Australia’s own – Hello Darling Nail Lacquer

March 31, 2013 by 4 Comments
From left to right: Fairyfloss, Mint Slice & Tramonto

From left to right: Fairyfloss, Mint Slice & Tramonto

Let me start things off by mentioning how awesome Hello Darling’s nail polish quality is and its longevity is comparable, if not better, than most nail polish brands I’ve tried and use almost religiously.

The kicker here is Hello Darling offers a 5-free formula, “NO toulene, formaldehyde or formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) or camphor.” For someone who wears nail polish on a daily basis, the less I expose myself to cancer causing agents, the better! Now if only I could avoid smokers and what they leave behind in their wake.

What else is there to know about Hello Darling? The company was started by two Sydneysiders who bonded over polish and their mutual love for beautiful nails. They don’t test on animals. Their colour naming winks at all things Australian and even extends to favourite holiday escapes. On top of their nail polish range, they also have nail decals, Rockcandy (think caviar) and nail art brush sets!

Recently, I reached out to Hello Darling in order to test a few of their colours — I figured if one of my favourite nail salons is going to stock Hello Darling, then it must be pretty special :)

Hello Darling

Hello Darling

Fairy Floss

Fairy Floss

Fairyfloss (a.k.a. cotton candy) is a soft, sheer light pink with microscopic flecks of silver glitter. While Fairy Floss is quite pretty, it’s translucence was a negative in my book; I applied three coats in order to get decent coverage. With that said, I’d still love to layer Fairyfloss over an opaque white polish in order to see it pop.

Mint Slice

Mint Slice

Mint Slice (named after wicked tasty cookies; the US equivalent would be Thin Mints) is a creamy yellow-based pastel green. It only took two coats to reach full opacity. Mint Slice is fun and so sweet — a breath of fresh air for Spring and Autumn.

Tramonto

Tramonto

Tramonto (the Italian word for sunset) is a creamy blue and also happens to be my favourite shade. Back when Crayola Crayons released 96 colours in one box in the early 90′s, they included cerulean; from then on it changed my approach to colouring the sky, the ocean and rainbows. Silly, but oh so nostalgic. Tramonto is a two coater as well.

A quick word about the brush: put simply, it’s fantastic! Two to three passes is all it takes per nail.

And the polish, it dries fast!

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Hello Darling’s 5-free Nail Lacquer:

  • $18.95 AUS 

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

  • 9 out of 10 bags – quickly becoming my favourite brand of nail polish!

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

  • Let’s see… definitely!

So, what do you think? What colours ticked your fancy?

*PR sample provided –  Thoughts and ramblings written here are completely my own.

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Nail colour of the week: Butter London’s Molly Coddled

March 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Butter London's Molly Coddled

Butter London’s Molly Coddled

Milky lavender perfection.

I’m slowly working my way through Butter London’s Spring 2013 collection; out of the six shades released Molly Coddled and Jasper are my favourites so far.

Butter London Spring 2013
Which colour do you like best?

 

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My favourite Butter London colours

November 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

From Left to Right: Cheeky Chops, Slapper, Blagger & Scouse

It’s time for a walk down memory lane. Butter London was the first brand of nail polish I used after moving to Australia; I’d heard of the brand before, but we never formally crossed paths. There’s no turning back now.

  • Cheeky Chops - my sunny day shade and it also makes for a great conversation starter!
  • Slapper - a creamy teal which jumps off your nails — it’s shockingly good.
  • Blagger – the sort of blue that works year-round.
  • Scouse – not quite blue, not quite purple and it has an element of shimmery sparkle too.

If you love these colours as much as I do, be sure to visit Butter London before 11:59 PM 11 November 2012 and use the code FRIENDS12 when you checkout. To entice you even more, they’re also throwing in free shipping for orders greater than $75.00.

I have my eyes on Squatter, Sprog and Swinger — hint, hint ;)

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Straight from the nail files: Australis Nail Colour in Aqua

September 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Australis’ Aqua day by day staying power

I’ve never tried Australis’ Nail Colour before but when I saw these for 25% off at Priceline, I picked up a couple to try. The shade featured here is Aqua, a light, greenish blue colour with a crème finish. Though Australis claims that it is “high shine, high colour intensity and streak free”, I found it a touch streaky and not completely opaque after two coats, so I went with three coats.

