Powder Perfect Halloween Duo 2016 Swatches & Review

Inspired by the three witch’s poem from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the Halloween duo from Australian indie brand Powder Perfect is ready for the season of the witch! These two new shades feature unusual color combinations that totally capture the Halloween spirit. Let's take a look!

Press Sample

Cauldron Bubble has a dark purpley almost-black base filled with multichromatic shimmer that shifts from purple to green and chameleon chrome flakies that flex in tones of copper/fuchsia/green. This was pretty sheer on the first coat, but it built up on itself really nicely. I did use three coats, but it was super close to being opaque in two. Dries a bit dull so you'll want a glossy top coat.

Toil & Trouble has a murky olive green crème base with added pink iridescent flakies and gold holographic microglitter. I found this to be a bit runny so be sure not to overload your brush. I used two coats here for full opacity. A glossy top coat really brought this to life, it is just the type of shade I will be sporting the entire fall season!

The duo is available on the Powder Perfect website and their US site now for $13 AUD/USD each or $24 for the duo. Let me know what you think about these two polishes! Are you ready for October and Halloween? Because I sure am!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Pretty Serious Cosmetics Post Apocalyptic Princess Collection Swatches & Review

Hi cookies! Pretty Serious Cosmetics has another new collection out that I have to tell you about called Post Apocalyptic Princess! This is a collection three years in the making, and the brains behind the brand have finally brought it to fruition. Inspired by a bunch of wasteland set video games and B-movies, these colors will blow your socks off!

Press Sample

Image via Pretty Serious Cosmetics

Nuke The Fridge is a shimmery olive green with bronze tones and subtle flecks, plus an under layer of navy blue, which isn't super apparent on the nail, but it's there. Very cool and super gorgeous! I love murky shades like this! This is a little thick, but is basically opaque in one coat because of that. I used two layers here.

Cherry 2000 is a metallic red with a deep cherry pink tinge. Nice formula, slightly runny but very opaque. This is two coats.

Badlands Bandit is the electric blue version of Cherry 2000, so vibrant and metallic! This had an excellent formula, not runny at all and was opaque in one coat. I used two out of habit here but you can definitely get away with just one.

Frogtown is a cool green leaning teal creamy polish with gorgeous shimmer bits. Very nice formula, opaque in one coat. I used two here. This has to be one of my top favorite Pretty Serious polishes of all time, it's so good!

Toxic Tiara is a dusty pink with a mauve/violet tone to it, filled with sparkly cool gold shimmer flecks. Reminds me a of OPI Rally Pretty Pink. Good formula, two coats for full opacity. The shimmer in here will migrate upon removal so take care so it doesn't end up all over your skin. Unless that's your thing ;)

Gluteus Equine is a glitter topper. It has a clear base with holographic microglitter, rainbow opalescent flakes, iridescent blue glass flecks, and holographic silver diamond glitters. So. Damn. Cool! The base is pretty thin, which makes for a nice, non-thick finish on the nail, but in turn ends up requiring you to fish for the large glitter pieces a bit because they can sink. I tipped the bottle upside down for a few minutes before application and that helped. I used one coat over each color in the collection. I think it looks good on all of them, but dat blue tho!

You can purchase these now on the Pretty Serious Cosmetics website. They sell for $9.95 AUD for the solid colors and $10.95 AUD for the glitter. If you use a different currency the website can show you the conversion, which I really like. I am loving this collection! Such a dope theme and gorgeous colors with amazing formulas! Any of these catching your eye?

P.S. I hear more shades will be added to this collection before the year is over!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Nail Art with Megan - Simple Steampunk

Today I have a real treat for you, some nail art! I have never been able to make nail art work for me, I end up getting frustrated and wiping all of it off every time I attempt something. However, my older sister Megan is a fellow nail polish lover but her ambition with it has always been nail art and she is quite good at it! So to fill the nail art void on my blog, she will be guest posting every so often with a nail art manicure, yay! Here is her first post, I hope you love it!

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First off, I'm really excited to be a guest on my sister's blog. I love reading her posts and feel very special. :) This blog is actually what inspired me to start doing nail art, with access to so many of her pretty polishes, who couldn't help but let their imagination run wild?

Before I start a new design, I do a ton of searches on Google and YouTube for inspiration. My favorite channels are Young Wild and Polished and SimpleNailArtDesigns. Tip: don't try to duplicate another's design exactly, you'll just end up frustrated. Take their look and tweak it into your own cute style!

