Maybelline Color Show - Street Artist Top Coat

I saw this new, to me, range in Superdrug the other day on offer - buy one get one half price - and couldn't resist picking up a couple.  I chose White Splatter and Alley Attitude.

 

 

Today I have pictures of White Splatter, the polish on the left.  It's a clear base full of different sized and shaped glitter.  There are various sizes of hexagonal glitter, some long strands and some tiny tiny pieces which look like glitter specks.  The colours are a mix of purple, blue, green and white.  I decided to try it out over a light purple base (Kiko 331).

 

 

These pictures show just one coat which I think you'll agree gave great coverage.  Although you have to dab the glitter on rather than brush it on like you would a regular polish one dip into the bottle and dab on the nail leaves you with tonnes of sparkly pieces on the nail.

 

You could probably build up a few layers for a more 3D glitter look but I think it's rather lovely with just the one coat, it definitely lives up to it's graffiti name, to me it looks like paint splatters on the nail, I can't wait to try it out over other base colours too.

No7 Disco Ball

I picked up this No7 polish using a money off voucher last week, it's one half of a current collection of glitter top coats, Sun Rays which I showed you previously is the other.

 

 

I don't think Disco Ball is the best name for this polish, yes it's sparkly but it's not the most sparkly polish I've ever seen and to me a disco ball would be pure silver whereas this polish has a sort of lilac lean to it and almost blue toned glitter pieces depending on the light.

 

It applied nicely and although it's supposed to be a top coat it's fully opaque in three coats, you might even get away with two if you were careful.  Unfortunately it's chippy, large pieces peel off the nail fairly fast which makes this a night out polish rather than one to wear for any length of time.

 

Kiko - Digital Emotion - 440 - Electron Blue

Electron Blue is another polish from the Digital Emotion Collection which was Kiko's Christmas release last year, I've posted about the others from the collection already and today is the turn of my fourth purchase.

 

It's nice and glittery but it's not as holographic as the others in the collection which is a bit of a shame.  It's still a pretty shade though and does have nice sparkle.

 

The polish covers well in two to three coats, you can generally get away with 2 but adding the third means you get a more 3D look to the layers of glitter.

 

 

 

Kiko - 437 - Intuitive Pink

Intuitive Pink is a polish from the Digital Emotion Collection, Kiko's Christmas Collection for 2013 and for me it is by far the winner from the 6 polishes released, I only have 4 of the 6 but I am willing to bet I couldn't love the two I don't have any more than I love this.

 

 

Intuitive Pink is rammed full of pink and holographic glitter pieces, I used a pale pink base but alone it would easily cover in three coats, maybe two.  It's impossible to capture how super sparkly it is in photos, particularly these photos which I took while feeling very delicate on Boxing Day.

 

This was my Christmas Day manicure, I'm a little late posting it - I know - I was hoping to have something much more festive and fancy but as it was I was so busy on Christmas Eve that I decided just chucking on something quick but sparkly was the way to go.

 

I'm pleased I did because I loved having this polish on, so much so that I have been struggling not to put it back on for the last week, it's so gorgeous and glittery and holographic in person that it's hard to stop looking at it, hopefully next time I wear it I might manage to get a slightly better representation in picture form to show you.  In the meantime if you like it then grab it quick, Digital Emotion is a LE collection so it won't be around forever.

 

Models Own - Scarlet Sparkle

I posted the other day about my Top 10 Festive Nail Essentials and mentioned this polish, it really is one of my favourite reds for Christmas time so I figured it was about time it made it's debut for this year's festive manicure season.

 

 

It really is the perfect Christmas red, although that doesn't mean you shouldn't wear it all year round, the base is a red gelly packed full of red glitter particles.  It's super shiny and the tinted gelly base means you don't have any issues with your nail showing through under the glitter.

 

You can get away without a base colour but I quite like to do a red base first and then a couple of coats of the gorgeous red glitter over the top, I used Kiko 238 under this manicure and then added two coats of Models Own over the top. 

 

The pictures really don't so this polish justice, in real life it really glows and sparkles, a bit like Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers might.

 

Green & Gold Glitter

 

Today's festive finger colours come from Kiko, 441 Illusion Green from the Digital Emotion Collection, and No7, Sun Rays.  Sun Rays is a limited edition polish, I think, it's sold on the Boots website, HERE.  If you see it in store grab it, it's a goody!  Totally opaque golden glitter in just two coats!

 

 

Illusion Green is a perfect Christmas green; bright and sparkly the base is a gelly type texture (meaning you really do need three coats unless you're using a base colour) jam packed full of tiny circle and strand holographic glitter.  It's SO sparkly in real life the pictures just don't do it justice.

