Illamasqua Harem and Nurture

Tonight I've got two gorgeous Illamasqua lacquers to show to you: Harem and Nourish. 

Harem was released earlier this year and is a lovely blue-based pink creme; it's not quite your standard pastel pink- it has much more of a lavender hue to it. As per usual, the formula was great, barely needing two coats for perfection. 

Nurture is part of last year's Rubber Brights collection, and sports an interesting satin/rubber finish- it is also the most incredible vivid green. It's extremely bright, but doesn't come off as a citrusy neon- rather, it has an beautiful fresh leafy-ness to it, if that makes sense. I absolutely loved wearing this one, and was sorry to remove it. Very unique.

What do you think of these lacquers from Illamasqua? Can you think of any polishes similar to Illamasqua Nurture?

Essie Spring 2013 Swatches (Go Ginza and Maximillian Strasse Her)

Tonight I've got a couple swatches from the Essie Spring 2013 Madison Ave-Hue Collection: Go Ginza, a pale pink/lavender, and Maximillian Strasse Her, a faded light grey/green.

Go Ginza reminds me a little bit of OPI Steady As She Rose, or maybe OPI Panda-monium Pink. It has the same dusty/greyed out finish as Steady As She Rose has (one of my all-time favourite polishes, by the way), and straddles the line between pale pink and lavender. Very pretty! The formula was a little runny and hard to work with, but covered in two coats.

Maximillian Strasse Her is a light greyed out pale green creme; the formula on this was better than Go Ginza, easy to work with and perfect in two coats. While this reminds me a bit of Essie Absolutely Shore, this is definitely a deeper and murkier shade; more in the army green category than the pastel one.

This collection kind of popped up out of nowhere- I hadn't even heard of it, then happened to see it at a Walgreen's. Which, by the way, you might be surprised to hear seeing as how there are no Walgreen's in Canada. How, then? Because for the last week I've been here: 

It's been awesome, and I'm fully prepared to leave my heart in San Francisco. 

What do you think of these shades from the Essie Spring 2013 Collection? Are you planning on picking any of them up? 

Pirate Polish "Love In A Cold Climate" collection swatches (Valentine's Day 2013)

I'm thrilled to announce the release of the Pirate Polish "Love In A Cold Climate" collection for Valentine's Day 2013! This collection is a set of four polishes, and I think there is something here for everyone. 

Left to right: Be Mine, Lovandula, Cinnamon Girl, Love In A Cold Climate 

First up is Be Mine, a soft candy pink creme peppered with fine golden accents: subtle golden flakes and tiny golden holographic sparkles. By far the most demure polish of the collection, this lacquer fits the bill if you're looking for something soft and sweet, and yet it has more going on than your standard pink pastel. Be Mine is opaque in two coats.

Lovandula is the perfect lavender glitter bomb; tiny purple holographic glitter, bubblegum pink hexagonal glitter, an abundance of diamond-shaped lavender glitter, and large silver holographic hex glitter. For such a cute looking polish, this lacquer definitely packs a big holographic punch. Lovandula is shown below, two coats over a purple creme.

Lovandula also conveniently doubles as a disco ball, in case of impromptu Valentine's Day dance parties...

Cinnamon Girl is a scorchingly bright red jelly, teeming with red glitter in every imaginable shape and size. It also features tiny silver holo glitter, which adds extra depth and sparkle. I really love the idea of red-on-red when it comes to combining a red jelly with red glitters. While opaque by itself in three coats, this polish can also be layered over a dark vampy shade to bring out more contrast between the base colour and the red glitter. I'll be sure to show you swatches of what Cinnamon Girl looks like layered in the coming days.

Love In A Cold Climate is this collection's namesake, and is notable for its abundance of icy blue and white hearts. It also contains a wide range of bright blue and snowy white glitters in various shapes and sizes, as well as tiny iridescent blue square glitters. Here I've shown two coats of Love In A Cold Climate over a deep blue creme.

I'm happy to announce that this collection will also be available in miniatures. The set of four minis is priced at $18 ($5 individually), while the set of four full-size polishes costs $36 ($10 individually). 

These polishes are currently in stock at the Pirate Polish Etsy store, and are limited edition for Valentine's Day. For more information, and to stay up to date on new releases, check Pirate Polish out on Facebook.

What do you think of these sweet offerings for Valentine's Day? Are you feeling the love?