Mentally Dancing A Little Jig!

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Seriously just clicked my heels together!

NPA has officially just passed the 20,000 views mark and with 182 GFC Followers and over 100 also following via Facebook I'm so very very happy!!!!!!!

A big thank you to everyone who stops by to read the blog regularly, and those who just skim it for the photos!!!

For a few months at the beginning there when NPA was an 'Only The Lonely', I was ready to pack it all in, but then you guys showed up! I love sharing my sick, sick, polish addiction with like-minded (or should I say ill-minded) individuals and making connections with the fabulous women whom belong to the nail/makeup blogosphere!

There might just be a giveaway coming your way very soon!

xxx
Michaela

China Glaze Dynasty

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Guten Arbend,

I just got Dynasty (from the China Glaze Specialty Glitters range) and it's such a red/coral based holo glitter!

Dynasty - 2 coats - sunlight

Dynasty - 2 coats - sunlight

Dynasty - 2 coats - sunlight

Dynasty - 2 coats - sunlight

Dynasty leans a little pinker than my monitor shows it, but other than that the photos are fairly accurate. There are two sizes of silver holo glitter; fine and small hex! This is just 2 coats with a layer of Seche Vite. I have a feeling that if my nails had actually had some white tip on them, I'd need 3 coats to cover all VNL but as it was, I had nubbins!

The base isn't really a jelly, just sort of tinted suspension base, but it applied just fine with great glitter dispersal. It dries really fast too - gotta love that about glitter!!

I actually have Dynasty on my toes right now - for about a week and a half actually - with no top coat and it's been holding up pretty well. Just minor tip wear so far.

Feeling a bit blogged out after yesterday's Dollish post! So that's all for today.

xxx
NPA

Dollish Polish - Mammoth Swatch Goodness!

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Hey everyone,

Welcome to a new week! Over the last few weeks I've had a flood of polish arrive. Far too many to admit to or show you photographic proof of!!!

Among the gorge-iosity of A-England, China Glaze, Barielle, Essie, Orly & Nicole by OPI; some new polishes from Dolly arrived!

I did my best to get down to business and swatch her creations ASAP. Today I finally finished (she sent like 16 at once!!!) and now I can share them with you too!

WARNING - pic heavy, so I've put the rest of the post under the fold :)

Jean-Claude - 3 coats - white light

TOXIC SEAWEED

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The one we've all been waiting for!

Toxic Seaweed - 3 coats - overcast

Toxic Seaweed - 3 coats - overcast

Toxic Seaweed - 3 coats - overcast

Toxic Seaweed - 3 coats -white light

Isn't she lovely?! Maria & Cult Nails really hit it outta the park with this one. I kind of love that it doesn't tie in with the rest of the Lets Get Nekkid Collection at all!

Toxic Seaweed is a sea green jelly-ish base filled with golden and green micro glitter and orange to green flakies. Truly magical and it makes me think of being trapped underwater in a seaweed labyrinth!!

It's Limited Edition so make sure you get your hands on it soon!
Click here to be taken to Cult Nails online store

xxx
NPA

Barry M Cyan Blue

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Good Morning,

Here's a nice light-medium blue creme for ya'll. It just seems cheerful!

Cyan Blue - 2 coats - shade

Cyan Blue - 2 coats - shade

Barry M Cyan Blue is a saturated blue creme that if you're careful, only needs 1 coat. I'm not a champ in polish application so I used 2 in the photos above. Great formula like all Barry M cremes!!!

xxx
NPA

Misa Whimsical Wish

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A serious beauty from the Misa Wishes Collection from last year.

Whimsical Wish - 3 coats - sunshine

Whimsical Wish - 3 coats - sunshine

Whimsical Wish is a pearly light peach shimmer. So delicate and beautiful. In full sun the shimmer is seriously magical. I thought there was some difference between the two photos, but side by side I can't tell haha. The formula was quite nice, by the second coat it looked pretty even. I added a third to get a little less VNL.

God, I just love staring at the photos!!!!!

xxx
NPA

A Hell of a Spell, Elle

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I just like rhymes. Not even good ones, clearly, any old rhyme elicits a chuckle... sad I know.

Since Nailsupplies.us has been selling Barielle I've been trying to get my hands on Elle's Spell from the Holiday Hustle collection of 2010. I just kept selling out! One day it'd be in my cart and then when I'd go to actually buy it, it'd be sold out again!

I finally succeeded in purchasing it and it was well worth the wait!

Elle's Spell - 1 coat over Red-ical Gypsy - sunlight

Elle's Spell - 1 coat over Red-ical Gypsy - shade

Elle's Spell - 1 coat over Red-ical Gypsy - white light

Elle's Spell is a dark bloody-wine jelly with red to green flakies. It's opaque in about 3 coats but I chose to layer it over Color Club Red-ical Gypsy because I don't want it running out anytime soon!!!!! It applies pretty evenly for a jelly too! The flakes mainly show a colour change from red-orange to yellow to green. But every now and then you catch them looking slightly blue! In the last photo you can see the blue in the lower left side of the bottle!!!

To die for! No jokes! I have no idea why people were disappointed in this polish when it came out?!!! I just adore it. Officially my favourite flakie - even beats out the beautiful Speciallita Hits Mundo de Dancas line.

Do you feel the same way?

xxx
NPA

Cult Nails: Lets Get Nekkid Collection Swatches & Review

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Hey guys,

Had a crappy time today!

When I went out to do the grocery shopping a car crashed into mine... They pulled out right into me when I had the right of way. Luckily the lady pulled out so late that she only smacked into the rear driver's side door, and not into my door. I'll need some serious panel beating on the door, and some paint work.

Needless to say, I ended up only making it to the dairy for some chocolate before I went back home and got into bed for some R&R.

Before all this happened I got pics of the new 'nude' collection from Cult Nails, though!

Mazo - 2 coats - white light

kkcentrehk Water Decal Review: hearts, ribbons & flowers

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 Hola Chicas!

About a month ago something really exciting happened...

Maggie from kkcenterhk (an e-tailer based in Hong Kong) contacted me to see if I'd be interested in reviewing some of their nail decals.
She told me to have a look at their products to see if I was interested, and she sent one 4 different ones I liked the look of. Today they arrived in one of those really cute old style document envelopes with the figure 8 tie clasp. Officially the coolest mail envelope ever!!!

I already had a the beautiful Girly Bits Razzle Dazzle on, so I put the full nail decals aside and chose to add the heart & ribbon decals from the 'LOVE' category to show you.
Here is the link to this product: http://www.kkcenterhk.com/Nail-Water-Decals-Love/c106_151/p5082/N.NAIL-LOVERWater-Decals-Nail-Art-WDBLE1342/product_info.html

Product #WDBLE1342

They come in a foil backed zip lock bag, I suppose for freshness? Not sure it really matters with water decals but still it's nice and tidy when it comes to storage.

Product #WDBLE1342

This set came with 1 sheet with 26 decals on it. They are white with grey outlines. They also have the usual clear plastic sheet to protect them too.

Razzle Dazzle & Decals - 3 coats - sunlight

Razzle Dazzle & Decals - 3 coats - sunlight

Razzle Dazzle & Decals - 3 coats -white light

Razzle Dazzle & Decals - 3 coats -white light

The method of application:

I cut them out, removed the plastic top sheet, soaked in a little water in the bathroom sink - you can do this in a cup etc.
I just placed them on my nails with my fingers, which was a bit fiddly but fine.
Once they dried I put top coat on them to seal & protect. I started out using Orly Sec N Dry and it completely smudged my pinky!!! I used Out The Door on the rest of my nails and there was absolutely no smudging, thank god!!!

My thoughts:

They are cute. Nails decal haven't really been my thing because I'm lazy - but they are way easier and less messy than stamping, kind of idiot proof because if you screw up you just pop them/your nail back in some water and then can rearrange them.
I put them over a pink glittery polish and even though they are white they look opaque = impressive.


I have some others they sent me to review - some cute easter ones & floral french tips which are gorgeous. As soon as my nails are long enough I'll be popping them on to show you!

