Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Color Club sent their Beyond the Mistletoe Collection for review, and I'm wearing the namesake of the collection today.

Beyond the Mistletoe is a very pale, barely green medium-fine glitter that's loaded up with some really exceptional holographic glitter.  The base is clear and the glitter provides full coverage in just two coats.  I applied it late last night, and since the glitter's pretty fine I'd hoped the one coat of Essie Good to Go I'd used to dry it would be enough, but this morning it was totally dull and felt like sand.  I kept adding one coat of top coat as I sat here doing other things, and at five coats of top coat, it's smooth.  That's a lot, but not terribly high maintenance since adding each coat to a dry manicure takes about one minute and dries really fast, and the finished manicure is totally worth it.

It's cloudy (and snowing!) here today, so the pictures are just a hint at the glitter - it's really blazing, and I have yet to see a picture of it that really shows just how cool the polish is.  I'll toss my own inadequate representations onto the pile and give you my cloudy-day pics of Beyond the Mistletoe.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish, Two Coats

I chose this picture because the middle of the polish bottle gives you a glimpse of how this really looks on all nails - the bright colors reflected show up well even in indoor lighting.  Here is a closer look at part of one nail so you can see the glitter a little better.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish, Closer Look at Two Coats

A polish that looks like this under a cloudy, snowy sky is a winner in my book.  I've already chosen another from this collection to wear when I present this project I'm working on - I figure even if I completely bomb, I have a solid shot at mesmerizing them all with my mani and no one will notice!

That's Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe and the first of the collection, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Color Club sent their Beyond the Mistletoe Collection for review, and I'm wearing the namesake of the collection today.

Beyond the Mistletoe is a very pale, barely green medium-fine glitter that's loaded up with some really exceptional holographic glitter.  The base is clear and the glitter provides full coverage in just two coats.  I applied it late last night, and since the glitter's pretty fine I'd hoped the one coat of Essie Good to Go I'd used to dry it would be enough, but this morning it was totally dull and felt like sand.  I kept adding one coat of top coat as I sat here doing other things, and at five coats of top coat, it's smooth.  That's a lot, but not terribly high maintenance since adding each coat to a dry manicure takes about one minute and dries really fast, and the finished manicure is totally worth it.

It's cloudy (and snowing!) here today, so the pictures are just a hint at the glitter - it's really blazing, and I have yet to see a picture of it that really shows just how cool the polish is.  I'll toss my own inadequate representations onto the pile and give you my cloudy-day pics of Beyond the Mistletoe.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish, Two Coats

I chose this picture because the middle of the polish bottle gives you a glimpse of how this really looks on all nails - the bright colors reflected show up well even in indoor lighting.  Here is a closer look at part of one nail so you can see the glitter a little better.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish, Closer Look at Two Coats

A polish that looks like this under a cloudy, snowy sky is a winner in my book.  I've already chosen another from this collection to wear when I present this project I'm working on - I figure even if I completely bomb, I have a solid shot at mesmerizing them all with my mani and no one will notice!

That's Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe and the first of the collection, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Ludurana - Superior

So many new polishes I don't know where to start.  But I had to start somewhere and the sun was out, which means holos!

This is Ludurana Superior from the Aurora Boreal collection.  The collection has six holos and six multichromes.  I'm going to alternate a holo and a multichrome each day.

Superior is a yellow gold holo.  The particles in this look very spectraflairesque. That is, this polish would match in well with the Ozotic holos.

The colour is very simiar to China Glaze L8R G8R from OMG Collection, but the holo effect is completely different.

This was three coats, you could definitely get away with two coats, but I wanted to ensure a nice rich bottle colour for my photos.  Application was smooth and easy, no bald spots, but I did notice that I got a few tiny bubbles as it dried.  I never get bubbles so I'm not sure what that was about.  A coat of Seche Vite quicky covered the bubbles and also didn't dull the holo effect.  

