Dazzle Dry - Nail Stories "Blue Fantasy" Collaboration Shade and Mystery Winter 2013 Collection

Hi everyone! Today's post is really special to me as I've had to keep it a secret since early summer. But it's finally being launched today and time to share with you that I've been chosen as one of the bloggers for Dazzle Dry's Winter 2013 Collaboration project. I also have swatches of the other polishes in the collection and which blogger created which shade.

About the polish:
When I was first approached by Dazzle Dry, I was really flattered to be chosen as one of the 5 bloggers to create a shade. It didn't take me long to decide on an electric blue as it's obviously one of my favourite colours.
However, I wanted to add a little extra something to it and it wasn't until my husband showed me some galaxy pictures which he obsesses over in his free time that I saw some amazing colour combos and it struck me! I wanted a vivid blue with small particles of pink shimmer swirling across the entire nail.

Without further ado, here are the beautiful shades the other ladies created:

Artic Sunset by Anutka from wackylaki. A striking white with silver/gold shifting shimmer.

Tiger Lily - a hot pink packed with iridescent shimmer that shifts beautifully. By Jen from The Nail Polish Project.

Moxie - a deep purple based multichrome. It shifts from copper to fuchsia to gold depending on the lighting. By Robin Moses

Feisty - a deep burgundy with pink and silver shimmer. By Rina from Simply Rins.

Dragonfly - a dark forest green shimmer/ foil polish. The duochrome in this one is gorgeous as well, it shifts from teal to gold.

The majority of these polish dry slightly matte because of Dazzle's Dry's super quick dry and Vegan formulas but the colours really come alive with a topcoat!

Availability:
The Dazzle Dry Winter 2013 Collection will be available to purchase from their website www.dazzledry.com or www.dazzledry.co.uk for UK buyers.

*The products featured in this post were sent to me for review.

Pretty in Plum (Nicole by OPI)

This is what I've been wearing on my nails for the past few days.
From bottle shots, this red toned purple shimmer seemed to be the one I would like the least from the Selena Gomez collection. However, I really like the way it's so vivid in person which adds a bit of warmth to this autumnal weather.

Nicole by OPI polishes are available at Superdrug stores nationwide and retail for £7.99.

For more information, visit nicolebyopi.com, follow on twitter @NicoleByOPI and become a Facebook fan.

 

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

 

Cheeky Chat Me Up Nail Paint - Moss-Behaving & KPT Green Awakening

Today I have a very special polish to show you. I loved everything about this polish from the word go! If you haven't heard of the brand "Cheeky" before, you have most probably heard of Cowshed!

"Introducing Cowshed's naughty little sister, Cheeky: the new brand promising to re-write the beauty rules!"

During October, Cheeky is launching a collection of 21 nail paints, 14 body care freshly scented products, hair care, cosmetics and opening a new parlour in Shoreditch which will cater to all things nails and hair. Apparently, if you go in for a 20 minute file and paint, they will offer you a bottle of Chat Me Up Nail Paint worth £7 to take home with you.

Here is a swatch of Moss Behaving, a dark forest green. The formula on this was perfection, I can't fault anything about it! Completely opaque in one coat although I used two just because I always have to use at least two coats of polish when doing my nails. If you like green polish, this one is for you!

Check out urcheeky.com for more details. They are also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

This morning, I remembered that I still had some topper polishes to swatch and one of them would go brilliantly over dark green. I added a coat of Polished by KPT - Green Awakening, a shifting topcoat that shows copper, gold, green and the tiniest hint of teal. Also looks beautiful swatched over black.

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 products featured  in this post were sent to me for review.

Revlon Royal Makes a Summer Appearance

Are there any darker coloured polishes that you would wear in the Summer and pretty much all year round? Well, for me, one of those polishes is Revlon Royal! Predominantly what would be considered a Fall colour, for me it's just one of those colours that I would even wear to the beach (if I lived anywhere the beach)! That may be because it's a polish that we can't get in the UK but even if we could, I think I'd love it all the same!

I love Revlon Royal on it's own but how fantastic does it look with a coat of Max Factor Fantasy Fire? It's a match made in polish heaven!

Apologies for the quality of these pictures. I took them late at night and although I used my lamp as I usually do, for some reason they came out quite dark and full of shadows!

