China Glaze Galactic Grey & YCC 114

I decided to do a holographic manicure today with a holographic accent nail.  For the main manicure I used China Glaze Galactic Grey from the Hologlam collection and then I added an accent nail of YCC 114 on my ring finger.

The lovely Claire from Nuthin but a nail thing sent me my YCC polish but you can buy it at Millennium Nails should you wish to.

Look at the holographic glittery goodness!  This polish is so sparkly and holographic and it's packed with glitter.

The downside is that I really struggled to get this polish to dry, I did two coats and then top coat and they were not for drying at all, although the top layer set underneath the polish was still super squidgy and moving about. 

So I added a coat of Seche Vite and sat very still for about half an hour... still squidgy underneath but solid on top now, so I gave up and carried on with my day which could explain why the edges of the glitter accent nail looked a little bashed, or it could be the horrible shrinkage I always get with Seche Vite, who knows, either way it's not exactly perfect.

I love the effect this glitter gives but the drying time was awful, I'd love to use it for a full manicure but I'm not sure I have the patience to wait for it to dry!

Have you used any YCC polishes, how do you find them for drying time?

Stamped Running In Circles

I did a very quick stamp over the top of yesterday's glitter base using Kiko Mirror Nail Lacquer in green, I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out considering it only took 5 minutes.

 

 

Yet again, I can't stress enough how well the Kiko Mirror Nail Lacquers stamp, if you like stamping then definitely get your hands on some!

 

You can see another example of the Mirror polishes stamping here.

China Glaze - Running In Circles

I had a sudden urge to wear Running In Circles when I was painting my nails last night, you've seen it before here, so here it is:

I'm still loving this polish, it's such a bright, fresh green colour.

Application is great too, this is two coats.

Perfect for spring, pity the Scottish weather doesn't feel the same way!

Kiko 378 with Full Spectrum Accent Nail.

Not a huge amount to say about today's NOTD, I just fancied using 378 as it's such a pretty heathery sort of colour, but then I spotted Full Spectrum and couldn't resist a sparkly accent nail.

Both polishes are two coats.

I'd forgotten how pretty Full Spectrum was I think I might need to give it a full manicure outing soon.

China Glaze - When Stars Collide

I have the second of my Hologlam picks for you today (I already showed Strap on your Moonboots previously), When Stars Collide, this one is a gorgeous deep maroon sort of shade.

 

It's not a really in your face, vivid holo effect like the OMG collection but it is super pretty!  These pictures are all 3 coats.

 

 

Under bright indoor lighting you can really see the holographic effect in action.

 

Unfortunately I can't comment on how good it looks under direct sunlight as it's Glasgow, it's February and sunlight is in short supply.

 

 

 In low light it takes on a lovely silvery hint, I assume from all those holographic particles that are crammed in there.

What I really love about this polish is that it's also so pretty when the holographic effect isn't so obvious, it's a lovely warm plum shade which is really given some depth by the holographic particles even when they aren't out in full force.

 

 

When I first put this on I immediately though that my mum would adore it, she's not one for very bold colours but this is such a classic shade that's it's wearable by anyone but it also has a little extra depth and edge added by the gorgeous holographic effect.

China Glaze - Hologlam - Strap on your Moonboots

 

Today I have one of the new China Glaze Hologlam polishes to show you, I mentioned the two I bought previously here, this post features the blue one; Strap on your Moonboots.

 

 

I really like this polish, although it's not a very holographic look like the OMG collection it is pretty and you can definitely see the holographic element of the polish, especially under fluorescent lighting.

 

What I also like is that even in dull natural lighting the polish is a great colour, it's a sort of steely silvery blue, reminiscent of denim.

 

So even when the full holographic goodness isn't showing it's still a really nice colour to wear.

 

In bright light the polish looks like a royal blue holo, very pretty!

 

Due to it being February in Scotland I can't comment on how it looks in direct sunlight, we haven't had direct sunlight up here for about 6 months! ;)  But if the look under artificial lights is anything to go by I think this one might be a winner in the real sunshine!

China Glaze - Running in Circles

The second polish I chose from the Cirque du Soleil collection by China Glaze today, Running in Circles.

 

 

I LOVE this polish, it's a perfect green glitter, these pictures show three coats but two would definitely have been adequate.

 

In some lights the polish looks like it's just green but in other lights there are golden yellow flecks which change to colour of the polish slightly and make it seem almost duochrome under some lights.

