Butter LONDON "Pitter Patter" - Swatches and Review

Hi all! I am so happy to finally be able to show you todays polish!!! The fabulous Essie from I Heart Pretty Polish sent me Pitter Patter along with Posh Bird and I am ecstatic! I love all things Royal Family and I think Kate Middleton is just divine so to hear Butter London had created a shade in honour of the Royal Baby...well it went straight to the top of my need list! Pitter Patter is such a great name for this. It is an absolutely beautiful, rich aubergine with hints of shimmer throughout. Application was amazing for me, the polish is slightly thick however I didn't find this hard to work with and the lacquer was completely opaque in 2 coats. I am a purple fanatic so this was a favourite for me before I even received it and now I am wearing it, I adore it even more. Just look at this beauty!

   
Wow. I am so impressed with this I can't get enough of it! The shimmer seems to be stronger in the bottle compared to on the nail, it really depends on the lighting though. 

I tried to get a close up of the nail to show the colour, such a deep purple! You can see the shimmer a bit better, I swear I saw some red shimmer in the bottle somewhere too! Just gorgeous. 

Two coats of Pitter Patter and my Sally Hansen Insta Dri Top Coat. It was almost this shiny without the top coat, perfect! 

The colour in the bottle is just fabulous. I can see red and even some blue shimmer in there, this is now officially my favourite purple polish. So glad it comes from one of my favourite brands too. 

I know, lots of photos but I just cannot stop looking at my nails, I feel so elegant!

Last one, I promise. I think my pointer and middle finger really show the blue and red shimmer in this polish. 

I can't say enough good things about this polish. The formula, colour, application and overall finish is just stunning. Such a cute colour and goes well with an adorable name! Pitter Patter is a US exclusive and available on the Butter London website for $15 however it says "On Holiday" at the moment so I am guessing it is sold out which is no wonder! Try and get your hands on this beauty, you will not be disappointed. I really really hope Butter LONDON release another shade when the Royal baby is born, they would come up with something stunning! Thank you for looking, I was so happy with the photos of these! THANK YOU BUTTER LONDON!!! 

Night! Em x 

Chick Nail Polish - "Hen House" Nail Mail Part 3!

Hi everyone! I feel weird not posting for even a few days! I had to work on Thursday and am working again on Sunday and can't wear any nail polish so haven't had any on for a few days, it feels so weird! Anyway, I have more nail mail to show you today, yes more, I know! Lol. I was browsing Llarowe, as us polish fanatics do (much to the sadness of my bank account) and came across the 3 free brand Chick. I loved the name of the brand so had to delve further and was very impressed with what I saw! I decided to pick up 2 polishes and today I am going to show you one I was quite fascinated with, Hen House. I can wear this until Sunday morning so I am going to enjoy it while I can :P 

I never wear dark colours and I don't know why because I think they are so elegant and stand out against my pale skin, so I thought I would take the plunge and buy one. Hen House is a luxurious, rich, deep, dark berry colour. You could say it's vampy, personally, I still don't understand that term for nail polishes but oh well, it is vampy too. Here are the swatches!

   
Artificial light and flash. I enhanced this one so you could see a little of the dark plum on the nail (ring finger has some on the edges :P) which showed through more with 1 coat however it needed 2 as it was a tad streaky but still very pigmented. The only downside of such a rich polish is that the flaws are virtually impossible to hide but the end result far outweighs this for me.

I wanted to show you the bottle. This is closer to the real colour than the one on my nails, it looks quite dark but there is a rich berry colour in there, see!? I like that it doesn't have a very distinct black base, I prefer warm colours in the base, not a harsh black.

Application of this polish was fabulous. Great sized brush and the formula was a dream to work with. This is 2 easy coats, no top coat. Polishes like this that work well are always a winner with me. 

