a england Saint George & Bundle Monster plate 314

Now I realise it was less than a month since I first wrote about a england Saint George (see here), but this beautiful, dark, rich teal green polish, shimmering with holo goodness, is too pretty to be put aside, so I pulled it out again.   And oh, how gorgeous it is, and applies so velvety smooth.  It really is a joy to apply.

This time however, I stamped it with Bundle Monster plate 314, using Barry M Foil Effect in gold.  Having picked the gold and the silver Foil Effects up from Superdrug after reading they were fantastic for stamping, I am happy that all reports rang true - loved stamping with it!  And I think my stamping is getting better - and if anyone is thinking "But it's not lined up the same on all her nails!", that at least was deliberate, to try and make them all look part of a bigger pattern, and I kept rotating the stamper.

Base coat Orly Bonder, 2 coats Saint George, stamped with Barry M Foil Effects Gold, top coat Seche Vite.





Claire's Sand Effect Purple

I have always shied away from textured polishes - initially the cream ones really didn't appeal, but then the glittery ones started coming in and they peaked my interest somewhat more (I am still not keen on the cream varieties).  But I still hadn't tried one for myself until now - I was about to order some of the OPI Mariah Carey Christmas 2013 collection, which I will probably still do, but out on my wanderings, I went into Claire's for the first time in years, and saw they had a surprisingly large range of polishes now, including some "Sand Effect" ones. 

And I have been converted - this one is a gorgeous lilac that applies perfectly in two coats, and dries to a gorgeous, sandy yet even textured finish, that twinkles in the light.  I love purple anyway, and this really did pleasantly surprise me with the quality and ease of application - for £4.50, way to go Claire's!  I will be paying another visit very soon....

The last picture was taken with a flash, to try and capture the twinkle.

Base coat Orly Bonder, 2 coats Sand Effect Purple, no top coat.

 

 

Barry M Blue Grape

Some time ago,  I was in the Tate Modern, and saw the canvas IKB 79 by Yves Klein - you can read all about it here.  It is a simple canvas painted in one colour - the most beautiful, vibrant cobalt blue you can imagine.  I know a lot of people would think it pretentious (modern art is such a divider), but for me, the colour was perfect.  In fact, he copyrighted the blue and it is now known as International Klein Blue.

To move things to a shallower level, I wanted to find a nail polish that was as close to that colour as possible.  I was delighted to find out that Rescue Beauty Lounge did a limited edition polish called IKB 2012.  I wasn't so delighted to find that I couldn't find a bottle of it for love nor money.

Back to more recent times, browsing n my local Superdrug, and this polish jumped out at me - Barry M Blue Grape, from their Gelly collection.  It is certainly close enough to keep me happy for the moment - a deep vibrant blue, in a super  glossy formula that applies like silk and is smooth and opaque in 2 coats.  My camera did struggle to pick up the colour, but hopefully it gives a good idea of this stunning blue, although it is deeper in real life.  And it is SO glossy, that I didn't really need top coat, but old habits die hard!

Oh, and I didn't want to tamper with this gorgeous colour too much, but I did do a little trail of rhinestone stars after picking up a couple of nail wheels of bits and pieces in Claire's the other day!

Base Orly Bonder, 2 coats Blue Grape, Seche Vite top coat.

Models Own Mermaid Tears

I was just a little bit speechless after I had finished this mani.  As always, pics do not do it justice, but have tried to capture the sheer awesomeness of it anyway!

I have been a bit naughty recently and this week, I have ended up a few (edit: a lot) bottles better (edit: or worse) off.  One of the gorgeous little things I picked up was Models Own Mermaid Tears, from the Splash collection of topcoats.  Kinda wish I'd picked a couple more of them up now!

I started with two coats of L'Oreal The Black Swan and then went and dabbled this beauty over the top.  Mermaid Tears is a cloudy purple blue base, PACKED with opalescent flakies.  Appropriate seeing as my birthstone is opal (just trying to convince myself of a good reason why I bought it!).  The flakes are iridescent on their own - layer them over black, and all of a sudden you are hit with shades of turquoise, royal blues and purples.    I have been staring at my nails all day.  Even in the middle of a very important meeting......

