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.

Yes Love - Coloured Speckled - Swatches

I was (still am, really) planning on doing Christmas manicures all through December like I did last year but somehow the start of the month has sort of sneaked up on me and I'm not really ready for it!  So, before I launch into a month of more festive themed nails I have yesterday's Speckled polishes on my nails to show you. 

 

Although these polishes are far from Christmasy I couldn't resist trying these out after I received them, there was no way they could wait until the new year to get an outing.

 

 

I couldn't quite make up my mmind which to use first so I decided to just try them all out as they're nicely compatible pastel shades.

 

These pictures are just two coats of polish, it applies really nicely and there wasn't too much need to poke about and reposition the glitter which is quite often a problem with this sort of polish.

 

In the bottle the blue was my favourite but since trying them on my nails I have fallen in love with the green, it's just SO pretty, although I do still love the blue and peach too.  I can't wait to try these out as full manicures and have a go stamping over them too, I think they'll be a great base for stamping designs so look out for that in the future.



Yes Love - Coloured Speckled

These polishes are the slightly more jazzy version of the Yes Love Speckled polishes I posted about a few times after picking them up in Spain in the summer.  They have the same sort of cream base but this time with multicoloured glitter spread through them rather than just black. 

 

As far as I can tell there are 6 in the collection and I am lucky enough to have 3 of them to show you, sent to me by my very lovely friend D.

 

 

1 - A mint green coloured base polish with large blue hex, medium pink, purple and black hex and small black hex glitter scattered through it.

 

2 - A soft creamy peach coloured base polish filled with large red hex, medium red, lilac and black hex and small black hex glitter

 

3 - My favourite of the three, a baby blue base coloured polish with medium pink, yellow gold and black hex and small black hex glitter through it.

 

From my hunting online there are also lilac, pink and yellow base polishes but I think I've definitely got three of the best here!  I can't wait to try them out, I hope they apply half as well as the regular Speckled line from Yes Love as they are firm favourites of mine.

 

Neon Pink

I took a notion for something bright on my nails today and ended up choosing a bright neon pink by Easy Paris.  You can actually see much better pictures of this lovely polish on my last post about it: Easy Paris Neon Pink.  The bright Spanish light seems to suit photographing it much more than December in Scotland!

 

 

I do still love it though, even if it refuse to pose well for photographs.  It's an almost jelly like consistency and loos really squishy up close.

 

Considering it's jelly like tendencies it's pretty much opaque in two coats although I've done 3 here to be extra sure.

 

 

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 - Digital Emotion - Christmas Collection 2013

Every year Kiko bring out a Christmas collection, although often it's not obviously Christmas themed.  Last year there was Dashing Holidays, this year we have Digital Emotion.  As well as a whole host of lovely make up products the line features 6 gorgeous new glitter nail polishes.

 

Since I was already ordering the new Sugar Mat gift set and the minimum order on Kiko's UK site is £25 it seemed silly not to add a couple of the new collection polishes to the order too, just to make up the total, obviously...

 

I like that Kiko don't always do a traditional holiday collection but they do tend to have some colours with a festive sort of  theme to them, this years selection is no different.  The six polishes available from the new collection are:

 

437 Intuitive Pink

438 Fascinating Burgundy

439 Cyber Red

440 Electron Blue

441 Illusion Green

442 Techno Black

 

All 6 are bright glitter packed jellies and there's definitely a festive feel to most, if not all, of them.  I was very reserved and only ordered Intuitive Pink, Electron Blue, Illusion Green and Techno Black so look out for some swatches of them in a post very soon.

 

 

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.