Thursday 17 November 2011

Playing with polish - a bunch of swatches!

I had a fair bit of time on my hands this day, as you can see. I decided I needed to finally swatch all my Muppets minis to figure out which ones I'd buy full-sized bottles of.



From left to right:

Designer De-Better. This is just a gorgeous foil, so bright and lovely, silver with goldy flecks. I've never seen anything quite like it! I have a number of silver and gold foils, and this one is just distinct from all of them.

Wocka Wocka. The perfect Christmas red! Rich, with a subtle gold shimmer. This just SCREAMS Christmas to me.

Excuse Moi! Glitter heaven! Light pink jelly just jam packed with glitter. I had to have this one.

Warm and Fozzie: a lovely copper glittery foily bits in a dark base. It ends up looking like a warm dark golden foil on the nail, nice, but not something I went crazy over.





From left to right:

China Glaze Ruby Pumps. Oh my... now I know why people go crazy over this colour! It's so sparkly, with great depth and a lovely finish. Red jelly that's just packed with shimmer and glitter. Definitely a must have!

Deborah Lippmann The Glamorous Life. Described as the perfect rose gold, this is a lovely creamy colour. It applies like butter, though you do have to be careful of brush marks.

Deborah Lippmann Good Girl Gone Bad. I've yet to do this as a full manicure and I have no idea why! It's a gorgeous deep sparkly purple, definitely a good buy.

China Glaze Snow Globe over YSL Shiny Black. Ah Snow Globe. I have a love/hate relationship with this polish. On the one hand, lovely sparkly shiny glitter! On the other, it can tend to make my polish look pitted as the flecks sink into the undercoat.



I couldn't resist playing with Deborah Lippmann's flat top on top of all these polishes. It was just sitting there, looking at me! Some of the results were just spectacular.













Flat Top over Excuse Moi! shows just how packed with glitter this polish is! A very unique look.




Flat Top over Wocka Wocka! The subtle shimmer in this polish really comes out. This was my favourite of the bunch, with a soft sheen that reminded me of satin finish Christmas ornaments.

Monday 14 November 2011

My first attempt at a taped manicure!

After seeing the tutorial for taped looks at Reddit Laqueristas, I figured I'd give it a go! This was my first ever attempt at a taped manicure: OPI French Quarter for your Thoughts tipped with OPI Designer, De Better.



It's a bit messy, but not bad for a first try! I was surprised at just how easy it was to achieve those clean lines:

1) paint with base coat and base colour, wait for colour to dry.
2) take a piece of scotch tape and stick it to your hand a few times to make it less sticky (if it's too sticky it'll take the polish right off your nails!), place over your nail however you'd like the design to go.
3) Pain your tip colour, remove tape before the paint dries.

I really need to do a full taping tutorial. I've figured out a number of tips and tricks and I should post them!

Friday 11 November 2011

Haul!

I may have gone overboard here...



OPI
Back row: DS Mystery,  Fresh Frog of Bel-Air, Designer, De Better, French Quarter for your Thoughts
Front Row: Excuse Moi, Designer, De Better, Warm and Fozzie, Wocka Wocka





Nicole by OPI Razzle Dazzle, Show you Care, Rainbow in the S-Kylie, Midnight Madness



Deborah Lippmann: Flat Top matte top coat, Wicked Game, Good Girl Gone Bad, Glamorous Life, Across the Universe



China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Snow Globe, Misa Under my Sunbrella.