Sally Hansen New Xtreme Wear Colour Xpression Shades - Swatches & Review

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A few weeks ago Sally Hansen Australia shared on their Instagram page bottle shots (you can see this picture in my collage below) of five new shades which they are introducing into the Xtreme Wear colour range.  Naturally I feel in love and needed to have these in my collection.  Luckily for me, they did come to live with me and I am going to share with you my swatches and thoughts on the new colours.

 

All Bright is described as perfectly punchy, hot magenta.  As I am sure you will guess I love this polish.  The colour is gorgeous, it applies like a dream and dries super glossy.  I'm a huge fan.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in lightbox

Babe Blue is described as a subtle baby periwinkle blue.  Such a gorgeous colour.  This polish also has a subtle shimmer that can be see in the sunlight.  The formula is easy to use and only requires two coats to be opaque.

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Bare It All is a nude creme.  I'm not entirely sure if this is the right nude for my skin tone.  The formula is great and easy to use.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in lightbox

Giant Peach is a peachy-keen coral creme.  Such a pretty colour with a great formula.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in lightbox

Tickled Pink is a soft plushy pink.  I am a huge fan of the colour.  This one does apply slightly uneven but you can get away with two coats if you apply it carefully.  I used three coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in lightbox

What do you think of these new colours?  Personally I love them.  I think that they are a great transition into the warmer months ahead and the formulas are good and easy to use.

These new Sally Hansen shades are available now and can be found in Priceline, Chemist Warehouse, Target and select pharmacies.  Which shades will you be grabbing?

Grace-Full Nail Polish and Ella Ann Cosmetics What A Girl Wants Collection - Swatches & Review

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Grace-full Nail Polish has teamed up with Ella Ann Cosmetics and have created the What A Girl Wants collection.  This collection consists of eight polishes which were created using inspiration pictures from six Ella Ann girls, a picture from Kristen (the owner of Ella Ann Cosmetics) and of course Theresa (the owner of Grace-full Nail Polish). 

 

Amazonian Mermaid is a mid blue/green holo with pops of flakies throughout.  This really does say mermaid to me.  It's such a pretty colour and the formula is great.  The polish is slightly more holo than it appears in my picture but sadly the clouds kept covering over the sun while I was taking my pictures.  I use two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in lightbox

Picture taken outdoors in cloud covered sunlight

Chuck's Berry is a hot pink linear holo with darker hot pink flecks throughout.  No surprise that I really like this one.  Again, it's a really pretty colour and the formula is easy to work with.  I used two coats for my swatches.

Picture taken in lightbox

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Dark Orchid is a linear radiant orchid coloured holo with violet flakies.  Love this one too.  The colour and formula are perfect.  I used two coats for my swatches.

Picture taken in lightbox

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Deeply In Lust is a linear light coral leaning to champagne colour with pops of rainbow pearl flecks throughout.  The formula of this one is great and easy to use but sadly the colour just doesn't agree with my skin tone.  I used two coats for my swatches.

Picture taken in lightbox

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Purplerazzi is a deep purple shimmer with bright purple sparks and navy and turquoise micro glitter.  Super pretty and the formula is easy to use.  I used two coats for my swatches.

Picture taken in lightbox

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Red Spherical Dress is a pink red linear holo with deeper red micro flakies through it.  Such a really polish and really great formula.  I used two coats for my swatches.

Picture taken in lightbox

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Stop The Show is a bright pink with micro silver flakies throughout.  This polish also comes with a red tint (shown in second picture) to make the polish more versatile.  This polish is super sparkly and the flakies throughout like to go everywhere and stick like glue so careful application is recommended.  The polish itself is easy to work with.  I used two coats of Stop The Show and one coat of the red tint (in the second picture).

Picture taken in lightbox

Picture taken with Red Tint in lightbox

1000 Oceans is a deep royal blue linear holo with blue sparkles through it.  I absolutely love this one.  Amazing colour and formula.  It's close to being a one coater.  I used two coats for my swatches.

Picture taken in lightbox

Picture taken in direct sunlight

I love this collection.  There are definitely some really awesome polishes in this one.  As usual the formulas in the collection are fantastic.  I can't even think of a time where I have had any issues with formulas with Grace-full polishes.  My favourites from this collection are Dark Orchid, Purplerazzi and 1000 Oceans.

The What A Girl Wants Collection will be available to purchase from Grace-full Nail Polish on Friday 31st July at 7pm AEST and will also by available from Ella Ann Cosmetics.

Powder Perfect Top Coats - Swatches & Review

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Top coat is a necessity for all nail polish wearers (obviously there are some exceptions to that rule eg. textured polishes).  I personally have been a long time fan of Seche Vite.  I can't even count how many bottles of that stuff I have gone through over the years.  I recently received two of Powder Perfect's top coats to try out and review, which is what I will be sharing with you today.  Now as these are clear top coats, pictures in my light box make it a little tricky to see their true gloss.

Champagne Shine is described as a fast drying, glossy top coat.  Is it just that?  Yes.  This one is my pick of the two top coats.  I found this one to be glossier than Chandelier Shine and dried quicker as well.  In terms of comparison to Seche Vite, this is definitely close.  It's very close in it's shine and only has a slightly longer dry time.  I also didn't notice any smudging of my stamping when adding this top coat.  That is a huge plus.

 

Chandelier Shine is described as glossy, fast drying and long wearing top coat.  As I change my mani daily (and if I am really honest, it usually happens multiple times as a day) I don't really have to opportunity to test how long things wear.  As for shine, it definitely is glossy but not as glossy as Champagne Shine or Seche Vite and the dry time is longer.  I found it was close to two minutes for it to be touch dry.

