Jun 30, 2012

Showing A Litte Kindness


Happy Glitter Me Up Friday! Today I thought I'd show you A Little Kindness and a lot of photos :)  OK so it's Saturday but I have the flu so I passed out early yesterday after I'd finished the photos for this post.  Or rather I just zombied out in front of the computer with frequent checks to see if the Dollish Polish store had restocked.  My husband got me some wonderful new flu medication but it knocks me out, as opposed to the non-drowsy version that makes my mind race.
A Little Kindness by Rainbow Honey is from the new Equestria Collection, which is based on the My Little Pony series.  Now I was never into My Little Pony, it was after my time, so I can't say I know much about them.  I was midway through high school when My Little Pony first became popular so I was too old for them and we didn't have a TV until 1984 so I missed the early years of MLP media exposure/advertising.  When I saw this collection though I just had to have it, it's just so magical and pretty.
The Equestria Collection from Rainbow Honey.  A Little Kindness is second from the left.

When I ordered the set it was A Little Kindness I wanted most.  I had envisioned wearing it over pale yellow or a minty green and while I waited for the pre-order invoice I went ahead and bought a few polishes ready for underwear duty.
In the bottle glitter macro.  Look there's even clear glitter!

As soon as the collection arrived I started swatching on nail wheels.  I actually filled a whole nail wheel just with A Little Kindness over all different base colours (I should have taken a photo) and it looks amazing over everything!  It is so versatile and each base brings out different shimmer colours or enhances different glitters.  It looks great over yellow and green as I expected but also amazing over black, purple, blue, pink, nude and grey.  Really wow over grey!  In the end though I decided to wear it over the Sally Hansen In A Flash that I wore on Wednesday and blogged about here.

The Sally Hansen and A Little Kindness work really well together.  The colours match well with that pale creaminess and pink shimmer in each and the Sally Hansen is sheer enough that it doesn't dominate the top coat and lets all the glitter colours show.  It's a rather delicate look for a glitter polish. 

For some reason this makes me think of Christmas baubles.  I think I'll be wearing this combination again at the end of the year.
Weird angle but I wanted to catch the green shimmer.


I'm not going to try to describe all the colours and glitters in this, just have a look at that macro photo.  Each time I look I notice something new. It's one of those manicures I keep staring at in different lighting.  In the shade my nails look foily and in the sun they sparkle like crazy!
Outside in the shade.

In full sun.

A Little Kindness is smooth and easy to work with.  The glitter goes on evenly with normal brush strokes.  There's no fishing or dabbing to get good cover, and no need to poke any glitter flat.  On my index and little finger I have 2 thin coats (over 3 coats of In A Flash) and on my middle and ring fingers I have 1 thick coat.  I wanted to compare drying times with the different coats but I really didn't notice any difference and I think the single thick coat looks better.
In full sun.

I finished with a coat of Lynnderella Glitter Tamer.  It's not my usual top coat of choice but as my Sally Hansen Base was 3 days dry I didn't want to use Seche Vite or Essie or Poshe top coats because they seem more inclined to 'shrink' over a completely dry polish.

I can still feel the glitter through the top coat but it's not rough.  A second top coat would make it smooth but I'm happy with it like this and don't want the extra thickness of another coat.
I love A Little Kindness! It's so pretty and so delicate.
This guy was watching me resize the photos last night, from his perch on my husbands chest.

Do you think he wants his nails done? 
Nope I don't think he's impressed.
This is cool (I think).  I cropped in on his eye and could see 3 members of the family reflected in there.
No I don't have a weird shaped head, that's the camera in front of my face with the flash pointing up to bounce off the roof.

and last photo spam :)  Part of one of my towers of nail wheels.  The kids like to go through these and pick colours for me to wear.


Now go check out the rest of the Glitter Me Up Friday players :)


Kelly from Kelly's Kolors
Mam Glam from GlamOnTheCheap
Shaina from SG Nails

Jun 28, 2012

Work safe colour?

