Color Club, Ruby Wing, Halo Hues Mega Spam Swatch Post!

Well, I bit the bullet, in my untried stash are many, many Color Club polishes. I buy them because I love them, and they need to be tried! Pour yourself a cuppa, this may take a while.

Kismet: from the second halo hues collection

Two coats, no top coat, good formula, tiny bit dragging and wants to pool a bit in your cuticles, but nothing extreme, and such a gorgeous, glorious soft colour! Love it!

Check out that holographic flame! HOLY MOLY!

Angel Kiss – two coats, no top coat

From the same Halo Hues collection as Kismet, this is a sea foamy green – and not at all silver!

And just as stunning a holo flame!

Ruby Wing Polishes! (these are made by the same company as Color Club, so I’m including them here 😀 )

Tide: 3 coats, no top coat

Multi iridescent glitters in a slightly pink toned transparent base, which turns a lovely reddish jelly in the sun light.

Gypsy : two coats no top coat

I love the indoor colour so much! It just screams summer to me. The grass green change in the sun is pretty, too, but I do prefer the indoor colour.

Slightly slower change than normal, and I found this one a touch streaky, but ooh I love it, and I’m going to have so much fun layering different glitters over it.

Fate: 2 coats, no top coat

Nice formula! Pretty standard mid shade lilac type purple, goes a few shades darker in sunlight. I am a tad underwhelmed. Ah well!

Almost Famous: 2 coats no top coat

Another one where the lid wasn’t quite on and it spilled and thickened up just enough to be annoying.. and it’s another yellow that has done it! Why is there a trend? Anyway, this is very slightly streaky but not too bad, and it got easier after I added some thinner. Lovely bright, bright yellow!

Peppermint Twist: 3 coats, no top coat

Very, very pink. Blue toned pink. But PINKKKKK!!!

A bit streaky, hence the 3 coats, and does dry matte – here it is with top coat 🙂

Chelsea Girl: 3 coats

I’ve wanted this polish for ages, and when the first coat went on so thin and like a instanto nail stain I thought, why?!  But, it’s a jelly, opaque in three coats, could use a top coat, but it’s a lovely colour. So, that’s why 😀 Bonus, even though I didn’t have it on long and would definitely recommend a base coat, there doesn’t appear to be any staining on removal 🙂

Soft as Cashmere: 3 coats no top coat

greyed beige crelly – doesn’t sound that appealing, doesn’t look all that appealing on me, though it’s ok. Work appropriate. Safe. Will be a great base for different non-safe glitters 😀

See? with one coat of Kunimitsu One Scary Outfit

Ok, I think we’re at about the half way mark. Need to stretch? Toilet break? Another cuppa? Scroll really fast? I understand 😀

Flair: 2 coats, no top coat

Lovely red/orange with gold shimmer 🙂

Fly With Me:  3 coats no top coat

A completely different colour on my nails than in the bottle! Looks very sparkly swampy green, pretty, yes, but the blue tint/shift isn’t visible at all. Sadness.

But never fear! THIS is two coats (no top coat) over a plain black polish.

This. Yes, this.

Nouveau Vintage: 2 coats no top coat

What a pretty polish! Love the bronze/copper/green shimmers!

Berry and Bright: 2 coats, no top coat

Sparkly deep fuchsia pink in the sunlight, deeper maroon red with subtle gold duochrome shift in the shade. Lovely!

Personal Sylist: 3 coats no top coat

A bit watery, and a tiny bit streaky in effect, because the shimmer makes it almost a chrome. Very lovely blue/purple duochrome, and very shimmery in the sunlight!

By Design: 3 coats no top coat

A little streaky, evens out nicely. A gorgeous muted deep plum purple – very dark, but not black at all!

Glitter Wonderland:  2 coats no top coat

Inside, this is so not my colour 😀 Red toned purples and I just don’t get along. In the sun, however, I’d forgive it anything… wow.

Winter Affair:  2 coats no top coat

Check this out! It’s so beautiful! I am totally in love with this polish. Plus all these fumes are making me very, very happy. Wheeee! Off to get some fresh air, thanks for sticking with me (if, indeed, you have!)

Have a wonderful day with bluebirds and flying purple mini elephants and… ok, definitely fresh air time.

Ami 😀

Swatche spam: indies, textures, piCture pOlish, etc

L.A Girl Sand Blast in Quicksand – 3 coats, no top coat. I bought this from Cherry Culture, was delivered in a week, pretty good going!

