Sunday, May 29, 2011

China Glaze - Let's Do It In 3-D

Hey everyone! Today I have swatches of one of my all time favourite polishes, China Glaze Let's Do It In 3-D

I first fell in love with this polish at the beginning of last year when I found Scrangie's swatches of the Kaleidoscope collection. It went straight to the top of my lemming list and stayed there for over a year because I could never find it online for a reasonable price. However, a couple of weeks ago,
I realised this polish was only going to get more expensive as time passed, so I decided to take the plunge and buy it! And I don't regret it at all, because it is uh-mazing!!!

Let's Do It In 3-D has a dark grey base with a scattered holo effect. This is two coats over a coat of Nfu Oh Aqua Base. No words can express its beauty so I will let the pics do the talking!








Cult Nails - A Day at the Races Swatches


Hey everyone! Today I have swatches of the new Cult Nails collection, A Day At The Races! 

I have been lemming Cult Nails polishes since the day Maria announced she would be creating her own line! I initially held off buying them, but when this collection was released for pre-order I gave in and bought them all! 

Crusin' Nude - Nude cream with pink microshimmer. The formula was a little thick with this one, but it evened out really well and only needed two coats. The pink shimmer is really unique and sets it apart from the other nudes in my collection.


Devious Nature - Pink cream with berry undertones. This glided on perfectly and only needed two coats. The formula is great - almost jelly like, but it is definitely a cream. I love the glossy finish with this one! You almost don't need a top coat!


Let Me Fly - Dusty teal with silver shimmer. There are no words to describe how much I love this! I think I actually squealed with joy when I put it on! It is extremely opaque with one coat, but I used two for consistency. Simply gorgeous!


Always Winning - Frosty green with gold and holo glitter. Unfortunately, this polish wasn't a winner for me. It was the sheerest out of the collection and I needed three coats for these photos. However I believe it is intended to be a layering polish, so the sheerness isn't really an issue when that is taken into account. However, the thing that really stood out to me was the smell of this polish. It was very, very strong smelling! Those of you who are sensitive to the smell of polish would be advised to steer clear of this one.


Captivated - Bright coral jelly with gold and coral glitter. To my eye, there are also some smaller glitter particles that flash blue and green. This one was fairly thick, so it required some precision and patience when applying it. However, the final effect was outstanding and deserved a second picture!! I don't think I have ever seen a polish like this before! My nails look like they are alight! This was two coats.



With the one exception, I am totally in love with the polishes in this collection and I think Maria has done an outstanding job! I applaud her for following her dream and creating her own line! I would love to do the same one day....

If you are thinking about grabbing a couple of these colours, I suggest you head over to Cult Nails ASAP because these polishes are limited and considering how awesome they are, I am certain they will sell out fast!

P.S I think I have finally figured out my lightbox and new lighting. What do you guys think of the pictures? x 


Thursday, May 26, 2011

MAC Quite Cute - Ice Cream Cake & Mischievous Mint

Hey everyone! Today I have swatches of two of the colours from the recent MAC Quite Cute collection. Unfortunately I don't have Little Girl Type as MAC Pro was already sold out of that one when I placed my order.

Apologies for the nubbins! My nails were looking amazing after my mani with Mandi from Illamasqua last week and then unfortunately, the next day I had a MEGA break on my ring finger. I can't handle having different length nails, so I filed them all down! 

Ice Cream Cake - Creamy blue pink. I love this colour! It was a little streaky so I did three coats to even it out, but who cares - it's freakin hot! Surprisingly enough, even though it is a pink cream (which are a dime a dozen in the nail polish world!!) I don't have a lot of dupes in my collection. The only one I could find that comes close is Zoya Sweet, however Sweet a little lighter and more dusty. Ice Cream Cake is therefore a must have!



Mischievous Mint - Creamy pale blue mint. This colour gave me the most wicked case of lobster hands I have had in a while! It doesn't really suit my skin tone, but I still find myself attracted to the colour! Mischievous Mint isn't the most original colour, but the formula on this was pretty good compared to other mint creams I have tried. I only needed to use two coats for these pics! I have one complaint about this polish - the brush was craptastic! The bristles were sticking out everywhere! It looked like someone had gone at it with a pair of scissors! However, the great formula made up for the brush woes!



That's all for today. Still recovering from a killer two day migraine so I'm off to get some sleep in the hope I feel up to going to work tomorrow. 


