Review: OPI Liquid Sand Get Your Number

So I know every lady and her nails have reviewed the Liquid Sand OPI polishes but who would I be if I didn't jump on that bandwagon too?  There's no way I could pass up a matte sandy glitter!  It's just too out there.  Anway, let's take a look at the blue polish in the collection, Get Your Number.

Get Your Number is totally unique in my collection.  I don't say that lightly, I have a ton of nail polish.  It may not look like anything earth-shattering in the bottle - a medium blue thin jelly with holo and iridescent glitter - but it really does dry like sand.  It's a little too sheer for me to be comfortable wearing it on its own so I layered two coats of Sally Hansen Navy Baby on there first.  I then added the one coat of Get Your Number and look how interesting it looks!  I added a coat of Seche Vite to my ring finger to contrast the finish differences.  I have to say that I'm not the most fond of the rough finish but it's ok, I'll deal.  

The Verdict:  Get this polish, even for the unique factor.  Yes, it feels a lot kind sandpaper and needed underwear but LOOK at that macro shot.  If you've ever seen anything like that before, good, cos I haven't :)

Review: Femme Fatale Cosmetics Party Grenade with Rainbow Neon Gradient!

Since I started my new job, I have the money to buy alllll the indie polishes my little heart could desire. It's not a good idea for me to then go to Llarowe because I ordered the most enormous package of polishes you could imagine.  Such a good parcel day when that got here.  Anyway, my goal with this delivery is to try to find new ways to show you indie polishes.  It's too easy to just slap on a base colour  with the indie polish on top.  I must find a way for that to take a lon time!

Femme Fatale Party Grenade is so packed full of square, diamond, hex, matte, shiny, holo and misc glitter I can't even find words to describe how amazing it is.  It even applies well - this is just one coat on each finger.  You get a better result if you fish around a bit but you don't need to, and it doesn't get too thick if you do. 

   I wanted a crazy base colour to go with this amazing polish so I figured it was time to a proper rainbow gradient.  Starting with two base coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, I went to work with 12 different neon polishes.  Using both sides of three little pieces of makeup sponge, I sponged three colours on each nail, keeping one polish in common on each side of the nail to keep the rainbow smooth.  So if I used a, b and c on one nail, I'd use c, d and e on the next, etc. I used China Glaze, American Apparel and Urban Outfitters polishes but there's just too many to list here.  If you want to know one in particular, just let me know in the comments.   

The Verdict: I'll definitely be doing more of these horizontal gradients, as they look so cool.  It's almost like having a duochrome polish frozen in time - looking from the sides makes the polish look completely different.  Party Grenade is so amazing too - I love all the difference shapes of glitter.  Especially when there's so much glitter in the bottle and it looks like this!

China Glaze Texture Polishes: Will it Watermarble?

You know what?  From this point on I'm going to designate myself the "Will It Blend" lady of the nail polish watermarbling world.  Cos I have no idea why else it would have occurred to me to try to watermarble the new China Glaze Texture polishes, other than that I'm cray.  I'm pretty sure it's not that one.  Seriously, how on earth is this a thing you can do?

Since it's so hit and miss as to what will watermarble, when I'm stuck for ideas I just plop the odd polish in water and see if it's a good candidate for marbling.  Turns out that the new China Glaze textures work AWESOME.  To start this mani, I applied two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, still my go-to white polish.  I then just watermarbled away with Bump and Grind, Toe-tally Textured, In The Rough, Of Coarse! and Unrefined.  The texture doesn't get in the way at all.  I was able to make the patterns super easily.  The cleanup wasn't the most fun, mostly because it got all gritty and gross with acetone but it's work working through it.  This is it straight out of the water, top coat covers the textured finish.  You have no idea how hard it was not to slather it in Seche Vite!

The Verdict:  Love the colours, LOVE how the marbling turned out even though it has no business working this well.  I just don't know how I'm going to cope wearing these polishes without top coat.  If I do this again or just generally wear these polishes I'll go for the top coat sandwich approach: base coat, one coat matte/textured/whatever polish, one coat top coat, final coat polish.  Lets you keep the texture while still getting decent wear of out it.

Watermarble all the things!

Rainbow Matte Glitter Needs a Pastel Rainbow Background

I'm always on the look out for new glitter. ALWAYS.  Because I like to wander around Etsy when I'm bored, I found a store that sells all kinds of interesting glitter sets.  A pot of rainbow hex and square matte glitter caught my eye and I had to have it.  The problem was then how to make best use of it.  Pastel rainbow gradient background then hand-placed glitter on top of it is clearly an answer. 

