Artform Revolutionary Range #502 Red Gold

I toyed with the idea of doing an April fools post, but unless your the first in with it, there isn't much point (you got me Kaz!)

Today I'm showing you Artform Revolutionary Range #502 Red Gold, which is a dupe of Ozotic Pro #502 which may be close to a dupe of Sally Hansen Prism Ruby Opal (see Splurge vs Save).  But before swatches I just want to mention a couple of things that annoyed me about my latest order from Artform nails.

1. I noticed on my credit card a week after placing my order that what I was charged was less that what I had ordered. I sent two emails to them asking why my order was costing less, unfortunately I never received a reply. It was only when my box arrived that there was a hand written note on the invoice that said some polishes were out of stock and they didn’t charge me for them. As their shipping is rather expensive, I really wish they had contacted me and advised if and when they were getting the polishes that were out of stock back in. I would happily have waited to receive them and ship them all together, whereas now, I would have to place another order (including the full shipping price) if I want to get the out of stock items.
2. My other gripe is that a number of these bottles were not full. The green holographic one, and a few of the multichromes have a good 5mm missing at the top of the bottle. What’s with that!!

Despite these two issues, I am really happy with the polishes I have got.

#502 is another multichrome with colours shifting through from a burgundy crimson through to gold.  This is three coats over a black base.

This one was the first I swatched, and I didn't capture it as well as I have the others.  There is a real knack to photographing duochrome polishes and I certainly got better the more I took.

No pretty post today...busy celebrating

Today is my anniversary (The hot Guy's too)Well it's the anniversary of our making our marriage legal by US law.We celebrate 3 anniversaries together each year..The day we met, the day we got married and our "legal" marriage.So today I'm all wrapped up in my hot Guy and I'll post pretties tomorrow!*Smooches*(Back in the day)

Urban Decay Sale at Hautelook!

The Sale is on! Urban Decay Sale at Hautelook!

There's not a ton of selection- but it's on SALE!!! lol There are some eyeshadows, pocket rocket glosses, a few body powders, nail polish set, and a few other things.

Check out the Urban Decay sale at Hautelook!

Le Chat Summer 2011

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I had some press releases from Le Chat in my Inbox, so I thought I'd show you the ones you might be interested in.

Available for sale tomorrow (with "Where???" being the eternal question...) is a Dare to Wear collection of mostly metallic nail polishes.  Sorry about the little pictures, they're all I have.

Dare to Wear Bling It On Collection

They're also doing a collection of neon soak off gel polishes for their Perfect Match line, as well as a handful of other colors.

Le Chat Perfect Match Neon Gel Polishes

Le Chat Perfect Match Gel Polish, New Shades for Summer 2011

That's just about all I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Le Chat Summer 2011

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I had some press releases from Le Chat in my Inbox, so I thought I'd show you the ones you might be interested in.

Available for sale tomorrow (with "Where???" being the eternal question...) is a Dare to Wear collection of mostly metallic nail polishes.  Sorry about the little pictures, they're all I have.

Dare to Wear Bling It On Collection

They're also doing a collection of neon soak off gel polishes for their Perfect Match line, as well as a handful of other colors.

Le Chat Perfect Match Neon Gel Polishes

Le Chat Perfect Match Gel Polish, New Shades for Summer 2011

That's just about all I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Preview: New Bundle Monster Plates

You may have noticed that I don't post many previews. In fact, I don't think I've ever posted one but this upcoming release has me really excited.

Bundle Monster have been posting previews of the new plates on their Facebook recently. So far, they've been kind enough to show us five of their new designs.

This time around there will be 25 plates with 'lots of full nail and french tip designs'. The full nail and tip designs will be larger than the ones on the last set which I'm sure will come as good news to everyone.

At the moment, I can't find any evidence of a release date that's set in stone. It seems as though the guys over at Bundle Monster are working as hard as they can to finalize all the designs and make the plates available to us as soon as they can, which should be just a few weeks.

Follow Bundle Monster on Facebook and/or Twitter if you want to be the first to know when these plates go on sale.

I can't wait for the release of these plates and I'll be getting them as soon as possible. Here's to hoping they won't sell out before I get a chance!

EDIT: Since I posted this, they have released more pictures on their Facebook page. There are pictures of the actual plates and you can see the new, bigger pattern size.

The set of 25 plates will cost $21.99.

