China Glaze - Cosmic Dust

The second colour I got from the China Glaze Hologlam collection is Cosmic Dust.
Yes, it's a silver shade, which isn't exactly rare for a holographic polish, but this particular silver is more of a steel grey, rather than full-on silver. I've got a couple of silvers, and some darker shades that range from charcoal to gunmetal, so a steel grey is a nice addition to my holo polish wardrobe.

As with Don't Be A Luna-tic, this is a linear holographic. Given the choice between linear holos, or sparkle holos, I prefer linear. However, the holo effect is far more obvious in Cosmic Dust than it is in Don't Be A Luna-tic.

China Glaze - Don't Be A Luna-tic

Being obsessed with holographic nail polish, I had to take a look at the new Hologlam collection from China Glaze. Three shades in particular stood out for me, Don't Be A Luna-tic being one of them.

Don't Be A Luna-tic is a pale seafoam green shade. Thankfully, it's also a linear holo polish, which I prefer so much more than the sparkle variety.

China Glaze - Get Carried Away

Another polish from China Glaze's Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away collection; Get Carried Away. Yep, it's another glittery one!

Unlike Whirled Away, Get Carried Away can be used alone, or you can layer it over another polish.

Get Carried Away is a sheer black base that's packed full of glitter - large silver & red hexagonal glitter mixed with small silver glitter, small black glitter & black bar glitter. It's a glitter-fanatic's dream.

China Glaze - Whirled Away

 It's been a while! I haven't posted anything since last october, due to moving house & having an absolute nightmare with getting back online. So, this is officially my first post of 2013.
Today, I'm taking a look at Whirled Away from China Glaze's Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away collection.

Whirled Away is a clear base with black hexagonal & bar glitter, plus white hexagonal pieces. I was mainly drawn to this because it has a similar effect to the Nubar Black & White Polka Dot polishes, but with a bit more oomph.

China Glaze - Beach Cruise-r

The last of my four recent purchases from the China Glaze Summer Neons collection comes in the form of Beach Cruise-r. This particular polish has driven me insane, it's been quite a challenge to take pictures. The ones that follow come from the 3rd batch I took & I'm still not happy with them; Beach Cruise-r is a difficult colour to get accurate photos of.

If you're familiar with Essie's Perky Purple or Zoya's Charisma, you'll have some idea of what Beach Cruise-r is all about; a neon purple with a lot of pink to it. Beach Cruise-r is slightly more purple than Charisma & Perky Purple, it also has a slight shimmer to it too.

China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard

The third of the colours I chose from the China Glaze Summer Neons collection; I'm With The Lifeguard.
I'm With The Lifeguard is a neon lime-green, not unlike one of China Glaze's previous neon green offerings, In The Lime Light. The major difference between the two is I'm With The Lifeguard has a whole lotta shimmer.

with flash - no top coat

outside, no flash - no top coat

China Glaze - Sun-Kissed

Another colour from the China Glaze Summer Neons collection, Sun-Kissed is a vivid neon yellow that borders on highlighter yellow.

For someone who isn't a massive yellow fan, I seem to keep picking them up. This is my third neon yellow nail polish.
Of the three, Sun-Kissed has less of the green tint that is common amongst yellow neons. It shows up quite vividly in the photos, but, on the nails, it's far less obvious.

with flash - no top coat

China Glaze - Orange You Hot?

I have to preface this by stating that I'm not a huge fan of orange. There has to be something to an orange polish, such as it being a holo, for me to find myself falling in love with it. What Orange You Hot? has to offer is its screaming neon shade. And, unusually for a neon, a shimmery finish.

Orange You Hot? comes from the Summer Neons collection, and it is indeed neon. I found it to be more tangerine than out-and-out orange, it's not quite as red-toned.

with flash - no top coat

Nails - Northern Lights

I've recently seen a number of mani's that were done using a sponge to apply colours. I thought the effect looked really pretty & decided to give it a go myself.

This is my first attempt; the Northern Lights mani.

Three Holiday Season Mani's

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you all had a great time over Christmas & on New Year's Eve.

To kick off 2012, here's three mani's I did over the holidays. The reoccurring theme being holo polishes!

The first one is the most messy, sadly. I have quite small finger nails & this required a bit of fiddling around with the polish & remover on cotton buds. I think I may need to invest in a fine brush specifically for this purpose.

For this one, I used the following:

• China Glaze IDK- base shade
• Konad plate M69
• Special Polish in black
• Glitter Gal Black
• Metallic silver nail art pen

China Glaze - Eye Candy Collection

Yes, even more glitter polishes!
When I first heard about this collection, I got ridiculously excited. Six new glitters that are solid polishes, not topcoats with a bit of glitter to them.

First up is Blonde Bombshell.

