Review: China Glaze Holographics in a Dot Gradient

Hello!  Again, not dead, just still trying to find time for getting home after work at like 7ish, going to the gym, making dinner, doing my nails, taking the photos, editing them and writing the post all in the one night.  I used to have a good system where I'd take the photos at night and write the post at lunch at work but damn my new socialable co-workers!

Anyway, like any person who ranks how awesome something is by how rainbow and/or sparkly it is, I was pretty damn excited to see the new China Glaze Holographic polishes show up at my local beauty supply place.  I mean, you all saw how great the OMG Collection was, right?  Yeah, this isn't that great.  Not by a long shot, especially with the stunning effort Color Club is putting into their new holographic polishes which I just found at the Winners on Spadina.  Run on sentences, hooray!  I very nearly bought all twelve of the China Glazes on the spot, thinking at the time that the fluorescent lighting in the store must be the reason they weren't that holo.  Nope, not the lighting... 

So having picked up Infra Red, Galactic Grey, Sci-Fly By, Strap on Your Moonboots and Take a Trek, I wanted to find a way to incorporate them into the one manicure.  Giving I'm a little short time these days, a dot gradient fit the bill perfectly.  I started with my usual two coats of Rimmel Black Satin then, using a smaller dotting tool, I did my dot rows, starting at the cuticle and working upwards.  I don't have the greatest lighting for holos - it's set up for smooth, even light - but there aren't rainbows.  All you see is the texture you get with these polishes and the teensiest hint of rainbow and that's it.  

The Verdict:  I was so excited about these polishes and they're just so not exciting in person.  I mean, they're still interesting polishes but compared to Color Club Halo Hues 1 and 2, well, it's not even a comparison.  You'll see.  I have the new Halo Hues and if it weren't for already having done the mani, I wouldn't even know the China Glaze existed.

Water Marbling with Color Club Halo Hues 2013!

Ever since I found the new Color Club Halo Hues 2013 collection at a nearby Winners, I keep using them but then being unable to fully capture how amazingly holographic they are.  This is the third time I've used the collection and the third time I'm actually angry at my photo setup for eating the rainbows.  This is why these pictures look weird; I was so desperate to get the holo going I shoved an ikea lamp sideways into my lightbox and it was still not that holo-y.  Just pretend there are twice the rainbows, k?

I had great success water marbling the first Halo Hues collection and my only criticism would have been that the colours just kinda look the same. The 2013 collection is really all I could have hoped for.  So holo-y, so bright and so good to watermarble.  I started with two coats of black then alternated five of the colours (leaving out the black) with China Glaze Liquid Leather.  I've found that brand doesn't really make a difference in the marbling effect, it's more how new the polish is.  Anyway, you have to work fast as the holos dry quickly but look how pretty they come out!  I even cheated a bit and did two fingers at once in the middle but I did do my other hand to match, which I don't normally do.  

The Verdict:  Pretend I did these nails in full sunshine, not late at night, and that the rainbows were even stronger.  I love you forever holos!

Blue and Gold Hand-Placed Glitter Mani!

A lot of you won't understand this particular type of manicure.  Not because you don't like it, but that you can't understand the amount of time it takes to do.  That's ok.  I happen to have time in the evenings that I like to spend watching TV shows (currently on Intervention, not really sure why I like it so much).  It's pretty easy then to just whack my glitter on.  Think of it like knitting or cross-stitch, but sparklier. 

I wanted a nice contrast colour to the gold holo glitter so I started here with three coats of Urban Outfitters Blue Velvet.  I really like UA polishes, they're super cheap at $4 each, have a nice consistency, have an awesome square bottle that fits in my drawers well and are really great colours.  Anyway, I went with three coats here because you want all of your glitter to have polish to sink into, just a little.  Makes it stay on better.  Once dry, I went to town with my usual technique, using Wet 'n' Wild top coat to adhere the glitter.  Any top coat will do, as long as it doesn't dry fast.  Once done, I topped it off with two coats of Seche Vite.

And for the mani in action (please excuse my thumb, it's a nervous habit I'm trying to kick):

The Verdict:  I love how this came out, both close up and from a distance.  Up close you got all the detail and sparklies, from a distance it looks almost purple with intense gold flashes.  It's doing this that I wish my nails weren't quite as long as it takes longer but I'm ok with it.  As a side note, I have no idea how I managed to get my nails this long and this even.  It's never happened like this before.  Just when they start looking good, either my index or middle nails will nope out.  Let's hope that doesn't happen!

P.S. I'll love you forever if you don't post the "Ain't nobody got time for that" gif. Cos I have time!  I swear it doesn't hit a nerve though!

