China Glaze Hanging in the Balance and Whirled Away

I really, really loved this mani.

For my Secret Santa present from the lovely Peita from Peita’s Polish I received three of the polishes from the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil collection.

 

This is Hanging in the Balance, a beautiful bright blue creme. Stunning, isn’t it? It stains like a biatch, so beware! I layered Whirled Away, the black and white glitter, on top.

I really love the colour combination but the glitters were just too big for me. I’m not a big fan. If the glitters were smaller then it would be a winner!

I also stamped a koi fish design from plate A48. Beautiful fishy!

 

What do you think?
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

China Glaze–Atellier Tulle with stamping

The lovely Kristy from The Polish Haven gifted me this pretty, summery polish when I bought from her blog sale. It’s always nice to open up a package and find extras! Thanks, Kristy 

She gifted me a mini China Glaze in Atellier Tulle, a pretty deep red coral colour.

I was feeling summery so decided on a cute and fun mani using it:

Two coats of Atellier Tulle with some cute lollies and sweeties stamping on in Konad Special Polish White. I’m struggling to remember which stamp it is but I’m pretty sure it’s from the 3rd Bundle Monster series.

 

This was such a fun and happy mani. I really enjoyed wearing it

Have you been getting into the summery manis?

Em

China Glaze–Deviantly Daring

Oh how I love you, China Glaze. Their recent Bohemian Lustre Chrome collection has caused many people to complain about how non-duochromey the polishes are, but I still love them. They are still beautiful colours which simply glow from within.

Enough of my babble, here’s Deviantly Daring:

Two coats of beautifulness over an existing mani (a dark teal creme). How gorgeous is it!? See what I mean about glowing from within!?

The formula on this was pretty good. A little runny, but nothing unmanageable at all.

Here’s another photo which shows its dark side a little:

Nyommmmmm!

 

Do you love DD?!

 

Em

Manis for Race Day

Every year in the little mining town I live in we have an Outback Cup. Half the town gets doled up to the nines and the other half wear jeans and a t-shirt and we all head out to the race course to watch some horsies run and win races. It’s basically an excuse to get drunk and dress up. I don’t really drink and I hate getting dressed up so I wasn’t even going to go to the races. A friend and client of mine convinced me to do some volunteer working serving all the drunk people their alcohol. It was good fun for most of the day until about half an hour before the bar shut when people started getting rowdy and messy and just plain gross. It really made me glad I don’t drink!

 

Anyway, I’ll cut to the chase and get to the point of this post! I ended up doing three lots of nails for the races for friends of mine. I had a really busy evening the day before the races and the morning of the races prettying up three friends nails.

 

First up was Miss Michelle’s nails. Michelle wanted something natural and understated so we started off using essie’s Au Natural and we were just doing stamping over it. Then she spotted essie Footloose and fell in love so we ended up with this:

Pretty, right? A coat of essie Foot Loose (my favourite one-coater pink) with Konad in white. It turned out so, so pretty! She loved it! She ended up borrowing my bottle of Foot Loose and when she returned it she asked me to find her a bottle to buy.

 

Next up was Miss Laura.

Laura picked a base colour of Towel Boy Toy by China Glaze, a gorgeous blue neon. Silly me didn’t actually realise it was a neon so I needed three coats. If I’d started with a base of white it probably would have turned out a bit brighter. But that’s okay, it was still super bright!

She wasn’t sure if she wanted any stamping and left that entirely up to me. I decided to do some dotting. Simple, effective and eye catching!

Here’s the end result:

Pretty right? So this was three coats of China Glaze Towel Boy Toy and dots with Ulta3 Frangipani and Gelato.

She loved it!

 

Finally, we have Miss Narelle.

Narelle has been interested in trying gel polish for a while, so I tried out my BlueSky shellac polish on her. I used a pretty purple shimmer which as far as I can see, doesn’t have a name.

