Brighter Than Sunshine - Ulta3 Citris Swatch and Review

I've seen lots of neon in the shops for Spring/Summer 2012-13 so I think I will break out this polish again in the coming months!

Ulta3 is a great Australian brand and their polishes are only around $2-$2.50 depending on where you get it from. Woolies was having a sale where Ulta3s were only $1!! The quality is really good, and I think it rivals the likes of OPI and China Glaze.

Ulta3 Citris is the brightest, most neon yellow you can imagine! It dries matte, like all neons, so a top coat is required. Also, the downside is that it is quite sheer so layering 1-2 coats over a white creme is essential, unless you want dead-looking yellowy nails! Here I have it layered over Revlon White on White.

Sorry that you can see the white polish near my cuticles - it's not noticeable in real life!

Bright than sunshine a highlighter ;P

Ulta3 Citris and Revlon White on White

Pros:
- Cheap cheap cheap! :D
- Available at many chemists, as well as in Target and some Woolworths stores.
- Really outrageously bright fluoro yellow.

Cons:
- Needs to be layered over a white creme.

Overall:
7.5/10 - I love bright colours that stand out and this one is a must have for neon lovers and those who want to make a statement with their nails!

Thanks for reading!

- J

Essie Sexy Divide - Swatch and Review

This is just a quick review of Essie Sexy Divide which I got in Hong Kong for an equivalent of about $5 Australian dollars. Essie retails for almost $20 in Myer... ridiculous. Anyway, onto the photos and review!

Sexy Divide is a vampy, dark, glowy purple shimmer. On the Essie website they describe it as "a bold deep purple with hints of shimmer". The shimmer consists of small red and blue particles, as you can sort of see in the bottle shot below. In the bottle the purple looks satiny and on the nails it translates into a glowy, lit from within kind of colour. Application was lovely and smooth and I did three coats plus Seche Vite.

I think this was after maybe four or five days of wear and it still looked good!

 Pros:
- Nice formula.
- Classy yet sexy colour.
- Wear time was really good.
- The shimmer is really nice and it's got that lit from within look.

Cons:
- Nothing really... I guess it's not unique but I don't have any dupes in my collection!

Overall:
- 8/10. I think it's a must have for a purple lover. I don't personally love purple polish but I still really liked it.

Thanks for visiting!

- J

Max Factor Fantasy Fire Swatch and Review

I know the hype over Max Factor Fantasy Fire has mostly died down by now, but I still wanted to review it in case there are some people who haven't seen this gem of a polish! It's supposedly a dupe of the most coveted Clarins 230 (aka Unicorn Pee) which I sadly do not own.

This polish is a gorgeous purple with shimmer that shifts to all colours of the rainbow. It really is mesmerising!  Fantasy Fire is the perfect name for it. I made a GIF to show you just how shape-shifting (well, colour-shifting) this polish is.

It seriously looks like three completely different polishes at these three different angles!

The polish itself was very sheer, and I did 5 thin coats to achieve maximum opacity. To save polish and to avoid doing so many coats, you can layer it over a similar purple. I used Seche Vite for a glossy finish.

This is what it looks like front on and what it looks like most of the time. It's a medium royal purple with pinky-redy-purpley shimmer. It has so much depth to it.

Here the shimmer is an olive green and almost a bronze colour.

The shimmer is shifting to gold and peachy coloured.

It is orangey-pink here.

At extreme acute angles, the shimmer becomes an intense green and teal, and you can see a bit of yellow as well.

A few more pictures where you can see several different colours at once! (Sorry for the tipwear, these were taken when the manicure was a few days old.)

This reminds me of a lizard... somehow... lol.

The bottle is tiny though!

You can see how small it is next to a regular-sized Revlon bottle.

And here it is next to my Nikon lenscap haha.

 Pros:
- THE SHIMMER IS COLOUR SHIFTING FROM BLUE TO GREEN TO YELLOW TO RED!!!!!!!!!! So incredibly awesome!
- The base purple is a beautiful colour. I would love it even if the shimmer isn't colour-shifting.
- Might satisfy some people's lemmings for Clarins 230.

Cons:
- Pretty hard to find. Only sold in the UK... I got mine on eBay a few months ago, and it seems like the price has dropped since then. So if you haven't bought this, now is a good time ;)
- Bottle is tinyyyy, only 4.5 mL...
- Very sheer, probably better over a purple base colour if you want to conserve polish.

Dupes?
- See Scrangie for a great comparison of Fantasy Fire with several similar polishes.

