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!

Estee Lauder - Surreal Violet

Now this is, quite simply, one of THE most magnificent lacquers I have ever seen.  Thanks to that fab mother in law of mine who bought this for my birthday.

Estee Lauder's Surreal Violet, which is a limited edition from Tom Pecheux's Pure Color Collection, is an amazing dirty purple with glorious swathe of pinky gold running through it.  Two coats of absolute, pure, blissful lacquer love.

My only qualm is that the bottle is near impossible to pose with!  It's kinda fat, which results in me grasping it awkwardly.  Even Brett was laughing at me trying to take a photo, and he's a very humourless individual.

Anyhoo, enough of the Grandpa Simpson-ing.  This is a spectacular lacquer.  If you chance upon it, buy it, because I suspect this might become a classic.

piCture pOlish - Grape + China Glaze Grape Pop Comparison

This is my first week of swatches using a new macro lens for my DSLR camera. So please forgive any fuzziness as I'm still familiarising myself with the lens. On the bright side, I am thrilled that my photos are 100% colour accurate. On the negative side, I need to take care of my hands better!

The fourth lacquer I have (click here, here and here for the previous reviews) from piCture pOlish is Grape.

This is a great little lacquer.  The formula is superb (two coats) and it dries to an amazing shine. The purple has an almost dusty quality to it, which I quite like.  Classic goodness.

If you haven't entered the October Giveaway as yet, there's still a week to go!  Click here for the rules, and enter using the form below.

Oh, and for those of you looking at Grape and thinking dupes, I have a very close dupe under the cut - China Glaze Grape Pop.

Miss Sporty - Fatal ?

Another gift from my lovely mother in law, Kath, I don't 100% know the name of this.  I think it might be called Fatal Plum but, if you know, confirm for me in the comments.

This is a stunning purple (I know it's coming off blue in this photos, blame my cantankerous camera).  It has a lovely subtle shimmer running through it and is opaque in two coats.

The brush, however, is pure, unadulterated, hell.  Put it this way.  This is like applying lacquer with a worn out toilet brush.  It splatters everywhere and it smells funky.  I persevered with it, and engaged in a cleanup of Ben Hur biblical proportions, but I would not recommend using the brush at all.

All up, sometimes bad brushes happen to awesomesauce lacquers.  This is one of those times.

butter LONDON - Muggins

I can't say I wasn't warned.  I have lemming-ed butter LONDON's Muggins for over a year, despite being told by friends that it wasn't as impressive in person as it appeared on the butter LONDON website.

They were right.  I thought this might be a lavender with a strong denim undertone.  As it happens, it's just a lavender.  A lovely lavender but nothing more than that.

One thing that does separate this lacquer from other lavenders, however, is the formula.  Seriously, best pastel formula EVER.  Two coats.  No streaking.  Sublime and utter perfection.

piCture pOlish - Mad Magenta

The second in my series of piCture pOlish lacquers is the glorious Mad Magenta.

This is a beautiful bright pink with a strong purple undertone running through it (I found it near impossible to capture this as it really looks.  Hence you might notice different lighting as this was the closest I could get to the real hue).  As you can see, it doesn't dry to a gloss finish and is more a satin matte.  Which I quite like but, if you're a fan of the high gloss, make sure you apply a top coat over the top (which I recommend anyway to extend the durability of your manicure).

Also, The Girls from piCture pOlish have informed me that international shipping is now available. So for those of you not from Australia, you can now purchase freely and excitedly!


Have you entered the piCture pOlish Giveaway as yet?  Read here for the rules of entry and use the entry form below for your chance to win three piCture pOlish lacquers of your choice.




The lacquer in this reviewed was provided by piCture pOlish. For more information on YGN's Disclosure Policy, please click here.

OPI - Lincoln Park After Dark Suede

After the disaster that was We'll Always Have Paris Suede, I was a little wary of trying Lincoln Park After Dark.  What if it, too, didn't work?  How can I trust my man with my fried ice-cream if his OPI bins are as dodgy as a week old curry sitting in the back of the fridge?

I needn't have worried.  This is SUBLIME.

I'm so glad this turned out better.  You don't know how hard it is to find good fried ice-cream in this city.  Jump it to see glossy goodness.

Ulta3 - Waterlily

After yesterday's caca swatch, I wanted to bring you something special.

And Ulta3's Waterlily is truly special.  A beautiful, luscious purple shimmer that goes on like a dream.  And the colour is like the sexiest aubergine you've ever met.

Phenomenal.

Ulta3 - Purple Pumps

Man, if I could have purple pumps like Ulta3's Purple Pumps, I'd be 36% happier.  No really.

This is gorgeous.  My only quibble, and I'll throw this out to the Aussies because you may have had a different experience, is that this dries to a hybrid gloss/semi-matte.  That is, without a topcoat,  it dried unevenly with some parts matte and others glossy.  The only way to resolve it was to apply Seche Vite which glossed it up immediately.

