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

4 comments:

  1. Cottlesloe By Night is STUNNING! OMG what a beautiful polish!

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  2. Nice one!! I brought some of these the other day ... just need time to swatch :D

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  3. These are gorgeous! I'll have to check out her shop! :)

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  4. It looks stunning with the extra embellishment on the tips. Beautiful!

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