Bottled Sunshine - Nars Kismet

This polish is an odd one.  When it's not in the sun it's not that super fantastic wonderful, but the second you get it in the sunlight it takes on a whole new dimension and seems to be reflecting the look of sunshine itself. It's described by Nars as "metallic sunflower".  I found it more on the side of a gold shimmer than a balls out yellow, until the sun hits it.  Then it comes into its own and certainly is a sunflower-y yellow.  But time for me to stop yammering and give you the pictures.

This was three coats:

Application was reasonable, but not the easiest I've had from a shimmer polish.  I needed three coats as I have extremely ridged nails, but most people could get even and opaque coverage from two medium coats.

I used Sally Hansen Inst-Dry as a top coat:

And one last shot:

So once its all added up, a good polish to have in your collection, and I don't know of any dupes for it.  The joy of the play of light with this laquer can't be overstated.  Kismet was release in 2011 and I don't think it was a limited edition, it still seems to be available on the Nars US website.  I picked my bottle up for around US$10 from an online overstock wholesaler.

And lastly, sorry for the lobster claw once again!  My hands aren't really beet red in real life, I'm just new to photography and would rather sacrifice my skin tone looking glam for the sake of getting a picture of the colour as close as possible to the way it wears in the (not so red) flesh.

  

September Her Fashion Box - Trendy Variety

I'm more than a bit late with this one, I picked this up from the post office a week and a half ago.  Fair warning with Her Fashion Box, I have in the past received free products from them in exchange for review (Missy O'Reilly) so I'm not completely unaffiliated, however I paid for this box out of my own pocket and receive no remuneration or other perk for review, don't know them personally or am in any other way part of their marketing team.  With that disclaimer out of the way, let me show you what's in the Trendy edition of Her Fashion Box for September:

Necessary squished up pic of all the contents:

The three accessories for September are a dual colour neon yellow and gold clutch, a rose gold ID bracelet and a super fabulous rose gold ring with some serious weight to it:

Next up are the cosmetic colour products for the month. Two Maybelline Colour Show nail colours in Pink Shock and Fierce & Tangy, a Designer Brands Lip Crayon in Kiss & Tell Red and a Designer Brands Kohl in Black:

I liked the quality of the lip crayon, unfortunately the colour is really unflattering on me.  At $7.99 I might pick up one of the other 3 shades available, as I was impressed with the formula, and it's mercifully free of mineral oil!

The skin care selection:

 The skin care items are a Lonvitalite collagen firming & moisturising facial mask and a Pure Tan mini body care product.  For members who filled out the August feedback survey they included an extra Pure Tan mini to say thank you. I got the Coconut Body Creme and the Coconut Creme Body Scrub.  Unfortunately my UnGodly allergy to coconut oil means these will be re-gifted immediately.

And lastly, proof of why clutches are truly inappropriate for diabetics:

Yes kiddies, that is the bare minimum I can leave the house with.  What you are seeing here is what it looks like to have to carry your pancreatic insulin producing cells on the outside. The items inconveniently sticking out there are insulin pens in case, blood glucose monitor and of course good old Allens jelly beans. 

Under the Sea - Sinful Colors in Nail Junkie

I must confess, although I'm not usually a drugstore makeup snob, I have always snubbed Sinful Colors.  Every time I've seen the stand in Target I've looked at a divine true emerald shimmer they make and thought "Ugh, what a shame such a beautiful colour is made by that brand". And yet I'd never tried the brand. More the fool me. I received Ruby Ruby in a Lust Have It box (an Australian beauty subscription box for overseas readers) last month, and I discovered just what a goose I've been.  Great pigmentation, great formula and its under $5!  So I did a google of the brand to see what other colours they had out there for me to covet.  And oh boy, do I ever covet!  I picked up Nail Junkie to see if the formula and pigmentation was universally good. 

I love this polish so much.  Its an iridescent-holoesque glitter suspended in a divine teal jelly. I used three coats for depth of squishiness, but could have got away with two since it went on evenly.  It would have left visible nail line even at three, however, if I had nail line to be visible.

So here it is, three coats of SInful Colors Nail Junkie:

I used Gelous as a base coat, and a generous application of Sally Hansen Insta-dry to get rid of the slightly rough feeling left by the glitter particles.

The dry time between coats was super quick. With two coats you wouldn't need a quick dry top coat, except to smooth over the glitter.

Seriously loved wearing Nail Junkie. Will definitely be one of the few polished that I wear more than once.

This lasted a long time on me, 3 days worth of heavy housework, when I usually only get one day when I'm doing a big clean.

And finally, it really wasn't too terrible to remove.  Maybe it was because I used the heavy hitter, super protective Gelous as a base, but this came off relatively easy for a glitter.

So Sinful Colors, you have a new fan.  That Target stand that always got a dirty look from me is now gonna be my new favourite pick-me-up when I'm feeling crappy.  At under $5 for such a great range and quality, how can I resist? And why would I bother?  I just hope I haven't gotten to the party to late to pick up one of those Green Ocean babies.  A green jelly flakie? I thought that would only ever happen in my dreams!

It's So Easy Being Green - If You're a Holographic Polish

I've had this polish in my collection for years, and only just got round to using it last night. Wow, was I ever missing out. This may have been the most fun I've had applying lacquer, the formula was so awesome that I applied an extra coat even though I got full coverage with 2.  Even more awesome was listening to Andrew Bird's version of It's Not Easy Being Green while I was painting this beauty on:

Who can resist such synchronicity?  Kermit + Reclaim = big smile.

The pictures make it look like the colour gives me lobster claw, but it doesn't IRL I just couldn't get an accurate pic of the colour that was also flattering to my skin tone.

Shown here is 3 coats of Nubar Reclaim. I used a base of Revitanail nail strengthener and SH Insta-dry as top coat.  Adding a top coat didn't diminish the holo-iness at all.

A quick check of Google shopping tells me that this is now a $25 ebay job.  Hopefully they'll re-issue this stunner sometime soon.  As someone on Makeup alley said, this is a HOLO GRAIL of a nail polish.