Emily de Molly ~ LE 8

Emily de Molly ~ LE 8

Dark pink linear holo with a touch of coppery sheen

Last time Emily de Molly offered limited edition polishes I was lucky to snatch a couple. LE 8 was one of them. I had some problems describing the colour to be honest, but pink with copper is the closest I can get.

Application was a breeze and it only took one coat to make it opaque. Drying time was fast too. The sun was also out, so it’s pretty much triple score!

Here’s one coat in the sunshine:

How’s that for a holo, girls?

Here’s what it looks like in the sunshine. The polish wants to be red I think, but it isn’t quite there.

So I stamped red on it! I found a wavy motif on Mash’s plate Mash-50 and I stamped with Bourjois’ “Rouge Diva”. Here’s the final mani before I topcoated it:

And here’s a low light picture where you can really see that LE 8 isn’t red but pink.

I honestly wasn’t sure if I liked LE 8 or not, and I think it was the coppery touch that made me hesitate. But it grew on me, and I have decided that it gets to stay in my stash. Welcome little polish!

Number of coats: 1
Drying time: Fast

Finish: Linear holo
Overall impression:

Buy again: Yes

Peita’s Polish ~ Little Penguin

Peita’s Polish ~ Little Penguin

A mix of purple and holo glitters

Little Penguin is a Norway Nails exclusive. It’s purple glitter mixed with hologlitter and it’s soooo goshdarn pretty!

The formula is good, and this glitter doesn’t require underwear. It takes two coats to make it opaque and the drying time between the coats is average. I applied a layer of topcoat before I took my pictures.

Here’s a flash pic of two coats, no topcoat:

Isn’t that glitter just looking cool?

Here’s a picture taken in my lightbox. The holo glitter still shines brightly :)

I found a good motif on stamping plate Mash-47 and I stamped with a no name black stamping polish. I applied another layer of topcoat to seal it up, and then my mani was done.

Here’s a flash picture:

And here’s a lightbox picture.

Verdict:

Purple? Holo? Glitter? Colour me yes, yes and yes. I really like this glitter!!

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Average

Durability: Good

Finish: glitter with holo glitter
Overall impression: I love this sparkly and fun glitter

Buy again:Yes

You can only buy Little Penguin  from norwaynails.com as it’s a shop exclusive.

You can find more info on Norway Nail’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.

L. A. Girls 3D Effect ~ Sparkle Ruby & Black illusion

L. A. Girls 3D Effect ~ Sparkle Ruby & Black illusion

Ruby & black jelly base with holographic glitter

Allow me to show you my last two L. A. Girls 3D Effect polishes. One of them has ended up being my favourite of the bunch. Can you guess which one? If not, please continue, dear reader - it will be revealed shortly!

The formula is great. It applies easily and covers really well, and two easy coats is what it takes to make these two pretties look great. Drying time between coats is good, no worries in that department.

I was lucky that the sun was shining for a short period of time. I rushed to take these pictures, so you can see how they sparkle as from within.

Take a look, girls. Here’s two coats, no topcoat:

I just love how these polishes shine and sparkle!

I decided to copy myself. I found some “fluffy” stickers I bought in Accessorize a long while ago:

I applied a heart on each of my ring fingers and a bigger heart on each of my thumbs. And then I stamped a heartbeat line on the rest of the nails, using stamping plate Mash-38 and stamped with a no name black stamping polish. I didn’t apply topcoat, because that dissolved the glue on the stickers last time I did this (oh, how I laughed!). So here you go – my final mani. The first picture is taken in daylight:

And then the sun came out again to play, hurrah!

I love this!

There was a sales assistant in Sephora that nearly swooned over this. I tried to explain the wonders of stamping to her, but even though I simplified it a lot, she looked as if she considered that it would be really difficult and not something for her. I like it when my manis get noted by people around me. It’s cool!

Oh, and in case you didn’t guess it already: It’s Sparkle Ruby that turned out to be my favourite of this collection!

Do you like this? And is it okay to copy one’s own designs or is that too boring?

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

Nicole by OPI ~ Follow me on Glitter

Nicole by OPI ~ Follow me on Glitter

charcoal glitter with a sparse splash of blue, green, yellow and pink

Follow me on Glitter is from the Kardashian Kolor collection from holiday 2012. I found it on special in a local discount store, just like its idiotically named sister “Listen to your Momager!”, which you can see here.

Application is easy. The glitter spreads out easily and evenly and it only takes two coats to make this opaque. Drying time is good between the coats, and the glitter dries up a little bit gritty, so a topcoat is necessary if you like your manis smooth!

