Magical Mélange - Orly Fowl Play, Topshop Nails Gypsy Night, China Glaze Twinkle Lights

Another old manicure featuring glitter tips and a bonus polish comparison!

[Jelly, glitter, flakies, french, oh my!]

The two polishes featured here are not dupes, but they are kinda in a similar vein, with both glitter and colour-shifting flakies in a somewhat jelly base. Sorry for the amazing orange tan my fingers appear to have... =p I think I was trying to get the polish colours as close as possible at the expense of my regular pasty fingers...

[Bottle to nail: Orly Fowl Play]

On my index and ring fingers is Orly Fowl Play, a purple jelly with red-to-green duochrome flakes mixed in with blue, silver and iridescent glitter. This one was a bit thick and takes a while to dry so you have to be careful not to dent it while waiting.

[Bottle to nail: Topshop Nails Gypsy Night]

I picked up Topshop Nails' Gypsy Night when I was in London last year because I just couldn't resist! This is a black jelly base with tons of multicoloured and silver holo glitter as well as red-to-green duochrome flakies. Formula was alright to work with (or at least I don't remember any issues!).

[Index and ring: Orly Fowl Play; Middle and pinky: Topshop Nails Gypsy Night]

These photos show the different glitters and the duochrome shift. I'm not sure which one I like better! In spite of them being pretty similar, they are... still different! If that makes sense....

[Index and ring: Orly Fowl Play; Middle and pinky: Topshop Nails Gypsy Night
Tips: China Glaze Twinkle Lights]

Not being able to leave it alone, I chucked some glitter tips on using China Glaze Twinkle Lights. This polish is wonderfully named as it's a mix of gold, red and green glitter that really twinkles!

To be honest, I started a new job two months ago that (among a host of social commitments) has been keeping me crazy busy. I've only just run out of pre-written scheduled posts and really need to sit down soon to edit a bunch of photos, so fingers crossed, there'll be some "fresher" posts coming up soon!

Purple Universe - Gloss 'n Sparkle One Step Beyond

To the universe and beyond!

[Gloss 'n Sparkle One Step Beyond]

This is Gloss 'n Sparkle's One Step Beyond, and I love it! It has blue and pink hex, square and round glitter in a royal purple jelly base. It also has huge round holo glitter, as you can see above. The other glitter are so dense that they're easy to get on the nails, but the big round glitter is definitely sparser. However, still common enough that I didn't need to fish at all to get one on my nail.

I love the purple jelly, because in three coats, it's opaque enough that there's no visible nail line, but still jelly enough that you can see the glitter through it beautifully.

[Gloss 'n Sparkle One Step Beyond]

As the glitter was pretty chunky, it took about three thin coats of Seche Vite to smooth the mani out. I need a proper glitter topper, because so much SV shrinks the plish a lot.

All in all, I really do like this nail polish. Purple and shiny, with an awesome combo of round and square glitter!

Jewel Tones - Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia, LA Splash Embellished

There are always those polishes that look so absolutely gorgeous in person, but you can never capture it properly in photographs. That drives me craaazy sometimes! Aaaah! 

[Sparkle-arkle to the max!]

In case you haven't guessed, today's is one of those... =p

[Bottle to nail: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat)]

I started with a base of Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia, which is really not a fuchsia to me? More of a berry red creme. Excellent formula and opaque in one coat.

[1 coat: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia]

Another big plus is it dries so beautifully glossy! Check out that "new car" shine on them tips!

[Bottle to nail: LA Splash Embellished (1 coat) over Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia]

I used this as a base for LA Splash Embellished, a super gorgeous combination of magenta/fuchsia holo glitter in a matching jelly base. This is one coat of Embellished, but it actually reaches opacity on its own in about three coats. I just didn't want to deal with removing lots of glitter polish at the time.

[1 coat: LA Splash Embellished over Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia]

It's so so shiny and sparkly in person but it's just so impossible to capture it in photos! I love how in addition to the holo, there's a lot of blue glitter in it, which makes it just that bit more unique. LA Splash is definitely responsible for a number of my favourite glitter polishes and I recommend trying some out if you have a chance!

Fickle Peacock - Ku Ni #10

Holy batman, look at all these colours on each nail! I was salivating after this polish after I saw it on Born Pretty over here but I was fully expecting for it to be mediocre when it was sent to us for review, because colour-shifting polishes can be disappointing sometimes. But the colour shift here is strong!

