Layering fun with Dollish Polish, Ozotic and More…

I have been trying to get a blog post out for days now. And I couldn’t! BUT I have now upgraded my browser to Firefox, and it’s working! WHOOP! Here is the long worked on post – a real mish mash it is, too! 😀

First up, the base colour coat. Because the star polish here was Dollish Polish Toad-ally Awesome, I chose a deep charcoal black to really make those glitters pop. This is Color Club After Hours – two coats, no top coat

Then one coat of Toad-ally Awesome, which is actually totally awesome. Look at the patriotic colours! For about half the world. Anyone else think its funny? Where are the silver and gold flags? The pink and magenta ones? Khaki green? Why so much blue/red/white?

Anywho, this is lovely – all matte glitters except for a sprinkle of blue sparkle glitter in a clear base. Easy to apply, almost no glitter placement required.

Then, Essie Matte About You. I do like matting glitter. Yus.

This looked very nice matte, everything stood out against the background really nicely.

And because it was lying around, I grabbed the Ozotic 509 and free-handed a diagonal stripe, so half had the holographic top coat, and the other half was still matte. Quite liked this effect, too.

Though… maybe not freehand next time. And I may build up the Ozotic a bit more, it’s a gorgeous super holo polish that needs more time to shine 😀

Have a great day

Ami

Ador Beauty: The Universe Nail Polish – Swatches

Hehehe I posted these in reverse order. Ah well, will read better from top to bottom then, hey! Like I planned it *cough cough*

This is a wee mini bottle I bought from Ador Beauty on Etsy, called The Universe. I wish it was a BIIIIGG bottle.

A small bottle for a whole universe..

Description – it’s a dark holographic, but I’d call it charcoal grey/green rather than black. It reminds me of a darker, less complicated I Got Distracted (by Cult Nails). And I adore that polish, and love this one.

These photos (teeny as they are! Sorry! I think this is the last of the ‘Didn’t Check The Bloody Settings’ posts) show three coats of The Universe – I have two coats on the other hand and you could get away with two, but three coats adds a gorgeous depth. When I wear this one again I’ll layer it, because it is such a teeny bottle (5 ml).

Dry time was really quick, but wooooo is this a gritty glitter. Gritter. These photos have one coat of Kleancolor Fast Dry top coat, which just pumps up the sparkle factor. It ate that coat in about 1 hour. Next day you couldn’t see I had top coat on. But I fixed that, and I’ll show you all how soon…

Anyway. Ador Beauty has vegan products, and a heap of polish. Affordable, and afforable international shipping. Check them out! You could tell them I sent you but they’d go “who?” and we should probably just avoid that. 😀

sparkle…..

Have a fab day!
Ami 🙂

Gritter Rescue with Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food. Features Indie Polishes :D

Remember how I mentioned that Ador Beauty’s The Universe polish was a gritty glitter? Or gritter, as I want to call it? This is what The Universe looked like the next day, after it had merrily eaten my Kleancolor top coat:

The Universe… pretty gritty glitter!

And lets be fair to this gorgeous polish; it’s not the only glitter polish I own like that. In fact, so many China Glaze glitters are gritty that Sister V calls them China Graze. heh heh heh. But, fear glitter no more! Introducing, again, Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food. In the bottle it looks like milky gel. But what a difference this makes to a gritter polish!

Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food. I love the brand name, too. Makes me grin 😀

Here I have one coat (it’s thick, but goes on very smoothly) over The Universe, on my ring fingernail (one the left!). The little fingernail is as it was… can you see the difference in texture? Click the pic to see better!

Glitter Food dries satiny – not matte, but not shiny. You do need to put a top coat over this for shine. But, super bonus, it dries super fast. Then, when you add the shiny topcoat, which I did to all nails, its super pretty, and they all come alive again, but the one with the Glitter Food is glass smooth, and the others are not. Smoother, yes. Slippery smooth, no.

And to test it Glitter Food’s other use (except I just read you can use it as a base for Holographic polishes! I’m so DOING that soon) – which is to add to glitter polishes with sunken glitter, and resurrect it. I chose Pretty & Polished Hearts & Daggers, added a few drops, and it did work!
Before:

Hearts & Daggers – such a pretty polish!

