More Frankens!

Franken from Kleancolor Red Sparkle – I added some colour shifting glitters, gold flakies and white hearts. The red jelly base is so dense that the hearts look red! Two coats, no top coat.

I’m quite happy with this vampy little shade.

Franken from Nail Polish – a pink crelly (Nail Polish is the brand name, I still think that’s cheating!) I added a holiday mix of glitters to this, red, green and gold. Two coats. I actually really liked this one, I was going to rehome it but I don’t know if I want to! Sorry for the terrible photo, I wasn’t having much luck with the lighting 🙂

My Fire Butterflies – this was frankened from Kleancolor Chunky Holo Poppy. I added more colour shifting pigment, some red dot glitters, gold flakies, large black dots and silver holo butterflies. This was pretty, but I had the hardest time trying to get a good base colour for it! Red would probably have worked, but in the end I went with Miki 15 – an awesome orange with gold shimmer. Two coats of Miki – needed a third though! One coat of Fire Butterflies, Misa BREAKneck top coat.

My mad glitter top coat – I just added a massive glitter mix to clear base, and a few others for fun.

Butterflies, matte black dots, what have you. I’ve seen many of these types of toppers for sale, and it was heaps of fun making it myself. Instant gratification 😀

One coat of glitter over BC co 21, China Glaze Fast Forward top coat.

Handmade duochrome: this is a duochrome powder pigment mixed with black pigment, one coat over one coat Kleancolor Black, topped with China Glaze Fast Forward.

It’s not quite opaque enough on it’s own for me, but it may make a nice layering over other colours, will try that later.

Colour shift is green to purple, very pretty – and highly shimmery in the sunlight!

And another photo..

And yet another photo! I couldn’t get over the sparkle of this. Easy to remove, although the black was a little bit stainy on my hands this time around.

Have a great day

Ami 🙂

Indie Layering Fun with Daring Digits, Miki, and Amy’s Nail Boutique

I started with a base layer of Miki No 25, a rich buttery yellow which was moderately streaky.

Shown here is three coats to get it even, and it’s super pretty. Ding was my fault, streaks weren’t so much 😀 No base or top coat.

This polish is very glossy and moderately quick drying.

Then I  added one coat of Daring Digits True Love: gold glitter and red matte hearts in a clear base.

This was really packed with glitter – in a really good way. The formula was perfect, not too thick, nor too thin. This was just wiped on like a standard polish, with minimal placement fiddling required. Good heart payoff too, no fishing AT ALL required! Yus!

Then I added one coat of a cool polish called Kitchen Sink, by Amy’s Nail Boutique. Appropriately named, because, as Amy says in the write-up; it’s got every kind of glitter in it except.. the kitchen sink :D.

Normally I run a mile from these types of glitter, but the massive selling point for me is THIS IS IN A MATTE BASE.

Yep, you put this shiny glitter over something, and it mattes everything, leaving the glitter shiny.

WOAH. That’s AWESOME.

Easy to apply, its very thick but not unworkable: I don’t know if normal thinner would work on this, so haven’t experimented.  Dry time is pretty quick, not as quick as a Essie Matte About You, but quicker than Kleancolor Madly Matte.

I really enjoyed playing with these cute polishes, and getting a differently, but not outlandish – and very wearable polish.

Have a great day!

Ami 🙂

Miki No 18 and Layered with Darling Diva Polish Witchy Woman

A recent purchase from a Unichem Pharmacy in Palmerston North – this is Miki No.  18. These gorgeous polishes are $4 each or 2 for $6 (from memory), and are very good quality. They are a mini bottle, but not a tiny – this is 7 ml.

The snappily named Number 18 is a dark teal with gorgeous teal and silver shimmer. These photos are two coats of No. 18, it covers really well and the dry time was fast.

I decided to add a glitter, and I really wanted to try Darling Diva Polish Witchy Woman out again – over a polish that’s not black. It’s stunning over black, but that’s a no-brainer: as the base jelly is so sheer I thought I should be able to wear it over other colours, too. And look!

I was right.. this is one thin coat of Witchy Woman over Miki No. 18, with a top coat (Orly In A Snap). This combination dried fast, lasted quite some time before wearing or chipping, and looked fantastic 😀

You can get Darling Diva Polish from her Etsy store here – and she ships internationally!

