Dance Legend Sahara Crystal ~ Amethyst

Dance Legend Sahara Crystal ~ Amethyst

Deep purple base with lighter purple glitters – textured polish

I have wanted this polish since I saw the first beautiful swatch of it. I don’t remember whose swatch I saw, but I do remember it was in one of the Facebook groups – and moments later it was sold out anywhere I looked. I have been looking for it since, and I am so happy that I finally managed to get my grubby little paws on it. I tried it on the day after – I wanted to see if this polish also was magical on my nails, or if the pictures had done this polish too much justice, if you know what I mean.

The formula is good and it is almost opaque after the first coat. Apply the thinnest coats you possibly can, that way the polish dries up the prettiest. And I might as well tell you right away: Yes, I do still love this polish, the magic is still there. But it’s also a total bitch to photograph! I did my best though, so let me show you what I’m talking about.

Two coats, no topcoat – this picture is taken in the sun:

The next pictures are taken in indoor lighting:

The purple glitters do everything for me!

Here’s one in some softer light, this is probably what the polish looks like the most of the time:

I did some two coloured “blobs” on it. I used Love, Angelina’s “Angelicious” (swatches here) and Glittering Elements’ “Ruby” (swatches here LINK). I topped it all with a layer of topcoat, and here’s my final mani:

The “blobs” didn’t quite turn out the way I expected them to – but I must admit that I like the polish even more with the topcoat on – it’s so typical me to buy a texture and then smooth it out with topcoat, hahaha!

So yes – Amethyst is a winner and I am more than happy to have enrolled her in my stash.

Have you slayed any lemmings yet – and did it live up to your expectations when you finally got it?

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Average

Finish: Texture with glitter
Overall impression: Great texture and pretty with a topcoat on too. I love the glitters that makes the polish spectacular in my opinion!

Buy again: Oh yeah. 

Manhattan Lotus Effect glitters

Manhattan Lotus Effect glitters

~ Swatches

I don’t think I ever get tired of glitter polishes – it was glitter polishes that started this obsession after all! :D So today I want to show you three Manhattan glitters I bought on my vacation in Hungary.

First one up is Glitter Blue. Try and guess what colour it is! :D It’s blue and silver, and perhaps also a few holo glitters, because I see other colours too when I twist and turn the bottle!

But anyway – back to reality! The application is easy and the glitter spreads out without problems. It takes two coats to make me satisfied and the the drying time between the coats is good.

I had a glimpse of sunshine, so here’s what Glitter Blue looks like in the sun after I applied a layer of topcoat:

It sparkles like crazy and almost freaked the camera out! Here’s a light box picture instead:

I like this mix of glitters.

I tried to make it prettier by drawing a line and three dots on each nail.

♥

Next one up is Glitter Gold. Yes, Manhattan really has their way with names! :D I wouldn’t normally buy a golden glitter, but my boyfriend convinced me that I had to bring it home. It’s not just gold, you see, it also contains hexes and green glitters.

This one wasn’t quite as easy to apply as Glitter Blue. I can see on my pictures that I had small bald spots here and there – almost invisible to the human eye but not to my camera. If you want this fully opaque I recommend that you use three coats, then you’ll have full coverage of your nails. This one’s drying time is good too.

Here’s two coats plus a layer of topcoat:

You should be able to see the various sizes of glitters and also that it’s not “just a gold”.

It’s not very often I wear golden polishes, but I can easily see me wear this one again.

Gold and black are good together so I added some black stripes, and here’s what it ended up looking like:

♥

Last one up is Glitter Purple – it’s probably not difficult to guess what colour that is. It’s purple with magenta and purple glitters. And yes, this is the only one of the bunch where the base actually has got a colour! Perhaps that is why it’s my favourite, I think so!

Application was easy, no problems to report, and the drying time was good. Two coats is what it took, and I took my pictures after applying a layer of topcoat. Here’s my photos:

I like the mix of glitters here.