This was also the perfect opportunity for me to wear my Revlon Royal/ Max Factor FF ring that my friend Cassie (IG: cassgooner) made for me. Isn't it gorgeous?

Thanks for reading and commenting!

piCture pOlish - White Wedding

Hi guys. Today I have a piCture pOlish beauty to show you - White Wedding! This is part of the Collaboration Collection which piCture pOlish did with bloggers and etailers. White Wedding was created by Leah Ann from Llarowe.

I love white and off shite shades of polish so when this one showed up on my doorstep, I was over the moon and it was the first one I picked to try out.

This is 3 coats of White Wedding. A gorgeous milky white base, kind of jelly like, packed with the most subtle shimmer. I wore this on it's own although I did layer one coat over black on a nail wheel and it looked amazing too. You can definitely see all the multi colour flecks sparkling over the darker colour.

This is such a soft and elegant white. I can never get tired of shades like this. I would have definitely worn this for my wedding if I had it at the time I got married.

piCture pOlish can be purchased directly from their website - picturepolish.com.au. They do international shipping. You can also purchase it at various etailers throughout the world. Check out their Network page for more info. You can keep updated on any piCture pOlish news via their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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

Zoya Micky & Tinsley (Summer 2013 Stunning & Irresistible Collection)

I was recently contacted by the Zoya UK distributors and asked if I would like to review a couple of their polishes from the recent Stunning & Irresistible Summer 2013 Collection. Of course I jumped at the opportunity. I love that Zoya is 5-free, their formulas are great and they have such a lovely and extensive range of shades.

The colours I'm sharing with you today are Micky (Stunning) and Tinsley (Irresistible).

Mickey (2 coats) is a vibrant coral pink with a slight shimmer to it only visible in direct sunlight. Formula wise, it's a little bit streaky and goopy which I didn't expect of a creme. However, three coats and careful application would sort out the streakiness.

Tinsley (2 coats) is a rosey gold foil like shimmer. I'm, so glad they sent me this colour from the Irresistible collection, it's my favourite. The formula is a bit on the thin side but still gives great coverage in two coats.

What are your favourites from the Stunning and Irresistible collections?

Ladies in the UK can buy Zoya polish from www.zoyapolish.co.uk. It retails for £10.50. You can also keep updated via their twitter page.

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

Nothing Kim-pares To Blue - Nicole by OPI

Time for another blue beauty which has been sitting in my stash for almost a year - Nothing Kim-pares To Blue from Nicole by OPI. It's a beautiful and creamy sky blue shimmer packed with silver glass flecks.
I've been wearing it for the past couple of days and love it. In fact, I love every single colour from the Wel-Kim To My World collection but they are really hard to get hold of over here so I have to content myself with just the one!

Nothing Kim-pares To Blue is slightly sheer so I did have to do three coats for full opacity but that wasn't really a problem because the formula was go good to work with and made application a breeze. I really like the wider brush in this bottle as some of my older NOPI's have the really thin "barely there" round brush.

I know a lot of people aren't fan of the Kardashians at all, especially Kim, but I can't lie, I really like watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Not only does it have really good cringe worthy moments, I am also a reality TV junkie! Yep...my guilty pleasure!

What do you think of this shimmery cornflower blue?

Tip Top Nail Chic - Traffic Lights & Sexy Fishnet Stamping

This is the second polish sent to me for review by Tip Top Nails. If I liked the colour and formula of the first polish, this one totally blew me away.

I like reds but don't usually go out of my way to buy a dark shimmery red like this, so I couldn't believe how much I loved it on my nails. It's so vampy and mysterious, a great colour for fall. You know when we say "this polish is almost a one-coater but I used two for consistency", well, this mani is actually just one coat! The formula was a dream to work with, I'm so impressed.

I'm going to a Burlesque show tomorrow so I couldn't have received this polish at a better time! I channelled my inner Chloe's Nails and went for a sexy fishnet pattern (BM209) with some black french tips. I love how they turned out.

And here is one coat of Traffic Lights on it's own. How cool is it that it's completely opaque in one coat?!

If you want to find out more about Tip Top Nail Chic, I suggest you visit their Facebook page as the company is very active on there.

*This product was sent to me for review by the company.