For this post I decided to go with a steampunk design, I'm obsessed with the fashion and it's a goal of mine to be able to rock that style on a daily basis! I started with two coats of Petites Bronze Baby, then used a small disposable eyeshadow sponge to dab on Petites Blackberry in alternating corners on each nail. Most tutorials advise using a makeup sponge for the gradient look, but I've found the eyeshadow sponge gives me more control. For the wheels and cogs I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Pumping Iron and Milani Good Morning Sunshine. I use a small bristled paintbrush and a mini dotting tool for the designs. The top coat I used is KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

I must confess that with all my designs, I always manage to mess up on at least one nail and have to redo it from scratch. Don't get discouraged if this happens to you, trust me it's always worth taking the extra time! I'm so happy I got to do this, please leave lots of positive comments so my super sister will let me do more! ;) Big thanks and lots of love!

Megan

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Let us know what you think about this awesome steampunk mani! Do you like the steampunk style? Would you rock these nails? Thanks for coming by and have a great rest of your weekend!

❤ Kellie

BB Couture 'Eye Candy' Women's Collection: Swatches & Review

I am very excited to present the newest BB Couture nail polish collection to you, called Eye Candy! Here is the first half, the Women's collection. Six polishes with scandalous names and sassy colors just right for the humid July days and the hot August nights of late summer. Buckle up for some sex appeal my friends!

Up first we have Junk in the Trunk, a bootylicious bright berry blue polish with silvery blueberry sparkle. This polish is fierce and funky! I was able to get this opaque in two coats. I WISH I had junk in my trunk :( I have the flattest butt ever, it's ridiculous! I have totally considered getting a Brazilian Butt Augmentation ;)

Next is Trim and Tasseled, a purple jelly polish bursting at the seams with gallons of glitzy multicolored, green and purple glitter. This mama is a sexy beast! I did three coats here for an opaque finish, but it would also be great as a layering topper. This polish is seriously swimming with glitter, it is like a purple galaxy in a bottle!

The next lady is Scorching Strawberry, a playful sexy color that I could see myself wearing a lot...er I mean if I didn't have a billion other polishes to wear haha! This reminds me of strawberry milk or a drink with Tequila Rose in it or something (yum!) or a smoothie, so delicious. This mid-tone magenta pink crème base has super subtle silver irregularly shaped shimmer pieces in it, just enough to make the base a bit more complex. This is three coats.

This is Sweet Silicone, a metallic green teal with green and silver shimmer. The name of this one cracks me up, freaking hilarious! The ladies over at BB Couture certainly have a great sense of humor, and of course, produce some of the best and most unconventional polish colors ever--which is why I am head over heels for the brand! This one however, I'm not too crazy about, the color and finish don't do me any favors. Oh well, I'm sure someone will love this gal! This is three thin coats. Metallics are tricky, but using thinner coats and letting them dry a bit between applications seems to help.

After that comes Feathered Vixen, and I don't know why, but I always imagine feather boas to be purple, weird huh! I'm sure not every single feather boa in the world is purple, they just are in my mind haha (I'm cray, cray I guess...) This purple is more on the reddish side of the spectrum, not really blue in tone. It has the same irregularly shaped sparkles as in Scorching Strawberry, but BB must have added a dash more to the mix because it is much more apparent in this shade. Very pretty and girly, yet still a bit racy. This is two coats.

Closing the ladies is a Busty Bombshell! This polish literally made me squeal when I opened the package of polish I received from BB. Oh my heavens, could it be true?! A glittery gold olive green? Yup! This is one hawt lacquer. It turned out to be a little more metallic than I thought, but she still worked it out. This is three coats of sexxx! There is multi-colored blingy glitter in the base which is sort of like the color of tarnished coins, kind of gold, kind of green, a little of that dark mud color. Very interesting. It's hard to describe for sure! This is three coats.

You might have noticed that these girls have *gasp* white caps! Where are the signature BB Couture blue caps, you ask? Don't fret, my pet. They are on back-order at the moment, so Cindy who runs the famed BB Couture picked out these fab white caps to use for the Eye Candy collection, which is limited edition. I've heard rumor that these might (*ahem* will) be sold a bit cheaper than normal BB's because of the change (not sure how much cheaper). They will be available for purchase very soon on www.bbnailpolish.com.

Edited: They are available now for purchase on www.overallbeauty.com, it looks like they are $1 cheaper than normal bottles on this site.

I will have the Men's polish swatches up as soon as humanly possible :) My little nephew is visiting me this week so I am desperately trying to wrangle him around and keep him entertained, i.e. not allow him to impale himself or set anything ablaze, whilst also keeping up with my blogging responsibilities. Have a great day everyone!

Products provided for review.

