09 March 2016

Irresistible Me Sapphire 8-in-1 Curling Wand


I received the Sapphire 8-in-1 curling wand (retails for $199) from Irresistible Me quite some time ago but, due to life, haven't had much of a chance to review it. I generally only curl my hair for special occasions and those are few and far between.

The tool comes with eight separate wands of varying sizes and shapes, all stored in their own pockets inside a roll up case. The kit includes a little stand so you don't have to figure out where to set down a scorching hot wand as well as a glove to protect your hand. I did find it a little difficult to switch out the curlers and lock it in to place but you just have to be sure to turn the locking mechanism all the way until it clicks. I also found that the wand will randomly turn off when I'm using it - not sure what is up with that.

For the look below, I used one of the medium sized curlers, put it close to the root of the hair pointed down, and wrapped my hair around the wand. I held it for about 8 seconds per section. Once I was done curling, I finger combed my hair and sprayed it with a bit of hair spray. These curls lasted through the night and all of the next day which is unusual for my hair. I will definitely be using the wand again for my next fancy night out.

Loose curls using the Irresistible Me Sapphire 8-in-1 curling wand


Irresistible Me


27 January 2016

Sinful Shine Prosecco

So, I know I'm way late on this one BUT I only just recently saw this at Rexall so I felt I had to grab it. We get some Sinful Colors here in Canada but it's generally just the core colours, we don't usually get special collection, so I was pretty excited to see this in a random display. Hurray!

Without further adieu, I give you, Sinful Shine Prosecco!!! *cue the trumpets*

I've only ever tried one other Sinful Color so I was quite impressed with the formula - especially for the price point. I used two coats of Prosecco and one coat of HK Girl top coat. I've been wearing this for nearly 4 days and only have minimal tip wear. So far, it lives up to the hype. Enjoy the swatch pics. :)


swatcher, polish-ranger | Sinful Shine Prosecco swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Sinful Shine Prosecco swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Sinful Shine Prosecco macro


I assume that 99% of you already own this - how do you like it?

Sinful Colors*

* found at your local drugstore


25 January 2016

Cuccio Colour Nudetrals Collection *Picture Heavy*

Hi! I hope you all had a great weekend. It was the husband's birthday on Saturday so we took advantage of the weather and went skating and then met up with the rest of the family at a favourite sushi restaurant. (Any restaurant that gives me free Pocky is a fav in my books. ;) ) We also bought his & hers "wearable tech" and have been intrigued, particularly with the sleep tracker.

Anywho, on to the polish!

After swatching and enjoying Sun Kissed from Cuccio I decided to swatch the rest of the Nudetrals collection and, I have to say, I was super impressed. If they were easier to find, Cuccio would likely take top spot for retail brands.

Note: After swatching Sun Kissed I changed my lighting set-up, hence the difference in the collage. Sorry. :/

swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Nudetrals collection collage


Formula note: Across the board I found the formula on all of these was good. Most required only two coats (keep in mind I use a heavier hand) and there was very little clean-up needed. Also, as I mentioned in the Sun Kissed post, I quite like the brushes - they have a nice bend and spread well across my nail.


Blush Hour is a lovely rose colour with gold shimmer and tiny silver square glitter. Super pretty and delicate. Shown here is two coats with one coat of HK Girl top coat.


swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Blush Hour swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Blush Hour swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Blush Hour macro


Fair Game is a white with subtle pink shimmer that is on the sheer side. The shimmer adds an interesting element that makes this a white I could easily wear on its own. Shown here is three coats with one coat of HK Girl top coat.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Fair Game swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Fair Game swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Fair Game macro


Grey's Anatomy is a blue-grey with gold shimmer and tiny silver square glitter. When we saw this collection at Cosmoprof this was the colour that stood out to me. We can all just agree that this is gorgeous, yes? Shown here is two coats with one coat of HK Girl top coat.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Grey's Anatomy swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Grey's Anatomy swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Grey's Anatomy macro


Nude-a-Tude is an amazing pinky neutral with subtle flakes/shimmer. I think this my new favourite neutral. It goes so well with my skin tone, I was actually in awe when I was applying it. Shown here is two coats with one coat of HK Girl top coat.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Nude-a-Tude swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Nude-a-Tude swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Nude-a-Tude macro


Oh Naturale is a yellow/green leaning neutral with the same subtle flakes/shimmer as Nude-a-tude. As you can see in the swatches, it doesn't play well with my skin tone so I likely won't get a lot of wear out of it. Formula was nice. Shown here is two coats with one coat of HK Girl top coat.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Oh Naturale swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Oh Naturale swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Oh Naturale macro


