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Tag Archives: Glitter

Shimmer Polish Bella

February 8, 2014
Dior Vernis, Glitter, Nailpolish, Obsessed, Shimmer Polish
10 Comments

As some of you who follow my social media streams may know, I’ve been a little quiet lately… unfortunately I lost my father a few days ago. The only positive in his passing is that he did not suffer long; he was diagnosed with a very aggressive and advanced cancer that would have destroyed his insides. It is a rotten disease that needs a cure; a cure that must, in our advanced society, surely be forthcoming. I also want to thank you for the many wishes and condolences you have sent our way…

 

Moving on to happier things, I wanted to introduce you to the beautiful Bella from Shimmer Polish! I recently reached out to Cindy to create a custom Shimmer… something vampy but different from her other vamps that I love. She came up with this beauty, a black jelly base with tons of burgundy glitter, hints of silver, and reflections of gold and red in sunlight. I asked Cindy to name it after my beautiful Doberman-mix Bella.

Bella’s black jelly base is quite sheer, so I layered it over the gorgeous crelly Dior Vernis Nuit 1947 to maintain the jelly qualities I so love. I used only one coat of the Dior, and added two thin coats of Shimmer Polish Bella, topped with two coats of top coat:

Shimmer_Bella

Look at this beautiful macro (click to see full size pic):

Shimmer_Bella_Macro

What do you think of my gorgeous Bella?

Get your very own Shimmer Polish here. Follow Shimmer Polish on Facebook to participate in their contests and see more gorgeous photos and new creations, and follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

~xo

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Colors by Llarowe – Tribute to Michael Jackson Part 2

September 5, 2013
Colors by Llarowe, Holos, Nailpolish, Obsessed
3 Comments

If you liked yesterday’s post showing two of the new Colors by Llarowe Tribute to Michael Jackson collection, you will love today’s review!

Cbl_MJColl

Much like Smooth Criminal, Dirty Diana is another stunning linear holo, this time in a magenta shade. Hot, yet with a slight subtleness to it, Dirty Diana is gorgeous! I used two easy coats for the photos, no top coat. Application, by the way, was a breeze with this perfectly-flowing, self-levelling polish.

With flash:

Cbl_DirtyDiana2

In natural light:

Cbl_DirtyDiana

Is that not pretty?

Man in the Mirror is described as a dense silver microglitter with holo microglitter, and it is so dense it can be a full coverage glitter in two coats. What a perfect name for this polish… perfect for the song and reminiscent of MJ’s silver glove. I used it as a gradient over Dirty Diana. Perfection:

Cbl_DirtyDiana_ManMirror

And of course, I have to throw in a macro (feel free to click and enlarge the pic):

Cbl_DirtyDiana_ManMirror_Macro

The tiny glitter in Man in the Mirror is so hard to capture! It is much more holographic and sparkly in real life! SImply gorgeous.

I’ll be showing you more of the Tribute to MJ polishes over the coming days!

The collection launched on August 17th and is currently mostly sold out, but make sure you head over to Llarowe’s shop for all the restock news!
All Colors by Llarowe polishes are 3-free and cruelty free, and come in a 15 ml square bottles with easy-to-open rubber-grip cap. Don’t forget to follow Llarowe on Facebook, Pinterest and on Instagram!

Which of the MJ Tribute polishes is your favourite so far?

~xo

(Products were provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Shimmer Polish Gerry (and a beauty named Elaine!)

September 2, 2013
A-England, Nail Art, Nailpolish, Obsessed, Shimmer Polish
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Happy Labour Day Monday!

Today I have a gorgeous, glittery mani for you, and I hope you love it as much as I did. I think I wore this for a week, never tiring of it and always catching myself staring at its sparkly beauty… It truly is gorgeous. I was in the mood for purple when I created this look. 🙂

The base for my glitter gradient was the stunning A England Elaine, a regal purple creme with an insane shine. I’ve used Elaine before (and worn it many times!) and I knew it would be perfect. I used two coats but Elaine can be almost a one-coater:

AEnglandElaineIs that not a perfect, slightly dusty purple?

In order to retain some of the beauty of Elaine, I decided to apply a gradient of Shimmer Polish Gerry, a sparkly mix of violet and blue glitter with some red, black and silver glitters dispersed throughout. If you know Shimmer Polish (and if you don’t, what are you waiting for! See some of my posts here), you know that Shimmer creates some sparkly ultra-fine glittery gems.

