Magical Mélange - Orly Fowl Play, Topshop Nails Gypsy Night, China Glaze Twinkle Lights

Another old manicure featuring glitter tips and a bonus polish comparison!

[Jelly, glitter, flakies, french, oh my!]

The two polishes featured here are not dupes, but they are kinda in a similar vein, with both glitter and colour-shifting flakies in a somewhat jelly base. Sorry for the amazing orange tan my fingers appear to have... =p I think I was trying to get the polish colours as close as possible at the expense of my regular pasty fingers...

[Bottle to nail: Orly Fowl Play]

On my index and ring fingers is Orly Fowl Play, a purple jelly with red-to-green duochrome flakes mixed in with blue, silver and iridescent glitter. This one was a bit thick and takes a while to dry so you have to be careful not to dent it while waiting.

[Bottle to nail: Topshop Nails Gypsy Night]

I picked up Topshop Nails' Gypsy Night when I was in London last year because I just couldn't resist! This is a black jelly base with tons of multicoloured and silver holo glitter as well as red-to-green duochrome flakies. Formula was alright to work with (or at least I don't remember any issues!).

[Index and ring: Orly Fowl Play; Middle and pinky: Topshop Nails Gypsy Night]

These photos show the different glitters and the duochrome shift. I'm not sure which one I like better! In spite of them being pretty similar, they are... still different! If that makes sense....

[Index and ring: Orly Fowl Play; Middle and pinky: Topshop Nails Gypsy Night
Tips: China Glaze Twinkle Lights]

Not being able to leave it alone, I chucked some glitter tips on using China Glaze Twinkle Lights. This polish is wonderfully named as it's a mix of gold, red and green glitter that really twinkles!

To be honest, I started a new job two months ago that (among a host of social commitments) has been keeping me crazy busy. I've only just run out of pre-written scheduled posts and really need to sit down soon to edit a bunch of photos, so fingers crossed, there'll be some "fresher" posts coming up soon!

Purple Universe - Gloss 'n Sparkle One Step Beyond

To the universe and beyond!

[Gloss 'n Sparkle One Step Beyond]

This is Gloss 'n Sparkle's One Step Beyond, and I love it! It has blue and pink hex, square and round glitter in a royal purple jelly base. It also has huge round holo glitter, as you can see above. The other glitter are so dense that they're easy to get on the nails, but the big round glitter is definitely sparser. However, still common enough that I didn't need to fish at all to get one on my nail.

I love the purple jelly, because in three coats, it's opaque enough that there's no visible nail line, but still jelly enough that you can see the glitter through it beautifully.

[Gloss 'n Sparkle One Step Beyond]

As the glitter was pretty chunky, it took about three thin coats of Seche Vite to smooth the mani out. I need a proper glitter topper, because so much SV shrinks the plish a lot.

All in all, I really do like this nail polish. Purple and shiny, with an awesome combo of round and square glitter!

Jewel Tones - Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia, LA Splash Embellished

There are always those polishes that look so absolutely gorgeous in person, but you can never capture it properly in photographs. That drives me craaazy sometimes! Aaaah! 

[Sparkle-arkle to the max!]

In case you haven't guessed, today's is one of those... =p

[Bottle to nail: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia (1 coat)]

I started with a base of Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia, which is really not a fuchsia to me? More of a berry red creme. Excellent formula and opaque in one coat.

[1 coat: Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia]

Another big plus is it dries so beautifully glossy! Check out that "new car" shine on them tips!

[Bottle to nail: LA Splash Embellished (1 coat) over Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia]

I used this as a base for LA Splash Embellished, a super gorgeous combination of magenta/fuchsia holo glitter in a matching jelly base. This is one coat of Embellished, but it actually reaches opacity on its own in about three coats. I just didn't want to deal with removing lots of glitter polish at the time.

[1 coat: LA Splash Embellished over Ulta3 Flashback Fuchsia]

It's so so shiny and sparkly in person but it's just so impossible to capture it in photos! I love how in addition to the holo, there's a lot of blue glitter in it, which makes it just that bit more unique. LA Splash is definitely responsible for a number of my favourite glitter polishes and I recommend trying some out if you have a chance!

Fickle Peacock - Ku Ni #10

Holy batman, look at all these colours on each nail! I was salivating after this polish after I saw it on Born Pretty over here but I was fully expecting for it to be mediocre when it was sent to us for review, because colour-shifting polishes can be disappointing sometimes. But the colour shift here is strong!

[Fluorescent lighting: Ku Ni #10 over black]

 My biggest critique of these nail polishes (and a large number on Born Pretty) is the name, because I have to write it out now, and it sounds absurd and really generic. I wonder if they take name suggestions... Anyway, on the website, this nail polish range is called, 'Dazzling Magical Colorful Glitter' and on the bottle it's called, 'Fashion Brightly Colored'. Yeah...  The brand of the nail polish on the bottle is Ku Ni, and this specific colour is #10 on the website and on the bottle.

Naming conventions aside, isn't it gorgeous??  The colour shift goes from a strong emerald green to a strong purple. On its own, the base is too sheer to build to full opacity, so this is layered over black. Two coats of #10 over black leaves so much microglitter that the mani looks like a foil nail polish rather than a topcoat over black.

Here's the same mani under indirect sunlight instead of fluorescent lighting.

[Indirect sunlight: Ku Ni #10 over black]

I find most colour shift nail polishes to be much duller under indirect sunlight, but this one is still looking rather pretty. It's not as vibrant compared to previous pictures, but the colour shift is still unmistakeable.

If you're interested in getting anything from Born Pretty, use the code below for a discount!

Moonshine - Color Club Over The Moon

I think most of this post speaks for itself - that seems to be the case for most posts regarding the Halo Hues collection by Color Club!

[Bottle to nail: Color Club Over The Moon (2 coats)]

This is Color Club Over The Moon from the Halo Hues 2013 collection. I used it in a skittle before in this post, but here's OtM as a full mani.

[2 coats: Color Club Over The Moon]

Like I mentioned previously, this shade looks a lot more saturated in photographs. In real life, it's more of a dusty medium blue linear holo.

[2 coats: Color Club Over The Moon]

Like the rest of the Halo Hues collection, the formula is great. These swatches were with two thin coats, but you can easily get away with just one thick one.

[2 coats: Color Club Over The Moon]

Dry time was fairly quick and the linear holographic effect is super strong too! Best in sunlight but strong enough to be slightly visible indoors. Love this collection!

Crushed Mint - Tribal Colours Liquid-Sand Suede

Hello, hello! Last week I reviewed the pink nail polish from the #10 set of mini Tribal Colours Liquid Sand nail polishes. For today's post, I'm trying out the nail polish I have been eyeing ever since I received this set from Born Pretty.

[Tribal Colours Liquid-Sand Suede Glitter]

The nail polish is a slightly rough matte, mint green nail polish with medium green glitter and a green-gold shimmer running through it. It's not as rough as the OPI liquid sand, and its drying time is rather slow considering the fact that it's a matte polish. Nonetheless, I really like the colour and the glitter combination with the gritty look. It's just so pretty while looking unusual!

[Tribal Colours Liquid-Sand Suede Glitter]

I was wearing an opal ring and a colleague said that the ring matched my nail polish. I think I'm going to try to put together a mani that would be a much closer match! :D

If you like what you see here, don't forget you can get a discount using the code below at Born Pretty!