Maybelline Color Show Acid Wash Effects – PICTURE HEAVY POST

Hurrah! Finally, after more than a month since I first saw the promotional material for these Maybelline COlor Show Acid Wash Effect polishes, they have LANDED!

Naturally, all four came home with me.  Here was go with some quick and speedy swatches.

First up, Lilac Rebel 245.  Three thin coats.  This one is a pale lilac with hints of gray.  Glitter is all matte white and in a number of different sizes (like the Street Art polishes) UPDATE – link to swatches here

Then we have Mint-Acid-Ittude, 246.  This is a minty green polish with white glitter, again of varying size.  Three thin coats here. UPDATE link to swatches here.

Thirdly, here is Ripped Tide 247.  A bright aqua blue shade with white glitters.  Again three thin coats. UPDATE link to swatches here.

Finally, Top Splatter 250.  A completely white glitter top coat.  Glitter is all different sizes and is matte.  Two coats here.

So there we go.  Finally here.  I think my fave would have to be Ripped Tide.  Will get these on my nails later for better images.

What do you think?  Hit or miss?

Don’t forget that you can follow this blog via Bloglovin’, either by clicking the icon to the right or by clicking here. I can also be found on Twitter @BakingNails

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L’Oreal – Pop the Bubbles

I think most days, especially in the last few weeks, every colour that has grace my nail tips has been textured.  I think I am slightly obsessed!  And I really don’t feel this is something that I am going to get over anytime soon.  One of my favourite ranges, apart from the European based P2 sand style polishes, has been the US only release by L’Oreal of the Gold Dust range.  This is nine gorgeous shades with lots of glitter and sparkle to make your heart sing.  I’ve been stalking them just a *little* bit on eBay….

This is the last one I have to share with you, that a lovely friend picke dup for me in the state, knowing the extent of my obsession.  I give you Pop The Bubbles

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As you can see, this is just the most spring like shade of aqua.  It is just lovely.  The glitter is of several different sizes but all in the same shade.  It really lends itself to being in the sunshine because when they sun does hit, this baby shines!  Formula was excellent, a good consistency allowing placement close to the cuticle without flooding.

What you see above is two coats over a base of G&G Stuck on Blu! OOOohhhh I do love a nice bright texture.  I’ve worm this twice since I received it into my grabby hands.

What are your favourite textured brands? Let me know in the comments

Don’t forget that you can follow this blog via Bloglovin’, either by clicking the icon to the right or by clicking here. I can also be found on Twitter @BakingNails

Wet N Wild Mega Rocks – Slap The Bass

Another polish from the number I picked up in the US.  This is one of the new Wet N Wild Megarocks range, a set of glitters in a clear base.

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I popped this one over two coats of KIKO 328, the greatest concrete gray in my collection.  Slightly issues with application, I found as it was drying the glitter would start to slide off my nails.  And I hadn’t put huge thick coats on.  So that was a bit annoying as I kept dripping glitter onto my carpet….. the glitter Vs clear polish level isn’t great, so maybe a series of thin coats with a few bits of glitter to build it up.

Anyway, once it dried it was fine and I do love the aqua/teal colour.  What is your favourite glitter topper?  Let me know in the comments

 

 

 

 

 

Revlon Parfumerie – Wintermint

So moving swiftly away from the haul post, here is another polish from my trip.  This is Wintermint from the Revlon Parfumerie.

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Now some of you might be saying, hang on, this looks a bit familiar.  You would be right, this is known as a bit of a dupe for a Lippman polish amongst others.  Its super pretty, a pale turquoise/seafoam green with hints of metallics and for good measure teal glitters too.  The scent on this one is very  minty, and its lingers too.  Hung around for over two days.

Formula is good, with the little glitters you can drag them all to the top of the nail if you do the coats too quickly.  So two patient coats is what you see above. The smell does intensify as it dries.  Drying time is on the quick side, so its not too long to wait.  I used G&G Stuck on Blu! as my base and G&G HK Girl top coat, top coat only slightly dims the scent but obviously helps with the wear time.

