Milani - Garnet Gems

I NEED YOUR HELP!!!
A quick question for my American readers. The lovely Kris, from My Lucid Bubble, is offering to buy me some lacquers from the US in exchange for some O zotic beauties. I'm thinking some Color Club, Misa, Funky Fingers and Finger Paints because they are super hard to find in Australia. What are your favourites or colours / collections from these brands (I have Color Club's Fashion Addict and Revvolution now thanks to your suggestions) and what do you think I should get / what would you like to see? I'm open to all suggestions!

Diffused Light

I've had this lacquer for MONTHS but I've only ever used it in comparison posts (ie comparing it to other black jellies with red glitter).

It's time for Milani's Garnet Gems to take centre stage all on its own!

This is a lovely lacquer.  Two coats to opaque.  Dries to a rough finish so you will want a coat of Seche Vite to not only smooth out the finish, but to also make the glitter appear more vibrant (please ignore the rippling on my index finger - Seche decided to pucker as it sometimes does).

How does it compare to other black jellies with red glitter?  I'm going to save the comparison until Wednesday when I do a review of the newcomer, Eyeko's Vampira Polish and then compare all four at once.

Hands up who loves these types of lacquers as much as I do?  I find these take a basic black and give it a little understated sexy.

Milani - 3D Holographic Collection

Today, it's all about the Milani 3D Holographic Collection.

I love this collection.  It's cheap, the formula is lovely and.... well, it's holo and how can one resist!

What I'm not in love with at the moment, though, is Cherry Culture.  Although I had bought, and paid for, all six lacquers in this collection, only five came.  I assumed it was just a mistake, however, when I emailed Cherry Culture, they told me the missing lacquer was not in stock and that they would refund me.  It just seems kind of shady that they didn't tell me about the lacquer being out of stock at the time they packed it, or even afterwards.  It took me pointing it out to them before an explanation and refund was provided.  Shady.

Anyway, rant aside, I've put these under a cut because the photos are large and it takes a while for the page to load.  Scroll down and click 'Read More'.

I've also just bought a new camera (a Sony DSC T90, for those interested). These are the first swatches I've taken, so please excuse the odd hand positioning and weird perspective. I'm still getting used to how the camera works. I'm sure I'll get better.

On the positive side, the new camera is capturing the colour and brilliance of lacquers perfectly - how these photos look is precisely how the lacquers look in person. Make sure you click to see the holo close up.  It's spectacular.  :-)

Milani - Totally Cool

I promised you Aurora Borealis and I think Milani's Totally Cool is pretty much the epitome of the spectacular light show that is the Northern Lights.  This was another freebie care of the awesome Beverly Beate.

This is a phenomenal colour.  It's actually a purple base with super fine pink glitter.  The effect is utterly mesmerising on the nail (please click for the larger version).  It's one of those lacquers where you can't stop looking at your hands when you have it on.

Formula wise, this is lovely.  It is semi-sheer so I ended up needing four coats to get it to the swatch / bottle colour.  Which is ok because it applies like a dream and dries quickly.

I am absolutely loving the Milani formula.  Kinda thin, but never streaky.  I'll be trialling the holographic collection next week, so let's see if the formula in those are as good as the others I've tried.

What do you guys think of Totally Cool?  Do you think we should write into Milani and get them to change the name to Aurora Borealis?

Hey There, Wait A Minute Mr Postman - Cherry Culture Haul

When it comes to speed, nothing beats Cherry Culture.  I ordered these late Friday night and they were here, in Australia, by Wednesday.  That's a three working day turnaround.  Our own local postal service doesn't work that fast.

The first lot of polishes is the Milani 3D Holographic Specialty collection (minus Digital which Cherry Culture left out but which I'll get, hopefully, next week).  From left to right, we have High Res, Hi-Tech, Cyberspace, HD and 3D.

These are just so gorgeous.  I don't want to go overboard on the visuals here but these are what I imagine tinsel would look like if you ground it up into a fine powder.  So, so lovely.

The second lot are some LA Colors from the Color Craze range. From left to right, Atomic, Wired and Live.  I'm totally crazy on teal at the moment and, well, a blue and silver always grabs my attention.

Have any of you tried these and, if you have, what did you think?

 

Hey There, Wait A Minute Mr Postman - Beverly Beate

I recently purchased from UK e-tailer Beverly Beate.  This is a great little website, with an extensive range and fast shipping.  I received my order seven days after it was placed, which is super fast for Australia.

The first lot of lacquers is Nubar's Modern Matte Collection.  Whilst I love my Essie Matte About You topcoat, I was keen to trial a matte lacquer.  So I chose these and they are amazing. 

Also included in my order was a few freebies.  Yay for freebies!!  I received two Milani lacquers - Garnet Gems (which looks to be a dupe for China Glaze's Lubu Heels) and Totally Cool, and China Glaze's Fortune Teller.  I can't tell you how much I've been lemming Fortune Teller so to receive it as a freebie.  Awesome.

You can see why I'm having a hard time at the moment picking which colours to trial.  What colours do you like out of these?