Kiko Cupcake Nail Lacquer

 

I have polishes from a new collection from by Kiko to show you today, Cupcake Nail Lacquer, the release of them coincided nicely with a friend from work visiting Spain so she offered to bring me a few back, here are the four I chose;

 

648 Pineapple, 652 Lilac, 653 Wisteria and 655 Mint.

 

 

It pains me slightly not to buy the whole collection but I figured it was best to try a few out before getting carried away, as I wasn't sure I would love these quite as much as Kiko's other textured polishes the Sugar Mat Collection.

 

The Cupcake collection are similar to the Sugar Mats, but not the same; the formula is a bit chunkier as the Cupcakes have more multi-coloured pieces in them rather than just fine shimmer.  Despite this they apply in a similar fashion and dry nice and fast (although not quite as fast as the Sugar Mat).  They definitely have a slightly more chunky, textured look to them too.

 

 

The colours are lovely, soft pastels, perfect for spring.

 

The pale base colours are shot through with slightly darker colours in complimenting shades.

 

They reminded me of mini eggs when I first saw them on my nails, perfect for Easter, but actually they look less like mini eggs when you see them right beside mini eggs as my foray into using chocolates as props shows...

 

I still think they're pretty sweet though. :)

 

While I don't love them quite as much as the Sugar Mats on first try I do really like these so I think I might be adding a few more to my collection at some point.

 

 

 

 



Kiko - Sugar Mat - 456 Teal Green

Another in my long list of Kiko Sugar Mat posts today, this is 456 from the Sugar Mat Collection Box I got just before Christmas, which is a deep teal green sort of colour.

 

 

This one also has a little silver teal sparkle running through it which is very pretty and as with all the Sugar Mats it applies beautifully and is opaque in just two coats, this collection are also super fast drying which makes them great as a speedy manicure choice.

 

I really love the colour of this polish, it's a lovely bright, blingy shade but still feels quite sophisticated.

 

Kiko Sugar Mat - 451 - Apricot

451 Apricot is another of the polishes from the Kiko Sugar Mat Nail Lacquer Set which I have posted about a fair bit recently.  I am slowly working my way through the set and trying out each colour and today was the turn of this peachy little number.

 

As with all of this set it applies nicely, is opaque in two coats and dries quickly. I have to say it's not one of my favourite shades from the collection though, it's a tiny bit insipid for me, for lovers of nude of neutral nails it should be a favourite though.

 

There are tiny pinky peach glitter particles throughout the polish which add a bit of extra interest but for me, and in particular with my skin tone, it's just a bit too pale and wishy washy.

 

Kiko Sugar Mat - 454 - Wine

Another polish from the Sugar Mat Nail Lacquer Set today, this time 454 Wine.

 

 

I pretty much love ALL of the Sugar Mats and this one is no exception, it's a burgundy wine shade with a subtle glittery shimmer.

 

It applied beautifully, is opaque in two coats and dries lovely and fast.  I love these polishes and they are definitely my lazy day option as they are so quick and easy to apply.

 

Kiko Sugar Mat - 457 - Royal Blue

Another of the gorgeous Kiko Sugar Mats today, this is Royal Blue, 457, from the Digital Emotion limited edition box set which was released for Christmas.

 

457 is the perfect icy winter blue.

 

 

A bright vibrant blue textured base packed full of lighter blue, lilac and even some pink glitter pieces, this polish is properly gorgeous and ideal for the festive season if you want a break from the standard red green and gold.

 

Application with this polish was slightly more of an issue than usual, generally the Sugar Mats are totally opaque in two coats and dry super fast, Royal Blue is a bit sheerer though and needed 3 coats which then took a bit longer to dry - which is why there is a dink out of my index finger. ;)  The application was still good though just not as super fast as the other Sugar Mats.

 

You can really see the shimmer in the picture above where the camera hasn't focused perfectly, it's so pretty in person and really adds something extra to the textured finish.

Christmas Textured Stamping

This stamping didn't exactly go to plan, it was supposed to look Christmassy but instead I think it looks more like flock wallpaper.  It IS in Christmas colours though so we'll let it through on that.

 

 

I used plate H03 from the Bundle Monster Holiday Collection, it looks like more Christmassy on the plate, I think it's meant to be baubles but that didn't really translate so well onto my textured nail.

 

It's still pretty though, I used Barry M Foil Effect in Gold for the stamp.

 

 

As you can see from some of the pictures I am suffering a bit from wear, the stamping on my index finger and close to the tips is wearing off a bit, probably because I can't top coat the textured polish to make it stay put, it's not too noticeable in person though.

Kiko Sugar Mat - 453 Cherry Red

453 is one of the polishes from Kiko's Digital Emotion Sugar Mats Christmas Gift Set .  I did some quick pictures and swatches yesterday but today I have the first full manicure from the set. 

As I mentioned yesterday I'm aiming to do Christmas themed manicures for the rest of the month of December in the run up to the big day so what better way to kick off than a gorgeous red shimmer polish from this Christmas gift set.

453 is well named, it's definitely a cherry red polish, as with the other shimmery Sugar Mats it's packed full of glitter, pink this time, to give a sparkly mat finish.

The red is a lovely deep, lush shade and definitely ideal for Christmas, I have some stamping plans for this lovely base colour already.

