BK Matte Pureple

I have some great news guys! I was one of the winning 25 in the Bundle Monster competition. I want to thank every single one of you that voted for me, I really couldn't have done it without you. If, like me, you love yourself a bit of internet drama, there was some controversy on Bundle Monster's facebook page when one of the girls who didn't place in the top 25 got on her high horse and started complaining about the competition, even going as far as to single out another innocent girl's entry like a playground bully then continue to talk herself in to a deep hole. I must admit, I did put my two cents in because I just couldn't sit there and watch her going on like an intolerable toddler.

This polish is another of Born Pretty's new matte polishes called Pureple. No, that's not a typo, it really is pure-ple. 

Again, I'm super impressed with this polish. The colour is a pinky lavender soufflé with a lovely frosty finish that I haven't really seen in matte polishes before. And there's not a single brush stroke in sight. 

I didn't get a great picture of it with the top coat but I can assure you it looks absolutely gorgeous. 'Twinkly' is the word I would use to describe the way it looks with a glossy top coat - somewhere between a glitter and holographic. I just love it.

The design is from Konad Plate M64 stamped with Nails Inc. Victoria and finished with a top coat of NYC.

You can buy the polish here and as I mentioned before, postage is free worldwide so I really recommend you take a look at Born Pretty Store if you're in need of any nail supplies.

Previously: BK Smoky Grey Black

BK Matte Smoky Grey Black

Jessica from Born Pretty Store got in contact with me recently to tell me about some new polishes that she had in stock. They're Matte so I immediately jumped at the chance to review them. I have a long standing love affair with matte nails though I don't actually own many polishes that are matte, I always just use a matte top coat to get 'the look'. The name on the bottle is BK, which I've never heard of before. 

I was pleasantly surprised at the high quality and finish of this polish, especially since it's such a low price. The brush is narrow and flat which made it really easy to apply the polish neatly. It was opaque in two coats but, as I do with all dark colours, I added another for maximum colour intensity. I love that it's full of tiny silver flecks which give a great depth to the polish, as opposed to it being a flat old grey.

Manglaze Fuggen Ugly came to mind when I saw this polish on my nails. I don't own Fuggen Ugly myself but I looked at a few swatches and to my eyes it seems like a really close match.

I added the bluebell design from Konad M54 using GOSH Metallic Purple and finished it off with a top coat of NYC. I definitely prefer this polish matte. The silver speckle is really muted with a glossy top coat.

You can buy this shade from Born Pretty Store here. Shipping is free worldwide! How amazing is that? And all the products are so cheap. I actually just ordered a few of the Konad copies which are only $1.55 each at the moment because I really want to see how they compare to real Konad plates. 

I have to add one thing about Born Pretty which is that the website is kind of a nuisance to navigate and can be hard to understand in some places (example) but I think this is just down to some bad translation. For the prices of the stuff, I'm not really going to complain!

Barry M Dusky Mauve

Here are a few pictures of Barry M Dusky Mauve. This is rumoured to be a dupe for Chanel's Paradoxal. I can't give you a solid opinion on that claim but judging from swatches I've seen of the Chanel, I'd say it is pretty darn close!

I wore this on New Years Eve and lots of my friends commented on it. My bestie (who has never bought a polish in her life!) even said she's going to get some to wear at work because it looks so sophisticated.

I also have Models Own Purple Grey in my collection which you can see here. This polish is a good match for the colour of Dusky Mauve but doesn't have the shimmer - it's just a plain creme.

And of course - I had to put a Konad over it and matte it up.

Konad Plate: M57

Base Colour: Barry M - Dusky Mauve

Konad Colour: Collection 2000 - Moonlight Shine

Top Coat of Essie Matte About You

Matte Metallics

Konad Plate: M54

Base Colour: BYS - Fuschia Flash
Konad Colour: Sally Hansen Chrome - Amber
Top Coat of Essie Matte About You

(I'm Definitely in a) Matte Mood

Sorry I have been lagging on posts recently. When I started this blog, I posted every single day and I'm finally running out of ideas so the weekly post count has gone way down. The thing is I have used pretty much every image I own (and like) in every colour combo I can think of, so I really need to get some new plates and polishes suitable for stamping. Hopefully Santa Claus will bring me some soon.

This week, all I've been wearing are blues and 'mattifying' them. I actually painted my nails thrice yesterday with all different blues, once with a stamp design but I didn't feel like it was up to scratch for posting.

Konad Plate: M57
Base Colour: BYS - Fools Paradise
Konad Colour: Collection 2000 Maxiflex - Moonlight Shine
Top Coat of E.L.F Matte Finisher

November Debut

This mani is practically an exact duplicate of one I did a few months back just with different colours and a matte top coat.

I would have done something totally kick ass and original for my November debut mani, especially considering I haven't posted for a week now. But since I thought my camera was broken I obviously wasn't expecting to be able to post one but what the heck, here it is.

