OPI: Goldeneye – Swatches and Layering

One of the polishes I bought with my birthday voucher from Candy Girl, this is OPI Goldeneye – from, obviously, the James Bond collection.

Pond. Fish Pond. *cough*

This is a very nice polish, photos show three coats (it’s sheerer than it looks but builds well), with Misa BREAKneck top coat.

Intensely shiny and sparkly, it’s a flakie not a glitter; applies pretty well and dries fast.

I love gold. This gold is much warmer than most, but I still loves it.

And then, because The Bling Was Not Enough (heh), I added more to the accent nail – namely a coat of Ninja Polish Shattered Star, then another coat of my gold and silver franken. And more top coat. Mmmmm bling.

This just added the right amount of sparkle to my day.

Have a lovely day

Ami 🙂

China Glaze: Budding Romance – swatches and layering

China Glaze Budding Romance, one of my favourite types of pretty ugly green polishes 😀

It’s a jelly though, which I wasn’t expecting, and gives it a squishy look and super shine, which I do love!

Two coats here, they were quite thick though, and I think three thin ones would be better. It’s a flattering colour on my olive-ish skin tone.

And then I layered it with L.A. Girl Glitter Addict, Purge. Quite an appropriate name with this combination, I feel! (sorry. cough.)

Though, please note, I added the lighter green holographic hexes to this polish, without alteration Purge has mini and midi emerald green hex glitters. Very pretty. I just like it better with the holo glitters too 😀

On my accent nail I added another thin coat of Budding Romance, and topped it all off with Misa BREAKneck top coat.

Unfortunately I had to catch some chickens and it was still squishy looking AND squishy acting 15 minutes after top coat, and it all smunched up and fell off. Ah well. Was pretty while it lasted! 😀

Have a nice day

Ami 🙂

PANZ Week 3: Galaxy Nails

Galaxy nails! Oh how I love thee. One day I shall get better at thee.

Until then, though, I stick with my tried and true concept. And failed in the cleanup, because my hands are rough and yuck after this weekend, sorry. Avert eyes from cuticles. You have been warned. 😉

I’m going to say (thanks to Sister V for the idea) that this galaxy nail is inspired by the space surrounding the Horsehead Nebula. And that, around my ring finger nail there, is part of it’s mane. It’s NOT a stray hair that I didn’t see until I was editing the macro shots, ok?! 😀

Polishes used: Actually, I started with two coats of Kolt Lunatic over a coat of Kleancolor Black, then I sponged on a handmade polish (Denim & Sequins), more Kleancolor Black (to break up the blue and red and add some depth) and then  one and a bit coats of OPI Servin’ Up Sparkle. (a bit – basically one coat, then a few dabbed bits where I thought more ‘stars’ should be). Then a top coat, and done!

Have a great day

Ami 🙂

PANZ Mani – Week 2, BLING! :D

Yeah, I love bling. Just a bit tasteful bit of sparkle. Or, you know, as much glitter as I can hold; whichever is easiest 😀

Just a quick and simple one today, all the bling is on my accent nail – which has a layer of a gold and silver holo glitter franken, and some black and silver blingies 😀

Oh, if anyone was curious, the other polish is another handmade polish, I’ll put some more photos of it up later on 🙂

Have a great day

Handmade Nail Polishes: Glitters in Jelly

The final section of our handmade polishes, these are all jelly based polishes with loads of glitter. One is a franken (mixed from other polishes) and the other four are completely handmade, using the Joss suspension base from Beautyworld Australia.

*Testimo Franken – this was a sheer peach/pink with iridescent micro glitter: I added silver and gold mixed shape and size holographic glitter, copper hex glitter, and blue circle glitters.

Photos show three coats, no top coat.

This is insanely glittery, and looks sort of like fish scales, but prettier. I really, really like it!

*Misa Pink – just using the empty Misa topcoat bottle, this is another handmade pink and glittery polish. Deeper pink, this time! Again, multi sized holographic gold and silver glitters, as well as quite a few silver holographic butterflies.

Photos show two coats, no top coat.

I’ve had a few nice comments on this polish, which gives me much happy.

*Orbit – deep berry pink jelly with small red, medium fuchsia and huge light pink circle glitters. There’s a touch of pink/red shimmer in this too, to add some depth.

Three coats here, no top coat

I found the large pink glitters sank to the bottom really fast, I had to shake it up between each nail, which was a bit annoying. Still, in the end there were plenty per nail, and that was good. I may throw a few extra glitter bits in, the advantages of making it myself!

*Blue Moon – silly name, perhaps! Royal Blue jelly with small blue circles and large blue circles with a few pink circles thrown in for interest.

