Barielle ~ Jordana’s Skinny Jeans - with holo topcoat and stamp

Barielle ~ Jordana’s Skinny Jeans

Denim blue with blue and silver shimmer with a metallic finish

I have a funny relationship with Barielle’s polishes. I usually like them when I see them, and I buy some, but then after having worn them once, I’m not convinced any more, and I usually get rid of them. So I only have a few left in my stash now. Having said that, when I saw “Jordana’s Skinny Jeans” I knew I had to at least try it. I mean, I can always pass it on if I don’t like it anyway.

But let me tell you, that this particular Barielle is going to stay with me. The formula is fantastic, and it’s a one coater! Drying time is good and it looks really great on the nails. What is there not to love!?

I gave it two coats out of habit, but I can assure you that it wasn’t really necessary. Here’s what two coats, and no topcoat look like:

Pretty, isn’t it?

I applied a layer of China Glaze “Wireless Holographic Top Coat” over it. It doesn’t give much of an effect in ordinary lights, but here’s what it looks like under a light bulb:

I like that!

Then I stamped on it. I used Mash’s stamping plate Mash-43 and stamped with Essie’s Blue Rhapsody from their Mirror Metallics collection from last year. I sealed it all with a layer of Poshé top coat, and here’s a pic from my lightbox so you can see the lack of holographic effect in low lights:

And here’s a pic under the light bulb:

The polishes I used:

I really like this, and I’m so positive over the fact that I’m actually getting to keep another Barielle :D I also love this stamping design with the bubbles, it’s a great design, IMO!

Do you like this?

Barielle ~ Jordana’s Skinny Jeans

Opacity: 10/10
Colour, prettiness: 7/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Buy again: Yes

China Glaze ~ Wireless Holographic Top Coat

Opacity: -/10
Colour, prettiness: 5/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: 5/10
Overall: 6/10
Buy again: No

Color Club ~ Glitter Wonderland with extra bling

Color Club ~ Glitter Wonderland

Purple with pink and blue shimmer

Glitter Wonderland is from Color Club’s holiday collection 2012, called Winter affair! It’s a series of six polishes; I bought three of them, and this is the second one I’ve tried on. (I’m saving the best one till last!)

Glitter Wonderland is a beautiful royal purple packed with shimmer. It’s weird that Color Club calls it a glitter, because it’s definitely not! But never mind – there are ways to get around that, wait and see.

I started out with two coats. The formula was different to my other Color Clubs. Drying time was fast – and I had to dip the brush twice in the bottle for each nail. I don’t like that. I prefer being able to get enough polish on in one go. But hey – it ended up looking gorgeous, so it’s a minor thing.

Here’s what two coats look like, without top coat:

I was in the mood for something really shimmery, so I applied a layer of Models Own’s “Jack Frost”, which is a iridescent glitter topper from their Wonderland collection from winter 2012. It flashes blue and green in the bottle, and over this purple it mostly flashes blue. It suits the purple perfectly in my opinion. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Take a look for yourself:

 

Gorgeous, isn’t it?!

Then I added some more bling. I made three large dots on each nail with Barielle’s Starchild, which is a clear base with holo glitter. I topped it with a layer of Seche Vite top coat:

The holo dots looks quite interesting up close. It looks like little piles of glitter on the nail – I quite like that:

And here’s a bottle shot for you:

This mani ended up much more blingy than I intended to begin with, but since I was a peacock in a previous life, I don’t mind at all!

What do you think? Is this a good glitter combo??

Opacity: 8/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Buy again: Yes

Music Challenge 3: Over the Rainbow (Judy Garland)

Music Challenge 3: Over the Rainbow (Judy Garland)

Welcome to day three in my music nail art challenge. I obviously had to have a song in this challenge that contains a rainbow.

I went through my stash to find appropriate colours for a rainbow, that would match each other two and two. I painted on a little piece of paper to see if they all fitted each other. I picked the top row of them:

First I painted my nails with a white crème from Models Own called “Snow White”. It’s not a one coater, but I only applied one coat anyway. It’s only underwear after all :) There’s no pic of that. Everybody must know what a plain white crème looks like!

Then I sponged my colours on. I used two colours on each nail, and here’s how that ended up looking. I’m having one coat of Poshé top coat on too:

I wanted my rainbow to be glittery though. So I applied a coat of Sally Hansen’s “Disco Ball”, which is an iridescent glitter in a clear base.

Here’s the final result:

And another pic because I like rainbows so much:

Here are the polishes I used:

Finger Paints: Vintage Violet, Barielle: Sky’s the Limit, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri: Blue Streak

 

And the second half of the lot:

China Glaze: Celtic Sun and Papaya Punch, Orly: Candy Cane Lane, Sally Hansen: Disco Ball

So there you have it. Rainbowify Me makes a rainbow :D

Next challenge up is in three days, and we’re having a “Bad Romance”! It’ll definitely be interesting!  

Check out the other girls’ blogs to see how they interpreted “Over the Rainbow”.

Aylin: http://poshnailart.blogspot.com

Mette and Lisa: http://neglerier.blogspot.dk

Anne Mette: http://amnegle.blogspot.dk/

Brianna: http://welcometobriannasworld.blogspot.com

Celia: http://neglegejl.blogspot.dk/

Astrid: http://polish-life.blogspot.com

Bonus link to Judy Garlands’ Over the Rainbow:

Sponging with Barielle

Hi girls,

Do you know the feeling of having this fantastic idea for a great manicure in your head and also knowing exactly how to make it; but when you actually do it, the mani just doesn’t turn out the way you wanted and imagined it to be?

