Spoiler: Ciate Mini Mani Month Days 1-4

When I was in Hawaii in October the Christmas Advent calendar from Ciate was already available. I picked up two from Sephora. One for me and one for the other Lisa as a Christmas present. Here is the link to it online.

I am not the biggest Ciate fan, in fact these are the first polishes I have owned from them, after the Caviar/blogger/lawyer/drama nastiness from a few years ago. But lets be honest this is an advent calendar with nail polishes in it! Best advent calendar ever!

Here are Days 1-4 swatched.

Day 1: Snow Globe

Ciate Snow Globe (over Black) - Sunshine

Ciate Snow Globe (over Black) - Shade

Day 2: Boudoir

Ciate Boudoir - Sunshine

Ciate Boudoir - Shade

Day 3: Amazing Gracie

Ciate Amazing Gracie - Sunshine

Ciate Amazing Gracie - Shade

Day 4: Silver Caviar Metallic Pearls

Ciate Amazing Gracie with silver metallic pearls - Sunshine

Ciate Amazing Gracie with silver metallic pearl - Shade

I'm off to finish making Christmas Mince pies.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Ruby Wing Festival Paint Collection

The ruby Wing Festival Paint Collection was released for Summer 2013 in the Northern Hemisphere.  It is now summer here in the Southern hemisphere so I decided to give this collection a try.

IN THE SHADE

Top Row: Crowd Surf, Groupie, Summer Love

Bottom Row: Eternal, Green Peace, Electric Firefly

IN THE SUNSHINE

Top Row: Crowd Surf, Groupie, Summer Love

Bottom Row: Eternal, Green Peace, Electric Firefly

This was honestly the hardest collection I have ever had to photograph. Neons are so hard to photograph and even harder to photograph when you cant go in the sun, because they will change colour.

Ruby Wing Crowd Surf - Shade

Ruby Wing Crowd Surf - Sunshine

Crowd Surf is a crelly fuchsia purple in the shade and a darker plum colour in the sun.  This is three coats.  Its consistency is a mixture of jelly and crème (crelly), so is like a jelly polish, but not as see through and squishy.  the Picture in the sun is not quite colour accurate as it is a darker deeper purple in real life. Purples are notoriously hard to photograph.

Ruby Wing Electric Firefly - Shade

Ruby Wing Electric Firefly - Shade

Electric Firefly is the only shimmer polish in this collection. It has a bright electric blue shimmer running through it. This is three coats and I found the formula on this one quite runny.  In the sunshine it changes to a vivid orange colour.  The shimmer is still present in the sunhine too.

Ruby Wing Eternal - Shade

Ruby Wing Eternal - Sunshine

Eternal has the most drastic colour change in the sunshine out of all the polishes in this collection.  It changes from a teal green crème into a grey/purple crème in the sun.  This is two coats and the formula on this one is great.  I found all of these polishes to dry quite quickly as well.

Ruby Wing Green Peace - Shade

Ruby Wing Green Peace - Sunshine

Green Peace is a crelly (a mixture of crème and jelly finish) polish.  This is three coats. It changes from a bright highlighter neon green into a forest green in the sunshine. 

Ruby Wing Groupie - Shade

Ruby Wing Groupie - Sunshine

This one was hardest to photograph. It is a bright neon highlighter pink. It is a Barbie pink, that looks like a highlighter does in the shade.  The bottle shot in the top photo is the most colour accurate photo of this polish.  This polish has a crème finish and only needs two coats, as it is the perfect consistency.  It changes to a darker non-neon pink in the sun.

Ruby Wing Summer Love - Shade

Ruby Wing Summer Love - Sunshine

Summer Love is a bright neon orange in the sun and a red/orange toned brown in the sun. This one also has the crelly finish, being a cross between a jelly and a crème polish. This was three coats. Logically it makes sense for orange to turn brown in the sun, but it is a hard polish to match with clothing. It feels totally 80s.

Lots of Love

Lisa

This collection was sent to me for review from Color Club New Zealand.

Formula X For Sephora - The Brilliants

Formula X for Sephora was just being released while I was on holiday in Hawaii in October. This is a huge collection, with some awesome looking polishes. It was hard to limit myself to the 14 I did buy.

The Brilliants is a mini set, within the brand.  The brilliants are "A dazzling and vibrant glitter lacquer with intense sparkle".  The set contains 5 polishes, a silver, a black, a pink, a periwinkle and a yellow.  I only purchased 2 of these, but wish I had got all of them now.

First up is the light pink polish in this collection,  Fine Like Einstein.

Formula X for Sephora - Fine Like Einstein

Formula X for Sephora - Fine Like Einstein - White Light

Formula X for Sephora - Fine Like Einstein - Sunshine

Formula X for Sephora - Fine Like Einstein - Shade

This is three coats of Fine Like Einstein. It is a super fine holographic pink glitter in a clear base.  I love how much these polishes sparkle, even when not in the sun. It is very dense glitter so actually gives full coverage in two thick coats and dries super fast.  The above swatches are all with a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite over the top.  The top coats help to smooth the glitter out to the touch.  Removal was not easy and required cotton soaked in acetone left on the nails for a couple of minutes to make removal easier.

The second polish I got from this set of 5 is Light Me Up Edison.

Formula X for Sephora - Light Me Up Edison - Shade

Formula X for Sephora - Light Me Up Edison - Sunshine

Formula X for Sephora - Light Me Up Edison - White Light

I love this. It is yellow and not gold and I think that makes it unique in my collection (it is much harder to find yellow glitter than gold glitter polishes).  This is three coats and then a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite. Its sparkles soooo much.  Dry time was super quick and wear time was great.  

