Flashback Fun - Essie Da Bush, Zoya Yara, Zoya Logan, Sinful Colors Rise & Shine, NYX Girls Gilded Glitter

Okay, this here is a fairly old set of photos... over 3 years old, oh dear... So I'm going to try my best to remember what polishes I used for this set of skittles!

[Gold splash]

Okay, ignoring the fact that all of them have a generous coat of gold flake topper over them... From pinky to index, I'm pretty sure it was Essie Da Bush, Zoya Yara (on both ring and middle) and Zoya Logan.

[Pinky to thumb: Essie Da Bush, Zoya Yara x 2, Zoya Logan, Sinful Colors Rise and Shine;
Flakie: NYX Girls Gilded Glitter]

Hmmm... I thiiink the thumb may be Sinful Colors Rise and Shine, which really doesn't match the rest! What was I thinking! =p Probably that I had a whole lot of greens on my desk at the time and that I wanted to use them allllllll~

[Pinky to index: Essie Da Bush, Zoya Yara x 2, Zoya Logan;
Flakie: NYX Girls Gilded Glitter]

The gold flakies are from NYX Girls Gilded Glitter. Isn't it lovely! I'm kinda inspired to dig it out again and slap it over a nice rich blue... possibly with a matte topcoat over!

Dominoes on Grass - Nyx Girl Algae, essence 101 dalmations

My blog post naming skills are being stretched to their limit of late...

[Glitter: essence 101 dalmations
Base: Nyx Girl Algae]

Anyway, I really like this combo. Nyx Girl Algae has always been one of my favourite dusky colours. And essence 101 dalmations is so pretty! Other than the fact that I love the name, 101 dalmations is just chock-full of glitter, which makes application easy. There's black and white hex glitter in slightly varying sizes, and silver microglitter. The silver microglitter just adds a delicate touch to the glitter topper. I love it and I think it makes quite the distinction from regular black and white glitter.

Splash and Splatter - Nyx Girl Algae, Blue Black Gold

Oh foils, I'm loving you a lot more now! This isn't actually the first thing I tried out of the bag of gifts Ev gave me but it's so pretty that I just wanted to share it immediately!

[Base: Nyx Girl Algae; Foil: Blue Black Gold]

I had to look this up but it looks like the foil is called Blue Black Gold...missing the colour purple in its name! The gold isn't just a gold colour. It looks like gold foil/flakes. All of these have a coat of Jordana Quick Shine Topcoat to seal the foil in.

Here's what I used as my base:

[Nyx Girl Algae]

The base is Nyx Girls' Algae. It's a dusky blueish-green, just slightly greener than the blue on the foil.

[Base: Nyx Girl Algae; Foil: Blue Black Gold]

Ah, so lovely~ I wore this one a whole week which is amazingly long for me. :P I think Blue Black Gold is the perfect foil to try if it's your first time using foil transfers. The pattern on the foil means that little flaws on the foil isn't visible.

My attempt at using foil transfers this time was almost a 100% improvement. I could see that the transfers were much cleaner this time compared to my past attempts and I think it's because of these two tips Ev gave me:

1. Cut the foil closer to the size of your nails, especially keeping it close to the width of your nails. You're less likely to get wrinkling and loss of transfer at the edges if you do it that way. 
2. Leave the coat of glue to dry for about 10 minutes.

Hope the tips help! :)

Snowy Sorrow - Halloween Challenge #9: Graveyards

Today's Halloween Challenge theme is Graveyards....!!

[Brrrrr....~!!]

This seems a bit uninspired but I was running out of ideas! =( My other idea was stone angels with black on grey but I was in a rush (again!) and ditched it...

[Bottle to nail: NYX Girls Complex Purple (2 coats)]

I started with a base of NYX Girls in Complex Purple, which is a rich purple shimmer. This is two coats and not completely opaque because I was going to paint over it anyway.

[2 coats: NYX Girls Complex Purple]

Two coats might be okay if you're careful, but probably three is best with this one?? I don't quite remember, but I think that was the case.

[Base: NYX Girls Complex Purple;
Nail art: Nail Pattern Boldness I Believe I Can Fly, LA Girl Blackout]

I then used the blue jelly base from Nail Pattern Boldness I Believe I Can Fly, wiping off the glitter and dabbing the deep blue base on to make the cloudy night sky. Over that, I used my usual black creme LA Girl Blackout to paint in the ground, headstones and bats.

[Base: NYX Girls Complex Purple; Glitter: Femme Fatale Shimmering Snowcap;
Nail art: Nail Pattern Boldness I Believe I Can Fly, LA Girl Blackout]

I thought it might be interesting to have a snowy effect on so I carefully dabbed a thin layer of Femme Fatale Cosmetics in Shimmering Snowcap over the top. I don't think it quite worked like I expected but maybe I'll try out this white-glitter-as-snow idea again sometime!

Red Galaxy - Flormar Supershine Miracle U12, NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter

Is this another questionable layering experiment? Who knows!! I thought it didn't turn out toooo bad myself...

[I thought it looked vaguely galaxy-like... Emphasis on 'vaguely'...]

