OPI sold

From my Australian OPI PR rep today:

COTY ACQUIRES OPI PRODUCTS INC.

Coty Inc., a leading global beauty company, today announced that they have entered into an agreement to acquire OPI Products Inc, the world’s leading nail care brand in the professional market.

Established in 1981, OPI Products Inc., the world’s leading nail care brand in the professional market, will continue to revolutionalise the beauty industry by creating fashion forward lacquers and leading-edge innovative treatment products, under the leadership of OPI President and CEO George Schaeffer and Executive VP and Artistic Director Suzi Weiss-Fischmann.

In Australia, the management team will remain the same, with International Beauty Supplies, continuing to provide excellence in service, distribution, marketing and promotion of the brand.

There ya go!

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Del Sol Girl's Night Out

While on holidays in Queensland, we finally had some sun! I was able to pull out the Del Sol color changing polishes Mum and Dad brought me back from their trip to the USA, and see if they actually work!

This was 2 coats of Girls Night Out which is actually a really, really nice shade of pink with a Gold-y-Pink-y (!!) shimmer.
The first 2 pics show this color in the sunlight, the third pic shows this polish slooowly turning into the Purple, and the last 2 pics show the color change as best as I could get it in the sunlight at the time.

It certainly didn't change into the dark Purple color as stated on the sticker of the bottle but I actually prefer this shade as it reminds me of Orly Fantasea and looks much more classy.
It would have looked awesome with some black nail art over the top but I forgot to pack my plates when I left and was Konad-less for a WHOLE WEEK!! Gasp! The horror!!!

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Orly OLE Review

Orly released their Viva Summer collection here in Australia recently and their PR team sent me a bottle of OLE for review. Ole was on my wish list along with La Playa and you all read my rave on Bailamos last month here: konadlicious.blogspot.com/2010/10/orly-bailamos.html

Ole is described as a vibrant orange cream, but really is a really lovely coral color and really suits my skintone. Fluro orange's do nothing for me so I am happy to get a brighter orange that looks nice.

Perfect in only 2 coats and I stamped with Konad Yellow and White from various Bundle Monster and Konad plates. 1 coat of Seche QD. I forgot to get a photo of it by itself, that is not like me so I do apologise! All pics taken in full sunlight.

Orly also sent me a bottle of their Top to Bottom, which is a top and bottom coat all in one. This is a watery thin formula and proved to be watery thin once dried, as it peeled off within hours on several manicures I tried it on. As a base coat, my Mum was a test subject and her Clarie's Mood polish was flaking off in chunks by the next day. Whether this is a reflection of the Top 2 Bottom or the Claire's polish....I don't know.

So while the Top 2 Bottom didn't make my cut, Ole is gorgeous and I'm rapt it's in my collection. The Viva Summer collection can be found here for Australian buyers; www.orlybeauty.com.au and their range is available for a 10% discount once you sign up to their mailing list.
BTW, they have a discontinued section and I finally found Fantasea! Yahoo!

Which Viva did you get?

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BYS Pastel Purple Crackle Polish

Australian brand, BYS, have released a large number of crackle polishes recently and a lot of them are in pretty pastel colors. I bought the pastel Purple this week while on holidays in Queensland and wore it all week layered over various colors and here are a couple of the nicest for you.




Over BYS Indian Nights. Another color I have been looking for ages for as my swap buddy Jen from polishaholic wants it ( **found it Jen, it's all yours!**). I grabbed two of them becuase it happens to be my all time favourite shade of polish, a vampy dark burgundy wine......divine!

2 coats of Indian Nights with 1 thin coat of Crackle polish. The secret to crackle polish is to apply a THIN layer of it. Otherwise the cracks do not appear quite as well, if at all. 1 coat of Orly Top to Bottom. I am trially a bottle of this as it was sent by Orly for review but I have to say that I am not loving it at all. It's watery and too thin and peeled off after a few hours. Sorry Orly!




H&M U Must Have This. This blue is pretty bright! Not a color I am young enough to wear by itself...unless I was hosting a party for my 2 yr old and made cupcakes to match...or something similar.
2 coats of H&M with 1 thin coat of crackle polish and 1 coat of Orly Top to Bottom.