I got this polish from a swap, but you can purchase through llarowe.

Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

It seemed than an especially blingtastic mani was in order today, and that called for a Wet n Wild Color Icon nail polish.  I picked up three of them weeks and weeks ago, and today I'm wearing Diamond in the Rough, the charcoal one that's loaded up with tiny silver regular and holo hex glitter.  The hex glitter in Diamond in the Rough throws off more bright colors than any other I have, it's really cool.

Because I wanted to make the removal a little easier since I have a coat of soak off gel on, I started with a foundation of two coats of Illamasqua Boosh, their black creme.  I let each coat dry for a few minutes, then added one coat of Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough.  I was prepared to part with two coats from the little 0.34 oz bottle, but the glitter in it is very dense and one was all I needed for layering.  I added a coat of Essie Good to Go to dry it, and I'm really impressed with the top coat.  It really dries polish fast without shrinking it and the brush doesn't pick up and color at all, which is ideal.   It's still a new one for me, so I'll continue to mention anything noteworthy about it as I try it for various things.

Despite the fact that its glitter is fine, Diamond in the Rough was surprisingly gritty after drying.  I did the manicure last night, added one additional coat of top coat to even it out before bed, and needed a third this morning.  It's still not glassy smooth, but it's smooth enough that it isn't annoying and looks shiny.  I took pictures maybe 12 hours or so after applying it in natural light.  The one I chose here is not the clearest of them, but the most accurate in terms of what Diamond in the Rough really looks like.

Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough Nail Polish, One Coat over Black

See the bright colors reflected off the hex glitter in the center of the bottle?  That's the most accurate representation of what it really looks like - the reflected colors are very vivid, and shift from color to color as I move my hands.  I got a WTF??? look from a guy next to me in traffic at a light today as I was playing with it (I'm sure the look was about the idiot fascinated that she could move her hand rather than the polish!), and it's not even especially sunny today.  Here's a closer look at the glitter so you can see how I could get lost for a moment having fun with it.

Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough Nail Polish, Closer Look at One Coat

Even though the density of one coat points to Diamond in the Rough only requiring 2-3 coats for opaque coverage, it's pretty likely I'll be using it for layering to savor my precious 0.34 oz of it.

The six-day Zoya Feel break from glitters and dramatic colors made Diamond in the Rough over black far more fun to wear than it otherwise would have been, so I'm glad for the timing.  It's something I'll have to remember when nothing seems to be much fun to wear no matter how fabulous it is - that's a hint that a change to neutrals for a bit is in order.

That's Diamond in the Rough, my return to fabulous sparkly things, and the update for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

It seemed than an especially blingtastic mani was in order today, and that called for a Wet n Wild Color Icon nail polish.  I picked up three of them weeks and weeks ago, and today I'm wearing Diamond in the Rough, the charcoal one that's loaded up with tiny silver regular and holo hex glitter.  The hex glitter in Diamond in the Rough throws off more bright colors than any other I have, it's really cool.

Because I wanted to make the removal a little easier since I have a coat of soak off gel on, I started with a foundation of two coats of Illamasqua Boosh, their black creme.  I let each coat dry for a few minutes, then added one coat of Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough.  I was prepared to part with two coats from the little 0.34 oz bottle, but the glitter in it is very dense and one was all I needed for layering.  I added a coat of Essie Good to Go to dry it, and I'm really impressed with the top coat.  It really dries polish fast without shrinking it and the brush doesn't pick up and color at all, which is ideal.   It's still a new one for me, so I'll continue to mention anything noteworthy about it as I try it for various things.

Despite the fact that its glitter is fine, Diamond in the Rough was surprisingly gritty after drying.  I did the manicure last night, added one additional coat of top coat to even it out before bed, and needed a third this morning.  It's still not glassy smooth, but it's smooth enough that it isn't annoying and looks shiny.  I took pictures maybe 12 hours or so after applying it in natural light.  The one I chose here is not the clearest of them, but the most accurate in terms of what Diamond in the Rough really looks like.

Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough Nail Polish, One Coat over Black

See the bright colors reflected off the hex glitter in the center of the bottle?  That's the most accurate representation of what it really looks like - the reflected colors are very vivid, and shift from color to color as I move my hands.  I got a WTF??? look from a guy next to me in traffic at a light today as I was playing with it (I'm sure the look was about the idiot fascinated that she could move her hand rather than the polish!), and it's not even especially sunny today.  Here's a closer look at the glitter so you can see how I could get lost for a moment having fun with it.

Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough Nail Polish, Closer Look at One Coat

Even though the density of one coat points to Diamond in the Rough only requiring 2-3 coats for opaque coverage, it's pretty likely I'll be using it for layering to savor my precious 0.34 oz of it.

The six-day Zoya Feel break from glitters and dramatic colors made Diamond in the Rough over black far more fun to wear than it otherwise would have been, so I'm glad for the timing.  It's something I'll have to remember when nothing seems to be much fun to wear no matter how fabulous it is - that's a hint that a change to neutrals for a bit is in order.

That's Diamond in the Rough, my return to fabulous sparkly things, and the update for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

A-England Tristam Swatch

Two coats of A-England Tristam* with a top coat of NYC Expert Last.

Swatched under sunlight.

Under artificial light

You can buy The Mythicals Collection from a-england.co.uk with free worldwide shipping.

A-England on Twitter
A-England on Facebook

Review coming tomorrow!


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Custom polish - Cavalry Orange

I've posted about my husband playing and coaching baseball before, specifically for the Canberra Cavalry in the Australian Baseball League.  I've done Cavalry nails before, and I'll tell you now, there are going to be several more Cavalry baseball manis over the summer, because I plan to have a different orange baseball mani for every home series.

Orange is the teams colour, which in general terms is rather bright and not really a fashion colour to me.  But in terms of a team supporter colour, it's excellent.  I wore this orange mani to the games last weekend.

Last season I only had one orange polish, Ulta3 Crazy!  This year I have added to that with Picture Polish Citrus and Nics Sticks by OPI Orange you fast, but because I got my new tints I just had to make my own orange holo.

I'm afraid I have a lot of trouble capturing the holo in red and orange polishes.  My camera doesn't get it. I always think I have taken some great shots, then I upload them to my PC and discover you can hardly see the rainbow.

I made this one using Red 6,Yellow 10 and Yellow 5 lacquer tints, suspension base and spectraflair.  

To answer some questions in yesterday's comments, I got the tints from an Australian Beauty supply company who only ships domestically to Australia.  I don't feel comfortable posting their business name up or contact details here, as they are a bulk supply business that doesn't currently deal with small public orders.  However any Aussie girls can email me to find out the details.

Custom polish - Fairway green

I have another custom polish for you today.  Again I don't want to call this a franken, because it's not actually made from the parts of any other polishes, it's made from all new ingredients.  

As you can see, this is a strongly pigmented rich green holo.  I wore this for a couple of days last week and it really was rather spectacular.  Because it's not your everyday colour I got so many comments on it!  I also played a round of golf on friday at our corporate golf day and my boss even asked if I specifically put on this green polish because I was playing golf.  Because of that, I've called this one "Fairway Green"

I made this polish using the new polish tints I got with the suspension base.  It was only when I was making this polish that I actually realised how awesome these tints are.  You see I got seven tint bottles:

• Black
• White
• Red 6 (orange red)
• Red 7 (crimson red)
• Red 34 (magenta)
• Blue 1 (light green based blue)
• Ferric Ferrocyanide (dark blue)
• Yellow 10 (canary yellow)
• Yellow 5 (golden yellow)

So what's so good about them?, well you just need to take a look at the bottom of a bottle of polish. Take this bottle of China Glaze LOL for example.

