Challenge Your Nail Art: Skittles Meets 30 Days Of Colour: Blue

My last nail art mani for this month (I'll have my monthly favourites post tomorrow)  Anyway today I am back combining challenges again!  This time I am joining Challenge Your Nail Art theme of skittles with 30 Days Of Colour's blue theme.  I mean how could I not just do a blue skittle mani?  It's funny really, I put these in my planner together because it made sense to do them together but then when it can time to do the mani I went completely blank on what to actually do.  Then I remembered that Christy (@he.chosethenails on Instagram) recently did a blue skittle mani and I thought why not steal her idea?  So that is exactly what I did. 

For this mani I used China Glaze DJ Blue My Mind, Capacity To See Beyond and Liquid Crystal.  Stamping design is from Bundle Monster BM-S185.

Thanks Christy for the mani! And thank you for being an amazing follower of mine.

Powder Perfect Camelot Collection - Swatches & Review

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I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to finally be able to share these polishes with you!  I actually swatched these back in December and have been staring at the pretty pictures in my phone ever since.  Fast forward to today and I can share them! Woohoo!  Introducing Powder Perfect's Camelot Collection!

In a time when feudal lords battled constantly for domination and control, 

emerged a new king - Arthur.  The Arthurian legend has evolved over the eons,

 but Arthur's shining dream of a unified Britain remains.

Excalibur is a steely grey holographic glitter bomb.  This polish can be worn as a textured polish or you can give it a smooth finish.  As it is quite textured I needed two coats of Seche Vite.  I really like this polish, particularly in the sun.  It's so beautiful, and that holo (insert emoji with heart eyes here)!  The formula is easy to use and is opaque in two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Guinevere is a rich purple with micro gold flecks and a gorgeous holographic finish that has a blue flash.  This is actually the first polish I tried in this collection.  The formula is fantastic and the colour is really nice.  I do wish that the gold flecks were more obvious on the nail like they are in the bottle.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight

King Arthur is a decadent royal blue with holographic particles.  Now this one is seriously stunning!  Definitely one of my favourites from this collection.  The colour is gorgeous and the formula is amazing.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Lancelot is a rich bronze gold to green shifting duochrome with a holographic effect.  This is another favourite of mine.  I just think it's so pretty and interesting.  The formula is great and is opaque in 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

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Morgan Le Fay is a deep russet maroon holographic lacquer that darkens on the curve of the nail.   The formula on this polish is fantastic.  It's easy to use and opaque in two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight

I think this is such a beautiful collection (particularly if you can wear this polishes when the sun is out!) and the formulas are all great.  My personal favourites are Excalibur, King Arthur and Lancelot.

The Camelot Collection will be available on Powder Perfect's Australian site on February 28th at 9am AEST and from their International site on February 27th at 6pm EST.

Powder Perfect will be donating 80c (AUD) from every bottle sold from their Camelot Collection to Pencils Of Promise.  For more information please visit their donation page. 

Orly La La Land Collection - Swatches & Review

I finally managed to get my hands on Orly's La La Land Collection.  I originally ordered this collection from HB Beauty prior to Christmas.  It took them close to two weeks to actually send it out to me (I had to complain on social media before they actually would send it).  Then it arrived here in Australia and for whatever reason their shipping company sent it back to them after it sitting here for another two weeks.  HB Beauty did refund me the money so that was nice, but definitely very disappointing.  I much preferred when they sent via DHL rather than the forwarding company they use now.  Anyway, I ordered this collection from Head2Toe Beauty and it arrived within a week (oh how I love H2T - they are also so reliable for me) and now I have my swatches and review for you.

Anything Goes has an opal shimmer base with blue stars and pink holographic circle glitters.  I'm not a fan of this polish.  I think the shimmer is quite pretty, but I am not a fan of the large glitters.  They are a pain to get out and really don't look good in my opinion.  For my swatch I used one coat over Head In The Clouds and had to place the glitter pieces on.

As Seen On TV is a lilac creme.  Now this is a really gorgeous colour.  It is a little sheer and does apply unevenly.  I used three coats for my swatch.

Big City Dreams is a mint green creme.  This an another gorgeous colour, but again the formula is sheer and it applies unevenly.  I used three coats but I am questioning if I should have done a forth as it kinda looks uneven still.  My eyes could be playing tricks on me though.

Cool In California is described as a poppy pink creme.  This one is the same as above.  Gorgeous colour, sheer and applies unevenly.  Again I probably should have done a forth coat but I stopped at three coats.

Forget Me Not is a pastel blue creme.  Again, pretty colour, sheer and applies unevenly.  My swatch shows three coats.

Head In The Clouds is a light pink creme.  This one is definitely the sheerest of the cremes.  It most definitely needs four coats (which is what I used for my swatch).  Again it does apply unevenly but it is quite pretty.

I have slightly mixed feelings about this collection.  I don't care for the glittery polish at all, but I do love the colours of the cremes.  The formulas are just a little disappointing.  I attempted to use this collection in some nail art the other day and even over a white base you could barely see them.  My personal favourites are Cool In California (this is definitely my number one favourite) As Seen On TV, Big City Dreams and Forget Me Not.

What do you think of this collection?

