Fashion Polish

Alessandro Classic Red Review

2013-05-20T19:40:00.005-04:00

A little while ago, I received a package from Alessandro with what I thought was "just" another red nail polish. I can't say that I was completely unimpressed with it but it didn't seem all that special. Well, I couldn't be more wrong!

Alessandro Classic Red is a bright tomato red jelly with an orange hue. Super saturated and extremely glossy, if such thing as neon red existed, this would be it. Formula was simply flawless, slightly sheer maybe but opaque enough after two coats. I used three very thin coats here for swatching (and macro) purposes and no topcoat, LOVE!

About Alessandro :

Since 1989, alessandro International has stood for unrivalled quality, exclusivity and innovation. Our standards are the same now as they were then: We are never satisfied with 'good‘ - we want to be‚ 'better‘! It is a motto that fills us with pride and upon which we have laid the greatest value for more than 20 years.

alessandro is proud of many exclusive patents and ‘world’s firsts’ that reaffirm the company’s leading role in nail design again and again.The constant development of innovations, high quality products, tools and seasonal collections inspired by international fashion trends are at the heart of the alessandro philosophy which offers women around the world the best for their hands, feet and nails!

We are committed to provide the salons and spas with everything they need for delivering the highest-quality services. We welcome all Professionals who share this common passion with us. Give your hands, feet and nails only the best and discover the fascinating range of products in the alessandro world.

Alessandro is now available online in the US and retails for $12. For more information, please refer to alessandro-international.us

*product provided for review*

Ozotic 600 Series: 609 & 623 plus 624!

2013-05-19T21:39:00.000-04:00

Hi girls! Today is the last of my Ozotic 600 series and I decided to match 609 and 623 for this one!

I think that silver and black make great nail art so I decided to go for a ruffian mani and wear one of my owl rings in honor of my awesome friend and fellow blogger Mara from Mara in Polishland, also creator of White Owl Lacquers. I just cannot see an owl and not think of her anymore LOL

And now, the review :

Ozotic 609 is a light silver jelly with scattered holo particles. Thin but packed with holo, it applied evenly and required 2 coats for complete coverage : one thin first coat and a medium second.

Ozotic 623 is an intense black infused with scattered holo. The holo effect is much more faint here but the outstanding formula and opacity totally make up for that in my book : a true ONE coater wonder!!! I honestly didn't expect it such coverage, I guess it's going to be one of my go-to black now!

And finally Ozotic 624 : rich and warm purple jelly with scattered holo. Formula was also a pleasure to work with, perfectly even on the first coat and completely opaque on the second. The holo effect was also quite strong in this one. This is two coats plus topcoat.

Well that's it for today. I hope you like this post. Thanks for looking girls!

The Ozotic 600 series retail for AU$12 and can be purchased directly from piCture pOlish.com.au or through their international network.

For more information, please refer to piCture pOlish.com.au, piCture pOlish on Twitter / Facebook and very soon on ozotic.com.au.

ring purchased from Six
products provided for review

Press Release: Four New Seriously Randoms from Pretty Serious

2013-05-19T10:29:00.001-04:00

Four incredible new shades have just been added to the Pretty Serious "Seriously Random" collection and you can get your claws on them right now! You voted for your favourites and here they are!

CYBERNETIC - In the year 2165, a cybernetic nail polish goes back in time to 2013 with a mission to assimilate the nails of all the ladies into the Pretty Serious network with it's advanced nanotech. Will you fight assimilation? Do you want to?

CYBERNETIC is teal green and violet microglitter in a blue jelly base - 11ml $9.95

GRIMM DEMISE - Little children don't fare well in the shimmering, dark forests where the witches lie in wait, and now you can wear this fairytale on your fingertips as well. This sparkly teal polish has it's own intriguing aura of dark magic about it.

GRIMM DEMISE is teal green microglitter in a teal jelly base - 11ml $9.95

MY DARLIN' CLEMENTINE - Now y'all know what Huckleberry Hound's been singin' 'bout all this time!

MY DARLIN CLEMENTINE is a twinkling orange glass fleck with a hint of duochrome sparkle - 11ml $9.95

PURPLE MONKEY DISHWASHER - Our most requested Seriously Random polish is finally here! Purple Monkey Dishwasher does not contain any actual monkeys (hey, we're vegan and cruelty free!), and it won't actually wash your dishes for you, but it is 100% purple! Sparkly purple!

PURPLE MONKEY DISHWASHER is vibrant violet glitter in a translucent purple jelly base - 11ml $9.95

THE PINK ONE - Everybody wanted The Pink One, so we delivered! This hot pink has a blue flash that screams for attention - 11ml $9.95

Pretty Serious polishes are DBP, Toluene and Formaldehyde Free as well as Cruelty Free and Vegan friendly!

We are designed and manufactured in Australia and each polish comes fully packaged in specially designed boxes (see left for an example!). We ship worldwide from our store (yes, everywhere!) and are also available from online etailers Llarowe in the USA, Pshiiit Boutique in France, Norway Nails in Norway and Mei Mei's Signatures in Singapore.

