Comparison Post: ILNP Cutie Pop vs KBShimmer Blush Money

Hi guys! A quick comparison post today for you. I totally forgot that I wanted to compare these two after I swatched Blush Money, then a kind reader asked and reminded me of it. So here they go..

In a glance, these looks similar. But not until you put them side by side and take a closer look, then you'll see that one of them leans more pink while the other is a straight up peach.

I can safely say that these two are not dupes. Both has the same gorgeous gold shimmer, and that's pretty much the only thing they have in common. 
ILNP Cutie Pop has a creamy formula, while KBShimmer Blush Money has a more squishy, jelly-ish formula. I used 3 thin coats for both of them in the swatches below. 
I should add that Cutie Pop gave me a slight stain after wearing it for around 3 days, but I'm not saying that it will definitely stain for everyone. It's possibly a body chemistry thing.

Hope this helps!

XO
Novi

Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection - March Release: Lady Liberty & Hudson

Hi guys! I'm back with another new release from Cirque Colors. There will be 2 new shades released on March 1st 2015, Lady Liberty and Hudson. One thing that I noticed while applying these, both of them has a jelly like consistency. Squishy but still opaque in two coats. For me, that's the best of both world.

Let's start with Lady Liberty, this was described as a spring turquoise creme. Absolutely perfect formula, I didn't need clean up at all around the cuticle lines. That shows how easy it was to control the formula during application. My swatches are using 2 coats and top coat. I had to adjust the colour on these pics because my camera captured it a lot more blue than it actually is. This is pretty close to what I'm seeing in person, at least it is on my monitor.

Lady Liberty

Lady Liberty

Next one is Hudson, a periwinkle blue creme. Same perfect formula, a perfect creme always melts my heart. Among the so many blues I own, surprisingly I don't own anything that I can say is a dupe for this blue, so I'm excited! I love this blue! Swatches also with 2 coats and top coat.

Hudson

Hudson

Overall, I'm totally loving this month's release. Personally these are something that I would wear over and over. One thing that I highly recommend when using either of these is to wrap your tips really good. The downside of a jelly-like consistency is that it could pull away from the tips fairly quick if you didn't wrap your tips. That's all!

Don't forget that these will be available from Cirque Colors on March 1st, 2015, and from their stockists some time after that. You can find the complete list of their stockists in this link. 

Connect with Cirque Colors

Facebook - Instagram - Twitter - Pinterest

**Products were provided for my honest review

XO

Novi

Illamasqua Destiny

For today's NOTD, I dug in my stash for another untried and remembered that I've had this one for a while now and it's time to actually wear it. I'm lucky that I was able to acquire this beautiful polish through a swap. It is not the shade of green I'm usually attracted to, but from the swatches I've seen I know I need to have it. I was right. 

The formula is perfection. No kidding. 2 easy coats, aside from having to push a few glitter in so they're not sticking out on my tips, it didn't feel like I was applying a glitter polish at all. The base is jelly like but pigmented enough without drowning the glitter. 
The only bad news is I have no idea where you can buy this other than hunting it in second market like FB groups or , I didn't find it either in Myer or Illamasqua website anymore. I know it's an Australian exclusive shade, but not sure if it's a LE.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! 

XO
Novi

Happy Lunar New Year 2015!

Does anyone here celebrate Lunar New Year? It's been many years since I last celebrate it, but I remember how it was when I was little. The most exciting time of year, kind of like christmas. New clothes, candies, the dinner, and of course red envelopes! Ah memories..

Since I'm feeling a bit festive, thought I'd do a nail art appropriate for the occasion. I google 'Lunar New Year 2015' and found this cute sheep image, I tried my best to re-create it. I think I did ok. 

I used all Cirque Colors shade for this mani. The black and white are Memento Mori and Carpe Diem. The red is Cirque's February release, Doyers. And Ica Valley is my choice of gold to use here. 

I use Winstonia Kolinsky brush #0000 to free hand the sheep, using Doyers and Memento Mori. For my thumb and pinkie, using the sharp end of an orange wood stick and Ica Valley, I drag a swirly random shape. I sealed everything with a generous coat of HK Girl top coat.

XO

Novi

piCture pOlish Fool's Gold

Happy Monday! Today I barely had the energy to sit at my desk long enough to do nail art, so I'm just gonna share some swatches. I went through my untried stash and pulled one out,   piCture pOlish Fool's Gold. 
It's a turquoise crelly base with the perfect amount of squishiness to show off the tiny gold glitters from each layer. I used 3 thin coats and top coat here. No issues at all with application. 

piCture pOlish Fool's Gold

piCture pOlish Fool's Gold

piCture pOlish Fool's Gold

See you next time!

XO
Novi

HPB Presents: Abstract Zebra Print & Heart

Happy Valentine's Day! Ok, I swear this is my last heart-themed mani for the year. I'm not even celebrating the day, the bf is working the whole weekend and I have my own things to do. But that doesn't mean my nails can't celebrate it :p I don't think I'm making much sense right now. I meant to write this post last night, but that didn't happen. So now I'm barely awake writing this.. I'll keep the rambling to minimum.

I start the mani with a white base using Cirque Carpe Diem, then after it completely dried, using a flat end brush, I did a short wavy stroke using several different colours. I just placed the brush strokes randomly and make sure they cover up all the white area.
Then on my middle and ring nails, I made a half heart shape on each nail and block outside the heart area white. I placed the glitter around the heart using the glitter from OPI Polka.com. For the rest of the nails, I did a zebra print pattern with the white polish and sealed everything with 1 coat of HK Girl top coat.
The colours I used for those wavy strokes are, Cirque Doyers, Cirque Midnight Cowboy, OPI Hey Baby!, OPI Do You Lilac It?, OPI What's With The Cattitude?

I really like this look! Do you wear a special mani today? I hope you guys are having a wonderful time today, whether you're celebrating with your loved one or not, it's weekend after all! 

XO
Novi

An InLinkz Link-up

Layered Hearts

Happy Hump Day! Today I'm using another one of my untried, piCture pOlish Tail Feather. I don't know why I didn't wear it until now, it's a bright pastel green with their signature sparkles. I can totally see myself wearing this again come spring.
The formula is a bit sheer, I needed 3 coats for full opacity. But it applies easily, just like most piCture pOlish formula.
I also did a nail art with a few other piCture pOlish shades. I think it's kinda cute, but it's one of those nail art that look better at arms length. 

I painted the layered hearts with piCture pOlish Forget Me Not, Cyan, Sizzle, and Frosting. Sealed with piCture pOlish Gloss on Top!.

Here's Tail Feather on it's own, 3 thin coats without top coat.

piCture pOlish Tail Feather

So, are we bored with V-Day nails yet? Cause I might do another one! Haha.. Another time!

XO
Novi

Purple Hearts

Hi guys! I'm back! Sorry for the sudden disappearance. The bf had the entire week off, so I was a bit occupied, spending more quality time with him :). I had the same polish on for almost a week and just changed them yesterday for my day out on Sunday. I told a friend to pick a colour to get me started, and she picked lilac. I took out a bunch of my lilac/purple polish and ended up with this..

Although it doesn't really show, I used 4 shades of purple/lilac for the gradient, OPI Do You Lilac It?, KBShimmer Hugs and Wishes, piCture pOlish Twinkle, and OPI Rumple's Wiggin which I also used for the gradient base. 
I painted little hearts using piCture pOlish Violet Femme and a detail brush on my index and pinkie, and stamped the knitted heart image from Bundle Monster plate H01 using Color Club Eternal Beauty. I sealed everything with one coat of HK Girl top coat.

I think this is cute enough to wear for Valentine's Day if you're already pink overload with a million other V-day nails floating around online :)


XO
Novi

KBShimmer Spring 2015: Sweet Egg-scape, Funky Cold Patina, & Blush Money

Hi all! For my Monday post, I'm sharing 3 new shades from KBShimmer Spring 2015 collection. This collection consists of 12 shades, all perfect for the upcoming season and Easter! There are several finish polishes in this collection, 1 cream, 1 shimmery holo, 3 ultra holo, and 7 crelly glitter.
This collection will be released on February 6, 2015 at Harlow & Co. (worldwide), and directly from KBShimmer (US only).

Sweet Egg-scape

A pale, bubblegum pink polish. Glitters like, pastel aqua star glitters, coral triangles, lavender dots, red squares and sliver holo hexes swim among the pink base like a decorated Easter egg.

This one is super cute! The glitter combination in the pale pink are just perfect. You can wear this for Valentine's day or Easter, fits right in. Great formula and glitter pay off, no fishing required. The formula is a tiny bit thick, but nowhere near goopy and still easy to apply. I used 2 thin coats and 1 medium coat plus top coat. 

KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina

KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina

KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina

Funky Cold Patina

Like a long forgotten ancient copper statue turned blue green in color, this polish features a cool turquoise green base, with pops of metallic copper, blue and purple.

A fresh green shade, I liked it much better on my nails than when I first looked at the bottle. The formula is easy to work with, but a bit too opaque that the second/third layer could drawn the glitter underneath and lose the squishy finish you usually get from a crelly glitter. I recommend using thin coats with this. I used 3 thin coats plus top coat.
 

KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina

KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina

KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina

Blush Money

Based on the 2015 Pantone Color, Strawberry Ice, this peachy-rose colored polish shows off gold shimmer indoors and a linear holographic rainbow shines while outside.

I love this shade on me! This is a peach shade that would look flattering on any skin tone. The gold shimmer comes out beautifully when the lights hit it. Another great formula, I used 3 thin coats plus top coat. But for short nails, 2 coats should be enough.

KBShimmer Blush Money

KBShimmer Blush Money

You can also find the complete swatches of this collection at Jenny's blog in this link, and Tiffany's blog here. I love their swatches! 

So, which one is going on your list? :) Don't forget to mark your calendar, February 6, 2015 at Harlow & Co. and KBShimmer website.

**products were sent for my honest review

XO

Novi