China Glaze Holiday 2010 - Part II

If you haven't already seen Part I of this collection, click here to get a slice of that holiday goodness!

After the jump is Part II of the China Glaze Holiday 2010 collection.  If you thought it couldn't get better, strap yourself in for a bumpy ride.

China Glaze Holiday 2010 - Part I

I was recently fortunate enough to receive the entire China Glaze Holiday 2010 Collection. All 16 bottles of the stuff! You should have seen me opening up the package. It was a mess of bubble wrap, squeeing and lamingtons.  Ok, the lamingtons I was already eating, but still!

To save my poor hands from trying to divorce me on the grounds of cruel and unusual treatment, I will post these over three days, rather than doing them all at once.  And, instead of playing favourites, I'm going to post them in alphabetical order.  I can't have them getting jealous, yo.  Tis the season and all.

China Glaze - Awakenings - Halloween 2010

The beautiful Carina, from Gilded Nails, send me some nail polish last week.  I was expecting just the one, but Carina decided to be sneaky and threw in China Glaze's Awakening Collection.  How sweet, right?

She didn't want anything in return, but she made the mistake of putting her address on the package.  So, uh, Carina, expect some goodness in the next week.  No arguments.  I'm older than you.  By multiples.

Click on the jump to see this fantastic collection!

Boots 17 - Peacock

Today is a quickie post (my aunt is being discharged from ICU and going back to the ward, so I need to get to the hospital) and it's a lacquer I believe I have swatched previously.

I'm as slack as a tyre of an escaping felon's stolen car on 'World's Wildest Police Chases'.

This is a streaky mess but, man, I love the colour.  I could wear it every day of the week and never get bored.

Illamasqua - Viridian

Oh, now THIS is something special.

Illamasqua's Viridian, from the Art of Darkness Collection.  This is a beautiful peacock green.  It glides on like a dream and you CAN get away with one coat if you're careful.  Absolutely. Adore.

When applying this, I did start to think of potential dupes.  Jump to see whether this little lovely can be replicated.

October Giveaway - piCture pOlish Picture Perfect Giveaway

I am so excited about this month's giveaway, as it involves brand new Australian brand, piCture pOlish.

Over the next five weeks, I will be showcasing five of their amazing lacquers.  In short, though, these are beautiful lacquers.  The formula is creamy, they take two coats to get opaque and they last for ages.  Best of all, they post internationally which is rare for an Aussie lacquer company. << The Girls have just informed me that international shipping is temporarily on hold, but will be back up and running in December. The first one I'm showcasing, Camo, is my personal favourite. It's the perfect khaki and one of those colours that would be suitable for both work and play.

Now, if you love this, click on the jump to see how you can win three piCture pOlish lacquers of your choice.

BYS - Bermuda Nights

Sometimes, bad lacquers happen to good people.  Sometimes, bad people ruin good lacquers.

Unfortunately BYS' Bermuda Nights looks fabulous and stunning in the bottle, but caca pants on me.  So much so that I've hidden this most hideous nail disaster after the jump because, quite frankly, I couldn't tolerate it dragging down my front page.

But this is not the lacquer's fault.  After I did my swatch, and promptly threw up a little in my mouth, a Kenyan friend of mine swatched it on her hands.  Bliss.  She is going to let me photograph her hand with this colour on soon (she couldn't bear the thought of her untamed cuticles being exposed to the world) and you'll see just how good this colour looks.

In the meantime, gird your loins and hold onto your lunch.

Sinful Colors - Name this lacquer!!

Edited to add: Wow, you guys are amazing.  The common consensus is that this is Nail Junkie.  I have another swatch of this layered coming up during the week, so you'll get a second look at it.

I have no idea what this Sinful Colors is called.  The sticker is missing from the bottom of the lacquer.  Ooooooh, mystery lacquer.  If you know the name, could you please enlighten me in the comments?

 

If you're someone who hates a visible nail line, this is not for you.  The above is four coats and it's not even close.  But I don't mind, because this lacquer has one heck of a spunky personality.  I feel like a beautiful mermaid, with a somewhat sheer tail, wearing this!

BYS - UV Nail Polish Collection - Part II

If you haven't seen Part I of this collection, click here.

Under the jump is Part II of the BYS UV Nail Polish Collection.  And my favourites. :-)

Just a comment on the formula.  This is an extremely thin formula, with the exception of Thunderstruck which was very thick.  So none of them ever get completely opaque, even with multiple coats (I did four for each swatch bar Thunderstruck, where I only needed two).  This doesn't bother me because they work beautifully under the UV and, really, that's their main purpose.

In terms of wear, they will last so long as you wrap the ends and use a good top coat (which doesn't seem to impact the UV-ability of the lacquer, although BYS do have a UV top coat available). Because the formula is thin, they can chip easily if there is no top coat over the top.

So read on to see some more UV goodness.  Peep it!

Scandal - Green Pearl

Wow, it's been a long time between drinks for Scandal polish.  I fell in love with the first - and only - swatch I did but just haven't gotten back to that fab little Korean grocer. Part of it is just that I've been busy.  Another part of it is the fact that I found an even better place that sells pork buns and, so, didn't need to make the trip down.

Well, I eventually got down there last week and, I swear, the squeeing started even before I entered the store.

Green Pearl is even better than Amoled Glam. It's a chunky glitter encased in a light teal base.  Four coats and I was done and, quite seriously, I feel like a mermaid wearing this.

Let's just say that I shall never shun the grocer again, inferior pork buns or not.  Well, that is, so long as the lovely shop assistants let me in the shop again.

China Glaze - L8R G8R

I've put off swatching China Glaze's L8R G8R because I was underwhelmed by how it looked in the bottle.  I looked at and totally gave it a snobby side eye. 'Meh, I'll swatch YOU when I'm desparate'.

