New Aussie Indie Brand: Moonstone Nail Polish Swatches + Review

   Hello, Hello, Hello! So for those of us who love our Aussie indies, there's a brand-spankin'-new brand that's entered the scene: Moonstone Nail Polish. AND it releases today!! Tuesday 29th October, at 9am AEDST - that's less than 7 hours away! *Hurray* The person behind it all is Caitlin Vine - a 20 year old girl with a love for mixing polish (and love potions too! :P haha Any Potterheads here?!) I was approached by Caitlin (@caitnails on Instagram) a couple of weeks ago to do some swatches for her, and I gladly accepted ^^

   The first collection for Moonstone Nail Polish includes 8 polishes, 2 of which I have to show you all today. Somehow, Caitlin knew (or by a lucky coincidence :P) my favourite colour was purple, and both the polishes she sent me were purple toned, and sparkly! First up is Radioactive. It's a violet shimmer, with a subtle pink to blue colour shift. 

   It can easily be worn on its own, and is opaque in 3 thin coats. As it is quite sheer, and requires multiple coats for complete opacity, be sure to wait a bit for each coat to dry before applying a new coat or you'll end up with bald spots - like I did in my impatient first attempt. 

   Though, since I AM a sucker for colour shifters, with my second attempt at swatching it, I opted to layer 1 coat of Radioactive over 1 coat of black, to intensify the shift. And this is the end result:

   ....purple, colour-shifty-goodness! It's quite soft and subtle, but very pretty nonetheless! 

   The second polish I have to show you all is one that took my breath away when I first saw it. Even just sitting in the bottle it promised such awesomeness. Dark Shines is a blue-purple jelly filled with shiny, sparkly, holographic goodness. Caitlin describes it as: "A blurple jelly jam-packed with deep purple holographic flakes with a blue shimmer."

   Again, as with Radioactive, it's easily buildable in 2-3 coats for opaqueness, but I chose to layer it over 1 coat of black. It does dry to a semi-textured finish, so it will need a generous coat (or two depending on your topcoat - I use Revlon Colorstay and needed 2 coats) of topcoat to smooth it out.

   It is absolutely stunning in the sun - all the tiny holographic particles come to life and dance at my fingertips. This to me, is like a blurple version of Ulta3 Triple Threat, or Butter London Black Knight, and I just love it when dark colours have that little bit of sparkle in them, giving them a bit more character... AND they look great when the light hits them!

   That's 2 of 2 that I have to share with y'all, so now if you are interested in getting your hands on these, or are curious to see the rest in the collection, make sure to head on over to their store Moonstone Nail Polish, and have a gander. They also have an Instagram account (@moonstonenailpolish) that you can follow for all their updates, and swatches. 

So which of the two is your favourite? For me, as much as I LOVE colour shifters, I'm obsessed with anything dark purple that sparkles in the sun :P so it's one more picture of Dark Shines for you all.

Born Pretty Store Review: Nail Foils

   Hey y'all! Another Born Pretty Store review up for you guys (: this time it's for nail foils. I've never used nail foils before, but I have seen some stunning manis using them, so I was quite excited to try it!

Nail Art Roll Foils Colour #23

   This is colour #23 - a purple to blue to green gradient - and have plenty of other foil designs to choose from on their site. They do provide instructions on the product page as to how to apply the foils onto your nails, which involved painting 2 coats of polish, waiting for it to dry until it was tacky, and then pressing the foil onto the nail (colour side up) and peeling the sheet away. 

   I found this extremely hard to do! I either didn't wait long enough and peeled the polish off with the sheet, or waited too long and the foil no longer stuck to the nail *rages* But after some (A LOT) of trial and error, I got something that sort of resembled what I was aiming for. 

   *eep* I guess it's not horrible for a first attempt, but I realllllly wanted that smooth foil look that others have achieved using foil - mine are all wrinkly! Probably because every time I tried to get the nail foil to come off in one sheet on the nail there were always bald patches, so I'd have to press the foil onto the nail again, and again, and hence the wrinkles.