Look at how beautiful this purple glitter gradient turned out:

ShimmerPolishGerry_ElaineI love the above pic in the shade – makes Elaine look so vampy while Gerry looks like it’s floating on the nail surface. (Where’s my polish remover… I think I know what mani to do next!)

Here it is in the sun:

ShimmerPolishGerry_Elaine2

And a macro shot (because I love macros so much):

ShimmerPolishGerry_Elainemacro

Get your very own Shimmer Polish here. Be sure to like Shimmer on Facebook to participate in their contests and see more gorgeous photos and new creations!

I usually purchase A England from Nail Polish Canada or from their US stockist Llarowe (but please check out A England’s site to see their other stockists as well).

So what did you think of my regal purple mani?

~xo

(Some product provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2013

July 29, 2013
Blogging, Nail Art, Nailpolish, Obsessed, piCture pOlish
16 Comments

Celebrating the Year of the Blogger!

ppblogfest

Today is piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2013, and I am so happy to announce that I was once again able to participate in this world-wide blogger event!

This year was a little bit different than last year’s Blog Fest, with it celebrating bloggers and all we do. (Thank you, piCture pOlish!) And with that, this year’s challenge was to create the most ‘amazing nail art manicure ever’ using three piCture pOlish shades. My three shades are:

  • O’Hara, a gorgeous bright red crelly (cream/jelly) scattered holographic,
  • Electric Blue, a vampy midnight blue cream with a gorgeous blue shimmer ribbon through it,
  • and Ruby Blou, a red, white and blue glitter in a clear base.

All Blog Fest 2013 participants will be entered into the Blog Fest Awards to be eligible to win the incredible prize of creating a collaboration shade with piCture pOlish in 2014!!! There will be three winners, voted on by going to the special Pinterest Blog Fest 2013 board, with one voted on by piCture pOlish friends and fans, another voted on by all Blog Fest 2013 participants (bloggers), and a final award as selected by Jules and Megs, the creators of piCture pOlish! How incredible is that!

Without further ado, here is my creation using O’Hara, Electric Blue and Ruby Blou:

pp_blogfest_1

pp_blogfest_macro

Having recently discovered a knack for (and love of) gradients, I took the risk of using the two bright and contrasting shades of Electric Blue and O’Hara in a sponged-on gradient, with a sparkly finish.

Now let’s look at how I created my piCture pOlish Blog Fest nail art!

1. Start by selecting your polishes for your gradient mani:

pp_blogfest2013_1polishes

2. Then gather all necessary tools. In my case, I laid out some foil over my work surface, a sponge (or two), a brush for clean-up, and an orangewood stick, if you require:

pp_blogfest2013_2prep

3. Apply base coat and paint your nails a base colour. I chose white as my clean, bare canvas:

pp_blogfest2013_3white

4. Once your white coat is dry, you can begin sponging! Using your foil work surface, drop your two polish shades (in my case, O’Hara and Electric Blue) side by side, almost touching. To better allow my contrasting colours to fade into each other, I added a drop of white between the two polishes to soften the edges. See photo.
You can blend the polish drops into each other slightly by using a toothpick, if you wish.
Now gently touch your sponge to the polish, and sponge onto your first nail. You may need to repeat multiple times on one nail in order to fully cover it.

pp_blogfest2013_4prepspng

5. Repeat sponging each nail until your nails are fully covered with the gradient, and you should have something like this when you’re finished:

pp_blogfest2013_5afspg

6. Now the clean-up: dip your brush (I like to use a short, firm brush) into nail polish remover, dab on a paper towel to remove excess, and start wiping the edges of your nails and fingers to remove the polish. This is the most time-consuming part of a gradient mani, so be patient. Wipe your brush on your paper towel every few wipes to remove any colour, then dip and wipe again.

7. Add a coat of top coat to bring back the shine to your polish. (You can skip this step if adding a clear-base glitter, like I did.)

8. Add your chosen glitter polish, in my case, the spectacular, sparkly Ruby Blou.

9. Add a coat of quick-drying top coat…

…and voila!

pp_blogfest_macro

As a final touch, taking a cue from Adele’s Louboutin-inspired tips, I decided to paint the underside of my nails in O’Hara:

pp_blogfest_Louboutin_insp

What do you think of my nail art?

