Changeling - Hits Mari Moon Chameleon

I'm sad. Why did I decide on this post when the photos do Hits Mari Moon's Chameleon absolutely no justice? :(  It's too late now, because I have run out of time to prepare a new post for my Thursday entry! You'll have to use your imagination I think...

[Base: Ulta3 Black Satin
Duochrome: Hits Mari Moon Chameleon]

Like with most duo/multichromes, they need to be used as a topcoat over a dark colour to really bring out the colour shift. In this case, I have Ulta3 Black Satin as my base, which is a black creme polish, and one coat of  Hits Mari Moon's Chameleon over it.

In the bottle Chameleon looks like green oil slick. But on the nails, Chameleon is a duochrome that shifts from light grey-brown to a deep green. The change in colour is startling and the contrast is gorgeous. You can see a hint of the grey-brown in the middle of the nails here. It's lighter and more obvious in person.

[Base: Ulta3 Black Satin
Duochrome: Hits Mari Moon Chameleon]

The colour difference exists almost all the time, but more of either colour will show depending on how you angle your nails. My camera is really old, and it does tend to pick up brighter colours better, so it's really bringing out the green, but not the brown.

[Base: Ulta3 Black Satin
Duochrome: Hits Mari Moon Chameleon]

Now you can see a little of the brown at the tips of the nails. Really, this is such a gorgeous polish colour, I wish I had better photographic proof!

[Base: Ulta3 Black Satin
Duochrome: Hits Mari Moon Chameleon]

Indoors, the colour shift is actually more spectacular. I think the lower lighting really brings out the green, and makes it impressively vibrant. When I first put this on, I looked at it and only saw the brown. And I was disappointed until I moved my fingers and I was blown away by how bright the green was.

That second impression is obviously the lasting one, from how much I'm gushing. :P  I will now aim to pick up the other Hits Mari Moon shades! The only thing is that their bottles are only slightly bigger than mini bottles, which makes them a little pricy when you consider that.

Stars and Embers - Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet + OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It + NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter

I'm being more hardworking and posting a mani that's actually ON MY NAILS at the moment! =p Please bear with my spamming of photos this time around - I've been quite annoyed by the quality of my photos so far and have been playing around using some baking paper to diffuse my desklamp... Let's take a look!

[Mmmmm... jelly sammich... get on mah nails!]

Today I've got a delicious glittery jelly sandwich using OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It sandwiched between Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet. I also accented my ring finger with a topcoat of NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter. Read on for the breakdown!

[Bottle to nail: Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet (1 coat)]

I started with a layer of Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet - yep, this is ONE LAYER, folks!

In the bottle, it looks like a blackened jelly base but on the nail it's the brightest, reddest, squishiest jelly ever! Add to that the duochrome glitter in the Chunky Holo series - this one is a bit less duochrome-y, mostly a red to gold shift. The heavy gold shimmer tints it very warm but in indirect lighting, it's really a true red.

[1 coat: Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet]

My photos look somewhat matte due to the diffuse light but trust me, it's a glossy jelly. It also dries fairly quick and applies in a thin, even layer. Absolutely no complaints about this polish.

[1 coat: Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet]

 Here's a picture sans baking paper to show the high gloss finish. Yes, it actually is that bright....

[Bottle to nail: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (1 coat over Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet)]

I then popped on a layer of OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It from the Muppets collection. This polish consists of small red glitter and larger red and silver hex glitter. The large hexes are somewhat sparse and you may need to pick and choose what goes on the nail.

[1 coat: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (over Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet)]

I made sure there was at least a couple of the silver hexes on each nail! I can see this being an issue if you're using this as a glitter topcoat but in this case, I wasn't too worried because....

[Jelly sandwich: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (1 coat) between Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet]

...I sandwiched it with another layer of Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet. What this does is adds a red tint to the silver hexes, making them reddish as well and giving the illusion of depth! I know, I know... sometimes I think too much about nail polish...

[In the bottle: NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter]

How much glitter is too much glitter? There can never be too much, you say??? Well, that's what I thought... so I pulled out NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter for an accent nail.

I always find it hard to describe this type of glitter... it's usually a pale translucent purple-ish colour, but changes to bright blue or teal when the light hits it right. Dreamy Glitter also contains fine green-gold glitter (possibly colour-shift?) and pale pink stars. The stars are opaque while the other two are translucent. All this is in a clear pale pink which swatches colourless.

