Christmas #1 with a-england and CrowsToes

Merry Christmas everyone!!

I had such a nice Christmas Day yesterday. It was 29˚C in Wellington which is basically unheard of. Anyway, this is one of the Christmas manis I did before Christmas...

I loved wearing this mani. It felt so festive. a-england 'Perceval' is one of my most favourite polishes in my entire collection and I have been grabbing for it more and more lately. It seems such a perfect red for Christmas.

For the water marbling on my index and middle fingers, I used OPI 'My Boyfriend Scales Walls' and 'Perceval' with a coat of Chi Chi 'Disco Diva' on top (apparently I can't do anything without it these days). On my ring finger is a coat of CrowsToes 'Maxxed Out' (BEST CHRISTMAS GLITTER EVAH!!) and on my pinky is a coat of CrowsToes 'Hell Hath No Fury'.

As far as formula goes, 'Perceval' is about as good as it gets. For this mani, I did use 2 coats, but I have many times in the past worn it as one coat.The glitters were both great as well. I love the glitter payoff you get with all CrowsToes polishes.

Hope you are all having a safe and happy Christmas/Boxing Day. I'm off to have another family feast tonight :D

Guest Post Over on Makeup Withdrawal

Just in case you haven't already seen it, my nails are currently visiting Makeup Withdrawal. Pop on over and have a look at my guest post, my sunset gradient mani and my inspiration...

If you don't follow Mimi already, you really should be! She does fantastic makeup and nail polish posts. Plus she's just plain awesome overall :)

Blushing Nude - Takko Lacquer

OOOOhhhhhh YEA! I have finished work for the year and that means I can give my nails a much needed holiday without banging them up every day.

Today I have another GORGEOUS Takko Lacquer polish to show you. I have quite a big love for nude polishes, add some of that brilliant Takko Lacquer shimmer and this was always going to be love at first sight. This is Takko Lacquer 'Blushing Nude'...

MMMMMMMhhhhmmmmmm. I love this polish. So incredibly sophisticated and that pink shimmer gives it a perfect edge.

Polishes like this are so flattering. I feel like my fingers and nails look so elegant with this on them. The shimmer in 'Blushing Nude' is just like the other Takko Lacquer shimmers (e.g. 'Wanderlust' or 'The Electric Apple: NYC') in that it is not at all shy. The pink flash is visible in all light.



Again, like the other Takko Lacquer polishes 'Blushing Nude' was really opaque, barely needing 2 coats. It also dried really fast and slightly satiny. I found the nude colour of 'Blushing Nude' was very wearable even on my pale skin. Excuse my red cuticles (I had just pushed them back and they did NOT like that!), it is not the tone of the polish making my skin appear like a little piggy!

Takko Lacquer polishes are all vegan, 3-free and not tested on animals. They are available through Sheryl's Etsy store. Keep an eye on her blog for updates.

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.
For more information, see my disclosure policy.

A Greyscale (-ish) Christmas Mani

I have my first christmas inspired mani to show you today. It's not your usual festive red and green mani, but rather a simple greyscale(-ish) mani...

This is a bit of a representation of Christmas around the world. I wanted to do snowflakes, but as it's summer here I figured I'd better bring a bit of Kiwi Christmas into it somehow, hence the jandals. Also when I did this mani last night, there were in fact 8 days till christmas here and right now as it's still Monday in America there are still 8 days till christmas for you guys! :)
P.S. please excuse the bleeding hearts on my pinky finger. I did more than one stroke of top coat in the same place on this tiny little nail and then wrapped it like an idiot after that. Will I ever learn?

Here's a pic of 'Grey Matters' on its own. I recently bought this from Steph from Nail Juice. I really like this polish. I love the little black shimmer in it. It gives the polish a look of felt to me.


For the stamping, I used Konad Special Red and White polishes and Ulta 'Black Satin'. I also used a coat of Chi Chi 'Disco Diva' on my pinky and a coat of that and China Glaze 'Snow Globe' on my middle finger.

