L.A Girl Metal - Bronze Medal

I grabbed a few different ones of these at Groove which is an Aussie discounter store. They seem to get a lot of remaindered stock from overseas and among them is Revlon, Maybelline, L.A Girl, NYX... Anyway, these were $5 I think. They look so good in the bottle but I was sadly disappointed upon application. See photo, but what it is is a clear base with foil toned glitter. It is very smooth, very fine. You will see in another photo that there is still heaps of visible nail even after THREE coats. I did another 2 coats the next day and found a better result by not shaking the bottle, swishing to obtain a big glob of polish, then just wiping one side of the brush to drain as much polish off as possible while retaining a nice load of glitter on the other.

It's quite nice on, but hard work to get there. Where other glitter polish you can usually feel the texture, this stuff is very smooth. You would not know just by touch that it was any different to a creme. Unfortunately I got a few dints because the first few coats I was trying to get coverage, so was doing thick coats. Major mistake. Next time I know I'll be doing several thin coats over two days! I haven't used a top coat on any of my pics here.

Chi Chi (mini) - She Bangs

The thing with these Chi Chi minis is that some of the colours are similar to the regular bottles, but have different names. Peculiar. Two bites of the apple, perhaps?

Now, I actually wore this one prior to the last jade colour (Mavala) that I posted, but it took me a while to dig out these photos. I've tried to tone the photos to be as true to life as possible. This colour is what I would call vermillion, or perhaps a fluro red also. It makes me think of the red traffic cones. Very stark, very striking. I loved wearing this colour. Rich orangey tones. It had a demi matte finish, but I glossed it up with Sally Hansen Mega Shine on top. It was easy to apply, and after waging war with several colours in a row (exhausting) it was SO NICE to finally reach a colour that would just do its thing.

It is pure creme, there is absolutely no shimmer, glitter, flecking or anything. I've tried to assemble a little montage of red things in the last pic for a comparison, but under my desk lamp I think it was hard for my camera to deal with all the reds. :-)

I cannot stress how much fun I had with this colour. I got a few comments for it, but not as much as I did for the Mavala 'Aquamarine'. Ciao bella! Til next time!

Mavala - Aquamarine

Mavala are some small polishes hailing from Switzerland. Their webpage says that this is the ideal size for a fast moving trend base. What I really like is that these are quite sturdy little pots. The cap initially looks a bit tacky, but it is quite a good grip. The brush is quite good as well. I've found Mavala at two independent chemists so there is no real clue where they are stocked. One was in Indooroopilly Westfield, in Brisbane. The other was in the Town Hall station underpass somewhere, Sydney. I think I was heading to QVB.

I have been very fond of this colour. It's a very creamy celadon or jade green and has a very subtle green shimmer. In sunlight this is more apparent. It has also worn quite well. I'm up to day 4 and it only chipped today. But this was due to me scrubbing pots and pans. Formula was good, not "very good".... with some bald patches. I did two coats, but it really needs 3. The paint is a bit thicker in consistency, so maybe this is really a 2 day job. This colour looks much better on squared off nails than round or pointy tips. My poor nails, at the moment, are 1000 different shapes. (ok, ten, I mean).

I have a couple of other Mavalas, so would like to trot those out soon. Price point varied from $7 to 9.

Chi Chi (mini) - Booty-Licious

It's jade with pink, silver and green micro shimmer. Very attractive in the bottle. True to colour for the bottle. But sadly, a little clunky to get on the nail. I've had better experiences with other Chi Chi. Maybe this bottle was old? My right hand is lumpy as I tried to stroke on the colour evenly. Oh yeah, dragging colour and bald patches. Very annoying to apply.

But I have had 3 compliments today and another one the first day I put it on. Wearing is nice, Chi Chi seem to make good, tough polishes. At least, the ones I've had to far. The photo of the bottle is the closest colour match.

She - Rainbow

What? Rainbow? Where? Indeed. This is a robin egg blue frost and egads, GLUG-world. I hated putting this on. And I hated that hours later it was still soft like blue tac. (squishy stuff you use to stick posters to wall).

Sigh... Anyway, if its in the bargain bin for a dollar, of course you know what you're up against. It was not exceptionally nice colour anyway. I'm a bit sad because a long time ago I had a She polish that I just totally, totally adored. It looked like I had sugar crystals on my fingernails.

So She is an Australian brand and mainly stocked in Priceline. Though I remember an era when they were sold in Myer. Sad times, eh?

OPI fake - golden peach

Somewhere in a Chinese market I found this polish. Oosh, does it ever smell. You open the bottle and fumes galore. But I really liked this pretty beige peach tone with its aura of gold. It has proved to be quite a demure and hard wearing colour but of course I am sad it was not really an OPI colour at all! It may look like foundation in the bottle but its actually a pretty colour.

Rimmel - Euphoria

I'm never a big fan of these quick stroke polishes. I like to take my time. However, it seemed quite good with this one, and pale colours are very forgiving if you cross the line. The fat brush... well I have to say I am not a fan of big fat brushes but I guess this one was not too hard to control. I think my favourite big brush is probably still the Bourjois.

These little stumpy Rimmel handles are a bit of a bother too.

So Euphoria. Well, in the shop I was much more excited. It seemed at once, pearly, pink and purple but at home, it really kinda turned out to be rather a boring frosty pink. But I have to say that it wore like a dream. LIKE A DREAM. 8 days later it was still on duty. But sadly dented on 3 fingers because the advertising lies. This bloody thing too AAAGES to dry out and inadvertently I put dents in the paintwork, totally unknowingly. I don't even know how it happened, maybe while I was typing??

It was a sweet little colour although someone called it dull pink. Actually, it even is a little bit grey in certain light.