Urban Outfitters ~ Black Holo & Copper

Urban Outfitters ~ Black Holo & Copper

The names are pretty self-explanatory here, aren’t they? :D

Today I’m going to show you two polishes I bought for nail art. You know how I keep going on about my old faithful Silver Holo from Urban Outfitters, right? That is the silver holo that I use pretty much every time it fits in. Well, it has got more sisters now! I already showed you Ariel (LINK), the sea green holo. Today it’s time for Copper and Black Holo.

Here they are, two easy and fast drying coats, in the sun:

I must admit that I’m seriously impressed by Urban Outfitters’ holos. I wish they weren’t so damn expensive here and I also wish that they actually had a specific range of them here too. I haven’t seen more than 2 different examples of their holos for sale at any single time, so I have to go into the store and check every time I’m passing by. I don’t really know how many there are. I’ve got four now: Silver, green, copper and black. I’m pretty sure there is a pink and a blue too.

They’re not really my colours, these two. Here they are in the shade. The holo flame is persistent!

I added two black stripes on each nail and fished a round glitter out of Pahlish’s mystery polish I showed you the other day, and this is the final result:

Like I said, I bought these for nail art. I don’t really wear black or copper alone, but I’m sure I can find good use for them in art.

Have you got any of the Urban Outfitters holos? Do you know how many colours they come in?

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Fast

Finish: Strong linear holo
Overall impression: I love the pretty rainbows and the quality of these holos.

Buy again: Yes

Bear Pawlish ~ It’s a Tiny Shoe

Bear Pawlish ~ It’s a Tiny Shoe

Turquoise linear holo with a splash of turquoise microglitter

Today I’m wearing a polish that made even me go “wow!” It is a stunning turquoise linear holo, just the way I like them.

The formula is great and I used two coats for my mani. The drying time is really good too.

Here’s two coats and no topcoat in the sun:

Isn’t that just amazing?

Here’s a low light picture. I still really like the colour.

I placed a floral sticker by the base of each nail and topcoated the whole thing to seal it all up. Here’s another sunshine picture:

Oh yes, I dig this.

I love this polish and I was really happy when I received it in a swap a while ago, because it had been on my wish list in like what seemed forever.

I think Bear Pawlish makes some really cool polishes and some amazing holos. I’m not getting any more of them though. I really dislike the brush they come with. It’s short and stiff and just not working with me. It’s a shame! :/

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Very good

Finish: Linear holo plus microglitter
Overall impression: Wow. Just wow.

Buy again: Yes (if they change the stupid brush, haha!)

Hare Polish ~ Phat Tuesday

Hare Polish ~ Phat Tuesday

Deep purple jelly with gold, green and holo glitters

Phat Tuesday is another polish from “A Box, Indied” from March 2014. I won that box, and showed you another polish from that box yesterday, namely Bal Masqué by Contrary Polish! It’s safe to say that Phat Tuesday isn’t a favourite of mine either.

The formula is okay. I used two coats for my mani and I didn’t have to fish for any glitters. The drying time is good.

Here’s what two coats and a layer of topcoat looks like in the sun:

Can you tell why it’s not a favourite? The purple is so dark it looks black. You can only tell it’s purple if you look down by the cuticles. I’m usually not afraid of bumpiness but this is too much, even for me.

This is a lightbox picture.

This one needs a new home too, and I’ll do my best to find some place where it’ll be loved like every polish should be.

 

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Jelly with glitters
Overall impression: It’s too dark to be a me-polish

Buy again: No thanks

Contrary Polish ~ Bal Masqué

Contrary Polish ~ Bal Masqué

Dusty blue with golden shimmer

There are polishes in the box of untrieds who never stand a chance to make it into the Helmers. It’s time to try some of them and then move them on. Bal Masqué is such a polish. It came in “A Box, Indied” in March 2014. I won that box, yay!

Bal Masque doesn’t tick one single box with me. It’s a jelly, which I’m not a fan of. It’s dusty blue, which isn’t my colour. And it has got golden shimmer, and I love silver way more than gold. So this polish doesn’t please me at all.

Here’s two coats in the sun:

This picture shows the shimmer better. If the colours were mine I might have considered keeping it, but no.