Oh I love this. Though I kinda wish I’d named it Whale Farts. It may have a name change in it’s future… doesn’t it look like giant bubbles in the sea? 😀

Three coats here, and there is still visible nail line, but all of these can be layered over anything, really. I like the really deep, almost resin, look, so I’m happy with this. Never thought I’d be ok with VNL!

And another photo because I just couldn’t narrow these photos down too much. The glitters lay flat, so they were pretty smooth to the touch just with normal top coat (though I don’t have top coat on here).

Macro

*I Heart Hades – Black shimmer/jelly base with red holo hexes, red squares and large red holo hearts.

Three coats here, I did have to do some fishing to get a heart out, again, may just add more.

This could be layered over black, but I do like the half hidden, layered look of this at three coats.

If I may indulge in a self-congratulatory moment, I’m really happy with these polishes! I’m super impressed with the polishes my mother has been making, she’s really branching out and playing with glitter, even – and when her current busy period is over hopefully she’ll be making more of the pretties again; meantime I am treasuring the ones she is making, because, well, they’re awesome.

Thanks for reading, have a great day!

Ami 🙂

Handmade Nail Polishes – Shimmer Edition

Basics – these are polishes my mother or I have made in our polish make-athons, all swatches shown without base or top coat. Some are experimental only, and we’d have to retrace our steps to reproduce them, others have the recipe all written down – those ones are named 🙂

White & Red – I don’t know what this is called! It’s a pearl-white polish with loads of red shimmer throughout.

2 coats on it’s own, pretty, subtle and work appropriate.

Then one coat over Kleancolor Black – maybe if you have a steady hand this would look nice. As it was, I could only see the uneveness!

Ugh

Pink/Mauve. Or should that be Pauve? This is a proper franken, started with Revlon Sheer Pink, added a touch of a $2 shop pink, then went mad with spectraflair and tint.

2 coats, easy to apply and fast drying, nice soft linear holo effect.

Pansy – Intense reddish purple, with various sizes of holographic glitter and shimmer (small and tiny and tiniest!)

2 coats, bit patchy but applied easily and would be even in 3 coats.

This one is more colour accurate! 😀

Neon Spots – glitter top coat, matte neon glitter and large black circles, large matte green and purple hexes.

One coat over 2 coats of Pansy. Nice combo!

Pale Blue Shimmer – scattered holographic and multi-coloured shimmer.

2 coats, no top coat. Very pretty, a soft blue.

Greener Bronze – bronze colour with copper sparkles. I was experimenting with the idea of copper and the way it tarnishes, here. Didn’t quite get it!

2 coats. A touch streaky, and the shimmer is so strong that it was hard to see the copper mini glitter.

Golder Bronze – bronze colour, more gold, obviously! – with copper and green micro glitter.

2 coats – seriously thick! Needs thinner stat 😀

Browny Holographic – slightly red toned brown with large amount of holographic shimmer.

2 coats, nice formula, nice soft linear holographic effect.

Red – tomato red shimmer, slightly deeper red than the photos show.

2 coats, lovely formula, very shimmery!

Berry Red/Pink – gorgeous polish, either a pink toned deep berry red, or a raspberry pink with strong red interference. Glass type fleck/shimmer which changes red/pink/gold at the edges.

2 coats, very very nice formula.

Purple with Brown – deep purple with brown interference (brown shimmer appears to float on the surface of the polish).

1 coat, this is SERIOUSLY thick! Lovely colour, very unique with the brown shimmer.

Note to self, wear two coats of base polish, this stains – that aside, this is one I KNOW I’ll be reaching for, very soon!

Have a great day

Ami 🙂

Handmade Nail Polishes – Shimmer & Glitter Edition.

It has been quite some time since I showed some of our polishes, and they’ve been steadily mounting up during that time. Here is the lot I have to swatch!

That’s a lot of fun right there. I’ll break it down into separate parts though, as no one wants to spend a million years looking through all that, including me! These ones are the shimmer polishes with glitter 🙂 No base or top coat on any of these, and the bases and most of the dyes and pigments came from Beautyworld Australia.

Winter When Autumn Leaves –  burnished orange shimmer with gold, red and copper hexes.

2 coats, nice formula. I’d love a few more glitters in it, so they distribute a bit more evenly, but I’ll remedy that in the weekend. 😀

Red Shirt – plummish-red shimmer with red and gold circle glitter, and silver and gold multi-sized holographic glitter.

2 coats, nice formula, easy to get a good coverage of glitters.

Brown Trousers – auburn brown, slight holographic shimmer which adds a grey tone as well – red and gold circle glitters and gold flakes.

2 coats shown here…

I enjoy the addition of the sprinkling of holographic powder.

Fog People – smokey grey with gold and silver holographic glitters of different sizes.

Slightly sheer, but means that the glitters aren’t buried in this one. 3 coats

I love this polish!

