Review: Art Deco mani using Floss Gloss Stun, Dimepiece and Partybruise!

I'm always on the lookout for new polish brands and I'd seen Floss Gloss around the place and thought I'd give it a shot.  I'm so glad I did because they are so very super sparkly and awesome.  I've been moving away from the traditional polish reviews lately as I like to contribute to the internet something that hasn't been done before. I really wanted to try out these polishes so the hardest part was trying to find out how to incorporate a coral, very dark brow, gold glitter and silver glitter polishes in the one mani.  Why not jump aboard the art deco train and do something with triangles and call it art deco?

I initially did a mani involving coral and brown stripes over the gold and silver glitter but it really wasn't working for me.  For my second attempt, I started with two coats of Partybruise, a really awesome brown so dark it could be black.  Application was good - you only need the two coats - and it's something different from just using black all the time.  After it and my coat of Seche Vite were dry, I went to work with my tape.   I started by cutting "M" shapes out of painter's tape for the silver polish.  Dimepiece has excellent coverage for a purely glitter polish - I only needed the one coat here.  After adding another coat of Seche Vite and letting everything dry, I switched to clear tape and taped off the V's for the gold polish, Stun. Everything was sealed off with another coat of Seche Vite and I was done.

The Verdict:  These polishes are awesome and not too expensive either.  I didn't get to post the vine of this manicure, but the one above is using the same silver glitter over Sally Hansen Celeb City and it'll give you a true idea of just how amazing it is.  And yay, art deco!

Review: Clipart Nails with Big Ruby Tattoos

I like to keep up with what other bloggers are doing, and if one of them does something cool, I kiiinda need to do it too.  When I saw this nail tattoo mani over at Chalkboard Nails, I knew I had to get the tattoos too.  That's a lot of O's in a sentence.  I'm ok with it.  Anyway, an order to Big Ruby Tattoos and brainstorming session consisting of having them sit on my desk for a week, let's take a look at my manly nails!

Since the internet has already seen the "Hers" set of tattoos, I had to go for the "His" collection.  I've tried temporary tattoo manis before and have had issues with them breaking apart with the top coat so I approached with caution and low expectations.  Turns out, Big Ruby tattoos are totally fine.  I wanted a bold, non-girly colour to go with my manly tattoos so I started out with three coats of Urban Outfitters Sunshine, a really bold yellow.  It was a little streaky at first but after three coats, it was fine.  Next, I cut out all my tattoos and applied them one at a time.  I didn't have any real trick here, just choose one, line it up, press on the wet cotton pad for 20 seconds and done.  I could even apply a full nail's worth at once without layers of top coat.  Once I was done, I applied two coats of Seche Vite, because I wanted them to stay.  So in your face, it's awesome.

The Verdict: I love how these came out.  The yellow and black turns out to be the perfect combination for bold, manly nails.  The tattoos applied super easily too.

The Other Hand: I'm going to start doing this as a section because I feel I probably should.  I didn't use the tattoos on my other hand as I wanted to save them.  I used the same base colour in Urban Outfitters Sunshine with Cover Band Sticks 'n' Stones, as it seems to fit colour wise.  Yay honesty!

Floss Gloss Party Bruise with Gold and Silver Holo Glitter Dots

I've just started at a new job and now I'm sure they don't mind sparkly nails and the word is out that my nails are usually not bad, I had to pull out all the stops and go mega sparkly.  I've been into gold and silver holo glitter lately so why not use them together over a dark grey-brown polish?

To start, I applied two coats of Floss Gloss Party Bruise, a dark grey-brown creme polish with a great name.  I've woken up with bruises this colour before.  Next, using my cheapest top coat, I went to work with my glitter using my usual technique.  This may look tricky to get spaced evenly but if you do a stripe down the middle of your nail and place them evenly, it's not too difficult to match the spacing as you fill out the sides. I like to add two coats of a top coat like Seche Vite to this because you don't want the glitter to escape.

The Verdict:  I think this might actually hold the record for my most-commented-on nails ever.  They were so sparkly, so holo-y, I must have had ten people comment on them throughout the day.  I did manage to break my index nail half way through the day though :(

The Other Hand: It should be made clear that I really don't do both hands like this.  It may be cheating but my camera set up only works for my right hand and I'm not that good at doing both hands the same.  Instead, I used the same base colour and just sprinkled the same glitter over the wet polish.  It doesn't look that different and if anyone asks, just show them your right hand!

Dinosaur Nails over Ninja Polish 100% Colombian!

Laura is a happy Laura cos Laura has shiny dinosaur nails!  Woo!  I have fought long and hard with these metal whatevers and I finally defeated them.  Which means I get dinosaur nails!  They're even better when they're paired with a sparkly multichrome polish, even if it is brown.  Rawr, I'm a Laurasaurus :D 

There's quite a process to get these nails because these metal decals are thin and surprisingly sharp.  I will warn you now that unless they are fully covered in at least two coats of top coat, you are at risk of scratching yourself.  So, I wanted quite a thick base for these dinos so I could press them down as I applied them.  I started with one coat of OPI Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow and then applied two coats of the stunning Ninja Polish 100% Colombian.  I have no idea if this polish is still available but if you can get a hold of it somehow, damn, the red-orange-green shift in the brown base is amazing.  So shiny.  I then went with the usual top coat application but I took the step of curving each of the decals before applying them.  I found the best way was to lay it face down on my finger then roll and orange stick over it until the curve matched my nail.  I placed my columns and finished off with two thick coats of Seche Vite.  More is better here, trust me.

The Verdict:  I LOVE how these came out.  I have quite a few different styles of these metal decals and haven't been able to get them to sit flat enough until now.  Curving them made such a difference.  I maaaay be officially obsessed with these now :D