Color Club Volt of Light

This weekend was amazing in Wellington. It was so sunny. It is not normally this sunny or hot in November in New Zealand (it doesn't normally get like this until January).

Chris made me go for a walk with him at Makara (this is a beach about 25 minutes from the center of Wellington). We hiked up this massive hill.

This picture is from about 1/10th the way up. It was a huge steep hill but has great views from the top. you can see the South Island from up there.

Here is a pic from up the top of the hill. The hike took a lot longer than I thought it would and I got seriously sunburnt and now can not sleep properly because my shoulders hurt so much. This is the down fall of living in a country with a damaged ozone layer.

Anywho because it is so summery I was wearing Color Clubs Volt of Light - another stunning shimmery neon from the Ultra Violet collection.

Color Club Volt of Light - sunshine.

This is actually 4 coats (but they were thin ones). I love this. The blue shimmer that all these polishes have make them unique and so pretty. You can enlarge the photo to see the shimmer better. This whole collection is truly my favourite summer polishes.

Lots of Love
Lisa

This polish was sent to me for review.

My First Swap

On a quick note before we start... I GOT A JOB! yay! From the 20th of December I will be working full time as an analyst at the New Zealand Ministry of Education. Can not wait. (More money = more polish)

A while ago I had asked my followers if any one could help me get the Nicole OPI Gossip Girl collection (not so much for the polishes but for the fact that Gossip Girl is my favourite TV program). Tina aka smoochiefrog from Manicure Mommas sent me an email last week telling me she had picked them up for me and we set up a swap. Just over a week later and we have both received our swap packages.

I am so excited. Tina is a lovely person and not only sent me the Gossip Girl polishes but also the whole set of Milani 3D holographic polishes and a Sally Hansen Nail Prisms polish (and some chocolate). I sent her back a bunch of BYS polishes including the black crackle one she wanted to try out and of course so Pineapple lumps.

Her is what she sent me:

Left to Right: Sally Hansen White Diamond, Nicole OPI Party in the Penthouse, Nicole...spotted!, Scandal secrets & sparkle, Too Rich for You.

Left to Right: Milani Hi-Res, Digital, 3D, Hi-Tech, Cyberspace and HD.

I cant wait to do more swaps. Admittedly postage to America is expensive but its totally worth it to have polishes that we can not get here.

If anyone else is interested in getting some BYS polishes and would like a swap feel free to email me.

Lots of Love
Lisa

The Body Shop Nail Polish

Starry Night and Twinkling Pink
Picture from the Body Shop Website.

The Body shop has released two nail polishes as part of their Limited Edition Party Makeup Collection. This limited edition collection also has a lip gloss, eye liner, eyeshadow palettes and star dust.

The Body Shop Starry Night - sunshine

This is a black polish with flakes of silver glitter in it. They look like flakes but are in fact tiny different sized glitters. This is two coats and again I am glad to see another black polish not drowning out the glitter. Dry time was average and coverage was good.

The Body Shop Twinkling Pink - sunshine

The Body Shop Twinkling Pink - shade

This is a light shimmery pink. It isn't glittery or shimmery but has the same look as the glass fleck polishes from the Orly Cosmic FX collection. This was also two coats and applied well. These polishes were a little on the thick side. I am a sucker for pink polishes so this is a really nice cute pink that has that glass effect that none of my other pinks have.

The things I don't like about these polishes are the size (only 5mls!), the silly little brush (but that's because the whole thing is small) and the price (these were NZ$15 each and that is freaky expensive for only 5mls of polish.)

They are pretty colours and apply well so it would have been great to see these as normal sized polishes at normal prices because I would wear them, but at this size and price I feel like I don't want to waste them.

As far as I can tell from my web research these are not available in America or Canada. However they are in New Zealand (NZ$15), Australia (AU$11.95) and the United Kingdom (£5).

Will you be hunting down these polishes despite their size? is it worth it?

Lots of Love
Lisa

Glitter Gal News

OMG I feel a riot coming on.......

Glitter Gal are now selling their products online at their Website here. And they ship internationally! YAY!

Glitter Gal has a whole range of products including Lip glosses, eye liners and of course those awesome Glitter Gal Holographic Polishes we all lust after.

Picture from Glitter Gal website.

