Rainbow Bar Glitter French Tips on Turquoise!

So I know I just did a post about my new holographic bar glitter but I don't care, it's sparkly so you'll probably see a lot of this in the next little while.  Having just tried stripes the other day, I wanted to see what the horizontal version would look like and it hit me: this could make for an awesome French tip! 

To start, I applied three coats of China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise! It doesn't have the best consistency in the world (you really need the three coats) but the colour is so fantastic I can look past it.  Using a cheap top coat and working from left to right, I went to town with the glitter.  You have to be careful when working with such skinny glitter pieces - too much top coat and it will go over the glitter and look icky.  You can see that happening a bit on my middle finger.  Don't do that.  Very thin coats of glitter are your friend.  Once I was done, I put a preliminary coat of Seche Vite on to stick it all down then I trimmed the glitter that was overhanging the tips of my nails.  Another coat and DONE. 

The Verdict: I'm not happy with how my middle finger came out (got a bit too carried away with getting rid of the extra glitter) but all in all I think this came out awesome.  I just love that the glitter is all holographic, just makes it that much more awesome. 

Cos I'm doing this now too, here's a Vine of this mani in action:

You can find the glitter here at MASH nails. 

This product was sent to me for my unbiased review. 

Rainbow Bar Glitter Zig Zags on Neon Orange

I have something of a love-hate relationship with bar glitter.  Sure, you can create some amazing patterns with it but oh man, when it sticks up and catches on things?  Kiiinda annoying.  That's the best thing about hand-placing it - minimises the chance of sticky-uppy bits.  What better a companion to a rainbow than neon orange too, no matter how hard it is to photograph.  Imagine neon orange duct tape when you look at the following pictures, because it actually exactly matches it in person.

I know you're likely to think I'm a little on the crazy side with this mani but in my defense it's so sparkly I could die.  To start, I applied three coats of Urban Outfitters Tiny Shorts, the most vibrant neon orange I own.  Application is always good with the Urban Outfitter polishes and this one is good too.  Sure, two coat would be preferable but neons are tricky so I'll let it off.  Once done, I lined up my eight different colours of glitter and went to work with my toothpick.  I found the best way to create these zig-zags is to start in the middle at the cuticle and work out from either side.  SO SPARKLY.  SERIOUSLY, SO SPARKLY.

The Verdict: I think you know by now that I love this and only wish I'd had the time to do all five fingers.  Confession time: I only ever do the one hand in hand-placed glitter.  The other hand I made similar - for example, here I used the same base colour and just used a finger to pick up the glitter and press into wet polish.  Trust me, if someone notices and asks after your nails, just hold out the fancy hand they are guaranteed not to tell.  I mean, I do all my fingers and toes every single time I post!  Yeah!

Review: Nails Inc Cornwall

I was really excited about the Nails Inc Feathers collection.  Bar glitter that looks like feathers and isn't giant, meaning it's unlikely to stick up?  Yes please.  When I finally found two of them at Sephora, I couldn't find a way to use them.  I tried with several different base colours either the white or the blue blended in, meaning I lost a lot of the texture that made the polish so interesting.  Sifting through my colours, I found one that seemed to fit my requirements and away I went. 

My base colour, Urban Outfitters Blue Velvet, turns out to dry the exact same blue shade as Nails Inc Cornwall but I WILL NOT BE DISCOURAGED.  Blue Velvet is a gorgeous shade of periwinkle blue and after applying it, I felt compelled to try a taped pattern I saw on Reddit Laqueristas the other day.  So once Blue Velvet and the requisite coat of Seche Vite were dry, I went to work with my striping tape.  I've seen people do this pattern in three steps but I found that if you were careful and lined it up properly you could do it all in one go. OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls is opaque enough that one thick coat was enough too.  Then, on my remaining fingers, I did the usual glitter gradient technique of painting a thin coat 3/4 of the way down the nail, then 1/2, then 1/4.  Cornwall is actually really nice to work with, I'd love to see more of this small bar glitter.

The Verdict:  As surprisingly difficult Cornwall is to match with a base colour, it has an interesting texture and that's all I really ever want in a polish.  Just make it different, I'll be happy.  I also love the taped pattern, good job person that came up with it.  I'll find you!

Review: Nails Inc Baker Street with Rainbow Bar Glitter!

Ok so I love blue polish the mostest but never got around to getting Nails Inc Baker Street until Friday.  That's silly of me cos it's the most perfect cobalt blue that my camera doesn't even know what to do with it.  *I* know what to do though!  Bar glitter stripes!  I heard you like stripes so I put stripes in your stripes, etc.  

What I love about this isn't just that it's sparkly, but if you keep the bar glitter away from the edges of your nails, it actually doesn't stick up and catch on things.  I did the usual - two coats of Baker Street - then went to work with very thin layers of top coat.  You have to be careful with this kind of narrow glitter.  It's very easy for it to sink in and not be even.  Add your top coat and you're done.  This didn't even take that long.  I found I could do half a nail in each application of top coat.  Yeah rainbows!

The Verdict: Bar glitter is always one of those things that looks awesome but is a complete pain in the ass other wise.  So yay it wasn't a pain! And is rainbow and sparky!  Woo! Oh and yay Baker Street, totally worth it, even though Urban Outfitters Blue Velvet is close.  Yeah!

31DC2014 Day 7: Black and White! Eh.

So yeah! Woo! Black and white!  Like, yeah, that's a thing!  All the black glitters!  Over white!  So black and white!  Woo!  There's not the most to say really. 

 I wanted to do black glitter over a white base so I started with a coat of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then two coats of GOSH Stardust, a shimmery white polish.  I then patterned over the top with rectangle, circle, star, "square" and bar using the usual process.  Slow drying top coat, glitter columns then glitter with the orange stick.  Nothing revolutionary.  Not bad though.  I really should be doing this early in the day though....

The Verdict: Eh.  It's ok.  I should have gone with a flat white base maybe?  I don't know, just not super feeling this.  That's ok, metallic tomorrow is another day.