Glittering Elements ~ Secret Keeper

Glittering Elements 1 ~ Secret Keeper

Mauve linear holo with blue shimmer and holo effect

Secret Keeper is one of a series of three polishes – the little collection is called “The Secrets Trio”, and is inspired by one of Casey’s favourite TV shows: “Pretty Little Liars”.

The formula is good. The first coat looked really thin, but the polish builds up nicely and it took three coats to reach the desired opacity. Drying time is average. I applied a coat of Poshé topcoat for the pictures.

Here’s a picture taken inside, with the sun shining through the window:

The colour is a bit hard to describe, as you can see from these pictures. It’s not really purple and not really grey either. It’s something in between, I think. There’s a colour called Gridelin, which is Violet-Grey....this could be it! 

This picture is taken outside in the sunshine:

And another one:

This polish has definitely got grey undertones! And look: Rainbows!

I did some really simple nail art on it. I made two stripes on each nail with a dark purple polish from it-style (an Italian polish I received in a swap a long time ago), and then a line of dots down the middle. Another layer of Poshé topcoat finished my mani:

It’s not the prettiest nail art I’ve done, but I like it anyway:

Here are the two polishes I used:

The Verdict:

This is a really special colour polish, and so hard to describe. It’s a great base for nail art, and would be perfect for a discreet work look too. I like it with the nail art because I like my manis loud – also on work days :) I love that it’s got holo in it too.

I can live with the three layers for full coverage as long as the drying time isn’t slower than it is here. Average is definitely ok!

Are you a fan of Pretty Little Liars too? I myself have never watched the series at all!

Secret Keeper is 5 free.

No. 7 ~ Betty Blues with Color Club ~ Over the Moon

No. 7 ~ Betty Blues

Deep dark blue with shimmer

I was in the mood for something dark today, and I’ve been having this super dark blue sitting in my box of untrieds since I was in London in April. So, Betty Blues’ time to move into the promised land called Helmer has come :)

The formula is good and the brush is wide, so the polish is really easy to apply. The coverage is good too, which is not a surprise when the polish is as dark as this. It took two easy coats to make this completely opaque.

Let me show you what it looks like. Here’s a pic of two coats, no topcoat:

The polish is so dark that it almost looks black. It’s actually almost too dark for me.

Fortunately there are ways to work around that! I had stamping in mind. I used my XL stamping plate A and I stamped with Color Club’s “Over the moon” from the Halo Hues collection. It’s an amazingly strong holographic blue, which stamps perfectly. If you don’t believe me you can take a look for yourself:

This is much better than the blue on its own. I like the way the lighter shade of holo breaks the larger almost black surface

I like the pattern as well, although I need to practice more with the squishy XL stamper. I seem to tend to stretch the patterns a bit when I stamp. I think I’m the one who notices it the most though.

The brand No. 7 seems to be a pretty good brand, but the range of colours is rather limited, and this is a tad too dark for me, really. This mani only works because of the stamping, imo.

Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts about this in the comments below.

Opacity: 8/10
Colour, prettiness: 4/10
Durability: 7/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 6.5/10
Buy again: No

Julie G Gumdrops: A Gradient

Julie G ~ Tangerine Dream, Sugar Rush and Hot Cinnamon

A orange/red textured gradient

It’s been a while since I made a gradient, and that’s a shame because I really like the look of them. I received the Julie G Gumdrops collection in a fantastic swap recently, and three of them look as if they were made for each other: Light orange, dark orange and red. It sounds like a sunset, doesn’t it? Well, I like that thought!

So I started out with one coat of Tangerine dream, which is the lightest of the three. After that was dry, which happened really fast, I sponged on the darker orange and the red. It was really easy to work with, I was well impressed.

I hope you will be too, when I show you how it ended up looking:

I must admit that it turned out even better than I hoped for!

I put tape around my nails when I sponged, because I didn’t know how difficult it would be to remove textured polish from the cuticles!

