A2Z Challenge: K is for Kitchen Sink

I didn’t know what a kitchen sink mani was before I joined this challenge. I had to ask and apparently it’s a mani where most (if not all) nails are different. I like the idea but it took me a while to figure out what I actually wanted to do. I still wanted it to be harmonic, so I chose three colours that I thought would go well together; three polishes from Golden Rose’s Rich Color collection: #39, a turquoise shimmer, #42, a violet shimmer, and #51, which is a lovely magenta shimmer.

Here’s how my kitchen sink mani turned out:

On my pointer I have the violet as my base, and have dotted with the two other colours.

On my middle finger it’s magenta with turquoise stripes.

On my ring finger I made a gradient with the violet and the turquoise and hand painted a little heart with the magenta on it.

The pinkie has a turquoise base, and a flower painted with the magenta and the violet.

I’m not totally satisfied with the flower, but I love the mani as a whole! This last picture shows the mani with flash:

The polishes I used: 

I’m quite happy with this, and will definitely try and make more kitchen sink manis in future.

How about you, have you tried to make a kitchen sink mani?

The challenge next week is Lines. I’m looking forward to come up with something for that.

Please check out what the other really talented girls did:

An InLinkz Link-up

Catrice ~ FuchsCIA

Catrice ~ FuchsCIA

Bright pink with micro silver flecks

I really like Catrice’s polishes. They are always good quality and I can almost always find something I like in their stands.

Today I’m going to show you a pink from the core line. It’s called FuchsCIA, so yes, OPI isn’t the only company that comes up with silly names for their polishes, haha!

The quality is good and easy to work with and it takes two coats to get rid of visible nail line. Drying time between the coats is good. Topcoat definitely enhances the colour so I recommend that.

Here’s two coats plus a layer of topcoat:

Check out them micro silver flecks!

I added purple to the mix! I used a Rimmel from the Space Dust collection called Moon Walking. It’s purple and silver and very glittery and then it’s textured. I dapped a bit onto the nails using a bit of a rough bathing sponge. I kept on sponging until I was satisfied with the effect. Then I applied a layer of topcoat. Moon Walking requires two layers of topcoat to be smoothened out completely so one coat doesn’t ruin the effect.

Here’s my final mani:

I love pink and purple together!

I’m pleased. How do you feel? :)

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Crème with micro flecks
Overall impression: Both of them are really good polishes!

Buy again: Yes

W7 ~ Purple Rain & Strawberry Daiquiri

W7 ~ Purple Rain & Strawberry Daiquiri  

Purple shimmer and pink shimmer

W7 is a UK brand as far as I know, and have been available from various European websites. Recently they came up for sale in Denmark and then I couldn’t resist any longer: I grabbed two.

Purple Rain is a purple jelly with purple and blue shimmer. The formula is okay and easy to work with and it took two coats to make it opaque. I did consider a third coat, but ended up with only two – and was happy with it. The smell is kind of odd – I can’t quite describe it, but if you’re sensitive to smells you might want to avoid this one. I don’t mind polish smells at all myself. The drying time is okay.

Anyway, enough talk! Here’s the pretty polish. Two coats and a layer of topcoat:

The blue shimmer gives it an almost duochromatic look, don’t you think?

Moving right on to Strawberry Daiquiri, which is a pink shimmer. It’s really sheer so I think it would take four coats to make it opaque on its own. I am not in the mood for that kind of exercise, so I had already decided to use this as a layering polish when I bought it.

I made a few random white lines on each nail before I applied a layer of Strawberry Daiquiri. Again: Easy to work with but odd smell.

Here’s what it looks like: One coat over Purple Rain:

I thought it was quite clever with the white lines so you can tell how sheer the polish actually is :D I’m also going to try and layer this over other colours: Pink, red and blue for instance.

That’s it. I’m quite pleased with my two new pretties, and they definitely both get to stay in the stash.

  

Number of coats: 2/1
Drying time: Good

Finish: Jelly with shimmer
Overall impression: Good polishes with an odd smell to them

Buy again: Yes

China Glaze ~ Party Hearty

China Glaze ~ Party Hearty

and

Golden Rose Rich Color ~ 45

A mani for a Christmas Event

I’m taking a very small break from my beloved holos right now. It’s not because I really want to, but I still haven’t gotten my camera back from the repair shop yet, and I can’t seem to catch the lovely holo effects with the camera I borrowed.

But it isn’t really a problem since I’m having a whole bunch of non-holos in the box of untrieds.

