What I've Been Wearing

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Here's a look at some of the polishes I've been wearing lately:

Black Luna Naked Truth

Naked Truth is a sand beige scattered holo, three coats. Got a love thing going on with this bad boy!

Revlon Colorstay Calla Lily over Essie Marshmallow

Calla Lily is a very sheer off white with gold-red colour shifting flecks.

 Butter London Disco Biscuit

Disco Biscuit is a purple leaning pink jelly loaded with blue iridescent glitter.The colour in the bottle is more accurate than how it photographed on the nail, grrrrrr.

Colors by Llarowe Runt

Runt is a warm pink-peach linear holo, two coats.

Girly Bits Into the Night

Into the Night was a long time lemming, finally quashed! It's the non-holo micro-glitter that gets me!!!

Picture Polish Majesty

Majesty wows me every time I put it on! 

Elevation Polish Toubkal

Toubkal had been sitting on my shelf for months 'untried', so it felt good to dust her off. Those gold flecks are freaking gorgeous.

OPI Vant To Bite My Neck?

Vant To Bite My Neck is the perfect dark purple creme - 2 coats.

Nail Pattern Boldness Inner Beauty is for Amateurs

Inner Beauty Is For Amateurs is hella hot, but she dries so gritty!! Load up on top coat.

Stockists:

Colors by Llarowe

Black Luna

Elevation Polish

Picture Polish

Nail Pattern Boldness

xxx

NPA

The wretched right hand makes an appearance

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I keep all my small and mini bottles of polish in a separate area from my full sized bottles. When I was in Christchurch, they sat in a desk rack; but since I moved back to Auckland they have been sitting in a box all jumbled together and forgotten!!!

All of my amazing Specialita Hits polishes have been shunned since November and truth be told for the second half of last year too.
So when I was choosing which polish to wear on my first day of Course, I decided the Hits had to make a comeback!

I ended up picking the orange jelly flakie Hula from the Mundo de Dancas Collection. I'd never worn it and the orange is eye-searingly bright and summery, so it was the obvious choice.

Specialita Hits Hula with Butter London West End Wonderful gradient

 Hula is a scorching orange jelly with orange flakies. It almost attacks your eyes it's so saturated. I applied 3 thin coats and there was still slight VNL.

On the second day I added a gold glitter gradient to the tips - just to hide them really!!! I'm not great at the glitter gradient and am yet to try a real gradient using The Nailasaurus' method so it's pretty messy, but change is good! Gotta keep stepping out of my nail comfort zone :)

 The first two photos were of my right hand, yikes! They look so back to front!! I once swatched on both hands but it has been a few years and I am severely rusty and shaky with the photos!!! I just can't position my right hand nicely for photos.

Have you mastered the Glitter Gradient yet? Feel free to give me pointers guys!!!!! Please?


xxx
NPA

Pros & Bronze Glitter Gradient

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Hey ya'll,

just a short one tonight, I need my nun-ize.

I just went with adding some glitter to yesterday's mani - Butter London Rosie Lee & China Glaze Glam

P&B with RL & Glam gradient - sunshine

P&B with RL & Glam gradient - sunshine

P&B with RL & Glam gradient -shade

P&B with RL & Glam gradient -indoors, no flash

P&B with RL & Glam gradient -lamp

Close up - lamp

This was so hard to photograph! It was really sunny so lots of the colour got washed out no matter where I took photos. In real life it was much pinker - the glittery is a light rosey pink. I sponged on Rosie Lee from the base of my nails to 2/3s of the way up. Then I painted on Glam for some hex action.

So it may not look that great here, but in person it was like a little tropical sunset on my nails!

xx
NPA

Christmas Present Spam - Part 1

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I'm doing some endless swatching at the moment so here are some pics of the polishes I got for Christmas - pretty good range I reckon.

Butter London Henley Regatta - overcast

Butter London Rosie Lee - overcast

Butter London Lady Muck - lamp

Revlon Top Speed Wind Fall

OPI Designer... de Better

I got all these from my Dad. He rocks, right?! I actually picked them all up and told him what he got me later, but still! haha. I was quite pleased to get my hands on some more pricey BLs and I found Wind Fall (last bottle in the store) so woohoo! I'm on the fence about the OPI, I had to get it once I saw everyone's swatches cos the copper shimmer looks awesome! On me it's a bit blah though...

Did you get any polish for xmas? Please share!!!!!!

xxx
NPA

Epic Polish Wins of 2011 - GLITTERS

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Hey everyone,

Happy New Year!

Been MIA for almost a week and am finally getting back in to the blogosphere! I went away for a few days at New Year for the Highlife event in Matakana - actually really enjoyed myself (thanks LISA!).
Had my friend staying with me for a few more days which was nice and now I'm back on my lonesome... Actually I have a LOT of polish to keep me company!!!

Now it's time to get back to my favourite polishes from last year. Today it's the fabulous glitters that just kept on coming last year:

No More Waity, Katie - 3 coats

Butter London's No More Waity, Katie was a bit of a love it or leave it but for my part, I love it. I will try layering it over a grurple (grey/purple) in the future so that it looks nice and even up close, but I don't mind the sort of bald looking spots. Needs a top coat for smooth surface.

The Dark Knight - 2 coats

Butter London's The Dark Knight is a gorgeous black base with blue, pink, red & silver/gold glitter. It was a holiday release that I couldn't stop myself buying! Dries very gritty so 2 coats of SV was a must.

Holiday Splendor - 2 coats

Color Club's Holiday Splendor is a holo glitter version of the earlier Untamed Luxury. It was the only polish from the holiday collection to have a tinted base so it had a superior formula and great coverage. The bright sea green is beautiful, as are the holo sparkles.

Black Polka Dots - 2 thin coats

I really love that Nubar's Black Polka Dots is a black hex glitter. It also contains small black glitter. I learned to do thicker coats to get way better coverage, but it's still a layering polish, not a wear alone. My one and only black glitter, will definitely treasure her.

Love Is A Racket - 2 coats

Love Is A Racket - 2 coats

Maybe some would consider this a shimmer but something about the large flakes in Love Is A Racket (from the Serena US Glam Slam release) scream  hybrid to me. Apart from the awesomeness of it's shimmer & shine; it is the most incredible pink/red colour - almost duo chromatic (but not quite). Great dry time too!

Temptation - 3 coats

OPI DS Temptation was one of the new Designer Series releases. A violet tinted base with blue, purple & fuchsia glitter. Looks amazing, no pics would do it justice. Needs lots of top coat because it is ultra gritty.

Pepe's Purple Passion - 2 coats

Yum, yum, boysenberry glittery/shimmer delight. OPI's Pepe's Purple Passion IMO was the stand out of the Muppet's Holiday Collection. Super opaque, it is a dark burgundy/maroon with flakes of winey glitter or shimmer. This seems to have the same sort of flaked pieces as Love Is A Racket. It dries to an odd texture and likes its top coat. The shimmer it gives off is so pretty in the sun.

It's Alive - 2 coats

China Glaze's Halloween glitter offering It's Alive blew me away. From the promo shots I thought it was just a renamed Zombie Zest - turns out it's an awesome dark green base with swamp green micro glitter & medium hex glitter to boot. Amazing coverage & application too! I can't wait til next Halloween when I'll be rocking it again!

Are there some glitters you went gaga over last year that didn't make it onto my list? Do share!

xxx
NPA

Happy Boxing Day

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Hey guys,

Did you get in on the boxing day sales or, like me, did you hide out at home watching the boxing day test & playing with your xmas gifts? I also made my way through a LOT of xmas leftovers, mmmmmm....

Yeah, this is me without makeup, a shower or having used a hair brush, but aren't the dogs gorgeous?! Except for Charlie's red nose - it looks more like a gimp gag, ultra creepy!!!!

Poor Buster is having real trouble with tear staining at the moment & it ruins his pretty little face!
On xmas morning the Crufts Dog Show was on & a Maltese won the Best Toy Breed category, yay!!!!!

Here's a Butter London I got from my Dad for Christmas, (I actually picked out all my own presents from him - that way I can't be disappointed come Christmas morning :)

Henley Regatta - outdoors, overcast

Henley Regatta - outdoors, overcast

Henley Regatta is a mix of green and blue micro glitter in a clear base. This was 4 coats. Clean up was a bit of a nightmare (I find fine glitters much harder to clean up than chunky ones - I can never get rid of all the particles), but the end result is worth it. It dries remarkably no-gritty for a fine glitter. The pieces manage to lay flat so 1 layer of quick dry top coat is enough. I used Seche Vite for the photos.

I ordered some INM Out the Door quick dry  TC just before xmas cos I'm on to my last bottle of SV and wanted to see if I could get the same result minus the shrinkage from another brand. Once it arrives & I give it a go I'll give you a review.

Also, I'm currently compiling my list of favourite polishes from 2011. So look out for some best of posts, coming up.

xxx
NPA