I can see it looks a bit bumpy on the pics – and it was bumpy before I added topcoat – but the topcoat smoothed it all out.

I added some random cat stickers because I really like purple and cats.

Verdict:

Manhattan Lotus Effect glitters is a good buy if you should come across them. They’re easy to work with and look cool, and they’re really good value for money too.

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Glitter, glitter, glitter
Overall impression: These are good glitters, with Glitter Purple as my favourite, because I really like the coloured base.

Buy again: Yes

Glittering Elements ~ Ruby & The Cure

Glittering Elements ~ Ruby & The Cure

Dark magenta holo & Deep purple with holo microshimmer

Today I’m wearing no less than two Glittering Elements polishes, and I can assure you that they’re both beautiful.

I applied two coats of each polish and the drying time between the coats was good. The quality of Casey’s polishes seem to impress me every time; I like that!

Here’s two coats, no topcoat, picture taken with flash:

You can see that the holo effect is different in the two polishes – and I like both effects. I must admit that Ruby is more breathtaking to me because it seems to glow from within.

Here’s a low light picture – look at how pretty they both are!

I stamped on it. I found an all nail motif on Moyou London’s stamping plate Princess Collection-13 and I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Whirlwind White”. Then I made some dots on the design with the opposite colours. I topped it with topcoat to seal it up, and here’s my final mani taken with flash:

Here’s a low light picture:

In all modesty: I think this is pretty cool! What do you think?

 

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Pretty good

Finish: Ruby is holographic and The Cure contains holographic microshimmer
Overall impression: Both are really great polishes, and Ruby is a new favourite of mine!

Buy again: Yes

Cirque ~ Cerillos

Cirque ~ Cerillos

Turquoise linear holo

There were seven different polishes in the recent Heritage collection, and I bought two of them: Xochitl, which I showed you yesterday, and Cerillos, that I’m going to show you today. They say that each of the polishes has a story behind them, but I haven’t been able to track the story of Cerillos down. If you know it, please don’t hesitate to share.

Anyway – the formula is really good. It’s almost a one coater, but I recommend two coats because the second coat does even out irregularities and make the polish look better on your nails. The drying time is good too.

Here are two coats, no topcoat – the picture is taken with flash:

I love this colour and the rainbows are beautiful!

Here’s a low light picture; I still love the colour!

I grabbed Xochitl from yesterday and made two stripes on each nail with it. Easy peasy lemon squeezy and still looking great, take a look at the final mani:

And the mandatory low light picture:

Cerillos is my favourite of the collection and the polish I fell for when the bloggers showed the collection first. What do you think of it?

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Linear holo
Overall impression: It was a favourite since I first laid eyes on it. Great colour with pretty rainbows

Buy again: Yes

I bought this polish from Edgy Polish

You can find more info on Edgy Polish’s Facebook page, link here. 

Cirque ~ Xochiltl

Cirque ~ Xochiltl

Orchid linear holo

I am somewhat glad that this blog doesn’t come with sound, because I have absolutely no idea how to pronounce Xochiltl! It’s the Aztec word for “flower”, by the way, and Xochiltl is from the recent Heritage collection.

The formula is really good and so is the drying time. I almost achieved full coverage after the first coat, but the second coat levelled out all my little irregularities.

Here’s what two coats look like in the sunshine:

Isn’t that just a pretty orchid colour?

It’s also pretty in the shade, take a look:

I decorated it with flowers :D  I made five white dots on each nail and then place an orange dot in the middle. Here’s what that looked like in the sunshine:

And the mandatory low light picture:

I find the simplicity of this extremely pretty. What say you?

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Linear holo
Overall impression: I like this colour way more than I thought I would and I obviously love the rainbows!  

Buy again: Yes

I bought Xochitl from Edgy Polish

You can find more info on Edgy Polish’s Facebook page, link here. 

Indigo Bananas ~ Wise up, Janet!

Indigo Bananas ~ Wise up, Janet!

