Polished by KPT - Plumeria and Fluorescein

Today I have two more Polished by KPT polishes to share with you. A thermal and a bright neon glow polish. Let's get right into the swatches!

Plumeria is a pink holographic thermal. It shifts from a very light baby pink, almost a clear silvery colour when warm, to a bright berry pink when cold. You can see how it transitions in the photos below. This is 3 coats on it's own.

Fluorescein is a neon green jelly packed with scattered holo that glows under UV light. It's a little on the sheer side, the pictures are 2 coats and there is still vnl. You would probably need 3 coats or to wear undies for full coverage.

You can purchase Polished by KPT directly from Katherine's Big Cartel website, (US & Canada shipping) but they are now also available at Shoppe Eclectic and Harlow & Co. In addition to polish, Katherine also sells beautiful polish jewellery.

*The product featured  in this post was sent to me for review.

The Ultimate Fix - Fast Drying Nail Polish Spray

Today I have something slightly different to show you. It's not a new nail polish, nail plate or nail art supplies as such. It's a nail polish drying spray.  The Ultimate Fix by the Beauty Narcotix is described as a "non-oily drying spray" that "dries and protects nail polish in minutes". Other than drying your polish extremely fast, their website also says:

"With the Ultimate Fix you can achieve the beautiful, long lasting, high shine results that gels give without the potential hassle of gel nail."

I really wanted to test this out, so here is what I did. I purposely used a polish in my stash which I knew takes forever and a day to dry. Yes Love is a pound store polish which I buy every time I go on holiday to Portugal. Their formulas are horrible (at least all the ones I've tried) but they do the best neons and brights and because they are only €1 each, I always grab a few for nail art or to stamp over.

Before I tell you more about the Ultimate Fix, here is how your nails would look after 60 seconds of applying your last coat. This is Yes Love K017, 3 coats:

So, here are my views on this fast drying nail spray:

- It does indeed dry polish really fast. You are supposed to apply spray between each layer of polish and it dries that layer to the touch literally within seconds.

- You do need to give it about 10 minutes to completely dry all the layers. I pressed a key into my pointer about 2 minutes after applying the last layer and that was too soon as it did dent slightly (can you see?). However, I was only testing the speed and wouldn't normally do that of course! This spray is fast drying but I wouldn't go rummaging through the bottom of my bag as soon as I've finished doing the last layer!

- I love that it's non oily as all other nail sprays I've tried are quite oily which is good for your cuticles but makes it hard to photograph your nails unless you wash your hands. This spray is however, quite sticky to the touch but that doesn't really bother me.

- The spray also claims to maintain your nails chip proof and lasting longer. I was able to wear it for 3 days and it was chip free during that time. It may have lasted longer but longevity isn't at the top of my list as I change my polish way too often.

- The only downside for me (which might be a positive for some people) is the smell. It doesn't stink, in fact, it has a very strong perfumed fragrance to it which I couldn't quite put my finger on but my husband tells me it smells like Joop Joop Homme! The fragrance lingered well after I washed my hands a few times.

Other than the very strong smell, I really like this spray and will most definitely be using it when I need to do a quick mani before dashing out or even for tape manis where I can't be bothered to wait for my polish to dry.

You can find out more and purchase The Ultimate Fix directly from the Beauty Narcotix website.

*The product featured  in this post was sent to me for review

Erre Due - Neon Fluo 01 & Blair

Today I have another Erre Due polish to show you. It's a neon so I'm trying to wear them the most I can before summer is officially over but to be honest, I am over them a little. I have already shown you a couple of their neons here which I was generally happy with and this vivid orange with red undertones doesn't disappoint either.

It looked quite watery as soon as I opened the bottle but it's opaque and even in two coats. So far I've been really impressed with Erre Due's latest collections.

I'm planning to wear this mani for at least a couple of days (planning being the key word) so I layered 1 coat of Essence Blair over it. I was going for a jelly sandwich but didn't want to mute out the "neonness".

About the company:

Erre Due are part of Aromca Cosmetics and were one of the brands first launched under the group is 1984. Erre Due products are available in Greece and Cyprus.. They have an extensive range of make up and nail polish, you can check out their colour charts here. Their Facebook page features up to date information on their latest products.

*Part of these products were sent to me for review by the company.

