Kilox Lacquers - World Opulence Collection!

Hi my lovelies!! 

I know I've been pretty MIA as of late. I just recently started a new job, and my hours have been a little all over the place, so I haven't had much time for blogging. Plus, one of the downsides to the job is that we are not allowed to wear any nail polish! (I work with food and drinks a lot, so apparently it's a health-code violation.) 

No polish = sad Kate lol. I've just been keeping them painted on my off-time, and as far as swatches I pretty much have to just swatch and take it right off. No fun, no bueno. Lol!

(Oh also, please forgive my short little nubbins nails and awful, dry cuticles. Those are also courtesy of the new job. Waaah! :p)

But I have a super-duper fun and exciting post for you guys today!! :D 

Today I am swatching/reviewing my very first full indie polish collection! :) 

This is the World Opulence Collection by Kilox Lacquers! 

 

The World Opulence Collection consists of 7 gorgeous sparkly beauties! I really love the bright colors, and obviously I love all that glitter. This is me we're talking about, hello. So shiny, so pretty, and glitter for days! Just my style! ;) 

First up, we have Burmese Ruby: 

Burmese Ruby is a red shimmer, with red and silver micro-glitter. There's actually quite a bit more glitter in it than you can see here, this one was a little hard to capture on camera. The glitter is much more obvious in person. :) 

I was really impressed with the formula, it was completely opaque in 2 coats, (which is rare sometimes for indie polishes, especially glitters), and dried pretty quickly. No staining at all on the nails or cuticles, and removal was easy. I think this will definitely be a staple in my Christmas manis come Holiday time! :) 

Next up, Norwegian Topaz: 

You guys. YOU GUYS. I. love. this. so. much!  Just look at that bottle shot. Look at it. It's so gorgeous I can't even. It's also one of the most unique indies I've seen. :)

Norwegian Topaz is a gooorgeous deep orange shimmer, absolutely packed with holographic pink, orange, and silver micro-glitters, and small pink hex glitters. 

I did not ever want to take this off, it's so sparkly and pretty! Again, the formula was really great, opaque in two coats, great drying time, no staining, no need to "fish" for the glitters at all, and removal was surprisingly easy for such a packed glitter! (Especially since it was completely dry by the time I got myself to stop staring and taking pictures of it lol!) 

Next up, Columbian Emerald:

Columbian Emerald is dark emerald shimmer, with silver micro-glitter and small green and silver round glitters. 

I really like this one too, it's perfect for this season too, since emerald is is the color of the year for 2013! :) 

This formula was slightly thinner, so it took 3 coats to complete opaqueness. You could probably get away with two, but we all know how I am with my coverage, I go overboard sometimes lol! 

Still has a very good drying time, no staining, no "fishing," and easy removal. The glitters in this one, like Burmese Ruby, are much more obvious in person. For some reason my camera didn't want to pick them up lol! This one is great for Fall, and I think it'll be great for pairing with Burmese Ruby in a Christmas mani! ;) 

Next up, Sri Lankan Sapphire:

Sri Lankan Sapphire is deep sapphire blue shimmer, with silver micro-glitter and light and dark blue round glitters. Like the Ruby and Emerald, it's tough to see those round glitters on my camera. If you look at the bottle in that last photo though, that's much closer to what it looks like in person. The formula is similar to Columbian Emerald, opaque in 3 coats, no fishing, good drying time, easy removal, and no staining, which I was pleasantly surprised about! I always expect such pigmented blues like this to stain, but there was none at all! Can't beat that. :) 

Next up, Egyptian Amethyst:

Egyptian Amethyst is a light purple, almost lavender with purple micro-glitter and silver hex glitters. I would say the base is close to a jelly, whereas the rest of this collection is mostly shimmer base, but not quite thin enough to be classified as a jelly. But also not thick enough to be classified as a "crelly" either. This had the thinnest formula out of them all, this is 3 coats in these photos, but if I were wearing it I would probably do one more coat. That could also just be my obsessive need for coverage though lol! 

Despite its thinness, I really really like this one. The shade is gorgeous, and there's something really unique and fun about the dark micro-glitter/light square glitter combo. This one took a tad-bit longer to dry than the others, but really only an extra minute or two. No staining, easy removal, and I only had to "fish" for the hex glitters on the first coat, after that they started coming out on the brush much more easily.  

