OPI Rainbow Connection: Muppets Collection 2011

Do i dazzle you?

This is kind of how I would imagine my fingers would look like after being dipped in Edward Cullens ashes.

Sparkling  fairies aside - this is the most amazing glitter I have ever owned. I looked everywhere for a bottle of this HTF beauty , and found it on ebay for £16, and even though my bank account begged me not to do it and my wallet shriveled up and died, I had to have it!

I could of gone for the cheaper  Technic Carnival Dupe (which is awesome) or the Nicole & Milani Dupes but I wanted the original.

I don't know why though, after my purchase and the  excitement had worn off I realized  It's not a polish I would immediately go for.   I think it's just the HTF enigma with popular (soon to be rare) polishes; and my excuse is, 'It's a good investment" 

               
























This is one of those  polishes that  looks amazing in and out of the bottle. I didn't want to layer this so I went all out and built a fortress of glitter on my nails - I just know by looking at it that this is going to take forever to remove, so I am pretending that problem doesn't exist.....

Excuse the tip wear. When you have children asking you every 5 mins to "feed me, open this,  reattach my dolls head, brush my hair"   etc and your nails are still tacky, you will lose polish and kick yourself for not doing this when they are at school.

                            Inside                                                                                           Outside

All images = a bazillion coats (5) This took forever and a day to dry, and when you have children this is a nightmare that even Seche Vite cannot fix

                                                          One Coat Under Artificial Lighting

One coat just looks blah and awful.  It looks like my mani is half finished.   I would recommend layering this or you will lose a half a bottle of polish if you use more than 2 coats at a time. Although the glitter does not sparkle it is  incredibly shiny. I would also recommend a top coat , because the glitter does stick out and snag, especially in your hair,  if you are wearing 3-5 coats like I am. 

Overall: I adore this! and can't wait to get my hands on the other dupes so I can compare. 

China Glaze: HTF Holographic

Finally got hold of three brand new China Glaze Holographic Polishes, which are unfortunately discontinued and HTF. I can now cross these off my wishlist! I love ebay!

These are the three I purchased: 

TTYL : from the China Glaze Spring 2008 OMG! collection.   Kaleidoscope Him Out and Let's Do It In 3D  from the  Kaleidoscopes Collection

I cannot wait to try these out! I almost don't want to due to their rarity.

Nfu Oh: Holographic 65: Nail Of The Day.

I  recently purchased 4 bottles of  Nfu Oh Holographic Nail Polish and I have been tapping my foot impatiently waiting for the sun to come out so I could try one. 

Up first is Nfu Oh: 65 , a  strong linear blue holo.  In the bottle it doesn't look like much, just a shimmering pale blue, but get it on  the nails  and it just dazzles.

65  is going in my favourite's pile. I can't stop staring at my nails whenever I am outside, it's very distracting but hey that's what we want nail polish to do!

So as one of my favourite blogs likes to say:  "Let's Go Sparkling!"

                                                                      Indoors: With Flash

All images are without base & top coat. Top coats tend to dry to a cloudy finish over holographics, and it dulls their brilliance which is a shame as I like my mani to last more than a few days. At first I had to keep touching up my mani but it's wasting the polish so I caved and used Sally Hansen's Super Shine top coat. It dulls the holo a little but not by much and there was no shrinkage at all.

One niggle about this nail polish is the streaky application and the tendency to leave patchy holes. I tried everything from  base coat, top coat & ridge fillers etc, nothing worked.

I  recommend using the Nfu Oh: Aqua Base prior to use, or like I did, just brush onto bare nails, I found this to be a problem free solution which meant I didn't have to use a bazillion coats to hide the mess. The polish is easy to remove, dries in seconds and doesn't leave any staining. 

   Depending on the light , the holo's flash between a standard pastel blue to full  blown holo. 

         Indoors Without Flash. 

                                                                        With Flash 

Outside: Direct Sunlight: Nfu Oh 65 tends to go holo mad when it's under indirect sunlight, with a little shade. The images taken with the flash above are pretty close to how that looks. Direct sunlight seems to make the holo look weaker.

(On  Emerald Sparkled :  I saw  that the old  formula of this polish was out of this world and since changing their formula the effects are not as pronounced, you can  see the  difference in the bottle below compared to mine above. Nfu Oh: why did you have to mess with perfection!?

Do I want the old formula? ......you bet I do! this is a lemming. :)

Has anyone else tried the old formula; what did you think?

                                            Nfu OH 065 - Old Formula Copyright  © Lextard

Nfu - Oh: Holographic Haul.

Nfu - Oh holographics are without a doubt the most beautiful holo's on the market.  I am showing large images here because the polish looks so amazing up close! 

Nfu - Oh  are fairly pricey going for £12.60 a bottle, but so worth the money in my opinion.

I only purchased 4 out of the 6 bottles available on the Nfu Oh Website and I cannot wait to get swatching once the sun comes out to play.

063 and 064 are very very similar almost to the point of being  dupes but don't be fooled,  063 is a lot lighter and has a pink finish, while 064 has a lilac finish,  and this is very visible in natural light.

                                           Just look at the beautiful corset design on the back! 

