Bec's Beauty Buzz

Bloom Giveaway!

2011-09-02T07:30:00.001+10:00

Ok, as promised, here is the Bloom Giveaway. I wanted to give you guys something special for sticking with me for the last few months when I haven't been posting regularly or sometimes even at all. It's been a very up and down time and I think I am starting to get in the swing of things again, which is exciting. I've missed you guys!

So this is what is up for grabs -

I have two Bloom Pure Mineral Eye Shadow and Brush Sets - one in Emerald and one in Aquamarine. Both are stunning. I am going to give them away to one lucky reader.

If we get lots of entries, I have two Bloom Polishes on standby to add in too! Which I know some of you will be excited about since Bloom polishes are always AMAZING! DO you think it should be a second prize or just a bigger first prize? I'll leave that up to you guys to decide.

How do you enter? Awesome question!

1. *Mandatory* You must be a follower of my blog. Leave a comment below with your follower name and your email address (so I can contact you if you win).(1 Entry)

2. Do a post about the giveaway on your blog or add it to the sidebar (3 entries), use a picture - take your pick of them! Or make your own. ( 2 entries). Please leave a link to your blog in the comments section.

3. Follow me on Twitter. (2 entries)
4. Tweet about this giveaway (2 entries). Make sure you include my twitter name @becsbeautybuzz in the tweet!

5. Add me to your blogroll, or let me know if I am already on it. Please leave a link. (2 entries)
6. In appreciation for all my long time commenter's, they will get an extra entry. Hooray!
This is open internationally and will run til the midnight 30th September 2011 in the last timezone around the world.

Ok guys, that's about it. Go nuts.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

OPI Shatter - Blue

2011-09-01T07:30:00.002+10:00

I got an awesome package from the ridiculously awesome Jess of Polished Lyrics fame on the weekend. So excited. Full of makeup and polishes and all things oh so fabulous. Total squee moment.

I have the whole collection of OPI Shatters now. This is the blue one over Chine Glaze Papaya Punch which is another new one for me. Love it! Have gotten so many compliments today and the girls in my makeup class as well as my teacher went nuts over it.

One coat of Papaya Punch, let it dry. Then a thin coat of Blue Shatter. It looks really transparent, which worried me, but then I realised that when it shifts when it shatters, it groups together and forms solid chunks of colour so take that into consideration. The thinner the coat of shatter you can apply, the better it is going to crack and ultimately look.

Ok, that's it from me today. My Bloom Giveaway is going up tomorrow morning, so make sure you enter that, it's a ripper. (Which means awesome for you non Aussies)

Be awesome to each other.

Orly Star of Bombay

2011-08-31T07:30:00.001+10:00

I adore this colour. Absolutely adore it. I think you guys would know by now that I have love of any dark blue polish and if you add in a shimmer, I will buy it even though I have 7 shades almost exactly the same.

Orly Star of Bombay - two coats, freaking hot. That is all you need to know. You're welcome.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Finger Paints Candy Cane Shimmer

2011-08-30T07:30:00.003+10:00

Just a quick swatch post today. This is Finger Paints Candy Cane Shimmer which is an awesome all year round colour despite the festive name.

The application on this one was surprisingly awesome (despite the dodgy swatch - I was in a hurry). Two coats and seemingly faster then average drying time.

I don't have a lot of Finger Paint's polishes (3 I think) but I have not been let down by any of them. I know this is an US brand and I have no idea what kind of brand this is. Is is a cheaper brand akin to our own Ulta3? Or something a little more high end? Help me out here guys.

That's it from me today. Stay tuned for my Bloom Giveaway.

Be awesome to each other.

Green/Black EOTD

2011-08-29T07:30:00.002+10:00

Wow, I look crosseyed in this. I'm not. Usually.

Ok, two days in a row. That's something of a record for me lately. Here we go with another EOTD that I did before I started my class. I quite like this. I never wear green out even though it's my favourite colour because I find that it's often way too over the top to pass off on a day to day basis.