I'm so disappointed in Sec N Dry; its smudged my stamping in the past and I also find it sometimes creates some cuticle drag so I'm definitely never buying it again!!!! I'll be sticking to my Seche Vite & Out The Door.

Again, if you like this mani you can purchase the decals here:
http://www.kkcenterhk.com/Nail-Water-Decals-Love/c106_151/p5082/N.NAIL-LOVERWater-Decals-Nail-Art-WDBLE1342/product_info.html

On a side note - Pam's launching her Calender Girls collection around the 25th Feb and I think she'll also start accepting orders for her past collections/polishes so check out her Girly Bits blog for info.

xxx
NPA

Michaela's Tiara

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After several months of yearning, I finally got my sweaty little hands on China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara!

 This silver & blue glitter bomb is now MY tiara! And I'm not gonna give it up.

Lorelei's Tiara - 3 coats - sunshine

Lorelei's Tiara - 3 coats - sunshine

Lorelei's Tiara - 3 coats - shade

Lorelei's Tiara - 3 coats - shade

LTs so amazing that I had to give you 4 pictures. It applied very nicely. For the photos I did 3 thin coats and the coverage turned out great. I only needed one coat of Seche Vite to make it super smooth and shiny.

LT is one of my top 10 favourite glitters of all time <3

What's yours?

xxx
NPA

Follow Me via Networked Blogs or Email

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Hey guys,

since GFC is disappearing soon for non-Blogger users, I've added a couple of new ways to follow NPA:

Networked Blogs - I don't really know anything about NB but you can follow me this way by clicking on the widget on my sidebar. Lots of other blogs seem to have added it as an option so I followed suit, Baaa, baaaa!

Via Email - simple enough, I think you just enter your email address and you get an email with each new post, very easy.

You can also follow me on Facebook - just 'like' NPA & you'll get updates on your news feed.

If you use Blogger, no worries GFC remains!

I wanted to add Bloglovin' but I changed the name and url of NPA a while ago and its mucked up the feed burner or something so Bloglovin' can't find NPA and I'm not sure how to fix it :( So sorry guys.

I'm also not a Twitter fan - mainly because I already had a FB when Twitter became big and just didn't want to learn how to use another social networking site! Plus 'Tweets' just give me the creeps! And I don't post status updates 24/7 so I really don't see the point of it. Not to hate on all you twitter users or anything.... woops!

So I hope you find some way to stick around everyone!

Up to 173 followers via GFC, so I feel very special! Thanks for the love. There will have to be a fan appreciation giveaway sometime soon, methinks :)

xxx
Michaela

A England Iseult

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Howdy!

How are all you lovely ladies today?

As my nails are still nubbin-like I chose a super soft pink to wear. A England Iseult from The Mythicals collection.

Iseult - 3 coats - sunshine

Iseult - 3 coats - shade

Iseult is a very pale pink with a subtle shimmer. It's pretty but takes about 3 coats to get it all even and opaque. Two is plenty though, if you like a semi sheer finish.

I wanted to dull down the whiteness and make my mani a little prettier so I added a coat of Barry M Lavender Hexograms.

Lavender Hexograms - 1 coat over Iseult - sunshine

Lavender Hexograms - 1 coat over Iseult - shade

I love Lavender Hexograms because not only is is square lavender glitter, there's also silver micro-glitter that somehow softens the squares, making it ultra wearable. LOVE.

I topped it al off with a layer of INM Out the Door top coat :)

Have a great weekend guys

xxx
NPA

Lacey Lou's Nail Stockpile - Frolic - Naked In The Garden

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Hey guys,

I know I said I'd be posting swatches from the vault because my nails are recovering from gross abuse right now; but when I arrived at my flat nail mail from Lacey was waiting for me!!!

I talked about Lacey Lou's Nail Stockpile last week HERE. She has a store on Etsy by the same name with a really unique take on nail polish.

Lacey makes here own nail polish line and instead of packaging the polish in a bottle like everyone else... she uses makeup palettes! Her reasoning is that way you can use every last drop of polish rather than the wastage that usually happens when you get about 3/4s of the way through a normal bottle of polish and have a really hard time getting any onto the brush.