These pictures are two coats and as usual the polish applied beautifully and dried nice and fast.  If all the 8 colours in the set are like this one I will be very pleased indeed.

Kiko Christmas Haul

I posted the other day about Kiko's 2013 Christmas Collection - Digital Emotion and the Sugar Mat Gift Set which is a part of the collection and now I have them in my grubby hands to show you some more photos.  One of the best things about Kiko is that even buying online, having not seen the polishes in person, you can be fairly certain they are going to be gorgeous and this order was no exception.  Here's what I chose:

First up, 4 nail polishes from the main Digital Emotion range of Digital Nail Lacquers, they are (from left to right); 437 Intuative Pink, 440 Electron Blue, 441 Illusion Green and 442 Techno Black.

All 4 (and I presume the other two in the range which I don't have) are slightly sheer base polishes crammed full of holographic glitter, each polish also features glitter in the same shade as the base making them all slightly different from each other but obviously part of the same collection.

While they're not really very typical Christmas colours I think the glitter packed look of these polishes is perfect for the holiday season and I like the fact that Kiko doesn't always go with a Chrismtas specific colour palette.

Next up the gorgeous Sugar Mat box set, I am so delighted with this, the colours are gorgeous and for £19.90 it's a huge bargain, pretty much half price for the polishes!

The foily purple and pink box opens like a book to reveal the 8 polishes neatly lined up inside...  The colours are 451 Apricot, 452 Watermelon, 453 Cherry Red, 454 Wine, 455 Light Taupe, 456 Teal, 457 Royal Blue and 458 Anthracite.

 

When you remove the tray they're sitting in you can see them in all their glory.

From the description on the website I wasn't sure how many of the 8 polishes would have the sparkly Sugar Mat finish that I love but as luck would have it all 8 of them have a shimmer so I really couldn't be more pleased.

Again the colours aren't typically festive but they are super sparkly and gorgeous so perfect for party wear and nights out and the red is definitely ideal as a Christmas manicure.

The blue and green also look like they might make good bases for some Christmas style stamping.

I can't wait to get these on my nails, the main problem will be deciding which to use first!

And with that I am turning the blog over to Christmas, so for the rest of the advent period expect snowflakes and santa and snowmen to be front and centre.

Kiko Sugar Mat - 632

These Sugar Mat polishes are quickly becoming my go to polish for a speedy manicure, they apply so easily and dry super fast without the need for a top coat so they're ideal for a quick paint job.

 

 

632 is a bright matte red, I'm not a huge fan of matte colour normally but somehow the texture of the Sugar Mats adds a little extra and I really love how they look on my nails.

 

I love this colour on my newly short nails, it's bold and bright without being too out there.

Kiko - Limited Edition - Sugar Mat Nail Lacquer Set

Christmas shopping is a treacherous activity for the bank balance, one minute you're ordering your dad a nice pair of slippers the next you've stumbled onto the Kiko website and discovered their new range of gift sets, I think what happened next is probably fairly obvious...

 

 

I'm a huge fan of Kiko's Sugar Mat collection as you can see from the number of times I've posted about them in the past. Essentially Sugar Mat is a textured polish, the original Limited Edition Collection featured 8 cream and 8 shimmer polishes all with a fine sandy textured finish. They apply beautifully, dry quickly and last really well considering you don't apply top coat.

 

The easiest way to fill you in on the details is to show you what Kiko have to say about the new Limited Edition Sugar Mat Nail Lacquer Set on their site.

 

"Eight limited edition sand effect polishes with full shade, pearlescent and glitter colours in a matte finish. The nail polishes are contained in a desirable "Digital Emotion" style case, making them ideal as a gift or to collect.

Formulated with added microparticle grains, giving a three-dimensional textured effect that can be seen as well as felt.

After application, the texture appears sandy, as if sprinkled with grains of sugar."

The 8 new colours in the collection are shown below:  

 

 

There are a couple which look similar to other colours in the previous Sugar Mat release or the main collection but it's always hard to tell without seeing them in real life.

 

 The Sugar Mat collection costs £19.90 and is available now, a pretty good deal if you ask me as the regular nail polish retails at £4.90 each, which means this set of 8 is pretty much half price!  There's also a Satin Nail Lacquer Set available for the same price which I have resisted so far.

 

Stand by for more pictures and details when it arrives with me, hopefully later this week.

Create Your Own Textured Stamping

Another stamping manicure using the Bundle Monster Create Your Own set today.

 

I used Barry M Silver Foil Effects to stamp over Kiko Starry Black textured polish.

 

I'm not sure this was the best choice of image for over a textured polish as the trees lose a bit of their clarity, something more abstract might work better.  Nonetheless I quite like the effect, from a distance it looks a bit like crackle polish.

 

I used plate 407.

Kiko Sugar mat - 646 - Starry Black

As I've mentioned before Kiko's Sugar Mat polishes are pretty much my favourite textured polishes on the market, although I'm not sure they ARE still on the market as I think they might have been limited edition polishes last summer.

 

 

Today's pictures are 2 coats of 646, Starry Black, a black base with lots of tiny shimmer silver glitter particles through it.

 

These polishes apply beautifully and last really well, especially for a textured finish which you can't wear top coat with.

 

I notice as I was standing at the train station that my manicure was rather seasonally appropriate as it almost perfectly matched the freshly gritted tarmac!