OPI The Muppets "Muppettes" Minis

Hey everyone! Today I have swatches of the four OPI Muppets colours featured in the "Muppettes" Mini pack. I have been impatiently waiting for the launch of this collection ever since I saw some swatches at the Touring America launch party I went to back in August and I'm so excited that it is finally available!

The Muppettes Minis pack contains one of the six glitters in the 12 piece collection, Excuse Moi! and three of the other polishes. At first, I was a little disappointed that Rainbow Connection wasn't in the pack, and I wasn't sure I liked the other three polishes in there, but after swatching them I quickly changed my mind!

Wocka Wocka! - Rich red with microshimmer. Normally, I wouldn't gravitate towards a red like this because I feel like shimmery reds can sometimes be a little dated, but Wokka Wokka! was pure red perfection. Not only did it look fabulous on my nails, it applied flawlessly with one coat! I used two for the pics just for consistency. I did notice however that the shimmer is more pronounced in the bottle than on the nail, but you could still see flashes of it once applied. There was only one small problem with this polish - it stained my nails big time! You definitely need to wear a base coat with this polish. Overall though, a really great Christmas red!



Excuse Moi! - Warm pink jelly-ish base with silver microglitter and tonnes of multi-coloured hex glitter - green, blue, pink, orange, yellow and silver. Without a doubt, one of the best glitters OPI has ever created. The base colour was ridiculously opaque and the glitter applied evenly over the nail without clumping or dragging. This was only two coats. So pretty!



Designer... de Better! - Pale gold/silver foil with sparse copper foil particles. I have about a dozen silver foils in my collection, but nothing like this! I'm really loving this variation on the classic silver foil. It applied really smoothly and only required two thin coats.



Warm & Fozzie - Brown-bronze, gold and pink foil particles with a slight duochrome effect suspended in a dark black/brown base. This is a really unusual colour and I was a little unsure whether I would like it or not, but it actually works! Once applied, the foil particles kind of meld together to give an overall gold foil effect with flashes of the other colours. The first coat was a little thin, and I was thinking that three would be necessary, but it only needed two coats in the end.



Overall, I'm pretty impressed with this Minis pack. Warm & Fozzie is probably my favourite out of the four because I don't really have anything like it, but Excuse Moi! comes a close second! Since I liked these four so much, I decided to purchase the whole collection! Naturally, when I get those in the mail, I'll do some more swatches.

This OPI Muppettes Minis pack is part of the limited edition Muppets Collection which is available at selected salons and David Jones nationally, for $24.95RRP incl. GST. For stockists phone 1800 358 999 or visit www.opi.net.au.

Which ones have you picked up??

The items featured in this post were provided for review. For further information on GildedNails' Disclosure Policy, please click here.

Ozotic Mish Mash #532 (pic heavy!)

Hey everyone! Hope you have all had a fantastic weekend! For my first post back I have swatches of one of the new Ozotic polishes I picked up last week from piCture pOlish.

Ozotic #532 is one of four new polishes in the "Mish Mash" range - aka, the most freakin awesome range of polishes ever! I honestly couldnt believe my eyes when I saw the bottle - it's like Ozotic Holographic #509 had a baby with Ozotic Multi Chromatic #505. Yes, you heard right - linear holo AND multichromatic!!!

Depending on the angle and lighting, #532 flashes either a bright turquoise or lilac and the holo effect is outstanding, even in low lighting. This was two coats over a coat of OPI Black Onyx. I had no issues with application - the polish was the perfect consistency and applied smoothly, without pooling or dragging.

I thought I'd try out #532 on its own as well and although it achieved opacity after three coats, I am inclined to say that this polish should be layered over an opaque base colour. I think it would also look great over a dark blue or purple base.

Being a holo addict, I am completely in awe of this polish! The photos just don't do it justice. I adore the combination of holo and multichromatic and for this reason, this is hands down the best holo in my collection now!

There's only one downside to this polish - it was not cheap!! This one set me back $14AUD which is a little steep. However, for such a unique creation, I'm willing to fork out the extra cash! Naturally, I couldnt resist and I bought the other three Mish Mash polishes in the range as well, so I will try and get swatches of those done asap!

What do you think of #532? 

Bali Bliss!