Today I started out with a Golden Rose, number 45 from the Rich Color series. It’s a lovely red with a really great looking shimmer. The formula is great and it’s really easy to work with. Two coats is what it took to make it look this great:

Here’s a close up of the bottle. Look at all that fantastic looking shimmer!

Now on to a glitter: Party Hearty from China Glaze. It’s from the 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty And Nice Collection from Winter/Holiday 2010. It was on my wish list ever since I laid eyes on it first, but it took me a long while to actually get it. And then it took me forever to actually wear it! Damn! Anyway – it’s a clear base with red, green and silver glitters and hexes.

I applied two coats of Party Hearty because I wanted my mani to be really blingy. The formula is good – no fishing required – and the glitter spreads out easily and evenly. The old China Glazes seem to have an odd smell to them, and Party Hearty has that too. I don’t mind so much though, I just thought I’d mention it.

I topped the whole thing with topcoat, and here’s my final and very blingy mani:

Ooh yeah, I love this sooo much.

I received ridiculously many compliments for this manicure, it seems that I’m not the only glitter lover in the world.

Number of coats: 2/2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Jelly with shimmer / glittah!
Overall impression: I love both these polishes!

Buy again: Yes to both

Dance Legend Wow Prism ~ 25 Behind the Scenes

Dance Legend Wow Prism ~ 25 Behind the Scenes

Dark raspberry glass fleck holo

This mani nearly didn’t make it into a post!! I’m really struggling with the camera I borrowed, and the pictures aren’t getting as good as I want them to be. Please cross your fingers that I’ll get my own camera back from the repair shop soon!

Anyway: It’s been a while since I wore a Dance Legend Wow Prism-polish so it’s time! I really love that series of polishes!

The formula is easy to work with and two easy and fast drying coats is what it took to make this baby look its best. The chunky holo particles show their magic even in low lights, and that’s good, because I gave up getting good flash pictures of it!

Here’s two coats and no topcoat, no flash:

I think the effect is stunning!

I stamped on it. I found a thin swirly motif on Mundlebonster’s stamping plate BM-607 and I stamped with Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri “Whirlwind White”. I need to find a stamper with a non-white head, because it was almost impossible to place the motif where I wanted it on my nails: I couldn’t see where the stamp was on the stamping head, LOL! But anyway, here’s the final mani:

And one last picture:

I hope you like it!

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Glass fleck holo
Overall impression: Wow Prisms are really cool polishes. Period.

Buy again: Yes

OPI ~ I Carol About You

OPI ~ I Carol About You

Just playing around with purple, blue and glitter

If you have been around for a while, then you’ll probably know that I had camera issues three months ago. My camera broke down and the camera shop spent an entire month working on it, only to find out that they couldn’t fix it. I got my money back and I bought another camera – same brand, just a newer model than the old one.

Now, only two months later, the new camera is now back in the repair shop. The flash didn’t work properly, and this time of year I need to use the flash a lot. It’s dark here peeps, at least until February/March. I talked the shop into lending me a camera while they try to make my own work. They gave me an SLR: A Sony AX 3000. It’s not that I mind operating an SLR, but the point of having a compact camera for me is that it’s easy to operate with one hand – as in: I’m taking pictures of my other hand.

So: Please bear with me while I try to get used to this camera – and cross your fingers that I’ll get my own one back really soon!

Anyway – today’s mani ended up looking like this:

I started out with two layers of OPI’s I Carol About You from the recent Christmas collection. A lovely, dark purple that applies easily and dries fast. The polish smells of fish but that’s the only bad thing I have to say about it. Here’s that step:

I didn’t want my mani quite so dark, so I dapped some blue holo on the tips. I used cling film as my “sponging” material since I didn’t want it to be smooth.

And then I applied a layer of OPI’s Snow Globetrotter on top of it all. It’s a mix of white and iridescent glitter in a clear base and it’s also from the Christmas collection.

Here are the polishes I used.

I actually quite like this.

LynBDesigns ~ Our Little Infinity

LynBDesigns ~ Our Little Infinity

Multichrome that switches between blue, purple, red and orange – with added holo glitter

Our Little Infinity is from the “Fault in Our Stars" Collection and it’s absolutely gorgeous! I love multichromes, and when holo glitter is added I’m definitely a fan! Nice name, too.

I was unsure about how many coats is would take to make it opaque so I have layered it. I used A England’s lovely “Avalon” as my base. It’s not a true one coater, but one coat is enough for making a good base for Our Little Infinity. I applied two coats of the multichrome over the A England. The drying time was good. I think it would have been opaque in three coats so I didn’t really save anything by layering it… oh well; I couldn’t possibly know.