 

It's got a lovely foily glitter finish and would be perfect for Christmas manicures, not that I'll be able to hold off until December to wear it again.

 

It applied beautifully and has really excellent coverage from a glitter, it's definitely going straight on my favourites list. <3 p="">

China Glaze - It's a Trapeze

Today I have It's a trapeze to show you, I mentioned it in this post but today I have full, proper swatches of it.  These pictures are 3 coats over a base layer of Barry M white.

 

 

I really love this polish, it has such an indie feel to it with all the different coloured glitter in the milky white jelly base. 

 

It applies nicely but as with most glitters it looks better dabbed on rather than painted on normally as it lets you move the glitter around a bit more. 

 

 

 It reminds me of some sort of birthday cake or the little chocolate pennies with hundreds and thousands you used to get in a 10p mix up.

 

Next time I think I will try it without the base colour to see just how opaque it is, if it's as pretty as it is over the white I'll be very pleased. <3 p="">

China Glaze Hologlam Collection Picks

China Glazes OMG Holographic collection are probably some of the best loved polishes in the nail world, unfortunately they seem to have been a one off and later holographic collections for China Glaze have never been quite so spectacular.

 

So, although I didn't have hugely high hopes for the Hologlam Collection the choice of colours meant that I couldn't resist picking up a couple of bottles to try.  I chose When Stars Collide, a deep maroon / burgundy shade and Strap On Your Moonboots a sort of dark royal blue.

 

 

The colours look beautiful in the bottle but not very holographic, even under bright light.

 

I love the colours and since I'm not expecting them to be the amazing in your face holo goodness of the OMG collection I don't think they will be disappointing on the nail, keep your eyes peeled later in the week for manicures done with both new colours.

 

Have you picked up any of the Hologlam collection yet?

China Glaze Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away Collection Picks

Ever since I saw the first promo pictures of this collection I knew there was one polish I HAD to have, It's a Trap-eze.  It's a Trap-eze is a milky jelly white colour packed full of multicoloured glitter pieces in various sizes, it's very similar to a lot of Indie Brands polishes, here's a bottle shot to show you what enticed me to check out the collection:

 

 

While I was looking at swatches I also fell for the gorgeous glittery green foil, Running in Circles, so I decided to grab it too:

None of the other polishes in the collection really appealed to me so I decided to be good and stop at the two that I really loved.  I ordered them from BeautyZone2007 on eBay.

 

 

Here are a couple of very quick swatches of the colours, hopefully I'll have full manicures of them both to post very soon, I can't wait to try them out.

 

Have you ordered any colours from the Cirque du Soleil Collection?

Octa-gone Wild!

I decided to break out a holo today and went with the dusky lilac Octa-gone Wild from China Glaze, here it is in natural light, quite plain, not very holo but pretty none the less:

 

And here is with flash, showing a little more of it's holo side:

 

The rest of the pictures show my nails under bright fluorescent lights, as you can see the holo side really shows well in this sort of light, which is just as well because in January in Glasgow there is no direct sunlight to show it off in!

 

This polish is part of the Kaleidoscope collection that China Glaze brought out a few years back, the colours are not quite such in your face holographic as the OMG range but I still really like them.

 

Unfortunately they don't wear brilliantly and you can already see some tip wear in these shots, since they were taken after a day of work there is more tip wear and the odd little chip which is a bit frustrating.  I always end up forgiving holographic polishes for their crappy wear time though because they are so pretty when you wear them. <3 p="p">

Blue Bells Ring

Today's polish is China Glaze Blue Bells Ring, part of their holiday collection for this year.  I was actually sent this polish by mistake when I made an eBay order recently but the seller let me keep it as it was sent incorrectly so technically it's a freebie.  It's a beautiful polish and I do really like it but I already have a very similar one, in the form of OPI Swimsuit, Nailed It.

 

 

 

It's a perfect winter blue, deep foily shine and a frosty silver blue colour. It's also a one-coater! I applied two in these photos but one would have been fine as it was totally opaque after the initial coat.

 

 

As you can see it's a beautifully foily finish, I am guessing this polish would stamp beautifully so I will definitely give that a go in the near future.

 

 

I really like this polish, although I wouldn't have chosen to order it myself due to a dupe in my collection if you are after a bright wintery foil blue then I definitely recommend this one!