Shifty Shade - Mode Arsonist, Lynderella Happy HoloDaze

I posted a while ago about getting glitter bleed in my bottle of Lynderella Happy HoloDaze here. So since I had it on my desk then, I swiped it over my mani at the time.

[Not quite Christmas!]

While not as Christmas-sy as originally intended, I still think it's a pretty cool combination!

[Bottle to nail: Mode Arsonist (2 coats)]

I started with a base of Mode Arsonist. I spotted this beauty in the local pharmacy but kept putting it back in the Mode bin because... I have so many red polishes! So many red polishes with gold shimmer, even! But I'm so so glad I finally caved and picked this gorgeous polish up! In the bottle, the shimmer looks slightly green at extreme angles, but this isn't visible on the nail.

[2 coats: Mode Arsonist]

The base is a deep warm red, almost jelly-like and the shimmer is really obvious even on the nail. Opaque in one careful coat, but I used two to deepen the colour. Vampy without being too far on the black side! Also... I thought that was an awesome name...

[Glitter bleed: Lynderella Happy HoloDaze]

So, here's my bottle of Happy HoloDaze... You can see how the green hexes are pretty much teal now. The clear base has gone a rather unattractive limey hue. The square glitter is still green though!

[Base: Mode Arsonist (2 coats); Glitter: Lynderella Happy HoloDaze (1 coat)]

Dabbled on a coat of Happy HoloDaze on each nail... still gorgeous! Just different~ =)

Glitter Leaching - Lynderella Happy HoloDaze!

=( I was scrabbling around in my polish stash last night... and I spotted one of my Lynderellas and thought to myself... I don't remember that glitter combo. So I pulled it out, and turns out it was Happy HoloDaze!

If you remember from Jme's swatch post, the combination is red, gold and green. But it appears that the green has dissolved and leached into the base, leaving bluey-teal hexes behind and tinting the base a somewhat unattractive yellow-green.

[Lynderella Happy HoloDaze!: Colour shift, but not in the nice way... ]

I snapped a quick photo with my mobile. You can see that the larger green square glitter is still green but all the smaller hexes have gone blue. Bugger! I was looking forward to using it at Christmas this year. =( I do store my polishes away from light too! Has anyone noticed that the glitter in their Happy HoloDaze is not solvent-resistant?

Swamp Dipped - Australis Mates Rates, Lynderella She Lived in a Swamp

Fancy a dip in the swamp anyone? ;) Jme and I have decided to try our best not to do plain swatches of the Lynderella polishes I won because there are plenty of blogs who have done amazing swatches of them all! Check out Jme's creative use of Happy Holodaze! as posted last week!

[Base: Australis Mates Rate; Tips: Lynderella She Lived in a Swamp]

I decided to go for somewhat-glitter-gradient tips using She Lived in a Swamp! Yay for shiny glittery goodness!

[Australis Mates Rates: Two coats]

I started with a base of Australis Mates Rates, a  gorgeous blackened green with gold shimmer running through it. It does tend to look like a plain dark colour but when the light hits it, it just lights up!

[Australis Mates Rates: Two coats]

The Australis polishes have an excellent formula and this was opaque in one thicker coat, but I think I used two thin ones.

[Base: Australis Mates Rate; Tips: Lynderella She Lived in a Swamp]

I then applied a glitter gradient of Lynderella She Lived in a Swamp, thinning it out nearer the base and with the highest glitter density at the tip.

[Base: Australis Mates Rate; Tips: Lynderella She Lived in a Swamp]

Only two coats of She Lived in a Swamp was needed to achieve this look! I found that most of the glitter was well behaved, phew! The exception being the stringy bar glitter which required some manoeuvring to get to lie flat.

[Base: Australis Mates Rate; Tips: Lynderella She Lived in a Swamp]

I think I used a thin layer of Milani Glosse to seal it down, then a thicker coat of Nubar Diamont to leave it shiny smooth! There you have it - just one more to go now! =)

Christmas in April? - Lynnderella Happy HoloDaze, OPI DS Mystery

Ev passed me one of her Lynnderellas to swatch and photograph, because she only has so many fingers. It's a huge favour of course, because it's so difficult having to play with new nail polish! Totally! :P

[Base: OPI DS Mystery
Top: Lynnderella Happy HoloDaze]

So I had Happy HoloDaze in hand, which is a thoroughly festive nail polish. I might have had it on during the wrong time of the year, but it really would be perfect for Christmas.

[Base: OPI DS Mystery
Top: Lynnderella Happy HoloDaze]

I thought I would try a little variety just for kicks. Happy Holodaze is a clear base polish, filled to the brim with green hex and bar glitter, red hex, square and bar glitter, and holo hex, square and bar glitter. All the glitter vary in size, even within the same colour. There are some very tiny holo glitter, which is more obvious on the 'gradient' mani on my middle finger, but which I didn't really manage to photograph.

[Base: OPI DS Mystery
Top: Lynnderella Happy HoloDaze]

I realised the earlier photo doesn't have the pinky finger in focus, that's why I'm including this photo too. So if you just layer Happy HoloDaze over a dark colour, like the one shown on my pinky, then that's easy enough and I think it looks rather pretty and bright like that. To try to do a full coverage with this polish (as shown in different patterns above) is a little more difficult. The glitter is larger than most, and so there can be gaps that you need to fill in with some more brushwork or by shuffling some glitter around using a dotting tool.

The other thing is that it takes some time to get some of the larger glitter to lie flat, especially the long bar glitter but all these are eventually manageable. It took about three coats of topcoat to cover the denser spots on my manis.

[Base: OPI DS Mystery
Top: Lynnderella Happy HoloDaze]

I like this particular photo, because you can sort of see the holo on the larger glitter.

[Base: OPI DS Mystery
Top: Lynnderella Happy HoloDaze]

I actually like how the sort-of-square mani looks. I like the darker frame around it, and I think if I had square nails, this would look even prettier.

I had actually forgotten about Easter and potential Easter manis til now, but I had this photos to put up anywhere. In any case...Happy Easter everyone!

Lynderella Loot - Happy HoloDaze!, Gotta Love Brains, She Lived in a Swamp

Hey guys hey guys! I haven't actually talked here about managing to win one of the prize draws in the nail art contest hosted by the wonderful Cathy of More Nail Polish! I have never never really won anything based on luck so I was super duper over the moon about winning the top 8 draw!

[OMFG LYNDERELLAAAAAA!!!!]

I received my amazing prize parcel early this week... LOOK AT MY LYNDERELLA GOOODIESSS! They are so absolutely gorgeous - just jam-packed with fabulous! My photo does not do them any justice at all!

I was working hard in the labs over at UWA all last week and I actually ran off and hid in a random bathroom so I could incoherently email back as soon as possible! Haha, how embarrassing! Thank you so much again for hosting the competition, Cathy! The entries were all incredible and I'm so so happy that both Jme's entry and mine got into the top 8.

Jme got a lovely surprise in the mail from Cathy as well which I'm sure she'll post about soon. She'll also be helping me swatch these beauties so watch out for our posts about them coming up sooooon! =D