Jior Couture Paparazzi

I'm finally back! I must admit, I'm excited that the humidity here in Toronto has begun to wind down and sweater season will soon be upon us *insert happy dance*. But along with fall comes all the traffic that back to school creates, the leaves we have to rake (last year we had 25+ bags) and all the overcast we've had this week as I tried to take photos of this polish! Anyways, on to what we're really here for ..

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A few weeks ago Jior Couture held a contest on their Instagram page and asked their fans to help 'Name the JIOR lacquer'. Along with the photo, the polish was described as having a holo base with mini metallic turquoise, pink and white glitters as well as black and white shred glitter. On top of all of that sass in a bottle, the polish also glows in the dark! It was later announced that the chosen winning name was 'Paparazzi' (submitted by @stunnin.nails)- a great name to represent this flashy polish!

Here is a macro bottle shot of Paparazzi:

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Paparazzi was created as a topper to be used along with your favourite shimmers and cremes but if you're the type of person who likes to use toppers alone and don't mind a little bit of VNL then go for it! Here's how 3 coats looked on my nails with no base color (other than the yellow tint from all my polish wearing, sorry!):

(Ottlite)

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I had to run home after work to snap some last minute pictures as the weather was not on my side this week. Most photos were taken in natural lighting and artificial lighting was used when I couldn't wait for Mr. Sun to show up!

I decided to go for a grey (Indigo Banana 'Smoke on the Otter') for my base color as I felt it best showed all of the different colors and shapes that are in Paparazzi. I think it would look pretty over a light pink or blue as well! What base colour you would pair it with? In the photos below I also used 3 coats of Paparazzi:

(Direct Sunlight)

(Direct Sunlight)

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 As with most glitter polishes, there is a slight texture to it but a nice coat of top coat smooths it right out - I used Seche Vite. The formula was easy to work with, glitter spread fairly easily and dried pretty quick as well. Be warned, this polish is a distraction at work! I can't count how many times co-workers walked in on me starring at my nails to see what else I could find - haha!

Jior Couture is capping Paparazzi at just 100 bottles so be sure to grab one from their shop on release day - Friday, September 14th! If you like what you see, be sure to check out Jior on their Instagram, Facebook and Twitter as well.

Last but not least, if you aren't already following me, it's not to late to start -  Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

Thanks for reading!

*Press Sample - the product was provided in exchange for an honest review.

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Jior Couture SWL Fall 2016 Collection

I'm so excited to share with you part of Jior Couture's Fall collection called SWL! It's a 12 piece collection with two sets, each with six bottles. One set is called the SWL: Bitter and the other, the SWL: Sweet. Today, I have the 6 colours from the SWL:Sweet. Here's a group shot of the one's I got to try out!

(From left to right: Resurrection, Reformation, Redemption, Hope, Forgiveness and Awakened)

Before we get started with the pictures, I want to mention that the formula on these were amazing! I did not have problems with any of them. They went on smoothly, leveled out nicely and also dried pretty quickly. I received the polishes in the mini size, which for Jior, are 9ml. They are a nice in between of the 5ml bottles some makers use and the 15ml full size bottles. They were easy to hold and the handles are long which allowed for the same controlled application you get from full size brushes.

This post is picture heavy but trust me, it's worth it!

To start, this is Awakened. It's a multichrome so at different angles you can see some tones of purple-red, orange, copper and gold. It has so much going on I think it may even have some greens in it! In my photos, I used 2 coats.

In the direct sunlight you can mainly see the purple-red colour but in the shade and at an angle, the multichrome begins to show! The macro shot is my favourite because it reminds me of the sun setting!

(Direct sunlight)

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Next up is Forgiveness. It's an orange leaning light brown with a holographic finish. It was opaque in 1 coat (Amazing!) but I used 2 just to be safe. To be honest, I thought I would really dislike this colour on my skin tone but it actually ended up being one of my favourites despite it being a colour I don't choose very often!

Something to note, the holo in my pictures is a little dulled from my top coat (darn you Seche Vite!), it's much more holo without the top coat and in real life.

(Direct sunlight)

(Shade)

(Direct sunlight)

Hope is a multichrome and microglitter polish.  It's base is a sheer pearly colour with pink, purple and blue shimmer along with a fine holo microglitter. It's meant to be a topper but can of course be worn alone. My nails are super yellow so I am sparing you the pictures of it worn alone - haha! It's shimmer shines through best on dark colours but unfortunately during my move I misplaced my blacks and didn't get to try it over a black creme. Instead, I used 3 coats over Redemption and then tried 3 coats over white to capture the details in the macro.

(Direct sunlight)

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Here is Redemption - my favourite of the bunch! It has a duochrome/ shimmer finish - the base is a sheer navy blue with super fine blue to green flakes. Shown below is 3 coats to reach opacity but the polish dries very fast because of how much glitter flakies are packed into the jelly base.

