Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Elle's Spell - Barielle

I have another polish that I borrowed from my mum to show you today. This is Barielle 'Elle's Spell'. I don't own any Barielle polishes so I was quite excited to try this one out. I actually first saw 'Elle's Spell' on Gaby's (@lacquerloon) Instagram and soon after that I found out my mum had it, so finally I have wriggled it out of her grasp and onto my nails.



Elle's Spell, Barielle

Elle's Spell, Barielle
'Elle's Spell' is a deep red/burgundy jelly filled with flakies, the type that is found in polish like Essie 'Shine of the Times' etc. It is such a luscious red wine colour.



Elle's Spell, Barielle
The flakies in 'Elle's Spell' are the type that shift from Red to gold to green. As usual the green is only seen at extreme angles and is quite hard to capture in a photo without giving you a frame full of the tip of my fingers!! Anyway you can kind of see the green shift on the sides of my fingers in this photo. I love when I suddenly notice the green in this polish in real life.


When I first saw this polish, it was layered and I imagine that layered may be the best way to use it. This is 'Elle's Spell' on its own and I have 5 thin coats on this hand. I don't actually mind seeing a bit of VNL so I am wearing 3 thin coats on my left hand and it looks fine. Generally I like to show how a polish looks on its own if I can, so that's why I built this one up so much to get full opacity. The colour deepened so much as I put on the last 2 coats and made it so much richer.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Cosmos - piCture pOlish

I am pretty happy right now. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen that I ordered a couple more piCture pOlish shades to add to my very lonely one (original 'Monroe') in my Helmer. I ordered 'Attitude' and 'Cosmos' and they arrived yesterday and I couldn't wait to put one on, so here we go...



Cosmos, Picture Polish, swatch
'Cosmos' is part of piCture pOlishes collaboration collection and was created with Camille of Pshiiit. 'Cosmos' is so gorgeous and has hopped itself right into being one of my favourite polishes!




Cosmos, Picture Polish, swatch

Cosmos, Picture Polish, swatch

Cosmos, Picture Polish, swatch
'Cosmos' is the galaxy polish I have been dreaming of, come to life. To be honest it was always going to be a winner with me. Navy... love, holo... LOVE.




Cosmos, Picture Polish, swatch
Just a cheeky close-up to finish you all off. I love so much the irregular shaped pieces of holographic goodness. And the best part is that the glitters are not at all shy. Even in shade, they still manage to peek through. This type of scattered holo finish is something that piCture pOlish seem to do so well. I will be needing to get some more soon I think.


The formula was fantastic too. I am showing you three coats in these photos although two coats was opaque and is in fact how I am wearing it on my left hand. I only added the extra coat for the benefit of the lighting and macro lens pointed at my right hand :)

There are lots of places online where you can purchase piCture pOlish and if you have a look at their website you will be able to find somewhere close to you. For the kiwis out there, I purchased mine from Gracie Lou for $19.50.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Iseult - a-england & a Bit o' Stamping

It's high time I posted another a-england polish and what better than one I nicked from my Mum when we went home at Christmas time :) Today I have 'Iseult' to show you before I have to give it back next week.



a-england, Iseult, swatch

a-england, Iseult, swatch
'Iseult' is so pretty. It's really ethereal and so flattering. These photos show it with no top coat and you can see it's gorgeous shimmer that gives it such a beautiful shine.



a-england, Iseult, Camelot, Lealac xl-B, stamping, swatch

a-england, Iseult, Camelot, Lealac xl-B, stamping, swatch
It's been a while since I have done a simple stamping mani and I really just felt like doing some. For this look, I used a-england 'Camelot' and LeaLaC XL - B plate. I was quite happy with how it turned out in the end.


