All That Glitters Is Gold - Lacquistry Amazeballz: Original

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh, look at this!

[3 coats of Lacquistry Amazeballz: Original]

Lacquistry Amazeballz: Original is this amazingly dense pale gold flakes in clear base. Amazeballz is opaque even without a base, and the dense flakes creates this absolutely gorgeous, gleaming gold manicure. It catches the light beautifully and is such shiny distraction.

I only have good things to say about this polish. Now admire the gold, gold, gold! <3

[3 coats of Lacquistry Amazeballz: Original]

Scatter Shades - Sally Hansen BLU; Red, White and Hue

Happy Australia Day!! Hope you're all having fun at the beach, pool and/or barbeque with friends and family!

[Oy!!]

Here's a festive manicure for today!

[Bottle to nail: Sally Hansen BLU (4+ coats)]

Starting off with a base of Sally Hansen BLU from the HD collection. This is an... "interesting" polish. Most people write it off as I did when I first got it... the formula is terribly sheer! What you're seeing in these photos are 4+ coats on each nail, and I don't even have long nails! Add to that the fact that dry time is fairly long for such a thin formula, it's quite a bit of trouble...

[4+ coats: Sally Hansen BLU]

You can see in my photos that it isn't fully opaque but this is less visible in person. HOWEVER, despite these drawbacks (or because of them), it's a really interesting finish! It's a very glowy effect giving an electric cornflower shade which I can definitely say I have no dupe of. 

[Bottle to nail: Sally Hansen Red, White and Hue]

With my base in place, it's time for glitter! This is Sally Hansen Color Frenzy in Red, White and Hue. This one's a fun one, because it's matte glitter, yay~ =) Obviously in patriotic shades of red, white and blue hexes of different sizes.

[Base: Sally Hansen BLU (4+ coats); Glitter: Sally Hansen Red, White and Hue (1 coat)]

And this is my mani for the Australia Day long weekend! Hope y'alls having a great one toooo!!

Peacock Flame - Dance Legend Phobos

More Dance Legend!

[Dance Legend Phobos]

This is Dance Legend Phobos, a purple-blue-teal multichrome polish with small gold flakies. Photos of Phobos from the website looks like it has blue-green flakes, but I find that the flakes have a gold-green shift instead. The flakes are more visible in real life than in the photos, but they're not densely packed in.

I have to admit that I'm not too fond of this one. It looks great here, but the flakes actually caused the finish to feel rather bumpy despite my thick quick dry top coat. The shift is great, as with all Dance Legend multichrome polishes, and there's no need for a black base coat to make it opaque.

Steely Spark - Zoya Crystal

I've been trying to be good lately and going back through my stash and trying out lots of shades that I haven't. Oh deaaaar, soooo many untrieds! It's embarrassing...

[Bottle to nail: Zoya Crystal (3 coats)]

Anyway, here's a lovely one from Zoya's Fire and Ice collection - this is Zoya Crystal. This first photo here is without my makeshift diffuser and it was just too sparkly so the rest of the photos are under diffuse lighting to show how beautiful the flecks are in this polish!

[Bottle to nail: Zoya Crystal (3 coats)]

Basically, Zoya Crystal is a blackened blue base with tones of blue and gold foil particles. The result is a foil look with lots of gold flecks, giving an overall steel blue shade on the nail from afar.

[3 coats: Zoya Crystal]

Up close you can see all the gold in there and it's just gorgeous! This was a thin watery formula though, and required three coats for full opacity. You could possibly get away with two, but I think it looks best at three. Good thing is, it dries super fast so it doesn't take that long to do even with three coats.

[3 coats: Zoya Crystal]

I've heard that Zoya Crystal is a dupe for OPI Reflecting Pool which is great since the latter appears to be pretty hard to get your mitts on. Jme has also previously posted a gradient manicure featuring Zoya Crystal and China Glaze Emerald Sparkle so check it out!

[3 coats: Zoya Crystal]

I actually finished off with shiny topcoat as usual but after taking these photos, it looked so good under diffuse lighting that I added a matte topcoat (Essie Matte About You) over the top so it would always look like this! Awesome decision, and a great reminder of how different (and work-safe!) polishes can look with a matte topcoat - I think I'm gonna mattify lots from now on!

It's hot and it's cold - Dance Legend Thermo Shine 182

More from Dance Legend!

[Dance Legend Thermo Shine 182]

This is 182 from Dance Legend's Thermo Shine collection. Why no name, Dance Legend? :O

Anyway, I love it! 182 is a gorgeous mid-pink (warm) to purple (cold) colour shift with pink-ish hex glitter. Unlike many thermal polishes, I think this one shifts colours quite easily.

However, the colour difference will only be as obvious as they are in these photos if you have longer nails than what I had here. The colours you see above are from when I just washed my hands. But when I was in the office where it was a tad colder, my index finger which has a longer nail, was distinctly tipped purple. I can't wait to try the polish again now that I've grown my nails out again!

Equine Design - Illamasqua Destiny

It's still technically the Year of the Horse, at least until mid February! Yessss, I'm still in time... =)

[Bottle to nail: Illamasqua Destiny (1-2 coats)]

Look at this gorgeous shade - Destiny by Illamasqua is a Myer Australia exclusive released for the Chinese Year of the Horse (Feb 2014 - 2015). I picked it up a few months ago on sale while I was purchasing something online from Myer (also the fateful day I picked up a Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain and kicked off my obsession with them! Just so good!!).

