OPI Burlesque: The Glitters

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Since I have OPI Burlesque and reasonable sunlight this morning, I also have swatches of six of the OPI Burlesque Collection for Holiday 2010, the six glitter polishes.  I was a little apprehensive about these, wondering if they'd only be suitable for layering, but they're all opaque with 2-3 coats.  I used two coats of each for the swatches, but some could have used a third, I discovered upon reviewing the pictures.

Glow Up Already! is primarily gold with a few red and green bits.

OPI Glow Up Already! Nail Polish, Two Coats

Simmer & Shimmer is mostly blue with red and silver.

OPI Simmer & Shimmer Nail Polish, Two Coats

Extra-va-vaganza is mostly orange with silver.

OPI Extra-va-vaganza Nail Polish, Two Coats

Bring on the Bling is gold with red and green.

OPI Bring on the Bling Nail Polish, Two Coats

Sparkle-icious is a pretty even mix of gold, purple, and blue.

OPI Sparkle-icious Nail Polish, Two Coats

Finally, Show It and Glow It! is primarily purple with some silver.  This one has one coat of Seche Vite on it.

OPI Show It and Glow It! Nail Polish, Two Coats

I'm wearing Show It and Glow It!, and one coat of top coat just isn't enough - it probably needs two more to be smooth.  That's to be expected with dense glitters though, so no surprises there.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

E.L.F Purple Pleaser Swatch (and with Konadding)

Here is E.L.F's Purple Pleaser. This comes very close to the colour I was expecting when I ordered Punk Purple last time which I was very disappointed with. But this colour definitely makes up for the disappointment.

So if you are buying one of these purples from E.L.F be aware that this is Purple Pleaser and Punk Purple looks dull pink IRL.

Then I added some stamping to the colour but I think it looked better before.

Konad Plate: M64
Base Colour: E.L.F. Purple Pleaser
Konad Colour: Miss Sporty Zodiac
Top Coat of NYC

Sally Hansen Downtown Rubies

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have another of the limited edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polishes, Downtown Rubies.  It's fine red glitter in a clear base, dense enough to be opaque in three coats.  I finished it with two coats of Seche Vite, but once it completely dried, it was less than smooth - it needs at least one more coat of top coat.  However, it looks cool, so that's good enough for now.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Downtown Rubies Nail Polish, Three Coats

So another good one from this collection.  That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Where will this baby go next? Take two...

Hey guys... sorry for the lack of a Konadicure post for a while. It's been a busy weekend here with me moving house and all the 'Freshers' events taking place so I've been really busy and not had any time to do my nails, let alone get pictures and get them up here.

However, I have some exciting news. My package from Kesha, who is over at Nail Polish Obsession, arrived yesterday . She is based in Germany and had the great idea of sending a German brand nail polish on a trip around the world. You can see her post here. She asked which of her readers wanted to receive the polish next so I put my name down and she chose me to be the next lucky recipient.

The polish is Manhattan 610k there is no colour name, just a number.

Here is the package that Kesha sent me. She was really nice to include some sweet little extras.

The polish is nicely wrapped up in the little bag next to the little scroll where I have to write my details before I pass it on to the next person.

And here is the polish itself. It's a royal, plum purple.

The conditions of me receiving this polish are that I must post a manicure with it on my blog then pass it on to someone else who has a blog in a different country and will also share their mani with us.

I am asking who would like to get this polish next. If you're interested in seeing this as a guest polish in your collection please leave a comment letting me know how I can contact you, your blog name and your country of residence. I will pick the next recipient using random name picker.

If you want to be involved please be sure you are aware of the conditions of this game....

You must have a blog where you will post a mani you've done with this polish

You must offer your readers the same chance to receive it that I have here and post it along (no keepies!)

So, please leave your comments below and I'll announce who it will be when I post my mani with this polish. It may be a while as I want to wait for my broken nail to grow back a bit :)

More Limited Edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicures

Good morning, Dear Reader!

There was good sun yesterday, so today I have more swatches of the new limited edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polishes, another three.

Before getting to today's, I ought to mention that taking off Problem Child was a huge hassle.  Those little flaky bits were seriously stuck on there - I'd rather remove Starry, Starry Flight twice than remove Problem Child once.

