Etude House GR601

In sunlight

Artificial light

Artificial light

Wonderful Smita sent me my first Etude House! I am hoping to get a lot more of these when I go to Singapore in February, as the formula is quite yummy.

This color is number GR601, it's a dark Green Teal and was opaque in 2 coats.l I then Konaded it with Warm Black and added 1 coat of Seche QD.

I am off to see the oldies tomorrow for 10 days so my blog won't be regularly updated. Make sure you enter my new Mineral Eyeshadow giveaway.....details in last post.

Spectrum Cosmetics Review & GIVEAWAY!! CLOSED

CLOSED, THANKS!

I'm semi obsessed with Indie mineral makeup companies at the moment and I seem to have amassed several dozen post of eyeshadow in the last couple of months...that's not counting the sample baggies.

My latest haul is from Etsy Seller torik2009 or Spectrum Cosmetics. The shop can be found here: www.etsy.com/shop/torik2009
and Youtube channel here: youtube.com/faerica7.


Indoors


Outside in sunlight.

These are the colors I got from left to right and all swatched over Shelly Frances primer:

Virgin, a shimmery white.
Vintage, a shimmery Dark Antique Gold.
Poe, a Violet purple matte.
Robins Egg, a shimmery Teal Blue.
Wicked, a beautiful medium Green matte.
Ferric, a dark gorgeous Blue matte.
Green Man, a vivid matte Green.
Freebie: Jaded, a super shimmery yellow toned Green.



Closeups. Look at Ferric! That color just turns my knees to jelly everytime I look at it.

*******For the BESTEST part! YOU can win a custom 7 stacker eyeshadow set from Erica at Spectrum!
Pick your favourite colors from a huge range of over 120 colors ranging from matte to semi shimmers to full on blingy sparkle! ********

Erica says: All of these products are 100% Natural Cosmetic Grade Mineral Pigments. They are PURE, and do not contain chemicals, fillers, talc, or any other ingredients that will harm you or your skin. Mineral Makeup is very light and it provides a barrier, and protects your skin from particles in the air, while still allowing your skin to "breath" unlike other types of makeup. Spectrum Cosmetics Products are also VERY versatile! When you purchase an eyeshadow from the drug store, that's what you get....an eyeshadow. When you purchase a pigment from Spectrum, you get a shadow, a blush, a bronzer, a lip stick / lip gloss, an eyeliner, and even a nail polish! All of these pigments are cosmetic grade! With the exception of a few colors ( noted in listings) theses are FDA approved to be used on the Eyes, Lips, Face, And Nails. Apply Dry for a shadow, blush or bronzer, apply wet for an INTENSE shadow, or eyeliner, or mix with clear gloss or nail polish and make your own colors! All pigments mix well with each other, so you can even experiment and come up with your own colors,that NO ONE else has!

TO ENTER:

1. BE A FOLLOWER...OF COURSE! LEAVE A COMMENT WITH YOUR FOLLOWING NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS.
2. VISIT THIS LINK, www.etsy.com/listing/63985858/7-piece-create-your-own-stackable-in-3, AND TELL ME WHICH COLOR IS YOUR ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE! 2 ENTRIES.


TO GAIN MULTIPLE ENTRIES:

1. BLOG ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY TO RECEIVE 2 EXTRA ENTRIES.
2. TWEET ABOUT MY GIVEAWAY TO RECEIVE 2 EXTRA ENTRIES.

Thanks to Erica for sponsoring this month's giveaway!
Giveaway ends 16th of January so....GOOD LUCK!!

BLOOM Alessandra & Miss Connie II

I have the 2 most divine colored polishes for you today and they are made by Australian company, Bloom. Bloom polishes are priced here on the expensive side: $19.95 each or Bloom sometimes has a websale on them at 2 for $29. At first I *semi* dismissed them as my frugal nature refuses to pay that kind of money for 1 bottle of polish, but after giving in a couple of times I have realised that their colors are gorgeous and formula is wonderful.

.

Case in point, Miss Connie 2. This is a bright Tomato Red that's in ya face bright! Shockingly bright and shockingly awesome! I loved this color on sight and it was opaque in 2 coats. Just yum.




And a gorgeous Dark Blue Jelly called Alessandra. This rivals any Lippmann jelly and this was 2 coats. I don't like my jelly's totally opaque so I always do 2...but most would prefer a 3rd coat of this.

