Scattered Leaves - Layla Softouch Effect Stone, China Glaze Millennium

Bonus post! This is a follow-up from yesterday's post on Layla Softouch Effect in Stone.

[Base: Layla Softouch Effect Stone (2 coats); Stamping: China Glaze Millennium]

I had some stamping plates that I wanted to try out, so I was testing it out on my week-old mani! There was some tip wear and a chip on my index finger, but I was still pretty impressed, considering this is a matte polish and I didn't use any topcoat!

[Bottle to nail: Layla Softouch Effect Stone (2 coats)]

Just to show you what Layla Stone looks like on its own...

[Base: Layla Softouch Effect Stone (2 coats); Stamping: China Glaze Millennium]

I used China Glaze Millennium from the Khrome collection as a stamping polish using plate BP-19 from Born Pretty. I must say, I haven't stamped for a while and was trying to work out how much pressure to use so this is pretty uneven stamping, oh dear. Still, it was a good jog to the memory and hopefully I'll try a bit more stamping in the future!

Smoky Sands - Layla Softouch Effect Stone

Apologies for being super slack-arse the past two weeks! I've been crazy busy but it's an exciting time. Anyways, I spent a few days last week in Canberra for a conference so here's what I wore on my nails...

[Bottle to nail: Layla Softouch Effect Stone (2 coats)]

You thought I was done with these Layla Softouch Effect, but I'm not! Here's Layla Softouch Effect in Stone, a gorgeous gray matte velvet/suede finish with a strong purple cast. I thought Stone was an odd name at first, but after putting it on, I think it really suits!

[2 coats: Layla Softouch Effect Stone]

As I've said before, the Softouch series is really great for adding a bit of colour while somehow keeping in "worksafe" territory. Or maybe that's just me....?! Jme's also done a jazzed up version of this in combination with Zoya Harlow, which you can check out here!

[2 coats: Layla Softouch Effect Stone]

I've loved every single colour I've tried from this range and this is no exception. Formula was great. I used two coats and no topcoat and it lasted and lasted! Super impressed!!
 

Sea Scales - W7 Mosaic

I hadn't tried W7 nail polishes before and this makes for a pleasant surprise!

[W7 Mosaic]

So I picked this up from one of the Chemist Warehouse chain stores. I hadn't seen many interesting W7 nail polishes in most Sydney stores so I was pretty surprised when I saw this one. I guess they must have sold out on the interesting glitter polishes in the stores I had checked out before.

[W7 Mosaic]

W7's Mosaic has a light blue base with blue-purple and gold hex glitter. The formula is pretty good, with a great glitter pay off and a smooth application. The blue base is just jelly enough that you can still see the faded glitter that is one coat under.

Mosaic is a simple polish but I don't think I have this combo of colours and glitter in my stash, and I like how it looks. The gold glitter gives the polish just the right amount of gleam to make it all that prettier.

Concrete Dreams - Emily de Molly Frail Promise

What's not to like about a gray nail polish has pastel splatter through it?

[Emily de Molly Frail Promise]

This is Emily de Molly's Frail Promise, which is a gray based polish with pale teal, neon pink, black and gray matte glitter through it. There's a gold shimmer as well which didn't show up in my photos sadly. It was easy to apply and opaque in three coats with the glitter still showing through nicely.

I really do adore most of Emily de Molly's nail polishes. They always strike a perfect balance in terms of colour and lovely liquid consistency.

Earth and Sky - Femme Fatale Sparkleshell, Emily de Molly Hole In The Sky

Combining two nail polishes I really like!

[Base: Femme Fatale Sparkleshell
Tips and ring finger: Emily de Molly Hole In The Sky]

How sweet are these nail polishes when combined together? Femme Fatale Sparkleshell really reminds me of delicate eggshells, with it's pale beige base and its brown and gold hex glitter. Emily de Molly Hole In The Sky is a sweet blue polish with round and hex silver glitter, and holo hex glitter. Through the pale beige jelly, some of the brown glitter in Sparkleshell looks blue-ish, which makes Sparkleshell a lovely partner to Hole In The Sky.

I really like these nail polish individually and I think they look all the better when combined.

Golden Asphalt - Ulta3 Galaxy

Hello everyone! Hope you're enjoying your long weekend! It's certainly passing too quickly for my tastes... =)

[Bottle to nail: Ulta3 Galaxy (2 coats)]

Today I have a gorgeous textured polish from Ulta3's recent collection. This is Galaxy, a combination of grey, silver and gold that combines to give an aged gold/bronze finish.

[Direct light: Ulta3 Galaxy (2 coats)]

[Diffuse light: Ulta3 Galaxy (2 coats)]

The textured effect also means you get quite a bit of sparkle as you can see in the top photo under direct lighting, which suits me just fine! I've included a pic with diffuse light as well to better show the colours that make up this polish.

[2 coats: Ulta3 Galaxy]

Formula was great, opaque in two coats with nice even coverage. I added a layer of topcoat anyway but the polish retains its textured finish. You could probably smoothen it out with a nice thick coat of Seche Vite or something similar.

Overall very impressed! I'd like to pick up more from this collection but this was the only one I could find at the time. Definitely the most unique and my favourite of the collection though!

The Gold and the Beau-Teal-Ful - LA Girl Teal Dimension, Lacquistry Amazeballz: Original

I'm still working through my old photos from several months back. Here's a shiny mani!

[Base: LA Girl Teal Dimension
Tips: Lacquistry Amazeballz: Original]

I love the teal and gold combo, so I did a French mani of those colours. The base polish is LA Girl Teal Dimension which is absolutely gorgeous. My camera doesn't capture the holo flecks so well here, but my first swatch did a pretty good job of it if you're interested to see  how holo it gets. I really do love this nail polish. Then, I did the tips with Lacquistry Amazeballz: Original. You can also see a super shiny swatch of it here.

In my opinion, you can't go wrong with these two polishes!

Gold Veins - LA Girl Delirious, African Jade nail transfer foil

Work has been so busy recently! My colleagues have mentioned how surprised they are that I haven't had polish on my nails for a while, oh dear...

Well, when times are busy, a good transfer foil is a quick way to get a fancy manicure on...

[What it says...]

This is one of the first transfer foils I ever purchased - African Jade, a matte teal base with gold foil patterning over it. Sorta already looks like an abstract gold foiled over a polish base!

[Bottle to nail: LA Girl Delirious]

I started with a matching base as usual to hide any spots where the transfer was missed. This is LA Girl Color Addict in Delirious, a teal with gold shimmer. I previously swatched it, so for more on that polish, check out this post.

[Transfer foil: African Jade]

I then put on a layer of foil glue over the whole nail and waited 10-15 minutes (I got distracted..) before applying the transfer. For more comprehensive steps for using nail transfer foils, you can look through our tag. =)

[Transfer foil: African Jade]

The final product! I used a quickdry topcoat because I didn't mind the gold part wrinkling up. As the teal bits don't wrinkle, it adds a bit of textural contrast between the two shades! I'm all hyped up to used more of my massive(ly unused) collection of nail art foils, so perhaps there'll be more posts like this in the near future...