Lots of Love
Lisa

BYS Voodoo Violet

BYS Voodoo Violet is from the Glitterazzi Collection. The BYS website shows that there are 8 polishes in this collection in a range of colours. Depending on where you go to get these they range in price from NZ$5.90 (Cosmetics Plus) to NZ$8.90 (Other places that sell BYS).

BYS Voodoo Violet - sunshine

BYS Voodoo Violet - shade

It is a purple jelly base with medium and small sized purple and silver glitter. This here is three coats. I think it looks better in real life as the camera seems to make it look more sheer than it is. The glitter also sparkles like a rainbow so is really pretty.

Here is a close up of the bottle:

It gives an idea of what this polish is like. But it is hard to capture the rainbow sparkle on a camera.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Orly Cosmic FX

Orly Space Cadet - sunshine

This one is four coats. It is the most sheer of the six polishes. It actually has a teal blue base which disappears with each additional coat. It is funny to look at when you take it off because it separates into the teal base and the orange glitter on the cotton pad. The duo-chrome flashes teal/orange and red. It is an odd combination. This is the "dupe" for Mac's Mean & Green from the Venomous Villains Collection. The Orly version is easier to work with as the brush is normal and much easier to hold.

Orly Out of this World - sunshine

This one is actually a surprise stunner of the group. From the outside of the bottle it doesn't look too exciting but once you put it on you will be mesmerized. It is a dark vampy shimmer purple. The picture does not do it justice. This one isn't so much of a duo-chrome, but does have a nice shimmer and subtle pink touch to it. This was three coats. This is a polish I will be wearing lots next winter. It is stunning.

Orly Lunar Eclipse - sunshine

My second favourite from the Cosmic FX collection. This is a stunning shimmery blue that in the right light shines a purple/fuchsia colour. This is really hard to capture on camera, but is very easily seen from the outside of the bottle. Again not so much of a duo-chrome as some of the others but a very pretty shimmer with the glass fleck that they were aiming for. This one needs to be seen in real life.

Orly It's not Rocket Science - sunshine

This three coats. Again another polish that doesn't have the duo-chrome effect and is more just a snot green colour (sorry but that is what it reminds me off). It does have the glass fleck and a slight teal flash to it, but really is just a mossy green colour.

Orly Halley's Comet - sunshine

Three coats. Again no duo-chrome just a straight bright blue colour. It does have the glass fleck though. This would be a really pretty polish had it not been seen so much already. This polish has a lot of known "dupes", such as OPI Catch me in your Net. There is also an essence dupe (not available in New Zealand) and Zoya Charla.

Orly Galaxy Girl - sunshine

This is also three coats. This is purple with a teal duo-chrome to it. Again it is easily seen on the outside of the bottle. This is the dupe for Mac's Formidable! also from the Venomous Villains Collection.

My favourites in this collection are the ones that don't have "dupes" available for them. At least they are unique and pretty.

All polishes went on easily with no clean up needed. All three coats (except for Space Cadet which I used 4 for).

These are still not in shops in New Zealand, but keep an eye out in Farmers stores as that's where Orly is being sold now.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Sally Hansen Ruby Diamond

When Lisa (the other one, not me) went to Australia for a conference a while ago she bought me back Ruby Diamond. This is from the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms collection. Tina (aka smoochiefrog from Manicure Mommas) informed me that these are quite old now and hard to find, which explains why Lisa found it in a bargain bin on sale. I did see these about a month ago in New Zealand at a cosmetics plus store, but in the weekend when I asked if they still had any left they said they were all sold out but they may be getting more Sally Hansen polishes back in stock later on. (fingers crossed)

Sally Hansen Ruby Diamond - sunshine

This is a great holographic polish. Only 2 coats is needed (but I seem to automatically do three for everything now). Very awesome pink rainbow finish. These photographs don't really do it justice. I really like it a lot.

With China Glazes OMG collection now on the hard to find list, I suggest it maybe easier to hunt some of these down (especially if you are in America). It seems like this would fit in perfectly with the other polishes in the OMG collection. I wish you all luck on your holographic hunts.

From what I know Sally Hansen is quite a big thing in other parts of the world, but here it barely features at all. Farmers sells the treatments and a very small selection of polishes but that is about it for New Zealand.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance

As I said a few days ago I managed to get hold of Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance and Across the Universe. Bad romance is my favourite of the two (will tell you why when I post about Across the Universe).