Chick's description of this polish is great - Your mother might call this color vampy, but your friends will call it the perfect go to color for the fall and winter. With one coat it is a deep berry, with two the effect is an even deeper darker berry. I would wear this colour all year round it is beautiful. 

The end result is quite a high shine finish, especially without a top coat! Love the label too :)

I am glad I found Chick Nail Polish. Browsing Llarowe does have it's benefits lol. I can't wait to wear the other Chick polish I bought and if it's anything like Hen House, I know I won't be disappointed. This 3 free brand is fantastic and you really need to have a squiz at their range! You can buy them from Llarowe and their website and they retail for $8 but I believe they only ship to the U.S from there. Dark colours are growing on me now and after wearing this one I am going to go through a lot more! (I have Essie's "Little Brown Dress" waiting to be worn). Enjoy my photos, I find polishes that are hardest to capture on camera are usually the most beautiful in real life. 

Weekend time, woohoo! Have a wonderful time,

Em x 

Butter LONDON - "Posh Bird" Nail Mail Part 2!

Hi again everyone! I have a Butter London beauty to share with you today. The wonderful Essie from I Heart Pretty Polish kindly sent me a couple of polishes I had been dying to get! This is already one of my favourite new polishes. I know I will be wearing it again and again. Posh Bird (love the name!) is a mushroomy/taupe colour with hints of purple that flash through in certain lights. It also has silver shimmer throughout it which makes it even more amazing!

Posh Bird in artificial lighting with flash. The formula of this was wonderful. If you painted it thick enough it could be a one coater but I had a bit of balding so did two just to even it all out and as you can see it is perfect! I also used my Sally Hansen top coat. I seem to have a bad habit lately of doing my manicure and taking photos without top coat then knocking a nail and having to start all over again so I decided to completely finish this one first!

No flash this time. It is really colour accurate in the photos too. I am already planning the next time I will wear this! Application was a breeze and I like how it doesn't seem to accentuate my short nails too much, (I had to cut them for work, hate that!) or maybe thats just me!

You can see the shimmer, so pretty! As soon as I started applying it I was in love, Butter London brushes are my favourite and are so easy to work with. The colour to me is exactly what you see in the bottle which is a big plus, some polishes are so much darker/lighter on the nail!

My pinky looks so fat! Lol. I believe this was initially released as part of New York Fashion Week and is now a US exclusive. So lucky to have a beautiful friend in the US! 

Well there you have it. Nail Mail is a wonderful thing, especially when it is from a good friend and it's Butter LONDON! One of my favourite brands! Posh Bird is available on the Butter London website but if you're not in the US I'm sure eBay and many other places would stock it! They certainly should! I am so grateful to Essie for convincing me to get this and sending it to me, another favourite from Butter LONDON, they never disappoint!   

Have a great night, Em x 

Essie - "Bond With Whomever" Nail Mail Part 1!

Hi again! Today I have swatches of the new Essie shade I ordered. Getting nail mail is so exciting, especially when you have ordered so many that you don't know which polish it could be! :P So I got Essie's Bond With Whomever from their Madison Ave-Hue Spring 2013 Collection. Each of the 6 shades are completely gorgeous and inspired by some of the world's most fashionable destinations. I went to order Avenue Maintain (a gorgeous blue) first however the seller said it was leaking and could I choose another so I went with Bond With Whomever. Boy am I glad I did! I LOVE any purple on my nails and this is now officially one of my favourite shades of lacquer I own. It is a beautiful lilac/lavender creme inspired by London that looks fantastic on the nail. Not only am I obsessed with London and so happy I got this, I just can't stop looking at my nails. Application was a breeze, first coat was slightly streaky and I couldn't see much colour, causing a mini freak out of "omg what is this?!" but then a second coat evened it out completely and it was fully opaque. It is also perfectly self levelling and the brush strokes you see as you paint disappear within seconds. Enough gushing, onto my swatches!

This is 2 coats of Bond With Whomever with a coat of Sally Hansen's Insta Dri top coat. 

