New essence

So here is the new Colour Arts range from essence.  It's basically DIY makeup.  There are 3 Bases, One for lips, nails and eyes and then the pigments you add to them to create your own colours!!

The pigments are bright and colourful and super fun to play with.  Was looking for something a bit different for my niece for Christmas, so I'm sure she will love this.

As usual prices are super cheap, starting at $2.65 and $2.95 for the bases and only $4.15 for the pigments.  The price is so appealing and good quality products keeps me going back to essence again and again.

Femme Fatale Halloween Trio

I love getting home from work and being greeted with nail mail treats!! Today's delivery was Femme Fatale Cosmetics new Halloween Trio.  I'm going to be lazy and steal the descriptions directly from FF website simply because these polishes have so much going on I don't want to miss anything.

First up is Ghoulish Glee, this is jam packed with amazing.  A green jelly base with holographic gold bars, holographic lime hexes, black squares, moss green hexes, light green hexes, green squares in metallic/matte, tiny neon yellow and chartreuse glitters – and more.  

I wanted to stick with the ghoulish green theme, so this is one thick coat layered over Ulta3 Frog Prince.

Next up is Sinister Calling.  Personally I think it's too pretty for its name and it is by far the prettiest purple glitter I own.  It has a purple jelly base with holographic purple shreds, navy blue shreds and hexes, holographic silver bars and stars, colour-shifting shimmer (blue to purple), tiny deep blue glitter, various purple glitter in different shapes and sizes.

This is one thick coat layered over Ulta3 Violet Rumble.

And I've saved the best for last.  Tricky Treats is my personal favourite of the three.  My photos do not do it  justice at all.  It is one of the prettiest polishes I own, hands down.  It has a slight orange jelly base and pink hexes, holographic pink hexes, holographic gold bars, red and purple squares, tangerine hearts, and subtle amount of fine copper shimmer.

and one more..

This is one thick coat layered over Maxfactor Satsuma (really awesome pumpkin orange colour).

Application on all 3 was easy, glitter applied smoothly and was not gluggy or thick at all.  Drying time was impressive considering I applied quite thick coats.  All Femme Fatale polishes are available in 5ml mini bottles ($4) and full size 13ml bottles ($10.50).  You really need to get your hands on these polishes, they're a must have and not just for Halloween!!

Ulta 3 Soft Hydrangea and Dollish Polish Go Luigi!

It was a pretty warm Spring day here on Sunday so I decided I needed a cool blue to help cool me down.  Ulta3 Soft Hydrangea is part of their Pretty Pastels collection and as always a bargain at $2.  Maybe it was just the hot weather, but I found application a little tricky as the polish was quite thick and went slightly streaky on application but smoothed out nicely while drying.

I couldn't help myself and as much as I love plain colours..

Glitter gives everything so much more depth and texture!!  I received Dollish Polish Go Luigi! a few weeks ago and was looking for the perfect polish for it to go over.  And the bonus is I got a star!  

This is 2 coats of  Ulta3 Soft Hydrangea, 1 coat of  Dollish Polish Go Luigi! and 1 coat of Ulta3 non chip.  Really happy with this combination although my Mario addicted 6 year old was very upset that I did not use It's Me Mario! 

Calypso Holiday.. Anyone?

It's an ulta3 sneak peek full of awesomesauce! I managed to get my hands on this little beauty (and a few others, if you follow me on instagram you might see them over the next few weeks), they will be available for purchase very soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

This is 2 coats no top coat. It has a greeny-yellow pearl at the right angle. I was working in the City yesterday and had so many compliments on how pretty it is.  

Application was nice and 2 coats gave full non streaky coverage, no issue with the brush at all, and drying time was great. I'm really loving the new collections that ulta3 is releasing and am looking forward to being able to buy this full collection when its released later this year!

I love Aussie nails!

Nail Mail - Femme Fatale

Ohh Shiney!! The 4 I received are Glinting Lodestone, Ebon Roses, Eternium Dreams and Shimmering Snowcap.  First of all I had to try to get a close up of Shimmering Snowcap.
This polish has so much amazing in one bottle.

Eternium Dreams has a slightly tinted black base and Glinting Lodestone has a dark blue jelly base.

This is 2 dabbed coats of Lodestone.

And Ebon Rose feature nail with Picture Polish antique.

All 4 polishes were easy to apply and only needed one coat of top coat to get them totally smooth.  I wore Lodestone for 5 days and had only minimal tip wear.  Am really loving all the polishes that femme fatale are releasing!

femme fatale are having their 1st Birthday with a giveaway so if you're interesting in winning some amazing Aussie owned cosmetics click HERE

Ulta3 Pro Salon Manicure

I was ecstatic to find these in a pharmacy I popped into today.  They come in 10 shades, Cafe au Lait, Coral Crush, Electric Sunrise, Hot Pink Petals, Lilac Dream, Pretty in Pink, Purple Fusion, Red Affair, Sky Blue and Tutu Pink and all retail for $4.99.  Apparently it has 5 benefits in one bottle - Base Coat, Vitamin
Enriched, Colour, Top Coat and It's Fast Drying.