Blonde Bombshell

A yellow-gold glitter with small flecks & larger ones scattered throughout. Took two coats to cover the nail completely. I'm not a huge fan of gold polishes, so this one doesn't really shine through for me, especially not when compared to my favourite gold, China Glaze's Medallion.

Blonde Bombshell

Nails - The Return of The Holo Leopard

After my first attempt at doing holo leopard nails the other day, I decided to try them again in different colours. I ended up doing two lots; lime green & gold, then a purple version.

The first attempt was the lime green. For this particular mani, I used;

• China Glaze's L8R G8R - for the base colour
• China Glaze's Medallion - for the spots
• Random black nail art pen to  outline the spots

Nails - Holo Leopard

 I've not done anything other than plain colours recently, so I thought that something a little more fun was in order.
It doesn't look very glossy in the pictures as I hadn't added a topcoat at this point. I was waiting for the black to dry so as to avoid smearing & smudging that's usually a result of my impatience. Because of this, the pink spots look quite flat due to the colour used drying to a matte finish.

The colours I used:

• China Glaze Sexagon - the holo silver base colour
• China Glaze Purple Panic - used to create the spots. Despite the name, it's a great hot pink
• random black nail art pen to outline the spots

Halloween Nail Polish

Three polishes perfect for Halloween!

Two come from China Glaze, Haunting & It's Alive, whilst the third, Zombody to Love, is from OPI.

Haunting

I've been searching for a polish like this for some time now. Haunting is a black base packed with silver sparkle. Unlike a couple of other polishes I've tried that look similar in the bottle, Haunting's base isn't sheer black or a jelly finish, it's solid, deep black. This is basically MAC's Black Tied eyeshadow in nail polish form.

Two coats give perfect coverage, and although it doesn't dry to a matte finish, a glossy topcoat really brings it to life.

Haunting

Nails of The Weekend

Couldn't think of a name for this particular mani. Purple was the colour of the night, so the nail look was based around that. I chose my favourite purple of the moment, Illamasqua's Poke, threw in some silver, some glitter & animal print.

The products used for this mani were -

• Illamasqua - Poke for the purple
• Zoya - Trixie for the silver
• China Glaze - Nova, a very thin layer to add a bit of sparkle
• Konad plate M69
• Special polish in black

The glitter was a touch more obvious in person, but I didn't want to over-do it, it would've overwhelmed the purple.

Ignore the middle finger. As usual, I was messing around before it had dried completely & it smudged a little. I really ought to learn to wait until my nails are properly dry before doing things.

80's Nails!

Got a bit bored yesterday & decided to do something fun with my nails. It turned into this 80's-inspired mani that I loved once it was done.
Originally, I tried using three colours on each nail but, due to my nails being quite small, it didn't work out.

For this nail look, I used the following:

• China Glaze - Turned Up Turquoise
• China Glaze - Pink Voltage
• China Glaze - In The Lime Light
• China Glaze - Flying Dragon
• Konad plate M57 & black special polish

Definitely one I'd try again, using the same colours & also with different combinations.

China Glaze - Island Escape

Senorita Bonita, 108 Degrees, Electric Pineapple, Cha Cha Cha, Blue Iguana

Summer brights from China Glaze. The collection comprises six shades - Senorita Bonita, 108 Degrees, Papaya Punch, Electric Pineapple, Cha Cha Cha & Blue Iguana. Some have a shimmer finish, whilst others are a creme. Of the six, I chose to get five, leaving Papaya Punch out. I rarely reach for orange shades unless I'm using my Konad plates to do something with tiger stripes.

I like all of the five colours I chose, but two in particular really stand out  for me.

Senorita Bonita

The swatch completely failed to pick up how truly stunning this one is. Really pretty purple base loaded with pink shimmers that catch the light.
Good application, not at all streaky, but you'll need at least two coats to get the full effect of this shade.

China Glaze - Tronica

Hologram, Laser Lime, Mega Bite

Techno Teal, Virtual Violet

Electra Magenta, Hyper Haute

From the Tronica collection, I chose seven shades: Hologram, Techno Teal, Laser Lime, Virtual Violet, Hyper Haute, Electra Magenta & Mega Bite.

Not the most vivid holo effect, especially when compared with the OMG collection. The colours, however, are stunning.

Read on for swatches.

China Glaze - Crackle Glaze

Lightning Bolt, Broken Hearted, Cracked Concrete, Fault Line.

I've already done a post about Broken Hearted, but since my other shades arrived, I decided it was time to do one with better pictures.

Of the six shades available, I chose the four pictured. I skipped the black because I've already got the Barry M Instant Nail Effects, I didn't feel the need to have two black crackle polishes. I also opted not to get the OPI version, purely because of OPI's brush size, not so easy to work with for us folks with smaller nails.