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!

Triangle Graffiti Nails!

I'm really bad at asking people for suggestions for how I should do my nails, then completely disregarding the excellent suggestions and doing something I saw on Tumblr.  I saw this awesome stupendous creation a few days ago and just had to do it.  Triangles!

I wasn't quite in the mood to make the base colours too complication for this one so I thought I'd just sponge on some random colours.  To start, I did the usual two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  Once that was dry I cut myself a small piece of makeup sponge and just splotched on Urban Outfitters Hottub, Rango and Blue Velvet.  Once it and the coat of Seche Vite was dry, I cut a long strip of striping tape and went to work.  I found it was easiest to lay the horizontal stripes first, then each of the diagonal lines.  I did all the taping at once and when done, applied a thick coat of the very excellent almost-holo A England Bridal Veil.  I didn't want flat black and I love this polish as it's a one-coater and has great texture.  One more coat of Seche Vite and I was done.

The Verdict:  This actually came out better than I expected.  I wasn't careful with how I sponged on my base colours - I just kept putting it on til the colours looked blended without going brown.  And my triangles came out really even, and that never happens.  So yay, neon triangles!

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.

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!

TRIANGLE GLITTER EVERYONE AHHHH

How has it taken me this long to realise that triangle glitter existed and that I should be all over it?? I'm silly.  Anyway, it's a thing and it's amazing and I love it and it's so nice to have a change from hex glitter.  It's so even and beautiful and matte and sparkly, there just aren't enough adjectives.  Yeah so this is what it looks like when you mix 15 colours together on your nails.  WONDERFUL THINGS.  You might even be able to get this glitter too - it's going up on The Sparkly Shop this afternoon at 3pm.  I swear though I just want to share the sparklies.  Sorry for the self-promoting.  Anyway, focus, glitter time!

Triangle glitter is such a dream to work with.  You just have so many options for patterns!  Mixing matte and holo glitter is the best too.  The matte glitter has such great definition and holo is sparkly so together they are magical.  I did my usual thing here, placing my column of glitter down the middle of my nail - I did three pieces of each row to make sure I was heading evenly - then building out the sides.  I did try something different with the top coat!  I bought a two pack of Sally Hansen Miracle Gel polish and it turns out the top coat is amazing.  No shrinking, wears really well and dries fast.  I get nowhere near the tip wear I'm normally plagued with.  The gel is eh but the top coat is awesome.  Anyway, yeah, two coats of that and I was set. 

The Verdict:  I think I have a new favourite glitter.  Hex will always have a place in my heart but it's so much fun to create new and interesting patterns with triangle glitter.   There'll all super consistent in terms of size too.

Four different triangle glitter sets are going up on The Sparkly Shop at 3pm today, starting from $6.99.  Woo!

SHINY BLUE AND TRIANGLES IS PLEASING

TRIANGLES.  TRIANGLES.  THEY ARE AMAZING.  Also, still surprisingly pleased with the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel polishes.  SHINY.  TRIANGLES.  BAM.

I love this blue so much.  It's so blue.  I applied Miracle Gel Tidal Wave as the thing says - two coats of colour and one of top coat.  I then just went to usual town with my glitter placement.  Swipe of top coat, put on the glitter.  When you're working with negative space like this, you just have to wing it.  Place two pieces in line, put a piece on top touching the points, repeat!  Or don't.  Whatever.  TRIANGLES DON'T CARE WOOO.

The Verdict:  I LOVE TRIANGLES THEY'RE THE BEST THE END.  ALSO THIS BLUE IS AWESOME TOO THE END OF THE SEQUEL.

Glitter is available from The Sparkly Shop, from $6.99 a set!

31DC2014 Day 9: RAINBOWS YESSSSSS

Do you understand the pressure for someone like me to have a challenge prompt like "rainbow"?? It's a lot of pressure.  I love rainbows and do rainbows a lot so having to do rainbow on command is hard.  So I have these triangle studs I haven't used yet.  Two problems, why not make a solution?  TRIANGLE RAINBOW STUD NEON THINGS YES.

A really strong blue is missing from the triangle stud colours so Sally Hansen Pacific Blue was an obvious complement.  Two coats of that and then top coat then put the studs on.  Press them down a bit so they stay on.  I was going to cover all my nail in them but then the gaps were good and then blacklight and neon and win.  Pics go!

The Verdict: NEON.  TRIANGLE.  RAINBOWS.  BLACKLIGHT.  PLEASING.  If you want the studs are here cos money.

Aztec Nails! That are Rainbow! And Don't Involve Whole Rolls of Striping Tape!

I've been working with hex-shaped glitter for years now and let me tell you, switching to triangles is quite the revelation.  There are so many new patterns and shapes to make, especially when you have fifteen colours to play with.  My current favourite thing to do is to make aztec-inspired patterns, mostly because the triangles in said pattern are such a PITA to create by hand.  So, let's take a look at my latest triangle thing, shall we?

It doesn't really matter what kind of base colour you use when you're going with so many different colours in a glitter placement.  I have found that too-bright colours look weird but that just might be me.  For this mani I started off with two coats of Nails Inc Disco Lane which is a pretty black polish filled with micro holo silver glitter.  I really like it cos it's an alternative to just straight black.   I then applied my usual stripe of slow-drying top coat and went to work with my glitter from the cuticle up.  This design is really quick to do as it doesn't actually have a lot of pieces in it.  When done I covered it with two coats of the gel top coat in the Nailene Ultra Quick Brush-On Gel kit.  I'm very hard on my nails and this actually has decent staying power and is shiny.  So that's a thing.  Any top coat is fine too of course. 

The Verdict: I really like how this came out.  Mixing matte and holo glitter together always looks cool and triangles are awesome.  This is not just because I sell triangle glitter sets.  I sell it because it's awesome and no one else sells non-wholesale amounts of triangle glitter that doesn't require you to spend $20 in shipping and to buy bags of glitter at time.

This glitter is available from The Sparkly Shop from $6.99.