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

Posts tagged ‘shimmer’

Orange/Coral Holo Birthday Mani!

Today is my birthday and here is the polish I wore! It started out yesterday when my partner took me out go-karting and mini golfing as a surprise for my birthday! So much fun, but when I was taking off my seatbelt to get out of the go-kart, I messed up the nail polish I had put on that afternoon (of course, it was totally worth it! haha)

So later on at home, I took off the smudged polish and decided to put on an old OPI, “Nice Hand… Great Nails” just to see what it was like… Well, it’s very very sheer, and not really in a good way in my opinion. And this is coming from someone who likes sheer polishes that show visible nail line… Anyway, this one was a very sheer orange coral shimmer that looked about the same colour as the stains on my nails from the neon coral I was wearing the other day, so I wasn’t too impressed! (I guess I should have taken a photo of it anyway to show it, but I didn’t…)

I had only put on two coats, so normally I would have added a few more but I didn’t feel like staying up any later to let them dry and see if I liked the result any better. I was about to take it off and start over with something that I knew would dry quickly, but then I decided to try adding a layer of Ozotic 522, a coral holo. Magic! It turned out wonderfully.

Ozotic 522 over OPI Nice Hand... Great Nails

Two coats of OPI Nice Hand Great Nails followed by one coat of Ozotic 522, topped with OPI Designer Series top coat.

Ozotic 522 over OPI Nice Hand... Great Nails

It was recently announced that the entire Ozotic 500-series is being discontinued. The 500-series includes a lot of great holographic and multichrome polishes… the good news is that they’re all on sale right now until they’re sold out! So I just “had” to get a bunch of them while I still could, and 522 is one of the ones I got.

Ozotic 522 over OPI Nice Hand... Great Nails

They’re sold online from Picture Polish in Australia, Harlow & Co., Overall Beauty and Llarowe in North America, as well as some other sellers in other countries. If you want some, best to get them now while they’re still around!

Ozotic 522 over OPI Nice Hand... Great Nails

Hopefully Ozotic is only discontinuing them because they’ve come up with something even more awesome that they’ll release soon! We’ll have to wait and see…

Ozotic 522 over OPI Nice Hand... Great Nails

Anyway, I really love how this mani turned out; orangey coral holo seems like a great birthday celebration colour to me! And it’s been a really nice birthday weekend with great weather and plenty of fun and relaxation. 🙂

Ozotic 522 over OPI Nice Hand... Great Nails

Bonus photo of Jasmine who has claimed the nail polish storage area lately! (Well, she takes turns with Fred.) Here she is lying on top of the Ikea Helmers! I think they like them because the metal surface is nice and cool in this hot weather…

Jasmine on Helmers

Category:

OPI, Ozotic

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A-England Princess Sabra

Today I have another lovely holo from A-England’s Legend collection to show you!

A-England Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes)

Princess Sabra is a light golden-green olive shade. It also has some very fine golden shimmer in the base, which you can see in some of the photos (especially in the bottle of the above photo!).

A-England Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes)

I used 3 coats, but the third was only because I smudged the polish before I could take photos, so I had to add an extra layer to cover it up. Otherwise two coats would have been perfectly fine.

A-England Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes)

Like the two other A-Englands I have, this one has a great formula and dries very quickly.

A-England Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes)

Not much more to say; it’s pretty much perfect!

A-England Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes)

The full name of this polish is “Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes)”, Tristam being the name of the creator’s cat. It does look like yellow-green cat’s eyes! 🙂

A-England Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes)

Category:

a-England

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Kleancolor Café au Lait

Today’s polish is one of my very favourite nude polishes, Kleancolor Café au Lait! It’s a highly pigmented beige creme with yellow and peach undertones.

Kleancolor Café au Lait

The formula is thick like Kleancolor cremes tend to be, but not in a bad way, and it covers completely in two coats. Shown are two coats with topcoat, in sunlight.

Kleancolor Café au Lait

This next photo turned out brighter/darker than the polish really is…

Kleancolor Café au Lait

I love this shade on my skintone. It’s really subtle and yet still a kind of offbeat shade because of the yellow in it. It’s what I reach for if I don’t know what I want to wear on my nails.

Kleancolor Café au Lait

Since it was starting to have small chips after day one (standard for me), I decided to add some crackle on top to cover those up for the next day. I added China Glaze Tarnished Gold crackle. Then, for good measure, I added two layers of Orly Prisma Gloss Gold, a fine gold glitter with some fine holo glitter dispersed throughout.

Kleancolor Café au Lait, China Glaze Tarnished Gold, Orly Prisma Gloss Gold

Kind of a monochromatic crackle/glitter combo. I prefer Café au Lait on its own though!

Kleancolor Café au Lait, China Glaze Tarnished Gold, Orly Prisma Gloss Gold

The holo glitter particles in Prisma Gloss Gold are very elusive; maybe they would be less so over a more contrasting base! This blurred photo is the only one I took where they sort of show up on the nail!

