Butter London–Pillarbox Red with Cult Nails-Coveted

Merry Christmas, everyone!

So, the Christmas mani I did yesterday didn’t quite work out but I have another one for you. This is the mani I did for the Christmas Pageant in my little town:

Two coats of Butter London Pillarbox Red and two coats of Cult Nails Coveted. So, so gorgeous. Pillarbox Red is honestly the most perfect red I’ve ever seen and Coveted is such a lovely, deep green jelly with glass ‘shards’ in it.

 

I decided to make it a little more Christmassy:

I sponged white on the tips and stamped some Konad designs on. Cute little snowmen on my fingers and “Merry Christmas” on my thumbs. Everyone at the pageant loved this!

 

Hope you’ve had a happy and safe Christmas!

Em xx

Jade–Mystic Gold with stamping

I don’t usually ‘do’ gold, especially not yellow gold. White gold, oh yes, but yellow gold just doesn’t suit me.

I did have to try this particular gold polish, though. Why? Because it’s a holo, of course!

 

Jade Mystic Gold, two coats. Stunning, right? It’s a really rich yellow gold so it doesn’t look tacky. I just love the Jade holos because they have such a strong holo effect. You just can’t go wrong!

I added some Konad stamping on top, a cute and funky zebra pattern.

 

What do you think of my zebra nails?

Em

Max Factor–Fantasy Fire over Kiko 336

I’ve been wearing some gorgeous polishes lately, some of which have been hiding in my stash for too long. For example, Max Factor Fantasy Fire. Why on earth did it take me so long to wear this pretty!? I knew I’d love it so I bought multiple back up bottles, yet it sat in the untrieds drawer of my Helmer for months.

 

I chose to layer FF over Kiko 336, a pretty bright royal blue very similar to Nails Inc. Baker Street. I got 336 in a swap  I did with a lovely lady from The Netherlands. It’s a lovely colour on its own but silly me forgot to take a photo so you’ll just have to deal with a couple of pics of Fantasy Fire (oh, what a shame ).

 

One coat of FF over Kiko 336. *Happy sigh*. The royal blue base really brings out the hot pink and purple sparkles in FF. I loooove this. I got so many compliments on it and I think this mani needs to happen again SOON.

Here’s another shot:

Hmmm… yes, I think FF is calling … You’ll have to excuse me!

Em

p2–Blue Hawaii

This little beauty took me by surprise. I got it in a swap I did with a lovely girl from the Netherlands a few months ago. I thought it was a plain medium mint green creme, but as soon as I put it on, I knew it was something more special.

 

This is p2 Blue Hawaii. Why they call it blue, I will never know. It’s clearly green. A lovely shade of medium mint green with a brilliant shimmer through it.

It’s been a while since I wore this polish but I think it took about four coats to be opaque. The formula was lovely though so it didn’t bother me in the slightest.

 

Do you own any p2 polishes?
Em

Cult Nails–Untamed with OPI Teenage Dream and Cult Nails–Time Traveller with China Glaze White Cap

I’ve been loving Cult Nails lately. The creator of Cult Nails, Maria, has done such a fantastic job at producing unique and wonderful colours.

I was feeling creative so I applied two coats of Cult Nails Untamed:

This is a gorgeous Barbie pink with a lovely micro-shimmer throughout. Two coats gave me great coverage and it wasn’t uneven or patchy at all.

 

I then blinged it up:

I lightly painted some OPI Teenage Dream on the tips in a gradient pattern and stuck rhinestones in a half moon design on my thumbs. I loved it! I felt so, so girly.

 

Next up is Time Traveller:

Such a lovely deep midnight blue creme. Unfortunately the formula was a tad thick and gloopy, but I get the feeling my bottle could have done with some thinner.

 

I couldn’t leave this alone so I added a few things:

With one coat of China Glaze White Cap a gorgeous gold shimmer top coat. Lovely! I stamped some stars from the Cheeky plates on in Konad Yellow.

 

What do you think? Are you as much of a Cultie as I am?

 

Em

Revlon–Glitz n’ Glam

This is another ancient photo but I still remember this mani well. Why? Because it was the first time I tried the PVA base coat from Essence, of course!

Now ladies (and gents – I don’t discriminate), this stuff is revolutionary. Essence released their Peel Off Base Coat in their Ready for Boarding collection a few months ago. It didn’t take long for the cluey girls at Aussie Nails to figure out it was simply PVA glue in a bottle.

And now, using the foil method to remove glitter bomb polishes is a thing of the past. Now, I’m actually encouraged to peel my nail polish off! As I said, revolutionary!

Enough of my babble. Here is Revlon Glitz n’ Glam:

Two coats of this blingtastic pink glitter bomb gave me full coverage. It had been so long since I’d worn such a full on glitter because of the pain-in-the-ass removal process. But I applied a thick coat of the Essence Peel Off Base Coat and away we went.

When it came to peeling it off, it was a little more difficult than I anticipated. Instead of being able to peel off the polish in large sheets, I had to do a fair bit of scraping. Luckily since then I’ve refined my PVA technique. I now apply two thin coats of the base coat instead of one thick coat. It works amazingly well. There’s nothing more satisfying than peeling your polish off in one perfect piece. Yes, I’m a freak! But I’m okay with that

 

Have you jumped on the PVA bandwagon yet? If not, what are you waiting for?! PVA is cheap and easily accessible. All you need is an empty polish bottle to decant it into!

 

Em

L’Oreal–Rebel Blue

I’ve been kind of loving sponging lately. It’s so simple yet so effective So when I did this mani I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

 

L’Oreal Rebel Blue with Ulta3 Lily White sponged on and the gorgeous puffer fishies from the 3rd Bundle Monster set stamped on as an accent.

So, so cute Rebel Blue is such a pretty blue and a dream to apply thanks to their awesome wiiiiide brushes.

 

How do you like my puffers?

Em

Gloss n’ Sparkle–Unicorn Droppings & Goblin’s Grave

Hi all! I have been a crappy blogger, haven’t I?! I don’t remember when I last posted and now I have a huuuuuuuge backlog of photos to edit and posts to write. Whoops!

Anyway, here are couple of polishes from Aussie indie brand Gloss n’ Sparkle.

 

Unicorn Droppings:

Love, love, LOVE! A gorgeous milky white base with holo shimmer and rainbow hexes. This was two coats which gave enough coverage! I must wear this again because the night I put it on, I used a PVA base and I had to take my partner to the emergency room and he was admitted for suspected appendicitis. So I peeled it all off while in the ER anxiously waiting.

 

Goblin’s Grave:

Gorgeous!!! Look at the depth to this lovely squishy deep green polish. All the different coloured hexes:

*drool*

 

I used three coats of this as it was a little on the sheer side. This was one time I was too lazy to use my peel off base coat and I regretted it when it came time to remove it. Oh, removal was a bitch alright!

 

I mattified it for something a little different:

Ahhhh, perfect!

 

Em