Our polishes retail in our store for $9.95 and are 11ml/0.37fl.oz

photo credit: Pretty Serious Cosmetics

Zoya Pixie Dust Summer Edition Fire Gradient!

2013-05-18T16:33:00.002-04:00

Last night when I posted my Zoya Pixie Dust Summer Edition review I promised you a little surprise involving Solange, Beatrix and Destiny so here it is!

I loved them so much and found them so great together that I couldn't resist creating a gradient ^_^

I didn't use any sponge but simply "brushed" them one over the other, starting with two thin coats of Destiny and then slowly adding Beatrix and Solange. It's much less messy and works great with shimmers and glitters. I'll try and post a tutorial very soon. In the meanwhile, here's the matte textured "Fire Gradient"!

I hope you liked this "Fire Gradient" *inserts Hunger Games reference hehe*

Thanks for looking girls!

*products provided for review*

Zoya Pixie Dust Summer Edition Review

2013-05-17T17:37:00.002-04:00

I wasn't really sure about the whole Matte Texture trend at first but then I tried my first Zoya Pixie Dusts and all my doubts flew away.

Today I have the latest addition to the range, the Pixie Dust Summer Edition!

Formula and application were very similar on the entire collection so I'll just talk about them here. They all dried fast and applied like a dream, completely even on the first coat and requiring two coats for full coverage.

Zoya Solange : yellow based gold matte texture with fine gold glitter. Super sparkly IRL and slightly more pigmented than the others, just intense! Two coats, no base or top coat.

Zoya Beatrix : intense orange matte texture with fine gold glitter. Bright and summery, one of my top picks. I love this! Two coats, no base or top coat.

Zoya Destiny : bold coral red matte texture with fine gold glitter. Another stunner and my absolute favorite. Two coats, no base or top coat.

Zoya Miranda : raspberry pink matte texture with fine pink glitter. I'm not really into this shade of pink so I'm not head over heels but if you're a pink kind of girl, you'll love it. Two coats, no base or top coat.

Zoya Stevie : muted lavender matte texture with fine silver glitter. Another one that I'm not completely fond of but it's just personal taste. Two coats, no base or top coat.

Zoya Liberty : bright sapphire blue matte texture with fine blue glitter. This is the deepest shade of the collection and also one of my faves! Two coats, no base or top coat.

Overall :

This second set of Pixie Dusts totally confirms my first impression, I love them! The Zoyas are my favorite textures so far and it's no surprise I've been grabbing them whenever in need a quick and fun manicure! My top picks : Beatrix, Destiny and Liberty but Solange goes so well with the first two that I just couldn't pass on it. I might or might not have a surprise involving all three of them to share with you very soon... ;-)

What do you think about the Pixie Dusts? Have you tried any of them?

*products provided for review*

piCture pOlish Heavy Metal Swatches & Review

2013-05-16T19:03:00.001-04:00

Hi girls!

I hope you've all had a great week so far! Mine was really busy. I had to work all weekend and most of the week as well on a work presentation and I was completely beat afterwards.

So... Today I have a new piCture pOlish shade to share with you : Heavy Metal!

Heavy Metal is a sheer grey base literally packed with very fine gunmetal glitter, really dense and ultra sparkly, right up my alley! Formula was on the thick side but manageable and dried to a smooth finish. I used 2 thin coats here with a triangle half moon design and a reverse accent on my ring finger.

piCture pOlish Vegas retails for AU$10 and can be purchased directly from piCture pOlish.com.au or through their international network.

For more information, please refer to piCture pOlish.com.au or piCture pOlish on Twitter / Facebook.

ring purchased from Mango
products provided for review

Ozotic 600 series : 600, 602, 604, 619 & 621

2013-05-11T23:08:00.000-04:00

Hi girls! Today I have my second Ozotic 600 serie post to share with you!

Last post featured an ombré of purples and blues and this one's all about golds and reds. I must apologize in advance for the picture spam but this is one of my very first 5 fingers swatches (say hello to my thumb! LOL) and I just couldn't narrow them down...

Ok let's go!

Ozotic 604 is a cool toned gold scattered holographic. I'm not that much into yellow based golds so this one is perfect for me with its pewter undertones. Formula was slightly sheer but applied like butter and required two coats for complete coverage. Depending on your nail length and application, I'd say it's a two to three coater.

Ozotic 602 is a coppery gold shimmer with scattered holo particles. Strangely enough I really like this ones, so much for not loving gold haha. Formula was completely different than 604, literally packed with shimmer particles and much more pigmented, it could almost pass for a one coater. I used two coats plus topcoat.

Ozotic 619 is a pinkish coral scattered holo with a slight brown hue, very complimenting on my skin tone. It's also the one with the strongest holo here, almost linear under certain lightings. More jelly-like and extremely even / easy to apply two to three coater, I used two coats in the swatches below.

Ozotic 600 is a pinkish coral scattered holo with a faint red hue. Very similar to 619 in the bottle and on the nails, I'd recommend picking up the undertone that suits you best. Overall comparable to 619 in terms of formula as well, it did prove to be slightly more pigmented though and a true and easy two coater.

