China Glaze Whirled Away with Gradient

Today I have swatches of China Glaze Whirled Away over a gradient, somewhat inspired by the review swatches done on Spektor's Nails. I thought the black and white gradient was an awesome idea for under a black and white glitter topper, but I really didn't want to attempt a black to white gradient when I'm still pretty new at it. So instead I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Mint Sorbet (lightest), Essie Mohito Madness (mid-range), and Misa The Grass is Greener on My Side (darkest).

I was extremely pleased with the way the gradient turned out for the most part. This was my second time ever trying gradients using the sponge method. The first time I didn't think to stamp my nails more than once to solidify the colours, so this time I went over my nails about three times with the gradient to build the nail polish up to be a bit more opaque. Much, much nicer this way, hah!

For the colours themselves, I found that since Mint Sorbet and Mohito Madness were a bit more far apart in shade I had to blend those a bit more to get a smoother gradient in comparison to Mohito Madness and The Grass is Greener, just as a tip!

Now onto the review of Whirled Away. If you notice a bit of unevenness on my nails in the photos, that's entirely my fault. I'm always too impatient with glitters and put them on before my base polishes get a chance to dry completely, so they always sink a bit. The glitters do sit flat, so that's not something you really have to worry about.

Before even opening the bottle, I noticed that the formula was very, very thin. It moved like water in the bottle, and I don't think I'm the only one with this problem. Having read some not-so-great reviews before buying this polish, I decided to go with the sponge method suggested here for application. Basically, someone suggested to paint the glitter onto a sponge and sponge them onto the nail, much like you would when doing a gradient, except you paint directly onto the sponge. This method actually worked out pretty well for me, but i do suggest pressing the sponge onto the nail from bottom to top or vice versa, as stamping side to side may push some glitters onto one side more than the other. 

As others have noted, the white hex glitters were a bit sparse in the bottle, but not too sparse as to cause me too much grief, especially when using the sponge method. Just make sure that you don't paint too much black glitter on before you get a white one or you'll end up with way too much glitter on your nail, or even end up covering the white with a lot of black. Just do some fishing, it won't take too long. Either way, I still think the nails look cool with just the black glitter (see pointer finger), so I look at it as getting two polishes in one! Always the optimist.

Black Tie Optional

Today I am swatching Candy Heart's Black Tie Optional. Sorry about the lack of cleanup in the photos, but I was much too lazy to be bothered fussing with it. I was extremely excited about this one because as soon as I saw the swatches on Chalkboard Nails I knew I had to have it. I ran down to my local WalMart and picked this up for $4.00, what a steal!

Black Tie Optional is a black and white glitter topper packed FULL of at least 4 different sizes of hex glitters as well as some black bar glitters in a clear base. I was extremely impressed on the formula with this one for a cheaper nail polish (don't you miss how cheap they used to be as a kid?), though I did notice a touch of dragging near the tips for the bar glitters on a few nails (compare thumb/pointer to middle/ring finger below to see what I mean). Either way, this could be easily remedied by a bit more careful application on my part, or perhaps by using the dab method as suggested in the swatch post from Chalkboard Nails.

Honestly, some glitters can be a pain in the butt when it comes to laying flat, but I didn't have a problem at all with this one. I am extremely happy with this product and am tempted to run out and buy another bottle, just so I'll always have some on hand!

If you're a fan of black and white glitters like I am, then this is an easy buy. It's a great way to spruce up a simple manicure and turn it into something more artsy, minus the effort! All photos are shown with one coat of Black Tie Optional over three coats of Revlon's Zealous (which looks a bit more lime indoors), all topped off with one coat of Seche Vite.

Nfu Oh's 51

Today I have some pretty basic swatches of Nfu Oh's 51 layered over a simple black. Just a heads up, this post might be a a bit picture-heavy, but this flakie polish is so pretty I hope it won't matter.

51 actually has a purple jelly sort of base to it, and is able to be layered up to be worn on it's own, however, I think the colour shifts are best displayed over a solid base like I've done here. 

