Rainbow on a Cloudy Day - Revlon, LA Girl, Milani

With the year we're currently having, I need some cheering up before we ring in the new year and I'm cheering myself up with the use of colours!

[Somewhere over the rainbow]

I was trying for a diagonal gradient mani, although I didn't angle the colour change enough for the middle finger so it's not very diagonal, is it? I also wanted the colours to shift to a purple-ish hue at bottom corner of the nail, but it didn't turn out very clearly except for the index finger. I gave up entirely for the last finger, and I think I like that gradient best actually.

[Left to right: Revlon Watermelon Fizz, Revlon Orange Fizz, Revlon Pineapple Fizz,
L.A. Girl Watermelon Splash, Milani Cyberspace, Revlon Blueberry Burst, Revlon Mystical, Revlon Mint Fizz]

I was too lazy to use the sponging method so I pulled out a few jelly nail polishes to see how many colours I could cram into a single mani. Not too bad, I think.

I used a white creme nail polish for the base, to ensure the jelly nail polishes on top would really pop in colour, since most of them are jelly nail polishes. Then as I went from one colour to the next, I overlapped the colours so that they would blend better. The only tips I really have are that you should try to work fast and use few strokes. If you're too slow, it turns into a gloopy mess. Too many strokes and you end up with overly thick layers.

Now, rather than an essay, here's a list to cover the nail polishes from left to right:

• Revlon Watermelon Fizz - A scented red jelly nail polish with small gold flakies
• Revlon Orange Fizz - A scented orange jelly nail polish with small gold flakies
• Revlon Pineapple Fizz - A scented yellow jelly nail polish with small gold flakies
• L.A. Girl Watermelon Splash - A scented green jelly nail polish with small gold flakies
• Milani Cyberspace - Not a jelly nail polish, but a light blue holo nail polish with a thin consistency that if applied sparingly, is almost jelly-ish
• Revlon Blueberry Burst - An extremely jelly mid-blue nail polish, the sort that will never build to full opacity
• Revlon Mystical - From the Just Tinted collection, a plummy-pink jelly nail polish
• Revlon Mint Fizz - A scented blue jelly nail polish with silvery flakies. This one is not that jelly-ish and can reach full opacity in 3 coats

Let me explain Mystical's inclusion in this line-up. It does rather break the visual gradient when lined up like that, doesn't it? As I was looking to add a touch of purple into the mani, and I didn't actually have a purple jelly polish that wasn't too dark in shade for this, I opted to add a little bit of pink to the blue to give it the purple hue. I had to include Mint Fizz to touch up the transition in places as well.

[Revlon Watermelon Fizz, Revlon Orange Fizz, Revlon Pineapple Fizz, 
L.A. Girl Watermelon Splash, Milani Cyberspace, Revlon Blueberry Burst, Revlon Mystical, Revlon Mint Fizz]

I'm pretty pleased with the rainbow effect, and it's reminded me how much I miss gradient manis and the like! This is a simple form of nail art, and I love the results.

Snowflake Sims - Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11, Hit the Bottle Oh look...its Wine thirty, Born Pretty BP-L052

I hope everyone has had a fantastic Christmas! Here's a vagueeeely Christmas-y manicure!

[Flora-centric]

I had a lovely plate full of radial designs that put me in mind of snowflakes, so that's my tenuous connection to the holiday season...

[Bottle to nail: Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11 (2 coats)]

Quick recap of my base shade - Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11, a matte-suede pink with heavy gold shimmer.

[Born Pretty BP-L052]

The plate I used was BP-L052 which is jam-packed with... jam-packed designs! Just look at all that... and because I couldn't choose, I made use of my 10 fingers and tried 10 designs out of the 14 on the plate!

[Bottle to nail: Hit the Bottle Oh look...its Wine thirty (stamping);
Plate: Born Pretty BP-L052; Base: Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11 (2 coats)]

The stamping shade I used is Oh look...its Wine thirty from Hit the Bottle. What a great name! This is a brown-leaning red polish and went really well with the warm pink base.

[Base: Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11 (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle Oh look...its Wine thirty, Born Pretty BP-L052]

Here's my right hand, featuring the middle 5 patterns on the top row in the plate image earlier in the post. I think my favourites are the thumb and middle finger here.

This was also my first time properly using a clear stamper - that is, actually looking down the middle and trying to centre the stamp properly! You can see a bit of trial and error as I stamped this hand first... =p

[Base: Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11 (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle Oh look...its Wine thirty, Born Pretty BP-L052]

This one is my left hand, featuring the middle 5 patterns on the bottom row. As you can see, some patterns don't translate as well on my small nails as you don't get much of the design on. However, I am getting better at centre-ing my stamps!