   Though, despite all that, I kind of grew to like it. Reminds me of mermaids and their tails. And when you don't press your nose up to the nail, they actually look pretty good from afar - like a metallic gradient of sorts. Using a matching purple base colour helped hide all the bald spots :P 

   I didn't use top coat on these, as it's known to wrinkle the foil underneath - it's wrinkled enough, no need to wrinkle it some more :P haha 

   But this is just the beginning of my journey with nail foils! I will eventually get that smooth foil look! I watched a couple of videos on youtube about how to apply nail foils and found out that to get the foil to stick to the nail in one piece, they had used special foil glue. Unfortunately, I didn't have that just lying around so off I went to the born pretty store and ordered some :D When that comes in, I'll try my hand at nail foils again! 

   Until then, feel free to browse the rest of the Born Pretty Store for nail art supplies and use XFSQ10 at the checkout for 10% off your entire purchase (: !

Anyone out there care to share their tips, tricks and/or suggestions on using these nail foils?

*The item/s mentioned in this post were sent to me for my 100% honest review. This in no way affects my opinion of them. For more information, please read the Contact and Policy page of the blog*

AN Monday: Zombies

   Hey y'all! I've been slacking off and missed 2 Halloween AN Mondays in a row *oops* but I'm slowly catching up...

   So the theme for last last week's AN Monday mani was zombies! RAWR I did zombie nails last year for Halloween too, so I thought I'd recreate them. They're a little less stitched up zombie, and a little more blood clot dirty zombie this time around.

Last year's stitched up zombie

This year's zombie full of bullet holes/ bite marks and blood clots

   I kind of really still like my stitched up zombie mani, it looks a lot more gross and real... I might re-do them again, and wear them to work for Halloween, spook the customers :P

   As much as I love these gory nails, I want to try for some cute Halloween nails this year too, any suggestions? :D

   To see a list of the other girls who participate in this weekly challenge, click through to here.

Nail - What? NAIL MAIL!

   There's nothing more exciting than checking the mailbox or receiving an "on board with driver" notification, or better yet, answering the door with the mail man right there delivering your precious cargo :D

   I've had a lot of polish come in in the past couple of months, so I thought I'd share with you all my spoils (or at least all that I can remember)!

   Guess we'll start with the most recent. So the fairytale starts off with a conversation on Instagram about how I wanted polish in the US and she wanted indies from Australia. Over a course of ...I don't know ...6 months or so, and 3 to 4 boxes sent each, we've finally succeeded in our nail swap and are now swimming in our polishes :P It took us a while, but we got there in the end! And well worth the wait! Shout out to Jennifer (Jennibert's Nails / IG @jennibert) for being such an awesome swap buddy :D

   First two swap packages from Jennifer included a range of Butter Londons, China Glazes, Zoyas, an Orly and Ultas. Also pictured, is my Emily De Molly order that arrived on the same day :D *jumps for joy*

   The third box from Jennifer did the impossible - it topped the first two boxes -  it squashed some pretty huge lemmings - yes, YOU, China Glaze Frostbite and Color Club Eternal Beauty!! In the huge box, amongst all the polish was a China Glaze shot glass and nommies that left me craving for more!! Anyone know if we can get those Flamin Hot Cheetos here in Australia?! SO GOOD! 