To start, I applied two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, my current go-to white.  Once that was dry, I went to town with six pastel colours and a makeup sponge for the gradient.  I've tried sponging each colour on individually before but the colour transition is never smooth enough for me.  If you're careful and do thin stripes, you can fit six colours on nail-sized sponge.  I can't remember all the colours but stand-outs for me are Revlon Dreamer, American Apparel L'esprit and others.  I can find them if you need them.  Once my rainbow was done, it was on to the glitter.  I used my usual technique to apply the glitter.

The Verdict:  The glitter is good, I'm just not sure about the execution.  The gradient is fine, the glitter is fine, just together...eh.  Especially since it took so long.  I'll find another use for this glitter again, perhaps with the metallic rainbow glitter I got in the same delivery...

Checkered Fancy French Nails and Not a Rainbow in Sight!

I love glitter, blah, blah, I think you get the picture by now.  HOWEVER, you haven't seen me to do a checkered pattern with matte square glitter now have you? HUH??? Yeah, that's what I thought.  It's that kind of day.  Not even a sparkle or rainbow in sight, too!  Cos that's a good segue.

I knew I wanted to do checkers with this matte square glitter I ordered off Impulse Co on Etsy, the trick was trying to find someway of incorporating it without me having to spend a year doing it full coverage on all my nails.  The obvious choice with black squares is white but I wanted to do a bit of twist, with a slight gradient on my tips.  To do this, I started with two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then sponged on said white, Sally Hansen Wet Cement and Grey Area on the top third of my nails.  Once dry, I used my usual technique to apply the glitter.  I started by centering a piece right at the end of my nail, then made a diagonal row out to the sides, lining the glitter up corner to corner.  I then just filled in the gaps.   

The Verdict: I'm kinda proud of my for not only getting my square glitter to line up nicely, but that I did so without using a single rainbow or sparklie.  I'd say that I'm growing up but that's not true and I kinda wanna do this again but over a neon rainbow...mmmm sparkly rainbows.  This cool too though :D

Rainbow Nails, Mixing Matte and Shiny Glitter Together for All That Texture

I'm not really sure how to introduce this manicure, other than I love it but am scared for my sanity over how long it took to do.  This took a long time to do.  Like, a LONG time.  Like, I'm not going to tell you how long, cos it's a long time.  I don't care though because I had the TV show Scandal to keep me company and now I have the most rainbow-y nails in this apartment.  Let's take a look at this monstrosity, shall we?

When I did my computer logo nails last week, I fell just a bit in love with the rainbow glitter as all the colours went together perfectly.  My brain of course then wanted to know what would happen if I mixed it with the matte glitter I received in the same order from Impulse Co.  Turns out, not only are the colours perfect but the contrast of the matte and shiny together looks awesome.  To start, I applied two coats of Rimmel Black Satin when went to work using my usual technique.  As usual, I started with a stripe down the middle of my nail then just built out either side.  Yes, I did also trim pieces to fit around my cuticle and tips.  By this point I'd already spent so much time on this what's a little more time to leave no gaps?

The Verdict:  I don't know how to words for this.  I love them so much, even though I suspect a few people won't understand why I'd spend so much time doing this.  It's totally worth it for me, especially close up.  The mixture of textures is perfect and I love them.  I only wish the shiny glitter was holographic but we can't always get everything we want.  I think I might be leaving these ones on for more than a day :)

Red Matte Glitter Checkers Over Purple

Not done with my new glitter yet.  The bright red square matte glitter caught my eye the other night so I chose a nice purple to contrast and got to work.  It's hard to say much more as an intro, it's the same glitter I've been playing with recently, from Borough Babe Supply. Cos glitter is awesome.   

To start, I applied three coats of Urban Outfitters Bandeau, a bright imperial purple creme.  I've used this colour tons but who cares, it's pretty.  The three coats are important when you're working with the larger pieces of glitter - you want to give the pieces something to sink into so they don't catch on everything.  I used my usual technique here but instead of the usual single column down the middle, I had to do a zig-zag, aligning the corners, to make sure my pieces were evenly spaced.  It was then just a matter of filling out each side.  I had the time to do all my nails but it's a pretty loud pattern and I liked the accent nail.  