I just love these, I wish I had bought more as the only other one I have is Autumn Spice.  However, excitingly, these will be hitting the UK on March 19 in Boots stores nationwide.  Hurrah!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments 🙂

Salon Perfect – Kaboom

Ah lookie, more from my recent Salon Perfect acquisitions!  This one is the Floam dupe, know here as Kaboom!  As you know, we recently saw Bang here.

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Its just lovely, a great mix of aqua and green matte glitters.  I wore this over two coats of Essie Mojito Madness (which is also gorgeous).  It does dry a little bumpy so a good top coat will even that out.  I used Glisten and Glow HK Girl which evened it right out.

I was sent these by my lovely US Polish Buddy, I’ve not seen these available in the UK anywhere other then eBay.

What do you think?  A good enough dupe for Floam?

Catrice – Mermaid My Day

I’ve got a lovely polish to share with you today, that was sent to me by my lovely pal in Europe, Lindz, who blogs at girlintheglasses. This is one of the new releases from Catrice, how lucky am I?? This is Mermaid My Day – what a great name!

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This is just a lovely polish, great colour, fabulous formula. I love it. The Catrice brush is easy to use and loads up a good about of formula. What you see here are two coats, over a base of Essie Millionails (now discontinued) with a top coat. Now, I used Essence Gel Look by Essence, something I picked up to try. Its awful, awful!!! No drying of any kind occurred. In fact, I had to put a coat of Out the Door over the top to get the blinking things to dry before bed time. So do avoid it if you come across it.

Anyway, love this, great colour, fab formula. What is not to like? Oh yes, the smurf fingers after removal.  Use a base coat everyone! And yes, its not a bad dupe for Chanel Azure… Azure is on the left and Sally Hansen Scarab is on the right.

Have any of the new Catrice polishes caught your eye?

Don’t forget that you can follow this blog via Bloglovin’, either by clicking the icon to the right or by clicking here. I can also be found on Twitter @BakingNails

Dior – Saint Tropez

An oldie but a goodie for you today.  This is Saint Tropez by Dior.  Its not from the original, limited edition release, but from the re-issue from last Summer 2012.  It was released along side Bikini as part of the Dior Croisette Collection- which you can see here in my post from last year

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The formula on this is amazing, perfect coverage in two flawless coats.  Amazing.  I used my newest base coat, Stuck on Blu!, which I purchased directly from the lovely Jill at Glisten & Glow, an online beauty etailer.  I’ve been eying this for a while but I decided to take the plunge after seeing some positive reviews.  And I paired it with my new bottle of G & G HK Girl Top Coat, which I have raved about before.  Jill sent me these bottles, along with some other things I purchased AND a cuticle oil.  Which is also awesome.  But I digress….

As with all Dior bottles, the cap pops off revealing a cap with gripped sides for easy use.  The brush is one of my favourites out there, tapered with a curve so that you can paint close to your cuticles. Very happy with that.  As I said, formula was excellent, two coats provided perfect self leveling coverage.

Sadly, I believe Saint Tropez is now discontinued.  However, other collections by Dior are available from high end department stores in the UK, such as Debenhams and Selfridges.  It can also be found in the larger Boots stores.  Polish retails at £18.  Lucky ladies in the US can order directly from Dior.com

Chanel – Azure

Today I have Azure to share with you, one of the three colours from the Chanel Summer 2013 Collection L’Ete Papilion De Chanel. The whole collection is pretty fantastic, using a range of inspiration and colours.  I love the advertising with its use of an iridescent butterfly, if you have ever seen these in museums then you know how amazing they are and the range of colours they display in different lights.

According to the US site, the entire range of make up which includes all three nail varnishes,  sister polishes to Azure, Bel-Argus and Lilis, are limited edition so if you fancy any of them, don’t leave it too long!  I’ve got my eye on some of those Stylo Eyeshadows.  Anyway, onto the pictures.

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Azure is a deep aqua turquoise with hints of blue.  In the bottle its colour changing properties are quite apparent and thankfully you can see most of this on the nail.  Now you may remember that my love is Chanel is ever lasting, and lets be honest, no one does a creme polish like Chanel.  Have they pulled off a flawless formula??  The answer is nearly.  What you see above are three coats of polish.  The first two looked super streaky, however a third put paid to that.  The metallic nature of it means it does dry slightly quicker than cremes so haste is needed to prevent streaks.

