Orly Glitter Swatch Spam!

Hello lovelies! Slowly, but surely I am getting through my polish stash, one polish at a time. My post today kind of cheats because I've done a skittle mani to show you some pretty great Orly glitter polishes. Let's take a peek!

Each Orly glitter polish is swatched over 1 coat of Wet'n'Wild "Black Crème".

 

 

 

 

I added a few extra pictures than I usually would to show the holographic glitter as best as I could capture it.

Index: Orly "Monster Mash", 1 coat

Middle: Orly "Shining Star", 2 coats

Ring: Orly "Right Amount Of Evil", 1 coat

Pinky: Orly "Be Brave", 1 coat

Monster Mash has a green tint base colour with holographic green hex, micro round and micro bar holographic glitter. It is a great layering polish! You might be able to build opacity but you're looking at 5+ coats. I would layer it over a similar base colour and do a few coats if you want a completely blinged out mani.

Shining Star is a polish I picked up on clearout at Sally's months ago and never had a chance to try out. It is a yellow/golden glitter polish with random light green glitter. Nothing crazy special about this one, but pretty none-the-less. I did two coats to match the opacity level of the other Orly glitter polishes.

Right Amount Of Evil is fantastic. It boasts an orange tinted base filled with the prettiest pink shimmer. I find that rather ironic considering the name. It also has silver holographic hex glitter and micro holographic silver bar glitter.

Be Brave is one of two string glitter polishes that I own. I just picked up the one that is released in this years Sinful Colors winter collection and that pretty much sums up my string glitter polish collection. (Swatch coming... sometime.) It consists of pink holographic string glitter in a clear base. Simple. Pretty. I like it. I really like that the pink flashes purple at every angle.

All in all, I'm happy to have these polishes in my collection. Glitter has been something that I have struggled with for the same reasons as pretty much every one else: removal. I know the tin-foil removal method, folks. I really do. I am just lazy. Yes, I am usually too lazy to sit around and do nothing for 10 minutes. Haha. How ridiculous do I sound? ;)

Do you have any of these Orly glitter polishes? What do you think?

I'm Feeling Green ... and Glittery + Update

Who has Twitter? Who has Pintrest? Well, I am the proud owner of an account on both of those websites and would love it if you joined me! 
(I linked my profile to the website names.)

Okay, onto the mani, shall we?

*

 Avon "Sweet Mint"  + ELF "Golden Goddess"
 

 

This type of green always draws my attention. I love how bright and eye catching it is!

Sweet Mint confuses me. This is not even close to what my mind conjures when I think "mint". I like to think I know mint pretty well, too, it being one of my favourite polish colours. This polish is in the same realm as OPI's "Who The Shrek Are You?" I should do a comparison post. I have a few that I've been meaning to do...

Application was perfect. My hand was a tad shaky when I applied this so I was a tiny bit messy around the cuticle but that's my error. If you have the opportunity to try out any Avon polishes, I highly recommend that you do! I love the brush (flat, medium-sized) and it isn't overpowering, smell-wise. Pigmentation is great too - I used 2 coats for this mani.

Golden Goddess is a beautiful gold glitter polish which consists of golden shimmer, gold micro-glitter and medium holographic glitters. I used only one coat of this to do a faint gradient starting at the free edge of my nail and fading it towards the cuticle. I wish more holo hex glitters came out onto the brush and I could have done a second coat but I like how subtle this was against such a bold colour. I did fish around in the bottle to try and get a hex glitter or two, just to make every nail even.

*

Off topic. I've been considering doing an update nail polish collection post and am wondering if this is something you might like to see. I know that I would LOOOVE to see all of your beautiful collections! Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are. If there are a few of us, we could put something together and all do ours together?

Don't forget, I'm on Twitter and Pintrest! Let's chat. :)

- A Polished Touch

Lots of Layering featuring Barielle, China Glaze & OPI

I was so excited to tell you all about the polishes (below the pictures) that I nearly forgot to write an intro, haha. Uhhh, let's just look at the nails, okay? I'm too excited to share this with you to chat anymore ... ;)

China Glaze in Ruby Deer, 2 coats - no top coat

Barielle Elle's Spell, 2 coats over top of Ruby Deer

OPI Heart of Gold, 2 coats over Elle's Spell & Ruby Deer

Ruby Deer, could you be any more perfect? Two coats needed for flawless red goodness. Application was smooth and dreamy. High shine finish with no topcoat.

Elle's Spell, wow. This is my favourite (and only) red flakie polish and looked great over Ruby Deer. I didn't want to waste it by trying to build it up to opacity on its own. No complaints in regards to application, it was great.

Heart of Gold, where have you been all my life? I didn't pick up As Gold As It Gets from Essie's new Luxeeffects collection but I'm not sure I need it when I own the beauty that is Heart of Gold. (Okay, who am I kidding, a mini-flakie? Yes, I need you. Please don't be offended by my "you're not needed comment" ;) Haha.) Anyway, Heart of Gold is a beautiful gold shimmer polish in a pale, sheer gold base. It is meant as a layering polish and layer, I did! Wow.

All in all, this has awesome full-mani potential. Sadly, I only did the 4 nails you see pictured and was very nearly heart broken to have to remove it. Oh well, I'm sure I will do this again, it was that good. Mr.Polish considers it "magnificent" and that's sayin' something, folks!

What polishes have you layered recently?

2012 Mani Challenge: Color Block

I did this mani challenge a couple weeks ago but forgot to post it until now. Next month I will try and space them a little bit better, but honestly, I'm just glad I got them all done! Onto the mani.

Source

This was my inspiration picture. My creativity isn't 

that great so I work best with a little inspiration.

Now onto my 2 different versions of the Color Block mani.

