Tag Archives: glitter

Nails of the week – blue with glitter flakes

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Blue, I am obsessed with blue at the moment (again)!

This week I am wearing a metallic cobalt blue with a pretty glitter flakes topcoat.

The metallic blue (Blue me away) is from Collection 2000, and the fact that I wore it before on its own proves it is great, only one coat provides great coverage. The topcoat is from a Brazilian brand I didn’t know: Big Universo, and this one is called Raio Gama;  its flakes are transparent with a laser type effect; a lilac/purple/blueish sheen. The polish is laden with flakes and its base, although translucent, has a bit of the flakes colour too. The effect is really pretty and although it didn’t come out well in the pictures, there is a subtle colour change on the nail surface and the flakes, from light to deep blue to purple…

Application was great; the Collection 2000 blue provided a great base, and then I added two coats of the Big Universo on top. Durability is also great, no chips in sight after five days.

I am very pleased with this combination, I really think the beauty of it lies with the subtlety of the colour and how, in a way, the topcoat softens and adds dimension to the base polish. In fact, I like it so much that decided against trying my nail stamps for the first time, but I shall be doing that soon!

Rating:

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Nails of the week – holographic glitter

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OPI Save Me - Nicki Minaj, holographic glitter

click to enlarge

This week I am wearing my new acquisition: Save Me, from OPI‘s  Nicki Minaj collection. I was so excited to receive this, I painted my nails on the very same day it arrived –  it looked to stunning in the bottle!

The final result was amazing: the polish has a very saturated silver glitter base, so it’s super sparkling. The holographic strands are beautiful, and as they get distributed unevenly,  it’s pretty much guaranteed that one will be catching the light at some point, so the effect is very noticeable and the colours really varied.  I got countless compliments on it!

I wore a black nail polish from Barry M as base and the application for both was fine. I kind of expected the black to be opaque enough with one coat, but two were necessary. I then applied a coat of Save Me on top of it. I am not going to lie: it was a bit of a pain, not so much while applying, but when cleaning the excesses –  not only was it hard to remove but also the holographic strands tend to poke out of the tip of the nail, and removing them can leave a gap… so I struggled a bit, having to do a *lot* of filing to smooth out the ends, a bit of cutting of stray strands, as they kept catching on everything, even after using a topcoat, my nails were so rough at the end I think I could cut stuff with it… a bit of a pain, really.

Durability is good. As a glitter polish, I am expecting it will be very hard to remove *sight*, but that’s unavoidable! Also, I do still have an issue with the texture of a glitter polish, even with top coat, it is quite rough for my touch; but that’s a totally personal point.

Overall, I am truly in love with this varnish: it is exquisite and nothing like any other holographic or glitter polish I have ever worn before.

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Nails of the week – blue with glitter flakes

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blue nails - Impala paparazzi and paz e amor - dani dutraFor my last manicure in Brazil, I chose blue. I am wearing two nail polishes from Impala: a lovely dark, slightly metallic navy blue called Paparazzi and a blue and green glitter flakes topcoat called Paz e Amor.

Alone, Paparazzi is a very pretty and shiny deep, dark navy blue. The topcoat effect is lovely and somewhat similar to the Andrea Fulerton Rain fall trio topcoat, the difference being the flakes on this polish change colour, whereas the ones on the Impala varnish are two different colours. The Impala polish also has a clearer base for the flakes.

This brand is very good; applications is always smooth and even, the finish is glossy and durability is great.

Today is my last post from Brazil – sadly, my holidays are over and I am heading to London tomorrow. This means I will go back to doing my own manicure again (you do get used to having them done!) and will start trying out my nail varnish haul, as well as some polishes I had bought before coming on holiday!

Nails of the week – red with glitter flakes

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Happy new year everyone!

I have entered 2012 wearing red on my nails. On new year’s eve in Brazil, it is traditional to wear colours that correspond to things you wish for the year that will begin. Most people wear white, which means peace. I wore a gold dress (yellow/gold for money, but mainly because it’s pretty!), had white underwear, for peace, of course, and my nails were scarlet, for passion! Not a bad combo, eh?

Again, I am trying a brand never used before, Ana Hickmann nail polish in Balada and Glow topcoat with glittery flakes.

The red is bright, leaning towards orange. The topcoat is clear on its base, but laden with duochrome glitter flakes which are mainly golden, but change colour from copper to a greenish-yellow, just stunning!

It was applied by mine and my mum’s manicurist, Irma (a nail angel!), but the consistency was creamy and smooth, durability is also good as my nails still look  perfect!

Nails of the week – blue holographic glitter

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When I made the trip to Nails Inc to get the magnetic nail polish I wore last week, something else caught my attention: the Electric Lane holographic glitter topcoat.

Lately, I have been obsessing over glitter, but I must confess that I am usually not one for glittery nails (or shoes for that matter, and I am now eating my words, as explained on this post). Another late obsession of mine has been holographic nail polish, and I was crushed when I realised I missed Gosh’s limited edition one, which cost a bargainous £5, and is now going on Ebay for £20+!!! Add “limited edition” to a glittery holo nail polish and it comes to no surprise I succumbed to this £12 topcoat.

Because it is a topcoat, it obviously requires a nail varnish to be applied under, and I chose the lovely deep blue “Blue my mind”, from Collection 2000, which I wore for the first time a few weeks back, as I thought it would look very pretty, just like a starry night. And I wasn’t too wrong – while calling it a starry night might be a bit of a stretch, it does look lovely on cobalt blue.

I found it very easy to apply, the consistency is good and the coverage is impressive for a clear glitter polish, I just used one coat (with a second added as a touch up, 5 days after first application). My only issue is with the texture once dry: the main reason I haven’t been a huge wearer of glitter nail varnish is the “rough”, bumpy-ish finish. At least this one, being medium to fine grain, doesn’t look bumpy at all, but it feels slightly rough. To minimise that,  I applied an extra clear topcoat, so my nails feel smoother to the touch. Worth noting that this observation does not apply to this varnish in particular, every glitter polish I ever tried made me slightly uncomfortable in that department – some more than others.

The holographic element is quite good, it looks like a little explosion of colours, with some depth to it,  specially when it catches the light. However, under intense direct light it can look plain grey glitter. The pictures do not make justice to this fabulous polish at all, it was quite hard to photograph it, so I took a slightly out of focus picture which captures the multi-coloured light reflection I noticed many times when moving my hands around.

Overall, I am very happy with it, got a few compliments on the colour and I am looking forward to trying it with other colours underneath – black and white are suggested, but I think it would look good with bright pink, dark grey or green.

I have been going nail varnish crazy, so have *lots* of new ones to try on, which will keep me going for a few weeks – watch this space!

Latest shoe crush

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I know, *another* shoe crush… but I cannot help myself, had to register it here, as I’ve been wanting these Kurt Geiger Enautre shoes in gold for more than ten days – was secretly expecting to forget all about them, but it hasn’t happened.

They are glittery, they are high, they are hot. I am not sure why, but I have been obsessing about glittery shoes since I realised I have none in my collection! Sacrilege! I particularly like this one because the glitter on it is very fine,  and almost imperceptibly, multicoloured, although it has a gold overall colour.

While I keep thinking about it, I am still debating whether to buy or not. The price is not too bad, at £130, but after spending a lot on the latest Shoe Fund pair recently, I can’t quite justify… plus, it is time to buy practical winter footwear, as the colder weather is rapidly taking over (I have my eyes on lovely knee-high tan flat (ish) boots from River Island). A few other brands, like Topshop, have glittery high heels for half the price… but these KG ones are amazing, and like no other.

What to do?!