Under the Sea Jelly Sandwich Manicure

So the last time I did a jelly sandwich manicure, I was kind of on the fence about it. So I decided to give it another go, to see if I really loved it or not.

This time, I used China Glaze Lorelai's Tiara, and Nicole by OPI Somebody Teal Love. Yes, I used a Justin Bieber nail polish. No, I am not a fan of Justin Bieber, I'm a little older than his target demographic (although I'm sure if I were 10 years younger and in my early tweens, I'd have such a huge crush on him). Yes, I am ashamed. But it's okay. It's nail polish. At least I didn't buy his CD!


Anyway, Somebody Teal Love is very, very sheer. Like man-this-is-the-fourth-freaking-coat-of-polish-and-why-am-I-still-seeing-VNL-with-four-freaking-coats kind of sheer. So, I thought it would be perfect for the purpose of a jelly sandwich. Lorelai's Tiara, of course, has all this big happy glitter, and I just love it.


I used 2 coats of Somebody Teal Love as the base, then two coats of Lorelai's Tiara, and 2 coats of Somebody Teal Love. So this mani ended up being a little thicker than I was used to, but I still liked it! I actually quite like this combination, it looks like there are jewels beneath a sea embedded in my nails, twinkling from below the surface... (I'm all waxing poetic now, aren't I?)


Anyway, I think the jelly manicure may actually be growing on me. I think I just need to experiment with more glitter and jelly types!

Glitter Sandwich: A Happy Birthday manicure!

Remember the time I first got Lippmann's Happy Birthday nail polish? I layered it over white and I was so excited because it worked glitter magic over a plain ol' white.

This time, I tried it out again, in the form of a glitter sandwich! I thought the colorful glitter would make it a perfect candidate. Plus, I've been wanting to do a glitter sandwich for ages, so I thought - now's the time!



I used one coat of GOSH Snow, a sheer white jelly, as a base. Then I layered Lippmann Happy Birthday over. I used one coat, but had to dab a little to get the glitter coverage to be more even, and followed up with another cost of GOSH Snow.



Maybe I'm a layering idiot, but this kinda underwhelmed me. Perhaps it's because the glitter fiend in me is protesting, "You have an awesome blingy glitter, why are you covering it up with another cost of colour? You're hindering it's blingy-ness! That's evil! Evil!" But hey, sometimes you gotta try new things.



I guess, despite my initial doubt, this mani is growing on me. I feel like I need to play around with the colours in my stash a bit more to find more colour combinations to play around with, so expect to see more glitter sandwiches soon!



(Lippmann product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

China Glaze Lubu Heels + Nails Inc Trafalgar Square = Awesome Bling!

Don't you just love how cool my nails look right now? I love how this looks - just like red stars in a deep, black sky, or burning embers in a bed of lava. This look was actually two polishes layered together. For the base, I used China Glaze Lubu Heels, a black jelly with small red glitter, one of the classics in their permanent collection. However, it wasn't quite blingy enough for me, so I layered Nails Inc Trafalgar Square over it. Nails Inc Trafalgar Square consists of large chunks or red glitter in a clear base - perfect for layering over Lubu Heels!



I'm always been a fan of both China Glaze and Nails Inc, and both of these were polishes I bought awhile back but never used as often as I liked (although I've previously used Trafalgar Square in another NOTD, one that's really old.)



Both these brands generally work very well on me, and the application for China Glaze and Nails Inc was quite trouble-free for glitter polishes. As always, since the glitter does tend to clump up in some places, you do need to work a little with the brush to try to ensure as even a distribution of glitter as possible. Otherwise, I had no issues with application.

Both China Glaze and Nails Inc wear well on me, so this lasted for around 3-4 days before chipping. That's pretty decent for me, so I have no complaints about lasting power.



I love my nails, and I love the glitter and bling. Although I don't always use glitter polishes, I can't wait to do another manicure like that again!

China Glaze Atlantis: The Very Last Days of Summer

Okay, so summer was over a long, long time ago, but I thought that I'd better wear this while there was still some semblance of sunlight over dreary London. Also, I'm graduating from University and starting work soon, so I figured that I'd better make my last manicure before I start work a good and fun one, since once I start work I'll be subject to the tyranny of boring sheers, pinks and nudes. Not that there's anything wrong with pinks, sheers, or nudes, but I'll be darned if I have to wear ONLY those...

Anyway, China Glaze Atlantis is gorgeous. It's a teal jelly with holographic glitter chunks, so with it's eye-catching, bold, bright and defiant nature, it's totally appropriate for the last days of summer, before sunlight slips away (as well as the last days of being a freewheeling student, before I slip into the working world)...Pictures really don't do this justice, because my camera can't capture the awesome holographic fullness of this beauty. It just looks like plain old glitter, but it isn't. I need you to imagine that every one of those glitter bits below is twinkling in holo goodness.



Atlantis is a chunky glitter, and while I usually hate chunky glitters, I'll make an exception for this one. When I first applied it, I hated it. I was thinking "WTF HUGE CHUNKY GLITTER?! At least it's holograhic..." but once I wore it for a bit more, I started loving it. I think it's acquired taste, especially if you're colour-shy. But it is a lovely colour, and one that's totally unique.

I like how the teal base is a jelly that's not too opaque, so even after two coats, you still see every single glitter bit. The suspended but still visible glitter really adds a dimension to the colour. I think Atlantis is absolutely appropriate as a polish name - it really looks like the diamonds of an ancient city sparkling at the bottom of a deep blue-green sea, forgotten and twinkling beneath the waves.

