Poison Swamp - Dance Legend Supernatural, Dance Legend Hell Money

Following on from last week... what's better than one polish from the Dance Legend Mystery collection....? Why, two of them, of course! =p

[Hulk smash!]

There was sooome thought behind the Hulk-esque colour scheme! I swear~

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

Quick photo of the base I started with in last week's post - Dance Legend Supernatural, a multichrome flakie that shifts from purple to bronze.

[Bottle to nail: Dance Legend Hell Money (tips); Base: Dance Legend Supernatural (2 coats)]

I then carefully sponged a layer of Dance Legend Hell Money over the tips to make a gradient. Hell Money is a green to purple to bronze multichrome (which you can see very nicely in the bottle pic above) so in my head I thought it should totally match up!

[Bottle to nail: Dance Legend Supernatural (2 coats); Tips: Dance Legend Hell Money]

The gradient is much more gradual in real life as the different flakies blend quite well. Metallic flakies like these are really good for sponging on as you can make it as dense or sparse as you like.

[Base: Dance Legend Supernatural (2 coats); Tips: Dance Legend Hell Money]

These photos don't capture it that well but Hell Money is a bright emerald green, rather than the slight blue tinge in these photos (I was next to an open window on a very sunny day).

[Base: Dance Legend Supernatural (2 coats); Tips: Dance Legend Hell Money]

You can see though that in the angled photo, it does turn purple! That was my rationale for putting these two shades together....

[Base: Dance Legend Supernatural (2 coats); Tips: Dance Legend Hell Money]

I'm quite happy with how this turned out and would like to experiment with more gradients in future! Maybe in combination with stamping! Do allll the things!

Shining Geometry - Dance Legend Step 1, Hit the Bottle A bolt from the Blue, Born Pretty stamping plate BP-L040

I almost forgot about this mani!

[Base: Dance Legend Step 1
Stamping: Hit the Bottle A bolt from the Blue, Born Pretty stamping plate BP-L040]

I did a post about the base polish, which is Dance Legend's Step 1, here. It's a silver holo polish that I stamped over with Hit the Bottle's A bolt from the Blue, a blue chrome stamping polish. The pattern is from Born Pretty's BP-L040, a stamping plate filled with rather interesting geometric shapes.

[Born Pretty stamping plate BP-L040]

This is BP-L040, and the pattern I used is the third from the left in the last row. I've used this plate a couple of times now and have been happy with the results so far.

[Base: Dance Legend Step 1
Stamping: Hit the Bottle A bolt from the Blue, Born Pretty stamping plate BP-L040]

I think the final result was glittery, shiny and rather neat, if I do say so myself. I tried to photograph the holo look by taking an out of focus shot below:

[Base: Dance Legend Step 1
Stamping: Hit the Bottle A bolt from the Blue, Born Pretty stamping plate BP-L040]

Hopefully that captures some of the nice shiny holo that was framed by the blue stamping.

Magic Fantastic - Dance Legend Supernatural

I just love the multichrome metallic flakies from the Dance Legend Mystery collection! Here's a lovely one that Jme gifted me last year..

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

This one is Supernatural, which is a clear base packed full of metallic flakies that shift from purple to gold at extreme angles. There's also a whole bunch of other colours packed in there that you can see in the bottle photo above - eg magenta-blue flakies. It definitely gives a very complex look to the finish rather than a flat single duochrome polish.

[2 coats: Dance Legend Supernatural]

Here's two photos to show the main purple shade, and then the bronze/gold at extreme angles. Very good colour shift!

[2 coats: Dance Legend Supernatural]

I think these photos were taken without topcoat, so it's not a completely smooth appearance, even though the flakes definitely lay flat on the nail. In general, an excellent formula - quick-drying, opaque in two coats (and on fairly long nails for myself even!) and no need for fishing around.

[2 coats: Dance Legend Supernatural]

The first and last photos in this post were taken in direct lighting to show how reflective the flakes are. Definitely a great polish for the collection!

Red + Gold - Lacquistry Amazeball: Original, Hit the Bottle Drop Red Gorgeous, Born Pretty L025

Happy Chinese New Year to all! It's time for manis in red and gold!

[Shining Skies]

The base is Lacquistry's Amazeball: Original, a gorgeous absurdly shiny gold flakes polish in a clear base. It's almost opaque in one coat and is one of the shiniest gold polish I have. I have stamped on top of it with a pattern of clouds from Born Pretty's stamping plate L025, using Hit the Bottle's Drop Red Gorgeous, a red chrome stamping polish.

[Born Pretty Stamping Plate L025]

Stamping plate L025 has a distinctly Asian flavour which is why I chose it for my Chinese New Year themed manicure. I actually did try the other patterns but they really did not stand out with a red and gold combination, but the clouds did pretty well against the gold.

[Base: Lacquistry Amazeball: Original
Stamping: Hit the Bottle Drop Red Gorgeous, Born Pretty L025]

My nails were too long for the cloud's stamping pattern to cover the entire nail, so what I did was to block off the tips of my nails with tape and stamp it so that there was only a strip of stamped cloud pattern in the middle of the gold nails. 

Since my aim was to have something shiny in red and gold, I think I achieved the look I was after! :D

Silver Sunnies - Maybelline Mirror Image, Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Born Pretty BP-L022

It's summer! It's (too) hot, and (too) bright! So I've combined the two and did this stamping manicure to express my feelings... =p

[Slip, slop, slap]

I was thinking my polish from last week was a bit blinding so when I was looking for something to stamp over it... why not a cutesy sunglasses print!

[Bottle to nail: Maybelline Mirror Image (step 2 + base)]

Quick recap: Maybelline Mirror Image - a super-reflective silver chrome. It's really cool watching it dry after application and get more and more mirror-like...

[Base: Maybelline Mirror Image Step 1 + 2 (1 coat each);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Born Pretty BP-L022]

The sunglasses print is from Born Pretty plate BP-L022 and I stamped in a black stamping polish (Hit the Bottle As Black As Night). As I mentioned in my last post, tipwear is pretty horrendous with mirror polishes so I free-handed (badly!) a thin french over the worn tips.

[Base: Maybelline Mirror Image Step 1 + 2 (1 coat each);
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, Born Pretty BP-L022]

Still pretty cute! From afar, you can't quite see the fine outline of the sunnies, and it kinda looks like a dotticure!

Chrome Dome - Maybelline Mirror Image

Haha, looks like Jme and I are into our silver manis this past week!

[Bottle to nail: Maybelline Mirror Image Step 2 (1 coat + base)]

Highly reflective chrome seems to be in at the moment (again!) so I dug out one of my vintage treasures to have a go at it myself! This is Maybelline Mirror Image, a two-step polish set consisting of a base, and then a silver polish (above) that dries to an amazing finish.

[Maybelline Mirror Image Step 1 & 2 (1 coat each)]

This is one coat of base, followed by one coat of the silver. I didn't use topcoat over the top in case it dulled the finish, so wear wasn't great which I think is pretty common with these mirror-finish polishes. These photos were taken after one day of wear and you can already see the tips chipping slightly. Also, all these super-reflective chromes do show up every ridge and nick on your nail! Eeek!

[Maybelline Mirror Image Step 1 & 2 (1 coat each)]

Still a great quick fix to get a high-impact eye-catching manicure! Jme has previously done a great comparison to Layla Metal Chrome, another mirror-finish polish, so check it out here!