I Lied Again...

Hiya, yeah, so, I kinda lied a little bit. You know how I said I had some awesome glittery nails to share last Friday? I'm sort of still editing the photos... I took a LOT of photos 'cause I loved them so hard. Because I don't have the time / patience to edit it them at the moment, "here's one I prepared earlier!". You can consider this a 'from the vault' because it is a few weeks old. I'm sorry I haven't got the glittery goodness ready for you yet! In the mean time, here's some stud-y matte-y nails for you to enjoy.

ABC Challenge: C

Well hello again, friends! Welcome to day 3 of my ABC Challenge! As mentioned at the end of yesterday's post, I had no idea what I was gonna do for 'C', and since I'm crazy-indecisive, I decided to jam two (and a half) polishes into this post so I didn't have to choose which one to showcase. I'mma make today's one nice and quick - here's OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and Charged Up Cherry!

Gargantuan Green Glow

It's Saturday! Woo hoo!! I've got a major essay due on Monday, and what better way to procrastinate than by blogging? =P Today's totally delicious feature polish is OPI Gargantuan Green Grape - one of those 'neon pastel' polishes I've been so hooked on. I knew from the second I applied it that I wanted to make it matte (like I don't with every polish?) and I'm so glad I did, it's totally scrummy!

This is three generous coats with Seche Vite to dry, then Rimmel Lycra Pro Matte Finish top coat on top. I had been warned about the application issues with this one - it's been really difficult for me to find pastel / neon polish that don't have some application issues - but as my opinion is generally colour over consistency, I didn't mind too much! Thank the heavens for Seche Vite or I'd never have got this baby to set!

If you look reeeeeally close, the weird shape of my middle nail (extra bulge-y) is due to the aforementioned ripped nail being held together with tape under the polish. I used white fabric tape until I could get some nail glue, taping along the rip then buffing the tape down and base-coating like crazy! It worked! At least until the nail lifted along the tape line instead of the rip... Well, it worked well enough to snap these pics! I really didn't want to lose my length =( *sigh* oh well!

All of the above pics were snapped outside on an overcast day, but when I came inside to the relative dark of the hallway, this polish just glowed. Poor lighting = poor photo quality, but I had to try and grab a shot of this glow-in-the-dim effect.

I'm so in love with soft / pastel-neon polishes at the moment! Maybe it's because it's Spring? Well, I was in love with them until I broke my nail off and had to revert to nubbins *sob*. I've been rockin' dark colours since I cut all my nails off *sob* but I don't know if I'll post nub pics here because I really don't like 'em! I keep staring at them muttering "... grow, grow, grow, grow, grow..."! Wah! </whinging>.

Do you love bright glow-y colours on your tips or do you prefer softer nuder tones? Nuder's totally a word, right? More nude... You know what I mean! What was the last polish you picked up that you loved the colour but hated the application? Happy Saturday, beautiful people! Wish me luck with that essay! ;-)

For Megan

Hello hello, lovelies! Happy Labour Weekend for those of you in NZ =D Hope you've all got nice relaxing / happytimes plans for the long weekend! Today's post is a) to prove I'm still alive and b) because I got told off for not blogging enough *hangs head in shame*. I bumped into a good friend and fellow polish nut on Friday, and she said "I keep checking your blog and getting annoyed when you haven't posted! Come on, woman!!" or something to that effect. So, just for you, Megan, here's some new nail porn ;-).

I may have mentioned (often, to many people, via many mediums..) that it was my birthday last Sunday - woo hoo! My Mum cooked the most delicious pork roast ever with mountains of veges and perfect crackling, with an incredible cake to follow! OMG, my cake... It was two slabs of chocolate brownies with cookies 'n' cream ice cream between them, covered in ice cream and smothered in chocolate ganache. *drools* Mega incredible. This is all relevant because the two polishes featured today were given to me by my ever supportive and insanely brilliant brother Andy for my birthday. Behold: ORLY Skinny Dip and Jealous, Much?!

First up is Skinny Dip - a gorgeous poolside blue, perfect for Summer! I have a feeling that this might become my go-to Summer pedi colour, replacing OPI Barefoot In Barcelona which has pretty much stayed on my tootsies year-round.

This is two coats with Seche Vite top coat =)

Skinny Dip has the most beautiful pale aqua shimmer shot through it, which helps the 'ocean-y-ness' of the blue to shine! Sadly the shimmer was a tad camera shy, but go find a bottle and you'll see what I mean ;-). 

Next up is Jealous, Much? - a totally delish pastel / mint green that reminds me of the Goody Goody Gumdrops ice cream. I still don't know if that's a worldwide flavour, or unique to us kiwis. Let me know if you have Goody Goody Gumdrops in your country! I'm curious about these things =P.

This baby was a three coater, but only because my application was shockingly uneven.

I've been really diggin' the 'neon pastel' shades lately - light blues, mint greens, aquas, lilacs... I'm yet to give in and buy my first coral polish, but I can feel it coming - must be near! Jealous, Much? completely satisfied those cravings. Did I add a matte top coat, you ask? Of course I did, silly!

