Orly Adrenaline Rush Collection - Swatches & Review

It dawned on the me last week while I was playing with the Orly Adrenaline Rush collection that I hadn't yet swatched or reviewed them.  If you follow me on Instagram you would have already seen me use this collection a few times (and I even got featured on Orly's Instagram account so that is super exciting for me) and would have heard me talk about how in love with this collection I am.  But let's make it official and I'll go into more details for my love of these polishes.

Now to save myself repeating the same thing over and over about the formulas - let me just say that they are awesome.  They all are so easy to work with and most are so close to being a one coater that if you were in a hurry or don't mind slight visible nail lines then you could easily get away with one coat.  Or if you have short nails, then you could definitely get away with just one coat.  I also found that these dried rather quickly.  Now let's get into the individual colours.

Be Daring is a purple neon creme.  I absolutely love everything about this polish.  I used one coat for my swatch.

Fireball is a red neon shimmer.  So pretty and I'm not usually a fan of reds.  I used two coats for my swatch.

On The Edge is a blue-ish purple neon creme.  Love this one too.  It's like the perfect winter neon.  I used two coats for my swatch although I could have left it at one. 

Push The Limit is a coral neon creme.  I am obsessed with this polish.  You have been warned.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Risky Behavior is described as a fuschia neon creme.  Now this one does photograph brighter and more pinky toned that it looks in person.  Either way, I love it both in person and in photos.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Thrill Seeker is described as a lime neon creme.  I really like this one too.  The formula of this one is slightly different than the others in this collection.  It does apply slightly patchy but I assume that is because it is a lighter colour.  I used three coats for my swatch.

How amazing is this collection?  Are you loving it like me?  I am pretty sure that this in a collection that I will need to be buying back up bottles of.  If I had to pick my absolute favorites (which is hard because I really do love them all) I would say Push The Limit, Be Daring and Risky Behavior.

I haven't really looked into my collection to see if there is anything in there that would be worth doing some swatch comparisons of but if there is anything you would like me to do comparisons of just let me know and I'll do a post.  

Bundle Monster Polynesia Stamping Plate Collection - Traditional Polynesia - Swatches & RevieW

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Today I am back with another set of new plates from Bundle Monster.  This time I have one of the Polynesia collections to show you.  The Polynesia range is broken up into four sets - Traditional Polynesia (which I will be sharing with you today), Local Kine, Polynesian Tribal and Land Of Aloha.  Each set contains 5 XL plates with different designs.  Now as a word of warning, this post is pretty picture heavy but I just wanted to make sure that all swatches of the plates were clearly visible.

Like my Time Machine review (you can see that here if you missed it), I have swatched all the designs on paper and have used Konad stamping polish in black and my rectangle squishy stamper from Messy Mansion.

BM-XL111

BM-XL112

BM-XL113

BM-XL114

BM-XL115

I am such a huge fan of these plates.  I love the mix of designs and they all stamp really well.  I did receive a plate that was faulty (BM-XL111) so I borrowed Margaret's @m_a_tom on Instagram to finish doing my review.  I contacted Bundle Monster about this and they have sent me a replacement plate so the customer service is awesome.  Thank you Bundle Monster, it's just another reason why I will continue shopping with you.

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.

Will you be grabbing any of the Polynesia plates?  I know I will be collecting them all.

China Glaze Desert Escape Collection - Swatches & Review

China Glaze have recently released a new collection.  Of course that means it must come and live with me ASAP and of course I have to share it with you guys.  This collection consists of six polishes and is inspired by the tones found in the vast desert landscape, the glowing pinks and reds are cooled by a serene turquoise and glisten against shimmering neutrals.

Don't Desert Me is described as an intense fuschia pearl shimmer.  I think this polish is quite pretty.  It is really close to being a single coater (in a hurry if you do a slighter thicker than usual coat you could get away with one coat) and it applies easily and evenly.  Due to the pearly finish you can see slight brush strokes.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Don't Mesa With My Heart is described as a violet pink creme.  Super pretty.  I am a sucker for pinks and purples and this one is no exception.  It's easy to use and the formula is great.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Meet Me In The Mirage is described as a rose gold metallic shimmer.  I adore this polish too.  It's easy to use and has a great formula.  If you do a thick coat I am sure you would only need one coat but I used two thin coats for my swatch.

Rain Dance The Night Away is described as a bright turquoise creme.  Awesome polish.  Again, this is so close to be a one coater,  I think that if you have flatter nail beds it would be a one coater but as my nails are very curved it did slide slightly leaving some bald spots, meaning I needed two coats for full coverage.  The formula applies easily and is nice and opaque.  

The Heat Is On is described as a sun-lit red orange creme.  This one to me is just a straight up red and has a semi jelly like look and feel to it.  It applies evenly, and is easy to use but it does have a slight visible nail art after two coats.  The visible nail line is more visible in person than what my picture shows. 

What's She Dune? is described as a sandy beige creme.  This is probably going to be my new favorite nude polish.  The formula is slightly runny so you do need to be careful that it doesn't drip everyone unexpectedly, but it's easy to use and is opaque in one coat!!  That's right, a nude polish that one needs one coat.  Heaven!