Both colors dried with a high gloss sheen which I appreciate in a polish, as so many branded colors end up with a satin or semi-matte finish and need a top coat to give it a gloss. No nail art today as I was swatching.
Unfortunately for my International followers, Bloom is not available to outside of Australia buyers...but us Aussies can purchase them in any Myer or Target store as well as on their website: bloomcosmetics.com.au.

Revlon Royal

My wonderful swap buddy, Carolina from coloresdecarol.blogspot.com, sent me a little package just cause she knew I would love them and no other reason...isn't she beautiful? I got Barielle Elle's Spell, Revlon Royal and Wet n Wild Night Prowl.

This was 2 coats of Revlon Royal and in all truth I needed a third. I had too many bald spots but I skimped. I was feeling a little blingy, so stamped all the jewellery designs I could find on my Konad plates! One coat of Seche QD.

The Face Shop PP408

I found this in my 2 year old's bedroom, in the bottom of the toybox and the lid half on. I have no idea when I bought it or how Miss 2 half inched it from my 'up high' polish stash.

This is 2 coats of The Face Shop PP408, which is a totally gorgeous purple with salmon pink, dark purple and magenta pink shimmer. In real life it's absolutely gorgeous...trust me.
I Konaded it with Sally Hansen Chrome in Royal Purple and added 1 coat of Seche QD.

Nice, huh?

Born Pretty NAILART GIVEAWAY Winner

I'm back early cause I realised that for the second month in a row...I forgot to draw a winner for my giveaway! I have been away on holidays and I'm down sick with a miserable headcold, does that excuse me??

Anyway, our winner is Bad Luck Baby! Her blog can be found here; www.bad-luck-baby.blogspot.com. Congrats girl and I'm emailing you now.

***** STAY TUNED FOR MY 1,000 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY! READY TO START IN MERE DAYS! EEEK!! *****

OPI DS Desire & Holiday Notice

My nails are still looking too wonderful with my Forest Fairy on them so I painted Karen's nails instead.
This is 2 coats of OPI DS Desire, a wonderful brown holographic with intense rainbow shine. Warm Black Konading in frech tip style and 1 coat of Seche QD.

I won't be around again till after Xmas. We are off to the beach for some fun in the sun...hopefully, anyway....it's supposed to be cold!

Bye everyone and have safe holidays!

FREAKIN' Forest Fairy!

An awesome follower of mine frankened an amazing polish and sent me some! Thanks Stef! She couldn't find a forest green holographic so she made her own using Ozotic Pro nail polish and called it The Forest Fairy ( I didn't ask which colors she used as I am not that nosy).
Here is 2 coats of The Forest Fairy, all photographed under artificial light. Isn't the rainbow shine amazing??

And here it is 'wrecked' with some ChG 2030 Konading over the top, It still shone rainbow but it only peeked thru the gold insetad of being "in ya face".

In a shaded natural light.


DON'T FORGET MY NAIL ART GIVEAWAY ENDS IN 1.5 DAYS. IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY ENTERED...DO IT!

Friday Random Swatches

I've been way too busy organising my next Bead Show to take off my Stargazer from 3 days ago, so here is a bunch of random spam!



Sally Hansen Emerald City, 2 coats. Look at that shine! This is about the glossiest Dark Green I own. Noice.



Gosh Golden Dragon, 2 coats. I received this a few days ago in a swap from the lovely Smita. It's got a beautiful golden shimmer in the bottle, but this doesn't translate much onto the nail. I tried to capture the shimmer....this was the best I could do.


Full sunlight

Artificial light

Outside in the shade, no flash.

Zoya Tiffany, 2 coats. From another swap this week, thanks Carina! This is really hard to figure out if it suits me or not. It's a peach with pale pink foil shimmer, which normally I wouldn't even look at, but it doesn't seem to look too bad......

Have fun honeybuns!

OC Nail Art Super Dooper Secret Discount Code!

Want an AWESOME discount for Konad supplies from www.ocnailart.com??
It's too huge a discount to post publicly here, so you have to email Daniel direct at Kathleen@ocnail.com to receive your coupon code.

Hurry! Offer ends 31st December.

