China Glaze Broken Hearted

I couldn't bear to take of the Accessorize polish in the last post, but I still fancied a change, so I went pursuing through my stash to find something to put over it. I toyed with matte topcoat or flakies a la Rainbow/2010/Hidden Treasure, before settling on crackle, pink crackle.

I thought I was over crackle but hadn't used this yet so thought it was due a use before I completely made up my mind. I really wasn't feeling this at first but so many people complimented me on my nails and were asking how I did it, that I started to think I'm not bored of crackles but I am jaded of the fact that every company either has them out or is about to release them, so I keep seeing press releases, etc. 


I actually found the application of this far from perfect, the formula was weird a bit thin and thick all at the same time, but it cracked well, so it's not too bad. I'm wearing if for just over 24 hours as I type and there is a slight bit of tipwear but I have been wearing the base polish for 3 days so it might be due to that.


What do you think are you over crackles or just fed up of every company jumping on the band wagon?

Cult Nails Iconic with China Glaze Cracked Concrete

Happy easter lovelies hope you are all having a lovely chocolate filled day! 


I loved Cult Nails Iconic I had to wear it again, but I decided to go for a little twist. I had also ordered some of the China Glaze Crackle polishes (except for the black, since I already had the Barry M black, and White because it reminded me a bit of tippex!). So I put the grey China Glaze, called Cracked Concrete over Iconic.  I think this is a fab combo, so on to the pictures and you can see what you think! 

Like always, you can click the pictures to see them bigger. The lovely glow in Iconic peeps out through the crackle and it is really lovely. The wear of this combo was really good, I think that I wore it for nearly a week with only the minimum of tipwear. 


When I went to order the China Glaze crackles, they were sold out on Transdesign where I normally order my polishes from, so I ordered them from Head 2 Toe Beauty instead. The arrived very quickly and I had no issues with the order. 

China Glaze Hey Doll

Today's NOTD is China Glaze's Hey Doll, from their autumn collection called Vintage. This definitely one I wouldn't pick for myself, so unsurprisingly this is one that I recieved from my sister for Christmas.  The colour of this one is quite hard to describe, but it's a coppery colour with a bit of pink in it, like if you could get rose copper, in the same way you get rose gold. (This was the most descriptive way I could come up, I'm sure there's a much better way to describe this colour!) The polish is a foil finish.  On to the pictures which can describe the colour much better than I.

The application of this was perfect, and none of those brush marks which are synomous with this type of finish. I ended up wearing this for nearly a week and the wear was perfect.


All in all, this one impressed me, when I first saw it I wasn't sure I'd like it, but it won me over in the end. The colour is quite work appriopriate and the application and wear are both good!

China Glaze Lubu Heels

Today's NOTD is actually a Nail of a few weeks ago, I wore this one to a black tie event I was at. I apologise in advance for the application, I literally put this on as the cab was waiting outside.  This a lovely red glitter in a black base and it's beautiful! 


First, an upclose and personal picture,

Now, on the nails,

Eeek! I didn't realise my thumb was quite so bad! I got quite bad shrinkage on this, don't know if this was because I applied it, in such a hurry or not. So it's not tipwear, you see in the photos, it's shrinkage caused by the Seche Vite.  Despite the hurried application, I actually ended up wearing this for a few days, actually close to a week and it wore well.  There were no issues with application, other than the shrinkage, but I think I didn't leave it long enough before I put on the Seche, because the taxi was waiting outside. 


Have you tried Lubu Heels, what do you think of it?

A late Halloween NOTD

For Halloween, I loved my China Glaze Ick A Bod-y mani from Saturday but wanted to add a little to it.  So I thought I'd put a coat of Barry M Instant Effects, over the top.  Here's the result,

The Barry M dries matte, so I thought I'd add a topcoat over it and much preferred it. 

Sorry for such a quick post I wanted to post this before Halloween was a completely distant memory! 

NOTD China Glaze Ick a Bod-y

Before, we get into  today's post properly, I'd just like to apologise for the lack of posts this week. I've been stupidly busy in work but have a lot of posts almost ready to go for this week, I'll be better this week! 


On to today's NOTD, it's suitably Halloweeny. China Glaze Ick A Bod-y, this is the last of the Halloween set from China Glaze. It's a black base with orange glitter, I've been wearing it a few hours and have had 5 compliments from strangers. 


Natural light, no flash ( we actually have sun today!) 