Gosh, long description, much? ;D

[Jelly sandwich: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (over Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet)
Accent nail: Extra coat NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter]

It works so well over red, I was so impressed that I was barely able to stop myself from slopping it all over the other nails too! The glitter is dense so there's no problem picking up glitter and it dries relatively fast. A good thick layer of topcoat sealed it all in for delicious squishy jelly goodness!

[Jelly sandwich: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (over Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet)
Accent nail: Extra coat NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter]

A couple of glossy full-light photos....

[Close-up: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (over Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet)
Accent nail: Extra coat NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter]

Here's a closeup to show the delicious depth you get with layering multiple glitter polishes!

[Sammich in the office...]

Like I always do, here's a not-too-crappy phone camera photo that I took while in the office. I've been pretty pleased with how bright and cheery it looks on my nails. Please note that this last pic is slightly cool, and all my others are slightly warm - the final mani to the eye is more cabaret or Dorothy's slippers!

Hope y'all enjoyed that! =D

Robotic Rain - NYX Girls Robotic + LA Splash Midnight Rain

I should really be posting more - I have sooo many manis to put up and the untrieds keep rolling in! Before I go on... don't forget to join our first giveaway here if you haven't already! We're super excited for it and have been enjoying the responses to the questions~ =)

Alright... today I have a gorgeous gorgeous polish for y'alls. Jme has actually posted it before but in combination with Nubar 2010 so I wanted to show you the loveliness of it on its own... Behold!

[LA Splash: Midnight Rain]

Isn't this just beautiful! LA Splash Midnight Rain - constantly out of stock and a pain to acquire. When it came up instock all of a sudden online, Jme and I jumped on the opportunity like you wouldn't believe! It was definitely worth it!

[2 coats: NYX Girls Robotic]

I started with a base of NYX Girls in Robotic for a nice dark base. I think this was 2 coats. It's a lovely blackened jelly with deep blue (leaning green) shimmer through it.
 

[2 coats: NYX Girls Robotic]

In lowlight it does look mostly black, but the blue sparks light up when the light hits it. Very nice as is... but wait, there's more!

[Base: NYX Girls Robotic (2 coats); Glitter: LA Splash Midnight Rain (1 coat)]

One! Yes, one! Layer of Midnight Rain, a combination of blue and red glitter. Who knew the two went so well together! (I'm feeling very infomercial-like at the moment, hehe...)

[Base: NYX Girls Robotic (2 coats); Glitter: LA Splash Midnight Rain (1 coat)]

Fair warning, it dries gritty and eats topcoat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So slop on at least two thick layers of of topcoat to keep this looking nice and glossy.

[Base: NYX Girls Robotic (2 coats); Glitter: LA Splash Midnight Rain (1 coat)]

So worth it though! I'm totally pic-spamming here.... ;)

[Base: NYX Girls Robotic (2 coats); Glitter: LA Splash Midnight Rain (1 coat)]

A great glittery combination that is eye-catching but not TOO bright. Definitely one for the collection! What other amazing glitter combinations have you come across? =)

Friday Favourites - China Glaze Yell-O-Neil

Friday Favourites will be where we post our favourite nail polish in regards to colour/type/anything! We won't post every Friday, just on the Fridays we want to fangirl over a favourite. :D

I'm going to start with my favourite yellow nail polish. I have given away too many yellow nail polishes out of displeasure. They are notoriously streaky or just plain meh. But this one is definitely a keeper. 

[China Glaze Yell-O-Neil]

China Glaze Yell-O-Neil is briiiiight yellow, and its formula is pretty much perfect. It's smooth and easy to apply. In its bottle, Yell-O-Neil has very fine pink and green microglitter. They're so small that they're hardly visible in the bottle, and indistinguishable on the nail.

[China Glaze Yell-O-Neil]

You can sort of see a shimmer in the polish when on the nail, but you can't make out the colours. At two coats, there's still visible nail line. It's more visible in photos than in person, but I don't think it detracts from the pretty anyhow.

[China Glaze Yell-O-Neil]

It's just as bright and lovely indoors!

I only managed to wear this shade for two days, because right now, it's cold and winter-like in Sydney. I felt too gloomy to wear this bright, cheery shade. 

So this is my favourite yellow nail polish. What's yours?

Got The Blues - China Glaze Blue Sparrow + Shooting Stars

I wanted a real bright blue nail polish, and Ev recommended China Glaze's Blue Sparrow while we were out shopping. It is gorgeouusssss...

