NOTW - Kit 'Big Bang' with Australis 'Glitter Strikes Back'

 

This weeks nail of the week is from 2 great Australian brands with Kit - Big Bang, and a glitter top coat of Australis - Glitter Strikes Back.

I must say that I tend to steer away from purple generally as I picked it as my "one colour to hate" a million years ago and never looked back, silly I know... until recently. My friend had this colour at her house and I fell in love instantly! The brightness hooked me in, and it is such an interesting shade I ended up borrowing it from my friend and wearing it. Lucky for me, I have great friends and she got it for me as a present a month later. ^_^

This Kit 'Big Bang' nail polish, like all others I've reviewed previously has a perfect strong pigment, is easy to apply, and lasts well (these photos were taken after the polish had been on my nails for a week, so I apologise for the small chips!). The actual colour is kind of hard to capture, I think it's a little brighter than it looks on here in reality.

The Australis 'Glitter Strikes Back' nail polish is a mix of small round gold and purple and large hexagonal gold. It was the first nail polish of theirs that I've tried since their re-vamp of the brand (which I'm LOVING... so many great colours I want/need!) and I'm really impressed. I saw it in Priceline and couldn't resist buying it then and there. 

It was quite easy to apply an even coat of the glitter, and it lays flat on your nail really well so you don't have chunky glitter catching on your clothes etc. I used a top coat of Seche Vite to smooth it all out and last a little longer. This glitter would pop even more on another coloured base coat I think because some of the purple glitter colours blended into the purple of the base. The gold looked amazing though!

You can purchase Kit's 'Big Bang' from your nearest Kit store for $15.95, or you can also buy them online here or check for your nearest Kit store online here. I purchased the Australis glitter nail polish 'Glitter Strikes Back' from Priceline for $7.95 and you can also see their range and order online here.

Have you tried any of the new Australis glitters? What's your favourite glitter and base coat combination? x

NOTW - Essie - A Crewed Interest & Essie - Shine Of The Times

[natural light]

[with flash]

This weeks Nail Of The Week is Essie - A Crewed Interest, with an accent nail of Essie - Shine Of The Times. 

Essie's 'A Crewed Interest' is from the Spring 2012 Navigate Her collection, which was full of nice lights and brights as can be seen in the full collection swatches here. A Crewed Interest is a beautiful peachy creme which applied quite well considering it is such a light colour. I was able to get an even opaque coverage in 2 coats, but then decided to put 'Shine Of The Times' over all my nails, then regretted it so did a top coat of  'A Crewed Interest' again on all the nails except the thumb and accent finger. Haha. I'm ridiculous I know! So that's why in the pictures the nail polish looks so thick! Sorry about that. 

The colour really is wonderful though. This is one of my favourites in a long time. It worked well against my pale skin, and was a nice colour in the sun, or in artificial light. Not too orange, but not too washed out either. If you're pale, I would definitely recommend this one! 

The Essie - Shine Of The Times flakie nail polish is a really soft highlight on this colour. Not too noticeable, but a gentle glimmer in the right light. It reflects a silver and gold mostly, and because it's over a light colour, the colour it reflects is a lot lighter too. 

This is definitely a nail polish I will be turning to again, and would work well with almost any outfit as it's so light and neutral. Essie nail polishes are yet to disappoint me and I can't wait to get more!

This is another nail polish I bought in my last haul (as seen in my post here) from mbeautylounge and was $7.10 ($US). You can probably also find this on ebay for around the same price, or BeautyBay.com are now stocking Essie and have A Crewed Interest available online for $11.90 ($AU) AND have free postage to Australia. Myer also stock Essie, but I'm unsure of their availability on every collection so just head in to your local store and see what they have. :)

What do you think of Essie's 'A Crewed Interest' and 'Shine Of The Times'? Have you got a favourite Essie nail polish? x