Pretty Serious Hello World! Collection

I picked up both full nail polish collections in the Pretty Serious Hello World! 50% sale! These have been on my wishlist for a while and when the sale was announced I jumped at the chance to grab all of them. I love to support Australian brands, and I love that Karen, the creator of Pretty Serious, is creating indie polish that is so unique and not just the usual flood of glitterbombs.

I have to say, she has fantastic customer service. In my excitement I checked out with the wrong address on Paypal, and she replied to my email requesting a change of address within minutes! They arrived 2 days later at the correct address - just in time for me to put one on for uni (I do an Architectural Computing degree so I felt BSOD was particularly apt!).

The Hello World! collection is a collection of 6 nail polishes based on everything geeky/technology related. For the non-programmers out there, Hello World! is a common phrase used in programming to test text in programs and other coding scenarios.

So without further ado, here are my swatches and review of the Hello World! collection:

BSOD

BSOD stands for Blue Screen of Death - if you've never seen one, I envy you! It's basically when your computer just has a brain implosion and stops working, deleting that entire assignment you've been working on for the last 4 hours... But I digress. BSOD is a gorgeous, vibrant blue jelly packed with tiny blue glitters. It has amazing depth and in some lights looks like a bright glittery blue, while in other lights looks more like a metallic navy.

This was a bit difficult to apply, as it's a bit gloopy (as jellies are expected to be), and dries very quickly, so if you try to fix up patches in a coat it'll drag horrifically. It was extremely patchy on the first coat, but after 3 it's gorgeously smooth. It could have been opaque in 2 coats but I wanted that extra depth. It dries a bit bumpy and dull, and is weirdly top coat hungry - it was smooth with one coat of SV, but after a couple of hours it went dull again.

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This post is pic-heavy, so click "Read More" to see the rest of the polishes :)

Candeo Colors Divebomb

This is the last of my Candeos (except for Orchid, but I don't have the energy to tackle its sunken, unfriendly glitters at the moment!). Here is Divebomb, a glitter top coat consisting of blue, aqua/green, copper and brown hex glitter. I think the aqua/green glitters are holographic too, but it's not very obvious. I was on the fence about this one for a long time but when my package arrived from my Llarowe shopping spree I discovered I'd bought it in my excitement. I don't regret it at all!

This is 2 coats of Ulta3 Spring Shower, 1 coat of Divebomb, 1 coat OPI Top Coat and 1 coat Seche Vite.

EDIT: There is definitely some cuticle shrinkage there! The last photo under the lamp was taken straight after painting my nails, but the daytime photos were taken a day or two later. My nails definitely don't grow that fast so the shrinkage must be from the Seche Vite... How annoying! Sorry it looks so terrible!

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Incandescent lamp - can you see the holo?

Candeo Colors are available from Llarowe or direct from the creator at http://www.candeocolors.com/.

Nerd Lacquer Pinin' for the Fjords

Nerd Lacquer is a delightful indie brand created by Amanda, who a couple of months ago just disappeared without a trace :( Luckily I managed to grab a bunch of these beautiful crelly (cream-jelly finish) polishes in her last sale, and I am so grateful because they are to die for! Every Nerd Lacquer is so unique and full of depth, and to top it off all the names are nerd-themed! Seriously, even if the polishes were fugly I'd just buy them for the names.

Here is my favourite out of my collection, Pinin' for the Fjords. Every time I look at my nails when I'm wearing this I hear a voice in my head saying "Pinin' for the fjords? Pinin' for the fjoooords??" This polish is so complex I can't even begin to describe what's in it. It's a dusty, pale periwinkle-lavender, packed full of multi-sized silver, blue and dark purple glitter, and a ton of silver microglitter. The crelly finish allows it to be built up to full opacity in 3 coats, while allowing the glitters in all the layers to peek through very subtly. It applies smoothly, but it does dry a bit bumpy so I used one coat of OPI Top Coat and one coat of SV over the top.

The purple colour of this is slightly lighter and less saturated than my pictures show.

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At the moment Nerd Lacquers are only available through swaps, blog sales and ebay. My fingers are crossed that Amanda makes a reappearance someday because I really want to get my hands on some more of these amazing polishes!

Lynnderella Common Sense

I love Common Sense, it's like glittering liquid rose gold jewels in a bottle. Its a bit thick but it's packed with so much glitter - I only needed one coat to get the coverage I wanted with this mani. This is over OPI Princesses Rule! but I imagine it could easily be opaque on its own.