It is not a smooth finish by any means, even with two layers of topcoat, but the payoff is worth it.  You have to dabble the flakies around a little to get a nice even distribution, but it isn't too painful.  The photos below go a very little way in showing just how much they shimmer and glow in the light.  Reminds me of those very glamorous kitchen worktops in black granite, with lots of sparkly bits in!  My inner magpie is much appeased with these nails.

OPI Nail Envy as a base, 2 coats L'Oreal The Black Swan, 2 coats Models Own Mermaid Tears, 2 coats Sall

 

 

 

y Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat. 

L'Oreal Color Riche Black Swan & Bundle Monster Plate 323

After realising I didn't have any blacks (the horror!), I thought I''d try out a L'Oreal polish for the first time in years.   I was very pleasantly surprised - The Black Swan is a super glossy, pitch black polish, that is opaque in two coats.   Not to mention the easiest brush I have EVER used!

And as my latest dabblings have been around stamping and polka dots, why not combine them in the one mani?!   So I used plate 323 from Bundle Monster's 2012 collection for the lacy bit as a  corner accent, and then added polka dots to the rest of my nail.  For the stamping I used Konad Special Polish in white and then used Barry M Matt White (which isn't  matte, confusingly - named after someone called Matt White?) to do the dots.   Was quite pleased with this one and had a few compliments too!

Base coat Orly Bonder, two coats L'Oreal Color Riche The Black Swan, stamping BM323 and Konad Special Polish in white, polka dots Barry M Matt White, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

An InLinkz Link-up

OPI In The Cable Car Pool Lane & OPI Goldeneye Reverse French Manicure

In The Cable Car Pool Lane is from the OPI San Francisco Collection 2013 and it is a deep, wine red / burgundy jelly.  It is so shiny that I had great problems photographing this and you can see annoying reflections in nearly all the photos!  Nevertheless, it is a gorgeous colour - I always have a weakness for these deep berry colours, so it's a winner for me.

To glam it up a bit, I paired it with Goldeneye, another OPI polish from the Skyfall Collection in 2012. after seeing the combo over on Nailz Craze in a different mani.  I decided to do a reverse French manicure, just to have a hint of the gold, but really, my photos do this polish a serious disservice.  This is probably the most stunning gold polish I have worn, a perfect warm, yellow gold.  It is a densely packed glitter, but after about three coats, builds up to an almost foil finish and is absolutely beautiful, sparkling in the light.  Well, apart from the light around my camera that is.

And as ever, you do what looks like the perfect mani to the naked eye - but once you take the photos and zoom in, it don't look quite so good!  Oh well, I think I'll start doing all my mani's under a humungous magnifying glass!

I've taken some pics with flash and without to try and capture them, but for both these polishes, the photos seriously under-represent what they look like in real life!

Base coat Orly Bonder, three coats Goldeneye, two coats In The Cable Car Pool Lane, top coat Sally Hensen Insta-Dri.

 

With flash

Without flash

Without flash

With flash

China Glaze Something Sweet & Bundle Monster plate 314

Except from dabbling with a couple of Konad plates I got in a kit a couple of years ago, with tiny little images on like a couple of stars (which were a bit uninspiring but I do know Konad do some lovely images), I haven't done any stamping.  Until today!  My new set of the Bundle Monster 2012 plates turned up yesterday and I was excited to give them a go.

Last night I had a go and got seriously frustrated and nearly started throwing things around in a temper.  So I went to bed and tried again this morning - much better!  I'm getting the knack of getting the image off the plate onto the stamper, which is the fiddly bit for me.  So this is my first ever stamping manicure - be gentle!

I am not generally that big on pale pinks, but I do like China Glaze Something Sweet and thought it would be a nice base for the tendrilly image I planned on using from BM 314. 

Something Sweet is a baby pink creme - massively streaky on the first couple of coats, but does level out eventually.  In fact, I used between 3-4 coats for this, depending on whether all the streaks were gone or not.  But it is a pretty, candy-floss pink cream and flattering on my skintone.

The stamping over the top was done with plate 314 from the Bundle Monster 2012 set and I used OPI DS Extravagance after reading that holo's tend to stamp well.  I may order some Konad stamping polish in silver, black and white as a base set, unless anyone can recommend others that they use?

Not too bad a job - a few missed patches, but overall I am quite chuffed with my first effort!