Next up, Australian Silver:

Though it's hard to choose, I think this one might actually be my favorite of the collection. 

Australian Silver is a super super pretty silver chrome shimmer. The chrome/foil finish of this polish is amazing, it has almost a mirror-shine to it, and the extra sparkle that the shimmer adds makes it even prettier. Another thing I love about it is that it looks different in different lighting; in low/indoor lighting it looks like a dark chrome silver, but in brighter light and sunlight it looks much lighter. The formula was pretty good too. It was a little bit thin, so I did end up doing 4 coats, but each coat dried thin and quickly. No staining (although for a silver that kinda goes without saying lol :p) Removal was a little bit tougher for this one as opposed to the others, but other than that I have not a single complaint. I will definitely be getting lots of use outta this beauty! :) 

And last, but most certainly not least, is the Opulent Top Coat: 

This is sooo gorgeous! The Opulent Top Coat is a packed holographic micro-glitter top-coat. I topped off Australian Silver with it here. 

The formula is great, quick-drying, easy removal, and no fishing at all, it comes right out on the brush easy-peasy. The first photo is 1 coat, and the second photo is 2 coats. I really love this one, I love all the rainbow you can see in the holo! 

So that is the beautiful World Opulence Collection from Kilox Lacquers! If you like these, make sure to check out her website Kilox Lacquers, she also has a another super pretty collection! :) 

(Disclaimer: These products were sent to me for my honest review, all opinions are strictly my own.) 

Swatch Time!: Zoya PixieDusts!

Hey lovelies!

It's SwatchTime! I have some super pretty swatches for you today, Zoya PixieDusts!  

This past 4th of July (Independence Day here in America!) Zoya had another one of their awesome specials; if you bought the PixieDust shade Liberty, you got any other two shades FREE! :) 

So I did it, and I got Liberty, Stevie, and Phoebe. 

Zoya PixieDust - Liberty 

Zoya PixieDust - Stevie 

Zoya Matte Velvet - Phoebe 

So today I'll show you swatches of the first two, the Liberty and Stevie PixieDusts! 

Pixie Dust is Zoya's line of textured glitter polishes! These are the second textured polishes I've tried, I also tried one of the OPI Liquid Sand polishes. 

I have to say, I like Zoyas formula a lot better! I usually like OPI's formula the best, but Zoya's textured formula is really good! They dry super quick, and I love the way they look and feel. Both of the ones I tried were opaque in 2 coats! :)

What I liked better about the Zoya formula was that you can do more than two coats, and it still dries quickly, but with the OPI ones you can really only do 2 coats, or else it doesn't dry properly. That was really my only problem with the OPI formula though, was the drying time.

This is Liberty, the only one of the three that I paid for! Hehe :p  

Liberty is from the Summer PixieDust Collection.

Liberty is a super pretty dark blue matte textured glitter. It's a deep blue base, with dark and light blue, almost silver micro glitter. 

The only thing I didn't like about this polish, was that it does stain blue a little, especially during removal. I won't lie, I definitely got Smurf fingers when I took it off! LOL!

Other than that though, I have no complaints about this one! :)

This is Stevie! As soon as I saw this one advertised I knew I had to have it, it's soo pretty! :) 

Stevie is also from the Summer PixieDust Collection. 

Stevie is a gooorgeous lavender/pink matte textured glitter. It has a pinkish/lavender base, with silver micro glitter.  

I love these, I'm definitely going to be buying some more PixieDusts in the future, the Fall Collection especially looks really really pretty! :) 

Check back tomorrow for a swatch of Phoebe, the third polish I picked! :) 

Did you guys take advantage of this Zoya deal? Let me know in the comments what colors you picked if you did! :)

OPI Mariah Carey Collection - Pink Yet Lavender Swatch!

Hey lovelies! I have a goooorgeous swatch for you today! :) 

This is from the OPI Mariah Carey Collection, and it's a stunning glitter topper called "Pink Yet Lavender." 

The name is definitely fitting, because that's exactly how I would describe it's color! It sort of reminds me of the color of rose gold. 

Pink Yet Lavender is a gorgeous glitter topper, with a clear base with large "pink, yet lavender" colored hex glitters, and pink/lavender holographic micro glitter!

