Polished by Alexandra, Winter 2013: Holiday Traditions

Hi everyone! I have the latest collection from Polished by Alexandra for you tonight. If you haven't seen my previous posts about this brand, you should know that Alexandra started selling soaps and other bath and body products through her shop Soaps by Alexandra, opened in 2011. Earlier this year she moved into making indie polishes, also sold out of the same shop. And she's a professional classical opera singer!

This is my third collection I've reviewed from this brand, and I'm happy to see the development in Alex's work. While the summer collection contained some bright cremes and sheers, and the fall collection had rich shimmers, this collection offers you some classic crellies, and shimmery duo/multichrome polishes.

Polished by Alexandra, Winter 2013: Holiday Traditions

Foxy Paws One More Night

Hi everyone! I'm kicking off day three of eight days of Foxy Paws polishes. If you are not familiar with this indie brand, check out my intro post.

When Charlotte of Foxy Paws sent me the package of her polishes, I oohed and aahed over every one of them, but this one in particular really caught my attention. Wearing Foxy Paws One More Night only confirmed that this was my favourite out of the bunch.

Foxy Paws One More Night

One More Night (named after the Phil Collins song) is a purple and blue duochrome set in a dark blackened base. It's very shimmery with a scattering of small silver holographic glitter. The formula was good, and I needed two coats for full coverage. It starts to set fairly quickly so you need to work fast when applying but otherwise it goes on very evenly. In some of the photos it looks a bit uneven in spots, but it's not noticeable in person.

Foxy Paws One More Night

Foxy Paws One More Night

One More Night looks like a galaxy mani in a bottle. That's why I used it for my galaxy nails that I did for The Nailasaurus - the effect was really amazing and it added a lot of shimmer to the design.

Foxy Paws One More Night

I'm also happy to say that it looks great under all kinds of lighting - direct sunlight, low light, even grocery store lighting (because, yes, I check out my nails while waiting in line at the grocery store). And even though it looks like the purple is not very prominent in these photos, it's just very camera shy and more visible in person.

Foxy Paws One More Night

Foxy Paws One More Night

What do you think of this one? So far what is your favourite Foxy Paws polish that I've shown?

Foxy Paws polishes is available from Foxy Fingertips (European and International buyers). Follow Foxy Paws on Facebook and Instagram.

*Product provided for review, all opinions are my own. See my disclosure policy for more details.*

Sally Hansen Lustre Shine, My Picks!

Hi everyone, TGIF! It's no secret to most Canadians that when it comes to new releases we lag behind the States. There are exceptions to the rule but not many. So when I started to see the new Sally Hansen Lustre Shine polishes pop up on blogs and Instagram last year, I just remember thinking to myself, "looks nice, maybe someday..." Well someday happened yesterday when I went to Shoppers Drug Mart and saw a brand new, untouched display of the new Lustre Shine line. I haven't seen these in stores until yesterday, so I believe they are new to Canada.

Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Lava, Scarab, and Copperhead

The Lustre Shine line is made up of eight shimmery duochrome/multi-chrome polishes. Some of them we've seen before - a few reminded me of the China Glaze New Bohemian collection, and there's another Peridot dupe. So I left with only three out of the eight, but I'm really happy with these.

Copperhead: This is my favourite out of this line. Despite the name it's not actually a copper colour, but rather a rich reddish-brown/purple duochrome with hints of a green shimmer. It has almost a metallic finish but not quite. The colour and shimmer on this one are really gorgeous. The formula is also perfect - this was two easy coats and it gave me absolutely no problems.

Sally Hansen Copperhead

Sally Hansen Copperhead

Lava: This is the "stopping traffic" polish in this line, and it's no wonder that Sally Hansen used this for their display. It's a very intense and vibrant golden yellow/hot pink duochrome, and the finish is a bit different than Copperhead - it has more of a micro-glitter/glass fleck finish. It's also more sheer, and I needed three coats for these photos. The yellow is not the most flattering on my skin tone, and this is maybe too intense for work/school, but I could see this as being a fun colour for the summer.

Sally Hansen Lava

Sally Hansen Lava

Scarab: It has the almost-metallic/shimmer finish seen in Copperhead. It's a vibrant, gorgeous teal blue/blue duochrome. The duochrome effect is less noticeable here, but it's a beautiful colour nonetheless. The formula is also perfect and I had no issues - this was two coats. I feel this might be similar to China Glaze Deviantly Daring, but I don't have that one to compare.

Sally Hansen Scarab

Sally Hansen Scarab

Overall I was very happy with these polishes. The colours are vibrant and beautiful, and there was no difficulties with the application. I also love the bottle design, they look vintage to me. However, I don't see myself going back for more. Unless, of course, they release some new colours. Then all bets are off. :D

What do you think of these? Did you buy any of the Lustre Shine polishes? And more importantly, are there any that you feel are "must haves" that I didn't show (you know, while the display is still up ;))?

Models Own Swatches, Part Two

Hi everyone! As promised I have more Models Own swatches to show you. As much as I loved the cremes that I previously posted, I'll admit that the ones I'm showing today really made me ooh and ah! These are such gorgeous polishes I'm just going to jump right into it. :)

Models Own Southern Lights, Hayley's Comet, and Northern Lights

Hayley's Comet: From the Beetlejuice collection, this is such a difficult polish to describe - it's quite the chameleon. It's a multi-chrome polish, which in the bottle and first coat appears to be a sienna brown/fuchsia/green colour shifter. But the final mani looks more like a fuchsia/purple duochrome with an ice blue shimmer. I've never come across a polish where it was so difficult to pinpoint the colour. Let's just say it's *AMAZING* and leave it at that, eh!!? It's slightly sheer but covers surprisingly well. I used three coats for these swatches but you could get away with two. I had no issues with the formula, it applied like a dream.

Models Own Hayley's Comet

Models Own Hayley's Comet

Models Own Hayley's Comet

Northern Lights: From the Wonderland collection, this is a clear-based glitter polish made up of fine dusty rose and holographic glitter. You could probably get full coverage with two-three coats but I chose to layer it over another polish to bring out the colour of the glitter. This is one coat over Quo Naked, a light nude colour. I found the polish a bit thick for my taste so I added a few drops of thinner, otherwise I had no issues with the application. As a bonus, I was able to get a photo of this in the sunlight (something we don't see too often in Canada in the winter time), and I loved how this polish really lit up.

Models Own Northern Lights

Models Own Northern Lights

Models Own Northern Lights (sunlight)

Southern Lights: Also from the Wonderland collection, this is the exact same as Northern Lights, only with lavender glitter. It also has holo glitter. The holo effect in both glitter polishes is very prominent, but it's not meant to be a linear holo. I used one coat over Zoya Dove, and I really love how the lavender stands out over the pale grey. The application was perfect, but like Northern Lights, I did add a bit of thinner. But a bonus for both glitter polishes: very easy removal.

Models Own Southern Lights

Models Own Southern Lights

Overall, my first experience with Models Own polishes has been great. I love the colours, the excellent formula, and almost effortless application. They are also a great value, retailing for $8 at Harlow & Co., which in Canada makes them cheaper than many drugstore brands.

Models Own is available in various places in the UK, but for those of you outside the UK, it's available also through Harlow & Co. They ship internationally, and orders over $50 ship free!


*Products provided to swatch and review, all opinions are my own. See my disclosure policy for more details.*

Advent Calendar Nail Challenge, Day 3: Green!

Hi everyone! Day three into the nail challenge, and I'll admit, I'm starting to wonder, "What did I get myself into?" Yes I know, I haven't exactly done anything challenging yet, but the demand to produce something everyday, coupled with the intense workload I've had lately, has made me a rather unhappy camper.

Alongside that, we've had the worst overcast weather these past few days. This makes me super nervous and upset since I prefer to do all my photographs with lots of natural light. Otherwise, my camera just registers a bunch of coloured blurry blobs where my painted nails should be.

Pahlish Still Alive

So I didn't think I would have anything to post on this blog for day three. I painted my nails last night, hoping for sun this morning, but I woke up with the ominous feeling that it was not going to be my day. The morning went by, 9 then 10AM, and still no sunshine. So I posted a somewhat decent iPhone photo on my Instagram to fulfill the requirements. But I refuse to post cell phone photos on my blog. Unless, of course, it is an emergency, like I'm dying and headed to the emergency room, but I just got to show my mani before I bite the big one. Lol.

But suddenly, there it was, the sun came out from behind the clouds, light beaming into my apartment (yes, I'm being overly dramatic for something that really doesn't require it... my blog, remember?). So I rushed over, flung the curtains open (I was decently dressed, thankfully), and started snapping pictures. I pray my neighbours don't see me take pictures of my nails, hence they think I'm loony.

What is all the point of this you ask?

Simply that I'm learning that being a nail polish blogger means being a slave to the sun. You think I was living in the pre-electricity era the way I wish for lots of sunshine. So I ordered a lightbox to put an end to this insanity. I hope it gets here soon.

Pahlish Still Alive

If you are still reading (I would really be surprised if you were), you are probably wondering, "Is she going to write about nail polish?" Well, yes I am! Here it goes...

This is Pahlish Still Alive from the Still Alive Portal collection, one of the two Pahlish fall collections of this year. This was the collection that started me on my Pahlish addition. I absolutely love this polish. It's a deep green teal jelly packed with iridescent green glitter (which has a golden shimmer to it at times),  and gold micro flakes. It is supposed to have a blue duochrome, but I find the blue is very subtle. Most of the time this polish reads as green, almost a grass or a forest green, and only with lots of sunlight can you see a hint of blue.

Pahlish Still Alive

This colour is so saturated and intense with a gorgeous shimmer, that it's hard not to love. I also appreciate that it achieves this without the addition of large glitter, which tends to be common in indie glitter polishes. Formula-wise, I found it a bit thick so I added thinner. But other than that I had little problems with the application. This is two coats.

I find it to be a very unique polish, both in terms of what I own, and what I have seen out there. I did by chance pick up a bottle of Essence Choose Me! off my shelf and found it very similar to Still Alive. Both are blue-green duochromes with a golden shimmer, but of course Choose Me! lacks the glitter seen in Still Alive. Indoors, they look almost identical in terms of colour, but once they are in the sun, Choose Me! has a much more noticeable blue duochrome. I've included a bottle shot taken in natural light.

Essence Choose Me! and Pahlish Still Alive

So what do you think? Do you own Still Alive, the polish or the collection?