Topshop Hidden Treasure

I got this baby in the post today and had to swatch it immediately. Hidden Treasure by Topshop! This is also my first Topshop polish and I have to say I'm impressed!

I assume it's another attempt at recreating Channel Peridot and that's the reason I bought it after seeing a swatch at A Polish Addict. I don't own Peridot (mainly because of the price tag), so I'm really happy with Hidden Treasure (£6 for 8ml)!

The bottle shot is amazing! Depending on the angle, it reads a green/gold/teal/turquoise'ish mix with indigo towards the edges! Oh boy... I wish my nails looked like that but obviously the multichrome doesn't translate as strongly onto the nail!

HT needed 3 coats to be fully opaque but the formula is really smooth, applies a dream and there is no streakiness whatsoever. On the nail, the colour resembles that of Peridot - a greenish gold! In some pictures, the gold is more apparent but in others, you can see the green creeping in and getting slightly darker at the edges! Obviously, irl, if you move your hand around, it is much more noticeable as the light hits it at different angles.

I took a pic in direct sunlight which I don't think makes much of a difference to this polish as both the green and gold are still visible under my lamp. I also took one in a bowl of water as it was the only way I could get the slightest bit of indigo to show!

China Glaze Prism - Prismatic Chroma Glitters Collection Spring 2012

I was going through my untrieds stash yesterday afternoon and realised that I hadn't yet showed you Prism from the China Glaze Prismatic Chroma Glitters Collection! I have now been wearing it for just over 24 hours and can safely say... I'm disappointed!

Although this collection was nothing like I thought it would be, Polarized was starting to grow on me. It's not a holo but it's a very pretty dense silver glitter. Then it all went downhill with Prism.

Prism is supposed to be the purple glitter of the bunch but have a look at the pics and tell me how much purple you see in it? I only see the slightest bit towards the sides of the nails where it reflects! The first thing I thought when I put it on was how similar the same it is to Polarized. Why did I need both?!

Here is a pic of Prism and Polarized side by side. See what I mean?? Arrgg! I'm annoyed now!

Then, just a couple of hours ago, this happens! Yep, that is a large chunk of polish that just lifted right off my nail! I wasn't expecting this dense glitter to come off that easily so I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing! I have a feeling that this happened because I applied base coat. This kind of polish would probably stick much better to the nail without a base coat.

Weekly Synopsis - Chapter 11

I finished reading Hunger Games yesterday and had to immediately buy Catching Fire! I know, I know...I'm late as usual! Most people I know read HG like a year ago or something!!!

So I obviously loved it, but it left me wanting more! I would read it at every opportunity and hated when I had to put it down! People say it's a cross between Stephen King's Running Man and Battle Royale, although these are more aimed at an adult audience. Has anyone read Battle Royale by Koushun Takami?

Anyway, so I was so into it like a teenager that I went and did some "Katniss - The girl who was on fire" nails! If you want to see some proper Hunger Games nails, head over to Sammy's blog or for some awesome flames nail art, head over to Jane's blog! As you can see, I tried to do a "drag-needle" sort of job various times on a nail wheel but it didn't quite work of my newly short nails! Nfu Oh 49 works quite well for burning ashes though!

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 Posts of the week:

- Leslie from polish art addiction did a really pretty and soft Cinderella inspired franch mani. I really must try something like this.

- Rebecca from Rebecca likes nails shows us how to make nail polish jewelery. I need to get myself some clear glass cabochons and some ring bases. Custom made rings = awesome :)

- Want to see a mani inspired by Adele's Louboutin nails. Head over to Loucas por esmalte.

Pink & Blair

I have another Essence polish on my nails today! Sorry to all the girls who can easily purchase these at their local drugstores. To me they are special because if I run out, I can't get anymore :(

This is the Blair part of the Nail Art Twins set. I've also got Chuck which Nihrida kindly sent me a few months ago and will be trying that very soon!

I layered a coat of Blair over an unamed polish by La Femme which is of a pinkish/ purple tone. My cousin wanted to throw this bottle away but I couldn't bear seeing her do that so I had to give it a good home! Now it's in a happy place, on my shelf!