Yesterday was parent/teacher interview day at my 7yo's school.  We had a 10min appointment to discuss his school report.  Not that we had any concerns, it's a good report, but I like to touch base with the teacher whenever there's a chance.  He loves his teacher.  This is the first year he's enjoyed school and it's all down to her.  Unfortunately she's off on maternity leave next term and we don't know who her replacement will be yet :(
Anyway I decided on a 'work safe' manicure for the occasion.  I admit I considered something fun, even the school colours and logo but in the end I went for a my-child-doesn't-get-his-weirdness-from-me look.  I also needed something that would be easy to apply and dry quickly so I went with a Sally Hansen Insta-Dri.  I love the Insta-Dris.  Most of them are single coaters and they do dry fast which make them ideal for use as 'underwear' polishes.  They have a strange wide paddle brush which I love.  Really love!  I have a little Insta-Dri collection in the basic colours for use under glitters without adding bulk.  Yesterday I wore #115 In a Flash which is a light frosty beige with a really pretty pink shimmer (that I couldn't capture on camera).

It's very sheer but it's meant to be.  I wore three coats and still had quite visible nail line but it looked good.  At some angles my nails looked opaque but mostly they looked pearly, shiny and classy.  The pink shimmer showed best at low angles, in the shade, looking along the length of my nails and the pale beige was great with my skin colour.
Weird angle in the shade but you can just see the pink shimmer.
Three coats with Orly Bonder base coat and Essie To Dry For top coat.  I almost skipped the base coat because I was in a hurry and I doubt this colour stains but I have a bad break down the length of my (very short) right index nail which I needed to stick together with base coat and silk strips. 
Once the top coat was dry I ran off for a shower and washed my hair, something which is pretty tough on my nails, but everything survived perfectly.


I felt feminine and elegant in this polish (at least my hands did).  Yep I'm really pleased with this colour and even though it's sheer I think I can use it for underwear, for when I just need a light polish under some glitter.
Here's more photos just because I can.  I took a lot trying to capture the pearliness and the pink shimmer.




Jun 25, 2012

Rainbow Honey Equestria Collection

Look what arrived today!  It's my Rainbow Honey order, the new Equestria Collection. 

I've been so looking forward to these but before I could even open them I had to get photos of this cute packaging.  The presentation is so professional.  Each box is sealed with a silver heart sticker.   I must admit I ended up opening the boxes from the bottom so I wouldn't have to break any hearts :)  The minis in the bag are the free secret polishes that were included when preordering the full Collection

This is (left to right) The Worst Possible Thing,  A Little Kindness, Hoof Wrassle, Pinkie Promise, The Element of Magic and 20% Cooler.

These are the two secret mini polishes, Mare of the Moon and Celestia, and I included the full size Hoof Wrassle in the middle to show how they are labeled on the lids.  I love that labeling, it means I'll be able to easily find each colour in my Helmer drawers.  Usually I put a sticker on the lids with a dab of the polish so I can see the colours without having to pick each bottle up so this saves me having to do that and looks a lot neater.
The secret polishes are not so secret by the time they've reached Australia, I've already seen them on a number of blogs, but still a surprise to see them in person.  I think Mare of the Moon is my current favourite, after swatching them all on a nail wheel, but I struggled with the small bottle, well not the bottle but the full sized lid obscures the short brush so I couldn't see where I was painting.  I need a full size of this!
Now the question is which do I wear first.  Any suggestions?  I've tried each on the nail wheel on it's own, over black and over a complimentary colour.  There's so many options.

Jun 23, 2012

Western Australian sparklies

Happy Glitter Me Up Friday!  I am thrilled today to be wearing some polishes from an Aussie Etsy seller, Kate Collins of Katie's Australian Nail Polishes   It's so cool to see another Aussie joining the handmade polish sellers on Etsy and I love the Aussie names :)
This is Ningaloo on the left and Cottlesloe By Night on the right.  I'm not hiding the labels in the photo, it's just they cover half the bottle so I photographed the back.



Cottlesloe By Night was a real surprise.  Looking at the bottle I thought it was a black base which  would be full of turquoise glitter on my nails but it's actually a really beautiful indigo polish, very well pigmented, with sparse, subtle glitter.  It is stunning!  The glitter had settled in transit so I scraped the insides and shook like crazy to mix it up before I used it (without much luck) but then as soon as I saw it on my nails I realized it didn't need that glitter to mix.  I love the deep dark indigo with the little glints of blue light. 

