Darling Diva ~ A Christmas Story

Darling Diva ~ A Christmas Story

Red and green microglitter

Let me tell you right away: My nails do not like winter! They keep breaking, and I wouldn’t really mind if it wasn’t for the fact that they break so low that it actually hurts when they break! So I’ve been trying to “grow the breaks out” so to speak, and today was the day when I cut and filed them all down for a fresh start. Fortunately I like my nails short, but this is the shortest I’ve had them for a very very long time.

I decided to celebrate the nubbins with a microglitter. It’s no secret that my nails love glitter! A Christmas Story is a lovely microglitter from the Ho Ho Holiday collection from Christmas 2015.

The formula is good and easy to work with. On nubbins it’s opaque after two coats, but I added a third coat for the camera. The drying time is good, no worries there.

Here’s three coats and a layer of topcoat for you:

I actually think my nails are cute when they’re this short! :D

This last picture is taken with flash to show off the bling.

I wore it like this and I can tell you that my nails enjoyed it immensely!

  

Number of coats: 3
Drying time: Good

Finish: Red tinted base with microglitter
Overall impression: I love this polish, the colour and the bling is spot on

Buy again: Yes

Darling Diva ~ Groped under the Mistletoe

Darling Diva ~ Groped under the Mistletoe

Cranberry jelly packed with sparkle and shimmer

Groped under the Mistletoe is from the Ho Ho Holiday collection from Christmas 2015. I only bought two polishes from that collection, but I might go back and buy at least one more :D

The formula is a bit patchy. I might would have been able to get away with two coats if I shouldn’t take pictures of it, but my camera picked up all the little irregularities and made my pictures look awful! So I added a third coat, and that helped a lot. The drying time between the layers is pretty good.

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

The sparkles are amazing!

Here’s what it looks like out of the flashlight. It’s a really pretty colour.

I stamped swirls on it. I used stamping plate BP-L 005 and I stamped with Color Club’s Date with Destiny from the latest Halo Hues collection. I love that entire collection because they are so amazingly pretty and they stamp so well.

Here’s my final mani:

Ordinary lights:

I really like Groped under the Mistletoe, I think it’s a really nice colour and I love the sparkles. I must admit that I wasn’t happy with the three coats for such a dark colour though.

Number of coats: 3
Drying time: Pretty good

Finish: Jelly with sparks and shimmer
Overall impression: Great colour, great sparks.

Buy again: No (because of the three coats)

Color by Llarowe ~ Ice Ice Baby

Color by Llarowe ~ Ice Ice Baby

Medium blue linear holo

Ice Ice Baby is from the Winter 2015 collection. I was so in the mood to wear blue today, and was excited when I saw Ice Ice Baby sitting on the table, just waiting to be worn.

Two easy coats is what it takes to achieve full opacity and the drying time is good. Ice Ice Baby is super pretty, I really like this shade of blue, and the rainbows are mesmerizing!

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

This is the same thing in low lights. Look at the rainbows, they refuse not to shine!!

I stamped on it. I found a pretty motif on stamping plate BP-L 004 and I stamped with an ordinary white.

Here’s the final mani before topcoat:

Another pose for the camera ♥

Ice Ice Baby is another bleeder. When I topcoated it, the stamp turned slightly lilac. I don’t mind that so much, it actually looks pretty cool. If you want your stamp to remain white, you need a layer of topcoat between the polish and the stamp though.

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Really good

Finish: Linear holo
Overall impression: A very pretty blue with some amazing rainbows

Buy again: I would

Color Club ~ Cosmic Fate

Color Club ~ Cosmic Fate

- with P2 ~ Be my Guy

If you have seen my post from yesterday you know that I got an Überchic Stamping mat from Carolyn for Christmas. Today I decided to try something else than making decals.

I applied a layer of “Be my Guy” which is a dark denim blue shimmer from P2. I added a dollop of “Cosmic Fate” from Color Club and made some swirls. Then I added another dollop of Be my Guy, made swirls, added a dollop of Cosmic Fate and made swirls and so on. After a bit of waiting I applied a layer of topcoat, and then I waited some more to make sure it was all dry. I think I maybe waited for an hour or so.

I applied basecoat to my nails, cut the patterns into a nail shape an attached them to my nails. I applied another layer of topcoat and this is my final mani:

I quite like this!

This picture is taken without flash.

Here are the polishes I used:

I need to work a bit on how to make them fit my nails, but that’s probably just a matter of practicing.

I must admit that this is way more fun than I thought it would be. It has given me a spark of new inspiration and that’s really something! I don’t usually get very much inspired in the winter time when it’s dark all the time.

H & M ~ 501 – with self made decals

H & M ~ 501 – with self made decals

Silver holo

I got an Überchic Stamping mat for Christmas from my sweet friend Carolyn. That felt like a real treat!

Today I’ll show you one of my attempts of making decals.

Let me start by showing you how it all ended out looking:

I know it is far from perfect, but bear with me!

The stamp would only come off the stamper if I applied a layer of topcoat on the mat, so that’s what I did. The stamp came from a plate from Dashida: Infinity Nails-163. I filled in the pattern with Picture Polish’s Arabian and P2’s “Be My Guy” and #501 from H&M. I applied a layer of topcoat on all of that and then I let it dry.

I cut the decals out in bits I thought made sense: Half a circle on two nails and a triangular bit on two nails. I topped the whole thing with an extra layer of topcoat – that makes three layers in total!

This is what H&M’s number 501 looks like on its own. It’s quite a nice silver holo in my opinion, nice to work with. The brush is relatively wide, but I don’t mind that. This is two coats.

Here are the three polishes I used.

I definitely have to work on my decals. It is so much fun and there are so many possibilities! Have you tried making your own decals yet?

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Holo
Overall impression: Nice silver holo, good basic polish

Buy again: Yes