Muggle Manicures: review

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4.5.14

Sayuri Nail Lacquer Beyond the Shadows Collection - Swatch & Review

Evening ladies!

I have some brand new polishes from Sayuri Nail Lacquer to show you tonight! These are the first Sayuri shades that I've tried and I'm super impressed with them! The quality is fantastic and Anthea has created some amazing and interesting shades.

About Sayuri
Sayuri Nail Lacquer is an independent Australian business specialising in hand mixed nail polish. Developed by Anthea Cosentino, Sayuri was launched in March 2013 from a desire to combine her design qualification with her passion for nail polish. Anthea's design aesthetic is often described as 'quirky', and her inspirations are consistently wild and whimsical. [x]

The Beyond the Shadows Collection

Sayuri's newest collection is based around the concept of how different lighting can change the look of a polish. Each shade features glitters that change when exposed to sunlight and when viewed in the shade. The collection heavily features holographic and iridescent glitter as well as some lovely shimmer effects. Beyond the Shadows includes 9 new shades from Sayuri and I have been lucky enough to swatch 5 of them.

Moonbeam Aria
A slate grey crelly with small black hex, tiny white hex and small blue/pruple iridescent hex. This simple but beautiful shade has an amazing formula and was opaque in two coats. It's fast drying but dries rough so a good coat of top coat is needed. The iridescent glitters are not that visible in my photos but they sparkle a lot in real life!
2 coats with top coat

macro, direct sunlight

direct sunlight

indirect sunlight/shade

Refraction
A blue toned teal crelly with small navy hex, silver holographic dust, and heaps of tiny blue/green iridescent hex. It has a great glitter payout and a nice, self leveling formula and is opaque in three easy coats. The holographic and iridescent glitters really come to life in the sun!
3 coats with top coat

macro, direct sunlight

direct sunlight

indirect sunlight/shade

Love's Lustre
This is a dusty pastel pink scattered holo with a beautiful gold shimmer. The formula was really nice and dried to a smooth, glossy finish. Some holos tend to look a bit dull when they're not in the sunlight but the lovely soft gold shimmer flashes in an array of different lights.
3 coats without top coat

direct sunlight

indirect sunlight/shade

Luminous Illusion
A warm toned royal purple crelly with a strong blue shimmer. The striking shimmer effect is really evident when outside in the shade. I did have to be careful when applying this one as it is a bit prone to balding/patchiness but with 3 carefully applied coats, the shade is really stunning and well worth the effort.
3 coats with top coat

macro, indirect sunlight/shade

direct sunlight

indirect sunlight/shade

Rainbow Shards
A gorgeous glitter topper that is filled to the brim with every colour of iridescent flakies available! This lovely rainbow glitter shade will look pretty over any colour but I opted to swatch it over a slate grey creme. It applies really well and the flakies spread evenly and smoothly without the need of pushing/dabbing.
1 coat over a slate grey creme.

macro, indirect sunlight/shade

direct sunlight

indirect sunlight/shade

Availability

Sayuri's Beyond the Shadows Collection is available to Australian buyers directly from their website. Shades can be purchased individually at $9.95 for standard colours and $10.95 for holographic shades. The entire collection is also available at the discounted price of $79.95. The new collection is not currently available outside Australia but international buyers can purchase previous Sayuri collections from Mei Mei's Signatures.

Sayuri Nail Lacquer Website | Facebook | Instagram

*Products in this post where provided by Sayuri for my honest review. Read my Disclosure Policy here.

Caitlin, xo

21.4.14

Swatch, Review & Nail Art! Powder Perfect Troubador Collection

Hello again!
I hope you all had a great Easter break and are slowly emerging from your chocolate induced sugar comas!

I recently had the pleasure of swatching some new shades from Powder Perfect (read that post here). Today, I'll be showing you some creme shades released in February from the Troubador Collection as well as some nail art that features all 4 shades!

About Powder Perfect
Powder Perfect is an Australian owned, handmade, vegan cosmetics company run by the lovely Jacinta. As well as a huge range of 5-free nail polish shades, Jacinta also creates lipsticks, cuticle balms and other skin care products. Powder Perfect also offers mobile makeup services for weddings and special occasions.

The Troubador Collection

The Troubador Collection

Inspired by songs of chivalrous love sung by bards of old called troubadours, this collection features romantic pinks and dreamy pastels. This is a rolling collection, with more colours to be added in the future. You can view the entire collection here at the Powder Perfect website.

Salut D’Amor

Meaning 'love letter', this crelly is a pastel plum/pink-toned mauve and applies like a dream. It is self leveling and needs 3 coats to build opacity and it dries quickly to a glossy finish.

My swatches show 3 coats with topcoat.

Tristan

One half of the ill-fated couple Tristan and Isolde. Before King Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot there was King Mark, Isolde and Tristan. This shade is a gorgeous blue-leaning mint green creme. The first coat does apply a little streaky but that's to be expected from pastels. You need to be careful when applying it to get a smooth, even coat but your patience will be rewarded as this is a truly beautiful colour.

My swatches show 3 coats with top coat.

