A2Z Challenge: Y is for You

We’re approaching the end of this weekly challenge really fast! This week the theme is “you”, and have you guessed what I’m going to do? No? Rainbows obviously! I love rainbows, both because they’re pretty, but also because I like the symbolism. Every person has both sunshine and rain in their lives, and together it might turn out really pretty, like rainbows.

I did a rainbow gradient. I love gradients too, but I’m never really satisfied with them. I’ll get back to that later.

Here’s my “You”-mani:

I used five different polishes from El Corazón’s Matte Effect collection. Four of them are neons. The topper is from LynBDesigns and is called Iocaine Powder.

I especially like the middle finger with the orange and pink, I think those two look amazing together.

Here are the polishes:

El Corazon: 145-neon, 141-neon, 143-neon, 144-neon, m&s160, LynBDesigns: Iocaine Powder

The reason I’m never really satisfied with my gradients is because of the clean up. I use liquid latex around the cuticles, but the polish still manages to get right in there. I dip a small brush in acetone and try to remove the polish, but no matter how many times I do it, the polish stays there. It looks really easy when the girls do it on Youtube, but I haven’t gotten it right just yet. My theory is that their cuticles are less dry than mine, and thus the polish lets go easier, but that’s just a theory. I use tons of hand cream, cuticle moisturisers and oil, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. *pouts*

Anyway, let me finish this post by showing you something funny. The acetone has now eaten up the bristles on my brush! :D

You should definitely check out what the other girls did this week too! I can’t wait myself!

An InLinkz Link-up

El Corazón ~ 423/570 Magic Kiss of Venus

El Corazón ~ 423/570 Magic Kiss of Venus

Crimson red jelly with silver shimmer

El Corazón could easily be one of my favourite brands of polish. They have made so many pretties, and I love each and every one of them!

Magic Kiss of Venus is no exception. It’s crimson red and super beautiful. The formula is great and easy to work with, and it is really well pigmented. It almost covered in one single coat! The second coat made a difference though, so I recommend two coats. Drying time is good.

Here’s how pretty it is. Two coats and no topcoat:

I love the colour, and the shimmer is divine!

I stamped on it. I found a motif on BP-L 004 and I stamped with Indigo from Models Own’s chrome collection. And I love the final result:

The Models Own chrome collection is fantastic to stamp with, you just need to work really fast because they dry really quickly.

This is just the way I wanted it to be. Yay!

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Fast

Finish: Jelly with shimmer

Overall impression: I love this colour and the shimmer. Gorgeous polish!

Buy again: Yes

NailNation 3000 ~ Can’t Teal me Anything

NailNation 3000 ~ Can’t Teal me Anything

Teal linear holo with teal microglitter added

I am really fond of teal polishes and I love holos, so I was happy when Can’t Teal me Anything landed in my mailbox.

The first layer left me with the impression that the polish was really sheer, but the second coat magically covered up all irregularities and visible nail line. The drying time was good too.

Here’s two coats and no topcoat. The picture is taken in the sun!

And here’s a low light picture. The teal glitters show up as black on my pictures because they reflect the lights. They aren’t black, they’re teal, and they don’t look black at all in real life.

I made a dotty pattern on it. I used Models Own’s “Chrome Cherise” from their relatively new Chrome collection. It’s a fantastic polish, it works really good for stamping too, but you have to work quickly because it dries super fast! I applied a layer of topcoat and my mani was done.

Here’s a sunshine picture:

Low light picture:

I really like how this mani ended up. The colours are great together and the pattern nice and simple, yet effective.

Number of coats: 2

Drying time: Good

Finish: Linear holo with microglitter
Overall impression: Great polish!

Buy again: Yes

OPI DS ~ Tourmaline

OPI DS ~ Tourmaline

pink with orange and lavender iridescent glitters

I have read a lot about how sheer Tourmaline is and to be honest I almost didn’t buy it because I thought it needed layer after layer after layer to be opaque. I ended up getting it in a swap and was really happy with that because it looked really pretty on the pictures I’ve seen of it.

My Tourmaline is not particularly sheer, so I don’t think I’ll be layering it at all. I used two easy coats for my mani and the drying time between the coats was good.

You are looking at two coats and no topcoat here:

Look how pretty those glitters are!