   I couldn't resist, I had to try some of these on immediately.. and since I have two hands, why not different polish on each?! :P

Left hand: 2 coats of China Glaze Frostbite with China Glaze Prism on the accent

Right hand: 2 coats of Color Club Wink Wink Twinkle with Butter London Lovely Jubbly on the accent

   And now for my Zoyas.. ALL THE ZOYAS!! Aurora and Blaze were my first Zoyas, and when it came time to ordering more... I went a little crazy :P

   There are a couple of doubles such as Sookie and Charisma - but they're for my mum, she ordered them to gift away (: But the rest are all mineeeeeee *evil laugh*

   I've yet to swatch them all, but when I did try Dahlia, boy was I blown away. I don't usually like textures, I always put a top coat on to make it nice and shiny and smooth, but wearing Dahlia felt like I was wearing unpolished black diamonds (or something along those lines) on my nails. Definitely was shoving them in peoples faces, and demanding them to cop a feel :P

   And that brings us to the end of my polish haul. I've bought bottles of pretty polish at the drugstore too, but never took a picture of them all collectively. One special mention though, I got Essie Mint Candy Apple and Marshmallow from Priceline and I'm really excited to try them! :D

   Now, I think maybe it's time for a no - buy (or low - buy :P) until Christmas? 

Review: Femme Fatale Cosmetics Press Kit 2

      Second instalment of the Femme Fatale Cosmetics Press Kit... GO!

   First up is Delush Polish Cirque Fantastique (felt so fancy saying that out loud :P). A mix of super fine glitter and an array of teal, yellow and pink square glitters suspended in a milky white base - this polish screams candy and all things nice.

   What I have on is 1 coat of white, and 2 coats of Cirque Fantastique. With a little shake of the bottle, each stroke brought out tons of glittery goodness, and applied quite evenly on the nail. It reminded me of ice cream dipped in colourful candy sprinkles.. or cupcake icing topped with hundreds and thousands!

   And hence, this: a cupcake mani, complete with blueberry drips and sprinkles! :D

   Last, but definitely not the least, is Rainbow Honey Magic Cake. Oh how I've been lemming a neon glitter topper for ages, and lo and behold Sophie sends me one to review... now I think I need a full sized bottle of this baby!

   Magic Cake is a glitter topper packed to the rim with super fine glitter mixed with blue, green and pink multi-sized multi-shaped glitters in a clear base. It's every neon lover's dream!

   This is 2 "dabbed" coats - just to evenly distribute the larger pink hexes - over 1 coat of Sinful Colors Black on Black (great 1 coater!). I was initially going to layer this over a pastel to white gradient, but couldn't find my make up sponges anywhere, so decided to do it over white instead ...but on a whim, I tried it over a black base. And boy did the colours pop!

   The colour scheme of this glitter is so funky I might just have to make an entire mani based around it. But for now, a little tribal nail art for the accent nail will suffice :D

   And that brings us to the end of the Press Kit. As with the other two polishes in the last blog post you can purchase these beautiful concoctions at the Femme Fatale Cosmetics website. 

   So which one's your favourite?

 

*The item/s mentioned in this post were sent to me for my 100% honest review. This in no way affects my opinion of them. For more information, please read the Contact and Policy page of the blog*

Review: Femme Fatale Cosmetics Press Kit

   Morning all :D So this month, I thought I'd give applying for a Femme Fatale Cosmetics Press Kit a go, and fortunately I was selected in this month's batch of applicants.

   Femme Fatale Cosmetics carries a wide range of Australian and International indie polish brands, as well as their own Femme Fatale Cosmetics range of beauty products. It has grown to become pretty much a one stop shop for all Australian nail polish lovers - though Sophie now offers international shipping so international customers can now order polish through the site!

   Now, onto the polish! In the kit, Sophie included 4 mini bottles from 4 different brands she carries on the website for me to swatch and review. I've decided to split the review in half and do the first two today, and the next two tomorrow. So first up is Love Thy Polish Shangri-La.

Taken in the light box using a flash on the SLR Camera

   Shangri-La is a peachy - pink linear holo that really surprised me! I'm not one for holos because the two that I have from the first Color Club Halo Hues collection looked washed out under normal light and only bedazzled (I like that word :P) me when in direct sunlight or under a flash. But Shangri-La was super holo just sitting in my room!

