Illamasqua's Shattered Star Nail Varnish in Trilliant

Illamasqua's Nail Varnish in Trilliant (left) and Marquise (right)

What can I say, I'm a bit of princess when it comes to doing my nails. For two plus years I've been getting my nails done by the lovely ladies over at French Pink and also by Erin of Blonde Tiger. Once you find that cocktail (talent + communal banter) -- you keep asking for more.

With the long holiday weekend upon me, I was tasked with the challenge of doing my own nails and I was kind of looking forward to it. My skills might be rusty, but I had two shiny bottles brightly smiling at me on my desk.

Cue Illamasqua's Trilliant and Marquise, two of the three shades from the Glamore collection.

This week we'll take a closer look at Trilliant, a shimmering champagne featuring silver hexagons, half-sized bars and loads of sparkles.

Close up of Trilliant

Illamasqua isn't a brand I immediately think of when it comes to nail polish, but for me I can now see why it's a huge hit. The brush is easier to wield as the handle really lends itself to being closely hugged by my thumb, pointer and middle fingers. The polish flowed off the brush in a manageable fashion, spread evenly and dried fast.

I had serious misgivings about the three dimensional texture lifting off and peeling. Today marks day five of wearing Trilliant and there isn't one chip in sight. With that said, it could be a field day when it's finally time to remove this glitter bomb of a polish.

Wearing Trilliant on my nails

Visually I get Robin Sparkle's "Sandcastles in the Sand" or even a sparkling Madison from the film Splash.

Trilliant is a high-performing two coater and I can picture it looking cotton candy sweet on tanned tootsies.

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Illamasqua's Shattered Star Nail Varnish in Trilliant:

• $22.50 AUS / $17.00 USD 

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 9 out of 10 bags — Pleasantly surprised.

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• I've been kindly invited back to my local Illamasqua counter for a healthy helping of Glamore. What sort of look would you like to see on me?

*PR sample provided  –  Thoughts and ramblings written here are completely my own.

Australia's own - Hello Darling Nail Lacquer

From left to right: Fairyfloss, Mint Slice & Tramonto

Let me start things off by mentioning how awesome Hello Darling's nail polish quality is and its longevity is comparable, if not better, than most nail polish brands I've tried and use almost religiously.

The kicker here is Hello Darling offers a 5-free formula, "NO toulene, formaldehyde or formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) or camphor." For someone who wears nail polish on a daily basis, the less I expose myself to cancer causing agents, the better! Now if only I could avoid smokers and what they leave behind in their wake.

What else is there to know about Hello Darling? The company was started by two Sydneysiders who bonded over polish and their mutual love for beautiful nails. They don't test on animals. Their colour naming winks at all things Australian and even extends to favourite holiday escapes. On top of their nail polish range, they also have nail decals, Rockcandy (think caviar) and nail art brush sets!

Recently, I reached out to Hello Darling in order to test a few of their colours -- I figured if one of my favourite nail salons is going to stock Hello Darling, then it must be pretty special :)

Hello Darling

Fairy Floss

Fairyfloss (a.k.a. cotton candy) is a soft, sheer light pink with microscopic flecks of silver glitter. While Fairy Floss is quite pretty, it's translucence was a negative in my book; I applied three coats in order to get decent coverage. With that said, I'd still love to layer Fairyfloss over an opaque white polish in order to see it pop.

Mint Slice

Mint Slice (named after wicked tasty cookies; the US equivalent would be Thin Mints) is a creamy yellow-based pastel green. It only took two coats to reach full opacity. Mint Slice is fun and so sweet -- a breath of fresh air for Spring and Autumn.

Tramonto

Tramonto (the Italian word for sunset) is a creamy blue and also happens to be my favourite shade. Back when Crayola Crayons released 96 colours in one box in the early 90's, they included cerulean; from then on it changed my approach to colouring the sky, the ocean and rainbows. Silly, but oh so nostalgic. Tramonto is a two coater as well.

A quick word about the brush: put simply, it's fantastic! Two to three passes is all it takes per nail.

And the polish, it dries fast!

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Hello Darling's 5-free Nail Lacquer:

• $18.95 AUS 

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 9 out of 10 bags – quickly becoming my favourite brand of nail polish!

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• Let's see... definitely!

So, what do you think? What colours ticked your fancy?

*PR sample provided –  Thoughts and ramblings written here are completely my own.

Nail colour of the week: Butter London's Molly Coddled

Butter London's Molly Coddled

Milky lavender perfection.

I'm slowly working my way through Butter London's Spring 2013 collection; out of the six shades released Molly Coddled and Jasper are my favourites so far.

My favourite Butter London colours

Butter London Favs

It's time for a walk down memory lane. Butter London was the first brand of nail polish I used after moving to Australia; I'd heard of the brand before, but we never formally crossed paths. There's no turning back now.

• Cheeky Chops - my sunny day shade and it also makes for a great conversation starter!
• Slapper - a creamy teal which jumps off your nails -- it's shockingly good.
• Blagger - the sort of blue that works year-round.
• Scouse - not quite blue, not quite purple and it has an element of shimmery sparkle too.

If you love these colours as much as I do, be sure to visit Butter London before 11:59 PM 11 November 2012 and use the code FRIENDS12 when you checkout. To entice you even more, they're also throwing in free shipping for orders greater than $75.00.

I have my eyes on Squatter, Sprog and Swinger -- hint, hint ;)