Diamond Desire

I just don’t get tired of glitter nowadays, I need it in all kinds of combinations. That’s why I decided to make a glitter/jelly sandwich today. No, it’s not something you eat, it’s a way of layering glitter and jelly polishes that creates a “underwater glitter” effect on the nails. You start out with the jelly underneath, then a coat (or more) of glitter, then finish it off with a coat of jelly over the glitter. I’ve never tried this technique before, but I’m stunned by the results!

For this manicure I started with two easy coats of Revlon Just Tinted Desire, a pink jelly that dries to a satin-y finish on its own. Then I added a coat of Petites Pink Diamond, a combination of big and small baby pink glitters in a clear base. I added a coat of Desire over Pink Diamond, and finished it all off with Seche Vite.

I have to say I love this combination! It’s so pretty and light, but still with some excitement in the glitter bits caught beneath the shield of jelly. Now I want jellies in every color to make a bunch of sammies on my nails!
Have you tried any interesting combinations of jelly and glitter lately?

Wet ‘n’ Wild Back Alley Deals

A while ago I got three polishes from the Wet ‘n’ Wild Ice Baby collection, and I thought that was it. But no, I realized I had made a terrible mistake when I hadn’t bought Back Alley Deals as well! I kept seeing these tasty swatches, and I just had to have this polish in my life. I finally found it on eBay, and yesterday it dumped into my mailbox. I couldn’t wait, so I had to put it on right away!

Back Alley Deals is a dream come true for me, I just can’t think of a better combination than this concoction of fine purple glitter with bright fuchsia hexes in between. It’s like this polish was made for me, I guess everyone knows my weakness for pink and purple. My pics doesn’t even begin to show how intensely this sparkles, but I hope you get an idea.

Not even is it gorgeous to look at, this polish is easy to apply as well. Even if it has a clear base, the glitter is dense enough to be opaque by itself in three coats. The glitter spreads evenly on the nail, and there’s no need to coax the hexes around for better distribution. It dries very matte and gritty, though, so I brought out what I thought was my fail-proof combo of Gelous x 3 with Seche Vite on top. Even with this industrial strength topcoat combination, my mani shows some bumps when dry. I’m really exited to try Lynnderella’s Glitter Tamer topcoat which I have coming in the mail, hopefully that will quench hungry glitters like this one.

Essie Bobbing For Baubles

I have to admit that Essie isn’t my go-to brand, not because they don’t have pretty colors or interesting collections, but I’ve had some – shall we say – not so good experiences with their polishes. Though after seeing a lot of gorgeous swatches of Essie Bobbing For Baubles, I just had to give in despite my somewhat lukewarm relationship with Ms. Weingarten’s creations.

Bobbing For Baubles is a beautiful, dusty, dark navy blue creme. It was released right before New Year’s with the Cocktail Bling collection for Winter 2011.

This polish was a dream to apply, very pigmented and smooth and opaque in two thin coats. The biggest surprise was the brush, I have never liked Essie’s skinny brush, but now it looks like they have changed to a wider, square brush. Me likey!

I was also surprised by how grey this polish looks compared to the swatches I’ve seen online, and I see that even in my own pics it looks bluer than it seems in real life. I did a small comparison between a grey (China Glaze Concrete Catwalk) and a blue (China Glaze First Mate) just so you can see how it looks.

I bought this polish at a local store (Cubus), I think the price was NOK 129. That equals roughly $21, so it’s quite a lot more expensive than getting it at for instance TransDesign, where Essies are $8 a bottle. Still, I was so happy to see that we can get more “international” brands where I live as well, so I decided to buy it locally in the hopes that we could get more polish into Norwegian stores! (I wouldn’t mind lower prices either, but one thing at a time.)

Color Club Beyond The Mistletoe, Gingerbread & Sugarplum Fairy

Here are the rest of my picks from the Color Club Beyond The Mistletoe collection for Holidays 2011. I know it’s way too late, but I was really busy before Christmas and just didn’t get around to trying these in due time. I hope you don’t mind a little belated holiday collection swatchin’! If you do mind, I promise this will be quick and dirty.

Beyond The Mistletoe

Light blue-green and holographic glitter in a clear base. 3 coats.

Gingerbread

Gold and holographic glitter in a sheer base. 3 coats.

Sugarplum Fairy

Silvery lilac and holographic glitter in a clear base. 3 coats.

The formula on all of these were pretty thick and gummy, quite typically for glitters. They are very sheer on the first coat, but all of them can be built to opacity in three coats. I bet they’ll work perfectly for layering in one or two coats, so they have great versatility. My favorites from this collection are Sugarplum Fairy and Jingle Jangle, which I’ve shown you here.

So there you have it, maybe you’d still like to get some of these glitterbombs? I bought mine from TransDesign, and most of this collection is still available there for $3.10 a bottle.

Random Spam #3

It’s time for another round of spam from the previously unsung heroes of my stash! This edition has no red thread, so just sit back and enjoy the ride. I hope there’s something good for everyone.

China Glaze Visit Me In Prism

Color and finish: Golden-taupey nude scattered holographic.
Collection: Kaleidoscope (2009)
Formula and coverage: Easy to apply, but be aware that you’ll easily drag the previous coat and get bald spots if you don’t wait a bit between coats. Very sheer, 4 coats for full coverage.
Where to get: Unfortunately, these are hard to come by nowadays, but maybe you’ll get lucky and find it in a blog sale somewhere? Also, “dusty” salons are likely to still have these in stock, or eBay as a last resort. Price will naturally vary.

China Glaze Starboard

Color and finish: Starboard-lantern green creme. Reminds me of when I used to go fishing with my dad when I was little, and he used to let me steer the boat, and how he taught me the difference between port and starboard. A nice basic color. (I had to hold the topcoat bottle, because when I held the polish bottle, all the green in the frame freaked out my camera and made the pic very inaccurate!)
Collection: Anchors Away (2011)
Formula and coverage: Glides nice and easy on the nail. Surprisingly sheer, I needed three thin coats for opacity.
Where to get: Web shops such as TransDesign, $2.99.

Orly Emberstone

Color and finish: Orange-red glassfleck (or mineral-fleck?). I can also see some pinkish particles here and there! This was hard to capture on camera, so my pics are more orange than it looks in real life.
Collection: Mineral FX (2011)
Formula and coverage: Easy application, but slightly on the runny side. 3 coats.
Where to get: TransDesign, $5.32.

Color Club Alter Ego

Color and finish: Purple based foil with gold and silver sparkles. Looks oddly grey and mostly silver on me, though.
Collection: Alter Ego (2011)
Formula and coverage: Slightly runny, but easy enough to apply. Sheer, so I needed 4 thin coats for full coverage.
Where to get: TransDesign, $3.10.

Hope you enjoyed this little roundup, thanks for stopping by!