Ulta3 Old Charmed

Hey look what I found.  I don't know if this is just an old bottle, or if it has been labelled incorrectly.  But the label say's 'charmed'.  Now any serious Ulta3 polish gal knows that 'charmed' is the rather crappy green glitter polish.  Well look at this.

I think it must be an old colour not wrongly labelled, because I can't find a matching colour in the rest of the range.  It's a coral pinky red with a fine gold shimmer.  Me likey!!  Anyone else found this little beauty?

Ulta3 Frog Prince

Ribbit... Yep, there's definitely 'frog' in this one, not so sure about the 'prince' though.  Seriously, would anyone actually wear this colour on a normal day. 

I actually think the time of it's release is pretty good, coming up to Christmas and all.  I think would make some awesome Christmas manis.  In previous years I've done the alternating red and green polish on each finger (with a couple of coats of glitter).  In fact I think I will have to do that for my work Christmas party, maybe 'pepper pot' with 'red glitter' and 'frog prince' with 'charmed' glitter.  Cool.

Anyway, more about Frog prince. This polish didn't dry matte, but it didn't dry with a nice shiny gloss either.  This was two coats and you can still see a nail line. Formula was good.

Here it is in a comparison with NYC (found in the same ulta3 bins) 'jelly'.  This photo was take two weeks after the above photo (and is a rather shitful swatch).  I did it in a rush (to try and catch the sun - which I didn't) and got cat hair stuck in the index nail (which I then dragged out and tried to cover with another coat, which bubbled - fail)

Jelly is lighter and more fluro (obviously).  It is also much sheerer.  I'm actually diggin' this alternate green shade look, I'd keep it on if I hadn't done such a crappy job at application.

Ulta3 Earl Grey

Hello again, I've been up in sunny (and wet) Brisbane/Gold Coast for the last week and only had a couple of opportunities to jump on my hubby's laptop. But now I'm back home and can show you the last two of the new colours.

Earl grey.  I love this colour, I think it will be the most popular in the range.  It's a beautiful neutral taupe brown/grey.  A perfectly work appropriate polish. Silky smooth and totally opaque in two coats.  This was without a top coat.

No comparison swatches this time.  Why?  Becuase there really isn't any other colour in the Ulta3 range that was even close enough to compare to.

Ulta3 Purple pumps

Let's all say it together 'oooohhhhhhh'.  It reminds me of hubba bubba bubble gum in grape flavour.  This was two coats and a top coat of ulta3 non-chip.  It really needed the top coat cause it dried with some flat (not quite matte) patches.

Comparisons... Purple pumps on index and pinky, Purple passion on the middle finger, Spring break on the ring finger.

There is nothing like it in the ulta3 range.  Soooo cool, what a great creme colour.

Ulta3 Party Shoes

Let's put on our party shoes and go! Does anyone have shoes this colour?  It's such a great lolly pop or barbie pink creme.  Again two coats, not top coats.  Still a little sheer as you can see a slight nail line.

And now for the colour comparisons to other ulta3 polishes.  Party Shoes on the index and pinky. Silver pink on the index fiinger and poppy on the ring finger.

There isn't actually a dupe of this colour in the ulta3 range, which I think is great, given there are so many pinks.  Silver pink is a very similar in colour, but it has a very obvious pink shimmer. Poppy is kinda similar, but is very frosty in comparison.

Ulta3 Cocoa bean

Today I show you Cocoa bean.  I really love this polish.  There is something to be said for a nice smooth cream polish, and I think this is a flattering colour for most people.  This was two coats, no top coat. Great colour pigment and not streaky at all.

The only down side for me is that is it is very similar on the nail to ulta3 Neutral.  Here is a comparison to show.  Index and pinky have Cocoa bean, middle finger has neutral and the ring finger has Earth.

Clearly Earth isn't even close to Cocoa bean or Neutral, but it was another brownish colour so I wanted to include it in the comparison.  Colour wise, Cocoa bean and Neutral are almost identical.  The only differnce is that Neutral has a very fine gold shimmer base, and for me personally I prefer the fine gold shimmer of Neutral. 

Ulta3 Carrot Top

Now for the swatches. Carrot top. Went on great and had good opacity.  It's a really nice bright orange-red.  This was two coats, no top coat. Good glossy finish. (Wow, four months off swatching and you start to loose your technique, sorry about the messy application and dry cuticles)

And now some quick comparisons to other similar ulta3 colours. This swatch shows Carrot top on the index and pinky, Fire on the middle finger and Tahiti on the ring finger.

Tahiti is definitly more orange and fluro and you can clearly see the difference.  The difference between Fire and Carrot top however is almost impossible to see.  Colour wise I think they are dupes when on the nail, although Carrot top does look a tiny bit more orange in the bottle.  The main difference for me was the opacity.  Carrot top had better pigment, but only just marginally.

New Utla3 colours

Where have I been?  Not that I think anyone actually cares (I know the reason your here, and it's to see nail polish swatches) I'll be quick...  We'll I'm now just over seven months pregnant, and the truth is that the idea and smell of nail polish and polish remover has just made me feel like vomiting.  Weird hey!!  Its not effecting me as much anymore, and nothing makes me want to wear polish more than spotting six new Ulta3 colours in the polish bin at my local chemist!!

I'm about a month late in showing you the new ulta3 colours, but here they all are:

Carrot top, Party shoes, Frog prince, Purple pumps, Cocoa bean and Earl Grey.

Some are cool new colours, others are almost dupes of existing Ulta3 colours. 

Swatches coming with comparisons were relevant (and they will be added to my colour guide soon).

Gold holo comparisons

Here I have done a comparison swatch of some of my holographic polishes.  I class these ones as the 'golds', compared to the 'browns' and 'beiges' of future comparison swatches.

This first pic was in the sun and shows from left right:

Index - Art Form - Gold

Middle - China Glaze - GR8

Ring - OPI DS Classic

Pinky - China Glaze - It's my turn

Here are the same indoors.

Art Form Gold is really more a platinum colour and GR8 is the only real yellow gold.  'It's my turn' is slightly more yellow than DS Original which can just be seen in these pics.

I can't pick a favourite amogst these, but I could probably say that my least favourite is GR8, only because I prefer a less yellow gold polish.

Blue metallic foil

I can't believe that it's almost the end of June and I have only posted once this month.  It's just not good enough is it.

I have heaps of colours and polishes swatched, so I think I might do a few posts that are light on with text and just pictures, which is what we are all really here for anyway, the pictures, not to listen to me babble on.

This here was another foil creation.  This was a very shiney metallic blue foil, which when applied to the nail gets this incredible stipe across it as it follows the curve of the nail.

Here is a close up.

I really love foils, and have to say that application does get better with practice.

Till next time.

Ulta3 - Silver glitter and Gold digger

If you read my blog you know that I love Ulta3 polishes.  Their colour range is good, application generally smooth and consistent, wear is long and they are only two Aussie dollars.  But there is one exception to my love of Ulta3 polishes and that is their glitter range.

I like a glitter polish to be opaque, and not require a zillion coats to get there.  All the Ulta3 glitter polishes are very sparse.  They are really only suitable for layering in my opinion.

Anyway, here is the cleverly named "silver glitter".  This was three coats.

The glitter particles in this are actually quite interesting. As you can see they are little rectangles, rather than usual small round standard glitter shape.

'Gold digger' is another meh glitter polish.  This was three coats and the coverage is ordinary.

Up close you can see that gold digger is made up of various size and shape gold glitter particles.  Again this is quite interesting, I just wish that there was 100 times the glitter in the bottle.

I originally said that I wasn't going to bother buying the remainder of the Ulta3 glitter polishes because of my disappointment with the first ones, but as I got sent these from the Heat Group, I just had to try them out. 

I'm really tempted to franken with my gold digger polish by adding a stack of blue glitter to see if I can dupe up an OPI Absolutely Alice. 

MIA and Ulta3 package

The weather has been so cold and overcast here in Canberra recently that I just haven't got any swatching done.  And I have been wearing the same manicure since Sunday night!! OMG can you believe it.  I must say my current mani is pretty cool (I have taken some indoor pics which I will show in another post) The mani I'm wearing is Zoya Mimi with Nfu Oh Flakey layered over the top - the wear has been increadible.

Also, a couple of weeks back I received an amazing package in the mail from the Heat Group in Australia, who are responsbile for Max Factor, Cover Girl, Bourjois, Ulta3 and Elite.  The package contained 40+ regular ulta3 polishes, 11 speed dry Ulta3s and a couple each of Max Factor, Cover Girl and Bourjois polishes.

I haven't had time to swatch the new polishes yet, which is just killing me.  There is one polish with this amazing wide brush that you only need to do one swipe and I can't wait to try it.  Some are new brands for me too, which I always love trying.

Most of the Ulta3 polishes are ones that I already own, so I have been trying to work out the best way to give them away to my readers.  Unfortunately the cost of internatioanl postage for my last giveaway was an absolute killer, around $60, so while I would love to give some to everyone, I just can't afford the postage.  Can you belive that it cost $10 to post a single polish to the USA!!  If you have any good ideas for me to giveaway these 40 polishes (some are dupes), then let me know.

Rokk96 - Silver Screen

A new brand of polish today. I actually swatched this a few weeks back, before I had a trim of all my nails.

This Rokk96 brand in Silver Screen.  I bought these from Price Attack, and there is a quite large range of colours in this brand. They were $8 a bottle, or three for $19.

Silver Screen is a fabulous metallic blue.  I'm not really sure what to call all the variants of blue, but this is certainly darker that the other two metallic blues I have (Ulta3 Little Boy Blue and Razzle)  Maybe it's cornflour blue?

On the second day wearing it, I decided to mattify it with Essie Matte about you.  It still looked fantastic.

I found the formula on this beautiful and the wear was very good too.  This was two coats.  I bought two other colours in Rokk96 but haven't tried them yet. Has any one else tried this brand?

Sally Hansen Blue It

I have swatched this polish in a comparison with my other blues, but I haven't done it on it's own.  This is Sally Hansen, Xtreme wear polish called Blue it.  I love the name and I love the polish.

These polishes have a really long and flat wand that really holds the polish.  I found I could do a couple of nails without having to redip into the bottle.

This polish has fantastic pigment and was almost a one coater.  But I did two just to ensure it was totally even.

There's a georgous blue metallic shimmer to this polish and it doesn't dry streaky at all. 

Blue it - Love it.

Nfu Oh #56 flakey

This is the last of my Nfu Oh flakey polishes.  Unfortunately I don't have #51 so I just have to make do with the less popular ones that I can actually buy here in Australia.

This is #56 which is an amazing rich emerald green, with a green shimmer and green flakies.  On some angles it also has a blue duochrome effect on the green flakes.  Again, it's too sheer for my liking to wear on it's own.  And for some reason it makes me feel like the wicked witch of the west wearing it. Why is that?

Up close of the pretty green flakies.

And here is some magic over black.  I felt like mixing it up a bit, so I did one coat of #56 on all nails, but then added one coat of #43 with the orange flakies too.  This pic in the sun is hard to see all the beautiful colours.

Indoors you can see the colour contrast and you can see the multi colour effect of the blue and green on the index finger.

And even closer. Soooo pretty.

So while I pretty much hate my Nfu Oh flakey polishes on their own, I absolutley love them layered over other colours.  

It's such a shame that these polishes aren't more easily available in Australia.  As far as I know there is only one distributor and they have a total monopoly on the market and often charge around $30 for a single bottle, especially of the popular polishes.

Nfu Oh flakies #55 and #57

Here are some more of my Nfu Oh 'on sale' flakies haul.  I certainly can't rave about these polishes on their own.  At least they are wearable (unlike the yellows), but the colours are non descript and so incredibly sheer.

#55 is a sheer green polish with a green shimmer and orange flakies.  This swatch was three coats. Reminds me of bottle green.

Up close angled shot to see the orange flakies.

#57 is similar to the above polish except it is a lighter green tint.  Same green shimmer and orange flakies. Three coats.

Up close it's very similar to #55.

Again, over black the magic happens.  This shows #55, then #57, #55 and #57.  As you can see, over black both these polishes are identical.

Same in the sun.  Notice how these flaky polishes are really much prettier indoors than in the sun.   You loose all the flaky bits in the sun.

Finally a zoom in, #57 on the left, #55 on the right.  You can clearly see the green shimmer and the orange flakies, but notice here you can really see a duo chrome effect in the flakies and they go from green to yellow to orange.  Very cool.

Anyway, gotta run. Survivor Heroes v Villains final episode just started and I'm tragically addicted to the show.

Nfu Oh flakies 41 42 43 58

Seriously - pass me a bucket, I think I'm going to barf!

Here I'm showing you Nfu Oh flakies #41, #42, #43, #58.

First up, #41.  This is a yellow jelly with and orange flakey.  It also has a yellow shimmer to the polish.  After I swatched this I couldn't believe how disgusting it looked.  It made my nails look stained and as though I was suffering jaundice.  Three coats.

Here is an up close, where you can see the shimmer and the flakies.

#42 is another yellow jelly with orange flakies, but no shimmer this time.  The yellow in this is also stronger.  I still wanted to puke with the colour of this on my nails. Two coats.

Up close of this yellow hideousness.

And the hits just keep on coming with #43.  This is an orange jelly with orange flakies. Two coats.

And the barfness up close.

#58 looks so pretty in the bottle, but still pretty meh on the nail.  Certainly better than the three above.  I'd call this a burnt toffee colour with orange flakies.  Two coats.  It's another ugly colour in my opinion, but at least this is wearable on it's own.

And now, just like the ugly duckling, the polishes turn beautiful.  They just needed to be layered over black.  These pics actually show all four polishes.  You can see the shimmer in the index finger which has #41 on it.  Then #42 on the middle, #43 on the ring finger and #58 on the pinky.

Layered over black, #42, #43 and #58 are basically identical.  Which made my mum super happy, cause I gave her the bottle of #42.

Please tell me, has anyone ever actually worn these polishes on their own and not layered over anything.  I think on their own, they are truly the most hideous and unappealing polishes I own.  But layered they can be incredible. 

Black and White kitties

Last week there was a little kiosk at my local mall that was selling all sorts of little nail art sticker packs.  I naturally bought seven packs, among them, a pack of black and a pack of white kitty cats. 

I did up this crazy mani (and only remembered to take photos the next day) using alternate black and white polish and kitties.  I also used a different base coat under the black polish (Ulta3 Speed Dry Base and Top coat) and it was terrible.  The black polish lifted off in entire sheets, yet the white polish stayed put beautifully.

I was a little unco in applying the stickers.  I was probably a bit impatient (surprise, surprise) and didn't wait for the polish to dry enough, and then had trouble putting the stickers on with tweezers, particularly lining the sticker up in the right spot.  The nail art stickers were great though, and they had little silver diamantes which sparkled well.

Orly Rage vs Ulta3 Envy

I remember a while back, some chat on the Vogue forums about trying to find a dupe of Orly Rage, and how far off Ulta3's Envy was.

I thought I would do a quick swatch to show the differences.

Orly Rage on the Index and Ring fingers, Ulta3 Envy on middle and pinky. 

Below is the same in the shade.

And some close ups in the shade. Envy on the left and Rage on the right.

And in the sun.

So yep - Rage is pinker, but the tones and finish are very similar.  I reckon a couple of drops of red polish in a bottle of Envy would make it a dupe.  For $2, I will just have to pick up a spare bottle of Envy and give it a go.