The Verdict:  I love how this came out.  I had three different people ask if the checkered pattern was a sticker which I always count as a win.  It's nice when it comes out crisp and even.  Despite me wanging my middle finger between applying top coat and taking these photos, which is about two minutes :/ Go glitter for being versatile!

Review: Sephora Formula X Jolt with Black Matte, White Pearl and Silver Dazzle Glitter!

Ooooo I'm excited today because I have the fruits of late-night eBay binge to show you!  I got so carried away the envelope the glitter came in was HEAVY.  My boyfriend handed it to me like it was bomb, going to explode glittery all over him.  Inside, FIVE new circle glitters, three of which have that amazing finish the OPI I Snow You Love Me has.  I FOUND THAT GLITTER GUYS.  So of course I had to bung a bunch on my nails.  Over an amazing hot pink, no less. 

I think I might have to do a whole post on the base colour I used here, the amazing Sephora Formula X Jolt.  There's just so many flakie particles in the hot pink base, it's just stunning up close.  The blue shimmer in the bottle doesn't translate on the nail the strongest but the matte finish is great.  Anyway, after applying three coats of Jolt, I went nuts with my black matte, white pearl and silver dazzler circle glitter.  When working with such big pieces, you have to apply a really thick base of your slow drying top coat.  You then need to press each piece deep into the top coat - without it spilling over the glitter - so that it sits flush.  As usual I started with a column down the middle and worked outwards.  Because I pressed the glitter deep, the finish here is amazingly smooth after two coats of Seche Vite.  I haven't lost any pieces yet!

The Verdict:  I'm kinda loving the colour combo and how the different finishes interact with each other.  From a distance it looks like I have studs and rhinestones on my nails and that's always awesome.  The fact I FINALLY got circle glitter this big to sit flat is awesome too.  So winning all around!

All glitter is from The Glitter Store UK on eBay.  I bought all the glitter here myself :)

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

So I have the plastic tray, right.  All the times I do glitter and I have bits left over but mixed together a bit, it goes in the tray.  I like to look at this tray cos it's sparkly and I like that.  I want to apply said mix to my nails but choosing is hard because there's so many different shapes and sizes.  The little hexes have the largest variety of colours and finishes, so why not that.  So I did that.  On all fives nails.  Over two days.  Cos this takes ages.  But sparkly!

I started with my usual base of black, going with two coats this time.  With your smaller glitters, you want a thinner base because otherwise your glitter surface can get a bit uneven and it'll show on your photos.  So after I applied my thin strip of top coat (this time Essence Absolute Pure) I laid down my centre column of glitter and built out each side.  All I did was try to not put any piece next to a piece of the same colour and finish.  Together the neon, pastel and regular colours in metallic, matte and holo glitter look totally awesome.  There are over thirty different glitters in here, people.  I'm proud of myself :D

The Verdict:  Of course I love this.  There is no way I'd spent the amount of time I did doing it if I didn't.  I know a lot of you won't understand why I'd spend such a long time sticking glitter to myself but that's ok.  It's my hobby.  And I really like sparklies.  Yay sparklies!

Crazy Matte Circle Mani! Chaos and Control Make a Nice Juxtaposition

I love glitter so much it's just not even funny at this point.  My challenge now is filling out the gaps in my collection - getting glitter that's the same size in as many different colours as possible so I can do, well, stuff like this mani!  I ordered a TON of new glitter from Borough Babe Supply on Etsy and the clear standout was a crazy mix of small circle matte glitter called Lichtenstein.  It my not be sparkly but it certainly is colourful!  Let's take a closer look, shall we?

I really like mixing up my patterns on my thumb and ring finger for accent nails.  I thought having order and chaos juxtaposed might be nice so that is what I did!  You can't really tell, but I started off here with a gorgeous purple creme base, China Glaze Queen B.  Two coats were enough.  I then went to town with my usual technique, a stroke of clear polish down the centre of my nail, placing a straight column of glitter with my orange stick, then building out each side.  If a full piece didn't fit near my cuticle, I used the sharp scissors on my Swiss Army knife to cut a piece in half, then stuck it on as usual. The edge pieces I trimmed after they'd been applied.  A coat or two of Seche Vite and I'm done!

The Verdict:  I think this just might be my favourite non-sparkly mani. Like, ever.  It's just so colourful! This glitter is such high quality too.  The colours are really strong and bright, and the pieces are holding up really well.  Hooray for variety!