Home from the holiday..

So, I am back from my relaxing holiday in the nice sunny weather. I came back with more polishes than I took up, but meh..it happens! LOL. My polish mani's held up pretty well whilst I was away, not even a 50km jetskiing trip around the Whitsunday Islands could ruin them. Didn't even have a nail break! Not sure I like how long they are now but will cut them when I have to go back to work next week. Anyways, came home to a little bit of nail mail  but didn't get my Cheeky plates yet though :( So here is a quick NOTD with one of the polishes.

 OPI Absolutely Alice and Mad As A Hatter, woot!

 OPI Mad As A Hatter and Absolutely Alice without flash

 OPI Mad As A Hatter and Absolutely Alice with flash

Of course I had to try Mad As A Hatter! I decided to pair it up with Layla Metal Chrome. I used Essence Peel off Base coat on all fingers to see how the polishes would apply :)

This is 2 coats of Layla Metal Chrome and 3 of Mad As A Hatter

As you can see, Mad As A Hatter is an awesome polish! I can see why people must have it. It's like Rainbow Connection in mini macro glitters :) Mad As A Hatter was easy to apply,  3 coats for full coverage which was so glittery and awesome. Layla Metal Chrome didn't love the peel off base as you can see at the tips where there is some wrinkling/wear, but I wanted to have different levels of bling and shiney and hadn't planned on which polish on which nail. LOL.

I am still in holiday mode and have a few books to finish that I am reading but I am sure I will be inspired to do some nail art..although I want my Cheeky plates soon, dag nammit!

Hare Dog Day Dream

Another glitter goodness for you today with hare's Dog Day Dream. I bought some hare polishes from Llarowe when she started stocking some more of the Indie polishes (independently made), and originally Dog Day Dream was not on my must have list. Something inside me said I had to buy it, so I did and love it!  Dog Day Dream is a red/fushia tinted base with purple, orange and red glitters in it. It's so pretty in the bottle! Here is one coat of Dog day Dream over China Glazes Under the Board Walk.

Hare Dog Day Dream, such cute labelling!

 Washed out Macro shot, sorry!

 One coat of Dog Day Dream only!

Look at the jelly loveliness!

 Close up, I say :)

 Suspended glitters in raspberry jelly, yummo!

 Did I love this polish? Yes! It was amazing over the top of Under the Board Walk. The glitters went on evenly and smoothly and this is without a top coat and it looks nice and flat. Bonus! The glitters as always look more glittery in real like, but you can see the potential for bling here :) The color is something I wouldn't usually go for but I think it suits my skin tone really well, without being a vampy red which I love!

Have you got any Hare's yet? Do you need this one?

When a Selkie meets and Elephant!

So, a little while ago in my posting world I posted my swatches of China Glaze Elephant walk, it was nice but I thought I could improve upon the end result. How you may ask? Well, since I have been blog stalking I have noticed that Fingers Polish Mania puts Selkie from Lilaquer polish on *every* mani and it makes it pop that much more. So I ordered a few polishes from Lilaquer's Etsy Store and one of them had to be Selkie! Selkie is a blue/green duochrome top coat that is just lovely and can turn any frown upside down I reackon! LOL.

Lilacquer Selkie, deceptive in the bottle

 Lilaquer Selkie, 1 coat over China Glaze Elephant Walk

Now you shift the light to see the duochrome!

Green Shift

Blue Shift

Duo Shift

With Flash

 As you can see, this has transformed Elephant Walk (which I thought was a bit meh) to something I would love and admire for hours and hours :) Selkie is an awesome topcoat over any polish as you can see it add just a little bit without subtracting anything from the original polish or changing it. Green/blue shift is right up my alley, but Lilaquer also make some reds/orange shifting top coats. So go check out the etsy store! 

What do think of a duochroming top coat, do you need one? I do!

China Glaze Under the Boardwalk

Since I am hopefully sunning myself in the lovely warmer weather of the Whitsundays I have for you one of the Summer 2012 China Glaze neons. Under the Board Walk is probably one of the not so neon neons, but it's purple and I like it!

