Layla ~ CE 52 – The Butterfly Effect

Layla ~ CE 52 – The Butterfly Effect

Purple jelly base packed with flakies

Let me show you another one of my birthday presents from my friend Line. She doesn’t have a blog I can link to, but she loves polish like the rest of us!

The Butterfly Effect has been on my wishlist for quite a while. I love flakies, even though I don’t wear them very often. I think they’re amazingly pretty.

I wasn’t in the mood for a lot of layers of this pretty polish, so I put on some decent underwear for it. I used one coat of China Glaze Bizarre Blurple, which is a really nice purple/blue polish. I didn’t take pictures of this step since I only put on one coat, but if you want to see what it looks like you can see it here!

Then I applied two easy coats of the Butterfly Effect. The formula is really good, and the flakies spread out easily and evenly totally effortlessly! Drying time was alright, not slow and not fast, and I finished it with one layer of Catrice Quick Dry & High Shine topcoat.

Here’s a picture taken in the sunshine, just before the sun went down:

In daylight you can see that the base is purple and that the flakies sometimes flash red!

This is a light box pic:

You can still see the purple base, but the flakies are now flashing more orange than red. In the corners of the nail there’s a bit of green flakies visible.

A slightly different angle, still in the light box:

There you can see that the flakies are definitely both orange and green.

Last picture, also taken in the light box:

I think this is the prettiest flakie I’ve got. I love that the base is purple, and that the flakies also flash red. Absolutely fabulous!

Please tell me what you think? Are you a flakie-fan or are you totally over them or what?

Opacity: 5/10
Colour, prettiness: 8/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Buy again: Yes

Color Club and Chiralty in sweet harmony

Color Club ~ Miss Bliss

Strong Linear pink holo

and

Chirality ~ Apollonia

Scattered purple holo

Miss Bliss is from the second Halo Hues collection from spring 2013.

The formula is just great. No need for any special base coat, I just used the base coat that was nearest to my hands. The application was very easy and I had no pulling or bald spots at all. This is a one coater, but I applied two just out of habit and to see if it made a difference, which it didn’t.

And behold! The holo in this beauty is amazingly strong! I almost needed to put on my sunglasses when the little rainbows showed up on my nails! You don’t have to take my word for it; please have a look for yourself:

And from a different angle:

There is no top coat on this yet, because I obviously wasn’t done :D

I wanted a yin/yang-ish symbol on my nails, so I pulled out another holo from my stash, namely Apollonia from Chiralty. I got this purple beauty as a birthday present from my friend Maria. She knows I love holos and purple, so this was a perfect gift! ♥

I taped my nails diagonally across, and applied one layer of Apollonia over the botton half of the nails. Then I made one dot on each half of the nail with the opposite colour.

One layer of Catrice Quick Dry & High Shine finished the mani, and didn’t dull the holos at all:

Here’s what the holos look like out of the sunshine:

Not as pretty, but still pretty enough to actually wear, IMO!

Here’s one last picture, just because I can :D

So, what do you think of my little holo party here? :)

Opacity: 10/10
Colour, prettiness: 8/10
Durability: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Buy again: Yes

Catherine Arley ~ 677 - with flowers

Catherine Arley ~ 677

Berry coloured holo

I’ve been wanting to try the holo polishes from Catherine Arley for a while, so I was very happy to receive a bunch of them in a swap with my sweet friend Aylin from Posh Nail Art.

It’s been winter for so long that if feels as if I’ve forgotten what the sun looks like. At the same time I’ve been collecting holos throughout the winter, and they’ve been sitting in boxes, just waiting for spring, summer and sunshine! I’m not wasting precious holographic polish on a cloudy day, that’s for sure!

But anyway – back to the Catherine Arley. The formula was good, the polish applied easily. I just used my regular base coat, and had no problems with dragging or bald spots. It took two coats to make it opaque, and the drying time was pretty good. All pros and no cons :)

Here’s a picture of two coats, no top coat yet:

The colour is beautiful in the sunshine even though the holo isn’t the strongest I’ve seen.

I wanted to add a little bit of nail art to it, without drowning the prettiness. I stamped a couple of flowers on each nail, using my XL stamping plate H and a no name white stamping polish. Then I dotted the middle of the flowers with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Lightening”, which is a perfect yellow crème. I topped it all with a layer of Poshé top coat, which didn’t dull the holo effect at all:

This is an attempt of a more artistic picture – do you like it?

What I really like about this polish is that I also like the way it looks out of the sun. I think it’s because that the colour is relatively dark, so I can actually wear it. ‘Cause let face it: I’m not spending that much time in the sunshine, and I want my nails to look good all the time!

So – I’m really happy to own a bunch of Catherine Arley polishes, and I hope that we’ll have lots of sunshine over the next couple of months!

Have you also been letting your holos hibernate during the winter, or do you use them regardless?