Artificial light, flash

and a little close up 

Application was perfect on this, I can see one or two bald patches on this in the photos, that aren't visible with the naked eye. I should have probably given this a third coat for the photos. It dries a little matte so topcoat is a must for shine!  I don't expect wear to be great on this, glitters never wear extremely well. 


What do you think, love it or loathe it? How are you doing your nails for Halloween?

China Glaze Mummy May I

Today is another one of the China Glaze Halloween  polishes,  Mummy May I. This one has catapulted right in to my favourites list. It’s a  deep purple base with fushia coloured glitter. (Actually when I was taking this off, I realised the glitter is actually silver and the polish over it is giving the appearance of it being fushia) 

The glitter gives it a lovely lit from within look, China Glaze do this kind of finish so well. (Actually must post some more on the blog!)  Application was good, this is three coats, to the naked eye two looked enough but when I took photos I noticed a few bald patches. This one needs a top coat, it dries a bit flat.

I wore this for two days and I got a chip on my index finger of my right hand, but I think that’s more to do with the nail on the that finger than the polish. A few weeks ago, I thought I got a chip in my polish but when I took the polish off, it transpired that a bit of my nail had come off, I’m patiently waiting for it to grow out!

In other news in case you haven't already seen, the lovely girls over at beaut.ie have teamed up with Barry's tea, for an evening with the founder of Wah nails, Sharmadean Reid. The details are all here. I'm very sad because I can't go :( 


Also, I've received some polish orders in the last week, would you like to see what I got as a haul post or just as I get around to swatching it? The only reason, I normally post what I've picked up is so you can see what's coming or in case anyone would like to request something to be swatched, but I know some people don't like that kind of post, so feedback is greatly appreciated! 

NOTD China Glaze Zombie Zest

When Jennifer’s package arrived, I was wearing Orly Wandering Vine and loving it, but as I was swatching the polishes Zombie Zest was the one that stood out to and it looked a little sheer so I hit on the idea of putting it over Wandering Vine.

This is one coat of Zombie Zest over Wandering Vine, application was good. I think it looked lovely and got loads of compliments on this mani. The wear was really good no chips after 4 days and I had been wearing the wandering vine for  2 days already. 


Also,  everyone probably knows that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, the lovely girls at Beaut.ie did a post here about some of the lovely beauty buys that donate to BCA.   October is also Depression Awareness month and the colour for this is green is this mani is appropriate, Scrangie did a wonderful post about Depression Awareness here. 

Nail Mail!

This fabulous package arrived for me on Monday but with one thing and another this week  turned in a giant PITA!  I’m only getting around to posting it now,  I won a giveaway on the lovely Jennifer’s blog, Nail Polish Addiction Anonymus, check out her fab blog here. 

So, this is what she sent me, isn’t it lovely? It completely and utterly made my day when I finally got to open it two days after it arrived.

And in a little more detail, China Glaze Halloween colllection, from L-R, Mummy May I, Zombie Zest, Ick-A-Body and China Glaze's Fast Dry Topcoat. 

From L-R, Nicole by OPI, Such a Go-Glitter  (the bottle shape is so weird on this one!) and the very elusive Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, this is a flakie that is very close to Gosh Rainbow and Nubar 2010.

The minis from the OPI Spanish Collection, from L-R, Suzi Skies in the Pyrenees, No Spain No Gain, Pink Flamenco and OPI fast dry topcoat. 

Two Bare Escentuals eyeshadows in Clarity and Socialite and an eyeshadow brush (seen in picture above). 

I promise I won’t try to do many more make up swatches, I don’t think I’d make a very good make up blogger, I just wanted to show you the lovely colours and there was no other way to show you!

Is there any these you’d like to see, I have Zombie Zest coming up soon as a NOTD post?

China Glaze Agent Lavender

Todays NOTD is China Glaze Agent Lavender. When I was picking this polish I was just after taking off the french manicure, from the last post and couldn't decide what to put on. In the end, after much taking polishes out and putting them back this is  what I decided on. Agent Lavender, is a pale lavender cream, I'm pretty sure it has a hint of grey in it too. 


Artifical light, flash

Natural light, no flash 

The top picture, I think is the most colour accurate. I found that, when I wore grey it definitely looked more purple and when I wore purple it looked more grey. (It just happened I wore grey and purple when I was wearing it!) 