This is what we ended up with:

This was a coat of the BlueSky base coat, cured for two minutes, then a coat of the purple, cured for two minutes, another coat of the purple, cured for two minutes, then the BlueSky top coat, cured for two minutes. Then I wiped off the tacky layer with a cleaner and stamped a pretty Konad flower design in silver on the ring fingers and sealed that with a coat of Seche Vite.

Narelle wore these nails for about two weeks with no issues! She even said that she’d broken a nail underneath the polish but the polish had held it all together and protected it for her! Winner!

I think this is a great idea for people who don’t want to change their polish all the time but love having pretty nails. What I loved about it was that you could change the stamping designs easily

For polish addicts like myself, this probably isn’t the answer!

 

Em

China Glaze-Want My Bawdy

Ah, the long awaited China Glaze Bohemian Lustre Chrome collection. Everyone was bitching that the colours weren’t as duochrome as they are in the bottle pics, but you know what? The colours are still stunning.

 

This is China Glaze Want My Bawdy:

Two coats of this gorgeous dark blue shimmer. It’s supposed to be a blue/purple duochrome but it’s not really. Good thing it’s a gorgeous colour to make up for it!

 

Here are some more photos:

 

Love ittttt!

What do you think?

Em

China Glaze-Flyin’ High with Konad

It’s one of my favourite colours again I swear, I will NEVER get sick of blue/teal polishes. Never ever ever. I have so many that are similar but slightly different and I love them ALL!!!! China Glaze does some AMAZING blues and here is one of them:

Two coats of Flyin’ High. Gorgeous, gorgeous colour and amazing formula. I honestly could not fault this polish. It was to die for Just looking at the photos makes me want to wear it again and again!

 

I wanted a simple image to stamp over this colour so I didn’t cover it up too much. I decided on a pretty Konad image:

So cute Reminds me of a patchwork quilt!

Do you like?
Em

Ulta3–Spring Break with China Glaze–Custom Kicks dotties

I got this Ulta3 from the local Woolies when they first started selling them. Since then the bins have been picked over and there is only a handful of boring shades left.  I managed to snag this one before it disappeared.

 

This is Spring Break:

A beautiful royal purple creme. It’s actually got a really strange finish to it, kind of rubbery. I actually prefer it like this to having a top coat on!

This is two coats. The formula was pretty good, no major issues here!

 

I was in the mood for some spotties so I got out my dotting tools and China Glaze Custom Kicks:

 

Oh I LOVE this colour combo! I did a few different sized dots to mix things up a bit. I loved the result

 

What do you think?

Em

China Glaze–Recycle

I’m still on the hunt for a perfect grey polish. I thought this was it but nope, it just doesn’t do it for me.

 

China Glaze Recycle:

Two coats. Formula was not too bad, but it’s just so boring. Am I too honest in my reviews, too brutal!? Sometimes I feel like I am! Some polishes are just so disappointing though, especially when you see lovely swatches on other people’s blogs. It doesn’t help that this is a terrible photo but honestly, it doesn’t make much of a difference because the colour just washed me out and did not suit my skintone.

 

Into the swaps pile you go!!!

Em

China Glaze–High Maintenance

Who doesn’t love a good red? I recently bought this polish from Ozsale. It was one of those that you just throw into your shopping cart at the last minute. I’m pretty glad I did

This is China Glaze High Maintenance:

Seriously pretty. This is two coats but I could have almost gotten away with one if it weren’t for visible nail line. Beautiful, creamy formula which I couldn’t flaw.

I so should have done a ladybird mani with this  

Em

China Glaze–Aqua Baby

I seem to have a lot of colours like this, but I never get sick of them. I’m a sucker for a good teal, aqua, turquoise …

 

This one is China Glaze Aqua Baby:

Beautiful! This was two coats. I really didn’t need the second coat but you know me, I had to do it anyway! This was amazing to apply and lasted a good few days on my tips before chipping.

 

I did some nail stamping using my Red Angel plates:

This is a really cool design, very funky. I like how there are some gaps where there aren’t any squares. I used Konad Special Polish in Pastel Blue for this. Super funky!

 

What colour do you always gravitate towards??

Em

China Glaze–Custom Kicks with stamping

Hey everyone!