I paired it with another polish that I don’t fancy that much. It’s a Pahlish and it’s a mystery polish; You know, one of those polishes where you don’t know what you get. It’s a clear base with gold and black glitters in various shapes and sizes. I applied a coat over the dusty blue, and then a layer of topcoat. Here’s my final mani:

One last shot here:

I think the Pahlish gets to stay in the stash because I don’t have a glitter quite like this. Sometimes it’s nice to have a golden glitter for nail art.

Number of coats: 2 (but I should have used 3)
Drying time: Pretty good

Finish: Jelly with shimmer
Overall impression: Don’t like it very much

Buy again: Never

Liquid Sky Lacquer ~ XTC

Liquid Sky Lacquer ~ XTC

Pink with subtle holo

I have had this polish for a really long time. And there’s a reason for that so let me explain that to you right away. You probably know that I love holos, right? The more extreme holo, the better. And Liquid Sky has made some pretty amazing extreme holos, so when I ordered XTC I thought I was going to get a shocking pink extreme holographic. But no :/ XTC is pink, yes, but with a warm undertone I don’t think fits my skintone fantastically. And the holo effect is not in your face, it’s in fact very subtle. That’s not what I wanted!

Anyway, the formula is good. Two coats is what it takes and the drying time is good.

Here’s what it looks like taken with flash.

See? The colour is great when the flash is on, but where are my rainbows???

Here’s a low light picture. It’s not 100% colour accurate, there’s a coral tone that I wasn’t able to pick up with the camera. This was the best I could do.

I applied a layer of El Corazón’s holo flakie topper 421h/25 to give it just a little bit more sparkle. I didn’t take a picture of this step. 

After that I ended up stamping on it. I found a motif on a Fauxnad plate and I stamped with my faithful NailNation 3000 Black. A layer of topcoat completed the mani, and here it is taken with flash again:

The low light picture:

I think I have to find a new home for this, because I can’t quite see myself wearing this again, even though it is a really cool colour in the sunshine.

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Subtle holo

Overall impression: This is prettiest in the sunshine. I would love more holo.

Buy again: No

LynBDesigns ~ Do I look like a Frolicker?

LynBDesigns ~ Do I look like a Frolicker?

Orange jelly with pink flakies

This polish really nice in the bottle, but it has taken me a while to wear it anyway because it’s a jelly and I was afraid that I needed to layer it over another polish.

I ended up using it on its own. I tried to get away with two coats but I couldn’t. I ended up with three coats and a layer of topcoat. Fortunately the polish dries fast, so I think I can live with the three coats. The flakies makes this a really interesting polish.

Take a look in daylight:

The pic from the lightbox reveals more of the pretty flakies.

I decorated it with a huge stone I bought off evilBay. This is daylight picture:

Here’s a lightbox picture for you:

The stone is way to big for actual wear. You don’t always know how big they are when you order them, but this one is definitely too big for me. Take a look at this shot taken from the side:

Wow, right? :D

Number of coats: 3
Drying time: Very good

Finish: Jelly with flakies
Overall impression: I really like the flakies in this polish! I will try layering it as well

Buy again: Maybe (because I’m not a jelly fan but I love flakies)

I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) ~ Birefringence (H)

I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) ~ Birefringence (H)

Blue to purple to pink multichrome with holoshimmer

I must admit that I am quite impressed with ILNP’s multichromes. They work easily on their own without black or other colours underwear and in two coats only! Drying time is good too, they’re just good polishes.

Here’s two coats and no topcoat in the sun, showing off its blue side:

And the purple side:

Purple and pink too!

In the shade you get to see the colour shift more:

Isn’t this impressive?

I didn’t really want to do anything with this, mostly because I couldn’t figure out what. But then I saw Essence’s glitter “Chica Bonita” from  the Arriba collection. It’s a clear base with a mix of purple, pink, silver and green glitter in various sizes. I thought that glitter would fit this multichrome perfectly and guess what? I think I was right:

This almost ended up looking like a pretty galaxy.

Gorgeous polish, I love it!

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Very good

Finish: Multichrome
Overall impression: I’m impressed by all this polish! It’s gorgeous!

