The Great Aussie Polish Challenge - Ulta3 Tuesday

This week I have joined with a few other Aussie bloggers for a week of showcasing Australian nail polishes.

Yesterday was piCture pOlish with the release of their new shades.  Today is Ulta3, which only cost $2 a bottle and have a huge variety of colours varying from cremes to shimmers and even glitters and metallics and more recently magnetics.

This one is Ulta3 - Crystallina.  A sparkly white with gold shimmer.  I've used this alot as a basecoat for indie/glitter polishes.

Check out the other blogs taking part in this challenge:


Kellys Kolors

Shatter me Claire

Lab Muffin

Polished Peripherals

The Polish Haven

Not Skin Deep

Osiris and Loki paint their nails

Lacquer dreams

Jas's Blingtastic Nail Blog

Pretty Purple Polish

Thanks for reading
Debbie

piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2012

Hi everyone

Today is very exciting as I have some new piCture pOlish shades to show you.  These are just a few of the new shades available from TODAY online in Australia and from all network members.

First one is Amethyst.  I love this one not only because it's purple but also because it's what I think of when I hear the word Amethyst.  Most polishes that are called Amethyst are more on the pink side than the purple side but this one is definitely purple.   It has a purple tinted base with small flakes and lots of blue shimmer. 



Shade



Full sun



Zoom - see the small flakes




Zoom - see the gorgeous blue shimmer

 Amethyst is new and exclusive and was jointly created with Susan from Star Trinkets who is the network member in Singapore.  Amethyst forms part of piCture pOlish's 'Collaboration Collection'.


Second one is Orbit.  This is from the new 'Mesh' collection of shades.  It's a very dark blue / purple colour that is packed with heaps of fine silver glitter.  This one is also gorgeous and very reflective in full sun.



Full sun




Shade



You can stay updated with piCture pOlish on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. 

Remember all the new shades are available from TODAY, Monday 30 July 2012! 

I wish to thank The Girls from piCture pOlish for allowing me to participate in Blog Fest 2012 and for sending me these beautiful new polishes for review.

Thanks for reading
Debbie

Swatch Sticks

SWATCH STICKS

This is what I've been doing for the last few weeks in my spare time.  I've been swatching my polishes onto sticks and labelling them so I can see quickly what I have and what will go with what.  It also helped me identify any dupes that I had but didn't realise I had.

Problem was that silly me only ordered 100 sticks and honestly I thought that would be plenty.  I severely underestimated how many polishes I have so I have now ordered another 150 sticks and hopefully that will be enough for me to swatch the rest.  I just found these on ebay and also got the stainless steel cable wire keyrings from ebay too. 

I have them separated into their colour groups on the wire keyrings.

I also found this helpful to match indies/glitters/top coats etc to a base colour.

Thanks for reading

Debbie

 

Lush Lacquer - Part 1

LUSH LACQUER - PART 1 - CAMO QUEEN, BUBBLE YUMMY, ONCE UPON A TIME

Hi there

As soon as I saw Lush Lacquer polishes on etsy I knew I had to have them.  So I did an order and as soon as they arrived here in Australia, Lush Lacquer announced on their facebook page that they were releasing new colours, so of course I then did another order.  All up I have 9 of these wonderful, colourful, glittery polishes so I'll show you 3 at a time.


Lush Lacquer - Camo Queen is pale green with gold shimmer base with gold, copper and brown hex.



Camo Queen - 2 coats



Camo Queen 1 coat over Color Club - Artsy Crafty


Lush Lacquer - Bubble Yummy has a sheer purple tinted base with  fine silver and purple glitters and bright blue hex.

Bubble Yummy 1 coat over China Glaze - Grape Pop

Lush Lacquer - Once Upon A Time is a pink purple base with all different shapes and sizes of pink, purple and silver glitters.

Once Upon A Time 1 coat over China Glaze Light As Air



Different size and shape glitters

Thanks for reading
Debbie

Peitas Polish

PEITA'S POLISH - UNDER THE SEA, ZEBRATION

Hi everyone

Today I have a new Australian made polish brand to show you.  It is called Peita's Polish.  I only have these two at the moment but I am considering ordering more because I am really happy with these.  Click on the link above if you wish to see the others and to find out about ordering/shipping info.

PEITA'S POLISH - UNDER THE SEA - I thought I'd keep this an all Australian post and layer Under The Sea over piCture pOlish - Stone.  I think this combo turned out pretty well.  I liked it so much that I didn't want to take it off and kept looking at my nails.  Under the Sea was very easy to apply with the glitters spreading out easily.

PEITA'S POLISH - ZEBRATION - Once again I'm keeping this all Australian by layering Zebration over piCture pOlish - Wisteria.  I really like this combo too.  I didn't want to take this one off either.  The glitters in this also spread easily.

Thanks for reading
Debbie

e.l.f. Nail Polish - Part 1 - Neutrals

E.L.F. NAIL POLISH - INNOCENT, DESERT HAZE, NUDE

ELF Cosmetics Australia recently had an end of financial year sale with 30% off everything.  They also offer free shipping for every order over $30 so naturally I ordered enough to get free shipping.  The polishes are $3.99 full price which is more than double the price that they sell for overseas so 30% off sounded good to me and free shipping even better.  I've tried to order these from overseas but their site won't let you, it keeps re-directing you to the Australian site.

