Dance Legend New Prism ~ #12 Android

Dance Legend New Prism ~ #12 Android

Seagreen strong linear holographic

Here’s another one of my Dance Legends, this time from the newer “New Prism”-collection – the collection that made the nail polish community get to know about Dance Legend polishes.

The formula is good, although I did experience a bit of flooding of the cuticles. Whether this was my own fault or if it was the polish - I don’t know for sure. But I think it was me. It’s the only time I’ve experienced that with a Dance Legend. Pigmentation was good though; it was almost opaque after the first layer. I gave it two to make it look perfect. Drying time in between coats was good!

Girls! I’m I love with this. Take a look at what two coats and no topcoat looks like:

It’s amazingly beautiful!

And the rainbows are almost hypnotizing. Wow is the only word that springs to mind! And doubleplusgood isn’t a real word, so that doesn’t count, haha...

I did a reversed glitter gradient on it. I used a glitter from Jordana called “Celestial”, which is a green multisized glitter in a clear base. It’s the first time I use it, but definitely not the last. I sealed it all up with a layer of topcoat, and here’s my final mani:

The pictures are taken in direct sunlight, which is why some of the glitters appear black. They’re not black, they’re all light green.

Here’s one last shot just because.

It can’t come as a surprise that I love everything about this. I love the colour and the holo effect, I love the glitter and the way the mani came out as a whole.

Enough about me. What do you think?

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

Dance Legend Shining Rainbow ~ #11 Red

Dance Legend Shining Rainbow ~ #11 Red

“Red” scattered holographic

Dance Legend’s Shining Rainbow collection is from a while before they became really popular outside Russia. It’s a series of scattered holographics, and some of them are really nice.

The formula of #11 is the same as in the other Shining Rainbow polishes I’ve tried. It’s easy to work with, doesn’t require an aqua base, it covers well in two coats and drying time is a bit faster than average. That’s adds up to Pretty Good, I think.

Here’s what #11 looks like in direct sunshine. Two coats, no topcoat:

And a shot from a different angle:

It looks pretty cool, don’t you think? Did you wonder why I wrote “red” in quotation marks in the headline? It’s because this is red with pink – not a true red. And that’s a shame, because I don’t like it as much out of the sun - ugh! Let me show you what I’m talking about. Here’s a daylight pic, out of the sunshine:

See? It isn’t as nice, is it? I don’t think so, anyway. But I stamped on it nontheless. I used XL stamping plate H and stamped with a black no name stamping polish. I sealed the whole thing with a layer of topcoat, and here’s my final mani:

I like this a lot. The stamp doesn’t overwhelm the holo effect!

Last shot: 

It’s a shame that this isn’t as pretty in the shadow, but I think I can live with it in this case. <said the girl who didn’t want to get rid of too many holos, haha!)

Opacity: 7/10
Colour, prettiness: 6/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 7/10
Buy again: No, I don’t think so

My Christmas mani 2013

China Glaze ~ Mommy Kissing Santa
Deep shimmery red

&

Essie ~Shine of the Times

Orange/red/green dense flakie

Let me show you the mani I wore yesterday on Christmas eve. I knew I wanted to wear red – I love red, and I think it’s perfect for Christmas. And I knew I wanted to wear the Essie “Shine of the Times” that my boyfriend gave to me as a gift this Sunday. So here it is!

I applied two layers of Mommy Kissing Santa on all my nails. Application was good, coverage too and drying time as well.

Then I applied one single layer of Shine of the Times on my pinkie and my pointer. And man, that flakie is insanely dense, I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like it! The colour shift is absolutely beautiful, from red over orange to green!

I also wanted to stamp! I chose two difference snow flake designs from the XL stamping plate K, and a heart design from the stamping plate QA45. I stamped with Essies “Penny Talk”; a lovely coppery metallic. A layer of topcoat completed the mani.

When I twist my fingers like this, you can see how wild the green is in the flakie.

I chose to stamp with copper because I thought it would match the flakie pretty well, and I honestly think it works!

On my pinkie you can see when the flakies show off their red side. Beautiful!

Yes, I was satisfied with this, very satisfied!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas evening! Merry Christmas to you all! ♥

Mommy Kissing Santa

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Fast

Durability: Good

Removal: No problems
Overall impression: It’s a beautiful and vampy red

Buy again: Yes

Shine of the times

Number of coats: 1
Drying time: Average

Durability: Good

Removal: No problems
Overall impression: Amazingly dense flakie, wow!

Buy again: Yes

Butter London ~ Chancer

Butter London ~ Chancer

Red jelly with red microglitter

Last time I was in Germany I was so lucky to find Butter London’s on special! How often does that happen, eh? :D I was thrilled! I threw Chancer (and a couple of others) in my cart, paid and left happy as a bunny.

