Showing posts with label shades of phoenix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shades of phoenix. Show all posts

24.11.14

Shades of Phoenix 'Bloggers Who Inspire' Collection: Swatch & Review

*Products provided to me for my honest review. Read my Disclosure Policy here

Long time, no blog! Sorry I've been so slack with post over the last couple of...months (eek!). I've been so preoccupied with uni and Moonstone that I've only had time to make my nails barely presentable, let alone indulge in blogging and nail art.

But I'm back with swatches of an awesome new collection from Shades of Phoenix! The collection is titled 'Bloggers Who Inspire'. For the past few months, Teneil has been working with myself and 5 other Aussie polish bloggers to create a collaboration collection! The bloggers featured in this collection are amongst some of my personal favourites so I'm glad to be in such good company! :)



The featured bloggers include:
Kierra from Look What the Bats Dragged In
Relle from Lazy Lacquerista 
Kaz from Pretty Random / Pretty Serious Cosmetics
Cassandra from Reluctant Femme / Femmecraft 
Bettina from Bettina's Nails
andddd myself!

First up is 'Bat in a Blender' - made in collaboration with Look What the Bats Dragged In. A jelly glitter bomb with teal tinted base, it has turquoise, blue, black, in matte and holo hex and black holo dots. It has a ton of glitter so would recommend the 'dabbing' method (check out this tutorial from Reluctant Femme). I used 3 dabbed coats and then went back to fill in any patched I missed. Swatches show two coats of top coat.




Next is 'Medusa in the Morning' - made in collaboration with Lazy Lacquerista. This shade has a really unique base/glitter combination but it totally works! It's a slate blue crelly with caramel, brown, gold, and red hex and dots. It applied like a dream and was the perfect crelly formula - sheer enough to show the glitter between layers and opaque in three coats! Swatches show one coat of top coat.





'The Secret of the Ooze' - made in collaboration with Pretty Random. Although it may appear black in some light/photos, it is actually a really dark olive green jelly. This unusual combo has lots of tiny coloured flakies - I could pick out pink, blue, orange, green. I used 4 thin coats but you could get away with 3 on shorter nails. There's more than enough flakes in one coat to be used over a base colour and still get a similar look. 






One of my favourites from the collection, 'Paint It Blue' - made in collaboration with Reluctant Femme. This one is a lovely teal leaning blue crelly with silver, blue, green, and holo squares and hex. It has a ton of glitter, especially for a crelly. I used three coats and two coats of top coat.





'The Impossible Planet' - made in collaboration with Bettina's Nails. This one gets bonus points from me because the name is a Doctor Who reference! It's a squishy raspberry red jelly with silver and black tiny hex and small silver holo stars. The stars do take some coaxing to come out of the bottle even though theres so many in there so I would suggest inverting the bottle 15 mins prior to application. As with all of Shades of Phoenix's red jellies, it has a lot of depth and sparkle. I used three coats and one coat of top coat.






and lastly is my own glitter baby! This is 'Iridescent Adolescent'When discussing the creation of this polish with Teneil, I essentially gave her two requirements. 1. Purple. 2. ALL the iridescent glitter. And that is exactly what she's delivered! It's basically a representation of my two favourite polish elements. It's a purple crelly with lots of little blue/green iridescent hex, as well as some shards. The shards can be a little tricky to apply but I found that if you get any that won't lay flat, simply pat them down with your fingertip while the polish is still tacky. I used three super then coats because I wanted the glitters to show through but you could easily get opacity in two coats. Swatches show one coat of top coat.






This collection is available now from Shade of Phoenix. You can get the full set of mini bottles (9ml) for $42 or full size for $54. They are also available individually. Plus, Teneil has just added three new shades to the store tonight! They are blue, green, and orange versions of the gorgeous Wildfire. Check them all out here -> Shades of Phoenix store

Thanks for reading!
Caitlin, xo


4.6.14

Moonstone Nail Polish/Shades of Phoenix 'Weird & Wonderful Flavours Collection' Swatches & Giveaway!!


Hi ladies!
For the past few months, Moonstone Nail Polish (my own indie brand) and Shades of Phoenix (glitterbaby of Teneil) have been working on a very special project. Teneil approached me with the idea of a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans inspired collection and, being the massive Harry Potter and Shades of Phoenix fan that I am, of course I said yes!

So, after many brainstorming sessions, we came up with the idea that each shade will have two names. It's based around the concept of Bertie Bott's and how you never know what flavour you're gonna get! We have created 3 shades each which all have a 'good' and a 'bad/weird' flavour/name. Half of the bottles of each shade will be given the 'wonderful' flavour/name and the other half, the 'weird'! You won't know which one you're gonna get until you get your open your parcel!



The collection  will be released Monday the 9th of June at 7pm! To celebrate the release, we're having an INTERNATIONAL giveaway!! The prize is the complete 'Weird & Wonderful Flavours Collection' as well as 20% off vouchers from each store. Entries close Monday the 9th of June at 6pm.

and now for my swatches!! All photos are taken outside in indirect sunlight unless stated otherwise in the caption.


Moonstone Nail Polish - 'Bacon' or 'Strawberry Jam'
A deep, rich red jelly with tiny gold and gold holo hex with gold flakies and a subtle gold/red shimmer. You can reach opacity with this one in two coats but a third coat will add more depth.

Swatch shows 3 coats with top coat.




direct sunlight


Moonstone Nail Polish - 'Sugared Violet' or 'Red Cabbage'
A vibrant red-violet shimmer shade with iridescent and silver holo dust and a purple shimmer.
Swatches show 3 coats with top coat



direct sunlight

direct sunlight

Moonstone Nail Polish - 'Aubergine' or 'Boysenberry'
A deep purple/eggplant jelly blue flakies and a violet shimmer.

Swatches show 2 coats with top coat.





and now for the three pretties from Shades of Phoenix!

Shades of Phoenix - 'Earl Grey' or 'Sardine'
Unlike any other polish I have seen, this silvery grey creme with warm undertones has a blue/green shimmer with blue and gold flakies.

Swatches show 2 coats with top coat.

in lightbox/artificial light

in lightbox/artificial light




Shades of Phoenix - 'Blueberry' or 'Pixie Snot'
A deep indigo jelly with blue, purple, pink, and iridescent hex in various sizes.

Swatches show 3 coats with top coat





Shades of Phoenix - 'Spinach' or 'Mint Leaf'
An epic glitter bomb with green glitter in every size! The base is lightly tinted green but the opacity comes from the glitter.

Swatches show 2 dabbed/patted coats with a generous amount of top coat.





The complete 6 shade collection will be available at both www.shadesofphoenix.bigcartel.com and www.moonstonenailpolish.com at the discounted price of $51.30 (a saving of 10%). Individual shades will also be available from their respective creators stores at $9.50 each.

and now for the giveaway!! Enter now for your chance to win :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Caitlin, xo


23.11.13

Shades of Phoenix Creepy Christmas Collection - Swatches & Review

*Products in this post provided for review. Read my disclosure policy here.
Hello lovely ladies, 

Today I have another Aussie Indie Christmas Collection to show you! This one is from my talented friend Teneil, aka the brains behind the amazing Shades of Phoenix brand. Teneil has come up with something very different to the usual Christmas inspired polishes that you see emerge this time of year. This collection, dubbed the Creepy Christmas Collection, is inspired by Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas! This theme has inspired some truly unique polishes and I feel very lucky that I'm one of the first people to have the pleasure of trying them.



First up is one of my favourites from this collection, You're head of the team, Zero. This is a beautiful glitter topper filled with iridescent shards, flakes, hex, squares, and bars. I absolutely love iridescent glitter and this is one of the best iridescent glitter toppers that I've tried. Application was perfect, one easy coat is all you need with no pushing/dabbing required. I used one coat over black but the beauty of this polish is that you can use it over any colour!


outdoors in sunlight



Next is How Horrible Our Christmas Will Be, a black jelly that is chock full of glitter. It has holo silver, red, and aqua hex with the occasional red circle glitter. Because this is so glitter heavy, it does dry a little gritty so you'll need a good top coat to smooth it out. I used two coats but you could get almost the same look if you layered it over black.




direct sunlight



This next one is based on the main character of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack Skellington and is named as such. Skellington is a glitter topper is full of tiny gold and iridescent hex, huge holo gold circles, and black and white skull glitter.



This is my first experience with skull shaped glitter and they are just as tricky as the large circles can be; no matter how many glitters are put into the polish, they can still be a pain to get out of the bottle. Because I don't have the patience to fish for these glitters, I just did one regular coat (which did result in getting a few of the large glitters out), then I used orange stick to get the glitters out of the bottle then I placed them on the nail individually. I think this method is good when you're dealing with large glitter because you can control exactly where you want them to be placed on your nail.

My swatches show one coat plus some individually placed glitter over Smooch 'Lazuire'.


outdoors in sunlight





...and Absolutely No One's Dead is another one of my favourites from the collection. It's a white crelly full of hex, squares and circles in silver, blue, aqua and iridescent glitter. Application for this one was a pleasure, needing 3 coats to reach opacity. This does have a lot of glitter in it so if you were wanting a simpler look, you could layer one coat over white and get a really nice effect.







I Had a Terrible Vision is another character inspired polish. This one is based on Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's one of the most unique indies I've ever tried and I love it! Teneil has done a great job at capturing the character of Sally.



The base is a lavender crelly and it's full of different glitters.  It has periwinkle, lime, marigold, watermelon, and pastel pink hex; black shards; and short dark purple bars. Although the base appears quite sheer at first, it builds up easily and gives you good coverage from the large amount of glitter. My swatches show 3 easy coats. I used Seche Vite as a topcoat but it would look fantastic mattified!





I am the Shadow on the Moon at Night is a special effect top coat that glows in the dark! It has a very lightly tinted green base with a subtle shimmer that can be worn over any creme but the shimmer effect will be more prominent if worn over a darker colour. I chose to wear it over a pastel green (China Glaze 'Refresh Mint') that matched the colour of the I am the Shadow... in the bottle. This one has a great consistency and gives even, self-leveling coverage. I used two coats to get a strong, even glow.

The glow in the dark effect lasted about 2 minutes after charging it for 20 seconds under a UV light. Apologies for the terrible glow in the dark photos but my camera just wasn't cooperating with me!




over black

in the dark

Next is Kidnap Mr Sandy Claws?, a red (pinkish toned) jelly filled with red, green, blue, lavender and pink glitters in hex and square. I was shocked to discover that I only needed two coats without undies to achieve opacity with this jelly! You could totally do three coats to create more depth but I thought it was perfect with just two.





direct sunlight

outside in shade

And finally, the last and most Christmas-sy polish of the collection, What's This? What's This? This looks like Teneil's version of the 'Christmas tree in a bottle' concept polishes. It's an emerald green jelly with green, pink, orange, gold, and pink hex as well as some green squares. This is a fairly sheer jelly so I would recommend wearing it over undies. I used two coats over dark green (Australis 'Here Today, Gone Tomorrow'). You should only need one coat over undies but I'm a huge glitter fiend!





outside in shade

Overall, I'm super impressed with this collection, Teneil has totally outdone herself! I love that none of them are overly Christmas-sy so they can all be worn at any time during the year.

These babies are available now from the Shades of Phoenix store. You can purchase the whole set (8x12ml bottles) for $70, two different quad sets (4x12ml bottles) for $35 or individually for $9.50ea.

Also, if you're a fan of Shades of Phoenix, you should join the Facebook fan group. This is where you can share your photos, reviews, do swaps and group buys as well as have exclusive access to all things Shades Of Phoenix including sales and discount codes.

Caitlin, xo