Snakeskin manicure

I am absolutely terrified of snakes but I've been meaning to try a snakeskin mani for ages now. I finally did one this weekend and I love the look of it! It's about as much snake as I can handle haha. My pictures aren't the best unfortunately as I didn't realise there was so much glare until after I'd removed my mani so I didn't get a chance to redo my photos =(


I used 2 coats of lovely creamy beige nails inc. Porchester Square* and stamped the full snakeskin image from Bundle Monster plate BM-215 using China Glaze Harmony.





What do you think? I still don't have much time these days to do fancy nail art so I'm really getting back into stamping! I missed it x) Thanks for looking as always!

* Product(s) provided to me for consideration but this in no way influenced my review in any way. As always, my reviews are my 100% honest opinion. My Disclosure Policy can be viewed here.

Clinique Chubby Stick in Oversized Orange swatches and review

When I first heard that Clinique were releasing 8 new shades to their hugely popular Chubby Stick range I nearly fainted with excitement. They are one of my absolute favourite lip products!!!! I absolutely adore these little chubby sticks of colourful goodness and I own nearly all the original shades (you can peep some swatches here). The new shades include some gorgeous shades that are just as cute as the original collection and they are released TODAY!! I have my swatches of one of the shades Oversized Orange for you today!


What they say:

"Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm is Clinique’s #1 lip product worldwide. To chubbify the Chubby Stick craze, Clinique is introducing 8 new mouthwatering hues with stay-true colour and buildable coverage ranging in shades from oranges to pinks to fuchsias and violets. Have a little colour or a lot with: Heaping Hazelnut, Bountiful Blush, Two Ton Tomato, Oversized Orange, Mighty Mimosa, Curvy Candy, Pudgy Peony and Voluptuous Violet.


They are packaged in the same chunky twist up crayon and have the same moisturising formula that contains Shea Butter, Mango Seed Butter and Jojoba Seed Oil. You can read my full review of the Chubby Sticks here.


Oversized Orange is a wonderfully summery tangerine shade with slight shimmer through it. It looks alarmingly bright in the tube but like the other Chubby Sticks apply quite sheer. It's a fantastic way to try brighter shades without being too in your face.


Swatch:


My lips are quite pigmented so orangey shades tend to lean very pink on me.


A minimal makeup FOTD using Clinique Chubby Stick in Oversized Orange:


Overall: I am madly in love with Clinque Chubby Sticks and I adore Oversized Orange just like I do my others! Oversized Orange is a fun shade and perfect for the warmer months. I especially love wearing my Chubby Sticks to work as I don't want something too bright so these give the perfect hint of colour and stay power is good so there's no need to reapply all the time which is great. I really enjoy the balm texture of the Chubby Sticks and I find them very moisturising - they feel wonderful on the lips. Love love love these!

I am absolutely dying to go instore to swatch the other 7 shades! I can see myself picking up a few others.. not that I need more lip products haha!


Details: The Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour Balms are available in 8 NEW shades from today July 29th 2012 at Clinique counters nationwide and online at www.clinique.com.au for $35.

They are available for purchase in the US from www.clinique.com for $16US and in Hong Kong from www.clinique.com.hk and Clinique counters for $130HK.

Will you be heading instore to check out the new shades? Thanks for looking as always!

The product featured in this post was provided to me for consideration but this in no way influenced my review in any way. As always, my reviews are my 100% honest opinion. My Disclosure Policy can be viewed here.

Essie Winter 2012 collection: Brooch the Subject and Size Matters swatches and review

It's winter here in the land down under so it's the perfect time to break out some gorgeous wintery shades! Today I have my swatches and review of two of the shades from the Essie Winter 2012 collection - Brooch the Subject and Size Matter.


What they say:

"The newest colour collection from Essie is all about Cocktail Bling! Every Essie girl likes to dress up during the holidays and there is no time like the present to adorn yourself with fabulous colour! The collection is inspired by the precious stones and metals that we love to accessorize ourselves with at holiday cocktail parties - think Rubies, Sapphires and Emeralds, oh my!

The winter 2012 collection consists of six luminous shades that evoke the beguiling beauty of the world of gems, which are sure to cause a sensation."

Dusty pink splatter + floral manicure

Hi ladies! I hope you're all having a fab start to the week =) I'm currently on a spending ban so I'm happily going through my excessively large stash and using my untried polishes. I keep on choosing pretty colours sent to me by my awesome and generous blogger friends lately! I chose Beauty Line 327 for a quick splatter manicure.


I used 2 coats of 327 which is a gorgeous dusty pink creme. Beauty Line is a fantastic budget Greek brand (obviously Christina sent me this beauty!!) and the cremes are CRAZY pigmented! Seriously awesome. I then used China Glaze Admire to stamp full splatter image from Konad plate m70.


I haven't really mentioned this on here but I'm doing a hobby nail course which was my birthday gift from my sis and D. I am having a BLAST doing it and on the weekend I learnt some hand painting basics by doing flowers. OMG it was hard!! For something that looks so simple I found it quite tricky to master. But I persisted and after 4 straight hours of practice I managed to add some colourful flowers to my splatter mani x) Below is a quick pic I snapped at the end of my class!