Here are the 5 I picked up today in order

Red Affair, Hot Pink Petals, Lilac Dream, Sky Blue and Purple Fusion.

Application was smooth, It reads 1-2 coats, but you definitely need 2 for full colour coverage. 4 of the 5 I picked up are nice cremes and Lilac Dream has a slight pearl to it (very pretty).

The brush in the pro manicure is flat and wedged and makes for really simple clean application.  Unlike all the regular Ulta3 polishes these babies are made in Taiwan.

The colour selection is not huge, but I'm hoping they increase that in the future.  The colours are rich and drying time is impressive.  I'm going to try one out as a full mani tomorrow and check out their durability. 

Sally Hansen Magnetic Polish

Look at what they are unpacking at Priceline.  8 shades and as far as I can see there is only 1 style magnet which is wavy. Retail for $16.99. The colours look fantastic!

Ozotic 526 with Rhinestones!

The thing I love most about holographic polish is that in the shade you have ordinary coloured nails and then a ray of sunshine hits them and BAM .. You can't look away from the rainbow on your finger tips!

This is 2 coats of Ozotic 526 over a coat of Ulta3 Black Satin with 2 coats of U3 non chip to hold the rhinestones on.  I felt kinda bad about putting anything on top of this beautiful holo but I wanted to see a rainbow of colour whenever I looked at my nails.

I love holographics!

Australis Fairy Bread

This is a limited edition release that I picked up from Priceline last week for $7.95.  I fell in love with this polish in the store, it was so shiny and glittery.  It's got small and medium pink, green, blue, gold and orange hex glitter in a clear base.  It lost some of its appeal on application when I realised that all the medium hexes were taco'd (facepalm). the taco is not too bad, just enough to make you need to use 2 thick coats of top coat to get a nice smooth finish.

Chock full o' glitter!

I tried to get an example of the medium taco hexes

Single coat of femme fatale lightseye, 2 coats of Fairy Bread and 1 coat Ulta3 non chip.

I love chunky glitters!

Essence Peel Off Base Coat

Essence has released this peel off base coat on its new limited edition counter tray - Ready For Boarding.  When I saw this today I was like, ohhhh no more 10 minutes with aluminium foil on the tips of my fingers! So I bought all 4 bottles.

It's an 8ml bottle with a peel back, back label with instructions that read like this

fast and easy change of colour and effect nail polish, this innovative solvent-free peel off base coat allows you to peel off you nail polish whenever you want wherever you are! no remover required!

Instructions:

step 1 - apply a generous layer of the peel off base coat to your nails.  allow approx 10 minutes to dry until 

             the white base coat becomes transparent.

step 2 - paint your favourite nail polish and/or effect nail polish over it and let it dry.

step 3 - simply peel off to remove does not harm to your nails.

advice: avoid hot water for 3 hours after application.

Now I there are 3 things that make this scream PVA glue to me 1) Paints white dries clear 2) Looks just like PVA glue and 3) Smells just like my kids PVA glue!  Now I'm no scientist and stupid me didn't think to check the ingredients list, but I don't think think I'm too far off with my guess!

Regardless of what's in it I can't wait to try it under a chunky glitter and see if it lives up to its promises.  Will keep you updated with how this goes!!

Max Factor New Polishes including Fantasy Fire

I knew it would make it here eventually! I got my hands on a bottle of Fantasy Fire yesterday at Target! Apparently its a near dupe for Clarins 230 which is discontinued.

Here I've got 2 coats over Ulta3 Orchid. Fantasy Fire is a purple jelly base with amazing colour shifting particles and in the right lighting a duochrome! So much awesome in one tiny (4.5ml) bottle. It moves from purple to brown to green to red and gold.

This lovely orange is Satsuma.  It's a really lovely glossy orange creme, and a colour I will come back to many times during summer I'm sure. 4.5ml bottle.

And lastly here is Raspberry Blush.  It's a deep pink, almost burgandy, glossy creme polish.  11ml bottle. Sorry for the shadow in the picture.. my head got in the road!

I am really loving these new polishes from Max Factor.  Application on all was easy and smooth.  None of the above photos have a top coat, so you can see how glossy they are.  Will most definitely be grabbing more of these when I see them on special.

Notd - Femme Fatale Quivering Heart

I first found Femme Fatale website while I was looking for some unique and well pigmented eye shadows (which I will swatch soon).  And then low and behold there it was.. Nail polish.  Here is my favourite of the glitter polishes - Quivering Heart.  It's base is a plum/purple jelly, with red micro glitter, larger red  hexs, black squares and black hearts.  Applies really well and is not rough or bumpy at all.

I've swatched it alone and then over a couple of different Ulta3 colours with no top coat.

Pointer - 3 coats QH, Middle - 3 coats QH over Ulta3 Shiraz, Ring - 3 coats QH over Ulta3 Orchid

Look, I got a heart!

Femme Fatale have some of the most amazing indie polishes and what I love the most is they are based right here in Brisbane, Australia.  Unfortunately they are unable to ship overseas at this point, but fingers crossed for some point in the future. Buy Femme Fatale Right Here