Glittering Elements ~ Poison Berry

Glittering Elements ~ Poison Berry

Berry coloured scattered holographic

Poison Berry spoke to me from the first moment I saw her. I love berry coloured polishes and I am also quite fond of holos (as some of you might know already, haha).

Anyway, the formula is good and so is the pigmentation. It does take two coats to make it opaque, but that doesn’t matter because the drying time is really good too.

Here is what two easy coats look like in the sunshine:

The colour is just amazing in the sun, I’m totally in love!

Here’s a lightbox picture. The polish is vampy in lower lights and still a very pretty colour that I feel comfortable wearing. A big plus!

I stamped some hearts on it that I found on Moyou London’s stamping plate Pro Collection XL-09. I used Color Club’s Halo-Graphic as my stamping polish – and here’s my final mani in the sun:

Isn’t it just lovely?

I also took a picture in my lightbox. I also like this mani in the shade!

I have still got a couple of Glittering Elements in the box of untrieds. I’ll definitely let them shine soon too :)

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Good

Finish: Scattered holo
Overall impression: Great formula, great colour, I especially like it in the sunshine!

Buy again: Yes

Colors by Llarowe ~ Smooth Criminal

Colors by Llarowe ~ Smooth Criminal

Purple linear holo

It’s a purple day today! I dug out Smooth Criminal from the infamous box of untrieds and decided that today is its day to shine! The sun is shining, you see, and my holos love sunshine to show off!

The formula of this blueish purple is really good. No special aqua basecoat is needed, any basecoat will do, and the polish just glides on. Two coats is what it takes and the drying time between the coats is fast.

Let me take this beauty out in the sun and let it shine for you. Two coats, no topcoat:

I love those rainbows, they’re amazing!!

Here’s a lightbox picture. The rainbows still want to play!

I stamped on it. Surprise!! I found a motif on Moyou London’s stamping plate Pro collection XL-01 and I stamped with a Chinese copy of Suzy Skis in the Pyrenees. I topped it all up with Poshé topcoat, and here’s my final mani in the sun:

And a flash picture for you:

And finally a picture taken in the lightbox:

Purple on purple. Shimmer on holo. There’s nothing I don’t like about this mani! How about you? Feel free to comment below! :)

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Fast

Durability: Good

Finish: Strong linear holo
Overall impression: Cool colour, strong and pretty linear holo effect, great quality polish.

Buy again: Yes

Sephora Formula X ~ swatches

It’s time to show you the Sephora Formula X-polishes I bought in New York last October. They’ve been waiting patiently to be swatched, and today is the day they’re going to shine!

I’ve got six of them, and I’m going to show them two at a time.

The first two up are Catalyst and Vortex:

Catalyst is a deep blue jelly with various sizes of blue glitter. Vortex is cobalt blue with silver shimmer and textured.   

I used two layers of each polish. The formula was good on both of them, but Catalyst was the hardest to apply because of the glitters. They made it a little bit difficult to paint close to the edges of the nails. The drying time was equally good for both polishes.

Here’s what they look like; two coats of each polish, only topcoat on the glitter:

Vortex dried up to a really nice texture.

I applied stickers and topcoated the whole thing, and here’s the final result:

The topcoat made the texture a tone darker than it was originally.

Verdict: I love the texture, it’s a really good polish. The glitter is nice too, but not my favourite blue glitter, it has to be said.

♥

Next two polishes up are Celestial and Freaky like Freud.

Celestial is a teal green shimmery texture, and Freaky like Freud is a textured holo glitter.

Both polishes are equally easy to apply and covers well in two coats. The drying time is really good, no problems there either.

Here’s what two coats of each polish and no topcoat looks like:

I was surprised to find out that Freaky like Freud is a texture. I thought it was just another hologlitter polish and honestly bought it mostly because of the funny name. So it’s a total bonus to me that it’s textured, yay!

I made three dots on each nail with the alternate colours and topcoated the whole thing and here’s the final result:

Here’s a flash shot to show off the holo glitter :D

Verdict: They’re both keepers for sure. I love the colours and the textures of these.

♥

The last two polishes up are Pedal to the Metal and Kaleidoscope.

I am going to show you Pedal to the Metal first. It’s a lovely reddish purple shimmer. It’s easy to apply, dries fast and covers in two coats. And it’s just gorgeous – take a look:

Isn’t this just lovely? I adore this colour!

It’s time for the last polish, Kaleidoscope, which is a layering polish – a purple to blue duochromatic shimmer. It is way too sheer to work on it’s own, so I applied a layer of Pedal to the Metal. And behold – my mani just got even more beautiful:

The duochromatic effect isn’t crazy, but it’s definitely there.

Verdict: That’s another couple of keepers! I love the purple and I have always liked a good shimmer topper to spice up my manis.

Have you tried Sephora’s X-formula yet?

Colors by Llarowe ~ The Mighty Red Baron

Colors by Llarowe ~ The Mighty Red Baron

Deep red scattered holo

Here’s how I sometimes decide which polish to wear:

I and my boyfriend decide on a colour. I rummage around in my box of untrieds, find 3 or 4 matches to that colour, and let him choose between them.

Today we decided on red, and he got to choose between Arcane Lacquer “On the Brink”, Glam Polish “Coven”, and Colors by Llarowe “The Man in the Red Suit” and “The Mighty Red Baron”. The moment he saw The Mighty Red Baron, he knew that it was the one he’d go for. And I can’t blame him because it is a stunningly beautiful red!

The application was easy and the pigmentation is really something. It is not a one coater though, it does need two coats to achieve the beautiful depth that I’m going to show you in a moment. Drying time is good, no worries in that department.

