Polish All the Nails

For most of today I've had a wonderfully sparkly blue mani using Lacquistry Winter No.1.  As I applied it far too thick I couldn't help picking it off this afternoon >.<.  Given that it's movie night tonight, I had to throw something on quickly so why not OPI My Private Jet?  I've had this one in my drawer for a while as I was mad at it for not being the crazy holo version.  I consider it forgiven as on it's own it is actually the most interesting colour.  Not really brown, not really olive, so very nearly a holo, it's just interesting!  As I wasn't sleepy yet when I got home, I though I'd add the holo this polish so deserves with one of my favourites Ozotic 534.  You can see a full review of this beauty here , if you're interested. Anyway, I thought I'd experiment with a new taping technique.  Check the pictures first, see if you can tell what I did:

As I talked about yesterday , I got a lovely couple of packages in the mail from the Etsy store Lacquistry.  I was drawn to these polishes as they all seemed to feature enormous pieces of glitter that I just had to see for myself.  Last night I tried out the first one, Winter No. 1.   Winter No. 1 is a beautiful blue, wintery glitter bomb.  If it exists as a glitter in blue or silver, odds are it's in here.  Take a look at some of these pictures, it's just ridiculous!

I love Mondays for the simple fact that parcels tend to filter through the postal system over the weekends and land all together at my door.  I got a super special couple of parcels today, one containing five Lacquistry polishes and one my ultimate lemming, Deborah Lippman Across the Universe.  And let me say right up, I was not expecting Across the Universe to not be the best polish I got in the mail! First up, here's the full set I got today.  Keep reading for further description and MEGA CLOSE-UPS.

On a recent trip to Sally's Beauty, I was sad.  So very super sad.  Despite having made the trip there two weeks ago and being promised they would get the Finger Paints Special Effects collection in, they managed to sell out completely in two weeks!  And this is a place in the middle of nowhere!  I've looked everywhere online and they just don't exist anywhere.  That makes me sad.  To cheer myself up, I bought the neoniest neon coral IN THE WORLD.  Let's talk about it. Orly Hot Shot is the brightest neon coral I've ever seen.  However, application is a PROBLEM.  My nails are pretty stained from all the polish and this polish is so very very sheer.  I added three coats and you could still see the stains.  My solution was to add a coat of Sally Hansen Whirlwind White and that did seem to help.  These pictures are two coats on top of the white.   To jazz up the mani, cos, you know, it totally needs it, I added alternating patterns from the Bundle Monster

Like many lacqueristas who have time on their hands, I decided to try water marbling! I love rainbows, so a full rainbow was the obvious choice.  I gathered supplies of a little pot of room-temp water, lots of tape for around my nails and the six colours I would need for the rainbow.       Straight away I ran into difficulties.  My water was too cold and my first colour wasn't spreading out properly.  I  tried again with a little warm water added and got better results.  What I did find, still, was that my final colour just wasn't spreading which meant that when I went to drag the tooth pick through the polish, glumps of the purple came too.  I found that this was remedied somewhat by dropping the colours in faster.   It was still really hard to do it fast and then get a patter than featured all the colours nicely.   My progression in doing this was starting with my index finger and working outwards.  You'll see that the colours do improve as I go along, with the

I've been looking at the Model's Own Beetlejuice line for a while now and am finally rounding out the collection.  As I can't seem to leave a mani alone, I tried out the fabulous black glitter LA Girl Uninhibited! Golden Green is a duochrome switching between gold and green, funnily enough.  I wasn't super impressed with it actually.  It's really sheer going on so you need at least three coats going on.  It also seems to take a long time to try and is easy to mess up.  Finally, it really isn't much of a duochrome going on.  It's pretty much just all green, all the time.   You can see all the foil particles here.  I do like macro mode! Given I was not especially impressed with Golden Green on its own, I decided to add a glitter gradient using LA Girl Glitter Addict in Uninhibited.  I'm a lot happier with the colour now!  Uninhibited is one of the few black glitters out there and you can create some really interesting effects with it.  

I had a little free time the other night so I thought I'd give a favourite glitter another go-around.  Nicole by OPI Such a Go-Glitter is quite unique with tons of tiny blue glitters, interspersed with sparkly holo particles.  The glitter is so thick I just had to check if the base was clear or blue too!  I've tried this one a long time ago over Sally Hansen Navy Baby but I thought I'd give a brighter blue, Sally Hansen Co-balt Blue, a shot.  As you can see, the cobalt is a really beautiful colour.  I'm always fond of blues but this one was rich and multi-dimensional.  This is two coats. Next, we have two coats of the glitter.  Look how much it sparkles when the camera is out of focus!  It's really the only way I've found that really highlights just how glittery this one comes out.  It's not the greatest match with the cobalt as the glitter is just too much of a match with the base colour.  Over something darker the blue glitter stands o