 
Hey everyone! After two amazing weeks in Bali, my husband (still sounds weird to say that haha) and I are back home! We had the most fabulous time on our honeymoon! After all the stress of the wedding, my health issues and trying to buy a house straight after the wedding, it was so nice to get away from it all and spend some time relaxing and enjoying life!

I have some pics of our honeymoon to show you but before I get to my happy snaps, I just want to say how grateful I am to all my loyal readers and followers. In all honesty, I have avoided logging into my blog for the past couple of months because I was worried that I would see readers disappearing and my blog slowly dying as a result of the lack of posts. But you are all still here! I am so humbled by your by your continuing support of my blog while I got married and dealt with my other issues! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Well I should probably stop gushing and get to the pics! Micheal and I spent the first five days of the honeymoon at the gorgeous Villa Raja, in Canggu. This was the part of the honeymoon that you all helped us win last year! Villa Raja has very traditional Balinese architecture with an amazing pool that overlooks luscious rice fields. We were also very lucky to have a private chef at Villa Raja who cooked the most delicious Balinese food I have ever eaten!

For the rest of the time, we were at Sentosa Villas & Spa in Seminyak. These Villas were sooo luxurious! I have never stayed in such a swish hotel! Most nights we headed out to restaurants in the area to have dinner and drinks, but for my birthday, Micheal organised a private breakfast and dinner in the Villa and during the day, we went to a spa for a day of pampering. It was without a doubt, the most amazing birthday ever! 

(I can't get this slideshow to centre! I have tried everything and nothing is working. If anyone has any tips, let me know! :P)

Now that I'm back, I'm not putting any pressure on myself with the blog (because if I'm stressed about it, what's the point of doing it!), but I have a list of reviews to get through, so I'll be back with another blog post really soon!!

Best-laid plans......

What's that famous saying??? "The best-laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry".... My best-laid plans definitely went awry in the past few weeks! I don't want to bore you with a million excuses about why I haven't been blogging, so I'll give you the Reader's Digest version - 1. We are trying to buy a house and we had all sorts of issues with that; 2. I have been a little unwell the past few weeks, but thankfully I'm feeling wayyyyy better now; and 3. My mum has been visiting from Hong Kong and had to have surgery..... Unfortunately, that's only the "newsworthy" stuff! There's more!

 

I know what you are all thinking - "how dare her real life interfere with blogging!!"... Well I'm sure you aren't thinking that, but that is what I am thinking! Anywho, I'm kind of back, again.... kind of...  I keep saying I'm back and then I disappear and make another comeback (I feel like John Farnham with his 500000000 comeback tours!)! The reason I say "kind of" is because I am finally going on my honeymoon on Friday, so unless I find time to swatch, edit and upload enough photos before I leave, I wont be posting from Bali. I'd offer to schedule posts, but that is just far too ambitious for me I have realised! 

So instead of promising the world, what I think I will say is this.... I have HEAPS to show you guys and I WILL get through it all, but it won't all happen straight away. I would love to do a post showing you my wedding mani and another post on ABBW before I go to Bali, so if I get those two done this week I'll be stoked! When I get back from Bali I can then focus on catching up on all the reviews I want to do. I think this plan is far more realistic and will take some pressure off me and allow me to enjoy my honeymoon without worrying that I have abandoned you all! Hope this is ok!? :) Lots of love!

I'm Back!!!!!

Hey everyone! Just a quick post to let you all know that I am back from my wedding! Thank you to everyone who sent me messages and tweets on my wedding day! You are all so lovely! <3

Micheal and I had the most amazing day which we will never forget! I don't have any official photos yet, but here a few sneak peek photos that family and friends took!

 

I have soooo many reviews and posts to catch up on but I don't go on my honeymoon for another 3 weeks so I will definitely be able to get through a bit of it before we go away :D Thank you to all my lovely followers for sticking with me over the past few months. Things will definitely get back on track now and I will start posting more regularly again! 

Guest Post on Also Known As - Chanel Peridot

Hey everyone! Something a little different for today! Last week the lovely Kellie from Also Known As asked me to do a guest post for her and it is now live on her blog! I absolutely love Kellie and her gorgeous nails so I was super honoured to be able to do a guest post! 

Check out my review of Chanel Peridot by clicking on the photo below!

Zoya Dannii (and a rant!)

Hey everyone! Short and sweet post today (if you exclude the rant!) featuring Dannii from the Zoya Intimate Collection. 