I started with Too Faced Shadow Insurance followed by MAC Paintpot in Painterly. Then I used Farore's Wind on the inner lid, Bulbasaur on the middle and Link on the outer lid with a bit of MAC Carbon to smoke it out and then blended together. Then I lightly blended the greens into each other and I think that turned out well. I used MAC Naked pigment as a highlight colour which gave my eyes a little bit of sparkle. To finish the look, I lined the top lid with a metallic grey Kat Von D liquid liner, the waterline with Stilla Convertible Eye Colour in Onyx and used Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara.

Ok, so what do you guys think of the final look. Do you guys have a colour that you love but can't seem to find a way make it more wearer friendly? Or maybe you love the look of a colour but can't bring yourself to wear it in case it looks hideous and just ruins the colour for you forever?

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Gold/Black EOTD

2011-08-28T19:36:00.000+10:00

Alrighty. It's been a while and my excuse is that I am absolutely knackered from this makeup class I am doing. The really good news however is that I am learning lots of things and I want to share them with you. I think a brush post explaining what brush goes where and does what and perhaps a how to - fake lashes are in order. I can show you basic contouring if that is something you might be interested in as well. I'm just starting my fourth week and am absolutely loving it all.

This is one if my older looks and I thought I should get them all out of the way before I start showing you the new stuff. I think the difference you will see in technique will be quite noticeable.

Anywho, in this look I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance and MAC Paintpot in Painterly for my base. Used MAC pigment Naked as an all over highlight and brow bone colour. I used...I know I wrote the shadows down...somewhere. Crap. I have no idea what I used. Ok, I used a gold shadow which I think was a Shiro one although I can't remember precisely what shade, on the inner half of the lid and under the eye and blended it out to another glittery black shadow. Another Shiro shade, I am sure. If you think you can help me with these, I would much appreciate it.

Liquid liner on the top lash line and pencil liner on the waterline. Mascara to finish it off and we are done! I find it really hard to blend from such a light colour to a dark one so what I do is kind of use a wigging motion where there colours meet with the brushes I used to apply the colour to blend them in so that you don't end up with a solid block of colour.

Ok, that's it from me today. I'll be back tomorrow with another look which I probably won't be able to find my notes for again. I have my new giveaway starting on Friday. I am giving away two amazing shades from the Bloom Pure Minerals Collection.

Be awesome to each other.

OPI Ski Teal We Drop

2011-08-05T22:25:00.000+10:00

Ok, so this is the mani I am currently rocking and I am loving it. It's gotten me a lot of comments from total strangers in the last few days and it's quite interesting to me because it's not a bright colour or a complicated pattern. I think it has more to do with the contrast of colour then anything else.

Ski Teal We Drop was released as part of OPIs Switzerland collection and while I didn't pick this one up first time round, I ended up buying it when I was killing time at the airport before we flew out to Thailand. I have no idea why I didn't get it initially. It's an AMAZING colour.

It's a dark teal creme that is good to go in two coats. As for dupes, it's very close to RBL Teal, but it's slightly lighter. I find it to be a really flattering shade that doesn't seem out of place in a corporate environment for some reason (not that that has ever stopped me before!)

I'll try post my new giveaway this weekend. I am giving away 2 Bloom polishes and 2 Bloom mineral shadows in the coolest shades of emerald and turquoise, so stay tuned.

To all you fabulous people who leave comments on my blog - I love you! I do read them and want to reply, but Blogger is crap and won't let me log in to do it. Very annoying. Might just be time to get my own domain sorted. Any recs from Aussies for some good people who build websites? I'm gonna need to get some professional help to get this up and running. And by help I mean, pay someone to do it for me.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

OPI Blue My Mind

2011-08-04T22:04:00.002+10:00

This is one of my favourite manis I have ever done. The blue is OPI Blue My Mind which makes me cringe because the name is so lame. I mean, I know that nail polish names are not literary masterpieces, but I swear every polish company has a shade of blue with this name.

This is two coats and then one coat of China Glaze OMG stamped over the top with Konad plate m65.