[1-2 coats: Illamasqua Destiny]

Destiny is a beautifully squishy green jelly with dense green and gold hexes in multiple sizes. No fishing here! It's a one-coater if you're careful! I used one to two for these photos (depending on how much I happened to pick up on the brush). Dry time is pretty quick and it dries smooth. I still used top coat for extra shine, but it's really a perfect polish!

[1-2 coats: Illamasqua Destiny]

The jelly formula results in a fairly deep emerald shade which makes it all the more "glowy" with the glitter suspended in the polish. Just the right density to show off the glitter!

[1-2 coats: Illamasqua Destiny]

All in all, a purchase I am extremely happy with! Another to add to my collection of greens! =)

Summer Snow - Born Pretty Snowflake Decals, Dance Legend 05 Lebedushka

I know, I know, we're well past Christmas! But I've still got a little holiday spirit going and I have a Christmas mani that I haven't posted yet, so here we go!

[Snowflake decals over Dance Legend 05 Lebedushka]

These are snowflake decals from Born Pretty on top of Dance Legend's 05 Lebedushka. I'm sure I've already done manis using these snowflake (and mistletoe!) decals, but I didn't have this polish in the past! Here's my post on Lebedushka from when I first got it.

Snowflakes against Lebedushka is just perfect. Lebedushka's delicate textured icy finish with that touch of gold shimmer just goes really well with the snowflakes. It's fun to create your own custom look by placing the individual snowflake and mistletoe decals how ever you please. But it can be a bit tedious to do, although you don't necessarily have to cover your entire nail in decals of course.

Then I wondered how it would look with a layer of gloss, so I tried that later:

[Snowflake decals over Dance Legend 05 Lebedushka]

I think it looks less interesting like this, but it's still pretty. The decals took some time to do, but I was pretty pleased with the results anyway.

Alright, hope you all had great holidays! :)

Spice Delite - A'Pieu Aurora Nail Touch RD01

The 2015 Pantone colour of the year is an earthy red shade called Marsala!

I just realised that I did do some posts for 2012 (Tangerine Tango) and 2013 (Emerald) but forgot last year (2014: Radiant Orchid), oh no! 

[Bottle to nail: A'Pieu Aurora Nail Touch RD01 (3 coats)]

Here's a shade that looks pretty close to Marsala in the bottle, but comes off a bit more sheer on the nails! This is Apieu Aurora Nail Touch RD01, a polish I picked up in South Korea during my holiday.

[3 coats: A'Pieu Aurora Nail Touch RD01]

RD01 is a red based shade as you can tell from the naming code, but on the nail it looks more of a bronzey brown. This is in part because of the dense gold/green shimmer. The pictures don't really do this polish justice - it looks practically duochrome in the bottle but somehow it just doesn't translate.

[3 coats: A'Pieu Aurora Nail Touch RD01]

Basically, it's a earthy red shimmer base with a glass fleck finish in a gold-green duochrome. You do get lots of flecks in magenta and purple as well though so it's really hard to describe! Check out the official bottle photo!

[Official photo: A'Pieu Aurora Nail Touch RD01]

I think one of the issues is that it's a bit of a sheer formula. My photos were all after three coats but it's still not completely opaque. Perhaps with a matching base underneath? Hm hm, something to think about for next time!

Starting With A Purple Bang - Nail Pattern Boldness I Believe I Can Fly, Color Club Harp On It, Femme Fatale Sinister Calling & Party Grenade

Happy New Year! :D I hope you guys had a good New Year's Eve!

I decided to usher in the new year with my favourite colour. Purple!

I started with the base, which comprises of many layers of nail polish to achieve the psychedelic purple frenzy below.

[Femme Fatale's Sinister Calling
Nail Pattern Boldness' I Believe I Can Fly
Femme Fatale's Party Grenade]

I started with Femme Fatale's Sinister Calling, a polish that has an amazing mix of purple, blue, black and silver holo glitter. The glitter comes in hex, shards, stars and bar glitter! As if as that wasn't wild enough, I added a coat of Nail Pattern Boldness' I Believe I Can Fly, which has gorgeous metallic blue square glitter in a navy blue jelly base. And then to complete the party attire, I put on Femme Fatale's Party Grenade. As the name would suggest, Party Grenade has a mix of multicoloured hex, square and diamond glitter in a clear base.

All in all, I think the end result came out looking rather nice.

But I wanted to add a little something extra for the New Year.

[Base: Femme Fatale's Sinister Calling, Nail Pattern Boldness' I Believe I Can Fly
and Femme Fatale's Party Grenade
Frame: Color Club's Harp On It]

Using striping tape, I blocked off a 'frame' on each nail and painted strips using Color Club's Harp On It, a silver linear holo. I think it turned out looking rather neat.

I think the mani suits my thumbnail the best because my thumbnail is wider

[Base: Femme Fatale's Sinister Calling, Nail Pattern Boldness' I Believe I Can Fly
and Femme Fatale's Party Grenade
Frame: Color Club's Harp On It]

And that's my nails with a purple party going on inside a silver picture frame. :)