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

Posts tagged ‘shimmer flecks’

Zoya Valentina and Denise

My apologies for the lack of posts! I mostly post on Instagram these days. I’m @ariix_veganclaws if you’d like to check out my manis there. 🙂

Today I have entirely-too-many photos of a couple of beautiful discontinued Zoyas. Zoya Valentina is a gorgeous red with a pinkish tone and subtle duochrome shimmer that shifts to gold at an angle. I used two coats of Valentina here but the second was hardly needed. Zoya Denise is also a pinkish red, sometimes appearing more pink or more red (I used it in 3 coats on my toes and it seems more red, here in two coats seems more pink) with chunky golden fleck shimmer. She’s kind of like a pinkish-red sister to Anastasia, Pru, Ivy, if you’re familiar with those (also discontinued) Zoyas. Here they are in bright sunlight.

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And here are some not-so-good photos in artificial light, they give a better idea of how Valentina looks most of the time (more metallic) as opposed to in bright sun.

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My advice is if you see these available at some random nail supply that carries discontinued Zoyas, grab them! 🙂

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Different Dimension Pluto is Still a Planet To Me, Pretty and Polished Weather the Storm, and a comparison

Different Dimension Pluto is Still a Planet to Me is a denim-blue polish with gold fleck shimmer. I used three coats plus top coat. 

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On my ring finger is Pretty and Polished Weather the Storm, a greyed blue dusty creme. Two coats plus top coat for this one. 

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I wanted to compare these two blues to Zoya Skylar. 

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Skylar is on my thumb below. Three coats plus top coat; the formula was a little thin. The photo is unfortunately a little overexposed. 

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As you can see the base of Skylar is similar to Weather the Storm but it’s  even more of a greyed, faded shade of blue. The shimmer particles are smaller glass fleck than those in Pluto, and are silvery/multicolour in tone. Pluto is the brightest blue of the three. 

Here is a photo of Skylar on my thumb, better showing the tiny multicoloured glass fleck. 

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Ellagee Zaldrizes and Mhysa

These two polishes are from Ellagee’s Fire Made Flesh collection, and they come with these cool dragon claw rings around the bottle tops. 

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Zaldrizes is a pale yellow-beige nude with gold glass fleck. 

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I used two coats plus top coat. 

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In shade:

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I used french tip guides to make half-moons and applied Mhysa, a blue with gold glass fleck that appears a bit green through the blue, overtop. 

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I used two coats of Mhysa followed by a final layer of topcoat. 

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Sparitual Nomad

This gorgeous beauty is SpaRitual Nomad, a complex duochrome-fleck shimmer that dries to a satin-matte finish and has an olive base with copper-pink-to-green shifting shimmer flecks, sometimes giving it a more brown or coppery overall look, sometimes more green. I used two coats, no top coat. The formula was great and dried quickly.

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I then added topcoat to see how it would look shiny (looks amazing, of course!), and did an accent nail using Nubar Wildlife on my ring finger. Wildlife is basically the smooth metallic counterpart to Nomad; the colours and their shift are very similar! I also used two coats for Wildlife, no top coat. Love both of these!

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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:

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Cold, with flash:

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Warmer, with flash:

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Hot, in shade:

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Hot, with flash:

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In transition, with flash:

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 In transition, shade:

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Different Dimension Luminosity and Light Year

Now, let me start by saying that I totally blame Sandra of Finger Candy for my purchasing Different Dimension’s Luminosity, since I just had to buy it after she shared photos of it some months ago. Adding Light Year and *ahem* several more of its sibling polishes to my order, well, I guess that’s all on me! 😉

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Luminosity is a mauve-leaning pinky purple with lots of gold glass fleck, my kind of polish! (Hence, why I bought most of the other similar glass-flecked polishes from that collection, too!) I used three coats plus topcoat here (although the third probably wasn’t strictly necessary).

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Light Year is one of the other polishes I got; it’s a dusty olive/sage green with the same gold glass-fleck shimmer. I also used three coats plus top coat here.

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Love these! And I should really get around to wearing the others I got from the collection…

Polished by KPT Dichromate and stamping

Dichromate is a thermal polish from Polished by KPT, shifting from yellow when warm to orange when cold. It has lots of silver shimmer in it giving a foil effect. Shown in various degrees/various finger combinations of warm/cold. 

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 I stamped over it using Kleancolor Metallic Mango and a pattern from Messy Mansion plate MM-13. I really like how it turned out! 

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Echoes Polish Now You See Me and stamping

Echoes Polish is a Canadian indie that makes all vegan friendly polishes and is most well-known for their thermal polishes. Today I have Now You See Me to show you. When cold, it’s a dusty sage green colour, and it has beautiful green glass flecks throughout. Shown are three coats plus topcoat.

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I had a couple of helpers while swatching 🙂 – Thor:

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and Seymour:echoespolish_nowyouseeme_seymour

When warm, Now You See Me changes to a taupe-beige colour, making the green glass flecks really stand out. The shade was inspired by camouflage print. Here it is in transition and fully warm:

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I decided to stamp it with a wavy stripe pattern from Hehe stamping plate Hehe-029, using China Glaze Con-fused (the green magnetic). Cold state, in the shade:

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With flash:

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Mostly warm, with flash:

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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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