Glitter Glut - LA Splash Lime Sparkle + Sparkling Wave, China Glaze Nova, NYX Carnival

There's no better way to ring in the new year than with glitter! Of course, given the opportunity, I would wear glitter without needing any excuse of course... I've got four different glitters for you today! Partly because there can never be too much glitter (ahem.) and partly because these are photos from my old camera and are not as good... 

First up.. we have LA Splash in Lime Sparkle!

[Bottle vs Nail: LA Splash Lime Sparkle]

I really love LA Splash glitters, they really come up with unique and gorgeous combinations. This is one of my favourites from them - I topped up this mani so much that I made a sizeable dent in the polish level, oh no!

[LA Splash: Lime Sparkle]

Lime Sparkle is a super dense combination of bright green and gold glitter. I believe it's in a clear base but there is SO MUCH glitter that it's hard to tell. One thing about LA Splash glitters though, is that they tend to be quite thick as a result. I know some people have added thinner to help with that, and I suspect that after extended use, this may be required. It's so pretty that it's worth it though!

[Direct sunlight: LA Splash Lime Sparkle]

 A crappy unfocused photo from my iPod Touch to show the shine in direct sunlight.

Next! Another LA Splash glitter, this time Sparkling Wave:

[LA Splash: Sparkling Wave]

This formula was quite similar to Lime Sparkle, but with deep fuchsia and gold instead. While quite wonderfully sparkly, for some reason I didn't like the combination as much. The gold glitter occasionally looked like bare patches? I'm not sure why I didn't feel this effect in Lime Sparkle.

[LA Splash: Sparkling Wave]

It's still a pretty sparkly glitter though! A darker toned-down version of LA Splash Embellished (swatched here by Jme).

My last glitterrific manicure! I actually wore this during my birthday week this year - my students were mightily distracted during class... =p Also OMG,  please excuse the crazy ring fingernail there - I cut it down soon after.

This is China Glaze Nova, one of the glitters from their specialty collection. There are two sizes of silver holo glitter in a clear base - small and medium, not as large as in Medallion. I believe LA Splash Sparkling Torpedo may be finer? I'll have to check.

[China Glaze: Nova]

You won't really ever see it like in the top portion of the pic above. It's so crazily reflective that you don't need much at all, and the bare patches won't show up when there's so much blinding holo action going on!

[China Glaze: Nova + NYX Girls: Carnival]

Later, I added another layer of Nova, and then NYX Girls in Carnival on top of that. Carnival is another of the many dupes for Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday (Milani Gems, Wet n Wild Party of Five glitters etc...). At $1.99 on Cherry Culture, NYX Carnival is cheap and dense and brings the glitter to the yard!

[China Glaze: Nova + NYX Girls: Carnival]

 More shiny! I really loved the blinginess of this - perfect(ly loud) birthday/festivity/celebration manicure!

[China Glaze: Nova + NYX Girls: Carnival]

And to top it all off, another crappy iPod Touch photo to show the sparkle! And that's the end of my glitter overshare!

It's the last day of 2011 and 2012 is another brand new year! Jme and I have been having great fun with Plisherrific and hope you've enjoyed our posts so far! Have a grrrrrrrrreat one, and may 2012 bring more polish pretties! Fingers crossed everyone will jump atop the flakie and magnetic-polish bandwagon!

We'll see you in the new year!! =D

Stripes of Christmas - The Face Shop GL111, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle + Ruby Pumps, Orly Here Comes Trouble

I might have mentioned elsewhere that Christmas is the time where I can leave good taste at the door. I'm still living up to this statement. It's post-Christmas now, but I did wear this mani during Christmas so I'm determined to post this. :)

The Face Shop GL111

It started out with a new polish swatch. This is The Face Shop's GL111 (from the FACE it collection), which is a Korean brand. It makes me sad that these Korean polishes never come with actual names. In any case, this is a pale gold foil, the same colour as Orly's Luxe, except the 'glitter' is slightly larger in size.

The Face Shop GL111

Isn't this wonderfully shiny and reflective? What you see in the bottle is what you'll get on your nails.

Of course, this is far too demure for the festive mood, which meant I started addng more colours.