EDIT: Since I first published this post, I've edited it a few times to add new plates as we get them. There are a further 6 plates to the ones in the picture above and here they are all together.

EDIT: 3 more previews added 21/04/11

To buy these plates from Amazon.com @ $21.99, click here

To buy these plates from Amazon.co.uk @ £16.99, click here

Drag marbling

Hello~ :) Awhile ago, I tried out drag marbling and it looks so pretty when done correctly, haha! As usual, Colette over at My Simple Little Pleasures was a great inspiration for this mani.

I started off with two thick coats of OPI You don't know Jacques over my base coat and then used my dotting tool to place three random dots of Ulta3 spring shower onto the wet polish. Using a toothpick, I randomly swirled the polish surface and waited a little while before sealing it with my top coat. I really love how simple drag marbling is, now I've just got to experiment more with it :D

If you haven't already, check out my Thank you-Sorry giveaway :) here~ ^^
~Sharon

Artform Revolutonary Range #505 Green Purple

Hang on a minute; didn't I just do a post on this polish yesterday? Well yes and no. This is one of the Artform Revolutionary Range polishes - #505 Green Purple, that I got in my haul last week. 

Let me just start by saying this is an exact dupe for yesterday's polish, Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal. The very last photo shows a comparison swatch. The other interesting thing is that I’m sure this is also an exact dupe of Ozotic Pro #505.

Recently when I wrote about ordering these polishes, Kira from over at Kira and Lydia's Makeup, said she was keen to see these as she didn’t want to double up on her Ozotic Pro colours. Well Kira, right you are!

What I find very interesting is that not only do they appear to be the exact same multichromatic polish, but they also have the exact same number! And even more evidence that these are probably from the same Australian manufacturer, is that it’s not just this one polish. I ordered six multichrome polishes (#502, #503, #504, #505, #506 and #508) from Artform Nails. From looking at other people’s swatches and reading the colour descriptions of Ozotics #502, #504, #505, #506, all four of these polishes are exactly the same number and colour as the Artform ones.

So the cool part is that I read a comment from Kaz over at Pretty Random saying that Ozotic Pro #503 and #508 are discontinued. So how cool is it that after looking at the Ozotic Pro colour chart, I have probably located exact dupes of #503 and #508.

Just remember that these actually cost a little more than the Ozotic pro ($10.95 v $8.50). But if you want to get #503 and #508, it’s probably worth the extra few bucks.

Anyway, onto the swatches of Artform #505.  These were all three coats over a black base.

I really wanted to photo the comparison between Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal and #505 in the sun, but the clouds came over and I had to do it under then bathroom lights instead.  As you can see even in this indoor flash picture, both Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal and Artform/Ozotic Pro #505 are dupes.

I'll be bring you more of these duochromes in coming posts.  If your a green lover, just wait until you see the discontinued #503. Ah-maze-zing.

Do You Think I'm Tex-y Too?

It's just a quick one today. I did spend quite a while writing about how I think this shade is similar to OPI's Do You Think I'm Tex-y then realised it didn't really make any sense! I blame it on the cold I've been suffering with since the weekend, my head is all stuffed up and I'm just too tired to make real sentences.

Konad Plate: M57

Base Colour: NYC Glossies 235

Konad Colour: Stargazer White

Top Coat of NYC

Zoya Sunshine & Summertime - Rica

This one is from the Sunshine half of the Zoya Sunshine & Summertime collection.The Sunshine set is 6 shimmery metallicsZoya describes Rica as a shimmering Rose metallicOn me Rica is a metallic coral with strong orange to pink shiftSee the pink/coral with the orange sparking throughThis is not the best color for my skin but I'm going to wear it anyway because it's fabLiquid SummerSo many

China Glaze Island Escape Swatches & Comparison

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm still waiting for word on yesterday's interview, which went really well, so I have no news on that front, [I got the call - I JUST GOT THE DREAM JOB!!!] but I got a surprise from China Glaze this morning, so I have things to show you.  I went out to get some coffee early this morning, and as I was pulling out of the driveway I saw a Post-It on my front door, and when I went to look at it I found it was from FedEx and there was a little box at the door even though I wasn't expecting any deliveries.  I'm hoping it was placed there just yesterday... Anyhow, when I got back home I opened it up to find that China Glaze had sent their upcoming Island Escape collection for review, so I have some pictures for you.