Isodle

Married to the Irish King, Isolde conducts an ongoing affair with his nephew named Tristan which eventually leads to their demise. This polish is a pastel pink creme with silver holographic micro glitter. As pretty as this shade looks in the bottle, it doesn't really translate onto the nail because of the opaque creme formula. The glitter is for the most part lost beneath the pastel base when applied. Although it does look quite different on the nail, it is still a pretty shade of pink and the glitter effect is subtle. I think this shade would have worked better with the glitter in a crelly base like Salut D'Amor. It applies nicely and dries to a slightly textured finish so top coat is a must.

My swatches show 3 coats with top coat.

Aqutaine

Aquitaine is the birthplace of the troubadour. This polish is a yellow-tone bone/creme/nude creme. I was pleasantly surprised by this shade as it actually compliments my skin tone! I tend to have very red toned fingers and most nudes look awful on me but the yellow undertones in this shade really work for me!

The formula is very similar to Tristan and you do need to apply it carefully to avoid streakiness or dragging. It was actually opaque in two coats but I decided to do an third coat to even it out completely.

My swatches show 3 coats with top coat.

And now for some nail art! When I first saw these shades all lined up next to each other, I thought that they complimented each other so well and would work together in a gradient! I started with a thin coat of Aquataine then blended the other colour onto a damp makeup sponge (see my gradient tutorials here and here) and dabbed it on my nails. For the accent nail, I applied 3 coats of Aquataine and added some lace water decals from the Born Pretty Store.

Availability
The Troubador Collection is available now from the PowderPefect.com.au website as well as some international stockists. Each 13ml bottle is $10.00 or you can buy the whole collection for $36.00.

International Stockists

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Caitlin, xo

4.2.14

Nail Art: Born Pretty Store Water Decals Review

Hi everyone!

Today I have a mani that I did a few months ago but only just got around to editing! I got these water decals from the Born Pretty Store. They have every kind of nail art paraphernalia that you can imagine! I've bought many brushes and striping tapes and other various nail art tools from there and have been pleased with everything. Plus everything is really reasonably priced and they also offer free worldwide shipping :)

This was my first experience with water decals and I'm happy to say that it was a pleasant one! Once my base colour was dry (I used Covergirl Lav-endure), I cut out all the little flowers which come on a little piece of card similar to temporary tattoo sheets. Once I had the pieces cut out, I used tweezers to soak them in water so that the design could slide off the paper and be transferred to the nail. After I applied it to the nail, I dabbed it with a makeup sponge to remove the excess water and smooth out the decal. I would recommend using a generous amount of topcoat to finish off the decal design as they were a bit prone to smudging if you fiddled around with the topcoat too much.

I love how they turned out! My nail art skills are no way near being able to pull off this kind of design so it's good that I have such an easy way of cheating with these decals! :)

The best part about these is that they're on sale at the moment! Right now, they're only 0.88USD! You can purchase them here.

'Like' the Muggle Manicures Facebook page to be notified of new blog posts!

Caitlin, xo

12.12.13

Femme Fatale Cosmetics mini-haul! (WingDust & Rainbow Honey)

If you're an indie nail polish enthusiast from Australia, you've probably heard of the amazing online store, Femme Fatale Cosmetics. Femme Fatale Cosmetics is the leading stockist of local and international indie polish brands in Australia and they have a huge selection to chose from, with more brands due to be added throughout 2014.

As well as stocking a ton of fantastic indie brands, Femme Fatale Cosmetics also has their own line that I have featured here on my blog. The recent holographic range has got me pining after Burning Dusk and Ruby Hare.

If you’re outside Australia and want to get your hands on some Femme Fatale Cosmetics polishes, you can check out their international stockists here.

The great thing about FFC is that you can purchase from multiple brands without having to pay multiple shipping charges! Shipping charges range from $6.50 for the Brisbane area and start from $7.50 for Metro

areas.

Sophie (FFC owner & creator) has kindly sent me some polishes from just two of the brands that she stocks. I have two Rainbow Honey and a WingDust polish to show you today!

First is WingDust, Beach Bum, a neon pink/fuchsia jelly that is absolutely packed with glitter. It has silver holo circles and hex, plus some bright pink/orange hex. Application requires a bit of care because of the density of the glitter but the extra effort is totally worth it. It dries to a slightly matte finish because of the neon pigment but you need to use a good topcoat anyway to smooth out the glitter. I used two coats on its own but one coat over bright pink would look great too.

Swatches show two coats with Seche Vite topcoat.

Next is Rainbow Honey Hoof Wrassle from the My Little Pony inspired Equestria Collection. This one came boxed in the lovely packaging seen below.

Hoof Wrassle is a glitter topper filled with orange and gold hex in various sizes with an orange shimmer that reflects flashes of gold. Formula was nice and easy to apply. I would recommend wearing this one over warm colours like yellow, orange or red. I used one coat over Essence Redvolution, a hot orange/red crème.

Last is Rainbow Honey Diamond Dust, a silver holographic glitter topper with a subtle blue/violet shifting shimmer. Despite its mini 5ml size, the elongated bottle made it really easy to use and the formula was great. The glitter is quite dense so you should only need one coat over any colour.

Swatches show one coat over Nfu-Oh JS13 with Seche Vite Topcoat.