NOTD: China Glaze Heart Of Africa - Swatches & Review

Today I have China Glaze Heart Of Africa for you - and oldie but a goodie. (To everybody who knows me personally: you may roll your eyes and/or laugh at me for originally buying this just for the name. I know, I'm hopeless.)

Heart Of Africa is a gorgeous deep red shimmer; I'm tempted to call this burgundy, but it's not really violet enough to qualify as burgundy in my mind. Either way, I adore this colour. Do you see how sparkly and crazy shiny it is? Absolutely beautiful.

This is two coats, though it was perfectly opaque in just one coat (!) I did add that second simply because it always looks better with two. Since the polish is very runny I had some difficulties with application, namely cuticle flooding. Nothing a brush dipped in polish remover couldn't fix, though. Other than that, application was smooth and easy. One other thing that bothered me was the extremely long drying time; even with a quick drying top coat it took several hours to fully dry which is why I promptly ruined the mani and had to remove it the next day. *sigh*

Doesn't really sound like an awesome polish, eh? I still love it though. The colour is gorgeous and now that I know what to expect I'll hopefully manage not to ruin my next mani with this polish. Probably my favourite China Glaze oldie that I have.

Do you have any "old" polishes that you really love and still wear?

Comparison: Illamasqua Radium vs Pieces Kryptonite

Good morning!

Today I've got a comparison for you. I only compared these two because as I was swatching Radium I was trying to think of other polishes in that colour and Kryptonite was the only one in my stash that came even remotely close. You'll see why you can't actually compare these in a second. (Also, Pieces is a brand available at a local clothing store. I know it's also available in Germany, but beyond that I have no idea where you can get it.)

From index to pinkie this is: Illamasqua Radium, Pieces Kryptonite, Illamasqua Radium, Pieces Kryptonite. (Do ignore the dent on my index finger.)

As you can see, Kryptonite is more yellow-toned than Radium and, while Radium is a shimmery creme bordering on frost, Kryptonite is a jelly. At first I was thrilled that it's a jelly, because I adore jellies. I'm willing to slap on that extra coat just for the squishy finish. However, this one takes a lot of coats to become opaque. I can't remember how many I used for this exactly (my notes are somewhat vague and irritated) but I think it was about 5, perhaps more. Honestly, the first three coats looked more yellow than green, not to mention gross and like I'd painted my nails with yellow highlighter. The consistency of the polish was also very...strange? I don't know; I've never used a polish with that sort of consistency before - it's sort of jelly-like. Almost like it's not actually liquid, but rather creamy? Like I said, strange.

Strange consistency aside, application was smooth and easy. Still, 5+ coats vs 2 coats? Even for a jelly, even for a jelly in such an unusual colour, that's a lot.

I don't want to say I prefer Radium, but I do have to say that I'll wear it more often simply because it doesn't take as long to apply as Kryptonite. (You can also read my review of Radium here.)

Have a lovely Tuesday, everyone!

NOTD: Catrice Bye, Bye Birdy! - Swatches & Review

Happy Monday, pretties! :)

Today's post is a polish that just screamed spring when I saw it in the shop, but unfortunately it's a mess formula-wise.

Bye, Bye Birdy! is a lovely, lovely pastel yellow, which should probably have told me that the formula wasn't going to be awesome. This is three coats and, honestly, the pictures make it look better than it did in person - if I were to actually wear this I would probably add a fourth coat to really even it out. It does dry very quickly, though, so that probably wouldn't be a problem.

I really like this colour, but application was just such a pain in the backside that I don't think I'll wear this very often. Seriously, this was a hot mess on my nails - streaky, gloopy, sticky. (There's a sad smiley in my swatching notes, which basically means it was semi-abysmal. :P)

On a different note, I discovered a new brand today - Anny - and got two colours. I'm thinking one might be a dupe for Chanel Paradoxal, which I adore, but refuse to buy because of Chanel's rubbish nail polish. Swatches coming soon.

Have a good week everyone!

NOTD: Illamasqua Radium - Swatches & Review

Happy Saturday, lovelies!

This is the second of the Illamasqua nail varnishes from the Toxic Nature collection I have; Radium. (I might pick the other three up at some point. They're really pretty.)

Radium is an acidic, shimmery lime green. If the light hits it right, the shimmer flashes turquoise. So pretty!

This was opaque in two coats and barely brushstroke-y at all. The formula was perfect and application was smooth. This does make my hands look a little red, but that's really not going to keep me from wearing it. This is such a crazy-bright, in-your-face colour that I'm sure I'll be loving this summer. Actually, I'll be loving this no matter the season. Lime green is one of my favourite colours. There are way to few nail polishes/eyeshadows/eyeliners in lime green out there. (This does remind me of a MAC eyeshadow from last year; might just need to combine those two.)

Hope you're all having a good weekend so far!

NOTD: Illamasqua Stagnate - Swatches & Review

Hello pretties :)

Today I've got Illamasqua nail varnish in Stagnate for you. This was recently released with their Toxic Nature collection and is one of the two shades I bought.

This wouldn't photograph colour accurately; I'd say in person it's somewhere between those two pictures. The best way I can think of to describe this is purple chocolate. It reminds me of the homemade chocolate pudding my grandma used to make when I was little. She'd put half a pear on top and decorate it with raisins and almonds to make it look like a little mouse. (Also, am I the only one who thinks of Sherlock Holmes when reading the name? "My mind rebels at stagnation", anyone? No?)

But yeah, aside from making me nostalgic and all warm and fuzzy inside, this is a really great polish. I'd call it a creme, but it has a sort of squishy, jelly kind of finish, which I just adore. The formula on this - as I've come to expect from Illamasqua - was perfect. Application was a dream and it was opaque in two coats.

I hope everybody has a lovely Friday!

Product Focus: Catrice Nail Polish - Swatches & Review!

Hello lovelies! I apologize for my lack of posting. I'll definitely be posting more regularly now. :)

Today I have a Product Focus for you, featuring Catrice nail polishes. (I was considering showing you some of their eyeshadows as well, but decided against it. Might post a separate review about them at some point.)

I discovered Catrice a couple of months ago and have been really loving their nail polishes since. They're cheap, but really good quality. I like the brushes; they're fairly soft and wide, which can be problematic for me (hate the OPI brushes!), but these are just perfect. The formula on their polishes is great on most of them, almost all of them are flawless in 2 coats (though you could get away with one coat for some of them) and drying time is really quick. I did have trouble with one or two of the polishes, but I'll get to that later.

On to the pictures:

First up is Clay-ton, My Hero! which I bought mostly for the name (Adam Clayton, anyone?) and ended up liking quite a lot. It's a sort of greyed out toffee creme (you know, one of those murky colours that no one can ever really describe) with gold shimmer. Though looking at the pictures I took I almost want to say there's some copper and green-ish shimmer in there as well. Or maybe I've just been staring at my screen for too long. Anyway. Gorgeous colour, great formula, really like it!

I Sea You! is a gorgeous turquoise creme. Not that exciting, perhaps, but I love it. And the formula on this was outstanding! It's perfectly opaque and smooth in one coat. I still used two, but you don't necessarily have to.

Run Forest Run is a medium green creme. I really like this colour (can you tell I'm really into cremes?!), however this stains horribly. I only wore this for a few minutes and my cuticles were still stained for days. Staining doesn't usually bother me, but this was just absolutely horrible. Still loving the colour, though.

Wonderland Green Card is warmer and also darker than Run Forest Run. It does stain a bit, but not enough to bother me. Then again, I always wear nail polish, so this might be a problem for someone who only wears it occasionally. A good base coat might help there. Also, my bottle had a defective brush. Nothing I couldn't fix, but it's still annoying.

Lavenderlicious is a cool-toned lavender creme. Not much to say here; lovely colour, lovely formula. (That gross staining around my nails? That would be Run Forest Run, ladies and gentlemen.)

These were the first colours I bought, I have since purchased some others that I'll be showing you in a different post. Like I said, I really love the formula on these and I think their colours are really nice. Will definitely continue to buy them.

Comparison: Models Own Blooboo vs Eyeko Pastel Polish

Hello lovelies! I hope everybody had a good weekend!

Today I bring you a quick comparison between Eyeko's Pastel Polish and Models Own Blooboo, which looked extremely similar in the bottle (they even have the same shimmer!).

From index to pinkie this is: Eyeko Pastel Polish, Models Own Blooboo, Eyeko Pastel Polish, Models Own Blooboo. These are all two coats, no base or top coat.

These are actually more different in person. As you can see, Pastel Polish is much paler than Blooboo and the shimmer that's visible in the bottle actually shows up beautifully. Blooboo also strikes me as a bit more of an aqua colour in comparison in person. Both are really pretty and the finishes are different enough to warrant getting both, imo.