This colour in direct sunlight looked like a blue foil colour, but in the shade it is just the prettiest shifty colour ever! I wanted to keep it on my nails forever .. but there were more polishes waiting to be worn!

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If you like the jelly and flake combination Reformation is for you! The base is a jelly royal blue colour scattered with irridescent flakes throughout. I managed to get it semi-opaque in 5 coats but if you're not into waiting that long and VNL bothers you, I also tried 3 coats over white. Over white, the blue turned into a periwinkle kind of colour - such a versatile polish!

(Direct sunlight)

(Overcast)

(Direct sunlight)

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And the last polish is Ressurection! It is a holographic-multichrome combination finish. The formula was a little on the thin side but built up nicely and was opaque in 3 smooth coats. The colours in this one ranged from a dark purple to green and to gold/yellow. This one is just so gorgeous - every time I glanced at my nails I'd get distracted and would wiggle my fingers around to catch the light at all angles!

(Direct sunlight)

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Phew - you made it to the end! All photos above were taken in natural lighting and all swatches were topped with Seche Vite. Don't forget to check out Jior Couture's other bloggers to see the other 6 colours! The SWL collection will be available to purchase in their shop on September 15th.

Which one was your favourite? Let me know below!

Thanks for reading!

*Press Sample - the product was provided in exchange for an honest review.

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Australian Indie Blue Gradient Nails

I was going through my stash thinking about what colour I should do next, when an image of a bright holo blue gradient mani popped up in my head! I found two polishes I thought would look perfect together and they both happen to be Australian brands! Celestial Cosmetics Sesir Kipi and Grace-full Polish Good Bye Summer. Both colours are beautiful blue holos, the Celestial is a few shades darker than the Grace-full and also has flakes that match Good Bye Summer.

I applied one coat of Grace-full Polish Good Bye Summer and then used a make-up sponge to create the gradient using the two colours. Blues are notoriously hard to photograph - In person the gradient was quite prominent but in the photos they look quite similar .. *faceplam*!

This is how my mani turned out!

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Here it is at another angle:

(Direct Sunlight)

 

And of course, a macro shot. You can really see the flakes in Celestial's Sesir Kipi here!

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How do you think it turned out? I personally love it - Couldn't stop staring at my nails whenever I was out in the sun! I can't comment too much on the formula as it was sponged on, but the polish itself lasted about a week on my nails. Minimal tip wear and no chipping!

Celestial Cosmetics can be purchased from her site here and Grace-full Polish can be purchased from her site here. Because they are both based out of Australia be sure to check out their International sites and stockists.

If you aren't already following me, it's not to late to start -  Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

Thanks for reading!

*All products mentioned in this post were purchased myself. 

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Happy Canada Day!

Today marks Canada's 149th Birthday! I decided very last minute that I would do a Canada Day mani and stayed up till the wee hours of the morning. With my lack of sleep, my mind decided to do the craziest mani I've done yet! For my nails I decided to keep it purely Canadian with all Canadian indie makers - I sorted through boxes and boxes of polish until I found colours I thought would be perfect for today and it just so happened that all the brands I used are from Ontario!

The silver base colour is from Echoes Polish in the colour My Own Silver Lining. The red and glitter polishes are both by Girly Bits - It Was the Fireball and Canuck the Dots. And lastly, the maple leaf nail vinyls are from Eat. Sleep. Polish.

The sun was hiding all morning, so these pictures are fresh from my camera - let's start with a picture of the mani!

Here it is at another angle .. boy my nails are getting long (but they seem to be the perfect length for a flag)!

 And lastly, some macro shots of each nail!

The two coloured polishes I used were both super holo! My Own Silver Lining by Echoes Polish is a strong silver linear holo and was what I used as the base for all my nails. It went on in two easy coats and dried relatively fast considering all the layers I had to add onto it! Girly Bits It Was the Fireball is a true red linear holo, it went on in two coats with no formula issues to report. I used this colour for the flag on my ring finger and also used them over the Eat. Sleep. Polish. maple leaf nail vinyls for extra holo pizzazz!

The last polish I used is also by Girly Bits called Canuck the Dots - I'm not a huge fan of bar glitter but I thought there was no better time to use it than on Canada Day! It looks like confetti as it has a subtle silver shimmer and lots of red and white bars, hexes, rectangles in squares in multiple sizes. The formula, like all chunky glitters, requires a bit of placement over the nail but overall was easy to apply.

What do you think of my over the top mani? I hope everyone is having a great day off from work and Happy Canada Day!

Girly Bits can be purchased from her site here. Echoes Polish here and lastly, Eat. Sleep. Polish. here!

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

Thanks for reading!

*All products mentioned in this post were purchased myself. 