I had sunshine, yay! Here’s two easy coats, no topcoat:

Is that amazing or what? I love this polish!

One last shot in the sunshine, just because I snapped a brazillion pictures! :D

Here’s a low light picture for you so you can see that this polish is also beautiful out of the sunshine:

I stamped on it. I chose a dotted design from Moyou London’s stamping plate Pro Colletion XL-1 and a heart design from their plate Princess collection-10. I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Whirlwind White”.

Before I show you pictures: It turns out that The Mighty Baron is a bleeder. That means that when I applied the topcoat over the design, it coloured the white that I stamped with. So for future reference, if you want to stamp with white over this particular polish, and have it stay white, then you need to topcoat it before you stamp. That way the white will stay white, and not turn pink.

Okay – here’s my final mani, and now you know why the white isn’t white!

And here’s a low light shot:

I love The Mighty Red Baron, it’s an amazing polish. The colour is beautiful and I love the scattered holo effect that it flashes in the sunshine. It’s a winner for sure. 

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Fast

Durability: Good

Finish: Scattered holo
Overall impression: Beautiful red, amazing scattered holo effect, great depth!

Buy again: Yes

A layering experience involving texture, shimmer, holo and glitter

I don’t always know where my manis are going when I start – today’s mani is a good example.

I started out with a textured polish I bought in Bratislava, Slovakia – princess of central eastern Europe. It’s a Gabriella Salvete, it’s from the Stars collection and it’s called Azzuro 08. It’s a beautiful pale blue packed with silver shimmer. Application was easy and I used two coats for full opacity. Drying time: good.

Here’s what that first step looked like:

Pretty, isn’t it? 

I rummaged around in my box of untrieds to see if there was something I could mix it with. I found a Miss Sporty that actually doesn’t belong in the box of untrieds, since I’ve worn it once before, oops! It hasn’t got a name, but it’s number 510 and that is also from my vacation in Slovakia.

It is a lovely deep blue shimmer, and very opaque. I applied one layer of it, and before it dried I dapped some of it off with a makeup sponge. I wanted to create a mosaic effect, and here’s what it ended up looking like:

So far so good, but I wasn’t quite satisfied. My eyes caught a holo topper from Dance Legend that sat on my table. I thought “why not” – and applied a layer of it. I love the effect it gives, but it does grey the underlaying polishes quite a lot. Here’s that step – the first picture is taken in the light box: 

I need to show you what it looks like in the sunshine too, it’s quite spectacular:

I like it, but I still didn’t feel as if it was really complete. I found a glitter from Claire’s, called Dizzy. It’s a clear base with neon hexagons in yellow, green, pink and blue. I dapped the glitter on, because it pretty much goes where it wants to go and not necessarily where I want it to be, haha!

When that was dry I applied a layer of topcoat, and here’s what my layering experience ended up looking like – tadaa:

Do you ever experiment with layering? I must admit that I think it’s pretty cool.

Smitten Polish ~ Ker-Bloom

Smitten Polish ~ Ker-Bloom

Cornflower blue linear holo

This is the last Smitten polish for the time being. Let me say it right away: Ker-Bloom is pretty in the bottle, but is it even prettier on the nails? Just wait and see ;)

The formula is good and two coats is what it takes to make this polish look its best. The drying time between the coats is fast, no worries in that department either.

No sun unfortunately, so here’s a flash pic:

Isn’t that just an ay-mazing blue?

Here’s a low light picture. This shows the true colour of the polish in low lights.

I made a dotticure out of it. I dotted an “X” on each nail with Essence’s 50’s girls “Ahoy!”, which is a plain white crème. On top of each the white dot I made another dot with Ker-Bloom. When that was all dry, I topped it with a layer of topcoat, and here’s my final mani taken with flash:

And here’s the low light picture:

I really like how this turned out. The dots remind me of happy bubbles on my nails, I love that! Thanks to my boyfriend for coming up with that idea! :*

Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Fast

Finish: Linear holo
Overall impression: Great blue colour, really good linear holo effect – this polish is another winner from Smitten polish!   

Buy again: Yes

You can buy Smitten polishes from Edgy Polish

Lovely Blink Blink and Baltic Sand

Lovely Blink Blink ~ #2

Lovely Baltic Sand ~ #1

  

I thought I might as well show you the two other Lovely Polishes I bought on my vacation in Hungary.

First one up is Blink Blink #2, a blue jelly base with various sizes of blue, purple, magenta and silver glitter & hexes. The formula is okay, and it takes three coats to get rid of visible nail line. The drying time between the coats is a bit slower than average. I didn’t dap the glitter around, it just spread out like you can see on my pictures. One dip in the bottle per nail, as usual.

Three coats and a layer of topcoat:

I actually like this mix of glitters and I like that they were so easy to work with.

I am usually not fond of three coaters, but I must admit that it makes it look as if the glitter floats, and that’s a cool effect :)

Verdict:

I like the colour and the glitters. Although to be sure, I’m not so fond of three coats and non-fast drying time.

♥

Next one up is #1 from the Baltic Sand collection. I am usually not a big fan of oranges, but this one called out my name! Hang on to your hats and you’ll might be able to see why.

Application was a breeze and the drying time was really good. It’s amazing that polishes from the same brand can have such a different drying time! It covers well – you could wear this after only one coat, but the colour changes dramatically after the second coat. It gets deeper, more intense, much more beautiful.

Alright, enough talk already! Here’s what I’m talking about. Two coats, no topcoat:

The shimmer in this textured polish is amazing, no less.

I mean: Look at this!

I topcoated it, just too see what that would look like. That is almost even prettier!

Verdict:
I am SO glad that this polish made me buy it. It’s really pretty and I love it – even though it’s orange! :D