Subscription Box: Pretty & Polished September 2014 Beauty Box

So here's the September box! I've given up getting my stuff in the first half of the month :(

The bubble bath bar smells awesome but I haven't had the time to use it yet

For some reason, this month's polishes seem thinner than usual. I actually had to use 3-4 coats to achieve this opacity. Sinner's Circle needed 5 coats.

My crappy attempt at nail art with Carrigan over Hullabaloo

Sinner's Circle on ring finger, Pretty Little Thing on the rest

Review & Recommendation: Dolly's Polishes

I answered Ajevie's call for swatchers for her new Dolly's Polishes and she sent me 4 minis!

First of all, check out how they were packaged..the little touches makes such a difference:

The little details are awesome!

The colours I got are:

• The Ghost Ship (glow-in-the-dark): A light blue Glow-in-the-Dark (can be 'charged' under natural or artificial light) cream packed with tiny black and white specks and a scattering of skulls with crossbones.

• Laternelaufen (Glow-in-the-Dark): A yellow Glow-in-the-Dark (can be 'charged' under natural or artificial light) cream speckled with multicolored hexes.

• Queen Agnes: A clear topper packed with shiny copper hexes and 'patina accents' of aqua circles.

• Sugar Skull: A white polish packedwith glitter and has a subtle textured finish

I have to say, I love these polishes. They last me as long as my good mainstream polishes. Queen Agnes is my favourite nail polish out of the 4. Glitter polishes are often bumpy without a top coat, but this is ok on its own. It's like Cult Nails' glitter polishes, where they dry into a smooth finish.

They also dry in about 2 minutes (I timed it..longest was 2 min 19 seconds), so it's great for busy people.

I'm also now a fan of glow-in-the-dark polishes thanks to Dolly's. I've only tried 2 other glow-in-the-dark nail polishes (one indie, one mainstream) and they don't work as well as these. I've actually given up on glow-in-the-dark nail polishes and decided that they only get charged under UV lamps, but these converted me. They get charged even using artificial light! I got so excited! Also, the glow-in-the-dark polish has this awesome, sandy matte texture that I love, so I didn't use a top coat for these swatches.

I did find the formula of Sugar Skull slightly hard to work with, but I think it's more of a white nail polish thing.

So here are the swatches:

Laternelaufen on ring finger and The Ghost Ship on the rest

The Ghost Ship actually comes with skull glitters, but I couldn't get them out. Angi mentioned she'll be including rollerballs, so this may be fixed.

Skull glitter!

Queen Agnes on ring finger & Sugar Skulls on the rest. Queen Agnes is on its own, but I layered Cult Nails' Wax That top coat over Sugar Skulls for that waxy effect.

Subscription Box: Pretty & Polished August 2014 Beauty Box

So I finally got my Pretty & Polished August Box this Monday, Aug 25! I think I've given up getting my box in the first half of the month as an international customer.

These boxes are the most worth it out of all the subscription boxes I've tried though, so I'm still happy!

This month I got:

• 25% off cooupon for their clearance section 
• A nail file
• Blue nail art beads
• 2 full size polishes
• Cold on the Shoulder (thermal polish, shifts from light teal to light blue)
• A Painter Passing Through (glitter topper)
• 2 minis
• Opal (glitter topper)
• The saga (white creme polish with round & straight line glitter)

So on to swatches!

Opal 

Swatched over different base colours to show off the effect:

A Painter Passing Through

Swatched over different base colours to show off the effect:

Cold on the Shoulder & The Saga, with the nail art beads:

I messed up the nail art beads :(
The glitter on The Saga is pretty sparse, this took 4 coats.

The colour change is pretty subtle.

Review: Rainbow Honey

So I ordered a bunch of Rainbow Honey stuff from Femme Fatale while they were having a sale.

I have to make a quick rave about Femme Fatale's awesome customer service. Check out how fast my stuff was shipped:

Ordered: June 15
Shipped: June 16
Received: June 23

Omg, now I know how people living in America feel! I usually wait a month before getting my stuff! 8 days! During a sale! And I got a handwritten note! OMG. Mind. Blown.

I do enjoy everything!

I ordered a cuticle balm in Worth the Truffle and the following nail polishes:

I love the labels, makes it so much easier to figure out which is which! I wish more companies would do this!

Worth The Truffle Cuticle Balm Review

"Deep cocoa with a smooth and creamy finish."

I waited until I've been using this for close to a month before I post the review. Yes, they're very moisturising! I'm arranging my manicures in order of when I took them, and you can see my cuticles improving over time. They're still very dry and ugly thanks to my habit of peeling on peeling cuticles, but they've definitely gotten better. 