 

Dannii is named in honour of the Aussie starlet Dannii Minogue, and like it's namesake it is beautiful and feminine. I love the warmth that the gold shimmer brings to this polish.

I found Dannii to be a little on the thick side in terms of formula, but it was also super opaque so it only needed two coats. I love it when a polish is pigmented and opaque in two coats!

Dannii is available with the rest of the Intimate collection as of today! (Here in Australia that is - it has been available in the USA for a while now). Zoya products are available from Art of Beauty and selected salons, and retail for $17AUD each.  

And now for my rant - since some of you may not want to read it, I have decided to put the rant after the jump! 

Another Holo Franken with SpectraFlair

Hey everyone! Today I have another SpectraFlair pigment franken to show you! Just over a month ago, the awesome Chris from Custom Creation Paints sent me a stack of different pigments to use for frankens and he kindly included some SpectraFlair pigment as well. He told me to put the SpectraFlair in a clear polish and use it as a top coat, however my desire to create an OPI My Private Jet dupe trumped his advice! So I grabbed a bottle of China Glaze Liquid Leather and mixed about half a gram of the powder in. 

Unlike my first franken, which had a scattered holo effect, the holo with this one was more linear. The holo effect was also not as strong as I would have liked, but it was still beautiful!   

Click on the pics to get a better look :)

The light cube photos just weren't doing this franken justice so I took a few photos out of the cube to show you the holo effect. They are blurry, but you get the drift! Look at the rainbow!

It would be remiss of me not to include a little warning in this post in regard to  using SpectraFlair for frankens. This powder should be used with caution and I recommend using gloves, a mask and protective eyewear when mixing this product into the polish. Better to be safe than sorry I say!

Overall, I'm quite happy with this franken.  I think I still need to get a bottle of holo MPJ at some point but until I am in a position to fork out 75USD (which will be NEVER!) my SpectraFlair frankens will have to do!

Cult Nails Hypnotic Collection Swatches

 

Hey everyone! As promised, here is the first of my scheduled "hiatus" posts featuring the Cult Nails Hypnotic collection for Fall 2011.

A few weeks back, the lovely Maria from Cult Nails contacted me to find out if I would be willing to review her new collection. Well duh!! Of course I was willing! I freakin' love Cult Nails polishes! What I didn't know at the time was that I was one of only 8 bloggers chosen to review this collection! You can imagine how excited and honoured I was to learn this!

The thing is, my excitement about this brand doesn't just stem from my unhealthy obsession with nail polish -  I really do have a lot of respect for Maria and the success she has achieved with Cult Nails in such a short time! I have always wanted to start my own nail polish company and I know how much hard work is involved (this being the reason I haven't done it yet!) so I am completely in awe of Maria and her fabulous brand! She is living every nail blogger's dream and I can only hope to do the same one day!

Soooooo, now that I have got all that gushing out of my system, let's check out the swatches! 

In a Trance - Olive green with green and gold microshimmer. I fell in love with this colour as soon as I saw the press image and I'm glad to say it didn't disappoint! The formula was fantastic – I only used two coats for these photos. For some reason, it looks patchy on my pointer, but I did not see that at all on my nails – it only showed up in the photos. I swear I can see a flash of pink in this as well sometimes, but unfortunately I just couldn't capture it.

Awakening – Dark dusty teal cream. I say 'cream' lightly, because the formula was quite thin and watery, which gave it an almost jelly like consistency. However, with three coats, it was completely opaque. Maria says that she wanted some core colours in her line and this is one of them. I love how glossy the finish is. Gorgeous!

Enigmatic – Dark purple/black with fuschia, blue and purple microshimmer. This one really surprised me! With the first coat, it was pretty patchy and sheer looking, but after the second coat, the microshimmer suddenly popped out! I used three coats and the end result is a gorgeous deep purple shade that has that “glow from within” appearance and a super glossy finish. This is definitely my favourite!

Hypnotize Me – Pale green jelly with blue and green microglitter. I la la love the way this looks in the bottle, however applying it was another story because the formula wasn't great. I found it to be extremely thick so I had to add about 6 drops of thinner to make it more useable. With the thinner, the formula improved a little, but I still think it will require a few more drops before I’m 100% happy with it. Hypnotize Me is intended as a layering polish so I thought I'd show you what it looks like over each of the colours in the collection. I especially loved the way it looked over Awakening.

A blurry shot to you show you the sparkle!

