Illamasqua Facet and Melange Swatches & Review

Hi friends! Today I have a real treat for the eyes, two gorgeous Illamasqua polishes! I had to get creative to get my hands on these, as Illamasqua recently stopped being sold at Sephora. :( They are sold on their UK based website, but they would've cost mucho bucks with the included shipping. But lucky me, my lovely friend in Singapore offered to pick them up in her local stores and send them to me, so the price went down significantly! I am so happy I was able to purchase them, as these are two super stunning lacquers.

Facet is from the Sacred Hour collection from last year. I must've been snoozing when it came out because I had no idea I needed it until it popped up on Vampy Varnish's blog not too long ago. It's a grey taupey brown with gallons of gold and copper sparkle and shimmer. This had a great formula, creamy and smooth with great shimmer distribution. Opaque in two coats and dried shiny.

Melange came out most recently in the Once... collection for this fall. It's a stunning "dirty" green teal with bronzey copper and gold flecks and gold sparkle. I was scared that there wouldn't be that much sparkle pay off when I put it on, because a lot of the gold was stuck to the sides of the bottle when it arrived. I needn't have worried though because there was no shortage of shimmer! Applied effortlessly. Two coats here, but it was opaque in one! I love this color!

Also, I have to tell you that I had virtually no clean up on these swatches because the Illamasqua brush is SO GOOD! I don't know if I just haven't noticed until now, but it's fab. These are both so smooth and so self-leveling that I didn't even use top coat in these swatches! The folks over at Illamasqua say that Melange should dry matte, but honestly I didn't think it did for me, maybe a bit of a satin?

You can purchase these from the Illamasqua website or if you have a Bloomingdales near you they might be in stores *EDITED* I have just heard that Bloomingdales stopped selling the brand as well. I think Illamasqua is a really underrated polish brand and I'm sad they are not as readily available as they used to be. What do you think of these? Aren't they just heavenly? Let me know :)

❤ Kellie

Picture Polish Imperial Swatch & Review

Hi there and hello! I wanted to show you my newest addition to my Picture Polish stash, Imperial. Picture Polish is an Australian boutique brand that sometimes collaborates with bloggers to create new shades which is super cool. This one was created with my friend Jeanette, The Swatchaholic.

It came out last fall and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. It's a neon purple with holo sparks, blue and pink glass fleck shimmer and pale gold medium hex glitters. Seriously stunning. The application was a little streaky/patchy, due to the neon pigment I'm guessing, but it looks perfect after three coats. Also, make sure to shake it up well because the glitters tend to sink. It dries matte so you need a top coat for shine.

It also is a bit difficult to photograph the color correctly, I would say it's a little more red toned in real life than I could capture here. Haha it kinda sounds like I'm complaining about this polish, but I really do love it! Problem child or not, I love it.

You can purchase this on the Picture Polish website or from any of their stockists, I bought this from Llarowe for $14.50. What do you think of this color? If you could create your own collaboration shade, what kind would you make? See ya next time!

❤ Kellie

My Picks from the China Glaze Fall 2013 Autumn Nights Collection

I have been liking a lot of the fall shades this year, but don't necessarily seem to need all of them like I usually feel I do. China Glaze's Autumn Nights collection for fall is full of jewels tones and shimmers. Unfortunately, I feel like I have seen a lot of the colors before and I wasn't particularly interested in the some of them because I know others have had streaky issues with them, but there are some gorgeous foils in the collection that I had to have.

Purchased by Me

This is Goldie But Goodie, a coppery gold flecky foil. So beautiful! I am obsessed with golds and this one is right at home in my collection. The flecks meld together into a beautiful sheet of foil, one of my favorite types of polish. This was easy to apply, as are all three that I have to show you here. I used two coats.

Next is Gossip Over Gimlets, a gorgeous silver foil with coppery gold flecks. This is luxe and bling. I find it very comparable to, if not a dupe for, Wet n' Wild Fergie Going Wild and a England's Excalibur (new edition). But since I do not own either, I'm ok with that. The contrast of the silver and gold in this is really beautiful. I'm in love with this. Two coats.

And last of my picks from the collection is Strike Up a Cosmo. I expected this to be a rose gold sort of color, but it's really more of a mauvey pink foil with coppery gold flecks. I am disappointed in this because rose gold is probably my favorite color every and purple really isn't. However, to be fair it is a lovely polish, just not what I hoped it would be. Also two coats.

These all had a great formula, were easy to make opaque and are perfect for not only fall but also winter holidays. The glittery rather than straight foil blend of these lacquers makes it hard to get off your skin cleanly, so polish with care.

I might still get one or two more colors from the Autumn Nights collection, because I'm a polish junkie, but these are definitely the ones that stood out the most to me. You can get China Glaze lacquers at your local Sally Beauty Supply stores and online. What do you think about these wonderful foils?

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