UK Indies - TarasTalons Neons

Greetings All!

Neon alert! I always claim to not really like neon polishes, because I often found them to be too bright, but gradually through things like neon glitter I've come to accept that they have their place. I still probably wouldn't wear a plain neon polish, but I hardly ever wear plain polish anyway.

These three polishes from TarasTalons are anything but plain! This is my favourite of the bunch, Poison Apple. Three coats over white.

Super bright lime green jelly, suspending black shards brilliantly (check out the layering!), and added pink circle fun. The base colour is a bit brighter than I would normally wear, but those black shards...they make it a winner for me!

Next is Jazz. I couldn't capture just how bright this yellow is. It's literally highlighter yellow. It's the brightest thing that's ever been on my nails. Two coats over white.

What I really like about this polish (apart form the fact that I could constantly see them out of the corner of my eye!) is that the purple glitter gives it a slightly murky look, but at the same time it's insanely bright. It's an unusual combination, and this is a very unique addition to my collection!

Last up is Light Nights. Again this was highlighter bright in real life! Three coats over white.

The bright blue glitter goes really well with the pink, and I love how the lower layers are tinted purple. I'm definitely becoming a neon convert. As with most things, adding glitter was the answer!

Dance Legend Boo. And Oh Look, More Stamping!

Greetings All!

Let's talk multichromes for a moment. How amazing are they?! They haven't featured on the blog until now, because I'm not a skilled enough photographer to capture the reality-defying magic they contain. I haven't really managed that on this occasion either, but I'm getting there!

Although I've never been the biggest fan of duochromes (they're lovely in the bottle, but I get bored of them very quickly on the nail), multichromes are just that bit better. When I first saw bottle shots, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It's like some sort of sorcery, polish that transitions through so many colours. I thought staring at my thermal manicures was bad, but it doesn't really compare to me tilting my fingers through all sorts of angles to make my nails change colour, like someone who has only just discovered they have hands!

Dance Legend Boo is a particular favourite of mine, because of it's colours, how amazing it looks in the bottle, and it's general all round fantastic formula! Here I'm wearing two coats over black, stamped with Konad Black and MoYou London Pro XL 06.

This is a personal best for me, multichome-photo wise. But if anyone was going to cooperate, it was Boo. I have the bottle out as I'm writing this post, and I literally keep stopping to spin it round and stare at it. It really is a little bottle of magic!

OPI Gargantuan Green Grape Matte (Plus Stamping)

Greetings All!

Today I have a polish that is a very, very welcome addition to my little collection. I love a matte finish, that has been well established over the last 18 months, and the OPI matte and suede polishes are particular lemmings of mine. I only have one suede (Suzi Skis In The Pyrenees), and they can be quite difficult to find, especially at the bargain prices I normally prefer to pay! So imagine my delight when I was the only bidder on this polish on eBay!


Application was a little bit tricky. Matte polishes dry so quickly, you don't have much time to get a coat on before it starts to drag. It also doesn't have any time to self-level. I used three coats here - two slapped on quickly to get the nails covered, then a thicker third coat to smooth it all out. It was a little bit frustrating, but all was forgiven as soon as it dried. I can't stay angry at a polish when it looks like this.

Just look at that matte finish. No shine at all. Absolute perfection. I'm sure you could get a similar effect with the 'normal' version of GGG and matte topcoat, but where's the fun in that? Also I don't have that version, although I could topcoat this one. So it's entirely justified!

Of course, I couldn't leave them plain. I had ten perfectly prepared blank canvases. I went for some thorny roses from MoYou London Pro XL 10, stamped with Konad Black.

I love how it's a different shade of green in just about every picture! Tricky shade to photograph accurately, but surely at least on of them has to be right! 

So there you go. Hope you're all having a pleasant weekend. I just realised that it's very nearly July - how did that happen?! Where did the first half of the year go?