'Grey Matters' had a really nice formula to work with and only needed 2 easy coats for full opacity.

Guinevere - a-england

And so the war with my nails rages on... I took off another corner of my nail at work and I didn't even realize till I got home. I am at such a loss as to why they're so unhealthy at the moment. Oh well, on with my moisturising and hopefully a nice christmas break soon will do them some good. Today I have a lovely a-england polish to show you. This is 'Guinevere'...

'Guinevere' is such a wonderfully elegant dusty purple. This is such a perfect shade that has a dusty quality that sets it apart from your average mauve polish. I found that 'Guinevere' was really flattering, I really didn't want to take it off.


This polish has such an amazing formula for this pastel-ish sort of colour. One coat gave almost full coverage and I just used a second coat to even everything out a bit.

'Guinevere' can be purchased from the a-england website for £9 with free worldwide shipping.

Another look at Candeo Colors Deep Space

Hi folks.

My nails are right in the midst of their biggest fight with me EVER!! Peeling, breaking, etc and my cuticles... UGH I am moisturizing like there is no tomorrow and it's barely helping! HELP me friendly readers!

Anyway, moral of the story is that I am not loving any of my photos right now, so I thought I'd show you an update of Candeo Colors 'Deep Space' (some of you might have seen these floating about already). In my original post, I was in Wellington and all I had for lighting was the overcast sky. So I recently took some more pictures and managed to catch a glimpse of the glorious shift in 'Deep Space'...

This is one coat over a-england 'Camelot'.

I mentioned also that I thought 'Deep Space' would look good over colours other than black. So here we go...
Pinky to index = a-england 'Avalon', 'Order of the Garter', 'Saint George' and 'Holy Grail' (new version). I love 'Deep Space' over all of these. I especially like how the little blue glitters pop more over certain colours like 'Holy Grail'.

So there you go. I think this shows much more of the true potential of 'Deep Space'. This can be purchased direct from Candeo Colors or through Llarowe.

I'm off to moisturize and hope that my nails grow already!!!

Parfait Day - Lime Crime & Putting On The Ritzzz! - Dollish Polish

I have another Lime Crime for you today. I have to say, the more I wear these Lime Crime polishes, the more I am so pleased that I got the set of them. I love them so much. They are fast becoming some of my most favourite polishes. Today's Lime Crime is 'Parfait Day' with a bit of Dollish Polish 'Putting On The Ritzzz!' for good measure.

This polish is so bright and as usual with the Lime Crime polishes that I've shown you, it is pastel, but also verging on neon. The thing I love about 'Parfait Day' is that there's actually a slightly dusty feel about the pink which is unusual when it's so close to leaning neon.

This photo shows a bit more of the neon side of this cotton candy pink. I think 'Putting On The Ritzzz!' worked really well with 'Parfait Day'. I got so many comments on this combination while I was wearing it earlier in the week.


'Partfait Day' applied just like the other Lime Crime polishes that I've shown you, it dries satiny and very fast. Like them, it was also really beautifully opaque, requiring barely two coats for perfect coverage. 'Putting On The Ritzzz!' was a bit of a tricky little bugger to apply, but nothing that a good mix and a bit of patience won't help. The first coat I applied of 'Putting On The Ritzzz!' didn't give very good coverage, but as you can see, with two not very thick coats, the coverage is good in the end.


Lime Crime's are available from Harlow & Co. (and remember they have free shipping with orders over $50USD) and 'Putting On The Ritzzz!' can be purchased from Dolly's Big Cartel shop. (keep an eye on her shop updates to see what will be in the upcoming restocks and when they'll be happening).

Polish Days: Bling

It's that time again... Polish Days time. To be honest with you, I thought I had till the 6th (which would be the 7th here in NZ and suddenly I realised that the 4th was the actual date, so late last night I got to it and came up with this...

