April 2021 Favourites

Friday 30 April 2021

Part of my brain has already moved into May but then there is the part that thinks it's crazy that we are now at the end of April.  With the end of the month comes a new favourites post!  I don't know about you guys but it is nice looking back on some of the things I have played with.  So let's recap April.

  
Nail Art
I've finally gotten around to doing some nail art this month.  Yay!  I actually grabbed quite a few stamping plates from Hit The Bottle so I have been playing around a little.  Definitely a little rusty but I love the manis that I have done this month.  Hopefully May will bring some more nail art from me.

 
Stamping Plates
Like I mentioned before I recently purchased some new plates which means I should have more nail art happening AND more plates to add to my favourites post.  Yay!

Lina Nail Art Supplies Make Your Mark 09
At this stage I am pretty sure that all of the Make Your Mark plates have ended up in my favourites posts.  I do love the designs on these and the 9th plate is no exception.

Image from Lina Nail Art Supplies
Uberchic Beauty Business Chic 02
I will forever be a big fan of Uberchic's stamping plates.  They are just so good!  I love the images on the Business Chic 02 plate.  I'm also pretty sure that their first plate from this range I loved too.

Image from Uberchic Beauty
Indie Polishes
This month again has been filled with all the stunning polishes from our indie girls.  

Emily de Molly January Release
This month I finally got around to swatching the collection that was released back in January.   I love the whole collection but have managed to narrow my favourites down to Hold Me Close, It Never Ends, Raise The Stakes, Steadfast and Ugly Mood.

  
Emily de Molly April 2021 Releases
This month's release from Hayley was also amazing!  So many amazing polishes.  I am going to hate trying to narrow them all down at the end of the year.  But I did manage to narrow this release down a little.  My favourites are Taking Over, Begin At The End, It's Never Enough, Might Be A Scene and Cloud My Vision.

 
Emily de Molly Limited Edition Polishes April 2021
The LE's from this month are definitely very Tracy like polishes.  I love them all!

 
Grace-full Nail Polish Mother's Day 2021 Trio
It's been a little bit since we have had a collection of polishes from Grace-full but OMG!  Does it get any better than this trio?  I think not!

  
Grace-full Nail Polish Skipping Beauty (Polish Pick Up April 2021)
This month's Polish Pick Up shade is definitely another Tracy polish.  It's seriously amazing!

  
That brings us to the end of the favourites for this month.  April has brought us soooo many amazing polishes but based on my swatch racks, May is going to be just as amazing.  Or maybe more.....I guess we will have to wait until May to find out.







Lina Nail Art Supplies Make Your Mark 09 Stamping Plate - Swatches & Review

Wednesday 28 April 2021

 It has been years since I have purchased any Lina Nail Art Supplies stamping plates.  Apparently it was 2018 when I last posted any of their plates on my blog.  As you can image there has been quite a few releases in that time (including other products like nail polish) so when I went to make a purchase from Hit The Bottle I thought I would scroll through the Lina plates.  I have always been a huge fan of a few of their collections, one of which is the Make Your Mark collection.  I grabbed all the plates that are missing in my MYM collection so I will have plenty of swatches and reviews coming.  Starting with today.  Today we have the Make Your Mark 09 stamping plate to share with you.

Image from Lina Nail Art Supplies
When I was swatching Three Hearts Polish Lushess Lavender, I thought it would look amazing with some metallic stamping over the top.  My picture really doesn't do this justice.  It really looks so pretty in person.  I do wish that I also mattified the base colour too.  

  
This next mani was a collaboration with my daughter and her best friend.  They both said to do a neon rainbow and selected the zig zag image of the plate.  This was really fun to wear and made for some really easy nail art.  For my base I used polishes from Grace-full Nail Polish and stamped using Hit The Bottle's As Black As Night.

  
I am a huge fan of this plate.  I think there are some really awesome images (although I don't know if it's because I have been doing nails for such a long time or not but I feel like I have seen quite a few of these images before).  All that said I do love this plate and can see me grabbing it out again and again.  I really want to use those layered butterfly images.  Just need to work out what it is I want to do with them.  Let me know what you think I should do.



Emily de Molly Random Limited Edition Polishes - Swatches & Review

Monday 26 April 2021

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I have some limited edition polishes from Emily de Molly that I purchased at some point but have only just gotten around to swatching them.  I am sure that there have been some others that I have that I haven't added to my blog yet (although I have a feeling I have actually worn them but just didn't take pictures of them).  I kind of go between wanting to have everything I own swatched on my blog and then sometimes just wanting to wear polishes for me.  Does anyone else do that?  Anyway, I am rambling.  Let's take a look at these limited edition polishes.

  
LE235 is a dark red holographic with green to pink shifting shimmer and gold holographic glitters.  This is such a pretty shade and the formula is awesome.  You could get away with one coat (especially on short nails).  For my swatch I used two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight
LE257 is a dark blue base with copper/gold/green aurora shimmer and silver holographic glitters.  Such a gorgeous colour and again has a great formula.  For my swatch I used two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight
LE258 is a very dark purple jelly base with silver holographic glitters including large dot glitter and orange to green shifting iridescent glitters.  I love the mix of glitters in this polish.  The large dot glitter does come out relatively easily (well it did for me on my first coat).  For my swatch I used two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box
LE259 is a purple to bronze multichrome with silver holographic flakes.  I love that this is such a simple yet stunning polish.  The formula is also fantastic.  One short nails you could easily stop at one coat.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box


Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight

That brings us to the end of today's post.  But before I go I have a question - if you follow my blog how do you follow?  I'm curious to know.  Also blogger is going to be removing the follow by email option which is super annoying.  





