Red and Black mani with Fantasy Makers ~ Once upon a time

Fantasy Makers ~ Once upon a time  

Blackened base with red multisized glitter

- and five other polishes!

I was in the mood for a black/red mani, and since Fantasy Makers’ “Once Upon a Time” has been sitting and looking at me since I got her, I decided to include her in my mani.

But first – the base colours. I used Essence’s “Black is Back”, a black crème, Isadora’s “Orient Express”, which is a rich shimmery red, and Dare to Wear’s “High Heel Heaven”, which is a silver with microglitter. The red and the black are both one coaters, and the silver required two coats to be opague.

Here’s that step – no top coat yet:

Then I applied the red glitter on the black polish. There’s so much glitter in it, so I only needed one coat to make me happy. I applied a layer of Barry M’s “Burgundy Croc” on the silver, while it was still tacky.

 

I taped the red nails, and painted half of them black, also with the Essence I used earlier. Then I applied a layer of “Silver Dragon” from Daring Digits. It’s a clear base with tiny silver flecks. And then I topped it all with a layer of Poshé top coat, and my mani was done:

And here are the involved polishes:

Essence: Black is Back, Isadora: Orient Express, Dare to Wear: High Heel Heaven,
Fantasy Makers: Once Upon a Time, Barry M: Burgundy Croc, Daring Digits: Silver Dragon

So how’s that? Personally I think it’s awesome! I really like to have my nails in different styles like this, and I absolutely love red and black together.

What do you think? Is this a win or what? :)

Be-Yu ~ 455 with OPI ~ Fresh Frog of Bel Air

Be-Yu ~ 455  

Metallic green with shimmer

This polish has been sitting in my stash since my summer holiday, where I was in Germany. It’s not because I don’t like the colour that I haven’t used it before now. It’s simply because I made the mistake of putting it in my Helmer before I tried it. And you know how it is: Out of sight, out of mind. But today is the day!

Application of the first layer of polish was interesting. It got streaky and with lots of bald spots, even though I tried to be careful with application. I must admit that my heart sank a bit when I saw how awful it looked. When I applied the second coat, it evened it all out. Drying time was really good, also on the second layer. And even though this turned out to have a metallic finish, I didn’t have problems with brush strokes.

So, here’s a pic of two coats, no top coat:

Then I sat and looked for it for a little while, not quite sure what I wanted to do with it. It’s to pale a colour for me to wear on its own, and it’s not my style anyway. After having gazed at it for half an hour I decided to go for stripes and glitter. I made two black stripes and one white stripe on one nail. I didn’t take a picture of this step, sorry.

I wanted to “cover the stripes up a bit” anyway. I applied two coats of OPI “Fresh Frog of Bel Air”, which is from the Muppet collection from Holiday 2011.

I am a huge fan of glitter, so it’s no surprise that I fell in love with all the glitters from this collection. I didn’t buy them when they got out though, since I consider myself to be a non-OPI fan, haha. But I had to surrender – so I bought them in blog sales instead.

OPI dries insanely slowly on me, and so did this pretty green glitter. It felt like waited forever for each of the two layers to dry.

The final mani – with one coat of Seche Vite top coat to seal it all up.

I really like the way the glitter makes the stripes less prominent, and I also like the darker tone that the Fresh Frog of Bel Air added to my mani. So what I thought might end up like a fail, actually ended up with something I accepted and liked for what it is.

But enough with the talking. What do you think of this? Does OPI also dry incredibly slowly on you?

Nail art with Barry M ~ Amethyst Glitter

Barry M ~ Amethyst Glitter  

Clear base with magenta, blue and gold glitters

Barry M has made some really nice glitters recently. Amethyst Glitter is one of them, and I’m happy I bought it even though some of it’s glitters turned out to be golden.

I started out my mani with Flormar 446, a lovely blue from their Spring & Summer 2012 collection. Sweet Aylin sent me this bottle and I am ever so grateful.

I applied a coat of Amethyst Glitter on my pinkie and my thumb. There are two coats of Flormar on the three middle fingers, and this is how that all looks:

The Flormar is easy to work with – it’s such a great brand! And the Barry M glitter spread out evenly without any problems at all. I love polishes like these!

Here’s a pic from another angle:

Then I made stripes on the three middle fingers. I used a pink striper from Amuse called “Metal Pink”, and a silver striper from Claire’s that doesn’t have a name. I had to go over the pink stripes again to make sure they stood out nicely. I don’t like the smell of the Amuse polish – and there’s something in it that irritated my throat so I coughed throughout the session. I’m not going to use this polish very often, that’s for sure.

When I was satisfied with my stripes I sponged Amethyst Glitter on the tips of my ring finger and my pointer. I applied one coat of Poshé top coat, and my many was done!