It's not really at all what I had in mind for this Polish Days, but I think it turned out ok given that it was a bit rushed. I used a-england 'Camelot' as my black base and Sally Hansen 'White On' as the white base. On the pinky finger is a couple of coats of Chi Chi 'Disco Diva' (which does NOT want to sparkle properly on camera!) and on top of that on my index finger is a coat of Cult Nails 'I Got Distracted'. I also used my little gold studs from the Born Pretty Store and some sticky little gem things that I got from the scrap booking section at The Warehouse.


Well, hopefully next time I can be a little better organised for Polish Days. Also, just to finish this little post, I would like to say congratulations to Hannah from Polly Polish and to her Mr who got her the most GORGEOUS ring that could inspire this month's theme.

P.S. this is my 100th post! WOO. Thanks to everyone who reads my little blog :)

Cinderella - Sinful Colors + Stamping

I have another installment from Mimi's last box o' treats. This time it's Sinful Colors 'Cinderella'. I have to say I was so excited to see this little lady in the box! I've been wanting 'Cinderella' ever since I first starting seeing pics of it and I am so pleased I own it now, so thanks again Mimi!!

I didn't get a pic of 'Cinderella' alone because I was in a desperate hurry to get this all finished before dinner, but you can still get a good idea of it (plus there are around 1000 photos out there already). But seriously look at that flecky, flakey, shimmery goodness would you! It's so pretty.

I found it so hard to capture the pink of the shimmer, but it actually gets amplified by the purple of the stamp. I used Ulta3 'Orchid' with LeaLaC XL - B. Not my best work, but like I said I was in a major hurry. I do like the way the purple and blue look together. I did feel a little like a princess ;)



I have heard some things about 'Cinderella', formula-wise, that weren't entirely good, but I didn't really have any trouble. It is sort of thick in that slightly foamy sort of way, but it wasn't really hard to manage at all. It's reasonably sheer and I think this was 3 thick-ish coats, worth it though! 'Orchid' stamped nicely, which I am really happy about considering it cost me $4.50 (NZD). Which reminds me, for any kiwis that don't already know, we are finally able to get our mitts on Ulta3 polish! There are a few stockists in Auckland I think, though I got mine from Quay St Pharmacy (in the Countdown).

Merman - Chi Chi & Pixie Dust - Dollish Polish

I have something that has been buried so far at the bottom of the vault that I had all but forgotten about it. Truth is, it's a gorgeous polish (two actually) that deserve to be shown off, so here we go...

First up, I am so surprised by how long my nails used to be! I never realised at the time. Weird!! (which reminds me, I hope you guys don't mind the lengths being all over the place in my photos at the moment).
Anyway... Chi chi is one of the "cheaper" brands in NZ (and by cheaper I mean ~$10-15 (I can't quite remember)). It's an Australian brand and I've never really even looked at their polishes, until I saw this little fella winking at me in Farmers one day. 'Merman' is a wonderful teal coloured polish, and as for the name, well the Zoolander lover in me kinda had to have it for this reason too...

On my middle and ring fingers, I decided to put a layer of Dollish Polish 'Pixie Dust'. I knew this would be really subtle and I was right, but I kinda like that it gives 'Merman' just the slightest shift in colour to blue at certain angles and it gives it a certain textured look that I actually quite liked. Kinda like mermaids' (mermen's??) scales.


Speaking of texture, 'Pixie Dust' is certainly not lacking in this department! She was a gritty little bugger! Luckily that doesn't really bother me too much and I just put an extra layer of top coat over it. These pictures show 3easy, thin coats of 'Merman' and one coat of 'Pixie Dust'.

I bought 'Merman' from Farmers a wee while ago, but I imagine it's still available there. I got 'Pixie Dust' from Llarowe for $11USD, but I've just looked and it doesn't appear to be available there at the moment. It's part of the Mythical Creatures set that Dolly will be restocking in her Big Cartel shop on the 5th of November though :)

Teal of Fortune - Wet n Wild & Spectral Pup - Dollish Polish

HI!

