Thursday 31 January 2013

Orly Perfect Pairs: 2: Red

Good evening lovelies!

Are you ready for part two of the Orly Perfect Pairs feature? A quick re-cap... I did a swatch-a-thon recently for six pairs of Orly polishes, and over the coming few weeks I will be showing you the pictures I put together for my friend to use in her Valentine's campaign.

This is Ignite and Rockets Red...


Below is a swatch picture of Orly Ignite. This is a gorgeous medium blood red jelly finish polish from the 2012 Fired Up collection. Below shows two coats with no top coat.


In the below picture you can see one coat of Orly Rockets Red from the Glam FX collection. This bright glitter polish contains large and small red hex glitters in a clear base and I imagine it would look stunning layered over a black creme.


A nice little side by side shot...



One last shot of Ignite but this time taken outside in the winter sunshine. It really does have a gorgeous jelly finish and I had to buy a bottle of this for myself as soon as I had swatched it :-)


Below is the finished look of both polishes paired together. Ideal for Valentine's :-)


With flash...


I had real fun with these Perfect Pairs photo shoots and really enjoyed the chance to use a few theme appropriate props.


How do you like this rich red combination? I don't personally wear red all that often but I appreciate it is one of the most popular nail colours and I am really pleased to have Orly Ignite in my current polish collection.

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Wednesday 30 January 2013

China Glaze Joy: Just a swatch (almost)

Good evening lovelies

Tonight I am going to show you a quick swatch post of China Glaze Joy. I recently purchased this polish after reading how good it was for stamping. I've yet to use it for stamping but dont worry I am bound to feature it very soon.

As a general rule I don't publish a whole post just for a swatch picture but I thought I would make an exception for this shade as it more or less amazed me...



All of these pictures show just one coat of China Glaze Joy with no top coat. This polish is a plum/purple foil with silver shimmer. Perfection in one coat and dry in about 20 seconds flat!


Joy is from the China Glaze 2009 collection called Romantique and after using this polish just once I am putting the rest of this collection on my lemming list.



You guessed I had to add a little stamping, right? :-)


These silver tips were stamped using Barry M Silver Foil and the pattern taken from plate BM10.


How do you like this colour? Isn't it just the ideal go to I am in a desperate hurry base colour?! Keep a look out for me using Joy as a stamping colour in the next few weeks, I am thinking over either a pale pink base or a very light lilac.

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Orly Perfect Pairs: 1: Gold

Good evening lovelies!

Tonight I am going to share with you the first of six posts showcasing the Orly Perfect Pairs that I swatched for my friend so she can promote them in her new job in beauty wholesale.

I was very lucky the day I decided to swatch these polishes as although it had been snowing, it only meant the backdrop for the outside pictures was even more beautiful and also I got to take pictures in the crisp winter sun.

This first picture shows you the finished Orly Perfect Pair for Gold...


I started with a base of Orly Flare. This is a beautiful gold shimmer from the Orly Fired Up 2012 collection and was an easy and quick drying two coater. Flare is a really pretty shade of gold that would suit most skin tones.


This next picture is a swatch of Orly It's A Meteor (no underwear). This polish is designed as a topper and is made up of red, silver and gold glitters in all shapes and sizes. It's A Meteor is from the Glam FX collection and my below swatch shows just one coat.


A nice little side by side shot for you...


I could not resist adding this gorgeous shot of Flare taken outside. Just look at how it shimmers in the sunshine and of course I am loving the snowy backdrop :-)


Here you can see the finished look with It's A Meteor layered over Flare. Doesn't it look beautiful. Quite a light manicure but still plenty of glitter for those of us who love a little bling :-)


This picture has the flash on as it better shows the red and silver glitters...


One last perfect outdoor shot... I am so in love with this final look!


How do you like this pretty layered look? I am really looking forward to showing you the other five Perfect Pairs :-)

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Monday 28 January 2013

Lovely Jubbly: My first Butter London

Good evening lovelies!

How has the start to your week been? I have been off today on holiday so I only have a four day working week to get through before its the weekend again already :-). I have been on a really exciting course today which I cannot wait to tell you more about over the next few weeks.

Time for some serious sparkles... This gorgeous polish was a Christmas present from Mr LiPP and the doggies.


Lovely Jubbly is a gorgeous mix of fuschia pink, deep indigo blue, shimmery light red with the added touch of gold glitter particles.



This is quite a densely packed glitter but I decided to layer it over two different base colours to see if it made any difference and also to prevent the need for a third coat of this quite expensive polish.


My index and ring fingers have a base coat of Barry M Navy (as seen above) and my middle and little fingers have a base coat of the simply gorgeous Barry M Gelly Pomegranate (as seen below).


I absolutely love this and it sparkled away all day under the harsh lights in my office :-)



Do you have any of the Butter London polishes? I think I will be adding a few more to my wishlist after seeing the quality of this one.

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Barry M New Releases!

I always get excited when I find out that Barry M has new polishes coming out!

