A vegan nail polish blog. A celebration of colour and light, as well as of justice for nonhuman animals.

Archive for May, 2015

The Great Evolving Black Dahlia Lacquer Manicure/Comparison

Warning, long and picture heavy post! I had a Black Dahlia Lacquer mani that just kept evolving! Except where noted, these were all two coats plus top coat.

Part 1, left hand – Striped Peonies with Rose Petals, under Ottlite:

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With flash:

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These two have a similar crelly finish with tons of colour-shifting glass fleck shimmer.

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Part 1, right hand, Rose Petals with Striped Peonies, under Ottlite:

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With flash:
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I decided to then pair Striped Peonies (on the right) with 90 in November (on the left) to do a little purple comparison – 90 in November is much warmer in tone and has a foil finish with some added glass flecks:

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Part 2, left hand, Striped Peonies with 90 in November, under Ottlite:

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With flash:

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Part 2, right hand, 90 in November with Striped Peonies, under Ottlite:

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With flash:

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Part 3, left hand, Blooming Sunflowers with 90 in November, in sunlight:

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Under Ottlite:

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With flash:

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Part 3, right hand, 90 in November with Blooming Sunflowers, stamped with Fingerpaints Picturesque Purple and plate Pueen 08, in sunlight:

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I then wanted to compare Blooming Sunflowers to Strawberry Fields; here they are in the bottles, not as close in colour as I’d thought – Blooming Sunflowers leans a lot more toward red, and its gold flakes are much larger and more prominent:

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Part 4, left hand, Blooming Sunflowers with Strawberry Fields. I used three coats of Strawberry Fields here, just because I smudged it a bit after the second. In sunlight:

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I didn’t take a picture of the right hand for Part 4.

Since Strawberry Fields was a lot pinker than Blooming Sunflowers, I then decided to compare it to Rose Petals:

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Rose Petals is a cooler pink, with pink shifting glass fleck shimmer, whereas the shimmer in Strawberry Fields is all tiny gold flakes and is less prominent once on the nail.

For the last version of the mani, I did an ombré/skittle-type thing, adding both Rose Petals and Dandelion Explosion, a coral crelly with peach and coral matte glitters, to the previous version. So here we have Part 5, index to pinkie: Dandelion Explosion (three coats – it’s also the bottle I’m holding), Blooming Sunflowers, Strawberry Fields, and Rose Petals:

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Part 5, right hand, thumb to pinkie: Blooming Sunflowers, Dandelion Explosion, Strawberry Fields, Blooming Sunflowers stamped with Fingerpaints Picturesque Purple, Rose Petals:

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Zoya Rayne and Northern Star Polish Sweet Alice

I have two pretty blues to show today; unfortunately I didn’t get the greatest pics of them but here they are! First one under Ott Lite, others with flash. 

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Zoya Rayne is from the recent spring Delight collection. It has great turquoise glassfleck shimmer. I used three coats plus topcoat. 

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The accent nail is Northern Star Polish Sweet Alice, a creamy blue with subtle shimmer flecks. Also three coats plus top coat.  

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Love these shimmery blues!

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Zoya Chantal

Just a quick post to show Zoya Chantal! Three coats plus top coat. A really nice simple nude creme shade!

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A few odds and ends

A few random things, some of them pretty old photos! In reverse chronological order…

China Glaze Metro-pollen-tin, three coats plus top coat, taken with flash. Love this yellow-orange!

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IndiePolish Spring Lilac, two coats, plus two coats topcoat (the formula was a little thick so the glitters got a bit lumpy).

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China Glaze Ray-diant layered over black.

OPI Do You Think I’m Tex-y with a jelly sandwich accent nail. I *think* the iridescent glitter in the jelly sandwich was Butter London Tart With a Heart but I’m not 100% positive!

OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y

OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y

OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y

OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y

And of course, I can’t post a polish with Tex in the name without posting a picture of handsome Big Tex!

Il était un vernis – Paeonia and Ixia

Today I have two polishes from French indie brand Il était un vernis to show you! 

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Paeonia is a pretty light coral scattered holo with tons of pink and gold glass fleck shimmer. The photos show two coats, no topcoat, and all are in sunlight. 

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Ixia is a very bright blue scattered holo with blue glass fleck shimmer. Also shown in two coats, this one with topcoat. First photos in the sun:

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In shade:
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Under Ott lite:
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With flash:
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I was super impressed with these polishes! The shipping is a little pricey for those of us who aren’t in Europe, unsurprisingly, so I made sure to buy enough polishes to make up for it. 😉 So, I have several more Il était un vernis shades to swatch and show you in the future! 😀

Northern Star Polish We’re Not Worthy

Northern Star Polish released We’re Not Worthy at the end of March as part of their third anniversary trio collection (with a Wayne’s World theme which very much pleases the early 90’s 14 year old I once was!). 

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We’re Not Worthy has a yellow-toned beige creme base with gold shimmer flecks, holo particles, and pink and blue micro-flakies. When I first saw a swatch of this I knew I had to have it! It’s basically perfection in a bottle. 🙂 Shown in two coats plus topcoat. 

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I tried adding a faux-watermarble stamped accent nail using Hehe plate Hehe040. Umm, kinda missed the nail tip, oops!! I used two polishes on different areas of the stamp before scraping, Kleancolor Pink (up near the cuticle) and Kleancolor Metallic Pink. Turns out Pink doesn’t stamp as well as Metallic Pink does!

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Well, I LOVE this polish even if my accent nail didn’t turn out quite as planned!

China Glaze At Vase Value and comparison

I really love China Glaze At Vase Value. Four thin coats (plus topcoat) to even out the streaks is what’s shown here, which sounds like a lot, but it dries extremely fast. You can easily go digging through your purse five minutes later and not smudge the polish at all. These photos are all with flash since they were taken at night. 

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Since At Vase Value makes me think of another favourite bright pastel turquoise of mine, Color Club Blue-Ming, I did a little comparison. Blue-Ming is on the left (index nail) three coats plus topcoat, At Vase Value on the other three nails. As you can see, Blue-Ming is a little darker and greener. I love them both!

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Picture Polish Cyan

Picture Polish Cyan is a wonderful light blue creme-based shade with scattered holo. It was designed by blogger Marta from Chit Chat Nails. I used three coats plus top coat here, the third coat mainly for good measure; dry time was good. In (late-afternoon) sunlight:

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In the shade with Azrael looking on!
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Under Ott Lite, looking paler/brighter than in real life:
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with flash:
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Love this colour! 😀

Black Dahlia Lacquer – Lime Green Daisies, Lilac Petals, and Bleeding Hearts

Today I’ve got three beautiful Black Dahlia Lacquer polishes to show you! The first one is Lime Green Daisies, which was from the New Year’s multichrome flake duo. It’s a metallic, yellow-toned pastel green with copper-pink/green multichrome flakes, strong gold shimmer, and turquoise glass flecks. I used two coats plus top coat for this swatch.

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Under Ott Lite:

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Next is Lilac Petals; this was the exclusive extra polish I received in a ‘buy 4 petite-sized polishes get an exclusive petite polish free’ sale not long ago. It’s got a denim blue base with metallic red-maroon flakes and pink and blue glass flecks. The photos show two coats, no top coat. Love!

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In the shade:

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And the third polish I have to show today is Bleeding Hearts. This is from the Valentine’s Day collection. It’s an almost-neon pinky purple with multichrome flakies and turquoise glass flecks. I used three coats, although two would probably be fine as well, and no topcoat in this swatch.

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In the shade:

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All three of these are just gorgeous! Black Dahlia Lacquer really makes some great polish. 😀