Today I have a gorgeous polish to show you, sent to me by the wonderful Mimi from MakeupWithdrawal. Mimi is amazingly talented and I learnt not too long ago that those talents include knowing exactly the kinds of polishes that I would love when I, myself, seem not to know! Mimi sent me a package of goodies that I can't get here in NZ and every single polish was so perfectly me. Anyway, let's get on with having a look at one of those beauties...

This is Wet n Wild 'Teal of Fortune'. It's a glorious blue colour with all sorts of little glass fleck pieces in it that make it shift colour, giving it a very ocean like appearance. I love the kind of flakie, glass fleck pieces in these kinds of polish. They intrigue me how they appear almost just like coarse shimmer from a distance then you see them close up and they're so much more. The depth that they give polish is what gets me every time.

I paired 'Teal of Fortune' with Dollish Polish 'Spectral Pup' from her Halloween collection. Since the moment I saw that collection, I knew I wanted that polish, but I couldn't for the life of me think of something to layer it over. I think that this combo works well together though. I love the tealy blue with the orange in 'Spectral Pup'. I should also say that this glitter glows in the dark. It actually has a fine iridescent shimmer in it too, but this is quite hard to detect in these photos. The glow is pretty strong in this, which surprised me actually. Trouble is, I have absolutely no idea how to get photos of it that actually make it look good. If I ever work it out, I'll be sure to update this post.


Both these polishes were really easy to apply. I used two coats of 'Teal of Fortune' on my ring and pinky fingers and you can see a little bit of VNL, so I added a third coat to my middle and index fingers. There is just one coat of 'Spectral Pup'. One thing I will mention is that this blue stains like mad! BUT not if you remove it like normal. My index and middle fingers were fine, no staining. My ring and pinky fingers on the other hand... they are still a hot mess! I used the tin foil method to remove the glitter and it's as though I managed to melt big streaks of blue into my nails. Only in random patches, but it's the worst staining I've ever had in my life. Moral of the story... don't soak fingers in remover with this polish on. Other than that little mishap, I really enjoyed these polishes, so thanks Mimi!!

Milky Ways - Lime Crime & Tangled Web - CrowsToes

I have lost all track of time!! It never takes me long to be completely lost as to what day it is when I'm not studying. Anyway, I keep forgetting what days to blog. Maybe I should get in the habit of scheduling posts so I don't miss them. Anyways... I have another Lime Crime and glitter combo to show you today. This time, 'Milky Ways' with 'Tangled Web' on top.

I love this polish. The slightly peachy tone makes it stand out from your usual nudey, cream polish. I really needed a bit of a palate cleanser as I had just removed a blue polish that stained worse than I've ever experienced before and 'Milky Ways'  was perfect for the job.

'Tangled Web' was one that I thought looked kind of interesting from CrowsToes halloween collection and I just bought on a whim. It has ended up being one of my favourite glitters. It's so simple but the mix of black and blue and the sizes just seem to work so well together. The blue really catches the light and sparkles like crazy. It's so eye-catching.


I used 3 thin coats of 'Milky Ways' but I think if you use thicker coats or if you're really careful with application you may be able to get it down to two coats. As with the other Lime Crime polishes, it dries really fast so you need to work fairly quickly. It also dries to a satiny finish, so top coat really makes it come alive. I used just one coat of 'Tangled Web' and it's application was really easy. There is a lot of glitter in there so you can control the coverage quite well.

I bought my Lime Crime polishes from Harlow & Co (don't forget that there's free shipping over $50USD) and I bought 'Tangled Web' from Llarowe (I have just checked and it is still available, though I don't think it will be for much longer being that it was a Halloween polish).

Tristam - a-england, with a Side of Stamping and Dots

Hi!

I have a little mani to show you that I did a fair while ago. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram (@PinpointPolish), you will have seen this while it was in progress. Basically this is inspired by a book, a recipe book to be exact. Weird I know, it's a long story, but basically it is black with white text on it and a big silver circle. This is a pretty abstract take on it, but I loved how it turned out.

