Loki's Lacquer - Good News Everybody!

Hey guys! First of all I just wanted to say thank you SO much, because I hit 250 GFC followers yesterday! ^_^ I'm so thankful for every single person who reads my blog, even if there were only 5 of you I'd still be so happy. Thank you for all your lovely comments too! ♥ I also hit 123 followers on BlogLovin'! Thank you so much guys :)

Today I'll be showing you my first polish by Aussie indie brand Loki's Lacquer! I've wanted to try Tara's polishes for a while :) She recently came out with an awesome Futurama collection and she also has a cute Easter collection out right now.

Loki's Lacquer Good News Everybody!

Good News Everybody! is a minty green base with a subtle blue shimmer through it. It also has white mint green and teal glitters in it.

This is 3 coats + top coat.

I would probably use this over a mint green or something next time because it was a bit patchy and at 3 coats it was a wee bit thick.

The square mini bottles Tara uses are SOOO cute too, eep! ^_^

I definitely suggest you check out Tara's Etsy shop :D She has some really unique polishes!

Also, I just wanted to let you guys know about my Facebook page. I don't really update it a lot at the moment, I mostly just post pictures and a link to each blog post (some days I forget, though lol) but I'd love to update it more. I update Twitter and Instagram A LOT but I know that some people don't use those.

Feel free to ask me any questions you have through my Facebook page and even send me pics of your manis! Even if it has nothing to do with mine, I would love to see your photos. :)

Have a great day ♥

Twitter || Facebook || YouTube || Instagram

Femme Fatale Lacquer - Formally Invited

Hey lovelies! I have another swatch for you today. :)

This is from indie brand Femme Fatale Lacquer. I bought this in October, I think and it took me this long to try it. lol!

Femme Fatale Lacquer Formally Invited

Formally Invited is a sheer white base with small black glitters. I think it's super cute!

The formula on this was fantastic. Not too thick, not too thin. And even the mini brush was great! I usually hate mini brushes but this was totally fine.

This is 3 coats of Formally Invited + 1 coat of top coat.

This shade is discontinued from Femme Fatale Lacquer I believe, sorry! :( That's what I get for waiting so long to swatch it lol.

Alanna Renee - Reptar

Hey guys! I'm skipping Aussie Nails Monday today, again... lol. I was feeling particularly unspired. Today's a public holiday here today and I'm slightly disappointed about that. :P I was expecting mail today! Darn it. Haha.
Anywho, instead of ANM, I have a quick swatch to show you today from indie brand Alanna Renee! :) So still slightly "Aussie" Nails Monday, right?! Hehe.

Alanna Renee Reptar

Reptar is inspired by the green dinosaur on the Rugrats! I HAD to get this as soon as I saw it. Rugrats was definitely my favourite show when I was little! :D

Reptar has orange and grey-ish lavender hex glitters, and teeny tiny matte green, white and black glitters. I thought the sheer base was green but it's actually more blue. The green glitters make it look like the base is green, though.

This is 2 coats of Reptar + 1 coat of top coat (By the time I finished photographing this, the top coat had dried and the polish felt gritty so it would need another coat of top coat to be smooth).

Check out Alanna's store! And her blog Pretty Purple Polish - she's an awesome blogger. :) Her macro shots are serious to die for.

Were you a Rugrats fan as a child? (Who am I kidding - I'm pretty sure EVERYONE was hahah) I honestly would still watch it now lol! I loved the movies too. xD
What other shows were your favourite as a kid? :D

OPI - Sprung

Hello me lovelies! :) Hope you're having a great weekend!

I have a polish to show you from the OPI Mariah Carey collection. This is the only one I picked up other than the Liquid Sand shades. The other "normal" colours were either too grandma-looking (sorry to all the Grandmas out there...) or I had something too similar.

Ps. Sorry that my "pose" is really weird in these photos... I find OPI bottles so awkward to hold in photos and I'm trying to find a "pose" that is comfortable but still looks normal in photos. Lol I know, how sad that I think so much into it :P

Anyway, this is Sprung! Sprung is a glass fleck finish with a bit of a duochrome to it. It's sort of copper-y, but also rose gold because there's definitely some pink in it.

It's really pretty! I think I'd prefer to wear it more in autumn, though. It seems more of an autumn colour to me. Haha. (Although it's supposed to be autumn now... Hurry up cooler weather!) I'll definitely be sporting this more in the colder months, plus more shades like it! :)

Sprung in the bottle - wish it showed up this duochrome-ish on the nail!

with flash

Did you pick up any of the OPI Mariah Carey collection? :D 

Stamped Gradient Using OPI Euro Centrale Colours + QA28

Hey guys! Today I have a mani to show you that I did using my new OPI Euro Centrale mini set. :D
I skipped Aussie Nails Monday this week because I had a super busy weekend and then I just couldn't be bothered doing the theme this week LOL.

