OPI Stranger Tides and gold glitter

New blog post! How long has it been? Sorry for my AWOL!

Anyway, I got the POTC OPI mini set, and the first one I’ve tried is Stranger Tides, which is a kind of musty grey-green but in an attractive way!

I’ve used three coats over my OPI nail envy base, and then I topped with a thick coat of Seche Vite. The texture of this one was runny and a little hard to get a nice, smooth, even finish which is why I used a thick top coat.

On my accent nails I used a gold glitter as a top coat and I really like how that turned out! Everyone is using the silver shatter so I thought the gold glitter was something different. The one I used is by Stargazer, which is easily accessible and great quality.

On the topic of that silver shatter, I don’t have it just yet, (one bottle is on it’s way to me in the post) but I do have a lovely silver shatter from a brand in Boots called 17. Someone I worked with (I had to leave my part time job L) bought it so I went and got one too. It works really well, it’s about the same quality as the Barry M polishes, which have been insanely popular!

I don’t have any pics right now, I’m waiting for the OPI one to come through and then I’ll compare for ya!

And hey, check how long my nails are now! My new job isn’t as hard on my nails, so less chips and breakages means they have just sprouted out of nowhere! They’re difficult to type with though, my laptop broke so all I have is my netbook and its tiny keyboard!

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Primark Glo Baby Glo: UV Reactive polish and a little crackle glaze!

These polishes have been sitting in my collection for a while now. I have used them before, but I pulled them out again so I could share them with you.
Last time I was in Primark (maybe a week ago) these polishes were still available in the make-up section, but not the two colours that I have. They could have simply sold out and are awaiting a new delivery!

These polishes are actually great! They apply quite easily but you do need 3 coats to get a nice even finish. They dry sort-of-semi-quickly and they last a decent amount of time. Considering the price, I'd say they were excellent value for money!
Now, The polishes are one colour, but when you get under UV light, they glow so bright! I have tested this myself and it really works and looks great, but I don't have a UV light so I can show you pictures, so you'll just have to take my word for it!

Here is Limelight with China Glaze's Fault Line crackle on my accent finger.

 And then with China Glaze's Lightening Bolt crackle over the other fingers.

And here is Orange Appeal with China Glaze's Fault Line crackle on my accent finger

 And now with China Glaze's Lightening Bolt on the rest of the fingers

 

I tried to use the brush sideways with this one so that I would get a different type of crackle. It was OK, but I think I applied the crackle a bit thick.

I'm reading: Primark Glo Baby Glo: UV Reactive polish and a little crackle glaze!

More shatter/crackle!

I'm starting to think that we're going a bit overboard on the crackle/shatter polishes, Barry M have released some new colours!
http://www.barrym.com/products/product.asp?id=155
Still the cheapest of the bunch, and if the black is anything to go by, it's great quality!

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Exciting new shatter polishes!

Hello readers! Sorry I haven't been posting lately, my nails have not been very healthy, they started to chip and peel quite a lot and I broke TWO nails very far down. All that combined with them STILL being yellowed and discoloured due to China Glaze's Entourage!

I am working on a nice sparkly manicure at the moment, something bright to cheer me up, and I'll have that post up maybe tonight or tomorrow, tomorrow at the latest.

Anyway on to the main point of todays post, there's a brand called Models Own, pretty cheap and some beautiful colours available, and they are bringing out a range of shatter polishes in some lovely bright colours, including a silver! If the quality is good then this one could rival the OPI silver shatter that will be coming out in May for the Pirates of the Caribbean launch.

That orange! That yellow! That silver! Eeeeeeee!

As OPI and China Glaze are mainly USA brands and not so readily available without huge price increases or ridiculous shipping charges, this is excellent news for those of us in the UK and not to mention the price; £6 each is almost half the price of the OPI shatter polishes!
Here's the Model's Own blog where you can read more information about the release

Oh, one more point I'd like to make; I have 25 followers. I would have never thought I would have so many of you reading my blog, so I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all. I will be repaying the favour by following your blogs if you have one, and I will be doing a small giveaway in the near future. Thank you all, you're all fantastic!

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New Toys!

I have some new toys to play with!
I bought some nail wheels for swatching and to play with the ideas I get to see how they look.
Right now I'm undergoing the following experiments:
1. Making CG Party Hearty less Christmas-y so it can be worn all year round
2. Comparing my matte top-coats
3. Seeing how flaky polish looks when matte

4. Mixing glitters
5. Making different designs and patterns with crackle polish.

I'll let you know how I get on with those!

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