The Face Shop GL111, China Glaze Ruby Pumps, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, Orly Here Comes Trouble

Hahaha, what is this, I don't even know. The red stripe is China Glaze's Ruby Pumps (yes, this is actually Ruby Pumps, unlike last week, when I blogged while half asleep and captioned everything as Ruby Pumps, even though I talked about English Rose in the entry >_<). The green section is Orly Here Comes Trouble, which is different-sized green glitters, layered over China Glaze's Emerald Sparkle. Then I used a round red rhinestone to complete the gaudiness.

The Face Shop GL111, China Glaze Ruby Pumps, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, Orly Here Comes Trouble

All the nails started out as what you see on my thumbnail. I just got bored of it and added GL111 over it, and then I had to add the green and then well. There you go! How lovely is Here Comes Trouble, by the way? One of my favourite glitters!

The Face Shop GL111, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Orly Here Comes Trouble

I tried the colours in different order on my right hand. I lack the same control when I paint with my left hand, so any fancy manis on my right hand always look a little shaky, sadly.

The Face Shop GL111, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Orly Here Comes Trouble

Same as my left, the mani on my right hand originally started as what's on my thumbnail here.

And I like doing this when I have opposing manis on both hands:

When held together like this, they remind me of the stripey hard candies you can buy from The Rocks or various fairs. This looks candylicious! :D

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

I'm Pine! - LA Splash Oceans Fairy, Revlon Slipper, Rimmel Eccentricity

Hah! The title is from a silly Korean ice-cream... Korean grocery stores have the best ice-cream ever, by the way. Anyway, as you could guess (or not), I'm Pine is the name of a pineapple-flavoured ice-block! Heehee~! Not sure if it was meant to be clever or whether it's a genuine romanisation mistake...

At any rate, the pine here refers to Christmas pines rather than pineapple, so this title treads the unpunny line, oh dear. Not just that, it's the second part of my glitter layering nightmare...

[Bottle and close-up (L-R): LA Splash Oceans Fairy, Revlon Slipper, Rimmel Eccentricity]

The polishes I used here were LA Splash Oceans Fairy, Revlon Slipper (from the Just Add Sparkle collection) and Rimmel 60 Seconds Vinyl Stars in Eccentricity.

[Two coats: LA Splash Oceans Fairy]

I started with a base of LA Splash Oceans Fairy - a deep blue-leaning green jelly with green and gold glitter. I think it must be an old-ish bottle because PHEW! this smells! And oddly, kinda like turps. Not sure if the name should have an apostrophe either, but it doesn't on the label.

[Two coats: LA Splash Oceans Fairy]

It's not as thick nor as glitter-packed as the glitter LA Splash polishes, but still has decent sparkle. These pics are with two coats, and there is very faint nail line still visible.

[Base: LA Splash Oceans Fairy (2 coats)]
[Glitter: Revlon Slipper (right half) + Rimmel Eccentricity (left half)]

This is partway through the layering experiment. I started with a coat of Revlon Slipper (small red and silver glitter + sparse larger round holo in a jelly base), avoiding the large round holo glitter. This is the two nails on the right. The left two are after I added a coat of Rimmel Eccentricity.

[Base: LA Splash Oceans Fairy (2 coats)]
[Glitter: Revlon Slipper (1 coat) + Rimmel Eccentricity (1 coat)]

After adding Rimmel Eccentricity to all nails. Eccentricity is a clear base with copper-gold small glitter and medium gold holo hexagonal glitter. These pics show one coat - the glitter density is middling? Certainly not as sparse as Revlon Slipper.
 

[Base: LA Splash Oceans Fairy (2 coats)]
[Glitter: Revlon Slipper (1 coat) + Rimmel Eccentricity (1 coat)]

Sparkle! Another idea that seemed better in my head, it seems. In person, the small glitter size makes it hard to see all the different colours on the nail.

I think the verdict this time around is..... I'm Pine, Nut! *bricked*

Glitzy Overdose - Milani Paint the Town Red + Red Sparkle + Jewel FX Gold, Ulta3 Charmed, China Glaze Medallion, Revlon Slipper

If there's one thing I've discovered... it's that I'm absolute pants at layering. All these combinations which seem like such a great idea, turn out looking like a holiday supplies warehouse exploded over my nails. OH WELL, I shall inflict them upon you anyway...

I usually test my ideas on one nail first, but for some reason, despite it looking terrible, I STILL KEEP GOING. I don't know either...