Overall: 
9.5/10

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

Sportsgirl Nail It! in Phoenix - Swatch and Review

I've already shown you one of the three Sportsgirl polishes I recently bought. Nail It! in Cobalt was reviewed here.

Today I have Phoenix to show you and I think it is just the most perfect name for it! It is a stunning orange with prominent gold shimmer/foil particles. I don't really care for gold polishes but I'm a sucker for anything with gold shimmer. Weird huh :P As soon as I saw this I knew I had to have it. It is such a fiery and phoenix-y polish. I did 4 thin coats plus Seche Vite, but 2 or 3 thicker coats should do - it depends on how orange you want it. Less coats means it looks more pink.

I actually think it is a pink/coraly polish, but due to the immense amount of gold shimmer/microglitter it turned the polish orange! Here you can see the base colour.

Pros:
- Absolutely stunning colour. I don't own anything even close to it nor have I seen something similar.
- Relatively affordable at $7.95 for 11mL.
- Easily to find - you can even test it at the store.

Cons:
- Chipped pretty quickly and only lasted about 4 days. It seemed to be prone to chips because it has so much microglitter/foil particles in it - it's hard to explain but it's kind of like there isn't enough base to hold the shimmer so it just flakes off.
- Drying time was quite long.


Dupes?
- None in my collection and none that I have come across.


Overall:
7.5/10

The last of the three polishes that I want to show you, Emerald City, is coming soon!

- J

Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Lady Luck - Swatch and Review

Woo glitter!! I bought Sally Hansen Lady Luck at Priceline for $9.95. I don't own many Sally Hansens (actually only two I think! lol) but the ones I do have are pretty good.

This is a clear base with small glitter in the most gorgeous shade of magenta/fuchsia and a splatter of larger holo hex glitter. The coverage was quite good - I used 3 thin coats. However, like many full coverage glitters, it eats top coat for breakfast! Even a thick top coat (I used Seche Vite) couldn't tame it. The manicure ended up pretty thick with a few coats of top coat. Despite that, I think the colour pay off was well worth it. I got a few compliments wearing it. :) Removal would have been annoying but this actually peeled off cleanly - I had little molds of my nails! I gave the most perfect one to my boyfie for luck. :P

Apologies for this bad photo - it was taken before I decided to start a blog :P I also had to recolour this photo to make it more true to colour, but it is still not very colour accurate - imagine it more pink!

Pros:
- Gorrrrrrgeous colour.
- Full coverage glitter without doing 230948198 coats.
- Easy to find.
- Peeled off cleanly without need for remover - though some people may find this to be bad thing.

Cons:
- Needed a few coats of top coat for a smooth, glossy finish. Ended up being quite thick.
- Bottle is quite small - only 9.17mL (what a random number... equates to 0.31 Fl Oz, also a random number o.O).

Overall:
- 7/10

- J

Sportsgirl Nail It! in Cobalt - Swatch and Review

Recently I purchased three Sportsgirl nail polishes - Phoenix, Emerald City and Cobalt (from left to right).

My experience with the Nail It! polishes has been good. Normally I wait till they're on sale before buying but I couldn't wait to get these three! These were purchased for $7.95 each. Last time I checked they were still available for sale in Sportsgirl stores (for some reason polishes aren't for sale anymore on www.sportsgirl.com.au, what's up with that?).


Today I've got Sportsgirl Nail It! in Cobalt for review. I had to have this because it's such a saturated and vibrant blue! It's a medium-dark blue with beautiful blue and purple shimmer. The purple shimmer isn't visible except at extreme angles, giving the polish a slight purple duochrome. The polish was on the sheer side and I did 5 thin coats plus a coat of Seche Vite. If you do thick coats I think 3 may be enough. The end result was worth all 5 coats!

This polish lasted and lasted. This is what it looked like after 5 days - minimal tipwear and two small repaired chips (that aren't really visible).

These two photos were taken in the shade and that's what the polish looks like most of the time - it's a really saturated blue. The first photo is too light due to the reflective shimmer.

Here you can see the the slight duochrome on the nail and the lovely purple shimmer in the bottle.

Pros:

- Amazing, rich, vibrant colour.
- Relatively affordable at $7.95 for 11mL.
- Lasts for a week with minimal chips and tipwear.
- Slight purple duochrome. :D
- Pretty bottle (lol).


Cons:
- Sheer, needing around 3-5 coats to reach maximum opacity.


Dupes?
- None in my collection.


Overall:
8/10


Swatches and reviews for Phoenix and Emerald City will be coming!


- J