Cult Nails Scandalous & Captivated

Pin It

Hello ladies & hopefully gents,

Bring on the weekend already!!! Feeling tired and cold, and maybe a little grumpy, but my polishes are cheering me up!!!
I'm a grump because I miss Buster and Charlie!!! Had a skype date tonight with mum and the boys had been groomed and Buster had been digging so he had mud all over his paws and mush!!! Charlie was all cuddly, burrowing in to mum's neck and it made me mega jealous!!! I just want to cuddle them again!

Good news is I'm going home for 3 weeks in June-July and then I get to spend a couple of weekends up there at the end of July for family birthdays!! That means the boys will be spoilt rotten with my overbearing love! I just have to hold on - and should probably stop looking at their photos so much, just makes me sad!!!

Enough of that though, I have Scandalous and Captivated to show you.
I picked up these 2 in Maria's last $5 sale (there's another one this Saturday FYI!). Enjoy.

Scandalous - 3 coats - white light

Scandalous - 3 coats - white light

Scandalous - macro

 Scandalous is a squishy coral jelly. It's a little bit milky so you get a nice coverage after 3 coats - unlike true jellies that tend to be a bit more transparent. It's very flattering and reminds me a lot of Essence Ballerina Backstage in On Your Gracile Tiptoes but the formula is so much nicer, not at all sticky.

Captivated - 1 coat over Scandalous

Captivated - 1 coat over Scandalous

Captivated - 1 coat over Scandalous - macro

Next I layered 1 coat of Captivated over Scandalous. They are a perfect combination. Captivated is a mix of opalescent orange and pink glitters in a coral/pink tinted base. Again with the great formula. Icing has a dupe out called Tiger's Blood, a cheap alternative if you can get your hands on it.

Captivated - 2 coats over Scandalous

Captivated - 2 coats over Scandalous - macro

 Lastly, I added 1 more coat of Captivated which made my nails that much more bright and vibrant, not to mention sparkly!!

I don't think I used any top coat for these pics and you can tell it dries pretty darn smooth! I definitely recommend these 2 as very dreamy summer shades! I can't wait for Summer to roll around again so I can get some decent wear out of them!


xxx
NPA

Picture Polish MONROE

Pin It

I was so not a fan of the name they chose for this polish - I don't think a vampy red with scattered holo dust says 'Marilyn Monroe' at all but I do like the lacquer!

PP's are a wee bit pricey so I tried not to shell out on Monroe, but I justified the buy, by the fact that I didn't have anything else like it... kinda :p

Monroe - white light

Monroe - white light

Monroe - macro

Monroe is a deep, dark red (the first photo is colour accurate) - which leans more pink/burgundy than bloody - with scattered holo effect. It's formulated like a jelly so it looks really squishy, which I LOVE! It does need 3 coats to be opaque and fix the unevenness of the 2nd coat (especially round the cuticles). Definitely leave a few minutes between coats to minimize the cuticle drag.

Now who thinks the name "My Bloody Romance" is a better name than Monroe? Or Bang, Bang? Way more appropriate, but whatevs PP naming competition people!!!!!

Anyone else mad for Monroe?

xx
NPA

Darling Diva Space Beetle - layering & Toxic Avenger comparison

Pin It

Hey,

I've got some rough swatches of yesterday's Space Beetle layered of a few different base colours as per a reader request.

Here are the base colours L-R: ChG Holly-Day, Mode Glamazon, Depend 171, ChG Millennium

Now with a thick-ish coat of Space Beetle on top:

You can see in these shots complexity of the holo particles. The maker uses 3 different types of holo: coarse and fine grade spectra flair as well as fine grade glitter powder.

Here they are 1 by 1:

ChG Millennium

Depend 171

Mode Glamazon

ChG Holly-Day

So basically Spae Beetle is is a holo topcoat with a little bit of a pink/green duochrome to it. I'm not really sure if I like it layered... Maybe it's just a case of finding a colour combination I like.