Nail Crazies Unite: Red & Black

I'm back with another Nail Crazies Unite mani.  I'm pretty sure I skipped one of these manis and I am not sure why.  I either forgot to add it to my planner, bumped it for something else or just didn't like the theme (or maybe it was a nail fail?).  Who knows really.  Lucky for me I write in my planner in pencil because I chop and change it so often.  Anyway, today's theme is red and black so a nice easy mani for me.

For my base I used China Glaze Seas The Days which I then topped with Powder Perfect's Matte Top Coat (fun fact: I actually wore this mani for a whole day before stamping over it).  Now I am not actually convinced I like matte red nails on me but hey you have to try new things every now and again right?  Anyway, I just so happened to be sent a few HeHe plates from my amazing friend Margaret (@loveslacquer on Instagram) and I thought that this image from HeHe 073 would be perfect for this challenge.  I stamped using Mundo de Unas black stamping polish.  I decided not to add any top coat because I really liked the matte based and the semi glossy stamping together.

I've never used HeHe plates before (I do own a few though oops) and I am impressed so far.  I can't wait to play with these some more.

Here are the themes that are still to come for Nail Crazies Unite:

Don't forget to check out everyone who is participating in this challenge too.

Challenge Your Nail Art: Galaxy Nails

I'm not going to lie and say I was looking forward to this week's Challenge Your Nail Art Galaxy Nails theme.  You may know that while I like the look of Galaxy nails on other people I am not a fan of them on my nails, and more importantly I don't like doing them.  So much so I contemplated skipping over this entire challenge to avoid this theme, but that would be silly right?  My next thought was to just skip this theme....until I remembered that I had a whole stamping plate with Galaxy designs.  Talk about winning! I also had the perfect base for today's theme too!

It has been forever (literally years) since I have worn piCture pOlish's Aurora.  It's such a beautiful multichrome polish and perfect for Galaxy nails.  I used two coats over black and stamped using Powder Perfect's Silver Stamping Polish.  Stamping design is from Bundle Monster's BM-XL213.

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I really love how this mani turned out.  I wish I could capture all of the colour shifts in this polish.  Seriously, it's magical!  I love multichromes!

There is only one more them left for this month!  March is literally next week.  How crazy is that?

Don't forget to check out the others who are participating in this challenge.  I am sure there are going to be some amazing manis this week!

30 Days Of Colour: Bright

Now if there is any nail art theme that I love it's today's 30 Days Of Colour - Bright!  I love bright nails!  I also love when themes are so broad that you really can do anything you want.  I had quite a few ideas going and was struggling to pick one.  Then inspiration struck in the most random place - my daughter's swimming lesson.  Her swim teacher had one these really bright bathers (they are the Speedo Women's Sunrise Dye Y Back One Piece Swimsuit in case you want to see what they bathers look like) and all I could think was that I need something like that on my nails.  Naturally I went home and did my nails.

For this mani I did a smoosh mani using China Glaze Thistle Do Nicely, Flip Flop Fantasy and Daisy Know My Name? over a white base.  These babies are so bright in person.  My poor camera just freaked out!

I can't believe how quick this month is flying by.   There is only one more mani left for this challenge.  So crazy!

Seriously loving having such bright nails again!  I am so excited to see what everyone else comes up with for this challenge.

Lina Nail Art Supplies Feeling Shapely 06 Stamping Plate - Swatches & Review

I am slowly making my way through the pile Lina Nail Art Supplies plates that I have.  By slow, I mean really slow.  I still have about fourteen plates to use...eeek.  I really need to get cracking with them before more get released (or I add more to my collection).  Anyway, today I have the Feeling Shapely 06 stamping plate with you.  

Image from Lina Nail Art Supplies

This is the first mani I did using this plate.  It's just a nice and simple one but that is one of the things that I love about these images.  They don't need any fancy things to make them look special.  For my base I used Grace-full Nail Polish Lilac Ice (from the Neutral Beauty Collection) and stamped using Bundle Monster's Lunar Lines.

This is a mani I did last week for the Digit-al Dozen Does Black Challenge.  I really like how it turned out.  It's definitely a long way out of my comfort zone.  Polishes used are Emily de Molly Sheer Black Tint, Pretty Serious Cosmetics Absence, Powder Perfect's Black Stamping Polish and their Matte Top Coat.

This mani I had actually planned on using Orly's La La Land Collection as my back ground, but they were way too sheer for what I wanted.  Given I spend the bulk of last week wearing black I wanted colour so I dug through my Essie drawer and grabbed out Mint Candy Apple, Boom Boom Room, Saltwater Happy, Under Where? and Peach Side Babe.  Stamping polish is from Mundo de Unas.

The Feeling Shapely plates are definitely some of my favourite plates that Lina Nail Art Supplies make.  I love that they are full of full sized images and they had a great mix of designs.  I didn't have any issues with picking up and transferring the images on this plate.  I have noticed (and I have made comments in a few places about it) that some of the plates from Lina Nail Art Supplies come with faults on them.  I have a few plates with images I can't use because of their faults.  Definitely check your plates carefully!!  There may be some quality issues as they brand appears to be struggling to keep up with the demand.  

The Feeling Shapely 06 stamping plate is available from Lina Nail Art Supplies.