[China Glaze Blue Sparrow (Neon)]

I love it, but I think it needs a glossy top coat to be truly appreciated. Blue Sparrow is a true neon shade, so it's bright but dries matte. The moment I layered a gloss top coat over Blue Sparrow, the blue microglitter in the polish really sparkled. The nail polish is so lovely!

[Base: China Glaze Blue Sparrow
Tips: China Glaze Shooting Stars]

As I mentioned in my past post, I have a chip on one of my nails, so I'll be doing gradient manis and French tips for the next few weeks to reinforce the nail and keep it from breaking. For this mani, I used China Glaze's Shooting Stars as a sort of gradient-French mani. (Is there a correct name for this?)

[Base: China Glaze Blue Sparrow
Tips: China Glaze Shooting Stars]

I love China Glaze's Shooting Stars. It's a dense, fine silver holo glitter, with the holo leaning towards an orange and green shade. It also has pastel-coloured holo hex glitter. The hex glitter catches the light in a soft, captivating way. Layering it over Blue Sparrow provides a nice contrast, and it's just shiny prettiness everywhere.

I only have one outdoor photo (as seen above) because the others just turned out weird. :(

[Base: China Glaze Blue Sparrow
Tips: China Glaze Shooting Stars]

[Base: China Glaze Blue Sparrow
Tips: China Glaze Shooting Stars]

Blurry iPhone photo so that you can see the pretty holo! It really is a strangely soft holo, hard to describe, but immensely pretty.

I'm so happy with these China Glaze hauls! :D

Sky Sparks - LA Splash Sparkling Stratosphere

Just a simple one today! A lot of my favourite glitter polishes come from LA Splash - they really make some awesome combinations. =) This one here is Sparkling Stratosphere, a mix of blue and silver glitter.

[Bottle to nail: LA Splash Sparkling Stratosphere]

The formula is slightly thick but not particularly difficult to work with. The glitter is super dense as is usual for LA Splash glitter polishes.

[LA Splash: Sparkling Stratosphere]

They do tend to be topcoat-eaters so a nice thick topcoat is best to avoid a gritty finish. They're all wonderfully sparkly though~

[Direct sunlight: LA Splash Sparkling Stratosphere]

And here's a mobile phone photo to show the shine in direct sunlight. Yay, sparkles! =)

Doth My Eyes Deceive Me? - China Glaze Prism and Optical Illusion

So there have been a number of gorgeous polishes that I have managed to get my grabby hands on, and two of those are China Glaze's Prismatics! Here, I have Prismatic multiplied by two:

[Base: China Glaze Prism
Towards tips: China Glaze Optical Illusion] 

Gradient Prismatics, mmmmm~ I love these polishes.

First, I'm going to focus on Prism:

[China Glaze Prism]

Like many before me, I find the China Glaze Prismatic collection beautiful, but difficult to capture on camera or even to describe. But let me give it a shot! China Glaze's Prism consists of several different types of glitter. The base glitter is a dense, light blue-purple glitter, and there are plenty of purple-pink microglitter that catches the light at different angles. I think this combination is what gives the polish a colour-shifting look. In the picture above, you can see the different colours in one bottle - blue-purple in the middle, and purple-pink around that and towards the sides.

You can also see the larger, round colourful glitter - in red, blue, green, yellow, silver. I love this extra touch!

[China Glaze Prism]

How pretty is that? The shade is a bit bluer in my picture than in real life, and you can see the colour difference was clearer in the bottle than it is on the nail.

[China Glaze Prism]

I think I managed to capture a little of how you can see the different colours existing on each nail, where they catch the light differently.

But you know, why stick to one Prismatic, when you can have two? So I added China Glaze Optical Illusion to Prism, in gradient style.

[Base: China Glaze Prism
Towards tips: China Glaze Optical Illusion]

Optical Illusion is a sea green to gold-green glitter, with similar larger round glitter. Adding it to Prism just makes the mani so gorgeous. All that different glitter and colours! :D

[Base: China Glaze Prism
Towards tips: China Glaze Optical Illusion]

[Base: China Glaze Prism
Towards tips: China Glaze Optical Illusion]

The last photo is under indoor lighting, to help me catch the different colours these polishes have. Aaah, I really do love the Prismatics!

You might have noticed that my long nails are now short square-ovals. I chipped one badly, and I had to cut it short so that it wouldn't have the chance to break past the nail bed. In fact, you're probably going to see a lot of gradients/tips manis, because I need the extra reinforcement since the chip is still there.

