October 2018 Favourites

Don't you just hate when you nearly complete a blog post and then your computer dies and you lose everything?  This just happened to me with this post!  Ahhh!  I desperately need a new computer.  Anyway, it is officially the end of October which means it's time for my monthly favourites!  I'm sure these posts pop up quicker and quicker.  Soon I will seriously have to start narrowing down all of my favourites for my end of year posts.  Eek!  I know this is going to be a hard job because there has been so many amazing things released this year.

Nail Art

I think that this will be the first time EVER that I haven't had any monthly nail art favourites.  This month I haven't really done much nail art and what I have done I have liked but I don't think there is anything that I have done that I would consider a favourite so I'm skipping over this section of favourites for the first time ever.

Stamping Plates

A lack of nail art usually means that I haven't really been playing with too many stamping plates which is definitely the case this month.  I think I only did two maybe three posts with stamping plates.  Next month will be a different story.  I have lots of new plates to play with.  Anyway, I do have one favourite plate for this month - Lina Nail Art Supplies Make Your Mark 08.  I have always been a big fan of these plates and this one is no exception.  There are a heap of great designs.
 

Image from Lina Nail Art Supplies

Stamping Polishes
This month I got to play with six new stamping polishes from Hit The Bottle and it's safe to say that I love them.  They all stamp perfectly over both black and white.  What's not to love about that?

Indie Polishes

Surprisingly enough I don't have any mainstream favourites this month (well I haven't shared any mainstream polishes that I love this month - November will be another story).  The indie girls have knocked it out of the park again this month.  So many pretties!

Emily de Molly Facebook Group Exclusives

This month EdM released three more Facebook Group Exclusives.  While I really like all three only two of them I consider my favourites - Opal Illusion and Beyond The Horizon.

Emily de Molly Halloween Trio 

I do love Halloween polishes.  There is always so many interesting polishes that come out.  Take The Greater Good for example.  It's so good!  I also really love Triple Trouble as well.

Emily de Molly October Releases

Along with a few special releases, EdM also did their regular monthly release and of course there are quite a few that stole my heart.  My favourites are Sea Of Lies, Glitters Reign, Today At Noon, The World Belongs To Us and Electric Arc.

Glam Polish It Collection

I had the pleasure of swatching the IT Collection from Glam Polish.  There are some really good polishes in this collection.  My personal favourites are Dead Lights and We All Float Down Hard!

Grace-full Nail Polish Christmas 2018 Collection
Christmas is seriously just around the corner (which in itself is crazy) which means Christmas polishes are being released.  Woohoo!  I do love Christmas polishes and Grace-full have a great collection this year.  My personal favourites are Frosty, Golden Rings and Winter Wonderland.

Grace-full Nail Polish Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum Collection
Grace-full definitely have been busy with their releases this month and naturally I end up with quite a few in my favourites post.  My favourites from this collection are Son Of Jacob, Guardians, May The Lord Open and Good Weather.

That brings October to an end.  Now roll on November for all the new pretties I have to play with.

What are somethings you have been loving this month?

Hit The Bottle Halloween & New Stamping Polishes - Swatches & Review

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Yesterday I shared my swatches and review of Lina Nail Art Supplies Make Your Mark 08 stamping plate (which is also available from the Hit The Bottle website) and in that post I shared a little sneak peek of some stamping polishes I received to swatch.  Normally when I do swatches of stamping polishes I do them over a black and white base but I was inspired by Serene's (Copycat Claws) epic Hit The Bottle post (which you can find here if you missed it) to switch it up.  I loved that Serene also shows the stamping polish on a full nail so I have totally copied her.  Her post also makes me want to re do all of my swatches of my stamping polish collection from Hit The Bottle.  I'm definitely not doing that today.  Today I have my swatches and review of the new Halloween themed stamping polishes as well as three stand alone stamping polishes.

Halloween Themed Stamping Polishes

Let's start of with the Halloween themes polishes first.  Why?  Well why not?  There are three polishes in this collection.

Beware The Bates Motel is a rich, warm, mid-toned blue polish with a shimmery creme finish.  The shimmer is really subtle in this polish but it is really pretty.  As you can see from my swatch this polish stamps beautifully over both like and dark polishes.  In terms on wearing it on the full nail it is completely opaque in one coat, however I did experience some splitting when I applied top coat so needed two coats for my swatch.

Peaches 'n Scream is a pale yet bright peach/coral polish with a creme polish.  Now I didn't pay too much attention to this colour when I applied it but I did noticed that it appears to be a different colour on the nail than it is in the bottle.  I have a feeling that top coat effects this.  Either way it is a nice colour and great for the warmer months.  Again it stamps beautifully over both light and dark colours.  My swatch shows one coat on the full nail.

