Enchanted Polish Purple Roses

Enchanted Polish Purple Roses - two coats with top coat

Enchanted Polish Purple Roses is a special polish dedicated to cystic fibrosis awareness and a beautiful friend of Chelsea. A lilac silvery foil under dim light, Purple Roses really shows its true color under bright light! It is simply stunning!

Too Fancy Lacquer is here!

Hello guys! If you are wondering why I've gone MIA in the past month, well that is because I have been busy with preparing the opening of my own polish line, Too Fancy Lacquer!

Too Fancy Lacquer is an indie polish brand that specializes in unique and gorgeous shades. All polishes are handmade myself with 3-free (formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate free), and cosmetic grade ingredients.

Please visit Too Fancy Lacquer on FB, where you can keep up with the latest news and updates:

https://www.facebook.com/TooFancyLacquer

You can purchase Too Fancy Lacquer on our Etsy store:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TooFancyLacquer

Here are some swatches of Too Fancy Lacquer that are currently available in the shop, I hope you will like them as much as I do! 

Aphrodite - a purple linear holo, three thin coats with no top coat

Tell Me A Sea-cret - seaform green linear holo, a personal favorite! Swatch shown with two coats and no top coat

Royal Jeans - denim blue linear holo, two coats with no top coat

KBShimmer Spring Training

KBShimmer Spring Training, two coats with top coat

Today I have another KBShimmer from the Spring Collection for you. Spring Training is a mint green crelly sprinkled with pink, purple, blue, gold and white hex glitters in various sizes. It is such a refreshing color, and it has a hint of floral smell too!

KBShimmer Spring Training

KbShimmer is one of my favorite indie brands, the quality is always exceptional, and the shades are always up my alley. I already have my eyes on a couple from her Summer Collection, have you checked it out yet?

Kbshimmer Spring Training

Frankening Fun: SpectraFlair vs. Diamond Pigment

Today I have an epic post on some of the frankens I made with diamond pigment! What is diamond pigment (DP) you might ask? It is a cosmetic grade holographic pigment which could be an alternative to the now hard to get SpectraFlair (SF). But is it really as good as the real thing?

Diamond Holographic Pigment - 35 microns

So this is what diamond pigment looks like in a bag, looks a lot like SpectraFlair doesn't it? I quickly mixed some up in a clear base and compare it to SF:

Diamond Pigment vs. SpectraFlair

On the left is a tiny scoop of DP in clear base, and on the right we have SF in a clear base. Apologies for the poor photo quality, but you can see although both pigments show strong linear holo effect, the SF bottle has a smoother prismatic effect to it.

Diamond Pigment - one coat

I then applied one coat of the DP base to a purple creme, and am surprised at how pretty the holo looks! Yes, it is more of a scattered holo, but the rainbow effect is still quite vibrant!

Polishes made with Diamond Pigment & SpectraFlair

Here are some polishes that I made with DP. Firstly I created the base color by mixing up some oil based colorants, then I added a tiny scoop of DP to complete the look. A quick tip when you are working with holo pigments or shimmers. Always mix the powder/pigment in a jelly base so it can shine through the polish. If you mix it in a creme/opaque base, you will find you can barely see the holo/shimmer no matter how much you add into the mixture!

I am quite happy how they all turned out, especially the orange, pink, and the reddish grapefruit one. I have also included one that I made with SF into the collage for comparison, can you tell which one looks different? It is the bottom left one, where the holo effect is more linear and smoother.

Bottle shot of polishes made by moi :)

So there you have it, I hope you find this post helpful! Although Diamond Pigment is not a dead set dupe of SpectraFlair, it is a pretty good alternative, especially when it is much cheaper than SF! I got the DP at $8USD per gram, and if I am not mistaken, SF (mixed in clear base) is now being sold at as much as $15-$20USD per gram. Since a little bit of pigment goes a long way, one gram of DP would give you many hours of frankening fun, so it is definitely more cost effective if you are a franken newbie like me!

KBShimmer Iris My Case

KBShimmer Iris My Case - two coats with top coat

KBShimmer Iris My Case from the 2013 Spring Collection, is a soft pastel lilac crelly mixed with white, magenta and blue hex glitters in various sizes. Can you just say gorgeous? Such a perfect shade for spring!
Application is also a breeze, there really isn't anything that I don't love about this polish!

KBShimmer Iris My Case

KBShimmer Iris My Case

Enchanted Polish Love The Way You Lilac

Enchanted Polish Love The Way You Lilac, two coats with top coat

Enchanted Polish Love The Way You Lilac (LTWYL), yet another gorgeous holo from Chelsea. Seriously just take my bank account already, because every single Enchanted Polish is simply to die for!

Enchanted Polish Love The Way You Lilac

Love The Way You Lilac, a soft lilac linear holo, is just breathtaking. Formula is perfect too, two easy coats where the application is a breeze. I am waiting for more Enchanted to arrive, and I can't wait to show you what I've got! I think it's safe to say that Enchanted is now my favorite indie brand!

Enchanted Polish Love The Way You Lilac

Peri My Holo Heart - my first holo creation!

Peri My Holo Heart - my first handmade holo polish, two coats with top coat

Since periwinkle is my favorite polish shade, it is no surprise that the first holo polish I made is a periwinkle/cornflower linear holo. Given it is my first experiment with Spectraflair (SF), this polish is a tad too opaque for the prismatic pigments to really shine through. A handy tip if you want to create a holo polish with Spectraflair; add SF to a jelly color base so that the holo effect is more prominent, and that you won't end up adding (wasting) more SF than required!

