Illamasqua Nomad and Stance Swatches + Water Marble

Helloooo! I found myself once again at the Illamasqua counter...like a moth to a flame, every single time. The staff are always so friendly and wearing stunning make-up which draws me to it even more. I picked up Nomad and Stance, the two new polishes from the 2012 Human Fundamentalism collection. 

First up is Nomad. I would say this is perhaps a tiny bit lighter than my picture suggests, but only ever so slightly. I, unlike a lot of people, am a huge fan of green shades, especially ones like this. I would describe it as minty jade. Is that a colour? It is now. 

Lovely, easy to work with formula, as you would expect from Illamasqua. Dries to a nice glossy creme finish. I used two coats plus topcoat in my pictures.

Click the jump for Stance and a water marble!

Models Own Indian Ocean and Models Own Black Swirl

I picked up Indian Ocean by Models Own yesterday, from the Beetlejuice collection. It looks gorgeous in the bottle, but the formula is very very sheer and even after 4 coats I still had severe VNL. So, I decided to put it over something instead.

Here it is over Black Swirl, also from Models Own. The dark colour really made it fun! 

Multichrome mix of gold, pink, brown...maybe more.

It also has a nice shimmery finish to it. Both polishes have very smooth, easy to manage formulas.

I'd definitely say it was a layering polish, and there's so many things you could try it with.

Finally here's my mini-haul from this week - 

Illamasqua Nomad and Stance, Models Own Purple Blue, Tropical Sun and Indian Ocean, Barry M Raspberry. 

Models Own Bubblegum - Swatches

In honour of the beautiful sunny weather in England, I'm busting out the neons! It never seems right to post these on dull days!

This is Bubblegum from Models Own. It does not get much brighter than this.

Neon barbie pink! Totally not to everyone's taste, but I most definitely will go there with these colours. If my fingers look a bit of a weird colour, it's because I had to play with the white balance for colour accuracy...neons do not like being photographed very much. 

Direct sunlight:

Good god, get those sunnies out. 

The formula of this polish is lovely, very smooth application and a one-coater if you're not messy like me. It dries to a nice matte finish.

I swear my fingers are not that wrinkly. Thanks, camera.

I hope this weather lasts! Or I'll have neon-pink nails in the rain.

Calvin Klein Navy Sparkle Swatches

I have a haul of Calvin Klein polishes that I got for cheap, because their make-up line is apparently discontinued. I think I got 10 bottles for about £14! 

This is Navy Sparkle. Admittedly it looks more exciting in the bottle than it does on my nails. It's a deep navy blue base with blue-green shimmer through it.

Nice, but not as fun as the bottle suggests. BUT! It takes on new life in the sunlight!

So THERE is the sparkle that the name promised. I knew it was in there somewhere. It actually looks really nice and has a very glassy finish. 

If at first you don't succeed, shove your hand into direct sunlight.

China Glaze White Cap and Marks and Spencer Bright Aqua

More layering today. White Cap was a polish sent to me by Mel and I love it. It's a very sheer white jelly, full of tiny gold shimmery flakes. 

I layered it over Bright Aqua from Marks and Spencer, which is a turquoise base with turquoise shimmer. It's quite sheer, I needed three coats to cover up my nail line, and even then it's still a bit visible.

It all made for a very shimmery finish and makes me want to jump in a pool!

OPI I Lily Love You and China Glaze Sexy In The City

I Lily Love You is one of my favourite OPI polishes, and I've been trying it out with a few things. I was lucky enough to get it for £5 in the last Lena White sale. 

Here it is over Sexy In The City by China Glaze

 I Lily Love you is a (very)sheer pink jelly base full of chunky, different sized iridescent flakies and glitter, from the Summer 2011 Nice Stems! collection. It really does look like you could eat it. I decided to layer it over Sexy In The City, because I haven't seen it over a blue before.

Turned out really cute!

Look at all those flakies and glitter. I am a complete magpie when it comes to shiny, glittery things.

China Glaze Stone Cold Swatches

Here's another of my favourites from the China Glaze Hunger Games Capitol Colours collection.

Excuse my little finger nail. It snapped off. Looks lovely doesn't it? Some people say Brit nails is short for Brittle nails.

Anyway. This is Stone Cold. It's matte! A dark, gunmetal grey base with lots of muted silver shimmer. 

Formula was typical for a matte, quite thick and gloopy so you need to work fast or it'll drag. Two thin coats  worked best for me.

I love matte and I love dark grey, so I think I'll be using this quite often.

Also, you can now follow me on Pinterest. My head is spinning with all these social networks!

China Glaze Fast Track Swatches

I got some Nail Mail this morning! Oh eBay, I do love you. Mostly.