[Base: Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11 (2 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle Oh look...its Wine thirty, Born Pretty BP-L052]

Here is the same hand, with my thumb in. I really like how the thumb and pointers turned out. Looks like the designs with thicker lines are winners in my book! Altogether, it's a really great plate and you can alter the vibe just by switching colours around.

This plate was provided by Born Pretty for review and you can get it here. Check out the wide range of nail-related items at Born Pretty and don't forget our 10% off code up above! =)

December Daze - Nyx Enchanted Forest, Hit the Bottle's Chromeo, Hit the Bottle's Drop Red Gorgeous, Born Pretty BP-L053

Seasons greetings, everyone!

[Red, Green and White]

I had ordered Christmas themed stamping plates but they still haven't arrived yet, so I decided to make use of a plate sent to me for review.  So in the photo above, the base nail polish is Nyx's Enchanted Forest. A rather old nail polish, with amazingly dense green and gold microglitter. You can see close-ups of the polish here, in an older review. It's still as gorgeous as ever!

For the ring finger, I stamped over it using Hit the Bottle's Drop Red Gorgeous which is a red chrome, and for all the other nails, I stamped over them using Hit the Bottle's Chromeo, a silver chrome. The plate I used was Born Pretty's BP-L053, as photographed below.

[Born Pretty BP-L053]

The patterns on this plate are obviously not meant for this December holidays' theme but the one I chose passes muster with the right colours, in my opinion.

I seem to have overwritten one of my photos from a different angle so instead, have another nearly identical photo to the one above.

[Base: Nyx Enchanted Forest
Stamping: Hit the Bottle's Chromeo, Hit the Bottle's Drop Red Gorgeous
BP-L053 Stamping Plate]

I also stamped all the patterns on a paper with varying success.

I quite like the patterns and can't wait to try them out!

You can find the BP-L053 plate here and yo can use the code above to get a discount on other items at Born Pretty!

Pink Delicious - Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11

Super quick post for today! We have a gorgeous polish gifted to me by Jme for my birthday this year. One of many stunners!

[Bottle to nail: Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11 (2 coats)]

This is Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11. I love this range - they dry with a faintly textured matte suede finish which is where the 'velvet' in the collection name comes from, I guess!

[2 coats: Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11]

#11 is a bright pink, almost barbie-like in some lights, but it's warmed up by the tons and tons of gold shimmer in the polish. Excellent quick-drying formula and dries with a matte suede finish as I mentioned above.

[2 coats: Dance Legend Velvet Mini #11]

Such an easy no-fuss polish for a quick sparkly manicure. I used two coats here with no topcoat to preserve the finish.

Pebble in a Pond - Revlon Zealous, Hit the Bottle A bolt from the Blue, Stamping plate A by Cheeky

[Ripple Effect!]

For this ripple effect, I have used Revlon's Zealous as the base, which is a light lime green colour with a gold-ish shimmer. The shimmer isn't really visible on the nails versus in the bottle. The pattern was stamped on using Hit the Bottle's A bolt from the Blue, which is starting to become my favourite stamping polish from Hit the Bottle. A bolt from the Blue is this vibrant cobalt blue with a foil-like finish and is beautifully opaque which makes it perfect for stamping.

[Bottle to nail: Hit the Bottle A bolt from the Blue]

The stamping plate I used is stamping plate A by Cheeky. I have only included some of the patterns from the stamping plate below, but I have used this stamping plate before so if you want to see the full image with all the patterns, you can check it out in this other post here. The ripple-like pattern that I used for this mani is in the dark pink square below.

[Stamping plate A by Cheeky]

[Base: Revlon Zealous
Stamping: Hit the Bottle A bolt from the Blue, Stamping plate A by Cheeky]

While the Cheeky stamping plates pack so many patterns together into each plate, it does make each pattern a little bit small for long nails. As you can see, the blue ripples above don't quiiiiiite make it to the end of my nail bed. I think it's interesting that you can see that I scraped off more nail polish for the pattern on my thumb, making the ripples a lot thinner compared to the others. What a difference it makes if you scrape off excess nail polish twice, instead of just once.

Overall, I love this pattern. I think the colour combination works well too. The effect is just such a stand-out and loved how it looked so jazzed up.

Juiced Up - BK Glow-in-the-dark polish #16, Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Born Pretty BP-L040

I thought stamping in black over the bright neon orange from last week would be a winner, but I'm not so sure!

[Maze of confusion]

I think I was having an off day..!

[3 coats: BK Glow-in-the-dark polish #16]

Anyway, here's my deliciously juicy base shade - BK glow-in-the-dark polish #16 in a bright orange.

[Born Pretty BP-L040]

I was generously provided this plate from Born Pretty - BP-L040 which has some super awesome geometric patterns.

[Plate to nail: Born Pretty BP-L040]

The one I chose is on the top row, second from right! I stamped with a plain black creme stamping polish from Hit the Bottle called As Black As Night.