Orly Bonder base coat, 3-4 coats Something Sweet, stamped OPI DS Extravagence, Bundle Monster plate 314, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

  

OPI Planks A Lot and Mermaids Tears Polka Dots

Planks A Lot and Mermaids Tears are from OPI's Pirates of the Caribbean collection, back from 2011.  I bought these at the time along with Silver Shatter - I can't say I am actually that keen on shatter polishes, but these two shades are very pretty.

Both are what I would call quite dusty shades, Planks A Lot being a soft lilac, and Mermaids Tears a very muted jade / mint colour.   Both crème polishes, and I find they apply really well, with no streakiness after the second coat.

The colours compliment each other really well I think (I hope so, it's kind of the basis of my sitting room accessories theme!) and I have just got my paws on my new dotting tools.  So what better time to try my first polka dot mani!

Apologies for the untidy bits around my nails - it's amazing how everything looks hunky dory, until you zoom into those photographs!  My skin tends to suffer in colder weather as well, and it is beginning to get quite chilly - slapping on the moisturiser three times a day at least though like a good girl!

Hope you like it!

Orly Bonder base coat, two coats of OPI, two coats Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

Holding Mermaids Tears

Holding Planks A Lot

An InLinkz Link-up

a england She Walks In Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that 's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes                         Lord Byron. 1788–1824

Along with yesterday blogged Saint George, in my order from a england, I also got this stunner - She Walks in Beauty, from the Heavenly Quotes collection.

I shall leave it up to a england to give you the best description: "An intricate and complex mix of large and small rose-coloured hexagonal glitter in a shimmering pale golden base that colour-shifts with light and movement"

Sums it up beautifully - pinky hexagon glitter in a shimmering opalescent base, mostly pale gold, but with hints of silver through to almost a greeny shade in it.

Absolutely beautiful - as Saint George, applies smoothly and the glitter disperses nice and evenly over the nail.  Not opaque but I never expected it to be - it looks gorgeous on it's own, and I think it would equally gorgeous layered over other colours.  Glitter tips anyone?

And I know this has a lovely, historic, classical quote aligned with it - personally when I look at it on my nails, I think of pixie dust and fairies dancing across my fingers.  And yes, I am older than 12.....

Was quite hard to photograph this one - two coats Nail Envy (I have a big annoying chip out of my thumbnail, so hitting NE hard at the moment), two coats of a england and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

You can buy a england polishes from here - currently no international orders due to Royal Mail restrictions.  She Walks In Beauty is £9.00.

Lightbox

Direct light

Household light

Closeup

 

a england Saint George

I was very excited to try my very first order from a england, after drooling after swatches for months.  I bought this one (Saint George) from the Legend Collection, and She Walks In Beauty, which I will post about soon.  Let's just say, I don't think they'll be my last.

This is just such a beautiful polish - a rich, deep, sumptuous forest green and applies so smoothly  I used two coats for this, but you could get away with one coat if it was thick enough.  And in the depths of that gorgeous green, in the right light, you get the fine sparkling holo glitter showing through . Truly gorgeous.

However, I was an eejit on Friday and left my camera at work, so I tried to capture this on my Samsung Galaxy SIII.  Not terribly bad for camera phone pics, but not the best, and I decided they simply weren't good enough to do this lush polish justice, so had to wait till today to photograph it properly.  But then, today my new light box and lamp set turned up!  My desk looks like a photographers studio, but loving it, so included a couple of photos from my new setup, as well as sunlight pics.  I was dithering over the black and the white backgrounds for my tent, but upon looking at the photos, the black highlights the very fine hairs on my hand and makes me look like I have hairy knuckles - eeeew!  White it is.....  I am quite pleased with the results, but need to play a lot more to find out how to take the best piccies.

Nail Envy base, two coats, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

You can buy a england polishes from here - currently no international orders due to Royal Mail restrictions.  Saint George is £9.00.

Natural light

Sunlight

Lightbox

Lightbox

Autumnal Gradient with China Glaze Agro

China Glaze Agro is from The Hunger Games Capitol Colors Collection Spring 2013, and is a lovely, rich olive green shimmer, that applies nearly to opacity in one coat, though I used two here, and very little brush-strokiness.