This time is no exception as not only are Barry M adding to the gorgeous Gelly Hi-Shine range but there will also be four completely new textured polishes which I guess will be similar to the latest craze of OPI Liquid Sand polishes.

Press shots for you to drool over are below... First up the Gelly's


As you can see these are four fantastic new shades for this collection - I cannot wait to get my hands on these! The new shades are exotic fruit inspired colours and will be called Papaya, Dragon Fruit, Lychee and Green Berry.

Next up the Textured Nail Effect polishes...


These polishes are designed to add some grit to your nails for a really unique matte finish. These 4 shades will be perfect for Spring/Summer and are aptly named after the famous haunts where Mr Barry Mero began his early career... Kingsland Road (Pink), Atlantic Road (Blue), Ridley Road (Green) and Station Road (Yellow).

These will be available from February 13th - just in time for Valentine's (hint hint Mr LiPP) 

I look forward to swatching these new polishes for you soon

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P 

Sunday 27 January 2013

Orly Pink on Pink

Good evening lovelies!

Hope you are all doing well? Tonight I have a gorgeous polish to show you that I have finally ticked off my lemming list :-). I first saw this palest of pinks on other blogs about six months ago, after finally giving up on finding a stockist in the UK I ordered it from the States and I couldn't have been happier when it arrived in only 6 days. Hence this slightly picture heavy post... :-)


This pretty pale pink is Orly Decades of Dysfunction. I will admit now (quickly) that the formula was frustratingly streaky and required three coats (pretend I didn't say that) but the overall finish was lovely and the colour so very subtle.



I decided to pair this up with another favourite pink - Orly Miss Conduct. I used Miss Conduct for my accent nail and also as my stamping polish as I thought it was about time I experimented with something other than Barry M's :-)

This picture is taken with the flash on so you can see the true holo beauty of Miss Conduct...


Such a pretty pale pink...


Finally I topped the whole manicure off with Northern Lights Top Coat in Silver. I have been using this more and more as I find it dries just as quick as Seche Vite, does not cause polish shrinkage and also does not smudge my stamped patterns. Ideal!


One more picture because I just cannot resist


How do you like this palest of pinks? Do you like the contrast of pale and bold together?

Thanks for reading

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Saturday 26 January 2013

Glow and Bronze

Good evening lovelies!

How has your Saturday been? I have spent a marathon 8 hours swatching some amazing Orly polishes today! Seriously I have never spent so long sitting at my nail desk surrounded by polishes and the funny thing is I wasn't doing it for myself! I am actually putting together some pictures for my friends Valentines and Mothers Day promotion for her new job at Barkers, a Hairdressing and Beauty supplier based here in Norwich.

I will of course feature the pictures at some point over the next few weeks but until then trust me when I say I there are some real pretties to look forward to :-)

Onto my nail of the weekend...


This gorgeous and neutral little manicure starts with a base of Orly Glow. Glow is a very subtle nude creme finish polish. By nature these polishes usually require three coats for perfection and this polish was no exception. However it was love at first sight for me and I have even included two swatch pictures for you to enjoy below.


Gorgeous, right?!


I then created two glitter accent nails by applying one perfect coat of Orly Watch It Glitter. This stunning glitter is made up of rose gold and copper particles and looks so pretty over this nude creme base. However I am sure it will also look stunning over a nice rich navy or teal jelly fnish polish.


With flash...


Finally I stamped this really pretty flower and vine pattern from my new Gals plate GA 47 using Primark Bronze Foil. Such an awesome stamping polish for just 50p per bottle!



One more bottle shot of Glow as it really is gorgeous and I hope you like it as much as I do.


Enjoy the rest of your weekends my lovelies. Have you got lots of lovely plans for Sunday? Mr LiPP and I are off into the city for a spot of shopping and maybe a nice lunch somewhere :-)

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P

Friday 25 January 2013

Stunning: a-England Dragon

Good evening my lovelies! Happy Friday!!

As the weekend is finally here I decided it called for something a little extra special on my nails... in steps the simply stunning Dragon by a-England. I cannot wait for you to see how gorgeous this polish is!

I have no major plans for this weekend which makes it perfect for a little bit of shopping, a lot of eating and plenty of time relaxing! What could be better I hear you ask... absolutely nothing as it is just what I need :-).

Right I won't keep you any longer as I know you cannot wait to see this polish up close...


See... I am right, only word will do for a polish this gorgeous... Stunning!

With flash for the stunning holo effect to show through...


Without flash so you can see how gorgeous the green is and how much gold shows through under natural light...



As you can see I could not bring myself to do anything too fancy over this polish so I used Barry M Gold Foil to add this simple leaf strip up the side of each nail. The leaf design can be found on plate BM 11.



Once the gold stamping was dry I added one very thin top coat of Northern Lights Hologram in Gold.


I cannot wait for my next order of a-England polishes to arrive (fingers crossed it could be this weekend).

I hope you all have wonderful weekends - do you have much planned?

Louise xx
@L_i_P_P