[Fluorescent lighting: Ku Ni #10 over black]

 My biggest critique of these nail polishes (and a large number on Born Pretty) is the name, because I have to write it out now, and it sounds absurd and really generic. I wonder if they take name suggestions... Anyway, on the website, this nail polish range is called, 'Dazzling Magical Colorful Glitter' and on the bottle it's called, 'Fashion Brightly Colored'. Yeah...  The brand of the nail polish on the bottle is Ku Ni, and this specific colour is #10 on the website and on the bottle.

Naming conventions aside, isn't it gorgeous??  The colour shift goes from a strong emerald green to a strong purple. On its own, the base is too sheer to build to full opacity, so this is layered over black. Two coats of #10 over black leaves so much microglitter that the mani looks like a foil nail polish rather than a topcoat over black.

Here's the same mani under indirect sunlight instead of fluorescent lighting.

[Indirect sunlight: Ku Ni #10 over black]

I find most colour shift nail polishes to be much duller under indirect sunlight, but this one is still looking rather pretty. It's not as vibrant compared to previous pictures, but the colour shift is still unmistakeable.

If you're interested in getting anything from Born Pretty, use the code below for a discount!

Moonshine - Color Club Over The Moon

I think most of this post speaks for itself - that seems to be the case for most posts regarding the Halo Hues collection by Color Club!

[Bottle to nail: Color Club Over The Moon (2 coats)]

This is Color Club Over The Moon from the Halo Hues 2013 collection. I used it in a skittle before in this post, but here's OtM as a full mani.

[2 coats: Color Club Over The Moon]

Like I mentioned previously, this shade looks a lot more saturated in photographs. In real life, it's more of a dusty medium blue linear holo.

[2 coats: Color Club Over The Moon]

Like the rest of the Halo Hues collection, the formula is great. These swatches were with two thin coats, but you can easily get away with just one thick one.

[2 coats: Color Club Over The Moon]

Dry time was fairly quick and the linear holographic effect is super strong too! Best in sunlight but strong enough to be slightly visible indoors. Love this collection!

Crushed Mint - Tribal Colours Liquid-Sand Suede

Hello, hello! Last week I reviewed the pink nail polish from the #10 set of mini Tribal Colours Liquid Sand nail polishes. For today's post, I'm trying out the nail polish I have been eyeing ever since I received this set from Born Pretty.

[Tribal Colours Liquid-Sand Suede Glitter]

The nail polish is a slightly rough matte, mint green nail polish with medium green glitter and a green-gold shimmer running through it. It's not as rough as the OPI liquid sand, and its drying time is rather slow considering the fact that it's a matte polish. Nonetheless, I really like the colour and the glitter combination with the gritty look. It's just so pretty while looking unusual!

[Tribal Colours Liquid-Sand Suede Glitter]

I was wearing an opal ring and a colleague said that the ring matched my nail polish. I think I'm going to try to put together a mani that would be a much closer match! :D

If you like what you see here, don't forget you can get a discount using the code below at Born Pretty!

Purple Frost - Revlon Girly, Revlon Iced Lilac

Today I have a quick layering mani using two Revlon polishes!

[Double the Revlon!]

I wanted to try out Revlon Iced Lilac, a pale purple with a strong teal shimmer but it seemed like it would be a fairly sheer polish so I decided to pick out some matching undies for it!

[Bottle to nail: Revlon Girl (1-2 coats)]

My pick was Revlon Girly, from the Edgy Elegance collection. This is a pale purple foil/metallic shade that goes on a bit creamy but is super opaque and works really well as a base colour for light/sheer polishes

[1-2 coats: Revlon Girly]

Most polishes from the Edgy Elegance collection dry slightly matte and gritty, which I find an interesting finish! I think this may have been either one or two coats, depending on the nail size.

[Bottle to nail: Revlon Iced Lilac (1 coat) over Revlon Girly]

I then put a layer ot Revlon Iced Lilac over the top and this is what I ended up with! Check out Iced Lilac in the bottle - that teal gleam is amazing!

[1 coat: Revlon Iced Lilac over Revlon Girly]

My photos don't really do this combination justice because the teal shimmer is super obvious in real life! Oh well, I'm glad I found both of these bin-hunting at the markets as usual. I expect Girly to be quite the workhorse, and one can never have too many fancy shimmery vintage Revlons!

