Smitten Polish Just In Cases - swatches and review

O M G! This holo from Smitten's Love Actually Collection is soooo gorgeous! Look at those beautiful rainbows! A perfect contribution to this Holo Friday!

The name of this polish is a line that the character Aurelia says in the film Love Actually (she is not so good at English :)) and the base color of this polish is the same color as her hair. I wonder if that is what Noelie thought when she created this stunning polish? ;)

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Holographic.

Number of coats: Two.

Formula: After a very streaky first coat the result was perfect after the second coat. A very nice formula if you're prepared for that first coat ;) Dries really fast too.

Brush: Straight cut and medium wide.

Top Coat: No.

Color accuracy in pictures: Accurate. 

Grade: 5/5

This polish screams Aurelia (the film character) to me! A very nice polish and very suiting for this collection. If you like holo I think you should get this before it's discontinued - get it just in cases ;)

How do you like Just In Cases?

Holo Waterfall Manicure

The theme for today's Nail Art Sunday is "Red" and the possibilities were endless! In the end I chose to do a waterfall manicure. I've been wanting to try this technique for a long time.

It was both harder and easier than I thought. Easier on the clean-up. Not much mess at all. Harder to get a nice finish of the brushstrokes and to get the right proportions. I'm not that happy with the proportions on this manicure. They are sort of in no mans land. Next time I'll do them either shorter or longer.

The gorgeous holo base is Smitten Polish Just in Cases from the Love Actually Collection. The waterfalls are made with Misa Lovely Lychee (pink), Zoya Posh (red) and Orly Dazzle (silver).

I'm also joining Valentine Polish Week with this manicure - last day today :/

In shade.

How do you like this manicure?

Have you tried this technique?

Vintage Clematis Nails - swatches

The theme for today's Nail Art Sunday is "Vintage". I decided to try to capture the feeling of a gold embroidered thick dark red velvet fabric or wallpaper.

I used Cabernet from By K and stamped on a flower pattern with Bundle Monster plate BM-221 and a gold polish from Essence called Steel-ing the Scene.

As a florist I'm so happy that the gold pattern actually are Clematis flowers :) I love those delicate, usually purple, flowers growing towards the sun.

How do you like my vintage manicure?

Cameo Nails

I think we need a little nail art here at LMNP! :) This is a nail art I did a while ago and it turned out fairly good. It's a bit crocked but I like the overall look. Cameos remind me of my beloved grandma who I miss every day.

The base is a textured glitter polish from Swedish Kicks and called Black Diamond. Then I've stamped the cameo pattern with Depend's white stamping polish #6700 and MoYou plate Pro Collection-07.

How do you like these cameo nails?

Comparison Isadora Wine Crush and Kicks Black Diamond

Recently two Swedish nail polish brands released a similar textured shade - a glittery maroon. Isadora released their Wine Crush and Kicks their Black Diamond. I wanted to see how similar they were so I did a comparison.

In the bottles they are very similar. A maroon base with loads of gold glitters.

On the nails you can actually see a tiny difference. Isadora's Wine Crush has a tiny bit darker base but they both have the same amount of red and gold glitters. The bases are actually dark purples but the glitters make them look maroon.

In my pictures I wear two coats of each and drying time is about the same for both of them, about 15 minutes for touch dryness.

The price is 79 SEK for each, but Isadora holds only 6 ml whereas Kicks holds 10 ml.

The wide brush is better on Isadora Wine Crush but Kicks Black Diamond holds more polish for the same money and has a smaller cap underneath the big one which is more comfortable to grip than the Isadora cap.

In my opinion they are so similar that you don't need both. However, they are not dupes either. Based on my comparison my choice is Kicks Black Diamond :)

Middle finger and pinkie - Kicks Black Diamond

Pointer and ring finger - Isadora Wine Crush

Isadora to the left, Kicks to the right

Which one of these two would you prefer?

Color Club Snow-flakes over Winter Affair - swatches

You are probably tired of Snow-flakes pictures by now ;) but I had to try it over Winter Affair too and I actually took some really nice pictures of it today! Give it a chance and scroll down to take a look! ;)

This is one coat of Snow-flakes over Winter Affair from the same collection.
All pictures are taken in artificial light.

Winter Affair brought out quite a lot of green out of Snow-flakes which I liked but... no, even this polish is better without the flake effect.
Click here to see how Winter Affair looks without Snow-flakes.

I prefer Winter Affair on its own.

Do you agree or disagree? ;)

Color Club Winter Affair - swatches and review

Next to be shown from Color Club's Winter Affair Holiday Collection 2012 is the polish that have named this collection, that is Winter Affair ;) A dark maroon with lots and lots of red shimmer/flecks in it! Just look at these pictures! :P

In artificial light

One more in artificial light

In daylight

In halogen light

Close up in artificial light

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Shimmer/glass flecks.

Colour: A dark purple base filled with so much red shimmer/flecks that it looks like a warm glowing maroon that glows from within. :D

Collection: Color Club Winter Affair Holiday Collection 2012.

Opacity: Very good! This is two coats, but the second coat made no difference, so I guess you can say this is a one coater! :D

Drying time: Normal.

Formula: Ok if you take quite a lot of polish on the brush and apply it gently. Rather thin formula but not that runny. After a few nails you quickly get the hang of it ;)

Brush: Well... too thin for my approval.. Even thinner than the one in Ho-Ho-Holly.. I don't get it why the brushes vary so much in the same collection...?

Shine: Shiny on its own, but I have one coat of Seche Vite in these pictures.

Accurate colour, photo vs IRL: Quite accurate. Best pictures are the artifical light pictures. As with the other polishes in this collection, it's much more sparkly and glittery IRL!

Grade: 3++/5 :)

This is a beautiful dark vampy maroon polish absolutely packed with red shimmer/flecks! I'm sure many of you will love it but it didn't make my heart beat much faster I'm afraid...
Maybe because it doesn't fit my skintone at all... It makes my skin look reddish and almost as if I have a rash or something ;) That is why I only gave it a 3.
The polish itself is stunning! Almost black at the edges and then that sparkly glow in the middle! If you have a more suitable skintone - try it! :)