Monday, July 25, 2011

Missha Crystal nail polish - HKH01 (gold)

I was so excited to go to Sydney as Brisbane has no Missha shop. what heaven. This is the store in the QVB building. There were 3 ranges to choose from but I was most excited by the crystal range. I got four. This one I had an excuse to try the next day because my Sugar Baby had chipped. This one is a heavy bronze gold. It is unfortunately quite textured and even after two top coats feels bumpy. Under dim light it is a semi matte finish. Under direct light you will then see the red, green and blue sparks of the holo glitter. There is otherwise also gold glitter in the darker base colour. I am just not really sold. Its just a bit dull and the glitter is not that Wow even under good light. The brush is one of those flat and rounded broad strokers. The bottle is adorably heart shaped. Some of the bottles even have an airbrushed colour on the lid. Because of the heavy glitter content I found it clumpy on the end of my nails during application. Missha is a Korean brand and retails for around $7.95.




Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Sugar Baby - Dream Team

Interesting range of colours. Sugar Baby is an Aussie brand and I got this in Myer. Its a teal colour with a beautiful mix of blue, green and purple shimmer in a creme base. This formula painted on like a dream but sadly I have already chipped one nail. The hand I did two top coats on seemed to have fared better.

The shimmer on nail is not so apparent. I had real trouble getting a photo of it. The photo with the book is probably the most accurate colour match. I dunno, I'm not completely sold on this colour.

It makes me think of benchtops and lunchboxes.

In other news I got an Iconia tablet today!



Monday, July 18, 2011

Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine - Luminous

As I said about the other Lacquer Shine I had on, this goes on like a dream. What an incredible formula. I've got 3 of these, so when the time comes I will review the other one. In the bottle I had imagined it was more of an orangey tone, but on the nail it seemed like a straight out hot red, not a hint of orange at all. These are quite old polishes, being in the discontinued basket, and for all my life only have seen them in one store, a Terry White chemist with not much clientele. Still, I cannot tell you that after the last few polishes being put on, I had rather dreaded that perhaps I was declining into old age and unable to hold a brush anymore or create even strokes.

This polish has told me: It's not you! It's them!

Anyway... I'd had trouble with those new fangled wide brush things and this is rather the average long bristled straight brush and it surely, surely is wonderful to apply with. *gush gush*

I've had tons of compliments. Last night, my friend was ordering in an Indian restaurant when the woman stopped him mid sentence and said: Those nails are AMAZING. Truly. She endured taking our drink and entree order and finally had to blurt it out. (dramatic writing licence used).

But seriously, yes, at work today had comments about them. Last week at work also. That's right... LAST WEEK. These babies have rode my dead skin cells for approximately 5 days. They had done the washing, scrabbled around in my handbag and it was only yesterday they took chipping. In fact, the last photo was taken 2 days ago. You can see some wear on the tip but the polish clung on for dear life.

So, it's a bold tomato red and is a pearl. It has delicious, beautiful depth. I think this series Lacquer Shine was really taking those deep, shiny asian lacquerware as inspiration, if you can visualise the layers and layers of varnish that give it that glittering warm depth.



Thursday, July 14, 2011

Make Up Store - Madeleine (holographic) 001

I think there are about 4 or 5 different holographic colours they have. Make Up Store is in Brisbane Myer. Madeleine is a pinky beige tone. It was a pain in the ass to apply, and did that lifting up of the last coat so I ended up with so many bald patches. Also it was absolutely unforgiving of any dips and ridges.

What can I say about this formulation? Well, its not glitter, it's particles and to get an awesome undisturbed rainbow effect you need all your particles to sit flat and even. I discovered that it was not looking good where you need to cross over somewhere already painted. Get out your ridge filler. This also dried out to a really thin layer and what was even more annoying, I did top coat on 2 fingers and find that the extra 1 micrometer of glaze affects the refraction of light. The top coated fingers just didn't have the same brilliance. Overnight a few fingers already had chipping. So what to do? Does one just handle hands with care saying: sorry, cannot possibly do ANYTHING, must preserve awesome hologram finish. Or does one top coat and accept something not as awesome?

