August Haul

So I think I went a bit crazy this month after No Buy July. It didn't help that there was the piCture pOlish Blog Fest late last month, a Llarowe restock, Floam came back in stock on Ninja Polish and the new Pretty Serious collection was released! Most of this stuff I got in the last few days. Here's what I hauled this month: Aussie indie brands Peita's Polish and Gloss n' Sparkle From left to right: Mermaid Tetris, Zebration, Purpetual...

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Barry M - Indigo

Barry M  - Indigo This one was hard to photograph. In some lights it looks blue and then in others it looks more purple toned, it's a blurple! This is an old swatch so sorry about the quality. This looks like it's one of my pre light box photos. It's got my old watermark on it too! This is the last swatch I have before I have to move onto photos of the my nubbins (even though my nails in this photo are pretty short). Tomorrows...

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China Glaze Glimmers Collection Preview

Images source: Everything2K Yay glitter! I'm on a glitter kick at the moment especially since the PVA base coat discovery! I'll probably get Bling It On, Mosaic Madnes (I wonder if that's an intentional typo) and Graffiti Glitter as purple, blue and green are my top three colours. This collection will be available in December 2012...

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Artsy Wednesday: Inspired By Jewellery

The theme for Artsy Wednesday this week is Inspired by Jewellery! This weeks nail art was inspired by a ring my friend made.  She sells her stuff at the markets, she's @belrosedesign on Instagram if you're interested. My nails don't look very arty but there is actually a bit of layering going on. I started with a base of Secret Peri-Wink-Le then sponged Wisteria over the top. I used a striping brush with Orchid to...

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China Glaze Cirque DuSoleil Worlds Away Collection Preview

Image credit: Everything2K This collection is due out in November. I haven't got any information on the names of the polishes in this collection. That silver looking bottle behind the blur at the front looks interesting. Can't wait to see some swatches. The Cirque DuSoleil movie is going to be released in late February in Australia so I might take my boyfriend for his birthday. Good thing he doesn't read my blog or it would...

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Yves Rocher - Bleu Nuit

Yves Rocher - Bleu Nuit Bleu nuit is French for blue night.  3ml! I think this is officially the smallest bottle of polish I own. I had used it for a full mani before taking the picture in this post. Look at it compared to the other bottle. I think I'd only get about 4 - 5 manis out of it so I'm going to have to use it sparingly. Yves Rocher has international online stores but unfortunately not an Australian one....

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PVA Glue Base Coat Questions and Wear Test

I received a lot of questions regarding the PVA base coat so I thought I'd put the answers together in a post. A lot of you were concerned that it would be harmful for use on your nails so I hope these answers will put you at ease. What is PVA glue? PVA stands for Polyvinyl acetate. It's a widely used type of glue. You may know it as wood glue, white glue, craft glue or Elmers glue (especially if you're from the US). Michelle over at...

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Layla - Purple Diva

Layla - Purple Diva  I didn't use top coat for this swatch either.  I'll be testing these three Mirror Effect polishes for stamping this week. Also I've finished doing a 5 day wear test on the PVA base coat. I'll have the results up tomorrow for you all.               NAIL POLISH INFOBrand: LaylaName: Purple Diva Coats For Opacity: Two Collection: Mirror Effect Year: 2012 Colour: Purple Finish: Chrome Formula: Big...

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Layla - Titanium Sky

Layla - Titanium Sky  I really like how Titanium Sky looks! I've heard chrome polishes are good for stamping so I'm going to try stamping with these.  I didn't use any top coat for this swatch. They might not wrinkle if you try a slow drying top coat. I don't own any so I cant test that sorry. One I tried Seche I never went back to my old top coats.                NAIL POLISH...

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Layla - Metal Chrome

Layla - Metal Chrome  I ordered some Layla polishes a few months ago and I'm only just getting around to swatching them! I bought three Mirror Effect polishes so I'll have swatches of those up over the next few days.  Chrome polishes will exaggerate any imperfections on your nails. I thought I could get away with using a ridge filling base coat but it looked horrible. I ended up using a coat of Seche Vite over...

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Sweet Color - #005

Sweet Color - #005 2 coats This one had a much nicer formula than the green one I reviewed on Tuesday. It was opaque and had a nice smooth formula. I had no crazy shrinkage problems after using Seche Vite.   When I saw pictures of these bottles I thought that the lids might have been cork coloured plastic. They are actually textured gold plastic. This polish is available from Born Pretty Store: http://www.bornprettystore.com/sweet-color-lolita-series-friendly-candy-nail-polish-varnish-p-3989.html  Don't...

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Nail Art Competition Winner Redraw!

The nail art competition winner never got back to me and I've been meaning to do a redraw for ages now, sorry for the delay. The prize is a $30 Born Pretty Store gift voucher. I took photos of the redraw: Congratulations Nidia! You've won the $30 Born Pretty Store gift voucher. Please check your email and respond within 48 hours to claim your prize. If you're curious, I'm wearing Lynnderella - Love Potion No 99 in the ph...

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Artsy Wednesday: Framed

The theme for Artsy Wednesday this week is Framed! Colours used: Ulta3 - Bewitched Essie - Steeling The Scene I really liked a dotted version of the framed mani I saw on Nail Loopy so when the Framed theme for Artsy Wedneday came around I tried it out. This was really simple to do. I painted a base of Bewitched. Bewitched is actually a magnetic polish but I didn't apply the magnet. Then I used a dotting tool to put...

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Sweet Color - #009

I don't think this polish has a name. I couldn't find one anywhere. I don't like it when polishes don't have names or even numbers. On the Born Pretty Store website this is listed as #009 but there's nothing on the bottle to confirm that number. I really like the bottle though. It has square edges so they fit nicely next to each other. Sweet Color - #009 4 coats This one was sheer, the photo above is 3-4 coats. I can't remember...

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Peel Off Base Coat for Easy Glitter Polish Removal

Essence Ready for Boarding collection has just been released in Australia. Lauren from the Aussie Nails Facebook group picked up the Essence Peel Off Base Coat and gave it a review. She had suspicions that it was just PVA glue in a polish bottle. Michelle (Lab Muffin) had a look at the ingredients and confirmed that it was PVA glue, water and some preservatives.  I thought I'd test out how well real PVA glue worked as a peel off...

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