Erre Due - Neons & Pastel

Today I will be sharing with you three polishes by a brand called Erre Due. I first came across Erre Due whilst holidaying in Greece last Christmas and grabbed a bottle of their Blue Jeans Blue Black polish which is very similar to Barry M Denim. Since this brand isn't available in the UK, I haven't come across it since then, until I was contacted by their Events Manager to review some of their new polishes.

Now onto some of the swatches. First up is No184 (unfortunately no polish names). This is a neon orange which I had to photograph in the shade to capture the true colour. The formula is quite opaque and creamy for a neon. It covers well in 2 coats and I had no problem with brush marks on this one. What more could I ask of a neon?

This is 3 coats of No186, a get-your-sunglasses-out neon green! The formula on this one was totally different from the other neon. It was extremely streaky, didn't even itself out and I gave up after 3 coats. It's one of those I'll definitely be layering over white.

This is 2 coats of No94. I believe this one is from their fast drying range, thus the "1" on the bottle! The formula was good for a pastel. It's smooth, not chalky at all and opaque in two coats. I'm not sure about the drying time as I had been swatching neons up until then so this one obviously seemed to dry much slower than the neons.

They were very sweet and sent me the loveliest box wrapped in a white leather string bow. They even threw in a leaflet of their latest nail trends: Ombre, Gradient, Newspaper Nails and Water Marble.

About the company:

Erre Due are part of Aromca Cosmetics and were one of the brands first launched under the group is 1984. I'm not sure if the Erre Due products are available in other European countries as I've never seen their products anywhere other than Greece. They have an extensive range of make up and nail polish, you can check out their colour charts here. They seem to have updated their collections and even changed the design of their bottles slightly but their website still has pictures of their old bottles. Their Facebook page seems to be much more up to date and features their latest products.

*These products were sent to me for review by the company.

Flip Flop Fantasy gets Crowned Already!

Today I have another mani from the vault to show you. I posted this one on Instagram back in July (it's inspired by Lisa Beth who I follow on IG) but as I was literally on my way to the airport, I didn't have time to write a blog post about it.

Usually summer holiday mani equals neons for me. And what better neon than China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy to relax at the beach and pool with! This is two coats (such a pain to photograph) with two coats of OPI Crown Me Already on the accent finger. I also added some loose silver hex glitter to each of the half moons and quite a bit to the accent finger to make Crown Me Already pop a little more.

Surfin' For Boys - China Glaze Summer Neons 2012

I received two polishes from China Glaze's Neons Collection 2012 in the post a couple of days ago - Surfin' For Boys and Love's a Beach. We've had such great weather for a last few days that I couldn't wait to try these out.

As soon as I slapped this on, it was like "Whoa!!!". In the bottle, Surfin' For Boys looks like a coral with hints of red and orange, with ultra fine magenta shimmer. On my nails however, it's the brightest most neon orange I have ever seen! This is probably because I'm wearing "undies" as I don't like to wear neons on their own.

Let me tell you! It was a PITA trying to photograph this polish! All pictures showed a different colour and none of them true to real life colour. The closest to real life colour is the first picture which I had to change the setting of my camera for and darken the whole image to be able to capture! I think neons look better in the dark anyway, that's why they always look awesome with a tan!

I don't have anything else this bright, looking at it too long even hurts my eyes and I'm sure people will be able to see 10 little dots coming a mile away! This baby is going on my toes tonight for sure :)

If I tried to take a pic under my usual craft lamp, my camera would completely spaz out:

Here is a pic in the shade:

And in direct sunlight:

Chromatic Neon Dots

Today I have something a little more colourful and lively to show you. Not that the weather calls for it but I've had it on my list of manis "to do" for a while so why not do it on a super dreary, rainy day?

I first saw this mani on Mad Manis and Deniz also did an amazing version. The silver makes the look quite robotic and futuristic but the neon polka dots add a little fun to it. I had a little trouble keeping all my dots in line as I miscalculated the space still left on the nail. Random dots are so much easier to do!

I used 2 coats of Stargazer chrome silver #232 and various neon/ bright coloured polishes for the dots.

Lebowski hasn't made an appearance on here in quite some time, here is a recent photo of him playing with his snake (wow...that actually sounds quite dirty!)