Christmas Glitter Mani 2021

I fell behind with posting, but I really wanted to get this Christmas Mani up on the blog (even though there are a few older manis that I have yet to post! 😅), as it's becoming a bit of a tradition for me to do this same mani at Christmas-time:

I talked about the first two times that I did this manicure in this post from December 2018. I'm pretty sure that this is actually the fourth time I re-created this mani, as I distinctly remember wearing it during the holidays in 2019, however, it looks like I didn't take any pictures of it that year.

One change that I made from the original version, is that I am using a different gold base polish for my middle finger. In the first two versions I used Orly 'Luxe' as the base coat, which is a bit more of a true gold colour. This year (and I think last year too), I started using OPI 'Dazzling Dew Drop', which is a bit more of a brassy, yellow-toned gold. I think that this shade of gold works a little better with this bright, playful look. For both versions, I used Orly 'Halo' as the glitter topper over the gold polishes.

Once again, I love how it turned out! This manicure was so much fun to wear, as it instantly put me in a festive mood!  

Happy Holidays to all!

Revlon 'Elusive'

 Today I have a quick swatch to share:

Revlon #736 'Elusive' is a matte black crelly polish with Emerald green hexagonal glitter particles of various sizes. I'm pretty sure that this polish is discontinued.

I think that this is one of those polishes that looks a million times better in the bottle than on the nail. I find myself wishing that the black base was a bit more translucent, so that the glitter particles would be able to make more of an impact. I also think it would be better with a glossy finish instead of the matte formula that was chosen - of course that is an easy fix with a bit of glossy top coat. 

Overall, it's an OK polish. The formula applied and dried well. The final look is edgy, and somewhat unique. It's just not really my cup of tea... I could see myself maybe wearing it again around halloween, or as a base for nail art, or perhaps if it worked well with a particular outfit - but all in all, it is not one of my favourites.

Yellow, Green, and Blue Dotticure

 Today I have a nail art manicure to share:

This yellow, green, and blue dotticure was really quick and easy to do. I just alternated some blue and green holographic polishes as my base colours, and then added dots of various sizes and colours with a dotting tool. The overall look was very whimsical - it was a lot of fun to wear!

Below, I have a shot of the polishes that I used o create this mani:

I used 3 polishes to create this manicure. The base colours were two different holographic polishes from Cirque Colors, 'Emerald' and 'Sapphire'. These polishes were both originally released in Cirque Colors' 'Facets 2018 Collection', which was themed around various precious gemstones. The third polish was a bright yellow that I used for the dot design. It is called 'Hit the Lights' and it was part of Nicole by OPI's collaboration collection with Selena Gomez, which was released way back in January 2013!

I have so many nostalgic feelings around the (now retired) Nicole by OPI line! I remember how OPI saved the majority of their fun, bright, and bold shades and formulations for this line. It was so much fun to browse through them in the drug stores!

Below, I have some additional shots of the manicure.

OPI 'Envy the Adventure'

St. Patrick's day has recently passed, but I was still in a green mood! Today I have a quick mani to share using OPI's 'Envy the Adventure', and Rimmel's 'Dazzle':

For this mani, I started with a base of 'Envy the Adventure', and then added a few simple star embellishments that I made by using a star-shaped hole punch on a dried sheet of gold nail polish, 'Dazzle'. It was super quick and easy, and made for a fun mani!

Materials Used:

Green Plaid Manicure

I decided to do a green plaid manicure as a warm-up to St Patrick's Day. Here's what I came up with:

For the plaid nails, I used Zoya 'Ireland' as the base, and I double-stamped plaid images from my UberChic Beauty stamping plate, 'Pretty in Plaid 2'. For the stamping, I used Zoya 'Hunter', and then Sally Hansen Color Foil 'Liquid Gold'. I did a sparkly hunter green accent nail on my ring finger, using Morgan Taylor 'Mistress of Mayhem', from their Fall 2020 'Disney Villains' collection. I also did a gold accent nail on my middle finger, using Rimmel 'Dazzle'.

To finish off the mani, I put on a layer of glossy topcoat - but then I decided it would look better matte! I then carefully applied a mattifying topcoat, trying to avoid putting it over the gold stamping,  so that the gold would still be super shiny.

All in all, I'm really happy with how this mani turned out. I purchased the 'Pretty in Plaid 2' plate relatively recently, and ever since, I've been wanting to do more plaid manicures. I'm glad that I was able to incorporate some plaid into this one!

Polish Cutout Decal Mani: Version 3

Today I have another polish cutout Decal manicure to share:

 

I still had some sheets of polish leftover from my decal making manicures that I shared on the blog a few posts ago: the 'Polish Cutout Decal Mani' version 1, and version 2. I didn't wan't to waste the sheets of polish, so I came up with a quick abstract mani using strips of polish I cut from the sheets using my pinking shears, and regular scissors. I topped the manicure with a matte glitter topper called 'Can I Get an Untz Untz' from China Glaze's iconic 'Summer Nights' collection that they released in Summer 2015.