As far as formula goes, the main reason I could get away with "borrowing" 'Iseult' from my Mum is because she has had a bit of trouble with application in the past. I didn't find it too bad to be honest except for the fact that it was fairly sheer. Luckily that doesn't bother me too much if it ends up being such a pretty polish in the end though. I used 3-4 coats for these photos, but 3 coats was actually sufficient on my left hand. 'Iseult' had a very slight tendency to want to pull at the cuticle and I may have been a little hasty in between coats, which is why I needed the 4th thin coat on some nails. At the end of the day, it's not anything that would put me off this polish at all. It's something I have become used to when it comes to pale polishes and at least there were no issues with streakiness etc.

a-england is available from a number of places including the a-england website, Mei Mei's SignaturesLlarowe and Gracie Lou (for the kiwis!!). There are, unfortunately, some issues with Royal Mail at the moment and so a-england are not shipping internationally. I know that Adina and her team are working really hard on sorting this out, so keep an eye on their twitter/facebook accounts for more info.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Valentine's Day Mani

Argh this year I was a bit of a Valentine's grinch to be honest. It was going to be the first time in a lot of years where we both had the night off together, but the night before we found out one of us had to work, so it was another Valentine's alone. Oh well, on to the mani. I always struggle with ideas for Valentine's Day inspired nails. This year was no different and I ended up just putting polish on and adding things until I came to this end product...




As I was doing this mani, I was HATING it!! That's why I just kept adding things to it. In the end, I don't think it turned out too badly though. I tried using saran wrap again and I really liked it. It's such a cool effect.

For this I used Lime Crime 'Parfait Day' and Zoya 'Sooki'. The white I used was Sally Hansen 'White On' and over everything is a layer of Chi Chi 'Disco Diva'. I used studs from the Born Pretty Store.

How was your Valentine's Day? Better than mine hopefully!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Once In A Blue Mousse - Lime Crime with We're Simply Meant To Be - Dollish Polish

I have the last of my Lime Crimes to show you tonight. I'm actually pretty sad! Oh well, let's just get on with the prettiness shall we? This is 'Once In A Blue Mousse'...



Once In A Blue Mousse, Lime Crime, We're Simply Meant To Be, Dollish Polish, swatch

Once In A Blue Mousse, Lime Crime, We're Simply Meant To Be, Dollish Polish, swatch
'Once In A Blue Mousse', like 'Crema de Limón', is not so bright and neon leaning as the others. It has a slight dusty quality to it that seems to fit so well with this shade of blue. It's a gorgeous duck egg blue and is the kind of blue that I think is so wearable. I paired 'Once In A Blue Mousse' with Dollish Polish 'We're Simply Meant To Be'. I love this glitter and I love these two polishes together. It's the burgundy hexes that kill me (in such a good way) - such a unique mix!!!


You surely know how this story goes by now because 'Once In A Blue Mousse' has the same formula as all the other Lime Crime polishes I've shown you. That is to say it is fairly thick, beautifully opaque (2 easy coats), fast drying and dries to a slightly satiny finish. 'We're Simply Meant To Be' was really easy to work with. This is one thick-ish coat.


Lime Crime polishes are available from Harlow & Co. and Dollish Polish is available from places like Llarowe and Dolly's Big Cartel shop.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Crema de Limón - Lime Crime & Toad-ally Awesome - Dollish Polish

Hi!!

This is my second to last Lime Crime to show you and I realised that for every other one I have done a double accent with glitter, so why not keep up that trend. Today, I have Lime Crime 'Crema de Limón' with Dollish Polish 'Toad-ally Awesome'...



Crema de Limon, Lime Crime, Toad-ally Awesome, Dollish Polish, swatch

Crema de Limon, Lime Crime, Toad-ally Awesome, Dollish Polish, swatch
As usual I love this polish. 'Crema de Limón' isn't as neon-ish as the other Lime Crimes, but that's fine, it's such a pretty lemon yellow. I wasn't 100% convinced by the match with 'Toad-ally Awesome' at first, but in the end I think I do love it. I like that you can see all the glitters really well against the yellow, even the little wee blue glitters.


