Ulta3 - Metallic Crush Collection Stamping Test

Usually metallics are known to be good for stamping. A few people have been wondering if the latest metallics from Ulta3 would be good for stamping so I've done a quick test. I wasn't expecting them to work because they aren't very opaque. I got some good results:

There are two feather stamps on each nail. From left to right the colours are:

Antique Gold, Jade, 

Pinot, Burnt Orange

Shiraz, Cocoa

Copper, Enchanted

Edit: I used Bundle Monster plate number BM15 from the first set for the feather stamp.

Over white they all work well, except for Shiraz which is a bit sheer. Over black Antique Gold, Pinot and Copper are the only ones that are easily visible. I wasn't expecting any of them to work over black so I was surprised with these results. 

I decided on going squoval for a while until my nails grow out. Not sure if I'll post again until Monday, I think I've gone over my download limit...

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O.P.I - Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI?

O.P.I - Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI?

2 coats

Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI? is from the O.P.I - Holland collection for Spring/Summer 2012. Its a purple creme with a subtle orange/red shimmer. It's pretty in the sunlight. Hard to capture it on camera.

Did you notice I broke two nails? Damn damn damn! They were almost all the same! Does it look ridiculous? Should I file them squoval?

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Artsy Wednesday - Inspired By A Movie

The theme for Artsy Wednesday this week is Inspired By A Movie!

I chose The Hunger Games as the movie for this weeks theme. Effie Trinket has some amazing nails throughout the movie and this is the only mani I could get a good look at:

I started with Essie - Steel-ing The Scene as the base and then painted Ulta3 - Pearly Grape over 2/3 of the nail.  I haven't swatched Pearly Grape on it's own yet. Then I created a gradient by sponging on Steel-ing The Scene and Pearly Grape where the colours met. This was really easy to do and makes me want to do more gradient mains. My boyfriend really likes this one, he gave me a high 5 haha! That's the best reaction I've got after showing him my mani so far. This is also the first Artsy Wednesday I've worn as a full mani.

Check out the other girls participating in Artsy Wednesday:

Michelle - Lab Muffin

Holly - Hooked!

Maria - Maria's Nail Art
Tif - Polished Genius
Lyndsey - Nails by Ms. Lizard
Sofie - Swaafie
Catrine - Unnaked Nails
Melanie - Nail & Polish

Jessica - Beauty Gnome

We now post at exactly the same time so all the other Artsy Wednesday posts should be there for you to read!

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O.P.I - Thanks A WindMillion

O.P.I - Thanks A WindMillion

2 coats

Thanks A WindMillion is from the O.P.I - Holland collection for Spring/Summer 2012. It's a muted sea green creme. The formula was nice. This is my first full size O.P.I and I like the brush. It's flatter and wider than regular brushes, easy to work with.
 I'm really liking muted shades at the moment. I guess that's because we are coming into colder months. I hate this time of the year. I like hot weather, I feel like we didn't have a Summer at all because it was so mild. I hope the Winter wont be colder than usual too. Can't wait to head over to Bali in 39 days for some hot weather!

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Ulta3 - Metallic Crush Collection

I've decided to start posting entire collections in the same post rather than dragging it out over 8 days or so. Not that I buy entire collections very often but when I do this is what you'll get. Anyway, here's Ulta3's Metallic Crush collection - Autumn/Winter 2012!

Ulta3 - Antique Gold

2 coats

Antique Gold is a yellow gold metallic. I'm not much of a gold polish lover but this one is a pretty shade. Be careful with your brush strokes because this polish is not forgiving when It dries.

 Ulta3 - Copper

2 coats

Copper is an orange metallic. I would have loved this to be more pink toned like real life copper. Again brush strokes are visible with this one.

Ulta3 - Burnt Orange

2 coats

Burnt Orange is an orange creme with shimmer. Different from the rest of the collection. Ulta3 has a habit of making one polish a different finish from the rest. The Summer Siren collection were all cream's except for one shimmer and the Floral Fever Collection were all shimmer's except for one creme. 

Ulta3 - Pinot

2 coats

Pinot is a red metallic. Very similar to Shiraz which is also in this collection. I had to make sure I  included the name of each polish in their swatches so I couldn't get confused over which one was which.

Ulta3 - Shiraz

2 coats

Shiraz is a also a red metallic. There are slight differences between Shiraz and Pinot. I've put a comparison at the bottom of this post so you can see for yourself. The shimmer in Shiraz hides the brush stokes unlike the other shades.

 Ulta3 - Cocoa

2 coats

Cocoa is a dark brown metallic. I wasn't expecting to like this one more than any of the others but after swatching this one it turned out to be my favourite of the collection. The brush strokes weren't as noticeable as some of the other shades. I can't wait to wear this one again!