I then decided to try my first ever attempt at a gradient polish with it, and sponged the tips with OPI Sprung.  It is getting colder now, and with thoughts turning to autumn, I was inspired by leaves turning from green to gold.  As I said, it is my first attempt at a gradient, but I'm actually quite pleased at how it turned out! 

I normally take photos in the morning sunlight as well....but there was none! So took my camera to work and waited for a bit of sunlight.  I also have a lightbox and lamps on the way, so will no longer be limited by available natural light - cant wait to have a play! 

Nail Envy base, two coats of Agro, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

An InLinkz Link-up

Zoya Isla

I was persuaded to buy this polish because of the name - my BFF's oldest daughter is called Isla and I love a good red, so how could I not?

It is a deep, shimmery, vibrant, red that glows with an almost black edge to it in certain lights.  It really is very beautiful and applies smoothly.  My only gripe is a personal one - I really don't get on with Zoya brushes.  My fingers looked like they had been in a massacre shortly after applying the polish!

But still, a small price to pay for such a fabulous red.  And it's Isla's first day at school this week, so it reminded me to pull this polish out of the bottom of my polish case, where it certainly doesn't deserve to languish! (Please excuse the unholy mess on my left hand!)

Base Nail Envy Original, two coats, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

Artificial Light

Natural light

Close up artificial light

Sunlight

And then, because I am all about the decals at the moment, I added little gold flowers to each nail, from one of the sets I got from Hail the Nails.

Sunlight

OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre? / OPI Pirouette My Whistle

From the OPI NYC Ballet Soft Shades Collection Spring 2012.

I decided to go soft, girlie and pretty today, which doesn't happen that often as I tend to like my colours. 

I settled on OPI's You Callin' Me A Lyre from their NYC Ballet Soft Shades Collection from 2012 - I don't have the whole set, but bought this, Barre My Soul (a pinky beige sheer) and Pirouette My Whistle (the glitter overlay) when they came out.

I don't often do sheers, but do make the odd exception.  I find I don't tend to apply them that well (or the formula is difficult) so end up with streak city.  This one however is fairly foolproof - hardly any streaking at all.   I did however put four coats on, to build up to the opacity I wanted.  This is a soft, pink, sheer jelly formula - I trained professionally to be a classical dancer, and this does actually remind me of ballet tights! 

Sunlight

Natural light

I did this last night, and when I looked at them this morning, I decided it needed a bit more (like I said, sheers aren't really my thing and I can be bored of them fairly quickly!) so added one coat of Pirouette My Whistle, also from the NYC Ballet collection - a clear varnish with a suspension of silver microglitter and shimmery white hexagonal glitter.  I love this - they work really well together, and have a pretty feminine look.  I am always happy when the glitter pieces distribute nicely and you don't have to spend ages trying to spread them out on the nail!

And then to finish off, I put a little rose water decal on my ring finger as an accent.  I love this look, considering it is my not so favourite sheers!

Sunlight

Natural light

An InLinkz Link-up

OPI Sprung

From the OPI Mariah Carey Collection Spring 2013.

With moving job and home locations in the last year, and then acquiring a beautiful, but time consuming cocker spaniel puppy (Lottie, my pride and joy - you can see her on my profile pic), somehow OPI's Mariah Carey Collection Spring 2013 bypassed me.

I can't admit to being a huge Mariah fan, but when browsing a few blogs and seeing the swatches, I had to order myself a bottle of Sprung straight away!  In some of the swatches I saw, it looked like it might be a darkish rose gold colour and I had to try it for myself,  as I have been looking for a good rose gold for a long while (Orly Rage is commonly cited, but I thought it was a little pale - I must try it again soon).

Sprung is absolutely beautiful - not really a true rose gold as I had hoped, but hints of rose gold, yellow gold, copper and bronze all in one polish, packed full of fine glitter to result in a foil looking finish.  It was sheer on first application, but builds up quickly - you could get away with two coats, but I used three in these pics as I had a hint of VNL. I've tried to capture all the ways it appears - sometimes gold, sometimes bronze and others more rosy, so apologies for the picture overload!  Definitely one of those polishes that appeals to my inner magpie and a lovely autumn colour as well.

Orly Bonder base coat, 3 coats OPI Sprung, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

A fuzzy mobile phone shot, grabbed on my way to work - annoyingly, the most colour accurate!

Sunlight

Sunlight

Natural light

Bright indoor lighting

Flash