On to new pictures... Golden Ticket is a gold glitter that I thought wouldn't be opaque, but three coats later it was.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Golden Ticket Nail Polish, Three Coats

Feeling Saucy is a fuchsia shimmer that was good in two coats.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Feeling Saucy Nail Polish, Two Coats

Fedora is a really nice brownish beige with a gold shimmer, also a two-coater.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fedora Nail Polish, Two Coats

You can see the variety in this collection, and that there are quite a few really strong colors.  I hope to one day get past the names.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Some Limited Edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicures

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I swatched a few of the new limited edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polishes, and I have pictures of them for you today.  The sun wasn't the best I've ever had for pictures, but good enough to get by.  I swatched three of the shimmers before my patience for swatching wore thin.

I only got the colors from this collection that I really like so I don't have all the names in front of me, but of those I got, I can't make sense of the names or see how they're related to one another.  They're pretty bad.  But truthfully, if the worst thing about a polish is its name, I can live with that.

These all applied really well, now that I'm used to the wacky brush they have, and the colors are strong.  First up is Perfect Match (which immediately makes me ask, "To what?"), a great red shimmer.  It's on the dark side of real red and has a really glowy shimmer - I'm thinking it might be the perfect pedicure red.  This is two coats of Perfect Match (completely dry).

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Perfect Match Nail Polish, Two Coats

The one with the worst name has received a good bit of hype, Sequin Scandal (a scandal related to one sequin).  It reminds me a lot of the old Revlon Blacker Lacquer Talk Dirty.  Here's two coats of Sequin Scandal, which I think I like better in the bottle than on my nails.  It's smooth, it's the small flaky bits that make it look lumpy.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Sequin Scandal Nail Polish, Two Coats

Back to one I like: Problem Child (not an inherently bad name, I just don't see how it's related to the other color names).  This one's a deep plum with flaky shimmer bits.  It looks deep plum indoors, not black, and I like it.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Problem Child Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's a good start to what this display offers.  Although I got most of them, I did leave behind a few cremes that just weren't sufficiently noteworthy to buy.  Now I've worn two and swatched two more, and I like them quite a bit.  A happy surprise about Starry, Starry Flight was that it was easy to remove - I think the glitter's fine enough to make it completely not a hassle to take off, which also bodes well for the red glitter.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader.  I'll show you the rest of my picks from this display as the week wears on.  Untl then, love and nail polish to you!  

E.L.F Innocence Swatch

I've been searching for a good, affordable polish for 'Mannequin' hands for a while now. It ended up as a competition between E.L.F's Innocence and Desert Haze but many bloggers have said that the Desert Haze has a hint of brown and I wanted a flesh tone.

So here it is... E.L.F Innocence. I used 4 coats but I think 3 would have been fine if I didn't have yellow nails underneath. There's no topcoat in the picture, it's a pretty shiny polish by itself.

Please excuse the broken first finger.

I really like this colour. It's just what I've been looking for and at this price it's a steal!

This month's E.L.F Haul

I put in this order in the middle of the night on Wednesday and it came on Friday morning - amaaazing!

I ordered:

High Definition Powder

Liquid Eyeliner in Black

Brightening Eye Colour in Drama 

Nail Polishes (see below)

Left to Right

Matte Finisher

Innocence

Purple Pleaser

Royal Purple

I spent ages searching for a matte top coat and in the end, ended up doing a swap with Emily from Canada to get my bottle of Essie Matte About You and now there is one available in my country for just £1.50 so I bought it to see how it compares to the Essie.

You may remember that last time I bought E.L.F nail polishes I was really disappointed to find that the colours that arrived in the bottles looked completely different to how I saw them on my monitor.You can see the post here. This time I wasn't disappointed at all because I searched for swatches before I decided which colours to buy rather than going by the pictures on the website.

If anyone would like it, I will do another post similar to last time comparing the colours I've got to the pictures on the website, just let me know. And expect swatches of these babies this week as I'd like to contribute something for other people to refer to before buying these polishes online since others' swatches were so helpful to me.

Sally Hansen Starry, Starry Flight

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Last night I tried out one of the new limited edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polishes, Starry, Starry Flight.  Other than recognizing the similarity to name of the Essie classic, I don't get the name at all.  However, this is one cool polish, so I don't really care.

