Colourful Collage

Today I have a mani from early January. It had just started to snow and I wanted a glittery mani. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to, but I will try this technique again another time. I applied Finger Paints Colorful Collage to a cosmetic sponge and blotted in to each nail that was already coated in a think base of OPI I Theadora You.

I was initially going for full coverage with this but it didn't work out. I think I applied one to two coats of the Colorful Collage before adding a another coat of Sally Hansen Salon Open Mica Night, a sparse square holo glitter topper.

I topped the whole thing off with Seche Vite and called it a day. I want to try this look again with a holo or chrome base to fill in the glitter more. Otherwise, this was a super fun and sparkly glitter mani!

Fra-gee-lay!

Today I have my Christmas eve/day mani to share with you. The last few days have flown by in a blur! I have been wanting to pull out I new Christmas glitter from last year, Funky Fingers Fra-gee-lay all of December but wanted to get the most out of a gel mani I was wearing. Once I decided what I wanted to layer beneath it I rushed to get it on my nails!

Fra-gee-lay is a glitter topper made in a clear base with shiny red and gold hexes of a few sizes and white matte hex glitter. I wanted to get all the glitter pieces to be visible on whatever base I used. I originally thought a plain would be a nice base but then the matte while glitter pieces would blend in. I then remembered a favorite holiday polish of mine, China Glaze, Frosty!

I layered one coat of Frosty over a thin layer of a standard white creme polish (Sally Hansen, Ghost) and then layered one coat of Fra-gee-lay overtop. It worked out perfectly! Frosty has a glassflecky shimmer and a slight ivory base which gave the subtle contrast to the matte white glitter I was looking for.

This was a super festive mani that I will now be removing today in favor of something a little more sparkly for New Years Eve!

Boo-gie Bats

Happy Friday! Halloween countdown: 1 week left! There is also only 1 week left to enter my Halloween giveaway here.

I finally pulled out my Bundle Monster holiday plates and created a simple but fun mani with a full nail bat design and Halloween themed glitter!

For this mani I used the following:

Base - Revlon Peach Nectar

Ring and thumb fingers - China Glaze Boo-gie Down

Bundle Monster plate - BM-H08

I applied two coats of Revlon, Peach Nectar over my base coat. Once that was dry I stamped some bats in black polish using Bundle Monster plate BM-H06 on three of my nails. For my ring finger and thumb nails I applied  a generous coat of China Glaze Boo-gie Down, a gorgeous mix of black, white, copper and gold glitters.

Boo-gie down is such an awesome glitter, I love it over the nude base. The colours remind me of sophisticated candy corn with yellow and orange replaced with shiny gold and copper. This is such a subtle and easy mani. I really love bold stamping over a nude base, especially when most nails are stamped, it's not so in your face or tacky.

DONT FORGET TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY! It runs until the end of the month! You get to pick which set of nails files you like should you prefer a different colour

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

These two polishes were pretty much made for each other. I got them at different times and happened to swatch them right beside each other and they looked to me a good layering combo. The names even match slightly! I used Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Style maker as my base and layered Sinful Colors Cauldron Couture over top. Although the initial tie in is fashion, this is a Halloween themed mani. Cauldron Couture is apart of Sinful Color's Halloween collection this year. I am heading across the boarder this weekend and am hoping to pick up a few more shades from this collection, wish me luck! 

Cauldron Couture is a glitter polish in a clear base made up of various sized and shaped matte black and shiny green glitter. I mostly see hex and random shaped shards of each colour of glitter. I originally thought this polish was a black base with green glitter. I didn't figure this out until I got home! I do love it though. I only needed one good coat and some dabs to get a good coat on top of the green base.

It wore fantastically too, I only took it off because I wanted to chop my nails down a bit, I got some minor breaks. I blame it on the cooler, drying weather. I kind of want to try this over something bold like a bright orange, maybe even a neutral. Mixing it with other Halloween glitters is another fun idea! I'll have to keep these in mind for next year.

The green glitter matches Style maker almost exactly which can look pretty cool in certain lighting. This was a fun mani to wear, I got a lot of compliments :)

The Deepest Depths!

Happy, Happy Friday!

I am obsessed with this polish! Orly released a bunch of glitters in 2012 apart of their Glam FX collection and I knew I just HAD to get my hands on a few of them. Go Deeper was one of them. I actually grabbed Mermaid Tail, apart of the same collection, first to paint my nails, but after one coat decided Go Deeper would be the best option for full overage.

This glittery polish is made up of blue/green teal regular and hex glitter, some of which reflect beautifully holo! The jelly is a sheer teal and allows the beautiful glitter to shine through. It really is true to the name, the glitter and jelly base add so much depth.

I used three coats and did some touch ups to the tips of a few nails before  adding a topcoat. The formula was good to work with, thin base with dense glitter. It wore fantastic too, about five days before I started to remove it. I would have left it on longer but I got a chip on my thumbnail and I started picking it... And picking it...lol. I know,  I have a problem!

Jelly Sammich

Woohoo! I love long weekends that end on a Monday, it's like two for one, loooong weekend and short work week! Today I have a jelly sandwich I did with a bright jelly red polish, Sally Hanson Salon Nail Lacquer Hearts on Fire, previously shown in my last blog post. This combo of glitter and polish was created on a whim and I love the end result! The glitter I used with Hearts on Fire is Sinful Colors Unwrap Me.