For the base colour I used You're Such a Budapest, which is a light periwinkle-ish purple. It's super pretty! :) It has a little teeny bit of a shimmer in it but it's not very noticeable at all! I did 3 coats of YSAB.

Then I used Can't Find My Czechbook with YSAB to create the gradient. I have a gradient tutorial video HERE if you are interested. :) This is a light sky blue colour.

Over the gradient on my ring finger I used Gloss n Sparkle "Cotinga" :) I've been looking for the perfect polish to use this with for AGES and I think it works over both these colours! :D Unfortunately I don't think Gloss n Sparkle sells this one anymore. :( I did get it probably about 6 months ago, though.

I then stamped over the gradient using plate QA28 from Born Pretty Store with Sinful Colors Snow Me White. :) How cute are the moustaches! :D I think the Born Pretty plates work great for the price! They're only around $3 each!

UMM LOOK AT THOSE GLITTERSSSSS!
Kinda fell in love with this photo ^_^

Bonus bottle shot of Gloss n Sparkle "Cotinga"

What do you think?! :D I love the moustache stamp, it's so funny and cute haha!

Hare - Midsummers Midnight

Hey guys!

Today I have a mani to show you that I wore last night! :D This is also my first polish from the brand Hare Polish! :)
Apologies in advance.. The photos of this turned out really horrible. :/ So I'm only showing you two. For some reason the polish looked super cloudy in most of the photos, and my hands looked a really weird colour, lol!

Hare - Midsummers Midnight

Midsummers Midnight is a black base with pink, purple, green and blue glitter! I layered 1 coat of Midsummers Midnight over one coat of Essence Black Is Back, and topped it off with 1 coat of Seche Vite top coat.

I looooove this polish! The glitter payoff in one coat was awesome! :D I sort of dab the brush when I apply glitter polish, though, instead of just wiping it on like you would a normal polish. (I'll have a video demonstration of this coming soon!)

EDIT: I actually found a much better photo on my phone that I took right after I did this manicure. Go figure, my phone took a better photo than my camera did LOL.

Do you guys have any Hare polishes? I really want to try some more... but kind of don't want to go through all that restock drama etc. lol. I don't even know where to buy them! lol! So I usually leave a link to where you can buy indie polishes but I have no clue where to get these. Sorry! I guess you can just Google it? ;) Google's your friend! I bought this one from a blog sale, by the way.

China Glaze - Tart-y For The Party + BM315

Hey guys! Today I have a polish from the China Glaze Spring 2013 Avant Garden collection to show you, and my first stamped mani using my new BundleMonster plates! :)

China Glaze Tart-y For The Party (+ stamping with BM-315)

Tart-y For The Party is a really pretty purple creme. It's not quite pastel but I wouldn't call it a mid tone purple either... And I can't quite decide if it's more cool toned or warm toned. :/ You can be the judge of that LOL. I thought it was quite unique to my collection when I bought this, but I actually do own a few similar shades haha. I'm just a sucker for purples (which is weird because I don't wear them that often and can feel like they look bad on me).  This is actually quite similar to OPI Do You Lilac It. I haven't swatched them side by side but in the bottle they do look similar. Tart-y For The Party is definitely brighter, however. So not dupes IMO, but similar :)

I then stamped using my brand new BundleMonster plates! :D I'm still pretty new to stamping so bear with me! I've been practicing a lot since I got them and I'm having a lot of fun with it.
I used BM-315 with Sinful Colors White On White.

Close up - you can see the stamping isn't perfect close up but from a distance it looks fine! :)

OH, I want to ask you guys about my photos. I don't know whether I prefer my photos taken in my light box (the ones in this post), or the photos taken outside (in my previous post). Let me know which ones you like better because I want to be more consistent with my photos since I switch it up pretty often haha. I think I prefer the light box photos - they look a bit more professional IMO but yeah let me know please! :)
And I know I have been changing up my watermark a lot LOL. I think I'm really happy with this one though. I might make it a bit more opaque though... You can't see it much lol! I'm kinda tired of the around-the-cuticle watermark. :P

Have you picked up any colours from the Avant Garden collection? Or will you be? I'm still not sure if I want to grab any more... I can't decide lol. I might pick up Mimosa's Before Mani's and Keep Calm Paint On. Still undecided, though. :P

Thanks for reading! I hope you have an awesome weekend :D I have a pretty full on weekend so I may not have a post up until the end of the weekend... We'll see. :) ♥

My Birthday Manicure ♥ OPI - Absolutely Alice

Hey guys! :D Guess what! Today is my 20th birthday! ^_^ Thank you to those who have sent me messages and stuff like that! ♥ Love you guys!

Being my birthday, I wanted to wear something special and sparkly on my nails! :) I think this polish is totally perfect for that! I can't think of a better occasion to pull this beauty out of my untried basket.

This will be a bit more pic heavy than my posts usually are - because this polish is just beeeeeautiful! :D

OPI Absolutely Alice

 

If you follow polish collections, HTFs (hard to find) etc, then you'll definitely know this polish! I'm so lucky to even own this polish, let alone get it for the price I did ;) No I won't tell you how much lol!

