Snow and Shine - Femme Fatale, Coco Allure, Candeo Colors

I have my usual computer back (yay!) but I prepared a couple of glitter skittle posts so I thought I'll just get through them before going back to posting full manis.

[Left] Femme Fatale Sinister Calling, a beautiful glitter mix in predominantly purple and blue hues. Wonderfully complex and the bar glitter doesn't stick up too much. The base is a purple jelly so you can reach full opacity in 2-3 coats.
[Right] This is Coco Allure Cleopinktra, over a base of Coco Allure Like, Totally Pink. The base is a bright pink jelly with a strong purple/fuchsia sheen which you can see quite clearly in the photo. The glitter topcoat is a clear base packed full of purple, pink/magenta and gold glitter in various shapes and sizes. They go perfectly together!

From left to right:
[1] Femme Fatale A Tisket, A Tasket - beautiful combination of mint, green and aqua with some pink highlights, all in a pale green jelly/creme base.
[2] Femme Fatale Shimmering Snowcap - White and gold-leaning iridescent glitter, a delicate combination!
[3, 4] Candeo Colors Dolce - A sheer nude/pink jelly base with scattered glitter in shades of white, purple and pink. This is a really sweet polish and I think the more... sedate amount of glitter really works well here!

I've been really lazy about painting my nails recently, especially since it's the middle of winter and my fingers feel like they're freezing off while I'm waiting for the polish to dry! Oh, the trials and tribulations of a polish enthusiast...

Costume Shades - LA Splash, China Glaze

I do so love the blue and reds combination!

[Base: LA Splash Midnight Rain
Gradient tips: China Glaze Ring In The Red]

LA Splash Midnight Rain is a nail polish with a dark blue glitter base with red glitter through it. I had forgotten how pretty it was, until I was rummaging in my drawers. Adding China Glaze Ring In The Red to the tips really brightened the whole thing up!

For the Hoard! - Femme Fatale Cosmetics, Sinful Colors, Color Combos, China Glaze

Continuing on from last week, here are more random glitters that I've played around with in the past!

This is a close-up of two beautiful glitter polishes from last week's skittles. On the left is Incendius, and on the right is Eventide, both from Femme Fatale Cosmetics. Aren't they so complex and gorgeous!

Here's Incendius again on the right this time, over a blue base rather than black. On the left is a vintage goodie: Sinful Colors U Funny, brilliantly iridescent bar and tiny hex glitter in a brown-orange jelly base. Not sure if the base was originally this colour... but the duochrome in the bar glitter is insane! Takes a bit of work because it's gone a bit gluggy, but this is definitely one to hang on to!

From left to right:
[1] Color Combos CTW505. This is another duochrome glitter featuring a bar and hex combo, this time in blue-green shift over a black base.
[2] Honestly, I have no idea! Looks like a purple-green duochrome over black... any guesses??
[3] China Glaze Glitter All The Way - party mix central! Green, gold, purple and red glitter!

Geeeez, pulling out all these old photos have got me in the mood for some glitter polish!

Purple Plumage - Layla Stone, Zoya Harlow

I really do love suede/velvet matte nail polish, but I definitely don't wear them enough. Let me feature my favourite!

[Top: Zoya Harlow
Base: Layla Stone]

[Layla Stone]

So the base coat is Layla Softouch Effect Stone. Stone is a pale gray-lavender semi-matte nail polish. It's different and gorgeous on its own, but I couldn't resist spicing it up.

[Top: Zoya Harlow
Base: Layla Stone]

Please ignore the start of the chip on the nail of my forefinger. >.<

By freehand, I went over Layla Stone with Zoya Matte Velvet Harlow. Harlow is so rich and as the collection named it, velvety. I can't help but love this nail polish, and it's my favourite semi-matte.

I love the end result. Yay for having two different purples in semi-matte plishes!

Jazzed Up - LA Girl, Nail Pattern Boldness, Amy's Nail Boutique, Femme Fatale Cosmetics

My main computer is in the shop at the moment, so I'm a bit short on photos... I do have them all backed up but the files are a bit of a mess so I'm going to go with some cheap cheerful skittles for today!

Here are some layering experiments I've done... I'll try my best to remember what polishes I used!

From left to right (all over a plain black creme):
[1] LA Girl Celebrate, a mix of large and small hexes in blue, red and white.
[2] LA Girl Incognito, a mix of finer blue hex glitter with scattered large silver hexes.
[3] LA Girl Animate (red small and large hexes) over Nail Pattern Boldness Flipping Out Hard (matte blue and yellow glitter). What was I thinking??
[4] Nail Pattern Boldness I Believe I Can Fly, silver and pale blue square glitter and smaller red and purple glitter in a deep blue jelly base.

From left to right (again over a plain black creme):
[1] Amy's Nail Boutique Roxy (purple and pink matte glitter) and Cotton Candy (blue and pink matte glitter).
[2] Femme Fatale Incendius, complex mix of orange, gold and deep blue glitter.
[3] Femme Fatale Eventide, complex mix of gold, pink and green glitter.
[4] Noooo idea?? Maybe Amy's Nail Boutique Cotton Candy again???