First, I swatched the six polishes on a little thingy of fake nails (I believe "thingy" is the industry technical term for it), which I've never done before.  To be honest, I have no idea why I even had the fake nail thingy, it must have come with something else at some point, but it worked out fine.  Second, the sunlight here is almost non-existent and I did the best I could for you on the pictures, but if I notice a few minutes of good light I'll take additional pictures and add them to this post.

China Glaze Island Escape Collection Swatches, Two Coats Each

For reference, everything in the picture other than nail polish is white, that's the light I was working with.  As for the polishes, I thought I'd just go through them one at a time like usual.  If you click the picture it'll open full sized in a new tab, which may be the easiest way to go back and forth to it.

Electric Pineapple is a yellow creme that has a slight greenish tinge to it, and it reminds me of a yellower Misa Green with Envy.  It's quite opaque for a yellow, and the second coat made it even and opaque.

Cha Cha Cha is a yellowish green with a gold shimmer, very much like China Glaze Moonpool, and I compared the two to find that Cha Cha Cha is a little bit brighter.  The only notable application issue was that I found brush strokes were pretty evident in the shimmer even after it dried, so it has to be applied carefully.  Here's Cha Cha Cha with Moonpool.

China Glaze Cha Cha Cha and Moonpool Comparison, Two Coats Each

Blue Iguana is a great glass flecked bright blue, very much like a glass flecked version of Nubar's Mali Blue, which is a shimmer.  Actually, three of these are about the same base color as three of that Nubar collection with a different finish.  Anyhow, the color of Blue Iguana is gorgeous - I spent a couple weeks in the Bahamas a few years ago, and the balcony of the room I stayed in had a clear view of the beach and ocean (which I could stare at for hours), and Blue Iguana is the color that the water was near the shore.  There were no application issues to mention.

Senorita Bonita has the same finish as Blue Iguana, but the shimmer bits are pink in a purple base.  Senorita Bonita's base color is very similar to Nubar's Pasadena Purple, again with a different finish.  Again, nothing was noteworthy about its application.

108 Degrees is a fantastic bright pink, also with the same finish as the previous two, and the base color immediately brought to mind Nubar's Hollywood Pink.  108 Degrees was also easy to apply and even.

Papaya Punch is an orange creme, and it reminds me a lot of OPI's Flit A Bit from last year's Summer Flutter Collection.  Papaya Punch is quite thick, but I did not find that to be problematic, and it was almost good with just one coat (it needed the second to even out the color).

That's just about everything I know about China Glaze's Island Escape Collection, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

China Glaze Island Escape Swatches & Comparison

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm still waiting for word on yesterday's interview, which went really well, so I have no news on that front, [I got the call - I JUST GOT THE DREAM JOB!!!] but I got a surprise from China Glaze this morning, so I have things to show you.  I went out to get some coffee early this morning, and as I was pulling out of the driveway I saw a Post-It on my front door, and when I went to look at it I found it was from FedEx and there was a little box at the door even though I wasn't expecting any deliveries.  I'm hoping it was placed there just yesterday... Anyhow, when I got back home I opened it up to find that China Glaze had sent their upcoming Island Escape collection for review, so I have some pictures for you.

First, I swatched the six polishes on a little thingy of fake nails (I believe "thingy" is the industry technical term for it), which I've never done before.  To be honest, I have no idea why I even had the fake nail thingy, it must have come with something else at some point, but it worked out fine.  Second, the sunlight here is almost non-existent and I did the best I could for you on the pictures, but if I notice a few minutes of good light I'll take additional pictures and add them to this post.

China Glaze Island Escape Collection Swatches, Two Coats Each

For reference, everything in the picture other than nail polish is white, that's the light I was working with.  As for the polishes, I thought I'd just go through them one at a time like usual.  If you click the picture it'll open full sized in a new tab, which may be the easiest way to go back and forth to it.

Electric Pineapple is a yellow creme that has a slight greenish tinge to it, and it reminds me of a yellower Misa Green with Envy.  It's quite opaque for a yellow, and the second coat made it even and opaque.

Cha Cha Cha is a yellowish green with a gold shimmer, very much like China Glaze Moonpool, and I compared the two to find that Cha Cha Cha is a little bit brighter.  The only notable application issue was that I found brush strokes were pretty evident in the shimmer even after it dried, so it has to be applied carefully.  Here's Cha Cha Cha with Moonpool.