After – 30 mins after! Much easier to shake up, and I didn’t even use as much Glitter Food as recommended (because I’m stingy, ok?!)

Then, I used Hearts & Daggers on top of The Universe.. one coat is all I needed because I could GET the glitter out now! YAY!

LOOK at THAT! 😀

These photos show one coat of Glitter Food and finished with one coat of Kleancolor Fast Dry. This did dry fast (thanks, Glitter Food!) and was as smooth as a very, very smooth thing.

LOVE. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I can see myself buying backups of this polish, it’s blimmin incredible. And if it DOES work as a base for the amazing but evil super-holos, I can see me buying backups like RIGHT NOW.

Macro to show it off.. I love that it really shows why Pretty & Polished called it Hearts & Daggers 😀

Have an exceptional day!
Ami

Color Club Halo-Graphic – Swatches

Here’s the third Color Club holographic polish I purchased from the Halo Hues collection: This is Halo-Graphic.

Cute name! Please forgive the tiny photos, I took a heap of photos of this and a few other polishes without realised the camera setting was on teeny. Gak.

Anyway, this is a lovely polish. It’s a soft, flattering pink with an almost lilac tone to it, somehow. It’s definitely pink, but the holographic rainbow seems a bit purple to me. Super pretty!

The holographicness is intense, and the formula is beautiful. These photos are two easy coats, no top coat. The dry time is a bit slower than the super-holos (like the Layla or Jade holographics), but faster than your average creme polish – so it’s a good option if you are in a hurry. I have read that top coat won’t dim the holographic effect on these Color Club polishes, which is awesome too. I just have so many I want to try that I don’t bother putting on top coat unless I need to 😀

 

Wear time was average – there was a chip in a nail within 1 day, but thats pretty standard for my soft nails with any polish, and actually pretty good for a holo.

And I really liked this because it wasn’t silver, or very nearly. 😀

Have a colourful day!
Ami 🙂

Nail Mail Squeee’s…

I want to write Squeeze. But I wont. Today was an exceptional mail day: I got a brand new pair of grey ankle boots with heels, that I can’t walk in but look good in. I almost never wear heels. Black sneakers are my go-to ‘classy’ shoe. I like being able to run, or fight, and be comfortable. But lately… lately I kinda crave some looking nice stuff, too.
And… these.

LOOOK! From Nail Pattern Boldness…. four polishes! I find it so hard to resist a combination of clever names and awesome polishes, and succumbed hard for these.

There’s Bitches Brew, Hades, and Seppuku (with a frisbee) – the name which sold me on the rest. I mean, with a frisbee? That’s got to be VERY hard to do. Still chortling 😀

AND… glitter food topcoat! I’m going to do a post on this very soon, because as far as I’m concerned this stuff is the stuff of legends. Yes. I want a vat of it… right now 😀

Have a great day, full of fun things!
Ami

Daring Digits: Mango Square – Swatches and Layering

Daring Digits Mango Square, over Kleancolor Black. One coat of Kleancolor Black, two of Mango Square, no top coat.

Simple, pretty, and effective! I love the matte teeny white squares, and the larger yellow ones. The yellow is almost translucent, very pretty. Zero application issues, it’s a bit more sparse than it looks, so the two coats were needed.

 

Then, because I have my replacement Essie Matte About You, I used it.

Really loved this effect! It dried quickly (thanks, Essie!) and was pretty smooth to the touch.

And,of course, the whole-hand photo!

Have a great day

Ami

Glitter Gal Belgian Chocolate – Swatches

My second ever bottle of Glitter Gal polish – they are small bottles, and pricey – apparantly because of the amazing holographic particles : this is Belgian Chocolate.

Two coats, no top coat. Dried really fast. Amazing depth of colour, and gorgeous linear holo effect.

YUM

I’m having a seriously short on words day, so here are som pictures of this polish, go ahead and lookie! Or not, as you see fit. I judge not. 😉

maacrrrooo!