Anyway I am quite happy with my first attempt, and apparently one of the girls from a nail polish group on FB is too! She likes it so much she wanted to buy Peri My Holo Heart from me, so I actually have sold my first ever polish! That is such a nice surprise, and totally not expected!

I have since then whipped up more holo polishes, and will be showing them to you very soon! If I could create one holo polish, what color would you like to see the most? Any suggestions are most welcome!

NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusive: Batcave and Scully

NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusive - Batcave, two coats with top coat

NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusive - Batcave

NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusive - Batcave

Today I have the rest of the NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusive Trio for you (you can read about my first post on Han Shot First here). First up is Batcave, described as "a deep charcoal with silver and black microglitter, a hint of cobalt in the base, plus big square black glitter, medium hex royal lase and purple glitter, and medium and micro silver holo", it is definitely as complex and mystical as the description suggests. Love the holographic sparkle the hex gives out amongst a sea of dark glitters, and although Batcave dries on the gritty side, two coats of top coat would give you a glossy, glassy finish.

NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusive - Scully, two coats with top coat

NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusive - Scully

NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusive - Scully

Next is Scully. A peachy-nude with white and silver hex and glitters that come in various sizes and shapes, it also has a lovely blue-violet flash.While I love the blue-violet shimmer, unfortunately Scully hates my skintone. It makes my fingers look dirty, and I think Scully would suit girls with a paler skin color. Nevertheless, it is still gorgeous and quite unique!

So there you have it, the NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusive Trio. Which one is your favorite?

NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusive - Han Shot First

NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusive - Han Shot First, two coats with top coat

I am beyond excited to bring you my very first NerdLacquer! I missed the boat before Amanda went into hiatus, but like many in the polish world, we are totally over the moon when Amanda announced her comeback!

Han Shot First is part of the NerdLacquer trio exclusive to Harlow & Co. Described by Amanda as "a deep dusty teal with giant gold square glitter, medium square turquoise glitter, gold small and micro, smallish holo hex", Han Shot First is incredibly pigmented, where you could easily get away with just one thick coat. The formula is perfect, albeit it dries on the gritty side, so a generous layer of top coat will give you the glossy finish.

I am very impressed with my first Nerd, and although I am not a Star Wars fan, I can definitely appreciate the humor in the polish name! I still have to swatch the remaining polishes from the trio (namely Scully and Batcave), so watch this space!

Purchase Info: The NerdLacquer Harlow Exclusives can be purchased from Harlow & Co. They are currently sold out, but you can get the latest restock information if you follow Harlow & Co on Facebook.

Enchanted Polish Tenderheart over Zoya Miley

Enchanted Polish Tenderheart, one coat over Zoya Miley, two coats

Hello my lovely readers! Today I have another Enchanted Polish for you. Tenderheart, from the Love A Lot Glitter Collection, is a clear base polish packed with shining red hearts, holographic silver diamonds, tiny red hexes and  tiny iridescent silver glitters. This sparkly glitter combination would add a sweet touch to any mani!

The formula of Tenderheart is a little bit on the thick side, and I need to dab and place the hearts onto my nails, but it is still easy enough to work with. On another note, Zoya Miley serves as a perfect undie for many glitter toppers, it is just so versatile and compliments the glitters so well!

Autism Awareness Mani with BSJ #13 Blue Holo

BSJ #13 - two coats with no top coat

April is the month for Autism Awareness, and I have lighted it up with BSJ #13, a dark blue linear holo. I have featured this polish before (see here), but I think it is the perfect polish for this occasion!

HARE Polish Swatches Spam!

I have been MIA for a little while, so to make it up for it, I am going to spam you lot with a few Hare beauties :P

Hare Pegasus - two coats alone with top coat

Pegasus, a soft lilac jelly with various silver glitters, is one of the most popular Hare polishes, and it is easy to see why! It is so delicate and gorgeous!

Hare King of Carat Flowers - two coats alone with top coat

King of Carat Flowers, a light grey jelly packed with gold and lilac square and hex glitters. Hare seriously knows how to make the best glitter jellies!

Hare Golden Years - two coats alone with top coat

Golden Years, a semi-sheer navy blue jelly with gold glitters in various sizes and shapes, has a certain rustic feel to it. I did two coats in the above swatch, but I think I could do three coats to give the mani more depth.

Hare Ancient Affairs - two coats alone with top coat

Ancient Affairs. a grey jelly with vibrant blue shimmers and turquoise micorglitter throughout, is one of my favorites! I just love sparkly, shimmery effect!

Hare Medusa Luminosa - two coats with top coat

Last but not least, we have Medusa Luminosa, a bright purple jelly with gold glass flecks, pink microglitter and glowing blue hexes. I love the fact that most Hare polishes are opaque enough to be worn alone, and Medusa Luminosa is no exception!

So there you have it! Which Hare is your favorite? If I really have to pick one, I'd go with King of Carat Flowers, because it is quite unique to me!

Glitters Gradient Mani with Shimmer Polish Leslie and Zoya Heather

Glitters Gradient Mani with Shimmer Polish Leslie and Zoya Heather

There are a few nail art manis I want to improve on, and glitter gradient mani is one of them. It is actually harder than it looks to get the 'right' amount of gradient on the nails (mine always looks like a big blob of glitters at the tip than a gradual fade away), but if you just dab a drop of glitters to the tip of your nails, then drag it to the middle with a few light strokes, you will get the hang of it after a few practices!

I used Zoya Heather, a light lavender creme which is a very good canvas for many layering options. Leslie from Shimmer Polish, a clear base polish with tiny lavender and periwinkle glitters, is then used for the tips. I am really liking the combo, because Heather shows off Leslie perfectly. I hope you like this mani as much as I do!