I really am impressed with this collection.  While the polishes aren't necessarily the most ground breaking and exciting polishes, they are all really pretty and the formulas are all great.  My personal favorites are What's She Dune, Meet Me In The Mirage, Don't Mesa With My Heart and Rain Dance The Night Away.    Now I am planning on doing a comparison post for these polishes at some point soon so let me know if there is any polishes you would like to see in the comparison post and I will try and do them.

  

Bundle Monster Time Machine (Part Collection) - Swatches & Review

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I began my polish collection back in 2010 but I have no clue at what point I started stamping.  I do however remember buying some really cheap plates that didn't work at all, so I thought rather than giving up I would buy a set from Bundle Monster and I have been hooked ever since.  To date, I have collected all of the round plates, and today I am so excited to share with you my first rectangle plates from Bundle Monster, from the Time Machine collection.

The Time Machine collection consists of six XL plates which feature different nail designs from the past, present and future.  Each plate is unique and inspired by a different era in history.  The plates in the collection are Party Like 1869, Hipster Qualifications, Pop Culture Addict, Outer Space Cadet, Gilded Revolution and Prehistoria.  Today I will be showing you the Pop Culture Addict and Outer Space Cadet plates.

Seems there are quite a few designs in these plates (and only so many hours in the day) I have decided to test the designs on paper so you can see how they stamp.  I used Konad Black stamping polish and my rectangle squishy stamper from Messy Mansion.

Pop Culture Addict BM-XL133

Outer Space Cadet BM-XL134

I love both of these plates.  I think they both have some great designs on them and they stamp really well.  I haven't actually really had a chance to fully play with these plates just yet (only the one mani that I have posted above) but I will be definitely doing some more in the future so keep your eyes out on Instagram for them.

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.

OPI Color Paints Collection - Swatches & Review

Recently I managed to get my hands on the OPI Color Paints collection.  Now I haven't really had a huge amount of time to play with these properly yet so my opinions on these for nail art are still not fully decided but I will share with you my thoughts on how these swatch.  For this post, I decided to swatch all the colours over the Silver Canvas base as I figured this is mainly what they were designed for.  There are lots of reviews with swatches worn by themselves but I am not a fan of visible nail lines or having to do five coats of polish.

Silver Canvas is described as "a clean-slate silver to illuminate your masterpiece".  To me this seems like any other metallic silver (I can do a silver comparison post if you would like), so you can probably pass on this if you already have one in your collection.  The formula is easy enough to work with, but brush strokes are visible.  I also found it to be slow drying.  I used two coats for my swatch below but with careful application you can use one coat.

Chromatic Orange is a sheer orange.  The formula is great.  It's easy to use and applies evenly so you can get away with using only one coat over a base.  For my swatch I used two coats over Silver Canvas.

Indigo Motif is described as a deep, midnight blue.  This is quite dark and is more opaque than Chromatic Orange.  It is easy to use and can be left as one coat.  I used two coats over Silver Canvas.

Landscape Artist is described as a lush, verdant green.  Now this one I found did apply evenly, although it is easy to work with.  I needed three coats for it too look even over Silver Canvas.

Magenta Muse is described as a sultry red-violet.  The formula and application is the same as Chromatic Orange - easy to use and you can get away with only one coat as it applies evenly.  I used two coats over Silver Canvas.

Pen & Pink is described as a rosy pink.  Again the formula of this one is the same as Chromatic Orange and Magenta Muse.  I used two coats over Silver Canvas for my swatch.

Primarily Yellow is a sunny yellow.  The formula is the same as Chromatic Orange to use but I did find that this one bubbled and wrinkled when I added my top coat (as you can see on my index finger).  I am not entirely sure why it did that.  I am guessing that something wasn't fully dry.  Anyway, my swatch is two coats over Silver Canvas.

Purple Perspective is deep purple.  Again, the formula is the same as Chromatic Orange.  I used two coats over Silver Canvas.

Turquoise Aesthetic is described as a deep aqua.  The formula of this one is easy to use although it doesn't apply as evenly as I would have liked.  This one is quite bubbly too.  I used two coats over Silver Canvas for my swatch.

Now I was interested in seeing what these polishes would look like over white (I figured I would probably use these for the lead lighting technique over a white base) so here are some quick swatches over OPI Alpine Snow.

L-R Chromatic Orange, Indio Motif, Landscape Artist, Magenta Muse (all two coats)

L-R Pen & Pink (2 coats), Primarily Yellow (2 coats), Purple Perspective (3 coats), Turquoise Aesthetic (3 coats)

Wow!  I can't even begin to tell you how long these took me to swatch.  They are quite slow drying.  Now my overall thoughts - I am not a huge fan of these as a full nail swatch, so if you were going to buy them to wear as a full mani then I would say skip it and go for something else.  They are slow drying and to tend to bubble on the second coat.  As for nail art, I have done one lead lighting mani using them and I love them.  They give such a cool look over silver and have a great colour payoff.  I definitely can't wait to play with these some more.  What do you think of these?  Will you be picking them up?