Frolic & Liquid Fusion

The concept really intrigued me so I ordered a couple of her polishes to try them out. Today I'm going to show you Frolic.

Frolic - 2 coats - indirect sunlight

This is what the underside of the pottle looks like (that's what I call the palette, pottles). FYI ignore the bubbles on my nails - I added 1 layer of Poshe Fast Drying BaseCoat just before I took these photos and it cased the bubbling. Lacey includes a mixing stick with every polish too to help stir up the glitters/pigments or you can use the polish brush, but I found the mixing stick more effective.

Liquid Fusion

The Liquid Fusion is a clear polish that you can add to Frolic to make it sheerer and also use as a glossy top coat. Each of Lacey's polishes comes with a bottle, as you are supposed to use the Liquid Fusion brush to apply the actual polish. So you end up with a special bottle of top coat for each of Lacey's lacquers and getting the brush covered in Frolic doesn't matter because you only use it for that particular polish.  I really love the LF because it helps to smooth the glitter (not as thick as Seche Vite but thicker than INM Out the Door), dry pretty darn fast and gives a great shine! I didn't mix any of the LE into Frolic because I liked the level of opacity.

Frolic - 2 coats - sunshine

So now onto FROLIC! It is a neutral nude creme base, slightly sheer - sort of fleshy with a hint of pink and peach, so I think it would suit most skin tones. Set into the base are irregular chunky pieces of pink, orange, turquoise and green mylar flakes - like shredded confetti!! There is also fine regular glitter in the same turquoise and orange. 

Frolic - 2 coats - sunshine

Frolic is just amazing! 100% unique! Two coats gave great coverage & I used 2 coats of LF as a top coat to help smooth out the chunkier flakes. It dried quickly (Frolic itself) and it didn't take more than 15 minutes for the whole manicure to set fully.

Frolic - 2 coats - sunlight

Closeup - indirect sunlight

Now on to what I didn't love about Frolic:

It's messier/more time consuming to apply than regular polish because you have to unscrew the cap of the pottle, mix it up with the stick, get your LE brush and then finally apply it.

I can't help but love Frolic though! Te result s just gorgeous. Next time I wear it  I will layer one coat over a base though, because the semi-sheer base covers up a little of the confetti - which is good for people who don't shout their love of glitter polish from the rooftops, or want to wear Frolic to work - because I really love it at its brightest!!

So, if you can deal with the slightly longer application time, I seriously recommend you check out Lacey's store. Lacey Lou's Nail Stockpile

What are your thoughts on Frolic? Have you heard of Lacey Lou's Nail Stockpile before? Have you got any of Lacey's line? Pray tell!!!!

xxx
NPA

Greetings from Christchurch

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Hey ladies,

I spent all Tuesday and most of Wednesday driving south to Christchurch. Can't really believe I'm finally here, it's been a year and a half, argh!

My flat's pretty sweet, very big lounge/kitchen/dining, decent bathrooms. But man I can already tell it's going to be COLD!!!! And of course I miss the dogs :(

But I'm back to being in the same city as my best friend, so it's not all bad!!! In fact we've already made a movie date to see The Descendents. I'm a bit curious to see what Shailene Woodley is like, since I've only seen her in The Secret Life of the American Teenager and am not a fan, haha. Apparently she's fantastic in this & I ADORED Sideways so I'm sure I'll like Alexander Payne's new flick.

The nails are in a mess, super short and all hang-nail-y; so until I sort myself out I'll just post some swatches I took a little while ago.

Racing Green - 2 coats - shade

Racing Green - 2 coats - sunshine

Barry M Racing Green is a pretty blue toned green shimmer. On the first coat it looked a bit watery, but by the second she was opaque and good to go!

xxx
NPA

My bags are packed...

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Hey guys,

I'm outta here - start the drive down to Christchurch tomorrow morn. Should really be sleeping right now, ho hum. Two days in the car, awesome!