          Bottles Full Of Holo Sparkle! 

Vosene: Kids: Extra Shine Detangler

In this household there's just hair...... Lot's and lot's of annoying  knotty hair. 

  This picture reminds me of "Cousin IT" for some reason (lol)

My 12 and 11 year old girls above  have long hair, they only have to  wear it down for less than 5 mins and it will get knotty and hard to detangle. 

In my house in the early hours of the morning and in the evening you will probably hear loud protests and the sound of running footsteps. My girls hate having their hair brushed, it's a pet hate around here. 

I normally have to chase them, brush in hand and then bribe them with candy or pennies. 

I found this smelly Vosene product on the shelf in Lloyds Pharmacy and thought hell , I'll try anything. (If I am honest, It was really the artwork that first drew me to it, the word detangle was second)

In 6 months, I usually go through a few tubes of  Liz Earle's botanical shine conditioner  for their hair and mine,  however that's becoming expensive.

So enter Vosene detangler & head lice repellent.  If you have children in middle school, you know head lice is rampant.

Thankfully only one of my girls is in middle school and I usually slick her hair up as tight as possible before she leaves the house every morning. I also add tea tree oil to her shampoo to fend off the nasty little buggers.

Vosene, although smelly (I think it's the lemon eucalyptus) has lot's of Tea Tree oil  to repel head lice, and you can use it  on wet or dry hair. (even though the product tells you to rinse it out)  I usually spray a little on the surface of their dry hair every morning.

Detangling hair isn't a problem either, spray a little over the entire surface of wet hair , wait 1 minute and then brush through, it really does get out knots and leaves the hair smelling nice.

Tears after bathtime are a thing of the past. No more wrestling with knots and tangles; just smooth on a generous dollop of Vosene Kids Detangling Conditioner. Specially developed with natural jojoba, sunflower and grapeseed oils, it makes even the most obstinate locks easy to manage. Simply comb through, leave for a couple of minutes and rinse out, for healthy-looking hair and happy-looking faces.

• Detangles, conditions and defends

• Adds strength , leaving hair soft, shiny and tangle-free

• Specially formulated for kids’ finer hair and sensitive scalps

• Contains natural head lice repellents Tea Tree Oil and  Eucalyptus

• After shampooing, massage a generous amount from roots to tips, leave for 1-2 minutes then rinse

Rimmel: 60 Seconds: Sky High

Picked this up at Tesco's for £3.69.  I absolutely adore this shade, and I could definitely wear it all the time, if I didn't love changing my polish so frequently.

I also received my 6 bottles of Catherine Arley holo nail polish from Bulgaria (Only took 4 days shipping) but I missed the postman so it's getting re-delivered tomorrow :(

You can find Catherine Arley holographic polish here but you will need to send them an email first so they can send you a paypal invoice. (Delivery to USA takes a month)

Or you can get the more expensive Nfu Oh range which I just ordered 4 of today (I am a sucker lol)


Anyway onto this beauty!


                                                           

                      Here it is under lamp light. - changing from bright blue to a more greenish hue. 

                                                               Opacity achieved in two coats.

                                                                          Outside: 

   
     All images without topcoat, this polish is incredibly shiny all by itself.  

                                        And it's always awesome to have matching jewellery! 

I might layer this using Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure or Holo's  when the sun comes out to play. Flakies and holo's look much better when it's sunny outside and not so dark, but.........

I hate summer, I really do, I don't do sunshine, or heat, and prefer to live where it's cold and dark.  I have the opposite of SAD. Send me to Alaska to live or Washington State and I'd be happy forever. But.......I need sunshine for my holo's to work! and that's the only reason I can think of to  like the sun.

I also found this in the small post office this morning , I knew Cutex has always done nail polish remover and dabbled in  nail polish back in the day but not cuticle oil.


I usually use the NGF formula (Friends nail cream - business) or Solar Oil, but I am always up for something new.



I thought I'd pick it up seeing as it was only 0.99 pence. Bargain.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sally Hansen: Hidden Treasure Vs Nail Pop: Sequin Effect

I  purchased Hidden Treasure via amazon for £2.66, absolute bargain!  you can find it here & I purchased a similar looking flaky polish from Superdrug  - Nail Pop: Sequin Effect  £5


Hidden Treasure arrived in the mail only 20 minutes ago and I had to try it out.  Below: Hidden Treasure  over China Glaze: Strawberry Fields.

Both Hidden Treasure & Sequin Effect  have  a beautiful green/orange  flaky shimmer, but the real magic happens over black.

This is one coat. Excuse the nubbin & mess (this is my evil left hand that causes my nails to break more often )

    Index & Ring Finger:  Hidden Treasure /  Middle Finger & Pinky:  Nail Pop 

So let's try it on the right which is easier on the eyes; Both look incredibly similar here, but Hidden Treasure has more of a red/orange flash.

       

 Index & Ring Finger  = Hidden Treasure /  Middle Finger & Pinky = Nail Pop 

Hidden Treasure is definitely  more of an orangy  red with flashes of green, but Nail Pop just seems to flash  green and only a hint of orange , and isn't as strong, so Hidden Treasure is the winner here for me.