Ozotic 621 is highly saturated red scattered holo that screams WOW look at me!!! If I should keep just one red scattered holo ever it would be this one without hesitation. Intense, lustrous and extremely opaque, simply perfect. Formula was outstanding, offering a lot of control and completely opaque on the first coat, I used two below for an even more saturated look.

And now more group photos!!!

How do you fell about this second part of the Ozotic 600 series? Do you own any of them? Are you as crazy in love with 621 as I am?

The Ozotic 600 series retail for AU$12 and can be purchased directly from piCture pOlish.com.au or through their international network.

For more information, please refer to piCture pOlish.com.au, piCture pOlish on Twitter / Facebook and very soon on ozotic.com.au.

rings purchased from H&M
products provided for review

China Glaze Texture Review

2013-05-09T21:08:00.001-04:00

When I first heard about the whole texture trend, I wasn't entirely sold on the idea but then the shimmers I tried convinced me so they got me really curious about texture cremes as well.

The China Glaze Texture collection is a set of six bold and summery cremes, let's give them a closer look, shall we?

Formula was consistent on the entire collection so I'll just talk about it here. They all applied really nicely and offered a lot of control. Slightly on the thick side but in a good way, they were almost completely opaque on the first coat. I used two coats and no topcoat in all of my swatches. I recommend using thin coats and waiting a good minute or two between coats to shorten drying time.

Unrefined is a light blue based pink. I'm not really into this time of shade so I don't really like this one, independently of the texture finish. Two coats, no topcoat.

Itty, Bitty & Gritty is a bright coral creme with pink undertones. Now this is a color I love! Absolutely stunning and such a happy shade. Two coats, no topcoat.

Bump & Grind is a darker pink creme with coral undertones. Another gorgeous color and probably one of the few shades of pink I really love. Two coats, no topcoat.

Toe-Tally Textured is a bright tangerine creme. I also love this color! I know, I'm so last year haha. Two coats, no topcoat.

In The Rough is a pale yellow based green creme. I don't think this one looks good on me, so I'm kind of meh about it. Two coats, no topcoat.

Of Coarse! is a bright blue creme. This is one of my favorites as well, perfect for Summer! Two coats, no topcoat.

Overall :

I honestly didn't think much of these texture cremes, I was afraid they'd look like popcorn ceiling but I must say that I love them! They're easy to apply, dry fast, barely require any cleaning and wear like iron. My top picks : Itty, Bitty & Gritty, Bump & Grind, Toe-Tally Textured and Of Coarse!

Did you grab any of these? What do you think about the texture trend?

*products provided for review*

Cult Nails Dance All Night Collection review

2013-05-07T19:41:00.001-04:00

Are you girls ready for a another Cult Nails exclusive launch? Because today I have swatches of the upcoming Dance All Night collection!

Featuring three cremes and three glitters, I decided to pair them by using gradient glitter tips with a full glittery accent on my ring finger.

Faded & Walk of Shame

Faded is a beautiful pale grey creme with a subtle blue hue. Formula was as easy to work with as you would expect from Cult Nails and Faded looked perfect on the second coat.

Walk of Shame is a gold glitterbomb with different sizes of gold hexes as well as micro holo glitters. Glitter pay off was amazing and sparkled like crazy!

Nakizzle's Shizzle & Dance all Night

Nakizzle's Shizzle is a medium faded blue creme, soft but not pastel, bright but not bold. Formula was just as easy to work with and required two coats for complete coverage.

Dance all Night is a mix of multi-sized hexes in green and blue combined with micro orange particles. The larger glitters were dominant here so I had to apply a second coat to get sufficient coverage on the tips but it was perfect for full application on the accent finger.

Love at 1st Sight & Center of Attention

Love at 1st Sight is a dusty and yet bright purple creme with strong pink undertones. I'm not a huge fan of purple cremes but this one looks surprisingly pretty on. Formula was outstanding, almost a one (careful) coater. I used two coats in the swatches below.

Center of Attention is a mix of different sizes of pink hexes and color shifting micro glitters, from gold to hot orange. Great glitter coverage and application here, I love this one!

Overall :

I really love how different this collection is. I wouldn't have expected a cremes vs glitters collex at this time of the year and these are absolutely gorgeous!

My favorites : Faded, Walk of Shame and Center of Attention.

The Cult Nails Dance All Night Collection is scheduled for release on May 9th for a limited time at a discounted price directly from shop.cultnails.com/

Here's the official information:

Cult Nails releases the Dance All Night Collection on May 9th, 2013 during a Preview sale. The collection includes 3 High Shine Creme's and 3 Glitter lacquers. The collection will be available during our Preview Event where the entire collection can be purchased at the discounted pricing of $60 for the set. (Retail $72). The first 250 orders will also automatically receive a bottle of Wax That (Not pictured), our new Wax Finish Top Coat that will allow you to turn any polish into a wax finish polish. Our Preview Event will run from May 9th - 18th 11:59PM EST. All polishes will be available for purchase individually starting on Sunday May 19th for $12 per bottle.

What do you think about these? Do you plan on getting any of them?

*products provided for review*

Ozotic 600 series : 601, 603, 606 & 617!

2013-05-06T20:52:00.001-04:00

Hi girls!

I hope you've all had a great week so far!

Today's post is the first of my Ozotic 600 series. I have 12 of them to share with you and instead of going through them by number, I decided to group them by color for comparison purposes.

So let's get started with the light purples and blues!

In terms of formula, they all applied like a dream and quickly dried to a shiny finish. Both purples (601 & 606) were on the sheer side and required 3 coats for sufficient coverage but the blues (603 & 617) were perfect after the second coat.

Ozotic 601

light mauve scattered holo, 3 coats plus topcoat.

Ozotic 606

lilac scattered holo, 3 coats plus topcoat.

Ozotic 603

baby blue scattered holo, 3 coats plus topcoat.

Ozotic 617

sky blue scattered holo, 3 coats plus topcoat.

I was wondering how the 600 series compared to the piCture pOlish collaboration shades and my first opinion is that they are much more packed with holo particles. Of course these are lighter so the holo effect is more obvious but I'm really loving them, they totally remind me of the Kaleidoscopes!

Don't they look perfect together?

Do you have any of these? Have you ever tried any of the 600 series?

The Ozotic 600 series retail for AU$12 and can be purchased directly from piCture pOlish.com.au or through their international network.

For more information, please refer to piCture pOlish.com.au, piCture pOlish on Twitter / Facebook and very soon on ozotic.com.au.

*products provided for review*

piCture pOlish Vegas Swatches & Review

2013-05-05T23:59:00.000-04:00

I can't think of anything more classic than red nail polish and yet each and every time I wear one of those glass like jelly or twinkling shimmery reds, something inside me just screams "this IS perfection".

piCture pOlish Vegas is one of those stunning reds that will steal your heart away. At least it did steal mine...

Vegas is a blue based red jelly packed with gold shimmer that literally applies itself. I love red shimmers in general but formula was so perfect that I completely fell in love with Vegas. Perfectly even two coater, with glistening particles, "jelliesque" characteristics and a high gloss finish... Red at its best. Two coats plus topcoat in all of these swatches.

How do you fell about red nail polish? Do you have a go-to red?

piCture pOlish Vegas retails for AU$10 and can be purchased directly from piCture pOlish.com.au or through their international network.

For more information, please refer to piCture pOlish.com.au or piCture pOlish on Twitter / Facebook.

*products provided for review*

Introducing... Polished by KPT!

2013-05-04T22:43:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone!

How's your weekend so far? Mine has been kind of busy, I've spent most of my time swatching and I have a ton of pretties to share with you very soon!

In the meanwhile, today's post features a growing indie brand, one of the hottest on Instagram right now :
Polished by KPT

Green Awakening is a gorgeous clear based mix of color shifting shimmer, from hot orange-gold to green, as well as small iridescent blue glitters. It's super hot IRL, sparkly with a strong morphing effect, and I love how different it looks with the extra glitters. This is one coat of Green Awakening over black plus topcoat.

Dream Lover is a tender white jelly with a mix of pastel glitters, including a few stars and hearts. I've grown to love white jelly glitters and this one's really pretty, so soft and delicate! Formula was surprisingly nice and I managed to achieve full coverage and decent glitter payoff with 3 thin coats. No fishing for the larger pieces in the swatch below.

Madam Luck is a heavy mix of gold glitters in various shapes, sizes and finishes. It's really packed with glitters and sparkles like crazy! I used one coat over Pretty Serious Hot Summer Nights plus topcoat here.

Next : the thermals : fading from their original color (cold or room temperature) to clear (hot).

Formula and effect were very similar on all three shades so I'll just talk about them here. I used one coat of each over white to offer a consistent review but the possibilities are endless. Formula was great on all of them and they applied like a dream. The thermal effect was also really amazing, very noticeable and reacting almost instantly to temperature change.

Hot Like Wasabi is a murky greenish yellow with scattered holo particles. It appears more yellow on my nails than in the bottle because of the white base but it's a very versatile color so more coats or a different layering choice would result in a completely different look.

Kelvin Bleu is a periwinkle-blurple jelly, also with scattered holo particles. The "cold" color is really beautiful! Kelvin Bleu is one of Polished by KPT's hot shades and I can easily understand why!

Camellia is a reddish fuchsia jelly. There's just something about it that reminds me of watercolor paint, absolutely stunning! I think it's the one that I spent the most time playing with : cold, hot, cold again, transitioning,...

And finally we have a black light polish :

Fluorescein is a neon green jelly with scattered holo and UV light reacting particles. Under regular lighting, it basically looks like your average neon green (with holo!) but under UV light it just glows like crazy! No matter how hard I tried I couldn't color correct the UV version so please imagine it as bold but the exact same color as under regular lighting, i.e. not more yellow as the swatch below shows. I used 3 thin coats plus topcoat here and and no undies.

Overall :

After trying these seven shades, I can easily understand the hype around Polished by KPT. The glitters are well balanced and the thermal and UV shades beautiful and a lot of fun.

Polished by KPT is available for purchase on the brand's website (US & Canada shipping) and Shoppe Eclecticco (worlwide shipping). Prices vary from $9 to $12.