What I’m most impressed with is the staying power. Without a base coat or top coat, Aqua lasted much longer on my nails than I expected. Usually, without my Essie base coat and top coat, nail polish barely last 24 hours. If all Australis Nail Colours perform like this, I may have to get more!

These would be great to bring on vacation because instead of lugging a basecoat and topcoat, I can pack a couple of different colours instead. While nail polish wear varies from person to person, I would definitely recommend checking these out. Being a drugstore brand, Australis is often on special, so be sure to check store circulars first (currently Big W has $2 off all lip and nail products until the end of September).

Price & availability:

$7.95 at Priceline, Kmart, Big W, Target, and select pharmacies here in Australia.

Who’s Jeanne?  Visit Bagful’s ‘About‘ page to learn more :)

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Straight from the nail files: Move over lipstick, nail polish is giving you a run for your money

August 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Let’s face it, nail art is here to stay for a while.  It’s noncommittal, ever-changing and if you hate it enough you can always take it off with nail polish remover.  Nail polish was the one thing I could afford to buy with my weekly allowance; off I would bounce every Friday night to the Limited too to check out their makeup filled acrylic shelves circa 1995.

It was the height of the movie Clueless’ popularity – most of us had managed to shed our scrunchies we purposely purchased to match our leggings.  Gadzooks was another option; catch was, Mom had to drive me to the South Shore Plaza to check out their latest wares.  Inevitably, we would only make it as far as Kingston to haunt the halls of our local mall.  This is how I managed to accumulate a shoe box filled with nail polish. Black, red, green, shimmery, sparkly, pretty much all of the colours from the rainbow.  And, I even had a Klutz Nail Art book to refer to for ideas, techniques and tools.  Ah, the 90′s, a time right before the Internet would forever change the shape of our lives.

Trends come and go, but I love how they can come back after being gone for so long.  Our global economy lends itself to the re-jigging of things, whether it be conscious or subconscious.  The lipsticks effect of the 1940′s has transformed and reemerged as the nail polish effect.  Don’t get me wrong lipstick sales are right up there, but writer Cheryl Wischhover of Fashionista recently published the following:

“Overall sales in the category are up 68%. Nail color is up a whopping 70% and top and base coats are up 100%. So don’t expect those trendy top coats to go anywhere soon.”

Where do we go from here?  Well, there’s plenty of inspiration to be found in the form of blogs, Pinterest and even Instagram.  Here’s a list of a few of my favourites:

  • Nihrida – To put it simply, she knows how to paint her own nails really well.
  • Tamara a.k.a @ohtammm - If you use Instagram, then consider following her.
  • The Beauty Department – Step-by-step is how it’s done.
  • Vampy Varnish – Kelly’s nail gallery is extensive!

 

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Essie Black Licorice and Pure Pearlfection – weekly nail review

March 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Week after week I’ve slowly worked my way through the bedazzling Luxeffects by Essie.  I can’t really decide which one’s been my favourite, but it looks like Pure Pearlfection is right up there with the likes of Butter London’s Frilly Knickers.  These five magical top coats are really worth investing in if you can find them at your local salon, Target, Ulta, etc.  I think after I finally give As Gold as it Gets a whirl, I’ll then truly begin to understand how far Essie has come as a brand. I’ve been a dedicated OPI girl for years, but Essie and Butter London have proven time and again high quality polishes sometimes come with a certain price and I’m willing to pay for it – well, more like invest:)

Let’s get to the nails.. I opted to go with Black Licorice, a colour I’ve never worn.  I often associated this colour with goth and punk; it’s also been a fad nail look amongst the Hollywood A-listers in recent years.  My desire to transform this gloomy colour was high and what better way to alter my perception of black than with Essie’s Pure Pearlfection.  I would define this multi-purpose polish as a micro glitter set within a clear varnish; if the sun hits the miniature flecks just right, you can see bits of the rainbow.  In normal light, it displayed a great black and white duo.

By Saturday, I wasn’t ready to part ways with this look, because I learned to love black on my nails. I have to discount my efforts with Butter London’s The Black Knight due to it’s colourful accompaniment of pink, blue and silver.

I should also give a special shout out to my toes.

They look like little disco balls!  We dressed up a standard silver polish, Butter’s Diamond Geezer, with Essie’s Set in Stone.  Even after a week of stuffing my feet into socks and sneakers, I have yet to see any chipping.

