OPI Push & Shove

OPI Push and Shove came out with the Gwen Stefani Collection this year. It was a great collection with lots of unique finishes, very different from any other collection that has come out. I was only really interested in Push and Shove because it was a chrome finish unlike any chrome finish that's come out so far. It's a bit controversial because it's advertised for one night only, meaning it chips super fast, and it's recommended to wear without a top coat as that could dampen the effect.

I was super excited to test it out, see what this nail polish was all about..

You start off with using a special base coat that comes with the polish. It's called Lay Down That Base. It's a bit of a weird base coat. It didn't layer over my nail treatment - it went a bit patchy and just horrible! So definitely apply the base coat over your bare nails. It was still a strange base coat though, it wasn't shiny when it dried and didn't feel very smooth...

Anyway I just went ahead and applied the chrome nail polish. It's super opaque with just one coat, but OPI recommends two coats so that's exactly what I'll do! Apply the first coat with one very gentle stroke. If you go back over the nail polish it easily creates bald patches and looks so horrible you'll have to start all over again. Luckily OPI has a thick brush, so if you push down on the brush slightly it should cover your whole nail.

When you apply the nail polish it doesn't look very mirror-like, but as it dries it becomes more and more shiny and reflective. By the time the first coat dries, add the second coat. Again do it in one gentle stroke to cover your whole nail.

The final result it stunning. It's the most mirror-like chrome nail polish I've ever seen. I couldn't stop staring at my nails! Let's be honest though, I can never stop staring at new nail polish, but this made me stare even more than normal!

The controversial part is how long the nail polish lasts. It chips super fast. I took these photos after only a few hours of wear and you can already see the nail polish is slightly scratched.  I applied it in the morning and by the evening it was pretty chipped. I didn't add a top coat as it OPI says it gets rid of the shine, however other bloggers have said it makes no difference to the appearance but does make it last longer. I'll have to give it a try! I don't mind nail polish chipping on me because usually I only wear nail polish for 1 day, but I'd rather it not chip within those 24 hours.

All in all it's fantastic and since I've bought it I've worn it quite a few times. The chipping isn't going to stop me from wearing it! It's super unique and the formula is super easy to work with. I'm 100% impressed.

Kester Black Lilac

Kester Black Lilac

Lilac is one of the newest colours by Kester Black. It's only recently come out in the Winter Collection along with two other polishes. I only picked up Lilac because I love purples.

Lilac is like Fairy Floss's purple sister. They're pretty much identical, but lilac is slightly more purple toned and fairy floss slightly more pink. Lilac is a little more pink toned, however, than other pale purples. I feel like Rumple's Wiggin by OPI and Lilac Bloom by Ulta3 are slightly more blue toned.

Kester Black Lilac & Fairy Floss Comparison

Kester Black Lilac

The formula is fantastic. For such a light pale colour you'd expect it to be very streaky, but it looks perfect with just two coats! The thick brush makes the nail polish so easy to apply, I only need one brush stroke for an entire nail! It's a super pale purple, and I don't think any colour in my collection is quite as pale and pink toned as this purple.

Kester Black Lilac

Kester Black Fairy Floss

Kester Black Fairy Floss

This nail polish is so much more beautiful than I thought it would be. The third nail polish from my recent haul is Fairy Floss by Kester Black. I never really cared too much about pale pink shades, until I bought Pink Friday by OPI and now I can't get enough of these kinds of colours! Pink Friday and Fairy Floss are nothing alike though.

Fairy Floss is a gorgeous baby pink. It's a really light warm toned pastel pink. It's different from other pale pinks because I feel like they lean more blue toned.

Kester Black Fairy Floss

The application was incredibly easy. This nail polish comes with the thick nail polish brush mentioned in a previous post so I can get away with applying the colour with just one stroke. This way it's a very even streak free application without any chance of getting bald spots. It dries incredibly quick and for the second coat I, again, only applied one brush stroke. The colour is fully opaque in just two coats, which is amazing for such a light pastel colour. I also didn't apply a top coat, it's shiny all on its own.

Kester Black Fairy Floss

I always felt like pale pinks would be too girly and barbie-like but this isn't like that at all. It's pretty but not too girly and it's great for the spring and summer!

Kings day in The Netherlands

Yesterday was Kings day in The Netherlands. I'm Dutch so had to celebrate. The Dutch Flag is red white and blue, but Hollands national colour is orange.