Formula was the same as with the other Lime Crimes, slightly thick and very fast drying. It dries to a slight satin/matte finish. I found 'Crema de Limón' to be a little less self-levelling than the other Lime Crime polishes, but 2-3 coats was perfect for good coverage.

Lime Crime polishes are available from Harlow & Co. and Dollish Polish is available from various places including Llarowe and Dolly's Big Cartel shop.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Polish Days: Get Back To Nature

It's time for February Polish Days. I love Polish Days as it makes me do something a bit different each month. Trouble is, I always seem to go a little overboard and can't seem to ever just have one idea and a nice simple mani. This month is no different :) The theme this month is all about getting back to nature. I decided to go with the weather theme that Hannah suggested, in particular the four seasons...




I decided to use different techniques on each finger. For Autumn, on my pinkie I tried the saran wrap technique for the first time. I quite like how that turned out actually. I have to say, the seasons aren't particularly appropriate for New Zealand, but oh well (e.g. it doesn't snow in Auckland and it is certainly not Easter in spring). I used quite a few different polishes so I will just list them below...


Autumn:
• Enchanted Polish 'Mean Mr Mustard'
• Takko Lacquer 'Va Va Voom'
• a-england 'Holy Grail'
• OPI 'My Boyfriend Scales Walls'

Winter:
• KB Shimmer 'Witch Way?'
• Stamping - Konad Special White and Bundle Monster plate BM-323
• "Glequins" from Born Pretty Store

Spring:
• Lime Crime 'Lavendairy', 'Once In a Blue Mousse', 'Pastelchio' & 'Crema De Limón'
• Chi Chi 'Disco Diva'

Summer:
• OPI 'No Room For The Blues'
• Studs from Born Pretty Store


Make sure you check out all the other lovely Polish Days manis...

Monday, February 4, 2013

Austin Powers - Enchanted Polish (and a very late blog birthday!)

I missed my blog's anniversary!!! Which is typical to be honest, as I don't ever look at the date if I'm not at uni, so I generally forget birthdays as I never know what day it is :s Anyway... My little blog was 1 year old on January 18th. Thanks so much to everyone who pops by here to look at my posts!

For today's post, I wanted to show you something that I love from one of my most favourite indie brands, which works out well for my very late anniversary post. This is Enchanted Polish 'Austin Powers' over Lime Crime 'Milky Ways'...



Austin Powers, Enchanted Polish, swatch
I went to a wedding recently and wore this combination as my accent nail with some studs and I loved it so much I came straight home to Auckland and put it on as a full mani. If you follow me on instagram (@pinpointpolish), you may have seen the mani'Austin Powers' is one of those polishes that, if layered, is usually over a darker colour, but I actually love it over the pale cream of 'Milky Ways'.



Austin Powers, Enchanted Polish, swatch

Austin Powers, Enchanted Polish, swatch
These two photos show 'Austin Powers' in full sunlight. MMMMmmmmmm pure holo goodness. I have to say, when it comes to holographic (and multichrome) polish, there aren't many who do it as well as Enchanted Polish (hence them being an absolute favourite of mine).



Austin Powers, Enchanted Polish, swatch

Austin Powers, Enchanted Polish, swatch
The gold of 'Austin Powers' becomes much more obvious in these photos taken in artificial lighting. The linear holo effect is really apparent, which I love. Even indoors.



Austin Powers, Enchanted Polish, swatch
Let's just have a little closer look at this little baby. You can see that there are little coppery-gold glitters all through it, as well as the ton of holo. Brilliant!


This is one (yes one!) thick-ish coat of 'Austin Powers' and so this polish could easily be worn on its own. It does layer beautifully though. Formula was really easy to work with.

Now for the unfortunate part of this post... I don't think this polish is available in any shops, as it was just recently brought back in a very limited quantity. I know some of you don't like bloggers posting polish that isn't readily available, but this blog was started for me to show you guys what I wear on a day to day basis. Basically, if this polish ever makes another come-back, snaffle it up ASAP because it is such a beauty!

Enchanted Polish is available from a few places including Harlow & Co and Llarowe.