 

Both polishes applied well and feel relatively smooth with a quick coat of top coat.  I love the combination of green and gold, it's sort of reminds me of a decorated Christmas tree, especially since it's so sparkly.

 

I think these lovely glitters could be just the thing to add a few stickers too, or maybe some stamping?  Stand by tomorrow to see what I decide to go with!

Kiko Sugar Mat - 457 - Royal Blue

Another of the gorgeous Kiko Sugar Mats today, this is Royal Blue, 457, from the Digital Emotion limited edition box set which was released for Christmas.

 

457 is the perfect icy winter blue.

 

 

A bright vibrant blue textured base packed full of lighter blue, lilac and even some pink glitter pieces, this polish is properly gorgeous and ideal for the festive season if you want a break from the standard red green and gold.

 

Application with this polish was slightly more of an issue than usual, generally the Sugar Mats are totally opaque in two coats and dry super fast, Royal Blue is a bit sheerer though and needed 3 coats which then took a bit longer to dry - which is why there is a dink out of my index finger. ;)  The application was still good though just not as super fast as the other Sugar Mats.

 

You can really see the shimmer in the picture above where the camera hasn't focused perfectly, it's so pretty in person and really adds something extra to the textured finish.

Yes Love - Coloured Speckled - Swatches

I was (still am, really) planning on doing Christmas manicures all through December like I did last year but somehow the start of the month has sort of sneaked up on me and I'm not really ready for it!  So, before I launch into a month of more festive themed nails I have yesterday's Speckled polishes on my nails to show you. 

 

Although these polishes are far from Christmasy I couldn't resist trying these out after I received them, there was no way they could wait until the new year to get an outing.

 

 

I couldn't quite make up my mmind which to use first so I decided to just try them all out as they're nicely compatible pastel shades.

 

These pictures are just two coats of polish, it applies really nicely and there wasn't too much need to poke about and reposition the glitter which is quite often a problem with this sort of polish.

 

In the bottle the blue was my favourite but since trying them on my nails I have fallen in love with the green, it's just SO pretty, although I do still love the blue and peach too.  I can't wait to try these out as full manicures and have a go stamping over them too, I think they'll be a great base for stamping designs so look out for that in the future.



Kiko - Digital Emotion - Christmas Collection 2013

Every year Kiko bring out a Christmas collection, although often it's not obviously Christmas themed.  Last year there was Dashing Holidays, this year we have Digital Emotion.  As well as a whole host of lovely make up products the line features 6 gorgeous new glitter nail polishes.

 

Since I was already ordering the new Sugar Mat gift set and the minimum order on Kiko's UK site is £25 it seemed silly not to add a couple of the new collection polishes to the order too, just to make up the total, obviously...

 

I like that Kiko don't always do a traditional holiday collection but they do tend to have some colours with a festive sort of  theme to them, this years selection is no different.  The six polishes available from the new collection are:

 

437 Intuitive Pink

438 Fascinating Burgundy

439 Cyber Red

440 Electron Blue

441 Illusion Green

442 Techno Black

 

All 6 are bright glitter packed jellies and there's definitely a festive feel to most, if not all, of them.  I was very reserved and only ordered Intuitive Pink, Electron Blue, Illusion Green and Techno Black so look out for some swatches of them in a post very soon.

 

 

2True - Sequins - Naomi

Another textured polish today, I'm getting slightly obsessed I think.  Today's is Naomi from the Sequins range by 2True.

 

 

Naomi is a beautiful blueish purple shade filled with gorgeous sparkly sequins like pieces of glitter, these pictures are two coats, both of which applied easily and dried quickly.

 

I really love this polish, it's so pretty and perfect for cold crisp winter days, it looks like some sort of icy glittery snow affair, definitely one I am keen to stamp over.

Maybelline - Brocades - Foil Flash

A second Brocade to show you today this time Foil Flash which looks very silver in the bottle, however on the nail there is a distinctly golden flash to it, as you can see in the photo below.

 

 

These pictures are 3 coats although two would probably have done as it's quite an opaque polish.  The base is a shifting silver gold colour made up of tiny glitter particles and then there are larger silver hex glitter too.

 

 

Like it's sister polish from the same collection, Knitted Gold, Foil Flash is super foily and sparkly, another brilliant polish for the upcoming holidays

Maybelline Brocades - Knitted Gold

Maybelline in the US have a page on their website about these polishes but as far as I can tell we only get 4 in the UK and they seem to have different names. :)

 

I picked up two, the first of which I have to show you today, Knitted Gold.

