May Nail Polish Haul

After suffering through tonsillitis for the first time this last week, I am finally back with a monthly haul. I was supposed to have more photos this month, but long story short I lost them somehow :( Anyway, this month I binged in nail polish more then I should have, and by the end of the month I was feeling quite terrible/guilty over how many polishes I owned. A few days later I was back to admiring all the pretty colours, but don't you hate it when you feel guilty about something you love?

OPI L-R: Done Out In Deco / Do You Lilac It? / A Grape Fit!

Chanel - Starlet

I haven't heard this collection talked about very much, but I couldn't pass this colour up. Apparently it's from Chanel's newest collection centred around film or some such, but I'm not sure what the collection is called. Starlet was amazing, and exactly what I expected from both Chanel and a high price tag. It's a muted peachy-orange with gold (and maybe some pink?) shimmer, and it applied evenly and opaquely in 2 coats. Even though the weather is cold here, I will be reaching for this one a lot! What a stunner.
2 coats, 1 coat Dior gel coat.

direct sunlight

shade

shade

cloudy

Ok, I need to disclaimer these last two pictures! I know my nails are chipped! It's a big no-no in the blogging world to put our chipped nails on display, but I thought my photos weren't really accurately showing the shimmer in the polish, so this is artificial lighting after a long day of working with my hands.

artificial daylight

artificial daylight

(click photos to enlarge)

April Nail Polish Haul

April felt like the month that never ended. I was slugging my way through everyday absolutely exhausted, so I haven't even been thinking about blogging. But May is a new month, and I really miss blogging, so I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things. I did buy some new light bulbs in the hope that I could find a really cheap alternative to the sun, but alas I'm still working on it so please excuse some of these photos! I've also been working on trying to get my blog back to what I wanted it to be - a comparison blog. So once I've done all my nail stick swatching (this weekend fingers crossed!) I want to accompany every NOTD post with a comparison of similar shades :) Anyway, enough rambling, onto the haul!

L-R: Bikini / Spring Ball / Princess / Delice / Diablotine 

Chanel - Emprise

This colour sold out so quickly from my local counter that I had to resort to buying it over eBay, and I'm almost tempted to buy a backup (something I don't think I've ever done before with polish!). Milky polishes tend to look a little weird on me, so I've never found a light peach colour that I was happy wearing. Emprise definitely isn't a milky peach, and I absolutely love it. I think I've worn it 4 out of 7 days a week for the last 2 weeks! If you can't pull off milky polishes as much as you wish you could, I definitely recommend checking this out at your local counter or (if it's sold out) buying it online!

2 coats, 1 coat top coat. Excuse the messy polish job, I tried using Revlon's Colorstay top coat and it stopped my polish from drying properly :(

direct sunlight

direct sunlight

shade

(dry nails, eek!)

February Nail Polish Haul (and mini reviews)

February was a crazy month for me. I broke my camera; I started a new full-time job; I got a "promotion" at my new job; My camera got fixed before I promptly broke it again; Two of my close friends moved away; I got sick; I got my camera back; and I finally stumbled into march feeling a little worse for wear. This is one reason why I haven't posted any NOTD's in February. The other reason is that my nails have been in the worst condition they've been in months, which has bummed me to no end.

So instead of trying to photograph my roughed up nails, I decided to post a monthly nail polish haul (which I'm  totally copying from Alanna because I eagerly await her hauls all month!) As a bit of a disclaimer, I know my photos aren't great. They're often wonky and the background isn't always a true white, but I'm trying and it's the best I can do for now on my time schedule. Also, I wanted to point out that I know this is quite a lot of polish to buy in 1 and a half months, but I told myself I was on a no buy in February, and this was the result >_< Maybe in march I should say I'm on an all-buy? ;)

Chanel - Distraction

Sorry I haven't posted the last couple of days, but today I'm back with a colour I could of sworn I'd photographed before. I wear Distraction quite often compared to the circulation of my other polishes (i.e. i've worn it more than 3 times) but I'm not really sure if I like it. I mean the colour is amazing, a medium to brighter pink with a coral warmth, but whenever it's on my fingers I'm always just a touch underwhelmed. Anyway, this is 2 coats with 1 coat top coat.

direct sunlight

direct sunlight - click and enlarge to see a touch of the elusive fuchsia shimmer

shade

PS - I've been wearing only pinks these last few days because I'm trying to convince myself that I don't need Dior's Rosy Bow, but at the same time, I'm trying to convince myself that I have nothing like it in my collection. What do you guys think, a must have or a miss? I'm so undecided!