I then mattified the glitter just to see what it looked like. I always have this urge to mattify glitter and flakies!

And here is that pinkish/ purple La Femme on it's own! It's a very pretty colour and actually applied really well! It makes my hands look a bit red and lobster-like but oh well! What was my cousin thinking throwing this baby away?!

All Essence Zebra

I thought Essence's Got A Secret would be a great base colour for a mani I've had in mind to do for quite some time - Zebra!!! A dove gray and black zebra is every bit as cool as black and white :) This mani was inspired by Sammy at The Nailasaurus. She did a really cool nude and black version a while ago.

I used Essence Vampire's Love TE - Hunt Me If You Can to stamp with and for the vertical lines on the left of the nails. So, this is an all Essence mani!

I really like how they turned out! You like? :)

Got A Secret?

I really like Essence. I think it's such a great brand. They always have a really good choice of polishes and make-up at very affordable prices! I like it even more so because we can't get it in the UK!!! So I can only get them when I go across the channel or through a swap!

This is Got A Secret from Essence's Colour & Go line.  It's a very soft and pretty dove grey creme. The formula is excellent and fully opaque in 2 coats!

Glistening Turquoise Seas

Miss Sporty- Hypnotic Turquoise. A very pretty turquoise shimmer with hints of green and gold.

This polish reminds me of Summer Holidays, hot weather and glistening seas! It looks so exotic and "hypnotic", Lol! And very, very bright!

The formula is excellent to work with and applies brilliantly. This is 2 coats which gives you opacity but you could probably apply another one for more depth. Not much else to say about this polish other than it's a keeper :)

  

Chalkboard Nails - My entry: The Dotting Tool nail art contest

Sarah at Chalkboard Nails is hosting a really cool nail art contest. I'm not one to enter contests because they usually require very elaborate and complicated freehand designs which I'm not very good at. However Sarah's theme, the dotting tool, really caught my eye since I use dotting tools quite a lot and love anything that has polka dots in it (although other designs can also be created with dotting tools).

You have probably already seen this mani before (see my original post here). I did it a couple of months ago using Stargazer Chrome 232 and various neon polishes. I really liked how it turned out so I'm submitting this as my entry :)

Golden Eye Lagoon

I'm overdoing it with these spring/ summer pastel and milky colours aren't I? It's just that I made a point to at least use some of my lighter colours that have been sitting on the shelf for what seems like forever. So, I have a few swatches and manis in mind to show you.

This is Mavala Lagoon stamped with Barry M Gold Foil and BM212. Although a lot of people use this stamp for their "peacock" nails, it also reminds me of some of the patterns in Indian lace. Oh, and eyes as well! Lol!

Lagoon is a light blue/ green creme with the smallest hint of shimmer. In some light it looks like a pale turquoise but in others it resembles a sort of minty green (see pics below - I painted my nails this morning but only stamped this evening and couldn't capture the same shade!).
It's quite similar to Chanel Nouvelle Vague. From swatches I've seen, Lagoon has a tiny bit more of a green tinge to it but they're close enough for me.

It's a pretty colour, applies well and needs 2 coats for full opacity! The brushes in Mavala are actually quite good for a small bottle. I would say I love this colour, but hey!!! There are very few polish colours I dislike, it just depends on my mood!

Pastel, Milky, Whitish Blue?

Today I have a very milky pastel baby blue polish (not sure what to call it actually) to show you. I love white polish as well as pastels so as soon as I saw this bottle, I fell in love with the colour.

Andreia is a brand from Portugal. My mum got me this one whilst on holiday over there last summer. Unfortunately their polishes have no names, only numbers but they have a nice and interesting range of colours.

The formula is quite thin and streaky on this one but nothing that can't be sorted with a couple of generous coats. Next time I would probably apply 3 coats just to smooth everything out better. I was also a little surprised to find out there's a tiny bit of blue shimmer in it (which isn't visible on the nail at all but never mind!) This is still a great polish for S/S.