CrowsToes ValenCrows

I'm pretty excited about today's post, because it's the first post consisting completely of pictures taken with my new camera!!  I've got three of the four CrowsToes ValenCrows polishes today, and they're stunning!  Take a look!  :)

First is my favourite of the three, Heartless.  It's described as a mix of holographic and deep berry microglitters, but there's definitely a whole mix of colours in there.  I see pink, red, fuchsia, purple, and black at first glance.  

You're seeing one coat of Heartless over Butter London Queen Vic, with two coats of Seche Vite for a smooth finish.  Formula wass on the thick side, but pretty easy compared to the normal more-glitter-than-base CrowsToes formula.  I absolutely love this one!! 

Umm, No... He Went To The Pawn Shop is a mix of copper, gold, turquoise, and colour-shifting iridescent glitters in a clear base, though this is one of those tricky formulas with more glitter than base.  

I layered one dabbed coat over La Couleur Couture 1977, and topped with one coat of La CC 2013 top coat for swatches, though you'd probably need two coats of a thicker top coat for a smooth finish when wearing.  I think this is a really unique glitter, and would be great over lots of colours for different looks year-round!

Last for today is Love Stinks, a bright pink with a very strong colour-shifting shimmer that is mostly blue, but at certain angles will change to pink and sometimes red!  

I've shown three coats of Love Stinks alone, and it without question has the best formula of any CrowsToes polishes I've tried, it's great!  Realistically though, that's most likely due to the absence of glitter. This polish isn't very "me" and not something I'm likely to wear, but I think it looks pretty awesome in the photos!  

Actually, I think all the photos look pretty awesome.  I'm SO glad I invested in a new camera!  I know lots of bloggers take fantastic pictures with old cameras (case in point), but I would have needed my own camera eventually for when I move away next year anyways.  My parents obviously can't have me taking their old (and only) camera with me!  

CrowsToes ValenCrows polishes are available through Llarowe; some are out of stock, but check her Facebook page for restock dates and times so you can snag your own bottles of these beauties!  

What do you think of my new photos?  Can you tell the difference?  And most importantly, which of these polishes is your favourite?  ;)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review. 

La Couleur Couture Swatches

I have all these swatches sitting on my computer, so I figured I might as well show them to you!  If you keep an eye on Llarowe's Facebook page, you may have already seen some of them.  I've got twelve polishes (whew!) to share today, including some pictures taken with my NEW camera!!  Exciting stuff, so read on!  ;)

La Couleur Couture is "a unique vegan friendly nail polish collection. Classy and edgy with couture quality staying power, la couleur couture is available in a range of fashion-forward and trendy colours. Founder and creative director Farima Hakkak’s mission is for all women to not only look good and have healthy nails, but to be strong and to create their own possibility."   

Full swatches and review after the jump!  :)

Hunt

This is my second post today, but I just couldn't miss Castle Mani Monday again!!  Tonight's episode it the second part of the annual two-part episode, but I won't say too much more to keep this as spoiler-free as possible!  ;)

For my base colour, I used piCture pOlish Camo; if you missed my post about it earlier today, you can see it here.   I then added random spots with Essie Stylenomics, Little Brown Dress, and Topless and Barefoot, as well as a little Candeo Colors Divi Divi for some sparkle, because I can have sparkly camouflage print if I want to. 

I've stayed pretty spoiler-free for this episode so i don't really know what's going to happen, but camouflage print seemed appropriate for an episode titled "Hunt"! 

Nathan Fillion FTW

Scan it.  You know you want to.  

How do you think I did with my first camo nail art?  Will you be watching Castle tonight?  :)

piCture pOlish: Camo

Happy Monday!  I've got another piCture pOlish shade to show you today, as well as a Castle Mani Monday post to come later, for which I used this polish as a base for my nail art!  

piCture pOlish Camo is a spot-on army-green, with the signature perfect piCture pOlish formula!  Two coats shown, no top coat because it dries this shiny all by itself!

piCture pOlish is available at picturepolish.com.au as well as through lots of other network members around the world. Check out the Network for a full list.  