I used two coats but if you use thick coats one would do.  It dries really quickly and loses some shine as it dries but I finished off with a coat of Seche Vite and wow this is so smooth and glassy.  I am mesmerised by those little flashes of colour in the darkness.  It looks so rich. It flowed really well and was easy to paint with.  The brush was a little rough so left some drag lines in my first coat but I paint thinly, it wouldn't have been noticeable with a thick coat and the second coat covered perfectly.

I had trouble capturing the subtlety of the little sparkles in this polish.  We've had a gloomy day without sun so I tried all sorts of lighting setup but none of the photos show the sparks of blue light I'm seeing as I type now.  The glitter looks larger and rough in the photos but it's not really, it's subtle, deep and mysterious.



Ningaloo is packed with tiny turquoise, purple, pinks and green glitter.   It's a really pretty combination and very sparkly.  The Etsy description says it's a 'sheer blue polish' but the bottle I have is pretty much a clear base, just a tint of blue/purple.  I'm guessing the mix has changed since this bottle.   It can be built up to an almost opaque coverage in about four thick coats but I prefer it as a glitter top coat.  It looks stunning over blue, green, purple, black and I've even tried orange.    I had planned on layering Ningaloo over Cottlesloe By Night but I loved the finished Cottlesloe By Night manicure so much I didn't want to cover it up so I just freehanded some glitter tips with Ningaloo for extra sparkle.

I found the mix to be quite thick and goopy so I added some thinner (I use Zoya Renew and Perfect Nails Polish solvent) until it flowed better.  The good thing about that goopiness (is that a word) is it holds up all the glitter beautifully and the glitter spreads really evenly.  No need to shake or scoop or dab to get that glitter out.

Here's a photo to show one coat of each on a nail wheel .  This way you can see the gorgeous indigo of Cottlesloe By Night (on the left).  This is the colour that stunned me on the first stroke.  The second coat made it much darker.   One coat of Ningaloo (on the right) shows how evenly the glitter spread, and the very slightly tinted base.


Kate's polishes are available from Etsy at Katie's Australian Nail Polishes 
Now if you'd like to see the rest of the Glitter Me Up Friday players check them out here...


Kelly from Kelly's Kolors
Mam Glam from GlamOnTheCheap
Shaina from SG Nails

Jun 17, 2012

There can be only one!

Happy Glitter Me Up Friday! OK so I'm late. I had my nails glitterfied and photographed yesterday but didn't get to blog.  We've had a rather full couple of days which have reduced my computer time.  Friday night was school disco night for my 7yo and the theme was crazy hair and crazy socks.  So of course he needed crazy nails too.  Here's his crazy googly eye nails :)  He had two eyes on each thumb.

Shocking cuticles I know and this photo was taken after the disco when he'd already started to pick the polish off.   I was interested to see how easily it came off, maybe it's because I didn't use a base coat and only dotted a quick dry top coat on the eyes to dry them.  My polish never comes off like that.  Luckily the neon orange didn't stain :)

He did look pretty crazy.   He wore some of my (cosmetic grade) franken glitters in his hair, stuck in with orange hair spray, and the socks he wore were some knee high rainbow striped ones of mine.  He wore them over his trousers.  Turns out he has the same size feet as me!  He also wore a collection of glow sticks.  He said he had the second best costume but I'm not sure that's just his opinion of if there was a vote.

For my nails I wore something very special.  The Konadlicious by Lacquistry!  It's a one of a kind polish (yep the only one) created for the Konadlicious 3000 followers giveaway.   I feel so special to have won this (and a little bit guilty that Carli doesn't have one).  Carli has an amazing style and this polish is bold and glam like her (at least that's how she seems to me).

I layered 2 coats of Konadlicious over Cult Nails Evil Queen which BTW I reckon would be a perfect red for Carli.  She has beautiful shaped nails (which I like to think are similar to mine) and they'd look amazing in Evil Queen. 
Konadlicious went on pretty easily for a glitter with large pieces.  I did have to dab a bit to spread out some areas where the hexes insisted on stacking on each other but other than that I was really happy with how well the glitter spread.  The base is lightly tinted red/pink which was lost over Evil Queen.  Next time I'm going to wear this over orange which I think will make the glitter stand out more.  I could have easily built up a denser glitter cover with more layers but I was happy with how this looked with lots of red showing.


