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

Posts tagged ‘pastel’

Echoes Polish Happily Ever After and April 2015 Thermal

I have two thermals from Echoes Polish to show you today! Happily Ever After is a tri-thermal shifting from a warm purple when cold to a fuchshia pink when warm to a very pale lilac-leaning blue when hot, and has heavy gold flake shimmer throughout. The April 2015 Thank You thermal (Echoes polish creates a limited edition thermal each month and sends them out free in orders of 5 or more polishes) is a blue-purple when cold changing to a bright hot pink when hot, and also has shimmer. 

Happily Ever After is shown on my index and middle fingers, April 2015 on my ring, pinkie and thumb. I used three coats each plus topcoat, and both had great formulas. No sun when I wore these, so all photos are either in shade or with flash. 

Cold, in shade:

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_shade3

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_shade2

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_shade

Cold, with flash:

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_flash

Warmer, with flash:

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_flash2

Hot, in shade:

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_shade_hot

Hot, with flash:

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_flash3

In transition, with flash:

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_transition_flash5

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_transition_flash4

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_transition_flash3

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_transition_flash2

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_transition_flash

 In transition, shade:

echoespolish_happilyeverafter_aprilthermal_shade_transition

 

Category:

Echoes Polish

Tagged with:

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. 

zoya_rayne_northernstar_sweetalice_ott

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

zoya_rayne_northernstar_sweetalice_fl

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

zoya_rayne_northernstar_sweetalice_fl3

Love these shimmery blues!

zoya_rayne_northernstar_sweetalice_fl2

Category:

Northern Star Polish, Zoya

Tagged with:

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!

chinaglaze_metropollentin_flash2

chinaglaze_metropollentin_flash

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

indiepolish_springlilac4

indiepolish_springlilac3

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!

Category:

Butter London, China Glaze, IndiePolish, OPI

Tagged with:

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. 

chinaglaze_atvasevalue_flash4

chinaglaze_atvasevalue_flash3

chinaglaze_atvasevalue_flash2

chinaglaze_atvasevalue_flash

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!

chg_atvasevalue_cc_blueming

Category:

China Glaze, Color Club

Tagged with:

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:

picturepolish_cyan3

picturepolish_cyan2

picturepolish_cyan

In the shade with Azrael looking on!
picturepolish_cyan_zella

Under Ott Lite, looking paler/brighter than in real life:
picturepolish_cyan_ott

with flash:
picturepolish_cyan_flash

Love this colour! 😀

Category:

Picture Polish

Tagged with:

Picture Polish Tail Feather and stamping

Today I’ve got Picture Polish Tail Feather and some St. Patrick’s Day stamping!

picturepolish_tailfeather

Tail Feather has a minty, slightly yellow leaning pastel green base with very subtle scattered holo and less subtle multi-coloured glass flecks. All photos with flash except the bottle shot.

picturepolish_tailfeather2

Shown in three coats, no top coat. It was a little patchy over my ridgey nails but not too bad. This next shot shows off the multi-coloured glass flecks in the bottle.

picturepolish_tailfeather_bottle

I had to add a fourth coat in the morning because silly me thought that since the polish was so shiny on its own I would leave it without topcoat and go to bed, and I woke up with sheet marks. So that’s four coats of Tail Feather underneath the stamping in the rest of the photos.

picturepolish_tailfeather_bm-h05

I stamped using a-England Dragon, and Bundle Monster plate BM-H05 which the folks at Nail Polish Canada sent me. Had some trouble with centring the design on my middle finger, ah well… I still like how it turned out! 🙂

picturepolish_tailfeather_bm-h05_1

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

Category:

a-England, Bundle Monster (stamping), Picture Polish

Tagged with:

China Glaze Spring in My Step and Valentine’s Day Stamping

Happy Valentine’s Day! This mani started out with a polish I like a lot, Spring in My Step from China Glaze.

chinaglaze_springinmystep

Four coats plus top coat. The four coats are needed, but the formula is thin so it doesn’t seem too thick on the nail, and it dries super quickly. Like, quick enough that this polish and the others I have from this collection (last spring’s City Flourish) are among those I would choose when rushing to cover up naked nails before leaving for work in the morning! I know a lot of people hated the formula of the pastels in that collection, but I loved it!