*products provided for review*

piCture pOlish new collaboration shades : Shocked, Ocean and Hope!

2013-04-30T12:09:00.002-04:00

piCture pOlish has just released new collaboration shades!!!

Shocked by Shatter Me Claire

Ocean by Kelly's Kolors

and Hope by Vernis en Folie (squee!)

piCture pOlish Shocked is a beautiful bright blue base pink jelly infused with the PP signature scattered holo. I've said many times already that I'm not a pink person but this one's really stunning : not too girly, super glossy and of course enlightened by holo particles. Formula was flawless and although I found Shocked to be on the sheer side, I decided to skip a third coat by using two even, self-leveling coats in the swatches below.

piCture pOlish Ocean is a vibrant turquoise jelly scattered with thin holographic particles. I absolutely love this shade! Formula was, again, a pleasure to work with, slightly sheer and lighter on the nails than in the bottle but I didn't feel the need to apply a third coat. This is two coats plus topcoat.

piCture pOlish Hope is a gorgeous teal jelly scattered holo with a touch of hex blue glitters. I was already sold at "teal" and "holo" but I really love the extra touch of glitters that completly sets it apart. More opaque but just as easy to work with as the previous shades, I used two coats plus topcoat.

What do you think about these new collabs? Did you grab any of them yet?

piCture pOlish collaboration shades can be purchased directly from piCture pOlish.com.au or through their international network.

For more information, please refer to piCture pOlish.com.au or piCture pOlish on Twitter / Facebook.

*products provided for review*

Ozotic 503 & 506 Review!

2013-04-28T20:39:00.000-04:00

Hi girls!

Today is the last post of my Ozotic "back up plan" shades and it features 503 and 506!

If you're unfamiliar with the back up plan (link), a few months ago, the entire Ozotic 500 series was discontinued. These past couple of weeks I've been showing you the only ones still available for purchase before they're gone for good.

So... Let's get started, shall we?

Ozotic 506 is a turquoise duochrome heaven with a strong purple color shift. It looks absolutely fantastic on and reveals all of its complexity even under low or indirect lighting. I used one single coat over black here and as you can see it resulted in a perfectly even and intense look.

Ozotic 503 probably is the most unusual duochrome of the 500s with a muted greyed out mauve to intense green color change. I didn't expect the effect to be this strong from the look of it in the bottle but I couldn't be more wrong. Again, one single, effortless coat over black plus topcoat below.

Overall :

I bought my 500s when I first heard they were being discontinued and I couldn't be happier about my purchase : excellent formula and intense effect, perfect for every duochrome lover!

Ozotic 503 and 506 retail for AU$13 (while stocks last) and can be purchased directly from piCture pOlish.com.au or through their international network.

For more information, please refer to piCture pOlish.com.au, piCture pOlish on Twitter / Facebook and very soon on ozotic.com.au

*products purchased by me*

Illamasqua Imperfection Scarce, Speckle & Freckle

2013-04-27T06:05:00.002-04:00

I don't know about you but the very first thing I thought when I saw the latest Illamasqua collection, Imperfection, is that they had (also) joined the indie nail polish trend. Truth be told, I was unsure about them but let's give them a closer look, shall we?

Scarce

pastel pink scattered with black glitters. 2 coats plus topcoat.

Speckle

pastel lilac scattered with black glitters. 2 coats plus topcoat.

Freckle

light taupe scattered with black glitters. 2 coats plus topcoat.

Formula was surprisingly manageable on all of these. I thought they would either be too thick or sheer but they proved to be pigmented and relatively easy to work with, true 2 coaters.

I honestly didn't think I would love this collection but once on my nails, I kind of did! The only one I'm not completely sold on is Freckle but that's a matter of skin tone and personal taste. I do need the other 2 now LOL

What do you think about these? Did you grab any already?

The Illamasqua Imperfection (limited edition) is already available on illamasqua.com and worldwide distributors.

*products provided for review*

Pretty Serious Cosmetics Review

2013-04-25T19:27:00.003-04:00

Hi girls!
Do you remember a few months go when I reviewed my very first Pretty Serious polishes? Well today I have a couple more to show you? Exciting!

Blue Gums on Boxing Day is a warm green jelly with a blue shimmer running through. It's a beautiful shade of green that literally applied itself! Butter smooth and opaque in 2 coats.

Blue Gargoyle Ganache is a gunmetal grey with a faint gold and purple duochrome. Another 2 coater with a perfect formulation!

Hot Summer Nights is a blackened blue shimmer. Very dark, almost black, under low lighting, it's simply the most perfect blue I have every tried, you could easily get away with one single coat. I'm not sur I have ever seen such high pigmentation in a vampy before.

Tux is turquoise shimmer in a black base. The shimmer seemed to have some multichrome properties from the bottle but the effect remained very faint on the nails. I still love it anyway, especially considering the high quality of its formula. You're looking at 2 coats pus topcoat below but I could easily have stopped after the first layer!

Overall :

My first impression is confirmed and I really love that Pretty Serious is such a high quality brand!