I've got a whole bunch of glitter skittles from layering experiments that I haven't posted before. So maybe I'll do this over the next few weeks or whenever my laptop decides to return from the tech gods... we'll see! In the meantime, enjoy the sparkles!

Night Breeze - Orly High On Hope, Sally Hansen Rouge Rush

I found some plishes in a bargain bin and thought I would finally try them out!

[Orly High On Hope]

This is Orly High On Hope. It has pink to gold duochrome microglitter in a navy blue base. It's hard to capture the microglitter in photos and in person, the duochrome microglitter is subtle.

[Sally Hansen Rouge Rush over Orly High On Hope]

Then I layered Sally Hansen Rouge Rush on top of High On Hope. Firstly, High On Hope looks really blue here, which isn't the case in real life. I'm not quite sure what my camera is doing here... :)  Rouge Rush is a topper consisting of red and pink glitter shreds. I think it's fairly interesting and not as rough as a lot of shreds I see out there. It's a bit sparse (this is two coats) but it's large enough that it doesn't have to be too dense. I think this is an interesting and rather pretty glitter topper.

Jailhouse Rock - OPI Alcatraz... Rocks

I haven't been wearing polish very much this year, and following that, I haven't been purchasing very much at all either (or so I tell myself)! However, here's one I just could not resist after seeing some swatches online! 

[Sparkle motion!]

Multicoloured glitter? Texture AND sparkles?? Sign me up!

[Bottle to nail: OPI Alcatraz... Rocks (2 coats]

This gorgeous polish is OPI Alcatraz... Rocks from the San Francisco collection, a purple/navy shade loaded with multiple shades of glitter. At a glance, I can see lots of gold and purple, and hints of green and pink. Amazing!!

It's a liquid sand finish so it dries textured. Honestly it's not toooo textured, just a bit more than a bumpy glitter would be. Just the right amount of texture for interest, not too much that you feel like scratching it off or accidentally exfoliating your face...

[2 coats: OPI Alcatraz... Rocks (no topcoat)]

This photo shows the texture of this polish without topcoat. It's a fantastic formula which levels easily and is nice and opaque. These photos show two coats but I could have done with one careful layer with a loaded brush. 

[2 coats: OPI Alcatraz... Rocks (with topcoat)]

How about some topcoat though! Check that out! That's the beauty of textured polish (especially the glitters)... slap on some topcoat for a whole different look.

[2 coats: OPI Alcatraz... Rocks (with topcoat)]

I prefer it a bit more with topcoat because the glitter really shines through. Even with two thin coats of topcoat, it's still not smooth, so you definitely still keep the texture effect, just with a bit more gloss!

[2 coats: OPI Alcatraz... Rocks (with topcoat)]

All in all, definitely one of my favourite buys of the year so far!

Glass Seas - Layla Turquoise Splash

I'm on a Layla spree, and I'm loving it! This is Layla's Softouch Effect Turquoise splash.

[Layla Turquoise Splash]

Isn't this fabulous? Like all of Layla's Softouch Effect polishes, this one is a semi-matte. But the microglitter means it's still plenty shiny.

[Layla Turquoise Splash]

This is a good photo of Turquoise Splash under natural lighting, so it doesn't look like it's shiny and glossy. This semi-matte look is how it comes across in real life, except with a bit more sparkle from the microglitter.

Turquoise Splash is actually greener than any of my photos managed to capture. The colour in these photos are exactly like the colour of the nail polish in the bottle, but the colour of the mani on the nails are closer to a teal shade leaning towards green.

This is a gorgeous colour for a gorgeous nail polish, and I love it! I can't wait to try the rest of my Layla Softouch Effects!

Leather and Chrome - Gold Leather Effect transfer foil, LA Girl Blackout, 2mm square studs

Here's a follow-up to last week's post! I posted then about one of my favourite transfer foils - Gold Leather Effect. Well, here's what I did after to jazz it up a little...

[Black, gold and silver - gotta love it!]

Sorry I don't have step by step pics for this manicure!

[Base: China Glaze Millenium; Foil: Gold Leather Effect]

Quick reminder of what I started out with...

[Foil: Gold Leather Effect; Stripes: LA Girl Blackout; Studs: 2mm square studs]

I then used a plain black creme polish (LA Girl Blackout) and swiped a cross pattern over each nail. If you can manage to work fast enough, place square studs point-to-point down your nail while the black polish is still wet/tacky.

[Foil: Gold Leather Effect; Stripes: LA Girl Blackout; Studs: 2mm square studs]

If that's a bit too rushed for your taste, just use some clear polish and dab it on the spots where you want the studs to stick. I find a skewer with a bit of drying clear polish on the end works great to pick up studs/rhinestones to place on the nail.

[Foil: Gold Leather Effect; Stripes: LA Girl Blackout; Studs: 2mm square studs]

This doesn't take long at all! It's a very quick way to add some edge to your manicure! If you want it to last as long as possible, make sure to swipe a thick layer of topcoat to hold the studs on properly. These ones lie fairly flat so it definitely helps!

For reference, these are 2mm square studs. You can check out other types of studs and manicures we've done with them by clicking through our "studs" tag! Enjoy!