I also wanted to quickly mention the Cult Nails bottles and brushes. Personally, I'm not a massive fan of the bottle shape, only because I don't think it reflects the unique beauty of Maria's polishes. However, with that said, I think that she has chosen a great brush! It is a regular looking round brush with long bristles, but it is the perfect density! Not too stiff that you get patches or streaks, but not so soft that you dont have control over the brush. It fans beautifully to make application of the polish quick and easy.

Overall, I think this is a fantastic collection. The formula of Hypnotize Me is not the best, but the originality of the colour more than makes up for this!

The Cult Nails Hypnotic collection will be available to buy online at www.cultnails.com from late August/early September. Each 0.5 fl. oz. bottle sells for $10 USD. Cult Nails lacquers are DBP, Formaldehyde, Toluene, and Camphor free and are not tested on animals.

Just as an aside - I don't have a photo of what I am about to tell you because I didn't want to plug another brand in this review, buuuuuuttttt, when I was doing my swatches I had a certain blue jelly (*cough* Royal *cough*) next to me so I thought I would just quickly try Hypnotize Me over it and HOLY AMAZEBALLS BATMAN! They are a match made in heaven! I will definitely be wearing the combo as a full mani and when I do, I'll take photos and do a separate post on it!

The items featured in this post were provided for review. For further information on GildedNails' Disclosure Policy, please click here.

OPI Touring America Launch (and Muppets sneak peek!) *pic heavy*

Hey everyone! If you follow me on Twitter you will know that I am meant to be on a hiatus in the lead up to my wedding. However, I have sooooooo much stuff to post, I just couldn't stay away! So, what I have decided to do is try and get through my huge backlog of reviews and swatches this weekend, and then schedule posts for the next three weeks until I get married! It is a big task, but I just have so much stuff I need to show you and it just can't wait until after the wedding!

For this post, I have some pic spam from the OPI Touring America launch party which was held at the gorgeous Woollahra Post Office last night. I was ridiculously excited about this event, firstly because of the Touring America collection, but also becuase I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the Muppets holiday collection! The nail polish fairies must have been listening, because they had a full Muppets display and I was lucky enough to even have a mani done with one of the glitters, Rainbow Connection!

Rainbow Connection is a crazy, super blingy multi-coloured glitter polish. There's silver, green, pink, orange, blue and yellow regular and hex glitter all jam packed into a clear base. It is plain and simple awesome. I will definitely be getting a bottle (or two!) of this when it is released and I can't wait to try the other glitters in the collection as well (Gone Gonzo... drool!)

And now for the pics of the products featured at the Touring America launch event!

The Touring America collection, available now at selected beauty salons, spas and David Jones nationally for $19.95RRP.

OPI's new Lemon Tonic Manicure/Pedicure collection and Hibiscus Blossom Avojuice Hand & Body Lotion, available in August/September 2011. These lotions smell absolutely divine! 

OPI Nice Stems collection, available in September 2011.

OPI Muppets Holiday Collection, available in October 2011.

The Muppets Holiday Collection collection nail wheel swatches - *DROOL*!

Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolor collection, available in December 2011.

Some nail wheel swatches of the Kardashian Kolor collection. Having seen the swatches, I am actually really looking forward to this collection now! That soft pink, Kim-pletely in Love, is calling out to me!

The lovely OPI Australia ladies, about to give everyone a fabulous manicure! 

Shatter by OPI available now at selected beauty salons, spas and David Jones nationally for $19.95RRP.

Serena Glam Slam! US Open duo, available in August 2011.

Nicole by OPI Texture Coat available in October 2011, and Nicole by OPI Justin Beiber - The One Less Lonely Girl collection, available now at Terry White Chemists and leading pharmacies.

Some of the entertainment at the launch party with Femme De Cirque collection and Pink Shatter. 

Femme De Cirque is available now and Pink Shatter will be available in September through to October.

The gorgeous Michelle from Cosmetic Cupcake with the lovely Ruth and Bill McKendrick from International Beauty Supplies/OPI Australia.

And finally, the only photo of the night of me! The downside of taking all my own photos is that I'm never in any! I got this sneaky polaroid taken with one of the "cowboys" at the launch party! ha!

I was lucky enough to get a goodie bag with some samples of the Touring, Nice Stems and Beiber collections so I will definitely be posting those in the coming weeks!