Tuesday 29 April 2014

Polish Me Silly - Grape Expectations

Greetings All!

Another thermal polish swatch! No secret stamping this time (although there will definitely be more of that), this is pretty enough all on it's own. As with Mermaid Tears, it is quite a sheer jelly polish, but this time I was prepared for that, so this is three fairly easy coats.







These pictures unfortunately haven't quite managed to capture the magic of this polish. It's far more vivid and juicy in real life. It looks like some sort of unicorn landscape! Very pretty, and quite cute and girly, but I didn't mind!

I bought this polish from Rainbow Connection.

Saturday 26 April 2014

Secret Stamping

Greetings All!

I was playing around with thermal polishes yesterday, trying to decide which one to wear, and it occurred to me that I should incorporate some nail art. My first thought was stamping, as I love the look of stamping over a gradient. Then I thought, what about stamping in a matching colour, so that it's hidden. Match the 'cold' colour, and then it will appear when warm!

 As you can see, this swatch of Dance Legend Termo Shine 181 looks perfectly normal.






However, if you warm it up...





Secret bats! Magic!

Now not only do I need all the thermals, I also need a matching stamping polish for each one!

Wednesday 23 April 2014

UK Indies - Freckles Polish Happy Hour Holos


*These products were provided at a discount in exchange for review*


Greetings All!

I've got some truly amazing polishes to show you today. Freckles Polish only launched at the end of March, and this is only their third collection, but it is amazing. Holo lovers, take notice! There are six polishes in this collection, all named after cocktails (which, coincidentally, was my obsession before polish!), and I have two to share with you today. They launch on Friday (25th), and I'm predicting big things (mostly that they'll sell out before I can get my hands on the rest of the collection!).

This little bottle of perfection is French Martini. I've used two coats here. All photos were taken indoors in artificial light (and I'm so impressed with myself that I managed to get pictures!).








Now, I'm 99% sure that this is the most gorgeous holo I own. It's the most perfect, rich, deep, royal purple ever, and also a linear holo! As a big black holo fan, I know all too well how the base colour changes when so much holo pigment is added. As a silvery colour, it will lighten or at least alter the base slightly (hence why I'm still searching for that true black holo!). This polish keeps it's rich, decadent base, exactly the colour of Chambord (the purple in a French Martini). I honestly can't say enough good things about this polish. I've only had it for a week, and I've worn it twice already! My previous favourite purple holo, Color Club Eternal Beauty, literally pales in comparison with this.

The formula is also excellent - it applied perfectly in two fast drying coats. I tried it with and without aqua base, and I can confirm it made no difference whatsoever to the amount of holo present. I used HK Girl top coat, and it also didn't affect the holo at all.


Next is Capirinha. I've used three coats here, but I think two would have been enough.







Anything I say here is going to sound slightly half-hearted after gushing about French Martini! This is a very beautiful lime green holo, not quite as rich as FM, but a lovely colour. It's a very tropical polish that reminds me of birds of paradise! It's also helped point out to me my woefully small green holo collection, and something must be done about that! Again, my base and top coat didn't diminish the holo at all.


I'm very, very excited about this collection. The UK indie polish scene has been desperately needing some good, linear holos, and this collection is absolutely perfect. They launch on Friday on Etsy, along with a linear holo topcoat. You can keep up to date on all Freckles Polish news on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

Monday 21 April 2014

UK Indies - Freckles Polish Easter Bonnet Competition

Greetings All!

There will be a WAMM post later, but I didn't get around to posting my Easter nails yesterday! I decided to leave all the eggs and bunnies to one side, and go with something simple and pretty.

This is two coats of Easter Bonnet Competition, over a base of Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty.





I now have a few polishes form the Sprung collection, and so far they're all lovely. Fresh, fun, vibrant Spring colours, pretty glitter combinations,and a great formula means I'll probably be reaching for these all through Spring and into Summer!

You can buy Freckles polish here.

Friday 18 April 2014

Dance Legend Termo Shine Swatches

Greetings All!

I've saved my favourites for last in my little series of Dance Legend posts. The Termo Shine polishes are thermals with glitter in. Who could have guessed I would like that?! I've collected all four over the last couple of months, which is nice because it's given me a chance to wear them all. However, it does mean that there's quite a lack of continuity of my nail length in this post! I should have reswatched them all together, but I just can't bear to take them off once I've got them on!