Full range of colour shift

The flakes mainly display a fiery shift of mainly red and amber indoors, but when the light hits this polish, you can see a full spectrum from deep red to green. There's a reason why people love these polishes so much; it's mesmerizing. I actually bought this polish with the intention of mattifying it as soon as I could, but after putting it on, I couldn't bring myself to do it just yet.

As far as formula goes, it's perfect. I'm serious, this is perfect. I'm not sure what they use for the flakes, but everything is super smooth, lies flat unlike some other flakies I've tried, and the consistency is right on. This polish also dries decently fast, but not so fast as to make it difficult to work with, which is always nice.

Anyway, if this polish is anything to go by, I certainly won't hesitate to buy more from Nfu Oh in the future. I got mine from NailPolishCanada as I do most of my harder-to-find polishes. 

All pictures are shown with one coat of Nfu Oh 51 layered over two coats of black and two coats of SV to top them off. 

Susuwatari Nails!

Hey everyone! I don't usually do themed or heavily designed nails too much, but for some reason I just really felt like doing some soot sprite nails, despite having loads of new goodies to try out.

There's not too much to say about these guys, but if you haven't seen the Studio Ghibli films they are based off of (Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro) you definitely should, because all Studio Ghibli films are amazing. 

They were fairly simple to do. I used a large 'dotting tool' for their bodies, and feathered out the edges with a detailer brush. I then did their eyes with a double-sided dotting tool (pupils on most should be a bit smaller, but oh well). I finished with different coloured candies and their arms with the detailer brush again. I decided not to add their legs in as it was already getting a bit busy.

Honestly, they looked awesome before I added the candies and arms (as in Totoro), and if I do this manicure again I might just leave it at that. They still look pretty cute from further away, though.

Addition: This design looks super cute mattified!

Color Chameleon

Hi... everyone? I don't really ever know how to start something like this. I had the strong urge to review a nail product I recently bought, and since I've had these urges before I thought maybe I'd just... stick them all in one place? I don't really know, I like nail polish and sharing my manicures so that's what I'm doing. I suppose. Anyway, on to the good stuff.

Today I got in a new product I hadn't heard about until recently and that is Ruby Wing's 'Crowd Surf'. Ruby Wing is apparently a sort of side-brand of colour changing polishes made by Color Club. These polishes are supposed to change colour when exposed to the sun or UV rays, which is a pretty neat concept I thought, so I decided 'hey, why not?' and ordered a bottle.

Outdoors in the shade

It's hard to describe the colour of this shade since it seems to change based on what sort of light you are in. In the bottle, Crowd Surf is a bright purple-fuschia that reminds me of brightly coloured swimsuits and summertime. This is the colour you will see on the nail when in fairly bright-lit areas or when you first step out into the sun.

Full sun before colour change

The colour change when you expose the nail polish to the sun is pretty quick, and I'd say you could get the full effect in under a minute, easily, which is nice. When exposed the the sun, the polish changes to a deeper shade that is very much similar to the first, just slightly darker and maybe with a hint more red. The change is definitely noticeable; I am able to stick one hand out in the sun and keep the other in the shade and see the difference between the two quite easily. The colour difference is more subtle than some of Ruby Wing's other changers, though.

Full sun after colour change

If you can't tell by the photos, though, this polish also seems to change colour depending on what type of lighting you are in, not just by whether you are in the sun or not. In the warm, yellowy type of lighting you often find indoors, the colour looks a lot darker and more purple than when you first put it on. As hard as it may be to believe, the photos I've taken are pretty true to the colour differences you will see.

Indoors with warm lighting

As far as formula goes, this polish isn't the best I've ever seen, but it is decently easy to work with. The first coat goes on a bit sheer and streaky, but will be opaque in 2 coats. I added a third just to even it out a bit. This polish also dries slightly matte so all pictures are shown with two coats of SV. Either way, I do like all of the colours reflected in this shade and overall I think it's a cool product that I would probably buy again if the shades caught my eye.