Australis Mates Rates

Wow it has been that long since my last post.. almost 5 months!
Time to dust off the cobwebs and revive Nailbytes!


What I have here today is Australis Mates Rates which I believe is only available in Australia. My friend was there for a month and I have asked for nail polish, specifically only made in Australia. Boy, he came back with a bundle! Not only did he manage to get those Australis polish which I painstakingly picked from online reviews, he also managed to get Face of Australia and Bloom! I will post the swatches soon, all in good time :-)

Australis Mates Rates is a deep forest green polish with gold shimmer. The gold overlay gives a dark olive shade. I might have mentioned before that I usually avoid green on my nails because it doesn't suit my skin tone, creating a washed out look. However I suppose it only applies to greens in pastel, jade and dusty shades.. with Mates Rates my nails look fab!

Application is smooth, drying time is fast too. But the brush is left to be desired; a bit hard, kinda rebellious by refusing to obey the directions. Not sure if this is an isolated case, will test out other Australis polish next time!

This green baby is opaque in two coats; you can have it in one and with one you can see a teal underlay:

Under direct sunlight, the gold shimmer is very evident on the nails:

In natural daylight it reflects the blackened green with gold peeking out in certain angles:

There are bubbles on the nails, hmm. I suppose in such weather with constant movements while they're still wet (i was walking to and fro in the house lol) give rise to these bumps. It's pretty on its own but to hide the hideous imperfections I resorted to stamping :-P

I used China Glaze Passion (metallic chrome gold) for the leopard prints. Turned out to be better than expected!

*excuse the dry cuticles! it's been awhile they took the center stage in macro shots!

All above are shown with 2 layers of base coat (to prevent staining). No topcoat.

Orly Space Cadet

Heya everyone! How was your weekend? For this post I'm showing couple of photos of Orly Space Cadet from Cosmic FX collection.

Bottle pics first -

The polish from Orly Cosmic FX collection is unique: textured like minerals in glass-speckled manner and extremely well-duochromed. 

Quote from Orly:

The MINERALFX technology includes specialty mica, that allows for a clearer, vibrantly bright lustrous shimmer. Crystals allow for a multi-dimensional color transformation. Glass particles carefully controlled in shape and size create a luminous phenomenon. This combination infused with the Silica and specific colors selected create this exclusive technology that gives nails a unique optical effect that’s magnified as the lighting source intensifies or viewing angle changes.

So many colors flashes insanely even from the bottle -

Pink, copper, gold, green... even purple/plum

This pigmentation is thin, you need to put either 2 thick coats or 3 thin layers for decent opacity. Application is excellent, brush is good and Orly rubber cap is simply awesome for grip and control. However I did my manicure in a humid condition and resulted in bumps...

Under artificial light, the color changed to plum-pink-purple. Under natural light, the green with gold undertone shone. Orly has created a new standard for duochromes: You don't have to contort & twist your fingers to find the duochromes. You can see the colors on the nails at any angle or even when fingers are at rest! The glass speckles add dimension and depth to the overall look. Fabulous.

I have another bottle from Cosmic FX collection: Galaxy Girl. Will swatch it soon!

OPI I'm Not Really A Waitress + Bloop H187 = Christmas mani!

Here I am again, two posts in a week! I'm heading to Sabah for holidays from tomorrow onwards, with no polish to change and no treatment for my nails, I thought of putting this mani up before closing the final week of December 2011.

It's the Xmas week now, what are your festive plans? I did a Xmas manicure right after my exhausting Singapore trip. Done in a hurry with a half-hearted attitude, no surprise it's a sloppy paint job :(

These are the polish I used for Xmas manicure:

I did a brief swatch on OPI I'm Not Really A Waitress before, click here to view.

Bloop H187 is a semi-frosty, semi-metallic elf-green polish. It's the perfect Christmas green but my camera sucked out the green and produced a teal. Hmm. The true color can be seen on my nails in the swatch photos below.