After having taken these pictures, I had to apply another coat of Poshé top coat on the two sponged tips to smoothen out the texture.

Here are the involved polishes:

I really like this mani because it’s sparkly and not “just the same” on all of the nails. And after having admired it for an hour I suddenly realized that it reminds me of Stars and Stripes. Ha, who would have known! :)

So, what is the verdict, ladies? Do you like this? Or is there too much going on?

Kiko ~ 255 with purple hearts

Kiko ~ 255

Deep purple with shimmer and holographic microglitter

I love almost everything about KIKO polishes. I love the formula, their colour range, the pigmentation, the drying time and the price. There are two things I don’t like : I don’t have a KIKO shop near me and KIKO doesn’t ship to Denmark. So I can do three things to get them: Go on vacation in a country, where the shops sell them. I can get them in swaps. Or I can ask people, who are going on vacation in countries where they sell KIKO, if they are willing to buy some for me. It’s Maria who bought this polish for me when she was on vacation in Germany, and I am ever so grateful. This polish is absolutely gorgeous!

OK. Enough positive talking about this beauty. Here’s a pic of two coats – no top coat yet:

And from another angle:

 

I obviously had to do something with it. Typical, ain’t it! :D I wanted to keep it simple though, because I didn’t want too much going on. I decided to freehand a little heart on each of the nails. I used a bluish purple no name polish, and just made the heart with my dotting tool. It’s funny that these two colours actually work together, since the KIKO is red-ish purple, and the no name one is bluish purple, but I think they work!

Then I applied one coat of Poshé top coat, and my mani was done!Another angle:

And from another angle:

So, what’s the verdict? Would you have covered it up with more nail art, or would you have kept it completely “nude”?

Opacity: 9/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Buy again: Yes

Models Own ~ Southern Lights stamped with blue

Models Own ~ Southern Lights

Lavender toned glitter with holo glitter

Southern Lights is from the Wonderland collection. Models Own themselves describe the collection as “a magical polish collection offering gradients of subtle to dense glitter for a sophisticated grown-up glimmer”.

I bought three out of the set of five, and this is the first I try on.

The formula is good; Mind you, I’ve never experienced anything else with Models Own’s polishes. I applied two easy coats for desired opacity. The sun wasn’t cooperative, but man, can this baby sparkle! Here’s a pic of two coats; no top coat yet.

The holo glitter is really effective! It sparkles in little rainbows even in low light. Here’s an indoor shot from another angle:

This colour is too pale for me to wear on its own though, but it is perfect for stamping on with a darker colour. I picked a dark blue from Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri series, called “Blazing Blue”. I used an all nail design from the XL stamping plate DRK-B, and sealed it all up with two coats of Funky Fingers top coat. I bought that top coat in a blog sale (why not just use it yourself instead of selling it?), and it’s not a fast drying top coat. I’m going to use it anyway!

Here’s the final result:

And from another angle:

The pretty couple:

I seem to have some problems with my DKR-B plate. The designs are cut so deep so if I press the stamper too hard down onto my nails, the design will smear and smudge. So I feel really challenged. It doesn’t matter quite so much on this background, but still. I love the designs, but I really have to pick my motifs carefully, when I choose something from that plate. I don’t regret buying it one bit though! :)

Here’s the verdict:

Opacity: 6/10
Colour, prettiness: 8/10
Durability: 7/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 7/10
Buy again: No

Hit the Lights ~ Nail art with Frankenpolish

Hit the Lights

Here’s a manicure I made with the one polish that I got for Christmas:

Let’s look at the redish purple first. It’s called “Hit the Lights” and it’s a Christmas gift for me, made by sweet Alice Snow. It’s a lovely purple with holographic microglitter, and a larger glitters, that aren’t holographic, but I can’t decipher what colour they were originally. They look like purple to me.

What I love about this franken is that the glitters aren’t chunky. Sometimes it feels as if frankening is about finding as much glitter as you can and stuff it into a bottle. I like that the glitter is kinda subtle in this polish!

The polish is mixed in a Color Club bottle, so I looked in my Color Club stash to find appropriate polishes to pair it with.

I started with Antiquated from the Foiled collection from autumn 2011. It’s a beige/golden polish, that I would never have bought on its own. It came with the set though, so I thought I’d try it out now. I must admit that I’m positively surprised over it. I’m not going to use it on its own, but it’s perfect for effects like here. It covers well in one coat, and is good for stamping too!

I taped my nails and painted like this:

That looks pretty cool in my opinion!