Starry, Starry Flight is a very fine platinum colored silver glitter.  When applying the first coat, I was thinking this one would never be opaque alone, but after three moderate coats it is.  I finished it with two coats of Seche Vite, and it's glassy smooth despite the glitter.  I have other silver glitters, but I've continued to acquire them because I always want them to look just like Starry, Starry Flight looks - this one's just right, so I'm done buying silver glitters.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Starry, Starry Flight Nail Polish, Three Coats

It's cloudy here, so I don't have bright light to show you how sparkly the glitter is, but at least you can see the color and coverage.

I also found that I've finally gotten used to the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure brush.  I don't believe the brush is different - still moppy but stiff at the same time - but I finally got the hand of using it.  That should make showing you the others I got from this display a little more bearable!

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

♪♫ If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will

Here are my Dalmatian patterned nails for tonights fancy dress. It's a Disney theme so I'm going as one of the Dalmatians!

I used the leopard print pattern from Konad M57 and used a brush to fill in the holes to make spots.

Konad Plate: M57

Base Colour: Stargazer - White

Konad Colour: W7 - Black

Top Coat of NYC

Sally Hansen Fireberry Red

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have another of the new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear nail polishes, Fireberry Red.  It's a dark red with tiny flaky shimmer, and is the one I most wanted of this bunch.  It took three coats to be totally even, and the dry time was a bit below average, but I still like it.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Fireberry Red Nail Polish, Three Coats

On a related note, I ran into the new Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure limited edition nail polishes today while they were on sale, and I picked some up.  I'll have those for you this week.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Nailympics you say?

I'm moving out tomorrow... properly... for good! Well, for the year anyway. I have a birthday party to go to with Disney dress up tomorrow night and I'm going as one of the Dalmatians so I'm gonna go for spotty nails which I will post as soon as I can.

I think some of you might enjoy reading this. It's a story about the 'Nailympics' which were held here in the UK last weekend and has some piccys of amazing, you could call it novelty, nail art. Although it's admittedly not the kind I would try myself, it's still very good. I'm sure you could find more pictures somewhere else too.

Konad Plate: M60
Base Colour: Beauty UK Neon Blue
Konad Colour: Stargazer White
Top Coat of Essie Matte About You

Sally Hansen Cosmic Blue

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have another of the new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears for you, Cosmic Blue.  This one is a bright blue shimmer with regular and bar glitter.  I used two coats, and it applied well.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Cosmic Blue Nail Polish, Two Coats

My criticisms of Cosmic Blue are that the polish seems to be a bit opaque for the glitter to show through (the glitter from the first coat is covered up by the second), and that once dry, the surface is a little bumpy.  Overall, I like how it looks, but I think I'd like it better if those two things were changed.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

SpaRitual Loving in Pink

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have one of SpaRitual's BCA colors for 2010, Loving in Pink.  I don't have a press release on these, so I don't know what the charitable contribution associated with the colors is - I bought them because I like the colors.

Living in Pink is a light pink foil, good in two coats.  It dried faster than average, and was easy to apply.

SpaRitual Loving in Pink Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Daisy Doo

Sorry for the bad pictures recently. Everyday gets shorter and more dreary so it's hard to get any good sun light for taking pictures. For this picture I resorted to using the light from my phone's camera since all of the lightbulbs in my house give photos taken under them an orange tinge.

A comment from Mistress Zombie a few days ago has given me the idea to compile a list of regular polishes I use for stamping. Hopefully it might come in useful for you guys that are into stamping without using the expensive polishes.

I actually don't own, nor ever have owned, any Konad special polishes myself and do all my stamping with regular polishes that I've found through trial, error and good guesswork. I'm aiming to get the list up some time soon - I just need some good lighting to get decent pictures of the bottles... how annoying.