I love the way this looks. The holo is very subtle and not all the noticeable indoors. It looks like a pale silver and doesn't detract from the blue polish, however when you get outside, it is amazing. The colours in the holo just pop and the blue really stands up well against it. It's not really a colour combo I had really thought about in that I don't wear a lot of bright blue polishes, but it just seemed right.

Have you ever had a polish combo that was so awesome it just "blue you away"? (hahahaha, now I'm lame too!)

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Random Swatches

2011-08-03T19:10:00.000+10:00

I've been really slack lately remembering to take photos of my nails and makeup. When I've thought about it (i.e. at work, waiting for the train), I've taken a few photos of designs on my nails with the camera on my phone. So here are a couple.

Ozotic 505

OPI DS Original

OPI An Affair in Red Square

I actually found that this is the only photo I have of Ozotic 505 that shows the true colour shift. It won't play nice with my expensive camera for some reason but it loves to show off for my iPhone. Weird huh? Maybe I need to photograph all my duo and multichromes with my phone to actually show you what they can do.

Anyway, that's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Zoya Suvi

2011-07-25T18:26:00.000+10:00

Mondays suck - we all know that so I decided to make it a little better by posting an awesome green polish. This is Zoya Suvi.

Three coats of awesomeness. This is a slightly dark forest green. The first coat is quite patchy, then the second evens it out, but is still sheer, so three coats is necessary for this polish.

It was released as part of the Downtown Collection in 2007. I also have Indigo from this collection and I adore it. I've seen swatches from the collection and I pretty much want them all.

So, that's Monday down for another week. It went relatively quickly without too many dramas. So that's always good. I was pondering what you guys might want as the prize for my next giveaway. Do you want nail polish? Makeup? I've got Benefit Justine Case Kits and BYS Animal Instinct palletts? Nail art stuff? Any requests?

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Bloom Bonnie

2011-07-21T11:20:00.000+10:00

Lots of pics today because this polish it totally awesome. I picked up Bloom Bonnie in a bargain bin for $3 the other day. $3! It's normally $20 a bottle here, so even if it turned out to be a dud, it was still an exciting find.

However, as you can see, totally not a dud. It's brilliant. It's a dark indigo colour jam packed with microglitter. In the bottle, I can see hints of red in there (you can kind of see it in the bottle in the pics too), but it doesn't translate onto the nail which makes me sad, but only a little. Because it's still fabulous.

This is two coats, no topcoat, but let me tell you when you add a glossy tc, this baby smacks you between the eyes with it's awesomeness.

If you want to know what the dupes are to this, I would hazard a guess that it is close to Illamasqua Phallic, however this one is slightly darker and the glitter slightly larger and more obvious.

A stunning colour and I am more then slightly happy I dug through all the crap shades to find this gem.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Finger Paints Psychedelic Pop & Winner of Ulta3 Giveaway

2011-07-19T19:30:00.003+10:00

As promised, here is the winner of my Ulta3 giveaway - MINTY! I've sent through an email and if I don't hear back within 48 hours I will redraw.

This is one of my very few Finger Paints polishes - Psychedelic Pop. I got it in a polish sale ages ago from the incredibly awesome Jess over at Polished Lyrics. Do you follow her blog? You totally should - she's a total sweetheart!

This is a bright Barbie pink creme and while I know that bright pink polishes are hardly a rarity, this is still one awesome polish. Two coats and it's opaque, the texture is smooth although it is a little on the thick side, which is not really all that surprising for a creme polish. Despite this, it's still totally manageable so long as you apply two thin-ish coats as opposed to one thick coat which will work but won't look as good.

That's it for me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Zoya Kelly

2011-07-19T15:17:00.000+10:00

Hi guys. Sorry about the ridiculous slackness of my posting (or non posting) lately. I've just been having a hard time finding motivation since I got back from Thailand, but I cleaned out and rearranged my makeup and polish room and I feel like I'm ready to go again. I have a stash of swatches to show you, EOTDs to share and the winner of my Ulta3 giveaway to announce - which will happen later today. I also have another giveaway to share with you guys which I am totally excited about. I have tons of product reviews to post of things I bought while in Thailand too.