It's hard to identify all the different glitters in this polish but I spotted hex and square copper and rose gold glitter, small bright purple hex glitter, small square and hex pale pink glitter and a scattering of small holo glitter, plus pink microglitter. Unfortunately the sun wouldn't come out when I took these photos so I couldn't capture that holo sparkle.

Sorry for the one retardedly long nail, I only noticed after I took the photos!

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Lynnderella is available at her ebay store but only offers shipping to the US at this stage.

OPI Princesses Rule!

Today's polish is quite special to me - it's one of the two that started my nail polish obsession. The other one is OPI Austin-tacious Turquoise. It all started earlier this year when I was passing through the duty free at Sydney Airport on my way to New Zealand, when I spotted a bin full of OPI nail polishes with a sign screaming "2 for $25!". In Australia that's a real bargain because OPI retails for $19.95, so I wandered over to have a quick browse. Of course, I already owned a couple of plain red and blue nail polishes, but when my eyes fell on Princesses Rule!, I finally realised that nail polish could be more than just safe reds and nudes. I had a quick google for reviews and swatches and came across The Polishaholic and Scrangie. Thus began my descent into nail polish obsession. The only thing I could think about on the plane was landing in NZ to put my new nail polish on!

So that's a little backstory for you, now on with the review!

Princesses Rule! is a baby pink with strong silver shimmer, almost a foil finish. It's a little sheer, this is 3 coats and there was still a bit of VNL but the strong shimmer helps to hide it. Like all OPI nail polishes it applies like a dream and dries quickly, but it's a tiny bit gritty. Nothing a good top coat can't fix!

I'm not normally a pink person but this is so gorgeous I can't help myself from reaching for it again and again.

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In Australia, OPI retails for around $20, and is available at David Jones. But I'll let you in on a little secret... If you're in Sydney, there's a shop called ProNail Supply in Bankstown that sells OPI for $12. Also, apparently Cosmo Cosmetics in the city sells OPI for $13. Happy shopping!

Butter London Marrow & Candeo Joker

Here is another Candeo Colors polish I got from Llarowe recently. Joker is a mix of large silver glitter, medium electric blue glitter, and multi sized periwinkle, purple and pink glitters. I didn't realise until I got out into the sun that there's also some tiny holographic glitters in there too. I love surprise holo!

Here is 2 wiped coats over Butter London Marrow, topped with a coat of OPI Top Coat and Seche Vite. I didn't have any problems with this formula, it was easy to get a good variety of glitters on each nail and they lay flat and smooth. In the photo it looks like they're curling a bit but this is definitely not noticeable in real life.

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Hidden holo!

 Here is Butter London Marrow on its own, 2 coats. It's a sophisticated muted shade of purple with a silver shimmer. The formula is smooth as butter (ha ha) and so easy to apply.

Candeo Colors is available at Llarowe for $12 each with reasonably priced tracked shipping to Australia, or directly from Candeo Colors for $9 each, but I'm not sure how much shipping is from them.

I purchased my Butter London polishes from my local chemist which sells them for around $24 each - exxy but so worth it for the colours, formula and sexy square bottle! I've also seen it in sales on BrandsExclusive and Ozsale for around the $13 mark with $10 flat rate shipping.

Thanks for reading!

Ulta3 Pretty Pastels Collection Part 2

Here is part 2 of my review of the Ulta3 Pretty Pastels Spring/Summer collection.

This is Lilac Bloom, a beautiful lavender colour. It immediately brings to mind OPI Rumple's Wiggin' and Essie Lilacism, although I have neither so I can't do a comparison unfortunately! But this has cured my lemming for a good lavender for spring. The formula is okay, again, not as streaky as Corsican Rose but still drags a bit.

Lilac Bloom, 3 coats

 And here is Pale Dahlia, a pale baby pink with a hint of pearlescent silver shimmer. I didn't notice it in the bottle but it adds a nice delicate touch on the nail! It has the same semi-streaky formula as Lilac Bloom, but as you can see it evened out quite nicely in the end.

Ulta3 Pale Dahlia

As mentioned in the previous post, Ulta3 nail polishes are an Australian brand available for around $2 at many chemists. Thanks for reading!

Lynnderella Golden Rules

Here is the NOTD I wore after swatching the Ulta3 Pastels yesterday - Lynnderella Golden Rules over Ulta3 Orange Blossom.

Golden Rules is a crazy mix of holographic gold glitters of every shape and size imaginable in a clear base. I had no problems with getting a good amount of glitter on the nail, although I did have to dab a little to place some of the stars and squares. The glitters lie smooth on the nail with no taco-ing, and it's almost smooth to touch after a thick coat of OPI Top Coat and one coat of Seche Vite (thanks to Steffels for the tip!).

