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*

Galaxy Glitter Goodness

   We've all seen galaxy nails, we've all seen galaxy "drip" nails, but then I saw these and I knew it was time to try my hand at it. I've dabbled in "galaxy nails" before but I was never happy with the outcome. Until today *grin

   This is my little spin on the drip nails. I decided to use a black base and had the "cosmic drips" dripping from the nail bed/ cuticles instead of towards it. From previous experience where my white dots (stars) turned the entire mani into a mess, I excluded them and opted for a fine glitter polish instead. And this is what came out:

   I'm actually quite happy with how these turned out! I mean, the drips look kind of wonky (I actually thought the drip shape would be the easiest part but creating perfectly shaped yet random drips was hard!) but it doesn't take too much away from the over all mani ;D 

   I might try these out with a white base next time, but first I need to get my hands on some white acrylic paint. My white polish, as awesome as it is, won't be opaque enough in one layer to outline the drips. (If any of that was confusing, I'm just referring to this tutorial by the same artist of the nails I was inspired by). 

   OH and before I forget: 

   These are the drips with a matte top coat. I was wearing the black polish, which is really a black glitter polish from Nine West, mattefied (is that a word?) before I attempted this mani so I decided to try the drips matte. They don't look too bad, but I prefer the shiny top coat, brings out all that glittery goodness :D

Toodles~