Opulent Essences Swatch & Review

One of the things I love about Opulent Essences is that they regularly add new polishes as well as come up with some beautiful, unique collections. Today I've got 3 gorgeous polishes to share with you...

Before I get on to the swatches, I just wanted to show you the lovely packaging they arrived in. Sharon has started sending her polish in perfectly sized boxes complete with tissue paper and a pretty drawstring bag. I'm a sucker for lovely packaging and this was a really nice touch.

Raspberry Ripple - Dusty Pink Holo

This is such a lovely colour on the nail. The holo is scattered and I think this would be very work appropriate if you're not allowed anything too bold.
This is a pretty new addition to the shop and a great staple colour for your collection. Shown below is 2 easy coats and topcoat. This dries down slightly matte so topcoat really makes it pop.

 

Fools Gold - Light Blue with Gold Flakies and Blue Microglitter

I fell in love with this one (I'm a sucker for blue!). It's a slightly lighter blue than I was expecting, but beautiful nonetheless. The application on this is a little sheer and I needed 3 thin coats to get to full opacity, that said, it dries down really quickly and 3 coats is nothing at all. It dried to a shiny finish, but I added topcoat as a matter if course. The gold flakes are so pretty in this, I ended up wearing it for a couple of days.

 Bitches Brew - Purple Scattered Holo

I frelling love the name of this! I love the colour too. It's a really lovely royal purple with scattered holo particles. The application was really nice. The swatch below is 2 easy coats and topcoat. I needed the topcoat on this as it dries slightly dull. 

 I was also sent a nail scrub with my parcel which I love, but I've got more on that coming soon...

Thanks for reading, see you soon!

Em x

When Colours Collide Nail Challenge

I have a confession... I'm useless at keeping up with a nail challenge! I've tried the Claire Estelle challenge a few times but usually only get about half way before life gets in the way! I will complete one, I will, I will!

There's a fantastic group on Facebook called When Colours Collide. They do a bi-monthly challenge based on a pre set colour combination. I love how it makes my brain tick over, especially with the very contrasting colours. The latest challenge is Pink & Brown,

As the time frame is 2 weeks it gives me plenty of time to get thinking and do a mani (I still end up submitting somewhere near the 11th hour!). 

I love the range of nail challenges out there to inspire us all. From the lovely Claire Estelle to Smooshy Nail Sunday for a start. I'd love to know your favourite nail challenges! Let me know in the comments below.

See you again soon...

Em x

Pretty Serious Pet Names Pastels!

 

Oh well hey there Fluffykins! Oh, no wait... Well this is awkward!

  

Pretty Serious Pet Names Pastels! 

In my couple of years of collecting polish, I've never felt the need to buy a whole collection. I mean, how often is there a whole collection of anything you lust after equally? There's always Milkyways left in the Celebrations box right?! So when I caught sight of the teaser pictures of the Pretty Serious Pet Names Pastel Collection, my heart kind of did that thing you see in Tom & Jerry cartoons when they fall in love... Needless to say when they were available over here on Rainbow Connection I did the thing I'd never done and bought every single one! That means one thing... swatchfest!

All swatches were done with no white base and using HK Girl topcoat. They all dried pretty quickly to a shiny finish.

Doodle Bug - Super Bright Pastel Blue

Shown below is 2 exceptionally smooth coats. This had a really lovely formula, those with a careful hand could probably get away with 1 coat, I almost always do 2 as a matter of routine.

Bunny Foo Foo - Soft Minty Green  

This is easily my favourite of the collection, I just love the colour! Shown is 2 coats, beautiful smooth formula and great coverage.

Little Duckling - Flattering Pastel Yellow

Yellow, my foe, the colour that is never ever flattering on me. Until now! This needed 3 coats for the most part, I only used 2 on my pinky, with more careful application I'd only need 2 in the future. I swear I could smell banana milkshake when I was applying this! It screams spring to me. I actually kept this on for a day without basecoat and it wore really well.

Peachie Poo - Lush Sherbet Pastel Orange/Peach

I feel like I'm repeating myself, but I wouldn't have bought the collection if I wasn't a little excited about it! This is a lovely neon pastel orange/peach. I needed 2-3 coats, for some reason I think my middle finger prefers 3 coats of these, but I was swatching sans base coat. *Notes to self for the future!* This got ever so slightly lighter once I applied topcoat, but was barely noticeable and still beautiful.

Fluffykins - Stunning Bubblegum Pink  

I love pink, I can't help it. But pink creme polish rarely loves me. I think I can just about get away with this one. That said, I really don't care! It's such a bright, girly colour. Shown below is 2 coats, a slightly thicker 2nd coat was needed, but it still dried quickly. This was another that lightened ever so slightly with topcoat, but barely noticeable.

Cutie Patootie - Super Pretty Lilac.

Last, but absolutely not least, is my second favourite of the collection. This is a really, really pretty lavender/lilac. Really soft and flattering. The formula on this was slightly thinner than the others, but still wonderfully opaque and had great coverage in 2 coats.

You may have noticed I love this collection, and to make things even better, you might also have noticed the accent nails in these swatches I have a watermarbled accent nail. Yes, the collection is perfect for watermarbling. Because it needed even more about it to love?!

It's perfect for Spring/ Summer. Pretty Serious has knocked this out of the park and cemented my love for them massively.

Em x

 

Opulent Thrones & Dragon Tails

A few weeks back I saw a tease of a new mini collection from Opulent Essences inspired by the 3 Dragons from Game of Thrones. I was really excited and even more so when Sharon kindly sent me the collection for swatch and review!

 

Viserion - A beautiful ivory shimmer with a scattering of golden flakies.

This is so pretty in the bottle, the scattering of gold flakes is just about visible and easily missed. If you don't notice them it's lovely surprise when you start applying the polish to your nails.

You'd be tempted to expect this to a be sheer on application, I know I was. I couldn't have been more wrong. Shown below is 2 very easy coats with topcoat. If you have very long nails or you're not a fan of any visible nail line, you might need 3. It dries really fast to a great shine.

 Rhaegal - A green toned gold shimmer with metallic finish.

I loved the colour of this on the nail, it was gold in some lights and slightly more olive green in tone in dimmer lighting. Either way it was really flattering.

Shown below is 3 coats with topcoat. This was a little more sheer than Viserion, but it dried really quickly, I couldn't see many brush strokes once it has dried which was nice for a metallic finish like this one.

I did notice a little bit of bubbling with this one when I applied topcoat, however this could have been down to many factors, I blame user error!

 

 Drogon - Stunning Red/Pink/Orange Multichrome.

I loved this on! It's such a gorgeous polish with a fantastic soft multichrome effect. It shifts from a pretty rosy pink to a deep flame red and even a rich golden orange at more extreme angles. Very very dragon appropriate!

Shown below is 3 smooth, quick drying coats and topcoat. I'd be tempted to try layering this over red and black to see the different effects. I'm hoping to do another post showing some nail art using these soon, keep checking back for that!

Natural light shot, capturing a little more of the colour shiftyness!

Thanks so much for reading, I'd love to see your comments on what you'd like to see coming up and anything I could do to improve!

Welcome and Introduction!

Well firstly Hi! And thanks for taking the time to visit my teeny tiny little corner of the blogosphere!

I've been considering starting a blog for the longest time. My nails and my love of polish has come a long way in the last couple of years!

I'm aiming to post a minimum of twice a week. I'm still a novice, I love to learn and am very active on a few Facebook groups.

All posts unless specified to the contrary are on my own natural nails. This means you'll see all the fails, variations in length over time and how my nails look in real life...