Cinderella Cloud

Cinderella by Sinful Colors had been a lemming of mine ever since I saw it on some of the American blogs when it took the nail community by storm a while back. So the last time I was on holiday in the States, I saw it at Walgreens and immediately grabbed it.

All the swatches I ever saw of it I liked but now that I have it in my stash, it's taken me 3 months to even try it.
It's a sheer baby blue with very subtle pink and gold shimmer which isn't as evident as I'd hoped. I didn't think it was actually this sheer so I had to use three thick coats for opacity which took forever to dry! I'll definitely have to wear a baby blue creme base next time.

I wasn't sure what to add to this colour and I didn't feel like stamping today so I went for the cloud on the accent finger again. I regret my colour choices now after looking at the pictures. Probably should have gone for a lighter blue instead of a teal. The base colour on the accent finger is Nails Inc Elizabeth Street.

Orly Artificial Sweetener

Today I have a very special and pretty pink to show you. This is Orly Artificial Sweetener from their Cool Romance Spring 2012 collection. Although I liked all colours in that collection, this pink stood out the most.

Artificial Sweetener is a light dusty pink packed with shimmer which is very subtle and gorgeous. I really like the formula on this one as well, it's slightly thick but in a good "buttery" way, not in the "clumpy" way! Two coats is all you need for full opacity.

I'm not sure if this is the best shade of pink for my skin tone but I'm in love with how soft it is yet I wouldn't compare it to any other baby pinks I have! It's definitely a nice addition to my stash.

Hunger Games Capitol Colors - Stone Cold

Stone Cold is my last polish from the China Glaze Hunger Games Capitol Colors collection! Well, I also got Luxe & Lush today but you will be seeing plenty of that one over all sorts of colour in the weeks to come!

Stone Cold (District 2 Masonry) was one of those polishes I wanted without a shadow of a doubt when I first saw swatches of the collection! I love matte and this colour is so androgynous and "badass". It reminds me of a black chalkboard! A chalkboard packed with silver shimmer - did you have those in school? Lol...only joking!

I've never really had much trouble with any of my matte formulas but this is the best formula I've worked with in a matte polish! It's so pigmented you could get away with one coat.

I stamped some silver chains (BM12 and Barry M Silver Foil), to keep with the theme of the polish. You can see how a top coat also transforms this polish and brings out all that silver shimmer.

Hunger Games Capitol Colors - Agro

The third polish I got from the China Glaze Hunger Games Capitol Colors collection is Agro.
The first ever swatch I saw of Agro was back on 1st February on Scrangie and All lacquered Up. Straight away, I knew this was a shade of green I wanted in my collection.

Agro corresponds to District 11 - Agriculture. It's a dark olive green metallic shimmer with gold undertones. The formula was excellent to work with, great opacity and no streaks whatsoever!

I added some thin gold French tips with Barry M Gold Foil and stamped the accent nails with BM04.

Hunger Games Capitol Colors - Fast Track

My second pick from the China Glaze Hunger Games Capitol Colors collection is Fast Track (which corresponds to District 6 Transportation)! I'm a sucker for nude and beige tones although I probably don't wear them as often as I would like. This one is packed with gold flecks which makes it different from all the other neutral tones I have. It doesn't go with my skin tone as much as I would like but I still think it's a very pretty and special polish.

The formula is a little sheer so I would probably wear 3 coats next time (pictures are 2 coats). And since it's quite sheer, I wonder how it would look layered over darker colours?! Maybe it will be similar to CND 24k sparkle!

I stamped with BM223 and Barry M Gold Foil for a subtle look.

A Little Teal Jelly Gem!

Today I wanted to show you one of my favourite blues (Miss Sporty Pop Fiction) layered with a little unexpected gem I found in a euro store in Portugal.

In my opinion, these euro stores usually have pretty horrid polishes! Most of them have been opened and tried, the formulas are a nightmare etc, but this one was just sitting there all pretty and shimmery.
We don't have the brand "Yes Love" in the UK but from what I've seen, it's widely available in Spain and Portugal. This is one coat of Yes Love #441 (a deep teal jelly full of green, blue and gold micro shimmer) layered over two coats of Miss Sporty Pop Fiction.

I really like this polish and will definitely be layering it over other darker and lighter colours! I think it would look great over a creme mint green!

And here is a picture of Pop Fiction on it's own! It's such a stunning cool toned blue: