A Few Comparisons - Cobalt Blues and Sage Greens

What's up friends? I had a few requests to do some comparisons on a couple polishes I've reviewed recently so I thought I'd throw 'em at ya today!

Press Sample | Purchased by Me

First is a comparison of some cobalt blue crèmes, motivated by my latest Rescue Beauty Lounge post. On my pointer finger is two coats of Nails Inc. Baker Street, on my middle finger is one coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue (original formula), on my ring finger is two coats of Rescue Beauty Lounge All About Yves, and on my pinky is two coats of KBShimmer Low and Be Bold. If I was smart I should've switched my pointer and middle so this would've been an ombre ;) The closest color to All About Yves is probably Baker Street, but it's more of a crème and AAY is more jellyish. These all have amazing formulas. I can't pick one, I am glad I have them all.

Next is comparisons of some sage green shimmery/glittery polishes, prompted by my post on Illamasqua Melange. It's harder to get in the US now so people were asking about possible dupes. Sadly, there are none to be found here. On my pointer and pinky nails I have two coats of Illamasqua Melange, on my middle finger is two coats of discontinued Rescue Beauty Lounge Halcyon, and on my ring finger is two coats of Butter London Two Fingered Salute. I was actually surprised by how different these all are! I, again, love them all and can't pick a favorite.

If you were wondering about dupe possibilities or how these polishes compared to each other, I hope these helped you out! Love ya and we'll be together again soon :)

❤ Kellie

Some of the products mentioned were provided for an honest review, some were purchased by me.

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

Guest Post by Samarium's Swatches: Neon Watermarble

Hi folks! I'm almost recuperated enough to start swatching again but I do have another awesome guest post for you today, this time from Sarah of Samarium's Swatches. This gal is so fab, her photos and manicure skills make me envious! I also just love her blog style, delightful and so fun. I'm happy to show you her awesome nail art post here and be sure to check her out so you can keep up with all her awesome manicures!

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Hey guys! My name is Sarah from Samarium's Swatches!

Kellie asked me to help her out with a guest post and I gladly obliged after a few failed attempts! haha

For today's post I just knew I wanted to do something neon and bright!

First I started off with a white base, using Zoya Purity.

Using a wedge makeup sponge and the gradient sponging technique I used the following colors,

in the following order. 

For those unfamiliar you paint each color onto the sponge in a strip and then stamp the sponge on each nail. Then repaint and repeat once more onto your nails. I'd recommend using less colors though!

Illamasqua - Poke

China Glaze - Shocking Pink

Illamasqua - Gamma

Illamasqua - Rare

Illamasqua - Nurture

Illamasqua - Nomad

Illamasqua - Serenity

Then I mattified it with Butter London Matte Finish!

Then using A England Camelot, Glitter Gal Turbulence and Orly Nailtrition I tried a water marble.

I've been trying to practice at water marbling once a week lately, and I actually have improved some!

I'm not great at it but I really love how this turned out! Especially the pinky!

What do you guys think? I hope you like it!

Where to find Samarium's Swatches

Blog - Facebook - Twitter - Instagram

KellieGonzo's 1000th Blog Post Giveaway Extravaganza! - CLOSED

As I am writing this blog post, I can hardly believe that I have done so 999 times before. This is officially my 1000th entry on this blog! I have had many ups and downs over the years but I have loved creating every one of those entries. I wanted to celebrate this milestone with you, my lovely readers, by holding a giveaway for 6 different sets of prizes, which means 6 winners!

Prizes

• One (1) Misa Cosmetics I Do Spring Wedding collection 2013
• One (1) OPI So So Skullicious Halloween Mini collection 2012
• Two (2) sets of three different Incoco Nail Polish Appliques
• One (1) set of three items from Illamasqua's Imperfection collection 2013
• One (1) mystery "grab bag" set of fabulous nail polishes of my choosing

Rules

• Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. 
• Open to any legal resident of the 48 continental United States and District of Columbia (void in Alaska and Hawaii). Sorry no international entries this time.
• You must be 18 or older to enter (or otherwise an adult based on your local laws). 
• You can enter to win in seven different ways; telling me how you follow the blog as well as telling me your email address are both mandatory.
• The giveaway ends on Wednesday, August 7, 2013 at 11:59 PM (Pacific Time). Full terms and conditions are available in the widget.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! Thanks so much for taking this journey with me. I am so very happy to be here with you.


**CLOSED**

Some product samples provided.

Illamasqua Pink and Original Raindrops Swatches and Review

I am revisiting an Illamasqua favorite of mine, Raindrops. It's a color that they made from a fan's idea; they produced three colors via a fan contest in 2010 to come up with their own dream nail polish color. The other two were great but Raindrops turned out to be the incredibly popular standout. I got it when it came out and I was not as thrilled with it as I had expected. I ended up swapping it. However, I have since regretted that decision and decided to buy it again.

Raindrops is a light blueish grey jelly with tons of light flakes of white shimmer. I remember the first time I had this, I remembered that it wasn't very opaque and I didn't give it a second thought, I just dismissed it as a disappointment. This time I took care to apply it evenly and used three coats, and it turned out to have great coverage. There is a chance that this was reformulated, as it has gone in and out of stock over the years. I love this, it's a soft and feminine look that is quite flattering. I'm happy to have it in my collection and glad I gave it a second chance.

Nothing to Disclose

A while ago, Illamasqua said that if their fan page on Facebook got over 10,000 likes, they would put out a special edition polish, a PINK version of Raindrops! So I, along with countless fans, spread the word like wildfire and they hit their goal. They produced a beautiful cool vintagey pink version appropriately named Pink Raindrops. It is more opaque and more of a traditional shimmer rather than a jelly. It's also got a bit of a metallic pink shimmer to it in addition to the micro flakes.

I find myself wishing it was more of a jelly-like consistency like the original, it was thick and might need some coaxing to make even but I didn't have too much trouble with it. I've heard different stories from other bloggers, and the initial swatches I saw of it didn't excite me, but I do really like the color on me and I am happy with it. This is two coats, although one might've been sufficient as it is very opaque.

I bought these both from Sephora.com for $17 each. They are also available on the Illamasqua.com website for £14.50. These are both beautiful nail polishes from one of my favorite brands and I love them. What do you think? Which one do you prefer, pink or original recipe?

Illamasqua - Freckle

This polish is from Illamasqua's newest collection I'mperfection, as in I'M PERFECTION. This is their statement on the idea "Stand up and show the world what makes you perfectly, imperfect. We want you to highlight the features other brands encourage you to cover up. Because life isn't about finding yourself, life is about celebrating who you really are." LOVE them!

Freckle is a light tan brown milky creme shade with lots of fine black glitter and medium sized black hexes. The glitter doesn't appear to be metallic, more of a satin finish. The name is perfect for this, seriously reminds me of a beautiful freckly face! I personally adore redheads and freckles, I wish I had more! This is lovely, although a whole collection of these (in different base colors) isn't my favorite idea. I do like this one though and am glad I was able to try it. This is two coats. It's not particularly shiny, I wish I would've used topcoat on this swatch.

You can buy this and the other I'mperfection lacquers on Illamasqua's website for £14.50 or from Sephora for $16. I will also be showing you a blush, lipgloss and blush brush from this collection soon! What do you think of the speckled polish look?

Products provided for review.

Illamasqua Generation Q Nail Lacquers

I have had these Illamasqua Generation Q collection nail lacquers for a while now and it's high time I post my swatches. I flippen LOVE these two polishes, like really love them. The Generation Q collection is "a clear message to everybody, everywhere that beauty is not young, old, black, white, male or female, but anything, everything and everyone" which honestly is super awesome.

Charisma is described as a raspberry and I concur, though they say it's a pink and I would say it's more on the red side. A berry red shimmer. Really beautiful, amazing formula. Two coats.

Creator is a-MAH-zing. Illamasqua calls it a "magical black", and it really is. It's a dense small but substantial silver glitter in a black base. This has got to be hands down my favorite black/silver polish. Really great formula, easy to apply and not a glitter you have to "place" on the nail. I love how the glitter is standout, because in some similar shades I have the glitter tends to get lost. I commented on their facebook page suggesting they create this in a navy blue, which would make the perfect starry night polish! Lets hope they will :D Two coats.