I will be travelling up the East Coast of Australia for 1 month so don't have any of my nail art supplies with me, other than a dotting tool... So this is my Kingsday manicure!

I used OPI's Where Did Suzi's Man-Go for the orange. It's a really nice pale orange colour that's easy to apply. I used two coats. I used OPI's Alpine Snow for the white. Again, I only needed two coats. For the red dots I used Kester Black's Cherry Pie and finally for the blue dots I used OPI's No Room For The Blues.

Today I'll be celebrating Kings day in Melbourne. There is an event set up along the Yarra River where there will be Dutch food so I'm super excited!!

Orange day Melbourne

Frikandellen

Kester Black Alimony

Kester Black Alimony

Another nail polish from Kester Black that I've wanted for ages is Alimony, part of the collaboration with Trophy Wife. They released two nail polishes together, Alimony and Gold Digger. I bought Gold Digger when it came out, and now I finally have Alimony.

On the Kester Black website this is described to be a bright mint green. I feel like it leans a bit more turquoise, but either way it's beautiful.

Kester Black Alimony

Like all Kester Blacks, the formula was amazing. I used two super easy coats for full opacity. There was no streakiness and it dried super quick. I didn't add a topcoat so all that gloss it from the polish itself. It's another unique colour in my collection. I make it sound like I don't have many nail polishes since everything is always unique, but I have over 100 at the moment. Half with me in Australia and the other half in the UK. I can't wait to be reunited with all my polishes!

Anyway, the colour is beautiful, super opaque and glossy! What more can you ask for??

Kester Black Alimony

Kester Black Blueberry Tart

Kester Black Blueberry Tart

The whole reason for my Kester Black haul was to get Blueberry Tart. I have been looking for the perfect light sky blue. Something that isn't as light as a baby blue, but isn't as bright or neon like Kester Black's NOW from the Architecture in Helsinki collection. I couldn't find the perfect blue anywhere. I originally loved a blue from Nail It at Sportsgirl, but when I went back to buy it, it was gone! I went to quite a few different stores, but it was no where to be found. Then I started looking What's With The Cattitude by OPI. I feel like everyone has this colour and everyone talks about this colour. Unfortunately it came out years ago and is impossible to find. I think I found it on an american eBay once but it was between $30-$40 (US)! No way. I was about to give up... until I started looking around for Kester Black swatches. And there it was. Blueberry Tart. Right there. So I had to have it. That's a long introduction to this colour!!

Kester Black Blueberry Tart

Anyway, back to the point. Blueberry Tart is the most perfect light pastel sky blue. It's darker than a baby blue, and much lighter than a traditional sky blue. I don't have any colours like this in my collection.

For the swatch I used two coats and no top coat. It's super glossy on its own. The formula was slightly more tricky than I'm used to with Kester Black. It was a little streaky but the second coat easily covered that up. I'm so in love with the colour! I'm so happy its finally part of my collection, and I'm happy that I got it from Kester Black rather than OPI or Nail It by Sportsgirl!

Kester Black Blueberry Tart

Kester Black Haul

Kester Black Tropicana Launch Party

If you've read my blog before you'll know that I absolutely love Kester Black. It's a 5 free, cruelty free, vegan Australian nail polish brand created by Anna Ross. I was first introduced to the brand on Instagram and soon after I was able to review her new Tropicana Spring/Summer collection. I was invited to their nail polish launch party, which was both for the Tropicana collection as well as the Kester Black and Trophy Wife collaboration. The photo to the right shows the two collaboration nail polishes: Gold Digger and Alimony.

Ever since then I've been loving the brand. The nail polishes are such high quality and extremely pigmented. There is a fantastic colour range from cremes in every colour of the rainbow, to rainbow holographic glitters!

Now on to the haul... I ordered 4 nail polishes from Kester Black. At the moment she's got a special Mothers Day offer where you can order 3 nail polishes for $45 instead of $17 each. I also bought a fourth nail polish because I love them so much! I placed my order on Easter sunday and received it Wednesday. Super quick shipping especially with the bank holiday on Monday!

Kester Black Packaging

The packaging is great, it was all wrapped in cute holographic paper and in special Kester Black boxes. I was shocked when I received 5 nail polishes!!! I emailed Anna a few days before about a colour she used to have in her shop called Ice Cream Soda, she told me she might have a couple left and she might put them on her website. Unfortunately I had to place my order before she had put it on her website because I'm leaving in less than a week! When I opened the boxes... there it was!! I had been searching for the colour the day before in Melbourne CBD and South Melbourne but couldn't find it anywhere. I'm so incredibly thankful, Anna is the sweetest!

Fairy Floss, Blueberry Tart, Alimony, Ice Cream Soda, Lilac

The other nail polishes I ordered were Fairy Floss, Blueberry Tart, Alimony and Lilac. It looks very spring doesn't it? The whole reason for the order was to buy Blueberry Tart. It's such a gorgeous light blue, not quite baby blue. I've also always wanted Alimony (part of the Trophy Wife Collection) as I bought Gold Digger at the launch party. I'm obsessed with purples and own every other purple by Kester Black so when Lilac came out for the winter collection I knew I had to have that too! And finally fairy floss because I'd seen the most beautiful swatches of that colour!

Fairy Floss, Blueberry Tart, Alimony, Ice Cream Soda, Lilac by Kester Black

I'm really excited to try these all out! I don't know where to start!!

ABC Challenge: C

I started this ABC challenge series on my instagram and really enjoyed it so I thought I'd blog about it too! Check out the rest of my ABC posts here.

Essie Chinchilly

C is for Chinchilly by Essie. Chinchilly is a beautiful tape grey colour that sometimes looks slightly more purple, other times grey, and other times brown. It's a beautiful colour. It isn't the most unique colour in my collection, OPI Taupe-less beach is almost identical, but when I bought this I had nothing like it.

It has a great formula, I feel like it's a little more liquid formula than most Essie's but that wasn't a problem for the application. The nail polish is also slightly sheer, but I used two coats for the swatch and everything is opaque!

Dwarf Hamster Chili

I love the colour, but it also has a sentimental meaning to me. I had a hamster called Chili, who was the sweetest and most adorable dwarf hamster ever. Is he not cute???

Anyway, the nail art I decided to create is Chili! I used Chinchilly for the base of all my nails apart from my ring finger. I used OPI's Don't Bossa Nova Me Around for that. I also used Chinchilly to create Chili. I used a black nail art pen from Barry M to create the paw prints and the face, and I used a pink nail art pen from Sally Hansen to create the nose and inner ears.

Bella Box April 2014

I have been subscribed to the monthly beauty subscription service Bella Box for a few months now and have been loving it. It's my first ever monthly beauty subscription and it's been a great one to start with. What makes Bella Box unique is that each box is specifically created for yourself. When you create an account you have to answer a few questions and with that they decide which items you receive. It's very clever. For example, I told them I have curly dyed hair and I've been getting tons of hair samples for curly and colour damaged hair. Perfect!!

Unfortunately, this month is my last Bella Box as I'll be moving back to the UK, but as always, it's a great one! The packaging is super cute, since I've had Bella Box they have had quite a few different styles of packaging but I think this new one is permanent. Not only are you receiving 6 beauty samples, but the box is so cute that I'll be keeping that too!

When you open the box first you'll see the little card of all the info and the theme of the month.

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First up is Avon's Mega Effects Mascara in Blackest Black. I have always wanted to try this weird mascara. The card reads: "This is the breakthrough mascara everyone is talking about. Avon's first ever Wonderbrush bends and adjusts to multiple angles capturing every lash. Simply pull off the red lid, grip the red handle, and pull the brush out of the black half, containing the clump-proof, sweat-proof formula".

The second product is this little Vaseline lotion. It's such a cute small bottle and perfect for when I got travelling. It smells really nice, fresh and clean. The card reads: "One of the only anti-aging moisturisers for your body on the market - show your body the same kind of love as you would for your face with Ultimate 10. Expect firmer, hydrated skin, reduced dark marks, and a more refined skin texture." The full size bottle of 225ml only costs $7.68! Bargain!

Indio is a brand I have received before in my Bella Box as a spot treatment and it was amazing, so seeing another Indio product was really exciting. This is a tinted eye cream so hydrates and covers at the same time. The card reads: "This anti-aging eye cream is ace for day use, with inbuilt sunscreen and concealing properties. It works to draw moisture into the delicate eye tissue, whilst plumping out fine lines thanks to the inclusion of powerful anti-oxidants." I'm really excited to try this!

Next is a lip balm from Burt's Bees. It smells really nice and pepperminty and applies really smoothly to my lips. It does tingly a bit which I don't really mind. The card reads: "Give your lips the soothing feeling they deserve. This natural lip balm is rich in vitamins and essential fatty acids, to nourish, condition and soften lips. No wonder its Burt's most popular product!" These lip balms retail for $7.95.

The last product (apart from the bonus) is a Montage Jeunesse mask for Dry Skin. These are the masks I always used to use for sleepovers when I was younger. They're really fun and smell great! The card reads: "Hydrated and flowing skin isn't just for summer months! Treat your face to a hard working yet affordable treatment with this Dry Skin Mask containing antioxidants like Raspberries, Blueberries and Red Grapes." This masks retails for only $4.99!

The bonus product is a sample set of Revlon's Nearly Naken Make-up. The foundation comes in 12 shades, and I received 4 little sample saches.

I'm always really impressed with Bella Box, it's only $15 a month but you get way more than that. The full size Avon Mascara is $19.95 on its own!

Butter London Trout Pout & Snog

Butter London Trout Pout

There is nothing more exciting than going through a friends nail polish collection and trying out new polishes. I tested out two amazing Butter London nail polishes: Trout Pout and Snog. I do own a few Butter London nail polishes myself, but only 1 creme polish, the rest is all glitters! I do like the formula for the creme polishes, but the brand mainly stood out to me for their glitters. Trying some more cremes definitely changed my mind

Butter London Trout Pout

First up is Trout Pout, a beautiful coral. The formula was fantastic, I applied two easy coats of the polish for the swatch. The polish is slightly thick, but that didn't make it difficult to apply. The first coat was slightly streaky, but because of the amazing opacity the second coat evened everything out. It's a stunning and a perfect shade for the spring/summer.

Butter London Snog

The second nail polish is called Snog. It's a much darker berry colour that leans hot pink. It really reminds me of OPI's Koala-beary. The colour is very similar, but the formula is similar too. For the swatch I only used one coat. You can see a slight nail line so I would advise doing two coats, but I wanted to show you how opaque the formula is. It's also super glossy and dried quickly.

I'm so impressed with the two creme polishes from Butter London that I might have to go and buy a few myself!!

OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender

Lucky Lucky Lavender by OPI is the nail polish that started my OPI obsession. I had other OPI's and they were all great, but I hadn't fallen in love with the brand yet. I bought Lucky Lucky Lavender almost a year ago and haven't stopped buying OPI....

This nail polish is a shade in between pink and purple. Although it looks more pink in the photos, when you hold it next to an actual pink it definitely looks purple, but when you hold it next to a purple it looks pink! It's hard to place it in my nail polish collection since I have no shade like it!

The application was flawless. It's a creme polish but was a little sheer on the first coat. The second coat however completely covered it up. For the swatch I used two coats.  There was absolutely no streakiness and I didn't get any bald patches either. It was a dream to apply. I also didn't have to do any clean up.

I didn't add a top coat to the polish. It's super shiny on its own! However, I only wore it for 24 hours and I saw some chipping, so I would advise to add a top coat. It wasn't major chipping and no one would really see it unless they looked closely.

It's a beautiful nail polish for spring, although it's autumn here and I'm wearing it anyway!!

ABC Challenge: B

I started this ABC challenge series on my instagram and really enjoyed it so I thought I'd blog about it too! Check out the rest of my ABC posts here.

Barry M Blue Grape

B is for Blue Grape by Barry M. Blue grape is part of the Gelly Nail Effects line, which consist of 21 colours. This line has a hi shine super glossy gel effect, without the need for UV lights. The nail polishes are slightly thicker than their normal nail polish line, which makes them more opaque too. This colour seems to be a little bit of a different formula, but still super glossy.

Blue Grape is a bright royal blue. It applies a little sheer, I applied two coats are you still see my nail line. Usually I'm not a fan of that, but the colour itself is so beautiful that I forgive it. The formula is incredibly easy: it easily glides over my nail and is more of a jelly formula than the others from the gelly line.

