Titanium

Today I have a very unique shade I didn't think I would like originally. I forget exactly when this OPI Designer Series polish (Titanium) was released, however, I do recall not thinking much of it. Flash forward a few years and I see it on sale and it looks interesting so I decide to take a chance on it.

Titanium is an interesting shade, it has a jelly grey base with various shapes and sizes of iridescent glitter jam packed in there. I believe I used two to three coats for full opacity. I remember the first coat looking really sheer, however, it did build up nicely.

I love that there is a slight tint of grey in the base, it helps with overall coverage of the polish. And the iridescent glitter flashes all the colours of the rainbow depending on the slight.

Madam Glam Chameleon Gels - Swatches and Review

Hello friends! I cannot believe how this month has been speeding by!

Today I have a new to me brand I will be reviewing, Madam Glam. They were kind enough to send me some of their polishes to try out, the coolest part is that they are thermals. Gel and thermals?! Whaaat! To say I was eager to try these out was an understatement!

I received four Madam Glam Chameleon Gel polishes to review:

Chocolate With Nuts 
Sweet Illusion
Pop Goes My heart
What Colour is the Dress?

Chocolate With Nuts:
Cold: a rich chocolaty brown creme base with white pearl hex and regular glitter
Warm: a peach leaning white creme base with white pearl hex and regular glitter
Application: a little on the thick side, probably due to the glitter, however manageable

Sweet Illusion:
Cold: a darker greyed out blue with a hint of sparse silver glitter
Warm: a lighter greyed out blue with a hint of sparse silver glitter
Application: good, applied well
 
Pop Goes My Heart:
Cold: purple creme base with white pearl hex and regular glitter
Warm: blue creme base with white pearl hex and regular glitter
Application: a little on the thick side, probably due to the glitter, however manageable

What Color is the Dress?
Cold: Rich burgundy creme with a sprinkling of silver glitter
Warm: night sky blue with a sprinkling of silver glitter
Application: good, applied well

Swatches below, from left to right, COLD Chocolate with Nuts, Sweet Illusion, Pop Goes My Heart and What Color is the Dress?

Swatches below, from left to right, WARM Chocolate with Nuts, Sweet Illusion, Pop Goes My Heart and What Color is the Dress? 

Overall Opinion:
They applied and cured similar to other gels I have tried, however I found them to smell different. I should also mention that these are 5-free and cruelty free so that is a plus.

I noticed on their regular gels they have a colour swatch on the top handle and these did not, however the names are clearly marked (on a sparkly sticker!) at the bottom of each bottle. The Chameleon bottles are slightly smaller than the regular gels (only by 5 ml), not a big deal but worth mentioning.

The bottles I received did not contain any instructions, which was fine by me because I've done this before, and even if I didn't there is the internet! The one thing that confused me was that after curing my swatches in the light they were still a little sticky, which is usually to be expected. Usually when swatching I don't normally apply a top coat, so I wiped each swatch with alcohol to clean the sticky bit off. However, I noticed some pigment on the cotton pad after wiping and noticed that each swatch dried to a matte finish. At fist I was confused, I thought I did something wrong! But now I actually think it's kind of cool, I've never seen a matte gel polish before. The awesome thing is you can add a gel top coat to finish it off and it's glossy again!

Case ans point a sneak peek at part two of this post below, Pop Goes My Heat! I used my own personal no wipe gel topcoat.

The last thing I need to mention is the colour changing abilities. They reacted really well to hot and cold with clear differences in colour. I am truly impressed with these gels and in part two of this review I will be sharing with you how they wear. Let's just say these guys are a major distraction, I am always looking at my nails!

*This product was sent to me for an honest review, all views expressed are my own honest option.

U.S Haulin' - Holiday Edition

I crossed the boarder in early November and have been so busy that I am only finding the time now, a month alter, to post about it! Let me just say that with the changing dollar that U.S shopping is starting to cost more than it would be to just buy certain things in Canada,which is a bummer. I enjoy my little cross-boarder trips. However, when you are spending 30% more plus the boarder guard decides to stop you to pay double taxes on the converted USD to CAD, it's a bit painful. Anyways, on to the better side of things, I picked up some cool polish!

At Marshall's I picked up China Glaze, I Love Your Guts - A pink/red foil with small black glitter scattered throughout.

Next Stop, Five Below. I was lucky, I only realized after leaving the store that the cashier charged me 3 for $5 instead of 2 (glow-in-the dark) for $5 and whatever the cost of the regular price would be, win!

Funky Fingers, Gourdgeous - Another glow in the dark shade, this time with a sheer, light pumpkin orange base and yellow and orange hex glitters of various sizes.

Funky Fingers, R U Afraid of the Dark? - A sheer blue leaning grey base with matte black and lime green hex glitter of various sizes. This is a glow in the dark shade and produces a decent glow considering how dark the base is.

Funky Finger, Son of a Nutcracker - my first Christmas themed polish purchase of the year! It is made up of light red, pink, green, white and silver glitter of various shapes and sizes in a clear base.

Swatches for the China Glaze and Funky Fingers are below:

Last Stop, CosmoProf, I picked up both these shades on sale, under $3 each.

 

OPI, DS Titanium - This is the first Designer Series polish I have purchased in a while. The ones I own are old and discontinued, I'm sure. The sparkle of this one intrigued me in store and it helped that it was on sale! It looks to have a jelly grey base with various shapes and sizes of iridescent glitter jam packed in there.

OPI I Sing in Color - A deep maroon creme. Although the handle of the brush boasts, "Creme Gloss" it was not a super high gloss polish. If anything it dried a little flat! That being said, a high gloss topcoat adds the perfect amount of shine.

The swatch for Titanium is below, you can see the full post  and swatching on I Sing in Color, here.

That's all folks!

Singin' in December!

Happy December! Today I have a rich burgundy creme from the first collaboration Gwen Stefani did with OPI, I Sing In Color. I recently purchased this shade and was craving something neutral and vampy to wear.

 What you see on the nail is two coats with a top coat. I found on it's own it wasn't super glossy, Seche Vite added a nice shine. In most lighting it looks pretty dark, I knew I wasn't wearing a black and didn't ever consider it a black while I was wearing it but I did get comments that it looked black.

 

Overall application was good and removal wasn't messy. I find rich pigmented shades to be messy and even stain during removal but this was not the case.

Madam Glam - Early Black Friday Promo Code!

Happy Friday!

I have some exciting news: Madam Glam has contacted me to review some of their products and while they are on their way in the mail they have provided me with an early Black Friday promo exclusive for you!

Also though I have not yet tried Madam Glam products before I have read nothing but positive reviews and am eagerly awaiting their arrival! If you love Madam Glam, or are have been wanting to try their products out I have a great deal to share with you, 40% off for their Black Friday event!

Why am I so excited to try out Madam Glam?
5-Free
Cruelty-free
and Vegan (not tested on animals)! 

 

How do you get 40% off? Simple, follow this link and use this promo code: BFPolishobsessed 

Happy Shopping!



* I am in no way being compensated to promote this promo/seller.

My Own Personal Mirrorball!

I can't believe it's already November, fall has just flown by! Switching things up a bit, I decided to finally wear Orly Mirrorball, a super-lemming of mine last winter. I can't even remember where I found it now. Maybe at Ulta in the States? Anyways, it is gorgeous and I pulled it out for a very special occasion. I won't say what specifically, but I think you'll be able to guess by the end of the post...

Mirrorball is a silver holo with small to medium shaped hex holo glitter scattered throughout. It is sooooo pretty. I used my Nfu-Oh Aqua base and didn't have any issues with application. I love that a little bit of the Aqua base goes a long way too. I believe I applied between 2-3 coats of Mirrorball, however, the polish was perfectly opaque at two coats.

Normally I don't topcoat holos, but I wanted to make sure the polish dried quickly so I added a layer of Seche Vite. It added a gorgeous gloss and I don't think it interrupted the strength of the holo. This is so pretty in the sunlight or in the shade. It may be because it was apart of Orly's 2015 holiday collection, but it reminds me of snow... Which should NOT be happening anytime soon! I may bring it out closer to the holidays again.

Another "mirror-ball" that is sooooo pretty ^_^

Witching Hour

Happy belated Halloween!

I was so busy last week I actually forgot to photograph my Halloween mani! How did I forget!? It was something different than what I usually do, It was very witchy! Luckily I was able to find a (very blury photo) from my phone, but I hope you get the idea.

 I used a thin base of Cover Girl Vio-last which is a dusty purple creme and one layer of China Glaze Something's Brewing overtop.

Jack and Sally costumes on Halloween

This was a quick, out the door polish job. The perfectionist in me is annoyed it wasn't a bit neater, however I am happy with the overall look. It's totally a deconstructed witch. I'm thinking of Looney Tunes...

Can't you hear the Monster Mash being played in the back of your head when you see this combo?

Hope you had a great Halloween!