Sew Psyched

I had originally intended on posting my current favourites today, but when I realised I had a nail post ready to go that matched St Patricks Day I decided it must be fate, and reshuffled the schedule. I love murky colours at the moment and this is certainly one of those! There must be something about this khaki green from essie that grabs peoples attention because the compliments came flying when I wore this - even my lady at the nail salon exclaimed that it was a really nice colour!

 

Sew Psyched is described as a "cashmere-soft sage pewter" on the essie website and while I can totally see the sage and cashmere aspect of it, the pewter from the silver microglitter that shines through in the bottle doesn't particularly translate on the nail and it comes off as a nice crème shade instead (which I prefer, so yay for that) I see this as a neutral with a bit of interest, and was so impressed with it that as I was perusing a display of discounted essie polishes I picked it up to look at without realise I already had it on and owned it! A sign of love for sure, wouldn't you agree?

I bought my bottle of Sew Psyched from The Reject Shop and it was from the fall 2010 collection.
Are you a fan of murky colours like this?
What is your current nail obsession?
-Emma

5 Valentine's Polish Ideas to Romance You

Valentine's Day - the day of heart-eye emoji's, big rose bouquets on Instagram and schmoozy romance all around! I can't say I hate the day but it never quite stacks up with the images in my head/online so I've taken the liberty of organising my own date this year! I've booked a Thai restaurant for dinner and have hinted hard at the sweet mugs Coles supermarkets have out so Mister knows what I'd like most, but I plan on picking myself up something nice just in case ;) Now we all know I love a good theme, so I decided to pick through my nail polish drawers and came up with 5 different 'romantic' polish ideas to share with you.

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Sinful Colors 'Rose Dust' is a pretty shimmery lilac pink shade that was much nicer on my pale skin that I had anticipated. It was super fast to apply and had a nice sheen to it that I appreciated, this would make a great quick and affordable choice if you wanted to try a shimmery polish that wasn't streaky or tricky to apply.

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel 240 'Get It Bright'* is a classic bright medium pink on my skin tone, and I just love it! I didn't use the matching Miracle Gel top coat as it was all about swatching the colour, but my nails get along really well with Sally Hansen polishes in general and Mumma Bovary is a sucker for the Miracle Gel range. I'd say that this shade is the happiest out of my picks today, just looking at it makes me smile.

Rimmel Super Gel 042 'Rock N Roll'* is one I just had to include, a classic dark red crème that is also part of a two-step gel process, but again I only used the shade alone for swatch purposes. Without trying to sound like a broken record I also get along really well with the Rimmel polish line (I am loving the Rita Ora collection right now, so cute!) so this actually tempts me to wear red polish out, which is something I never usually have the courage to do!  

Ulta3 Nail Colour 'Pinot' is something a bit different and I thought the deep wine shade and pretty shimmer said 'romance' (picture me saying that like Sebastian from The Little Mermaid, oui? Got it? Brilliant, ha!) I needed a few coats of this to bring the bottle colour to life but I can see Mumma Bovary's more olive skin tone rocking this colour, so I might just pass this bottle on for her to enjoy...

essie 'Ladylike'* & essie Luxeffects 'A Cut Above' is my favourite combination for Valentine's Day, and is the polish I'm currently wearing - Mister Bovary commented on how nice my nails looked which is a rare occurrence indeed, so I know I've picked a winner! The soft mauve nude (first seen here) is a serious favourite of mine and has brought the compliments rolling in. I jazzed it up with essie's A Cut Above, a rose gold pink glitter topper that I've wanted for ages and only just picked up from the pharmacy when I went in for painkillers for my broken toe - and yes, it worked at perking up my bad mood that day!  

Do you have any romantic plans for Sunday? Even if you're flying solo I hope you plan on treating yourself to a yummy dinner and a relaxing weekend!
-Emma

*Product provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

Russian Navy - The Classic OPI Blue I Was Yet to Try

For someone who has a shedload of nail polish, I have to admit that I haven't tried as many of the 'classic' popular shades that most lacquer aficionados so often rave about. For my latest manicure I pulled out the bottle of Russian Navy* that OPI sent me many moons ago but that I was yet to try, because despite it technically being summer here in Australia, the cold winds and rain call for a deep and mysterious colour.

 

Russian Navy is a deep blue that's filled with blue and red shimmers, the latter causing the polish to appear quite purple in the bottle in my opinion. On the nail the fine shimmer seems much less pronounced and dare I say more demure? I wasn't sure if I was keen on the colour but the compliments rolled in and the fact that a dark shade like this is flattering and not harsh on my very pale hands is no mean feat, so I will give Russian Navy props for that.

 

 

 

I'm still on the fence about this colour, but I think the fact that I've not worn a dark shade like this in quite some time has played into my opinion of it and I definitely appreciate how beautiful this appears when the coloured shimmers flash, particularly in low light. After having a look at other reviews of Russian Navy (The Daily Varnish, All Lacquered Up) I learnt that it came out with the Russian collection back in 2007, but was made permanent by OPI so is still widely available today. The more shimmery OPI Ink is still in my mind as a colour to try and this comparison post has kind of cemented my wish to try it on one day - what can I say, I love a fair whack of shimmer in my polishes!

 Are you a fan of dark and mysterious shades like this?
What classic polish shade do you swear by?
-Emma

*Product provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

 

Sweet & Simple Nail Art for Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day isn’t the biggest deal in the Bovary household (in fact, I think we are less romantic on that day than any other!) but it’s a nice excuse to share a good meal and there is definitely no harm in that! We’re heading down to the beach house tonight with Charlie in tow, to chill out and hopefully head to a restaurant for dinner tomorrow night. I’m not one for elaborate nail art most of the time as my skills are lacking, but cute simple nail art is hard to beat and I painted my nails with the first design that popped into my head when I thought about love and how simple it should be!

I started with two coats of FABY Valentina’s Day* before using my el cheapo eBay dotting tools to turn three dots of FABY Innocent Fantasy* into a cute love heart on my ring finger! My nails have all broken right down after having acrylics for the wedding, so please forgive the state of them. Valentina’s Day flooded some of my cuticles but I really think that was because I didn’t give myself a manicure before throwing on the colour, the formula was pretty decent and I like that it’s more a strawberry red shade than a straight up harsh fire engine sort of rouge. Innocent Fantasy seemed to be more pigmented than the similar shades I have from essie so that’s always a positive – I haven’t painted my whole nail with it though so I’ll reserve judgement. FABY has only just launched in Australia and I’m happy to have another 5 free brand around!

Mister Bovary was actually really impressed with how quick and cute the nail look ended up being, and I think next time I might try it with a metallic blue shade and some silver or white polish to change it up a bit. I adore my dotting tools, they are so easy to use and being so affordable means I was able to pick my mother in law up a set as well – she goes through stages with polish and has a pretty enviable OPI stash I must say!

Are you a Valentine’s Day lover or hater? It’s my first one as a wife! I have my fingers crossed that cupid hits Mister and he nabs me a sweet mug for my morning coffee…otherwise I might pick myself up a new one in Rosebud!

-Emma

*Provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

Strawberry Fizz with Gold Glam

 

I am head over heels for the beautiful bright nail shades from Rimmel, and by topping my middle finger with a layer of Jordana’s Gold Glam I was able to jazz it up a little! I like the way the hexes in the golden glitter stand out, and the shade suits the Barbie-esque pink shade of Strawberry Fizz.

 

I’m not normally one for cocktail jewellery of any sort, as I have my staples which I rarely switch up, but sometimes it is nice to pop on something pretty and blingy! Cue the el cheapo, which I’d say was from Diva but it was bought so long ago that I can’t really remember clearly.

 

I think I’ve made the decision that Rimmel’s Strawberry Fizz is the perfect pink for me! What does your perfect pink look like?

 

*Both polishes were bought by me! Honesty, always.

 

 

 

 

 

Vamp Nails // Alice Had a Vision-Again // essence Twilight BreakingDawn Part Two

I picked up all four essence Twilight nail shades (as I mentioned in this haul) and thefirst one I chose to do a full mani with was Alice Had a Vision-Again. A blackbased filled with purple flecks and the odd aqua fleck as well, this is reallydark but shines purple when it hits the light. The flecks seem embedded in thenail and spread really evenly when painting it on, which made this a reallyeasy polish to work with.

 

 

 

 

I’ve also snuck some sneaky Dior holiday swatches into that last image, just in case you thought my hands were dirty. I’m tossingup between the two quints at the moment, and just can’t decide!

 

I really like the deep vampy purple of Alice Had aVision-Again and the flecks of aqua and purple are particularly beautiful indirect sunlight. I would recommend all of the new essence Twilight shades, eventhough I’m not a big Twilight fan the colours are gorgeous.

Are you going to watch the new Twilight film?

What new holiday collections are you lemming?

Latex Nails // Rebelizer from essence

 I decided to grab this latex effect nail polish from the recent essence Rebels collection even though I wasn't completely sold on the theme of the collection. Rebelizer is an acid green colour and quite vivid, and because I am out there in my nail colour choices I didn't mind the shade.

 The shade is shot through with pale green shimmer which makes for a very pretty visual.

Despite the back of the bottle highlighting the long wearing claims of this particular formulation, I am sad to say that this was not the case on my nails. This chipped quite badly with a regular old top coat, and though most polishes don't last long on my unkempt nails, this had an even shorter lifespan. Having said that, I haven't tried this with Seche Vite yet, and it may fare better with it.

 Quite yellow in some lights, which adds to the sort of neon edge this has. I do think that this has a latex look to the finish, much like the Illamasqua renditions from collections past. I can't say I am a big fan of the look on my short nails, but I think that some nail art would look wonderful with the bright acid green of Rebelizer.

 

Would you wear this bright shade?

What are your thoughts on the new nail textures coming out- caviar, velvet, matte, latex?

 

*I purchased this polish myself. Honesty, always.

 

 

LA City Nights

While in Sydney (yes I harp on because I wish I was still there!) I came across CosmoCosmetics on George Street, a store selling a large range of Jordana polishes. I fell in love (and bought) a stack of the glitter polishes, and this was the first.

 LA City Nights is a glitter polish filled with small purple glitter and slightly larger blue glitter. I love that I can pair this with blues and purples easily, and have been wearing this over other polishes quite often. I haven't really contemplated travelling to Los Angeles before, my parents have just returned from overseas and visited New York for the first time, which looks exciting. Chris mentioned he would like to go to America on our honeymoon (he wants to visit Vegas!) and I think it could be fun.

 Anyway, back to the polish. The first shade I paired this glitter with was one of my very favourite shades, Nice is Nice from Essie. It is a lovely pale lilac shade that I have been using so often that Chris has commented on it!

I love the large bottle of the Jordana Glitters, it is gonna last for ages.

I used two coats of Nice is Nice and one of LA City Nights for this nail look.

 

Where are you dreaming of travelling?

Do you wear glitter polishes often?

They are such a pain to remove! I've found the Revlon remover to be the best for them!

 

 

Shimmering Mint // Missha Lucid Polish in GR02

 

As part of my Missha haul, this spring-appropriate shimmery mint green polish floated its way into my basket and I applied it that very same day!

 

I have quite the fondness for mint nail shades, but all of the ones I own are creme formulas and this shimmer filled darling was different enough to make the cut. I found it easy to apply, but as I've misplaced my Seche Vite (since writing this I have found it, hurrah!) it chipped quite quickly on my unkempt nails.

 

I really like the difference the shimmer makes to this sweet mint shade, I think it will look really nice when I layer my new silver glitter polish from Jordana over the top.

 

Do you like a shimmery pastel for your nails?

Have you ever tried a Missha polish?

 

*This polish was purchased by me. Honesty, always.