Absolutely Alice is from the Alice In Wonderland collection from 2010, which is very hard to find now and sells for insane amounts on eBay.

It's a clear base with blue and gold glitters. I believe this collection came out when OPI started stepping out of the box and releasing beauties like this one!

Absolutely Alice is SUPER dense for a glitter and I only needed 2 coats! It also dries to quite a smooth finish for a glitter like this. It was fine with 1 coat of Seche Vite top coat, but I added another just to be sure. :)

If you want something similar to this but way cheaper (in Australia), BYS has a colour called "Through The Looking Glass", and it's pretty similar to Absolutely Alice, though it's a lot less dense. You could just layer it over a base colour, though. :) You can probably find it at Gloss stores.

Close up ♥

LOOK AT THOSE GLITTAHS!

Thank you again to all the lovely ladies who wished me a happy birthday! ♥ I love you guys!
Thanks for reading :)

Aussie Nails Monday 25/2 - Favourite Brand

Hey guys :D I hope you had a great, relaxed, fun weekend!

Today is Monday again which means ... Aussie Nails Monday ... and that my birthday is tomorrow! :D

Today the theme is Favourite Brand. Nice and broad :D

I haven't been feeling like doing nail art lately so I hope you don't mind! I'll be showing you swatches of some polishes from a few of my favourite brands :) (All swatches are without top coat just FYI)

I haven't included any indie brands in this because I think I've shown you every polish I own from my favourite indie brands. Haha. But just putting it out there - I LOVE INDIES TOO ♥

Sorry about the slightly awkward hand pose in these photos... I was having "one of those days" where I just hated my photos and the 'pose' hahah!

OPI DS Original

OPI would probably be my #1 favourite brand. I love the formula on every OPI I've tried and I love the brush too. I think OPI polishes were what got me obsessed!

DS Original is probably the most HTF (hard to find) and most popular of the Designer Series collection by OPI. It's discontinued now and sells for ridiculous amounts on eBay! I'm so lucky to have got it for the price I did! x)

DS Original is a beeeautiful light purple holographic. It has a more scattered than linear holo effect, but it still isn't completely scattered. It looks more linear in the bottle, though. It's a bit sheer so my swatch shows 3 coats but it probably could use a 4th... I've seen others layer this over medium toned purples to get an opaque look without using up the whole bottle ;)

China Glaze Riveting

China Glaze is definitely up there in my favourite brands. I have slightly less CGs than OPIs but the CG number is slowly climbing! I'm starting to like them more because I find them to be much cheaper than OPI and easier to find for me. China Glaze also has more unique colours in my opinion. They also have a fabulous formula on every one of their polishes I've tried :)

Riveting is from the Hunger Games collection from 2012. It's a bright, hot orange with a golden and orange glass fleck shimmer. I think this may be the only orange that I actually think I like :D

The formula on this is fab as usual ^_^ And my swatch shows 2 coats of Riveting.

Essence Grey-t To Be Here

Essence is my favourite "drugstore"/cheaper brand. If you've been a reader of my blog for a while then you probably already know this. :) I have a LOT of Essence polishes and I will continue to buy them :D They have a GREAT colour selection for such a cheap brand and their limited edition stuff never disappoints :) I also enjoy their makeup but that's not what I'm here to talk about hehe ;) When the new packaging of the Essence core line polishes came out, I went CRAZY for them and was so excited to grab some... And then I only wore one or two and the rest have been sitting in my untried basket. Woops ;)

Grey-t To Be Here is a grey, as the name would suggest. It has a beautiful pink/orange shimmer in it too! Reeeally pretty! The swatch shows 2 coats :)

Check out the Aussie Nails Monday tab to check out some of the other lovely Aussie Nails girls :D

Have a great week guys :) ♥

Aussie Nails Monday 18/2 - Rainbow - (China Glaze DV8)

Hey guys! It's Aussie Nails Monday again!

Today is sooo hot. It's like 40 degrees (Celsius) and I don't feel like doing any nail art, so I decided to show you a swatch of a holographic polish (which gives a rainbow effect) that I had in my untrieds basket.

This is China Glaze DV8 from the HTF (hard to find), discontinued OMG collection! :) I got it almost 2 months ago and haven't tried it yet?!?! I know I'm crazy.

DV8 is a really beautiful teal holographic.

Photos show 2 coats of DV8 with no topcoat.

Topcoat dulls the holo effect in the OMG collection so I would not recommend using a top coat with them.

DV8 in the shade

I love the China Glaze OMG collection! They dry so fast and the formula is fab. Unfortunately, my camera's not great at picking up the holographic quality. :(

I pretty much burnt my feet when I went outside to take these photos. :/ lol! So you better enjoy them! ;)

I also made a quick swatch video of this polish in action. :D

Hope you have a lovely week. ♥