[Base: BK Glow-in-the-dark #16 (3 coats);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Born Pretty BP-L040]

Eeeh, it could be better...?? I don't think I did justice to such a great plate! I'll have to try again, especially with so many great designs to choose from!

I tried stamping a selection of designs that caught my eye but I was in quite a rush (it was getting pretty late at night) and you can clearly see that here! =p

Anyway, I'm sure you guys can do much better than I have, so check this plate out here, or see what else Born Pretty has to offer with our 10% off discount code above. Happy stamping!!

Gothic Filigree - Sally Hansen Taupe Pearl Chrome, Australis Pinot-Dah, Stamping Plate BP-L049

I come bearing stamping on old nail polishes!

[Filigree!]

This is Australis' Pinot-Dah stamped on Sally Hansen's Taupe Pearl Chrome. The pattern is from Born Pretty's stamping plate BP-L049, which was sent to us for review and is as photographed below. Pinot-Dah is a dusky red colour while Taupe Pearl Chrome, a discontinued chrome colour and a gift from Ev, seems more like a rose gold to me than taupe. Taupe Pearl Chrome is a lovely colour with a gorgeous chrome finish, but I don't think my camera picked up the colour very well.

[Born Pretty Stamping Plate BP-L049]

I really like this stamping plate because it's got such lovely, distinct patterns on it and I think the stamping result is pretty good too. Now, if only someone can teach me how to photograph shiny new stamping plates because all I get is reflection some days. :(

[Base: Sally Hansen Taupe Pearl Chrome
Stamping: Australis Pinot-Dah, Stamping Plate BP-L049]

Quite nice, isn't it? The patterns aren't stamped on straight, which was a choice I made. It looked too uniform when I did them all straight and aligned the same way on my left hand, so I tried to change it up on my right hand. Pinot-Dah stamped quite nicely, in my opinion, and the patterns came off the stamping plate real easily.

[Patterns from Stamping Plate BP-L049]

I stamped a few other patterns from the same plate on paper just to show you how they turn out. Forgive the messy excess of nail polish in some places, and missing bits in others. I'm loving all of this and I want to do complete manis of all of them!

I got the stamping plate from here, and it's on quite a discount right now. If you wanted to buy something else from the store, you can get 10% off by using the code above.

Night Light - BK Glow-in-the-dark polish #16

I wanted something bright for the warm weather and this shade certainly fit the bill...

[Bottle to nail: BK Glow-in-the-dark polish #16 (3 coats)]

This polish is BK glow-in-the-dark polish in shade #16 which is a bright neon orange. As with most neons, photos do no justice! I think the second photo (below) most accurately depicts it's eye-searing glory! I think these nails were really distracting to everyone at work...

[3 coats: BK Glow-in-the-dark polish #16]

I tried two ways of applying this - on my ring finger, I applied three coats of BK#16 polish; on every other nail I used one coat of Revlon Powder Puff (a iridescent white matte polish) and two coats of BK#16. I reckon they look pretty similar but perhaps the ring finger had a slightly richer more jelly-like appearance - I'd probably stick with three coats of BK#16 alone in future.

[3 coats: BK Glow-in-the-dark polish #16]

Formula-wise, this was pretty good - average dry time. Now the lovely thing about this polish though is that unlike many neons which dry semi-matte, this one has a more jelly texture so remains deliciously glossy. I did seal with top coat for these photos though.

[In the dark: BK Glow-in-the-dark polish #16 (3 coats)]

And finally! Does it glow?! As you can tell from the somewhat creepy photo above, it does! However it does need some intense charging up before you turn the lights out, otherwise, no I didn't really notice it too much just going from ambient to darkness. Still such a fun bright colour to usher in our summer months here down under!

Green Geometry - Hit the Bottle's Absinthe Minded, Stamping Plate B from Cheeky, Sally Hansen's Blue Me Away

I'm losing track of my manis, and hopefully I haven't posted this one yet before!

[Base: Sally Hansen's Blue Me Away
Stamping: Hit the Bottle's Absinthe Minded, Stamping Plate B from Cheeky]

What I've got here is Sally Hansen's Blue Me Away! as the base, which is a blue creme. I've stamped on top of that with Hit the Bottle's Absinthe Minded, which is a green chrome, as photographed. I love the name Absinthe Minded too. :P  And I've used Stamping Plate B from Cheeky, with the specific pattern lined in dark pink below:

[Stamping Plate B by Cheeky]

[Base: Sally Hansen's Blue Me Away
Stamping: Hit the Bottle's Absinthe Minded, Stamping Plate B from Cheeky]

I do like the look. I just wish I used a stamping polish colour that contrasted more with the base in this particular case. Absinthe Minded stamped beautifully with crisp lines as always.