UPDATE - Kiko Sugar Mat n°644

Wow two days in a row!! Yes I know! I have a bit more time now. I am changing my job, and untill now I was looking for a new one and now I have found it so I have a little more free time.

Today I'm going to show you the new thing in the polish world, the sandy gritty look. The shinny nail polish look is out, and these gritty new nail polishes are the Shit!

Kiko has come out with a new collection composed of 16 polishes - The Sugar Mat collection, all have this kind of finish, 8 are mats, with no sparkle or shimmer, and 8 other are sparkly and shimmery. So obviously I went for the sparkly ones. I bought 6 of them, and I'm going to present them each to you. They retail for 5€ at the kiko stores, and Fashion Polish has a 20% off coupon.

First up is n°644 a blue sparkle, with kind of silvery shimmer. I didn't think I would love these, but I do! It applies easily, just like a normal polish, dries pretty fast, and it is completely opaque in two coats.
 
It is a bit dificult to know when it's dry since you can't apply topcoat if you like the gritty aspect, but basically when it's at its grittiest, it's dry.

So here are the photos:

*UPDATE - I applied two coats of topcoat, and it is still not super leveled - this is a hungry glitter, so it is obviously not made to be covered with topcar.

Oh and if you were wondering if these get caught in your sweaters or other clothes, they don't.

Layla Ceramic Effect n°16

This is one of the nailpolishes that my friend Dora sent me from Italy, and I must say I love it!!

The color is not so flattering on me, but it is such a good quality nailpolish, it lasted for like 4 days on me, without chips or any tipwear, and on the forth day I took it off, because I wanted to change, not because it had suffered an accident, so I reccomend these for sure.

I think that they retail at 7€ in Italy, but I am not sure about that. I have another one of these, and I think it was the same quality.
This is a light gray cream with pink shimmer in it, that comes out nicely in the sunlight.

 It only needed two coats for full coverage, and the application was pretty easy too.

I like the brush too, and it is kind of heavy like the OPI one.

On the left is the side view and on the right is the front view of the brush

Gold accent nail with Essie - Bikini so Teeny

Today I am on a relax weekend normally. Because I'm sure that when my husband comes back, he'll have us do something, because he's got not one to sit around on a weekend.

Untill then I am taking advantage and posting this. It's a nail polish I bought in the hope of seeing the pretty shimmer that you see in the bottle, on the nail. It is part of the summer collection I think, and it is a blue lavender cream, with white shimmer inside.

The formula was a bit runny for my taste, but ok, the application is ok, and it only took 2 coats to get opacity. But on the nail the shimmer is not visible, not even in sunlight, you can barely see it if you look very closely.

I love the color, but if it hadn't been for the shimmer, I would probably have not purchased it. Anyway I thought of doing an accent nail, with China Glaze I'm not lion glitter. This is part of the Safari collection, and it was my only choice from that collection. It is a pretty gold and holo glitter. I absolutely love this one, and I think I will do a full mani with this one.

China Glaze - Pink Plumeria

Hello, hello!!
This is the last of the Neon collection 2012, and it was my favourite according to photos I had seen online, but it is no longer my favourite. My new favourite is Under the Boardwalk, a polish, I got just to complete my order!! hahaha!

This is two coats, and even though you can't see it in the photos, it was  very sheer, and I still had VNL. I kind of hate that in a shimmer polish, if it is a simple jelly ok, but with a shimmer it is totally a different story.

It dries matte like a neon, and I liked the color, but it wasn't as intense as I had hoped for. It didn't wear too good either, after 2 days I had some serious tip wear, but no chips, so that's a plus. It is an orangy pink with gold shimmer I would say, I don't know if that is accurate enough.

Enjoy the photos!

L'Oreal Rouge pin up

Today I have for you a classic red, there's nothing special about this one, but I love red and always will, and think this is a classic, and goes well with every outfit.

I had to go to a wedding this weekend, so I thought I'd take off my blue L'Oreal and put on something more weddingy!

This was an easy application, and it was opaque in two coats. It is very shinny, and I love this kind of red. It lasted very well for about 5 days, no chips, just some tip wear. The photos are taken before I took it off.

I am very pleased with these polishes. And before I took it off I applied on one hand China Glaze Luxe and Lush, and on the other Max Factor - fantasy Fire.

We are having little sun these days here, so the photos are kind of crap.

Orly - Preamp

Hey hey hey!!!
Nice to see you all again!! As usual I've been a busy bee, and will still be so for the next 25 years..........

Onto to nicer things - like NAILPOLISH!!

This one is a beauty - it's a pink cream with pink shimmer. It was love at first site! I don't own anything else like it.

It went on pretty smoothly, not a single problem to report, and I had to apply two coats for opacity. I wore it for about 4 days and had no chips, just a bit of tip wear, the photos I took are at 4 days of wear. So I guess it lasted pretty good that far. I think it could have lasted more, but I just had to change it, had enough. So I guess you understand I highly recommend this nail polish.


Hope you like it as much as I did. 

China Glaze - Flirty Tankini

This is a bit late I know, but this is when I got my order from transdesign, and at first I didn't think I wanted any of these, but after seeing some swatches I changed my mind, etc.

This was my favourite from this collection, from the swatches online, but I am not so impressed in person. It is an orangy neon, but not too bright, with some pink shimmer I would say. It looked more vibrant on the photos online, but in real life it looks kind of dull, and I kind of regret ever waisting the money. I was expecting a really bright neon with shimmer. But it is pretty, it's just not what I expected.

It was opaque in two coats, and as you know neons dry matte, so I applied a top coat, and it lasted me about 4 days with no chips.

I have ordered two other polishes from this collection, we will see how those turn out.

Calvin Klein - Opus & Max Factor - Fantasy Fire

This polish was a present from my friend Ange for my birthday. It's a Calvin Klein polish, that looks almost red in the bottle. On the nail though it's totally a different story. It looks a bit black and only in the sunlight you can see the shimmer.

This is a black jelly base with red shimmer in it. I applied 2 coats but still had bald spots, the formula was a bit glooppy too, hard to manage. Overall I did not like the nail polish. I don't know in terms of durability because I took it off the next day, I found it a bit ugly. Sorry Ange! I have to be honest.

I applied Max Factor Fantasy Fire over it to see how it looks over a dark polish, and I really like it, although, this color brings out more the green part in Fantasy Fire, the previous one was all about the pink.

I've decided to leave the photos small because of the hideous cuticules I have in these pictures, that I only noticed now, when I started working on them, and it's too late to take new pictures. If you really want to see them upclose you can click on the picture, but be warned.

OPI - Dutch'ya just love OPI

I ordered this around 2 months ago, but didn't get around to swatching it. I know I'm very late with this but I still love it. It's part of the Holland collection.

It is a purple cream base with bronze shimmer I would say. I just love the effect this has. Application was perfect, as is the brush. Two coats did the trick.

I just love this color, and I am sorry that my nails are still so small. The pictures were taken after two days from the application , so there's a little wear on the tips.

 

China Glaze - First class ticket

Another great buy from Ange over at Scandalous Polish, this one surprised me a lot. In the bottle it looked like your basic shimmer blue, but on the nails it came alive, and it's a bit more purple than blue, but as usual I couldn't get my camera to agree. I hate this every purple I own looks a lot different in pictures than in reality.
Very shinny finish as you can see, and the great formula that China Glaze has accustomed us to. Still not happy with their brushes but for the price they come for I don't care anymore.
So here's the gem from Ange: