Party Nails: Layla Holographic Retro Pink and Cover Bands Stick ‘n’ Stones

My friends and neighbours had a 30th birthday party, dress up or down optional. Of course, I dressed up. I do this. And I chose 80’s theme, as I also like too. And then, of course, had to make my nails themed too… So I chose Layla Holographic Retro Pink (2 coats), Cover Bands Stick ‘n’ Stones (2 dabbed coats), Vivid Lacquer Your Princess is in Another Castle (1 coat) and finished with China Glaze Fast Forward.

One huge advantage to the Layla Holographics is that they dry so fast! Another is that they are very pretty, and VERY holographic.

Sticks ‘n’ Stones added that sort of graphic look that reminds me of the 80’s era, and just broke it up a bit for me, and I loved that the thin layer of Your Princess is in Another Castle added some chunky holo and pink glitters to make it all perfect.

And then I took lots of photos in the sunlight…

And another!

And in case anyone wanted to see a bad photo of my outfit, here it is 😀 You can’t really see, but my makeup was all blue and pink (loads of pink), and my earrings were huge. I also wrapped necklaces around one boot hehehe.

Have a wonderful day

Ami 🙂

Nail Mail!

This was my birthday present to me… it didn’t turn up by my birthday, but thats fine, just meant I had two birthdays. Second, second birthday 😉

These preciousssesss (to continue a theme) were from Harlow & Co – really nicely packaged. Shipping seemed to take a while, but taking into account we had Christmas and New Years stat holidays in the middle, I suspect it was pretty good shipping time, really! 😀

I bought THREE Girly Bits polishes! And can I say, that name kinda makes me snigger like a 12 year old boy, sometimes. 😀

This is, left to right, Arctic Sunrise, Magically Delicious, and Star Spangled

And then:

Left to Right: KB Shimmer Quantum Leaf (MEEEEP!), Nubar Reclaim (meeep MEEP!) and Kolt Lunatic.

I’ve been lemming half of these polishes for quite some time, (Girly Bits, Nubar) but fiercely lemming Quantum Leaf since I saw it (also Toucan Touch This and Splat, but good things take time – and not being sold out, yeah). I GOT Quantum Leaf!

And over the weekend I had more turn up – don’t worry, I don’t have many more coming in, this will be the last of the haul posts for quite some time 🙂 Pahlish: Sitting in a Tin Can and Pianos Filled with Flames:

Head2Toe Beauty Haul:

And look, Ruby Wing polish in Tide! This changes colour in sunlight (not temperature, actual sunshine) from this

to this – in about 2 minutes!

I also got Color Club Angel Kiss, Cloud Nine, Winter Affair and China Glaze Bend Over Backwards.

From Candy Girl:

Layla Mirror Effect Black As Ebony, OPI Don’t Touch My Tutu!, OPI Goldeneye, OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest, and Zoya Feifei. They also sent a Niju Brightening Essence Mask – looks like fun 🙂 My mother bought me a voucher for Candy Girl, which is why I was able to get so many amazing polishes. Thank you!!

From Gracie Lou:

piCture pOlish Demeter and Ozotic Scatter 915

MORE Darling Diva Polishes:

Ringer, Seriously Serious, and Fuuuuuuuudge!. Surely I own all of her polishes by now 😀

And last but not least, my Wing Dust polishes…

Look! She packaged them all cute in blue tissue paper and black bags, with chocolate and information cards. 10/10 for presentation!

Breathing Underwater, Hope, Snakeskin Shoes, Plum Outta Ideas, and Crazy on You.

Phew! I’m almost frothing at the mouth here, trying to decide what to put on first… lucky, lucky me!

Have a fabulous day

Ami 🙂

Gold Holographic Comparisons

Comparisons – gold holos: Layla Gold Idol, Jade Mystic Gold, alternating fingers 🙂

Indirect sunlight, Layla – Jade – Layla – Jade, from left to right 🙂

You can see the color difference!

Sunlight – Layla, Jade, Layla, Jade – from left to right

Now Layla Gold Idol, Jade Mystic Gold and Rivka Vanessa.

Sunlight: from left to right; Jade, Layla, Rivka

Layla is the most holographic, but also the finicky-est to apply. Jade is a much warmer gold, and Vanessa looks barely holographic next to the two of them, but has a very similar color to Gold Idol. Vanessa is a linear holo, and worth owning. Dry time is quite long compared to the other two, but it’s very easy to apply.

Sunlight – left to right: Jade, Layla, Rivka: You can see the line in the holo the Rivka in this photo 🙂

It’s just not in the Layla / Jade holographic class. Jade Mystic Idol is easier to apply than the Layla by lots, the least sheer (though it’s still sheer), and the longest wearing of the three.  All have three coats, no base or top coats.