Next polish up is “Cold Metal”, also from the Foiled collection. I’m totally in love with this collection because all the polishes are well pigmented and great covering. I taped my nails once more, and painted them like this:

Now we’re talking, right? :D

I wanted my mani to be glittery, so I applied a layer of Sally Hansen “Disco Ball”, which is a plain iridescent glitter. It was a bit denser than I remembered it, but I actually think it makes the mani complete:

Here are the pretties in their bottles:

  

Were there polishes under your tree this year?

SMYTC Challenge Day 12: The Night before Christmas

SMYTC Challenge Day 12: The Night before Christmas

This is the last day of the Show Me Your Top Coats-challenge. It’s been fun, and it’s almost sad to see the end of it.

Before I say goodbye to the challenge for good, there's one last mani. The Night before Christmas.

I thought that if it’s true what Bing Crosby sang, like, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas – just like the ones I used to know”, then this is pretty much what you want the night before Christmas to look like:

Night sky with snowflakes and tiny little stars on it. So pretty.

Here’s how I achieved the look:

First I applied one coat of Isadora’s “Night Flight”. I’ve used that before, so if you want to see more of this, it’s right here.

Then I sponged Catrice’s “Pool Party at Night” on the tips. I used an eyeshadow applicator for this step:

Time for some sparkles. I used H&M’s “Snow White”, which is officially my favourite white! I used the same applicator to sponge with as I did before.

Now it’s time to put all this together. I applied one layer of Catrice’s topper “Return of the Space Cowboys”, which is  a beautiful duochromatic shimmer.

Last thing up is the snowflakes. I used OPI’s “Pirouette my Whistle”, which is the OPI I’ve used the most times by far. Amazing white glitter, and perfect for this purpose!

One layer of NYC Fast drying top coat completed my mani:

Here’s a shot from another angle:

The bottle shot: 

I have to say that I’m glad to finish this challenge with such a pretty mani! I’m very satisfied with it myself. What do you think? Is it a win? :)

Please check out what the rest of the girls made, I am sure they made some really pretty Nights before Christmasses to finish this challenge with. Thanks for now, and see you over there!

  

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The Rest of the Year Challenge 7: Christmas

The Rest of the Year Challenge 7: Christmas

Christmas is green and red in my world. Green for the tree and red for the pretty ornaments on it. Obviously my Christmas mani had to be red and green as well.

I started out with L. A. Splash’ “Money Honey”, which isn’t as Christmassy green as other green polishes. But I wanted a green without golden undertones, and this green hasn’t got any gold in it at all.

The formula is quite thick on these L. A. Splash polishes, and the brush is a bit wide. It’s not a problem though, because I like both :)  It took two easy coats to build up to desired opacity. And I added a layer of Seche Vite top coat before moving on to the next step. Here’s how it looks so far:

And from a different angle:

This polish is really blingy! It just needs a bit of red glitter to bling it up even more. I chose L. A. Girl’s “Animate”, which is a clear base packed with various sizes of red glitter.

I made stripes on two of the nails, and dots on three. And when I was done I gave it another layer of Seche Vite top coat, and my mani was done!

Here’s a pic from another angle:

This is pretty much as glittery as it can be!

If you like the green glitter, I can tell you that it’s a total b*tch to get off again! :D

Check out these other Danish girls’ blogs to see what they came up with for a Christmas mani.

http://sundaymanicures.blogspot.dk

www.passion4polishdotcom.blogspot.com

http://nailant.blogspot.com

http://amnegle.blogspot.dk/

Merry Christmas, everybody! ♥

SMYTC Challenge Day 11: Santa

SMYTC Challenge Day 11: Santa

I knew I wanted my Santa to be a special one, it just took me a little while to figure out how I wanted him to be different.

I used this image as inspiration:

I started out with two coats of Miss Sporty #131, which is a shimmery dark green. I got it in a grab bag, and I was glad to receive it. It looks new (but I don’t think it is). The polish is thick and gloopy and really difficult to work with. I’m going to have to try and thin it a little, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll only use it for nail art in future!

Here’s how it looks anyway:

I want my Santa glittery. I’m sure that doesn’t surprise you one bit! I used one coat of Color Club’s “Object of Envy”, which is from the Glitter Vixen collection from autumn 2008. It’s a really beautiful green, which I guess would take 3 or 4 coats to be opaque on its own.

Here’s that step:

I used my dotting tool to make my Santa. I dotted the black belt with Essence’s “Black is back”, and made the yellow dots on it with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Lightening”. The last step was to make the white border, which I dotted on with Models Own “Snow White”.

I also just dotted the star onto my nail.

One layer of Seche Vite top coat completed my mani:

Here are the polishes I used:

I like my little Santas. Do you?

Please check out what the other girls made, I am sure they made some really cool santas. See you over there!  

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