Ciate Mini Mani Month Days 11-15

Still continuing on with the Ciate Mini Mani Month swatches. All swatches are 3 coats, no top coat.

Day 11: Pepperminty

Ciate Pepperminty - Sunshine

Ciate Pepperminty - Shade 

Day 12: Metallic Gold (Caviar pearls)

 Metallic Gold (Caviar pearls) over Pepperminty - Sunshine

Day 13: Encore!

Ciate Encore! - Sunshine

Ciate Encore! - Shade

Day 14: Ivory Queen

Ciate Ivory Queen - Sunshine

Ciate Ivory Queen - Shade

Day 15: Twinkle Toes (loose glitter)

Ciate Twinkle Toes (loose Glitter) over Ivory Queen - Sunshine

Lots of Love

Lisa

Formula X for Sephora - The Celestials

These polishes look super pretty in the bottle, and in the store I had no idea that they were textured polishes - which I am not a fan of - So because they looked pretty I bought three of them.

All swatches are two coats without a topcoat, and then the same polish with a coat of Gelous and another coat of Seche Vite.  All three of these polishes look a lot more complex in the bottle with different coloured shimmer, however on the nail they fall flat and the prettiness in the bottle does not translate onto the nail.

Formula X for Sephora Vortex - Sunshine (no topcoat)

Formula X for Sephora Vortex - Shade (no topcoat)

Formula X for Sephora Vortex - White Light (no topcoat)

 

Formula X for Sephora Vortex - Sunshine (with topcoat)

Formula X for Sephora Vortex - Shade (with topcoat)

Formula X for Sephora Celestial - Sunshine (no topcoat)

Formula X for Sephora Celestial - Shade (no topcoat)

 

Formula X for Sephora Celestial - White Light (no topcoat)

Formula X for Sephora Celestial - Sunshine (with topcoat)

Formula X for Sephora Celestial - Shade (with topcoat)

Formula X for Sephora Nova - Sunshine (no topcoat)

 

Formula X for Sephora Nova - Shade (no topcoat)

 

Formula X for Sephora Nova - White light (no topcoat)

 

Formula X for Sephora Nova - Sunshine (with topcoat)

Formula X for Sephora Nova - Shade (with topcoat)

Lots of Love
Lisa

Butter London Double Take (the red version)

Butter London released a bunch of sets for Christmas this year. Two of these sets were the Double Take sets. One is Blue and the other Red, both with matching flakie topcoats.  I found these sets at Macy's while I was on Holiday in Hawaii for US$24 (when they sold Butter London in New Zealand we paid NZ$30 (US$24) a polish!)

Butter London Rebel Fox - Sunshine

Butter London Rebel Fox - Shade

Rebel Fox is a burgundy shimmer that looks a lot darker and browner in the bottle.  There is also very visible gold shimmer in the bottle that doesn't translate onto the nail.  This is three coats, and it has quite a thin consistency.  I think it could have almost used another coat, once you get it in the sun it appears a bit patchy, and I wasn't happy with it.

Butter London Brass Monkey over Rebel Fox - Sunshine

Butter London Brass Monkey over Rebel Fox - Shade

This is two coats of Brass Monkey over Rebel Fox.  It is red/orange iridescent flakies in a clear base.  This one had a better consistency but I think it could have had more flakies in it so that only one coat is needed.

Lots of Love
Lisa

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

Color Club Look Book

Color Club Look Book - Sunshine

Look Book is from Color Club's Fall 2012 Collection In True Fashion.  This is two coats. It is a bright red creme polish that applies easily and dries quickly.  I used this one at Christmas time, as it is my only red creme.

This collection has not made it to New Zealand yet. I was lucky enough to be given a few of these polishes from the people of Color Club in America when I visited them last year in New York.

Lots of Love

Lisa 

This polish was sent to me for review

Ruby Wing Tide

Tide is another polish from the Ruby Wing 2012 colour changing collection.  The name doesn't seem to match the polish, to me tide is associated with the sea and should be blue/teal/green/grey coloured.