This was my first textured polish that didn’t have glitter, and I’ve been a bit scared of them, to be honest! The light coloured ones look like some kind of fungal infection of the nails, to me 😀

But.. this purple is a gorgeous colour, and I really like the polish!

OPI Liquid Sand in Alcatraz….Rocks!

This was the one polish from the San Francisco collection that I wanted, and I couldn’t find it anywhere, and then I bought it from Beyond Beauty, yay! Postage is so fast too, I bought three from them on one day, they arrived the next. WOW.

This is a purple base with loads of different colour microglitters, I mostly see a more violet toned purple, gold, and blue.

So blingy and pretty, I’m glad I got this!

piCture pOlish o’hara – from my recent PP haul from their website here. They have amazing Everyday Deals too, so I got one of these polishes (denim) for free, and that’s just amazing 😀

o’hara is a pink toned red with piCture pOlish’s famous holographic mini shards – they aren’t glitter, and they don’t stick out, and removing them is as easy as any normal creme polish.

This was a polish I put on when I hit my recent art crisis, it’s times like that it’s nice to be able to put on a good blingy red and just get stuck back in!

The next textured polish I tried was L.A Girl Sandblast in Sandy Beach, the most awesome blue coloured polish.

Only… where is the texture?

This just looks bubbly! But hey, dried fast and with top coat it’s a beautiful blue polish, no harm done 😀

Ninja Polish Eye Candy… a really pretty glitter mix of gold, purple and teal, or is it green and blue? Unsure. PRETTY! I am sure of that 😀

Hows this for blurry sparkle?!

One coat here over Star Kin Ink, with Poshe top coat (accent nail is Ink on it’s own)

So blingy and cool, and actually really easy to remove in this mani!

Ruby Wing Wild Flower

This.. is three coats. This is possibly one of the ugliest polishes I’ve seen in quite some time 😀 I like the green shimmer, but the inside colour looks like the colour my nails go when stained! And it’s sheer. And, just, ew. Maybe I’ll layer it over a nude colour and see if it’s better without the VNL, but I was suffering with this on, and I had to keep it on because there was no sun and it needs sun to change colour ARGH! First world drama llama!

– topped with Mmmm Nails (lost the name, but has lots of yellow daisy glitter and small yellow glitters).

Then, at last, a small ray of sunshine! And I mean small, this would probably change a lot more to the orange if there was more sun. But hey, done, and OFF IT CAME!

And lastly for today in this mega post, is KB Shimmer Spring Training, which I bought through Harlow & Co. I really like that site, postage has gone up a bit but it’s still fairly reasonable, especially compared to other indie stockists, but I have noticed their processing and shipping has slowed down a fair bit, to about 3 weeks. They are still good though!

Ooooh. and AHHHHH.

Two coats, and top coat. SO pretty. I think it’s supposed to be scented but I’ve had mild hayfever, so can’t really tell.

But I do love this polish, so easy to apply, so many small and pretty glitters, such a flattering colour. Love! KB Shimmer people, please send me all your polishes? I would give them such a loving home!

Have a great day

Ami 😀

Color Club: Cloud Nine – Swatches and Drool

In a hurry, but didn’t want to go bare-nailed, or worry about a base coat. What to do? HOLOGRAPHIC! This is Color Club Cloud Nine, and as far as I am concerned, Color Club make some of the best holographic polishes out there.

Two easy coats, no top coat, perfect formula, no dragging or patchiness or flooding. Just paint and go. Well, wait a few minutes, it did take about 5 minutes to dry. But that’s seriously No Time At All when it comes to polish land!

I’m testing out various lights now, we’re officially in Dark Time of the year, and I am really fed up with my photo and lighting quality, so today, the day after I applied it, I have been taking photos of this polish.

And, even with no top coat, it’s almost perfect. Unheard of, for me! I have got Seche Rebuild on (on advice from another Polish Addict, so that may help with the wear time, I’m not sure).

This is my perfect shade of pink, pretty and flattering without being girly or washed out, and the holographic effect is amazing.

I love this. I seriously do.

Have a great day!

Ami 🙂

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 🙂

KKCenterHK Review – Plastic Stamping Plate

*Press sample!* In case people think I can be bought for nail polish and nail products… er… I’d love to be offended by that 😀 However, I can assure you that my opinions here will always be genuine, or so help me I’ll stop doing this. 😀

So, the second of the two items sent to me for review by KKCenterHK (heaps of other stuff on here too, not just nail supplies, but lots of beauty goodies, wigs, some clothing etc), was this plastic stamping plate, retailing for US $8.65 – which can be found at this link here:  I found this little round soft plastic circle intriguing because it is a stamper that removes the need for a scraper. One less step? Yeah, o.k, I’m keen to try that!