I hadn't tried these polishes before because last time they had a sale they were sold out of every colour that I wanted so I was very pleased this time to grab some of them that I had previously missed out on.  They are also 3 free.

These neutral shades don't have any shimmer, they are just straight cremes but they are shiny even without top coat.  The pics show 2 coats without top coat.  They were very smooth to apply and looked nice and also had good staying power. 




Innocent, Desert Haze, Nude

e.l.f. - Innocent


Innocent



e.l.f. - Desert Haze




Desert Haze



e.l.f. - Nude




Nude



Thanks for reading
Debbie

Colour by TBN - Part 1

Colour by TBN - Tambourine, Frosted Mauve, Jail Bird

Hi

Back on Mother's Day this year, my daughter gave me a bottle of Colour by TBN - Tambourine nail polish that she had bought from the Mother's Day Stall at school.  I had never heard of this brand before and was quite surprised when I saw them at the chemist for only $2.50 each because I'm pretty sure the stall at school charged my daughter alot more than $2.50.  

These polishes are great value for money.  They are a good formula, go on smoothly and evenly and shiny.  They dry quickly but not before you can get a whole nail done.  Also good is the fact that most of the colours are one-coaters which is great when it's late at night and you can't bear to go to work the next day with naked nails!  They also lasted a whole week on my nails without chipping and without top coat.

Colour by TBN - Tambourine is a bright shimmery orange colour.



Tambourine with Color Club - Diamond Drops

Colour by TBN - Frosted Mauve is a shimmery dark mauve colour.  I love this one!



Colour by TBN - Jail Bird is a shimmery grey with silver shimmer.

Thanks for reading
Debbie

AVON Nail Enamel - Mystic

AVON Nail Enamel - Mystic

Hi everyone

I did an order with Avon recently as they had the polish on sale and then you got a bottle of Liquid Freeze Quick Dry Nail Spray for free.  I chose the colour Mystic because it looked nice on paper (in the brochure) and I could only find one picture of it on someone's nails on the internet.  

Mystic is a very hard to describe colour.  To my eyes it's a very shiny and sparkly beige sort of colour with slight pink undertones.  It's very cool-toned and suited me extremely well.  I will try to wear this again on a bright sunny day and try to get some better pics of it.

The Liquid Freeze is actually pretty good too.  It does work but it is annoying how it sprays all over your fingers as well as your nails.

Thanks for reading
Debbie

Beauty Basket - April 2012 (received end of June)

BEAUTY BASKET - APRIL 2012

Hi everyone

Yes this is the Beauty Basket from April that was only received at the end of June.  I've had this for about 2 weeks now and have held off blogging about it because I'm in two minds about it.

Firstly, being annoyed at how late the basket was and without explanation of why it was so late.  Normally the baskets are sent out at the end of the month so this should've been sent at the end of April to be received at the very latest by mid May.  Their facebook page did have one update about the baskets going out but weeks later still no one had received anything (they have since deleted that off their fb page.  I imagine because of all the negative comments from frustrated customers).

Secondly, the products in this basket.  I'm not particularly impressed and there's nothing to rave about or anything particularly outstanding or new and I try not to be negative about things.

1. Lalisse Moisture Rich Facial Cleanser 30ml RRP $11.95 - happy with this, always willing to try new cleansers

2. Avon Genics Eye Cream 15g RRP $59.99 (although my Avon brochure says $49.99 full price not sale price) - very happy with this, anti ageing eye cream is always welcome, just hope it does what they say it does.  They say it's capable of taking 10 years off your looks!

3. Avon Arabian Glow Bronzing Pearls RRP $19.99 - I don't know why they would put 2 Avon products in the same basket.  I would've preferred a different brand of something.  I have used these before and I didn't like them but as luck would have it, my sister loves these so they will be going to her.

4. DB Cosmetics Kohl Eye Pencil with sharpener RRP $6.99 - Personally I don't need anymore black eye pencils but it will still be good to try this brand.  That's what I mean when I say I'm in two minds about the products.  I don't need or want this but others might not have one and be really happy with this.

5. Bonne Bell Moisture Repair SPF 15 Lip Balm RRP $3.99 - Another item that I personally don't need or want but others might think this is great. 

Then there was a box of Lindt chocolates.  I'm guessing as a form of compensation for the huge delay with the baskets being sent out but no good to me as I'm a Coeliac and these have gluten in them so my husband scored them.  Still no explanation of why, there wasn't a note or anything in there and I'm just thankful that I only have one more basket left on this subscription. 

Sorry to be a bit negative.  I try hard not to be and that is why I held off on this post but am releasing it today as there still hasn't been any comments from Beauty Basket as to what is going on and I think anyone considering signing up for them needs to know.

Thanks for reading

Debbie

Pretty and Polished - Inked

PRETTY AND POLISHED - INKED

This is Inked over Essence - A Lovely Secret.

I love how this combination looks.  I love the tinted base of Inked and the glitters that sparkle so much in the sun.

I have 6 polishes from P&P and all are minis and all are so pretty that I wish I had bought full size.

I bought this from etsy but Pretty and Polished will soon be sold through Llarowe as well.

Thanks for reading
Debbie