Slime After Slime is a bright lime green polish with a creme finish.  I really do sound like a broken record here (sorry I don't mean to) but this polish stamps well over black and white.  I also used one coat for the full nails.

New Polishes

Now onto the three new polishes.  I'm not entirely sure when these were released but they are all really pretty and are great addictions to anyone's collection.

Banana Colada is a bright yellow creme polish.  This is perfect for summer!  Personally I prefer this one over black (or any darker colour) but it does work over white.  In terms over wearing it on it's own - it is opaque in one coat however the formula is quite tricky to work with.  

Bronzed Aussie is a soft metallic bronze polish.  In true metallic form, this doesn't photograph well.  It is so much nicer in person.  It's such a great colour, stamps well over black and white and is opaque in one coat.

Whiskey Latte is a pale creme/buff creme polish.  I have been looking for a good creme polish for such a long time!  I am excited to play with this one some move over other colours.  As you can see it stamps beautifully over black and white and is opaque in one coat.

I am a huge fan of these polishes.  In true Hit The Bottle style these polishes all stamp beautifully over both light and dark colours.  I'm not 100% sure if I would wear a lot of these as a full manis but that is what regular polish is for isn't it?  

All of these polishes are available now from Hit The Bottle.

Lina Nail Art Supplies Make Your Mark 08 Stamping Plate - Swatches & Review

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Happy Sunday everyone!  I hope you are having a lovely weekend so far.  It's been a busy (and tiring) weekend for us.  My daughter and her team competed in the State Pennant for gymnastics yesterday.  The girls did really well and came 2nd on floor, 3rd on fault and 4th overall.  I'm so proud of how well they have all done throughout all of their competitions, especially the State Pennant.  The competition was definitely a lot tougher and with more girls than ever before.  Anyway, I'm sure you aren't here to hear about my daughter's gymnastics.  Let's talk about one of the new Lina Nail Art Supplies plates - Make Your Mark 08.  I do have a few of the other new plates that were recently released as well but I will be sharing those at a later date (aka when I have had a chance to swatch them).

Image from Lina Nail Art Supplies 

I was swatching my way through piCture pOlish polishes I purchased earlier this year the day that this plate arrived.  As soon as I saw this leaf design I knew it would be perfect with Cactus.  I love how this mani turned out.  Yes it's simple, but it's so pretty.  I think this image would also look great with a multi coloured base too.

Along with this plate I was also sent some of the new stamping polishes from Hit The Bottle.  I had them sitting in my polish racks to swatch and thought that these colours would make for a great base.  Polishes used are Hit The Bottle Peaches N' Scream, Slime After Slime, Banana Colada and As Black As Night.

I really like this delicate print.  I think it's really pretty.  For my base I used China Glaze Deliciously Wicked and stamped using Hit The Bottle Beware The Bates Motel.

Oh layered images - how I love and hate you at the same time.  It's been quite some time since I have done a layered mani and definitely an even longer time since I have used a Lina plate for a layered mani.  I know this isn't perfect (like I said it's been a long time lol) but I still quite like how it turned out.  For this mani I used Emily de Molly Bright Retreat for my base and stamped using Hit The Bottle Slime After Slime and Powder Perfect Metallic Green Stamping Polish.

This next image gives my oil spill vibes.  I don't know why but it does.  Anyway, I am definitely disappointed with this image.  I don't think that it is etched properly.  I couldn't pick it up whole.  It had parts always missing.  I tried the usual swiping at different angles, pressure etc and with multiple stamping polishes and it was the same issue over and over.  I also used the same stamper that I have used for all of the other manis in the post (and thousands before) so it's definitely a fault with the plate.  For this mani I used Pretty Serious Cosmetics Absence and Colour Alike B An Orion.

My thoughts on this plate - I really like it.  I think there are some really great designs on this plate and I can see myself using it a fair bit.  I am disappointed that I had some much trouble with that one image.  I am hoping it's just the one image and not others on this plate but I guess time will tell.  This definitely isn't the first time that I have had issues with some of the images on a Lina plate.  Let me know if you have this plate and if you also had issues with the image in the bottom left corner.

The Make Your Mark 08 Stamping Plate is available now from Hit The Bottle and Lina Nail Art Supplies.

Sally Hansen Ocean Daze - Swatches & Review

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Late last week I received some surprise nail mail from Sally Hansen.  Now I am not 100% sure if this polish is a new polish or not, or if it's from a specific collection or something.  This polish really was a complete surprise for me.  So now I have a very quick post for you.