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Butter London’s The Black Knight – weekly nail review

March 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

All week I anxiously waited for Essie’s new Fall 2011/12 colours to appear at French Pink, alas they were nowhere to be seen.  The girls theorized the delay had something to do with HQ wanting to release the new colours once it was truly fall here.  Once March rolled around, it would appear as through a switch was flipped and bang, smash, boom – fall has sucker punched us all in the face.  To add insult to injury, last Saturday was the absolute antithesis to the weekend before that.  We went from sunny and hot to cool and rainy; I’ve never seen people bundle up so quickly.  People, Australia has nothing on cold weather extremes.  It really is a walk in the park here, you just might need to carry an umbrella for showers not forecasted.

I matched my nails to my funky mood – dark, stormy and a tad bent out of shape.  I was coming off a roller coaster ride of a month; February really didn’t happen in my book.

Butter London’s The Black Knight was another new arrival I opted to go with.  It’s a semi-sheer black base with flecks of pink, blue, silver and black glitter.  Janice painted on two coats and let me tell you she had a heck of a time getting it off today.  Everytime I looked at my nails, I couldn’t help but think of the packaging for Britney Spear’s perfume Curious.  I’d like to think she’d go for this edgy, but fun shade.

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Essie Shine of the Times over Funny Face – weekly nail review

March 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Looking to transform your nail polish collection, then look no further with Essie’s Luxeffects collection.  Initially released for the 2011 holiday season, we’re now being graced with these dynamic top coats on the other side of the Pacific.  It truly was a pleasant surprise to see these in French Pink, as they are somewhat of an urban legend in the US due to the shelves being raided by polish fiends and nail enthusiasts.

I first came across one variation of the flakie polish here, but never gave it a proper go as I get my nails done on a weekly basis.  Now I don’t have any excuses to not wear it.  Heavy on dimension, depth, and personality – flakie top coats really add that extra sparkle to one’s overall appearance. The opalescent shine lends itself to a myriad of colours; by pairing it with anything from the rainbow, it can truly give you endless options and be transformative as it wears you.

For my base colour I went with Essie’s Funny Face, a punchy pink that smacks of raspberry.

Depending on how the light hits your nails, you can catch specks of gold, green, yellow, orange, blue and pink.  Application was a cinch; Janice applied one coat of Funny Face and then followed it up with Shine of the Times.  Wear time was optimal – I didn’t notice any chipping or peeling except on the usual right pointer finger (darn zipper).

This week I switched things up a bit more and played with Set in Stone and Pure Pearlfection.  Make sure to check back next week!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and have a shamrock shake for me.

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Essie Smokin’ Hot – weekly nail review

March 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Gray, purple with a hint of black when the light hits this colour just right; these colours are what makes Smokin’ Hot so irresitible.  Instead of popping on a stole, I find myself more inclined to channel the sultry glamour of the 40′s and 50′s with the help of my nails.  In one of my film classes in college I learned about lighting tricks and filters; Casablanca was the film we used as a guide in order to point out essential filming elements.  These elements created a foundation for the look and feel and ultimately set the tone for love that could never be.

Ingrid Bergman should come to mind for you if you ever come across Smokin’ Hot.  It’s worth mentioning silk stockings were the item used to give her the “lit from within” look.  Soft, perfect and a little bit mysterious, just like my nails.

Here’s looking at you, kid.

In other nail-related news worth sharing, be sure to make your way over to Nihrida’s site.  A few days ago she posted about how she gets her nails camera-ready and perfect.

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Butter London’s Slapper – weekly nail review

March 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I had to look up the definition of the word slapper and without mincing words, I’ve taken it’s meaning as a woman who is somewhat loose. I get that Butter London is trying to be a bit tongue-in-cheek with some of their names, but when I see this colour those sort of thoughts don’t come to mind.  Slapper is bold, a bit poppy (in the sense that it’s the colour you’d find featured in a piece of Andy Warhol’s pop art) and pretty much punches/slaps you in the face.  Creamy, teal and smooth – it’s a colour that can be worn year round and catches the eye of all nail polish lovers.  Can you say nail envy?

When these photos were taken last Saturday, it was hot (close to 40 degrees c) and I was about to leave for the beach.  Yesterday it was absolutely bucketing; just looking at these photos leaves me begging for summer.

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