They're all lovely polishes. I used two coats for all these swatches, they're easy to apply and give good coverage. The dry time is the only downside. I did use thickish coats, but even given that, they took forever  to dry! A fast drying topcoat is definitely needed. It hasn't put me off at all, I just felt that I should mention it. If I had known beforehand, I wouldn't have managed to get polish on my lip (does anyone else do that to check how dry their polish is?)!

As you can imagine, this is quite a picture heavy post!


Thursday 17 April 2014

Dance Legend Candy Flakes - Bite Tonight

Greetings All!

The Dance Legend fest continues! This is a rather late post for me, but I've just got in from work and I'm not back in until Wednesday - talk about a long weekend! I'm gonna swatch sooo much polish...

I actually bought this polish a couple of months ago - I'm being sensible, and building up my collection slowly, instead of buying them all at once (which is what I always want to do). This is 2 coats of Bite Tonight over black.





Now, this is pretty, but I still found myself a little disappointed. It's quite subtle for a flakie. I wonder if I would have got a better effect if I layered it over a dark red or brown, but I really wanted it to be red and black. I had this image of black polish with glowing red flakies (which is why I'm maybe a little disappointed - polish in my head is always beyond awesome!). It was also a nightmare to photograph, I'm hoping because of the subtlety and not my camera skills!



The flakies do stay fairly red, with hints of gold then green just at the far edges of the nail (you can see this better in the bottle shots). I'll wear it again, give it another chance. I didn't like BCL Poison Apple the first time I tried it, so my opinions can't be entirely trusted!

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Dance Legend - Termo Trio (And PMP Glitter!)

Greetings All!

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm grouping a few Dance Legend posts together. They're my latest crush, and thanks to Rainbow Connection they've been fairly easy to get hold of. Their thermals are among the best I've tried - very reactive and colourful.

Today I have a polish that changes through three colours, because sometimes two just aren't enough! I wore this for a couple of days, and because I'm me, I had to add a bit of glitter. She's Like The Wind from Pocket Money Polishes has similar colours in it, so I chose that.

These swatches are 2 coats of Termo Trio, and one coat of She's Like The Wind.









This was amazing to wear. It was literally constantly changing colour, every hint of hot or cold gave a different combination. Of course I was fascinated! My favourite trick was to drip hot or cold water on them, as it gave a tie dye effect. So much fun! It also dried to a lovely rubbery finish, which unfortunately did get lost with the glitter.

As my obsession with thermals has grown, I've tried various different brands. Dance Legend is probably the best - I kind of want them all! In fact I've already 'collected' all the glittery ones (little spoiler for what's ahead there!).

If you are in the UK, Rainbow Connection is your easiest way to grab a Dance Legend!


Tuesday 15 April 2014

Dance Legend - Lumos Swatches

Greetings All!

Recently I've developed a bit of a crush on Dance Legend - first, their thermals, and now their flakies. I've decided to group all the posts together, so it's going to be a bit of a Dance Legend week here!

I'm starting with two polishes from the Lumos collection. They have possibly the best feature I've ever seen on a polish bottle - a little light! Why doesn't more polish light up?! It's a very fun, if slightly pointless feature, although it is nice to see the polish all lit up. They also seem to be Harry Potter themed, which I literally just learned. I shall get my mother to confirm!

First up is Orlando. This is one thick coat over black, with two coats on my thumb.





I'm not really sure what to say about this polish. The pictures kind of say it all! An almost offensively gorgeous polish, colourful, beautiful, and perfect in one coat. I have two coats on my thumb, and it's kind of too much.

Although it is looking pretty good here!

Being me, I also had to try it matte.




Again, I can't think of anything to say that's better than the pictures. Just, I'm slightly annoyed that this isn't on my nails right now!



This is unfortunately the best picture I could get of it lit up. I did try for quite a while, but you either couldn't really see the light from it, or you could barely tell that it was a bottle of polish, and not a light bulb!


Next up is Avada Kedavra. After Orlando, I was worried that this might seem boring in comparison. It isn't! Again, one thick coat over black.





Not boring at all! I love how this looks - deep and mysterious, again perfect in one coat, and the green just hints towards turquoise then blue at the edges of my nails. I can't wait to try this over a dark green!



This one is much flatter with matte topcoat - a rare fail!

I bought both these polishes from Rainbow Connection (where Orlando is still available!).