Sweet Filigree - Tribal Colors Liquid Sand Suede Glitter, water decal

I wasn't quite ready to try out this set of water decals yet, but I managed to get a couple wet (don't ask =.=) while moving the decals around so my hand was forced! I would have chosen to do a different base polish, but I had to work with what I had because I needed to move fast.

[Base: Tribal Colors Liquid Sand Suede Glitter
Top: Water decal]

I was still rather impressed honestly, despite my rush job (or maybe because it looks pretty cool despite my rush job!) This is a combination of two decals from the same package. Ev has gone into detail on how to apply water decals, so I won't go into that here. The base polish used here is from Tribal Colors which I reviewed last Thursday.

[Base: Tribal Colors Liquid Sand Suede Glitter
Top: Water decal]

I started with the black decal. The positioning wasn't quite straight, but it's not too noticeable once the white goes on top. I thought that the decal would look strange over a matte polish, like you would be able to tell that it was obviously a decal because of the shiny parts over matte. But the decal is so fine that you really can't see the difference. It looked like I had drawn that on with amazingly steady hands instead. \o/

[Base: Tribal Colors Liquid Sand Suede Glitter
Top: Water decal]

Once I sopped up the excess water, I applied the white decal over it. The set sent to us for review has a combination of white and black decals, which you can see in greater detail here. When they're used individually instead of overlaid like what I did here, I think they would look great when you have an accent nail of a different base colour.

I did go over everything with a top coat to seal it in, but unfortunately, I didn't have enough top coat on the brush and the brush dragged off the decal's paint! What a shame... :(  So learn from my mistakes and if you use a really thin top coat, make sure you have plenty on your brush before you apply it over decals.

Now... I can't wait to get my hands on more water decals after this!

If you're interested in some as well, head on over to Born Pretty and use the following code for a discount!

Salmon Beaches - Tribal Colours Liquid-Sand Suede Glitter

It's always fun to get to try out nail polishes of different texture! Lots of companies have been producing heavily textured, matte nail polishes, but they all vary in how course and how shiny the nail polish is once it dries. The one I'm swatching today is sent from Born Pretty, and it's the pink nail polish from the #10 set of mini Tribal Colours nail polishes. The bottles aren't individually labelled so I don't have a number/name. My best guess is that it's #13 from the same line of nail polishes in full size.

[Tribal Colours Liquid-Sand Suede Glitter]

I think Tribal Colours Liquid Sand collection more closely resembles OPI's matte suede nail polishes from a couple years back. However, since the base colour is a light, sweet pink, the silvery shimmer doesn't have a big contrast to really shine.

When the nail polish dries with just two coats, you can see more of the textured roughness that is famous in OPI's liquid sand collection, but it's still not as course as OPI's. In these photographed swatches, they are all three coats to cover the nail line. At three coats, you don't see the roughness of the nail polish as much anymore.

[Tribal Colours Liquid-Sand Suede Glitter]

Overall, I rather like this nail polish. The pink colour is sweet and work appropriate, while the finish means that it's something different from the norm. I haven't seen liquid sand lookalikes in this shade before, which is a worthwhile note to make I feel.

As a pressie for sticking to the very end, feel fee to use this code at Born Pretty!

The Greener Grass - China Glaze Running in Circles

Earlier this year, I posted about my search for the perfect green. I mentioned that I had also ordered China Glaze Running in Circles from the Cirque du Soleil-themed Worlds Away collection.

[Bottle to nail: China Glaze Running in Circles (1-2 coats)]

And here it is! What a beaut! China Glaze Running in Circles has a super sparkly glass fleck finish and amazing opacity in one coat(!!). I don't even know what to say about it except I love it - it's like a green version of China Glaze Riveting which I have waxed on about previously.

[Diffuse (top) and direct (bottom) light: China Glaze Running in Circles (1-2 coats)]

Under diffuse lighting (top half of photo above), you can see the particles that make up the polish. With direct light (bottom half), the sparkle really comes alive! This is definitely one of those polishes that just "glow" on the nail.

[1-2 coats: China Glaze Running in Circles]

Sighhhh~ what a gorgeous colour... I can definitely say that I'm not on the lookout for my perfect green anymore after Running in Circles! My wallet certainly appreciates that...