Look out for my Castle Mani Monday nail art later today!!  ;)

Cartoon Hearts

I've got SO many pictures sitting on my computer that need to be gone through and edited.  I wanted to do a quick post before I rush off to theater for a show this evening, and luckily I found un-posted photos of some nail art I did around Valentine's Day! 

I started with a base of OPI We'll Always Have Paris, and freehanded the hearts with acrylic paint, following this tutorial from Nailside.  Two coats of Seche Vite to smooth it all out. 

This was a really cute and fun look for Valentine's day, though it definitely looked better in person.  What do you think?  Have you tried this look before?  :)

Darling Diva Polish: Catherine, Flirt, & Anna

Hi all!  There's a little bit of a situation right now with one of my photos having just been distributed to a huge audience (a.k.a. every single One-Direction-loving fangirl in the whole world) with my watermark removed; take a look at my Facebook status update for more information, and if you have any advice to offer I'd be very grateful! 

On to today's post, I've got three lovely unique polishes from Darling Diva Polish to show you today.  The first one is Catherine, a lovely magenta holo with a unique twist of added iridescent glitters. 

You're seeing two coats of Catherine in direct lighting, with top coat.  Formula was a little thick, but workable. 

Here's some pictures in the lightbox, and you can see that the iridescent glitters come out to play.  

I really like how this polish has two personalities; in direct light it's a holo, and in indirect light it's a subtly sparkly magenta with iridescent flashes!  

Next up is Flirt, which is the same as the previous polish but in a light green.  Two coats with top coat, thick but workable formula.

And some in indirect lighting to show off the iridescent glitters.  Love this one too, though I can't decide if I have a favourite of the two...

Lastly for today is Anna, a stunning jelly polish packed with blue holographic microglitters.  

I chose to layer two coats of Anna over Essie Coat Azure, but you could probably build this one up on it's own in three of four coats alone, depending on the length of your nails.  One coat of Seche Vite in the photos, but the top coat sunk after I took the pictures so you'd probably need two for a completely smooth finish while wearing it. 

Lightbox time!!

Darling Diva Polish is available through Etsy, and you can find shop updates and photos on Facebook!

Of the first two, which colour do you prefer?  Do you have a favourite of these three polishes?  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review. 

piCture pOlish by Llarowe: Starry Night

I've got a very exciting polish to show you today, it's a new piCture pOlish collaboration shade with Llarowe!  Starry Night is described as a charcoal jelly scattered holo with multi-coloured sparks; take a look!  :)

piCture pOlish Starry Night by Llarowe, direct lighting

This is two coats of Starry Night.  The formula on this was absolutely perfect, it dried quickly and to a super shiny finish all by itself, photos are without top coat!  

piCture pOlish Starry Night by Llarowe, direct lighting

piCture pOlish Starry Night by Llarowe, direct lighting

The previous photos were in direct lighting to show how much this polish truly "sparks"!  The next three photos are in my lightbox, so you can better see the fine details of the polish.  I can't decide which photos I like better of this one!

piCture pOlish Starry Night by Llarowe, lightbox

piCture pOlish Starry Night by Llarowe, lightbox

piCture pOlish Starry Night by Llarowe, lightbox

And, just because I figured at least some of you would be curious, here's a close-up comparison of Starry Night and Zoya Storm.  The piCture pOlish shade looks more like micro-shards in a very dark grey (almost black) jelly base, while the Zoya polish is all uniform holographic micro-glitters in a true black crelly base.  Both polishes are shown in two coats in direct lighting,  and Storm is top coated while Starry Night is not.

Click to enlarge if you feel so inclined.

From piCture pOlish: "Starry Night will be available in the US via Llarowe only (so no other stockists in Canada or the USA will have it) as it is a Llarowe exclusive!  USA price is $14.50 and it will be available at piCture pOlish on-line for AUD$12.00.  At this stage it will not be available via our other Network members however it may be available shortly!"

What do you think of this new collaboration shade?  Great application, edgy look, and a perfect finish; I personally love it!!  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review. 

Teal Spotted

I will not say good morning, since I neither feel good this morning, mean it is a morning to be good on, mean it is a good morning whether you want it or not, nor all of them at once.  (x)  I do, however, have some cool nail art I did last week to share with you. 

