Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Ulta3 spam

Hiya

 

Onto the second part of my spam from The Heat Group, the Ulta3s! Aussie nail fanatics are very familiar with these $2 bargains. Ulta3 is awesome quality polish for a fraction of the price of most others. Ulta3 has been awesome at keeping up with the latest trends and have come out with some really cool polishes lately.

 

Here is a shade from their recent pastels collection, Corsican rose:

CorsicanRose

Gorgeous, right? This is a dusty mint green. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that I LOVE cremes and I LOVE pastels. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with a good creme and pastels are perfect for the warmer weather. It also helps that it flatters my skin tone like nothing else and makes my nails look twice as long as they are Winking smile

This was two easy coats of a great formula. Pastels can be notoriously difficult to apply but this was an exception. I do have a lot of shades like this but in my opinion, you can’t have enough of them Winking smile

 

This is one of Ulta3’s oldest and most common shades, Lollypop Lilac:

Lollipoplilac

It’s a glitzy foil which is more of a dusty purple than a lilac. Talk about bling bling! This was two coats but it would easily be a one coater.

 

I did some weird nail art with it:

Sweetornude_lollypoplilac

I used Essence Sweet Or Nude? for the base colour, which I liked a hell of a lot more than I thought I would. It’s a shimmery pale pink which is a touch frosty but not too much. Two coats. Then I dotted some random Lollypop Lilac dots on it. I’d say it’s a bit of a fail but oh well, I gave it a go Winking smile

 

Have you got either of these bargain pretties?
Em

Monday, March 17, 2014

Essence spam!

Hi there my pretties!
Today I have some Essence polishes to share with you. Sarah from The Heat Group was kind enough to send me some polishes to review, so here is the first instalment.

Metal Glams
This is from the BRAND NEW collection, Metal Glam:
Petaltothemetal
Petal to the Metal. I actually liked this polish a lot more than I thought I would! It’s a pretty, delicate pink-toned lilac. It went on quite smoothly with not too many brush strokes. This was two coats but it was almost a one-coater! Almost unheard of for such a light shade. This would be fantastic to use for stamping, I think.

Steel-ingthescene
Steel-ing the Scene. Not going to lie, this isn’t really my kind of colour, but I didn’t mind this. It wasn’t a brassy bronze  so it went a lot better with my skin tone than most bronzes. This one was streakier than Petal to the Metal but still not too bad. I wasn’t too careful when applying it so I think you could get a lot less brush strokes than I did.

This is one of Essence’s core collection, Red Ahead:
RedAhead
Er. It’s brown. I didn’t realise it was meant to be red until I read the label! To me, it’s a beautiful chocolate brown creme. I love it! Browns are one of my favourites (even though a lot of people don’t like them) and this will be perfect for winter. I’m really unsure as to where the ‘red’ in the name comes from, but I don’t mind as I’m chuffed it’s a brown instead! This was two easy coats.

I hope you enjoyed the Essence spam! I’ll be back tomorrow with some Ulta3 spam!

Em

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Sea Siren Cosmetics All That Shimmers & All That Glitters collections

Hi all!

I’m back from a short hiatus. I’ve had computer problems and they were finally fixed today so I have my precious computer back *strokes*.

 

Today I have for you the new pretties from Sea Siren Cosmetics, a new Aussie indie. It’s a collection of four glitter toppers, the All That Glitters part, and four shimmers, the All That Shimmers collection!

And away we go, maties!

 

I’ve layered a glitter over the shimmer that I feel best corresponds with it. But there are endless possibilities here Winking smile

 

Bronzed Siren and Seaduce

This is two coats of Bronzed Siren with a coat of Seaduce on top. The formula of Bronzed Siren was good but I found it quite brush strokey and more frosty than shimmery. It’s not really a shade I’d usually wear but I’m sure it would appeal to a lot of girls who want a bit of metallic bling on their nails! I layered Seaduce on top and had no trouble getting any glitters out, including the big silver holo diamonds which you can see a lot of on my middle and little fingernails.

 

Seas the Day and SeaQuake

First of all, don’t mind my ring finger. I bumped it and didn’t realise it was that bad until I looked at the photos over a week later.

This was two coats of Seas the Day which is a really pretty pink-toned purple shimmer. It is inspired by the Pantone Colour for 2014, Orchid, and it is absolutely spot on in that regard. It’s quite a glowy purple with a lot of depth.

I layered a coat of SeaQuake over it. I’d heard reports of curling in some of the larger glitters but I didn’t experience any difficulty applying it. Looking at my photos, there’s quite a lot of reflective curling happening but I didn’t have any problems applying it!

 

Okay NOW we’re getting to my favourites.

 

Temptress and Enchanted

Um, HELLO gorgeous glowy red with a golden shimmer. This is stunning! I did three coats because I had some pesky nail line showing through, but the formula was great. I am a huge fan of reds but I am really, really picky with them. This one passes the test with flying colours. Formula was great!

I added a coat of Enchanted, a simple gold and black glitter topper which kind of reminds me of a bumblebee! I think I needed a second coat because it just doesn’t look right to me.

 

And now, drumroll please …. my favourite of the collection!