For this mani I used a-england 'Tristam' and 'Bridal Veil' for the bases. For my ring finger I used Konad Special White for the stamp (BM-311) and for the dot gradient I used a-england 'Excalibur' and Rescue Beauty Lounge 'IKB:2012' (over white dots).

I love 'Tristam' so much! I really need to take some proper photos of this bad boy in all it's glory. It's such a gorgeous inky blue verging on blurple. So pretty! This was one of my first a-england loves! It is just the perfect shade of blue to me!


As usual, 'Tristam' and 'Bridal Veil' had that brilliant a-england formula that we have all grown to love. I used two coats of 'Tristam' and just one coat of 'Bridal Veil'.


a-england polishes are available from their website and are £9 with free shipping worldwide.

Lavendairy - Lime Crime & Igor - Enchanted Polish

Hi folks!!

I have finished exams and I am a little lost as to what to do with myself! It always takes me a week or so to settle into the fact that I can relax without thinking I should be studying! Anywho, tonight I have another Lime Crime to show you. This time it's 'Lavendairy' with a bit of Enchanted Polish 'Igor' to top it all off...

Just like 'Peaches ♥ Cream', 'Lavendairy' is pastel but kind of neon-ish at the same time. I have so much love for these Lime Crime polishes!!

Speaking of polishes I have lots of love for... Enchanted Polishes are definitely some of them. I kept telling myself that I didn't need any of the Halloween collection, but then I noticed some were in stock on Llarowe (that shop is so dangerous) and so I thought oh why not! Anyway... long story short, I am so glad that I picked 'Igor' up! It's difficult to see but it actually has little wee holo bits all through it too. Love love love!


'Lavendairy', like the other Lime Crimes that I've tried was so surprisingly opaque for a colour like this. It dries to a sort of satin/matte finish and it dries really fast. I used only two coats for perfect coverage. 'Igor' had really great application too. I just used one regular coat of that. Overall I love these polishes and I think the combo works really well.

Lime Crime polishes are available from Harlow & Co (don't forget that if you spend $50 you can get free shipping). I purchased 'Igor' from Llarowe, but I have just looked and I don't think it's available anymore, but check out the other Enchanted Polishes at both of these shops!

To Infinity & Beyond - Takko Lacquer

I have another Takko Lacquer polish to show you today, this time from the new collection. This is called 'To Infinity & Beyond' and it is a beauty! I have spent so long trying to whittle down to a reasonable number of photos, but I warn you now, there are still a fair few as this is a multichrome polish with about an infinity worth of different colours to it ;)

Right, let's start with the amazing purple flash of it. This is so eye catching and electric and it stands out beautifully against the dark blue/green undertones.

In the sun, 'To Infinity & Beyond' gets a slight silver cast over it. It's quite nice to see the jade and teal and purple, etc, with this silver veil over it. Plus check out that holo! It's that kind of scattered holo that appears a little linear. Does that make any sense? No? I didn't think so ;)

Very different to the look of 'To Infinity & Beyond' in the sun, in the shade or with back lighting it darkens to a dark purple or navy and at times a deep jade colour (like on my index finger).

Do not adjust your set, I promise you this is the same polish! Look at that green! At the top, you can see an almost golden hue to the green, in the middle, the gorgeous teal colour peeks through, coming down to the bottom photo where you can see a darker more mysterious green. MMMMMMMMmmmmmm Is this polish friggin' sweet or what?!

These last two photos give you an idea of how strong the shift is in 'To Infinity & Beyond'. Multichrome perfection with that added glorious touch of holo for good measure.


Sheryl, how do you keep doing it? This polish is pure deliciousness!

The formula was easy to work with. As with a lot of Takko Lacquer polishes, it was on the thick side, but totally manageable. I used two medium to thick coats and it was perfectly opaque. Again, this dries to an almost matte finish and so top coat is recommended to see all the shifty, sparkly glory.

Takko Lacquer polish is available from Etsy. I purchased 'To Infinity & Beyond' for $15USD, but I think prices vary depending on the different polishes. Keep an eye on Sheryl's Twitter for updates on restocks etc and pop over and have a look at her blog for other updates.