China Glaze Cha Cha Cha and Moonpool Comparison, Two Coats Each

Blue Iguana is a great glass flecked bright blue, very much like a glass flecked version of Nubar's Mali Blue, which is a shimmer.  Actually, three of these are about the same base color as three of that Nubar collection with a different finish.  Anyhow, the color of Blue Iguana is gorgeous - I spent a couple weeks in the Bahamas a few years ago, and the balcony of the room I stayed in had a clear view of the beach and ocean (which I could stare at for hours), and Blue Iguana is the color that the water was near the shore.  There were no application issues to mention.

Senorita Bonita has the same finish as Blue Iguana, but the shimmer bits are pink in a purple base.  Senorita Bonita's base color is very similar to Nubar's Pasadena Purple, again with a different finish.  Again, nothing was noteworthy about its application.

108 Degrees is a fantastic bright pink, also with the same finish as the previous two, and the base color immediately brought to mind Nubar's Hollywood Pink.  108 Degrees was also easy to apply and even.

Papaya Punch is an orange creme, and it reminds me a lot of OPI's Flit A Bit from last year's Summer Flutter Collection.  Papaya Punch is quite thick, but I did not find that to be problematic, and it was almost good with just one coat (it needed the second to even out the color).

That's just about everything I know about China Glaze's Island Escape Collection, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal

I'm taking a break from the holographics to take you down the magical duochrome path that is the magnificant Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal Nail Prisms. 

Turquoise Opal, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1. You actually look the same on my nail as you do in the bottle
2. Thin, smooth formula
3. Awesome colour changing from turquoise green and blue through to rich royal purple.
4. Smooth glossy finish, top coat not required
5. Magnificant in sunlight and indoors.
6. Sparkley metallic shimmer finish
7. Great durability.

Ok, so it looks like I love you seven ways.

This was two coats Turquoise Opal over one coat generic black polish.  This first photo was taken in the shade, the rest were in full sun.

This is the Canadian version of the polish, which I actually nabbed off ebay just the other day.  In fact I nabbed two bottles for an excellent price and I have a special idea for what to do with my second bottle.  So stay tuned for that...

Matte leopard print

Hi everyone~ Firstly, thank you so much for the positive response regarding a future giveaway :). I'm really happy to know that a majority of you all don't mind polishes which have been used lightly. Hopefully I'll be able to get around to getting the rest of the polishes soon and posting about the giveaway - I'm undecided at the moment whether it should be a thank you giveaway for reaching 300+ followers or an apologetic one for a great lapse in posts to come in May. Hmmm...the dilemma, hehe ^^

Anyway, this is a recent mani I did since I felt like a matte look. Unfortunately the leopard nail art didn't come out too well this time :(. In fact, I think they look really dodgy, but I love the colour combo and it's the only reason I'm showing this mani.

The polishes used:
OPI Parlez-vous OPI?
Ulta3 spring blossom, black satin
And I forgot to take a picture of this - Sportsgirl matte top coat

I really need to sleep now, I've been up and running since 6.30 this morning @___@
~Sharon

March Madness Makeup NoMoreRack

Starting Tomorrow (March 29) at 8am PST/11am EST60 hours of March Makeup madnessClick here or on the NoMoreRack link in my left sidebar to sign up for their sales.
(If you use my link you'll get a $10 giftcard)I have gotten some great deals so far on NMR...$12 for Dior Lipstick, $14 for LE Versace nail polish duo,TwoFaced mascara for $6 and so on. This is so far my favorite "Private" sale sight

Artform light blue holographic 512

Only three more holos to show you from my giveaway range.  Introducing the light blue holo.

Um, what to say about this polish that is different from the previous posts about these Artform holo polishes. Same scattinear holo finish, smooth application, glossy finish, yada yada yada.  Oh not sure if I have said this yet, they are not super fast to dry like other holos, maybe that is why the wear is so much better?

Again, I wanted to do a comparison between this and the Nfu Oh 65 blue polish, so here it is.  I did this in the shade to show you that the colour is very similar. Nfu OH 65 on the index and ring, Artform holo on Middle and pinky.

Here is the sun comparison picutre. Artform on the left Nfu Oh on the right.  Yeah, I know it's no Nfu Oh, but it still sure is pretty.

Two more to go.

