Avon Violetta Sparkle

Hello loves! How's your week going so far? I'm still torn about my short nails and waiting for spring to kick in. Today's post features my beautiful long nails again. I'm very behind with my posts and I think I wore this about two weeks ago (I don't post chronologically anyway). 

Avon Violetta Sparkle, indoors, artificial light

I've been eyeing some Avon polishes for a while now and I was curious to try them. The one I was mainly lemming was Sequined Turquoise. So I ordered it along with Violetta Sparkle but ended up wearing the second one first. The other one has a more summery feel to it and is still in my untrieds. I can't tell you which collection this is from because I'm very confused about how Avon handles these. All I can tell you is that this is from the Nailwear pro line and is still available over here. 

Violetta Sparkle is a purple jelly with golden flecks in it. The flecks look a little different depending on the light and on the number of coats you use. For me, this was very similar to Orly Fowl Play in terms of color and the way it looks in poor lighting. Of course they are different when you look closely. This has golden flecks while the other one had different colored flakies. 

It went on pretty smooth but needed 3 coats for full opacity. The problem with this polish was shrinkage. I used it with China Glaze Fast Forward top coat and painted it on a few hours before bed. That's when I took the photos. I woke up to see that my tips were completely naked. I walked around for two days like that although I wasn't pleased at all. I'm not sure if it reacted like this because of the top coat or this is something regular with this polish. I will try to use it again with another top coat and see. 

I really have mixed feelings about this polish. I do love the color and the finish, but I think that for this price the quality is not the best. I got these on sale but they are usually more expensive than local brands. I'm not very impressed with the quality of Avon products in general. I will form an opinion after I try the other polish as well. 

Gilded Leaves

Recently, I won my first giveaway by luck of the draw over at grape fizz nails. The prize was the coveted Whimsical (Revlon) and another beauty, Violetta Sparkle (Avon). That package arrived today from Canada, so I decided to use my prize for tonight's manicure.

I had an impossible time trying to get a good picture of the combination I came up with, so these pictures aren't the best. You get the general idea though.

The plate used is BM-11, which is quickly becoming my favorite plate to stamp with. (I used it a while back during my mini self-challenge and again for Secret Agent Lila.) The polish to stamp with is Passion (China Glaze). They're more fun in person. I couldn't quite get the shine from Seche Vite to show up properly.

Thank you again Anne for the lovely giveaway, and the great prizes!

Avon Shine Attract Lipstick Review

Goood evening everyone, we've had some cracking snow in the UK over the weekend, it is sadly melting away now just in time for the working week to start. DAMN.
I have three lippies to show you today that are probably rather different to any other lipsticks you may have seen before - I was so surprised when I took the packaging off! Avon Shine Attract Lipsticks have a coloured core, with a high-shine, gel outer 'layer' - which looks really cool!

See what I mean?! This has the benefit of adding a high gloss to your lips, as well as pigmented colour - a 2 in 1 product, if you like. These apply almost like a tinted lipbalm, the colour is subtle but buildable, if you want a really pigmented effect. The gel is lovely and moisturising, too, so won't dry your lips out - a hazard with some lipsticks.

Top - Guava
Middle - Copper Connection
Bottom - Happy Pink

You can really see the shine on the outside of the swatches on my hand. This does outline the only issue I have with these lipsticks - they are rather imprecise when it comes to application. In order to get the coloured core up to the edge of your lip, for definition, you end up with the clear gel outside the lip line - not ideal. I found it best to apply buy moving in small circles and smacking the lips together regularly. If you like a strong, crisp line in your lippy application, you will probably struggle with these. I don't really mind as I think they are designed as a natural looking product, with soft application.

Avon Shine Attract Lipstick - Happy Pink

Happy Pink was the most pigmented of the three and really is a light, uplifting shade of fuchsia. I don't tend to wear a pink lip, gravitating more towards a coral or nude tone, but this is lovely and makes me think I should wear it more often! It did sink slightly into the creases of the lip, however.



Avon Shine Attract Lipstick - Copper Connection

Copper Connection was my least favourite, but only because it simply didn't suit me. It is rather dark and doesn't really compliment my skin tone. It has a lovely shimmer though and applied very well - on the perfect skin tone it could look incredible.

Avon Shine Attract Lipstick - Guava

Saving the best until last, Guava was the most wearable shade and looked lovely. It is a really warm toned, orangey nude and looks really natural and fresh - I am wearing it most days at the moment! I wish it would last longer on the lips, however, as an hour later I have to apply more. A slick of Lipcote should remedy this, however :)

For a girl who doesn't really wear lipsticks, I am definitely becoming a convert. These Shine Attract lippies, with the coloured core and gel outer layer, are perfect if you don't want to over do it, or are new to wearing a lipstick - they look natural, the colour is really buildable, the gel layer being moisturising with an SPF 15. You can apply a quick slick for a hint of colour, or really build up the colour for more of a statement.They also smell LUSH, a really fruity, fresh smell!

I would definitely buy another shade of Avon Shine Attract Lipsticks, and Guava especially is a hit! 

Have a great week, I'll post again very soon :D

*Products were supplied for Avon for review, but all opinions are 100% honest, my own and uninfluenced in any way. I was not compensated in any way for this post, besides the supply of the product. For more info visit my disclosure page! :)

Nabi New Lime Glitter over Avon Electric Green

Yep, I'm still layering chunky glitters over creme polishes, I just can't get enough of it.

The base colour is new funky colour my sister-in-law gave me for my birthday.  It's Avon Electric Green and it just went so perfectly with this glitter.  The glitter polish is Nabi New Lime Glitter and it was so much easier to work with than the last gold and red one.  I was able to apply two coats of glitter and still finish with a relatively smooth and flat nail.

The glitter polish is made up of large green holographic hexes, medium green holographic hexes and small green hexes.  These large holographic hexes are so freaking awesome.

Green polish like this is pretty out-there, it's the sort of colour you have to rock with a bit of confidence.  But anytime I wear 'strange' colours like this, I get so many comments from people.  And I don't mean 'eeww, look at her weird green nails' kinda comments, I mean 'holy crap, look at her green nails'.  Ok, those two sentences sound identical, but say them with the right tone and the second one is such a compliment.