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

OPI Haul

OPI is my favourite brand (tied with Kester Black). I first started getting into OPI last year when I found out they had a Holland collection. Seeing as I'm Dutch I had to get my hands on the whole collection… obviously. Every since then, I fell in love. Now OPI is the brand I have the most nail polishes of.

Living in Australia is pretty expensive, regular retail price for OPI here is $20. I know if I convert that back to pounds, it'll be the same as what they're sold for in the UK, but $20 for ONE nail polish is a bit excessive! Another thing you need to know about me, I rarely pay full price for anything. I will do anything and everything to find discounts, so that's exactly what I do for OPI's. I found a stole in Melbourne that sells OPIs for $10! Score! Most of them are from older collections, and they don't have a huge selection to choose from, but I have found some amazing colours there including Just Spotted The Lizard, Pink Friday and My Very First Knockwurst. 

Anyway this post isn't about that haul, this is about a haul from eBay. Buying OPI's from eBay can be a bit risky, there are a lot of fakes online so in the UK I always steered clear of that, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I did a lot of research on how to spot a fake OPI (which I'll blog about later), but I found a few sellers that sell the real deal: Alwaysyouthful, Jojammy1 and becc1874. 

My recent order is from Alwaysyouthful. The nail polishes retail for around $11.50 and shipping is $6.95 and stays that price no matter how much you order. I ordered the following nail polishes: 

Koala Bear-y, I Saw…U Saw… We Saw… Warsaw, Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok Fine!, I Love Applause, Baby Please Come Home 

The OPI names seem to be getting longer and longer! I will be reviewing each nail polish individually and will compare them with similar colours. 

Kester Black Architecture in Helsinki 1

Kester Black is my favourite brand (tied with OPI). The unique thing about Kester Black nail polishes is that they're 100% Australian made! Not only that but they are also 5 free, cruelty free and vegan. All in all an amazing brand. They retail for $17 each and are definitely worth the price. All the polishes I have tried - I own 16 - are extremely opaque and have great colour pay off.

In this post I will be discussing the first new limited addition polishes for Architecture In Helsinki. This collection contains two nail polishes: NOW and 4EVA, the title of Architecture In Helsinki's new cd. They're an Australian indie pop band, and the only band my boyfriend and I BOTH like. That doesn't happen too often!

NOW is a vibrant medium sky blue. It's such a beautiful colour and very unique in my collection. The only similar looking colour I own is OPI No Room For The Blues but that's a little darker and much more muted true blue, whereas NOW leans more towards cyan. The photo doesn't show the difference is colour as well as I'd like.

The new Kester Black nail polishes have a new type of brush. It's a thick flat brush so it makes application very easy. For the swatch to the right I used two coats. As I applied the first coat I noticed quite a bit of streakiness, but as it dried that evened out nicely. With careful application you can easily get away with applying one coat, I decided to add a second coat anyway. The result is beautiful, I took the photo when the nail polish was completely dry and didn't use a top coat. You can see how shiny it is!!

I would say this is more of a spring/summer colour and seeing as it's autumn in Australia right now I won't wear it as often. That being said, I am super excited about this colour and because of the easily application it'll be a great colour for my travels!