Plisherrific's First Giveaway! [CLOSED]

11/6 - THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!!!

Hi everyone!! We have decided that it's time for a Plisherrific giveaway! :D

 

Here's the assortment of nail polishes that could brighten up your collection:

1. Jordana Glitters Cosmic - A blue, green and silver hex glitter explosion.

2. Claire's Mood color changing nail polish in Calm/Wild - Changes from pink to purple depending on the temperature! Not an easy polish to get anymore.

3. Essence Make It Golden - Gold, gold, gold in hex and microglitter.

4. China Glaze DV8 from OMG collection - A mid blue-green holographic polish that has been discontinued and isn't easy to find.


IMPORTANT STUFF AND THINGS!

- You MUST be a follower via GFC to enter.
- The giveaway starts 14/05/2012 and ends on 11/06/2012.
- This is an international giveaway, but we won't send this to any country that has restrictions on nail polish deliveries. We are also not responsible for any lost packages.
- We'll be checking all entries, so please, no cheaters!

Without further ado, hit up the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GOOD LUCK, EVERYONE! =) 

XXX,
Jme + Ev

Superheroes' Frankenpolishes

Awhile back, before I decided to do an Avengers manicure, I decided to make Avengers inspired frankens instead! These are my rather strange results, which I'm only sharing now:

Capsicle Just A Kid From Brooklyn aka Captain America

Just A Kid From Brooklyn frankenpolish

Inspired by Captain America's shield colours - red, blue and white - I came up with a jelly-ish red polish that is filled with blue and silver-holo hexes of varying sizes. 'Just A Kid From Brooklyn' is a quote from the Captain America movie.

Just A Kid From Brooklyn frankenpolish

The frankenpolish actually dries glossy, but another coat of fast dry topcoat over it made it really, really glossy. It looks like shiny, glazed candy! This took three coats to achieve, and some of the glitter from the first coat did get buried. I think three coats was a bit of an overkill, since the polish was pretty opaque and heavy by two coats.

Just A Kid From Brooklyn frankenpolish

I wondered if it would look less like candy when mattefied, since Captain America frankens shouldn't inspire thoughts of candy. But nope. Still looks like candy to me. Why?? Also, woah, so many coats of polish on at this point...

Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist aka Iron Man

Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist franken

I thought Iron Man would be best represented by something shiny, so this is a mix of red glitter and gold hex glitter in a clear base. 'Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist' is the oft-quoted line Tony Stark uses to describe himself in The Avengers. I thought I should use something familiar, but wow, it's really long for a name.

Ring finger: Genius, Billionaire, Playboy Philanthropist franken over Ulta3 Crystallina
Other fingers: Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist franken over BeautyStyle Rome Red

Even though Rome Red isn't opaque at one coat, two coats of the franken over Rome Red turns the mani opaque. I think its just how much glitter there is in it, even though it doesn't show in the pictures - probably because the glitter isn't very shiny for some reason. I quite like the glitzy gold bits floating in all that red.

Ring finger: Genius, Billionaire, Playboy Philanthropist franken over Ulta3 Crystallina
Other fingers: Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist franken over BeautyStyle Rome Red 

I might take another stab at creating an Iron Man franken. Tony Stark is my favourite character, so it seems like his franken should have waaaaaaaaaaaaay more bling.

Green Rage Monster aka The Hulk

Green Rage Monster franken

How bizarre. I took this photo before shaking the bottle really well and the different greens hadn't mixed together properly. Perhaps that's a good representation of Bruce Banner and the Hulk after all! :P  There's more glitter in the franken than is obvious here. At this point, I finally bought actual spare bottles for my frankenpolishes! :D

The name of the game for this franken is green, green and more green. And a bit of blue and random glitter for the hidden depths within the quiet Dr Banner and his green counterpart. 'Green Rage Monster' is a quote from The Avengers. It's a bit of a cheat, because Tony says it, not Bruce. But the Bruce quote I wanted to use is a teeny bit spoiler-ish so I'm holding back.

Green Rage Monster franken

This is a mid-green polish with the tiniest bit of light green shimmer, and lots of blue and green hexes, with the occasional silver hexes too. There's also small blue matte glitter that stands out against the green base.

Green Rage Monster franken

It's a completely bizarre polish, but I really like the result! :D  Green Rage Monster is my favourite franken of this lot!

I'm already plotting my next Iron Man franken and perhaps Thor franken too!