So nice and purple and creamy! I had read previous reviews about this and some people needed 3 coats for full opacity but I had no trouble with 2. 

Just love looking at this. A perfect lilac shade. I already know I will wear this time and time again!

It came with the smaller Essie brush. I am so pleased!!!

Another beautiful winner from Essie.

There you have it. My new favourite shade. I feel so elegant wearing this but is also a somewhat bright and happy colour I find too :) Formula, application and overall finish of this is amazing, just like many of the other Essie colours I own. I will be showing you all quite a few more, I just can't help myself! An affordable brand that (for me) has great staying power and a huge array of shades. All Essie shades are available here and they all retail for $8. Go and pick up Bond With Whomever today, you will be pleasantly surprised!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend, Em x 

Best Blog Award!

Morning everyone! The lovely Colourful Cupcake Cat has nominated me for the Best Blog Award! Thank you so much, it means a lot! :)

 The rules are:
1. Answer the questions asked by the blog who nominated you.
2. Nominate up to 20 other blogs with less than 200 followers.
3. Create 11 questions for them to answer.

So, here are my answers to Cupcake Cat's questions :)

1. What is your favourite movie?
Wow hard question...probably The Notebook or anything based on Nicholas Sparks books!

2. How many nail polishes do you own?
At the moment probably around 30 but this number is steadily growing!

3. Do you have any pets?
Yes, a bird and some fish

4. What nail polish are you longing for at the moment?

Well I cant wait to get my Butter LONDON Pitter Patter from the wonderful Essie and I really want OPI Diva Of Geneva too (thanks Melissa!)

5. Have you travelled to other countries?

Not yet but I desperately want to!

6. What base and top coat are you using?

At the moment I use Essie grow richer base coat or my Essence 24/7 Nail base one and I love Sally Hansen's Insta Dri Top Coat!

7. Do you read? What kind of books?

I am a total bookworm? I love anything by John Marsden, Tony Park, the Harry Potter and Hunger Games Series and Lesley Lokko is another of my favourite authors

8. What made you decide to start your blog?

I chatted back and forth to a good friend Essie about it and she finally convinced me to take the plunge!

9. Could you live without a TV?

No! I love Criminal Minds and Arthur too much LOL

10. Chocolate or gummy bears?

Chocolate

11. Do you collect anything?

Nail polish :P and books

My Nominees...
Lacquer Reverie
Fairly Charming
Beauty Lit From Within
Ten Little Nubs
Nails By Coco
Me Gusta Nail Polish

My Questions for the nominees...
1. Summer or Winter?
2. Do you have an iPhone?
3. Are you currently studying?
4. How long have you had your blog for?
5. Have you done any nail art tutorials on your blog?
6. Favourite nail polish?
7. Do you enjoy baking?
8. What polish have you worn that has stayed on the longest?
9. Are you afraid of heights?
10. Does it snow where you live?
11. Have you ever been to London?

I hope you all like reading this as much as I did answering and creating questions :) Thanks again to Cat, love your blog!

Have a great day, Em x 

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear "Bubblegum Pink"

Hi again! A new swatch for you today and I am so excited! :) I got Bubblegum Pink by Sally Hansen the other day and have been dying to try it out. This is exactly as the name describes; a bright, gorgeous bubblegum pink and it even has the smallest amount of shimmer in it! I was looking for a nice pink for ages and came across this, perfect! I prefer paler pinks compared to hot pinks and fuchsias so this one is great for me. Application is quite good, it was nearly opaque in one coat however there was a bit of balding and dragging towards my cuticles so I added another one to even it out. Here are my swatches, woohoo! I love getting new nail polishes :D 

A real bubblegum pink! All swatches are 2 coats of lacquer and I used my Sally Hansen Insta Dri Anti Chip Top Coat :)

Love this!

It really is this pink in real life, but not too pink, so pleased!

