All the ILNP Ultrachromes! Like Shiny Beetles!

Guess what guys, it's not glitter today!  Instead, I have the incredibly amazing ILNP Ultrachrome polishes to show you!  I saw a picture of these on the ILNP site and gasped out loud when I saw the colour shift.  I totally didn't sit for an hour at work, refreshing the page when the preorders went up.  That would be silly.  I was so excited when they arrived as they looked as amazing in the bottle as they did on the site.  I swatched each polish over black, took the photos, but no matter what I tried, I couldn't get the finish to a place where I was satisfied.  I'm sure it's something about the way I was applying it, but there would be little bumps or inconsistencies in the finish and it was annoying.  So I didn't post them.  I gave them another shot in a taped mani and YES THIS IS BETTER LOOK:

To start, I did the usual two coats of black (Rimmel Black Satin at the moment) topped with Seche Vite because I'm impatient.  I then taped off each nail into quarters and applied each of Cyngus Loop, Mutagen, Birefringence and My Little Glacier to one quarter.  I used a small paint brush so I could get right to the corners.  Finally, the finish came out properly.  I don't even have to do anything to show you the colour shift, it's just there all the time.  I think my favourites would have to be Cyngus Loop for that strong, strong orange, and Mutagen for turning so many different colours.  My Little Glacier wasn't as shifty but still amazing.  As was Birefringence.  ALL AMAZING. 

The Verdict:  I love these polishes so much, they're so very much worth getting, even with some issues.  Look at that last picture: I can't even count how many colours there are here.  So amazing.  And now there's holo versions too?? It's not fair, I just got these....  shiny

I'm a Proper Mermaid This Time Beeeeaches

Ermerger guys, I don't have any glitter on me!  Well, I do, just on my nails.  I always have glitter on me.  And cat fluff.  It's funny how often my bf comes home with glitter in his beard.  That means it's been there all day... Anyway, new nail vinyls mean something a bit different.  I swear I'm not actually obsessed with mermaids, it just seems like it... Anyway, again, shall we?

I got a bunch of really awesome nail vinyls from Lou It Yourself the other day and of course the mermaid stencil jumped out at me.  For the sake of transparency, I should tell you that I'm using acrylic tips here.  My real nails have taken a bit of a beating due to how much I like picking off polish so these are a good alternative.  There's a Nailene kit I found that actually works really well.  The top coat is what I've been using lately instead of Seche Vite and it's just so shiny I can't even a bit.  Anyway, once my nails were prepped, I applied two coats of a navy Quo polish then applied a coat of Seche Vite to help with the drying process.  Once dry, I applied my stencil and sponged on a gradient of Color Club Blue Heaven, ILNP Star Gazing and Glitter Gal Dark Purple.  I did two quick coats then peeled the stencil off.  BAM I'm a mermaid bitchessss.

 

The Verdict:  Really like the polishes and extra like the stencil.  I was able to do five nails with two stickers which is awesome.  Hooray for holo mermaidnesssss yisss