Barielle Karma Collection - Soul-er Powered and Do Unto Others

Hey everyone! Today I have swatches of two of the colours from the upcoming Barielle Karma collection.

Soul-er Powered - Warm toned yellow cream with gold micro shimmer. This needed three coats because it was still patchy after the second coat. Yellow polish seems to be quite popular at the moment (Chanel Mimosa, Lippmann Yellow Brick Road, RBL Yellow Fever) however, I'm not sure how I feel about this trend. I'm not convinced this colour really suits me, but I can see myself loving yellow polishes when summer comes back and I have a tan! I have Mimosa and Yellow Fever, so I will try and do a comparison between the three if that is something you would all be interested in? P.s - I have no idea why my hands look so wrinkly in these photos!!! 



Do Unto Others - Turquoise cream. For some reason my photos make this look like a neon, which it isn't. The colour is a little more muted and darker than it looks in the photos, but it is still a vibrant shade of turquoise. I only used two coats here. Not the most original shade, but applied like a dream, so no complaints here! 


This crappy photo probably shows the polish a little more true to colour....


This was the first time I have ever tried Barielle and I was quite impressed with these two colours. As I said, I'm not convinced yellow is my thing, but I definitely love the turquoise shade and the formula of the polishes. I was also sent Blossom to review which I will do separately - Blossom has been a long time lemming of mine so I'm really excited to try it out! I have also been lemming Elle's Spell, but I can't find it anywhere :( If anyone knows where I could get one, please, please drop me a line! 

On a side note, for some reason, Barielle didn't send me an info sheet about the Karma collection, so I don't have a great deal of info about the other colours in the collection or the collection's exact release date. There doesn't seem to be a lot of press about it on the net either. However, Barielle did contact me on Twitter the other day to say that this collection would be available on their website shortly, so hopefully we will all know more soon! I could be wrong, but I heard rumours that one of the other colours was a flakie... 






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

Monday, May 23, 2011

ORLY and Dion Lee at RAFW - Backstage Beauty Report

Hey everyone! At the recent Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, ORLY partnered with Dion Lee for his runway show, and today I have the backstage goss on how to replicate the gorgeous nail look ORLY created for the show!


 
To complement the block colours used by Dion Lee, ORLY painted the fingers and toes of all 30 models with the limited edition Pure Porcelain, a creamy beige polish from the recent Precious Collection. Pure Porcelain is chic, striking and right on trend with this season’s hottest colours! 









Check out how to achieve this look after the jump!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Illamasqua Nails Masterclass with Mandi Levanah


Hey everyone! Sorry for being MIA this past week! Unfortunately I had some wedding related dramas this week, so I haven't really been in the mood to blog....

However, last night, I was lucky enough to attend one of the first ever Illamasqua Nails Masterclasses held in Australia with the celebrity manicurist Mandi Levanah, and I just had to get online to tell you guys about the class and show you the pics!

The aim of the masterclass was to teach us how to achieve a lasting manicure as well as providing tips on different colour combinations and how to create some fun nail art designs. Mandi's amazing work has graced the pages of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar and she has also worked with Rhianna, Pink, the Pussycat Dolls and Nicole Richi, so this lady knows what she is talking about!

Here is a quick run down of Mandi's tips from the Masterclass:
  • When filing the nail, it is best to use one with a 'fine' abrasive surface such as a 240 grit file. This will prevent damage occurring to the nail when filing which can cause the nail to peel on the tips.
  • The most flattering nail shape for a person is usually one that mirrors the natural contours of the base of the nail. However, she noted that it also depends on fashion and your preferences, so choose a shape that makes you happy! 
  • Don't paint your nails straight after soaking them in water or having a shower. Water relaxes and changes the shape of the nail and if you paint them when they are still damp and relaxed, as they dry and reshape, the nail polish can crack, peel and bubble. As such, the best time to paint your nails to ensure a lasting manicure is when they are completely dry! 
  • Use a nail prep whenever possible so that all moisture and surface oils are removed and you have a clean, dry base to work with. 
  • ALWAYS use a base coat before applying your polish. 
  • When applying the polish, use the three stroke technique (for a pretty good demo of this technique, check out this post) and don't load the brush with too much colour, otherwise it will run down the brush and flood the nail.
  • Always leave a 1-2 millimetre gap between the polish and your cuticles.
  • If you get polish on your cuticles or too close to the cuticles, use a small, fine makeup brush dipped in acetone to clean up the cuticle area (I use the technique in this post).
  • Always use a top coat to ensure your mani lasts. If you want it to last for at least a week, refresh your top coat every second day. 
I think the best tip I got from Mandi was to be creative and not be afraid to use colour and mix things up a little with some nail art and funky colour combinations!