You can get Illamasqua nail polish on their website www.illamasqua.com for £13.50 or at www.sephora.com for $14. I can't say enough about these! How do you like them?

Products provided for review.

Collide with Mr. Bubble

Today I have a beautiful combo of lacquers to show you! First is the base, the gorgeous neon hot pink Collide from Illamasqua. I received this as an AMAZING gift from my fantabulous friend Landa (along with so many of my htf lemmings I almost pooped my pants when I opened the package!) Collide has an unbelievable formula that applies so easily you'd forget it was a neon. And it was opaque in two coats. Awesome and THANK YOU La-La-Landa!

I had been wondering what to layer the last polish I got from Lush Lacquer (you can see the others I got from them by clicking here) over and I decided that Collide was perfect. Mr. Bubble is a glitter polish with a clear base, micro pink matte round glitter, small white and blue matte hex glitters, medium matte pink hex glitters, and large white and blue matte hex glitters. This is such a fun mani!

I don't much care for some of the glitters that look like paper printed on a machine with the ink running low, like the color is almost pixelated? Makes it look kinda cheap, but it isn't on all of them and I can live with it. (Even though I have decided against purchasing glitters that I saw look like this in photos...) Regardless, I really like how this turned out! You can get Illamasqua at their website or on Sephora for $14. Lush Lacquer is sold on their Etsy store, minis are two for $9.50 and full size are $8.75. How do you like this combo?

Illamasqua Naked Strangers Nail Polishes

Illamasqua's latest collection is called Naked Strangers. If you aren't familiar with the brand, they are based in the UK and their whole philosophy is about embracing your alter ego. I love their stuff, they have very out of the box colors and styles. Their press photos are also amazing, I am almost more excited to see them than the actual products haha!

A place where alter egos are laid bare and naked flesh is a source of unashamed inspiration. In this delicate tipping point between intimacy and pleasurable detachment, we revel in the unknown; exploring the distance between pure Monogamous, gilded Faithful and uninhibited Swinger. Exposed nude tones, adorned with rich licks of gold, leave you gasping for more. Don’t restrain yourself. Unless, of course, you enjoy it.
“Naked Strangers captures inner glows and depths. The deeply and darkly alluring exists alongside ethereal shimmering brilliance. We are complex and multifaceted whilst also being naked to the world.” — Alex Box, Illamasqua Creative Director.
“Naked Strangers represents everything about borderlines…the human edge between romance and permissive intimacy…a step beyond control, a step past the edge and a collection of gilded moments upon the tip of sensation. Beautiful nudes with metallic edge set amongst eclectic textures.” — David Horne, Illamasqua Director of Product Development.

The first polish I have to show you is called Monogamous, a creamy flesh pink with a rubbery finish sort of like the lacquers in their Theater of the Nameless collection. This is a very clean and classic look. If I were more pale this cold be a "mannequin hands" color. It applied very easily and didn't dry streaky or uneven which was nice. This is three coats.

Natural matte/satin finish

Monogamous with a shiny top coat

Faithful is a coppered brown shimmer polish. A-mah-zing. I really love this, it reminds me a bit of China Glaze Golden Spurs. Great formula, this is two coats. I've heard questions about the comparison between this and RBL's new Ghost Ranch, but this is much more copper toned and less metallic.

 

The Illamasqua Naked Strangers Summer 2012 Collection is on sale now at Illamasqua.com and will be available at Sephora starting on June 7th, 2012. The collection actually introduced three new nail polish colors, the third one is called Swinger and it's gold. As you can imagine, I'm extremely bummed I didn't get that one to review, but you better believe I will be buying it! Hope you enjoyed these swatches!

Products provided for review.

Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless: Sneak Peek!

Illamasqua will announce their highly-anticipated AW11 Theatre of the Nameless collection this Friday, September 2 and in the mean time, they have a sneak preview for you, and a fantastic competition to celebrate!