I made some stripes on it. I used a blue striper from Kiss and a silver striper from Claire’s, and when I had made all my stripes I topcoated the whole thing.

Here’s my final mani: 

I really dig this! 

Here are the pretty polishes:

I think these colours go perfectly together!

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Pink with glitter

Overall impression: Really nice colour, great glitters!

Buy again: Yes

NailNation 3000 ~ Moon Lit Snow

NailNation 3000 ~ Moon Lit Snow

Blue glitter mixed with white, magenta and iridescent glitter, added holo goodness

Moon Lit Snow is a polish that is pretty hard to describe. Glitter and holo is the short version, but there is lots more going on. I see both white, magenta and iridescent glitter in there, mixed with som holo shimmer. Very cool indeed.

I wasn’t in the mood to test how many layers it would take to make opaque on its own, so I layered it over a blue polish from Golden Rose; #103. It’s a light blue shimmer and it’s opaque in one single coat, which means it’s perfect for layering.

When that was dry I applied two layers of Moon Lit Snow over the base, applied a layer of topcoat, and here’s my final mani.

I like the way it looks!

Here’s a low light picture to show you that there’s more than blue going on in this polish.

Here are the two polishes posing.

I didn’t apply any sort of nail art on this, and I liked wearing it on its own.

Number of coats: 2 over a blue base

Drying time: Good

Finish: Glitter with holo shimmer
Overall impression: I like this polish a lot

Buy again: Yes

I bought Moon Lit Snow from norwaynails.com.

You can find more info on NorwayNail’s Facebook page, link here.

Norway Nails have kindly offered my readers a 10% discount code. Just use the code RAINBOWIFYME10 at checkout, and you'll be getting 10% off your purchase.

Barry M ~ Aqua Glitter, Teal & Socialite

Barry M ~ Aqua Glitter, Teal & Socialite

A different leopard mani

I was in the mood to use some of my untried Barry M polishes, so I found three that I though would go well together.

I started out with Aqua Glitter on two nails and Teal on three (although my thumb is shy and unseen to the camera). The glitter works on its own but it does take three coats. The drying time is good, so it’s okay with three coats. I also used three coats of Teal, even though two would probably have been enough. But I thought I might as well, now that I was waiting for the glitter to dry anyway.

I made leopard print on my pinkie, my index and my thumb with the pink Socialite, and also made a single dot on the Aqua Glitter with it.

Here’s my final mani. I’m holding Socialite on this picture.

I’m holding Aqua Glitter on this picture.

I’m not giving up on the leopard print even though I haven’t been happy with my attempts so far. This is my best ones until now.

I’m holding Teal on this picture.

Number of coats:  3
Drying time: Fast for the glitter, average on the other two

Finish: Glitter & shimmer

Overall impression: These polishes go really well together

Buy again: Yes to all

Nail Pattern Boldness ~ Dark Charm

Nail Pattern Boldness ~ Dark Charm

Dark green linear holo

I was in the mood for something dark today, so I grabbed “Dark Charm”, which is an amazingly beautiful dark green holo. The formula is excellent and it covers well. I used two coats and the drying time between the coats is good.

Here’s how beautiful it is in the flashlight:

The rainbows are mesmerizing!

I also love it in low lights.

I sponged a bit of black over it, and then I stamped on top of it all. The heart motif is from Bonster Mundle’s plate BM-317 and the text is from BM-311. I stamped with Barry M’s Foil effects in gold. This is not a typical me-mani, but I love it!

The black sponging underneath gives an extra cool dimension in my opinion.

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Linear holo
Overall impression: I love this dark green and the rainbows are amazing

Buy again: Yes

I bought my Nail Pattern Boldness from Edgy Polish

You can find more info on Edgy Polish’s Facebook page, link here.

A2Z Challenge: X is for Xtra special

Xtra special, huh? I thought about this challenge for a bit now, not really sure how to interpret it. I mean, we’ve had unusual recently, so I wanted to think differently with Xtra special.

I decided to pick a polish that is extra special to me: Color Club’s “Ruby Slippers”. You probably know it: It’s a red jelly with red microglitter, and it’s related to other polishes with names after red footwear: Ruby Pumps, Ruby Red Slippers, you name it. Scooby dooby ruby booby newbie gooby red slippers. And so on. The Color Club version is my ultimate favourite. I got it from my boyfriend a long, long while ago, which obviously makes it more special to me. I love that he supports my hobby the way he does.