Anyway – let me show you how pretty it is. Here’s two coats over purple:

These first pictures are lightbox pictures, no flash. The glitter refuses not to sparkle!!

Here’s an intentionally blurry flash picture, just to show off the sparkle!!

I made a gradient stamping on it. I found a star and swirl motif on Bundlemonster’s plate BM-610 and I stamped with Moyou’s baby pink and baby blue. I applied a layer of topcoat over the whole thing, and here’s my final mani taken with flash:

And here’s a low light picture:

I really like the effect the two pale stamping polishes make here!

If you like multichromes like I do, you should definitely consider buying Our Little Infinity. It’s gorgeous!

Number of coats: 2 over a base (or 3 alone)
Drying time: Good

Finish: Multichrome with holo glitter
Overall impression: I love the colour and the colour shift – and the holo glitter is a great bonus!

Buy again: Yes

A2Z Challenge: J is for Jewel

What do you think about when you hear the word Jewel? Something like this?

That’s not what springs to my mind. Instead I think of this sweet character:

She’s from the animated movie “Rio” from 2011. She’s beautiful and she’s fiercely independent – I love her to bits! I can’t really do her justice on my nails – but here’s my attempt anyway:

I used two blues for the base colour: Golden Rose matte velvet #103, which is the bottle I’m holding, and then a layer of Finger Paints’ “Laugh My Art Off”, a lovely blue microglitter. The white is my to go white: NailNation 3000’s “White”.

I stamped a wing pattern on my pinkie and pointer, using a motif from Moyou London’s Tropical Collection-06 and I stamped with Color Club’s “Over the Moon”. The flower on the ring finger obviously symbolizes Jewel’s flower and is from Moyou London’s Tropical Collection-01. I stamped with a pink stamping polish from Moyou (not London). I double stamped the parrot on my middle finger, first with black and then with white. The motif is also from the Tropical Collection-01.

 That’s my Jewel for you, girls and guys :)

The polishes I used: 

The challenge next week is Kitchen Sink. I’ll have to figure out what the heck that means, haha!

Please check out the what the other super talented girls did: 

An InLinkz Link-up

Glittering Elements ~ CE402 and CE403

Glittering Elements ~ CE402 and CE403

Two unreleased prototypes

The creator of Glittering Elements, Casey, sometimes sell her prototypes. I had no idea about what I said yes to when I ordered four of them, but I like Glittering Elements as a rule, so I wasn’t nervous to receive crappy looking polishes. The four polishes I received were gorgeous – and I’m going to show you two of them today.

CE402 is a spring green scattered holo. Easy to work with, good drying time and covers in two coats. CE403 is a dark blue linear holo with the same good formula. Here they are:

The glitter in the middle that binds them together it Absolum – Your Potions Master from CrowsToes. I dapped it on with a dotting tool. 

There’s also a layer of topcoat involved.

Here’s my mani in lower lights. I really like what the glitter does here…

Isn’t that just pretty?

Here’s what CE402 looks like on its own; two coats and no topcoat:

And here are the pretty polishes:

If I’m ever seeing Casey offering prototypes for sale again, I’ll definitely say yes please!

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Green scattered holo and blue linear holo
Overall impression: Great polishes, I really like both of them!

Buy again: Yes

Girly Bits ~ Scandilous

Girly Bits ~ Scandilous

Sky blue with rainbow flecks and holo shimmer

Today I’m going to show you a special polish from Girly Bits. It’s called Scandilous – and if you don’t know that polish, then it’s probably because you’re not a member of a specific Scandinavian nail polish Facebook group. Scandilous is a group custom.

The formula is great, and the polish applies easily. I used two coats to get rid of all visible nail line and the drying time between the coats is good. I really like this blue – here’s what two coats and no topcoat look like in the flash light:

The holo effect isn’t in your face, but it’s there.

This low light picture gives you an impression of the little flecks:

I did some simple flowery nail art on it. I made to diagonal lines with black polish on each nail, and then I dotted a flower in white and magenta. Here’s how great that looks:

Then I applied a layer of my favourite holo topcoat. It’s called Rainbow Syrup and it’s from Ellagee. I love that topper!! The final mani looks like this:

I am soooo glad that I own Scandilous – it’s a great group custom in my opinion. If we ever have another one made I wish for an in your face holo :D

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Rainbow flecks and holo shimmer
Overall impression: Special in many ways: The colour and the flecks are beautiful – and I’m impressed by the quality too.

Buy again: Yes