Check out my index finger! It's never been so long. They're normally so weak and I guess, because I use my index finger the most, the corners snap off every few days so normally I keep them quite short but I've been using OPI's Original Nail Envy for over a week and I think my nails are stronger for it.

Plate: Bundle Monster - BM18
Base Colour: Claire's Mood - Confident/Peaceful
Stamp Colour: Stargazer - White
NYC Glossies 243B for the line
Top Coat of Essie Matte About You

Revlon Fire Fox

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been neglecting you this week because I've been pretty uninspired as far as interesting manicures lately.  Then yesterday, I saw the display for the Revlon Matte Suedes, which I've seen before, but they appealed to me enough to pick them up yesterday, and I was eager to try Fire Fox out.

I used a ridge filling base coat, then three coats of Fire Fox.  Mine was quite thin, so it needed three to get opaque.  Once it dried, I absolutely hated it.  My vision was of a vivid, shimmery red that was matte, so it wouldn't really look real.  What I got was a moderately shiny, not too shimmery, rubbery feeling thing happening.  I took a picture anyhow so I could tell you about it.

Revlon Fire Fox Nail Polish, Three Coats

The other weird thing was that there were parts that would not dry at all.  I didn't feel like doing my nails again, so I figured I'd top coat it.  I used RBL Matte top coat to see if that would make it look like what I had in mind.

Revlon Fire Fox Nail Polish Finished with RBL Matte Top Coat

Now it's matte and the rubbery feeling is gone, but there's still no shimmer to speak of.  To be honest, if I have to add matte top coat to take the shine off of a matte nail polish, that's a kind of crappy polish.  So I'll likely return Fire Fox's friends that have not been opened because this was no fun at all.

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

E.L.F Matte Finisher Review

Here are a few pictures of E.L.F.'s Matte Finisher which recently became available in the UK online store.

I haven't seen any matte top coats in stores here, but when I took place in a swap with another nail blogger in Canada, I got hold of Essie's Matte About You. 

So... when I saw that E.L.F.'s Matte Finisher was now available in the UK I had to buy it!

I have tested this out this a few times before now, so I can tell you guys my thoughts on day-to-day wear. But first, the pictures...

This colour is Barbara Daly Cardinal - a slightly metallic, fuchsia pink. I chose to swatch with this colour because the change from glossy to matte is nice and obvious.

And here it is with E.L.F's Matte Finisher.

Please note that I used Essie Matte About You on my thumb nail for comparison.

As you can see - the resulting matte finish is great.

Click here for a gif animation of the two pictures.

My Verdict

I think this is a great polish for the price - considering the prices of other similar top coats that are out there.

If you're wearing this for more than a day, you may need to add a fresh coat each day as it begins to go more glossy with wear. It's almost as if it gets buffed back to a shine.

The results are not always consistent - when I wore this finisher over E.L.F's Innocence last week, it did not 'mattify' every nail. You can see below that my forefinger is still sort of glossy.

AND, it has cracked on my little finger which has also happened again since. I think it's just because was a new bottle at the time because it seems to be working fine now.

So if you are looking for a Matte Top Coat on a budget - this is for you. 

It gives a good matte finish and compares well next to Essie Matte About You. Just be sure to shake the bottle well and give it a chance to warm up before you give up on it for cracking or not doing it's job properly!

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

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

Flower Power

You may notice that my post is a little later than normal today. I spent most of my day at the house I am renting this year and shopping for decor to go inside it!

I was a bit disappointed when I first moved my stuff in as it hadn't been cleaned properly and had a miserable feel to it, I think because it was empty and really seemed hollow. But now that me and the other girls are filling it with stuff and making it a bit more homely, I think it looks and feels much nicer. 

I also received some great news last night. I passed the exam I had to resit last month so I get to progress to the next year of my course! Phew! I'm sooo happy now!

Konad Plate: M64
Base Colour: La Femme - Mint Cream
Konad Colour: NYC Nail Glossies - 243B
For the flowers: BYS - Astro Gold
Top Coat of Essie Matte About You

Pastels

Here are some not so summery nails, but I really like the pastelly palette of this one.

Plate: Fauxnad from eBay- M54
Base Colour: Barry M - Mushroom
Stamp Colour: Collection 2000 Hot Looks - Dynasty
Top Coat of Essie Matte About You

More Matte

I've finally got these tip stamps down! For ages, whenever I tried, they would end up trailing down my nail and I would get really frustrated.

I used some little flakies from Viva La Nails. They look pink in the packet but are kind of transparent pink so they just look a bit iridescent on the nail.

Konad Plate: M56
Base Colour: L'Oreal Jet-Set - 225 (No Name)
Konad Colour: Collection 2000 - Moonlight Shine
Sparklies stuck on with Miss Sporty top coat
Top Coat of Essie Matte About You

Candy Matte

Plate: Bundle Monster - BM20
Base Colour: NYC - Prince Street
Stamp Colour: Collection 2000 - Moonlight Shine

And after a coat of Essie Matte About You...