Sorry I’ve been AWOL again … I’ve been pretty busy with work, massaging and dealing with this little munchkin:

This is Max, my new kitten. She is a beautiful Ragdoll kitty with a little Burmese in her too. She’s very cuddly and sweet but also a lot of work. I’m already totally in love with her!

 

Anywhoo, onto the nails! I apologise in advance for this photo because I accidentally wiped the good photos off my camera and I didn’t realise until I was just about to take my polish off … so you get a mani with tip wear and chips!! This was three days old so I really can’t complain!

China Glaze Custom Kicks. Man, is this colour hard to photograph, but it’s a gorgeous bright aqua with a shimmer through it. This is two coats. This polish stains cuticles like a mofo, by the way!

 

I stamped over the top of it using Konad Special Polish in pastel purple and used a Red Angel plate. I really liked the look

 

Custom Kicks is definitely a “me” colour. Colours like this just scream out at me.

 

What’s your go-to colour?

Em

China Glaze–Sky High-Top

Oh hell yes. This colour is definitely a new favourite.

 

I give you, China Glaze Sky High-Top:

Two coats of deliciousness. I am so glad I bought this!! It is beautiful! It has a very subtle micro shimmer through it which doesn’t like to show up in photos, but it’s there!

 

I really wanted to stamp over it but I didn’t want to cover up the gorgeous colour, so I decided to use this stamp:

Pretty, right? This is one of my favourite Konad images. It reminds me of patterned china plates!

 

This is definitely a new favourite! What do you think?
Em

China Glaze–Starboard with Konad

This is the second mani I did while I had yucky ruond nails. I think there’s only one more after this, phew!

 

As you may have been able to tell, I’ve been on a real blue and green kick lately. I didn’t realise until I started catching up on my blog posts but I seriously need some colour variety I’m promising myself that my next mani will not be blue or green!

 

This is China Glaze Starboard, a pretty medium green creme:

Two coats, great formula. But I needed to do something to jazz it up a bit:

 

Wow, these look like total Aussie nails! I didn’t even realise until I looked at the photos how Aussie these were.

I quite like this Konad image. I think it would look awesome stamped with silver. It reminds me of barbed wire!

 

Have you done any accidental themed manis lately?
Em

China Glaze–Secret Peri-wink-le

My poor, poor nails. While moving house a week and a half ago I had a lot of breakages. So I admitted defeat and filed my nails into round shape instead of my usual squovals. Urgh. I really hate this shape on me. This is the shape I used to have when I was first blogging and I look back and cringe!!!

I only did a couple of manis while my nails were this shape before I cracked the shits and filed them squoval again but super, super short. You always lose more length with squovals, I find!

This is one of the manis I did with round nails:

China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le. This is more blue in real life, it’s a real blurple. Two coats. Excuse the messy application … I was far too lazy to do my nails properly so this was done while sitting in the recliner the night after we moved into our new house.

 

Look at my poor little finger!!! There was just nothing left of it! Thankfully it’s grown pretty fast in the past week and a half.

 

Have your nails been misbehaving lately?

Em

China Glaze–Ahoy!

Ahoy there, maties!

Haha oh so lame, I’m posting Ahoy! by China Glaze. Get it? Haha. Wow, I’m tired.

 

I’ve been such a bad blogger lately… I’ve got heaps of photos edited and ready to go on my computer but have had no time to actually sit and write blog posts! Well, time to get back into the swing of things!!

 

My nails are a wreck lately because of moving house twice in a month and from expanding my massage business. Why from expanding my massage business, you ask? Well, although I use oil (mostly coconut oil which is amazing for your skin, nails, hair, just about anything!), I wash my hands twice for each client. Once before, once after. So if I’m doing four clients in a row, that means washing my hands eight times in about a five hour period. I use the anti-bacterial hand soap so it’s very drying on my cuticles. Urgh. Time to slather my hands in coconut oil and wear cotton gloves to bed, I think.

