Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Be-Jeweled

Be-Jeweled has a mix of purple micro glitter and pink hex glitter in a clear base. This dries fast and it also dries matte. It has a very gritty finish so you'll need a few layers of top coat. I would recommend using a PVA base when you wear this too.

This was the other Gem Crush polish that I got for my birthday from Mardi. 

               NAIL POLISH INFO 

Brand: Sally Hansen

Name: Be-Jeweled
Number: 4449-05
Coats For Opacity: 3
Collection: Gem Crush
Colour: Purple, Pink
Finish: Glitter
Formula: Big 3 Free
Made In: USA
Volume: 9.7ml | .31 fl oz
Price: $9.95 (AUD)
Where To Buy: 
Priceline $9.95 (AUD)

Website | Facebook

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Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Showgirl Chic

Showgirl Chic has a mix of silver micro glitter and blue  hex glitter in a clear base. This dries fast and it also dries matte. It has a very gritty finish so you'll need a few layers of top coat. I would recommend using a PVA base when you wear this too.

I got this as a birthday gift from my best friend Mardi. I really like the Gem Crush collection but so far I have only picked up one of the colours so I was glad to get another two for my birthday. Thanks Mardi! :)

               NAIL POLISH INFO 

Brand: Sally Hansen

Name: Showgirl Chic
Number: 4449-01
Coats For Opacity: 3
Collection: Gem Crush
Colour: Silver, Blue
Finish: Glitter
Formula: 
Made In: USA
Volume: 9.7ml | .31 fl oz
Price: $9.95 (AUD)
Where To Buy: 
Priceline $9.95 (AUD)

Website | Facebook

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October Haul 2012

Here's what I've purchased this month, I didn't realise how much I had bought until photographing them all. Looks like I'll be doing a Low-Buy-Vember. I've got three polishes on the way for November, maybe I can stick to that...

China Glaze - Frostbite
China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard
China Glaze - Down Under Dusk
China Glaze - Australian Alabaster
China Glaze - Sydney Sand
From Head2Toe Beauty

Color Club - Angel Kiss
Color Club - Halo-Graphic
Color Club - Cloud Nine
Color Club - Harp On It
Color Club - Blue Heaven
Color Club - Cherubic
From Head2Toe Beauty




Color Club - Gingerbread
Color Club - Beyond The Mistletoe
Color Club - Sugarplum Fairy
Color Club - Candy Cane
From Head2Toe Beauty




CrowsToes - Cheshire
CrowsToes - Triple Black Diamond
From Llarowe




Emily de Molly - It's Complicated
Emily de Molly - Zombie Spotting (swatched here)
Emily de Molly - Blue Moon (custom made)
From Emily de Molly

Gloss 'n Sparkle - Unicorn Spawn
Gloss 'n Sparkle - Strawberry Jive
Gloss 'n Sparkle - Passion Pop
Gloss 'n Sparkle - Fruit Tingle
Gloss 'n Sparkle - Above Deck
Gloss 'n Sparkle - Queen of Hearts
From Gloss 'n Sparkle

Ulta3 - Silver Grey

Ulta3 - Lagoon

Ulta3 - Bo Peep

TBN - Frosted Mauve

Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat - Fuchsia Shock

Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Be-Jeweled

Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Showgirl Chic

(Birthday presents from Mardi)

Pretty Serious - Poltergeist Puddle (swatched here)
Pretty Serious - Gargoyle Ganache (swatched here)
Pretty Serious - Liquid Leprechaun (swatched here)
Pretty Serious - Emma Louise (#73/300)
From Pretty Serious

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This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge: Trick Or Treat

I started with a base of Lily White the stamped different coloured lollies on each nail. The cup cake is from BM14, the lolly pop is from BM02 and the lolly is from BM-322.

I'm not sure which design I'll recreate for tomorrow's challenge so I'm going to go look through them all now. 

               NAIL ART INFO 

Polish Used:
Ulta3 - Lily White
Ulta3 - Sunset Pink
Ulta3 - Blue Marlin
Ulta3 - Royal Fever
Ulta3 - Tahitian Lime
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Lightening

Tools Needed:
Stamper
Scraper

Bundle Monster Stamping Plate BM02
Bundle Monster Stamping Plate BM14
Bundle Monster Stamping Plate BM-322

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Artsy Wednesday: Wedding Nails

Good thing it was daylight savings over the weekend here and I now post Artsy Wednesday an hour later because otherwise post this would be late! I just spent about two hours grouping 356 swatch sticks by colour and then in alphabetical order. Organised much? 

Anyway, I used Forbidden Fruit for the base, it's coming off a little blue toned next to the silver but it's really a shimmery grey toned white. I used Silver Sweep for the half moons at the base of my nails. I didn't have to be too neat with the edges because I covered it in rhinestones.

               NAIL ART INFO

Polish Used:
Pretty Serious - Forbidden Fruit
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Silver Sweep

Tools Needed:
Rhinestones

Visit the other Artsy Wednesday blogs for more wedding manicures:

Michelle - Lab Muffin

Maria - Maria's Nail Art

Tif - Polished Genius

Catrine - Unnaked Nails

Melanie - Nail & Polish

Jessica - Beauty Gnome (out this week)

Kamen - KAKA Beauty Blog

Emily  - An Accent Nail
Ameerah - Valiantly Varnished

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Dollish Polish - It's A Me, Mario!