Sunlight – same order as previously 🙂

All three are super easy to remove, with no staining.

And there you go!

Have a great day

Ami 🙂

Layla Gold Idol: Review and Swatches

Layla Gold Idol:

Indirect sunlight..

Thin, nice formula for a Layla Hologram, not too streaky, but it does need three coats to cover any bald spots.

Indirect sunlight

Cool toned gold, highly holographic. No base or top coats here 🙂

Direct sunshine. Wowsa!

Pretty good wearing time, it did have some bumps after a few hours but I was gardening, so was pleasantly surprised at how little wear there actually was.

Back into the semi-shade…

Insanely holographic as most Layla’s are!

BLING!

Macro…

Oh, you want a Layla/Jade comparison? I think I can do that… hold please!

Have a great minute…

Ami 🙂

Layla Hologram Effect Ombre Nails – aka the “hundred bucks mani”

My sister V, mother G, and myself all had a girls night at my mothers place a few weeks ago. My mother has the full collection of Layla hologram effect polishes. What’s a girl to do, right? When you want to wear them all.. OMBRE!

My left hand:

And just the fingers…

Love the effect.. and the holographicity of this!

From left to right (pinky to thumb) : Coral Glam, Retro Pink, Shock Pink, Red Taboo, and Purple Illusion. They all had three easy coats, no base coat, and were topped with Layla Brilliant top coat. Retro Pink could have used another coat, that was very sheer. Super pretty though, as they all are.

Then on my right hand (apologies in advance, it’s hard to take a photo of your right hand, plus it’s my dominant hand and my cuticles get ABUSED. Sorry!)

See? Still MUCH better at painting my non-dominant hand, even after years of experience. sigh

And the fingers…

This one from right to left (eg pinky to thumb): Ultra Violet, Cloudy Violet, Misty Blush, Coffee Love and Flash Black. Misty Blush had a seriously hard-to-work formula, and needed 4 coats – Coffee Love was a pretty good formula in comparison, but still needed that fourth coat. The rest were three nice coats topped with Brilliant top coat.  I am so in love with Cloudy Violet, I want that one for my own one day!

As for the title.. I commented to sister V that if I’d bought these polishes, it would have cost over $250 dollars (for all the bottles). And it looks a million dollars! She then said, in her best ‘Lynne of Tawa’ accent: “looks a hundred bucks!” – which got us laughing and calling each other names all night. Good times. 😀

Layla Coffee Love over Color Club Nothing But Truffle

I do love to layer Layla hologram effect nail polishes. One, because it changes their colour. Two, because they are expensive polishes ($25 for 10 ml) and so I use less of it, and still get a gorgeous holographic effect.

This is 1 thin coat of Layla Coffee Love over two coats of Color Club Nothing But Truffle; a stunning deep dark chocolate brown with milk chocolate coloured shimmer. Now this, this is the colour I wanted Coffee Love to be: inside it has a lovely deep coffee colour to it….

And outside it caught FIRE!

 

And some more photos. Wear time on this was very good, even though I didn’t use a top coat. Color Club make some AMAZINGLY good polishes! 🙂

My hands have taken a hammering lately: change of seasons, cleaning and gardening, so I’m getting a lot of cuticle staining. It wasn’t from these polishes – both have very good formula and stay where you put them, but from a previous one. I apologise though! Just look at the rainbows! 😀

Blurry for extra rainbow effect!

And a gratuitous ‘look-at-a-rooster-across-sparkly-nails’ photo. Life can be good 😀

Have a great day!

Ami 🙂

Layla Hologram Effect: Chocolate Love Swatches

My amazing mother recently purchased all of the second collection of Layla Hologram Effect polishes. Do I have envy? Yes, yes I do. However, she’s lovely and lets me try these on and swatch them for this blog. 😀 This is Coffee Love – a mid brown super holographic nail polish.

Layla Coffee Love

These photos are three coats on their own, no top coat.

The formula on this one is pretty good for a Layla holo polish – though you don’t want to overwork it:  just put it on your nail and leave it be, or the brush pulls off all the polish leaving bald patches. Being a holographic though, it dries super fast!

Wear time on these polishes is very short – it can chip and wear within a few hours. It’s tricky because a top coat protects it, but there are very few that don’t dull the holo rainbows as well, which is a crime.

In the shade it looks like a strange, mid brown colour; not unflattering, but just a bit bland.

But in the direct sunlight, kapooowwiieee!

Have  a great day!

Ami 🙂

Layla Mirror Effect: Cosmo Lilac – Swatches

Wow, what a stunning polish! My mother bought this from Candy Girl – a NZ based website. They are very friendly there, the Layla polishes are $25 each, which is reasonable for Layla polishes – and postage is not expensive, things are well packed and arrive very fast (and sometimes with lollipops and nail files!).