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

Picture Polish ~ Kryptonite

Picture Polish ~ Kryptonite

Dark green jelly with scattered holo

Here’s another one of my beloved Picture Polishes, namely Kryptonite, which my friend Stinna gave me for my birthday. We’re in a birthday group together :) 

Kryptonite has a really nice formula, and this says a lot, coming from a girl who doesn’t work well with jellies. This applies easily and it covers well: Two coats and I was satisfied. The holo effect in this polish is spectacular. It looks as if the polish glows, even in low lights.

Here is a picture of two coats, no top coat:

It’s hard to capture this prettiness on cam but here’s another attempt:

I decided to do a bit of easy nail art on it. I used a striper from L. A. Colors called Quirky Turquoise. I made two striped on each nail, and the thumb got three. Then I dotted one or two dots on the stripes, and when that was dry I dotted on the dots with the Kryptonite. One layer of Poshé topcoat and my mani was done:

The pattern is more subtle in real life than it appears on the pictures here, but I really like it anyway!

Here’s the pretty couple:

As I said: I really love Picture Polish! Do you like the brand? Which do you have?

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

China Glaze ~ Water you Waiting for

China Glaze ~ Water you Waiting for

Blue glitter with a splash of green

‘Water you waiting for’ is from China Glaze’s Cirque du Soleil: World’s Away collection from winter 2012. I got it from my dear friend Maria; she and I are in a birthday group together.

The formula is a bit on the thick side, but I don’t mind that at all. Drying time is amazingly quick, which is a huge plus. And the polish is opaque in two coats. The green glitters that are hiding in all the blue makes this polish come alive!

Here are two coats, with one coat of BK top coat over it:

I’m really impressed with this, so it took me a while to figure out what to do with it. I ended up with stamping. I used Essie’s Nothing else Metals to stamp with and stamping plate GA35 from Gals’ princess set. I sealed my mani up with a layer of Poshé top coat, and here’s the result:

I wasn’t quite sure about the lavender stamping to begin with, but as the evening progressed I liked it more and more!

China Glaze is a great brand in my opinion – I love pretty much every bottle I’ve got. Water you Waiting for chipped on me after less than 24 hours though – that’s not any kind of behaviour that I’m used to from a China Glaze! Let’s hope it was just an accident! ;)

Please tell me what you think? Does the lavender stamping actually work on this blue glitter? If not, which colour would you have stamped with?

Opacity: 7/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 4/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 7/10
Buy again: Yes

Ozotic ~ 529

Ozotic ~ 529

Colourshifting glitter in a clear base

I’ve been aware of Ozotic polishes for a long time, but it’s only recently I got my hands on some of them myself – I swatched my first Ozotic in this post, and 529 is my second. I got #529 from one of the girls in my birthday group, namely sweet Marianne. #529 is a colour shifting glitter that is meant to be layered over something. I decided to be boring and layer it over black, mostly to see what this polish is really about. I used Essence Black is Back as underwear. It’s my all time favourite black crème because it’s easy to apply, it dries fast and it’s a one coater.

Then I applied two layers of Ozotic 529. The drying time is pretty average. I was in a hurry, so it felt as if it took forever - but in reality it was just an average drying time :D

I applied one layer of Catrice Quick Dry & High Shine topcoat, and here’s what it looked like:

The glitter shifts between blue, purple red and orange.

I love this colour shift! I’m definitely going to try it over a variety of base colours!

I didn’t do anything with this, but that’s mostly because I didn’t have time for it. Next time I’ll try to come up with some really cool nail art.

 So – are you girl Ozotic fans or do you think they’re highly overrated? :)

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

Dare to Wear ~ XOXO - with laces

Dare to Wear ~ XOXO

Red with pink glitter

Here’s another one of my beloved Dare to Wear polishes. XOXO is from the Sweet Love collection and is right up my alley. I love a good red, and glitter is also always good.

The formula of the polish is sound. It’s easy to apply and the pigmentation is really good. It’s almost a one coater, but it looks way cooler with two coats, because the glitter becomes denser. Drying time is pretty average. The polish dries up a little bit textured because of the glitter. 

I applied a single layer of Catrice Quick Dry & High Shine topcoat. That top coat doesn’t do anything to smooth out the texture, but it surely adds shine to a girl’s mani.

This polish is related to Ruby Pumps, Ruby Slippers and other ruby coloured footwear. The biggest difference is that the glitter is pink, and the base isn’t a jelly, but a “real polish”. I love that fact!

This mani is made for a special occasion, so I wanted to make sure it didn’t end up a failure. I stamped with a no name black stamping polish, and I used Bundlemonster’s stamping plate BM-321. I sealed the mani up with a layer of Poshé topcoat, the best topcoat in the world, no less! :D

And another shot:

I’m very satisfied with this mani, it turned out exactly how I wanted it to!

I’ve mentioned it before, and I’m happy to say it again: I’m a big Dare to Wear-fan! I love pretty much everything about them!!

So – what’s the verdict, girls? Is this mani cool enough for a special occasion?

