Wednesday, October 7, 2015

SM Polish "Precious Gems" and "Farewell Winter-Welcome Spring" Collections Swatches and Reviews - 21 September 2015

Today I have two SMPolish collections to show you, which I have used together in the same manicures because they work perfectly together.  One of the collections, the "Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Collection", has already been released and is available at the SMPolish website on Etsy. The other collection, the "Precious Gems Collection", is being released on Friday, 7th October 2015.  I have used the "Precious Gems Collection" on all my fingers, and then added two coats of the "Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Collection" to my ring finger nails.

These two collections work extremely well together because the flakies in both polishes match, so it was a no-brainer to decide to use them together when I received them in the mail.  The "Precious Gems Collection", which are crelly glitter polishes with lots of flakies and a textured finish, are unlike any I've seen since I started collecting nail polish and nail art products, and Shakeela has done a wonderful job with them all.  The "Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Collection" flaky glitter polishes are somewhat unique, too, because so far I've only seen flakies used with other shapes and sizes of glitter in any glitter polishes I've come across and/or bought online, or in the stores  And these polishes are a complete glitter bomb, with more than enough glitter to satisfy anyone's needs, I believe.

The "Precious Gems Collection" is a set of six crelly glitter polishes with a textured finish, and the "Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Collection" is a set of six flaky glitter polishes with tinted clear bases that may give full cover in three coats, but it is recommended that you use them over a base colour - either a matching colour polish such as I used, or over a black or white base. There are swatches of all the flaky glitter polishes on the SMPolish site here showing them used over both black polish and white polish, so please check them out and see how versatile they are.  However, I personally preferred them used the way I have done, and of course I'm not biased at all.

I used two coats of each of the "Precious Gems Collection" polishes on each nail, with one coat of Grace-full Nail Polish "Base Coat" and "Quick Dry Top Coat".  One coat of the top coat was all I needed to smooth the textured finish of the polishes, and also the flaky glitter polishes.

So, on to the swatches and reviews.  Please forgive my bad clean-ups and application errors.  I was having an extremely busy week, and sunlight was in short supply, so I had to dash out and take photos of some of the swatches before I was really ready to.  Such is life in Tasmania in spring!

The first two polishes I want to show you are "Angelic Amethyst" from the "Precious Gems Collection", and
"Luscious Lilac" from the "Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Collection".


"Angelic Amethyst" is the most gorgeous soft purple shade, with lots of dark purple flakies and heaps of holographic micro-glitter.  As I mentioned before, it is a crelly glitter polish with a textured finish, and like all of the SMPolish polishes I have used and reviewed previously, it went on like a dream. One thick coat would probably have been enough, but for the photographs I used two, just to be sure.  "Luscious Lilac", the flaky glitter polish on my ring finger, is the most amazing dark purple, and I loved it on top of "Angelic Amethyst".  It also went on really easily, I used two coats, and I hardly had to do any dabbing to get the result shown.  I just know you'll adore these two polishes.  I think they were my favourites of the two collections.  Here are some more photos taken in both shade and sunlight.  As you can see, they are beautiful in any light.

     


The next two polishes I would like to show you are "Glistening Sapphires" from the "Precious Gems Collection", and "Get Lost Jack Frost" from the "Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Collection".


"Glistening Sapphires" is a gorgeous mid-blue, crelly glitter polish with lots of bright blue and dark blue flakies, and heaps of holographic micro-glitter.  It was sooooo easy to use, and went on beautifully, and has a textured finish, but one coat of top coat smoothed it out beautifully.  "Get Lost Jack Frost" is a beautiful combination of mid and dark blue flaky glitter and holographic micro-glitter, and hardly any dabbing was needed to achieve the coverage shown.  Once again the two polishes go together perfectly, as I knew they would, because they both contain the same coloured flakies.  You really must try these two gorgeous polishes.  Here are some more photos taken in both sun and shade.

    


The third polishes I would like to show you are "Radiant Rubies" from the "Precious Gems Collection" and "Last Fires of Winter" from the "Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Collection".