Olive You is an grey-toned, olive green and is another favourite. It has the same gold shimmer and tiny silver square glitter as Sun Kissed, Blush Hour, and Grey's Anatomy. It's LOVE! Shown here is two coats with one coat of HK Girl top coat..

swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Olive You swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Olive You swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Olive You macro


Skin to Skin is another lovely neutral, this time a creamy beige colour. It also has the subtle flakes/shimmer that Nude-a-tude and Oh Naturale have. Although this does lean a little yellow it's way friendlier with my skin tone than Oh Naturale was. Shown here is two coats with one coat of HK Girl top coat.


swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Skin to Skin swatch

swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Skin to Skin swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Skin to Skin macro


So, what do you think of the Nudetrals collection? Kind of great all around, right? I would most definitely recommend!


Cuccio Colour




08 January 2016

Cuccio Colour Sun Kissed and Some Stamping

Happy New Year! I hope you all had an amazing holiday season and were able to spend some quality time with loved ones.

The last couple of months have been kind of weird for me. There was a ton of drama in the nail community and that, coupled with my own depression and anxiety, really soured nail polish for me. I just was not feeling it. At all. I was picking my cuticles hardcore, my nails kept splitting and breaking and I had zero motivation to take pictures or formulate sentences.

Anywho.

While at Cosmoprof I had the privilege of attending the Tips & Sips event hosted by Nail Pro, Nail It! & Katie Cazorla. One of the vendors at the event was Cuccio Colour and they were insanely generous - we received their ASP Gel line, some body care items and like three different collections.

I finally got around to trying a few and let me just say, I'm impressed. The colours are great, the formula was so smooth and easy to apply and I enjoyed the brush as well. I was wanting something softer but still interesting so I decided to wear Sun Kissed (from the Nudetrals collection) which is a pinky peach shade with gold shimmer and teeny tiny silver glitter. It's so pretty and feminine and a perfect palette cleanser without being boring.

Shown here is three thin coats topped with Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Sun Kissed swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Sun Kissed swatch swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour Sun Kissed macro

I wore Sun Kissed by itself for a day and then decided to use one of the crèmes to test out stamping. I love the combination of pink/champagne and purple so decided to use Count Me In to stamp with. After looking through my paltry stamping plate collection I decided on a pretty dahlia image on plate 4-01 from Uber Chic. All in all, I'm pretty happy with my novice stamping attempt.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Cuccio Colour stamped nail art

Have you tried Cuccio Colour before? If not, I highly recommend tracking some down!

Cuccio Colour


04 September 2015

Pretty & Polished : The Color Purple collection

Dude. (I typed this word as a placeholder but I'm going to leave it since it's so accurate.)

Chels always comes out with great collections but I think she outdid herself with this one. (Although I've seen pics of the fall crèmes and those really excite me as well!) The Color Purple collection consists of five pieces that are all unique but make a cohesive collection. The formula on every single one was amazing. Seriously, I can't say enough good things about it.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished The Color Purple macro collage


The Grape Flake is a magenta purple crelly with multicolored flakes and is stunning! I love this color so much and the flakes make it perfect. Shown here are two medium coats and top coat.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished The Grape Flake swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished The Grape Flake swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished The Grape Flake macro


I'll Be Your Huckleberry is a dark purple (reads navy on me) scattered holo with wee berry colored flakes. Check out the macro - is that not incredible?! Shown here is two medium coats with top coat.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished I'll Be Your Huckleberry swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished I'll Be Your Huckleberry swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished I'll Be Your Huckleberry macro


My Favorite Blurple is a thermal (color changing) polish that is bright blue when warm and blurple when cold. It also has scattered holo and a smattering of flakes. The color transition is great and if you have longer nails, it's very noticeable. Shown here is two medium coats and top coat.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished My Favorite Blurple swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished My Favorite Blurple swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished My Favorite Blurple macro


This Is My Jam is a blackened purple jelly with blue, purple and pink glitter and gorgeous shimmer. My top coat did something wonky with this one so I apologize for the streaks in the swatch. Shown here is two medium coats with top coat.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished This Is My Jam swatch swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished This Is My Jam swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished This Is My Jam macro


Violet Femmes is a gorgeous medium purple full-coverage microglitter. This polish is SPECTACULAR! It really shines in the sun but is gorgeous in any light. Shown here is two medium coats with top coat.

swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished Violet Femmes swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished Violet Femmes swatch
swatcher, polish-ranger | Pretty & Polished Violet Femmes macro


Seriously great collection, right? All five are currently available in the Pretty & Polished shop.

Pretty & Polished

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