IBS Vegas and new products

This is that time of year I normally spend and entire weekend glued to my phone watching everything that is coming out of IBS and getting excited. But I have to say this year, other than some really awesome guests like Nail Career Education, there wasn't anything revolutionary and new that I saw. But here is a post with the few new things that popped up, and a couple of new things that I AM excited about that weren't at IBS

First up is the new  Electro Pop range from Kiara Sky. It might be the dead of winter here, but I still love me some bright nails (I have neon pink nails as I type this!). I do love that every time they release a new range it comes in dip, gel and polish, so it doesn't matter what your speciality is. There are 9 shades all up with a mix of creamy neons and glitters.
Direct link to their site here
And I get all my Kiara Sky from Diamond Nail Supplies in Australia.



Although not super new, I also saw a lot of the Swarovski Electric crystal. This is something I've had my eye on for ages, and they're already on my shopping list for Nail Fest! I know every distributor will have them, but I wanted to also share this amazing kit from Emerson Crystals - currently sold out but I'm sure they will come back, featuring the Electric shades along with some other complimentary colours. Way to make picking the right bling for a nail design easy!
Emerson Crystals Pride Collection

There was a lot of stuff being posted about Mia Secret, which I don't think they had anything new, but it's nice to see more of them as they are the brand I am wearing 90% of the time. Very affordable if you can wait for the shipping. They have a wide range of acrylic options, with thermals, neon, glow and a tonne of fun colours.
Mia Secret store here, but I suggest looking up what you want on eBay

I swear everywhere I look I see Apres Nail gel, it got a lot of love at IBS, but it is forever popping up on my Insta feed being used by all kinds of amazing techs. So even though this wasn't a new addition, it would feel remiss not mentioning them. Something I have been eyeing off that is semi-newish of there is the BritneyTokyo Heart Cut Out Tips. I would wear these bad boys forever if I had them! This is another case of product I would LOVE to try but need to win lotto (and just maybe try and use some of the millions of products I already have). 
Apres website here
Apres Australia here

Ok now we're moving into non IBS territory. First up is this dust brush from Indigo. How freakin cute is it?! There are 3 colourways, and I kind of want them all (not to use, just to add more clutter on my desk and look pretty!). 
Get Indigo in Australia through their distributor FB page here. 

The last on my list isn't actually available yet at time of writing, but dang it looks so good. Glitter Planet have released their own acrylic line, so far they only have core colours on their site, but they have the most amazing collection of neons and pastels coming. They look so divine, and I adore the packaging! This is a company that makes me squeal a little every time they come out with something new! 

Femme Fatale Eyeshadow Swatches

I promise this isn't turning into a straight up beauty blog, but every time I post something remotely beauty related I get a tonne of hits and I'm having a wee obsession with makeup and hair so hence I may put up the occasional post that's not entirely nail related. Please don't hate me!
Anyway, I bought a bunch of sampler eyeshadows from Femme Fatale Costmetics earlier in the year, so I thought I would swatch them all as they are all stunning and even though they were sample size, I am getting a lot of wear out of them. I'm sure you are already aware but Femme Fatale is an amazing site for all indie makeup, nail and pretty scented things. They also have a little storefront on their warehouse in Brisbane - which I visited in an old post.  The sample size shadows are all $5.50, although once in a blue moon they do have a sale which is when I nabbed most of these. Not all of them are still available, but I will link up the ones that still are. 
I personally find these work better when used with a glitter primer, so all these swatches are done over Glamour Doll Eyes Glitter Fix.

Don't Go To Sleep! - A rich brown/purple (or blurple) with a pink shimmer. It's very shifty this one which makes getting a decent photo pretty much impossible, but it's very pretty and very wearable. Also discontinued and on sale - so you should go pick it up!

Sea of Something - The website describes this is Eggplant, but I feel like it's more of a strong vibrant navy with blue shimmer. Super stunning and is now my go to going out shade.


 Dead House - A gorgeous vibrant purple with strong blue shift. You definitely need a good primer for this baby for full shimmer goodness, but oh boy is it pretty!


 Hot-Cold Goodies - a pale aqua with a strong pink shimmer. I love these pale shades to wear during the day. Pop it on the lid and then a nude into the crease so its all nice and blendy. Super easy and I get so many compliments. 


Inflatable Pool Giraffe - This is one of the discontinued babies that you can't get anymore, but I'm mean and going to show you anyway. It's an orange/brown with a pink shimmer to it. Very unusual, but I really like it.
Mrs. Twinkle - A pale purple with gold shimmer. Another of my favourite daytime ones. It's quite similar to Dr Eek (which I haven't swatched here, but honestly go google it and get it. It's spectacular) but it's more on the shimmer than glitter and I find the fallout a bit easier to handle.

Little Polly Flinders -  A yellow/orange with an almost green shimmer which makes it look very fiery and glowy.