Kleancolor Café au Lait, China Glaze Tarnished Gold, Orly Prisma Gloss Gold

Category:

China Glaze, Kleancolor, Orly

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Kleancolor Pink Lady

This polish is another unique shade from Kleancolor! I haven’t seen any other polish like this, anyway. Pink Lady is a neon hot pink creme with small silver foily flake-type shimmer. It has the typical nice thick pigmented Kleancolor Creme formula. I used two coats plus top coat here. Since it has a neon formula, it dries semi-matte before the top coat is applied.

Kleancolor Pink Lady

I decided to do a Konad accent nail, but the first shade I stamped on didn’t show up very well so I ended up stamping again overtop with a different polish. The first polish I used was Kleancolor Neon Fuchsia (which is actually a neon red; I don’t see any fuchsia in it, anyway!), which didn’t really contrast enough against the base to look good. So on top I added a second stamp using Kleancolor Metallic Pink, an intense fuchsia foil.

Kleancolor Pink Lady, stamped on ring finger with Kleancolor Neon Fuchsia and Kleancolor Metallic Pink

I really like the multi-layer effect! The stamp I used was a fern design from Konad plate M83.

Kleancolor Pink Lady, stamped on ring finger with Kleancolor Neon Fuchsia and Kleancolor Metallic Pink

Category:

Kleancolor, Konad (stamping plates)

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Zoya June

I can hardly believe it’s already June! But since it is, I thought I’d post some photos of Zoya’s polish named June!

June is a light sheer nude beige with pink tones and shimmer.

Here it is in the shade:

Zoya June

Shown are three coats over a ridge-filling base coat (I think it was Zoya’s Get Even that I used).

Zoya June

In the shade the pink tones really come out.

Zoya June

The formula on this one is nice, not streaky at all; the three coats were only due to the sheerness and not any application issues.

Zoya June

And here it is in the sun:

Zoya June

In the sun the shimmer comes out and the colour seems less pink.

Zoya June

The shimmer is June is made up of tiny little fine shimmery flecks in a sort of opalescent silvery shade that reflect several different colours in the sun, as you can see in the bottle in this next photo.

Zoya June

June is nothing too flashy, but she’s a nice little polish!

Category:

Zoya

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China Glaze Magnetix: Cling On and You Move Me

I picked up two of the China Glaze Magnetix polishes a couple of months ago, Cling On and You Move Me (green and brown respectively), along with the China Glaze magnet. Here is the alternating mani I did with these two polishes. Photos are all indoor with flash; it was very overcast when I took them and the non-flash photos I took didn’t show the magnetic designs very well at all.

China Glaze Cling On (green) and You Move Me (brown) with magnet

I used two coats of each polish, one as a base layer and then used the star magnet over the second coat. I added top coat before taking the photos. I’ve heard that many people don’t like the China Glaze magnet; personally I thought it was fine and didn’t really have much trouble using it, but then again it’s the first magnet I’ve used aside from this one strong fridge magnet I have! As you can see I did have a bit of trouble with centering the design, especially on the pinkie, though. I haven’t tried the other two designs on the China Glaze magnet, just the star.

China Glaze Cling On (green) and You Move Me (brown)

I didn’t really like these polishes as much as I thought I would, especially the green. It seems weird to say since the magnetic design does give an illusion of depth and texture, but the colour on that one just feels flat to me. Maybe if it had a bit of golden shimmer in there somewhere… Maybe I need to try it by itself and with the other magnet designs. The brown one, You Move Me, I do kind of like. More recently I got one of the Color Club magnetics, the coppery one, and I have a feeling I’ll like that one better; it looks like the shimmer has a lot more depth to it!

China Glaze Cling On (green) and You Move Me (brown) with magnet

Category:

China Glaze

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OPI The Show Must Go On

Today’s post will be short on words but heavy on pictures. This is another example of my favourite type of polish – duochrome glass fleck!

OPI The Show Must Go On is from their Burlesque collection which was a holiday 2010 collection. It’s red but shifts colours from fuchsia through to orange, copper and even some golden yellow at extreme angles. I love it! It has a great formula too. Shown are three coats, but the third one I just put on before photographing because I’d had the polish on a while and somehow got some hairline cracks, not chips, in it while doing dishes! Two coats is enough for opacity. Shown in various lighting situations as listed.

Ott Light:

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

Sun:

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

Natural light, various degrees of overcast/partly sunny:

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

OPI The Show Must Go On

Category:

OPI

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Soulstice Spa Harbour Island and Cape Cod

Soulstice Spa has released four new polish shades into their collection for spring 2012, and today I have two of them to show you, complete with comparisons to a couple other polishes I have.

