Halloween in Jan - Femme Fatale Ghoulish Glee

I hadn't realised that this wasn't posted yet!

[Femme Fatale Ghoulish Glee]

This is Femme Fatale's Ghoulish Glee. Isn't it remarkable? I can no longer remember the green base I used, but I don't think it's that important cause you can hardly see it since Ghoulish Glee is almost opaque.

Just look at the different glitter in this one. I can't even list them all, but let's try! There's green hexes of all sizes (some holographic, some a pale pastel matte green), square glitter (mid-green to pale green), green-gold holographic bar glitter, small gold hex glitter, small black hex glitter, green-gold microglitter. It's just a feast for the eyes!

After a few days of wear, I decided to go over Ghoulish Glee with black nail polish to get a goth/halloween French mani. The main aim was to cover my tip-wear. :) Not bad, I say!

Oh My Glitter Gradient! - Essence Oh My Glitter!, Kleancolor Metallic Purple

Here's a mid-week mini-post featuring a purple gradient manicure! Apologies for the cheesy title! ;)

[Bottle to nail: Essence Oh My Glitter! (2 coats)]

This is Oh My Glitter!, a shade from Essence's relatively new line-up of Colour n Go polishes. Jme has previously swatched this shade as well. I'd consider this more a glass-fleck/shimmer rather than a glitter but hey~ OMG! is a purple jelly creme with pink flecks throughout. Nice consistency, opaque with one careful coat! Definitely one to pick up from the new range!

[Gradient: Essence Oh My Glitter!, Kleancolor Metallic Purple]

I think I very lightly sponged on Kleancolor Metallic Purple over the tips to create this fast and easy gradient. One coat of topcoat smooths the whole thing right out. Easy peasy!

Brighten Up! - Australis Knickers in a Knot

Happy 2013!! =) Now that the past few days have actually been hot sunny summer days, what better than an eyecatching creme to brighten up your nails!

[Bottle to nail: Australis Knickers in a Knot (2 coats)]

This is Australis Knickers in a Knot, a bright coral pink creme that was gifted to me randomly by my sister! This colour goes on the nails slightly darker than the shade in the bottle.

[2 coats: Australis Knickers in a Knot]

Apparently the Best Formula Ever! Well, I didn't have any problems with it, I suppose. This was two coats and the color was highly pigmented. It does tend to dry very slightly matte like a lot of cremes do, but one shiny layer of topcoat on and it's glossy as can be. =)

[2 coats: Australis Knickers in a Knot]

I still haven't gone to the beach yet this summer! But I've managed to get sunburnt already just by wandering around the city on a sunny afternoon!

Randomly, is anyone else allergic to sunscreen? And if so, have you found any particular ones which do work for you without causing a reaction? I'm on the hunt, but testing it out is such a pain - literally, so any help is appreciated!

New Year Heat - Orly, LA Colors, Dong Dong

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! May the year be filled with a variety of innovative and exciting new polish! :D

I decided to keep it simple this new year. And to be honest, I only remembered to photograph this after a few days, so it does show some wear.

Base: Dong Dong 21
Middle: LA Colors Gold Nugget over Dong Dong 21
Tips: LA Colors Gold Nugget over Orly Luxe

By now, you already know I love gradient manis. I achieved this one with the usual sponging method, but I had to use Orly Luxe nearer to the tips since LA Colors Gold Nugget wasn't dense enough to fully cover the red foil base (Dong Dong 21). Yes, the name of that nail polish is still amusing. :P  With two coats of Gold Nugget (bright orange-gold) over Luxe (pale gold foil), I got the bright, rich gold colour I wanted. Voila! The things I do when I can't find just the exact shade of nail polish I want...

Rather than jelly nail polishes, I think foil nail polishes might be better for gradients, just because they look cooler!

Square Stickies - brandless nail stickers

I thought I would be more enthusiastic about Christmas manis but my interest sort of fizzled out last week. So let me just show you a little something I have been meaning to post for awhile.

Nail stickers! I bought these brandless nail stickers off Ebay for $2. I actually have a bunch of them with different patterns and use them once or twice a month, whenever I fancy something shiny and interesting. I have to say, they're pretty good for their price. They're thin, so they're easy to stretch over curvy nails.

I cheat a little when I apply them. I'm too lazy to cut them to the right width (measurement is hard!) so any that are wider than my nails, I stick them on and go over the excess gently with the pointy end of a metal ruler. Then I peel the excess off. For excess over the tips, I just buff off with the rough side of a nail buffer. That's the easiest. In my experience, square/squavol nails are better suited for nail stickers than round nails.

There was a nice holographic shine to the silver bits of these nail stickers, as you can see. I got a lot of nice comments on these ones, with questions on how I did this mani. :P  I didn't take any credit!

Nail stickers, like foils, won't last very long. These ones looked perfect for a day and a half, before they start peeling at the edges a little. I wore these for five days before they peeled too much. Another cheat I do is actually use a nice nail polish underneath the nail stickers, which are similar-ish in colour to the stickers. If they peel too much when I'm outside, I just peel off the stickers entirely and voila, still have a nice mani underneath! :D

You can see from these two pictures that the sides of the sticker on the middle finger have small wrinkles. The downside to not cutting to size and rushing! They're only visible from up-close. Those that fit perfectly without excess sticker will apply more smoothly.

One day, I'll trial Sally Hansen's nail stickers and see if they are much better than these cheapies.

So what do you think about my bargain nail stickers? :)

Hidden Treasure - LA Splash Midnight Star, Treasure Chest

Today I have two LA Splash polishes layered over each other to show you...

[Bottle to nail: LA Splash Midnight Star (2 coats)]

I started with a base of LA Splash Midnight Star, which kinda doesn't fit the name, I reckon! This is an old/discontinued colour that I picked up in a rummage bin.

[2 coats: LA Splash Midnight Star]

Lovely formula, one or two coats is great. It's this amazingly glowy warm rust red with larger pieces of gold glitter that gives it a bit of extra blinginess.

[Base: LA Splash Midnight Star; Glitter: LA Splash Treasure Chest (1 coat)]

I then layered over it with one coat of LA Splash Treasure Chest. Now... this is an interesting one! I took a gamble on this and ordered it on Cherry Culture even though the product swatch showed a strange cream/champagne glitter. I'd seen an online swatch of it and it was this gorgeous multicoloured glitter in a red jelly base and guess what... BINGO! =D

[Bottle to nail: LA Splash Treasure Chest (1 coat over LA Splash Midnight Star)]

Here's LA Splash Treasure Chest in the bottle. Look at all those colours! It's amazingly shiny and colourful but unfortunately my photos don't do it justice!

[Base: LA Splash Midnight Star; Glitter: LA Splash Treasure Chest (1 coat)]

Love it when these polish hunt gambles pay off!! =)

Till the next time, Merry Christmas all!