Talking of cupcakes.....here is a batch that my daughter and niece cooked up while on holidays. Yes, they tasted about as sickly as they felt once swallowed!


I also saw my new niece for the first time at 5 weeks old and she's pretty darn cute. Hello Emilee!

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Born Pretty Giveaway Update

I am home from holidays and have fixed the photo links on my giveaway post...see 2 posts below. So sorry for the confusion this caused, and of course, it had to happen while I was away from my computer!
Thanks for your patience and back tmrw with naily photos!

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Hi-Fi Cosmetics Review

I found Hi-Fi cosmetics on Etsy, www.etsy.com/shop/hificosmetics, and got the blogger sample pack of eyeshadows. I left the color choices up to the seller and she picked out; Lovers Revenge, Spike The Punch, Final Act, Morbid Faith and Your'e a Criminial to match my blue eyes and dark hair.

All were swatched over Shelly Frances Primer and were brushed on in the same area several times to make it quite heavy. They are from left to right:
Spike the Punch, Lovers Revenge, Final Act, Your'e a criminal and Morbid Faith.

As you can see, even with primer and heavily brushed on, this selection of colors don't seem to be heavily pigmented. The colors do match my blue eyes, but seem to blend into the same 'silvery' color and there is not much of a difference between most of them, except for Spike the Punch, in my opinion. Morbid Faith is a bright blue in the baggie, but unfortunately translates to a paler blue in the swatch.

They are nice and sparkly tho and Hi-Fi comes highly recommended by other bloggers.... so I'm guessing I got rather a 'blah' mix or just too much of the same shade of silver in my sample pack. The bright pinks and yellows as pictured in the listing would have been nice to have a play with!

At this stage I would have to wear these sample colors over a full day to test wear durability before placing any more orders. Stay tuned!

Has anyone else made an order thru Hi-Fi and how did you like it? Are the colors you chose heavily pigmented?

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Born Pretty NAILART GIVEAWAY!! closed

NOW CLOSED, THANKS!


Born Pretty, www.bornprettystore.com, has sent a stash of brand new items for one lucky winner to win.

There are 12 stamping plates with a stamper and metal scraper
Disc of 1,800 assorted colored rhinestones
Huge sheet of nail art decals and
A bottle of Red Crackle Polish

Jessica from Born Pretty is super nice and has offered to give everyone a further discount on their already insanely cheap prices with an opening 10% off special. Code is OPENTENOFF. Shipping is crazy low...check it out.

On a side note, these nail plates are actually very well made and have NICE designs, so I have no qualm about endorsing these. I know a few people, including myself, have been burnt with super cheap and horribly made copy plates from eBay, but Born Pretty plates are nicely engraved with sharp detail.
Included in their base stock line are false eyelashes, makeup brushes, acrylic systems, mineral foundation and strawberry shaped hair curlers!

****************************************
To enter you need to:

Be a PUBLIC follower and leave a comment with your following name and email address ( 1 entry)

Blog about this giveaway, either in a post or in your sidebar, and leave the link in your comment (3 entries)

That's it!
Good luck everyone, winner is drawn on the 20th of December.

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OPI Alpine Snow Geometrics

This just was a disaster from the start, but I'm posting pictures of it anyway!
I'm in the middle pf packing for a holiday and my black Konad polish was already in the suitcase, so I used Olive Green instead which was a mistake as it just looks brown. The white Konad also turned grey over the black becuase I forgot to put a topcoat over the black polish first...but I guess you guys can all learn from my mistakes!

This was 3 coats of OPI Alpine Snow and it still was streaky in parts.
IS there a white on the market that is opaque in 2 thin coats???

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I'm Bored....Here's Some Random Spam!

While I'm putting together my next giveaway, I'm going to post a few pictures of recent manicures that previously I thought were too boring but they are getting posted anyway!


Zoya Delilah. A smidgen lighter than Ruby Pumps, this was 2 coats.



Zoya Delilah with 2 coats of Bring On The Bling. I really did not like this manicure AT ALL. The red makes the glitter just look blahhhhh.