Words cannot express how eye catching this glitter is! It's so bright and sparkly, people can't help staring at your nails. In fact, I wouldn't recommend wearing it very often because it will definitely distract you from doing anything productive! Unfortunately the holo doesn't translate very well to photos but I did try to take an out of focus picture to try and capture it a bit. Just imagine that sparkle x10! This is one coat of Golden Rules over 3 coats of Orange Blossom.

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Lynnderella nail polishes are available on her ebay store only at the moment. Unfortunately she does not offer international shipping so you'll need the services of a mail forwarder or a good friend in the US, or you could pay more to buy them from resellers that do ship to Australia.

Ulta3 Pretty Pastels Collection Part 1

Ulta3 have released a new Spring/Summer collection named "Pretty Pastels", which include 6 new pastel shades:

I'm a sucker for pastels and Ulta3, so I picked up 5 of these shades the other day at my local chemist. Today I have 3 of them to show you! Sorry in advance for the inconsistent lighting, the sun was in and out all day today.

First up is Corsican Rose. This is a beautiful soft minty green, but it streaks like crazy. I find with Ulta3 it's best to apply the first two coats really thinly, and then you can go a bit thicker on the third coat. These new polishes are all made in PRC, and streakiness seems to be a running trend in PRC versions unfortunately! I would recommend waiting at least a couple of minutes in between each coat to make sure it's fully dry before applying the next coat with these polishes.

Corsican Rose, 3 coats

Soft Hydrangea is a pale sky blue. Here I have compared it with Spring Shower, a super old Ulta3 colour that I believe is still in rotation. Spring Shower was actually one of the first nail polishes I ever bought way back in high school! I remember my friend and I both bought it from a chemist and it exploded in her bag on the way home.

Anyway, Soft Hydrangea is a touch lighter and greener toned than Spring Shower. The formula is okay, not as streaky as Corsican Rose. Spring Shower had a much smoother formula but mine's made in Australia - if you can find an Australian version definitely pick it up. Either way, they are both pretty colours.

Spring Shower vs Soft Hydrangea, 2 coats each

Finally, here is Orange Blossom. I was looking forward to this colour the most, but unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations. In the bottle it's a nice peachy mandarin colour, but on the nail it's more pale and nude-ish. It's got a jelly consistency and there was still VNL after 3 thick coats, but it's not that noticeable in real life.

Orange Blossom, 3 coats

Ulta3 nail polishes cost around $2 each and are available at chemists Australia-wide. They're usually piled in a big bin so you never know what colours you'll find - it's like a lucky dip!

Stay tuned for part 2 of the collection coming in the next few days :) Thanks for reading!

Welcome! Cult Nails Annalicious & Candeo Sprouse

Welcome to my nail polish blog! I'm Rose and I'm a nail polish addict from Sydney, Australia. This is the virtual equivalent of sticking my nails in my friends' faces and insisting on showing them every new polish I get. I figured I have a pretty big collection now and I love to share the joy of nail polish, so hopefully this blog will allow me to do that! I aim to show a variety of Australian, international, cheap, expensive, indie and well known brands - if it's nail polish, I'll wear it :)

I also started this blog as a way to distract myself from doing uni work. I'm expecting it to fulfill that goal easily!

To kick things off, here is my nail mail from Llarowe which arrived today:

Candeo Divebomb, Candeo Joker, Candeo Sprouse, CrowsToes Gomez

I couldn't resist putting Sprouse straight over the top of what I was already wearing. Cult Nails Annalicious is a vibrant orange-based red with gold and red shimmer. The formula is fantastic, probably one of the easiest to apply polishes I've ever used.

Candeo Sprouse is like CtD, but cooler! It's packed with matte black and white bar and hex glitter of different sizes, with a fine holographic shimmer and a smattering of blue holo glitter. Unfortunately I'm not good enough with the camera yet to capture that amazing sparkle from both of these polishes, but trust me, it's crazy in real life! Next time I might try it over something that makes the blue pop a bit more, like a grey or something.

I really like the Candeo brushes, they're thick and flat, but not as wide as the OPI brushes which are way too wide for my pinkies. I had no problems with getting the glitter on the brush. This is 1 coat of Sprouse over 3 coats of Annalicious.

Cult Nails Annalicious is available directly from http://www.cultnails.com/. It's $10 and limited edition.

I bought Candeo Sprouse from Llarowe for $12. Shipping is reasonably priced and tracked (bonus!). Subscribe to Llarowe's facebook page for updates on when it will be restocked.

Thanks for reading my first blog post! Feel free to share the nail polish love in the comments :)