Stargazer 307 v's Orly Space Cadet

While cruising eBay I found a UK brand called Stargazer. The bottle pics were the size of a postage stamp on the listings and doing a Google search brought up zero swatch pics. This is weird as Google brings up info for ANYTHING! Even the Stargazer website only has tiny sample pics of the bottles with no swatches. Because I was buying items anyway from a seller who was stocking Stargazer, I threw a couple in for a test.

As soon as they arrived I knew straight away that number 307 was a dupe for Orly Space Cadet.

Full sunlight

Sunlight

Artificial light with a flash.

Space Cadet is on the middle and little fingers, 307 on pointer and ring. You woudl hardly know, right? SC is slightly, and I do mean VERY slightly, squint to see it, lighter finish. They both required 3 coats to become opaque, have the same finish and seem to be the exact same formula.
For us Australians, the Orly Cosmix FX collection has no anticipated release date here and will unlikely to be released here at all according to my Orly rep. To order from overseas they are $11 AUD before shipping. Stargazer is readily available on ebay and cost me $7 including shipping per bottle.

If anyone would like the seller ID I purchased these from, please leave a comment.

*****My Nail Art GIveaway ends in 5 days so if you haven't already entered...DO IT!**
http://konadlicious.blogspot.com/2010/11/born-pretty-nailart-giveaway_21.html

Glitter Gal Holographics

I have 2 more holographics for you today from the wonderful Kerry at www.glittergal.com.au.
First up is Green. I know, straight to the point color naming, hey?


This was 3 coats. It's a super sheer, super blingy holographic with a slight green tinge. At one coat, this is perfect for layering over darker colors to give them a holographic layer. Basically, you just need this one holo to turn every other color holo....cool huh?



Fuschia. Def not a Fuschia pink as typically known, this is more of a medium rose pink holo. This was also 3 coats. You could also layer one coat of this over any Pink color to give it a holographic shimmer.

Glitter Gal do *the* most blingy holographics on the market. Better yet, they are Australian based which makes it a yay moment for us Aussies instead of missing out like we always do! Don't worry tho, my International followers, Glitter Gal ship overseas!


Kerry and her team also have a new collection out.
Glitter Gal custom created Limited Edition nail polishes for “Wanted Shoes”

"We have collaborated with “Wanted Shoes” and custom created six nail polishes to compliment this season’s shoe collection. Available now at all Wanted Shoes stores."

Check out that Hot Pink color....I think I need shoes in that shade!

ChG Flying Dragon & Hidden Treasure

Look at my poor nails!

This is 2 coats of China Glaze Flying Dragon, which is high on the list for my fav purples. It dries to a semi-matte finish as the second picture shows but the red and blue glitter in it just pops when you put a top coat on.
I Konaded it with China Glaze IDK and added Hidden Treasure to the ring fingers.

Look at that rainbow shine in the sunlight!

Green Eyeshadow

Because my seriously ripped middle finger has destroyed my whole hand for who knows how long, I'm too sad to paint them today :(
I think it also jinxed my other hand because 2 nails broke today, making a total of 3 ripped nails in only 2 days. I'm thinking maybe something is seriously deficient and I need a serious dose of vitamins.
Anyway, a change of topic is needed. I'm obsessed with green eyeshadow the last couple of weeks. Every day it seems to get brighter and I find myself wasting all my free time trawling Indie mineral sites looking for any shade of green I don't already own!

Here are a couple FOTD.




Using Enchanted Forest and Mrs. Smith by Providence and Grace. Mrs. Smith is my absolute favourite bright green eyeshadow. It's wonderfully sparkly IRL and stays that way all day. Providence and Grace also ship their samples in clam shells, which I LOVE. I hate baggies! I am wearing MAC Ruby Woo lippy if anyone wants to know.




This one was using the 120 color palette that you can purchase for an average of $13 AUD on Ebay. I got mine from this seller: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200489262768.
The colors are not as pigmented as mineral colors, but they are fantastic value for the price. Using my Shelly Frances eye Primer, they last all day without fading and creasing.
Unfortunately my 2 yr old also loves this palette....I found my couches painted in a rainbow of colors with it the other day so I really need to buy a new one that doesn't have every color smeared into the other.

Who has some awesome green recommendations for me?

I saw this outside my bedroom window last night. So, just to brighten your day, here's a DOUBLE RAINBOW!!