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?

Sinful Colors Candy Coated and Sweet Tooth

Today I've got two lovely shades from the Sinful Colors "Sugar Rush" collection- I can't resist a nice purple (especially with a price tag under $2), and this is proof. Candy Coated is a light blue-toned purple creme. This one is my favourite; it has a great formula and it really looked flawless on. One of my favourite springtime lacquers! 

Sweet Tooth is a warmer and brighter pinky-purple. Still a gorgeous shade, although it didn't quite take the cake for me in the same way Candy Coated did. It reminds me a tiny bit of a lighter Zoya Perrie, actually.

Did you pick up any lacquers from the Sinful Colors Sugar Rush collection?

Color Club Bright Night and Pearl-spective

Today I've got two lacquers from the Color Club Kaleidoscope Collection (Spring 2013): Bright Night (intense, vivid, cobalt blue), and Pearl-spective (a fine flakey shimmer topcoat that flashes pink and gold). I layered Pearl-spective over top of Bright Night for this manicure; I was really happy with how much Pearl-spective stood out as a topcoat, and loved how finely milled the flakey shimmer was. 

And a shot of Bright Night by itself- sorry for the partial shadow! This really deserves a number of photos because it's so perfectly vivid and blue (not to mention utterly smooth and creamy), but I've just got this one for you today.

What do you think of these two shades from the Color Club Kaleidoscope collection?

Cirque: Cape Liz, Vaudeville, Hellebore

So, this year for Valentine's Day I received what was pretty much the best Valentine's Day present ever from my significant other: a whole whack of lacquer-y amazingness in the form of Cirque's delightful polishes. Was there ever a purer expression of true love? Well, from a lacquerhead's perspective, anyways. 

 The pretties, left to right: Cape Liz, Galinda, Vaudeville, Hellebore, French Roast, XX, Cypress

Today I have a few of these beauties to show to you- first up is Cape Liz, a stormy light grey-blue with small flakey shimmer particles in it. Gorgeous, and a little demure. This reminds me of a bluer version of Illamasqua's Raindrops- it has a similar shimmer running through it.

Vaudeville: ridiculously pretty soft purpley-pink with strong golden/green shimmer running through it. I love this colour combination, and the shimmer makes this polish something special.

Vaudeville, with it's pink/purple base and greenish shimmer, also seemed like a natural companion to Hellebore, which is a mixture of predominantly green glitter with subtle purple accents. I applied Hellebore as a gradient over Vaudeville.

So far, all of the Cirque polishes I've tried have been excellent in terms of formula; I can't wait to try the rest of them! I'm especially pleased with how the Vaudeville/Hellebore manicure worked out- it's a perfect springtime combination... if only spring would actually show up around here. Which brings me to my next topic, regarding the weather in my neck of the woods. I apparently inhabit some kind of wintery hell dimension, because so far April has looked much like this:

Is it too much to ask for temperatures above freezing? And for further illustration as to the amount of snowfall we've had this past month, check these out:

 Trees be like: "what is this, quicksand?!"

 ...he's trying to run away from the memory of this winter.

What about you, dear reader? Has spring time arrived in your world? 

Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily with Pirate Polish Lovandula

After my disappointment with Rescue Beauty Lounge's Piu Mosso, I'm happy to report that Aqua Lily rather makes up for it. It's a gorgeous turquoise blue with lovely purple/pink shimmer. The formula was quite dense, covering easily in two coats. I found this shade to be really flattering on me, and I'm definitely happy I was able to snag this when it was re-released last fall. 

Aqua Lily was also the perfect base for Pirate Polish's Lovandula (a lovely lavender glitter from the Valentine's Day collection); I love the contrast between the pink and lavender glitters and the vibrant turquoise of Aqua Lily.

What do you think of Rescue Beauty Lounge's Aqua Lily? Does it make a good base for Lovandula? There are still a couple bottles on sale in the Pirate Polish Etsy store, if Lovandula is catching your eye!

A-England Dorian Gray and Lush Lacquer Lite Brite

Here's a look at a combination I did back in January: A-England's Dorian Gray with Lush Lacquer's Lite Brite layered overtop. First up, here are a couple pictures of Dorian Gray by itself:

Dorian Gray is a charcoal metallic grey, opaque in two coats. It has a somewhat pearly finish, and at first I thought it might show a few frosty brushstrokes, but after drying it looked pretty smooth. Overtop I layered Lush Lacquer's Lite Brite, an extremely punchy and vibrant glitter topcoat; I can spot big magenta metallic glitters, small turquoise squares, various orange, blue, and purple glitters, along with some tiny silver speckles. Overall, it's a really fun and high impact layering glitter. Highly recommend.

As I mentioned, I originally wore this manicure earlier in the year, and at the time I happened to be visiting Banff and Lake Louise. While sight-seeing around the Chateau Lake Louise, we were lucky enough to have a look at some amazing ice sculptures that had been carved as part of an ice-scupting competition. There were so many incredible and intricate sculptures- here's a look at one (with a pretty stunning backdrop, to boot).

Zoya Spam!

Happy Easter, everyone! How about some Zoya spam to celebrate? 

Zoya Aurora: gorgeous (and insanely sparkly) scattered holographic purple. Looks different in the following pictures depending on lighting- in reality, it's somewhere in between. 

Zoya Bela: soft and squishy-looking peachy pink jelly.

Zoya Jacqueline: creamy yellow-toned off-white creme.

Zoya Marley: a light pastel purple with soft pearly shimmer. Very pretty, and perfect for Easter!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!