Speckled Sky - Jordana My Superstar, Orly High On Hope

I decided to try out some oldies but goodies because I had forgotten how they looked on the nails.

[Base: Orly High On Hope
Topcoat: Jordana My Superstar]

It's rare that I remember to photograph the bottles, so here we go:

[Left: Jordana My Superstar
Right: Orly High On Hope]

From the picture above you would think that I've been hitting up Jordana My Superstar like it's the last nail polish on earth. But no, a lot of it is used because I used it to make a couple other franken polish. I actually have quite a few franken polishes, I just rarely post them because I don't think people are that interested. 

I do use Orly's High On Hope quite a bit as a base. The colourshift shimmer you see in the bottle is not visible on the nails but it's useful as a navy-ish base polish. As you case in the pictures, it's not a dark navy blue, but more of a dusty navy blue shade.

[Base: Orly High On Hope
Topcoat: Jordana My Superstar]

I had forgotten how much I liked My Superstar until I tried it out again. I love the gold, red and light blue glitter combo. The glitter density is pretty good too and only requires one coat to achieve the look above. I really like the combination of My Superstar against High On Hope. It looks colourful but restrained at the same time.

Brilliant Galaxy - Dance Legend Evolution

Wooo, it was my birthday in September and Jme gave me a whole bunch of gorgeous polishes as usual! <3

[C-c-check it out!]

Isn't that gorgeous! The blue and gold glitter is so glowy in that jelly base!

[Bottle to nail: Dance Legend Evolution (2 coats)]

If you haven't already come across it, this is Evolution from Dance Legend's City Lights collection, an amazing collection of square iridescent glitters in a jelly base.

[2 coats: Dance Legend Evolution]

As for Evolution, I didn't realise from the bottle that it was a deep green jelly base! The jelly is chockers full of iridescent blue square glitter and smaller gold particles. I've always loved that bright blue in polishes (such as in Sinful Colors Crystal Clear). You can really see where the City Lights theme comes across in this collection.

[2 coats: Dance Legend Evolution]

I used two coats for these swatches and it's pretty opaque, so it's just that with the bright light I took photos under, you can really see the green base. Good formula, just with a bit of a strong smell. But otherwise, a lovely polish and amazing combination.

Coal to Gold - Lacquistry Blacquistry

I have my grubby paws on Lacquistry's Blacquistry but my photos do them no justice!

[Lacquistry Blacquistry]

You might remember that I was a leeetle bit disappointed with Lacquistry's Soulstice. It was vibrant, it was shiny, but it just wasn't as shiny as I expected. It looks more like a foil rather than the crazy metallic shininess of Amazeballs.

Blacquistry is exactly as pretty and shiny as I expected. I wish I had better photos!

[Lacquistry Blacquistry]

With the black base, it's opaque in one coat. But I did use two coats here, just in case. The gold glitter is more visible in Blacquistry as compared to Soulstice. Rather than a black foil, it's most definitely a black polish jam-packed with small flakey-ish gold glitter. You can click on the photos to see them in full size and get a better view of the glitter. I'm impressed that a nail polish can look so black yet so metallic and shiny at the same time. I really like this one!

Starstruck - Essie Ignite the Night

Today I have a polish I picked up earlier this year during a Priceline sale on Essie polishes.

[Bottle to nail: Essie Ignite the Night (2 coats)]

This is Essie Ignite the Night from the Encrusted Treasures collection. Definitely encrusted in bling!

[2 coats: Essie Ignite the Night]

Ignite the Night is a gray/silver mix of glitter which results in an overall pewter shade. The lighter silver bits really sparkle against the darker gray shade!

[2 coats: Essie Ignite the Night]

Formula was good, nice glitter density. I used two coats here because I wasn't too concerned with my nail showing as the finish hides any patches. It dries textured even after two thin layers of topcoat, due to the dense glitter particles, but I think that contributes to the sparkliness.

Sunset on Sea - Revlon Grape Shimmer, Revlon Grape Fizz, Revlon Mint Fizz, Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor

I did this mani and broke a nail before I remembered I needed to take a photo. So that's why there are only three fingers in these photos!

[Gradient: Revlon Grape Shimmer, Revlon Grape Fizz and Revlon Mint Fizz
Glitter topcoat: Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor]

It had been awhile since I have done gradient manis, so it was fun to give it a shot again. This took many different nail polishes to achieve, which is what happens when you have so many to pick from.

The base coat was Revlon's Grape Shimmer which is really too jelly to be a good visible base coat. I took many coats and you can still see it's not a solid purple. Then I used a little Revlon's Grape Fizz to start the medium gradient to blue. Revlon's Mint Fizz towards the tips finished off the gradient look. The names of all the nail polishes in this order rather amuses me too.

It still didn't look sparkly enough and so I added Sinful Colors' Pearl Harbor as a top coat, which is a blue and green microglitter. Quite pretty and not very strong, just enough to give the mani a scattering of blue-green glitter. To complete the look, I used matte nail polish over it all.

I liked how this turned out and it was fun to throw together!

Happy Haunting - Nubar Arencia, Konad Black Pearl, Bundle Monster BM20 + BM-224

So, today's manicure... has been sitting in my folders for the last four years!
 

[The creepy part is how old these are..]

This was 2011, so pretty much the first Halloween manicure I ever attempted since I got into nail polish in late 2010. =) How's that for a throwback!

[Base: Nubar Arencia]

I obviously hadn't got the hang of colour correcting photos at that point! Bear with the odd pink skintone..

[Base: Nubar Arencia]

My base was the very lovely Nubar Arencia from the Venetian Glass collection. Man, this kinda makes me feel bad because I don't think I've picked it up since doing this mani...

[Base: Nubar Arencia; Stamping: Konad Black Pearl, Bundle Monster BM20 & BM-224]

I think this was also when I first picked up stamping. Here's me going crazy with Konad Black Pearl stamping polish and Bundle Monster plates BM20 (stripes and arrows) and BM-224 (reptile print, haunted house and pumpkin).

[Base: Nubar Arencia; Stamping: Konad Black Pearl, Bundle Monster BM20 & BM-224]

Wow, look at past me! I even added some rhinestones to top it off! Current me feels rather lacking... well, there's just under a week to Halloween, so maybe I'll get my act together in time for it... Hopefully I won't take another four years to post it... =p