Lilypad Lacquer Colour My World Holographic Collection Part 2 - Swatches & Review

I posted part 1 of my swatches of the Lilypad Lacquer Colour My World collection last week. I have 15 polishes in total from this collection to show you, so here is part 2.

As with last time, all of these swatches are 2 coats with no base or top coat. The formula was easy to apply, self leveling and quick drying.

Wink of Pink is a pretty mid pink.

Blooming Violets is a vibrant violet pink.

Ruby Slippers is an intense red.

Dripping in Gold is a dusty, buttery gold.

O-live for this Colour is olive green.

Chocollo is a rich chocolate brown.

Ashes to Ashes is a deep charcoal grey.

True Blood is an intense deep burgundy.

There's such a huge range in this single collection. It's a great starting point for anyone who loves holographic polishes and is looking to build their collection. My favourites are True Blood, Ashes to Ashes, Ruby Slippers, Purple People Eater and Steeling Blue.

The bottles are a large 14ml, and cost $11 each from the Lilypad Lacquer etsy store.

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

Manicare Cuticle Therapy Oil Review

I received the Manicare Cuticle Therapy oil recently as part of a free goodie bag during a Priceline promotion. I've been using it for almost two weeks now, and it's found an invaluable place in my hand and nail care regime.

Manicare Cuticle Therapy is a cuticle oil with an "organic formula enriched with natural kernel oil, coconut oil, wheat germ and aloe vera extract to nourish, strengthen and hydrate nails and cuticles". It comes in a standard 12ml nail polish bottle, and you brush the oil onto your cuticles with the brush.

I don't use cuticle oils consistently, because I find them too, well, oily. They tend to get on my fingertips when I rub the oil into my cuticles, making it too messy to touch anything for a while afterwards. However, I find that Cuticle Therapy absorbs really quickly, allowing me to return to work faster.

While it's still a bit too oily for using during the day, I use it during swatching. I use pure acetone to remove my nail polish, and during the swatching process this means my cuticles can get incredibly dry and ragged. I dab a tiny bit of oil onto my cuticles in between swatches, and rub it in. It absorbs quickly enough that my fingers aren't shiny by the time I'm photographing the next swatch, and my cuticles look hydrated and good as new.

I've also been using this overnight as well. So far, the results are good. I haven't noticed any degradation in my cuticles compared to using my usual Lush Lemony Flutter. It has a strong, distinctive citrus scent which takes a bit of getting used to, but it disappears pretty quickly.

After using this multiple times a day for almost two weeks, I've barely made a dent in the amount of oil in the bottle. I can imagine that even with consistent usage, it will last for months.

Manicare Cuticle Therapy has an RRP of of $13.50, and is available from Priceline, Target, K-Mart, Big W and leading pharmacies.

Toya-Jade Polish Swatches & Review

Toya-Jade is a new Aussie indie brand that just launched in March this year. I have 5 of them to show you today.

These are all mini bottles. The first thing I noticed is that the brushes are a good size, and are generally quite firm and splay well, making application easy.

Black Star is black with a fine, scattered holographic finish. This is 3 coats for full opacity.

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Silver Lights is silver foil. In the bottle it has some fine multi-coloured particles, but they're not noticeable on the nail. This is 3 coats, but there is still some VNL.

Shandy is my favourite out of all of these. It's a pale taupe with a gold to pink shift. It was quite thick and gloopy, but it levelled out nicely. It also dries somewhat matte. This is 3 coats with top coat.

Mystic is a shimmery purple with a very scattered, fine holographic shimmer, and what looks like small holographic glitter. It's hard to tell because the base is so pigmented, it tends to cover up the glitter. This is 2 coats.

Direct light to show the holo. Not colour accurate.

Christine is another favourite. It's a super bright fluro pink with a foily, shimmery finish. It reminds me of Pretty Serious The Pink One, but with more particles. The brush on this one was really stiff, and combined with a thick formula, it made the application difficult and streaky. I found I had to dab, rather than brush, it on. This one dries a bit matte as well, so this is 3 coats with top coat.

Toya-Jade polishes are available from the Toya-Jade etsy store, and cost $5.50 for an 8ml mini bottle. It doesn't look like there are full size bottles available. All Toya-Jade polishes are 3 free.

Soap & Glory Hand Food Review

As you probably know, my cuticles are sorted with LUSH Lemony Flutter. But I've been searching for the perfect hand cream for a while now, and I think I've finally found a close contender.

Soap & Glory is a fun brand with really cute product names like One Night Tanned (bronzing lotion) and Night in Shining Armour (night cream). I'm such a sucker for pretty packaging as well, so I really stood no chance in resisting picking up this hand cream as I was passing the Soap & Glory display at Myer the other week.

Whoever said you shouldn't judge a book by its cover is a complete liar.

Soap & Glory Hand Food claims to be a "non-greasy hand cream with shea butter, macadamia oil and marshmallow." Marshmallow, huh? Looking through the ingredients, I can't find anything that resembles marshmallows, but I can see a bunch of other great ingredients like the aforementioned shea butter, macadamia oil, grape seed oil and sweet almond oil. They're right at the top of the list too, which is always good.