Lots of Love

Lisa

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid Collection

Earlier this year my Mum and Dad took a trip to America. I only asked for 5 things. The Sephora Disney Jasmine nail polish set and the 4 new Deborah Lippmann Mermaid polishes.  Luckily these weren't too hard for my parents to find in New York.

On to the swatches!

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream - Sunshine

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream - Shade

Mermaid's Dream is the original Mermaid Polish, released before the other four, back in 2012.  I picked this up while on holiday last October in America.  It matched the dress I wore to my brother-in-law's wedding, which was in Toronto last October.  This swatch is three coats, which apply easily. It is a teal green glitter packed polish, with golden micro-shimmer.  It looks like it is gritty and bumpy, but with one thick coat of top coat, is as smooth as a regular polish.

The next four polishes were released as the summer 2013 Mermaid's collection.

Deborah Lippmann Do the Mermaid - Shade

Deborah Lippmann Do the Mermaid - Sunshine

This is a lilac version of Mermaid's Dream.  A light lilac base, with darker purple glitter and golden micro shimmer.  Again this is 3 coats.

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Kiss - Sunshine

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Eyes - Shade

Mermaid's  Kiss is the pink version in this collection. The gold shimmer in this one is a lot more obvious, and actually looks like bigger bits of glitter instead of the shimmer in the other polishes.  It still has a rose pink base, with darker pink glitter.  This is three coats.

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Eyes - Sunshine

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Eyes - Shade

Mermaid's Eyes is the odd one out from this collection.  The base and the glitter colour are a lot closer in colour, with the base colour being darker than the other polishes in this collection.  It still contains the darker glitter pieces and the golden micro shimmer, but they don't show up as much on the nail. 

Deborah Lippmann Million Dollar Mermaid - Shade

Fortunately the sun decided to disappear when I was swatching the last polish in this set.  Million Dollar Mermaid is the orange/peach version in this collection.  The base on this one is quite light and the golden shimmer is quite present (although not as much as in Mermaid's Kiss).  This is three coats.

I love this collection. Even 6 months later it is still unique in my collection.  The biggest problem is that Deborah Lippmann polishes are not sold in New Zealand.  However this website does ship them to New Zealand, and has regular sales.

Lots of Love

Lisa

Ruby Wing Spring Garden Collection

 

The Ruby Wing Spring Garden was released mid 2013 and is a collection of six colour changing polishes that are also scented. Today I have four of this collection to show you.

Ruby Wing Cut Grass - Inside

Ruby Wing Cut Grass - Sunshine

Cut grass is a pastel green that changes to a darker dustier green in the sunshine.  While it doesn't actually smell like fresh cut glass (which the Ruby Wing website says it does), it does smell nice.  To be honest it smells like my shampoo, it is floral scented, but I cant figure out like what flower, either way it smells nicer than grass. This is two coats and the polish applies like a dream. It is not streaky at all.

Ruby Wing Fresh Linen - Inside

Ruby Wing Fresh Linen - Sunshine

This is three coats. It has the thinnest formula of this collection and unfortunately does leave streaks on the nail. This one smells fruity - a lot like lemon, but a clean flowery lemon scent.  This one changes from a shimmery slightly frosty white into a light yellow colour.

Ruby Wing Poppy - Inside

Ruby Wing Poppy - Sunshine

Poppy is a vibrant pink jelly (although not quite as neon as the above picture suggests) which changes into a deeper burgundy colour in the sun.  This is two coats which apply perfectly for full coverage. This one smells rose scented, although I suspect it is actually poppy scented.

Ruby Wing Sunflower - Inside

Ruby Wing Sunflower - Sunshine

Sunflower is the glittery polish in this collection. It is a clear base packed full of gold micro glitter. This one is interesting because the glitter doesn't change colour in the sun, but the base it is in changes from clear into a bright yellow base, which makes the glitter look yellower and more golden.  This is three coats and I was surprised to see that it did actually provide good coverage in those three coats.  This one also smells flowery and shampoo like, although I am pretty sure its not the same scent that sunflowers have.

All in all I am happy with the four polishes I have from this collection and absolutely love that they combined colour changing polishes with scented polishes.  I was wearing Cut Grass all day today, however didn't really get time to get outside (and it was horrible) weather, so I didn't actually get to see it do its magical colour change.

Lots of Love
Lisa

These polishes were provided to me for review.

OPI Euro Centrale Collection

I finally finished swatching the 11 of the 12 OPI Euro Centrale Collection polishes that I own.  This is my all time favourite OPI collection. I love the cremes and the shimmers, as well as the glitter. The whole collection is perfect for summer and even though it is winter here I have been getting a lot of wear out of them. I have often been wearing these polishes as bases for glitter top coats (indie ones - as you can see in some of my previous posts).

OPI A Woman's Prague-ative 

 

OPI Can't Find My Czechbook

OPI - OPI...Eurso Euro 

OPI My Vampire is Buff

OPI Oy - Another Polish Joke

OPI Vant to Bite My Neck?

OPI You're Such a Budapest

OPI Suzi's Hungary Again

OPI I Saw... U Saw... We Saw... Warsaw

OPI Polka.com 

(over OPI I Saw... U Saw... We Saw... Warsaw)

OPI My Paprika is Hotter than Yours!

Lots of Love
Lisa