"Radiant Rubies" is a silvery red crelly glitter base with loads of red and holographic micro-glitter, and lots of lovely red flakies.  It didn't go on as easily as all the others, and I'm sorry to have to admit that this is my least favourite of all the polishes.  The colour wasn't nearly as pretty as the others in the collection, nor as obvious once on my nails. However, two thin coats gave good coverage, with a textured finish.  "Last Fires of Winter" is a flaky glitter polish with a red-tinted clear base, and went on reasonably well.  Hardly any dabbing was needed to give the coverage shown after two coats.  The polish is loaded with flakies, and the finish can be a bit rough, but one coat of top coat was enough to give a smooth finish over both polishes.  Here are some more photos of these two polishes taken in both sun and shade.

   


 

 The next two polishes I would like to show you are "Sparkling Aquamarine" from the "Precious Gems Collection" and "Last Winter Sky" from the "Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Collection".


"Sparkling Aquamarine" is a very pretty pale aqua crelly glitter polish, loaded with holographic micro-glitter and lots of lovely aqua flakies.  This polish also went on very easily, and two coats gave really good coverage with a textured finish.  "Last Winter Sky" is a lovely aqua flaky glitter polish in an aqua-tinted clear base.  There are loads of flakies, so virtually no dabbing was needed to get the cover shown.  Once again, just one coat of top coat smoothed out both of these polishes beautifully. I really liked this combination, even though aqua is not normally one of my go-to colours.  For some reason this particular shade goes really well with my skin colour and I was very happy with it.  Once again, here are some more photos taken in both sun and shade.

  

 

The fifth pair of polishes I'd like to show you are "Tourmaline Crystal" from the "Precious Gems Collection", and "Spring Comes Alive" from the "Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Collection".

 

"Tourmaline Crystal" is a pretty, subtle, silvery-green textured crelly glitter polish, with loads of holographic micro-glitter and lots of emerald green flakies.  This polish went on very easily, two coats were more than enough to give full coverage, and it has a textured finish which just one coat of top coat smoothed out very well.  The colour is quite pretty, but not really one I am enamoured with.  However, "Spring Comes Alive" is very, very pretty, and I just love the colour of the masses of emerald green flakies in the green-tinted sheer base.  I think this polish might get some use for St Patrick's Day next year.  The glitter went on very easily, with virtually no dabbing, and two coats gave the result shown in the photos.  Here are some more photos, taken in sunlight and in shade.

 


Now we come to the last two polishes I'd like to show you today - "Yellow Diamond" from the "Precious Gems Collection", and "Sunshine At Last" from the "Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Collection".

 

These two polishes were a real surprise because of the colour of the flakies used.  "Yellow Diamond is a shimmery, light yellow crelly glitter polish, loaded with holographic micro-glitter, with lots of gorgeous bright yellow (not gold, but YELLOW) flakies.  This polish is my second favourite of the collection.  It went on very easily, and two coats gave a wonderful textured coverage.  I wasn't sure how this colour would go on my skin colour, but was really surprised when I saw how great it looked.  "Sunshine At Last" is absolutely loaded with yellow (once again, not gold but yellow) flakies in a light yellow-tinted clear base.  The polish went on really easily, and I didn't have to do any dabbing with this one at all.  Just one coat of top coat was enough to smooth out both polishes.  Here are three more photos taken in both sun and shade.
   
     
 

So, that's the latest two collections from SMPolish.  I have to say I was impressed with how easy all but one were to apply to my nails, particularly as the "Precious Gems Collection" is a textured-finish polish.  I don't normally like textured finishes because I find they annoy me, and I usually have to apply at least two thick coats of top coat to smooth them out, and the same thing applies to the "Farewell Winter - Welcome Spring Collection".  With this many flakies of different sizes and shapes I expected them to be very hard to get to sit flat on my nails, and thought I would need two coats of top coat to cover them.  However, one good coat of my Grace-full "Quick Dry Top Coat" did the job perfectly.  

I just love these two collections, and am really looking forward to the release of the "Precious Gems Collection" on Friday, 7th October.  I hope you like them as much as I do.  Please let me know what you think of them if you decide to buy any of either collection.  