chg_springinmystep_stamping2

I then added some stamping using Bundle Monster plates BM-H16 and BM-H17. I received both of these plates as gifts from the people at Nail Polish Canada, H16 last year and H17 this year. I think they send them out to regular customers or something. Thanks NPC! 🙂

chg_springinmystep_stamping1

The polishes I used for stamping were Kleancolor Iridescent Fuchsia (which is a ridiculous name as it’s not in any way iridescent, it’s a straight creme polish!) and Red Alert. Someday I hope I’ll get the hang of stamping so that the whole images will transfer without gaps and smudges 😉

chg_springinmystep_stamping

I coloured in a few of the stamps using OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston, a coral pink jelly polish.

chg_springinmystep_stamping_bmh17

Here’s a close up of the thumb stamp, since it didn’t show up very well in the other photos.

chg_springinmystep_stamping_thumb

And here’s the right hand – here, I coloured in some of the stamps using OPI Houston We Have a Purple, another jelly from the Texas collection.

20150213-102811.jpg

Disclosure: the stamping plates used in this manicure were provided free of charge by Nail Polish Canada.

Category:

Bundle Monster (stamping), China Glaze, Kleancolor, OPI

Tagged with:

A few odds and ends

I have a few random phone pics of relatively-recent manis to share today!

Quo by Orly Infinity and Beyond (same as Orly Milky Way), layered over Cosmetic Arts Sky High (which I think is the same as Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau). Accent nail is just the Cosmetic Arts by itself.

20140220-120319.jpg

Kleancolor Concrete, a one-coater, with Kleancolor Yogurt Raisins on the accent nail.

20140226-182450.jpg

Maya Cosmetics Big Chief, two coats. The glitter was a little sparse but other than that it had a great formula.

20140226-184231.jpg

And finally, Misa High Brow, a gorgeous vampy purple shimmer with a satin-matte finish. On my rarely-seen right hand:
20140226-184337.jpg

On my usual hand, with topcoat:
20140226-184354.jpg

Category:

Color Club, Cosmetic Arts, Kleancolor, Maya Cosmetics, Misa, Orly

Tagged with:

Pretty and Polished Old Green River and Sand Art, and Maya Cosmetics Deuces

This post is heavy on indies and heavy on green. 😀

Maya Cosmetics Deuces, a creamy chartreuse green with subtle holo, two coats:

Maya Cosmetics Deuces

In overcast light:

Maya Cosmetics Deuces

With one thick layer of Pretty and Polished Sand Art on the middle finger, with flash:

Maya Cosmetics Deuces and Pretty and Polished Sand Art

Next, Pretty and Polished Old Green River, an unfortunately discontinued amazing glowy green with gold shimmer, also two coats, under Ott lite:

Pretty and Polished Old Green River

With flash:

Pretty and Polished Old Green River

Under halogen light;

Pretty and Polished Old Green River

With one thick coat of Sand Art overtop:

Pretty and Polished Sand Art over Old Green River

Pretty and Polished Sand Art over Old Green River

With topcoat overtop:

Pretty and Polished Sand Art over Old Green River

Pretty and Polished Sand Art over Old Green River

I love all three of these!!

Category:

Maya Cosmetics, Pretty and Polished

Tagged with:

NCLA Poolside Party, All Eyes On Me

Today I have one of my favourite creme polishes to show you, NCLA Poolside Party, All Eyes On Me. One reason I love this so much is the uniqueness of the almost-neon pastel peach shade. I previously showed it in a swatch wheel comparison here.

20140108-131832.jpg

This is one of those colours that is really difficult to photograph accurately! The first two photos are with flash, and the last two are under Ott lite, and give a pretty good indication of the colour in different lighting, I think.

20140108-131923.jpg

I used three coats of Poolside Party, plus top coat. The formula is admittedly difficult to work with; it’s got the streakiness typical of pastels. But so worth it!

20140108-132027.jpg

I would highly recommend this for anyone who likes peach and/or neon-pastel shades!

20140108-131949.jpg

Category:

NCLA

Tagged with: