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

Posts tagged ‘gradient’

Valentine’s Day mani featuring LA Girl Sand Blast polishes

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, things have been busy! And now, I’ve got a cold, blech, but anyway…

I signed up for Nail Polish Canada’s Valentine’s Day Nail Art Challenge, and here is the mani I did. Two versions of it, actually, as I added some stamping later!

Milani White On the Spot with gradient of LA Girl Sandals and Sand Dune

I started with my favourite plain white polish, Milani White On the Spot, and then sponged on a textured gradient using two LA Girls Sand Blast polishes, Sandals (pink) and Sand Dune (red).

Milani White On the Spot with gradient of LA Girl Sandals and Sand Dune

I originally wanted the heart on the middle finger to be a sort of reverse-gradient with the two colours in the opposite order, but it didn’t quite work out that way, so I dabbed on some more white after removing the heart shape I had cut out of masking tape.

Milani White On the Spot with gradient of LA Girl Sandals and Sand Dune

I like how it ended up even though it wasn’t what I had originally planned.

Milani White On the Spot with gradient of LA Girl Sandals and Sand Dune

Later, I added some stamping using Bundle Monster plate BM-H16. I received this plate in the mail recently from Nail Polish Canada.

Milani White On the Spot with gradient of LA Girl Sandals and Sand Dune

The note in the package didn’t mention the blog so I’m not sure if it was sent for review purposes or just as a thank you for spending so much money in their store (ha ha!) or what, but either way I thought it was very sweet! Thanks, NPC! 🙂

Milani White On the Spot with gradient of LA Girl Sandals and Sand Dune

The roses design on the ring finger didn’t really turn out so well what with the bumpy textured base polish, but I like how the flowers on stems on the other fingers look!

Milani White On the Spot with gradient of LA Girl Sandals and Sand Dune

The first, simpler version with just the gradient and speckled/sponged heart is going to be my entry for the challenge. You can visit the Valentine’s Day Nail Art Challenge page here to vote for your favourite!

Disclosure: the stamping plate in this post was provided free of charge by Nail Polish Canada.

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Category:

Bundle Monster (stamping), LA Girl, Milani

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Some Random Pics

A few random manis from various points over the past year or so!

Pretty and Polished Phoenix over Joe Fresh Mustard:

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China Glaze Trendsetter with foily gradient accent – the green is Nicole by OPI My Favourite Gold over Brilliant Idea, and the gold is either Orly Glitz & Glamour or OPI Goldeneye, I don’t remember…

China Glaze Trendsetter with lime/gold foily accent

China Glaze Trendsetter with lime/gold foily accent

Soulstice Spa Crete… I still don’t like silver on me!

Soulstice Crete

Soulstice Crete

Soulstice Crete

Category:

China Glaze, Joe Fresh, Nicole by OPI, OPI, Orly, Pretty and Polished, Soulstice Spa

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From the Vault

More old pics that I haven’t posted before… I think all of these photos are under the Ott Lite except for the last one.

Glitter gradient of OPI DS Temptation with Nubar Sky Sparkle.

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With Ozotic 505 overtop:

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OPI DS Desire, my favourite OPI DS shade.

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Sephora by OPI Rumba Romance with half moons in Orly Chocolate Martini.

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Milani Golden Lilac (the one with gold shimmer) and Kleancolor Gorgeous Surprise (the one with blue shimmer). I don’t remember what the base colour was that they’re layered over, unfortunately.

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Category:

Kleancolor, Milani, Nubar, OPI, Orly, Ozotic, Sephora by OPI

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Jordana Wild Shore and Yellow Madness

I’m really liking textured polishes, but at first I wasn’t too sure about the ones that aren’t glittery and sparkly. I think they’ve grown on me, though!

Jordana Wild Shore and Yellow Madness

These two are by Jordana, which is made by the same company that makes Milani. These seem to be the exact same polishes as Milani’s Texture Creams, only they were a couple dollars cheaper so I got these instead!

Jordana Wild Shore

I started out with Wild Shore, a teal green creme with texture. I can’t remember whether I did two or three coats, and I don’t seem to have written it down. I do remember having a little trouble with application, as I found these really need thin coats in order to get the best finish (so I’m thinking I probably ended up doing three thin coats), and at first I was making my coats too thick. Then I was trying to find the right balance between thin coats but having enough polish on the brush.

Jordana Wild Shore

But I’m really happy with the way it turned out! I then sponged on a gradient using Jordana Yellow Madness along with Wild Shore.

Jordana Wild Shore and Yellow Madness

I love the combination of yellow and turquoise! And the sponging really brings out the texture of these polishes, since the sponging technique leaves less polish on top of the texture particles. Looks really sugary and crystalline!

Jordana Wild Shore and Yellow Madness

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Jordana

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China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and I Herd That

Here are the other two On Safari polishes that I recently purchased. First up is Kalahari Kiss, a very yellow-toned beige creme (I love this colour!). Shown are two coats and I had no issues with the formula; it went on quite smoothly. Photos are in partially sunny and shady conditions.

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss

I did a glitter-tipped gradient using I Herd That over Kalahari Kiss. I Herd That is an orange-toned bronzy glitter with holo glitter in it. It was quite easy to apply, I just brushed and dabbed it on to make the gradient. I did two coats of the glitter at the tips, receding to one coat further back on the nail, then added top coat. The glitter dries a bit rough (and matte) so a layer or two of topcoat is needed if you want to smooth out the texture and get it nice and shiny.

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and I Herd That

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and I Herd That

Under my Ott Lite:

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and I Herd That

This next photo features my beautiful girl Azrael!

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and I Herd That with Azrael

Next I have two coats of I Herd That over bare nails (plus one coat of Poshe topcoat) to show how it looks on its own. As before, it was easy to apply, no need to “place” the glitter or anything like that.

China Glaze I Herd That

Since a few people had expressed curiosity about how this one compares to last winter’s Ulta-exclusive China Glaze glitter polish, Fireside Glow, I decided to do a comparison. I compared it to Fireside Glow and Ulta-mate Holiday, the other Ulta-exclusive glitter in that same release, both of which I was able to obtain thanks to a helpful US-based nail polish enthusiast! 🙂

Left to right, Fireside Glow, I Herd That, Ulta-mate Holiday:

The swatches show two coats of each polish. I found the formula thinner on the Ulta exclusive shades; they were not quite as easy as I Herd That to get opaque in two coats without getting bald spots, but no big issues. Index to pinkie, Fireside Glow, I Herd That, Ulta-mate Holiday, I Herd That.

As you can see, Fireside Glow is not all that close to I Herd That after all; it’s much more of a pinkish copper shade. Ulta-mate Holiday is obviously much more yellow than the others and seems to have a higher concentration of holo glitter whereas the others also have copper and orange glitters mixed in respectively. I Herd That seems to have a little less holo glitter than Fireside Glow.

On the other hand I found I Herd That to be sparklier than the others in lower lighting situations, probably because of the greater amount of non-holo glitter, if I had to guess why!

Slightly blurred to show the holo sparkle in the sun:

Category:

China Glaze

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