This was my first attempt with playing with it, and I used the floral/swirly nail tip pattern, dropping the corner slightly to give a diagonal effect. Yeah, I totally misplaced where it was on my nail, but I did like the look, so I kept it and am now pretending that I meant to do it. *cough*

Polishes: two coats of Color Club Abyss, and I stamped using Kleancolor Metallic Fuchsia, and some small pink blingies. At this point, I’d paint the pattern, and stamp-stamp-stamp-stamp on a scrap piece of paper, and when the excess had been removed I’d roll my fingernail over it. This worked, but I made it work better later, and I’ll explain soon 🙂

I really did like this pattern, I’d do it again, for sure. And top coat it! It was quite nice and fresh, I think.

Then for my second one, I chose the scale type pattern, which is a full nail one.

Now, by full nail it’s probably o.k for short nails, it just managed to cover most of my shorter nails, and I certainly don’t have long nails.

And, again, there is some evidence of wonkiness. I am a real beginner to stamping, I’ve wanted to do it for ages, but have no skillz yet, please blame the wonkiness on me, not the plate.

The base colour was Essie Coat Azure, and I stamped with Color Club Blue Heaven, which was lots of subtle until the light hit it, when those holographic rainbows made it look like a real fish 😀

So, tips and thoughts!

*instead of stamping the stamper onto the paper, swipe it, instead. Just wipe it back and forward on a (not already wiped on) bit of paper until all the excess has gone, it’s really quick and very effective, and the lines are clearer.

*rolling your nail over the stamp rather than the stamp over your nail means you can line it up better…. mostly 😀

*this is such a brilliant idea. I wish they had a few more patterns, there are quite a few of them on the KKCenterHK site, but not too many different ones. Make more! I do have my eye on the one with the little bird and the dots though, that’s very cute 😀

Thanks to the good people at KKCenterHK for giving me the chance to play with your products, so much fun.

Have a wonderful day

Ami 🙂

PANZ Week 5: Glitter Gradient

Week 5! And thanks to Queens Birthday here in New Zealand, plus this cold I have making me super scatty, this completely snuck up on me. I had some trepidation with glitter gradient, I’ve done several (mostly to cover up tipwear), but I’ve never been happy with them. So I went looking for internet inspiration, found some, and came up with this:

The inspiration was from this website here, and she has a black and silver theme – and much longer nails! And I loved them, they’re gorgeous. I did want to swap the black for a blue though, which I did.

The nude is Nfu Oh 08, two coats. Then I did a raggedy (I can’t draw straight lines, ok?!) french type tip with OPI Russian Navy – one coat, and then two dabbed coats of  Le Chat Hologram Diamond glitter.

I must say, this is my favourite glitter gradient so far, ever! It looks quite classy to my eye, without being in anyway boring, and glittery without being over done. Plus I love soft neutral pinks and they last on my fingers about 2 seconds before I get bored and change it, so this gives me a cool way to wear those colours 😀

I did cheat and only do this on the four fingernails I take photos of, so now I’m going to do the rest of my nails to match. Yep. Happiness is 🙂

Have a wonderful day

Ami

China Glaze I’m Not Lion (I’m A Leopard)

This polish (I’m Not Lion) has been staring at my from my untrieds rack for a looong time now, and I was really happy to get to use it.

For this manicure I used a base of China Glaze Kalahari Kiss (one coat), then two coats of I’m Not Lion. It probably would have been completely opaque in 3 coats, but I wanted to be able to remove it easier 😀

I love the combination of old gold and holographic glitter, it’s subtle until it hits the sunlight, then it’s amazing!

My accent nail (ring finger) has the middle strip the same (one coat Kalahari Kiss, two of I’m Not Lion), and then the sides of my nails have on coat of Zoya Felicity and two coats of China Glaze Hello Gorgeous!

Then, over that I played with a leopard print accent (for the first time ever, Leopard Print and I DO NOT get along. Traditionally).

I added gold plastic blingys for the dots in the middle of the leopard spots, and topped it off with Misa BREAKneck top coat.

Which smeared my leopard prints. Just a tiny bit. I could live with it. And, I could get along with this blingy leopard!