Sunny Day Rain – sheer pale blue with blue circle glitter, gold, silver and copper glitter (including holographic) and large holographic gold rectangles.

Very thick, but if I thin it, the glitter will probably all sink to the bottom in a slow and terrible way. 2 coats above, then layered 1 coat over 1 coat of Kleancolor Sea Ice.

I did have to fish for the large golds, but could get them out without deep sea dredging.

Blue in a China Glaze bottle – Mid blue shimmer, with blue circles and turquoise shreds.

2 coats, very easy to apply, fast drying.

Pretty Pickle – sheer green base, large matte green hexes, small holo lime hexes, teeeny tiny emerald flakes.

3 coats, was pretty much opaque in three. Would also be nice to layer over a base colour.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner – this is my Sister V’s polish, based on these lines from the poem: I won’t say what’s in it, or she’ll have to kill me. 😉

“Within the shadow of the ship

I watched their rich attire:

Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,

They coiled and swam; and every track

Was a flash of golden fire.”

I layered one coat of RotAM over one coat of Kleancolour Black on all except the ring finger; that one has three coats of Rime of the Ancient Mariner on it’s own.

Jaws – deep purple shimmer base loaded with red shimmer and small blue holo hexes.

2 coats. I didn’t think I’d like this, I thought it’d be sheer and rough. And its just gorgeous, and smooth with one coat of topcoat!

Purple with Glitter – multi-coloured mini holo flecks, and a sprinkling of multi-sized silver holographic glitters.

2 coats. Needs thinning stat, but otherwise a very nice, different, polish.

Thanks for reading, have a great day!

Ami

L.A.Girl Glitter Addict: Flash

Just a quick one today!

This is L.A Girl Glitter Addict in Flash, a coppery glitter in two different sizes med-small hexes and tiny dots – in a clear base. It’s great for layering, here it is over a blue franken of mine  – one coat, except on my index fingernail, where I have two layers.

I do like the L.A Girl Glitter Addict range of glitters, they are simple, easy to use and add sparkle to anything you layer them over, plus, of course, you can layer them over themselves (which is one reason I have so many of their colours). Dry time is reasonable, and they wear well.

Have a great day

Ami 🙂

China Glaze: Def Defying, swatches and layering.

China Glaze Def Defying- photos show three coats, no top coat

A bit streaky at first, but even up nicely by the third coat

And look at that shine!

I then added one layer of another glitter franken of mine – baby blues and pinks in med size hexes and squares, plus some blue iridescent glitters. Finished with China Glaze Fast Forward

Didn’t like this combo as much as I hoped to, it was just a bit subtle for me! Or the green was wrong, or something…

This photo here, under the yellow lights, show the colour more accurately than the others with the glitter topper, even though it makes my fingers look weird. Camera didn’t like to try and grab this colour properly, sooo annoying!

I know I’ll be reaching for Def Defying a lot, it’s such a flattering, funky green. The topper? May have to find something else as a base for that.

Have a great day

Ami

Kleancolor Midnight Seduction: Swatches, Layering, Comparisons

You know, I don’t know where I got this polish from? My sister V? A fellow polish addicts destash? Argh! Anyway, this is Kleancolor Midnight Seduction (really?! Odd name for this colour!)  a pretty, mini glitter which looks pink, purple and blue to my eye. These photos show three coats

It really, really, doesn’t want to be anything but sheer. And the trouble with Kleancolor polishes, apart from the smell (which I actually don’t find too bad), is how thick and slow drying the sheer polishes are. It was alright, I guess. Subtle. Not too showy. A bit boring, for me. And it wouldn’t have dried quickly like this.

So, why not add more, see if I could lift the bland aspect out? This is one coat of my mega-glitter franken. Needless to say, my favourites are the big circles.

Still, a little bland and sheer!

But, why not matte it? I used Essie Matte About You – to see how it looked, and to speed up the dry time.

And it looked… BORING.

Actually, it looked like I was trying to put the FUN in FUNgus hehehe

So, next idea. Layer it over black! And then I noticed my other Kleancolor bottle, waiting to be tried: Kiss Goodbye. And although the colours ARE different, the overall effect is kinda similar. I layered them over Kleancolor Black (one coat), and from left to right the polihses are Midnight Seduction, Kiss Goodbye, Midnight Seduction, Kiss Goodnight.

And they looked great over black! Only one coat too, so dry time was on the faster side of normal, not the slower side of forever.But I really, really thought they were missing holographic sparkle. Possibly because they looked so galactic… easy fixed with one coat of OPI Servin’ Up Sparkle.

(Servin’? SERIOUSLY?Ahem)

And here are the bottles side by side – see, nowhere close to being dupes, but somewhat similar in theme and execution 🙂

Have a great day

Ami 🙂