EZ Flow The It List

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I've been neglecting you because I've been neglecting my nails, I'm sorry.  I just wasn't up for dealing with another long removal and redoing this fake tip until I absolutely had to, and today I had to.  The old mani was nine days grown out and had a chip near a cuticle because I decided to tidy up my cuticles while taking a scalding hot bath a few days ago, and a bit of the gel came off when I did, so they weren't really looking too good.  Early this morning I got a call to set up a second interview for a position I really (really, really, really) want, and it's tomorrow morning, so the time had come to redo my nails.

The removal of the old mani was long again.  I did some more hunting for tips online and saw people say that the remover works better than acetone, so I used the remover that came packaged with it, but it was still pretty bad.  Since the Nubar removal was the easiest, what I did this time was use Nubar Gelicure products for nail prep, base, and sealer, and just the EZ Flow color gel in the middle.  This is my third time time using EZ Flow color gel, and I find that it shrinks in application quite a bit - both times before were with the whole EZ Flow system, so it doesn't seem like product incompatibility would be the problem here.  I worked around the shrinkage as well as I could, and the whole application, including one sculpted tip, was finished in under forty-five minutes (that's excluding the removal of the old one).

I went over a few options I had for what color to use this week (pretty easy since I don't have a ton of choices), and I found one I'm content with.  I considered a nice French, but vetoed it for this particular interview because it's a little on the girly side - the job's an IT team lead role, and girly just doesn't cut it.  I considered going with just clear since my nails are white enough to do that now, but I'm never comfortable with that and it would be distracting to me, and that thought led me to just wear something I'd be comfortable and confident in, which was a darker shimmery red from EZ Flow called The It List.  I know it's a bit bold, but I'll still be very understated overall - my clothes are the dressy IT choice of a charcoal skirt and a black sweater.

EZ Flow The It List Soak Off Color Gel

Looks like I got some towel lint on there after I washed my hands when I finished, so we'll all have to pretend we don't see that.  Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - it's familiar, not especially attention-grabbing, and so I'll be at ease wearing it.  The last thing I want to be thinking about for even a moment during the second interview for a dream job is my nails, and that'll be easy with this.

So that's the update for now, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

EZ Flow The It List

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I've been neglecting you because I've been neglecting my nails, I'm sorry.  I just wasn't up for dealing with another long removal and redoing this fake tip until I absolutely had to, and today I had to.  The old mani was nine days grown out and had a chip near a cuticle because I decided to tidy up my cuticles while taking a scalding hot bath a few days ago, and a bit of the gel came off when I did, so they weren't really looking too good.  Early this morning I got a call to set up a second interview for a position I really (really, really, really) want, and it's tomorrow morning, so the time had come to redo my nails.

The removal of the old mani was long again.  I did some more hunting for tips online and saw people say that the remover works better than acetone, so I used the remover that came packaged with it, but it was still pretty bad.  Since the Nubar removal was the easiest, what I did this time was use Nubar Gelicure products for nail prep, base, and sealer, and just the EZ Flow color gel in the middle.  This is my third time time using EZ Flow color gel, and I find that it shrinks in application quite a bit - both times before were with the whole EZ Flow system, so it doesn't seem like product incompatibility would be the problem here.  I worked around the shrinkage as well as I could, and the whole application, including one sculpted tip, was finished in under forty-five minutes (that's excluding the removal of the old one).

I went over a few options I had for what color to use this week (pretty easy since I don't have a ton of choices), and I found one I'm content with.  I considered a nice French, but vetoed it for this particular interview because it's a little on the girly side - the job's an IT team lead role, and girly just doesn't cut it.  I considered going with just clear since my nails are white enough to do that now, but I'm never comfortable with that and it would be distracting to me, and that thought led me to just wear something I'd be comfortable and confident in, which was a darker shimmery red from EZ Flow called The It List.  I know it's a bit bold, but I'll still be very understated overall - my clothes are the dressy IT choice of a charcoal skirt and a black sweater.

EZ Flow The It List Soak Off Color Gel

Looks like I got some towel lint on there after I washed my hands when I finished, so we'll all have to pretend we don't see that.  Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - it's familiar, not especially attention-grabbing, and so I'll be at ease wearing it.  The last thing I want to be thinking about for even a moment during the second interview for a dream job is my nails, and that'll be easy with this.

So that's the update for now, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!