Catherine Arley - 807 - straw gold holographic

In the gift pack I got 2 golds. The other is a warmer, more sunflower yellow. This is the whiter, cooler gold. Application was good and the colour quite opaque. In this picture you can see the one on the left has one coat, and the one on the right has two coats. Can you tell the difference?

In dim light you can't see that it is holographic. But under direct light, wow, just fantastic. This polish didn't disappoint. See the other Catherine Arley post I did for rave reviews on its consistency and colour.

However, I think that the golden colour interrupts the holo visuals. I find it hard to distinguish that it is a holo at all. Comparing the bottle against the toffee coloured CA, you can clearly distinguish the toffee is holo glitter, but the gold looks more like silver glitter.

So sadly I have to report this is not a knockout the way 668 was but I am still pretty pleased with the formulation and how gorgeous it is to paint with.

Many thanks to JJ who sent this over as a gift all the way from USA!!!

** Amendment - I've done this on a nail wheel now and it reminded me of the trouble I had when I was putting it on. It's much more visible on a plain white surface. This gold, suffers the fate of many a frost gold.. It streaks.

Catherine Arley - 668 - toffee holographic

Welcome to my first Catherine Arley post! A while ago you would have seen how I was sent several of these by my friend in the USA. AWESOME! Catherine Arley itself is a brand from Turkey.

This was a fantastic first try. I pored over the colours and finally decided on the demure toffee colour, seeing as I still had to go to work. Application - - OMG, perfect. Perfect consistency, amazing soft brush, nil streaks. After the hassle I experienced with Make Up Store's holographic, I wondered "maybe its this kind of glitter**" but boy was I wrong. Every finger I did I was bowled over by how smooth and even it went on. I mean the bottle itself is no great shakes - it seems to have the most awful, cheap looking handle and the whole thing looks like it came out of a $2 shop.

(**I've since found as well that Sally Hansen holos were quite good - sorry Make Up Store, but your holo sucked in comparison!! The glitter just feels and drags heavy, like sand particles and seems nigh on impossible to get a good looking finish)

I should absolutely add at this point that no cosmetic company has ever given me free product to blog about, so take this as my disclaimer that I so often see on other blogs about being endorsed and whatever. I got no endorsement, no freebies and no family or friends who work in the industry. I buy all my own polishes (well aside from the ones I get for christmas!)

Anyhow! Amazing x 3000. People who saw it commented how awesome it looked. I almost feel embarrassed how effort-free it was to get a good finish. And because it looks so good, I feel the need to add a few different photos. Enjoy it just like I did!

Revlon scented "Grapefruit Fizz"

Now the sad thing is that firstly I bought 2 of these and because I was sooooooo excited (and they smelled sooooo tasty, people must have thought I was nuts as I spent all week sniffing my nails) that I went to look for more.

I found this one (and I really am not much of a princess pink person) and decided I had to get it. The problem was that it was in a discount drugstore for $5 instead of $10 and I wondered... ???

Well, cease wondering, dear friends. The mystery is solved. There was something ***awfully wrong with this one. It totally smelt of formaldehyde or something, so strong that I nearly got flung to the back wall when I opened the bottle. A day later it had faded on the nails somewhat (yes, people, I actually DARED put this stuff on my nails, my poor nails). and there were was very faintest whiff of what might seem like grapefruit, but there was still a strong chemical odour.

Had this been a real and good polish who knows what it may have smelled of.

Colourwise, its a jelly. I went so far as to put on 4 coats. I really love the crystal flaky though, and the whole set of these tropical cocktail polishes have the same flaky. Application is usual. Revlon has gone pretty standard - decent brush, huge bottle that you would never hope to finish, good consistency, good finish.

I got the big lecture from mum - must be a Chinese fake, be careful, they put all sorts of toxic drugs in there instead of quality materials blah blah...

Anyway, enjoy this polish. :)

Arezia shimmery green

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Arezia is a 5ml size polish you can get at the Sasa chain stores, which are popular throuhout Asia. They don't bother giving them names but pump out fashion colours at a regular rate. As far as I can see they don't even bother putting code numbers on there.

In the first pic against the kitchen benchtop I've got one coat. In the other photos I've got two coats. I'm not going to bother going on but you can see its quite a sheer thing.

The 2nd photo with the bottle is the most true to life. The other two pics at the bottom are taken indoors.

