Emily de Molly ~ Seeing Red

Emily de Molly ~ Seeing Red  

Magenta-ish red linear holographic

I showed you my first Emily de Molly just yesterday, and I’m really eager to show you the other holo I bought, namely “Seeing Red”. It’s described as “red with grey undertones, not a true red”. It’s not a true red for sure, but to me the undertones are magenta or pink, and in low light this polish shows red and pink.

But anyway – you’ll see for yourself soon! I’ll have to tell you about the formula first though: It’s just as great as her sister Indigo Flow; the polish just glides right on. No aqua basecoat is needed, I just used my regular basecoat. No dragging. No bald spots. Just perfection on my nails! That makes me very happy! The polish dries fast too! Let me get to the point! Here’s a pic of two coats, no topcoat:

That seriously makes me go “oooooh!”. And "aaaaah".

Can you see both the red and the magenta/pink in this polish, or is it just me?

Let me try from a different angle:

I love that this polish doesn’t have the coral tone that I dread so much! I love my holos, but the coral ones can’t live here. They just don’t belong :D

I didn’t quite know what to do with it. I didn’t want to stamp again – so I ended up with a very simple dotticure: Four dots in alternate sizes down each nail. I used a Milani polish called “Silver Dazzle”, which is a charcoal one coat glitter. I haven’t tried it for a full mani yet. But here it is on “Seeing Red”:

First I regretted not doing something cooler, but seriously, I like dots a lot.

Is this another winner from Emily de Molly, I hear you ask. The answer is yes. This polish definitely gets to stay in my stash <happy grin> 

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

I bought this polish myself, and it’s available from norwaynails.com.

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.

Emily de Molly ~ Indigo Flow

Emily de Molly ~ Indigo Flow  

Indigo blue linear holographic

It can’t be a secret by now that I love a good holographic polish! The stronger the holo, the more I love it! In this department, Emily de Molly delivers in full. I have bought two of her holos: Indigo Flow, which is blue, and Seeing Red which is - hold onto your hats - red. TodayI’m going to show you Indigo Flow.

The formula is no less than fantastic. I used my regular basecoat and didn’t experience any problems with dragging or bald spots. Just pure blue perfection in a bottle! I used two coats for full opacity and the drying time is really good too.

And ladies, if you’re into blue polishes, then prepare to swoon, because this polish is amazingly beautiful. Here is two coats and no top coat:

I told you it was pretty! All the pictures are taken in the sunshine; the rainbows aren’t shy, that’s for sure:

It reminds me of calm water on a beautiful Caribbean beach <sighs>

Not that I've ever been to a Caribbean beach, but in my mind, the water is this colour.

The most difficult thing about this polish is actually to stop taking pictures of it! LOL

I decided for a bit of discrete stamping on it. I stamped with Essie’s “Blue Rhapsody” and used my XL stamping plate H for the heart & star design. I chose a fairly “light” design in order not to overwhelm the beautiful holo. And here, my dear ladies, is the result:

Isn’t that just perfect!

The cool thing about this is that when the sun is gone, then the design is quite visible and when the sun is out, the holo steals the entire scene. I love that.

This is my first Emily de Molly and I’m seriously impressed. I love pretty much everything about it: the colour, the formula, the drying time and the holo effect. She ticks all the boxes, for sure. I hope my next one will be just as cool. We’ll soon find out.

Opacity: 8/10
Colour, prettiness: 10/10
Durability: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9.75/10
Buy again: Yes

I bought this polish myself, and it’s available from norwaynails.com.

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.

Girly Bits ~ Hulk Smash!

Girly Bits ~ Hulk Smash!

Green jelly with shredded purple glitter and blue shimmer

Here’s just a short post to show you my latest Girly Bits polish: Hulk Smash. I like the idea of the purple glitter in the green base, I think it’s cool when things don’t always match.