The application was great, I was slightly worried because some pastels can be a bit of a painful streak-fest. The pictures show two coats with a coat of seche vite on top. I tried applying it as a thin streaky first coat with a thicker coat on top and a thicker first coat, with a thinner 2nd coat, but it made no difference. The wear was good I wore it for 4 or 5 days before taking it off.

Comparison China Glaze For Audrey and H&M Bella's Choice

A little while ago, the lovely Lynnie did a post comparing dupes for China Glaze For Audrey (check it out here). This reminded me that when I got my hands on H&M Bella’s Choice, I was wearing For Audrey and I thought they looked very similar. 

First up, the two bottles,

They look very similar in the bottle, with For Audrey being a little more bluer maybe. In person, I think that For Audrey is a little dustier than Bella’s choice, which seems brighter.

I’ve read about people having issues with the application of For Audrey but I find that it’s a perfect two coater, as is Bella’s Choice. 

Natural light, no Flash.  From L-R, For Audrey, Bella’s Choice, For Audrey, Bella’s Choice.

Natural light, Flash. From L-R, For Audrey, Bella’s Choice, For Audrey, Bella’s Choice.

I can’t see a whole lot of difference between the two polishes in the pictures, Bella's choice is definitely brighter than For Audrey. I have definitely seen pictures where they look more different. All in all, if you can’t get you hands on the China Glaze, I’d definitely recommend the H&M polish as an alternative. If I remember correctly the H&M polishes retail at €4.50 for 9ml.  China Glaze is available online from various etailers, the bottles are 14ml.

China Glaze For Audrey

Let me introduce you to the lovely China Glaze For Audrey. For Audrey ofen comes up when people mention their favourite polishes and is a lovely Tiffany blue, so when doing my last internet order it was one of the first that came to mind. Well, this one definitely didn’t disappoint, two coats of creamy loveliness!

Artificial light with Flash

There isn't much more to say other than I LOVE this polish! What’s more this colour didn't give me lovely red hands, which is always a bonus. This is two coats with a layer of Seche Vite.

Have you tried For Audrey? What do think?

A Small Haul

Recently, I switched to an acetone remover from non-acetone and it was having an effect on my cuticles, so I decided that some cuticle remover was possibly in order and since I was doing an etailer order I thought I better through in a few other things to make in worth my while.  So here’s what arrived.

  

CND cuticle eraser, I’ve started to use this I’ll let you know more about this when I’ve used it for a little longer. China Glaze For Audrey, a lovely tiffany blue colour and my first two Nubars. Nubar 2010 is a dupe of the famous Gosh Rainbow (or if you are US based Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure) since I owned neither of the other two I thought that it was time to get my hands on it. Nubar Violet Sparkle is a purple glittery bottle of goodness.  I did a quick swatch of this when the package arrived and it’s fab but it’s going to be hell to take off so while I’m dying to wear this I’m also a bit hesitant! 

China Glaze Grape Pop

I thought it was time to take a break from the ELF polishes, let me introduce China Glaze Grape Pop. ( I actually have already had a break and wore Orly Snowcone, but I must of deleted the photos because I can't find them anywhere. It's a lovely colour and I'll do a post on it soon!)  I think this polish is amazing, I’ve included a couple of photos for this one because it was hard to capture the beautiful colour.  This polish is from the China Glaze Up, Up and Away collection. 

This polish is extremely well pigmented, this is two coats over a coat of CND Stickey with a finishing  coat of Seche Vite. I think it may not have played all that well with the Seche though, I woke up with what looks like tipwear this morning, but I think is probably the infamous shrinkage, which you can see in the photos on my pointer and middle fingers. 

The last picture is the most colour accurate on my screen but like most purples its showing up a little blue. For some reason I like to wear purples it's a pity they are a pain to picture. I wore this for quite a while maybe 5 or 6 days and it got chippy in the end but it wore well.

My Stash

Today, I thought I'd post a few pictures of my small stash, so to start off here's a picture of most of my polish stash. I found a few more lying around the place after I took the pictures and I know my Mum and sister have a few too. I must make a spreadsheet because I have no idea how many polishes I have, I guess around 60.

Next up, The OPIs

The China Glazes.

The Orlys and Ruby&Millie.

Elf and No7

Essence

17

Collection 2000, Rimmel, Maybelline and H&M

Essie, Claires and mini OPIs from the Spanish collection

That's it for now. Have a great weekend!