I've had a pretty rough couple of weeks for many reasons, and that is why it has been a while since my last posting. I'm still not feeling really great (clinical depression rearing its ugly head), but hopefully things will improve soon.  I feel like I'm in a big dark hole, and I just can't seem to get out of it.  I'm trying art therapy to see if that will help, because it is supposed to be very beneficial to people with my mental health problems.  It certainly is very relaxing, and hopefully I will be able to get back to normal (or what I consider normal) very soon.

I'd love to hear from you with any comments you might have regarding either my blog or the polishes featured here, whether positive or negative, and I hope you'll come back again soon to find out what I have been up to and my latest manicure and/or swatches and reviews.

Have a wonderful day, and may God bless you with an abundance of His mercy and grace.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

(I received 5ml sample-size bottles of all the polishes featured here from Shakeela at SMPolish for testing and my honest review.)

Friday, August 28, 2015

SMPolish "Hidden Depths Collection" - 26 August 2015

Today I have three polishes to show you from the Hidden Depths Collection, by the Aussie Indie Polish brand SMpolish, that Shakeela, the maker, sent me to thank me for choosing names for both the whole collection and all the individual polishes in this collection.  All nine colours are amazing, and I'm going to buy some of the polishes that I didn't get because they are just so beautiful.  Here are photographs of the full collection, with swatches done by Shakeela on her beautiful long nails, so you can see why I love them all.


The colours, in the order shown in the photos above, are "Secret Message", "Deep Dark Secret", "Sly As A Fox", "Blessing In Disguise", "Mum's The Word", "Davy Jones' Locker", "Guarded Secret", "Mulled Wine" and "Hush-Hush". Just click on the names above to be taken to the individual listings on the SMPolish site for more information and to order.


The first one I have to show you is "Davy Jones' Locker", a lovely aqua holographic polish.  The holographic shift in this polish is not quite as strong as some of the others in the collection, but is definitely there no matter what lighting I was under.  I had problems with getting photographs inside because we have terrible lighting (I hate the new globes the government is making us use).  However, the photos I took in the sun and shade outside show just how beautiful this polish is.  Like all of the polishes from SMpolish that I have tried so far, this polish went on smoothly, and just two coats, with no top coat, gave the finish shown. 

 

   

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
The second polish I have to show you from the Hidden Depths Collection is "Hush-Hush", a gorgeous violet holographic polish.  I absolutely love this polish.  It went on like a dream, and the holographic shift is just wonderful.  Just two coats of polish with no top coat gave this beautiful finish.  It is gorgeous no matter what light you are under, and I just adore it.  Please forgive the lumpy look on my index finger in the photos taken in the shade, but I am nursing some broken nails with patches at the moment, and I forgot to put a coat of strengthener under this lot of swatches.

   

  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 


The last polish from the Hidden Depths Collection that I have to show you today is "Mulled Wine", a wonderful red-wine coloured holographic polish, and it is my favourite of the three polishes I have from the collection.  Application was sooooo easy, and just two coats with no top coat gave the awesome holographic shift shown in my photos.  I just couldn't stop looking at it while I had it on my nails.  I'm considering buying a full-size bottle of this polish, because the bottles shown in the photos are 5ml mini bottles, so they won't last for long.

   

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

I applied one coat of Pretty Serious "Rock On" Nail Strengthener under each lot of swatches, except for the "Hush-Hush" ones (because I simply forgot).  I then added one coat of Grace-full Nail Polish "Base Coat" to each nail, and used no top coat on these nails at all for these swatches.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed with the Hidden Depths Collection polishes that I have, and will definitely be purchasing some of the other colours very soon.  They applied very easily, and were very easy to clean up, too.  Also, when it came to taking them off, there was no staining at all, and they came off so easily I was really surprised.  So, I'd definitely recommend this collection, and I hope you will support this wonderful new polish brand, SMpolish, by purchasing some of these, and/or others from the other collections Shakeela has available.  I'm really excited by what she is producing, and I know that she has some more amazing, and some quite unique, polishes coming up in the very near future.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog, and I hope you will come back often to see what I have to share with you.  If you would like to follow my blogs, just fill in one of the boxes at the top right-hand side of the page.  There are also links, on the right-hand side, to all my earlier posts in case you would like to check them out, too.  I'd love to hear from you with any comments you'd like to make, either good or bad, or perhaps some advice you think might help me along my nail art journey.