Glass fleck based lavendar linear holographic

Are there any Rocky Horror Picture Show fans out there?

I know I’m one! I have loved the movie ever since I watched it the first time, and I have watched it numerous times since then. So as a huge RHPS-fan I almost felt obliged to buy this lavender linear holo from Indigo Bananas :D

“Wise up, Janet” is a quote from the movie, from a song Dr. Frank-N-Furter sings to Janet Weiss. It starts like this:

I'll tell you once
I won't tell you twice
You'd better wise up, Janet Weiss
Your apple pie don't taste too nice
You'd better wise up, Janet Weiss

Anyway – on to the polish! The formula is good and the polish covers in two easy and fast drying coats. The polish is a mix of finishes: it is obviously holographic but it also contains glass flecks that make it look almost metallic in indoor conditions.

Anyway – I had sunshine, yay! Here’s two coats, no topcoat in the sunshine:

The holo effect is amazing, no less!

Here’s what it looks like in lower lights. It’s like it is a completely different polish!

The colour of the polish is the exact same as the colour of Janet Weiss’ shirt, take a look at this picture of a very young Susan Sarandon from the movie:

So what I did was to make a row of dots with Urban Outfitters’ Silver holo, to represent Janet’s pearls:

Low light picture, just because I can :D

That’s it. So tell me please: Are you also a fan of the Rocky Horror Picture Show? Or do you think it’s highly overrated?

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Linear holo with glass flecks
Overall impression: I especially love the polish in the sunshine. Next time I wear it I’m going to add some bold colour as the nail art colour

Buy again: Yes

Dandy Nails ~ Parallel Universe

Dandy Nails ~ Parallel Universe

Blue to purple duochromatic

It is time to move some of those untrieds into the Helmer. Today it’s time for Parallel Universe, which has been sitting in that box for over a year. Yikes! The reason it’s been sitting there for so long is that it looks a little bit dull in the bottle. Today it’s time to check out if it looks more interesting when it’s on the nails.

I decided to layer it. I painted my ring finger black and all the other nails midnight blue; I was excited to see which base colour would make Parallel Universe pop the most. I layered one coat of Parallel Universe over the base and let that dry.

And here’s what it looked like – remember there’s black underwear on the ring finger and blue underwear on the other fingers – and then one coat of Dandy Nails:

I honestly can’t see any difference at all!

The duochromatic effect isn’t stunning, but it is indeed a very pretty polish. I made some dots on each nail: First a black dot, then a lilac dot of Love, Angelina’s Angelicious and then another black dot. Here’s my final mani:

And here are the polishes I used:

Parallel Universe is way prettier on the nails than in the bottle. I am really glad that it’s not the other way around!

Number of coats: 1 over a base colour
Drying time: Pretty good

Finish: Duochromatic shimmer
Overall impression: Pretty but not stunning

Buy again: No

Cuccio ~ Illumination

Cuccio ~ Illumination

Sheer purple base packed with blue glitter

This is by far the weirdest glitter I own. Cuccio themselves describes Illumination as holographic but it’s not. It looks duochromatic in the bottle but I think it’s an optical illusion because the base colour and the glitter have different colours. Not a holographic, at any rate.

Anyway – it’s not an easy polish to apply. I dapped the glitter on and for a moment I thought it would take 6-7 coats to make it cover. It didn’t though. It only took two careful coats and the drying time is pretty average. I applied a layer of topcoat before I took my photos.

Here’s two coats plus a layer of topcoat:

This picture shows you the illusion of duochromatic effect.

Isn’t that just a weird glitter? :D

I stamped on it. I found some skull designs on Moyou London’s stamping plate Biker Collection-05 and I stamped with a no name black stamping polish.

Here’s my final mani:

And one last picture:

The designs are not from an XL-plate and the designs are still so big that they only just fit onto my relatively small nails. I love the designs though; I would just use the plate more often if the designs were smaller!