UK Indies - Freckles Polish Happy Hour Holos Part II

*These products were provided at a discount in exchange for review*

Greetings All!

Yesterday I showed you two of the new Holiday Destination polishes Freckles Polish are releasing this Friday (tomorrow!). Today I have two polishes from the second part of the Happy Hours Holos collection, which will also be released on Friday. The first collection were absolutely stunning, so I was very excited to learn there would be another collection, especially when I found out there was going to be a black holo. 

I think, if pressed, most people have a favourite colour base for holos. However most seem to have a colour that has a bit more variety. Purple, for example, can run from lilac to deepest, darkest violet, with countless shades in between. My favourite is black, and as you don't really get a variety of blacks, I spend my time looking for the perfect black holo. One that is stunningly holographic and linear, and yet still impossibly black. I don't think it actually exists because of the nature of holographic pigment, but that doesn't stop me trying!

Black Russian is my tenth linear black holo (plus I have countless black scattered holos), so let's see if this can do the impossible. This is two coats solo, and all pictures are taken indoors in artificial light. My camera is notoriously terrible at capturing holos, so although I'm so pleased with how it behaved here, these pictures still aren't really doing justice to these polishes. 

It's pretty close. It's about as close as I've got to the perfect black holo. That sounds kind of half-hearted, doesn't it? It's a beautiful polish, with a gorgeous linear rainbow running through. The formula is great - I can usually tell a good formula by how much cleanup I have to do afterwards, and this was bare minimum. It's a lot nicer than many of my collection, and that includes some pretty big names, so it's saying something!

Next is Bloody Mary, a juicy pink. I initially thought this was very similar to Raspberry Daiquiri from the first collection, but it's lighter, brighter, and less...raspberry. Again, two coats in artificial light.

This is like a bright Barbie pink, it's almost neon-bright, but without the garishness. It looks like it should be bubblegum scented! Very, very pretty, although my camera didn't seem to like it at all. Because of the pink base, it is a little difficult to capture the blue/green end of the holo - it sits much more comfortably in the orange region. I really like it though - it's girly, but with a little bit of edge.

The Happy Hour Holos Part II and Holiday Destination Collections are both released this Friday (27th) over on Etsy. You can also keep up to date with news and swatches via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

An InLinkz Link-up

UK Indies - Freckles Polish Holiday Destinations Swatches

*These products were provided at a discount for review*

Greetings All!

It's now officially Summer, and Freckles Polish are launching a Holiday Destinations collection this Friday (27th), filled with polishes themed on favourite...well, holiday destinations! I have two to share with you today, both beautifully Summery, and very evocative of holidays.

First is Greek Islands. I'm a sucker for blue and white as they look soo good together, and this is no exception! Greece conjures up images of white buildings and gorgeous blue sea, and this polish is a great homage to that. This is two coats, with no undies.

There are large gold circles in the mix, but unfortunately the second coat has covered them up. You can catch a glimpse of them n the second picture. Personally I'm not sure they're needed, as the blue and white are so pretty together, but I'm not about to advocate not having big gold circles in any polish! It's so clean and fresh looking. I was very impressed with the coverage - with white based polishes, I always have the question of whether I need a plain white base, but I definitely didn't need one here. Excellent coverage in just two coats.

Next is Koh Phangan. Famous for its Full and Half Moon parties, this is a neon glitter topper that echoes the bright lights, glow sticks, and general party atmosphere! Here I'm wearing two coats over black and white.

I much prefer solid neon glitter to the translucent type, because just look at that neon over black! Don't get me wrong, it's also pretty over the white, but they just seem to 'pop' so much more over black. I also really like the mix of sizes and shapes here. It's so bright and fun!


This collection is released this Friday, along with part two of The Happy Hour Holo Collection (more on that tomorrow! Squee!). You can buy them on Etsy, and keep up to date on releases, news and swatches on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

A Bit More Me

Greetings All!

