Monday 24 November 2014

Essie Sand Tropez

Essie's Sand Tropez is a lovely sandy brown colour, opaque in 2 coats and dries to a gloss finish. Good formula too :-)


Dragonflies

For this design I started with a base of China Glaze's "Grass Is Lime Greener", then sponged on a gradient using the same polish plus China Glaze "To Yacht To Handle" and OPI "Ski Teal You Drop".



Next, I stamped the dragonflies using Konad Black polish and a stamping plate by Messy Mansion - MM17.  Finally HK Girl Top Coat was added.


Monday 17 November 2014

Lead Light Technique

Here I used the base colour from my previous post which is Color Club "Harp On It".

First I stamped over the silver base using Konad Black polish and a plate by Dashica (Big Sdp- L)...

Then after this step I used a dotting tool to add colour as per the Lead Light Technique.
The colours I used (and applied in the order listed) were:
  • Smitten Polish "A Wedding Dress That Isn't Bright Turquoise" (for the aqua circle centres)
  • Dance Legend "Cosmic Rainbow" (for the purple outer circle rings)
  • Smitten Polish "Not Your Mamma's Easter Grass" (for the star-lke shapes between the circles)




Color Club - Harp On It

This is a silver coloured linear holographic.  Shown here in both indirect indoor lighting, aswell as artificial lighting.

Indirect Indoor Lighting

Direct Indoor Artificial Lighting

Saturday 15 November 2014

Stamped Hibiscus

Using the base colour Daffodil from my previous post, I added some stamping to this manicure using DRK-C and a combination of Color Club holographic polishes in Eternal Beauty and Over The Moon.


Liquid Sky Lacquer - Daffodil

This is a beautiful, creamy pastel yellow polish which has a matt finish with some shimmer too.  Formula is good and it is extremely easy to apply, as well as fast to dry.  It did require three coats for full opacity, but you could probably get away with two if they were generous.  I think this polish would also look good with a top coat as it would bring out the tiny particles more.  However, I wanted to wear it as intended on this occasion.






Friday 14 November 2014

Maybelline Porcelaine & OPI Solitaire

Created for a challenge where the theme was to use your oldest untried stamping plate or polish.  I used a combination of both.  Maybeline's Porcelaine is a very pale pearlescent pink colour.  It was opaque in two coats, but left a lot of brush marks due to the frosty finish.  It also bubbled a little on most nails, so I probably wouldn't wear this polish on it's own.

The ring finger and thumb were painted with OPI's Solitaire which is a silvery white texture polish.  I found it a little sheer, so applied three coats, but it was a great formula, very easy to apply, and looked very pretty when dry.  It looks like glistening snow on your nails.  I would definitely recommend this one!

For the stamping I chose Konad plate M51.  Konad and Bundle monster were the very first plates I purchased, but they go mostly uused since the designs are often too small to fit my nails, especially my thumb nails as the full nail images are just not wide enough (hence the accent nails).

I can't say that I'm thrilled with this manicure, but it's ok, and the challenge got me to use things I hadn't before.


Thursday 13 November 2014

Serum No 5 - Blushed And Flushed

Blushed and Flushed is a delicate pastel pink crelly filled with medium and small silver hex glitters as well as pink micro glitters.  This polish has a great formula, is easy to apply and is opaque in two coats.


Oopsie Daisies - Blueberry Muffins

This is an absolutely gorgeous polish by Indie brand Oopsie Daisies.  It consists of a white crelly base which is packed full of metallic glitters in shades of gold, copper brown and blue.
Application was really easy and it was opaque in two coats.  Highly recommended polish!


OPI Teenage Dream

I managed to hunt down a bottle of OPI's Teenage Dream on ebay after reading a lot about how much people enjoyed this polish.  I was actually not that impressed, and didn't really see any special qualities to this polish.  It s a pink micro glitter with holographic sparkles, that is dense enough to wear alone in 2-3 coats. However, since I was not partial to this shade of pink, I used it here as a topper over Mentality's Amy which had the effect of adding more blue tones to the pink.  (see previous post for how Amy looks alone)




Mentality Amy

Mentality's Amy is a matt polish, that dries with a very slight shimmer.  Amy is from Mentality's pastel matt collection and is a grey blue colour.  Polishes in this collection are extrememly light almost white shades with a subtle hint of colour. Amy was opaque in two coats and dried very quickly.


Tuesday 11 November 2014

Skittles

Skittles manicure created using the following polishes:
Pinkie: Maybelline "Mint For Life" & Essie "No Place Like Chrome"
Ring Finger & Thumb:Rimmel Spacedust "Shooting Star"
Middle Finger: Essie "Fiji" & Essie "No Place Like Chrome"
Index Finger: OPI  "You're Such A Budapest" & Essie "No place Like Chrome"

The heart embellishments were originally silver and were painted with coordinating polishes.
Stamping plate by Dashica (Big SDP- O)


OPI Jinx

Jinx is a bright coral texture polish by OPI that dries matt with golden shimmers.  Really beautiful in person.


Monday 10 November 2014

Royal Jeans

Royal Jeans is a linear holographic polish by Too Fancy Lacquer.
This is an amazing denim colour with flawless formula and very strong holographic qualities.  My favourite Indie polish to date!


Lemon Drop & Lucky Star

Here I used Lemon Drop by Smitten Polish, and topped it with Lucky Star by Black Cat Lacquer.  Lemon drop is a pastel yellow shimmer polish.  It is very sheer and needed three coats, but looks very pretty and delicate on the nail.  Because of how sheer this polish is, it may be easier to put it over a white or cream polish next time.

The glitter topper consists of pastel pearlescent glitters in a clear base.  Very pretty over a range of colours and easy to apply.


Barry M Silks - Mist

The Barry M Silks are a range of semi matt polishes with a slight shimmer.  Really pretty in real life, and look equally pretty when top coated to a glossy finish.  This is "Mist" which is the pastel blue from the range.


And here is it with a coat of Essie's "Stroke Of Briliance"



Dance Legend #924

This is a gorgeous black jelly with purple leaning magenta glitters.  It tok 3 coats to be opaque, but was easy to apply and did not become too thick.  That said, I think the recommendation is to use it over a base of black polish which I think I will do next time I wear it.  Difficult to capture the glow of the glitters, but this is an very impressive and eye catching polish.


Lacquer Lust - Peridot

Peridot is a gorgeous linear holographic by Lacquer Lust.  Great formula, super easy to apply and opaque in 2 coats.




Halloween Nails

Created using Zoya's Amy as the base, and stamped using images from Messy Mansion (plate 11), and Bunny Nails (HD-C)


Sunday 9 November 2014

Polish Me Silly - Never Mind The Hue

Nevre Mind The Hue is gorgeous duo chrome from the Indie Brand Polish Me Silly.  It reflects predominently blue and purple, and in some lights shows some gold too, though this was difficult to capture on camera.  You can however see the gold slightly on the bottle shot.  Definitely one of my favourite polishes to date!