Ocean Daze is a pale mint blue creme.  I think this is a nice colour.  The formula is what you would expect from such a light shade - it applies unevenly and needs three coats to even out and to be opaque. 

I'm really not sure what else I can say about this polish.  It is nice but it's not a favourite of mine.

Grace-full Nail Polish Christmas 2018 Collection - Swatches & Review

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Before I jump into today's post I just wanted to share that today's post is my 1000th blog post!  Woohoo!  I can't believe how quickly this has popped up.  I started blogging back in February 2015 (with a Grace-full Nail Polish post so having another Grace-full post is quite fitting) and never did I think that I would ever write 1000 posts.  When you break it down, that is a whole lot of writing and even more mani time!  But let's not talk about that, it's a very scary thought but I really enjoy blogging.  Now I know I said this before (and I will continue to say it) thank you to everyone who takes the time to stop by my blog and/or leaves a comment.  I hope that you enjoy my posts as much as I love doing them.  If there is anything that you would like to see on my blog feel free to let me know.

Earlier this week I shared with you a new collection from Grace-full Nail Polish (the Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum Collection) that is being release this week.  Well today I have another new collection that is being released at the same time.  Yay for being able to save on shipping costs!  This collection is the Christmas 2018 Collection.  Yes, that's right - Christmas.  Everyone is starting to roll out the Christmas things to ensure you have plenty of time to grab yourself (and others) some pretties to celebrate the upcoming holiday season.

Frosty is a combination of blue and silver metal flakes.  This is such a shiny polish.  I'm not sure pictures really do it justice.  The formula is great and easy to use, however clean up is quite tricky.  I definitely recommend a careful application.  For my swatch I used two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken outdoors (overcast)

Picture taken outdoors (overcast)

Golden Rings is a silver, peridot and red metallic flaked polish.  This is such an interesting polish.  It very much looks gold until you look closely.  It doesn't really have any gold in it.  Like with Frosty, this one is very shiny that pictures don't really do it justice.  The formula is also really good but again clean up can be tricky so I do recommend a careful application.  For my swatch I used two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Kringle is a mid red to mid green thermal with gold and silver microglitter.  This polish isn't really my cup of tea but the formula is great and it transitions well between the shades.  For my swatch I used two coats.

Picture taken in light box (cold)

Picture taken in light box (transition)

Picture taken in light box (transition)

Picture taken in direct sunlight (transition)

Picture taken in direct sunlight (transition)

Merry And Bright is a crimson red magnetic polish with lighter red magnetic pieces.  Now we all know that red isn't really my thing but this one I really like!  Especially with the magnetic effect.  The formula is awesome and applies like a dream.  I used two coats for my swatch.  Now I will go ahead and apologize for the weird picture (the last one).  I took this picture before I added top coat and I loved how it looked.  My top coat does like to make the magnetic effect dance around a little as it dries.

Picture taken in light box (no magnet)

Picture taken in light box (no magnet)

Picture taken in light box (with magnet)

Picture taken in light box (with magnet)

Picture taken under direct LED lighting (no top coat)

Mistletoe is a lime green with a super strong gold shift caused by the aurora shimmer all in the linear holo.  This is such a cool colour but I am not sure I like it on my nails.  The formula is great and easy to use but I did find it to be a little one the sheer side (well at least for my personal taste).  My swatch shows three coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Those Christmas Lights is a black jelly filled with multichrome and iridescent crystal chameleon flakes with holo flakes and holo microglitter.  It is noted that this polish does have an unpleasant aroma (caused by the flakies) in the bottle but it disappears on the nails.  I didn't experience this but maybe I have just had too many polish fumes that I am immune to it.  Anyway, this is another really pretty polish with a great formula.  For my swatch I used two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Winter Wonderland is a triphase thermal that moves between a very light grey, rose pink and grape purple.  I really like all three colours in this thermal.  They are all so pretty and they transition really well.  When I swatched it was quite warm so I struggled to keep this in it's cold state.  Ice was only helping so much.  The formula is good and easy to apply.  I found that it was a little on the sheer side in the warmest state so I used three coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box (cold-ish)

Picture taken in light box (cold)

Picture taken in light box (warm states)

Picture taken in light box (warm states)

Picture taken in light box (transition)

Picture taken in light box (transition)

And there you have it - all seven polishes from this year's Christmas Collection.  What do you think?  I really like that this collection doesn't completely scream Christmas.  It means you can wear each of the polishes all year round.  My top three polishes from this collection are Winter Wonderland, Frosty and Golden Rings.

The Christmas 2018 Collection will be available from Grace-full Nail Polish on October 26th at 8pm AEST on the Australian site and October 26th 5am CT on the international site.