Here is Bad Romance in it all of its glory:

Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance - sunshine

This is a black polish filled with little purple glitter and bigger hexagon purple glitter. It is opaque in 2 coats, but I did three to get better glitter coverage. I really like this because I find most glitters with black bases are not actual black - but this is. I'm glad they managed to make a black that didn't drown the colour of the glitter. I did have a bit of trouble trying to get a better coverage of the bigger bits of glitter. There were only a couple of big bits of glitter on each nail and I wish there was a bit more. Dry time was great, and because its not a pure glitter polish it was relatively easy to take off (no foil method needed).

Lots of Love
Lisa

BYS Ruby Slippers

BYS just released a collection of "Mirror" Finish polishes. There are three polishes in the collection: Disco Ball (Silver), Midas Touch (Gold) and Ruby Slippers (Red). These are retailing for NZ$8.90 here.

Picture from BYS website

I only picked up one of these polishes on Sunday. I got the red one. I didn't realise when I bought it that it was actually named Ruby Slippers. It seems like every brand of polish has its own version of Ruby Slippers/Pumps/Shoes. The majority of these are sparkly red glitters. The BYS version of Ruby Slippers isn't so much of a red but more of a darker crimson/light burgundy colour. And it isn't glitter.

BYS Ruby Slippers - sunshine

BYS Ruby Slippers - inside (shade)

This is 3 coats, which applied easily and dried in an average time. To be honest I don't get the "mirror" finish. To me this is just a regular shimmer polish. It is a pretty colour, but not a bright red like you might expect a polish called Ruby Slippers to be. I would give it a 5/5 for a regular shimmer polish, but as a mirror polish I cant rate it that high - Its not mirrory at all.

I wont be getting the other two polishes in this set. They a probably great gold and silvers, but I am sure that with out the "mirror" they are just like regular gold and silvers.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Birthday NOTD - China Glaze Nova

Yesterday I turned 24.

I'm not overly excited about this. I don't feel 24. I think it has to do with the fact that I still don't have a job and still go into uni each day (I am doing work for some lecturers). By 24 my mum was married, had a house and I was already born. I don't have any of that. Sorry dont mean to get all depressed on you guys...so here was my birthday manicure.

This is 2 coats of Black, followed by two coats of China Glaze Nova.
Nova is from the China Glaze glitter range. It is in a clear base and has little and bigger bits of silver glitter. I am a fan of silver glitter because in the right light it sparkles a rainbow of colours. I like it. I cant wait to try Nova by itself, I'm just kind of put off by how many coats it may need.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Giveaway Winner!

118 people entered this giveaway (which totaled 294 entries)

• 28 people wished they sold China Glaze in their country
• 16 people wished they sold BYS in their country
• 14 people wished they sold Glitter Gal in their country
• 14 people wished they sold Nfu Oh in their country
• 11 people wished they sold Models own in their country
• 10 people wished they sold Gosh in their country
• 10 people wished they sold Catrice in their country

Other brands selected were: Nubar, Essence, Ozotics, OPI, RBL, Essie, Barry M, Zoya, Etude House, Orly, Sally Hansen, Deborah Lippman and a whole bunch more.

And the winner is: entry number 135:

Jenny - who runs Polishology. Jenny is from America and wished that they sold Essence, Catrice, BYS, Glitter Gal and Nfu-Oh there.

(sorry I don't know how to take screen shots to prove this)

Jenny has won 4 BYS polishes.

Thanks to all those who entered and became new followers.

There will be more giveaways in the future.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Blue Patchwork NOTD

Today I tried doing a patchwork manicure.
I decided to do it all in different shades of blue.

First layer was 3 coats of OPI What's with the Cattitude? from the Shrek collection from the start of the year (I cant believe I am actually starting to develop a fondness of creme polishes!!)

Blue patchwork manicure - sunshine

Blue patchwork manicure - shade

I used sellotape to create the lines for this design. I used a quick dry top coat in between layers but still waited ages before putting the next coat on so as not to rip the bottom one off with the sellotape. The second layer is Color Club Pure energy from the Electro Candy collection. the final layer was OPI Catch me in your net from the 2010 summer Flutter collection. The second and third layers were both done using one thick coat of polish.