Have a great day

Ami

Ozotic Scatter 915

Not feeling very wordy today, but I always have time for a pretty polish: this is Ozotic 915!

in the shade – showing some of the blue shift around the edges 🙂

Photos show two east 2 coats, Misa BREAKneck top coat, and an abstract flower doodle on ring finger (with NPW nail art pen). Originally the flowers weren’t so abstract, but I put the top coat on too soon and it smudged them. Ah well! I also have some small black blingies in the middle of the biggest two ‘flowers’.

Like all Ozotic polishes that I have ever tried, this has a really nice formula, and is easy to apply.

Although I couldn’t capture many of the  colour shifts, it does change between green/blue/gold, with large scattered irregular shaped holographic shimmer which do their rainbow thing beautifully in the sunlight.

Dries fast, removes easily, lasts a long time before chipping.

I bought this polish from Gracie Lou (from memory!), but you can get this from many other places, including piCture pOlish online.

Have a wonderful day

Ami 🙂

Color Club: Abyss, plus Ozotic 509 and Ninja Polish Alexandrite.

This is Color Club Abyss, from the Color Club Kaleidoscope collection, one of two they have recently released with nary a whisper.

Two coats here, no top coat – the formula was pretty good, there was the occasional blob but that was more about user error than the polish. And dry time was quick, too!

Nice and shiny without top coat, as well. I bought this one from Head2Toe beauty, online. It’s nice- a pretty mid green creme, almost emerald hued but with a lovely murky blue tone to it. Not teal, still green, but nodding in Teal’s direction. These photos show this polish as more blue than it is, but in the sunlight (as here), it really does throw a lot more blue.

Then I added one coat of Ozotic 509, a gorgeous silver super-holo which works as a top coat over almost everything as well as a gorgeous silver polish on it’s own.

So pretty!

Rainbows… mmmmm.

And then, one coat of Ninja Polish Alexandrite, topped with Misa BREAKneck top coat.

The shimmery glitters in Alexandrite were sheer enough that the holographic effect of the Ozotic polish was still clearly visible, as was the base colour of Abyss.

I counted this as a layering win, even though I couldn’t really capture the colour shift of Alexandrite (purple to green) as well as I would like, or the strength of the holographic effect of the Ozotic, we had NO sunshine when I was wearing this!

Ah well, shift happens regardless of photographic evidence 😉

Have a wonderful day

Ami 🙂

New weekly nail polish challenge – Polish Addicts of New Zealand (PANZ)

So, as yet we don’t have a punchy theme name. But,we have a large and growing group of amazing nail polish addicts who live in New Zealand, and meet up on our Facebook page to brag, swap, chat and become totally enabled in our polish addiction. I mean, seriously, thanks to these wonderful people my nail polish collection has grown exponentially. I do mean thanks, they are all wonderful and I love my stash 😀 (polish stash, people. We’re talking about nail polish here).

So, we were kicking around ideas on doing a series of weekly nail polish posts, with a different theme every week. I am very keen for this to be fun, and not about nail art in specific, more about the love of nail polish. Doing these aren’t compulsory,  but if anyone is keen they can do whatever works for them, and sending in blog links or just photos.

So, for the first ever PANZ group theme is: Favourite Colour!

And, right off the bat, I’m going to cheat. Because, yeah, I didn’t have time to prepare anything! And also, it’s legit – I really CAN’T choose a favourite colour, and I want these themes to be able to be interpreted really loosely 😀 So here, from this tutorial here, is my first attempt at butterfly nail art!

I decided to make each nail have a different colour, and all of these are  L.A Colors Color Craze polishes (a gift from my sister-in-law, Jeannie, THANK YOU!). They don’t have names on the bottles, but having done some research I *think* they are these polishes, here – although my blue looks quite a bit darker than hers.

before the top coat was added 🙂

I used two coats of each of these colours, and the green and pink DEFINITELY needed at least one more extra coat for opacity – luckily the black bits hide the nail line quite nicely 😀

I then added a spectraflair top coat (one I made, but any one will do) to give them all an equal amount of shimmer, and then followed the tutorial, adding the black polish (Black nail art pen and China Glaze Liquid Leather), and the silver dots (silver nail art pen), then finished off with Misa BREAKneck polish.

I even did my right hand! That was tricky. Actually, I did all this once, mangled it completely because brush was too big and everything just went wrong, so this here is my second attempt. And STILL I won’t show you my right hand 😀

I like them though, it’s a cool way to wear skittles!

And yes, I can’t choose a favourite colour. At gunpoint, it’d be blue. When it comes to polish though, I have pretty equal amounts of purple, blue, green and pink. And more glitter than anything else 😀

Have a wonderful day!