Buy again: Yes

Glittering Elements, Urban Outfitters and Pastel

Glittering Elements, Urban Outfitters and Pastel

Watermarbling in baby pink, purple and silver holo

I was in the mood for another water marble and I wanted to use a different colour scheme just like I did last time. I chose a Glittering Elements first: CB Oops, which is a dark purple linear holo. Then I picked an old favourite: Silver Holo from Urban Outfitters. And to pull those two together I picked Pastel’s #144, which is a baby pink crème.

As underwear I used one coat of Silver Holo.

I wanted a line-y design this time instead of swirls and “flowers”. I quite like the end result.

All three polishes behaved like a dream in the water, I didn’t experience any problems whatsoever! 

Here are the three polishes I used:

How do you like the design? What about the colour scheme? 

 

• You can easily mix crèmes and holos
• It’s still a good idea to use the lightest colour as underwear

Ooh La Lacquer ~ You Drive me Crazy

Ooh La Lacquer ~ You Drive me Crazy

Mix of purple, pink, silver and holographic microglitter

It’s definitely not a secret that I love glitter. Last time I ordered polishes from Ooh La Lacquer I threw a glittery polish in the basket too, and today it’s going to show the bling for us on the blog!

The formula is good and I used two rich coats for full opacity. I will recommend using three thin coats instead because the second rich coat took a long time to dry.

It’s an extremely bling-y polish! Here’s two coats and a layer of topcoat in the shadows:

These two first photos are colour accurate.

I applied a sticker on each nail. I love using stickers, it’s such and easy and fun way to decorate your nails if you’re in a hurry.

And then the sun decided to show its face! Here’s the final mani – the sun changed the colour a bit into a warmer tone as you can see.

It’s still super bling-y and I love the stickers.

I love glitter, but all the rest of the polishes I bought from Ooh La Lacquer are holos though. I guess that doesn’t surprise you!

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Slow on the second coat

Finish: Microglitter
Overall impression: Sparkly like crazy. I love it!

Buy again: Yes

Cirque ~ Vesuvius

Cirque ~ Vesuvius

Pink linear holo

Fascination Street that I showed you the other day (click here to see it again) sat right next to Vesuvius in the box of untrieds, and none of my polishes likes to be left alone like that. So today I’m wearing Vesuvius, so she can join her sisters in the Helmer.

Vesuvius is pink and I am wearing her with a magenta Kiko, #254. I used two coats of each polish, good coverage, nice drying time especially for the Cirque.

Here they are in the sun:

I tried to stamp with them both. I picked a design from BP-L 005.

Here’s what it looks like with flash. You can’t see much of the design, but you can see a bit of holo on the Kiko now.

If I turn off the lights, you will be able to see the actual design. The Kiko stamps way better than the Cirque.

I ended up liking this. I probably won’t like to wear the Cirque on its own because it’s too pale, but it works for me stamped with a darker magenta.

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Fast

Finish: Linear holo
Overall impression: The rainbows are amazing. The colour is not quite me

Buy again: No

Colors by Llarowe ~ Aubergine Dreams

Colors by Llarowe ~ Aubergine Dreams

Deep aubergine purple linear holo

Aubergine Dreams is from the recent Fall (i.e. Autumn) 2015 collection, just like Last Harvest I showed you earlier.  

The formula is easy to work with and Aubergine Dreams could easily be a one coater. I love well pigmented polishes like that. I have two layers of polish on my nails though. The drying time between the layers is good.

Here’s two coats and no topcoat taken with flash:

I love the rainbows! They aren’t shy at all. This picture is taken in ordinary daylight:

I made a watermarble on two of the fingers. I used Urban Outfitters’ “Silver Holo” and Aubergine Dreams and they worked perfectly together. The other three nails got four dots each, and then I moved on to the topcoating.

Here’s my final mani taken with flash:

I really like this in ordinary daylight too!

I think that Aubergine Dreams is perfect for Autumn. The colour is really nice, the quality of the polish is good and I always love a good rainbow.

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Linear holo

Overall impression: Very pretty and vampy, the rainbows are so beautiful!

Buy again: Yes