Under normal light taken with my camera phone

   It's coming off really pink in the above photo, but leans halfway between a nude peach and a dusty rose in person. It's such a unique shade, and is so soft and subtle on the nail, makes me feel so feminine :P I had no problems applying it, though the formula is a little sheer, but easily buildable. In all the swatch pictures, I'm wearing 3 thin coats with 1 coat of top coat. 

Taken outside of the light box, with direct flash from the SLR camera

   And of course I couldn't resist doing a bit of nail art on top :P My first successful watermarble of this style! Despite the bubbles (anyone have tips on how to NOT get them?!) I think it turned out pretty neat :D

   Next up, Femme Fatale Cosmetics Edge of the Cosmos. 

   It's a dark purple - almost black - jelly base jam packed full of glitter! It's incredible how much glitter a little bottle can hold! This is 3 "dabbed" coats over black, and as you can see, plenty of sparkle! Mixed in with the fine holographic particles are different coloured holo stars, moons and large dot glitters, as well as medium sized holo hex glitters. It's a feast for the eyes. 

   The only minor hurdle I came across when applying the polish (as with a lot of shape glitter polishes) was even placing of all the shape glitter. But it wasn't nothing a little dabbing and glitter placement couldn't fix! Not a biggie at all - easy as pie (: 

   Sophie writes in her description for this polish: 

            "To make this a little more interesting we vary batches slightly, replacing one or two glitters with another of same size and shape but different colour. We wanted to embody the ever-changing beauty of the universe with our mini version in a bottle ;)"

   And so, I decided to match it up with some colourful galaxy nail art that I've been meaning to try for ages. Didn't turn out too shabby :P

   These first two polishes get a big thumbs up - smiley face - YAY from me! You can purchase both of them (and a bunch of fabulous others) from the Femme Fatale Cosmetics website. 

Love Thy Polish Shangri-La

Femme Fatale Cosmetics Edge of the Cosmos

   So two down, two to go! Stay tuned for the other half :D

*The item/s mentioned in this post were sent to me for my 100% honest review. This in no way affects my opinion of them. For more information, please read the Contact and Policy page of the blog*

Born Pretty Store Review: Fluorescent Studs

   Hey y'all! Hope you've all been good :D

   Today, I have some exciting news to share with you guys. The Born Pretty Store have recently contacted me to do a review for them and I happily accepted. What I have for show today are these fun and colourful fluorescent studs. They come in 6 bright colours, 2 different shapes (squares and circles) and are all organized in a handy little wheel container. I was so excited seeing these tiny pieces of goodness in front of me, I went a little stud crazy.

400pcs 2mm Round Square Fluorescent Dark Colors Stud Rhinestones Nail Art Decoration w/box

   Or was that an understatement? :P MY NAILS LOOK LIKE CANDY!! They look like little candy skittles on my nails, I love it!!

   With 6 fluorescent colours to choose from, and two different shapes... I had to pick all of them! Having such a selection means I had an awesome time mixing and matching the studs on my nails. At first I thought I may have gone a tad overboard, but I was quite liking the in-your-face over-the-top look of them, and I've been wearing them for 4 days now! Can't bear to take them off :P

   The studs look great over the colourful nail base, and work well with the crystal rhinestones too. They're about 2mm in size and are pretty flat - once pressed into the polish and after a layer of top coat, the stud isn't protruding too much off the nail.

   I used 4 BYS polishes and 1 Australis polish (all Australian brands) for the bases. From thumb to pinky: BYS Clowning Around, BYS anyone For Tennis, BYS Steal The Limelight, BYS Baby Let's Cruise and Australis #totesamaze.

   You can purchase these studs (and a bunch of other great nail art accessories - go crazy!) from the Born Pretty Store here. I also have a 10% discount code for you to use on your entire purchase: XFSQ10.

   Overall, I love these studs! They're fun, versatile, and with 400pcs, I'll definitely be using them in plenty of manicures, especially in Summer where all the bright colours come out :D    

*The item/s mentioned in this post were sent to me for my 100% honest review. This in no way affects my opinion of them. For more information, please read the Contact and Policy page of the blog*