Ruby Wing Tide - Shade/Inside

Ruby Wing Tide - Outside/Sunshine

Inside Tide is iridescent glitter inside a very very pale pink see through jelly like base. Outside and under UV light Tide darkens and turns into a dark pink/red. The glitter is harder to see and becomes slightly matte.  This one is interesting because inside feels like it should just be a top coat, but I think any base colour used may alter the colour the polish turns outside.

Some of the Ruby wing polishes are currently on sale in New Zealand for NZ$9.90 at USANailsOnline (but Tide is still $19.90).

Lots of Love

Lisa

This polish was sent to me for review

Deborah Lippmann Christmas in the City Gift set

Deborah Lippmann Christmas in the City 

Left to Right: Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, Let it Snow!, Run, Run Rudolph

I bought this set from Nordstrom in America when I was there in October. Luckily they had started releasing Christmas polishes when we were over there.

Deborah Lippmann Let it Snow! - natural light

This is a thin white frost. This was four coats in this picture.  It looks very see through in the sunlight.  I think it may have turned out better with a white creme basecoat.

Deborah Lippmann Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (over black) - sunshine

This is two coats over a black creme. It is green and red small and medium sized glitter in a black jelly base.  This has a coat of gelous over it as it looks kind of matte and not shinny without it.

Deborah Lippmann Run, Run Rudolph - sunshine

This is two coats over a red creme. It is a shimmer red with red/gold flakies.  This is quite a thin polish and the flakies are quite scattered in the polish so they are hard to capture on camera. 

Only one more sleep to go!

Lots of Love

Lisa

Candy Cane Nails

These candy cane nails are based on a tutorial and design from The Polishaholic, which you can find here.  This is three coats of Color Club Oooooo La La as the white base coat and OPI An Affair in Red Square as the red layered over the top.

I finished work on Friday for the next two weeks. I don't think I have had a Christmas break that long before.  And there is only 2 days left until Christmas! Fingers are crossed we will get a nice sunny day here in Wellington. Hope your all having a great holiday!

Lots of Love
Lisa

Glitter Gal Not Another Red

Glitter Gal truly is Australia at its finest.

Glitter Gal Not Another Red - sunshine

OMG! These polishes are AMAZING!!!!
Even compressed these pictures show how amazing the polish is in the sunshine.

These are only 9ml polishes and look teeny tiny next to a regular sized polish, but lets be honest - who uses a whole bottle of polish up anyway. The brush is still a good size and length and makes the polish easy to apply. I didn't need any clean up after this.

These are now being sold in New Zealand on trade me, or through the email polishqueennz@gmail.com.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Color Club Resort to Red

Color Club Resort to Red is from my 7 piece Untamed Luxury Diamond Collection.

Color Club Resort to Red - sunshine

Color Club Resort to Red - shade

This is a dark fuchsia/red colour. This is two coats. It is super pretty. The formula was great.

This is not a unique colour. Before I spread my polish wings to other brands I owned a bunch of OPI polishes just like this. I was a sucker for anything dark pink and shimmery.

This was the only polish in the Diamond collection that is not full of glitter, so I thought I would try out with the flakey top coat - Covered in Diamonds.

Color Club Covered in Diamonds over Resort to Red - sunshine

To be honest I am not a huge fan of covered in Diamonds. It is thick and goopy and I feel that the oddly shaped glitter particles are too big. I feel that Nfu Oh flakies are much easier to work with.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Color Club Red Velvet

This looked like an interesting polish hiding in my seven pack of Untamed Luxury Diamonds.

Color Club Red Velvet - sunshine
enlarge the picture to see the red glitter better

This is a black polish base, with little bits of red glitter in it. It is still glossy and not as matte looking as the photo makes it seem. Even though its a black base the glitter still sparkles through. This was 3 coats, the black is a little thin, so to get it a black enough black you need at least 2 coats. This was a little tricky to take off due to being full of glitter.

Lots of Love
Lisa