Pretty Serious Cosmetics nail polish line is Big 3 Free, Formaldehyde and Resin Free and retails for $9.95 AUD each.

Pretty Serious Cosmetics can be purchased directly from pretty-serious.com or from worlwide online distributors such as llarowe.com

For more information, please refer to pretty-serious.com and like / follow Pretty Serious on Facebook or Twitter to be updated on the brand's latest news and offers.

*products provided for review*

Ozotic 502 & 530 review!

2013-04-22T18:29:00.000-04:00

Hi girls!

I have another Ozotic multichromilicious duo to share with you today and it's the last one involving the Elytra collection: 502 & 530!

Ozotic 502 (shimmer) and 530 (glitter) are strong color shifting polishes : deep magenta base radiating a bold gold and green multichrome. I really love how saturated they are! Formula was perfect on both and I only used one coat of each above black in the swatches below. Crazy multichromilicious I tell you!

What did I say? Aren't they just perfect? And so different from the usual blue-green-purple multichromes! LOVE ♥♥♥

Ozotic 502 and 530 are being discontinued, as well as the entire 500 range, and are now part of the Ozotic back up plan. They currently retail for AU$13 (while stocks last) and can be purchased directly from piCture pOlish.com.au or through their international network.

For more information, please refer to piCture pOlish.com.au, piCture pOlish on Twitter / Facebook and very soon on ozotic.com.au

*products provided for review*

piCture pOlish Blogger Revolution launch and review!

2013-04-21T19:25:00.001-04:00

Hi girls!

I'm super excited to be able to show you the latest additions to the piCture pOlish range : Blogger & Revolution!

Revolution is a thin watery basecoat formulated for easy glitter removal. Here are the official directions :

Application

Apply 2 thin coats of Revolution as your base

(Revolution dries fast and is not PVA Glue)

Apply your glitter polish as you normally do

Removal

soak your makeup pad etc in nail polish remover

cover your nail and leave for a few seconds, remove

apply more remover and give it a good gentle scrub

continue the process the glitter will remove with ease

no flakes stuck to your nails anymore - yahoo

I put Revolution to the test with several glitters and used a few basecoat/glitter combos and... It works! Removal wasn't as easy as regular nail polish but it significantly easier than usual, no foil method necessary anymore! The best combo for me was to use a first coat as base and a second one sandwiched between a regular polish / glitter layering or 2 coats of glitter.
Oh and as a bonus, it also offers a really smooth finish and works wonders as base coat for linear holos to prevent patchiness and troublesome application. How awesome is that?

Blogger is a dense rainbow glitter bomb. It's so packed with hex glitters in various colors and sizes: from very thin to medium hexes, gold, silver, red, fuchsia, turquoise, green,... I decided to wear it as a gradient with a full ring finger accent (one dabbed coat for the accent) and despite the very dense glitter blend, it didn't give me any trouble and resulted in an extremely sparkly manicure.

Overall :

I really love piCture pOlish! I love their products and I love their vision of the nail polish business, interacting on a daily basis with their fans, creating collaboration shades and bringing us new, exclusive and high quality products.

piCture pOlish can be purchased directly from piCture pOlish.com.au or through their international network.

For more information, please refer to piCture pOlish.com.au or piCture pOlish on Twitter / Facebook.

*products provided for review*

Cadillacquer Do You See What I See? Collection

2013-04-20T06:59:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone!

Today I have the Cadillacquer introductory collection to share with you : Do You See What I See?

My very first impression when I saw all these pretty bottle was just wow so let's see what you think about them!

Where is Carl? is a soft baby blue jelly with a mix of small hexes in silver, black and turquoise. Application couldn't be easier and 2 coats were enough for perfect coverage.

Remember Me is a pale mint green jelly infused with shimmer as well as a silver fuchsia glitter blend, including a well balanced amount of dots. Formula was amazing as well but most importantly this polish is gorgeous! Two coats plus topcoat here as well.

Dollhouse is a pale greyed out pink jelly with silver and rosy pink hexes and dots. I'm loving the antique touch to this one. A tad less opaque than the previous two, I used two coats plus topcoat here but I'd say it's a two to three coater depending on your nail length and application.

Easy as a Pie is a medium lavender jelly with different sizes of white and purple hexes as well as a few fuchsia dots. Formula was also trouble-free here and I reached full opacity in two coats.

Morning Comes is a dusty periwinkle jelly with a fine to medium mix of white and periwinkle hexes. I love how delicate it is and although it required 3 thin coats for complete coverage, I can totally overlook that fact.

Cute Poison is a smoked green jelly with a complex mix of green, fuchsia, red and black glitters. I honestly thought it would be too much for me but once on my nails, it proved me wrong. Formula and coverage were perfect here as well in two easy coats.

9 Crimes is one of my favorites and a perfect blend of silver shimmer and glitters in a blue based grey jelly. I love everything about it, from its base color to sophisticated glitter mix but especially how it glows! I used two coats plus topcoat but this one's also a two to three coater.

I wish I was the Moon is a dusty blue with hints of purple jelly scattered with sparse iridescent turquoise and blue glitters, hexes and squares. This one's another stunner and being saturated than the others in glitters, I find it more wearable on an everyday basis. Two easy coats plus topcoat below.

