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

For almost two years and five hundred posts, I've been working to be the most sparkly I can be.  I love glitter and nothing makes me happy quite like having sparkly nails.  I was delighted to see OPI I Snow You Love Me as not only did it have circle glitter but it has that dazzle finish that's so very sparkly.  I'm not the biggest fan of fishing glitter out of a polish so I went one better - I found similar dazzle glitter on eBay.  Let me therefore present to you what might be the most sparkly mani I've ever done.  

I did actually do a full mani with the OPI polish.  I wasn't totally happen with the finish or the photos, mostly because I used a black polish for the base and it didn't totally work.  This time I decided on a matching silver base to blend it all together.  So after applying the usual three coats of Sally Hansen Celeb City - two would do but I like a deep base for the larger glitters - and went to town with my glitter.  I did the usual stripe of top coat down the middle of each nail and placed the glitter as close together as possible.  When the gap was too small to fit a full piece of glitter in, I cut a piece in half using my little sewing scissors and fit it in.  I let the end pieces hang over the edge of my nail, and trimmed them off when they were dry.  Cap it off with a coat or two of Seche Vite and I'm done.

The Verdict:  I love how this turned out although I'm a little sad because where the hell do I go from here?? Although I am thinking I could put smaller glitter pieces in the gaps between the circles....

The Sparkliest Nails I've Ever Done, But in Red! Cos Why Not!

Ok so considering I did what might have been my most sparkly nails ever the other day and that I have that same glitter in two other colours, there is hardly surprising I'm going to do the same thing again.  I just like looking at this glitter.  It's just so interesting in it's dazzle finish, and so sparkly.  It's much better to talk about the sparklies rather than how angry I am at my inability to take photos of red things.  Look how blown out my fingers are here!  Admittedly it's better than my last attempt at red nails but still bugs me.  Oh well, sparkly!  

I've found that when working with circle glitter, it works better to pair the glitter with a matching base, rather than a contrasting one.  It helps hide any placement issues and from a distance just helps it look all over sparkly.  Which is generally the goal.  My glitter is a deep, rich red so I started off with three coats of Essie Toggle to the Top.  Turns out it's just about a perfect match.  I went with three coats because this glitter is just so big and thick.  You want a nice thick base to press each piece down into.  Working with my usual slow drying top coat, I applied a thick stripe down the middle of each nail, laid the centre column of glitter and worked out to each edge, trimming pieces to fit as necessary.  There's a video at the bottom, if you're curious about the trimming.  Sparkly!

The Verdict: Of course I love how this came out.  I'm even happy it doesn't look like I've been in a fight in my cuticles.  I had to do this to show off to Lindsey (my now IRL friend I met on Instagram who also does nails) because who would I be if not someone to maximise any and all attention, especially in person? Sparkly!

Review: Deborah Lippmann Va Va Voom, LOOK AT THE SPARKLY

I'm trying really hard lately to not buy nail polish.  Or at least buy less.  It's hard because nail polish is my fun thing to buy, my luxury, even though I have ten times what the average person would consider an excessive collection.  A lady at the beauty supply place joked about an intervention today!  Like, shhhhhhhh this is my safe place.  Anyway, I saw Deborah Lippmann Va Va Voom the other day and it was too sparkly and I bought it so there's that.  LOOK AT IT.

I don't know what it is about the glitter jellies, I just can't resist them.  I love how they build to have this incredibly complex, deep finish.  Va Va Voom is no exception.  It's several different sizes of hex holo glitter in a deep blue jelly base.  Here I layered it over one coat of a similar blue creme polish but I don't think you need to do it, it builds up to be opaque enough on its own.  I applied three coats here because I wanted more glitter but you could get away with one or two.  THIS POLISH IS AWESOME AND I WANT MORE LIKE IT PLEASE.

The Verdict:  This polish was totally worth breaking my I-shouldn't-buy-polish thing for.  I can't resist glitter and this is sparkly and that is good, the end.