Chancer is related to lots of polishes all called something to do with ruby footwear. But Chancer is in a league of her own. The formula is fantastic, the drying time is good and the pigmentation is really cool for a jelly. Two coats is what it took to make this look good. No dragging, no bald spots or thinner areas, just perfection coming right out of the bottle. ♥

I’ve got new photo lamps – these are my first pictures taken in the light of them, and I am thrilled! Hooray!!

<Ahem, moving right on>

Here’s a picture of two coats and one coat of topcoat:

Isn’t that just beautiful? I love it!

I decided that I wanted to try and make it look even more beautiful with some simple nail art. I grabbed a black striper from Claire’s and a silver glitter striper from NYX. I made three stripes with each colour on each nail, in three different lengths. I finished the mani off with a layer of Poshé topcoat, and here’s what it ended up looking!

Isn’t it just beautiful! (Note that I didn’t end that sentence with a question mark, this time, haha!)

It was really hard to stop taking photos of it!

This is the last shot, I promise! It’s just to show you the depth of it!

And here are the polishes I used:

  

I only have positive words to say about this polish. The quality is fantastic, it’s so much better than it’s ruby footwear sisters, I can’t even describe how much I like this. I might even get rid of some of the sisters now - yikes!

The only negative thing I can come up with about this polish is the cap. I don’t like the stupid little ridged handle I end up with using when I’ve pulled the big square cap off. But that’s a matter of taste, I think. I would have preferred a bigger and non-ridged handle for sure!

So – what is your verdict, girls? Do you also like the look of this?

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

The Nightmare before Christmas ~ Sally & Jack

The Nightmare before Christmas ~ Sally & Jack  

Black with multicoloured miniglitter and red jelly with red and pink miniglitter

'Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems

in a place perhaps you've seen in your dreams.

For the story you're about to be told

began with the holiday worlds of auld.

Now you've probably wondered where holidays come from.

If you haven't I'd say it's time you begun.

This is a quote from Tim Burton’s ‘A Nightmare before Christmas’; one of my favourite Christmas movies. I was thrilled to find Sally and Jack polishes in Hot Topic in New York! I almost made a mistake only buying Sally though: I’m a sucker for glittery red and I don’t wear black very often. But Jack and Sally belong together, so I ended up bringing them both home. And I’m glad that I did.

I applied two coats of each polish. The polishes are equally easy to apply and it takes two coats to make them look at their best. Drying time is on the slow side, and their smell is a bit odd, but I can easily live with that because the polishes are both dead gorgeous.

Let me show you two coats of Jack and two coats of Sally, all with a layer of Poshé topcoat on:

See what I mean? I love that there’s multicoloured glitter in the black, and the red looks really great with the pink and red glitters too.

Here’s the pretty couple:

Allow me to make them even prettier. I painted white stripes on my pinkie to represent Jack’s stripy jacket. The ring and the middle finger got a kiss and a couple of hearts on them – Sally is so sweet <3 My pointer had Jack stamped on it, and the thumb had a layer of L A Girls “Uninhibited” black glitter over it.

I found the stamps on these plates:
Lips: Bundlemonster BM-02

Hearts: Unnamed Essence stamping plate

Jack: XL stamping plate K Holiday designs

I stamped with a no name black stamping polish.

I applied another layer of Poshé topcoat, and here’s my final mani:

I really like this, it turned out just the way I wanted it to!

One last shot, just because I can:

Like I said: This is what I wanted it to look like. Perfect for Christmas and as a tribute to a Christmas movie that I really like to watch.

Have you seen The Nightmare before Christmas? If yes, did you like it?

Pretty Serious ~ Into Dreams and Darling Diva ~ Carrie

Pretty Serious ~ Into Dreams

Purple with pink shimmer

&

Darling Diva ~ Carrie

Iridescent mulitsized glitter in pink jelly base

Pretty Serious make extremely nice polishes in my opinion. And if there’s something that they’re very good at, then it’s making purples! My prettiest purple polishes are from… yes, you guessed it: Pretty Serious!

Into Dreams is a lovely deep purple! The formula is no less than great. It’s almost opaque in one coat, but I gave it two, just to make sure that I gave it the best conditions to shine! Drying time between coats is great. And man, can this baby deliver! I didn’t apply a topcoat, and look at how it shines in the sunlight:

If that isn’t lovely, then I don’t know what lovely is!

The pink shimmer makes this polish really special, and much more than “just another purple” :)

  

I decided to pair it up with an iridescent glitter from Darling Diva, namely “Carrie”. Carrie holds iridescent glitters in many shapes and sizes and is perfect to layer over a purple like Into Dreams. I’m also a fan of Darling Diva polishes – so I thought that these two would make a perfect pair.