The important colour information is listed at the bottom.  The color in LOL is made using a combination of Ferric Ferrocyanide and Red 34.  I just need to keep tweaking the quantities of each one until I get the polish colour to match!!

The Fairway Green polish above was made using Ferric Ferrocyanide, Yellow 10, spectraflair 1500-35 and suspension base. 

I can't express how much fun I have playing mad scientist with all this stuff.

Hits Holographic - Hefesto

I really wasn't planning on wearing this polish on it's own as I had already worn it as a top coat twice.  But after reading some comments from my lovely Brazilian followers who said it had the most shine and was their favourite polish in the collection, I decided to wear it as a full mani today.

Hefesto is designed to be a holotop coat, but here I have applied four coats.  I thought with four coats it would be squishy and dentable for hours, but I was able to put on Seche Vite top coat and go to bed all within 30 minutes of doing this mani (and no sheets marks).

At four coats, this is opaque, even though the photos show a slight nail line.  

This one doesn't have the same strength of metallic silver in it,  which means that on it's own this one is much more holo that the silver polish Artemis.  These first three photos were taken in full early morning sunlight.

These next three photos were taken indoors under artifical light.

I'm still wearing this and haven't had a chance to do a comparison swatch of this against Artemis and Ozotic 509, but I will this weekend.  

Thanks ladies for the recommendation to wear it on it's own, it really is one of my favourites from the collection too.  Certainly one with the strongest holo effect.  And for the record, it's an amazing holo top coat, which is what it was designed to be.

You know you spend too much time nail blogging when...

... Mr Three grabs your camera and starts taking bottle shots.

... Mr Three paints his own nails...

... and proceeds to take his own swatch photos of his fingers.

I shit you not, seriously the cutest thing ever!!  It's only cause I saw him playing with the camera that I asked what he was doing. He said, "playing with mummy's polishes". Not bad painting skills either, right.

And now some Gosh Holographic spam, just because I wore it last week and took more photos.

Have a great night.

Custom polishes for my friends wedding

Last weekend my husband and I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of a girlfriend of mine from work.  The wedding was really lovely, and the dinner afterward was just delicious.  It was at a nearby winery and renown country smokehouse called The Poacher's Pantry.  I'd heard great things about it, and it totally lived up to my expectations.

Prior to the wedding, I created two polishes specifically for my friend.  After working out the recipe in a mini bottle, I made her two full size bottles, one of each colour.  I put them into cleaned out Nfu Oh bottles (from some Nfu Oh polishes I scored for $2).

This first one is what she has named 'Fiona's Wedding'.  She wore a classic french polish on her fingers for the wedding, but I noticed that she wore this one on her toes!

In the sun it's a magical metallic holographic gold.  Below in the shade, it is a lovely neutral cool toned gold.

I'm so in love with the polish.  It's a 100% me colour too, in fact I made myself a full sized bottle of this after I made hers.  I made it using TKB forged gold pigment, TKB gold sparks, 1500-35 spectraflair and suspension base.

Next up is the second polish, which my friend named 'Fiona's Honeymoon'.  Maybe she is wearing this one right now?  I wanted to create another metallic holo, and I wanted it to be pink.  I'd remembered seeing her wear a Sally Hansen pink chrome polish once, so I thought she might like this.

Again I mixed a mini bottle first, then made up the full sized one once I had worked out the recipe.

I made this one with TKB metallic white pigment (which I never would have bought, but it came in their sample pack where they choose the colours).  I love the metallic white pigment cause it turns whatever colour polish you are making into a metallic finish, and it also tones down the colour.  So it's great if you are going for a pastel shade.  I also used some of my magenta liquid tint,1500-35 Spectaflair and suspension base.

I don't want to call these polishes Frankens, because they were not created from other polishes.  They were created from scratch with all raw materials.  I think I will just call them custom polishes when I haven't added another polish to it.