Nail Polish Collection: High End Misc. [January 2013]

Chanel is one of my favourite brands. Quartz is my favourite nail polish of all time (I know, huge right!) and both Paradoxal and Lilac Sky make my top 10. Coconutty by Leighton Denny also makes it into my top 10, and some of the Butters are getting close! I didn't realise until typing out this post but you can see my fingers in all of the bottle caps! 

NOTE: I have to mention that I took all my photos in a crudely made lightbox. Well, I don't think you could call it a lightbox...it's two planks of white painted wood and a lamp with a daylight globe! So whilst I tried to get these as colour accurate as I could, some colours may be just a tad off. I'll try to let you know when that happens, otherwise just google image the colour you were looking at. Also, I took these photos freehand so I'm sorry that some are a little crooked..I hope it doesn't bother you as much as it bothered me!

Chanel - Frisson

I've been going a little bit Chanel crazy lately, and at AU$40 a pop, I really need to cut back! Anyway, here is Frisson. This colour looked so, so pretty under shop lights that I couldn't resist taking it home with me. A medium-light pink, almost jelly in finish, with lots of gold sparkle - who could resist?! Whilst I definitely don't regret the purchase, it really wasn't as special as I thought it was once I'd painted it on my nails. That said, it was still pretty and delicate, and I'll get some use out of it. This was 2 coats and if you have longer nails than me, there would be VNL. All photos taken in direct sunlight.

My 2 Cents: Chanel "Frenzy" Dupes

I took these photos a few weeks ago, and I wasn't going to even post this because my fingers look atrocious (now you can see why I didn't post in winter!). This has also been done about a million times, but I figured I went to the trouble of taking the photos, I might as well post it in case someone finds it useful.

  More photos/swatches beneath the cut!

Chanel - Lilac Sky

I don't know what it is about Chanel, but they just keep sucking me in with their nail polishes! I first heard about this shade from The Current Custom on youtube, and I fell in love. What sold me was that someone (sorry I can't remember their blog!) had said that this was Rachel Bilson's favourite nail polish. As a huge OC and Hart of Dixie fan, I just had to pick it up. The shimmer in this one is so subtle yet lovely, it basically just gives it a silvery sheen. This was 2 coats, and photos were taken in direct sunlight.

(It wouldn't be a knicksandnails post without a dent somewhere >_^)

Chanel - June

I was so excited to get this because it's my birthday month. This is how brands suck me in because I wasn't even very excited with the colour, loving April and May much more. But put my name or birthday in the label and I'll buy it in a blink! That being said, I still do like this colour, and application was a dream (it was a one coater but I did two in these shots for consistency's sake).

Direct sunlight

Direct sunlight

Slightly cloudy

Chanel - April

This was the shade I was most looking forward to from Chanel's recent spring/summer 2012 launch, and it didn't disappoint. A slightly berry-toned red, it applied smoothly and opaquely in 1 coat, and I especially love how much it brightens in direct sunlight :) 

Direct sun

Shade

Direct sun

Direct sun

Chanel - May

Hey everyone! It feels so good to be back and getting into a routine again! Thus, I'm reinstating blogging everyday until at least the end of April :) Just a forewarning of sorts though, I purchased a bunch of Chanel and Face of Australia nail polishes when I was on holiday, so expect a lot of swatches over the next 2 weeks because I can't wait to wear them! Today I'm sporting Chanel's spring/summer 2012 release in May - a soft bubblegum colour. It painted on smoothly in 2 coats and I absolutely adore the colour.

Direct sun

Cloudy

Direct sun

Australis - Foil Spoil vs Chanel - Graphite

I only picked this up because it looked like Chanel's Graphite, and whilst I already own that, I thought I could do a dupe post. It's a little picture heavy, so read on if you're interested :)

Chanel - Particuliere

If you haven't seen a million swatches of this nail polish, you must live under a rock. I'm not normally into any type of brown polish, but Laura's (buynowbloglater) raves convinced me that it was a necessary purchase. I think I'd appreciate it more if my nails were longer, because it just didn't really work for me (especially the colour in the middle picture). Or maybe it's a cold weather only colour...hmmm.

Direct sun

Sun

Shade

Chanel - Graphite

I wanted to love this polish. In the bottle it looks amazing, but on my nails I just wasn't excited by it. It was pretty enough, sure, but I didn't want to keep it on for more than a day. I did try to matte it to see if I'd like a more chic look, but my matte top coat by rimmel did basically nothing.

Daylight - direct sun

Daylight - shade

Daylight - direct sun

Daylight - direct sun with matte top coat

Indoor daylight with matte top coat

Chanel - Quartz

From Chanel's Fall 2011 collection, I think Quartz was the prettiest nail polish they released. Whilst I also picked up Graphite (swatch coming soon), it became kind of meh for me once I swatched this one. Click on the top image if you want to see pretty sparkles :)

Daylight - direct sun

Daylight - shade