There’s no topcoat on these pictures. I actually applied a layer of topcoat after having taken these pictures, but the texture just ate it all up and it didn’t make any difference at all, so the polish obviously wants to look like this!

Here’s a pic of the three polishes I used for this. Aren’t they just pretty?

I’m very pleased with all my Julie G Gumdrops, and I must admit that I’m seriously impressed with how well these three work together. I’m not usually into orange polishes, but this is beautiful – in my humble opinion obviously :)

Please tell me what you think? Is this a winner or not?

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

Treasures by Tan ~ After Shock

Treasures by Tan ~ After Shock 

Cherry linear holo

It’s not a secret that I haven’t been impressed with the Treasure by Tan holos that I bought on Etsy. I don’t think they’re opaque enough and I also don’t think the holo is quite strong enough. It’s taking me quite a while to get all six of them tested, since I’m not totally thrilled; you know what I mean?

One thing I do know: I love it when my manis pop! So I decided to use the brightest red I have as underwear for this cherry coloured holo. I used Revlon’s “Fire Fox”, which is a bright red matte suede, that covers perfectly in two easy coats. Drying time is great too, you can literarily sit and watch it dry because it dries up semi matte!

Here’s the base colour for the holo; two coats and no topcoat:

It’s a nice “in your face” red, I like it! 

Now for the holo. I applied two coats of “After Shock”. It applies easily and doesn’t pull on the polish underneath it. Drying time is really slow though. I waited really patiently but it seemed like forever before it was dry. I didn’t apply a topcoat yet – I’m not done yet :D

Two coats over the bright red Revlon:

It’s nice and bright, but the holo isn’t very strong, which is disappointing!

This is actually as strong as I can make it look. I give credit to the underlaying polish for the fact that I actually like the colour! :D

Then I decided for some easy nail art. I used OPI liquid sand “Honey Ryder” from the Bond Girls collection. I made stripes on three of the nails. Then I used a mini craft punch and cut out hearts in masking tape. Then I placed the tape on the ring finger and the thumb and sponged “Honey Ryder” on before quickly removing the tape. And alas: Even half an hour after the last coat of “After Shock” the polish wasn’t quite dry, and the tape pulled on the mani. Argh!

Here’s the final mani after one layer of topcoat:

And here’s the craft punch that I bought really cheap in a local dollar store:

I’m not really a gold kind of girl, but I kind of like this :D The red holo ended up in my box of shame and has already found a new home, along with some of her sisters.

Opacity: 3/10
Colour, prettiness: 6/10
Durability: 6/10
Value for money: 5/10
Overall: 5/10
Buy again: No

Cuccio ~ Rose Gold Romance

Cuccio ~ Rose Gold Romance

Burgundy velvet matte with shimmer

The sun isn’t out today, which means it’s not a happy holo-day. Will that be nice for a change? We’ll see about that later, shall we? :)

So I picked what I thought was a shimmer, but it turned out that it’s a velvety matte, which wasn’t exactly what I was in the mood for, but oh well, you know I never leave a polish on its own anyway, don’t you :)

Rose Gold Romance dries super fast, and I mean, really super fast. In fact I had to work really fast to be able to polish an entire nail before it dried! Amazing, no less!! The formula tends to get thicker as you work, which has also to do with the fast drying time, I think. But coverage is great, if you’re in a hurry you can use this as a one coater! I had to apply two, mainly to even out some of the irregularities that I caused because I didn’t work fast enough!