Have a wonderful day, and God bless you.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope

 I received 5ml sample bottles of three of the polishes from this collection, to thank me for
choosing their names, and to enable me to do an honest review and to do swatches of the polishes.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Celestial Cosmetics "Pixie's Place" & LYZ Cosmetics "Hearts On Fire" Manicure - 11 August 2015

Today I have my latest manicure, featuring Celestial Cosmetics "Pixie's Place" and LYZ Cosmetics "Hearts On Fire", from the Fairybread February 2015 Sweet Surprise Box, but unfortunately neither of these polishes are available anymore.  However both sites have lots of other wonderful polishes available for you, so please check them out and find out why I love them both so much.


I started my manicure with one coat of Pretty Serious "Rock On" Nail Strengthener, and one coat of Grace-full Nail Polish "Base Coat", to all my nails.

Next, I applied two coats of Celestial Cosmetics "Pixie's Place" to all my nails.  This polish is just gorgeous, to say the least.  It was described on the website when I bought it as "a bronze scattered holo with flakies", but I'd describe it as a pink/beige bronze holo shimmer polish, absolutely loaded with gold and bronze micro-glitter and gold and bronze flakies.  The overall effect is dazzling, especially in the sunshine, and even in filtered sunshine as shown above.  It went on smoothly and easily and, if I hadn't planned to photograph it for my blog, one coat would have given great coverage, but I wanted to get more of a crelly effect, so I used the two coats. The finish was lovely and smooth, with no problem getting loads of glitter and flakies in each stroke.  As you can see from the bottle in the photos, when I said it was "loaded with glitter", I wasn't joking.  If you get the chance to pick up a bottle of this in a destash anywhere, buy it, because I know you wouldn't regret it, but I don't think anyone would want to sell it if they've already got it.

Then I applied two coats of LYZ Cosmetics "Hearts On Fire", a clear glitter base polish, absolutely chock-a-block with tiny bronze glitter, medium pink hexagonal glitter, and silver holo shards. As you can see from the photo above, the effect is stunning.  I didn't have to do any digging at all to get the shards because there are plenty in the bottle, the polish went on very easily, and the finish was just a little rough.  I used two coats because I wanted to get a jelly effect, and it worked beautifully.  This is another polish I would definitely recommend to everyone if you can manage to get hold of a bottle, but I'm not sure that people would want to sell this one, either, if they've got it.

I finished off with one coat of Grace-full Nail Polish "Quick Dry Top Coat", which covered even the polish on my ring fingers beautifully.  This top coat seems to give every polish, glitter or creme, a perfect cover, and is so easy to use.  I can definitely recommend this if you're looking for a good all-round top coat.

Here are some more photos taken under a variety of lighting conditions so that you can see how beautiful these polishes are.  They're even more wonderful in real life, though, so I hope you can get a bottle of each one somewhere.  If you want to see larger versions of the photos, just click on them.

   

     

 

So, that's my manicure for another week.  As you can see, these two polishes are amazing under just about any type of lighting you could think of.  Please feel free to leave comments if you so wish, and if you'd like to follow my blog, you can do so by filling in one of the boxes at the top right-hand side of the page.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you.  As I told you in my last post, I have some really exciting posts coming up for you in the not-too-distant future. 

Have a great week, and may God bless you!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope

I have nothing to declare for this post. All these products are part of my personal stash, paid for by me.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

KBShimmer "Men Are From Mars-ala" & Powder Perfect "Horse-lords" - 7 August 2015

I am in love once again - this time with KBShimmer "Men Are From Mars-ala", which I have used for this manicure, with Powder Perfect "Horse-lords" used as my feature nail.


I know KBShimmer "Men Are From Mars-ala" has been around for quite some time now, but I was only able to buy a bottle a couple of months ago because it is from a USA Indie Polish maker, which meant it was much more expensive than Aussie Indie polishes, and I've been dying to try it out.  As I'd been so busy last week, I decided to do a simple manicure this week, and while I was looking through my polish collection, trying to work out which ones to use, my eyes lit up when they saw this polish.  Before I purchased it I'd found lots of blogs that absolutely raved about this polish, and I wondered if it would really live up to its hype - and I can assure you it did.  I then looked through my jelly glitter polishes to find one that would go perfectly with this superb marsala shade, and Powder Perfect "Horse-lords" fit the bill exactly.