 I picked up this lovely indigo (ish) glitter at Sephora during my annual bonus mega haul  and have been trying to come up with a way to put it to good use.  Looking through my stash, I thought it might go well with an interesting Sally Hansen Complete Manicure polish I picked up at the same time.  Together, they make a lovely icy, snowing mani, good with the snow we've been having recently. Indi-go With the Flow is an indigo glitter in small and large pieces, in a clear base.  It almost looks silver on the nail which takes away a lot of the unique-ness.  On, it's really not that interesting.  In the bottle it looks like it could go all the way to actually being, well, indigo, but as you can see it just doesn't translate. Underneath the glitter is Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in Lavender Cloud.  This one is actually interesting as it's soooo close to being white and yet can still be called lavender.   I just haven't seen anything like it before.  T

Wandering through Trade Secrets the other day, a particular Zoya leapt out and screamed "BUY ME! I'm light grey with so much glitter!" Ok so maybe polishes don't talk but if this one did, that's what it would say.   Anyway, let's talk about Zoya Luna, a light grey polish with probably more glitter than polish.  Super sparkly, I just had to have it.  Trying it out the other night though, I was kiiiiiinda disappointed.  The application was ok and what you see here is two coats.  Can you see what the texture looks like though?  These two pictures above are what it looks like with TWO coats of Seche Vite over the top.  It just sucks up two coats and just looks rough.  Adding more probably would have helped but I'm not sure it's worth the time.  What else is there to do then?  Add stripes!  I'm really happy with how the stripes came out.  This was done using thin strips of Scotch tape and striping tape.  Alternating the

I hear what you're thinking.  Brown polish?  Why brown when there are million better colours, like blue, purple, glitter, and so on.  I'll tell you why.  THIS ONE IS A SCATTER HOLO BROWN POLISH.  That's right, it's brown but it's chocka-block of holo particles!  And let me tell you, it looks so unique, so different on, you can't go wrong.  Keep reading for more about the amazing Glitter Gal Dark Brown Sparkle.

Last night I posted a review of the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Cut It Out.  I've always liked these strips as they wear well, come in interesting patterns and let you get two manis per pack.  I did, however, have questions on the best way to apply them as if you don't do it properly, they won't stay.    First up, your tools.  You'll need nail polish remover (any kind), cotton pad, the strips and the included cuticle stick and nail file.  I couldn't find the stick so I used another I had on hand. 

A little while ago I found someone doing an amazing dandelion mani, complete with seeds blowing across all the nails.  I just had to give it a try!  To create this look I first added two coats of China Glaze Electric Beat, a good match for a sky blue.  I then used a nail art brush to draw in the stems on my middle finger and thumb using Sally Hansen Gunmetal.  Then, using a stiff straight brush, I dipped the ends in Sally Hansen Whirlwind White and drew on the lines blowing out from my middle finger.  I added a few on my other hand too as I liked the idea of having them spread out.  Finally, I added a coat of Joe Fresh Matte Top Coat.  

Another of the things that inspired me to start about nail polish was the Sally Hansen Salon Effect Nail Polish Strips.  Coming in a variety of different patterns, they inspired me to start trying out patterns on my own.  Having just found a packet of them in my drawer, I thought I'd give one of my favourites Cut It Out a thorough go over.

After having really good luck with American Apparel polishes (like this  and this ) I thought I'd take a look at some of the other colours they had.  I found a really interesting metallic duochrome in Smoke Dazzle.  Silver in some lights, pink in others, it's a really interesting colour. 

Like a lot of my fellow Reddit Laqueristas, I was particularly taken with a dot gradient mani tutorial posted on Reddit a little while ago.  Having picked up a strong, gorgeous purple in American Apparel Imperial Purple, I thought it might make a good base to try out the technique.  Trying to be a little different, I added the contrast colour using a beautiful silver holo polish called Prism Maker I found from etsy seller saban .  The little bottle was only three or four dollars, shipped quickly so if you're looking for an entry holo polish, you can't go wrong.  Look at the result!

Yesterday I looked at the first of my high-end polishes from my Saturday haul, Illamasqua Phallic.  Today, let's take a look at the most expensive of all, the $24 Dior Perfecto.  A dark slate grey with blue overtones, Perfecto is a very understated polish, at least for me.  In the bottle, a tiny hint of silver shimmer.  Take a look at how different the polish can look even under the same light then I'll discuss application. 

I love Mondays as it usually means that any number of parcels filter through the system to be delivered at once.  Man, did I get a good parcel today as my latest order from Harlow & Co  arrived!  Inside, the most amazing polish I actually have ever seen - Ozotic 534.  SO.  MANY.  RAINBOWS.  The base polish is a blue-purple but it's hard to see for all the holographic particles.  LOOK: 

MEOW, MROW, MROW! WAWA!!!!!!!!! NAIL POLISH

Friday night drinks means party nails!  Before heading out to a reddit meetup on Friday night I threw together a very sparkly mani using Maybelline Denim Dash and Milani Gems.  Apologies for the less-than-stellar application.  Despite the rush, I'm really happy with how this one turned out.  Denim Dash was a quick two-coat application and Gems was only one!  So much glitter in such short amount of time.  I really like the contrast between the glitter and the darker base and so sparkly.  Pick up Milani Gems if you can, it's a really great glitter top coat in any of the colours.  You can find it cheap at  beautyjoint.com , if you're interested.