Uberchic Beauty Business Chic 02 Stamping Plate - Swatches & Review

Saturday 24 April 2021

OMG!  Get excited people - I have nail done some nail art again!  Yay!  And bonus points for me that this isn't a press sample.  I do realise that lately I have been posting a lot of press samples but honestly my nail time isn't what it use to be and I do prioritise things sent to me over the things I purchase.  Anyway, a couple of months ago I purchased a bunch of plates from Hit The Bottle to help me get back into the swing of doing some nail art.  So I am kicking starting with Uberchic Beauty's Business Chic 02.

Image from Uberchic Beauty
One of the things that I have always loved about Uberchic Beauty is their full sized images.  They not only look great with a multicoloured base but they also look amazing just simply stamped over a base colour.  Really I should do more basic stamping when I am time poor.  Anyway, for this mani I used Emily de Molly Ugly Mood and stamped using Hit The Bottle As Black As Night.

  

  
When I first saw Three Hearts Polish Poppin' Pastel Collection I knew that I needed to use them in some nail art and now was the perfect time.  I love how this mani turned out.

  
I love this plate!  The plate is full of really awesome full sized images which I love and I know I will grab for this plate again and again and again.

The Business Chic 02 Stamping Plate is available now from Uberchic Beauty and Hit The Bottle.



Three Hearts Polish People's Choice Collection - Swatches & Review

Wednesday 21 April 2021

 PRESS SAMPLE

I have been a bit of a bad blogger lately.  I have had a bunch of pictures (both nail art and swatches) of things that I have purchased and I have been avoiding editing them.  I really hate editing pictures.  But I was sent the new collection from Three Hearts Polish to swatch so while I was editing those I have started editing some of my other pictures which means more blog posts coming soon!  Today we are going to take a look at the Three Hearts Polish People's Choice Collection.

  
Blueberry Crush is described as a pastel blue creme.  I think this is a really pretty shade.  The formula is easy to use and applies evenly.  For my swatch I used three coats but I think you can get away with two coats on shorter nails.

  
I was also sent the Flat Matte top coat to play with, so I swatched it over Blueberry Crush.  I like the look that it gives over the creme but keen to try it over a glitter polish or something.  It's not the most matte top coat that I have tried but I still like it.  

  
Fluffy Duckling is a pastel yellow creme.  Yellow polishes are also the trickiest to deal with and this is one of the tricky polishes (I'm guessing because it's yellow and a light colour).  It does apply unevenly and needs quite a few layers to even out.  For my swatch I used three coats but I do think I need a forth as it is still a little uneven (you can tell more in person than in my picture).

  
Lushess Lavender is a pastel purple creme.  Gorgeous colour and the formula is easy to use.  For my swatch I used two coats.

 
Mint To Be is a mint green creme.  Super pretty colour and the formula is ok.  I did find that it was a little streaky/patchy on the first coat so I needed three coats to even it out.

 

Mocha Magic
is a brown creme.  I'm a big fan of this one.  It definitely has the best formula of the collection.  One short nails you could probably get away with one coat, but I used two coats for my swatch.

 
Strawberry Milk is described as a pink creme.  This one to me is a little more jelly like with it's consistency than creme so it does apply unevenly.  The colour is gorgeous though.  For my swatch I used three coats.

  
I really like the colours in this collection.  I think they are all really nice.  Formula wise they are a little hit and miss and probably not a favourite of mine.  If all the formulas were are creamy and opaque as Mocha Magic I would be in love!

The People's Choice Collection is available now from Three Hearts Polish.







Grace-full Nail Polish Mother's Day 2021 Trio - Swatches & Review

Thursday 15 April 2021

 PRESS SAMPLE

Grace-full Nail Polish are back with another collection of polishes and just in time for Mother's Day (or just because you need more polishes - which let's be honest is everyday).  Now before I start rambling let's just jump straight into the polishes.

  
A Mother's Love is a purple base full of rose gold metallic flakes and holo flakes.  I love this polish.  The colour is gorgeous and I love that it looks metallic.  The formula is awesome and applies evenly.  On short nails you could get away with one coat but for my swatch I used two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight
Superwoman is a super shifty polish that moves between orange, gold, lighter gold with hints of green.  It has a deep pink base and is filled with UCC flakes in red, bronze and gold.  This polish is incredible.  I have never seen anything quite like it.  I only swatched it but I definitely need to wear it to really appreciate the magic that it is.  The formula is great and easy to use.  I used three coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken outdoors in shade
Thanks Mum is a shifty aurora shimmer moving through periwinkle blue - pink - violet.  I'm sure it will come as no surprise to hear me say that I love this one.  I think this was the first of the three polishes that really made my heart sing.  It's just gorgeous and the formula is great.  My swatch shows three coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in overcast lighting
Picture taken in overcast lighting

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight
How stunning are all of these polishes?  I definitely can't pick favourites with these because I love them all.  You can guarantee that these will be popping up in my monthly favourites this month.

The Mother's Day Trio will be available this Sunday from Grace-full Nail Polish.