 

The color reminded me of my new boots – yes, these ones here 😀

 

 

Gotta love trade me for boots!

 

 

gotta love this polish for rainbows and shine 😀

 

Have a great day

Ami 🙂

Ador Beauty: Starry Night Swatches

Another pretty polish from Ador Beauty’s Etsy shop, this is Starry Night. I think this is the second I’ve swatched, but I am posting them out of order 😀

One of the main reasons I was drawn to this seller was the vegan angle: I’m not vegan, but I do know that it’s HIGHLY unlikely someone will create a vegan range that’s tested on animals. Right?! I hope so 😀

So, Starry Night: A pretty tealish deep blue shimmer with small gold squares and mid sized gold hexes. Now, being vegan formula, I was wondering if it would be any good… and no, it wasn’t. It was GREAT.

 

These photos show two coats, no top coat. It was very smooth and shiny on it’s own (though it looks a bit chunky in these photos, but it’s not!), though a top coat would add to the pretty.

 

One thing I didn’t realise, was that this also had holographic shimmer in it. It’s THE finest, most subtle holographic shimmer I’ve ever seen! Barely caught it on camera, it looks silver but just flicks the rainbow at odd moments. So subtle, but very pretty.

You can just about see the holo here 🙂

Have a great day

Ami

Blue for Diabetes Day

So here’s the deal, right? By the time I hear about a ‘day of some import’ happening in the Northern Hemisphere, that day has gone for me. I read this morning about Nov 14 Diabetes Day, and the request for nail bloggers to show a blue mani. So, fair enough, it’s a good reason -but it’s the 15th for me. Ah well, here’s one I created this morning, just for this

This is L.A. Girl Disco Brites polish in Turntable, and its a quite green leaning blue polish. Or blue leaning green. More blue, to my eye. My camera would NOT pick up the green in it, and showed it as turquoise. So this first photo I changed the colour to try and show it close to true colour.

Turntable, colour adjusted to show the green tone in the teal blue more accurately 🙂

This is two coats – it’s quite runny, but covers well in two layers. Self levels well.

And then I added a coat of L.A. Girl Glitter Addict in Animate:I wanted red for blood. Diabetes is a huge disease – called, in the hospital system, the silent killer. It affects all areas of the body, and unstable blood sugar levels  (hence the red for blood) can affect all other  body systems. Some people I met during my nursing student days, especially those with Type 2 diabetes, took it lightly and didn’t try to control their blood sugar. I know it’s hard, but it’s imperative to do so; to eat well and check your levels – especially if you want to live a nice, long, happy healthy life with all your toes attached. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

One coat of Animate, I do like this red glitter!

And one coat of Daring Digits Mango Square – the yellow for the liver, sending healing thoughts to all those livers! And the white for strength and hope – it is a disease that can be controlled. A happy, healthy, long life with all digits attached is achievable. Stay strong, you are WORTH the effort.

Thoughts to all those who have, or are affected by diabetes.
Ami

China Glaze Cast A Spell: Swatches & Layering with Darling Diva Polish

What a stunning polish. This is China Glaze Cast a Spell, from the 2012 Halloween collection.

This is like my beloved Wagon Trail on steriods – it’s just… more.

This is one coat, believe it or not. One simple, fast drying, easy to apply, self-levelling dream of a coat.

No top coat, just pure beauty. LOOK at that shimmer 😀 I bought this from Head2Toe Beauty 🙂

So, for layering fun, I added another polish of beauty – Darling Diva Polishes Mitochondrial Eve.

Sigh, look at that. What a lovely combo. One coat of Mitochondrial Eve, no top coat.

And then… I matted it with Essie Matte About You.

WOW.

Absolutely LOVE this mani! 😀 It lasted quite some time without chipping, too, which is always nice for a matte’d polish. It was a bit textured to the touch, but the visual effect was so lovely I didn’t mind.

Hah, look at that big wrinkle on my pointer finger! Argh! Now look at the others, shows the polish off nicer 😀

 

Have a great day,
Ami