Sorry I haven't posted the last few days, I had a busy weekend celebrating my best friends birthday and then yesterday my boyfriend, our dog and myself went on a long road trip up to Queensland. Took us about 14 hours! We got lost a few times (stupid GPS), but we got there in the end.

Anyway today's post is It's A Me, Mario! I swatched it over Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Silver Sweep. It's A Me, Mario  has large and small red and blue hex glitters with silver stars. I had to go fishing to get the stars out though.

               NAIL POLISH INFO 

Brand: Dollish Polish

Name: It's A Me, Mario
Coats: 2 (over silver)
Collection: Super Mario Bros.
Year: 2012
Colour: Multicolour
Finish: Glitter
Formula: Big 3 Free and Cruelty Free
Made In: USA
Volume: 15ml | 0.5 fl oz
Price: $8.39 - $10.55 (AUD)
Where To Buy: 
Dollish Polish - $8.75 (USD)
Overall Beauty - $9.00 (USD)
Llarowe - $11.00 (USD)

Website | Facebook | Twitter

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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 Darkness, Pyjamarama, Unicorn Droppings, They Did The Monster Mash, Bruise

My pick from the piCture pOlish Blog Fest polishes plus two others (Sparkle and Electric Blue).

 Ulta3's Spring/Summer collection - Pretty Pastels

Pretty Serious launched it's second collection - In The Night 

From left to right: Nightopia, Into Dreams, Claris, VT100 (Hello World collection)

Dollish Polish Super Mario Bros. Collection (from Llarowe)

Nail-Venturous - Floam (new bottle style) (from Ninja Polish), 

Pretty & Polished - Hearts & Daggers, Pretty & Polished - Jawbreaker (from Llarowe)

Some polishes I've picked up while out shopping.
Australis - Manic Panic, Australis - Fairy Bread, Sally Hansen - Jumpin' Jade,
Sally Hansen - Night Flight, Ulta3 - Earl Grey

If there are any polishes in this haul that you want to see swatched let me know and I'll move them up in my swatch queue. You can also request anything from my collection.

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Artsy Wednesday: Fishtail

The theme for Artsy Wednesday this week is Fishtail!

Colours used:

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Brisk Blue

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Flashy Fuchsia

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Mint Sprint

I started with a base of Brisk Blue on all my nails. I didn't have enough time to do a fishtail on all my nails so I just made it an accent nail. The fishtail pattern is basically a pattern of diagonal stripes using three colours. There's a good photo tutorial on Lucy's Stash. I didn't use the Insta-dri brushes to do the stripes because they are very wide. I just used a nail art brush dipped in each colour.

We have a new member joining us this week! Emily from An Accent Nail. Make sure you check out her Artsy Wednesday manicures!

Visit the other Artsy Wednesday blogs for more fishtail manicures:

Michelle - Lab Muffin

Maria - Maria's Nail Art

Tif - Polished Genius

Lyndsey - Nails by Ms. Lizard (out this week)

Catrine - Unnaked Nails

Melanie - Nail & Polish

Jessica - Beauty Gnome
Kamen - KAKA Beauty Blog
Emily  - An Accent Nail (new member)

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Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Lightening

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Lightening

3 coats

Lightening is a bright yellow creme. I had to use three coats, two coats was enough but it was a little streaky. Like the name suggests this dries fast. 

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Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Petal Pusher

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Petal Pusher

3 coats

Petal Pusher is a sheer light pink jelly. This is not like all the other Insta-Dri polishes I've tried which really opaque and most are one coaters if you are careful with the application. They must have intended this one to be used for a french nail manicure. This was also streaky. It took me three coats to get even coverage.

Do you know of any other Insta-Dri polishes that are sheer like this?

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Sally Hansen Salon Effects - Bling It On

Sally Hansen Salon Effects - Bling It On

Bling It On is pink and orange glitter nail polish strips. These are the first nail polish strips I've used. The application was easy. You choose the strip that best fits your nail shape and then peel of the backing paper and stick it on your nail. Then you press it down over all of your nail and file off the excess at the tip. I didn't have any problems with creases when applying these. The only thing I didn't like about the application was when you file off the excess at the tip it looks like you have tip wear already.

I decided to do a wear test of this manicure while I was in Bali. The package says that it lasts up to 10 days. I didn't use any top coat. The photo above was taken just after application. The photos below were taken with my underwater camera and not so great lighting.

Day 2

As you can see there is quite a lot of tip wear on all nails and chips on my index finger. I actually got a chip on my right hand about two hours after application.

Day 4

The tip wear and chips look about the same two days later but now there are also some chips and outgrowth at the base.

Day 6

The chips and outgrowth on all my fingers are even worse.

Day 10

I don't know what happened to day 8. I thought I photographed it but I can't find it. The outgrowth and chips are really bad on day 10. It does last 10 days but I would have changed it by about day 2.

I think these are great if you are going on holidays and won't be able to do you nails. My nails felt very strong with these on. You can only really get one or two manicures out of the packet so I would keep these for a special occasion because they are expensive. You could buy a bottle of polish for the same price and get a lot more manicures out of it. I do like the no mess dry application though. 

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Sally Hansen HD - Hue

Sally Hansen HD - Hue

3 coats

Hue is a frosty yellow glass fleck shimmer. This one took it's time to dry and I kept bumping my nails on stuff. I always admire the Sally Hansen HD line in the store. All the colours look to pretty and I had planned to buy all of them eventually. I now have three of them. I just wish they weren't so expensive here! They are $13.95 each where I shop.

I hope all my Aussie and New Zealand followers have a great ANZAC Day! I can never convince myself to get out of bed and go to dawn service but I will be making ANZAC biscuits!

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Artsy Wednesday - Flowers

The theme for Artsy Wednesday this week is Flowers!

Colours used:

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Silver Sweep

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Lightening

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Flashy Fuchsia

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Mint Sprint

Stamp: Bundle Monster BM-205

I'm not very good at freehand flowers so this week's theme was always going to be a stamped design. I started with a base of Silver Sweep. Then instead of using one colour for the stamp I applied all three diagonally over the stamp and scraped the polish off in the same direction so the colours didn't run together. Then I stamped as normal and that creates a multi-coloured stamp. 

Make sure you check out the other girls flower designs especially Maria's - she's the queen of freehand flower designs!

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

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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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Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Glitz Gal

Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Glitz Gal

3 coats

Glitz Gal is from the Sally Hansen Gem Crush collection - 2012. It's a dark grey micro glitter with larger holographic hex glitters. This dried super fast! It's very gritty so you'll need lots of top coat. It also drieds dull so the top coat brings out the gliter. This is very similar, if not a dupe for China Glaze - Some Like It Haute. I think a few of the others are dupes for the China Glaze - Eye Candy collection.

At first I picked up Be-Jeweled (the purple one) from this collection. The checkout line went past the display and when I got down the line to the display I ended up swapping for Glitz Gal.

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Arsty Wednesday - Rainbow Nails

 The theme for Artsy Wednesday this week is Rainbow nails!

We had to miss last Wednesday, I was really busy after the move but I am back on track this week. 

Colours used:

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Speedy Sunburst

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Snappy Sorbet
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Lightening
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Lickety-Split Lime
Ulta3 - Blue Heaven
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Lively Lilac
Ulta3 - Lily White

I started with a base of Ulta3 - Blue Heaven, then with a thin nail art brush I painted the rainbow lines across all 4 nails starting at the base and working my way to the tip. You will need to clean the brush after each colour so they don't mix. I used pure acetone and wiped it off on paper towel. 

I sponged on Ulta3 - Lily White on my index and pinky nails for the clouds. I was surprised at how opaque Lily White is. 

I used Poshe top coat. Make sure you wait for the polish to dry, I was a little to impatient on my index finger and had to touch up the rainbow. I probably should have used a different shade of blue so it stood out more against the background. 

I had to use my stub hand because there was no way my left hand could have drawn this. I think I'll have to use my stub hand for most Artsy Wednesdays so you'll be able to see my growth progress. This picture is 1 week after I broke my nail.

Check out the other girls participating in Artsy Wednesday:

LabMuffin
Hooked!

We are looking for others to join us so if you interested please contact myself or any of the other girls. You can contact me here: prettypurplepolish@gmail.com.

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Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Golden Cinnabar

Just a quick post because I'm up way past my bed time!

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Golden Cinnabar

2 coats

Poshe Top Coat

Golden Cinnabar is a rose red and golden yellow duo chrome shimmer. As far as I know they are discontinued but I found a stall selling a few of them at my local Paddy's Markets. I picked  up three of the colours.

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Australia Day Mani

I hope all my Australian followers are having a great Australia Day! I was actually surprised at how well this turned out. I planned it in my head and was sure it wouldn't turn out at all. I know my pointer finger isn't perfect but that was so fiddly. 

The first thing I did was paint my pointer finger with two coats of BYS - Rebel Red. I painted my other fingers with two coats of piCture pOlish - Bombshell.

Next I taped off sections on my pointer finger and painted over that with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Whirlwind White:

Once that had dried I taped off the same sections with slightly wider bits of tape so the white wouldn't get covered. I then painted over that with two coats of piCture pOlish - Bombshell:

Then I stamped the stars using Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri - Whirlwind White and Bundle Monster plate number BM14 (first set) on my middle, ring and pinky fingers. For the Star on my thumb I used the star from Bundle Monster plate number BM-206 (second set) and then filled in the sections with a small nail art brush and more Whirlwind White. I topped it all off with a coat of Sech Vite.

Just in case you don't recognise it yet this is supposed to be the Australian flag. The stars on my pointer, middle and ring fingers are in the formation of the Southern Cross going sideways. Here is a picture of the Australian flag for comparison:

Image Source: www.australian-flag.org

There will be one more post today, so stay tuned!

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