 No top coat on either of these photo's.

Gold: Orly - Glitz
Green: ACO - Jungle Green
Purple: L.A. Colors - Nuclear Energy
Orange: ACO - Miami Heat

I saw many different interpretations of this mani, but decided to draw my inspiration from fashion instead. To me, the Gucci version is what I immediately think of when I hear "color block" so that's what I decided to do mine like.

It's somewhat difficult to describe the polishes because of the small space they take up in this mani, but I will say that Orly Glitz is an absolutely gem of a polish. Beautiful, striking, glamorous. It applied nicely and dried quickly. The shimmer is just stunning. I really like the mix of crème and shimmer in this mani, it definitely stands out.

Color Block mani - have you tried it yet?

Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure & ACO Confetti Glitter

Good morning, lovelies. I had initially intended on posting a different mani today but I decided last night that I would save it for Blue Monday instead so I grabbed some polishes and came up with this mani. (I realize that this is another metallic gold polish, but I have been waiting since June to wear my Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure!) Without further ado, on with the mani!

2 coats of Gilty Pleasure with 2 coats of Confetti Glitter, no topcoat.

One. Single. Photo. Can you believe it? I took 3-4 but I didn't feel like they captured anything that this one didn't already showcase. Quality, not quantity ladies. ;) 

Gilty Pleasure was an easy two coats. I am trying to make my polish coats thinner so I have less issue with peeling polish and this applied like a dream: the consistency of the polish was just right. 

I wanted to jazz up Gilty Pleasure so I added one of my ACO glitter polishes (from a store called Ardene's) on top. I was unsure whether I wanted to stick with the usual ring finger as my accent nail or not and ended up polishing my middle finger instead. Kind of different - I think I like it ... hmm. I definitely like the way that the gold glitter really pulls it all together. What do you think? After looking at the end result I feel like it would have been a great New Years Eve mani. It reminds me of fireworks or, as the ACO polish name implies, confetti!

Middle fingernail as an accent nail: thumbs up or thumbs down?

Color Club Antiquated

A couple days ago I rang in the New Year wearing, as the title suggests, one of the polishes from Color Club's Foiled collection: Antiquated. I don't own many foiled/metallic shades of polish so I was very happy to find the collection at my nearest Winners. I was debating whether or not I really wanted it and then Mr.Polish* wisely said, "If you walk out of here and not buy that you will regret it forever..." He was correct. I left with the Foiled collection in hand and am surprised it took me over a month to try it out.

I will apologize beforehand ... my nails are not in any way, shape or form, excellent by anyone's standards. I figure that is another resolution of mine: GROW THEM AND KEEP THEM LOOKING AMAZING. A girl can dream, right? Also, there are some smudges, etc (plus I took this photo on day 3 of wearing it) but I really just wanted to post something for you, so take it or leave it. *giggles*

The second photo is the most colour accurate. I love how the silver shines so brightly through the champagne-like base colour -- so festive, so pretty! I added one coat of Seche Vite on top and voila!

* I've finally decided on a nickname for the husband. I think another nail blogger calls her husband/boyfriend/partner that, but we can share, right? Teeheehee.

What was the first mani you rocked in 2012?

OPI 'Who The Shrek Are You?' and a Glitterbomb

I am a fan of polish colours that some people may consider to be 'ugly'. Muddy browns, murky greens, strange oranges ... yeah, I dig them. Sometimes I get sick of the generic pink mani and want something really unique and eyebrow-raising. I love when people look at my nails and go "They're polished really nice, but the colour..." because I know I've found something that they probably haven't seen before. I'm always on the hunt for different polishes! With that in mind, today I am showing you a polish that I have been wanting since I first started seriously collecting/growing my polish collection (back in March): OPI's "Who The Shrek Are You?". 

Base colour OPI "Who The Shrek Are You?"
It's uneven in some places and the light was highly unforgiving.

Gorgeous colour. I'm in love.

Ring finger: Wet'n'Wild "The Wonder Yellows" as base colour
Sinful Colors "Call You Later"
Sally Girl mini polish - no name. Gold hex glitter & small round glitter in clear base.

As you can tell, this mani started out with all 10 fingers being 'Who The Shrek Are you?' however I tried to add something fun to my accent nails (ring fingers) and it didn't turn out the way I wanted. My initial solution was to remove the polish on those fingers and re-polish with the OPI but then I saw 'The Wonder Yellows' and voila! The final result. I applied this mani Tuesday night and I'm still wearing it. Almost 48 hours! That is almost unheard of for me now. Needless to say, I LOVE THIS! Very different and right up my alley.

What do you think - Who The Shrek Are You? - rock it or toss it?

Thanks for reading.

Inspired Mani: Flash

Is anyone familiar with the comic book character 'Flash'? Well my husband loved that comic book growing up so I did a nail look inspired by it. For all who don't know what he looks like, see below.

Source: http://www.desktoprating.com/wallpapers/flash-wallpaper.htm

Now, onto the look!

I painted all my nails, except my ring fingers with OPI "Malaga Wine". The ring fingers were polished with Wet'n'Wild Fast Dry "The Gold & The Beautiful".

I added SV (Seche Vite) on top of the gold and once it was dry I cut a piece of tape and placed it on my nail sideways. The exposed area was polished with OPI "Malaga Wine". I pulled the tape off as soon as my nail was painted.

To finish the look I used my Nail Star Two-Way Nail Art polishes in Black. I roughly outlined between the red and the gold and added my top coat. (Seche Vite)

I didn't do any clean-up before I took these pictures so I apologize for that. (*Ahem* ring finger) I figured you'd rather see this look than not at all, so I'm sure a little polish mistake won't take away from the look. :)

I hope you're all having a great Wednesday!

Thanks for reading.