And here’s what two coats, no top coat look like, in ordinary daylight:

I only like matte polishes if they’ve got shimmer in them, and this one is simply packed with it. Fabulous! If you look at the thumb, you can see a dent. That’s because of the really fast drying time, not because I actually dented it. :)

Like I said, I wasn’t really in the mood for a matte. So I grabbed a P2 holo glitter topcoat called “Just Fantastic”. It’s sparse holo glitter in a clear base – and perfect for this purpose. I just applied a single coat of that, and here’s what that looked like:

Then I stamped on it. I used my XL stamping plate B and stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White, which is a really great white crème polish. I topped the whole thing with H K Girl topcoat, and here’s the final result:

I like the swirls, although I wish that some of the stamping producing companies would make some less prominent all nail designs. They need a design consultant. I'll do that! :smiles brightly:

And one last shot: 

All in all it ended up pretty good, I think. It wasn’t what I was after to begin with, but it’s often that I don’t know where I’m actually going to end up when I start a mani. But this is okay. It can stay ;) 
Are you a fan of matte polishes?

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

Glitter Gal ~ Teal Green

Glitter Gal ~ Teal Green

Teal green strong linear holographic

I bought myself another Glitter Gal polish, because the three others I’ve got really missed their sister! You should know by now that I love teal, and seriously, how could I not buy Teal Green!

I just used my regular basecoat, because I knew from ealier that Glitter Gals polishes don’t need the special aqua basecoat. The formula is just great, the polish applies easily and covers really well. The drying time is great, so I didn’t have to sit around for too long and literally watch paint dry, haha!!

The sun was out – which is why I chose a holo in the first place – and let me show you how absolutely beautiful this polish is!

Here’s two coats, no topcoat:

I love, love, love this! ♥ Perfect teal! Perfect rainbows. Perfect polish!

See the prettiness shine!

The rainbows are definitely not shy, that’s for sure. They’re really pretty!

  

What I also like is that the polish also is pretty in the shade. Here’s a picture to prove it:

I was indecisive about what to do with it. I knew I didn’t want to overwhelm the holo, and on the other hand, I hardly ever wear a polish on it’s own. I like a bit of something on it. So I went for a simple stamp from the Apipila P.6 plate, and I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Just in Lime”, which is a lovely dark limegreen crème polish. It was actually pretty difficult to stamp today because it’s warm here and apparently not humid, so the polish dried almost the instant I scraped the plate.

But anyway, here’s the result:

There’s still no topcoat involved btw :)

That’s it! Another favourite teal is added to my collection, and Glitter Gal will only be thought upon with positive thoughts from now on.

Please tell me if think I should have stamped with a different colour, and if so, which colour would you suggest? Thanks! :)

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

China Glaze ~ When stars collide

China Glaze ~ When stars collide

Deep plum holographic

Every time the sun shines it’s holoday!

I want to show you another polish from the Hologlam collection from Spring 2013, namely 'When stars collide'. I wasn’t sure whether I should buy it or not when it came out – I was wondering if maybe it would be too brown for my likings. Well - I can reveal already now that it isn’t! :)

I used an aqua base coat, because I’ve heard that this polish works best either with that or with no base coat at all. My nails are still yellow after a green polish that decided to leave its colour on my nails – through basecoat and everything, so I’m definitely not ready to make out with a new polish without using some form of protection!

Anyway, the formula is great – a bit on the thick side, but I don’t mind that – and the drying time is no less than fantastic. The pigmentation is also really good: with thicker layers I might even be able to get away with just one coat. I applied two coats, because then I’m sure that I give the polish the best conditions to show off.

Here it is in direct sunlight, my dear ladies, in all its glory. Two coats, no topcoat:

It’s in the sunlight this polish really shows its beauty.

  

I really like it in the shadows too, and I think that this is one of the holos I actually get to wear during the winter! I like the colour and it’s a great base for some cool nail art. I made my nail art really simple today, because I wasn’t in the mood to make a big deal out of it. I applied a sticker on the ring finger and one on the thumb. The stickers are from Essence and I bought them in Germany way back.

Here’s how that looks:

I quite like the simplicity of this! The polish is elegant, in my opinion, and invites you to decorate with something simple.