See the slight shimmer in the bottle, not as obvious on the nail but adds another nice dimension to the polish.

There you have it, I am SO happy I bought this, it was $3.50 and totally worth it. A pink that I will enjoy wearing, not too bright, just right for me :) Sally Hansen has so many polishes out, I will definitely have to try more of them thats for sure. Perfect pink to have in your collection.

Enjoy and have a wonderful night, Em x 

Nail Mail!

Hi everyone! Just a quick post, I got home from uni today and there were 2 packages waiting for me, yay!!! I got Essie's "Bond With Whomever" and Butter LONDON "Cheeky Chops". I also picked up Sally Hansen "Bubblegum Pink"! 

So many new swatches coming, I don't know what to wear first! I have to work tomorrow and can't wear any nail polish which is killing me!!! Ahhhh! Will have some more posts up tomorrow with my new babies, woohoo!!!

Don't you just LOVE getting packages in the post?!? Especially when its new polishes!!! 

Em x 

China Glaze "Strawberry Fields" Swatches and Review

Hello again! Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend :) New post for you today, another beauty from China Glaze - Strawberry Fields. I believe this was part of their Summer 2009 Collection and it is still extremely popular. This is a hot pink/fuchsia polish with an orangey gold shimmer, it is incredible. The shimmer is so obvious both in the bottle and on the nail, such a winner! It was hard to capture the correct colour of this, it is so bright! A few swatches for you...

I don't normally wear bright pink polishes but I am glad I have added this one to my stash. This is 2 coats of lacquer, no top coat. It is still very slightly sheer and could have done with a third coat to reach full opacity but I have bad luck doing 3 coats of polish :P 

Bright and bold!  

Look at that shimmer! Application of this was a breeze, I love the China Glaze brushes, so good for my little nails! 

This is a great pink colour, the added shimmer adds another dimension which I love, I much prefer shimmer/holo compared to glitter and this one is no exception! It really makes me want to eat strawberries now, yum!

Have a good night, Em x 

Essie "Braziliant" from the Summer 2011 Collection - Swatches and Review

Hi again! I have a fantastic post for you today! In honour of Mother's Day, I took some inspiration from Melissa over at Lacquer Reverie and asked Mum to choose a nail polish for me to wear :) She LOVES coral and orange and anything bright so she chose Essie's Braziliant, a lacquer I got for her as a present. My mum has fantastic taste thats for sure. I am not a huge orange wearer, in fact I never wear orange polish however this one I would happily wear again. Braziliant, the title shade of Essie's Summer 2011 Collection, is a gorgeous orange/mandarin shade with a hint of shimmer throughout it. Really, can you say BRIGHT!!! This shade is on fire! I haven't seen an orange that stands out in the way this one does, the shimmer certainly adds that special touch. Onto some swatches! This is quite picture heavy, I couldn't believe the colour in the photos!

Artificial light, no flash. The colour has slightly more red in it in real life but wow!!!

Very fluro but some lights this is what shows through! I used 2 coats of lacquer, no top coat. Application was great...however; it had the huge Essie brush! I was so disappointed! It was hard to apply on my tiny nails but I managed :)

One of my favourite pictures. We have the fire on today and I couldn't resist, very fiery orange!

I couldn't quite capture the shimmer on the nail as much as I would have liked, it is more obvious in the bottle but it really does show through in real life!

Another picture without the flash, yes, it really is this bright!!!

Mum chose a brilliant polish for me today! I am so glad I wore it and took photos for you all, this is the only colour I picked up in this collection and it's the only one I need for now, nothing says summer like a gorgeous, fiery orange! This is the kind of orange I would associate with Katniss "The Girl On Fire" from the Hunger Games, bold, bright and brilliant!!!

Have a great night, Em x 

Base Coats I like to use...

Hi all! :) Hope you had a fantastic weekend. On this rainy Monday morning I thought I would share with you the base coats I am very fond of! This will be a quick post but no doubt I will have another one for you today, I mean staying inside, listening to the rain and painting my nails, or doing uni assignments? I think you can guess which I would prefer :P 

One of my favourite base coats to use is Essie's Grow Richer Base Coat. I picked this up for a bargain and have been using it religiously ever since. My nails really aren't too terrible however I like them to be strong and nourished, which makes this one perfect :) It goes on clear and dries with a slightly rough feel...That may just be how I describe it, its not super bumpy or anything but I believe it really does help nail lacquer to stick well and I like to have a good quality base coat. 

I like that I can slap on a coat of this and leave it for a day or so if I get distracted. It leaves your nails looking shiny and stops mine from breaking. It also helps prevent staining, a couple of my polishes leave such bad stains however this seems to dull that a bit and coats my nails :) 

Whilst doing a bit of shopping the other day, I came across the Essence brand. Yes, I had seen this before but stupidly, didn't think to try it out. I don't know why! I came home with a base coat, top coat and nail corrector pen and it cost me about $8 all up! The base coat I purchased was the Studio Nails 24/7 Nail Base. 

This is another winner. I have to say, I have been using this more than my Essie base coat now. This one is a milky white colour that applies clear and actually dries matte. It promises to keep polish on for 7 days, I don't remember the last time I kept a polish on for that long however I might have to do a little experiment with this one!

My naked nails :O (Feels so weird without polish on haha) With the Essence base coat. You can see the matte look and I thought this was quite cool. Once you've applied this base coat you can watch it dry and you know when each nail has turned matte then its onto the colour! I really like this one, I feel it provides a good base for the lacquer to stick to and I haven't had any problems with chipping or colour peeling off in one big piece (has happened before!). The brush is also one of my favourites. It is easy to apply with my tiny nails and actually splays out and covers the whole nail in one stroke (well my pinky and ring fingers anyway).  

If you are looking for an affordable base coat that does the job, I would highly recommend either of these. They are both fantastic and it proves you can have a great base coat without the high price tag! (If I remember correctly, the Essence one was around $2.55!) Have a wonderful day and I will be back soon with another swatch post :D

Em x  

Orly "Rage"

Hi again! Today's post is more successful than the last one let me tell you that! I was just having a very bad day painting my nails! I thought I would show you Orly Rage. I got this in a mini bottle as they didn't have the big sizes here (of course!). It is a rose gold, metallic, sparkly polish that changes colour in different lights, it is gorgeous, I love it! Application was perfect, the brush is really nice to use and if you are careful enough you could get away with one coat, however I did two just out of habit and I think it evens it all out nicely :) You may be able to see very very slight brush strokes in the pictures but after looking at my finished nails, they didn't seem to obvious, not like some polishes I have come across in the past! I don't quite understand the name "Rage" for this polish, it is a very feminine and elegant colour in my opinion! Not something I associate with rage but oh well! Swatches galore below! 

 

Rage! Really love this colour, mum was eyeing it off! :P

All photos are with a flash. Colour is so hard to properly describe, some lights it looks metallic/foil like and others it is almost pink!

Even though it was a mini bottle, application was as easy as pie. 

There is a hidden shimmer to this which makes me love it even more :)

If you haven't tried an Orly polish yet, you should. I first saw this when I was watching youtube videos by Essiebutton and had to try it out. My first Orly so far and after this one, I know I have to have more of them! Just like most other nail polishes! :P I love my obsession :D Hope you are having a fantastic weekend and this gives you polish inspiration if you are looking for a new and unique shade :)

Em x 

Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant - "Forever Frosted"

Hi everyone! A new post for you today, I finally got my hands on one of the new Covergirl polishes. They had a buy one get one free deal so I decided on this and another lavender shade. Jennifer Lawrence wore this to the Oscars and it is a fabulously glamorous shade. Another celeb wearing a shade I had to have, yes I know but it is Covergirl and each polish was $6! Super, super pale, frosty pink that applies effortlessly. This does go on slightly streaky first coat, however another one evens it out and it self levels quite well. The other thing I love it that with 1, 2 or 3 coats you can totally change the look, from nude "your nails but better" nails, to a gorgeous almost white bridal type colour. 
As you can see in the pic below, the bottle design is so cute, love the square look and the cap is quite easy to handle. I found you can take the "lid" off to reveal a small round handle underneath, like the Butter London polishes. 