Have a fabulous day

Ami 🙂

Day 28: Inspired by a Flag

So, this one was easy enough to come up with a concept – there’s ongoing wrangling in this country about what flag we should use – which gets a teeny bit tiring for me because they ALL want basically the same colours, and there are FAR more important things to be arguing about than a flag. But anyway, here are 4 flags all inspired by NZ flags:

Pinky finger is the first flag NZ had – the flag of the United Tribes. I based it off this article here, and I do quite like this one. And the name! What a cool name. Ring finger is the official National Maori flag – I do love the power colours in this! Middle finger is the ‘official’ flag of NZ – nice enough, but I think it’s too close to Australia’s flag, personally. Pointer finger is the official sporting flag – the silver fern on the black background. Or, in this case, white blob on black. Meh.

The colours I used were CR 58 (white), China Glaze Liquid Leather (black), Miki 8 (red), and Kleancolor Cobolt (blue).

Any favourites? Any other ideas for flags for this country? Me, I think I’d have the silver fern on a gold background with the unity symbol from the  Maori flag running through the middle and the four stars from the Southern Cross in the upper left corner… maybe 😀 The website with the full list of NZ flags can be found here 🙂

Have a great, trivial drama-free day!

Ami 🙂

Miki 15 (Orange) and Dotty Mani

Three coats of Miki No,15- fanta orange with gold shimmer. Very pretty, lovely wide brush, great formula though a teeny bit sheer, covers well at three coats though.

It didn’t suit my skin tone, so I added dots for interest and to break up the orange. The dot colours were inspired by the labradorite ring I’m wearing.

Dotted Kleancolor Cobolt, then over dotted in the alternate line with CR 115 (the dark teal colour).

Then put random bits of glitter in green or blue on the dots for added interest, and top coat (Orly Sec n Dry).

I quite liked the finished effect, even with the orange! I liked the sparkle, and every time I looked at my hands I’d laugh – it looked like ladybirds on drugs had landed on my hands 😀

Red Crelly Comparisons – swatches

Turns out I have 4 red creme/jelly nail polishes (crellies, I like to smoosh words together). That’s heaps, I think, and definitely enough for a comparison!

So… here they are.

From right to left:

• Little finger/pinky = OPI So Hot It Berns (2 coats no top coat)
• Ring finger = L.A. Colors Cranberry Red (2 coats no top coat)
• Middle finger = Miki No.8 (3 coats with top coat, would have the exact same finish and depth of colour as the others without it though)
• Pointer/index finger = Depend 036 (2 coats no top coat)

The LA Colors stands out by miles as being much darker and heading towards burgandy-ville compared to the others, that much is obvious. OPI (little finger) is a very classic red, but I would call this one ‘blue based’ compared to the rest, as it has that depth and cool tone that the other two don’t.

Of the other two, I would say the Depend polish is a true red, crayon or primary red. The Miki definitely has a bit more of an orange tone to it.

So, no dupes, and I like them ALLLL! 😀 I realise that the Miki and the Depend look very similar in these photos, so I took a bottle shot to show that difference between them a bit clearer.

Miki at the top, Depend on the bottom. heh heh heh

Have a great day!

Ami

Miki No.8 – My New Favourite Rorange Polish – Swatches

I found it! I found it! *dances around the room*

If someone had told me last year that I would be spending a chunk of time looking for the ‘perfect’ red/orange nail polish, I’d have patted them gently on the head while helping them into a straight jacket. Well, not really, I don’t have a straight jacket. But you get the picture. Red? Orange? Me? REALLY? Why, yes. And thanks to an impulse buy from Postie Plus in Palmerston North, this Miki polish (about $4 for 7ml) has taken the title for me.

In the shade – please ignore the lack of cleanup on stumpy middle nail, I’m really lazy sometimes.

This is another creme with slight jelly tendancies – the super shine and slight sheerness, but not so sheer it drives me crazy. This is three coats and top coat of Orly Sec’n’Dry. It dried moderately quickly, and the formula was as close to perfect as it gets, really. Easy, shiny, super pretty. It’s definitely a strongly orange toned red – not coral; red, but orange spectrum red.

Shade… shiny in the shade!

This is a great winter colour. It helps make the blahs go away.

Sunlight – yay! Bright!

Whole hand photo…

I’m super happy I bought this, and will try out some more Miki polishes in the future I believe 🙂