I wasn’t quite done though! :) I decided to add extra holo effect, so I applied a layer of Treasures by Tan “Oasis”, which is a spectraflair topcoat. It dulled the colour some, but I actually found it to be okay, since the base colour is so dark in itself.

Take a look at my final mani:

I really like When Stars Collide. I like it because it looks great in the sunshine, but I also like the colour of the polish itself. It’s so easy to be blinded by the rainbows in the sunshine, but I want my polishes to look good all of the time!

So you like this polish? Have you got it?

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

Girly Bits ~ Razzle Dazzle

Girly Bits ~ Razzle Dazzle

Sheer pink base packed with pink holographic glitter

Razzle Dazzle is from Girly Bits' “Sea's the Day” collection, just like Purple Potion that I showed you here . It’s a really lovely pink glitter, it almost looks as if it’s alive there in the bottle!

I like the formula a lot. It’s easy to spread the glitter out and the drying time is good. It took two layers to satisfy me and let me show you how pretty it is in the sunshine. There’s a layer of H K Girl topcoat to seal it up. It’s a top coat thirsty polish for sure – if I should wear it alone, I would definitely add a second coat of topcoat. But I’m not done yet, you should know that by now! ;)

The beauty in the bottle transfers directly onto the nails! And the added hologlitter makes this polish so much more than just a pink glitter!

Here’s a blurry pic to show you the holo goodness!

  

I stamped on it to keep it simple. I used Bundlemonster’s plate BM-313 and stamped with a no name copy polish called “Suzi skis in the Pyrenees”, which is a lovely matte deep purple. I sealed the whole thing up with another layer of H K Girl topcoat, and here’s the final result:

I like the simplicity of the stamped patten. I think lots of the all nail stamping designs cover up too much of the original polish.

It’s a pink giraffe, or something, LOL!

And the blurry pic:

 

Razzle Dazzle could easily become a favourite pink glitter, that’s for sure!

What do you think? Would you wear this?

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

I bought my Razzle Dazzle at Foxy Fingertips. It’s a Danish website, but they do ship to other European countries. Say hi from me, if you order from their store, please :)

Literary Lacquers ~ If it pleases you

Literary Lacquers ~ If it pleases you

Plum/brown linear holographic

If it pleases you is from The Good Parts Collection - Erotic fiction from Fanny Hill to 50 Shades. I don’t care for 50 Shades at all, but I do care for a good holo, which is why I bought this polish in the first place.

When I received the polish I wasn’t sure that this was me at all. I mean, I couldn’t even decide what colour it was. But there is only one way to find out if I like it or not: Try it on!

It took three coats to make it opaque – I had hoped for two, but anyway. Drying time was pretty average. I liked the formula, the polish applied easily and evenly. I wore aqua basecoat as underwear, and didn’t experience dragging or other problems with application.

And here’s what the polish looks like in the sunshine:

Brown, purple and blue rainbows, I like that! I’m still indecisive about the colour though. Here’s another shot:

The holo effect is quite strong. Another plus! I am not satisfied with this polish though. Do you want to see why? This is what it looks like in the shadow:

Bleurgh… you know I’m not a fan of brown, murky colours. There’s no way I could wear it like this! So I grabbed a couple of other polishes and a striper brush. I painted a couple of blue vertical stripes on each nail first, using an Angel Cosmetics striper number 12, and then I surrounded each blue stripe with pink stripes, using Nabi Hologram “Flamingo” – a lovely pink holo.

And that helped. Here’s what the mani ended up looking like:

And another shot of it.

Here are the three polishes I used:

I think you’re able to tell that I’m not over the moon over this polish. The colour is too weird and murky for my likings. I need to find this polish a better home for sure. The other two can stay though :D

What do you think? Would you wear a polish that you loved in the sunshine but hated in the shadows?

Opacity: 5/10
Colour, prettiness: 3/10
Durability: 7/10
Value for money: 4/10
Overall: 4.75/10
Buy again: No