This is Jen with the shade on, looks very elegant and goes perfectly with her dress. Had to throw that picture in there too :P Now, onto my swatches! All pictures are 2 coats of Forever Frosted, no top coat and taken in artificial light and with the flash except the last pic :) 

Forever Frosted. I have to say, I'm not completely happy with the finished look, 2 coats is still a bit streaky and I just am not a huge fan at the moment. It looks great on and I wish I could pull it off, maybe I am having a bad polish day today :(

With the bottle. Excuse my dry hands, I get terrible cuts and everything on my fingers from dry skin it is terribly annoying! 

Took this one without the flash, more natural look at the colour.

Well, I have to say I am not 100% happy with the end result of this polish, the application and colour is great but I just couldn't get it to work for me today! Hopefully I have more luck with it next time, I would love it to turn out as well as it did with JLaw! 

Have a great weekend, yay! Em x 

Swatches and Review: piCture pOlish "Paradise"

I am so thrilled to bring you today's post. It is one of the other piCture pOlish shades I own, Paradise, a collaboration shade with Liquid Jelly. This beauty is a darkish blue/turquoise base with pink shimmer and large pink glitter pieces throughout. The slogan on the bottle is "beautiful & lovely a state of delight!" This really is beautiful and lovely! I am just in awe of this shade. It is incredible and impossible to capture just one colour in it. The formula of this polish was quite thick but very easy to work with. I have quite a few pictures, I couldn't resist, it is amazing! All pictures are 3 coats of Paradise, no top coat :)

Taken outside, the sun is shining today! Look at that depth of colour! 

Natural light, in the shade. The glitter transfers beautifully onto the nail. 

You can see how packed full of colour this is, I have never seen a polish like it!

Paradise in the shade - stunning colours

What a polish! I have to say, I think I prefer Paradise to Majesty, the other piCture pOlish shade I have. I love blues and with pink shimmer and glitter, this one is top notch! A wonderful collaboration shade, have a look at piCture pOlish for more details. Liquid Jelly did a great job on this shade, to this day I haven't spotted a dupe yet! I think this is something we should all have in our stash, so unique and everyone seems to love it! It is so eye catching :) Do you own any piCture pOlish shades, or Paradise? 

Have a beautiful day, Em x 

Swatches and Review: Essie "Tea and Crumpets"

Hi all! Hope you've had a great day, I have another Essie favourite of mine for you, Tea and Crumpets. I am a huge fan of Essie and I got this polish off eBay for a bargain :) always love a polish special! I felt like wearing a nude colour today so I chose this one. It is a very nude light light caramel/tea/beige colour with a touch of shimmer, it almost looks metallic in some lights. I used 2 coats of Tea and Crumpets with no top coat and it is a lovely polish. The only thing that annoyed me was it does leave visible brush strokes. As long as you are careful it isn't too bad but it does frustrate me sometimes, especially if my hand is shaky! Anyway, onto the swatches.

Such a hard polish to photograph! All photos are with a flash and in artificial light.

A great nude in my opinion.

You can see a slight shimmer/metallic look to the finish.

I found that 2 coats was still slightly sheer and I have a little VNL but nothing too obvious.

Hope you are liking my posts as much as I love creating them. Check out the Essie website for all their colours, there are loads! If I were ever to have tea and crumpets with the Queen :P or even Kate Middleton (love her!) then this would be the polish I would wear!

Em x