The finished look isn't exactly as I had envisioned, but I kind of like the chaotic, random vibes that this manicure gives off! Cutting up the nail polish strips and applying them directly to the nail was a great way to use up more of the sheets of polish.  There still are more odds and ends left, so if I feel up to it, I may be able to do one more version of the 'Polish Cutout Decal Mani', but we'll see...

Deep Emerald Green Glitter Mani

Today's manicure is a blinged-up version of yesterday's swatch of Nubar's 'Greener'. This look is truly serving up all kinds of pre-St Patrick's Day sparkly green greatness! 😉

This has been such a fun manicure to wear! There's just something about an in-your-face glitter mani that just instantly puts me in a great mood! And then combined with all of this gorgeous greenness... It's almost too much to handle! 

Above, is a shot of the polishes that I used to create this look. The base polish is Nubar 'Greener', and the glitter is L.A. Girl Glitter Addict 'Purge'. The L.A. Girl polish was from a glitter collection they released with about 14 different shades of metallic glitter polishes. I managed to get all but one or two shades from the glitter collection several years ago, and they are still going strong!  These are actually the only polishes that I own from this brand.

Below, I've included a few additional shots of the manicure.  Enjoy!

Swatch: Nubar 'Greener'

Nubar Greener

Today I have a swatch of Nubar's 'Greener' to share. It's a deep emerald shimmer polish, which is almost too gorgeous for words to accurately describe! This polish was originally introduced as part of a 6 pc collection of green nailpolishes that Nubar debuted in 2009. The polishes had eco-themed names like 'Forest', and 'Conserve', and from what I can find on google, it may have been named the 'Going Greener' collection. I think it must have become part of their permanent collection, as I'm pretty sure that I purchased the polish several years after 2009. 

I don't know if this company is still active, so I won't bother with a full review of the polish. However I will say that this colour is quite stunning. These rich, shimmering, emerald tones are my favourite way to wear green on my nails.

Swatch: Jelly Belly + Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Collab, 'Green Apple'

Today I have another quick swatch from the Jelly Belly + Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Collab, 'Green Apple'. Just like most of the other Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes, this polish was a very opaque, highly pigmented, one-coater. This should be really great for nail stamping and nail art, which is how I primarily plan to use it. I also really like this particular shade of green - the cooler undertones add a bit of complexity, but it is still overall a very crisp, clean, standard green.

Spotlight on 'Project Polish' Polishes: Nicole by OPI 'Nicole... Spotted!'

The featured polish for today's 'Project Polish' spotlight is Nicole by OPI's 'Nicole... Spotted!', a teal jelly polish loaded with yellow, green, and blue metallic glitters, as well as what appear to be gold micro glitters. It was released in 2010 as part of the 4 piece 'Gossip Girl' collection, a cross-promotion with the television show 'Gossip Girl', which was quite popular at the time.

The silver and white glitter polish that I used in my Remembrance Day Mani - 2018, 'Scandal, Secrets & Sparkle', was also from the 'Gossip Girl' collection. That polish is also in the project, and since I previously did a swatch post about it, I went back and added the 'Spotlight' label to that post so that it will be included in this series. Here's a swatch of 'Nicole... Spotted!':

First of all, this polish has held up relatively well over the years. The consistency of the polish may possibly be a touch thicker than it was originally, but it still spreads really easily, and required 2 coats to opacity.

Secondly, I was quite impressed with how chip resistant, and long lasting this polish was on me! This polish was so durable that I wore it for a few days with virtually no signs of wear. However the flip side of that coin is that the polish was also quite tedious to remove. Even though there is a lot of glitter, I chose not to wear a peel-off base coat... I don't think that I'll make that same mistake again! Unless of course I'm planning for a situation where I might not be able to do my nails for a while, and need a super durable polish to get me through most of that time.  

I'll end today's post with a couple extra shots of the swatch:

Blue and Green Chunky Glitter Mani using Revlon 'Tantalize', and Nicole by OPI 'Honey-Dew You Love Me?'

Today I have another Project Polish manicure to share with you:

Polishes Used

Revlon Brilliant Strength 'Tantalize' (120)

Nicole by OPI 'Honey-Dew You Love Me?'

The Project Polish selection was Nicole by OPI 'Honey-Dew You Love Me?' This polish is a chunky matte teal heart glitter in a clear base with subtle holographic micro-glitters, and here it is used over Revlon Brilliant Strength 'Tantalize'  - colour number 120.  I did a swatch of this colour for yesterday's post.

Polishes Used

I remember being so excited about 'Honey-Dew...', and other polishes like it, back when I bought it years ago in the early days of my polish collecting. I used a different version of this polish with reddish-orange hearts for my Coral Compilation Mani a few years ago. I also have other colours and shapes of chunky glitter toppers that I haven't worn in a while.