Now here is the comparison to Toxic Avenger:

In the bottle you can TA is darker, seems to have more colours and stronger holo effect going on.

You have probably guessed but in these pics Space Beetle is on the index and ring finger, Toxic Avenger on middle and pinky.

In the photos - maybe just because they're under a lamp - Space Beetle gets a bit drained of colour, the pink is stronger. But TA is really different. Although the have the same general colour shift, this is 3 coats of SB vs 2 coats of TA and TA is more dense and darker.

Happily though, I discovered I quite like SB worn alone and 3-4 coats does give good coverage. I think with some playing around you could probably manage to find a base coat topped off with SB that looks similar to TA.

Actually here it is layered over black:

So a bit darker than TA but it's approaching it! Maybe a charcoal...

It's a pity I couldn't take these pics in sunlight :( But I hope they give you a better idea of what Space Beetle is like.

xxx
NPA

Darling Diva Polish - Space Beetle

Pin It

Ahoy, hoy ladies,

About a month ago I found Darling Diva Polish on Etsy and promptly placed an order!
The owner makes a dupe of Clairns 230, affectionately 'Unicorn Pee', entitled Ringer! Naturally I snatched that up as well as a multichrome linear holographic called Space Beetle and a baby blue based glitter called Jennifer.

I haven't gotten swatches of Ringer yet - but it is seriously gorgeous and from what I can tell from other blog's posts on Clairns 230, a near dead on dupe!

For now, enjoy Space Beetle:

Bottle Shot

Macro

For the photos above, I layered 2 coats of Space Beetle over OPI Black Onyx. SB applies very easily, with a somewhat thin formula. I can't really imagine wearing it on its own because at 3 coats I still had considerable VNL. However I haven't had any time to experiment with it.
SB has a silver to pink colour shift with hints of gold, green, orange and blue . The linear holographic effect is very strong indeed! It actually reminds me of Dollish Polish Toxic Avenger, only much sheerer, like an TA top coat. I will have to do a side by side comparison for you.

I really enjoy these sorts of 'oil spill' multichromes! How about you?

You can purchase DDP lacquers HERE

xxx
NPA

Specialita Hits Phenomena - Air Glow

Pin It

Hey guys,

Had a pleasing response to the blog sale so far, thanks! There's still heaps of polish left though, so you might want to wander over to the Blog SALE page and pick up a bargain.

Been busy today running errands, hanging with Lisa, uni and packing up posting off some polish. I only sent 4 parcels at the PO today, but I have serious respect for all the etsy sellers now! What a drawn out process, queuing and weighing and the PO lady (who was rocking a pink with black shatter mani, pretty awesome for a lady pushing 50!!) mixed something up and had to get a password from someone else and then i'd forgotten the customs forms. I'm not sure I could handle that part of an indie business! It got me out and about though, on a very warm summery day.
Christ, last night was horrendous though, talk about freezing to death! At least there was some snow in the mountains though . Otherwise, the cold isn't worth it, I'd rather pack up and head back to Auckland, warmer, wet Auckland where my puppies can keep me from freezing!

Okay, so I had to pick up the Hits Phenomena colour shifting/multichrome glitters as soon as Llarowe got them in. Silly me, didn't realise how similar all these glitter top coats on the market are and ended up buying 5, all within a couple of weeks! Still they're all a little bit different.

Hits Phenomena come in 4 different shades: After Glow, Airglow, Borealis & Moonbow (which is still on it's way).

Airglow is the only one I've photographed so far. The glitter shifts from gold-orange-purple-plum/brown.  Here is one coat over OPI Fondue of You - a plummy brown shimmer from the OPI Francais collection.

white light

macro

macro

I really love how the edges of the nail are coppery while the middle is purple, it's eye catching no matter what your nails are up to!

The coverage is pretty great for one coat! Once I show you all of the Phenomena I'll do some comparisons with Pretty & Polished Wine Night Out and Picture Polish Maskerade.

xxx
NPA