After yesterday's very girly manicure, I wanted something a bit...well, less girly! I've never been a girly girl, so I had to scrub away the pastels and butterflies with some black, to feel more like myself again.

I've been wanting to use this particular stamping image for a while, in fact I think this image is why I bought this particular plate. I think I hurt it's feelings by not using it sooner though, because it would not play nice!

I've mentioned before that my MoYou London plates are a lot more deeply etched than other brands I own. Cleaning them after use usually involves cotton pads being torn to shreds! So I have a pretty thick layer of Konad Black here, which smudged a little, and even cracked in a couple of places. On more than one occasion, I couldn't even get the whole image to lift. Not a very nice stamp at all. Plus, so much cleanup. So much Konad Black on my skin. Nightmare!

Apart from that little blip, loved these! MoYou London Princess XL plate 13, over No7 So Simple, and finished with TarasTalons Gloss Off, to take a bit of the shine away. I was tempted to fill in the zips with silver, but I didn't have the patience in the end!

Pastels And Butterflies

Greetings All!

No WAMM this week. I'm off work, so I don't need work appropriate nails. Instead, something soft and pretty, and not very me! I would never want something like this as clothing, or furnishing, or any sort of decoration other than on my nails. I still find it strange, the things I like. Pink is another thing - I hate pink, but I love pink polish. There might be something wrong with me.

So, here are two things you won't find anywhere but on my nails - pastels, and pretty little butterflies.

This was one of those classic 'evolving' manicures. I started with a base of Sally Hansen Ivory Skull, knowing I wanted some sort of pastel involved. I ended up using all the Models Own Fruit Pastel polishes - Apple Pie, Banana Split, Strawberry Tart, Blueberry Muffin and Grape Juice. It now occurs to me that this isn't all of them - I don't yet own the new peach and coconut ones! I used cling film to dab each colour on. It was pretty, but very subtle. I did take pictures (to show the pastels better, definitely not in case I ruined it with stamping after spending ages creating it!).

Subtle. Too subtle for me! Plus I needed something to hide the ever-present hair, bits of fluff, and particles of undetermined origin that just love to jump on my wet nails. I chose PUEEN39, stamped with Barry M Gelly in Plum. I think that the purple is a bit too strong though. I should have used Pukka Purple!


What's the most 'un-you' polish you like?

UK Indies: R&R Lacquers - Assemble! Swatches

*These products were provided  for review*

Greetings All!

Today I have swatches of two polishes from R&R Lacquers, from the second part of their Assemble! collection, themed around The Avengers. I must confess, I'm very behind on my UK indie polishes at the moment. I've got several brands lined up to show you - I might have to have a whole week of UK indies!


First up is Ultimate Fury. I have some helpful information about the names, as I'm not overly familiar with  superheroes *hides*.

"Ultimate Fury - named for the first version of Nick Fury to be depicted by Samuel L. Jackson".

It's a clear glitter topper with tiny matte blue glitter, white squares, holo sparkle and black dots.  I've used two coats here over Barry M Yellow, stamped with Konad Red and an image from the Cheeky Musical Nails plate.

 I couldn't resist pairing circles and zigzags. The black dots were a little bit stealthy - what looked like two or three on the brush could turn out to be a lot more! That's not really a complaint though, because what's not to like about black circles?! The teeny blue glitters are also very cute, and a pinch of holo makes it all a great combination.


Next is Odinson, "named for the gorgeous God of Thunder, Thor". Again, the description was helpful, and saved me Googling. I'm so going to get thrown off the internet for not knowing this stuff! Here I've used two coats over Barry M Grey.

You could probably get full coverage with three coats, but I decided to use a base colour to keep this lovely gunmetal glitter nice and dark. It has a lovely sparkle to it, and I really like the red glitter too!

You can buy R&R Lacquers here, and you can also find them on Facebook for all the latest news. While you're clicking on things, you should also check out Rachel and Rebecca's blogs!