Polish Days: MAN-icure

My first Polish Days! I'm very excited to have finally joined up with this awesome idea. This months theme is MAN-icure in tribute to Movember. I instantly knew what my MAN-i would have to be, as it is something that I get teased about loving, due to its manly nature (according to my friends). One of my big loves in life is Formula 1, namely Sebastian Vettel.

For those of you that don't know, Vettel is the current world champion, having won the championship for the last two years in a row, so he is car number 1. The 1 on my ring finger is the one on his RB8 (car) this season. The water marble is taken from the Red Bull colours (his team).

This is a quick snap of my Red Bull cap. Unfortunately I got this before Vettel won the championship the first time so it has number 5 on it. Anyway you can see the colours of the team there nicely.

The final MAN-i that you have just seen was actually attempt number two... I originally wanted the bright yellow from the nose cone of the RB8 in the water marble, but it didn't quite work as I had wanted...

As you can see, the colours all sort of muddied together. Much as I don't hate this, I am glad I redid the two nails. I love how the F turned out in the top one anyway.


I used a whole lot of polishes for this MAN-i...
a-england - 'Excalibur' & 'Camelot'
OPI - 'Red Lights Ahead... Where', 'I'm Not Really A Waitress', 'Yoga-Ta Get This Blue', 'No Room For The Blues', 'The 'It' Color'
Nicole by OPI - 'Listen To Your Momager'
Sally Hansen - 'White On'
Konad - Special White

If you have any questions about what I used where, please leave a comment and I'd be happy to tell you more :)

For the middle finger I used LeaLaC XL - B stamping plate and for my ring and pinky finger I used striping tape to get all the lines nice and straight.

I had lots of fun doing this MAN-i and it actually served as the perfect distraction to take my mind of the pain in my tummy while I was sick :)

If you want to sign up for the next Polish Days, hop over to Polly Polish for information.

Bone Daddy - CrowsToes

I have a potential fail to show you today... I decided to try layering CrowsToes 'Bone Daddy' over something that wasn't grey. I love the look of that, but it's all I could find swatches of. Being that it's a Halloween polish and we were coming up to Halloween at the time, I thought I'd try something a little weird... So I ended up layering 'Bone Daddy' over China Glaze 'I'm With The Lifeguard'...

I ended up with two fairly thick coats of 'Bone Daddy' over top and I wish I had left it at one. I kinda love how weird it is, but I'm still a little on the fence...

I love the little blue flashing glitter in this polish! It's really eye-catching. I think this blue plays kind of well against the green... the grey jelly base of 'Bone Daddy' just nicely toned down 'I'm With The Lifeguard'.


So, as I said at the top, potential fail, but I somehow dig it... I had lots of comments about it, so it certainly made people notice haha. What do you think? I like playing with weird combo's with my glitters and pairing things that you might not think would suit. Sometimes it just works better than others ;)

I purchased Bone Daddy from Llarowe for $13USD and I've just seen that there's heaps of CrowsToes in stock (including 'Bone Daddy') right now!

Peaches ♥ Cream - Lime Crime & Bejeweled - KB Shimmer

Hello!

Hope everyone is having a happy Halloween? I am not so much... If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen that 15 mins before my biochem exam today, I had an ovarian cyst rupture. Not the best timing let me tell you! Luckily they could get some morphine into me at the doctors so I didn't have to go to hospital this time :) Anyway the moral of the story is, I am currently in bed in a fair amount of pain, so I might just keep this short and sweet.

I didn't do a Halloween mani, as I just haven't had time, but what I have to show you is orange at least. And never mind that, the polishes today are freaking GORGEOUS!!! On the bottom = Lime Crime 'Peaches ♥ Cream'... Also this is the debut of my nubs on the blog, since I gave 'em all the chop due to my middle finger peeling like no ones business. I am actually kinda loving this length. I'm gonna let them get a bit longer, but these are nice and easy to manage. What do you guys think?