I topped this off with a coat of Orly Polishield and it's smooth and surprisingly flat (the Orly is a thin top coat).  This survived the usual domestic bliss that comes with 2 kids, last nights disco outing and a trip to the beach today (in the rain with 4 hours of travel) without losing any glitter.

If you'd like to try a polish from Lacquistry check out Jenna's facebook page HERE for news on when the store will be restocked and if you haven't yet go and check out Carli's blog HERE.  I'm pretty sure I'm older than her but I sooo want to be her when I grow up, or even have half her sense of style. 
Now if you'd like to see the rest of the Glitter Me Up Friday players check them out here...

Kelly from Kelly's Kolors
Mam Glam from GlamOnTheCheap
Shaina from SG Nails

Jun 15, 2012

Evil Queen of the Culties

I was lucky enough to receive the new Cult Nails Fairy Tales collection as part of my prize from the HUGE Konadlicious 3000 followers giveaway.  I'm a bit of a Cult Nails fan so this new collection was a must have for me. 
Feelin' Froggy, Charming, Princess, Happy Ending, Evil Queen

Being a green lover I was sure Feelin' Froggy was the first colour I'd be wearing but after swatching them all on a nail wheel I just had to wear Evil Queen first.

This is red!  Pure, straight, in your face, no excuses red!  So smooth and glossy.  It's classic and classy and a little bit tarty.  I always feel so grown up with red nails :)

I did 3 coats.  2 would have been enough but I had visible nail line that I knew would show up more on camera.

This has worn really well all week with just a few little edge chips showing now after bathing the kids tonight. I plan on using this as the base for my Friday glitter nails tomorrow.

Jun 9, 2012

Glitter me up DIY


Happy Glitter Me Up Friday!
This week I had an overwhelming number of polishes arrive from blog sales, prizes and indie buys.  I'm still trying to swatch and catalog them all and just couldn't decided which to wear for Friday, so I made my own again :)  I love creating polishes, I just rarely bother wearing them when I'm done.  For me the fun is in the mixing.  So I set myself the challenge of creating a glitter polish I liked enough to wear.

My desk is home to a host of mini bottles which I use for testing glitters and pigments.  Each bottle is half full of a mix of suspension base and clear polish with a scoop of whatever I'm testing.  I leave them in there until I run out of bottles.  I think I have around 100 bottles which means most glitters have about a month of testing for bleeding, melting and discolouration before I need to rinse out the bottles.  Actually my husband does the rinsing part for me so I don't have to ruin my manicure with acetone :)  I've found thinner works better for cleaning out the bottles but bulk acetone is cheaper.  Hubby not only gets the bottles and brushes sparkling clean, he also saves and scrubs the SS balls for me (yep I use balls in my test bottles).  Anyway when I get to the need to empty bottles stage I often take the successful bottles, those with glitter that hasn't bled etc and either add more glitter, pigment and base to them to make a mini polish or I decant a handful of them into a full size bottle for a random mix.  Then I usually stick them away in a drawer and forget all the ingredients.  The fun is over for me once the bottle's full.

This Friday glitter is one I've thrown together from a bunch of test bottles.  I love the surprise results from these random mixes.  There's glitters in gold, holo gold, blue and shimmery orange and purple with blue, green, yellow, black and colour shifting pigments.  All random quantities mixed together, then more pigment added until I came up with a nice grungy denim colour.  I wanted a glittery mess with enough pigmentation to be opaque in 2 coats without smothering the glitter and it had to sit flat without being all rough and lumpy.

This is with coat of Seche Vite over.  Smooth, shiny, sparkly and deeply pigmented.  Yep I can wear this one :) I probably wont though, it will end up in the test drawer with the other bottles I don't have recipes for.
Looks like the colour suits my skin tone.  I can't stop looking at this :) 
This is a 13ml bottle.  It was almost full at one stage but I test a lot on nail wheels while mixing, after each addition of pigment, and then 2 coats on my nails and this is all that's left.
Now if you'd like to see the rest of the Glitter Me Up Friday players check them out here...


Kelly from Kelly's Kolors
Mam Glam from GlamOnTheCheap
Shaina from SG Nails
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