customers updated through their Facebook page.

PPS I bought Lite Brite for my own use. No one has sent me free polish to review...yet!

Friday, October 12, 2012

Ulta3 Sunset Pink

Hello!

Another Ulta3 for you today. This is Sunset Pink, an intense blue-toned pink creme (it kind of reminds me of those Redskin lollies you used to get as a kid - I wonder if they're still available? They're delicious!).



Application on this was not awesome - it's quite a thick and gluggy polish and did not want to level on the nail at all, and I actually ended up with a weird lump on the tip of my thumbnail where the excess polish did not smooth out. The finish on this without topcoat is not quite gloss, not quite matte - sort of an in between rubbery look, which I quite liked, but ended up using top coat to try and even out the lumps. I might try and add thinner to this so I can wear it without top coat in the future.

Robyn x

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Ulta3 Copper

Hello!

Apologies for not posting for a couple of days. I have a little admission to make - I usually get a backlog of posts (or manicures) and then write and schedule a whole bunch of posts, because I don't have time to post every time I do my nails.

Anyway, this is Ulta3 Copper, a bright, shiny, quite orangey metallic copper. I'm pretty sure this is two coats, and application was great, very easy, self levelling and not brush strokey. Not really the right colour for this time of year (Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, that is), but the weather in Melbourne has been so shocking lately that it almost works.


 Robyn x






Monday, October 8, 2012

China Glaze Strawberry Fields + Revlon Sheer Seafoam + Revlon Radiant

I went into Priceline recently and they had reduced all their Revlon polishes to $9.95 so I picked up Sheer Seafoam and Radiant. Also, the first anniversary of my grandmother's passing happened recently as well. She was my last surviving grandparent and we were quite close, so I did a manicure that I think she would have enjoyed - she loved pink and sparkles :)


The pink nails are (surprise, surprise) two coats of Strawberry Fields. I hadn't worn this before and I'm glad I finally did - this is a gorgeous polish! I couldn't really get the colour accurate in the photo even with colour correcting, it's quite a vivid cool pink loaded with gold shimmer. For the thumb and ring fingers I did one coat of Sheer Seafoam, one coat of Radiant and then two more coats of Sheer Seafoam. I have to admit that even though SSF was labelled as such, I wasn't expecting it to be *that* sheer! I might have to mix it with a creme if I wear it by itself. I'm not looking forward to removing the glitter...I keep forgetting to buy PVA glue to make a peel off basecoat though.

 Robyn x

PS If you're lucky enough to still have them, go hug your grandparents x

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Sugar Coated Skittles!

Hello!

I have a super bright and cheerful spring skittle mani for you today! I bought some polishes at Sportsgirl and at first thought I might do a gradient but was feeling too lazy so added a couple of OPIs to make a five finger skittle...then topped it all off with a sugary, shiny coat of China Glaze White Cap.


My hands look kinda weird in this photo...I had to colour correct the shiz out of this to get the colours somewhere approximating accurate but it was impossible (for me at least) to get every one right. My thumb is two coats of OPI Jade Is The New Black, a blue toned mid green creme. Index is three coats Sportsgirl Sunflower, a bright, slightly green leaning yellow with yellow shimmer. Middle finger is two coats of Sportsgirl Tangerine, a mid orange crelly (creme/jelly). Ring finger is two coats of Sportsgirl Va Va Voom, a vivid fuchsia with blue micro shimmer, and pinkie is two coats of OPI A Grape Fit, a dark lilac creme. All nails have one coat of China Glaze White Cap over the top, then my favourite Sally Hansen top coat. These polishes were all easy to apply and opaque in two coats, except Sunflower, although I've yet to meet a nice two-coater yellow. I've only ever worn A Grape Fit as a full mani but I like all these polishes so much that I will have to wear them all as full manis soon!

Robyn x

Friday, October 5, 2012

Max Factor Purple Haze + Ozotic 528

Hello!