I started with a base of Flormar Supershine Miracle U12, an amazingly dense red foil with heavy gold shimmer. You could probably get away with one carefully applied thick coat but I used two to deepen and even out the colour.

[Bottle to nail: Flormar Supershine Miracle U12 (2 coats)]

The upper image with the bottle is under extremely diffuse lighting so the shininess isn't as obvious so I took the second one with a bright source to show the extreme glitteriness you get with this polish!

[2 coats: Flormar Supershine Miracle U12]

I was super impressed with the three Flormar polishes I picked up but ALAS, they shut their physical stall in Parramatta soon after I purchased these and their online store only has limited shades available.

[Base: Flormar Supershine Miracle U12 (2 coats); Glitter: NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter]

I then popped on one coat of NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter, one of my favourite layering glitters, plus a bonus layer of LA Girl Glitters in Uninhibited on the ring finger. I do like testing out strange glitter combinations... but most of the time the results are.... questionable! =p

Stars and Embers - Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet + OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It + NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter

I'm being more hardworking and posting a mani that's actually ON MY NAILS at the moment! =p Please bear with my spamming of photos this time around - I've been quite annoyed by the quality of my photos so far and have been playing around using some baking paper to diffuse my desklamp... Let's take a look!

[Mmmmm... jelly sammich... get on mah nails!]

Today I've got a delicious glittery jelly sandwich using OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It sandwiched between Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet. I also accented my ring finger with a topcoat of NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter. Read on for the breakdown!

[Bottle to nail: Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet (1 coat)]

I started with a layer of Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet - yep, this is ONE LAYER, folks!

In the bottle, it looks like a blackened jelly base but on the nail it's the brightest, reddest, squishiest jelly ever! Add to that the duochrome glitter in the Chunky Holo series - this one is a bit less duochrome-y, mostly a red to gold shift. The heavy gold shimmer tints it very warm but in indirect lighting, it's really a true red.

[1 coat: Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet]

My photos look somewhat matte due to the diffuse light but trust me, it's a glossy jelly. It also dries fairly quick and applies in a thin, even layer. Absolutely no complaints about this polish.

[1 coat: Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet]

 Here's a picture sans baking paper to show the high gloss finish. Yes, it actually is that bright....

[Bottle to nail: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (1 coat over Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet)]

I then popped on a layer of OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It from the Muppets collection. This polish consists of small red glitter and larger red and silver hex glitter. The large hexes are somewhat sparse and you may need to pick and choose what goes on the nail.

[1 coat: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (over Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet)]

I made sure there was at least a couple of the silver hexes on each nail! I can see this being an issue if you're using this as a glitter topcoat but in this case, I wasn't too worried because....

[Jelly sandwich: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (1 coat) between Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet]

...I sandwiched it with another layer of Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet. What this does is adds a red tint to the silver hexes, making them reddish as well and giving the illusion of depth! I know, I know... sometimes I think too much about nail polish...

[In the bottle: NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter]

How much glitter is too much glitter? There can never be too much, you say??? Well, that's what I thought... so I pulled out NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter for an accent nail.

I always find it hard to describe this type of glitter... it's usually a pale translucent purple-ish colour, but changes to bright blue or teal when the light hits it right. Dreamy Glitter also contains fine green-gold glitter (possibly colour-shift?) and pale pink stars. The stars are opaque while the other two are translucent. All this is in a clear pale pink which swatches colourless.

Gosh, long description, much? ;D

[Jelly sandwich: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (over Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet)
Accent nail: Extra coat NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter]

It works so well over red, I was so impressed that I was barely able to stop myself from slopping it all over the other nails too! The glitter is dense so there's no problem picking up glitter and it dries relatively fast. A good thick layer of topcoat sealed it all in for delicious squishy jelly goodness!

[Jelly sandwich: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (over Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet)
Accent nail: Extra coat NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter]

A couple of glossy full-light photos....

[Close-up: OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (over Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet)
Accent nail: Extra coat NYX Girls Dreamy Glitter]

Here's a closeup to show the delicious depth you get with layering multiple glitter polishes!

[Sammich in the office...]

Like I always do, here's a not-too-crappy phone camera photo that I took while in the office. I've been pretty pleased with how bright and cheery it looks on my nails. Please note that this last pic is slightly cool, and all my others are slightly warm - the final mani to the eye is more cabaret or Dorothy's slippers!

Hope y'all enjoyed that! =D

Robotic Rain - NYX Girls Robotic + LA Splash Midnight Rain

I should really be posting more - I have sooo many manis to put up and the untrieds keep rolling in! Before I go on... don't forget to join our first giveaway here if you haven't already! We're super excited for it and have been enjoying the responses to the questions~ =)

Alright... today I have a gorgeous gorgeous polish for y'alls. Jme has actually posted it before but in combination with Nubar 2010 so I wanted to show you the loveliness of it on its own... Behold!

[LA Splash: Midnight Rain]

Isn't this just beautiful! LA Splash Midnight Rain - constantly out of stock and a pain to acquire. When it came up instock all of a sudden online, Jme and I jumped on the opportunity like you wouldn't believe! It was definitely worth it!