Tried for Girly, Got Grungy with Color Club Halo Hues

Sometimes things done turn out how you planned.  I've been doing a lot of glitter lately so when I sat down to do a mani that wasn't glitter, I decided to follow suit with jessuhhkuh on Instagram and do a girly, soft rainbow mani with Color Club Halo Hues polishes.  I did that but instead of being flowery and soft it came out really grundy.  Turns out that's ok too!

My mistake here was using a black base.  I'm not really sure why I did that because I know that the Halo Hues polishes are opaque and really don't need a base colour to be holoy.  After applying two coats of Rimmel Black Satin I blobbed a small amout of a polish on to a piece of paper and used a small brush to apply a couple splotches onto each nail.  I kept going with each of the 2013 collection colours until the black was covered.  I added a little of the silver from last year for good measure.  This would have been ok had I not been over zealous in my cleaning and let so much black show around the  cuticle.  It was late so I just topped it with a top coat and called it a day.

The Verdict: This wasn't what I was aiming for but it looks kinda cool and is still super holoy so I'm cool with it.  And I found a way of making some of the holo show in my pictures which I'm also digging.  Turns out if I turn my lightbox off and just use my ring flash, I get this grungy style picture and holo.  So win!

When All Else Fails, Use Massive Glitter!

I apologise for yelling at you yesterday.  I was super frustrated that all my pictures came out a different colour.  Today is better because I used glitter.  Everything is better with glitter.  Especially massive holographic circular glitter that is not only sparkly but so big it actually goes rainbows in all lighting conditions.  Shall we?

It's been a couple days since I did glitter last so I think it's ok to do it again. I wanted to use my huge circle glitter so brought out Bourjois Paris Turquoise - a gorgeous turquoise creme polish that has a really great brush.  It's touted as being "1 sec" as in it applies that quickly and it's actually not far off.  It's really opaque, right from the get go, and the formula wears nicely.  So that's all good.  Once I'd done my three coats I wanted to give my glitter a nice deep base, I went to work with my cheap top coat and orange stick.  The key with such large pieces is to press each piece down into the polish on all sides, and to cut pieces in half for around your cuticles.  I use a pair of sewing scissors but you could use any sharp pair.  Top with two coats of Seche Vite to really seal everything in and you're done. 

The Verdict: I kinda love how this came out, in terms of the finish on the glitter.  I don't have much in this large a size and I really like the almost iridescent effect the top coat makes over the glitter.  It's super shiny and sparkly too, which is always a plus.  It's 4pm and I've already picked off the half bits of glitter from the ends of my nails because they were annoying me but all the other pieces are stuck down nicely.  Sparky!

Year In Review: My Sixteen Favourite Nails of 2013

I know it's now 2014 but I've never been the biggest fan of doing things because the date says so.  I do, however, want to reflect on 2013 as a year.  I'm just so grateful to all of you for being so supportive.  I'd probably keep my nails sparkly even if no one came here but having such wonderful people constantly show their support through comments and views on all the various platforms....it's just great.  So thank you!  I love all of you.  You let me be myself and it's wonderful.

Enough with the gushing, fancy seeing my favourite nails for 2013?  I was going to do this whole thing where I just swatched all my favourite polishes but I lost interest and made it too complicated, so let's just look at sparklies, shall we?  Here are my sixteen favourites, in no particular order....

16. Essie After School Boy Blazer with Red, Gold and Silver 3D Glitter Cubes!

Let me tell you, it was quite the revelation when I realised you could put three diamond-shaped pieces of glitter together and to make a 3-D cube.  I don't do it often because I don't have that many colours because the glitter is otherwise a PINA.  I do have red, gold and silver though, so hence this:

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15. Blue and Red Harlequin Nails

This may be near the less favourite end of the list but I actually really like these nails.  Close up, you see the distinct red and blue pattern but from a distance it just melded into this purple look but with bright red flashes in the light.  It looked super awesome, despite that description. 

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14. Checkered Fancy French Nails and Not a Rainbow in Sight!

I love everything rainbowy and sparkly but sometimes I like to do the complete opposite.  I'd just received some black square glitter in the mail and I had to make the most of it.  Turns out, at the time that was to do a modified french tip over a white and grey gradient.  It kept catching my eye when I was wearing it because it's so very different to what I normally have on.  That!

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13. Sunset Mermaid Nails for My Instagram Meetup!

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might have noticed that when I go to something that has people at it (good job wording, Laura) I like to show off with doing super fancy nails.  I can't help it, I love the attention, especially in person.  So when I organised an Instagram shopping trip, of course I had to do something with big glitter.  This isn't higher on the list because it was a rush job, and it was during my "grunge" photo period, so over a bit eh.  Was sparkly though!