[One coat: Milani Paint the Town Red]

Milani Paint the Town Red is a fairly recent addition to my collection but becoming a fast favourite. It's a warm red with gold shimmer, and is part of the Liquid Metal collection.

[One coat: Milani Paint the Town Red]

This is one coat! No streakiness, formula is thin and dries fast like most Milani polishes I have - I really like them! I should have stopped here, ey...

[Milani Paint the Town Red (1 coat) + Milani Red Sparkle (1 coat)]

I then topped it off with one coat of Milani One Coat Glitter in Red Sparkle, just to make it more glitzy...

[Milani Paint the Town Red (1 coat) + Milani Red Sparkle (1 coat) + Ulta3 Charmed (2 coats)]

Then I grabbed Ulta3 Charmed, a fine green glitter in a clear base, and slapped on two coats. Close-up, it's pretty and sparkly, but unfortunately, from afar, it darkens the red down into a... less festive shade. LOL.

[Milani Paint the Town Red (1 coat) + Milani Red Sparkle (1 coat) + Ulta3 Charmed (2 coats)]
[Tips: Milani Jewel FX Gold]

The tips were then capped off with Milani Jewel FX in Gold - large hexagonal glitter in a clear base. I actually quite like the Jewel FX even though it does take some effort for placement - it's just so reflective!

[Close up: It seemed like a good idea at the time...]

HAHAHA, I don't even know what's going on. At least it is crazy shiny...

Anyway, after a day or two, the accent finger and the gaps between the glitter tips were annoying me. I layered over the tips with China Glaze Medallion, pretty much my go-to gold glitter for its multiple glitter sizes, holo and density.

[Accent: China Glaze Emerald Sparkle (2 coats) + Revlon Slipper (1 coat)]
[Tips: Milani Jewel FX Gold (1 coat) + China Glaze Medallion (1 coat)]

The accent finger is China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, topped off with a layer of Revlon Slipper from the Just Add Sparkle collection. Slipper is a clear base with small red and silver glitter and larger round holo glitter (which I avoided here). This seems like a much better combo that I probably should have started out with!

Be warned... my layering adventure (nightmare?) does not end here... =p

I hope all of you have a good end-of-year-festive-season-of-your-choice!!

O Christmas Tree - China Glaze Emerald Sparkle & Ulta English Rose

It's almost time for Christmas, and end of year festivities have begun for some! Which gives me the opportunity to play around with Christmas manicure ideas. :D

My theme this time round is the Christmas tree, complete with baubles.

[Christmas Tree: China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, Ulta3 English Rose, LA Colors 24k Glitter, round rhinestones]

Minus the ring finger, the others are all supposed to be red Christmas ornaments, done using what is called the reverse half moon manicure. I have seen it called the half moon or crescent manicure as well, which is a little confusing, because the original half moon manicure from the 1920s curves in the opposite direction to your cuticles, and I have always thought the crescent manicure is just another name for the half moon manicure, except starting closer to the cuticle maybe.


[Christmas Tree: China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, Ulta English Rose, LA Colors 24k Glitter, round rhinestones]

I used China Glaze Emerald Sparkle as my base, to represent the tree. And then I used Ulta3 English Rose on top of that for the red. I did that free hand as I'm pretty lazy. I used LA Colors 24k Glitter from the Art Deco line to draw in the gold bauble patterns on the red polish, and then I was done!

[Christmas tree inspired manicure under direct sunlight]

The ring finger is meant to represent a Christmas tree. The base is Emerald Sparkle again, a lovely dark green jelly with green glitter that is a perfect shade for a shiny Christmas tree. I used 24k Glitter to draw in freehand the gold, curved zig-zags to represent gold tinsel. Then I stuck on flat-backed 1.5mm round rhinestones in Christmas bauble colours. Ev had some tips on the best way to stick on rhinestones, so be sure to read that. For longer lasting manis with rhinestones, go over everything with a thick coat of quick dry polish, to keep the rhinestones from catching on edges.

[Christmas Tree: China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, Ulta3 English Rose, LA Colors 24k Glitter, round rhinestones]

I do love the sparkly within the dark green of Emerald Sparkle, which is why it's my favourite Christmas polish. I can use it for so many things!

[Christmas tree inspired manicure, with Ulta3 English Rose in bottle]

Interestingly, while English Rose is opaque and bright red on its own, it's a shimmer which means that layered over Emerald Sparkle, it now looks a darker, antique red instead. In this last picture, I had actually removed the blue baubles on the ring finger to see if just red and gold would look better.

