Picture Polish Illusionist - galaxy in a bottle!

Hello!

I'm going to jump straight in today and say I can't do galaxy nails. The fact I've only actually tried them once, about three years ago is irrelevant. It was a fail and I shelved the idea and never tried again. Galaxy nails are so pretty, I "ah" every time I see one, traditional or pastel, and I think to myself I really should try that again someday. But in the back of my mind I still have the fail and a little niggle that says don't even go there. So I don't try. But now, along comes a polish that does it all for me, in one little bottle! Picture Polish Illusionist is a beautiful glittery multi-chrome polish with just the right amount of holo glittery flakies running through it to make it twinkle like the night sky. So. Beautiful. As multi-chrome polishes tend to be, this is sheer so I layered two coats over Sally Hansen Navy, Baby so you can see the full shift from pink to purple, blue and turquoise, and even a rusty red at the extreme end (which you can see in the underwater pic at the end). I combined it with a silver accent nail and some simple white stamping. But the Picture Polish is the real star of the show.

Stunning! I nabbed my bottle from the wonderful Sally Magpies when there was a sale, but even though it's back to full price now I suggest you grab it because it wont be in stock for long!

Maybe next time I wear it I will attempt some galaxy art over the top...or maybe I'll wimp out and just admire it instead!

Hx

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GOT polish? Flowers!

After yesterday's Pink Wednesday, I decided to go with pink again for today's GOT polish theme which was floral. This was actually my second attempt after an epic fail the first time, so I went relatively simple. My base is Lilypad Laquer Bubble Yummo, a sweet hot pink holo, topped with some stamped flowers from MoYou Pro XL 10 in Color Club Revvvolution. I like the doodle-y look of how the flowers came out, but I feel like I've done a lot of floral manis lately, and this isn't my best. Boo.

Neon next week - I've been craving neons lately so I'm looking forward to it!

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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Pink Wednesday! 10 years of being fetch!

Hi!

As I said yesterday, Mean Girls is 10 years old today! Although it makes me feel terribly old, what better way to celebrate than with a special Pink Wednesday! My pink is Crabtree & Evelyn Peony accented by Funky Fingers Sand and Stilettos for a bit of sparkle. I then stamped some chevrons in Color Club Cloud Nine. Fetch, right?

It's been a while since I did a Pink Wednesday and it's been fun! Are you going to join in? You go Glen Coco!

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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Introducing Moyra UK - Swatch and Review!

Hi loves!

Today I have an exciting European polish range that is new to us UK lacquerheads to share with you! According to their Facebook page Moyra is a European nail brand loved by nail technicians across the world for the world class quality, affordable prices and amazing colors. And what an array they have! There is a huge classic range with every basic colour you could every need, and then there are suedes, gel effects, sands, glitter, neons, holos - literally everything you could want and bang on trend too. Today I have a pastel shade, a gel look and a cheeky holo to share with you!

First up is this perfect lilac creme, a must have shade in any collection. The formula on this one is thin, but not unmanageable and I hardly had any clean up to do. Despite it being thin it wasn't at all streaky and here I used two easy coats. I couldn't resist adding a little stamp to this one!

Next I tried the gel look, Nathalie, a lovely shimmery red. It makes a nice change to have a gel effect polish with shimmer, as usually they're cremes. The shimmer in Nathalie makes it look so lush and juicy, I don't often wear red, but this one I could reach for over and over again. This was two perfect coats, with no topcoat. No topcoat, people! Shiny!

Finally the star of the show for me. Luna is a light green holographic polish which, for a budget brand, has the most amazing linear holo rainbow you could ever wish for! Again, two easy coats and no application issues at all. And the stunning result? I could stare all day...

I am super impressed with these polishes, especially at the price point. The pastel and holo polishes are just £3, while the gel looks cost £4, for a full size 12ml bottle. Bargain! At the moment you can purchase from Moyra's Facebook page, with a website coming soon. The range really is huge, so I'm sure there's something you'll love! I'm eyeing up the neon texture polishes next ;)

Hx

The product featured was a PR sample provided to me for free for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own and 100% honest. Please see my disclaimer in the tab above for further details.

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Palate Cleanser of the Week! A England Dancing with Nureyev

Hi!

I've not done a Palate Cleanser of the Week for a while, I can't help but faff! But this polish I just had to wear plain, as soon as it arrived! I don't even know how to describe other than simply beautiful, but I guess I'll have a go. Dancing with Nureyev is a purple toned saphire blue holo from A England's Ballerina collection. But that's not it, it almost has a violet duochrome look in certain lights. It's so prismatic and sparkly, I stared at my hands for more than an acceptable amount of time while I was wearing this polish. And the formula is perfection. Smooth and buttery, I used two coats out of habit but you could definitely get away with one. And it doesn't feel thin and show every ridge and bump on the nail like some holos can. I've talked enough, look!

So beautiful even the sun shined for me!

Hx

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Holo haze

Hi!

A-England recently had a sale, where all of their polishes were £6 instead of £9, so of course I had to indulge! While I was checking my stash to see what I already had I stumbled upon this neglected beauty and had to wear it immediately! A England Tristam is a deep dusty midnight blue with holo. Need I say more? The formula is perfect, it could be a one coater if you're not a clumsy oaf like me and it stamps well too. The holo particles are smooth and not rough at all and it removes super easily and without staining - which for a blue this deep and pigmented is a rarity. Best blue ever? It's definitely a contender. I decided to stamp some leafy goodness from the Pueen buffet set and Color Club Blue Heaven.

Now of course, I wear a holo, the sun gets hidden by a thick layer of sahara desert haze. I'm not even kidding, most of the country has been covered in a cloud of Victorian-esque smog and where I live has been quite badly affected (not as bad as Paris though...) So I had to enlist good old Mr Flash to show the beauty.

In essence, this was a fairly simple mani, but I sometimes just need something simple. I went for eyesearing next though, which you can see on Tuesday!

Hx

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A sparkling Minty Moment

Hi!

In the name of self satisfaction, I went for two of my favourites for this manicure - mint and glitter! Add a bit of holo-y shimmer and I'm a happy Helly. It was a simple mani, but so sparkly and happy making, and isn't that what it's all about? The base is Lilypad Lacquer Minty Moment, which has such pretty holo sparkles that just lean pink, and I accented and reverse glitter gradiented (totally a word) with China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara, perfect silver glitter with blue flecks. Mine has thickened up quite a lot, which means it's full coverage in one coat and perfect for a lazy gradient like this, just use a fairly dry brush and a light touch, brushing from cuticle upwards and building up gradually.

This will be my last post for the month of March - this year is zooming by! Check out my Instagram for my monthly mani favourites!

Hx

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Enchanted Polish February 2014

Hi!

I'm excited about today's post! I have never understood the whole Enchanted Polish hype to be honest (I'm the same with Lynderella or anything limited edition, slap a limited label on anything and it somehow makes it less desirable to me...maybe I'm odd), yes they're pretty but are they really that special? I have always been curious, and since EP release a "monthly" polish I decided I would treat myself to February's for my birthday. Now this was a risk for two reasons - the most obvious being that recently EP has been releasing the monthly polishes as 'surprises', meaning you don't actually get to see the polish you're buying until you have it in your hands (or the first person who gets theirs puts it on Instagram). So it's a big risk, but I knew that if I didn't like it I would be able to sell it on quite easily, as this time there was only a half an hour "window" in which to order so people were bound to miss out. The second risk is one I used to take all the time, but not so much recently. It was an expensive polish (probably the most I have ever spent on one polish) and it is obviously sent from the states, which to my mind brings up all sorts of images of customs fees, damaged packages and Royal Mail hiring a bomb squad to destroy the little bottle of pretty...

Anyway, it arrived, I love it and all is well! February 2014 is a pink toned dusty purple holo that is just about as me as you can get. A lot of the earlier swatches I saw showed it as more pink, but to my mind it is definitely a dusty purple leaning to pink. I'm on the fence about the formula - it is very thick, forming strings and blobs almost imediately, and application was tricky as it dragged a little bit. If you were careful you could get away with one coat, but I stuck to my usual two here. I stamped a little leafy pattern from the new Pueen buffet plate set as an accent, and left it topcoatless, worried about affecting the fiery holo.

The sun even came out for it's debut! I am happy with my purchase, for the most part and I'm sure the formula can be fixed with a bit of thinner (when I eventually get around to buying some...) and I'm sure it will stamp well. The pre-order for March and April 2014 is this evening I believe, but I wont be ordering. I don't think I like buying polish before I know what it looks like, it's scary! I got lucky this time, but usually Lady Luck is not my friend!

Did you go for February 2014? What do you think about the whole blind buying thing?

Hx

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