It was clear to me that this polish need underwear. I have just bought a green polish from OPI called “Forrest my case”. It’s a polish that’s sold exclusively in Sephora, and I snatched it really cheap last time I was there. OPI normally costs US$22 here, and I got this for US$6, so that was a really good bargain for me! And I have a question : Do the OPI team think that Forest is actually spelled with a double R, or is there some obscure reference to Forrest Gump that I’m not getting, here?? Tip: there’s a difference between being amusingly zany and being tediously pretentious (or dumbass), with the names and all. Just saying.

I applied one coat of the OPI. If I should wear it on its own I would have applied two coats, but this is only underwear. When that was dry I applied two coats of Hulk Smash!. Drying time is on the slow side, and the glitter was not really cooperative. I had to fish for it, and it was really a challenge to get it to spread nicely and evenly on the nails.

I applied a layer of Poshé top coat and this is what my final mani got to look like:

I like the purple glitter, and I love the blue shimmer, it’s so pretty against the green. On this picture you can really see it:

I find it difficult to be creative with this polish. I mean – there’s already a lot going on, so it’s hard to figure out what to add to make it look even cooler.

Here are the two polishes that fit so perfectly together:

I like the Hulk Smash!, but I must admit that I’m a little bit disappointed in both coverage, application and drying time. The polish is cool so it gets to stay for a bit, but I did consider whether this is a keeper or not. It’s a shame, because I really want to like Girly Bits’ polishes! (Edit: I have indeed already found a new loving home for it! <3)

Have you girls any experience with the brand? And do you like the look of this? 

For the record: This mani left my nails totally yellow! I have tried everything to get rid of the heavy staining: Pure acetone, lemon juice, toothpaste, baking powder,  bicarbonate and even bleach! And my nails stayed yellow through all this. I guess that means that both of these polishes have to go, since I don't know who the true sinner is! >:( I have a feeling that it is a combination of the two.

If you've got advice about how to get rid of yellow staining of the nails, then please, please, please share in the comments below. I'll be you forever grateful if you know how I can get rid of it. 

Opacity: 3/10
Colour, prettiness: 7/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: 6/10
Overall: 6/10
Buy again: No

Gothic Gala Lacquers ~ Shiny Rainbow ♥

Gothic Gala Lacquers ~ Shiny Rainbow

Neon orange with linear holo, white glitter and black hearts

This is the last of the three polishes that Samantha of Gothic Gala Lacquers sent me. She didn’t send this one for a review – this is a gift to me from her. And it’s a very special gift – it has been made solely for me, and cannot be bought in her shop! And girls – the name is Shiny Rainbow! Isn’t that just fabulous?!

The formula is great! It only took two easy coats to make it opaque. I did have to fish for the hearts though, but that’s fine with me – I do prefer to place them myself anyway. Drying time was average. I sealed the whole thing up with a layer of Poshé topcoat.

And man – this polish is right in your face neon! You don’t believe me? Let me show you. Here’s two coats and one layer of Poshé:

Isn’t that just amazing?!

I love the fact that there’s holo in a polish made especially for me.

And yes – I did place the hearts where they are. I like a bit of symmetry in my manis ;)

I’m really thrilled over this polish. I love the holo, I love the glitter and I love the fact that this polish is so loud! I’m not wearing orange a lot, but man, I would love orange more if they all were similar to this!!!

I’d love to send out a huge thank you to Samantha for making this polish to me. I am forever grateful! ♥

Even though you can’t actually buy this polish, you might find something else you like if you check out Gothic Gala Lacquers Facebook page here, or the shop here. The shop opens in only two days now!!
Samantha also makes custom polishes, and can design your very own polish for you!

Opacity: 8/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: -/10 (*since it never had a price tag)
Overall: 8.5/10
Buy again: Yes

Gothic Gala Lacquers ~ Sinderella’s Slipper

Gothic Gala Lacquers ~ Sinderella’s Slipper

Clear base with mainly red and black glitters in various shapes and sizes, and added black hearts

Welcome again to the Gothic Gala ball! First girl on the scene is Sinderella. Seductive, sweet, full of promises that may or may not be kept. It is Sinderella after all ;). She is wearing the most fantastic slippers. They’re red and black and very, very shiny.