Barry M Blue Grape, Models Own Blueberry, Essie Navigate Her

I decided to create a floral manicure using Blue Grape as well as Models Own Blueberry Muffin and Essie's Navigate Her. Blueberry Muffin is the most beautiful baby blue I've ever used. I find it's quite a thick formula, but it's super opaque and I only need two coats. I also love it because it smells of sweet blueberry muffins. I used a dotting tool and created some large dots on my nails using Blue Grape. I then used a small dotting tool and Blueberry Muffin to add some detail to the roses. Finally I used Navigate Her to add some leaves. I always use the same green to create leaves for floral nails. I think navigate her is the perfect muted green nail polish that won't over power the flowers.

Essie Penny Talk

Essie Penny Talk

Essie Penny Talk came out in the Mirror Metallic Collection in the summer of 2012. The collection consisted of 5 metallic shades including a gold, silver, blue, purple and pink. Penny Talk is the rose gold coppery toned polish.

I'm not the biggest fan of metallic shades, but I think they look beautiful for nail art. I was pleasantly surprised when I put this on my nails though, it's a stunning colour.

Essie Penny Talk

I applied two very easy coats onto my nail. With careful application you can definitely get away with one as it's a very opaque formula. I applied quite a thick coat, because the formula dries very quick. If you're using thin coats it easily creates bald patches which get difficult to cover up.

 The colour looks slightly more rose toned on the nail than it does in the bottle. It applies a little dark, but I found it lightens as it dries.

Today is a pretty gloomy rainy day in Melbourne, and it doesn't really match the weather. I can imagine this is beautiful in the sun.

Essie Penny Talk

The nail polish is still readily available in Australia. I bought mine from priceline a few weeks ago. Normally Essie retails for about $18 at Priceline, but they have tons of sales, so wait for that!

Kester Black Deep Violet & Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Kester Black Deep Violet

I briefly mentioned this nail polish in my nail polish tag post, but it's such a gorgeous colour I decided to dedicate a whole post for it. First of all Kester Black is an Australian Vegan Cruelty free brand that makes awesome nail polishes. They have a fantastic colour range that goes from nudes to neons and everything in between. If you follow my blog you'll know I'm obsessed with Kester Black and is tied with OPI as my favourite nail polish brand. This is Kester Black's Deep Violet.

Kester Black Deep Violet

I love deep pigmented rich colours in the autumn. I love them all year round, but in the Autumn I especially love them. This is quite a new one in my collection. I have been eyeing it online for the longest time, but because I'm travelling back to the UK soon, I've had to put a huge hold on my nail polishing buying. Well... I bought it anyway. Along with Max Factors Fantasy Fire. Oops. In my defence Kester Black is only available in Australia and the Max Factor is a teeny tiny little bottle.

This colour is even more incredible that I thought it would be. It's a one coater. In the photo you can see a teeny bit of patchiness, but in real life that's not there I promise. It's such a gorgeous deep violet. lol that's the name.

Kester Black Deep Violet

Anyway it's so stunning and I don't have anything like it in my collection. I own Barry M's Plum, which is another very dark purple. I don't have it here with me at the moment so I can't do a side by side comparison, but I feel the Kester Black is lighter and more pink toned, whereas Plum is a lot darker and more blue toned. Both are one coaters though and are super shiny.

When I get back to the UK I can do a comparison!

Kester Black Deep Violet & Max Factor Fantasy Fire

I decided to layer Max Factors Fantasy Fire over Deep Violet. It just completely transforms!! Fantasy Fire is quite a sheer nail polish so I would recommend layering it over another colour. It layers perfectly over Kester Black's Deep Violet, but I also layered it over OPI's I Saw... U Saw... We Saw... Warsaw and that looked stunning too.

Kester Black Deep Violet & Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Fantasy Fire is a multi chrome nail polish that shifts between purple blue and pink. It's a dupe for Clarins 230, which was an incredibly popular shade but has been discontinued. After a quick eBay search, Clarins 230 is listed for $75-$154 (Australian Dollar).  This tiny little bottle is $6, which is obviously cheap compared to Clarins 230, but still pretty pricey for such a small bottle! Totally worth it though.

I layered one coat of Fantasy Fire over Deep Violet.

I couldn't stop taking photos of it! These photos only really show the pink of the polish, that's the most dominant colour. In the photo with flash you see a lot more of the blue tones coming through. In real life it's a thousand times more beautiful and I just couldn't stop looking.

Flash - Day Light

ester Black Deep Violet & Max Factor Fantasy Fire