A bottle-shot to show it's prettiness close up! :) 

You definitely do not have to fish for the glitter at all, even the larger glitter pieces come right out on the brush, and I didn't find myself having to "place" the glitter too much at all either. 

The clear base is a little thick though, so you don't want to do too thick of a coat at once. Instead, I did two thin coats an built it up. Other than that though, I had no problems with this polish! :) 

I did a base color of Sephora by OPI - A True Romantic and then two coats of Pink Yet Lavender, and sealed it off with a coat of Seche Vite. 

I loooove the way this glitter looks! I got this from my sister as a birthday gift, and as soon as I pulled it out of the box and saw it, I was in love! 

I can't wait to try this with other base colors and see how it looks! :) 

Swatch-Time!: Darling Diva Polish - Denim Mitten!

Hello Lovelies! :) 

So remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned that I entered the Jen's Nail Files nail art contest? Well I was one of the twelve winners! 

So our prize was an exclusive Darling Diva Polish, made just for the Contest!  

So sadly, I don't think you'd be able to buy this beauty, but definitely check out Darling Diva Polish's other polishes! :) 

The cute little care package from Jen, she included two boxes of NERDS candy too! Yum! :) 

Bottle Shot of Denim Mitten! :) 

Look how gorgeous!!  

This is actually my first indie polish, and I love it! :) 

Denim Mitten is a light purple-ish blue shimmer base, totally PACKED with glitter! I spotted dark blue, pink, purple, and silver micro glitters, and large pink round glitters. 

I was really impressed by the formula, the only glitter I needed to "place" was the large pink glitters, but I didn't have to fish for them at all, and all the micro glitters went on with no problem at all. 

It did take four coats to become opaque, but that's to be expected with a glitter polish. The layers dried really quickly though, so it wasn't that much of a problem! 

Overall, I was super-duper surprised and impressed by this polish! :) 

I definitely love this prize!! So thank you Jen for choosing me as a winner, and thank you Darling Diva Polish for making this for us! :) 

Swatch & NOTD Featuring "Break A Leg-Warmer!"

Hey lovelies! :)

So today I have a quick little swatch and Nail Of The Day for you! :) 

First up is swatches! 

This is Sephora by OPI - Break A Leg-Warmer. 

Break A Leg-Warmer is a super pretty blue-gray creme. It's opaque in two coats, dries quickly, and has a great formula! 

You may remember that I swatched this before when I swatched the whole Tinseltown Collection, but since that was back before I got my camera,(boooo, blurry iPod pictures!)  I figured I'd do a little re-swatch with a better picture. :) 

So now for our Nail Of The Day! 

For today's NOTD I added a coat of Sephora by OPI - Justa' Pinch Of Glitter to my ring and thumb for glitter accent nails! :) 

I hope you all had a great weekend! Have a happy Monday! :) 

French Mani Fun!: Zebra Print Acrylics!

Hey lovelies!

So remember how in my last French Mani Fun post I told you how these leopard print acrylics were my favorite set of falsies I've ever painted?

Well uhm, yeah, that's changed now. 

Because these have got to be my favorite falsies I've done, my favorite French Mani I've done, and it only comes in a close second for my favorite Mani I've ever done EVER.

(The #1 all-time favesies being this rainbow zebra print mani!) 

So here they are, sparkly hot pink zebra stripe French falsies!! (Ahh!! :D) 

(P.S. Sorry about the excess glitter around my cuticles, I got really excited and didn't bother with cleanup before I started snapping pictures LOL) 

For this mani I used: 

Kiss Nails - Everlasting French Tip Acrylics 

Sephora by OPI - What Aura Gonna Wear? 

Sally Hansen - Black Nail Art Pen 

Pixel - Pixel Dust 

Seche Vite Top-Coat

I also pulled the little Loubitan trick and painted the underside pink too! (I can't wait til my natural nails are long enough to do that again!!): 

(Ahem, pay no mind to the fact that you can see my messes un-shaped natural nail on the index finger LOL) 

I. LOVE. THESE. :D  !!!

Oh and hey, if you're wondering at all about the process of how I did these, there's a little mini tutorial coming soon, so stay tuned! ;)