Carrie is way packed with glitter! I usually use glitter like this: One dip in the bottle per nail, and that’s all it gets. But Carrie has way too many glitters for that in my opinion. So I made sure to scoop some of the glitters off on the edge of the bottle before applying it onto the nails. We don’t want any overkill, we particularly don’t want any underkill – we just want Kill! :D

Here’s the result of one layer of Carrie over Into Dreams. There’s no topcoat involved whatsoever.

All the pictures are taken in the sunshine. Look at how the glitters reflects the light beautifully!

One last shot. I know this is very simple, but I wasn’t in the mood for large nail art projects today. A pretty purple with a cool glitter on top was what it took to make me happy.

Sometimes it’s nice to keep it cool and simple, and just use a couple of nice polishes, don’t you think?

Into Dreams  -  Carrie

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

I bought both of these polishes myself, and you can buy them both on norwaynails.com. And! They're on special today! You get 30% off if you buy them from Norway Nails - but only until the next offer is up, so hurry!!

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.

Winter wonderland

Snow White goes Pop

A winter wonderland mani

It’s winter here, and the temperatures are low. And brrr, it’s damn cold outside.

I don’t often do seasonally inspired manis, but I was in the mood for snowflakes. On my nails, obviously. I’d rather not have them in real life! Snow looks pretty on Christmas cards, but when you have to live with it and travel to work by bicycle and home every day through it, believe me, you don’t like snow IRL.

So. I started out with two coats of Pop Beauty Nail Glam: Ocean, which is a dark blue shimmer polish. It covers well and dries pretty fast, and I just love this shade of blue. I have way too many of them, to be honest :D

Here’s what it looks like on its own:

Then I added a layer of OPI’s “Pirouette my whistle” on my pinkie and my pointer. It’s my favourite OPI – I simply love that glitter. I sponged a bit of H&M “Snow White” onto the tips of the three other nails. Snow White is a white shimmer – my favourite white, actually. And then I stamped snowflakes on those three nails too. I used Angel Kiss from Color Club – a light blue linear holo from the Halo Hues collection – and I found the snow flakes on XL plate “K”.

One layer of Poshé topcoat finished the whole thing off, and here’s my final mani:

I turned out just the way I wanted it – I love it when that happens!

At first I regretted to have sponged the tips, but now, a couple of hours after I actually made the mani, I must admit that I really like the effect! Sure, the stamped on snow flakes are less visible where they merge a little with the sponged-on white, but that’s actually ok!

Here are the polishes I used: 

So – how cold (or warm) is it where you are?

Crowstoes ~ Indian Summer

Crowstoes ~ Indian Summer

Multichrome that shifts between purple, magenta and orange

I’ve been very excited to show you this pretty polish. You know that I really like polishes that “do” something, right? Well, this polish is a chameleon! And the reason I’m showing it to you today is because Norway Nails has them in the Christmas Calendar, so they’re actually on special today. More about that later!

I’ve seen several swatches of Indian Summer, which is from Autumn 2013: Better Late Than Never Collection. I can see that most girls layer it over black. I didn’t want to do that if I could avoid it. I decided to try and see if this would actually work on its own.

The first layer was really tricky. I used my regular basecoat, and I did experience some dragging when I applied the first coat. It actually looked pretty bad and I almost regretted that I didn’t layer it, haha! But - the second coat was easy to apply and evened out all the irregularities from the first layer. I was actually almost satisfied after the second layer, but since this polish dries pretty fast, I decided to add a third layer, to give this baby the best options to really show off.

And wow, this is an amazing polish! Really stunning. But hey, don’t take my word for it. Take a look for yourself. Here’s three coats, no topcoat:

It’s amazing how much shine this polish has in it!

And the colourshift is just, like, wow! From purple over magenta to what looks like deep red. It’s beautiful!

I am so glad I decided to wear this on its own. I love it!

See that shimmer as well? It gives the polish so much depth.

One last pic of the polish alone. And then we’re up for some stamping!

I found some stars on my XL stamping plate “H”, and I stamped with Essie’s “Penny Talk” from the Mirror collection. I bought Penny Talk when I was in New York, only with stamping in mind. I’m not into gold polishes much, but this is more copper than gold, and for this purpose it’s perfect! I sealed it all up with a layer of Poshé topcoat, and here’s what the whole thing ended up looking like:

And one final shot – I’m digging this! :D

Opacity: 6/10
Colour, prettiness: 10/10
Durability: 10/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
Buy again: Yes

You can buy Crowstoes polishes from norwaynails.com, and they're on special today! You get 40% off if you buy them from Norway Nails - but only until the next offer is up, so hurry!! If you don’t know Crowstoes yet, then here’s your chance to snatch a few of them.

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.