Revlon Streetwear Drab

I'm feeling a bit drab today, so it's only fitting to post the ugly-beautiful Streetwear classic Drab. Olive green before it was cool. Slight shimmer. Non big-3 free. Awesome. Love it. Three coats.

I hope your weekend is going well :)

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

china glaze peace on earth

china glaze's holiday collection "naughty and nice" is HUGE!  mega huge.  i've had a lack of sun these days, so i'll definitely try to post them as i get them swatched, but big collection posts are hard to do (especially since all my big term papers are coming up due soon) lately.  sun photos are easiest to do with my new camera and i think they look better than flash photos, but i do try to include both a lot of the time.

the first color that caught my eye and BEGGED to be worn was peace on earth (heh heh, peas on earth, cuz it's pea colored, heh heh).  it's an olive green metallic, which is pretty cool to see in a christmas collection, new and different!  i like it but i don't love it, application was a bit tough and i can see those brush strokes that i loathe.  all in all though, the color is super pretty.  two coats.

the second i saw this color i thought about how it would compare to opi's at your quebec and call, a long time lemming of mine which i recently acquired.

quebec is more brown toned and richer, it also is waaay nicer to apply, but it is non big-3 free which is always easier for me :/  peace is very much the greener of the two and more metallic.  if you want a christmasy olive?  pick peace.  if you want a no fuss olive that is sexy hawt?  pick quebec.  two coats for both.

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

this product was sent to me for an honest review. please see disclosure statement for more information.

sopi - 212

212 nail polish from sephora by opi is probably one of my longest wanted nail polishes. i've been lemming it ever since i started blogging. i finally got the opportunity to get it (and at a great discount!) on a blog sale from Niki not too long ago so i JUMPED at the chance.

212 is definitely a weirdo color, which is probably why i love it so much. the base of it is kind of chameleon, sort of black, sort of charcoal, sort of olive green, sort of golden brown. and the glitter, GUUURRRRL, please, that is what i call glitttaaahhh! there has to be every single type of glitter imaginable packed into this baby. i especially love the flakies mixed with the holo pieces :D this is three coats (on my uber long nails, before i chopped them this last time haha).

sunlight

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*ouch* i'm still a bit stiff from my camping escapades this past weekend.  do you have any exciting plans for this week?  i don't really.  just finals time again for summer classes, boy that went by quick!

no more war

hello everyone! i hope you are all having a fabulous weekend, and for those of you in the states i hope your independence day festivities are off to a rousing fun start. today i have to show you a rescue beauty lounge polish that i borrowed from a friend. no more war! fitting considering the 4th of july is about the end of a war, right? at least yeah...well haha anyway! so this color is one of those weirdo freaky kind of "ugly" colors that go around the polish world. i couldn't wait to try it because i know it has quite a cult status and has been sold out on the rbl website for a while (however they have just started offering it again). it's a deep olive creme polish that could be called camouflage color. here are the results of the test drive i took with this baby.

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so conclusion? i do not love this unfortunately. i really like it on other people, but for some reason it just looked yucky on me. i felt like i had dirt or swamp mess (baby poop?) or something on my nails and that is not the feeling a girl wants from a well executed manicure. it's not a terrible color it just does not appeal to me. what do you all think? do you own no more war? what do you love or hate about it?

l.a. splash

here are some l.a. splash nail splash polishes that i got at a tiny ghetto store in my mall that i'm a little scared of going into. it's the only place close to me to buy nyx so i do feel like i have to venture in there occasionally to get a shadow or two, but these were something new i'd never seen there. the bottles are pretty small (10 mL) and i got them for $2.99 but the glitters were pretty so i figured why not.

treasure chest is a pretty coral and multi-colored glitter that these (crappy old) pictures don't do justice. the glitter is in a clear base so it would be good for layering. i looked online at their website and at cherryculture.com, and found that treasure chest on there is listed as some sort of metallic taupey color so this may be labeled by mistake or they just changed the color? annoying.

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midnight rain is beautiful! it is a dark blue with red glitter in a dark midnight blue base. very pretty and vampy with some sparkle! again, these pictures don't do it justice. and admittedly i haven't done this in a full mani, which is why you're only seeing two fingers swatched--that night i didn't want to clean up a ton of glitter.

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this one is called golden moss. a really pretty mossy green with coolish toned bigger golden glitter and micro blueish/greenish glitter. this is two coats with seche vite topcoat. and can you tell these photos are with a better camera? hopefully, because they are.

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with matte about you topcoat

i hope you are all having a lovely weekend! US residents, i hope your memorial day holiday tomorrow is filled with fun and relaxation :) love ya!