This is Layla Mirror Effect in Cosmo Lilac – and I seriously want one of this range. These photos are two coats, no top coat or base coat. I have read reviews elsewhere where a top coat wrinkled the polish, which is why I didn’t put one on. This dried very fast. It goes on like a normal polish – although with a bit of a  touchy formula: put it on and don’t go back over it! Then it dries and all the brushstrokes disappear… and what you have left is this amazing surface.

I did put a coat of Layla Brilliant Due topcoat on my little finger of my right hand, and that didn’t wrinkle or dull the shine, and it actually lasted over a day without any damage. Unfortunately, this polish is veddy, veddy, soft. It showed some signs of wear about 30 mins after applying it.

This would be  a great polish for a special occasion – but not for everyday use. I have read of clever people putting on one coat of this, then when it’s dry adding a top coat, which does dull the shine. But THEN add the next coat of Mirror Effect, and leave it at that – then even when the top wears theres a similar looking layer underneath. Me though, being the lazy that I am, just wore it and enjoyed it while it lasted.

Have a great day!

Ami 🙂

New Nail Mail – Christmas!!

Ok, obviously it’s not, but it feels like it with these stunning goodies arriving – one good thing about waiting all year to buy polishes (generally speaking!) is that I REALLY appreciate the ones I get 🙂

First up was the package from Harlow & Co – that arrived fast. About 6 days? To NZ from Canada? That’s FAST.

Well packed, double bubbled and bubble bag, cute wee business card. And the polishes?

Glitter Gal Belgian Chocolate, Layla Ocean Rush (for my mother), Layla Flash Black, Barry M Magnetic Blue, Barry M Magnetic Dark Silver. Look at the cool magnet designs on the lid!

WOW.

Next was an order of perfume samples from Dorian & Dahl on Etsy – I came across a review from Phyrra who highly rated their perfumes, and I love perfumes. Not the normal, alcohol based spray ones, but the ones with real oils and interesting blends – I like Lush’s perfumes, and I LOVE these.

Bag full of perfume vials and foam packaging, cute!

I’ve tried two so far, Sookeh and Perfect Lady – but sniffed them all and they’re different, and all very appealing. Sookeh I like on me, Perfect Lady not so much; it’s a very classic scent and I’m not that into it on me, but I am adoring trying these out. 🙂

Original Blends, Belle Blends, and Sookeh which was a free sample. YAY! I love free samples 😀

One thing I really liked about Dorian & Dahl was they sent a business STICKER, not a card. It’s just a little bit different, has a cute picture on it, and just shows they are thinking of how to step outside the box, and I love it. 🙂

Then finally was a package from piCture pOlish – 5 working days from order to delivery? WOW. Huge bag, well packed, lots of bubble wrap.

And the polishes…

piCture pOlish Kryptonite, Ozotic 517, 513, and 526 x 3, piCture pOlish Monroe. *happpy sigh*

Yowsa. I did get three black Ozotics, yes, but 1 was for me, 1 for my sister, and 1 for my mother. Was I tempted to keep all three? Why yes, yes I was. Wouldn’t you have been? 😀

Have a fantastic weekend!

Ami  🙂

Layla Hologram Effect Emerald Divine

I’m used to most Layla holographics having a tricky formula: thin, prone to patchiness and balding, temperamental. Stunningly beautiful, of course, so you can easily overlook those wee flaws, but I tend to instinctively layer these polishes first – as I posted here.

Layla Hologram Effect Emerald Divine

Wrong choice with Emerald Divine, it has a great formula and looks much better on it’s own!

Whole hand photo…

This is three coats, no base coat and no top coat. As with all Layla hologram polishes, this is SO easy to take off. The downside to that is how fast it wears – within hours, usually. This colour seemed to last a whole day without much noticeable tipwear, which is pretty good for this brand! The coats are SUPER thin, and very fragile, and sooo beautiful.

In the shade – you can still see the latent holographic particles waiting to erupt in the sunlight 😀

Look at those rainbows…

This is a lighter, almost grass green. Not quite, but not emerald either. Who cares, it’s gorgeous!

Nails! Chicken! That is Naomi, she lays green eggs and RUNS inside as soon as she sees a door open to find food. She’s a character, and a real PITA. Funny how often those two traits go together…

And here is a photo of both hands – my left (swatching!) hand has the three coats of Emerald Divine on it’s own, and the right hand has two coats of Emerald Divine layered over China Glaze Jolly Holly. THIS was a tricky shot – basically I hung the camera around my neck and set the timer for 2 seconds and hoped the lens was pointing in the right direction… hehehe FLUKE!

Have  a great day!

Ami 🙂