Grave Moss - Pale green with extra green shimmer. The swatches on their website look a bit darker than I find this looks on my pasty skin, I normally hate greens but this is totally beautiful and wearable. 


Propenish Anti Ageing Facemask


So a moment of truth - I am TERRIBLE when it comes to taking care of my skin. Like some days I will be really good and cleanse and moisturise, but other times I'll just take off my makeup in the shower with body soap. Yes I know what a terrible sin that is, I can feel you judging me from here. So I have been aquiring a few new skin care products (and reading a lot of Lab Muffin) in an effort to lift my game. I also got sent these super fancy face masks, so of course I'm going to try them out!

The Proplenish Anti-ageing facemask contains Swiss Snow Algae, hyaluronic acid and three active botanicals in a bio-cellulose mask. I had to instantly google that, because what on earth is Swiss Snow Algae (other than being green mushy stuff in water?!). According to the Proplenish website it "promote cell detoxification and repair, they also inhibit collagen-destroying enzymes, and boost natural collagen and elastin production." Well that sounds good? But to be honest they had me at the hyaluronic acid.... my skin always seems to feel so nice whenever I use anything with it.

The mask it self feels like a very thick slime, it keeps it shape but it did feel like something I make in my science experiments at work. But despite the feel and that it looks like I have a jellyfish on my face (although that describes all facemasks!) it did have a lot of moisture to it. And after leaving it on my face for half an hour I was surprised that I could feel a noticeable difference, my skin felt so smooth and possibly firmer? Not sure how that is possible but I did really like the effect. Glad I have a few of these to play with!

This mask comes in a pack of 4 for $39.95 from Proplenish




Yet another Born Pretty roundup!

I have had 2 parcels from Born Pretty in the last couple of weeks, so of course I am going to spam you all with pictures! Some of these I chose for myself and some they randomly sent me. But I generally like all my Born Pretty items so they are always welcome in my mailbox! 
First up is a cuticle pen. I've had one of their pens living in my handbag for the last few months and it's very empty, so this is the replacement. Except this time I got peach and it is much nicer scent than the almond one I had. Quite sweet, although a tad chemical, but it fades quickly. I still prefer my Unicorn Cuticle Oils on my desk for the scent, but I'm always worried about bottles breaking in my bag, so this is the perfect solution.


Unpopular opinion - I think dip nails are overrated. If you're going to do it just get a proper acrylic overlay or just get gel. I don't get the need for this mess. So why did I get this then? Because if you mix it with some clear acrylic powder you can make your own pretty acrylic colours. I don't think there are enough brands here in Aus that do interesting acrylic colours (feel free to correct me if you can think of any) so mixing my own is the next best option. So the picture below is using it as a traditional dip to see how it looks, and the bottom is using it as an acrylic with monomer. It's a subtle duochrome effect going on, but you can see it in the right light and it is very pretty. 



This isn't a colour I would pick for myself normally, but it is one of the products that I got randomly sent, so of course I'm going to swatch it and use it! If you're heavily into nail art, there is certainly a place in your life for brown polishes and this one was very nice and opaque. Here I am wearing 2 coats with a matte top coat. It does make for a nice autumn colour and I'm sure I will get lots of arty use out of it. 

This one I did pick out because it wasn't a standard colour. I don't have many greens and blues in my gel collection, and a lime green packed with holo glitter? Yes please. This is very sheer - you could get away with wearing it as a jelly if you wanted. I'm wearing 3 coats for the full bling effect.


I feel a little bad dissing on this next product, but it didn't live up to what I wanted it to be in my head. I liked these nails, but the product itself was a very thick gel (like almost builder consistency) with tiny dried flowers in it. Conceptually it's nice, but there just wasn't enough flower pay off for how hard this was to work with. I think I would rather just buy some dried flowers off them and mix it with a little top coat. Also, I only noticed now that the product in the pot has a nice pink base to it, but it was completely clear on the nail. 
Flower Fairy Gel: Item #45773 (the item is no long on their website so I can't link)


The 3d/4d (depending what company wants to call it) gel is certainly doing the rounds on Insta at the moment, so I grabbed this pot to play with it. This is my very first go at making 3d flowers like this, but it was incredibly easy. I've seen on other sites that some people like to use this with a slip solution, but I just made these using a little water to stop it sticking to my skin and a silicon tool to help get the petals the shape I want. The product itself is super pretty - they have this whole range of sparkly 3d gels and I kind of want them all now. Totally hooked on modelling now (although after it caught on my hair one too many times, these babies had to come off again, but hey it's all about the aesthetic for photos right?).

And this is your reminder that I do have a discount code you can use on any full priced products on their site - I don't get any money from it, it just gives you a discount and helps me keep working with them. Use my code VHW10 for 10% off full priced items