Sportsgirl Nail It! in Emerald City - Swatch and Review

I recently showed two out of three Sportsgirl Nail It! nail polishes that I bought. Check out my swatches and reviews of Cobalt and Phoenix. Today I've got the last of the three, which is the green one called Emerald City.

It is a beautiful shimmery jewel-toned emerald with a slight blue tinge. It is a one-coater but I did two out of habit and to achieve a smoother finish. I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

None of the photos are really colour-accurate, unfortunately. It leans much more green than the photos show. Definitely not a teal but a green, albeit slightly blue-leaning.

You can see a bit of the blue tinge here.

Probably the most colour accurate picture.

This is what my right hand looked like after two days - massive chip!

Pros:

- Nice colour, would be good for Christmas! (It is a medium Christmassy green in real life, not the aqua/teal that my photos show.

- One coater, but I did two out of habit and to smooth it out.

- It is flattering with my skin tone.

Cons:

- Wear time is bad - it chipped after two days. I usually don't mind chipping much since I change manicures around twice a week, but big (and irreparable) chips after only two days is pretty annoying!

- Formula is quite thick, but not terribly hard to work with.

- Slightly brushstrokey.

- It stains badly during removal. I don't like having green fingers and cuticles :(

Overall:

4/10. This is the first polish I've blogged about that I'm not happy with! It is a nice colour but not unique. The formula and wear time were disappointing! I also hate polishes that stain. The colour is nice enough but if I could go back in time I wouldn't buy this.

Availability:

I know that Cobalt is still sold in Sportsgirl stores, and I'm pretty sure Emerald City is too. I think Phoenix has been discontinued but I saw a few bottles of it for $2.95 in the sales area of the Sydney Pitt Street Sportsgirl! 

Thanks for visiting!

- J

China Glaze Mistletoe Kisses Swatch and Review

I loved this polish sooo much more than I thought I would. China Glaze Mistletoe Kisses is from the Holiday 2010 Collection but I only recently acquired it. I actually bought it as an afterthought while purchasing my long-time lemming China Glaze Emerald Sparkle!! It is to my absolute surprise that I think I like it even more than Emerald Sparkle... :O Anyway, onto the swatches and review!

Mistletoe Kisses is a light green base with really dense silver microglitter. The translucent green base gives the polish depth and makes some of the glitter look green. It is a lovely full coverage glitter and I used three coats plus Seche Vite top coat.

I thought this photo looked really cool haha. The lines are due to my light - for some reason it just ends up having dark bars in photos.

Pros:
- Easy application, completely opaque at three coats.
- Really sparkly!
- Relatively smooth for a glitter.
- Wear time was good - around 5 days with minimal chipping and next to no tipwear.

Cons:
- Can't think of anything lol. I wish this formula came with every shade under the rainbow!
- Oh removal wasn't too fun but that's to be expected with a glitter and it was actually better than most other full coverage glitters.

Overall:
9/10

Thanks for stopping by!


- J

Pastel rainbow skittles!

Today I've got a pastel rainbow skittles mani to show you :) Not much to say about it but I've always wanted to do a skittles mani - I thought rainbow pastel colours would look nice together!

Polishes used: (from left to right)

- Eleanor (I got this in Hong Kong but it says it's formulated in France... the bottle is pretty hehe) No. 51: light pink with subtle sheen.

- China Glaze Peachy Keen: light orange creme.

- Revlon Lemon Fizz: this one gave me some problems, it was thick and didn't want to smooth out evenly. Light yellow with subtle silver shimmer.

- China Glaze Refresh-Mint: mint creme.

- Revlon Blue Lagoon: light blue with subtle silver shimmer - looks like the same shimmer as Lemon Fizz.

 I like how this turned out :) Maybe when I get enough neon polishes I will do a neon version!

Thanks for stopping by!

- J

K.K. Nail Polish in Mint Chic (No. 27) Swatch and Review

I came across this brand in Cosmetics and Fragrance Direct in Sydney's DFO (Direct Factory Outlet - from what I've heard though it does not even compare to the outlets in America!). I had never heard of it before, but everything - I recall seeing eyeliner, lipstick, polish, etc - was only $2 each! So I picked up the most interesting-looking polish - No. 27. A quick Google search came up with the brand's website. The polish I got is actually called Mint Chic on the website but it has no name on the bottle, just the number. It is pretty awesome so I will definitely be getting a few more, and maybe some other makeup stuff next time I go there. I haven't seen this brand sold anywhere else, so if you know where else it is stocked, let me know and I will update this post! :)

Mint Chic is an absolutely stunning medium jade green jellyish base with dense greeny-silvery flakies. The flakies are similar to the ones in Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe but Mint Chic's are more densely packed, have less gold colour and does not have a teal duochrome. I did 4 coats plus two coats of Seche Vite. Anyway, enough talking, here are the pictures! (I had to colour correct some of these to make them more colour accurate).

I think I actually prefer this kind of polish in the shade, you can see how reflective the flakes are.

In direct sunlight. It's much more sparkly in real life, but my camera couldn't capture it.

Under artificial light. So sparkly!

Pros:

- Colour is really, really beautiful and iridescent.

- You can't really argue with a $2 price tag!

- Dried faster than I had expected.

- Lasted a week with only very minor chipping and basically no tipwear.

- Bottle is pretty huge - 16mL.

Cons:

- The smell is quite strong.

- Bottle looks cheap and the labels are clumsily stuck on.

Dupes:

- None in my collection. The closest is Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, but that is way darker.

Overall:

9/10

I'm really amazed at and in love with this polish, especially given it's from an unheard-of brand and is dirt cheap at $2! The quality is fantastic and the colour is spectacular. If you're a green lover like me, this is a must-have!

- J