Another thing that I am incredibly excited to share with you is that I finally bit the bullet and enrolled into a Cert 4 in Makeup class and I start in a couple of weeks, so I will be able to share tips and tricks that I learn with you guys as well as posting pictures of what I get up to.

I really need to start working through my swatch library so I thought I would start with Zoya Kelly which perfectly fits the ridiculously cold weather we are having here right now.

It was released as part of the Zoya Wonderful and Wicked Collection Fall 2010. This is the only polish I got from the Wonderful collection. It is a stunning medium to dark grey creme with really strong purple undertones and often looks more purple then grey depending on the light. A perfect colour and possibly my favourite grey polish as it seems to work on just about any skin tone. I think it should be a must have for any collection.

The formula is smooth and the polish goes on almost opaque, I added a second coat to even it out, but could possibly have gotten away with just one.

I'll be back later with another swatch and the winner of my Ulta3 giveaway!

Be awesome to each other.

Day 7 - Koh Samui

2011-06-11T00:18:00.000+10:00

It's been a hectic week in Bangkok. I just have not had the time to post. I've been exhausted every single night and slept like a log even though the beds were extremely hard. As in we've put a blanket over a piece of plywood hard. It seems to have been quite good for my back though.

We spent a lot of time shopping. We ended up spending three days exploring MBK, which is the really big centre with over 2500 shops. On the first day we were there and only got through 2 floors. Seriously.

We also found the Siam Discovery building which had a Madam Tussuad's so we had to go in there for the corny poses. They also had some more upmarket makeup brands like Bobbi Brown and Shu Uemura. There was also the Siam Centre where I found a MAC store, Smashbox, Etude House and a heap of boutique makeup and skin care places that I went nuts in. I now have 6 new MAC shadows, another paintpot, lots of BB creams and related products, assorted eye shadows and an AMAZING Etude House polish.

At MBK I found lots of places selling fake MAC products and fake MAC and Bobbi Brown brush sets (actually, the Bobbi Brown brush sets were surprisingly good quality, but quite good brushes if you're not ready to plunge head first into expensive brushes). There were fake designer handbags and wallets galore and while you know they are fakes, they are also well made and with actual good quality leather so I couldn't pass up on getting a few of those.

There is also a Japanese department store called Tokyu which had a few brands I hadn't heard of so I ended up getting four shadows from there just to give them a try. I also found the most adorable limited edition Hello Kitty Maybelline Mascara that I just had to have.

The food here is divine as you would expect and I am getting used to the burning in my mouth and my lips going numb.

We went on a full day tour on Tuesday which involved riding elephants (and seeing baby ones!), rafting on a rickety bamboo raft and visiting the famous bridge over the River Kwai. It was a long day, but an incredibly memorable one. Our elephant was big on walking and snacking at the same time, which was amusing. Our driver man was really cool and grabbed my camera and jumped off and started taking photos for me, which was fabulous. Considering he'd never seen any kind of camera beyond a point and shoot before he did pretty well. And he quite enjoyed learning how it worked.

I went to a ladyboy cabaret and it was awesome. It was so camp and hilarious. The best way to describe it is to imagine a badly dubbed movie, thow in some ladyboys, sequins and big hair and that's the result. I don't have any photos of that since I didn't think I would be allowed to take my camera in, but I can tell you that some of them I would not have picked. They were stunning. Quite a few were mannish and in dire need of a wax, but all in all it was fairly impressive. I'm planning on hitting another cabaret before I head home, so I will endeavour to take pics there.

The grand palace in Bangkok. The only half decent photo I managed to get on the cruise.

Last night was our final night in Bangkok and we did a night cruise and of course, it poured torrentially with rain making it impossible to take photos. While waiting for the cruise to start we killed some time in the bar with cocktails and watched an Asian Elvis impersonator who was really quite good if not under appreciated by the somewhat snobbish clientele.