I love it with the matte. It looks tasty :)

A Matte I Don't Like (and new BYS's ♥)

What do you think of this colour mattified? I'm not a fan myself, even though this is my absolute favourite colour!

Plate: Bundle Monster - BM11
Base Colour: Glo Baby Glo from Primark - Yes Cyan!
Stamp Colour: Sally Hansen Chrome - Amber
Top Coat of Essie Matte About You

My New BYS's

In case you didn't know, BYS is my favourite brand for Nail Polish. It's Australian, but a store called QS (I think the name's changing to Store Twenty One) stocks the range here in the UK.

I got these two today along with a bottle of Astro Gold for my Mum. Unfortunately, they didn't have any Tinkerbell, which I really wanted to add to my next giveaway, but I did get a polish to join the giveaway goodies I'm stashing.

La Di Da is more purple than it looks in the photo, kind of a dusty purple on the nail.

Fools Paradise is exactly the Turquoise I've been looking for. Slightly more green than blue.

I'm Mad About Matte About You

I finally got my swap package yesterday and after trying on the mood polishes, I tried out the Essie Matte About You over BYS Glittering Purple and decided to wear it all day. I love the effect, it was totally worth the wait!! Thanks, Emily.

OPI Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow Suede

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I'd recently ordered OPI's Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow Suede from Trans Design, and have swatches of it for you.  The pictures were taken in somewhat low natural light, first matte, then shiny.

I used ridge filling base coat under this, since mattes are so unforgiving, but made sure it was dry before applying the nail polish.  I used two coats of Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow Suede.  It applied easily and is much thinner and less pigmented than the other OPI Suedes.

OPI Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow Suede Nail Polish, Two Coats

I added one coat of top coat to it, but it wasn't perfectly smooth that way.  To fix it, I added a coat of Gelous and then another top coat, and it's nice and shiny and shimmery.

OPI Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow Suede Nail Polish, Two Coats with Top Coat

I like it.  It's greener and less black than the regular version of the color, and seems to be an improved version of the Suede formula.  It's a lot of coats, but since the color dries so fast, it's not a big deal.

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

Nubar The Night Sky & Nubar 2010 Preview

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I just got a package from Nubar with samples of their new releases from May 1, Nubar 2010 and The Night Sky Collection.  Nubar 2010 is their 10th anniversary color, and I just did a preview of one swatch of it because I was racing a storm for light.  Nubar 2010 is like Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure all hyped on a couple of pots of coffee, so it will get its own post later.  I happened to be wearing Chanel Black Satin when I got it, so I slapped on a coat and took some pictures.  The Night Sky Collection is a collection of mattes packaged with a bottle of Diamont to make them super shimmery normal nail polishes.

First, the Nubar 2010 preview.  Here's a picture of the bottle.

Nubar 2010 Bottle Picture

Here's one coat over Black Satin from two different angles in relatively low natural light.

Nubar 2010, One Coat, over Chanel Black Satin, First View

Nubar 2010, One Coat, over Chanel Black Satin, Second View

Can you see why this one's going to need its own post on a day when I have good light?  Two things I noticed are how shiny it is and that it's super quick drying.  I see real potential for this one!

On to The Night Sky Collection.  It consists a silver, golden bronze, and charcoal, all very shimmery, and packaged and advertised to be worn either matte or with top coat, so I took pictures of both.  I'll show you without, then with, for each.  All three were quite smooth to apply, took two coats, were very fast drying, and are smooth with one coat of top coat.

Sunset is the golden bronze.

Nubar Sunset Nail Polish, Two Coats, No Top Coat

Nubar Sunset Nail Polish, Two Coats, with One Coat Diamont

Twilight is the silver.

Nubar Twilight Nail Polish, Two Coats, No Top Coat

Nubar Twilight Nail Polish, Two Coats, with One Coat Diamont

Midnight is the charcoal, and this one is over a base of Nubar Foundation.  I'm wearing this one.

Nubar Midnight Nail Polish, Two Coats, No Top Coat

Nubar Midnight Nail Polish, Two Coats, with One Coat Diamont

Those are Nubar's new offerings for us.  There's rain in the forecast for me for the next few days, but as soon as I have some sun I'll swatch Nubar 2010 over different colors so we can see what happens.

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

Zoya Winter Matte Velvet Collection

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I just got Zoya's Winter Matte Velvets, and thought I'd show them to you. Each is two coats over one coat of Nubar Foundation (even thought they recommend no base cost).

Harlow is a magenta shimmer.

Zoya Winter Matte Velvet Nail Polish: Harlow, Two Coats

Veruschka is a green shimmer.

Zoya Winter Matte Velvet Nail Polish: Veruschka, Two Coats

Savita is a blue purple shimmer.

Zoya Winter Matte Velvet Nail Polish: Savita, Two Coats

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