Hare Polish Dauphine of Decadence

Just a quickie today - things have been super busy at work this week and I'm packing my bags for my trip to the Gold Coast. 

This is Hare Polish Dauphine of Decadence, a delicate mix of gold and mint green glitter in a clear base. I absolutely love this polish. I think I might like it even more than Essence Make It Golden, my current favourite gold glitter. 

I've layered it over Butter London Alcopop here. The accent nail is 3 dabbled coats of Dauphine of Decadence on its own, reaching nearly complete opacity.

What do you think of this colour combination? Do you love it as much as I do?

Lilypad Lacquer Lifesavers Collection - Swatches and Review

I know it's coming up to winter in Australia, but there is always room in my heart for a good neon. Today I'm showing you the Lifesavers collection from Lilypad Lacquer, a collection of eye-searing neon jellies.

Because these are jellies, I used 4 coats for all them for as much opacity as possible. There was still some very slight VNL, but they're not especially noticeable in person. I applied each coat thickly and waited a bit longer between layers to avoid dragging. The formula was good when applied this way, and I didn't experience any dragging.

Lemon is a highlighter yellow.

Orange is, well, orange. But what an orange it is!

Strawberry is a neon pink.

Raspberry is a neon magenta. It's very similar to Strawberry, but it leans red while Strawberry is more of a pure pink.

Blueberry is a rich blue. It's not strictly a neon, but it's got the same sort of intense colour.

Lime is a bright lime green.

I definitely recommend this collection to anyone who is after the juiciest, brightest jellies they've ever seen. They're only $10 each from the Lilypad Lacquer etsy store, which I think is great value for the quality. Nicole is always adding new colours to the collection as well, so make sure you check back regularly.

These products were provided for review, which did not affect my opinion. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.

Inspired by: Alejandro Ingelmo Slingbacks

One of my favourite non-nail blogs is Shoeperwoman, a daily fix of shoes. That's right, just loads of gorgeous shoes to drool over, and nothing else. Maximum shoe-age!

That's where I spotted these Alejandro Ingelmo slingbacks. Silver and baby blue is one of my favourite colour combinations. And why not, because they work so well together, as evidenced below.

I've really been getting into the shoe-inspired nail art recently, so of course I had to do a mani based on these as well. It's the perfect basis for ruffian nails, using A England Excalibur, ORLY Pretty Ugly* and OPI Matte Top Coat to mimic the suede finish.

If you have loads of disposable income, you can purchase these shoes from Shoescribe for a mere AU$795. But think how fabulous you'll look with your matching shoes and mani! Totally worth it.

* Products marked with an asterisk were provided for review, which did not affect my opinion. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.

Work Friendly Wednesday - Contrary Polish Creeping Moss

It's Wednesday again! I went on a bit of a shopping spree so I have a bunch of different work friendly polishes that I can't wait to show you in the coming weeks. Today I'm featuring Contrary Polish Creeping Moss.

Contrary Polish is an indie brand based in the US. Their signature style is a subtle shimmery finish in a range of beautiful understated colours. This makes most of their releases perfect for work.

Creeping Moss is a murky olive brown with pink and copper shimmer flecks. I used 2 coats in this swatch. You can see some bald patches under the bright light, but they're not visible in normal lighting. The formula was smooth and easy to apply.

I bought this for AU$10.90 from Femme Fatale Cosmetics. Contrary Polish is also available from Llarowe and Shoppe Eclecticco.

Happy Birthday Pretty Serious!

Today is the first birthday of our beloved home grown Aussie indie brand Pretty Serious! The company has grown in leaps and bounds within the short space of a year. It's become a cult brand the world over, recently being featured in New York Fashion Week and the Lust Have It Eco Box. Pretty Serious is now so successful that Kaz, the owner, was able to quit her day job and run it full time - now if that's not every polish addict's dream, I don't know what is!

To celebrate, Pretty Serious fans are painting the town with multi-coloured glitter with the release of Daphne's Birthday Party. Daphne is the brand mascot, and features on every Pretty Serious polish box. Apparently she's a bit of a party girl too, because she always makes an effort to dress in theme for different collections. Here's a couple of the variations we've seen so far:

Daphne's Birthday Party is a combination of 5 different coloured glitters of the same size, designed to look like sparkly confetti on your nails. The colours are so bright and cheerful, it looks fantastic layered over anything. I decided to layer it in a gradient over Poltergeist Puddle, one of my favourite Pretty Serious polishes. It can also be worn on its own with full opacity in 3 coats.

You can't help but feel like celebrating with this polish on your tips!

And of course, I had to mattify it. It still looks great!

Daphne's Birthday Party is not limited edition, so you can pick this up any time for $9.95 from the Pretty Serious website.

Join me in saying a big happy birthday to Pretty Serious! I can't wait to see what they have planned for the future.

ORLY Mayhem Mentality & Pretty Ugly Swatches

ORLY's new Mash Up collection is an eclectic assortment of contrasting colours and finishes. It features cremes, shimmers, chromes, and even a holographic glitter. Today I'm showing you two of the polishes in this collection, Mayhem Mentality and Pretty Ugly.

Mayhem Mentality is a neon orange creme. It's opaque in 2 coats, but I used 3 in these swatches to even out the streakiness. In saying that, it's the nature of neons to be streaky, and this was no worse than any others I've tried. It also dries with a satin finish, so I used top coat here.

Pretty Ugly is a blue-leaning teal/aqua with blue shimmer. At certain angles the shimmer turns purple in the bottle, but I haven't been able to see it on the nail. This is 4 coats for full opacity. The formula was excellent though, and it applied smoothly and evenly. It's a little on the thick side, so I would wait a bit longer between coats to avoid dragging. I really love this colour, and I know that I'll be wearing it a lot in spring and summer. (Probably in autumn and winter too, because I don't really pay attention to seasonally-appropriate colours.)

The great thing about this collection is that although the colours are contrasting, they look great together. I can't wait to try some bold nail art with these two colours.

The ORLY Mash Up collection is being released in August 2013, and will be available from selected pharmacies and salons for RRP AU$18.95.

These products were provided for review, which did not affect my opinion. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.

Inspired by Shoes of Prey: Take Two

After my last "Inspired by Shoes of Prey" post, I was approached by Shoes of Prey to do a few more inspired-by manis. Today's one is based on this amazing pair of glittery red pumps.

I could have been really lazy and just done a full mani of Essie Ruby Slippers/China Glaze Ruby Pumps... But I know I wouldn't have gotten away with that! So here is my striped nail art interpretation, using OPI Red, OPI Matte Top Coat and Butter London Chancer.

I spent way too long thinking about this - OPI Red is the actual name of the polish. So do I go with my usual format of "brand, name" like OPI Keys to my Karma, which would result in OPI OPI Red? Or just OPI Red? What a dilemma!

These shoes are $199 including shipping from Shoes of Prey, and you can even customise it. I really like this black version with red trim - like reverse Louboutins!

Stay tuned for another Shoes of Prey inspired mani coming up!

I was not compensated for this post in any way, and all opinions expressed are my own. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.