At work, definitely something to brighten the day. Bored with paperwork? Stare at nails for a few seconds. Any time is play time. I got a different hologram polish by Colour Club off Ebay last week, so I will find some time to try that out and see whether it is any better than this one in terms of staying power and easier to apply.



Oh, the little lipbalms are from my aunty and come from Sasa, a chain store for cosmetics in Hong Kong and China. Are they cute or what!!!!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Maybelline Mini Colorama - 56 Coral Rose

Ok biggest beef with this one is the colour drags off when applying a new coat. Even on the 3rd coat and other coats were hours dry, it seemed to melt the existing polish and therefore bald patches. HOW TO STOP THIS??? Gah.

I ended up dabbing colour on the bald patches which from afar looks even, and close up of course you can make it out.

Other than that, what a sweet colour. It is like a boiled lolly. Delightful. Pearly and golden but such a retro colour.


Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Claire's - Mood color changing polish - Lonely / Loved



Ok, so first two fingers from the left are normal body temp... then the last two are dunked in hot water. Actually I didn't try dipping in iced water.

Sky blue with silver glitter. Goes on ok, but smells funny and the glitter is kinda chunky so you end up with quite textured nails. Looks bumpy. :/ Not swish. I put on 3 coats for ok coverage. a 4th coat tonight on one hand... 4 coats looks better.

The mood changing bizzo... well I got 3 of these and the purple one is quite dramatic, but this blue one is hard to tell the difference. All these Claire's ones (Claire's is a clothes chain in the USA, like Sportsgirl in Aussie I guess...) have these dual names. My favourite was the grey and yellow one but I couldn't find it on ebay. :((( They have been discontinued but there is no shortage of mood polish, even locally. BYS has currently got a small range and you can find BYS in Cosmetics Plus, Crazy Clarks and Kmart in QLD.

On to the photos. I've taken a new tack... Try and find interesting locations to take photos of my nails. Unfortunately my favourite shot last night against the funky bus seat fabric was blurry.

Monday, July 4, 2011

b collection - Seychelles

Neon. But pastel! Coral. It's the kind of colour they paint tacky beachside resorts back in the 80s. Oh yeah, this is retro glamour. Its kind of like that pink from tinned salmon. Its like chewed bubblegum. This would look so fantastic, paired with a fitting ultramarine sheath.

I'm sure I must have picked out an old bottle. From the word go this was a mess to put on.


b collection swatches in the shop

Can you say I was much excited to find actual swatches of B collection in Target today. But some of the colours on there were already discontinued and I think there are a couple colours not on there. I was a bit horrified to find that Bangkok used to be pure holograph shine and it is now just silver foil. No fair!

I came away with London, Seychelles and Toyko today and I have Seychelles on but it has been a problematic child. I cleaned off one nail twice and then gave up. It is streaky with 2 coats, and the one I did three for looks so thick its like a bad fake nail.

I got London after I saw a swatch for Mena, it's richer older sister in the Bloom line. I can only hope that it will be as good, as I have trawled Myer and there are no more Mena. Clicky click for bigger pic!




The deleted ones from bottom up are Mumbai, Munich, and ?

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Bourjois 1 Seconde - 9

So number 9... Number 9 is a very glittery port wine purple. I got this because it was the last one and was on special. Now I kinda wish I had looked at the others when these were out. The brush is really good. It is short (less than 1cm long) and flat and rounded but was much easier to use than the Cutex one I reviewed last time.

Unfortunately, since its old, something has also gone a little wrong with it. Now it doesn't dry well and even after 2 hours of typing carefully, I managed to dint one nail and then after I'd gone to bed I woke up this morning to crumply paint.



There's magenta glitter and a flush of gold too. When it first goes on it is such a fantastic colour. I may try giving it a bit of thinner and see whether that changes the game. Bourjois you can find in Target and Priceline.