Sinderella’s Slipper isn’t meant to be worn alone. I decided she needed some seductive underwear. I went for Inglot’s #610, which is a rich magenta with the most fantastic pink shimmer. First time I wore it I hated it, but since it was a while before I started blogging, now I can’t remember why.  It doesn’t matter. It’s gorgeous – I’ll show it at the end of the post, because this post isn’t about that.

I applied a layer of Sinderella’s slipper on the deep magenta. The polish is packed with glitter, and what you see on my nails is one dip in the bottle per nail. I did fish a little bit for the black hearts, but there’s nothing unusual about that. The glitter dried up almost flat, so it was enough to finish the mani with one layer of Poshé tocoat.

Dear ladies – here’s Sinderella’s Slipper:

I think the magenta fits her perfectly! Real red or black would have been too ordinary for this beauty – she deserved something special:

The pink shimmer doesn’t show from this angle, but that definitely doesn’t make the polish uglier :D

The hearts work because of the multisized black glitter – that’s so great!

Here’s a slightly blurred picture to show that there’s some holo glitter in the polish too!

Are you curious to see Sinderella’s underwear, you naughty girls? Haha! Here it is: Two coats of Inglot #610:

I hope you enjoy the ball so far – I know I’m having a great time!

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

Gothic Gala Lacquers ~ Welcome to the ball

Gothic Gala Lacquers ~ Welcome to the ball

Blackened base with shredded and square glitter and hologlitter

Welcome to the Ball – the Gothic Gala! I’m very pleased to introduce you to a new kid on the indie-block: Samantha, who is the creator of Gothic Gala Lacquers. I got in touch with Samantha on Facebook, where we are in a swap group together. 

Welcome to the ball! It’s black, it’s gothic, and it’s full of glitter, just the way a ball should be!

It takes three thick coats to make the polish that opens the ball opaque on its own. I’m not that patient – so I layered this over Essence “Black is Back”, which is a plain black crème polish. Then I added two coats of “Welcome to the ball”. The glitter spreads out easily and evenly and what you see on my nails is the result of a deep dip in the bottle. I didn’t arrange the glitter on my nails – this is what it decided to look like. Drying time is pretty average, which is fine. I sealed it up with a layer of Poshé topcoat, and here’s the final mani:

Isn’t that just pretty? I love that it’s also holographic, that’s a huge plus!

The pictures are all taken with flash – the sun just wasn’t cooperative, grr! :D

  

It reminds me so much of a starry night sky!

I’m usually not very forgiving when it comes to layering polishes – I do like when polishes work on their own. I have already forgiven this one though. I really like the way the glitter stands out, also the holographic effect in the background. I’m not sure that effect could have been achieved if it hadn’t been layered.

So there you have it – I’m pleased to having introduced you to this gothic gala adventure. Please check back tomorrow, where I am going to show you one pretty girl that decided to join the ball. Make sure you stay tuned for that!

Opacity: -/10
Colour, prettiness: 8/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: -/10 (*since I don’t know the price of it)
Overall: 8/10
Buy again: Yes

Winners of my "approximately 500 followers" giveaway!

Hi girls,

It has taken me a couple of days to go through the entries in my giveaway. There are still quite a few girls who cheat - and therefore I go through all the entries manually to delete the false entries, and that takes a bit of time.

But anyway - the winners are picked, yay!!!

I've contacted both girls, and if they haven't replied within 48 hours, I'll pick new winners. 

Congratulations to both the winners. And thank you all for participating. 

It won't be long until I host another giveaway here - so please stay tuned! ♥

OPI with Crushed Candy

OPI ~ You Only Live Twice

Bright magenta packed with pink shimmer

and

Julie G ~ Crushed Candy

Lavender textured with shimmer and glitter

You Only Live Twice is from OPI’s Skyfall collection from holidays 2012. I got this polish in a swap, and I am very pleased about that. I love a good magenta, and especially if it’s shimmery too.