We flew into Koh Samui this morning and are staying at the Outrigger, which is breathtaking. I've got so many photos that I have taken today, but I will just pick my faves. There are three pools here. Our room overlooks one of them and we have our own private spa on the deck which is awesome. Now, if we could just figure out how to work the damn thing....

I've just had dinner and it was incredibly tasty. I had stir fried chicken with cashews in a spicy brown sauce and Kim (my housemate/ travel buddy) had Massaman Curry. It was tasty too. Oh, and the most amazing smoothie which had yoghurt, honey, banana and pineapple.

There is a tropical storm going on outside so we are staying in tonight after a day of lounging on sun lounges, swimming, sitting in the spa and of course drinking cocktails at the swim up bar in the infinity pool. Ah...it's a hard life, but someones got to do it.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Bangkok - Day 1

2011-06-05T19:01:00.023+10:00

So it's ten to four in the afternoon here is Bangkok even though my body is telling me that it is actually ten to seven. I officially love this place. I arrived last night after a nine hour flight. I flew with Thai Airways and it lovely. Except for the two screaming babies which meant no sleep.

We arrived at Bangkok airport and then had the fun job of catching a cab when you don't speak the language and hoping you (a) make it to the right place, (b) make it in one piece and (c) aren't going to be one of those girls that hops into a cap in another country never to be seen again. We got to the hotel just fine. In fact, our cabbie was all kinds of awesome/ terrifying. The first indication of this was when he opened his boot to put our bags in but he could only fit one case due to the ENORMOUS sound system in there. We hop into the cab, not understanding a word he was saying, but laughing because he giggled like a little girl every few minutes. We had no idea what the joke was, possibly my hair after 9 hours on a plane? but it was contagious. Anyway, he turns around and says "Michael Jackson?" and I say, "Sure, why not". So this DVD player comes out of the centre console of the car, a MJ concert DVD starts up and he cranks it up. Right up. All I could feel was the bass in my back. It was awesome. So there we all are bopping away to Thriller and Billie Jean and laughing at the ridiculously overloaded utes (that's pickup trucks for all you Americans out there) when I notice that the speed limit is 60km/hr. Apparently, that's not the speed limit, more a speed minimum since our driver was doing 140km/hr although I must commend him on his occasional use of indicators - high 5 cabbie guy!

We finally get to the hotel and it's stunning. So swanky that automatically Kim (my housemate/ travel buddy) feel totally underdressed. Then we go to check in and find out that we're actually checking in a private floor because we're much to special to check in with the plebs down in reception. We booked our room opting to go for the deluxe option to spoil ourselves a little and that's what we've done. Our breakfast is in a private dining room and cooked to order, today I had a croissant, scrambled eggs and bacon, although I think I am going to go for the choc chip pancakes. Actually, I'm in the dining room now taking advantage of the free wifi and snacks. I've got apple juice, watermelon, cashew nuts and macaroons in front of me. Pretty flash right?

Today we hit the Chatuchak Markets and got us some bargains. Last year when I went to Vanuatu, I picked up some of the guys below and have decided to expand my collection. A lot.

Yes that is Jack Sparrow

Then I went nuts with Thai silk scarves.

And I may have bought a couple of pashminas. So pretty.

And a wallet.

And Kim got a new bag. I bargained for it for her. We got a great deal.

Arm courtesy of Kim

And a table runner.

And another scarf, although this one is not for me - I swear!

We got back to the hotel and had a really tasty lunch which was a Thai buffet and it had a chocolate fountain! Seriously. Then, because it is 33 degrees here, which is about 92F with humidity which makes you feel like you are walking in water, we jumped into the pool and hung out there until we were so wrinkled that we looked like old ladies.