 Ulta3 - Enchanted

2 coats

Enchanted is a green shimmer in a deep plum base. In the bottle the green shimmer overpowers the base but on the nail it's a different story. When I first saw bottle pictures of this collection I thought Enchanted would be my favourite. I still like it, but not as much as I was expecting.

 Ulta3 - Jade

2 coats

Jade is a green frosty metallic. This is too frosty for my liking. It looks great in the bottle and I was expecting this to be really nice. This shows brush stokes easily.

The differences I noticed between these two is that Pinot is more opaque and slightly darker. The brush stokes are more noticeable with Pinot than with Shriaz, you can see that I was a little sloppy with the application on my ring finger. Shiraz has more of a shimmery finish than a metallic finish which helps hide the brush strokes. 

Even with the brush stroke issues I prefer Pinot.

Overall, I like this collection, but I was disappointed that Ulta3 released two very similar shades of red in the same collection! 

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China Glaze - Dress Me Up

China Glaze - Dress Me Up

2 coats

Dress Me Up is from the China Glaze - Capitol Colors collection 2012. It's a dusty rose creme. This was very opaque, but still needed two coats. I love China Glaze cremes, this one had a great formula. 
I forgot to mention that each of the polishes in the Capitol Colors collection represents a district! Dress Me Up represents District 8 (Textiles). Districts for the other ones I swatched:
Luxe and Lush - District 1 (Luxury)
Fast Track - District 6 (Transportation)
Smoke and Ashes - District 12 (Mining)


I had to edit this photo in Photoshop to make this look colour accurate. It was coming out a horrible brown colour on my camera! I hope my poor editing skills aren't making you Photoshop experts cringe.

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China Glaze - Luxe and Lush

China Glaze - Luxe and Lush (over Smoke and Ashes)

1 coat

Luxe and Lush is from the China Glaze - Capitol Colors collection 2012. It's a duo-chrome foil flake polish. The colours change from orange, gold to green.I dabbed this on my nails rather than applying normally, this helped the flakes to spread out evenly. This dries dull and the flakes stick out so you'll need top coat. I used one coat of Ulta3 - Non Chip and then two coats of Seche Vite.


This is the combination I wore to the movie last night.

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O.P.I - The Amazing Spider-man Collection

Your Web or Mine?  -  Call Me Gwen-Ever   -  Number One Nemesis

Just Spotted The Lizard  -  My Boyfriend Scales Walls  -  Into The Night

 Green Shatter

So what do you think about this collection? My picks are Into The Night and Just Spotted The Lizard. I might pick up the mini set because I'll get four colours for the price of about one. This collection is due out in May.

I found a comparison of Just Spotted The Lizard and Chanel - Peridot here. There's also some wheel  swatches here.

Images Source: Nailed Blog and Oh No They Didn't!

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China Glaze - Smoke and Ashes

China Glaze - Smoke and Ashes

2 coats

Smoke and Ashes is from the China Glaze - Capitol Colors collection 2012. It's green shimmer  flakes in a dark base. I don't think the base is black, it's more like a really dark blue grey.  In the bottle the shimmer flakes look duo-chrome, green and blue and a tiny bit of gold. It doesn't transfer to the nail unfortunately but it's still really pretty. This was opaque although I still needed two coats to even out the first one.

I'm going to see The Hunger Games movie tonight! I can't wait. I'm wearing Smoke and Ashes topped with Luxe and Lush. Who else is going to see it, or were you lucky enough to be at the premier? What will you wear to the movie?

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Artsy Wednesday - Blue

The theme for Artsy Wednesday this week is Blue!

I had a plan for this week that sounded great in my head. It ended up being a disaster! I did this design on my pinky and hated it but though I should keep going, maybe it would look OK once I had finished. Wrong. I did two more nails and gave up. Here's my failed attempt at blue nails:

Ewwwwww! I started with China Glaze - Secret Peri-Wink-le and then stamped with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue It using Bundle Monster plate BM10 (first set). I used the stamp for a guide to keep my beads and rhinestones straight. Then I applied some top coat in the middle of the stamp and started placing the beads. 

Moving on...I though I'd try another design and it was fine until I smudged two fingers!

For this one I used a base of China Glaze - Secret Peri-Wink-le and the stripes are China Glaze - Dorothy Who?.

Check out the other girls participating in Artsy Wednesday:

Michelle - Lab Muffin

Holly - Hooked!
Maria - Maria's Nail Polish Blog
Tif - Polished Genius

Lyndsey - Nails by Ms. Lizard

Sofie - Swaafie

Catrine - Unnaked Nails 

Please note that some girls are in a different time zone and their posts may not appear for a few hours.

If you are interested in joining Artsy Wednesdays please contact myself or any of the other girls. You can contact me here: prettypurplepolish@gmail.com.

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China Glaze - Fast Track

China Glaze - Fast Track
3 coats

Fast Track is from the China Glaze Capitol Colors collection - 2012. It's a light taupe creme with small gold shimmer flakes. This is really pretty, not sure if it suits me but I like it anyway! It's an office appropriate colour, not that it matters at my workplace.