That’s how it was with this mani. I wanted to sponge silvery grey onto an electric blue and create a line of silver diagonally in the blue. This time I taped my fingers, because I do remember the horrible work of clean up last time I sponged.

I chose two Barielle polishes: Granite Glitter (which has got nothing to do with glitter) and Sky’s the Limit, which is a shimmery blue.

The line didn’t get as prominent as I wanted it to. Here’s how it looked:

Cleanup was easier, but still pretty difficult. The blue didn’t seem to want to let go of the corners of my nails and cuticles. Grrr!

Next step up was to add some stars and some extra shine. I used B. O. number 68 for that. I love that glitter because there’s so many stars in it and so much glitter. It’s *so* me!

Here’s how the final mani ended up looking. There’s one coat of Seche Vite on:

And here’s a pic of the bottles I used:

This was so not what I expected it to be! And I dented two nails pretty badly shortly after, so this didn’t stay on for very long.  

What do you think of this? Do you think it works? 

Funky Fingers ~ Riot

Funky Fingers ~ Riot

Very rich creamy purple

meets

Barielle ~ Dream Child

Chunky holographic silver glitter in a clear base

I’ve got a couple of Funky Fingers polishes, and they’re all bought in different blog sales. I’ve never seen them anywhere else online, which is a shame, since they’re gorgeous polishes. But anyway, I’m not complaining about blog sales. I’ve found quite a lot of nice polishes that way.

The formula is quite good on this one. The application was a little bit tricky, though – especially the first coat. It’s mostly because of the brush, I think. It’s kind of thin, which means I sometimes had to dip a couple of times for each nail. I don’t like that. I prefer if I can get the right amount of polish on the brush in one go. But anyway! The second coat smoothed all the irregularities out and made it look gorgeous!

It even dried up semi matte. That was a nice surprise, I didn’t expect that.

Here’s what it looked like without top coat:

My fingers look as if I’ve got jaundice or something, but it was the only way I could show the actual and true colour of the purple.

Anyway – I have this new Barielle glitter that I’ve been wanting to try: Star Child. It’s a clear base packed with chunky silver holographic glitters. I have read on other blogs that the glitters spread out like a dream.

It did. But man – there was so much glitter! I felt like there were little disco balls on my nails – and the purple got a bit overwhelmed.

Here’s how it looked with a layer of Poshé top coat:

And here’s a blurry pic of the bottle and my thumb, so you can check out the amazing holo!

Last pic is a bottle shot, just because I can! :D

I must admit that I didn’t expect the glitter to be that prominent, I kind of expected to be able to see more of the purple. But having said that: I just love the holographic effect that shows so clearly, even in very low lights.

What do you think, girls? Is this a go or a no go?

Funky Fingers ~ Riot

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

Barielle ~ Dream Child

Opacity: N/A/10
Colour, prettiness: 10/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 9.3/10
Buy again: Yes

Barielle ~ Elle’s Spell and Blackened Bleu

Barielle ~ Elle’s Spell and Blackened Bleu

Red jelly with golden flakies, and light black base with blue micro flakies

So, I’ve been dying to try out Barielle polishes for a while. I bought four different colours, of which “Elle’s Spell” was one. It looked so interesting in the bottle. A nice shade of red packed with golden flakies!

What I wasn’t aware of was that the base is a jelly. I’m not very familiar with jellies, so I didn’t quite know what to expect. Formula was okay, I guess. Not too runny, not too thick. I applied the first coat and it looked absolutely horrible. I waited what seemed like forever before it was dry enough to apply the second coat, and then I waited again. Drying time of this polish seems very long indeed.

And this was so not what I was out for. I knew right away that this mani had to die this instant. I took a few pictures, of which I’m going to post one.

Here. Two coats, no top coat:

I removed it all after taking the pictures and tried it over both a black base and a bright red base, each only on one single nail. None of it looked as great as I expected, so I gave up on that polish for now. I’ll have another play with it on a day when I have more time and patience.

Instead I grabbed the “Blackened Bleu” and tried with that instead. I had the same experience as with “Elle’s Spell” – it looked absolutely horrible after the first coat. Damn! Drying time was just as bad too. Second coat didn’t help much, but since I didn’t want to spend the entire evening putting on nail polish, I applied a third coat, and that helped. Now I had a dark base with tiny blue micro flakies on. It looked pretty good.

Three coats, no top coat:

(It’s on purpose I don’t mention which top coat it is, it’s because it’s a mix of various top coats from nearly empty bottles that I’ve poured into a single bottle. Waste not, want not, right? :D )

I wasn’t finished though. This just wasn’t sparkly enough for my liking. I decided to go for a glitter today. I picked a topper from Essence called “Glorious Aquarius”, a clear base with light blue and orange glitters in it.

One coat over the Blackened Blue, plus a layer of top coat:

Elle’s Spell:

Opacity: 4/10
Colour, prettiness: 6/10
Durability: N/A/10
Value for money: 5/10
Overall: 5/10
Buy again: No

Blackened Bleu:

Opacity: 4/10
Colour, prettiness: 6/10
Durability: 5/10
Value for money: 5/10
Overall: 5/10
Buy again: No