I am quite happy with the way this turned out for my first try. I like the idea of using different shades of the same colour to do these manicures. I cant wait to try the same thing with different colours.

Lots of Love
Lisa

p.s. I stuck the sellotape on my hand to get rid of the excess stickiness first before using it.

Giveaway Closed

My 100 Followers giveaway is now closed!

Thanks to all those who entered and became new followers.
I hope you will keep following me and enjoy what I do here.
Winner will be announced on Sunday the 14th (My Birthday)

Lots of Love
Lisa

Last chance to enter my BYS Giveaway

Last chance to enter my 100 Followers giveaway.

Prize includes 4 brand new BYS polishes (a UV, a matte and a glitter polish are included in the prize)

See the original post here to leave a comment to enter.

Competition closes tomorrow (so that those of you on the other side of the world get until the 10th and those closer to home get an extra day finishing on the 11th)

Its my birthday on Sunday the 14th so winner will be announced then! YAY!

Lots of Love
Lisa

Deborah Lippmann Haul

Deborah Lippmann is not available in New Zealand and is quite hard to find, but one of my nice followers in Wellington (Lani) told me about Beauty Bridge. They ship Deborah Lippmann to New Zealand!!!!!! (but in saying that the postage is not cheap!)

Deborah Lippmann - Across the Universe and Bad Romance

Me and my best friend both got a bottle of Across the Universe and Bad Romance each. Which shipping we ended up paying NZ$29.25 a bottle. This isn't too bad when you think that Orly, Color Club, Essie and OPI all sell for NZ$23-$25 each a bottle.

Today I am wearing Bad Romance and it is amazing! My nails are looking crappy, short and funny shaped at the moment so there is no pictures for today - Once I am happier with my nails there will be pictures :)

Don't forget to enter my 100 followers give away! Only 2 days left to enter. Especially if you have been following from the start! This giveaway is for you people!

Back to work and still looking for a full time job....

Lots of Love
Lisa

Spotted in NZ: OPI Burlesque

Farmers is now stocking the whole 2010 Holiday OPI Burlesque collection.


There are retailing for NZ$24.95 - so I recommend waiting until Farmers has a 3 for the price of 2 sale (which they seem to have about once a month for OPI)

Farmers has also now started stocking the OPI Designer Series polishes (which can be included in the 3 for 2 sales - but still cost more - I think these are retailing for NZ$34.95 each)

I had ordered my Burlesque polishes online so got them a bit earlier and much much cheaper - it gets really expensive to get a whole collection at recommended retail price in NZ - I got 8 of the Burlesque collection - and would rather chop off my own arm than pay the NZ$200 (US$158) it would have cost me in New Zealand.

Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Sparkle-icious

Continuing on with the OPI glitters from the Burlesque collection - today is OPI Sparkle-icious

OPI Sparkle-icious - sunshine

OPI Sparkle-icious - outside in shade

OPI Sparkle-icious - inside

So im not sure what colour family this polish belongs in. It is a mixture of gold, fuchsia and blue. Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them and see the detail (especially important for these glitters)

Well and truly not a dupe for Mad as a Hatter, like some had suggested early on before it was released.

This is three coats with a top of seche vite and had been worn for a day before these pictures were taken so there is a little bit of tip shrinkage (from the sv) but otherwise perectly intact. This is the good thing about the glitter polishes - because they are so hard to take off they stay really well on your nails :).

Lots of Love
Lisa

Orly Haul

Ohh look what arrived in the mail yesterday............

Left to right: Space Cadet, It's not Rocket Science, Out of this world, Halley's Comet, Lunar Eclipse, Galaxy Girl

The whole entire Orly Cosmic FX collection. I havent seen this in stores yet in New Zealand, but it is available on trade me and beyond beauty for shipping in New Zealand. YAY!
Swatches to come soon.

Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Bring on the Bling

OPI Bring on the Bling is the Gold glitter from the Burlesque collection.

OPI Bring on the Bling - sunshine

OPI Bring on the Bling - outside shade

OPI Bring on the Bling - inside

This is three coats. The formula on all of these glitters is identical which I like (It seems weird when a collection can have so many different formulas inside it). This is mainly gold with pink/blue/silver glitter add into the mix.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Don't forget to enter my giveaway (10 days left to enter!)