Matte Experiments!

As the title suggests, this post is going to be about the effect a matte topcoat has on different colours and finishes of nail polish :) I tried glittery, metallic and holographic out this time, and now it's time to share the results with you :)

My first little experiment was just too see how the matte top coat would alter the No7 Star Showers with Vivid Violet tips that I was already wearing, just before I took it off to do a whole new manicure. This is how it looked over my previous manicure, one left glossy for comparison -

As you can see I applied the matte topcoat (Rimmel Lycra Pro in Matte Finish Mattifying Top Coat is the one I have used throughout this post) and it did make quite a big difference, although I definitely prefer the glossy look for the Star Showers, really lets the different coloured glitters shine through :).

Rather than just doing 5 different colours and mattifying them, I decided to start with a black base - for which I used w7 Black - and then use some striping tape to apply my colours over the black, here is what they looked like without top coat -

I made this a little hard for myself, by doing the colours on different nails on each hand! The ring fingers are easy, that is Revlon in Radient - which I adore. 17 Holo in Silver is seen on my thumb in the top picture, and index finger in the bottom picture. On my index finger on top (thumb bottom pic) we have No7 in Milan, another definite favourite of mine. The middle finger of the top pic and pinky of the bottom are Essie's Blue Rhapsody, finally my pinky on top/middle on bottom is Constance Carroll Diamond Gloss in Diamond.

I then applied my Matte top coat, and here are the results -

I didn't like the effect of the matte over the holographic nail polish, it just made it a somewhat boring pale grey colour. I liked the effect of the matte over Milan, and I actually really liked the effect over the glitter, it seems taking away the glossy finish makes the glitter pieces stand out a bit more. I quite liked it over the silver too, but didn't think it made much of an improvement to the Essie metallic blue - but I love that one as it is anyway!

I love the matte topcoat, and it is a surefire way to make even the simplest of manicures a bit more interesting, though it does have its downfalls too - it doesn't dry very fast, and chips a lot quicker than my other topcoats of choice.

A friend asked me to do this post, so I hope that it has been informative for her, and anyone else :)

Thanks for reading, S x

Stamped Metallic Skittles

Hi all, again sorry for the infrequent posts, my life has suddenly become quite busy since moving back to Devon! That and it's so difficult to motivate myself to trawl through the hundreds of photo's I've got to decide which ones to show you. I do have a couple of hours this evening though, so I have got my music on, and am getting down to the business of sorting my photo's! I have a few mani's that I am particularly excited to show you, so hopefully those will be making an appearance soon.

This manicure was an experimental one really, after I got all those new polishes I shared with you in my previous 2 posts, I was eager to see how the black and the white would stamp. I was also eager to wear ALL of the gorgeous Essie metallics too, so I have a different colour metallic polish on each finger, with some little salamanders stamped on in black and white.

What I used -    

• Essie Blue Rhapsody
• Essie No Place Like Chrome
• Essie Penny Talk
• Essie Good As Gold
• Essie Nothing Else Metals
• w7 Black no 28
• NYC Pinstripe White
• NYC Top Coat Grand Central Station no 202
• Bundle Monster Stamping Plate BM15

And here is how the manicure turned out -

Cute huh? The white salamanders don't show up that great, purely because white isn't best suited to the base colours used, but it was still nice to stamp with :) I need to practice my stamping technique, I found it quite difficult to pick up the whole salamander, his tail was often left behind so I had to place him strategically on a couple of nails! I love all of these polishes, especially since I got them so cheap. I am looking forward to trying out stamping using the metallics too.

Until next time, S x

Shiny New Things! Part Two

As promised, here is the second part showing you the rest of the new additions to my nail polish family (that's right,  family heehee). I have been longing to try out Essie nail polish for sometime now, but at nearly £8 a bottle I just couldn't justify it... Until finding some of last seasons polishes at £3 a bottle in The Original Factory Shop! I bought every single colour they had, even a bright orange that I have no idea how I'm going to use! It was just an opportunity too good to miss.

After getting home with my new polishes, I decided to do a bit of reading about what I had bought (something I usually do beforehand, but it was so spur of the moment). I am so glad I had bought these polishes before I read what other people had to say about them, as it wasn't very positive, so I probably wouldn't have bought them. Which would have been a shame, as I LOVE them! The polishes that were on offer were the Essie Mirror Metallics 2012 collection -

From left to right; No Place Like Chrome, Blue Rhapsody, Nothing Else Metals, Penny Talk and Good As Gold. Here is what they looked like on my nails -

I cannot emphasise enough how much I love these, I don't have many metallic polishes in my collection, and these are just perfect. I have read a lot of comments saying that the formula was poor, and really streaky, but my nails pictured above was just one coat, it went on like a dream, and I am very happy with the finish - this doesn't even have a top coat! Also it dries in seconds, literally, it is perfect. I am super excited to try out stamping with it too, since it gives such an opaque effect with just one coat. Here is a closer look at the colours -

Above is Blue Rhapsody, a brilliant Metallic blue. Next is Nothing Else Metals, which has a girly pink/lilac colour -

The next polish is a metallic silver, called No Place Like Chrome, it is now my favourite silver in my collection -

Next we have a copper toned polish called Penny Talk, it is beautiful with a pinkish bronze colour, and is unlike any colour I have seen before. It is probably my favourite of the collection, although Blue Rhapsody is a very close second! Anyway, here is it -

The final polish is Good As Gold, which is a subtle metallic gold -

Pretty huh? I'm sure you can tell how excited I am about these polishes, they will be making an appearance again very soon!

The last new addition is a bit of a random one, I just found it all by itself, it is another Essie, in Orange, It's Obvious, which is a really rich reddish orange that I can't wait to try out... I just need to find the right occasion or nail art design! Here it is -

Definitely a different one for my collection! I am immediately thinking back to my autumn leaf mani of last year, the orange I used then didn't show up too well, I'm sure this one would, perhaps I will recreate my design this autumn using this Orange - the ideas are forming up already :).

Anyway, I really hope this kind of post is interesting to you, as they actually take ages! I just like to share my excitement :) I will soon be sharing some actual nail art with you though, if you are getting bored of reading about my shopping!

Much love, S x