But colour me convinced and red-faced because this is a banging holo.  As with every lacquer in this collection (and really, this could be the best collaction of all time), the formula is phenomenal and easy to work with.  And the holo....... well, let's just say that, with holo-icity like this, I will forever be a holo ho.

Just on a blogging note, you'll note that I'm now including a third photo of just the colour itself.  I think it provides a nice representation of the colour without the distraction of nails.  I saw Helen doing this with her swatches and thought it a good idea (credit to Helen, she always has great ideas).  Let me know in the comments if you like or loathe.

BYS - Wonderland Collection

Ms Nixxy if you're nasty alerted me to the BYS Wonderland Collection. 

At the first opportunity (ie 6.30am in the morning), I raced to the local 24 hour K-Mart, secured the lacquers, did a happy dance, drew the attention of security, answered a few questions, submitted to a drug test, and then went home.

Ok, I may have made up the bit about the drug test but the rest is a true story.

This is a superb collection.  All killer.  No filler.  And I picked up two sets which means that, if you love this, you could win the collection in next month's giveaway.  Glitter bombs for everyone!

Jump it ladies.....

Borghese - Stellar Notte - Take II

Oh, now this is the shiz.

This time, I made sure to do enough coats (four here) and you can finally see why I was raving about it.  In this photo, it's flashing green and it's just amazing.

On the left of the bottle, you can see the purple peeking through.  As is the case with purples, it is really hard to catch and I will try again to get it.

But, for now, enjoy the exquisite Stellar Notte.

Brush-Amour - #71

 **If you follow my Twitter, you'll know that I am contributing to a Charity Blog Sale, hosted by the lovely May of May Loves Makeup.  Chi Chi neons, Australis and BYS lacquers are all up for grabs.  Please check it out.**

I picked this little beauty up at a cheapy shop called Stuff and Nonsense.  The name alone of this establishment filled me with the utmost confidence that I was getting something special.  Like the clap.

Ok, so I'm being dramatic but I did pick up a nifty little lacquer for under $5.

The brand is Brush-Amour and I have no idea who makes it or where it comes from. Private label? 1960s bin?  Depths of hell?  You decide!

Edit: Thanks to Silhouette in the comments, the brand is actually Blush Amore and they have a website!


Enough of the smack talk.  This is a great little lacquer.  A luscious khaki green with swathes of gold throughout it.  Three coats (although, looking at my little finger, I could have probably done with four) and applied like a dream.

butter LONDON - British Racing Green

One of my most favourite lacquers of all time is butter LONDON's British Racing Green.  I have swatched this previously (do a search through the archives for that hot mess) but felt it was due another go on the Jacie Swatching Merry-Go-Round.

Applying this again reminded how amazing the butter LONDON formula is.  It is so unbelievably creamy and easy to work with.  And it's opaque in two coats.

And yay for an unapologetic green.  With glorious shimmer throughout.  I don't know how you could not want to marry this in Vegas.

Elianto - Racing Green

I reviewed Elianto's Sparkling Diva Collection a little while back, and thought Racing Green was due another run.

Of all the lacquers in the collection, Racing Green is the standout.  It's an amazing green with flecks of teal and gold throughout.  It's utterly spectacular.

But to call this Racing Green.  I don't see it.  So I now call this Dragon Scales because that's the image I get in my head when I wear this.

Barry M - Yellow Green

What happens when you mix yellow with green.  You get Barry M's Yellow Green.

I'm not entirely convinced of this.  It's not a yellow, that's for sure.  And it's not a green, that's for sure. It looks like cat sick in certain lights, that's definitely for sure.

Formula wise, I expected this to be a total mofo but it was good in three coats.  And the finish is, as usual for Barry M cremes, sublime.

But yeah, that colour, it's not grabbing me.  How about you guys?  What do you think?

Nfu.Oh - #56

Is there anything more I can say about Nfu.Oh that hasn't been said already? No, ok then. Just sit back and enjoy the goodness.

I layered Nfu.Oh #56 over Essie's Turquoise and Caicos and I think it looks phenomenal.

This little beauty has green and blue through it.  Although the manicure only shows up the green, you can see the blue on the bottle very clear.

I'm just about through my current Nfu.Oh bottles.  If any of you have suggestions about what I should get next time, let me know in the comments.

Essie - Resort Collection for Summer 2010

I am so late to this little party that I'm pretty sure it has ended and someone has befouled the garden beds.  But let's go there anyway.

Essie's Resort Collection for Summer 2010 consists of four elegant summer colours.  This collection is a complete departure from Essie because, for once, there are no sheers!  Not a single one.  Yay for Essie!

Formula wise, these are pretty good.  The formula is neither too runny or thick.  It took me three coats to get opaque on each.

All up, a fab collection.  Peep them after the jump.

Zoya - Adina

 I'm playing around with watermarks due to people taking my photos.  I don't mind people using my photos but please give me credit if you do!

One lacquer that I've been wearing alot of recently is Zoya's Adina, which came out earlier this year as part of the Reverie Spring 2010 Collection.

When this came out, there was alot of chat about it being a Scrangie dupe, which was exciting news because Scrangie, at that time, was pretty much sold out.

It most definitely isn't a dupe of the exquisite Scrangie but it is a really beautiful lacquer that stands proudly all on its own.  It literally has a hundred different looks.  In the sun, the green flashes are brilliant.  In muted lights, the purple base is stronger.  It's a chameleon.

If you haven't checked it out already, I have launched  YGF's Inaugural Giveaway.  Click here to find out how you can win Illamasqua's Writhe Bronzer, from the Body Electrics collection.