The formula was really good, surprisingly enough, and the drying time too. I say that because I have a lot of OPI polishes that I don’t wear because OPI and I apparently aren’t a good match, normally. But once in a while magic happens, and wow! It took two coats to achieve desired opacity and wow, this baby can really shine.

Take a look; there’s no top coat on yet, just two coats of polish:

The depth is no less than amazing, and I love, love, love the shimmer! 

On this picture you can see in the bottle that the polish actually also contains golden shimmer. That’s normally not something I’m into, but fortunately that didn’t show up on the nails at all!

The sun was about to go down, so here’s a shot in the evening light:

I wanted to do something creative, so I tape my nails diagonally across and painted the lower half with Julie G’s “Crushed Candy”, which is from the Gumdrop collection of textured polishes. The formula is good and the pigmentation is great, so I could remove the tape after the first coat. When it was dry I drew a stripe where the two polishes met, and then another one just below the first line. I sealed it up with a layer of Poshé topcoat, and here is the final result:

I used a new striper from Models Own called “nail art pen” (brilliant name, ha!), but I’m not going to buy that again. It may show that I didn’t find it particularly easy to work with, but never mind :)

Here are the three polishes I used:

I have to pat myself on the shoulder now, because I really like this mani. This was exactly what I had in mind when I started striping. I love it when that happens! Yay!

Did you buy any of the Julie G Gumdrops? If yes, do you like them? 

Anny ~ Crazy Shot

Anny ~ Crazy Shot

Dark teal with shimmer

Anny is a brand that is only sold in the German shop Douglas. They’re really good polishes, and I’m almost embarrassed to say that I’ve only got two of them! Next time I’m in Germany I’ll definitely expand my collection with a couple more!

Anyway – the formula is really good and the coverage too. The polish glides right on and it’s fully opaque in two coats. Drying time is also great! In fact,

I don’t really have anything bad to say about this polish!

Let me show you how pretty this really is:

Look at that shine, and there’s not even topcoat on yet!

The shimmer is amazing; I really like the depth of it.

These pictures were taken while I was still in Germany, and they’re taken in the bathroom in the hotel I stayed in. Not the best conditions for sure, but this baby could still shine!!

I hadn’t got any stuff with me for nail art, so I just applied a glitter. I used another polish I bought in Germany, namely P2 “Let’s Dance” which is a clear base with silver glitter in two different sizes. I applied one coat over the Anny polish, sealed it up with Essence Studio Nails “Better than gel nails” topcoat, and here’s my final mani:

I really like the look of this!

So – that’s my new Anny polish, which I’m really pleased with. Do you know this brand? And do you like the colour?

Opacity: 8/10
Colour, prettiness: 8/10
Durability: 7/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Buy again: Yes

Literary Lacquers ~ Raspberry Cordial?

Literary Lacquers ~ Raspberry Cordial?

Pink linear holographic with holo glitters added

This is the third holo from the Green Gables Collection, which came out this summer.

As with the other two that I’ve tried, I used an aqua base coat to make sure that the polish had the best potential to look great. And as with the other two (Lake of the shining waters – link here – and Green Gables – link here) it took three coats before the polish was fully opaque. Drying time was pretty good though, so I didn’t mind the multiple coats that much.

And here’s what the polish looks like in the sunshine. There’s no topcoat involved just yet:

The holo isn’t as strong in Raspberry Cordial, but it’s prominent enough for me. And it’s got glitters too – I love that combo!

I stamped on it! I used my XL stamping plate O for the flowery design, and I stamped with “Bleu Mystérieux” from Bourjois. It’s not a stamping polish as such, but it’s a deep blue and it works great over colours like this one. I didn’t topcoat it before taking these pics:

I quite like how this turned out. I think the blue looks really great over the pink. It takes a bit of the cute and adds a bit of edge. I like that!

One last picture, just because!

So all in all – yes, I like this polish. I would have loved to have had another holo with glitter. You should know by now that I’m a holo glitter fan, so to have both in one polish is a double win!

Please tell me what you think of this in the comments below :)

Opacity: 6/10
Colour, prettiness: 7/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 7/10
Buy again: Yes