'Peaches ♥ Cream' is a right little bugger to photograph. This is not quite colour correct, but it's about as close as I could get. It's a little bit whiter if that makes any sense. It reminds me of sherbet. There is top coat only on my top two fingers and you can see that it dries ever so slightly matte without top coat.

Then this happened. This is KB Shimmer 'Bejeweled'. I saw this on Chalkboard Nails and knew that I had to get it. Boy-oh-boy am I glad I did. It is delicious! The coppery gold glitters get a little lost in these pics, but I am LOVING this combo. These polishes were just sitting together on the table after they arrived and it was actually The Boy who said "you have to wear them together". Man does he have good taste or what?!

So formula-wise... Brilliant. Two fantastically opaque coats of 'Peaches ♥ Cream' with a thin coat of 'Bejeweled' on top.

I got these both from Harlow & Co. KB Shimmers are $9USD and Lime Crimes are $8.50USD or get the whole set of 7 for $49 (I may or may not have done this after trying this one!). AND I have just checked and all the Lime Crimes are currently in stock so GO GO GO! And the bonus of it all... Free shipping if you spend $50 :)

Royal - Revlon & a bit o' stamping with Rare and Radiant - China Glaze...

How are you all? Kiwi's - how are exams going? Mine start on Monday and I'm currently in hibernation, only I'm studying all day every day instead of sleeping... I have a quick post today of a mani that I did with a couple of polishes that I received in my AMAZING package from Mimi...

This is Revlon 'Royal' stamped with China Glaze 'Rare and Radiant'. I used my new LeaLaC XL - B stamping plate (which I absolutely love).

This was fairly subtle in lower light but it really popped in the sun. It was so hard to photograph though, especially the multichrome effect of 'Rare and Radiant'.

I absolutely love 'Royal' and I'm so glad that Mimi got it for me. I love the way it looks with 'Rare and Radiant' too. 'Royal' was so easy to use. I can't remember for sure, but I think I used three thin coats. In these pics you can see a tiny bit of VNL, but that really wasn't obvious at all in real life.

The stamping plate is not currently available, as far as I can find, but I got it from Llarowe. Hopefully they'll reappear on the site sometime soon.

Sneeze Breeze - The Hungry Asian

I am currently DROWNING in exam study so the next few posts might be a little shorter. Also I have a problem child right now, by way of my middle finger on my right hand (the one you see) that has decided to have the peeling tantrum of all time and started to grow out a bit weird. So today, I've had to chop them all! Shortest they've been in years. It feels so strange to feel my fingertip above my nail! Oh well, a bit of TLC and hopefully they'll be up and growing in no time.

Today I have the wonderful 'Sneeze Breeze' from The Hungry Asian...

'Sneeze Breeze' is a mixture of blue and black matte glitter in a clear base. So simple and yet absolutely freaking amazing!

To me, 'Sneeze Breeze' is like summer in a bottle. It's so vibrant and happy looking. I love it. As you can see, it's quite dense. I used two pretty thick coats and it was fairly opaque, but I have one coat of OPI 'No Room For The Blues' (speaking of gorgeous polishes) underneath.


This also happened to be the first time I tried using PVA glue as a base coat. This is such a genius idea and I love whoever thought of it! If you want to read more about PVA glue as a base, hop on over to Lab Muffin or Pretty Purple Polish. I'm not sure who originally came up with this idea (if anyone knows, please let me know so I can put a link), but I looked at the two blogs that I've linked. Also the lovely Kirsten from Glitta Gloves gave me some handy hints on Twitter (thanks!!). Anyway, all in all, the PVA glue as a base coat thing was a HUGE success!! So easy and makes me want to wear glitter every day of my life. Granted, I don't think the wear time was as good as normal for me personally, but it just means I can effortlessly change my glitter more often :) (and when I say not as good, it still happily lasted a couple of days, so not bad at all).

For those of you who haven't seen it in action, this is what it looks like when peeled. The first hand broke up a lot, but the second hand I just ran under warm water for a minute and they peeled off so easily in one piece (going from the cuticle end always).