So now we are killing time before we go out for a traditional Thai show and dinner tonight. I'm really looking forward to embracing the culture here. The people are brilliant and so incredibly kind, from the staff, to the complete stranger who helped us buy train tickets without us even asking.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Shiro Cosmetics - Green EOTD

2011-06-03T21:38:00.000+10:00

Hi guys, just a fairly quick post today. This is a look I put together pretty quickly. I used some shadows from Shiro Cosmetics. I don't know if you guys have seen or heard much about this brand, but I am a huge fan. It combines makeup with geekery which staying chic, so I'm totally ok with that. The colours are outstanding and complex. There is certainly no repackaging of micas here and calling it another name. Shiro is an indie company, so if you are looking for some well priced colours to expand your collection, I think it's totally worth checking out the line. You can find them on Etsy.

I started with Too Faced Shadow Insurance followed by MAC Paintpot in Painterly. Then I used Farore's Wind on the inner lid, Bulbasaur on the middle and Link on the outer lid and then blended together. Then I lightly blended the greens into each other and I think that turned out well. I used MAC Naked pigment as a highlight colour which gave my eyes a little bit of sparkle. To finish the look, I lined the top lid with a metallic grey Kat Von D liquid liner, the waterline with Stilla Convertible Eye Colour in Onyx and used Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara.

I am very happy with the overall look and am now trying to find somewhere I can wear this colour combo. All up, it took less then 10 mins and is very low maintenance.

I am due to fly out to Thailand tomorrow morning, but I am planning on taking my netbook, so I will be blogging and posting, but it will probably differ from the normal posts. I'm thinking it'll be Bec's Beauty Buzz - Thai Edition. I'm going to go get one of those fish pedicures even though the thought of it freaks me out, but I think you guys might like to hear about it. There will be heaps of pictures to come and I will try reply to comments as I go. Of course, there will be plenty of shopping - I mean, I am spending my first week there in Bangkok, of course I am going to shop, which means lots of strange and wonderful beauty products. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I need to see or do or buy while I am there?

If you didn't see it, I announced a random polish giveaway yesterday and all you have to do to enter is to be a follower of this blog and let me know in the comments of the post.

Ok, that's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Ulta3 Watermelon and Polish Giveaway!!!

2011-06-02T21:50:00.001+10:00

Since my last foray into cheaply priced polishes went so successfully I decided to grab another one, and by that I mean I stealthily "borrowed" one of my mums.

This is Ulta3 Watermelon and I am happy to report that I am completely happy with the formula, application and colour for a second time. So impressed in fact, that next time I might actually buy some instead of picking them over and then putting them back in the bin.

This is two coats, no top coat and as you can see, it's super shiny and smooth. It has a fairly normal drying time, nothing spectacular but nothing bad either.

I quite like this colour, I think it compliments my skin tone which is a surprise considering I was worried about the shade potentially making my hands look like crab claws.

So, my thoughts are that I need to share the love, so I am giving 5 bottles of Ulta3 polish away to one lucky reader. I haven't decided on colours yet, so suggestions are always appreciated. I think there will be one foil, one glitter, one vampy, one pastel and the last one...I dunno. Your thoughts?

So I'll keep this one short and sweet and easy to enter. You need to be a follower of this blog, so leave your user name below and something along the lines of "enter me" or you can be creative. I appreciate creativity.

**Edit - This is open internationally**

That's it. Seriously. One entry per person. This one will be drawn at the end of June. Good luck you guys.

That's it from me today. Be awesome to each other.

Ozotic Elytra 528

2011-05-29T17:42:00.000+10:00

I don't know how many of you guys have seen these yet, but this one of three polishes in the new Ozotic Elytra Collection.

I know that when someone says Ozotic, there is a collective intake of breath all over the world because you guys already know that Ozotic = Awesome. Well prepare yourselves, they've just gotten awesome-er!!!

These are laying glitters that in my opinion, look best over black, but work over other colours too. So what could be better then the multi and duo chrome awesomeness that Ozotic already offers? Multichrome glitters! Seriously!!!!

These glitters are total chameleons. This one in particular looks green in the bottle and on the nail, but shift your hand slightly and its purple, hit it at the right angle with sun, there is a bit of gold there and even a touch of red. The polish is predominantly green/purple though.

I took a bazillion photos since I didn't know how well the colour shift would translate, and I never like to let a good photo go to waste. Click them to enlarge into all their awesome glory.