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

I really like that it’s not just grey and silver; it’s really cool with the added accent glitters. It brings more life to the polish, if you ask me.

I stamped on it. I thought I was smart, and used a pink metallic polish from Kiko as the stamping polish. It’s Kiko #618 Orchid Pink, and I used a motif from stamping plate Mash-47. I applied another layer of topcoat, and here’s how my mani ended up looking like:

Perhaps it was a mistake to stamp with pink – I’m not sure the contrast is big enough. I just thought that the pink would compliment some of the pink glitter in the polish.

All in all I think this is OK. I do wish that the stamping had stood out more, but this isn’t so bad that I can’t live with it. What say you, girls?

  

Opacity: 8/10
Colour, prettiness: 6/10
Durability: 10/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 7/10
Buy again: Yes

Foxy Paws ~ Before the parade passes by

Foxy Paws ~ Before the parade passes by

Sky blue linear holo

“Before the parade passes by” is from the Holo, Dolly! collection from summer 2013. The entire collection is inspired by the legendary broadway musical, “Hello, Dolly!” 

The formula was a bit tricky on this one, but definitely manageable. I had a few problems with dragging – perhaps I’ll try with an aqua basecoat next time. Anyway, it took three coats before I was satisfied. Some would have definitely had left it at two coats, but I wasn’t quite happy until I had three. Drying time was pretty good, no problems in that department, and then I can live with three coats.

Here’s a pic – three coats in the sunshine:

And another one – this is a very nice holo – I like the blue a lot.

  

It’s a tad more dusty out of the sun than in the sunshine. Actually it reminds me a bit of Nubar’s Absolute. I may do a comparison post at some point :)

Then - I stamped on it. I used a Bourjois 1 seconde lacquer called “Bleu Moonlight”. It’s not a stamping polish, but it’s very pigmented, so it works great for stamping. I used Mash stamping plate Mash-50, and chose a wavy design, because I thought it would look great on the sky blue :)

 

There’s no topcoat on these pictures. I wanted to make sure I still had sunshine available for the last pictures I took.

I quite like stamping with other dark colours than black. It doesn’t get quite as “hard” when it’s not black. I like that.

  

I like “Before the parade passes by”. The colour is cool and the drying time is good. The biggest downside is that it requires three coats, but I’m willing to be forgiving with this pretty polish!

What do you think of this? Would you consider double stamping on it?

“Before the parade passes by” is available from www.foxyfingertips.com. If you buy something, please say hi from me :)

Opacity: 5/10
Colour, prettiness: 7/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 7/10
Buy again: No

Cuccio ~ Fountains of Versailles

Cuccio ~ Fountains of Versailles

Sea green shimmer with glass flecks

Cuccio is a new brand to me, even though the company has been in the beauty industry since the early 1980s. Fountains of Versailles is the type of polish I’d fall for any day. It’s sea green, it’s shimmery, there’s little glass flecks in it and the finish is almost foil-y. I find myself buying this sort of colour over and over again :D

Anyway – application was a breeze. The polish is well pigmented and if you’re in a hurry you can get away with one thick coat. I used two coats though, and the drying time was OK. I hadn’t got access to sunshine, so here’s what it looked like in daylight:

I love the look of the little flecks in there! Here’s another pic:

Sweet as!! That really shows the foil-y finish. Shiny, shimmery, beautiful!

I decided to stamp on it. I used Mash-39 for the fish/mermaid scales, and stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “ Jumpin’ Jade” to stamp with. For the dolphins I used Fauxnaud plate M71 and Kiko 616 from their Mirror Collection.

The topcoat is Poshé, my all time favourite. Here’s the final mani:

And one last look:

I love the way this turned out, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of buying this particular shade of polish.

One last note : this polish stained my fingers green-blue so much that I thought I’d grown Smurf hands!! Just saying, so that you’re not surprised

when your fingernails refuse to give up the hues.

So. What do you think, girls? Let me have your honest opinion in the comments below, please :)

Opacity: 9/10
Colour, prettiness: 10/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Buy again: Yes

China Glaze ~ Infra Red

China Glaze ~ Infra Red

Dark magenta holographic

Infra Red is from the Hologlam collection from Spring 2013. I bought the darker shades from this collection, and this is the second one I’ve tried on. It was one of the colours that I definitely wanted. It’s a rich magenta – and you know my passion for holos!

I used my aqua base coat for a start. Then I applied two layers of the polish. The formula wasn’t as thick as the first Hologlam I tried (Take a Treck) but I must admit that I found the application a little bit tricky. It dries really fast, so there wasn’t much time to correct small imperfections. It covers really well though – I think I could have got away with one coat.