So Ruby Slippers is the base for this mani – which I made for the challenge today. Here it is:

It’s two coats of Ruby Slippers, a layer of topcoat, and when that was dry I taped my nails and painted the black with Golden Rose Matte #12, a plain black one coater. A little red nail stud completed the look.

Just to prove that Ruby Slippers is special to me, I am going to show you what it looks like on its own. Here’s two easy coats and a layer of topcoat. I adore this polish; it’s perfect! 

Now, how would you girls have interpreted this theme? What would your extra special nails have looked like?

You should definitely check out what the other girls did this week too! I can’t wait myself!

An InLinkz Link-up

OPI ~ Samovar-y Nice to be here

OPI ~ Samovar-y Nice to be here

Deep orange shimmer

I thought I’d show you another older HTF OPI polish: Samovar-y Nice to be here. It’s from the Moscow Loves OPI collection from winter 2009, and it’s a Russia exclusive.

The formula is great and the polish covers really well. I used two easy coats for my mani and the drying time is average. My boyfriend didn’t mention anything about the smell, so I guess it’s pretty normal (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you should check out my post about Reflecting Pool here).

Here’s two coats and a layer of topcoat:

The shimmer is great, and I love this colour!

I paired it with a newer OPI “Cinnamon Sweet”, which is a lovely red crème. I applied a layer of the red on top of the orange, and then I used a rough sponge to dab some of the red off again. I made it all come together with a layer of topcoat, and here is my final mani:

I love the look of this!

I am so glad that I have got this orange gem in my collection!

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Average

Finish: Shimmer

Overall impression: Lovely colour, great shimmer

Buy again: Yes

OPI ~ Reflecting Pool

OPI ~ Reflecting Pool

Blue foil with golden fleck shimmer

Today I’m going to show you an OPI from the Reflection Glitters collections from 2009. Reflecting Pool was released exclusively in the UK and Japan and is pretty damn hard to get your paws on these days.

The formula is thin but still manageable. It was opaque after two coats, but I applied a third layer to make sure my camera didn’t pick up something the human eye can’t see. Drying time is a bit on the slow side. There’s also another thing I need to mention: The smell. I have a cold myself so I can’t smell a thing but the boyfriend says that this polish smells really weird, with a capital W. We had to open the windows while I polished my nails, and that’s highly unusual; this is the first time he ever mentions the smell of a polish in a bad way, so it must be very unpleasant indeed.

Anyway, here’s three coats and a layer of topcoat in the sunshine:

Here’s a picture from the lightbox. Look at them pretty golden flecks.

I made three lines on each nail with Maybelline’s Denim Dash from the Color Show Denims collection. Then I gave it all a layer of Ellagee’s Rainbow Syrup – my favourite holo topcoat to finished the mani off. Here’s my final mani in ordinary daylight.

And I had sunshine, so here’s a sunshine picture to show off the holo goodness:

Here are the polishes:

If you like Reflecting Pool, you should know that Zoya made a dupe for it called Chrystal. I have got it and they’re looking exactly the same.

Number of coats: 3 (but 2 would have been enough)
Drying time: Relatively slow

Finish: Foil with flecks

Overall impression: Very special polish

Buy again: Yes

Glam Polish ~ CRASH!

Glam Polish ~ CRASH!

Sky blue holo with holo glitter

Today I’ll show you my last pick from Glam Polish’s spring collection “The Knockout Collection”: CRASH!.

The formula is great and the polish applies easily. It takes two coats to achieve full opacity and the drying time is good.

Here’s what it looks like. Two coats, no topcoat:

Crash! is the least holo of the bunch I bought, but I love it nonetheless.

Here’s a low light picture. Note how the glitters still sparkle.

I mixed it with the three others I already showed you. Here’s my final mani:

Here’s the happy family:

Crash!, Bam!, Ka-Boom!, Bang!
Whoompah! Heavens to Murgatroyd!! Great Googly Moogly!! Gor blimey Guvnor!

  

Verdict:
Yes, I like Crash as well. The colour is nice and I really like the holo sparkle. The quality is really good. So that’s a resounding *YES*, then.

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Linear holo

Overall impression: Good polish, nice colour, cool sparkle

Buy again: Yes