[2 coats: NYX Girls Robotic]

I started with a base of NYX Girls in Robotic for a nice dark base. I think this was 2 coats. It's a lovely blackened jelly with deep blue (leaning green) shimmer through it.
 

[2 coats: NYX Girls Robotic]

In lowlight it does look mostly black, but the blue sparks light up when the light hits it. Very nice as is... but wait, there's more!

[Base: NYX Girls Robotic (2 coats); Glitter: LA Splash Midnight Rain (1 coat)]

One! Yes, one! Layer of Midnight Rain, a combination of blue and red glitter. Who knew the two went so well together! (I'm feeling very infomercial-like at the moment, hehe...)

[Base: NYX Girls Robotic (2 coats); Glitter: LA Splash Midnight Rain (1 coat)]

Fair warning, it dries gritty and eats topcoat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So slop on at least two thick layers of of topcoat to keep this looking nice and glossy.

[Base: NYX Girls Robotic (2 coats); Glitter: LA Splash Midnight Rain (1 coat)]

So worth it though! I'm totally pic-spamming here.... ;)

[Base: NYX Girls Robotic (2 coats); Glitter: LA Splash Midnight Rain (1 coat)]

A great glittery combination that is eye-catching but not TOO bright. Definitely one for the collection! What other amazing glitter combinations have you come across? =)

Polish Haul - OPI, Nubar, Nails Inc, Maybelline, BB Couture, WnW, Color Club, Milani, Zoya, Missha, Sinful Colors, Sally Hansen, Revlon, China Glaze, Piggy Polish

Gee, that post title is a mouthful! It's time for another embarrassing haul post! Although tbh, most of these came from Kaz's blogsale... =p

However, before we get into that, I was super surprised to learn that I had won one of the prizes in Dragon Lady Nails' 200-500 Follower Giveaway! Mine was the second entry drawn and I had a pick of the remaining four prize sets and this was the one I picked:

[Dragon Lady Nails 200-500 Follower Giveaway Prize]

Milani Jewel Fx in Gems, Teal and Silver (L-R in the photo), an amazingly shiny glittery blue notebook, two rolls of nail art striping tape, a rhinestone carousel and five of the most adorable fimo heart canes I've ever seen!

[Fimo heart canes]

 Look how totally adorable they are! Can't wait to use them!

[L-R: Milani Gems, Teal, Silver]

Milani Gems is another of those Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday-inspired ones. Teal is medium-sized blue/green/silver holo hexagon glitter with small blue glitter in a clear base. Silver is... well, silver! Hexagonal glitter in a clear base as well. Click the image to see the different glitter combinations better.

Thank you sooo much to the Dragon Lady for hosting such a wonderfully generous giveaway! She is now holding a 750 Follower Appreciation Giveaway with 4 bottles from the China Glaze Prismatic collection so make sure to try your luck!!

Okay, now on to my blogsale haul from Kaz of Pretty Random. I was so so greedy, oh dearrr... The speed at which those comments rolled in, gossshh! Kaz was super duper nice and I received my haul super fast with all the polishes really well-packed in bubble wrap. Yayyy, thank you so much!

[L-R: Color Club Fantasy, OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, OPI Russian Navy Suede, Nubar Meadow Sparkle, Maybelline Racing Green, Piggy Polish (Unnamed), Nail Inc Chelsea Embankment]

[L-R: Sally Hansen White Pearl Chrome, Sinful Colors U Funny, BB Couture Studio 54, Zoya Kym, Maybelline Matte Olive, Wet n Wild Party of Five Glitters]

Aahhhhh all that matte/chrome/glass fleck/glittery goodness, be still my heart! I am so pleased with this haul, you have no ideaaaa~ =p It was like random Christmas!

I also bought a couple of things over the past few weeks. Here's a few that were on my desk when I was taking photos...

[L-R: Revlon Lilac Beam, Revlon Popular, Missha HGR01, Missha HKH01, China Glaze For Audrey, Maybelline Metallics Downtown Brown]

Revlon Color Illusion Lilac Beam was a lucky find after rummaging through a pile at Paddys Markets, wooo! Jme and I each bought a bottle of Revlon Popular during Priceline's recent BOGOF Revlon sale.

[Close-up (L-R): Missha HKH01, Missha HGR01, Revlon Lilac Beam]

A close-up to show the holo in Missha HKH01, and the duochrome in Missha HGR01 and Revlon Lilac Beam! Also, now that I own three different party multi-coloured glitter polishes, I can do a comparison of them! Here's a quick and dirty pic to show you the general difference between the three.

[Glitter comparison (L-R): WnW Party of Five Glitters, NYX Girls Carnival, Milani Jewel FX Gems]

Milani Gems has a lot more orange, NYX Girls Carnival has more gold and neither are present in WnW Party of Five Glitters so you get a much cooler tone with WnW, warm with NYX and in-between for Milani.

I'll write up a more comprehensive breakdown one day but for now, I'm off to stare lovingly at my stash...ALTHOUGH... I will be doing a blogsale sometime, I just need to find some time to weed through my stash (because it's almost at 400 atm, shhhh don't tell the boyfriend...) =p

Have a great week, all!