Truthfully, my tastes have changed a lot since I first eagerly bought these chunky glitter topper polishes. When I first started collecting polishes, I wasn't really into nail stamping or nail art, so Chunky glitters and crackle polishes (which were really big at the time) were my go-to way of combining colours on my nails. Now that I have other ways of mixing and matching different colours in my collection, as well as adding shapes, patterns, and images to my nails, I hardly ever reach for these chunky glitters any more.

I may have to put put them all into a future 'Project Polish' once this one is over.

Over all, I think this mani turned out to be fun and colourful, and it was also quite nostalgic to wear a polish that I truly adored ages ago!

Revlon Brilliant Strength Nail Enamel in 'Tantalize'

Today, I have a quick swatch of 'Tantalize' - colour number 120 from Revlon's Brilliant Strength line of nail polishes.

This polish is a beautiful, eye-catching shimmery chartreuse shade that is so much fun to wear! I am wearing 2 coats in the swatch above, and it probably could have used another coat to be fully opaque, but since I was using this polish as a base for another topper polish, I didn't bother with the extra coat.

I really love bright, fun colours like this. I really need to start wearing this polish more often!

OPI 'Visions of Georgia Green'

OPI added two new polishes to its Coca Cola Collection to celebrate the fact that 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the iconic Coca Cola bottle. Today's manicure is a swatch of 'Visions of Georgia Green', my favourite of the two new releases.

The polish is a translucent silvery-green, frosted, shimmery, subtle duo-chrome, that is reminiscent of the classic pale green glass coke bottle. I love the concept, and I love how the polish looks on my nails. I normally don't by a lot of polishes with frosty finishes, but this one is a little different - it seems somewhere between a frost and a metallic and I don't own anything like it.

All in all, I am quite happy with this purchase!

Cool-Tone Dotted Mani

Today's manicure was inspired by the cool shades of the colour spectrum:

Polishes Used

China Glaze Electric Nights Collection ‘Can I Get an Untz Untz’

Essie Summer 2015 Collection ‘Chillato’

Essie Summer Neon Collection 2015 ‘Melody Maker’

Essie Summer Neon Collection 2015 ‘Make Some Noise’

Essie Summer Neon Collection 2015 ‘All Access Pass’

I really love the colour combination used in this manicure! I'm especially impressed with 'Chillato', the pale greenish-yellow colour that I used for the base of the manicure. I think that the colour is so unique and interesting, and it looks great both in the bottle, and on my nails. 

I didn't take my time doing the dotting, so the dots aren't as uniform and precisely placed as they could be, but in real life, this is not as noticeable as it is in the close up photo above!

Neon Green and Blue Print Mani

I threw together this fun and vibrant look because I wanted to try out this awesome neon green nail polish that I bought recently:

Polishes Used	Plate Used
Essie ‘Vibrant Vibes’	Bundle Monster BM-402
Sally Hansen ‘In Prompt Blue’

The neon green polish is 'Vibrant Vibes' from Essie's Summer Neons 2015 Collection. I stamped over it with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri 'In Prompt Blue' using a tribal print image from Bundle Monster plate BM-402. It's not the best stamping job ever, but I do like how the colour combo looks!

Chartreuse Mani

Today I have a post-St. Patrick's day mani to share with you. It features one of my favourite colours, chartreuse. Chartreuse is a combination of green and gold, so it lends itself perfectly to this subtle, elegant interpretation of St Patrick's day nails!

Chartreuse Mani

Polishes Used:
Illamasqua 'Peruzzi'
Borghese Rapido 'Limoncello'

Overall, I really like this mani. It's simple, but I love how well the two polishes match each other. I love having different versions of the same colour - it's such a nice, understated look to pair identical shades of polish in different finishes.

I plan to continue with the Crackle polish challenge for my next few manicures.  I have 4 crackle polishes left to complete the challenge: 2 blue crackles, a red one, and a pink one.  Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

St. Patrick's Day Manicure

For today's manicure, I ended up taking a little break from the Crackle Polish Challenge in order to squeeze in something for St Patrick's Day.

Polishes Used:
Maybelline Color Show 'Walk in the Park'
Sally Hansen Color Foil 'Liquid Gold'
OPI 'Green-Wich Village'

Plate Used:
Moyou London Festive Collection - 21

Polishes Used

I really love how this manicure turned out! I can't believe how gorgeous the kelly green shade of the base polish ('Green-Wich Village') is, and I'm pleased with how the stamping turned out! Also, it was so much fun to be able to concentrate solely on what colours and images I wanted to use, and not having to worry about trying to work crackle texture into the design, as I've been doing for my last 17 manicures!

I really hope that I can get one more St Patrick's Day mani in before the 17th, because I have a couple other green polishes in mind that I think would be perfect!

St Patrick's Day Mani - Additional Shots