Konad Plate: M3

Base Colour: BYS - Tickle Me Pink

Konad Colour: Maybelline Water Shine Diamonds - Atomic Red

BYS Flirty Sparkle for the dots applied with a brush

Sally Hansen Mystic Lilac

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This week I came across the new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears, and today I have Mystic Lilac for you.  It's kind of a lilac grey shimmer.  I've read reviews criticizing the sheerness of Mystic Lilac, so I layered two coats of it over one coat of SpaRitual Living in the Moment, a grey creme of about the same shade, which provided an opaque base without changing the color of Mystic Lilac.  It worked out well that way.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mystic Lilac Nail Polish, Two Coats

I like the shimmer in it quite a bit, but I don't think it's worth all the hype it's gotten.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader.  Untl next time, love and nail polish to you!  

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies

Plate: Fauxnad M34

Base Colour: W7 - Blue Lagoon

Stamp Colour: Collection 2000 - Moonlight Shine

BYS Astro Gold for the dots and details, applied with a brush

Chanel Rose Confidentiel

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing Chanel Rose Confidentiel, a brownish rose creme.  It's really well pigmented, but I used two coats anyhow to make it nice and shiny.  Here it is completely dry, about twelve hours after I finished the manicure.

Chanel Rose Confidentiel Nail Polish, Two Coats

It's a very tame color, but a nice one that's super shiny.

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Monochrome

Konad Plate: M60
Base Colour: Rimmel Lycra Wear 10 - Black Satin
Konad Colour: Collection 2000 - Moonlight Shine
Top Coat of Essie Matte About You

Chanel Vert Sacrilege

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have an older Chanel nail polish to show you, Vert Sacrilege.  It's a green shimmer, and my bottle was pretty thin, so I needed three coats of it.  Since it's a great shade and I really wanted it for a long time before finally getting hold of it, I'm okay with doing a third coat for his one.  Here is my finished manicure with Vert Sacrilege.

Chanel Vert Sacrilege Nail Polish, Three Coats

I'd given up on this one long ago, but was really pleased and surprised when the opportunity to have it came along.  So don't give up hope!

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

It's beauty that captures your attention; personality which captures your heart

I've just taken a 'Personality Type' quiz that Steph from Imperfectly Painted shared on Twitter and found out that I'm an INTP.

Then I found this website called The Personality Page where you can read about all the personality types and how they are in relationships and at work and such. I find it all very interesting and I thought you guys might like to give it a go.

You can take the quiz here.

Konad Plate: M57

Base Colour: Jay Jays - Thrillseeker

Konad Colour: Nails Inc - Victoria

Sequins from Viva La Nails

Top Coat of NYC

What's your personality type?

A Tragic Loss

I got into a little skirmish with a shower curtain and the shower curtain won. And it took the tip of my thumbnail with it!

This is a new polish that I found reduced in Tesco from the Barbara Daly Make-Up range. I haven't captured it very well in the photo, but it's a gorgeous, deep royal purple.

Plate: Bundle Monster BM16

Base Colour: Barbara Daly - Purplicious

Stamp Colour: Miss Sporty - Zodiac

Gold Bullion from Viva La Nails

Top Coat of NYC

Sally Hansen Salon Heartsapphire

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today's nails of the day is a limited edition drug store polish I from late 2008, Sally Hansen Salon Heartsapphire.  This one came out with Emerald Ring and another that had "tourmaline" in the name (Take a Tourmaline?  Something like that...), and I never did get to see a display of them.  Around the time they were released, I managed to get Emerald Ring and the Tourmaline one, and I was finally able to get hold of Heartsapphire - it's on ebay for less than retail now.

Heartsapphire is a dark blue with subtle pink and blue shimmer.  My bottle of it is a little watery, probably because it's a couple of years old, so I did need a third coat to make it completely even.  For an LE DS polish I've wanted for years, I'm willing to do a third coat.  Here it is finished with top coat under artificial light.

Sally Hansen Salon Heartsapphire Nail Polish, Three Coats

Even though the polish was a little thin, it was easy to control.  Applying Heartsapphire reminded me of how much I liked the old Sally Hansen Salon nail polishes.  They were my favorite drug store brand, and I prefer them to the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure line (although that could be just because I was annoyed when SH took away my old Salons!).

The good news about the discontinuation of the old Salon line is that there are a ton of them available for less than retail on ebay now, including a whole lot of the Tracy Reese and other limited edition shades that were highly coveted and impossible to find when they were initially released.  So even though more won't be produced, at least we can catch up on the hard to find ones we missed before.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader.  Untl next time, love and nail polish to you!