This was a fun Christmas manicure to try out. Anyone wants to show me pictures of your own festive manicure? :D

On that note, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus, and Happy Holidays to everyone! Cheers all! Hope you have a great week filled with lotsa eating and celebrating with family and friends!

Holly-days: NYX Lime Sparkle + NYX Girls Gilded Glitter

Good Monday! We're heading straight for the middle of the silly season, with Christmas parties galore - that means dressing up, nails included! Here's a quick look I did for a casual work lunch we had, filled with delicious goodies.

[In the bottle: NYX Lime (Sparkle)]

Listed as NYX Lime Sparkle on Cherry Culture, the bottle is simply labelled NYX Lime. It is a fantastically shiny kelly green jelly base with tons of gold glitter. Unfortunately, it is a bit sheer, but dry time is not bad so I didn't mind layering it on. Layering with glitter-jelly combinations also makes for gorgeous depth!

[Four coats: NYX Lime (Sparkle)]

Here's four coats of NYX Lime Sparkle. I was so disappointed that I couldn't capture how shiny this was!  Imagine twinkly nails glinting every time you move your hands - magpie heaven!

[Four coats: NYX Lime (Sparkle)]

Another angle to attempt to capture sparkle....

[NYX Lime Sparkle (4 coats) + NYX Girls Gilded Glitter (1 coat) + Rhinestones]

It was already plenty shiny, but I slapped on a coat of NYX Girls Gilded Glitter. Jme has already swatched it here but briefly again, it's basically heaps of pale gold flakies suspended in a clear base. Even more shiny! I then placed three red 3mm rhinestones as holly berries on my ring finger. The leaf was a green triangular rhinestone.

[NYX Lime Sparkle (4 coats) + NYX Girls Gilded Glitter (1 coat) + Rhinestones]

Different angles, and closeups to capture the shine! I love festivities and special occasions (whether I do or do not celebrate them...) because I'll take any excuse for sparkles!

I hope everyone has a great week in the lead-up to Christmas - here's to lots of delicious food, great company and shiny polish!

You're hot and you're cold: BYS Green and Bright Purple

This seems to be the week of early Christmas work events so I don't have the time to edit new photos. However, I did dig out old photos of nail polishes that I really like.

So consider this my temporary entry on the BYS Color Change polishes! I always feel like any of those mood/colour changing jewelery and polishes are probably marketed towards kids, but frankly, I don't care! The nail polishes are too lovely to be worried about maturity! :D

My hands are wet in the first two pictures because I was trying to catch the different colours under different temperatures.

Indoors and warm: BYS Green N305

Indoors and cold: BYS Green N305

I was in a warm room and my body temperature does tend to run warm, so it was difficult to get a photo before the colour started changing again. I'm wearing base coat and top coat, which doesn't affect the polish's ability to detect temperature change.

Outdoors: BYS Green N305

This is how my nails typically looked while I was outside. The weather was similar to the tail end of winter. My nailbeds were warm, which is why it was a green-yellow, and my tips were cooler, so they were a dark mossy green. The colour difference from one temperature to another is spectacular.

These particular two shades together remind me of a Malaysian dessert called pandan kuih lapis. (I don't know the photographer, but it's one of the better pics of the dessert that I can find.) I really felt the urge to lick my nails when I was wearing this. :P  The jelly-ish green just looked so yummy!

What I like about BYS Color Change is how sensitive it is to temperature change. I've confused a few friends and colleagues with these polishes, getting comments like 'I thought this was green just a moment ago??' It also makes washing your hands and coming in from the outside a suddenly much more fun activity. Or maybe I'm just easily entertained...


Okay, here's a glimpse of another of my favourite color changers:

Indoors: BYS Bright Purple N288

Isn't that just stunning? The polish itself has a very faint shimmer, which makes it even prettier when looked at up-close.

I think colour changing polishes tend to look better when the weather is cool (but not freezing). You can really see the difference in colour on the tips of your nails if you have longer nails too.

I'll have more photos once my nails grow out again! :)  That's a promise!

Ladybug Spots, Joker Chequers: Zoya Ivanka, Milani Red Sparkle/Gold Glitz, Color Club Wild At Heart, Nubar Verde

I was meant to do a post on water marbling for nails but I've been ill for three weeks now and had absolutely no inclination to write an in-depth dissection of marbling...