Now here are a few pics of the master at work!





(Free hand marbling! She made it look too easy!)


Finally, here is a quick shot of Mandi doing my nails! I'm pretty camera shy, but I thought it would be a shame not to get at least one shot of her working on my nails! A big thank you to the lovely Frances from the Illamasqua counter, who kinldy touched up my blush and lippie so that I didn't look like a wreck in the photo!


The toughest part of the night was choosing which colour to paint my nails! They all looked so gorgeous!


So in the end we decided the only real option was to do a skittle mani, and this is what I ended up with! Haha!


A big thank you goes out to Mandi for sharing her knowledge and expertise and for being so lovely and friendly, and also to the awesome staff at the Myer Illamasqua counter! If you guys have the opportunity to attend one of these Masterclasses in the future, I definitely recommend you check it out! 



Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Cult Nails - A Day at the Races Collection


Get excited!!! A Day at the Races collection from Cult Nails is now available to buy! I pre-ordered the collection and it has already been shipped to me, so hopefully I will have swatches really soon! I'm so excited! The colours look absolutely gorgeous! Which ones will you be buying?

Monday, May 16, 2011

piCture pOlish - Peaches n' Cream

Hey everyone! In keeping with my Public Action List, today I have swatches of one of the piCture pOlish colours I bought recently. 

Peaches n' Cream is as the name suggests, a gorgeous, creamy, light pastel peach. The formula on this one was a little bit thick, which meant that I had some issues with patchiness, so used three coats to get even coverage. However, this is a common issue with pastel creams, so it wasn't a big deal to me. I then added a coat of Poshe and the result is beautiful! I kept staring at my nails all day today because they just looked so pretty!! 



This is the first piCture pOlish I have tried and I'm quite impressed! I also bought Denim and Coral Reef which I will try and swatch over the next week. What do you guys think???

On a side note, I just wanted to say that I am totally blown away by the interest my 1500 Follower Giveaway has generated! I have already had 470 individual entries in less than 24 hours!!! INSANE!! Keep them coming! :D 






Sunday, May 15, 2011

1500 Follower Giveaway! NOW CLOSED

Hey everyone! As I mentioned on Tuesday, last weekend my blog clicked over the 1500 follower mark and to celebrate I'm holding another giveaway!

I'm so excited about this giveaway because I have THREE awesome prizes this time! And thanks to Director Dave from Fashion Addict, this giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY! So let's check out the prizes.

First Prize - A brand new, complete set of the hard to find China Glaze OMG collection! You guys all lost your minds when I found those complete sets a few months back, so instead of selling one of the sets for an exorbitant price on eBay, I decided I'd give it away!


Second Prize - A brand new, complete set of the BYS Colour Change collection, kindly donated by Director Dave from Fashion Addict! Thank you David! 


Third Prize - A brand new, complete set of the Face of Australia Molten Metallics collection, kindly donated by Face of Australia!  Thank you Tina!


Please complete the form below to have a chance to win one of these awesome prizes! Providing your follower name and email address will get you one entry. For extra entries, follow me on Twitter or Facebook or blog about this giveaway!

The giveaway will close on 15 June 2011. 

Good luck!



Saturday, May 14, 2011

BB Couture Giveaway Winner

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts, but as most of you probably know, Blogger has been down for the past few days so I couldn't update the blog at all. This post was meant to go up on Wednesday night but I think that's when all the issues started so it wasn't published.

So now that we are up and running again, I can finally announce the winner of my BB Couture Giveaway!


The lucky follower who will be receiving two brand new bottles of BB Couture nail polish is:



Glitter Text - http://www.sparklee.com

Congratulations! I will send you an email now to confirm you have won. Please email me with you address within 24 hours or I will have to draw another winner.

Thank you to everyone who entered and left a funny joke or comment for me! Some of them were absolutely hilarious and I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of them!

I will be posting my 1500 Follower Giveaway very shortly, so make sure you check back soon for that.