 

Anyway, enough of my incoherent babbling. Today I have for you a polish I lusted after for a long time and finally bought when it was cheap on Ozsale. This is China Glaze Ahoy!:

 

Eh. Don’t get me wrong, this is a gorgeous polish but from the photos I’d seen of it, I expected more. It’s a beautiful colour but it was just lacking something for me.

Anyway, this was two coats. Great formula, excellent wear. No issues there!

 

I jazzed it up a little with some stamping:

Again, meh. Maybe I was just hard to impress that day  

 

What do you think?

Em

China Glaze DV8

This polish is dangerous. Why, you ask? Because I couldn’t stop staring at it while I was wearing it. I stared at it as I drove to and from work. I stared at it as I walked around work (sometimes crossing roads). I stared at it every time I was outside.

You guessed it, it’s a holo!
But not just any holo. This is China Glaze DV8:

 

Ahhhhhhhhh.

Perfect. Such a totally and utterly perfect teal linear holo.

The formula, not so perfect. Two goopy coats which were streaky and hard to manage. But I got there in the end because I knew it would be worth it. And it so was.

 

Here’s another gratuitous holo shot:

You are delicious, DV8. Marry me?

 

I found this beauty in Adelaide a few months back when I was dusty hunting. I wandered into a little Asian nail salon on the off chance they’d have some cool polishes. I scored four China Glazes from the OMG! collection and one from the Kaleidescope collection. Now that was a good day’s shopping!

 

It’s inspired me to break out the Spectraflair and start creating some more Spectrafrankens!

 

Are you taking advantage of the beautiful weather to wear some holos?

Em

 

P.S. Sorry for the not-as-frequent posting over the past few days. I’ve been super busy at work and am currently in Adelaide doing three days of intensive massage courses! Regular programming will resume soon!

China Glaze C-c-courage

Oh look what it is, another purple! Colour me surprised

 

This is C-c-courage from China Glaze’s The Wizard of Ooh-Aahz collection:

 

Hmm. I was actually really disappointed by this polish. In my head, I saw it as a purple version of Ruby Pumps but it truly wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pretty purple, but it just completely lacks the depth that Ruby Pumps has. This photo actually makes it look a lot prettier and more sparkly than in real life.

First of all, two coats of this dried matte. MATTE?! There’s the problem. Even with a thick coat of Seche Vite, I wasn’t impressed.

It’s a pity, because it is a nice shade of purple, but it just didn’t do it for me.

I’ve been wanting to order most of the other colours from this collection but that was when I was sure they were like Ruby Pumps in a different colour. Does anyone have the whole collection? Do you think it’s worth getting the others?

Em

China Glaze QT

We’ve been having some fairly nice weather here in the desert … not too hot, not too cold. Warm days with a gentle breeze (or some days, a fierce wind which sends red dirt flying everywhere).
So I took advantage of the sun to wear a beautiful holo!


You all know what this is! Two coats of China Glaze QT from the OMG! Holographic Collection. It’s such a stunning deep pink linear holo.
The good thing about this polish is that it’s a gorgeous colour even in the shade. There are some holos I’m just not a fan of until I can see the rainbow shining through, but this beauty is just pretty all the time!

Fellow Aussies, are you breaking out the holos for Spring? Claire, I know you are!!

Em

China Glaze Blue Sparrow

This is one cool polish, but it was so not what I expected.
I expected a shiny, glittery blue polish, but instead I got this:

China Glaze’s Blue Sparrow, two coats. Still gorgeous, but I was not expecting it to turn out matte!
Because it was matte, it dried super fast. It applied easily but it wore like crap.
I wanted to see what it looked like shiny, so I added a coat of Seche Vite:

Pretty! But you know what? I actually preferred it matte! My partner agreed.
So I put a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic over the top and called it quits.
I did this after dinner one night and had a chip before the end of the night. Ugh, it was so chipped by the end of the next day, I had to take it off. Stupid pretty but undurable mattes!

I like this polish, and I prefer it matte, but to avoid annoying chips I think I’ll have to wear it with a top coat in the future.


What do you think, matte or gloss?

Em