... but I alternated nails to give you a comparison ;-). Matte or glossy? I love it matte, but you know that's just the addiction talking =P.

Do I have the best brother or what? To be fair, I think he know he's pretty safe getting me polish for a present ;-), but his choices were spot on, and perfect for me! Thanks, Andy!! =D

Thank you muchly for stopping by, wonderful peoples! Hope that keeps you satisfied for a little while, Megan ;-). See you soon!

Birthday Treats

Happy Saturday, gorgeous peoples! I have two polishes for you today! Tomorrow is my birthday (woo hoo!) so after class yesterday I decided to treat myself with some eye candy, so I popped into my favourite polish stores. Sitting front and centre in one of the stores - obviously new in - were these two stunning babies! I was only gonna look, but when I saw this purple... Oh it was love at first sight - she took my breath away ♥. Her brother - the blue - was a couple of shelves lower, and I knew she'd be lonely without him, so he came home with me too ;-). May I present BYS Orchid Ice and Rhapsody!

First up is my new baby girl - Orchid Ice. That finish... Oh my gosh, that finish! This is one - yes, ONE - coat over Cult Nails Get It On base coat, with a coat of Seche Vite on top. I have never seen a finish like this in the under $10 category, let alone being able to get two for under $15! I am one happy chickie! 

Ooooh that shimmer... Definitely one of those polishes you know you're wearing! The colour, the formula, the finish, the shine, the application... Perfection in a bottle! Well, aside from the smell... Both of these polishes REEK like you wouldn't believe! However, addict that I am, the almighty stench is SO worth the gorgeousness of this baby! If you're gonna try them, hold your nose ;-).

The amazing duo-chrome fleck shimmer in this polish is just to die for! It's a true purple through and through, but flashes the most beautiful bright fuchsia pink in the light. Yep, this is gonna be a long and loving affair ♥ ;-). You gotta know what's coming next...

Matte! *drools* My gosh, I only added a matte top coat out of curiousity, but I am SO glad I did! Lookit! It's like velvet! All the shimmer and duo-chrome-y yumminess with a velvety matte finish - could this polish get any more delish??

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This pic shows the intense duo chrome effect - the deep purple with the breath taking fuchsia flash shining through =D. Yum yum yum yum yum!!! 

Now for her brother... I'm a sucker for a good polish name, and the fact that this is a blue polish called Rhapsody won me over almost as quickly as the colour did. Look look look! =D

Okay, so this baby leans pretty close to a frosted finish (which I'm pretty sure died with the '90s), but the unbelievable shimmer and totally delicious shade makes up for that, right? Right? Please tell me I'm justified in wearing this near-frosted-finish polish! =P He was also a one-coater, finished off with Seche Vite.

 

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Click this ^ one to see the intense shimmery beauty! *drools*

With the matte top coat. Yup, this baby and his sister are more than welcome in the ever-growing family that is my polish stash! I need more fingers - I really didn't want to take either of these babies off!

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Phew - that was a bit pic heavy - sorry! But worth it, don'tcha think? I had to share these newbies with you because they're still totally stealing my heart! ♥ They're completely unique in my stash - though I wish they'd had a green one too! I'm surprisingly fond of green polishes at the moment. It's all Radha of ThePolishOwl's fault! She's been spoiling me with pics of totally delish greens on Twitter ;-P.

What was the last polish that you fell in love with on the spot? Did you buy it then or are you still in a long-distance relationship? Glitter, shimmers, cremes or jellies? I love to hear from you, lovely people! Thank you so much for reading! =D

Stamping The Night Away

Hiya most wonderful peeps!! So I've been a tad MIA in terms of my blogging, and I am sorry for that, but I've just been lacking inspiration lately - you know how it is... I've still been posting on Twitter and Instagram, but I thought it must be time to do a proper post since I haven't blogged since last month! I have a sweet and simple stamped mani for you today =) Enjoy! (And excuse my poor dry cuticles...)

Nothing goes together like pink and blue, so I decided to use OPI I Think In Pink and BYS Sky's The Limit for a pale but clean + bright mani. As you might know I've been using OPI Don't Touch My Tutu as a base coat until I could get my hands on a real one (which I did today, in some VERY exciting circumstances - more in a later post ;-) ), and since I knew how sheer I Think In Pink can be, I doubled up on the white base coat for those nails. This meant I only needed 2 coats of both ITIP and Sky's The Limit for opacity and no VNL (visible nail line). The wonders of white 'underwear'!  

When my yummy yummy base colours were dry, I stamped with BYS French White using Bundle Monster plate BM321. While stamping I managed to bump my middle finger, mostly because I'm yet to do a mani during which nothing goes wrong ;-) but I tidied it up best I could, and apart from a gap in one of the flowers, it wasn't particularly noticeable. My stamping still needs some work, but if I'm careful I can usually get a result I don't hate =P. Guess what's coming next... Go on, you know what it is... 

Matte top coat! Yes, I am still obsessed with all (nail) things matte. It just gives such a nice finish in most cases, though I will admit I've come across a couple of polishes that IMO should NOT be worn anyway but glossy-glossy! For this mani, it definitely worked, don'tcha think? I used Rimmel Lycra Pro Matte Finish Top Coat =). 

