Bundle Monster Holiday Themed Nail Stamping Plates - Occasions Collection (Halloween & Thanksgiving) - Review

Saturday 31 October 2015


Happy Halloween everyone!  For those of you who don't know Halloween isn't a big thing here in Australia at all but for fun our family is having a small Halloween party.  It should hopefully be a bit of fun for everyone, but sadly the weather has turned a little scary!  Looks like we will now be inside instead of outside.

I received the Bundle Monster Occasions Collection in the mail the other day so I thought I would take this last chance to share them with you.  Unfortunately, these plates took an extra long time to reach me (they were sent quite quickly by Bundle Monster - it was the postal services that took their sweet little time) so I haven't actually had much time at all to play with these.  In fact, I have only managed to sneak in one quick mani late last night.  While I can't comment too much on how these plates stamp (I am going to assume well.  Bundle Monster usually do good stamping plates), I can say that there are a lot of great designs on these plates for Halloween and for Autumn/Fall (of Thanksgiving for those of you who celebrate it).  I am excited for it to be Autumn here again so I can get some good use out of these plates.

Mani done using BM-S201

BM-S201

BM-S202

BM-S203

BM-S204

BM-S205

BM-S206

BM-S207

BM-S208

BM-S209

BM-S210

Did you pick up any of these plates?

*edit:  I am now a Maniology Ambassador!  You can save 10% off your order at Maniology with the code OLIVIA10.  Please note that I do make a small commission when you use my code (which I plan on then putting back into my blog - ie buying new products to swatch and review).    

Say It With Polish Spring Collection and Brown Brothers Collaboration - Swatches & Review

Friday 30 October 2015


Say It With Polish recently contacted me and ask if I wanted to try out some of their polishes.  Now I didn't know much (or anything really about this brand until I was contacted) so was interested to learn more and of course try them out.  For those of you who don't know about this brand Say It With Polish is Australia's first and only personalized polish.  How cool is that?  You simple select from the range of colours on their website, create the message you would like the bottle to say (or select one of the messages listed), pick your font and sizing and you are done.  These definitely make for great presents for polish lovers.  Now today I have six polishes from Say It With Polish to share with you.  Four of the polishes are part of their Spring Collection, and the other two I received as part of their collaboration with Brown Brothers.

Examples of the personalized labels Say It With Polish offer

Classic Vintage is a purpley taupe polish with a sheen to it.  Quite pretty and definitely unique in my collection.  Formula was great and easy to use.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box
Fruity Fling is an orange creme.  This one does photograph more orange and brighter than it looks in person.  Formula wise it is easy enough to work with (although the long brush takes a little getting use to).  It does apply a little patchy on the first coat however it did even out on the second coat.

Picture taken in light box
Purple Rain is a purple creme.  This is by far my favorite of the polishes that I have tried.  Not only does it have my name on it (which is just a huge bonus) but the colour is stunning and it applies like a dream.  You could nearly get away with only using one coat.  Love it.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box
Savvy Blue is a light blue polish with a sheen to it.  It's not quite shimmery and it's not metallic.  It's a super pretty polish and definitely unique in my collection.  Formula wise it applies well.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box
Spring Rosas is a coral creme.  Formula is great and applies well.  Plus it's a really pretty colour.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box
Wine & Shine is a rose gold metallic.  This on is easy to use and opaque in two coats.

Picture taken in light box

How would you and your friends like to win five of the polishes shown in this post (all of them except Purple Rain) plus four bottles of Brown Brothers Wine?  Simply take a photo of your mani holding a glass of Moscato, upload it to Instagram using the hashtag #makeitmoscato and tag two friends who you would like to enjoy a Moscato Mani with.  For all the terms and conditions head over to the Brown Brothers website.

If you are wanting to personalize some polishes for yourself or some gifts for others definitely check out Say It With Polish.  They also offer world wide shipping.
 

Color Club Oil Slick Collection - Swatches & Review

Wednesday 28 October 2015


I have been trying to hunt down the Color Club Oil Slick Collection for ages.  The places that I did find it didn't ship to Australia, then one place had some of the collection but not the full collection (I like having a full collection of polishes), but finally after a good couple of months I finally found them!  You can image how excited I was when they took less than a week to arrive at my doorstep late last week, and now I can share them with you.  Yay!

Pictures from Color Club

Burnt Out is a red/gold/green tri-chrome. I really like this one.  Definitely great for the cooler months.  The colour shift is awesome and the formula is so easy to work.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Cash Only is a teal/green/gold tri-chrome.  This in another one that I really like.  The colour shift is pretty good and the formula is easy to work with.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Don't Kale My Vibe is a lighter green/gold to green to purple tri-chrome.  The colour shift in this one is as apparent as it is in the previous two.  You can see the greens but the purple can only been seen on in darker lighting and on a sharp angle which makes it hard to photograph.  Formula wise it was easy to work with and needs two coats to be opaque.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Ice Breaker is an icy blue to blue duo chrome.  This one is hard to see the colour changes and it only appears to shift between the two blues from what I can tell.  Formula is great and only needs two coats to be opaque.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box
It's Raining Men has a blue to purple shift.  Now my camera dislikes purples and constantly changes them to blue.  This polish is no exception.  The shift is visible in person but not in my swatches.  So huge apologies for that.  This is one stunning polish that I just can't do any justice too.  Formula is great and only needs two coats to be opaque.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Sorry, Not Sorry is a rose gold to gold duochrome.  This one is really hard to see the shift with, but it is pretty.  Again, formula is easy to work with and it only needs two coats to be opaque.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

We'll Never Be Royal has a purple to red shift.  I love this one.  Like the others, it's easy to use and only needs two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Overall, I really like this collection.  Some of them don't have the greatest colour shifts but I still think the colours are really nice.  My personal favorites are It's Raining Men and We'll Never Be Royals, followed by Burnt Out and Case Only.

Emily De Molly Limited Edition Halloween Duo - Swatches & Review

Sunday 25 October 2015


I can't believe the weekend is almost over.  Seriously, I am not sure how that has come and gone so quickly.  Ahh!  Now I know I said I would have some more Halloween nail art up but unfortunately time has not been my friend.  I am hoping that next week I can get some up but no guarantees.  We are having a Halloween party for our daughter next week and there is lots to do and organize so nails will need to take a back seat.

For today's post I have the Halloween duo that Emily de Molly released this year.  Now it is no surprise that I love these polishes.  They are both bright polishes and they are Emily de Molly polishes so really, what isn't to love about them?

Pulse Racing is a bright neon orange jelly with purple shimmer and iridescent flakes.  Super pretty and easy to use.  I used three coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Scare Tactics is a light neon green creme.  Now this one I absolutely love.  It's such an awesome colour.  It does apply streaky on the first coat and needed three coats to even out, but the colour is so awesome that I really don't mind.

Picture taken in light box

Not only did this duo come with the polishes but it also came with two sheets of different Halloween designed vinyls.  I think the ghosts are super cute so I had to use those.  I did find that this didn't want to stick fully to my nails, and wrinkled slightly when I added top coat. 

Picture taken in light box

Sadly this duo appears to be sold out, but if you can find it I definitely recommend you grab it especially if you like bright colours like I do.

Throwback Thursday: Halloween Nail Art Edition

Thursday 22 October 2015


In the spirit of Halloween week here on my blog, I thought it would be fun (well maybe interesting is the better word) to take a trip back to 2014 and see some of the manis I did for Halloween.  Now I should point out that I used a different camera than what I do now, so the quality of the pictures aren't great.  I also had to take screenshots of the manis because I don't actually keep the original picture.  Anyway I hope you enjoy this throwback and it gives you some ideas for some Halloween manis.

Picture from jdhancock.com
























Which is your favorite design that I did last year?  I think my favorites are the Frankenstein's, the Haunted House, the Graveyard and Neon Monsters.  I am planning on doing some more Halloween nail art designs on my blog in the next few days.