Spicks n' Specks - Australis Crystal Colour Speck-tacular Flakie Top Coat

Hi all! It's another week here at Plish Central! I've got an awesome polish here that's been pretty big since it was introduced earlier this year - Australis Speck-tacular! An affordable home-grown flakie topcoat, it's part of the Australia Crystal Colour range and is widely available wherever Australis is sold (Priceline, Kmart, Target etc...).  

[2 coats: Australis Crystal Colour Top Coat in Speck-tacular]

Here it is on a plain black creme base (what is with that giant bubble on my pinky!). I did notice on my last venture into Target that Chi Chi has come up with a VERY similar flakie top coat but at AUD12.95, it's quite a bit pricier than Australis' AUD8.95 for what looks like a smaller bottle even.

[Bottle to nail: Australis Crystal Colour Top Coat in Speck-tacular (2 coats)]

The bottle holds 10ml and the label reads, "Crystal Colour Top Coat - Strengthening Top Coat with Holographic Reflective Flakes"... I don't think holo is quite what they mean here...  If I'm not wrong, there is some gold to green colour shift going on but the majority of the flakies range from orange, blue, green and gold.

[2 coats: Australis Crystal Colour Top Coat in Speck-tacular]

This is two coats - isn't it gorgeous! There is a healthy amount of blue flakies in there but they blend into the dark base more so are less obvious than the other brighter colours. The formula is a little thick but it dries quite nice and shiny. 

[Close-up: Australis Crystal Colour Top Coat in Speck-tacular (2 coats)]

Here's a close up to show the different flakie types in there. I love that the size of the flakies vary so much as well. Altogether a great, affordable option to many pricier, harder-to-find flakies mixes out there for us here in Australia! Although I'm still looking out for an awesome red flakie.... The search continues!

Have a good week everyone!

Fairy Wings - Layla Ceramic Effect CE52 The Butterfly Effect

Ain't she a beaut!! Look at that! As Jme has mentioned in her awesome silver chrome dupe comparison post yesterday, we were lucky enough to join Cathy's recent Layla order. I only picked up one though, the new Layla Ceramic Effect in The Butterfly Effect - a gorgeous cool purple jelly with dense green/gold-orange duochrome flakies. Let's have a look!

[Bottle to nail: Layla Ceramic Effect CE52 in The Butterfly Effect]

Layla Ceramic Effect polishes are a collection produced in collaboration with Trendy Nail. At first I was worried my camera might freak out but it appears to have captured it quite similar to the image on the Trendy Nail post! Check out that colour shift!

[2 coats: Layla Ceramic Effect CE52 in The Butterfly Effect]

It only took 2 coats to reach this opacity. If you hold it up to the light, you maaaay be able to see some differences between the free nail edge and the nail bed but it's not that obvious. The polish also dries quite fast which is a bonus.

[2 coats: Layla Ceramic Effect CE52 in The Butterfly Effect]

Sorry for the repetitive images but it really is so gorgeous. I'm also amused because when I was frankening Awe-bergine before, my aim was a purple with orange highlights, and this is exactly it too, ha!

[2 coats: Layla Ceramic Effect CE52 in The Butterfly Effect]

You can see a hint of the colour shift in the top image - the glow also changes in intensity with angle. They've really packed in the flakies in this one! I think three coats might be a bit overwhelming...

[Colour-shift: Layla Ceramic Effect CE52 in The Butterfly Effect (2 coats)]

Here are a couple where I tried to capture the colour shift - orange to gold at an angle, then gold to green at extreme angles. 

[Direct Sunlight: Layla Ceramic Effect CE52 in The Butterfly Effect (2 coats)]

And finally, a cameraphone image in direct sunlight to show the brilliant shine of the flakies.

The bottle is 10ml but I think it should be able to last for a bit because you didn't need much at all despite it being a jelly base. =) Hope the post was helpful for all of you looking to get your mitts on this one! This is a really beautiful polish and definitely one for the collection if you can get your hands on it! Also check out Cathy's post on Layla Ceramic Effect in Green Galaxy - it's giving me moreeee lemmmings, oh no!

Mirror, mirror, on the wall - Layla Metal Chrome, Revlon LilyChrome, Maybelline Mirror Image

My Layla order that I did through Cathy arrived, which means it's time to play with nail polishes!

[Index finger: Revlon LilyChrome
Other fingers: Layla Metal Chrome]

I first started with a comparison between an oldie, Revlon LilyChrome, compared to Layla's Mirror Effect Metal Chrome. It's obvious from the above picture that the index finger is the odd one out here. I bought LilyChrome about 5 years ago I think, and I have been using it as my most adored chrome polish. It does have a very nice 'metal look' to it, but as you can see, it's been beaten by Layla's Metal Chrome!

LilyChrome is discontinued now anyway. It's pretty as a silver chrome, but the brush strokes are still visible and its finish is a sort of semi-dull burnished metal finish. Metal Chrome in comparison is this bizarre nail polish that looks dull when it's drying, but once it completely dries, the brush strokes start vanishing! And it finishes with such a reflective shine!

[Index finger: Revlon LilyChrome
Middle and ring fingers: Layla Metal Chrome
Pinky finger: Maybelline Mirror Image]

Now, I have changed things up here, but you're not going to notice unless you look really closely I think. I actually redid everything and was a lot lazier this time. But the main thing is that my pinky finger now has Maybelline Mirror Image on instead, and isn't that an amazingly close dupe to Metal Chrome? (Or would that be Metal Chrome being a dupe for Mirror Image, since Maybelline launched it first?)

Maybelline's Mirror Image is on a loan from Ev, so that I could do this swatch. She bought it probably around 5 to 7 years ago, and it's discontinued now. There is a very slight difference between Maybelline's Mirror Image on my pinky, as compared to Layla's Metal Chrome on my middle and ring fingers.

You can still see very faint brush strokes on Mirror Image, and its shine is just slightly less than Metal Chrome. Considering how old Mirror Image is, and how cheap it probably was back then, I would say that's pretty amazing! It looks like Metal Chrome is a slightly upgraded version of Mirror Image. Maybelline's came with a base coat (which is probably a ridge-filler) but I found it wasn't very good at  providing a perfectly smooth finish for the next coat.

[Index finger: Revlon LilyChrome
Middle and ring fingers: Layla Metal Chrome
Pinky finger: Maybelline Mirror Image]

I just wanted to take this outdoors, under natural lighting. The index finger look smoother than it really is because it has been blurred, as the focus was on the middle and ring finger.

[Index finger: Revlon LilyChrome
Middle and ring finger: Layla Metal Chrome
Pinky finger: Maybelline Mirror Image]

Taken through a distance shot, the shininess of Metal Chrome and Mirror Image are amazing! Even LilyChrome looks rather pretty. This is probably how it looks like regularly, without the unforgiving macro shots of my camera. I had someone I didn't know ask to see my hand at work because it was so metal-like and shiny apparently. :)

Alright, so what's my final take on Layla's Metal Chrome? Is it worth the money?

I think if you want the best chrome polish out there, with the smoothest finish, then Layla's is it. That it's gorgeous is undeniable. The chrome polish costs AUD15.40, which I don't regret paying.

However, if you do see Maybelline's Mirror Image somewhere and it's going for cheaper? I think it would make a more than sufficient replacement.

The one thing I didn't like about Layla's Metal Chrome is the amount of effort you have to put in before you can apply the polish. I just buffed my nails a few days before getting the polish, and I didn't want to buff again. Nuh uh. That doesn't work. Metal Chrome is utterly unforgiving and picks up every little tiny imperfection on the nail. To some extent, all chrome polishes tend to be like this, but Layla's seem to be most unforgiving of the lot. I think that's the downside in an attempt to get an almost mirror smooth finish.

After one day of easy wear, I also spotted a small chip on one of the nails so it doesn't last very long. You can't use a top coat over Layla's chrome, because that actually brings out the brush strokes and dulls the colour.

Here's another tip: If you don't want to buff your nails, a very good ridge-filler might do as a base coat, or even, a self-leveling topcoat (the quick dry top coats usually self-level very well.)

Have you bought one of your own, and what do you think?

Polish Haul - OPI, Nubar, Nails Inc, Maybelline, BB Couture, WnW, Color Club, Milani, Zoya, Missha, Sinful Colors, Sally Hansen, Revlon, China Glaze, Piggy Polish

Gee, that post title is a mouthful! It's time for another embarrassing haul post! Although tbh, most of these came from Kaz's blogsale... =p

However, before we get into that, I was super surprised to learn that I had won one of the prizes in Dragon Lady Nails' 200-500 Follower Giveaway! Mine was the second entry drawn and I had a pick of the remaining four prize sets and this was the one I picked:

[Dragon Lady Nails 200-500 Follower Giveaway Prize]

Milani Jewel Fx in Gems, Teal and Silver (L-R in the photo), an amazingly shiny glittery blue notebook, two rolls of nail art striping tape, a rhinestone carousel and five of the most adorable fimo heart canes I've ever seen!

[Fimo heart canes]

 Look how totally adorable they are! Can't wait to use them!

[L-R: Milani Gems, Teal, Silver]

Milani Gems is another of those Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday-inspired ones. Teal is medium-sized blue/green/silver holo hexagon glitter with small blue glitter in a clear base. Silver is... well, silver! Hexagonal glitter in a clear base as well. Click the image to see the different glitter combinations better.

Thank you sooo much to the Dragon Lady for hosting such a wonderfully generous giveaway! She is now holding a 750 Follower Appreciation Giveaway with 4 bottles from the China Glaze Prismatic collection so make sure to try your luck!!

Okay, now on to my blogsale haul from Kaz of Pretty Random. I was so so greedy, oh dearrr... The speed at which those comments rolled in, gossshh! Kaz was super duper nice and I received my haul super fast with all the polishes really well-packed in bubble wrap. Yayyy, thank you so much!

[L-R: Color Club Fantasy, OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, OPI Russian Navy Suede, Nubar Meadow Sparkle, Maybelline Racing Green, Piggy Polish (Unnamed), Nail Inc Chelsea Embankment]

[L-R: Sally Hansen White Pearl Chrome, Sinful Colors U Funny, BB Couture Studio 54, Zoya Kym, Maybelline Matte Olive, Wet n Wild Party of Five Glitters]

Aahhhhh all that matte/chrome/glass fleck/glittery goodness, be still my heart! I am so pleased with this haul, you have no ideaaaa~ =p It was like random Christmas!

I also bought a couple of things over the past few weeks. Here's a few that were on my desk when I was taking photos...

[L-R: Revlon Lilac Beam, Revlon Popular, Missha HGR01, Missha HKH01, China Glaze For Audrey, Maybelline Metallics Downtown Brown]

Revlon Color Illusion Lilac Beam was a lucky find after rummaging through a pile at Paddys Markets, wooo! Jme and I each bought a bottle of Revlon Popular during Priceline's recent BOGOF Revlon sale.

[Close-up (L-R): Missha HKH01, Missha HGR01, Revlon Lilac Beam]

A close-up to show the holo in Missha HKH01, and the duochrome in Missha HGR01 and Revlon Lilac Beam! Also, now that I own three different party multi-coloured glitter polishes, I can do a comparison of them! Here's a quick and dirty pic to show you the general difference between the three.

[Glitter comparison (L-R): WnW Party of Five Glitters, NYX Girls Carnival, Milani Jewel FX Gems]

Milani Gems has a lot more orange, NYX Girls Carnival has more gold and neither are present in WnW Party of Five Glitters so you get a much cooler tone with WnW, warm with NYX and in-between for Milani.

I'll write up a more comprehensive breakdown one day but for now, I'm off to stare lovingly at my stash...ALTHOUGH... I will be doing a blogsale sometime, I just need to find some time to weed through my stash (because it's almost at 400 atm, shhhh don't tell the boyfriend...) =p

Have a great week, all!

The Stripy Avengers - Nubar, Orly, China Glaze, Sally Hansen, Essence, Savvy

Am I still going on about Avengers? Yes, yes, I am. :P  I watched the movie on Thursday night, and it was spectacular and so much fun! I think Whedon really did justice with a superhero team movie.

Anyway, you might have seen my Avengers nail art on Thursday. While I can't draw on my right hand with my left, I did have an Avengers theme going on:

[Left to Right: Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Loki and Hulk]

Yet again, I'm cracking myself up writing the captions. These are just colour representations of the characters of course.

By my warped logic, Thor gets blue, gold and red because he is blonde, blue eyed, and has a red cape. The others are based on their uniform, except for Hulk. He gets pale green and black, and only two stripes to represent his dual sides. I chose black because his hair is black when he's the Hulk. >_>  My geek really is reaching impressive levels of embarrassing here.

[Left to Right: Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Loki and Hulk]

Here are the nail polishes I used:

Blue = Nubar Night Sparkle
Red = Nubar Fire Sparkle
Silver = Sally Hansen Celeb City
Gold = Orly Luxe
Dark green = China Glaze Emerald Sparkle
Black = Savvy Coal
Light green (Thumb) = China Glaze L8R G8R
Black-gold (Thumb) = Essence Gold Old Buffy

[Left to Right: Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Loki and Hulk]

I haven't photographed my right hand much lately, because I broke my pinky nail and thumb nail. :(  Still doesn't look that great here, but I had to share the colourfulness.

I don't believe I have swatched Essence Gold Old Buffy before, but you can see a little of it on my thumb. It's a dusky black with gold-green glass flecks. The black isn't very dark because of the abundance of the glass flecks. It's a rather smooth application.

[Left to Right: Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Loki and Hulk]

The mani was a lot shinier than my photographs can capture, but the above iPhone pics makes a better attempt at catching the shiny glitters. Nubar Fire Sparkle and Night Sparkle really are so very shiny, except they're annoyingly difficult to remove. Over here, you can also see the holographic shine to China Glaze's L8R G8R.

What are your favourite mix of colours when it comes to superhero/supervillain costumes? I admit that I'm partial to blue, red and white/silver. But after trying on this mani, I think I like Thor's colours the best on the nails. Blue, gold and red! So snazzy!

Loki-inspired Manicure - China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, Essence Make It Golden, NYX Girls Enchanted Forest

I was so impressed by Jme's Avengers manicure yesterday, aren't you all! In fact, I was so impressed I made us a Tumblr account just to show it off, lol! So check us out at...

plisherrific.tumblr.com

By the time this post goes up on Friday, Jme and I will have seen the movie (we're heading to it Thursday evening)... YAYYYY!!

So... I wasn't as hardcore as Jme unfortunately, but wheeee! Here's my take on a Loki-inspired manicure! I was going to do some edgy funky french in gold and green but then I thought... NO...wait....

[Credit unknown: I've stolen this from somewhere but I don't remember, sorry!]

Asgard is after all a happy rainbow land filled with sparkles and shiny, and despite all his hang-ups... there is a little bit of Asgard in Loki....

Loki + Asgard = Green + Gold + Holo Rainbow Sparkle-arkle!!
 

[You just can't deny your upbringing...]

Let's take a look!

[Jelly Sandwich: Essence Make It Golden sandwiched between China Glaze Emerald Sparkle]

I started with a jelly sandwich of a one coat base of China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, one coat of Essence Make It Golden, then topped with another layer of CG Emerald Sparkle.

[Jelly Sandwich: Essence Make It Golden sandwiched between China Glaze Emerald Sparkle]

The sandwich added a hidden glitter to Emerald Sparkle and kept it from getting too dark which I was pretty pleased about.

[China Glaze Emerald Sparkle]

On a tangent, I've been searching for "the perfect green" and if you have a bottle of Emerald Sparkle and have seen the dense glitter settled at the bottom - that green is SO perfect, I'm still looking!

[Bottle to nail: NYX Girls Enchanted Forest over jelly sandwich]

Finally, the finishing touch is a carefully placed layer of NYX Girls Enchanted Forest. The base looks green but it's actually practically clear but there are three different sizes of pale greeny gold holographic glitter in it which adds amazing depth even with one layer.

[NYX Girls Enchanted Forest over Essence/China Glaze jelly sandwich]

Check out how the glitter overlaps. It is so shiny and the holographic glitter just catches the light amazingly, though photos don't capture that very well.

[NYX Girls Enchanted Forest over Essence/China Glaze jelly sandwich]

I was quite happy with this combination because the deep green is pretty classy and sedate but then all the holo gold just catches your eye with rainbows of light! =p A bit like a green galaxy manicure, even. Well, the Rainbow Bridge is kiiinda over space(-time)...!!

[Unfocused iThing photo]

[Close-up:NYX Girls Enchanted Forest over Essence/China Glaze jelly sandwich]

Just a crappy iThing pic to show off the glitter and one more close up (the glitter lies flat which is another great plus)! Sorry for the number of photos and amount of waffling on I did but it's been a while since I've been pleased with a manicure!