 

 

First up, this polish was a bugger to photograph, it's so foily and shiny that it's almost impossible to get a decent picture of it, I'll forgive Maybelline this though as the impossible to photograph foil finish is gorgeous on your nails; super, super sparkly and foil like this is definitely the sort of polish I will be bringing out around the festive season.

 

These pictures are three thin coats and it covers pretty well for a glitter polish, the polish is made up of a sheer base crammed full of minuscule golden glitter particles and two sizes of larger pink hex glitter.  Application was pretty easy, it goes on nicely and doesn't require too many coats.

 

I added a couple of layers of top coat to fully smooth it out.  The wear time is pretty good, I have one annoying chip on my index finger but other than that it seems to have held up pretty well which isn't always the case with glitter formulas.

 

All in a very pretty polish and super sparkly, ideal for festive parties.

Sparkly Haul

I had some Advantage Card points to spend so I decided to take advantage of Boots 3 for 2 offers and pick up some polish, without meaning to a created a bit of a glittery sparkly theme, here's what I got...

 

First up two if the Seventeen Rock Hard Couture polishes; Charm Bracelet and Celestial Pearl.  I've been meaning to pick these up for ages now but I've been good and waited until there was an offer on.

 

I also picked up one of the textured Barry M polishes; Countess.  I was tempted by others but I already have a few pink textured polishes from the Kiko Sugar Mat collection and the other two in the collection are basically exact dupes of the Seventeen colours above.  

 

I grabbed the new LE bar glitter polish that Boots have available at the moment too, it's a mix of pink, green and blue bar glitter in a clear base.

 

Then two of the new Maybelline Brocades; Foil Flash and Knitted Gold.  I've seen the US collection pictures of these (they seem to have 8) and so I had to try a couple when I saw that Maybelline UK had 4 available, there's also a grey/black and a red but I preferred the silver and gold ones.

 

Finally, Rimmel Space Dust in Total Eclipse.  Since getting back online after the purchase I've realised this is another matte finish textured polish which I didn't know in the shop.  It's a gorgeous colour so I'm looking forward to trying it both with and without a topcoat to see which is prettiest.

 

Look out for swatches over the next few days, I have enough new colours to keep me busy for a good few manicure now. :)  A good use of my hard earned points, I think.



Orly - Sunglasses at Night

Having had a search online I can now tell you that Sunglasses at Night is part of the Orly Flash Glam FX Collection, a range of glitters Orly brought out about 18 months ago.  I just found it in TK Maxx (£4.99, bargain!)and thought it was pretty so had to buy in. :)

 

 

These pictures are two coats over a black base.  It's horrible to photograph and the ones I took just don't do it justice, the bottle shot below gives you a better idea of what it looks like, a sheer grey black base jelly packed full of holographic bar glitter.

 

In regular light it isn't amazing but under bright indoor lighting or in sunshine (I'm guessing, we're about 5 months off seeing sunshine in Glasgow at this time of year) it really comes alive and is super sparkly and holographic.

 

It applies nicely, with the usual notes about trying to avoid any of the bar glitter hanging over the edges of your nails as it'll feel rough, and two coats over an opaque base gave a properly sparkly and rather 3D looking effect.

 

Bourjois Holo Glitter

Unfortunately I'm not sure of the name of this polish, I think it must have been discontinued as I can't find it online anywhere.  I know I picked it up for cheap ages ago so it might have been an end of line sale before it was taken off the market.

 

 

These pictures are two coats of the Bourjois glitter polish over Barry M Gelly Hi Shine in Dragon Fruit.  As you can see the glitter is in a very sheer base polish so it needs a little colour under it.

 

It's so hard to take a good photo of, in artificial light the glitter is so holographic and glows and colour shifts beautifully, unfortunately it just doesn't show up in the photographs.



Kiko - Sugar Mat - 641

I decided to try out one of my Kiko Sugar Mat polishes that I bought earlier in the year again, I love how quick these are to apply and the fact they give a different look without any effort.

 

 

641 is a pink base with golden shimmer through the sandy textured finish.

 

These polishes are so easy to apply and dry super fast which makes them a great polish if you don't have too much time to wait around or do nail art but you want something a bit more exciting than a regular cream polish.

Kiko - Sparkle Touch - 237

I decided to add a little sparkle to yesterday's manicure by applying two coats of Kiko Sparkle Touch 237 over the top of the 238 I was already wearing.  Sparkle Touch are a range of shimmery, glittery topper polishes by Kiko.

 

 

237 is packed full of golden pink mini flakies which give your nails a lovely shimmer but not much of a colour change, they do however reflect lots of different shimmering flakie shades.

 

I'm not sure if the Sparkle Touch range is still available from Kiko but if you do see them they are very pretty and worth picking up, particularly if you like a polish which adds a little bit of shimmer without being too over the top.