Probably won't post for a couple of days so here is a lovely berry for Valentine's Day

Raspberry - 2 coats - sunlight

Raspberry - 2 coats - shade

Barry M Raspberry is a beautiful deep berry-red creme. With careful application this faultless formula only requires 1 coat! It also dries ridiculously glossy.

I <3 Barry M!

Happy V-day

xxx
NPA

It's Not Me, It's Blue!

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Good Sunday morning dear readers,

My Dad came back from the US a couple of weeks ago and brought with him some Nicole by OPI polishes for me.

The kicker is, Farmers has just started stocking the Nicole by OPI range, haha. Still, polish presents are the best!

Here's It's Not Me, It's Blue

INMIB - 3 coats - overcast

INMIB - 3 coats - overcast, macro-ish

INMIB - 3 coats - shade

I really like INMIB even if the name is a tad too long, BUT... I'm wearing it over 2 layers of Butter London Nail Foundation and it still takes 3 coats for full coverage. On its own it'd be a four coater, easy. The brush is pretty good though, it doesn't have that weird curved shape so I found it much easier to apply and only got a minimal amount on my cuticles. I used the NbOPI quick dry drops so that it would set after so many layers haha. It's a dark blue and silver micro-shimmer with flecks of multi-coloured iridescent glitters. Fabulous! The fuchsia flash is my fav. It can look quite steely grey in low light, but in the sun, WOWZA!

Does anyone have this dude? If so, is it too much of a pain in the butt to bother with; or do you put up with the average pigmentation because the result is amazing?

xxx
NPA

Sunset Sail-ing, I wish

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Today was GLORIOUS!

So sunny. Had brunch with my Amy and shopped! What more can a girl ask for?!
A scrummy dinner with not 1 but 2 desserts at Grandma's!!!! The food is never fancy but it's always delish! I think it's a Nana thing, my other one's the same; they just know how to cook to please :)

Now I'm tucking myself up in bed - after Buster had a good long pull at my hair in order to remove my hair-tie. It's become a real habit for him, gggrrrrrrr.

I couldn't sleep last night so I painted my nails. I got complimented on this mani too so I had to show you!! (Shop assistants are the best!)

Sunset Sail -3 coats with Solar Flare tips - sun

Sunset Sail -3 coats with Solar Flare tips - sun

Sunset Sail -3 coats with Solar Flare tips - sun

 So this is China Glaze Sunset Sail (Anchor's Away Collection 2011). A pretty pastel peach with subtle shimmer, it takes 3 coats to get an opaque, non-streaky finish. It's worth it very much so! I painted the tips of my nails with ChG Solar Flare to add some excitement to this delicate base. There isn't anywhere near enough clear base in SF so the hexes end up jam packed on your nails; thus I ended up with more gold than I wanted but it still looked cool. I topped it off with two coats of Seche Vite to make it ultra smooth and shiny.

Don't mind the tip wear. I took these photos towards the end of the day, after I'd been biting and picking at my fingers for hours. Moving nerves, I guess...

I took some pics of my baby boys in the backyard today. I have to leave my Buster with Mum for the year, while I'm at uni :( No flats allow animals, sucks! I'm taking as many photos as possible to moon over in Christchurch!

Buster trying to pull a Ponytail Palm leaf off the plant

Successful Buster chewing on his prize

Whyd'ya keep taking photos Mum? I just want to chew in peace and quiet.

Me trying to get a photo of Buster looking at the camera... Instead it's just me and he's squirming to get away. BTW I'm not pouting in this pic!!! I swear! It's just the way my hair's in front of my mouth that gives the pout impression!!!

Mum's good boy Charlie only needs one snap to look picture perfect!!!!!

Buster didn't want a bar of me during the photo shoot. I could barely even get him to look at me. The Ponytail Palm was WAY more interesting. Charlie on the other hand looked up at me as soon as I called him, looking right at the camera. Ah, what an ANGEL and he's looking smart because he was just groomed! Sadly he's not mine. I managed to land myself a very cute TERROR!!!

I'm leaving in 2 days and am not at all organised!!!
I need to pack my room up already!!!! One can only procrastinate for so long :)


Hope you're all having super cool weekends with painted nails!


xxx
NPA