BTW, this is layered over Illamsqua Boosh which is a fab one coat black in case you are wondering.One layer of 528 over one layer of Boosh.

I adore that an Aussie polish company is creating something that I have never seen before. It's really good to see that we can start trends as well as follow there over here.

These polishes are available at piCture pOlish and guess what? They ship internationally! And cheaply too! Click here to go get your own - you know you want to!

My skincare giveaway is still running - click here to enter if you haven't already.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Hard Candy Beetle

2011-05-25T20:05:00.001+10:00

This is the aptly named Beetle by Hard Candy - it reminds me of those Christmas Beetles that come out in December and stick to you like glue when you touch them. This is my first Hard Candy polish and I have to say that I love it.

I have read that it is a dupe for Orly Space Cadet and also MAC Mean and Green. I don't have Space Cadet but I do have the MAC polish and they do look pretty close. I think I will have to do a comparison post soon.

It is a duochrome that flashes blue, green, gold and copper depending on how you are looking at it.

Speaking of duochromes, I have all of the new Ozotic Elytras to show you guys along with a couple of their multichromes that they are famous for. They arrived today so I will get those swatched over the weekend for you.

If you want some free skincare stuff, you can enter my comp here - don't worry you don't have to read the whole post, there isn't a quiz at the end.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Zoya Ivanka

2011-05-23T20:19:00.000+10:00

Hi guys!

Hope your Monday is bearable so far. Today I am going to show you Zoya Ivanka. I got this at the same time I got Charla so this one got shoved in my Helmer and was not really given a second thought.

It's a really awesome grass green that reminds me of spring and green jelly! I've been on a bit of a jelly kick lately. Actually I am eating a mango and passionfruit flavoured one right now. That's jell-o, not jam for all you Americans out there. That's right isn't it? Jelly is Jell-o and jam (the fruit spread) is jelly to you guys?

Anywho, back to the nail polish. This is two coats, relatively painless to remove and killer with a glossy top coat.

Quick poll - What do you want to see tomorrow?
-Bloom Bianca?
-OPI DS Mystery?
-Orly It's Up To Blue?
-Zoya Kelly?
-Hard Candy Beetle?

That's it from me today, be awesome to each other.

Orly La Playa

2011-05-19T20:56:00.000+10:00

Today I have yet another polish post. I have some ideas for makeup posts but I haven't really been diligent with my eyebrow upkeep of late and as a result, I am rocking a mono brow. Very attractive. So I'll get that sorted on the weekend and can get some photos happening that won't scare the bejeezus out of all of you.

So in the meantime, here is Orly La Playa. I'd read lots of awesome reviews of this polish, seen lots of swatches but was not convinced it would play nice with my skin tone. Then someone chucked it in as part of a swap and I was so silly to doubt that I would love it. I think it might be a colour that in RL would work with any skin tone. I was worried about it making my fingers look red, as is sometimes a problem with blues.

This is two coats. As with all Orly polishes I have ever had the pleasure of using, smooth application made easy by the brush that is man-hand friendly (the full size bottles that is, application of the minis is horrific and the result is always akin to something that a 3yo would do).

I love dark blues, but I always tend to sit more on the side of blackened blues and the like. So for me to be ok with wearing this out in public means that I must really love it. I find it fascinating that I don't like wearing brighter blues in the real world because I feel like perhaps they are not work appropriate and a little trashy, but give me a green or...any other colour at all really and I will wear it like a flag. Maybe that's just me, do you have a shade that you feel is not as "acceptable" in your day to day life?

So, I haven't really had much in the way of entries into my new giveaway and I can't quite figure out why. It's a fabulous prize. Have I written down something wrong and not noticed? Normally I would have hundreds of entries by now. Any feedback on this mystery would be much appreciated. If you just didn't know about it, you can enter here. For the record, you don't actually have to read the entire preceding post in order to enter. Hmm...maybe that's the issue, too long a post and readers don't actually make it to the good part?