The colour pay off is so spectacular, the shimmer, the blue to green flash, it is just like looking into a tropical ocean.  The black Chanel cap pops off so you can grip the inner lid and the brush is the usual Chanel brush, thin without tapering.  I base coated with Essence Studio Nails Better Than Gel Nails Base coat and topped with Seche Vite. The Seche didn’t dull the colour change effect.

I’m really in love with this colour, and I think I probably only have a couple similar in my stash which is Sally Hansen Lustre Shine in Scarab and Illamasqua Viridian (which is more green than blue).  I’ll try and get some colour sticks to show you.

So, what do we think?  Has Chanel knocked it out of the park?  In the UK Chanel can be bought form a number of high end department stores and Boots stores, it can be bought online from Boots.com and RRP is around £18.

Catrice – No Snow Petrol

I have another little beauty for your viewing pleasure today, although have you noticed the date??  Its nearly Xmas!! How exciting.  What are you planning on wearing on your nails over the festive season?  Do share in the comments below.

So, back to the polish today.  This one came from my lovely swap package from Lindz behind Girl in the Glasses (go visit if you haven’t already!) and you can see what lovelies I sent her by clicking here.

If you are interested in swapping there are two ways to go about it, firstly if you are on Facebook you can join a swapping group.  By doing a couple of low value swaps you develop your reputation for swapping and then you may be approached by more regular swappers.  But do no ever swaplift – this is where you get people to send you packages and you don’t post your end.  The Nail Polish Community is quite tight knit and rallies around.  Secondly, you can join something like Make Up Alley and earn swap tokens.  This is much wider than just polish as the name implies.  You can also stalk blogs and ask people to swap with you, although do not be offended if people say no.  I’m often engaged in a couple of swaps at a time and so have to say no for the sake of my wallet and in the attempt to keep my stash down to a manageable size!  Feel free to suggest groups etc in the comment for other readers.

Anyway, moving on to the polish from my swap with Lindz (where I did my best to get her some awesome stuff of the list she provided, but bizarrely Bourjois was quite hard to come by in the the specific colours she was after!).  I love Catrice Cosmetics.  They do some great lines, have regular limited edition lines and the price point is awesome.  Only drawback?  They are not available in the UK.  Like Essence.

This is one of the newer colours from the changes to the permanent line up in Fall 2012.  Several were retired and there were some reissues, including No Snow Petrol, which I am about to show you now.

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Wow, this is an awesome polish.  Its a light turquoise with a pale blue shimmer.  In the sun the shimmer is very apparent and obvious.  In the shade it is much more subtle.  Formula was lovely.  Almost a one coater, but the second coat does provide depth of colour and perfect coverage.  I used Essie All in One to base and then top coated with Seche Vite.  Drying time for No Snow Petrol was excellent, I was based coated, painted and top coated within 20 mins.

What do you think?  What other new Catrice Polishes should I check out?

Don’t forget that you can follow this blog via Bloglovin’, either by clicking the icon to the right or by clicking here.  I can also be found on Twitter @BakingNails

Zoya – Zusa

Today’s little beauty was part of a package sent to me from my wonderful Polish Picking Princess.  Its been on my wishlist since the Zoya Beach & Surf Summer Collections first came out, along with Kimber, and its been high on peoples favourite colour from the collection.

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Zusa is the most amazing colour, images really do not do it any kind of justice.  It is a wonderful aqua green/blue with a shimmer running through it.  It is such a summer colour pop and looks great on toes or fingers.  The formula was awesome, self levelling, great drying and two coats later perfect.

Its from the same colour range as lots of summer Turquoises that were issued this summer but I think the shimmer in this elevates it to something special.

I used Seche Retain as my base coat and top coated with Hong Kong Girl Top Coat.  And a quick word of warning, you might want to double base coat, as this polish stains significantly.

Zoya can be bought directly in the US, but here in the UK you best bet is either Nail Care Club or Amazon.co.uk.

Don’t forget that you can follow this blog via Bloglovin’, either by clicking the icon to the left or by clicking here.  I can also be found on Twitter @BakingNails