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March Haul

So I got a little out of control with my nail polish purchases this month but I have a good reason!! 

I went to ProNail Supply at Bankstown and found discontinued polishes! I had no choice but to buy them. Also I had to get some of the Capitol Colors polishes.

OMG  -  FYI  -  GR8  -  TTYL

 

 TMI (not colour accurate) -  QT  -  LOL

2NITE  -  DV8  -  L8R G8R

 

He's Goin In Circles  -  Kaleidoscope Him Out

 

Smoke and Ashes  -  Dress Me Up  -  Fast Track  -  Luxe and Lush 

 

DS Original  -  DS Sapphire

 

Absolutely Alice  -  My Private Jet (Not original holo version)  -  Ink

Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI?  -  Thanks a WindMillion

  

 

 

Sapphire Luck  -  Recycle

I got all the China Glaze except for the Capitol Colors ones from ProNail Supply for $6 each. The Capitol Colors polishes came from Trans Design $5.22 each (including postage).

The O.P.I came from ProNail Supply for $12 each. 

Michelle from Lab Muffin was kind enough to get the Ulta3's for me. Thanks Michelle!

The Orly came from Priceline, they had a sale, $4.99 each.

I was able to cross a few lemmings off on my wish list. I was so excited on the way home from  ProNail Supply that I wasn't paying attention to my GPS and missed most of the turn off's to my house.

I'm going to wait for my nails to grow out before I swatch the holos because I want to have nice swatch pictures. 

So in terms of how much I spent this month....if my calculations are correct...$199.91! 

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More Nail Polish 'Inspired By' Nail Art Competition

Cathy from More Nail Polish held a nail art competition where you had to create a mani based on something that you were inspired by.

This was the image I used for my inspiration:

 Image source: The Symbiont

This was my entry:

Colours used:

L'Oreal Paris - Deep Black
Ulta3 - Gold Digger
Ulta3 - Gold Rush Fever

I used Deep Black for the base and then one coat of Gold Digger over the top. Then I mixed a bit of Gold Digger and Gold Rush Fever together and applied it with a small nail art brush to make the lines.

My inspiration was city lights. It's my favourite view, I love watching the lights twinkle. The lines are supposed to be highways coming out from the city.

Have a look at all the other inspirational manis! Entries 1-30, Entries 31-61, Entries 62-92. The judges are going to have a hard time picking their favourite.

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Shatter Me Claire Franken March Competition

Claire from Shatter Me Claire is having a franken competition. The entries are closed but you can now vote on your favourite! I used this competition as an excuse to make me create a franken. I bought a heap of frankenpolish supplies from Beauty World a few months ago and didn't really get around to making anything.

Here's my entry:

Dare to Wear - Peacock

2 coats

Peacock is small purple, blue and green hex glitters in a blue jelly base. The name peacock didn't really come to mind until after I had put it on. I used two coats of Seche Vite and it's still a little bumpy. This is my first real franken, before this I've only created disasters. I couldn't picture what it would look like in my head before creating it but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Ingredients (5ml bottle):
(I used the large end of a sea monkeys spoon to measure out the dry ingredients) 

6 spoons of Fuschia Solvent stable glitter 0.015 Hex

4 spoons of Blue Solvent stable glitter 0.015 Hex

2 spoons of Green Solvent stable glitter 0.015 Hex

10 drops of Tinted lacquer Base Ferric Ferrocyanide ( dark blue)

Fill the rest of the bottle with Untinted Lacquer Base

 

Make sure you have a look at all the entries and vote on your favourite one here. Voting closes 30th March.

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Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Speedy Sunburst

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Speedy Sunburst

1 coat

Speedy Sunburst is from the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri line. It's a orange toned red creme polish and yes you read that right, this is one coat. Most of the Insta-Dri line are one coaters. I do have one sheer pink Insta-Dri that would never built up to bottle colour. I think it must be for French tip nails. The Insta-Dri polishes also have a wide brush which can take some getting used to. A lot of polish stays on the brush so you'll have to be careful to wipe it off otherwise all of a sudden you have a pool of polish on your nail. This one is good for stamping. I did a test last year, you can see that post here.

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Scandal - Purple Dia

Scandal  - Purple Dia

4 coats

Purple Dia is a small square silver glitter with small and large silver hex glitter in a sheer purple jelly base. If you apply enough coats it builds up to cover the nail but some parts look a little 'bald'. This ended up being really thick and was taking forever to dry. I didn't wait to see how long it took because I was just swatching it.

I like this best over a base colour. It still takes longer to dry than normal polish, even with Seche Vite. 

Scandal - Purple Dia

2 coats (Over piCture pOlish - Wisteria)

My ring finger is a little smudged, I bumped it when it was still drying. Whoops!

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