Oh, and I am going to try respond to all my comments and emails over the next couple of days.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Ulta3 Lollypop Lilac

2011-05-18T19:53:00.000+10:00

I love it when you buy a polish that you have no expectations about and when applied, it doesn't just impress you - it completely blows you away.

The Ulta3 range is the "cheapie" polish brand you find in chemists over here in Australia. It's about $2.50 a bottle and you pretty much know it's going to suck but you buy it anyway because it looks promising in the bottle even though you know you're going to be bitterly disappointed. You know the ones I'm talking about right?

Well it seems like this brand might have picked up its act since the last time I purchased one of their polishes. This is Lollypop Lilac and it's a light purple foil! Its smooth two coater, dries pretty much straight away and makes one helluva stamping polish. As far as I can see, this polish just hit it out of the ball park.
I think I might go track down some more of these to see if I just got lucky or if this is a truly awesome discovery for polish addicts everywhere.

Your thoughts? Winner or loser? Do you have a polish brand where you are like this? Have you given it another go and been surprised? Or maybe you just had your suspicions confirmed that it really is a crap brand?

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Bloom Mena

2011-05-17T20:03:00.000+10:00

I have something fabulous to show you today. I think Bloom Mena is the polish I get asked to track down the most for my overseas friends, readers and MUA swaps. In fact, I know it is. I swear I get asked to add a bottle of this in for every single package. And for good reason too - it's bottled awesomesauce.

A little while back I showed you BYS Down the Rabbit Hole which is a black jelly base with holo particles suspended in it, well Mena is DTRH's much more sophisticated older sister.

Don't get me wrong, I love DTRH like it's nobodys business, but even thought the polishes are similar and Mena is four times the price at $20 a bottle, I'd pick Mena every time.

I mean look at it - who wouldn't love this polish?

The application is smooth, two coats and it's even, crazy glossy even without a top coat and most importantly - it knocks your socks off no matter what the lighting situation is. At first glance, it seems to be a somewhat subtle vampy style polish, but when people get a closer look - and trust me, they will want to! - they see it for the amazingness that it is.

Ok, enough yabbering from me. Make sure you enter my skincare giveaway right here.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

China Glaze Flying Dragon

2011-05-16T19:12:00.000+10:00

Ok, continuing on with random polishes from my "unswatched" pile, this is China Glaze Flying Dragon.

It's a neon that dries to a matte finish and also looks all kinds of fabulous with a glossy top coat too. This is without the t/c.

I don't know if you can see them, but if you click and enlarge the pic, you'll notice that it has neon blue particles scattered throughout the polish. The effect is seriously cool.

I don't see a lot of nail blogs giving this polish a lot of love and I am not really sure why. I mean, sure, it thickens really, really easily but a couple of drops of polish thinner fix that right up.

This is a two coater polish that dries quickly, as we have come to expect of neon polishes.

What are your thoughts on this polish? Or just neons in general?

Make sure you enter my new giveaway here.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Diamond Cosmetics - Chainmail Charm

2011-05-15T18:38:00.000+10:00

Sorry about the lack of posts. I've got the internet up and running at home now, so I should be posting daily again.

This is a surprise bonus I got in a swap a little while back and it just blows my mind. I love it. I've never had a Diamond Cosmetics polish before. This is Chainmail Charm which is a charcoal coloured base polish with a linear holo effect. It looks pretty in the bottle, but nothing spectacular, so it has been shoved in my "to swatch" pile for six months. Silly me it would seem, because this polish is nothing short of amazing.

The only problem with photographing holo polishes is that once the camera truly focuses on the polish, the holo effect is somewhat dulled as a result. I can assure you that in RL the holo effect is dazzling.

This is two coats. As with all holos, the first coat is thin and patchy, but that evens out quickly. The drying time is very fast, which is again in line with all holo polishes. I have no complaints at all with this one.

I have a new giveaway up and running now, you can enter by clicking here. There aren't a whole lot of entries yet, so I have extended the deadline for another month.

That's it from me today. Be awesome to each other.