Scent-wise, I initially hated it but it grew on me. It smells like stale chocolate popcorn. Not very appetising, but the scent does grow on you and now I love it!

Packaging-wise, it comes in a slim tube with waterproof packaging. When mine came (stupidly forgot to take the picture), the top of the balm has been cut smoothly so it looks very professional. Definitely something I'd buy again.

Price:

• On Femme Fatale site: AUD 5.50
• On Rainbow Honey site: USD 5.00

Rainbow Honey Nail Polish Review

I got a mix of consistency for the formulas, so I'm not sure how I feel about this brand. Leonids and the top coats had a smooth, easy to apply formula, while the other 3 had goopy, streaky formulas. I find that these polishes tend to chip within 1-2 days. Nail polish tend not to last long on me thanks to how rough I get with my hands, but usually, they last about 2-3 days. 

Leonids

Price: 

• On Femme Fatale site: AUD 11.85
• On Rainbow Honey site: USD 10.00

This is by far my favourite colour - it's a dried blood red (sorry for the gross description) that shifts to gold. This also has the smoothest consistency out of all the colours I got. Feels like a normal polish!

Leonids on most nails, Papillon on ring finger

Indoors to show the shift

If you're wondering how I got that effect for Papillon, this is how:

I let the sponge soak up most of the clear polish and then pat on the glitter on the tips of my nails.

Midnight Fountain

Price: 

• On Femme Fatale site: AUD 11.85
• On Rainbow Honey site: USD 10.00

I wasn't a fan of this formula, it's very goopy and streaky. It's a pretty enough colour -dark blue with light blue glitter. I think the colour is no longer age-appropriate for me, though. T.T

Midnight Fountain on most nails, Diamond Weapon on ring finger

Diamond Weapon

Price: 

• On Femme Fatale site: AUD 11.85
• On Rainbow Honey site: USD 10.00

It's supposed to be grey with silver with a gold shimmer, but I honestly can't see much of the gold. Maybe I got too used to strong shifts in indie eyeshadows. The formula is also goopy and streaky, and this ended up looking very clunky and messy to me.

Diamond Dust

Price: 

• On Femme Fatale site: AUD 11.85
• On Rainbow Honey site: USD 10.00

This is a clear base with holographic sparkle. I wore this on top of Diamond Weapon and it's sooo gorgeous. I can see myself wearing this frequently! This one also feels like a normal polish so I'm happy!

Left: Diamond Weapon + Diamond Dust
Right: Diamond Weapon

Another shot to show off the sparkles. Diamond Dust is only over my middle finger. The gold polish is a Sephora polish that no longer has a label.

Diamond Dust applied over all nails. Check out the sparkles!

Papillon 

Price: 

• On Femme Fatale site: AUD 11.85
• On Rainbow Honey site: USD 10.00

This is a clear based with butterfly glitter! I was a bit disappointed since I somehow expected this to be more glittery, but the glitter is a bit sparse so getting the effect out is hard since I mostly got clear polish. This is 2-3 coats of Papillon over Nails Inc's Chelsea Physic Garden:

The Bubbly Scented Top Coat

"Living up to its name, this scent is effervescent, bright, and just a bit juicy - perfect to celebrate any occasion!"

Price: 

• On Femme Fatale site: AUD 11.85
• On Rainbow Honey site: USD 8.00

It's not particularly fast-drying, shiny or long-lasting, so it's just like an ordinary top coat, except that it's scented. Very gimmicky but I fell for it hard and I'm still resisting the urge to buy more of these! The scent is absolutely delicious! It smells like a fizzy citrus soda, and I swear you can even smell the fizziness in this. The scent lasts about 2 days, though it's a bit faint by the 2nd day. 

Review & Recommendation: Cult Nails Effect Top Coats

So I sadly ordered items from Cult Nails on May 6. I say sadly because I bought everything I could possibly want from them, only to find out they decided to have a 50% off promotion a few weeks later. I have awesome luck. I delayed this review because I wanted to see how long the polishes I tried last, and being me, I ended up delaying it too long and forgot all about publishing it. /u/ashhole613 kindly posted that they're having another 50% off deal at midnight, so definitely get them now!

Also, not sure if referral bonuses stack up, but this is my referral link: http://r.sloyalty.com/r/tED8MGb2tx3g

And you get $12 of $24 if you use it. Full disclosure, I get a $5, so if you're not comfortable with that, no need to use it. These nail polishes are definitely worth buying at full price :)

From left to right: Dance All Night, Wicked Fast, Feedback, Wax That..., Alter Ego, Doppelganger

I ordered:

• Doppelganger - LIMITED EDITION (Effect Top Coat) 
• Alter Ego - LIMITED EDITION (Effect Top Coat) 
• Dance All Night - LIMITED EDITION 
• Feedback - LIMITED EDITION
• Wicked Fast (Speed Dry Top Coat) 
• Wax That... (Wax Effect Top Coat) 

Turnaround Time:

• Ordered: May 6
• Shipped: May 7
• Received: May 26

I'm not sure what happened to this order, but usually, it only takes 2 weeks for USPS to reach me. This took 19 days. It's not bad, but definitely longer than usual.