Unwrap Me was apart of Sinful Colors holiday collection this past Christmas. It is made up of black regular small and medium hex glitter and a sprinkling of red/magenta hex glitter. It contrasted well with the red base. I applied one thicker coat of the glitter over one layer of Hearts on Fire, dabbing to get even coverage of the glitter on each nail.

I then layered another coat of Hearts on Fire over the glitter. Once that was dry I added a final thinner coat of glitter on top and finished everything off with top coat. I am super in love with this combo! I mean, it has black glitter, black glitter is one of my favourite things ever! The red/magenta hex glitter is subtle, however it peaks through beautifully in most lighting, it reflects the light so well.

Back in Action + My Top 5!

Hello! I can't believe how 2012 flew by. I originally ment to post this on December 31st, but my internet went down a few days prior and I was away from my computer until today!  I had my top 5 picks for New Years Eve 2012 which is obviously late, but better late than never, right? Below is my list!

China Glaze Champaign Kisses
I love this gold foil and even wore it on New Years Eve back in 2010! This is a nice warm gold that is not too yellow and only needs two coats. This is my favorite gold polish.

Sephora by OPI Looks Like Rain Dear
This is another gave of mine, I wore this for New Years Eve last year. The polish shade is more yellow than the previous polish and from what I can tel has no base colour. This consists of fine and flecked pieces of gold glitter/shimmer and medium hex prismatic glitter. This one is a real sparkler!

Orly Sweet Peacock
Generally I love my silver and gold polishes for New Years Eve, however I wanted to showcase other shades and I thought this would work as well. Sweet Peacock is my favourite blue foil. It is so rich and deeply pigmented, it really glows and shines. My photos show only two coats.

Sephora by OPI Flurry Up
Although this polish is a polish topper it can be used over most other polishes to add a little something special. Flurry up is composed of large silver hexagonal and small glitter in a clear base. I find that once the polish is dry it does not leave a super glossy finish, I like to apply a shiny top coat over it. Other options if you don't like silver including:
-Only Gold for Me - gold version
-Traffic Stopper Copper - copper/bronze version

Essie also has similar glitters in their Luxe Effects line which include silver, pink and blue!

China Glaze Glistening Snow
This is my 2012 New Years Eve polish! I originally thought I going wear the gold version, Angel Wings, but I really fell for this beauty and knew I had to wear it right away!

Stay tuned for the next post for more info on this polish :)

Merry Chistmas!! What's on my nails this year...

Merry, Merry Christmas! Today I have my Christmas mani which is a refresh of Essie's Navigate Her. This is such a vintage green shade and I found that it was perfect when paired with none other than China Glaze Party Hearty!! I am really starting to put a dent in this polish which makes me sad because I love it so much and don't want it to run out or dry up.

I applied Party Hearty at the base of the nail, gently dabbing the brush on the nail bed and softly directing the glitter with the brush. My first attempt at this was with a cosmetic sponge on my pinky and it worked a little too well! The glitter looked a bit too saturated. I think the glitter looks more natural and free flowing when applied with the brush.

 

I really love this look. Last year I was thinking of layering Party Hearty over a light, mint green but didn't have a shade I liked at the time, Navigate Her is a perfect match in my opinion, although not very minty. I love the contrast between creme and glitter.

Hope you have a great Christmas :)

New Holiday Glitters + A Glitter Jelly Sandwich

I didn't want to remove Leading Lady, but unfortunately it started to chip on me and I couldn't help but pick at it while waiting in line during my holiday shopping this past weekend :) while shopping that day I stumbled upon some sale glitters at a local beauty supply, these included OPI's Muppets polishes. I decided to pick up Devine Swine and Fresh Frog of Bel Air.

Fresh Frog of Bel Air is a green glitter with scattered sliver hex glitter, Devine Swine is pretty much the same with purple/magenta glitter, however I find the silver hex glitter somewhat sparse.

I picked these up in anticipation of mixing them with the other glitters I have from this collection and layering in between jellies. Since my current mani was already half picked off by the time I got home I decided to try out some layering with these polishes right away!

For the look I created I applied of two coats of Zoya Katherine, a purple jelly from Zoya's fall gloss collection.

 

 

One coat of Devine Swine,

And one final coat of Katherine.

I recommend applying thin to medium coats as even as possible while allowing for some dry time in-between for the best results. Since this polish is so sheer multiple coats will be needed to reach full opacity, patience and time is required to make this polish look good on the nail! I think the glitter helped with distracting from any imperfections.

Katherine is super glossy on it's own but to speed up the dry time I applied a coat of Seche Vite. Crazy, glossy syrupy, glittery goodness!

Spakly Galaxy

Today I have an polish from Orly's 2011 holiday collection, this is Androgynie.

Androgynie is a difficult polish to explain. The dark bown-ish/black base and gold glitter makes up the bulk of the polish but it is also sprinkled with holo glitter and large hex iridescent glitter that shines blue, green and gold. It was difficult to photograph all of the glitter perfectly but in the photos below with my camera flash the glitter has greater visibility.

Only two coats of polish were needed to reach full opacity. I vigorously shook the bottle before application and in between coats to get as much of the hex and holo glitter on the nail. The only thing that sucks is that the base colour is too opaque for you to really see the layers beneath so any hex glitter I got on my nail in the first coat is mostly hidden :( Another thing I have found in other glitter polishes I own (with the exception of the glam FX polishes I recently purchased) is that the glitter always sinks to the bottom of the bottle and is never really suspended properly until you give it a shake.

Although I would have preferred more of the holo and hex glitter on my nails I am still happy with the over all look, its a simple looking take on galaxy nails without all the effort!