I'm itching to play with my acrylic paints all day long instead of going to work! Thanks for looking as always =)

nails inc. Magnetic Polish in Houses of Parliament

Magnetic polish has been one of the huge things for the polish world lately and lots of brands are now releasing collections. Lovely Christina sent me over one of the nails inc. Magnetic Polishes recently and I couldn't wait to try it out! I've wanted to try out nails inc. forever as it isn't available here in Aus (yet!!) and the colours are fabulous. Today I have swatches of House of Parliament for you.


Houses of Parliament is a dusty metallic purple and is just gorgeous! I applied 1 thin coat to all my nails followed by a thicker second coat and held the magnet to each nail for about 5-10 seconds before moving onto the next nail. The formula is excellent and very opaque and really easy to apply. Dry time was excellent and the brush was easy to use. I applied topcoat to my swatches which unfortunately dragged the polish a bit.


Close up:



The bottle has a removable outer cap which contains the magnet. The cap has a curved plastic edge to rest on your cuticle to keep the magnet from touching your wet polish when you hold it above your nail. It's sooooo easy to accidentally knock the magnet into the polish! I had to redo two nails because I dented them.


The magnet is on top of the cap and is really strong! It doesn't take long for the magnet to do its thing and you're left with a cool design on your nail. My nails are large and quite curved so I found for some of my nails the effect didn't cover my whole nail. However I love the curved pattern the magnet makes and it just looks amazing in person!


Have you tried magnetic polish? Thanks for looking as always!

Snow White and the Huntsman manicure

Happy Monday ladies! I hope you've all had a good start to the week =) Yesterday I watched Snow White and the Huntsman with 2 of my lovely girlfriends so I thought I would do a Snow White inspired mani. But it was a massive fail because I didn't know what I wanted to do for each nail and I don't think it gelled properly! ARGH. I hate when that happens. My photos suck as well because my heart wasn't into this mani doh.


What I used:


Pinky: I used 2 coats of BYS Astro Gold and 2 coats of Sephora by OPI Only Gold for Me top coat.

Ring finger: I used 2 coats of OPI Alpine Snow and used a small brush to freehand the bitten apple using China Glaze Phat Santa, Ulta 3 chocolate cake for the leaf and a green rhinestone for the apple.

Middle finger: I took inspiration from this movie poster and created a gradient nail using BYS Astro Gold, Tom Ford Silver Smoke and China Glaze Jolly Holly.

Index finger: I used 1 coat of Rescue Beauty Lounge Concrete Jungle and stamped the gold crown image from Bundle Monster plate BM08 using China Glaze Passion.


Thumb: I used 2 coats of Glitter Gal Serpent Black* as a black base. For the axe I used a small brush to freehand using China Glaze Devotion for the blade and Essie Brooch the Subject* for the handle with Essie Hot Coco* for the darker wood accents.


I instagrammed this pic on Saturday night halfway through my mani and I thought I'd post it here too xp I like to have everything in reach when I'm doing my mani so my supplies take up about 1/3 of my desk. My routine is to turn on a good DVD and relax while doing my mani!


Have you seen Snow White and the Huntsman? I really enjoyed it and Kirsten Stewart didn't annoy me as much as I thought she would lol. Lots of decent action scenes and a bit of eye candy too!

Thanks for looking as always =)

* Product(s) provided to me for consideration but this in no way influenced my review in any way. As always, my reviews are my 100% honest opinion. My Disclosure Policy can be viewed here.

Etude House Dear Darling PP007 purple holographic

Some quick swatches for you today! Nikki sent me over this gorgeous purple holo Etude House Dear Darling PP007 which I used it for a quick NOTD over the weekend. On a side note it's annoying when companies don't bother naming their polishes!


PP007 is a very pretty scattered purple holographic polish. It applied wonderfully with no dragging whatsoever and it was so opaque too! 1 coat would have sufficed but I did 2 out of habit which is pictured. I couldn't get any sunlight photos of this pretty holo unfortunately. How fancy is the bottle btw? Love it!


Close up:




I have a few more of these pretty Dear Darling collection polishes from swaps that I'm dying to try out now! Hope you all had a fab weekend =) Thanks for looking as always!

Lynnderella Love, Lace and Lilacs

Just some quick swatches for you today of Lynnderella Love, Lace and Lilacs. I'm not sure I love this glitter as much as I like the others I've swatched for you so far which you can see here.


Love, Lace and Lilacs contains different sized hex and bar glitters. It applied very evenly on the nail and 1 coat gives excellent coverage. I wanted extra concentrated glitter so I layered 2 coats over 2 coats of Erre Due 177 which is a really sparkly white with blue and purple shimmer through it (thanks Christina!).


Close up:



I'm going to try it over a different coloured base as you can't really see the glitter too well over the white base. Doh!