But otherwise.... yep, I want shoes in this colour.

Le Beauty - #200

After yesterday's caca swatch, Le Beauty's #200 is soothing to my soul.  It also makes me want to dance to David Silver's Switch It Up.  Look, I promise to do away with the 90210 references next week.  I'm just enjoying reliving 1994 way too much right now.

 

I want to take this to Barbados and marry it in a ceremony on the beach.  It's creamy, sexy, easy to work with and heavenly to look at.  Le Beauty lacquers are fast becoming one of my all time favourites.

The lacquer featured in this review was provided by Le Beauty.  For more information on YGN's Disclosure Policy, please click here.

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!

Christian Dior - #987

Another Christian Dior for you today.  My mum actually bought me a whole stack when she was at Changi Airport, so I have a few more coming up over the next few weeks for you.

This is a very strange lacquer. In the bottle it looks like a deep burgundy plum.  On the nail, it looks brown.  Go figure.

Not that I'm complaining because I think it's a gorgeous colour.  It glides on beautifully and dries to the most wonderful shine.  Snaps for Christian Dior!

Oh and will you look at that top photo.  I can see myself in the reflection.  Rest assured that my nose is NOT a foot long.  The mirror in the bottle has gone all House of Mirrors on me.  But I do like the fact that I appear to be concentrating really hard!

Chi Chi - Moondust

I first saw Chi Chi's Moondust on Pretty Random.  It has always been the standout of the Chi Chi lacquer stable so, when I finally saw some on sale in Target, I picked up a few couple.

For the first time ever on YGN, I'm tempted to swear. No really.  This is fan-f*cking-fabulous.  Awesome.  Brilliant.  Stunning.  I'm running out of superlatives.

Two coats and I was done.  It dries to a rough finish (as you can see in the second swatch) but glistens in the light like a lighthouse.

I have a small assignment for you guys.  Kaz thinks the formula may have changed from the original one she swatched earlier this year.  I'm inclined to agree.  Mine looks a touch more purple than the deep blue of Kaz's version.  Have a look at both swatches and let me know what you think in the comments.

Wet 'n Wild - Glitz + a Boosh Mosh Up

It's a special day, as this is my very first Wet 'n Wild!

And what a fab lacquer Craze Glitz is (thanks to Halifax in the comments for correcting my dumb a** on the name of this).  Ok, it's a glitter which means it's a pain in the a** to both apply and remove but.... hot damn, I love this.

This works well on its own (the above is four coats) and as a layering lacquer.  Jump to see a Craze Glitz / Boosh Mosh Up.

China Glaze - IDK

I figured out what my grumpy mood was all about yesterday. Bronchitis.  Delightful.

So this one is a quickie post with no commentary.  Disappointed?  Don't be.  My smack talk will be back up and running soon enough.  You'll be rolling your eyes at my stupid by the weekend.

Le Beauty - Another Nameless Beauty + Happy Birthday Chuffy!

Today is a special day because it's my beautiful Chuffy's 5th Birthday!  This colour was picked by him for both he (he loves wearing polish) and I to wear on his birthday.  My boy has great taste, don't you think?

I know what you're all thinking.  Is this a Scrangie dupe?  I haven't done a side by side, and will do so in the next few weeks, but I feel confident in saying that, whilst they are similar, this is no miraculous dupe.

What it is, is a beautiful creamy lacquer that is an absolute joy to apply and wear.  Stunning.  I'm so glad I've got this in my collection.

Check out some lovely photos of the birthday boy after the jump...... Peep the cuteness....

China Glaze - LOL

Sorry guys, but I have to love you and leave you today.

Yesterday was the special blogger event in Sydney.  I didn't get home until around 10pm and then had to be up again at 5am to pick up the parentals from the airport.  Crazy times.

So yes, for this time only, it's just pictures and not much of my chatter (I'm sure some of you are breathing a sigh of relief).   But really, is there anything more to say than it's China Glaze, it's holo, it's magnificent.

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.

Topshop - Fiesty + Parma Violet

Source

When my lovely mother in law asked me if there were any lacquers that I desperately wanted to trial, I immediately screamed 'TOPSHOP'.  I screamed this so loudly that I am sure she heard me all the way in North Yorkshire, England.

As always, Kath did not disappoint in her selection.  From the cute little bottles to the brush to the formula, these are winning lacquers.  Click on the jump to see!

Barbara Daly - Wicked

After two days of romance inspired manicures, I decided that today needed to be a BAM POW BLAST shot to the veins.

Barbara Daly's Wicked is just that shot.

Often with darker lacquers, they look great in the bottle but either come out looking somewhat insipid and/or so dark that you can't really see the depth.

There is no such issue with Wicked.  It comes out exactly as it looks in the bottle - a beautiful, deep, velvety purple brown. The nail wreck you see above - entirely operator error.  I may or may not have been drinking when doing this manicure.

The formula is just perfection.  Glides on easily, opaque in two coats, high shine.  It doesn't get much better than this.