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YSL Peace Green vs. Ever After 2 Peace in A Pod

This Spring Yves Saint Laurent released two limited edition polishes, one of them being Peace Green. Everyone wanted that beautiful light mint green with strong pink shimmer and as expected, they flew off the shelves at a hefty price of $27-$28 USD! Something this unique is quite rare in the high end polish world. Typically brands like Chanel, Dior, YSL etc. stick to cremes or subtle shimmers that can be seen in the bottle but not on the nail (I'm looking at you Dior!).

In response, many people tried to find a dupe for Peace Green. Some came close but Peace Green couldn't be copied! Then, the maker of Ever After decided to make an exact dupe of Peace Green based on a sample swatch stick she received. The comparison photo looked promising so I decided to purchase 2 Peace in A Pod for $10.50 USD and put it to the test!

This is a picture heavy post - so let's get started with the pictures first and see if you can guess which one is the YSL and which is the Ever After! All photos were taken in direct sunlight so you can see all that shimmer!

Here they are at another angle:

 

A close up of the two side by side:

 Here are macro shots of each of the polishes - did you figure out which one is which yet?

Lastly, here are some bottle shots:

Did you guess correctly? As you can see, Ever After's 2 Peace in A Pod is not an exact dupe for YSL's Peace Green. There is quite a difference between the base green colour. I would say they are a few shades away from each other with the Ever After being darker than the YSL.

From the macro and bottle shots, you can see Peace Green has a much stronger pink shimmer whereas 2 Peace in A Pod's shimmer does not seem to be as fine and is leaning a bit more yellow/ gold.

Formula wise Peace Green was really good - The consistency was on the thinner side and although it was a thin 3 coater, each coat dried quickly and leveled out nicely. It had a glossy finish and didn't require top coat but Seche Vite was applied anyways for consistency in the comparison. My bottle of 2 Peace in A Pod on the other hand was terribly thick. Despite being thick, I still need 3-4 coats and it did not level out very well. I could not paint one length of my nail without getting streaks. I added about 10 drops of nail polish thinner and re-did the 2 nails with the Ever After on them. While it was manageable, the formula was still streaky and required lots of top coat to hide the streakiness.

Do you think 2 Peace in A Pod by Ever After is a good enough dupe for YSL's Peace Green? Let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading!

*All products mentioned in this post were purchased myself.

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Lilypad Lacquer Reverse Stamped Flowers

Summer weather started to arrive here in Toronto but kept leaving and coming back randomly! Thankfully, according to the upcoming weather forecast, summer should finally be here to stay! As soon as the warm weather came my nails went from dark colours to bright ones almost instantly. I'm finally getting back into stamping and decided to do a fun summery design using the reverse stamping method. 

This mani has actually been on my Instagram since early May - slacking I know! But I've been busy with renovations and moving, so I've finally sat myself down to write a long overdue blog post.

For this design I used Lilypad Lacquer's Tarty Tangerine and Berry Blast - which are Ella Ann store exclusives that I purchased last summer. The design was done with Mundo de Unas White stamping polish and Dashica Big SdP-X stamping plate. Lastly, the glitter gradients were done using Darling Diva The One That You Love.

Here's a shot of the full mani:

(Direct Sunlight)

And here's a macro shot of the stamping decal:

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I think the two colours from Lilypad Lacquer look so lovely together! Shown above is two coats which gave full coverage and I had no application or formula issues. The holographic glitter gradient was sponged on with a makeup sponge and the design was sealed with the super shiny, Seche Vite.

Like I mentioned above these Lilypad Lacquers were purchased through Ella Ann Cosmetics but are also available at a number of stockists. Mundo de Unas can be purchased from her site here, Dashica from her site here and Darling Diva from her site here. 

Thanks for reading!

*All products mentioned in this post were purchased myself.

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Great Lakes Lacquer I'd Rather Be Fishing

Great Lakes Lacquer is new to my blog but if you're following me on Instagram you should be familiar with the brand! Every month there are a couple (sometimes more!) limited edition polishes released that are available to purchase throughout the month. This is one of the LE polishes for May. I'd Rather Be Fishing is described by Mariah as a deep teal with shifting blue to green shimmer, bronze micro flake and purple glass fleck.

The base for this polish has a jelly like finish which gives the polish lots of depth. In the macro shot below you can really see all of the pigments that were used to create this stunning polish!

Here is I'd Rather Be Fishing with two coats:

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And again from another angle:

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And my favourite of them all - the macro shot!

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Lastly, a bonus macro bottle shot:

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The formula was nice and smooth. Two simple coats got me full coverage and I added a coat of Seche Vite for extra shine. I used a base coat and upon removal I did not experience any staining even though it is a very deep teal - yay!

You can browse the polishes Great Lakes Lacquer has to offer on Etsy. Limited edition polishes are available on the first day of every month through to the second day of the next month. Find GLL on Facebook and Instagram!

Thanks for reading!

*Product was a gift provided by Great Lakes Lacquer in my order.

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