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and followed this tutorial by CutePolish on YouTube with Orly Le Chateau to create the spotted look. 

Topped it with one coat of Seche Vite.  This look was pretty easy to achieve once I figured out which of my perfumes worked best to create the spots.  The most difficult part was cleaning up, Le Chateau stains like crazy!! 

How do you like this look?  I think it's a great alternative for those of us who can't get our hands on OPI Spotted (though I'll take a look for it when I go to Europe in March), and there's infinite colour choices when you do it this way!  

I've got another post scheduled for tonight with something very exciting, so look out for that later!  :)

piCture pOlish Electric Blue

Once again, Castle Mani Monday has slipped my mind.  Next week, I promise!  For now, I've got an absolutely stunning shade from piCture pOlish to share with you, Electric Blue.  

Electric Blue is a deep jewel-toned navy blue, with a gorgeous shimmer running through.  This polish has one of the best formulas I've ever encountered; it flowed onto the nail easily and was highly pigmented and opaque, and dried to a high shine.  

You ready for this?  One coat.  With no top coat.  Absolutely perfect.  *picks self up off floor*

Electric Blue and other piCture pOlish shades can be purchased directly from the piCture pOlish website, or through their international network.  For more information, you can find piCture pOlish on Twitter and Facebook. 

I used this stunning polish as a base for some exciting nail art, so expect to see that soon!  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review. 

Valentine's Day

I've never been one for Valentine's day.  As a rarity in the world of teenage girls, I don't go to public school and prefer to steer clear of all the relationship drama.  The highlight of Valentine's Days in years past has been getting some chocolate from my amazing and loving parents, and I'm perfectly fine with that!

Nevertheless, I can still use the day as an excuse to wear one of my favourite polishes, and stick hearts on them to make my mani appropriate for the occasion! 

By the time I was done a ton of swatching last night I didn't want to do anything too time-consuming, so I came up with this simple look.  I used two coats of Butter London Fiddlesticks, and picked some heart glitters out of one of my indie polishes to stick on to each nail.  Two coats of Seche Vite for a smooth finish. 

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I also did my sister's nails for Valentine's Day.  We decided on some unnaturally-coloured leopard print in shades of pink.  I started with three easy coats of NOPI Studio Mama, did the center of the spots with Butter London Rosie Lee, and drew the outlines in OPI We'll Always Have Paris.  Topped it with one coat of Seche Vite.  She got lots of compliments on this at dance yesterday!  

She also now has an appreciation for how difficult and awkward hand-posing is.  

I'm really loving my simple Valentine's Day mani, still festive while not too over-the-top.  Definitely suits me!  What have you got on your nails for Valentine's Day?  Any special plans to celebrate?  :)

The Black Knight's Heart

If you were expecting some strange mash-up nail art between chess pieces and a deck of cards based on the title of this post, it's just some more valentines nail art over here.  I'm not one to go all-out for this holiday, but this is a look I've been wanting to try for a while, and I figured now was as good a time as ever to give it a go!  

I started with one easy coat of Revlon Raspberry Scone, and added one coat of a glow-in-the-dark polish that my friend's parents got me on a recent day-trip to the states!  Topped that with Seche Vite because I'm impatient, and then stuck two hole-reinforcement stickers at the base of each nail to make the top of a heart.  

Next, I painted over the exposed part of my nail with my recently acquired Butter London The Black Knight which has been a long-time lemming of mine, and immediately removed the stickers.  I absolutely love the black base with multi-coloured microglitter!

I finished the look with two coats of Seche Vite for a completely smooth finish.  I was happy with my execution on this one, but as I was wearing it I kept questioning my colour choice with the pink.  I think I might have preferred a rich red, or a darker pink. 

While in ballet yesterday with one of the teachers who regularly checks on my nails in class, she caught a glimpse of these and I told her they were supposed to be the tops of hearts.  She then asked me if I did them for anyone special; I replied "My internet friends!" which got me a strange look, so I had to explain my whole nail-blogging thing in the middle of barre to my teacher.  I'm pretty sure that all my teachers know now, haha!  

I'll be back tomorrow with my last Valentine's Day nail art, along with my sister's nails!  :)