Review: Floss Gloss Fastlane with Sparkly Glitter Triangle Half-moons

I've had this little pot of blue glitter for quite a while now and I have to say it's up there with my favourites.  It was the glitter I used in this glitter mani, the first of mine that truly got sort-of internet famous.  I don't get to use a lot because it's the only glitter I have in that particular size.  When I want to test out a new polish that's a good complement to said glitter, you best I'm going to bust it out.  Turns out it goes super awesomely with Floss Gloss Fastlane. 

Fastlane is this fabulous neon coral colour creme with a semi-matte finish.  My bottle didn't have the best consistency but it was fine after I added a little polish thinner to it.  You need three or more coast with this one, if you don't want to see your nail line.  Once the base colour was dry, I went to work with my awesome blue glitter.  I found it easiest to start with a piece in the middle at the base of my nail then built out the row to where my nail curves upwards, then just the triangles row by row.  BAM, super bright triangle half-moons.

I was curious at this point, what would happen if I put a matte top coat over all this? I tell you, there are few things in my life as nerve-wracking as putting anything over the top of my glitter mosaics.  Turned out ok.  The texture in the glitter was interesting but not sparkly enough so I put more Seche Vite on.  Not really that interesting, after all that :)

The Verdict:  Love the colour on this polish, love the glitter, ok on the matte over the top.  I love a good neon so that's good.  I even managed to get the colour accurate in the pictures, no small feat with this kind of colour.  Yay sparkly trianges!

More Circle Glitter! Because I Can!

I can't even write an intro here about how I can't write an intro about glitter any more because there's not much else to say because I've written that too.... let's just look at the sparklies, shall we?  I swear I'm not sick of doing this yet, let's hope you aren't either :)

Usual deal with this mani.  Three coats of Urban Outfitters Sunshine because it's a really great yellow, then get to work with the slow drying top coat and the circle glitter.  This was a bit of an experiment for me.  Doing a 100% glitter coverage mani is difficult, mostly because the final top coat doesn't play nice when it doesn't have any actual polish to stick to.  The bonus of doing triangle half moons is that you can seal it all as the glitter area isn't too big.  Start at the cuticle on a nice thick layer of top coat and lay a row of glitter.  Fill in the spaces with the next row, working up to the point at the top.  As this doesn't try fast, you should be able to shuffle all the bits around until it all lines up nicely. 

The Verdict: Urgh, this mani is sparkly and good but yet another lesson in why you should clean up more in the actual mani, not do a botched job of it in editing afterwards.  I never photoshop my nails themselves, only my cuticles as they've taken years and years of abuse and need some help sometimes.  Hot damn I love this glitter though.  It's this glitter from Borough Babe Supply, if you're interested.

Sometimes Subtle is Too Subtle

You might notice I've been a little light on the posts lately.  I have a good reason!  Recently I was contacted by an agency in New York that wanted me to help them make content for Revlon's new Tumblr!  Of course I was going to say yes.  My first entry went up last week and I'm quite proud of it.  As a side note, I wouldn't totally hate it if you liked it on Tumblr, because I like winning, even if it isn't a competition.  THIS WILL BE THE ONLY TIME I ASK THIS, I SWEAR.  Anyway, that hasn't been leaving me a ton of time to do complicated things so it's down to whatever strikes me at the time.  In this case it was an attempt at a black-on-black texture thing with Ozotic 623.

 

You can kinda see what I was getting at here.  I started with two coats of Rimmel Black Satin and once it was dry I cracked out my zig-zag decals and added a coat of 623 to my thumb and ring fingers.  The other three nails got tape for a triangle half-moon.  I love the texture in 623, it looks like granite, which is totally cool with me.  It just doesn't really show up over black.  Which makes sense because it's black too... oh well.  I could tell there was something other than just black going on here, which is what counts.  

The Verdict: Always love Ozotic polishes, they're either ridiculously holographic or interesting in the texture.  And I really like the decals from Sticky Nails.  I get bored with just one colour of polish so I like to throw in a bit of zig-zags in there.  Just remember to stick it to your palm first, kids, otherwise you'll have a bad time.  Tumblr! Words.

Nail decals were sent to me for my honest review.  I really like them :)

A-England Bridal Veil with Circle Glitter Dots!

Can I ask you guys a question?  What do you like to see here on my blog?  Do you like swatches, glitter placements, taping, acrylic free-hand painting, dots, watermarbling or a general mixture?  Cos I do a lot of glitter placements, obviously, because that's what I like.  Do you like them too or should I make an effort to do other things?  I'll <3 you forever if you leave a comment below.  

With that being said, let's take a look at another glitter placement! At least it's with a holo base colour, and half moon chevrons!

I felt like using an A-England polish so I used three coats of Bridal Veil.  It really only needs one and a bit but you guys know I like a deep base for my glitter.  I then went to town with an orange stick, gold, silver holo and blue circle glitter from LoveNailz and went to town with my top coat that is currently half Love & Beauty top coat and half one that came with a set of nail stickers I got a while back.  Bad at being a top coat but good for being a glitter adhesive.  I started with the usual column down the middle then filled out each side as appropriate.  Then Seche Vite.  DONE.

The Verdict:  This is nice but nothing earth shattering.  I've accidently had it on for two days as I fell asleep on the couch last night and didn't do my nails as usual.  I don't like having the same nails two days in a row.  It is sparkly, and holding up well, at least.  

Screw it Day 2: Nails Inc Disco Lane with Holographic Studs! Woo!

So it's totally Day 2 of my Screw-it challenge - where I do what I want, as long as I post!  We'll just pretend for now that I posted yesterday, and didn't nap instead.  I love napping.  Anyway, I saw on Instagram a while back that holographic studs existed and once I'd resuscitated myself, I had to buy them.  I can't remember where now, just google it.  I tried them out once before but was kind of disappointed because they seemed all plasticky and not all that holographic!  Turns out, they have plastic over them.  Peel off and BAM most holo.  So let's take a closer look at these, shall we?

I wanted a black polish to go with my silver studs and Nails Inc Disco Lane is a good match.  Cos sparklies.  I first tried just using the wet polish to stick the studs on but nail glue works so much better, once you've un-stuck your fingers from each other, and peeled the tweezers off your hand.   So, after applying three coats of Disco Lane - topped off with Seche Vite - I applied a little nail glue in the shape of a triangle, then stuck my studs on with tweezers.  I splashed out an bought proper nail glue, believe me it's worth it because it dries fast and is super glue-y.  Just be careful not to get it pooled in your cuticles because that will not come off easily.  Once the studs were dry I peeled the plastic coating and BAM shiny.  And hard to photograph.

The Verdict:  Yay Day 2!  I love these studs, because what's not to like.  Holo, ffs.  I <3 it.  And Disco Lane is a good polish too.  Like lots of little rainbows stars.  So win all round!