Thanks for looking as always! =)

Seventeen Supreme 104 flakie

Last week I showed you my midnight blue leopard mani using a shimmery navy base with a coat of gorgeous Seventeen Supreme flakie in 104. I managed to snap a few decent shots before I stamped over it!


Seventeen 104 contains blue flakies in a clear base. The base is quite thin and contains HEAPS of smallish flake pieces so you don't need many coats at all for a good even coverage. This is 1 coat over China Glaze Up All Night.


Close up:



Thank you Christina for sending this gorgeous polish my way! She sent me another Seventeen flakie which I'll show you another day =)

Thanks for looking as always!

Winter skin essentials

It's the middle of winter here in Aus and it is COLD! My skin freaks out at the best of times but in winter it needs a lot of help. I thought I would share some of the products I love for winter - some also feature in my day to day routine too. I don't post too much about skincare on here because I am such a skincare noob and my skin is not good at all. These products work (relatively) well for me but may not be suited to your skin so please try with caution!

Canmake Colorful Nails 10

Today I have a quick swatch of a gorgeous Canmake Colorful Nails polish gifted to me by lovely Moni in a swap a little while back. Canmake polishes are so sweet! Every time I go to HK I just want to get the lot of them when I see them in-store x)


Canmake Colorful Nails 10 is a very pretty milky lavender polish. It's so soft and delicate! This would look great layered underneath a sparse glitter such as Tony Moly or Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air but I loved the soft colour so much I wore it alone. The brushes are on the small side but easy to use and dry time was very reasonable. 2 coats is pictured - a thin coat to start followed by a thicker 2nd coat.


Close up:



Details: Canmake polishes are available in most of Asia. For international ladies I found it on Yesstyle.com.au.

Have you tried Canmake polishes before? Thanks for looking as always!

Beauty lemmings: July/August 2012

I thought I would do some posts to show you my beauty lemmings as I'm forever lusting after products! It also allows me to show you upcoming releases and perhaps enable you to spend lol. I'm on a spending ban due to wedding, new apartment etc. so unfortunately I shall have to wait a while to try these lovely products. I've actually been really good and I've resisted purchasing anything beauty related for myself for weeks now! *pats self on back*


OPI Vintage Minnie minis ($24.95) - 3 cute pink shades and top coat! Available from August 2012.

Estee Lauder New Pure Color Gloss in Limited Edition Sequins Finish ($42) available from July 8. I really enjoy the Pure Color Glosses! They wear wonderfully and these are LE - I'm such a sucker lol.

OPI Nothin’ Mousie ‘bout It from the Minnie Mouse collection ($19.95) - I LOVE heart glitters! Even though I already have 2 from Nicole by OPI I still want this haha. Available from OPI stockists from August 2012.

Maybelline 24hr Color Tattoo eyeshadows ($11.95) - I love love LOVE cream eyeshadows and these have finally been released in Aus. Darn you spending ban!!

Shu Uemura gold eyelash curler ($40) - my absolute Holy Grail eyelash curler. It now comes in luxe gold! Available now from David Jones nationwide.

Clinique Chubby Sticks will be available in 8 new shades ($35) from July 29. I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I adore my Chubby sticks!!!


OPI Suzi & the 7 Dusseldorfs and Unfor-greta-bly blue ($19.95) - these are my picks from the upcoming Germany collection. Available from August 2012.

Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow ($50) - there are 4 new shades being released for the Summer 2012 Miami collection and they are great neutral colours. I love my cream shadows! Available from August 2012.

Chanel Route Des Indes De Chanel - illuminating powder with shimmer. I have no idea when this comes out in Aus BUT I WANT IT..

China Glaze Summer Neon collection - neons are so hot right now! I don't have enough neons in my nail stash unfortunately.

Clinique Even Better Dark Eyes Circle Corrector - I have bad undereye circles and I'm really curious to try this out when it's released here which will hopefully be very soon!

Do any of these new products take your fancy? What are YOU lemming at the moment? Thanks for looking as always! =)

Midnight blue leopard manicure

I don't know about you but I find it sooooooo frustrating when a mani idea doesn't work out. I often get these flashes of artistic-ness and when I go to create it it fails! I had an awesome blue and silver feather stamped manicure in mind however the feather stamping decided to fail miserably so I ended up going with leopard stamping. My first leopard mani! I'm not sure the blue and silver goes together all that well but my sis said it looked fine and she is my harshest critic haha.


I started off with 2 coats of China Glaze Up All Night which is a great navy creme with slight shimmer through it. I then layered over a coat of Seventeen 104 which is a fabulous blue flakie in a clear base that was gifted to me by Christina in the post I showed you yesterday! I then stamped full leopard image from Konad plate 57 using China Glaze Millenium.


Unfortunately because I stamped the leopard print it covered up most of the nail so you can't really see the gorgeous flakie. If you look closely at my pics you can just make out the brighter flakie pieces against the navy base!




I'm really digging the leopard print actually so expect to see some more leopard manis! I don't do leopard clothing or anything but I do love to experiment with my nails. Am I the only boring one?!!! Ha!

Thanks for looking as always!