Today's manicure is a multichromic, glittery beauty. Max Factor Purple Haze is a dark, almost dusty purple creme which went on in two fairly cooperative coats (I HATE the brush that comes with this polish though - it's in the same bottle as Fantasy Fire. Stupid tiny mini splayed out brush which makes control impossible, hence the gross messy cuticles). On top I did three coats of Ozotic 528, a gorgeous multichrome glitter which shifts from turquoise to fuchsia to (at extreme angles) an orange leaning gold.


Check out that shift! It's even more noticeable in real life.


A photo with flash to show Purple Haze underneath.


Unfortunately 528 has been discontinued and I don't know if it's available anymore.

Robyn x

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Ulta3 Pale Dahlia + OPI A Grape Fit

Hello!

Firstly, apologies for my ravaged cuticles. I've recently begun swimming before work a few days a week, and the chlorine is playing havoc with my skin. Might be time to finally splurge on a jar of Lemony Flutter!

Today's manicure is a konadicure with Ulta3 Pale Dahlia and OPI A Grape Fit.


As with Soft Hydrangea, Pale Dahlia was a PITA to apply, even more so. This was four ridiculously gloppy and uncooperative coats. I think a dose of thinner is required here. The shimmer in this is more noticeable than in Soft Hydrangea, but I'm not totally in love with the colour - I don't think these pale, fairy floss pinks really suit me. I stamped over with OPI a Grape Fit to try and hide some of the unevenness in the polish, which I think also made it look nicer. A Grape Fit is not a great stamping polish - as you can see it's very sheer and kind of patchy - but I actually liked the look, it looks sort of soft and antiqued.

Unfortunately I badly dinged two of the nails on my right hand about half an hour after doing this while trying my hair up (I think the four coats of PD were still soft) so this came off the same day I put it on.

Robyn x

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Ulta3 Soft Hydrangea + China Glaze Papaya Punch

Hello!

Today's manicure is from the Ulta3 Spring Pastels collection, with a bit of dotting on top.


Soft Hydrangea is a super pale, turquoise-blue creme with a hint of sneaky silver shimmer which is basically invisible on the nail. Application wasn't awesome, this was thick and gloppy and net very self levelling, and needed three coats to become fully opaque, but it is so super pretty that it was worth it.


I dotted the ring finger and drew little love hearts on the middle finger in China Glaze Papaya Punch with a toothpick - I do have dotting tools but was at my parent's house when I did this. I love dotticures - it's a super easy way to do nail art, and you can get some really cute patterns.

Robyn x

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Ulta3 Crazy

Hello!

Today I have another Ulta3 to show you. This is a colour called Crazy. I picked it up on a whim (as you do when bin diving for Ulta3s :)). This is an intense orange jelly with sparkly green shimmer (hence the name I guess!). I didn't realise the shimmer was green until I swatched it on a stick. Until then I figured it was just a bright colour but after seeing it swatched I had to wear it as a mani.


Gorgeous colour, no? The green colour in the shimmer isn't terribly noticeable but it's still a really beautiful colour, and I got a lot of compliments on this. I'm glad I finally wore it!

Robyn x

Monday, October 1, 2012

CH Nails Magnetic 60

My boyfriend and I had our first anniversary a little while ago. We agreed to not do big extravagant presents but to get something small for each other to mark the occasion, as we're both living on strict budgets (he's a full time student and I only just started working full time after deferring my studies this semester). It was a lovely sunny day so we went down to Studley Park Boat House (Melbournians, if you haven't been there - go! It's gorgeous!) and I was presented with this:


Magnetic nail polish! I have the most awesome boyfriend ever!

This is a brand called CH Nails. Neither of us were able to find much information about them (he spent a while researching on the internet before buying these, bless!). He got them for me right before I finally found the Ulta3 magnetics, after listening to me moan that I couldn't find them anywhere - how adorable is that? Well now I never have to buy another magnetic polish...


This is CH Nails number 60 (there's no names, just numbers), using two of the magnets from the set that BF very thoughtfully included with the polishes. The blur on my ring finger is meant to be a starburst, but I'm not very good with the magnets just yet. More practice is required - luckily I have another 11 colours to try out :D

Robyn x