The Dark Whatever is a darker grey jelly with fine black and medium blurple hexes. I really love the Dexter reference, or I least I think it is haha. Another beauty and true jelly with a three coats coverage and easy application.

Overall :

Like I said, I was very impressed with Cadillacquer when I saw Madeleine's first promo shots but it was nothing compared to how beautiful I found them all in person. I'd have a really hard time picking a favorite!

What about you? Anything piques your interest?

Cadillacquer is available for puchase on Etsy (link) and retails for $12 each.

Madeleine ships from Switzerland and offers international shipping. For more information such as product availability and new collections launches, please refer to Cadillacquer on Facebook.

*products provided for review*

Jesse’s Girl Cosmetics JulieG Limited Edition Frosted Gum Drops Collection

2013-04-19T21:59:00.003-04:00

Hi Girls!
Today I wanted to pass along some information about the Jesse's Girl take on the matte textured glitters trends.

Jesse’s Girl teamed up again with popular beauty blogger JulieG (JulieG713 on YouTube) to create a fun line of nail shades that take a cue from the “liquid sand” trend. In six bold and candy-colored hues, the polishes retail for $3.99 and can be found at Rite Aid and www.Jessesgirlcosmetics.com – fashion forward nails at any budget!

Tangerine Dream: Citrus orange with specs of sparkle
Sugar Rush: Bright reddish-pink with pops of gold glitter
Hot Cinnamon: Hot-red with a glitter finish
Crushed Candy: Pure purple with silver sparkle appeal

Rock Candy: Teal infused with silver glitter

Blueberry Fizz: Berry blue mixed with shiny silver glitter

Zoya Earth Day Nail Polish Exchange Promo is back!!!

2013-04-19T03:10:00.002-04:00

Announcing the 2013 Zoya Nail Polish Exchange

Hooray for Earth Day! Once again, Zoya is helping you do a little spring cleaning with the return of the Earth Day Zoya Nail Polish Exchange* for 2013. Clean out your nail polish wardrobe and get rid of old nail polish that may not be BIG5FREE (Free of Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, Toluene, DBP and Camphor) and exchange it for a greener alternative - long lasting, award winning, healthy Zoya Nail Polish bottles!

Now's the perfect time to make the switch to an eco-chic beauty routine! From April 19, 2013 - April 26, 2013 (11:59PM EST), exchange your old, unwanted nail color for toxin-free ZOYA Nail Polish for only $4 per bottle plus shipping and handling fees. Rest assured - ZOYA will properly dispose of your old polish.

Here's all you need to do!
1. Go to www.zoya.com and pick out the polishes you would like (excludes all Zoya PixieDust™ Collection shades) and add them to your cart. You must select at least 6 bottles and no more than 24 bottles of polish (Salon accounts minimum 12 maximum 48 bottles.)

2. Apply the code (copy and paste for best results): ZOYAEARTH2013
3. Your order value will be adjusted to reflect a 50% discount (we use these funds to properly dispose of the old nail polish).

4. SUBMIT your order!

Then Zoya will ship out your NEW polish! HOORAY! This is how your order should look like...

Once you get your order
Here's where the exchanging* happens...

1. Ship back the equivalent number of bottles you received to the return address below (ie. If you ordered 6 bottles of Zoya – you would send us 6 NON-ZOYA polishes). Please check with your carrier on the proper way to ship nail polish.

2. Include a copy of your order.

To clarify the exchange: You do not have to send us the exact amount of bottles that you are ordering. You can send any quantity up to that amount. You can also donate. If you decide you don't want to do either, it's ok "Offer is not contingent on customer returning polish" we will still love you and will send the Zoya polishes... we'll just send you on a guilt trip for a while :)

Ship Your Old Nail Polish To:

Art of Beauty, Inc.
c/o Polish Exchange
5060 Taylor Rd, Unit D
Cleveland, Ohio, 44128, USA

Once we receive your polish, we do the rest! It’s that simple!

IMPORTANT!
The bottles you send in cannot be Zoya, Qtica or Nocti polishes (but they can be any other brand). We are using the honor code here folks! We want to make sure you get your Zoya Nail Polish! We send you the polish first then you send your old polish back to us! If you do choose to send us your old polish we promise to properly dispose of it according to EPA guidelines. This offer is only good for 1 week so hurry – Don’t Wait!

*Offer valid online at www.zoya.com only. Offer expires on 4/26/2012 at 11:59PM EST. Continental US ONLY. Not valid with any other codes, coupons or promotions. Shipping and handling fees apply. Consumer accounts must exchange a minimum of 6 polishes with a 24 bottle maximum. Salon accounts must exchange at least 12 with a maximum of 48 bottles. Polish can be from any brand EXCEPT Zoya, Qtica or Nocti and can be exchanged for in-stock .5oz Zoya Nail Polish. Excludes all Zoya PixieDust™ Collection shades. Offer is not contingent on customer returning polish. Zoya Exchange code is unique and non-transferable. One code per account. Art of Beauty is not responsible for incorrect addresses, credit card entry errors or errors associated with declined credit cards. Please allow standard time for processing and shipping, however if volume is higher than expected please allow up to 6 weeks for shipping and processing. Art of Beauty, Inc. reserves the right to remove any polish that is out of stock from your order. You will not be charged for this polish. Backordered polish is not included in this promotion.