I started my manicure as usual with a coat of Pretty Serious "Rock On" Nail Strengthener, which is simply the best strengthener I've found anywhere, and I recommend it to everyone.  My nails are never intentionally without it, but after a really busy, rough week, my last mani had lost bits of polish here and there, and when I removed my polish I discovered I had three breaks that had to be patched.  I also had to file down a couple more nails on my left hand, which is usually my go-to hand for photographing, and that is why I've included a photo of my right hand because the nails are a bit longer. Once the strengthener had completely dried, I added a coat of Grace-full Base Coat, which I've found to be fantastic.  Whenever I use it, the polish stays on my fingers a lot longer than with any other base coat I've used to-date, and because I usually want my manicures to last for at least 4 or 5 days, and sometimes even longer, this is exactly what I want.

Then I added two coats of KBShimmer "Men Are From Mars-ala" to every nail except for my ring fingers, although one good coat would have been more than enough if I hadn't been going to photograph it for this blog.  This is one of the most beautiful polishes I've added to my collection since beginning my nail art journey, and since doing my manicure I haven't been able to stop looking at it- literally!  The colour looks amazing on my skin colour, its changes according to the light are wonderful, and the linear holographic shift, especially in sunlight, is unbelievable until you actually see it in person.  It went on smoothly, with no brush marks, and I think I can say, without a doubt, that this has been the easiest polish to apply that I have found since I started doing my nails last October.  The colour is simply beautiful - from a gorgeous, soft marsala shade under indoor lighting, to a simply amazing holographic, shimmery, bright marsala shade in the sun, and all the shades in between depending on what light I happen to be in.  Put quite simply, every facet of this polish blew me away, I'm now completely in love with the marsala colour itself as well, and will definitely be looking for more similar polishes to add to my collection. The only nail polish store I could find who stocked this polish, and would send it to Australia, was the Canadian online store, Harlow & Co., and you will find a link to their site if you click on both the name of the polish and the name of the company.

Next, I added two coats of Powder Perfect "Horse-lords", a rich, maroon jelly with gold & bronze glitter from this wonderful Australian Indie Polish maker.  This went on really easily, and there is heaps of glitter in the bottle, so I didn't have to go fishing for any, or even dab any extra bits of glitter on to fill in any gaps.  Two coats gave just the right amount of glitter, and I'm looking forward to actually trying this polish over a dark base polish, or even over a lighter polish that doesn't particularly please me.  The colour proved to be the perfect foil for "Men Are From Mars-ala", and the overall effect was just beautiful.

To finish off my manicure I applied one coat of Grace-full Nail Polish "Quick Dry Top Coat", which was more than enough to cover even the rough finish of the Powder Perfect "Horse-lords" glitter jelly polish beautifully, and give a smooth, glossy finish.  I love this top coat since buying it, and think it is easily the best one I have at the moment.

Here are some more photos of the finished manicure under different types of lighting so that you can see why I am so in love with this polish.  Unfortunately I was unable to get my camera to catch the full linear holographic effect that you can just see in the bottle in the photo at the top of this post, and also the photo taken in sunlight below, because it caused the camera to flare it was that bright, but I assure you, it is there, and in spades.

 


 

So, what do you think?  Do you agree that the KBShimmer "Men Are From Mars-ala" polish is as wonderful as I do?  And do you love the beautiful jelly glitter polish Powder Perfect "Horse-lords" as much as I do?  Please let me know if you have any comments, good or bad, or perhaps even some suggestions to help me improve my blogging skills, because I would love hear from you.

Well, that's me for another week.  I hope you will come back often to see what I have to share with you, and I can promise you I have some exciting posts coming in the not-to-distant future.

Have a wonderful week, and may God bless you with an abundance of His mercy and grace.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

All products used in this post were bought by me, and my opinion is given honestly and freely.