Here it is in direct sunlight. Two coats, no top coat:

I really like this colour, I just wish that the holo effect would have been stronger. It was hard to catch the rainbows on camera, but here’s another attempt:

Stamping time! It took me a while to pick an appropriate design for this pretty holo, but I ended up using a ladybird design from Mash’s stamping plate Mash-32. I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Whirlwind White”, and here’s how it looked before I topcoated it:

And here it is with a layer of Poshé topcoat:

The topcoat didn’t dull the holo effect, which is a big plus. The colour itself looks cool, even out of the sun. I can live with the less prominent holo effect as long as the polish looks good, so this is a winner for sure!

Did you also expect more holo effect from this collection? Am I the only one who thought this was going to be the OMG collection number 2? :)

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

Pupa ~ 034 - blue denim holographic

Pupa ~ 034  

Jeans blue holographic

I’ve been wanting to try this holo for a while, so I was glad to see Mr. Sun with his hat on today. I got this blue polish from my friend Anastasia from Little World of Coloured Nails.

I love holos and I love blue polishes, so there’s absolutely no reason for me not to like this polish. The formula is good – it’s almost a one coater. But I had a few thin spots, so the second coat evened everything out nicely. Drying time was good, it didn’t take long for this to dry.

So here is a picture of two coats of the holographic blue beauty – without topcoat:

The pictures are taken in the sunshine, and I really like the look of this polish:

The rainbows aren’t as prominent as in some of the stronger holos, but it’s there and I really like this polish:

I decided to stamp on it. I chose a green crème for the purpose, namely Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Just in Lime!”, which is bought for stamping purposes. I know it’s not a colour you’d typically chose for a denim blue, but I was in the mood for something else than just white or silver. So lime green it was. And it actually wasn’t bad at all. A little subtle, but not bad.

I used the Mash stamping plate Mash-29 for this design:

Do you think it works with the green stamp on the denim blue? I like it! :)

  

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

Kiko ~ 421 Pearly Pink Iguana, with sunny flowers

Kiko ~ 421 Pearly Pink Iguana

Bright fuchsia with pink shimmer

Here’s another polish bought in London. I’m quite fond of Kiko polishes, so I was happy to bring home a few from my holiday. This one is from the LE Celebration collection, of which I bought 3 out of 10. Pretty good score, if you ask me!

Application was a breeze and I was impressed with how opaque it is. I could have gotten away with one coat, but the second once made the colour richer and even more vibrant. I was like “wow” when I looked at my fingernails: This is really a colour with an attitude. I love that!

The sun was shining, so you get to see this beauty in all its glory. Two coats, no topcoat, in direct sunlight:

If that isn’t right in your face, then I don’t know what is! Here’s another shot:

Look at that shimmer, I absolutely love that! 

I stamped on it, using a single flower design from Mash’ plate Mash35 and a no name dark purple polish called “Suzi skies in the Pyrenees”. I dotted the middle of the flower with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Lightening”, sealed it all up with a layer of Poshé topcoat, and I was done.

The sun went down behind a building while I was stamping, so here’s a picture out of direct sunlight:

The polish isn’t quite as vibrant, but I still think it’s gorgeous! 

Here’s one last picture of my very summery mani:

I must admit that I’m a little bit sad that Kiko isn’t available in Denmark, because I think it’s a great brand at affordable prices. But – so far I’ve managed to get my hands on pretty much what I wanted, so I guess I’ll survive :D

Do you know Kiko polishes? If yes, do you own any?

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

Dandy Nails - Perspective

Dandy Nails ~ Perspective

Magenta with purple and blue shimmer

Here’s another polish I got for my birthday! It was from sweet Lauriestrode from Lauriestrode’s Fun with Nails. It’s my first Dandy Nails product, and I fell in love instantly. Most of you girls probably know that I love glitter by now, but I’m also a huge shimmer-fan, and “Perspective” is packed with shimmer!

The polish is a little bit thick, but it applies easily and dries fast. It dries up semi-matte, but unfortunately that doesn’t show on the pictures.

Here’s a pic of two coats, no topcoat:

Isn’t that shimmer just gorgeous?
The next picture is taken in the sunlight, and that really makes the shimmer pop!

I stamped on this beauty, using Mash’ stamping plate Mash-42 and a no name black stamping polish. I sealed it all up with a layer of my faithful Poshé topcoat and here’s the final result: 

I like this Inca-ish design, I think it goes really well with that magenta colour!

That’s it! Being in a birthday group can be great fun with the right girls, and I am really happy with the group I’m in. At some point I’d love to join an international birthday group as well.

Do you like my new pretty polish?

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