The big ol' bump on my middle nail makes an appearance ;-). This pink is just so yummy matte! To be honest I really wasn't madly in love with I Think In Pink when I first tried it on - with a shiny finish it does not work with my skin tone at all, and I was so sadly sure I'd never use it for anything more than nail art-y stuff. Made it matte and BAM! Pure deliciousness! It's amazing what a different finish can do! =)

And a close up, because close ups are great =P. I'm sorry I was away from here for so long, lovelies - I promise to try harder to blog more often! You're all so good to me, you deserve some new content every once in a while ;-).

Do you like pink and blue together or are you totally over the combo? Are you giving the matte finish some lovin' or is that another fad you can't wait to see disappear into the abyss into which Shatter polish has fallen? Thank you SO SO SO much for stopping by, you wonderful peoples! Enjoy your fab Fridays ;-).

Pink Wednesday: Strawberry Delight

Hi hi hi! Happy Wednesday! I know, I know, slack blogger is slack, and I'm sorry I've been MIA this week but life's just sort of taken over and blogging's taken a back seat =(. As always, I felt obliged to do a Pink Wednesday post, so enjoy a simple 2 colour water marble with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Strawberry Margarita!

I started with two coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu as I have done for a while now - I haven't got a base coat at the moment and this sheer white gel polish is perfect to make the colours pop! I think I applied more to my ring finger than to my middle finger - can you see the difference in opacity? I wanted to try a different marbled design to my usual swirls, so I stuck my fingers in the middle of the water pattern instead. What do you think, do you like the side on swirls or these ones?

I smudged my index finger =( I applied a top coat without waiting for it to dry properly... Will I never learn? =P I used Rimmel Lycra Pro Matte Top Coat because I'm still a teensy bit obsessed with matte finishes... Just a teensy bit! I'm almost over it, I think... ;-)

That's all folks =) Thanks SO much for stopping by! Smile lots, and I'll try to post more ;-)

Dutch Ya Just Love That Shimmer?

Hiya, peoples! Hope your Sundays are all lovely and relaxing and re-energising and stuff. Today's post is a swatch of OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI? from the Holland collection. 

This is a deep plummy purple with a copper shimmer throughout. The shimmer is obvious in the bottle and translates pretty darn well onto the nail, though capturing the little beauty on camera was a bit tricky. A perfect buttery 2 coat application. I wore this one for days - a rarity for me! The purple is just so... Purple. It's deep without being gothic, and it's not particularly blue-purple or red-purple, it's just smack in the middle of purple-purple. The copper shimmer gives off gold flashes, making this baby just royal enough for every polish princess ;-).

An attempt at capturing the copper shimmer.

I added a matte top coat, purely out of curiousity, and this was the look that I wore for days. It sort of fused the purple and the coppery shimmer together - it gives a more all-over copper sheen rather than a burst of copper shimmer where the light hit. Yum yum yum!

See? The copper shimmer is no where near as vivid as with a gloss finish, but it's definitely still present. Doesn't the purple look just so delish in matte? Mmmm...

Another angle to prove that the copper shimmer is still there. Just yum!

Hope you all enjoy what's left of your weekends ;-) and thank you for reading! 

It's Marbling Time!

Hello hello lovely people! As promised, today's post features a watermarble using pastel polishes. Let's just jump straight in, shall we?

This mani uses Essie Lilacism, China Glaze Aquadelic, OPI No Room For The Blues and Miki No. 25. I started off with two coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu (the white one from OPI NYC Ballet collection) to give the pastel colours something to shine on - I thought they'd be too sheer without some form of white basecoat.  

I double dipped my left ring finger because the first try was so off centre! You can just see one of the original loops peeking out from the swirl closest to the tip of the nail! I kinda like how the middle finger turned out - the yellow gives a little bit of a colourful french mani effect, don'tcha think?

Another double dipped nail! This really shows how sheer those pastels can be. I stuck my thumb right in the middle for this effect, just to try something different. I think maybe my colours were too far apart to give a really cool effect... It's not so bad anyway =P 

Behold the giant gash. Gahh!!! Don't you hate it when you have everything sorted and finished and just *boop*... Destroyed. Sigh. I added a matte top coat because in the wonderful wise words of my mother, "Matte makes everything look yum!". So true. The matte somehow makes the mani look a bit 60's ish, no?

My right hand makes an appearance! Note the night big smudge-y bald spot on my middle finger ;-). Man I'm awesome at bumping my nails when they're wet! The cuticles on my right hand are so dry, sheesh! Looks like I need to use more Lemony Flutter! 

Swirly swirly swirl...

And just a couple of quick piccys to show any of you who haven't tried this before how truly messy it is! Great fun, great effect, but a b**** of a clean up, especially if you forget to tape around your nails!

Hehe mucky pup... So there ya go, pastel water marble! Every time I do a water marble, I think 'I should do this more often'! Then I realise how much polish it uses, and reconsider ;-).

What are your favourite colour combos for water marbles? Have you tried this mani before, or maybe the dry marbling technique? I'd love your feedback, darlings, I love hearing from you! =D Happy almost weekend!