 

Jealosea and Great Barrier Reef

Jealosea is a stunning deep aqua with a lovely delicate shimmer through it. It’s almost a one coater but I did two just to be on the safe side. The formula is amazing. I’m in lurv!!

I added accent nails of Great Barrier Reef, which is my favourite glitter of the collection. I love the vibrant purples, greens and blue glitters. This is just one coat so it’s got a lot of glitter packed into it!

 

You can get these at the Sea Siren Cosmetics website for $6.95 for a 5mL bottle and $15.95 for a huge 15mL bubble.

 

Em

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Sea Siren Cosmetics–Midnight Moves & Leucosia

Hi all!

I’ve said it many times over the past couple of weeks and I’ll say it again now: I AM SICK OF THE HEAT!!!! We have had two days under 40 degrees (Celcius) in the past 28 days. NOT COOL. That’s what I get for living in the desert, I guess. We are supposed to have over 70mm of rain tomorrow. Bring it on, I say! There are some serious bushfires happening in my state at the moment so we need all the rain we can get.

 

Anyway, I made a Sea Siren Cosmetics order the other day after making my good friend Tracey drool over some of their shades. We ordered together to save on shipping and the gorgeous Deb, owner of Sea Siren, included a few of her classic creme shades.

She included a white and black, which was perfect timing because I’ve been trying to find a decent white to buy lately!

 

These were amazing! Great formulas. The white did take three coats to be completely opaque but it wasn’t streaky, draggy or thick at all like most whites I’ve tried. It also doesn’t have that “just painted my nails with white out” look about it. The black was friggin’ awesome!!! It is almost a one coater. You could probably get away with one thick coat but I did two thin ones. The awesome formula meant I had barely any clean up and it was super easy to clean up and not stainy.

 

Of course, there was one thing that popped into my head when I first saw the white and black polishes …

DICE!

 

It’s amazing how the simplest of manis can be so eye catching and gorgeous. I got so many compliments on this mani and it was so, so simple! I kind of wished I had six fingers so I could do this properly Smile with tongue out 

 

I’m so impressed with these cremes and I still have two classic cremes and two brights to try – wooo!!

To try Sea Siren Cosmetics, go to their website and check out their Facebook page. 

 

Em

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Sea Siren Cosmetics–Sea Mist

Hullo hullo!

I have my last Sea Siren polish to show you today. This is Sea Mist, a lovely pastel blue creme.

 

SeaMist

Isn’t it luuurvely?  This was two coats but I could nearly get away with one. The formula was butter smooth! I’m really enjoying these pastel cremes from Sea Siren. They are just so perfect for Summer! Pastels suit my skin tone and i got loads of compliments on this simple mani.

 

Have you enjoyed the Sea Siren posts? Remember, you can grab them on their website and find out other info and see more pic on their Facebook page.

 

Em

Monday, February 3, 2014

Sea Siren Cosmetics–Motion of the Ocean with Beachy Peachy dots

Halloooo!

Guess what I have today? That’s right, another beauty from Sea Siren Cosmetics!! Are you enjoying these posts? I sure am!

 

This is a beautiful mint green creme, Motion of the Ocean:

MOTO

Oh, you are beautiful *strokes polish*. I love, love, LOVE this shade. I have always had a thing for a good mint creme and Motion of the Ocean doesn’t disappoint. Formula, as I’ve come to expect from Sea Siren, is perfect. It is almost opaque in one coat and you could probably get away with one coat if you painted a little thicker than normal. This is just a breathtaking colour and so summery and classy. It flatters my skin tone too – winner!

 

I used Sea Siren’s Beachy Peachy to do a dotticure:

MOTO2

Excuse this dodgy photo. I’m not sure why it turned out so orange … When I tried to tweak the colours it threw the mint way out and made it into a blue so I chose to have orange fingers Smile with tongue out

I can’t really comment on Beachy Peachy yet because all I’ve done is dot with it, but I’ll be doing a full mani with it soon Open-mouthed smile It’s certainly opaque enough to dot with and I didn’t have to use too much polish to get good, clean dots.

 

How do you like dotticures?

Em

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Sea Siren Cosmetics–Tranquility and Pamper Me Pink

Woohoo, I have some more Sea Siren polishes to show you Open-mouthed smile I’ve had so much fun trying these out this weekend. This time I have Tranquility, a pastel purple creme, and Pamper Me Pink, a pastel pink creme.

 

These babies are to die for:

Tranquility_PamperMePink

Seriously. UNF! Perfect smooth, glossy coverage in two coats. These were nearly one coaters!! I am so, so impressed. The formula was impeccable and clean up was minimal because it was just so easy to apply!

This is my favourite way to try out a couple of polishes: the thumb, pointer and middle fingers one colour and ring and pinkie fingers another! Pink and purple go well together and these two were no exception. Sorry if it seems like I’m gushing over these polishes but I just love them. Pastels can be streaky, slow drying and a general pain in the ass, but these pastels are the complete opposite.

 

I jazzed them up a little with some nail stamping:

Tranquility_PMP

I used my Pueen plates and a silver stamping polish. I just love this netted roses look Open-mouthed smile

You can get Sea Siren Cosmetics on their website. Don’t forget to like them on Facebook too!

 

What do you think?
Em