________________
CONNECT WITH ZOYA: Make sure to tagTwitter, Instagram and Pinterest posts with @ZoyaNailPolish and hashtag posts with #ZoyaNailPolish and #ZoyaEarthDay. Website, Blog and YouTube links can be shared on our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/zoyanailpolish).________________

Lacc La Couleur Couture 1945, 1968 & 1976

2013-04-18T19:51:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone!

Today I have a new (to me) brand to show you : La Couleur Couture!

La Couleur Couture 1945 is a classic red creme-jelly hybrid with an outstanding formula. Almost a one coater with high pigmentation and the easiest application ever, it went on smoothly with zero effort whatsoever. I used 2 coats plus topcoat out of habit but one single careful coat would have done the job and topcoat only added protection as it naturally fried to a high gloss.

La Couleur Couture 1968 is a pale jade green with a bright green shimmer, a close cousin to the long discontinued Chanel Jade and a truly gorgeous color. Again I was very surprised by the trouble free application but this one was less pigmented and required 2 to 3 coats for complete coverage.

La Couleur Couture 1976 is a whitened baby blue with the faintest pink shimmer. The shimmer doesn't translate at all on camera and honestly I had a hard time seeing it in real life but that doesn't take any beauty to this amazing shade of blue. 1976 was the less pigmented of the three and required 3 coats for complete coverage but I didn't experience any streakiness, which is very rare for such pale shades.

Overall :

La Couleur Couture leaves me with a very good first impression, I could sense that a lot of care was given to formula. I also really love the bottle shape and design so I can only recommend them!

lacc can be purchased from llarowe and retails for $14 each.

*products provided for review*

Design Glassware fashion & beauty accessories

2013-04-16T14:42:00.000-04:00

You do remember the Design Glassware Mont Bleu glass nail files review I posted a few months ago, right?

Well Design Glassware does not only carry nails files, they offer a wide variety of gifts and beauty accessories and today I have a few of their products to show you. Not really nail polish related but I'm sure you won't mind ;-)

Purse Hanger

metal hanger in Sun Black made with Swarovski® elements (16.90€ link)

Compact Mirror

plastic mirror in “Sun Black” hand made with Swarovski® elements (12€ link)

Shamballa bracelet

Black crystal pearls bracelets made with Swarovski® elements (11.90€ instead of 17€ link)

Slant-tip Tweezers

hand decorated crystal slant tweezers made with Swarovski® elements (12€ link)

Overall :

I'm really loving these products. The only one I'm not 100% convinced about is the compact mirror, it feels too light in my opinion and I'd recommend upgrading to the metal one for a few extra euro (link). Other than that they all look sturdy, high quality and make beautiful gifts.

Design Glassware ships worlwide and offer secure payment through Paypal. For more information, please visit their design-glassware.com

*products provided for review*

piCture pOlish Mirage review!

2013-04-15T18:06:00.000-04:00

*edit* I've been completely offline today and just read about the Boston explosions. All of my prayers go to the victims and their families...

Hi girls!
Today's post features my weekly piCture pOlish post and a very unusual shade : Mirage.

Mirage is a very complex shimmer that gleams shades of grey, blue, green and purple. It's a true chameleon that will look completely different depending on your lighting. Very pigmented, it'd reach full opacity in three coats but I decided to use it over black here to try and show you the color shift a bit better. I used one easy coat (over black) plus topcoat in these swatches.

What do you think? Do you own Mirage? If so how do you wear it?

piCture pOlish Mirage retails for AU$11.50 and can be purchased directly from piCture pOlish.com.au or through their international network.

For more information, please refer to piCture pOlish.com.au or piCture pOlish on Twitter / Facebook.

*products provided for review*

OZOTIC 504 & 529 REVIEW!

2013-04-14T19:35:00.001-04:00

Are you ready for some more crazy multichromes?

I loved digging through my stash for Ozotic 505/528 last week and today I have another duo : 504 and 529!

Ozotic 504 (shimmer) and 529 (glitter) are two stunning multichromes : midnight blue base with a strong color shifting effect, from navy to royal purple and gold/orange. Both unbelievably intense and super vampy. Formula was flawless and all I had to use was a single self-leveling coat above black in the swatches below, full intensity in just one coat!

Under regular lighting conditions, you can see the beautiful purple peeking around the edges of your nails :

And then, 504 becomes even more complex and intense somehow :

What about some extra sparkle with 529?

Ozotic 504 and 529, along with the entire 500 series, have been discontinued and are now part of the Ozotic back up plan. They currently retail for AU$13 (while stocks last) and can be purchased directly from piCture pOlish.com.au or through their international network.

For more information, please refer to piCture pOlish.com.au, piCture pOlish on Twitter / Facebook and very soon on ozotic.com.au.

*products purchased by me*