It's been a few hours now but the surface still feels a bit tacky to touch. What would I call this? Probably a zesty apple geen. It was easy to apply, but had a tendency to dissolve and drag the bottom coat. You need a light touch and a quick application.

Presents from my cuz

She came back from Hong Kong with a few things for me. I tried out the shimmery green polish last night. The others are a concrete grey creme polish, a set of crackle top polishes with an aqua base colour and 2 eyeshadows. Thanks cuz!

Orly - Grape Glimpse

This one is in the mini range. It is a very transparent purple with gold glimmer. The formula is very runny. I've done five coats on each finger except the pointer which is only up to four coats. It is really barely there and maybe someone out there just wants the tiniest hint of colour. Is it a glimpse? Yes. Is it grape? I've never seen a grape this colour.  But I really do like how it goes on, and I really like to paint. As I go on I am getting better at staying within the lines and going faster. Can you imagine the fun I could have if I had 4 more arms? I want to add that Orly's famous grip cap is not on these minis. No, minis only get a hard plastic lid to deal with. But you know, that is not actually such a bad thing either. Yesterday I found a mini lip balm that I'd been given years ago that have this "rubberized" cap and it had gone kind of gooey with time, so it is really not the best. But hey, its nice to know that these things can actually degrade. Do you ever wonder about civilisation in 1000 years? Will they dig up fossilised nail polish bottles? Will they find in some landfill, a bottle that is covered in calcification and because of this airless state, scientists find the content is still as runny and useful as it was at the time of manufacture? Anyway, I have gone on a bit of a ramble not really associated with Orly. Tell you what, I have SOOOOO many nail blogs to catch up on. My inbox is a splattering of reminders.

Coral Colours - Jayd

Sadly I realised I only did one photo of this colour. I was rushing rushing all last week. This is probably a dupe of one of Chanel's hot colours, Riva or something. It has a very slight silvery shimmer through it, which you just cannot see unless you are really dedicated. It is definitely a blue, not a green. In fact, I'd say it was dead on turquoise, just like the stones.

Coral Colours is an Aussie brand stocked in chemists. The formulation is really not so good. Not the absolute pits, but really not quite good. I did 3 coats of this because it was balding in spots. The wear was really good however, so that is one plus. Also it really is an exquisite colour and I was receiving compliments all through the week from random strangers.

It is a real shame about the shimmer. I'm looking for a blue like this where the shimmer is much more apparent. Keep looking!

Missha Crystal - HVL01

Well I can barely tell how many colour flecks there are. I prefer the term crystal over glass fleck. Missha is a Korean brand with its own stores, one in Sydney. www.missha.net

It's not a smooth finish, if you like super smooth you need a top coat. It was very pretty thought, even though even here I had used about 4 coats and you can still see transluscence. I'm not overly convinced, it looks much better in the bottle. I'll use it for layering. The bottle however is beautiful. A warped elongated heart, with graduated pink lid.

The brush however, I love this brush - medium length bristles, nice 2mm thick brush (flat) and the slightest curve. I find this to be a better curve brush than the Cutex.

Bourjois - Soiree a Versailles #61

I totally love these tiny bottles. I don't know much about them except that a few Priceline stores had them in a box. No particular labelling or signs. I didn't even see a price sticker for them. This one is a soft powder pink with a gold shimmer through it. When on the nail it was an absolute pastel manicure. The shimmer was almost impercetible after a top coat though.

The formulation was ok, but got a bit chunky later on - my fault, did not let last coat dry enough.

I saw a dark purple, cherry red and black in the same range. Wore ok, so what can I say...? Not too disappointed by Bourjois products at all. :-)

Maybelline Mini Colorama - Baby Doll

Gotta love when there's a run out on fashion colours. Picked up some Coloramas for $1 each. This is a fairly standard shade, the musky pink with shot of blue. In fact, the first time I was a flowergirl in the 80s, all our nails were done in this shade in Cutex. Blast from the past.

I had several comments from people who thought I was wearing nothing but caught a flash of the blue in the light. Invariably they would hold my fingers just to check!

Formula, ok. Colour, a bit too transparent - did about 4 coats with this one. Scratched easily even days later. Hotness of colour was subdued with a top coat. Dontcha hate that. You have good looking colour and it is ruined by a top coat.

I would not have run out to buy this... but it was in the bargain box. And I suppose I would wear this any time I was not supposed to have colour on the nails.

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.

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.