piCture pOlish ~ Antique

piCture pOlish  ~ Antique

Dusty violet packed with tiny silver glitter

The first layer took me completely by surprise! It was so easy to apply, and it covered perfectly after just one coat! Cool! I added a second layer to see if it made a difference, which it didn’t.

So what you’re looking at here is two layers of Antique, with one layer of Poshé top coat over it:

Although not totally my colour, it came out a tad darker than I expected, which is a plus to me. This is a quality polish for sure, and the shimmer is quite amazing!

Weeee!

And a another pic, for the beauty of it: 

  

This is however, not a colour I’d wear on its own. I decided stamping for this beauty. I used a stamping plate from Bundlemonster: BM-208 and my no name stamping polish “Suzi skis in the Pyrenees”, which is a great stamping polish. I topped it with a layer of my faithful Poshé top coat.

  

Here’s what piCture pOlish write about their polishes:

piCture pOlish was created when two Australian girls dreamed of a beautiful gift that would capture a special occasion! What better way to relive a moment than wit a personalised nail polish! That is quirky & vibrant that stands out from the rest!

piCture pOlish has grown to include our own brand! With an extensive range of fashion forward colours you will find a shade for every occasion! Every Shade tells a story inspired by you our wonderful costumers!

They don’t mention which story “Antique” tells, only that the polish gets better with age. I don’t know… perhaps it’s just me, but if it’s true that there’s a story behind the polish, then they should definitely share it :)

Opacity: 10/10
Colour, prettiness: 7/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 8/10
Buy again: Yes

Cirque ~ Book of Shadows

Cirque ~ Book of Shadows

Silvery lavender with almost foil finish

Cirque is not a brand that I’m familiar with, soI was quite excited to try it out.

It took two coats to build up opacity, which is really good for such a pale colour! The formula was great and the polish glided on easily. Drying time was quite good too! I applied a coat of BK top coat before taking these pictures:

The lavender is very subtle, but it’s definitely there. And the shimmer is amazing. It’s not just a polish with shimmer – it’s a shimmer polish, if that makes any sense.

I love the shine!

It’s not a colour I’d ever wear on its own. I guess I don’t have many polishes I’d wear on their own; it has become a thing!

So here’s what I ended up doing to this pretty polish:

Dots, made with two Isadora polishes: Peacock and Persian Princess.

Here are the three polishes looking really happy together:

Here’s what Cirque write about their polishes:
Cirque nail polish is B3 free, which means it does not contain toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate. Each bottle holds .45 oz / 13.2 ml of product and is hand-mixed by batch using high quality ingredients such as cosmetic-grade pigments and glitter.  Organic lavender and clary sage essential oils have been added to lend your hands a subtle scent after the polish dries.

I can’t smell the lavender, but I have a cold at the moment. I had my boyfriend smell my fingernails also, but he couldn’t smell anything either. So don’t let that be the thing that makes you buy this polish. Buy it because you love the colour or because you really like good quality polishes; because this is such a polish for sure.

Opacity: 7/10
Colour, prettiness: 7/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Buy again: No

Ozotic ~ 506

Ozotic ~ 506

Multichrome that shifts from blue to pink to golden to purple

This is my first Ozotic, so I didn’t quite know what to expect, other than I’ve seen beautiful swatches on the Internet. It was easy to see that this polish isn’t meant to be worn on its own, but over a dark base. So I painted all my nails black. I used my faithful Essence “Black is back” for that purpose. It’s a one coater and dries fast, and is therefore my favourite black.

Then I applied two coats of Ozotic over the black, and man! Total awesomeness revealed itself before my very eyes.

Here’s the sight that met me first – a stunning blue:

There’s no top coat on the pics here! I twisted my fingers a little bit, and purple joined the party:

I found a better lamp, and take a look at this:

I twisted my hands and fingers, and I must admit that I was amazed over how pretty this polish is.

It shows mostly blue and purple, but sometimes also teal and golden. I couldn’t catch that on camera, so these pics will have to do :)

I obviously didn’t leave them on their own, LOL, but I was gentle!

I made three little stripes on each nail with Layla Hologram Effect’s “Retro Pink”, and sealed it all with BK top coat.

The last pic is in my lightbox, that’s why the holo doesn’t pop, but it’s to show you that multichrome and holos are great together. When one of them doesn’t pop, the other one does!

Opacity: 2/10
Colour, prettiness: 10/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 7.75/10
Buy again: Yes

Color Club ~ Gift of Sparkle and Cloud Nine

Color Club ~ Gift of Sparkle

Warm red-ish purple with holo glitter

Gift of Sparkle is the last one I bought from Color Club’s holiday collection 2012, called Winter Affair! And this is definitely my favourite of the three! It looks gorgeous in the bottle, and it’s always interesting to see if the beauty transfers to the nails.

The formula is relatively thick, but quite easy to manage, and it took two coats to get full opaqueness. It dries up very gritty, and I have a feeling that this finish is a bit like OPI’s liquid sand will be. OPI’s liquid sand polishes are already out, in a Mariah Carey collection. I’m definitely trying out a couple of those!