Don’t forget to follow piCture pOlish on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram, and check out their new YouTube channel! To get any of the shades used here (or other piCture pOlish and Ozotic polishes) check out the piCture pOlish Network page. You can also buy direct from them! Check out their Shipping page for more info. And make sure to check out their Everyday Deals page to find daily deals!

(disclaimer from piCture pOlish re Blog Fest Awards: bloggers that have already produced a collaboration shade are exempt from winning a prize this year, to make it fair to all participants and provide a chance for other bloggers.)

~xo

 

Feel free to add your Blog Fest 2013 mani to the list and grab the code to add it to your blog!

Shimmer Polish Lorene

July 6, 2013
Jelly, Nailpolish, Obsessed, Shimmer Polish
6 Comments

Happy weekend!

I’m in a bit of a shimmery mood so today I have another gorgeous Shimmer Polish for you: Lorene! This one is described as a “Raspberry Mix” – a perfect description for this berry-coloured polish. The base is a deep berry colour, filled with tons of multi-hued glitter. The primary glitter colours that stand out are turquoise, magenta and lilac, accented with gold hexes. Like most Shimmers, the jelly base is great for layering, but I really wanted to wear Lorene on its own.

Here are 3 coats of Lorene with a coat of Gelous and a coat of top coat:

Shimmer_Lorene

 

 

 

Look at this gorgeous macro shot of Lorene (click on the pic to see more glittery detail!):

Shimmer_LoreneMacro

 

Get your very own Shimmer Polish here. Be sure to like them on Facebook to participate in their contests and see more gorgeous photos!

Do you own any Shimmers?

~xo

 

 

 

(Some product provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Shimmer Polish Taylor

July 5, 2013
Jelly, Nailpolish, Obsessed, Shimmer Polish
1 Comment

Happy Friday!!

Today I have another gorgeous Shimmer Polish for you, an absolutely loaded-with-glitter indie brand that has perfected the art of multichromatic glitter bombs. If you have never tried a Shimmer… well, just wait and see…

Taylor is a deep red jelly loaded with tiny shimmers in green, purple and red. Much like some of my favourite vampy Shimmers (see Mary, Karina, Marilyn), Taylor’s gorgeous wine-coloured jelly base allows the glitters to be suspended, seemingly in mid-air (mid-polish?), creating a jelly-sandwich-in-a-bottle! J’ADORE Taylor!!!!!!

Enough chat… look at this amazing polish, 3 beautiful coats with a coat of Gelous to smooth the glitter, and a final coat of China Glaze Fast Forward top coat:

Shimmer_Taylor

 

I love the contrast of red and purple glitters in this wine-coloured base, colours you normally wouldn’t think to put together. And like most jelly glitters, you can wear Taylor alone or over a base colour, like a black.

Look at this macro of Taylor… sigh…

Shimmer_TaylorMacro

And another, slightly lighter macro for you to drool over:

Shimmer_TaylorMacrolt

 

You can find Shimmer Polish here. Be sure to like them on Facebook to participate in their contests and see more gorgeous photos!

So do you love it nearly as much as me?

~xo

 

 

 

(Some product provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

 

Candeo Zef

June 29, 2013
Candeo Colors, Matte, Nailpolish, Nicole by OPI, Obsessed
10 Comments

Hope you’re having a great long weekend so far if you’re in Canada!

I wanted to share with you a supercute and girly mani today… something simple but perfect for summer! The glitter polish I used was from Candeo Colors, a US-based indie brand that I’ve unfortunately not had a ton of experience with. I have worn only two other Candeos (see them here), both glittery, colourful polishes, and Zef is no different in that aspect.

Candeo Zef is a matte glitter polish. It is filled with small black, blue and pink matte hexes, medium pink matte squares and black hexes in a clear base with some matte large blue hex glitters. I simply love pink and black together! Throw in my favourite colour blue… well, this is a gorgeous bottle, let’s put it that way!

The base colour I used is one of my recent favourite pinks – Nicole by OPI’s Still into Pink, a truly outstanding hot pink lacquer that is also matte! (You must see this post, if you haven’t yet!) Still into Pink lights up when paired with shiny top coat, and Candeo Zef looked luminescent overtop!

Artificial light:

Candeo_Zef_NOPI_Pink2

 

Natural light:

Candeo_Zef_NOPI_Pink

 

 

Candeo Colors are available on Candeo’s website, and used to be available from Llarowe though I am not sure if she still has Zef. Don’t forget to follow Candeo Colors and Llarowe on Facebook!

~xo

 

(Some product provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

 

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