OPI Sparkle-icious is part of OPI Holidays 2010 Burlesque collection. It's a clear base filled with purple, gold and blue micro hexagonal glitter. It screams festive yea?

Here's the swatch; would you believe it's done by a leftie cat? :p

I used french tip guide for the color block. Apparently my lousy tip guide is not arched enough to create the curves on all nails. Not only that, I removed the tips while polish was still wet. As a result the polish dragged with the tape and made the lines uneven. Aarrrggh!!

In reality they don't look that bad but I should have done a chevron manicure instead. Oh well, always a lesson learnt for future improvements!

A closer look at OPI Sparkle-icious. To be honest, I'm creeped out by the tons of dots piled up on my nails. It's appears glittery and dazzling on the naked eye but my skin crawls by its macro shot...

P/S: I used Elianto White as my base before putting 3 coats of Sparkle-icious

Since I won't be around till end December, Nailbytes hereby wishes you:

Take care guys!

Nubar Wildfire + Color Club Smash Hit

Hey everyone! How was your week? It's been a busy one for me and was so tired after end of each day that I couldn't keep my eyes open after 11pm.

Before facing the hectic week, last Saturday I painted my nails with Nubar Wildfire. It's an unusual color that you either love or hate. I have Wildfire for quite sometime, bought from a Facebook sale and a quarter was used by previous owner. I was hesitant to try it not because of the color but because of the remaining 3/4.. that's precious amount left in the bottle!

So here it is, Nubar Wildfire, from Going Green collection. You can see the duochrome from the bottle. I put on Elianto Twilight Zone as base in order to bring out Wildfire's color.

L-R: Nubar Wildfire, Elianto Twilight Zone

Application for both is good; Nubar's brush is thin but not hard. Surprisingly Elianto's brush is quite wide and applies like a dream. Pigmentation for Wildfire is quite weak, you'll need at least 2 coats for coverage on its own. Twilight Zone is a one-coater, opaque in one swipe! But drying time for both doesn't pass the mark; both take approximately 5 TV commercials to dry, so yeah, patience is needed here.

Unfortunately time wasn't on my side, I had to meet friends for late lunch that day and was rushing to complete my mani. Things done in a hurry result in imperfection, as you can see from the photos. Gorgeous Wildfire became a mess by my hands! I also didn't have time for snapshots so below were taken the next day, with sun blazing in the sky.

Nubar Wildfire. Outdoor, in the shade

Outdoor, in the shade.
My camera doesn't like duochromes so I contorted my hands to show the colors!

Nubar Wildfire is olive green but flashes bronze, pink and weeny bit of gold. It's really interesting because while olive green may not appeal to many people, this seems to please the eyes, no matter what skin tone you have. Personally I don't favor gold because it dulls my skin but Wildfire works for me. I was wowed by the first coat and blown to outerspace after the 2nd!

You don't even have to move your fingers at different angles to find the duochrome, it is so obvious at ALL angles! That's the quality of Nubar duochromes, they are not hidden like others... in fact they are out to impress!

Outdoor, under direct sunlight

Outdoor, in the shade

Indoor, natural light

It garnered enough attention from two male colleagues, they were awed by the colors flashing in and out on the nails :)

I had tip wear on the 4th day and since I didn't have time to change my mani, I slapped on Color Club Smash Hit to cover the flaws. Not done well but at least it does its job. Somehow the application became very difficult to work with, I didn't have issues last time but the polish is very thick and gloppy. Some bald patches on the nails but as with crackle polish, adding second layer will cover the base completely.

Wildfire peeking through the crackle

Awesome duochrome against black, pweeettyyyy!

Now I understand why Scrangie and others commented that it's magical when crackle polish is applied over duochromes. The colors still flashes insanely through the cracks; crazy zebraic (new word by me) mystical and oh-so-diva!

1 coat of Elianto Twilight Zone
2 coats of Nubar Wildfire
1 coat of Color Club Smash Hit
1 coat of Seche Clear base coat
1 coat of Seche Vite dry fast top coat