The two polishes I got are Cape Cod, a light, slightly muted blue with pearly shimmer, and Harbour Island, a pale, sheer peachy-pink-nude jelly with holographic glitter in it! As a bonus, a couple of adorable kitties will be making an appearance in today’s photos! 😉 All photos are taken in direct sunlight.

These next photos are three coats of Cape Cod. At first I found the formula to be thick so I was having trouble evening out my coats but I added a little Beauty Secrets thinner and that helped a lot.

I really like this shade of blue and the fine pearly shimmer!

The shimmer has a sort of blueish glow to it in the sunlight, very cool!

This polish reminded me of Milani Antique, another light blue with the same type of finish, so I did a little comparison. Index and ring are Antique, middle and pinkie are Cape Cod, three coats each. As you can see the Milani is a couple shades darker than Cape Cod.

And here is my boy Thor checking out the comparison, haha!

Next up, Harbour Island. These photos are also three coats.

The formula was really smooth and easy to apply but it’s a sheer and the third coat adds more sparkle and reflectivity.

The base colour of this polish is pale peach with a bit of a pinkish tone.

The holo glitter does dry slightly rough, but top coat easily takes care of that (these photos include top coat).

As always you can click on any of these photos to see the sparkly holo glitter in better detail!

I can’t say that I have any other peach/nude jellies with holo glitter! But here is a comparison to the closest thing I have, LA Splash Sparkling Jellyfish. Sparkling Jellyfish, in the middle in the following photo, is significantly deeper, brighter and more pink.

And finally, Harbour Island makes a great layering polish; here it is over China Glaze V, a light orange-coral creme. Hanging out in the photo is my boy Wade! (Wade lost an eye to a severe upper respiratory infection as a kitten when he first arrived at the shelter, but it doesn’t slow him down in the slightest! Nor does it prevent him from being the alpha male in our little feline “colony”!)

The other two polishes in this release, which I don’t have (yet, at least!), are St. Tropez, a beige nude that looks to have pearly shimmer similar to Cape Cod, and Kauai, a berry pink with golden shimmer. If you’re curious about them, blogger Glazed Talons reviewed them both here. These shades are available directly through Soulstice Spa on their website; Nail Polish Canada also sells Soulstice but they don’t have these new shades in stock yet as of the time I’m posting this.

Disclosure: the Soulstice Spa polishes in this post were provided to me for review. All opinions are my own honest opinions. (The other polishes in this post were purchased by me. The cats were rescued from the street and adopted from a shelter, respectively. :P)

Category:

China Glaze, LA Splash, Milani, Soulstice Spa

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Pastel Skittles Mani

Just a quick post today to share a recent pastel skittles (each nail a different colour, for those who aren’t familiar with nail-polish-addict-speak ;)) manicure I did. I felt like doing something spring-like and cool-toned, and here are the polishes I decided on: Essence You Belong To Me, Milani Original, Essence A Lovely Secret, Milani Dressmaker, and Milani Antique.

Essence You Belong To Me, Milani Original, Essence A Lovely Secret, Milani Dressmaker, Milani Antique

Essence You Belong To Me is a pastel turquoise creme with some fine pearly secret shimmer; Milani Original is a mint green creme; Essence A Lovely Secret is a lavender creme with fine warmer-toned and slightly darker magenta-purple glitter; Milani Dressmaker is a pale minty jade with turquoise shimmer; Milani Antique is a slightly muted/dusty light blue creme with fine pearly secret shimmer. Three coats of each polish (actually I think I added a fourth of Dressmaker, since it’s a pretty sheer polish).

Unfortunately there was no sun when I wore this, so the shimmer of the polishes doesn’t show up very well in the photos, although if you click to enlarge them you can see some, especially in the first photo. These pics include topcoat; I had been wearing the mani a while when I took them. Overcast natural light:

Essence You Belong To Me, Milani Original, Essence A Lovely Secret, Milani Dressmaker, Milani Antique

Essence You Belong To Me, Milani Original, Essence A Lovely Secret, Milani Dressmaker, Milani Antique

Artificial light (Ott light) – the colours are truer in this photo, as the previous ones make them seem a little darker than they are:

Essence You Belong To Me, Milani Original, Essence A Lovely Secret, Milani Dressmaker, Milani Antique

Category:

Essence, Milani

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A-England Dragon

I have another amazing holo from a-England’s Legend collection to show you today! This is Dragon, a medium green scattered holo with a bit of a gold duochrome flash to it as well. Gorgeous! Like the other shades I have from this collection, Dragon’s formula is super-smooth, very easy to apply and dries very quickly. On to the photos! This is two coats, although one thick coat would probably be enough since this polish is very pigmented. Shown in full sunlight.

a-England Dragon

a-England Dragon

a-England Dragon

a-England Dragon

a-England Dragon

a-England Dragon

a-England Dragon

Category:

a-England

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