But back to Color Club! I absolutely love this polish, I think it’s just as beautiful on the nails!!

I didn’t add a top coat to begin with, because you know I’m not going to keep it plain. Here’s what two coats and no top coat looks like:

You can definitely see how gritty it is, and how the polish dried up to an almost matte look with holo glitter. Spectacular!

For the nail art I decided to go for tiger stripes. I used another new Color Club polish, namely Cloud Nine from their Halo Hues holo collection this autumn. I drew the stripes with a thin nail art brush, and when I was done I sealed it all up with two layers of Poshé top coat, and here’s what my final mani ended up looking like:

Do you see how the top coat brings the base colour to life? It’s amazing!

I’m wearing two layers of top coats over this, and it was still gritty, so it could definitely have used a third one, if I had wanted it to be totally smooth. I don’t mind a bit of texture though, so two layers were enough for me. I’m not crazy about wearing too many layers either, so there you have it.

So, there’s my two newest Color Clubs. I say it was about time that they came out with some cool collections, because it seems like forever since I bought Color Clubs last! But these ones totally rock in my opinion.

What do you think? Have you ever seen a purple tiger with holo stripes before? ;)

Color Club ~ Gift of Sparkle

Opacity: 8/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Buy again: Yes

Golden Rose meets Barry M

Golden Rose 322 and 326

Black with glass flecks and magenta with glass flecks

Barry M ~ Ruby Glitter

Black and ruby glitter

It’s time for another couple of Golden Rose polishes I received in a swap with sweet Aylin from Posh Nail Art.

I started out with painting three nails magenta and two nails black. Both the Golden Rose polishes are shimmery and packed with flecks. I love this finish in a polish!!

Here’s what two coats and no top coat looks like:

If you take a look at this next pic, you can see clearly how pretty the flecks are. They’re actually different colours in the black polish!

Then I applied a coat of Barry M Ruby Glitter over the black. I had in mind to wear it on its own, but the base doesn’t look blackened, so I reckon it would take about ten layers to make it opaque! :D

I made stripes on the middle finger with a black striper, and then I tape the remaining two magenta nails and painted half of them with the black Golden Rose.

I topped it all off with a layer of Seche Vite, and here’s the final result:

Now, how’s that?

Bottle shot (minus the striper):

How do you like this mani? I like reddish colours with black, but I’m not crazy about  black on its own. This way I combine the things that I really like, making it as cool looking as I can :)

So – do you think this is cool?

Isadora ~ Peacock with OPI and Finger Paint glitters

Isadora ~ Peacock

Deep vibrant blue

Peacock is the last polish I bought from Isadora’s “Jewels of the Orient” collection from autumn 2012. I have several blue polishes in this shade, but knowing the quality of Isadora, I decided to buy it anyway. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The formula is just as good as I’ve come to expect with Isadora. It covered perfectly in one easy coat. Consequently I decided to not apply another, because I couldn’t believe that it would make it any prettier. Don’t take my word for it though – take a look at this pic. It’s one coat, and no top coat yet:

How about that?

Then I applied a coat of OPI “Pirouette my Whistle”, which is a clear base with small silver glitters, and larger white hexagons. It’s from the New York City Ballet collection from spring 2012. It was the only one I picked up from that collection: I am definitely not into nudes, but I love glitters!

This is one coat of glitter over the Peacock:

It reminds me of a clear blue winter sky with snow! I love this:

Then I decided to add more glitter. Yes, there’s always room for more glitter, lol!!

I sponged Finger Paint’s “Laugh my Art off” on the tips. It’s a blue base packed with small blue glitters.

After that I finished with a layer of NYC top coat:

And the final mani from another angle:

Here’s the bottle shot:

So, what do you think? Isn’t this just a perfect winter mani or what?

Opacity: 10/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 10/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Buy again: Yes

Essie ~ Leading Lady with Essence ~ Hello Holo

Essie ~ Leading Lady  

Dark red jelly with glitter

Leading Lady is from Essie’s Winter collection from 2012, and the collection is also called Leading Lady. So Essie must have known that this dark red jelly with glitter is the star of the collection.

Leading Lady is closely related to Ruby Slippers/Ruby Pumps and other Ruby Footwear polishes. It applies easily, because the formula is great. I was lucky to get a bottle with the new and wider brush. The other four Essies I’ve got all have the narrow brush, but I definitely prefer the wide brush. It’s easy to work with, and it only took two coats before I was satisfied with how it looked.

And here is what two coats of Leading Lady, without top coat looks like:

I like this polish! I love red, and glitter too, and I don’t know what there is not to love about this polish!

I wanted to do something with it though – you should know by now that I can’t leave a mani simple as this. I didn’t quite know what to do with it though… stamping seemed wrong, and I wasn’t in the mood for dots or stripes. I ended up doing a tape mani.

I taped my nails, leaving a triangle on the middle of each nail, and painted the triangle with Essense’s “Hello Holo”, which is a dense holographic glitter. I love Hello Holo because it’s so dense, that it only needs one coat to look like a million dollars!

I topped it with a layer of Poshé top coat, and I was done:

I think it’s amazing how well these two blingy polishes go together! Here’s a peek from another angle:

And the pretty couple of bottles:

I’m not the hugest Essie-fan, but I don’t regret I bought this pretty polish. What about you – do you like Essie’s polishes?

Opacity: 8/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 8/10
Buy again: Yes

Flormar Wild Nails ~ CW104 with dots and flakies

Flormar Wild Nails ~ CW104

Blue with a metallic finish

Here’s another Flormar Wild Nails polish I got from Aylin from Posh Nail Art.

It’s blue, it’s a Flormar, so what can possibly go wrong? Right?

The formula is just as great as I’ve experienced with Flormars before. Application was a breeze and this was in fact also a one coater!! I applied two coats anyway, just to give the polish its best conditions. I can see a little bit of brush strokeness, but I’m fine with that!

Here’s what two coats and no top coat looks like:

And from another angle:

Isn’t this just a great blue? It’s made to have something layered over it, I think. I started with some dots. I used Claire’s Two way nail art pen and brush, and I made a ring of dots in the corner of each nail. That looks like this:

I quite like the simplicity of this, so I’ll definitely make this design again!

Then I added some flakies. I used Big Universo’s “Espactral”, which some girls say is Brazil’s version of Unicorn Pee. I don’t know much about that, so I’ll just take their word for it. It’s pretty nonetheless, and my first Big Universo, so you won’t be hearing any complaints from me!

I applied one coat of flakies over my mani, topped it with a layer of Finger Paints top coat, and I was ready to rock:

The funny thing about this mani is that if you can see the flakies, you can’t see the dots. And if you can see the dots, you can’t see the flakies. It all depends on the angle. I think that is a total win!

So yes – here’s another Flormar that lives up to my expectations. Great addition to my haul!!

Flormar Wild Nails ~ CW104

Opacity: 10/10
Colour, prettiness: 8/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Buy again: Yes

Alix Avien ~ 400 with stars

Alix Avien ~ 400

Pale blue crème

W.I.P. by Urban Outfitters ~ Twinkle  

Clear base with glitter and pink and blue stars

Here’s just a short post for you today, featuring another polish from my friend Aylin from Posh Nail Art.

Alix Avien #400 is a pale blue, almost lavender crème. The formula was good, and it took two coats to get it opaque. I’m glad that this polish is self levelling, because I wasn’t that good applying it today :D

Here’s how two coats and no top coat looks like:

I stamped on three of the fingers with a no name polish called “Suzi skis in the Pyrenees” and used stamping plate DRK-A. I stamped purple stars. On the other fingers I applied a coat of a W.I.P. polish called “Twinkle”. That’s a clear base with glitter and blue and pink stars in it.

I had to fish a lot to get the stars out. There are lots of them in the polish, but it was as if they didn’t want to stick to the brush. So it took quite a while to get two little stars on each nail, but I managed!

After that struggle I applied a layer of Poshé top coat, and my mani was done:

Here are the polishes I used:

As you can see, the “Suzi skis in the Pyrenees” isn’t an OPI. It’s a cheap Chinese copy of it – it’s so cheap that they didn’t even bother to find out what the OPI bottle looks like :D

What do you think guys and girls? Do you like stars as much as I do? :)

Golden Rose Matte Velvet ~ 110 with holo snowflakes

Golden Rose Matte Velvet ~ 110

Charcoal with shimmer and a silky finish

Here’s another one of Golden Rose Matte Velvet polishes. Again I received ít in a swap with lovely Aylin from Posh Nail Art. After having seen the first ones, I put more on my wish list, and was happy to receive four more – and this is one of them.

The formula is just as great as the other ones I’ve tried. The polish glides on easily, leaving a totally smooth surface. The polish covers in one coat, but I gave it two to make sure it showed itself from its prettiest side.

This is two coats, no top coat:

I really like this colour. I like that it’s dark without being real black. It’s charcoal, I guess. I like dark colours, but I’m not crazy about pure black! So this is perfect, really!

I wanted to add some bling in the shape of a holo. I pulled out Gosh Holographic Hero and Alix Avien #110. Alix Avien arrived in the same box as the Golden Rose. She’s a clear base with holographic glitter in various sizes. I applied a coat of that on my ring finger and my thumb. She does take quite a long time to dry, but she’s definitely worth the wait!

I stamped the other three fingernails with Holographic Hero. I used Bundlemonster’s plate BM-323. After I was done, I applied a layer of Poshé top coat. Here’s the final mani:

If you want to stamp with Holographic Hero, you have to work fast, because she dries really fast! I applied the polish, scraped, picked up and instantly stamped it onto the nail. That’s why I picked a design where it doesn’t matter so much that you place it the same on every nail :)

Here’s a bottle shot for you:

If you’re into matte, velvety polishes, you should definitely see if you can get your hands on some of these babies!

What do you think? Does this holo-mani work for you?

Opacity: 10/10
Colour, prettiness: 8/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Buy again: Yes