Opacity: 9/10
Colour, prettiness: 10/10
Durability: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9.75/10
Buy again: Yes

Girly Bits ~ Boo-berry

Girly Bits ~ Boo-berry  

Purple jelly base with purple and blue glitter

I’ve read lots of good stuff about Girly Bits polishes, so I thought I’d give a couple of them a go myself. The first one I tried on was Boo-berry. It’s not a secret that I love both glitter and purple, and the two in combination has just got to be a winner – or what?

It was clear to me that it’d take a lot of coats to make this look great, so I decided to add underwear to the mix. I applied one coat of Essence “Passion for Fashion” from their old Color & Go-line. It’s a great purple crème, that I absolutely love. Worn alone it would require two coats, but since it was only underwear today I only applied one. Passion for Fashion covers great and dries fast. Another winner from Essence. I didn’t take a pic of this step.

Now for the Boo-berry: I applied two coats of the glitter. I had to dap around a bit to make the glitter spread out evenly, and I don’t think it was particularly easy to work with. Drying time between the coats was pretty average.

Here’s a pic of two coats of Boo-berry over the purple Essence:

If you take a closer look at my little finger, you can probably see that some of the glitter tends to curl a little bit. I don’t like that, because it make the mani look a bit too messy for my likings.

There’s one coat of Catrice Quick Dry & High Shine top coat on btw:

I stamped on it, using a new stamping plate called OB38 and Barry M’s “Lilac Foil”, which is fantastic for stamping. I stamped cats on all my nails, and sealed them up with a layer of Poshé top coat:

And here’s a pic taken in the sunshine:

The pretties lined up:

I have to say that I am not as impressed with this glitter as I thought I would be. I don’t like the curling ones, and I don’t like that the application is so tricky. And it’s not because I’m not used to using glitter – this was just… yeah well… difficult! It feels a bit lumpy, even after two layers of topcoat, and not in the cool, textured way. So all in all I am disappointed with this polish, and I’m hoping that I have more luck with the other one I bought *fingers crossed*

What do you think of this? And are you a cat person or a dog person – or like me: Both? :)

Opacity: N/A/10
Colour, prettiness: 7/10
Durability: 7/10
Value for money: 4/10
Overall: 6/10
Buy again:  No

Zoya ~ Charla - with reversed glitter gradient

Zoya ~ Charla

Tropical blue sparkling metallic

Charla is from the Sparkle collection from summer 2010.

The colour description in the header is how Zoya themselves describe Charla. I actually think it’s a mix of blue and green, but this polish addiction has made me thinking that I might be slightly colour blind :D

Anyway! Charla is a lovely polish. The formula is fantastic, drying time is really good, and I applied two coats to make it (almost) opaque. I write “almost” because there were places here and there that could have used an extra layer. But I’m sure I’m the only one who noticed, so never mind that. Two coats, no top coat:

The polish is packed with teal flecks, which gives it a surface that I’m totally in love with:

I gazed at all this beauty almost the entire evening before deciding what to do with it. I didn’t want to overwhelm the polish; I wanted the extra to enhance the beauty of it.

I ended up choosing an old polish I bought in Hungary last year, but that I never got around to try. It’s from Lovely Color Mania. I can’t find a name on the bottle, but it has got number 20 on it. It’s a clear base anyway, with various sizes of silver and holo glitter. I picked this because the glitter isn’t dense at all. I sponged the glitter on the base of the nails in a reverse glitter gradient.

A layer of Catrice Quick Dry & High Shine top coat sealed this mani:

Look how pretty they are in their bottles:

This is my favourite Zoya polish ever! I love the colour, the flecks and the shine. And the glitter made it just a little bit more pretty, which is exactly what I aimed for. Win!

Please tell me that you like it too! :D

Opacity: 8/10
Colour, prettiness: 10/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Buy again: Yes! I may even need a backup bottle!

Kiko ~ 402 Jewel Pink

Kiko ~ 402 Jewel Pink

Pink linear holo

I was very pleased to get my hands on the Kiko holos! There are four of them, and I got all four – I wonder how long they’ll last :D 

The formula is great like it’s been in all the Kikos I’ve tried. I used my regular base coat and had no problems with dragging or anything. It took two easy and fast drying coats to make it look like this – there’s no top coat yet:

The pictures are taken in the sun, which definitely makes this polish look fantastic. I love those rainbows on my nails!

But here’s why this polish probably isn’t a keeper: A picture taken in my light box:

The holo is still there and visible, but out of the sun the polish shows a tone that clashes with my skin tone: Salmon!

I wanted to make this mani really girly, and painted some hearts on it with polish. Unfortunately I picked the wrong polish for it; I chose Isadora’s Ancient Ruby, which is a dark burgundy. It turned out almost black on my nails, which definitely wasn’t the look I was after!

The polishes I used:

I love a good pink polish, but I can only wear it if it stays away from the coral tone that doesn’t look very good on me. So I am very sad to admit that this is the first Kiko polish that ends up in the box of shame :/

Did you jump on the holo-wagon yet? Or did you jump off it already?

Opacity: 9/10
Colour, prettiness: 3/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 7/10
Buy again: No