 China Glaze Under the Board Walk without and with flash

 I used 2 Coats of China Glaze Under the Board Walk and no top coat here!

 As always China Glaze delivers and amazing polish, the colors are always pretty darned good, the application is awesome here! Although this is a jelly like polish it is opaque in 2 coats and drys so smooth with no cuticle pooling. I love this color although it probably isn't a retina burning as some of the others in the summer collection. I am a sucker for purple and this one has sucked me in!

Do you have any of the Summer 2012 Neons? Do you want this in your collection?

Dollish Go Luigi!

I am still on holidays, but here is a post I prepared earlier (ie. very late the night before we went away!LOL) Today I have for you Dollish's Go Luigi. Now, this polish can look a little, well, not super special in the bottle. It's nice don't get me wrong, but it doesn't make me go "oooh, ahh" like some other do. Don't underestimate this little polish...it can look pretty special on!

Dollish Go Luigi!

 Macro Luigi with holo stars!

Go Luigi layered over China Glaze Elephant Walk and Lilaquer Selkie

I applied just 1 coat of Go Luigi over for this mani, but I didn't put on a top coat which would have completed the look. The glitters do lie flat and are easy to place although I had to do a teensy bit of fishing to get the stars out, nothings to drastic though! I love how this mani looked and was very sad to take it off. The stars are very holo and blingy, just how I like em! LOL

Hope you liked Luigi, will have some more Mario collection after I come back from holidays.

Tropical stamping with Bahamian Escape!

So, as a tribute to my holidays I decided to do a post about China Glaze's Bahamian Escape! Sounds so lovely doesn't it? This a beautiful blue that I thought would stamp so well, so I tried it. My base color for this mani is China Glaze Towel Boy Toy (which wouldn't photograph color true!) There is a bit of color difference in the pics depending on the light as Towel Boyd had very neon-like shimmeryness.

 China Glaze Bahamian Escape

Bahamian Escape over Towel Boy Toy. I used a mix of Mash and Cheeky plates.

Who doesn't like Ninja Stars? :)

 Thumb has a dotty gradient :)

 Ninja Stars!

Flaming blue stamp!

 Unchain my fingernail :)

 All flowered up :)

As you can see, no theme here! LOL

Bahamian Escape was actually really easy to stamp with, I was very impressed. I had no particular theme (as often happens with my stamping), I just chose plates that interested me :) I really like all the stamps so there is no point trying to pick one out. If you had a gun to my head I would say the blue flame stamp had a slight edge to the others!

Hope you like the blue on blue combo! :)

5 Way Blue glitters!

 Of course everyone out there has 5 glitters polish top coats to chose from to go over blue polish to make it more fun, don't they? Erm, well, anways..as I seem to have few choices I thought I would do a quick 5 glitter comparison, from the subtle glitter effect to in-your-face choices..btw I swatched these glitters over China Glaze Towel Boy Toy. They players in this game are:

L-R, Sinful Colors Nails Deep Blue Ocean, All that Glitters Very Peacockish, China Glaze Liquid Crystal, China Glaze Blue Hawaiian, CrowsTows Absolum Your Potions Master

Oooh, so pretty!

This is Sinful Colors Deep Blue Ocean in the bottle

 Blue Ocean on the Thumb!

 China Glaze Blue Hawaiian in the bottle

On my first finger!

All that Glitters Very Peacockish in da bottle

 A Peacockish finger

 China Glaze Liquid Crystal

 Liquid Crystal Gradient :)

 CrowsToes Absolum Your Potions Master

Absolum on da finger

Final parade of pretty glitter

Although I appear to have a few subtle glitters, I do lean towards the chunkier more obvious ones. Blue Ocean and Blue Hawaiian probably would not get a full mani for me..an accent finger or something to be stamped over. Peacock-ish and Absolum would have a stand alone mani..or an accent finger as well! Liquid Crystal is neither here nor there for me..it's not blue enough to really go with a blue manicure! LOL.

Which glitter is your favorite?