So I changed it to Lippmann's Across The Universe! 3 coats with no top coat. Absolutely gorgeous, of course, but an absolute witch to remove even using the foil method!



Nubar Peacock Feathers over 1 coat of a generic black. This is a gorgeous blue/purple duochrome in differing lights. The purple is more prominent in my pictures as they were taken under artifical light and the flash.


OPI Wing It, 3 coats. Gorgeous color but it just wasn't 'right' on me....



Sportsgirl Supernatural, 2 coats. Enough of a dupe for Chanel for me to be happy with it!



The Face Shop BK 901. I grabbed this one immediately, even tho it was $7.95 and on the exy side, because the bottle flashes from Navy to Green to Purple to Pink to Gold and it looked AMAZING. Unfortunately that didn't transfer to the nail and instead it's a shimmery dark Navy with a slight hint of Green and Purple. It's still a gorgeous shade in different lights and I've decided to keep it!




The Face Shop BL607. A shimmery Navy with Red, Purple, Blue and Pink flecks. This is DIVINE! Obligatory blurry pic to show the sparkle. This flashes color under artificial light.


Lastly, here's a WOOF bead I made last week. They are supposed to be Jack Russell Terriers in love. Yay or Nay??!

Make with more interesting stuff tmrw.

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Claire's Jelly Green

A follower of mine, Emily, and I did a swap recently and in my wonderful box was a divine shade of green by Claire's called Jelly Green ( no prizes for originality awarded to Claire's!). It's a gorgeous shade and unlike any other green I have in my collection so I'm kinda loving this at the moment. It dries to a satin finish which is not my favourite finish but my nails felt lovely and smooth when I touch them!

2 coats with Color Club Fashion Addict Konading in a green Seaweed style. 1 coat of Seche QD made them beautifully glossy.

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Wagon Trail & Lancome Triple Tenue 366

Today's nail of the day is super blingy! Lancome Triple Venue 366 is awesome and a just as good substitute for Rococco Gold Leaf. It is a clear base jampacked with varying sizes of gold flakies! Yep, GOLD FLAKIES!!
These pictures were only 1 coat over 2 coats of China Glaze Wagon Trail. Please click on pics to appreciate it's true blinginess!

If anyone else is interested in this awesome and I *think* discontinued polish, I got mine from this ebay seller:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Lancome-Vernis-triple-tenue-366-nagellacke-Neu-OVP-/380167400135?pt=DE_Beauty_Make_Up_Make_Up&hash=item5883be2ac7

It cost around $20 AUD including a ridiculous shipping charge of 11 EURO....but it was worth it! All pictures taken in full sunlight.

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Shelly Frances Makeup Giveaway WINNER!

Thank you to all who entered this month's giveaway!

Congratulations to Thifa from student-kitchen.blogspot.com who has won 4 fullsize eyeshadows from Shelly Frances! Congrats Thifa!
I have emailed you so please reply soon!

Shelly's handmade mineral makeup can be found straight from her Etsy store here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShellyFrancesMakeup and she usually has weekly specials, like 50% off eyeshadow colors!

Stay tuned for my next giveaway which will start in a day or 2.

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A Mish-Mash of Ruby Pumps, FOTD & My Glass Booth!

I had one of my 2 big Bead Trade shows on this last weekend so I was blog absent and way too busy to think about changing nail polish. China Glaze Ruby Pumps stayed on all 3 days and 2 coats of it didn't even chip once or tip wear. Very impressed ChG!
That's Megan behind my booth...Hello Megan!






Here is one of my face of the day's from my show. The eyes were from my Smokey Eyes BYS pallette, using the sparkly black and white highlight and Shelly Frances Sunrise for the Red. Sunrise is a super pigmented red matte and I love it. Devilista Lipstick by Evil Shades which I adore because it's so creamy and crazy pigmented, blotted and toned down with some Heat Lipgloss by Providence (toned down because I looked like something out of a Twilight movie with a bright red slash on my mouth AND eyes!!)

Back tomorrow with my giveaway winner!!

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