Be the first to win the new Nail Varnish shades of the collection with a unique, rubberised finish by entering at www.illamasqua.com/kinkynails 

Taking a lead from the colour-coded specialities of the Wittenberg Platz’s domineering Boot Girls, Illamasqua introduces confident new shades, in a brazen display of utter indulgence. The Theatre of the Nameless proudly parades a kinky new waxy “rubber-look” finish to Illamasqua’s hardwearing, chip-resistant

 Nail Varnish …

Taint – Stone Brown, Kink – Bottle Green, Vice – Deep Cerise, Faux Pas – Blue Violet

To enter, go to Illamasqua.com/kinkynails – the internationally open competition opens on Friday 26th August and runs until Sunday 4th September – all T&Cs on the website.

Omg, I am so looking forward to these! The Illamasqua "rubber" finish is really cool, I still regret not grabbing Scorn earlier. Their imagery is astounding too, they always have such beautiful photographs!

Images courtesy of the manufacturer.

The Sophie Lancaster Foundation

I wanted to write a quick post today to bring to your attention a new video made by Illamasqua to mark the anniversary of Sophie Lancaster's passing, 4 years ago today.

This film explains the background of the charity, and the work that they do. To date, Illamasqua have raised thousands of pounds for the charity and they are more determined than ever to ensure that Sophie's legacy lives on.

Click here to watch the film: http://www.illamasqua.com/about/sophie/

Illamasqua - Loella

I received this amazing polish as a gift from my oldest sister for my 25th birthday. It is Illamasqua's Loella, a "shimmering candy pink". The fuchsia-purple shimmer flash was an unexpected and welcome surprise! I quite love how this polish turned out. It's very Barbie-esque and spunky. I was expecting to need a lot of coats to make this opaque but it only took three thinly applied coverings. The formula was quite good too, easily manipulated and non-streaky.

Illamasqua's polish bottles are one of my favorite designs, I don't know why but I love square polish bottles the most. I am excited to see what new colors the brand comes out with next, their newest collection is advertising colors that seem to be re-promotes (meaning they have been put out previously). Guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens come Fall :) You can purchase Illamasqua nail lacquer for $14 each on from their website Illamasqua.com or from Sephora.com.

Illamasqua Scarab

I cannot express in words how much I love this nail polish. Illamasqua Scarab it literally the most perfect red polish that I own. It's a very atypical red, unlike any I own. It's from the Art of Darkness collection by Illamasqua from Fall 2010, but it looks like you can still get it at Sephora. A scarab is a beetle that was revered in ancient Egypt and, don't quote me on this, but I believe it means "transformation". Which is just cool.

Scarab is a rubyish-copper hued red that has intense shimmer that looks very lustrous even with its blackened base. It almost pulls towards a metallic finish but paints on easier. It's very velvety. *sigh* I am in serious amour with this baby. This is two coats.

I got this in a swap with the beautiful Suzanne from DeltaCephei, thanks again doll!

Illamasqua Load

Illamasqua's Valentine's Day cosmetic launch was called "Throb", which doesn't surprise me at all. Illamasqua comes up with the sexiest names for their products haha. I HAD to have one of the polishes from the collection, Load. It's a slightly yellow cream colored jelly crème polish that I fell head over heels for the second I saw it. It's the perfect shade. And the name is so dirty, hee hee. I mean, if you have my kind of mind ;)

Load takes about three coats to get opaque but it is lovely. I got a few bubbles but who cares, it's light enough that they were almost imperceptible. I am so enamored with Illamasqua polishes, I have WAY more of them than I ever expected to have! And, I can't wait to get my hands on the new "Toxic Nature" polishes, Bacterium and Radium.

Illamasqua Milf

Illamasqua cosmetics' names can crack me up. Milf? Yup you read that right. I won't write out what the letters stand for, if you don't know and you are curious, you can google it. Or watch the 1999 teen comedy flick American Pie.

Milf is a minty green creme, not super bright, not super pale. A nice in-between shade. Easy to work with, which is hard to come by in a pastel. This is three coats.

xoxo,
kelliegonzo