OPI - Alcatraz... Rocks swatches and review!

I'm finally back from holiday to America (which was so good that I didn't want to come home!) and decided to do some posts of the polishes that I got whilst I was there. OPI is ridiculously cheap in America compared to the UK so I made sure to stock up! I'd been wanting Alcatraz...Rocks! since I saw the first images come out and leapt on the chance to buy it at basically half the price!!

Alcatraz...Rocks is another liquid sand formula from OPI and true to form, it totally rocks (see what I did there? Oh, the wit! *ducks rotten vegetables*). It's a gorgeous deep purple glitter (though I've seen it described by many as a cobalt blue which personally I can't really see!) with flecks of multicoloured glitter throughout - gold, pink, green - you name it! It's seriously, seriously awesome!

The finish is the usual "sandy" feel and I only needed two coats for full opacity. In the shade this colour is beautiful but when the sunlight hits this baby, wow does it shine! I have to say, it's probably one of my favourite ever nail varnishes! I can also say with some confidence that even if you don't like the liquid sand finish, you should get this polish as with a top-coat this would be a stunner!

With flash - just look at that glitter!!

In the shade

Macro-shot of the glitter-bomb beauty!

July/August favourites!

If you guys can remember I posted a monthly favourites last month and it got quite a few views so I've decided to do another for this month. Again I've included all sorts of random things and some have already featured in previous posts!

To kick us off I'll start with nail related items and move towards the more random ones.

1. The first item that I've been absolutely loving is Kawaii's Lois Lane (a custom order I had her create!). I've reviewed it here if you want to check that out! I love how this glitter looks, it's such a beauty!

2. The next item is one that has also featured before in my haul blog and is Vaseline's Spray & Go Body Moisturiser. I use this daily and it's absolutely fantastic! One of my favourite moisturisers due to the way it applies, the way it makes my skin feel and look and the smell! 

3. Number three is yet another item that featured in the haul blog and is n-spa's Vanilla Fragrance Body Mist. Wowwwwww I love this so much! This is just amazing and I will certainly be repurchasing when it runs out.

4. This is a bit of a naughty item - sweets! Haribo Smurfs to be precise. None of that dieting rubbish in this belly ;)! These are so dang tasty and at only £1 from Asda I have a hard time resisting buying them every time I go in there!

5. Number five technically comprises of four things - four books! All belonging to the Demon Trappers series by Jana Oliver. I picked up the first 2-in-1 book at Asda on a whim and holy mother of all things I LOVED these books! I was so obsessed with them that I managed to finish all four (I purchased the other two on my kindle as soon as I'd finished the second) within a week. I really really recommend these books if you're into anything supernatural/romance/dry humour/amazing - this series is perfect!

6. Winding down now and next up is Maybelline New York's Dream Pure BB Cream for Oily Skin. With a much thicker texture that the normal version of this, I love how this makes my skin look! Thumbs up to Maybelline!

7. The seventh and last (but not least!) item on the favourites list for the last month is the purse that I also showed in the haul blog. I've been using it a lot and I just love it so much! It's got a huge amount of card room and is just so nice! Go me for buying this beauty!

Kawaii Nail Lacquer - custom order review and swatches!

Today I've got two of the four custom order polishes I asked Jamie from Kawaii Nail Lacquer to create for me and boy are they perfect! She got them exactly how I wanted and I'm so happy with the way they look!

You can check her out here and place custom orders for practically any design you could think of! (within reason, ladies) : http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KawaiiNailLacquer?ref=pr_shop_more. I've ordered three or so custom orders for several polishes and they've been super amazing every time!

Here's the first of the two I'm showing today - Confetti Party! It's millions of little glitter bars in a clear base with microfine holo glitter chucked in for good measure! I've teamed it over one coat of Sinful Color's Why Not (as seen in yesterday's post!) and I love this combo! I think I'll pair it over black or white next to really bring out the colours though it can work with literally anything!

The other polish I have to show is called Lois Lane (I'm so original with names ;)) and is to DIE for! It's a clear base again and is jam packed with blue, red and purple glitter. Sounds simple but it works hella well! I absolutely love this over black with a matte top coat on - wow! Probably my favourite colour/glitter combo ever! Mattified glitter is always good in my opinion though so I may be a little bias!!

L'Oreal Paris Confetti nail polish - review and swatches

I've seen a few bloggers pick up this polish and have loved the look of it so I decided it was time that I did too! I actually managed to get this free on a 3 for 2 offer at Boots which was an added bonus!

Firstly, I will say that I love how jam-packed this is with glitter. It has black and white hex glitter with some larger pieces thrown in but also has a really really fine subtle black shimmer glitter too which just makes it a little different from most black and white glitters!

However, this polish was an absolute nightmare formula wise for me. It was thick as anything and the base is so swallowed up by the glitter that it was dragging horribly. Luckily a coat of Seche Vite sorted that out but it was still rather disappointing to see. Also, the brush had several bent bristles which was a pain in the bum! Not a fault maybe, just bad luck!

I layered one coat of this over two coats of OPI's You're Such a Budapest.

Kawaii Nail Lacquer - Tequila Rose review and swatches!

I couldn't resist doing another swatch fest of one of Jamie from Kawaii Nail Lacquer's wonderful creations! This baby is one of my favourites of hers and I recommend checking it out!

Tequila Rose is a lovely tulip pink base with pink, red and some purple glitter of varying sizes. The application was fantastic as usual and I didn't need to do any glitter placing! Here I have it layered over one coat of NYC's Spring Tulip with one coat of Seche Vite on top!

Kawaii Nail Lacquer Breaking Bad collection - review and swatches!

Hey guys! Today I've got an exciting post to share with you - swatches of the fantastic Kawaii Breaking Bad collection! I've never actually watched the show but I've heard that it's really good - and these themed polishes do not disappoint.

If you want to purchase these babies, head to Jamie's store here: http://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/111033473/4-breaking-bad-themed-polishes?ref=shop_home_active

Now, on with the swatches!

First up is Blue Sky, a beautiful sky blue (funny that!) crelly with blue glitter dispersed throughout. The formula was the best of the bunch and it applied like an absolute dream! This is by far my favourite of the four and is just perfect! The swatches are one coat of Blue Sky over one coat of Sinful Color's Sugar Rush. 

Next is my second favourite (though it is close to being equal first), Yeah BITCH. The name is brilliant, and I'm sure there is some sort of Breaking Bad reference but being the BB noob I am, I don't get it! The polish however is jam-packed with shreds of multi-coloured glitter, the noticeable colours being purple, blue, yellow, green, red and holographic silver hexagons. This is literally a party in a bottle! The swatches here are one coat of Yeah BITCH over Sinful Color's Unicorn.

The next polish is Br Ba which is a gorgeous muted lime green base with big white hex glitters swimming throughout. This formula proved to be the most difficult to work with as it was very thick and I had to do a bit of placement with the glitters but boy is it worth it! I am in love with how this looks! The swatches are one coat of Br Ba over one coat of MaxFactor's Cactus Green.

Finally we have I Am The Danger (aren't all these names awesome?!). This is a very sheer red base with red, black and white hex glitter with some black bars floating around. This polish gave the best coverage and also looks fantastic on. Jamie did a great job with all of these polishes (as she always does!) and I really like them! These swatches are one coat of I Am The Danger over two coats of OPI's I Theodora You.

 That's all for this collection! Another great selection from Jamie, go check her out!

31 day challenge - Day 17 - Glitter

I have returned! Finally on the mend from my illness I bring you the glitter challenge! This look turned out okay, though not the best in the world as I was still feeling shoddy when I did this! Excuses, excuses, I know!