The best thing about this hand cream is that it's non-greasy. It's rich and moisturising, so you only need a small amount, but it sinks in very quickly without leaving behind any residue. I can stop at a red traffic light, whack this on, and have my hands dry and on the steering wheel ready to go by the time the light turns green. That's like, 60 seconds! This fact alone propels it to almost HG status for me.

The scent is probably the closest claim to marshmallow this hand cream has. It's a sweet scent, but not overpowering, with a bit of a fruity edge as well. It's hard to describe, but it's so yummy I could eat it.

I picked this up from Kit Cosmetics in the travel size for $5.95, and it's also available in a full size tube for $11.95.

Lilypad Lacquer Colour My World Holographic Collection Part 1 - Swatches & Review

I was recently sent some of the new holographic nail polishes from Lilypad Lacquer's Colour My World collection. There are a huge number of polishes in this collection, so I'm splitting my swatches into two posts.

I will start off by saying that I think these colours are stunning. The formula on all of them were fantastic - all of the swatches below are 2 coats, with no base or top coat. They are all intensely holographic, although some are more than others. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

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Nature Calling is an earthy green.

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Aquadisiac is a cool aqua mint.

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Seascape is a bright sky blue.

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Periwinkle Twinkle is a periwinkle blue.

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Steeling Blue is a deep steel blue.

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Lilac Lovely is a soft lilac.

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Purple People Eater is a vivid juicy purple.

Phwoar, I think that's enough blinding holo for one day! You can pick these beauties up from Lilypad Lacquer's etsy store, for $11 each. Keep an eye out for part 2 of this collection's swatches!

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

Paint it Blue! for Autism Awareness Month: Week 4

As April draws to a close, so does the gorgeous multitude of blue manicures we've seen throughout the month. I know this is a day late and it's actually May now... But I wanted my last blue mani in support of Autism Awareness month to be a memorable one, so I've chosen to combine my three favourite things - a gradient, flakies, and matte top coat.

I used a base colour of Estee Lauder Blue Blood. In the bottle it's a gorgeous midnight blue with a deep shimmer, but on the nail it basically looks black. The flakies are Nfu Oh 53, the prettiest flakie polish I ever did see. Isn't the bright blue shimmer under the matte top coat beautiful?

I love blue so much, I even dyed my hair!

Lust Have It! April Box Review

I've had a Lust Have It subscription for ages, and I recently landed a position doing blogger outreach for them which is an LHI fan's dream. I'm still receiving my boxes each month, and even though it's no surprise what's in them (since I help to write the insert cards), here's my as-unbiased-as-possible opinion of all the products I got in my box (which box I get is still a mystery - as much as I wish I could pick, none of the distribution nitty gritty is handled by my office).

Molton Brown Patchouli & Saffron Body Wash, Pink Tiger Nail File and Lint-Free Gauze, ModelCo Fibre Lash Xtend Mascara, Goldwell Dualsenses Extra Volume Shampoo, Lust Have It! Exfoliating Glove

I'll start with a mention of the box that it comes in. I really like this month's pattern, and you all know that my favourite colour is blue. I've been reusing the boxes to store makeup and jewellery in. My only gripe is that the glue holding it together tends to come unstuck, but it can easily be taped back in place.

1. Molton Brown Patchouli & Saffron Body Wash (RRP $39 for 300ml)

I was most excited to get this body wash in my box. I've walked past the Molton Brown shop in the Queen Victoria Building many times, and I've always wanted to try their products, but they're pretty pricey. This smells absolutely amazing.

2. Pink Tiger Nail File & Lint-Free Gauze

I always need nail files so this will come in handy. Apparently the lint-free gauze is great for removing nail polish and makeup without leaving stray bits everywhere, like you sometimes get with cotton pads. The first time I tried these was when we were filming our "How to Paint Your Nails Like a Pro" video, and I ended up pouring the nail polish remover straight through the gauze onto my boss's dining table! So be careful to only use a small amount of remover with these. I'll be interested to see how they go with removing glitter nail polish.

3. ModelCo Fibre Lashxtend Mascara (RRP $28)

I was a bit disappointed to get this as I'd already received the same one in the November box. However, it's a good mascara and it's full size, so I will be using it.

4. Goldwell Dualsenses Extra Volume Shampoo (RRP $20.95 for 300ml)

I recently finished a Goldwell hair mask which I posted about in my Project Pan empties, so I'm keen to try this. I just ran out of shampoo as well so this is great timing. I'm glad it's a 100ml bottle rather than a travel size or sachet.

5. Lust Have It! Exfoliating Glove (RRP $9.50)

This was originally given out in the December box, so it's a shame to see two products in this box being repeated. But this glove is really good for exfoliating before applying fake tan and preventing ingrown hairs. So at least, again, it's a product that I will use.


6. Molton Brown, Pink Tiger & ModelCo Discount Coupons

There's also a 10% off voucher for Molton Brown online, a $20 off voucher for ModelCo online, and a free nail polish when you spend over $50 from Pink Tiger. Pink Tiger sells Duri Rejuvacote (which is my favourite base coat) so that's handy.



Overall, I'm happy with this box. I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get the GOSH eyeshadow, Aveda shampoo or Rachel K CC cream which I was really looking forward to trying out. But there are no products in this box that I won't use, so at least nothing will be wasted.

What do you think of this box? What did you get in your Lust Have It April box?