This is China Glaze - Fast Track, from the recently released Hunger Games Capitol Colours collection. I got so excited when I heard about this collection, since I am a massive fan of the books (well, not so much the third book but that's another, somewhat ranty, story) but when I saw the first swatches emerge, I only really liked four of them. Fast Track caught my attention the most...it's subtle but so beautiful. 

It's a creme beige base, packed with tiny gold flakes, which give it a subtle but noticeable shimmer. It's also not as sheer as you might think, my pictures are three coats but two would have done fine. I'm so in love with it!

Also, I think after seven months of blogging I've finally found a camera angle for my pictures that works for me. Better (extremely)late than never!

Silver Swirls

My stamping plates have been feeling neglected. That's the only reason I can come up with for why they fell out of a box and landed on my head. Okay plates, have it your way.

This is China Glaze - Custom Kicks (LOVE this colour/formula. Such a dream. DOES NOT show true colour on camera though. Take a look at all the variations on Google image search!)

Using a design from Bundle Monster plate 201, I stamped with Barry M - Silver Foil Effects. The turquoise and silver look so pretty together!

Bonus pic - CAKES! I made these for my Mum, as today is Mother's Day in the UK :)

Accessorize Pink Spice Swatches

I really should be putting clothes away, but I've decided if they sit there long enough, they will put themselves away. That or just dissolve. So on...to the polish!! 

This has been lurking in my Helmer for a good while, I just bought it without really thinking about it. Then I noticed on Pinterest that I was sitting on a MAC BAD FAIRY DUPE!! I flew over to the Helmer to swatch it, and ooooooh is it beautiful.

Now I do not own Bad Fairy, but I think this is a bloody good dupe. And a mere £4 a bottle. Be still my heart. This is a foily, duochromey combination of wonderment. It flashes copper/orange, and deep (almost red) pink, and is packed with shimmer.

Formula was lovely, I used three coats to build it up as it's a little bit sheer, but super manageable. 

Look how pretty!! I just love it. I'm going to try and pick up another bottle for my giveaway, which should be happening next week :)

Also, I have a few new ways of following me, as Google Friend Connect is being a meanie to non-blogger bloggers. You can now find me on:

Bloglovin

Twitter

I should perhaps also make a Facebook page, but the thought of that scares me!

Barry M Instant Nail Effects Lilac Swatches

Here's another of Barry M's foil effect nail polishes, this time in Lilac. You can see my post on Gold and Silver here.

This is a really pretty, subtle shade of lilac. It reminds me of princesses! (Fairytale ones, not Kate Middleton ones).

It's a one coater, though you may want to apply two to even out streaks (as with all foils this is a bit streaky, but its definitely not unmanageable) .

I really like Barry M's foil range and I hope they release more colours in the future (pink...hint hint)

Also, if you haven't left me feedback on my tutorial, I'd be grateful if you would! I'll also soon be having a belated 200 follower giveaway! :)

Tutorial: Tropical Tiger

I've been thinking about making tutorials for a while, but I thought I'd be pretty bad at it. I finally decided to give it a go though, so here we have my first ever tutorial. I appreciate feedback!

Instructions after the jump!

Illamasqua Jo'Mina - Swatches

This polish is driving me insane. It has to be one of the most difficult to photograph that I've ever encountered. Just look on Google image search...you'll see about ten different variations! I don't even feel like the swatch on the official website is all that accurate. I tried my very best to get accurate colour representation and this is as close as I can get. It's not too far off, just imagine it a little more vibrant and less pastel-like. 

Jo'Mina is from the Spring/Summer 2009 Body Electrics collection (god, I just love Illamasqua) and it really is gorgeous. As always it has a smooth formula, and is opaque in two coats. It's pretty streak free, as cremes go.

Unfortunately not 100% colour accurate, but it gives an idea. Just have to buy it, won't you? ;)

Topshop Hidden Treasure Swatches

I'm back from Rome! And of course as soon as I get home, I get sick. I had an amazing time though and eating food in this country is now always going to be a huge disappointment in comparison! I didn't buy any polish in Rome...strangely enough I couldn't even find any. I got overly excited when I found a Sephora (We don't have those in the UK) but all it had was some overpriced Essie. Disappointed!

This is Hidden Treasure by Topshop, a beautiful gold and green duochrome. It's a dupe of Chanel Peridot, but I don't own that to compare.

I was pleasantly surprised by the formula, it was buttery smooth, and the brush in the Topshop polishes is really good. It's a little sheer and takes 3 coats for total opaqueness, but there isn't any streakiness at all.

So shimmery in the sunlight!

I'll be trying more of these polishes, though for some reason I've always kind of hated Topshop! Must get over it!