Sunday 15 April 2012

China Glaze - Blue Sparrow (Neon)

The sun has been shining (through the rain, and snow, and hail.  Typical British weather!) but I am ever optimistic and decided to go for a bright neon.  Apparently blues and neons are popular at the moment so I'm told, so I went for both.  I had China Glaze Blue Sparrow on my untried pile, and thought what the heck, so on it went.  I really like it!  It applied well for a neon, and dried fast with a matte finish as neons tend to do.  It looks a little gritty on the pics but it was no where near that textured to the naked eye, and I left it matte because I thought it looked kind of cool.  I know, I am a bit late to the 'mattes' party, but I didn't used to like them, I have been changing my mind recently though.  I don't think theres a lot else to say about it really (unusual for me to be not so wordy I know!) so, on with the pic.  I hope you like it :)

Monday 2 April 2012

piCture pOlish - Opulence Shades

I have today all three of the new Opulence shades from piCture pOlish in Australia, launched today and selling fast, and I can see why!

So without further waffle, first up we have 'a classic Hollywood icon' Monroe.  This is described by the girls at piCture pOlish as a blood red holographic shade. This one needs 2 - 3 coats for full coverage, my swatch pics have 2 generous coats and no top coat.  It is a jelly type polish which applied great and dried so super shiny, it is really lovely.  Its a lovely vampy rich red with subtle holographic particles which sparkle and catch the light in the sun, and look like a very subtle silver shimmer in the shade.


Next up, is 'do you wanna see my...' Peacock.  First of all I love the oo err missus cheeky name of this one, second thing, I LOVE this shade.  It is an unusual glitter having vivid emerald green glitter in a purple base.  I have nothing like this one in my collection, and I love how it looks.  The girls at piCture pOlish describe is as 'an emerald green glitter, blue/white sparks with a purple base and definitely needs a top coat to achieve full gloss due to the purple fluro that dries off matte.'  I think theirs is a pretty accurate description really, it does dry off a little matte but I actually liked how it looked.  For my swatches I applied 2 coats and a dollop of shiny top coat, and it is just stunning.  It is hard to capture properly in pics, but the glitter doesn't swamp the purple, the whole thing just works.  I have heard others say that the formula was a little thick, and I don't know it if it is perhaps due to a different climate or temperature but mine was fine.  It wasn't difficult to work with and was comparable to the OPI glitters I have.



Lastly, arriving fashionably last in order to make an entrance, we have the magnificent 'look beyond the sparkle!' mask-a-rade.  Well, wow, I mean really WOW!  If you have seen the Ozotic Elytra polishes, imagine grabbing one of each shade, mixing them all together shaking the hell out of them and putting the results in its own bottle, and you would have this.  It is stunning.  The girls at piCture pOlish say it is 'multi chromatic particles (every kind we could find) and definitely needs a black/dark base to achieve full effect!'.  It has a clear base so is best layered, and who am I to argue with the creators of this wonderful potion, so I used a standard black creme as my base.  I then applied 2 coats of mask-a-rade and heard angels sing.  I have reached polish nirvana!  This is gorgeous and very hard to photograph, so I just took lots of pics and will let you see for yourself.  I also took an underwater picture to capture the colours as best I could.  The application was trouble free, and the look...swoon.



Underwater Shot (damn the water was cold, why didn't I use warm water, d'oh!)
I hope you like this collection as much as I do, I love all three but especially the glitters.  You can order yours at piCture pOlish here, and they deliver international (yay!), or look for details of one of their polish network girls for a distributor near you.


(products sent for review)