I decided to try out two Effect Top Coats, Alter Ego & Wax That... Here's the Cult Nail's Description for both products:

Alter Ego

"Alter Ego is a sheer top coat that will cast a gold and green tinge over your polish, creating an aged, antiqued, look."

Wax That...

"Wax That... is an effect top coat that gives your manicure the look of melted candle wax.  It can be described as a satin/matte finish."

I was definitely excited to check out Wax That..., but when I saw Alter Ego, I got disappointed at first. It looked like a normal gold nail polish and I thought I fell for a gimmicky description. I was so wrong. Check out what it does to a light nail polish and a dark polish:

Left: Just plain old nail polish. Sally Hansen "Black Diamond" & Formula X "Brilliant", with Sally Hansen's Maximum Growth Base Coat
Right: With Cult Nail's "Alter Ego"

Holy crap, this is magical! It actually is a green-gold duochrome top coat! Here's more pics to show off the duochrome

It's even more awesome in real life.

The effect of this top coat is more visible against a dark background, but it makes a lighter nail polish also look like it's been sprayed by fairy dust. It looked so perfect, I didn't want to ruin it by adding anymore layers, but I'm also really excited to try out Wax That... Decisions, decisions. I decided to go for it and wow.

Left: With Wax That... Top Coat
Right: Without

Again, my camera can't capture how awesome this is. It's a matte duochrome. Mindblowing. This matte is a more buttery matte than OPI's matte nail polish, which has a similar look as a chalkboard. Maybe I haven't explored enough, but I honestly haven't seen this texture before. I'm freaking amazed. My nails look like they went through an instagram filter that reduces contrast and adds a vintage effect.

And yes, the duochrome is still in effect under this top coat!

Matte Duochrome!

You need to buy this.

The amazing thing is that even though manicures usually only last 2-3 days on me thanks to me not being able to keep my hands still, these lasted at least 5 days on me (some started chipping on the 5th day, I started picking on them on the 6th day and further ruined them before wiping them off on the 7th day). I even tore my nail while trying to pry open the cap of a perfume sample, but the nail polish stuck!

This is how it looks like after 4 days:

Sorry for the yellow lighting. This is the last photo I had before they started to peel off about a day later. And yes, I tend to pick on my cuticles >.<

When they do come off, I think it's my base coat's fault. They come off cleanly like this:

Aww darn! The rest still looked pretty good!

I've used this base coat before with other polishes, as well as used these base colour nail polishes before, and none of my manicures lasted this well.

I totally see why these are called Cult Nails. I can feel myself getting sucked into the cult. I can practically hear people chanting, "One of us....one of us...."

Review & Recommendation: Pretty & Polished

Recently, I just made my first indie eyeshadow purchase from Pretty & Polished!

The colours are gorgeous and it was hard not to buy the entire store. I got 3 nail polishes in total:

Cuttlefish and May Flowers are both colour changing nail polishes. I've bought colour changing nail polishes before and gotten disappointed by the minimal colour change, so I wasn't expecting much to be honest. I was so wrong. These change so much. My nails had the most gorgeous ombré look most of the time. I guess my nails don't warm up evenly? 

May Flowers: It goes white when it's warm, green when it's cold.

This is totally the lazy girl's ombré nails.

May Flowers with Cuttlefish. Cuttlefish is supposed to turn from blue to white when warm, but it only goes to light blue on me.

I'm definitely impressed with these colours!

I also got a non-colour-changing nail polish because I couldn't resist how gorgeous it looks. Check out Catnip! Sweet Babies!

Ran out of nail space, went on to toes.

Please excuse the grossness. I failed at giving myself a pedicure and this toenail was the only one that didn't look like the work or a 4-year-old imitating a Pollock painting. 

Their turnaround time's not too bad. It took them 4 days to ship my products and I received it 28 days after ordering. I've just subscribed to their monthly subscription boxes. I'll let you know how that goes!

If you're interested in their subscription box, they're still having a promotion that lets you buy 12 months for the price of 10, and 6 months for the price of 5. That makes a box $18.33 instead of $22 for US customers, and $25 instead of $30 for international customers. Wow..as an international customer, I save $5 instead of $3.67! Finally! There's a perk to being international! Woot!