Sally Hansen Purple Diamond over Illamasqua Jo'Mina

Wow whats this, no posts for ages then two in one day!  Well, its way overdue isn't it!  Now in my last post you may recall I said my nails today were blinging, and Sally Hansen Purple Diamond is the reason why.  Who would have thought this battered old bottle contained such an explosion of holo goodness.  I had been wearing Jo'Mina for a day or so, and decided to try this layered over it.  I put it on and smiled, and have been waving my hands around in the sunshine like a mad hippy on too much acid ever since.  Its a lovely sunny day, and this polish has made me all happy shaped today :)

This is just one coat over Illamasqua Jo'Mina, and isn't it just the most beautiful thing.  It applied really easily, and dried super shiny too which was a nice surprise.  I will go without wearing holo polish for ages, then when I go back I wonder why I left it so long.  Oh yeah, that's right, grey crappy Winters with no sun, that's why!  Well the sun is here today, and has brought my happy holo head back with it.  I hope you like it as much as me, I am smitten.

Illamasqua Jo'Mina

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and my nails are blinging!  Oh yeah!  First of all I want to show you a fantastic colour, Illamasqua Jo'Mina.  This is my first Illamasqua polish and I LOVE it.  The colour is unique in my collection and is hard to describe, but best is a contradiction, in that it is a bright pastel.  It is a stunning lilac purple, in some lights it is a vibrant paler purple, but in others really bright.  Hard to capture as well but I believe the pic I chose is pretty colour accurate.  The formula was fantastic and applied like butter and dried fairly quickly.  The pic is 2 coats with no top coat and look how luscious it looks.  I will definitely be trying some more from Illamasqua, I was impressed with this one, and it has gone straight on to my favourite purples list!

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 :)

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)

Nails Inc. OMP!

I got this polish along with another from a friend who had collected it from some magazine or other, and she isn't a fan of polish so yay lucky me!  They have sat in my untried pile for too long, and I was feeling very much like Spring may be springing and wanted a bright colour, and I thought I would finally try this one.  I had never tried any of Nails Inc. polishes before, but I am going to be trying many more now I have tried this one!  It went on without issue, good formula and colour saturation, and lovely shiny finish before I even added top coat (but I added one anyway of course).  That was enough to make me think I may want some more of this brand, but the clincher for me was the wear.  I don't know if all their polish is so hardy but this one I had on for four full days, which included cleaning, dog walking, cooking and going to work.  Filing and typing typically isn't kind to nails but after four days it still looked good with not a chip in sight, and only minimal tip wear.  I could have touched it up and wore it for a few more days no problem at all!  How good is that, made me happy I can tell you :)

I also happened to love the colour of this one as well.  Not quite red, not quite pink, really hard to photograph but a stunning creme, nearest I can think of is a bright raspberry creme, it sometimes looks pink, and in other lights darker almost red.  I can't believe it sat untried for so long, its so pretty.  I have started to remedy the lack of Nails Inc. polishes in my stash though by joining their VIP program, and by ordering a special offer 'lucky dip' promotion that they apparently run quite frequently, so keep your eyes peeled for those, and for more Nails Inc. posts very soon :)

Please forgive my dry cuticles, Winter is not a kind month to my hands, and excuse the tip wear showing BUT this had been on for three days at this point before I got chance to photograph it, so pretty impressive I think.  I know I know, I should take pics when its fresh on yadda yadda yadda, but life doesn't always give you charged batteries at the same time as it hands you a spare half hour ;)

Max Factor Fantasy Fire layered over W7 Purple Paradise

I got my hands on this mini marvel courtesy of a good friend (thanks deborah!) as a birthday present, how nice was that!  I haven't been able to find any near me so she snagged me one and sent me it.  When it arrived I admit, I may have drooled a little bit, it is such a pretty little jewel.  I have been reading a lot about this polish being a fairly good dupe for Clarins legendary 230 polish.  Since I don't have the wonderful 230 to compare it with (unless someone wants to send me a bottle, no, really?!  Shocker!) I will just post my pics and thoughts about the Max Factor polish in its own right.

It is a lovely blue based violet purple base, with amazing micro shimmer which changes colour with the light.  It flashes predominantly from fiery red, to orange, to green.  Turquoise and blue flashes are visible in the bottle but didn't show up on the nail for me, but I don't care, it is one gorgeous little pot of polish!  I didn't want to waste any as it is quite sheer so I went for layering it.  I searched through my stash and plucked W7 Purple Paradise out, it seemed to be the best match for a base, and I think it worked pretty well.  It is a nice polish on its own, but I will visit it again another day for its own post.

The pics are two thin coats of Purple Paradise, then 2 coats of Fantasy Fire, with a shiny top coat.  I kept this mani on for a whole week, I loved it that much!  OK I did add a flakie top coat for the last couple of days, but still, a week!  Thats a long time for me.  So, given that info, yes it wore very well too, went on without issue, and dry time was good.  Nothing left to do but bring on the pics.

China Glaze Prismatics - Liquid Crystal (with topcoat)

Today I wanted to show you what one of those China Glaze Prismatic collection looks like with a shiny top coat, since I have read some comments online that some would like to see that.  It does make the glitter pop a lot more, but it is a hungry glitter and this was two rather generous coats of top coat, one being a standard one, and then a fast dry.  I have also tried to capture the duochrome colour shift a little more, if you look at the bottle shot in the second pic, it looks more purple than the first which pulls more towards blue.  I don't think I need to say anymore about the actual polish, as I also wrote lots in the collection swatches.

Speaking of the collection swatches, I would also like to take this opportunity to say that the swatches I did previously were a little messier than I would have liked, but please bear in mind I usually post and photograph a full mani which I am wearing, and tend not to do a whole collection in a limited time (not many good light days in winter here!)  Plus I am really busy at the moment with my work for dog rescue and have a foster dog in at the moment, so yeah, I don't always have a lot of time!

Also I have heard mention that some are put off because my middle finger nail is a different length to the others (because it got broke sadly!) not to mention a few other comments that were a little rude to be honest.  Well, I aren't going to do squat about it, I am not ready to file all the rest down just for one nail in order to please someone I have never met!  I will say however that it doesn't look as unbalanced in real life size but obviously the pics are close up so amplify everything tenfold!  Besides, at the risk of possibly sounding rude myself, its just not that important in the grand scheme of things is it?

Right then, now thats said and done, on with the pics I came here to post :)  I hope you like them of course and I take all constructive criticism on board, but please remember this is a hobby of mine, I am not a professional, so lets be kind and play nice OK?  Thanks :D