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12. Teeny Tiny Glitter Quilted Nails

My mum makes a lot of quilts. That might just seem like a statement but it's relevant because as it turns out, that's where I get pretty much all my inspiration from.  I didn't realise it for ages but so much of the glitter work I've been doing looks exactly like quilts.  This is one of the times I decided to be more literal in my interpretation and make Bargello nails.  I really should have done all my nails - especially since I've lost two of these glitter colours - but it's awesome as it is.   

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11. This is What 640 Pieces of Glitter Looks Like On One Hand

Oh man, I wanted to like this mani so much more than I did.  I got full rainbow set of square glitter from Glitties.com - fantastic, because look how smooth that colour run is!  It was at this point I ran out of clear top coat and decided to use the glue from nail foils instead.  This just meant my glitter came out wonky and it just isn't as good as it could have been.  It makes the list here because it took so long :)

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10. I Can Be Subtle Sometimes

I love this mani so much.  Not because it's the most technically proficient, or that it took the most time, but that it feels like a secret.  From even a slight distance it just looks like textured white nails but close up, you can see how much work was involved.   I almost want to put it higher on the list but ten is good.   

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9. Rainbow Holo Mermaid Nails

Now we come down the manis that I'm always drawn to - the gaudy rainbow holo ones.  There's something about this one is particular that's a bit off.  Maybe it's the not-quite-perfect colour transitions, the spacing, I don't know.  It is sparkly!  I swear this list isn't just to pick apart my work, these are just the things that come to mind when I have to write a short paragraph about each mani.  WHY DID I PICK SIXTEEN, SORRY EVERYONE.  

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8. Real Mermaid Scale Nails with Overlapping Lime Green Glitter

I love the texture in this mani.  It makes me really happy how well I was able to realistically reproduce sparkly scales.  I think it's not higher up because I don't really like green.... yep.

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7. Real Mermaid Nails

You know what, I really really don't like green.  This mani took me ages to do, it was super sparkly - I have a million videos in the link to prove it - but it's still only my seventh favourite because it's mostly green.  If it was purples and blues, totes number one.  Hmmm... Sparkly?

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6. I Think This is it: My Sparkliest Nails Ever (So Far)

I love these nails, despite the complex emotions that come up when I have to face that I might not be able to produce sparklier nails than this.  Before this, there was always room for more sparkly.  When dealing with dazzle glitter - which is what I'm calling this - it's really sparkly and hard to know where to go next.  It's only not higher on the list as I feel I have to deduct points cos it's scratchy.  No one likes living in Scratchytown. 

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5. Ocean Mermaid Nails

Alrighty, number five!  This is the mani that landed me on Tumblr's Top Nail Art Posts of 2013.  I'm quite proud of that, I have to say.  That's why I'm putting it at number five, mostly so I can feel smug to myself.  I just wish I could go back in time and clean off some of the black that leaked out onto the glitter.  Then it would be better.  Orrrr I could do it again...hmmm. 

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4. Rainbow Circus Mermaid Nails! Cos naming is hard...

It's interesting how a good execution of an idea can make for a better mani.  This isn't the most stunning or original mani but the photos came out really well, I cleaned up properly and all the glitter is nice and even.  While I like the colours in #5 a lot better, this one is higher up in the list because it's nicer for me to look at.  I'm quite hard on my work and this is a good one.  Yay!  At least it doesn't have "mermaid" in the title - I'm not good at naming things :)

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3. New Year's Eve Nails!

Number three: my new year's eve nails! I love these because again, I'm really happy with how evenly I placed the glitter.  And, it really was incredibly sparkly.  Like, I-must-take-4,532-videos sparkly.  And sparkly makes me so so happy. 

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2. Rainbow Nails - Mixing Matte and Metallic Glitter

What I find interesting is comparing these nails to number nine.  It's basically the same thing, but this one works so much better because the colours are so much more harmonious.  Admittedly the metallic and the matte glitter can in rainbow pots from Etsy but who knew alternating the two finishes would look so cool.  And the spacing is even.  This is a classic example though why I get so upset when I break a nail :(

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1. Thirty Different Shades and Finishes in This Mani. So Sparkly!

Finally, finally, finally, we reach number one.  A large part of why I like glitter placements so much is that it takes patience rather than artistic skill.  You just have to sit there and nudge all the glitter into place.  It's relaxing to me, like knitting.  I feel like this mani is my crowning achievement because there almost a thousand pieces of glitter, all placed individually, on my right hand.  That may seem a bit cray to some of you, but to me it feels like victory.  Sparkly, sparkly, victory. 

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While I have you, I just want to say thank you to all those that have supported me and not just dismissed my glitter with a "ain't nobody got time for that" gif.  You're all wonderful and I love you all.  

xoxoxox <3 Laura