Anyway, in celebration of my sister's birthday last Saturday (HI!), I have dug out an old mani that she remembered and mentioned when I made her look at showed her Plisherrific! As a bonus, there's another one after it too. Both look fancy but are easy to achieve!

So the first one, is a ladybird-themed manicure. Super simple and super adorable.

[Ladybug: Milani Red Sparkle, LA Colors Black Velvet; Others: Zoya Ivanka]

Start with a nice leafy green base on all except the ring finger, here I've used Zoya Ivanka. Paint the ring finger in a nice bright red - a bright red creme would work great but in the interest of shiny, I have used Milani One Coat Glitter in Red Sparkle. Red Sparkle has great depth because it's a combination of bright red glitter plus darker red and black glitter.

Once you've done, that using your polish brush or spotting tool, place black spots on the nail randomly. Finish with a straight-across french tip in black and coat with topcoat. All done!

[Ladybug: Milani Gold Glitz, LA Colors Black Velvet; Others: Zoya Ivanka]

For a bit of variation, I used Milani One Coat Glitter in Gold Glitz on my other hand. Again Gold Glitz has great depth due to a combo of gold and orange glitter. Shiny yellowbugs are cute too! Easy peasy!

Next - a simple chequerboard pattern (plus bling). Excuse the messiness and crap pics; these are quite old.

[Chequers: Color Club Wild At Heart, Nubar Verde, LA Colors Black Velvet, red square rhinestones]

Start by painting fingers in alternating colours. I'm using Color Club Wild At Heart (purple holo) and Nubar Verde (green). I love both these colours and should really swatch them alone! Verde especially is a rich mossy green shot through with gold.

After doing the base, cover the upper half of each nail in tape and do the bottom black square. Remove tape and let dry. You can topcoat, before taping off and doing the upper black section, but I usually just freehand it. Add some bling in the centre to hide any unsightly join-ups!

[With flash: Color Club Wild At Heart, Nubar Verde, LA Colors Black Velvet, red square rhinestones]

Another shot with flash so you can see the lovely purple holo in Wild at Heart. This is again another super easy which still looks fancy!

Hope this inspires! I definitely will get around to posting about marbling sometime!

Matte and Shine: LA Splash Arctic Gleam / Nyx Algae

On today's menu, we have two different nail polishes that I tried a couple weeks ago.

The first is a mish-mash of polishes! I mainly wanted to try my LA Splash Arctic Gleam.

[Close up: LA Splash Arctic Gleam]

I bought LA Splash Arctic Gleam because I was entranced by the pink, purple and blue small flakes in the pale blue jelly base. I knew it would be a sheer colour, but my photo really doesn't capture the pretty iridescence of the purple and blue flakes.

Sadly, I don't think the flakes actually stand out much against the polish, but I am doing something strange with it here.

[Essie Matte About You over three coats LA Splash Arctic Gleam over one coat Savvy Coal]

This is Arctic Gleam layered over Savvy's Coal which is a black polish, and then I matte-fied it all with Essie's Matte About You. As usual, you can click on the pictures for a bigger version to better see the flakes.

[Essie Matte About You over three coats LA Splash Arctic Gleam over one coat Savvy Coal]

There's something sedate, but unusual about the overall look. It looks like dark blue frosted glass, with the addition of random flakes of colour to liven it all up a little. An interesting result, I thought.

[Essie Matte About You over three coats LA Splash Arctic Gleam over one coat Savvy Coal]

The flakes were sparser than I expected, but then again, I do like my flakes big and visible from an arm's length away. :)

Perhaps I'll try Arctic Gleam on its own to see how the flakes will look instead of layered over black and matte-fied. Next time then!


I swatched Nyx's Algae during a long week of rain and barely any sunlight so I didn't take many pictures. These are all indoor photos:

[Indoor: Nyx Algae]

Algae on the nails is pretty true to the colour in the bottle. I really like this shade, and I feel like wearing it again soon just looking at the bottle. Algae is a dusty light green and entirely opaque at two coats. I think you could get away with one coat, depending on the length of your nails.

[Indoor: Nyx Algae]

To me, this shade of green looks elegant, while standing out among regular colours. But then again, I do have a fondness for dusty colours.