 

I think both of these top coats do a great job.  My pick would definitely be Champagne Shine as it is glossier and does dry quicker.  I haven't heard anyone else's experiences with either of these top coats but I am guessing that the dry times will vary among everyone and wear differently due to people's body chemistry.

Both of these top coats and a range of other polishes are available at Powder Perfect.

Essie Cashmere Matte Collection - Swatches & Review

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I am so excited to finally be able to share Essie's Cashmere Matte collection.  I have had this collection sitting on my shelf begging me to play with it for what feels like forever (it's probably been about a month) and the time has finally come.  This collection consists of six beautiful satin-matte polishes which are available only for a limited time.  These polishes will be available in store at Priceline throughout August and September. 

 

All Eyes On Nudes is a camel-hued neutral toned polish with a soft matte finish and reflective pearl colour.  It's definitely a unique polish in my collection.  Formula wise it is easy to use but I do recommend waiting longer than usual between each coat as the polish has a tendency to drag and pull at the other layers.  Because of this I used three coats but I think that you can do two coats with careful application.

 

Coat Couture is a sultry satin greige beneath deep purple shimmer.  I love this one both in the bottle and on the nails.  Slightly disappointed that the shimmer isn't as visible once it dries but I still love the colour.  The formula of this one is great too.  I used two coats for my swatch.

 

Cozy In Cashmere is a mauve with deep velvet undertones.  This is another one of my favorites from this collection.  I love the colour and the formula is great too.  I used two coats for my swatch.

 

Just Stitched is a warm pearly-plush pink.  This one looks super pretty in the bottle and I thought I would absolutely love it.  Unfortunately I don't love it.  I do like the colour but the formula is quite hard to work with.  It applies very unevenly and dries and pulls the polish as you are applying it.  I used three coats for my swatch.

 

Spun In Luxe is a matte blue-black.  This one looks seriously gorgeous in the bottle but the blue shimmer disappears once it is dry on the nails giving you a matte black manicure.  I do love matte back nails for winter but I was really hoping that this would be something a little different.  The formula is fantastic.  You can get away with one coat if you like.  I used two coats for my swatch.

 

Wrap Me Up is described as a whisper soft pink.  To me it leans more to a nude than a pink.  I really like this one too.  The colour is great and so is the formula.  I used two coats for my swatch.

 

I quite like this collection.  I was a little disappointed that some of the shimmer in the polishes disappear on the nail once dry but other than that I think this is a great collection.  What do you think of satin matte polishes?  I am definitely a fan, especially during the cooler months.  My personal favourites from this collection are Coat Couture and Cozy In Cashmere, closely followed by Wrap Me Up. 

The Essie Cashmere Matte Collection will be in store at Priceline in August and September.  These are only available for a limited time so grab them while you can.

Bundle Monster Time Machine Stamping Plate Collection - Swatches & Review

For those who know me well, know that I have a thing for wanting to have the full collection of something (usually polishes and stamping plates).  If there is a polish collection of twelve and I am in love with ten of them I buy all twelve, you know so the other two polishes don't feel left out.  Luckily I have my blog to help justify some of my purchases.  Anyway, back in June I was lucky enough to be sent two of Bundle Monster's Time Machine stamping plates (you can see swatches and a review here for those plates if you missed it).  In true Tracy style, I need to collect the other four so I kindly added them to by birthday wish list, and now I get to share them with you today.

For my swatches I used Celestial Cosmetics Pitch (which I find isn't as opaque and is runnier so creates smudges so I apologize for that.  I have run out of my beloved Konad Black) and my rectangle squishy stamper from Messy Mansion.

BM-XL131

 

 

 

BM-XL132

 

 

 

BM-XL135

 

 

 

BM-XL136

 

 

 

The images on these plates stamp beautifully.  The designs themselves aren't my personal go to type but they will come in handy for nail art challenges or for when I am stepping outside the box.  I'm definitely glad to have them in my collection.

The Time Machine collection is avaiable now from Bundle Monster and is sold as a six piece set for US$24.99 or you can purchase these plates individually for US$4.99 each. 

*edit:  I am now a Maniology Ambassador!  You can save 10% off your order at Maniology with the code OLIVIA10.  Please note that I do make a small commission when you use my code (which I plan on then putting back into my blog - ie buying new products to swatch and review).     

 

 

 

Bundle Monster Polynesia Stamping Plate Collection - Polynesian Tribal - Swatches & Review

I'm back with the final set from Bundle Monster's Polynesia plates - the Polynesian Tribal set.  If you have missed my review from the other three sets you can see them here, here and here.  Now before I get into the swatches I just want to apologize for some of them.  My go to black stamping polish (Konad Black) is about empty so I needed to switch to Celestial Cosmetics Pitch.  Sadly, it's not as opaque as my beloved Konad and it also is quite thin so has the tendency to smudge.  That all being said, I had no issues with the plates in this set.

BM-XL116

 

 

 

 BM-XL117

 

 

 

 BM-XL118

 

 

 

BM-XL119

 

 

 

BM-XL20

 

 

 

So there you have it.  The final set from the Polynesia Collection.  My thoughts?  I love them all.  You can bet I will be pulling them out again and again.  This set in particular I can see lots of black and white manis coming.  I don't know why, but some of these designs just scream black and white to me.  I can't wait!

Now if you are interested in purchasing any of the Polynesia collections they are available from Bundle Monster in their sets of five for US$19.99 or you can buy the individual plates for US$4.99.