See what I mean? Who knew polish could tell a story? But this one does. It's almost poetic.



Before you guys think I'm off my rockers, I'd better get to the more mundane aspects of polish description. Like application. As with all chunky glitters, Atlantis wasn't exactly smooth going on - the glitters do tend to all clump together at wherever your brush first lands on your nail, so you do have to maneuver carefully to ensure the glitter is as evenly distributed as possible. But otherwise, I didn't have any problems with this.

Despite being a jelly, it was easily buildable, and what you see on my nails is just two coats. I don't know how China Glaze does it, but Atlantis isn't so sheer that it's annoying, but it also isn't so opaque that you can't see the glitter bits embedded in the polish.

Here's a close up shot so you can see the awesome holographic glitter. It really is more holographic in real life, but my camera has issues:



Of course, it's obvious how much I love this colour. When I move my fingers it sparkles and twinkles, and I absolutely love the bling effect. If you're not colour-shy, or glitter-shy, this one is for you.

Sally Hansen Purple Pizzazz: NOTD

By now, if you've been reading my blog long enough, you'll know I love purples. And that I also love jellies (although I know of plenty of nail fanatics who don't, because they don't love the lack of coverage), and in particular, I love glitter suspended in a good jelly. There's something about the transluscence of a jelly that just lends itself to tons of glitter being embedded in the jelly finish. It's like looking at stars in a night sky...you know, glitter bits suspended in a jelly polish.

And which is why I LOVE today's NOTD, which is Sally Hansen's Purple Pizzazz. Not only is it purple (well it's bluple, a cross between purple and blue, but I think it leans more purple), and not only is it a jelly, but it also has glitter in it! Ooh purple jelly with glitter...Mmmm.

Anyway I was totally unable to capture the beauty of this in photographs. The next time I wear it I so need to try harder. As you can see, this was 2 not-so-thin coats, and you can still see some VNL (Visible Nail Line). I'm personally okay with a little bit of VNL, but if you're not one of them, you might want to layer this over black, or another colour, or just pile on more coats. Personally, I really like this.



Appliction on this one was pretty good, and wear time was the average of 3-4 days. I didn't have any problems with the brush, the formula, or the wear time, so you can bet I'll be keeping this around in my stash. I actually had to beg a friend of mine to send it to me from faraway USA, because Sally Hansen in the UK has a pitably limited range of colours, and this was totally worth it. Of course, if VNL, glitter and jellies aren't your thing, this probably isn't a colour you should be looking at. But if you like any of the above, this one won't disappoint.

China Glaze Lubu Heels and Color Club Perfect Plum NOTD

Today's NOTD is the cult favourite, China Glaze Lubu Heels, together with Color Club's Perfect Plum. Lubu Heels, named after the shoes, are a hot favourite, due to its unique combination of a black jelly base and red glitter. Perfect Plum isn't so much plum as it is red, which is why I used it as an accent colour on the ring finger. And as you can tell by the terrible cuticles, this is also an old NOTD. Trust me, you and I both wish I could photoshop the cuticles out, but my skills really don't reach those heights of digital manipulation.

Here's a shot of it in natural light, two coats of Lubu Heels on all the fingers, except the ring finger, and two coats of Color Club Perfect Plum on the ring finger:



While you can tell Lubu Heels isn't just black-black because the red glitter is still somewhat visible through the black jelly, but I still kind of wish the black jelly was a little bit less opaque, so that we could see more of the red glitter. Perfect Plum, meanwhile, isn't so much plum as it is a beautiful jewel-toned red with shimmer.

Here's a shot of it indoors:



I think that Lubu Heels is one of those colours that looks better indoors than outdoors, because the red glitter really shows through much more indoors - here you can see how beautiful it really is. You can also see the shimmer and glow of Perfect Plum in here.

Application was good for both Lubu Heels and Perfect Plum, and wear time was also decent - about 3-4 days, which is average for me. I didn't have any quality issues with either polishes in either way.

Wet n Wild Megalast Infatuation: NOTD

Today's NOTD is Wet n' Wild's Megalast nail polish in the colour Infatuation 216. It's a pretty red jelly, and I would have liked it more if not for the application and wear issues. It's also easily built up to near-opacity, despite being a jelly. I don't have many red nail polishes (because why wear reds when you can wear taupes, greys, and purples?) but this is one that I like. I actually bought it when it was buy-one-get-one-free at Walgreens, and although it wasn't my colour, it was cheap so I thought, why not? Now that I'm no longer living in the US, I really miss the drugstore beauty sales. I don't think you can get buy-one-get-one-free drugstore makeup anywhere else.

Here it is in natural sunlight. This is two coats. And as you can tell by the watermark this was an old NOTD when my nails were ugly and my skills were le suckage (I mean, my skills are still bad, but this was worse):



As you can see it's a very pretty red with a very nice glow.

Here it is indoors:



You can see that it has some shimmer in it. It's superfine, and I can't tell what colour the shimmer is (gold maybe?) but it's really fine and it just shows up as a glow, even indoors. It's not a unique, OMG colour by any means, but it's a nice basic colour.

Unfortunately, despite the nice colour, the application was not too great. The brush has a tendency to dispense too much colour on the nail - hence the overly thick application you see in the photos. I guess as long as you wipe the brush before applying it should do the trick though.

Also, wear was an issue for this colour. It chipped the very next day, and it chipped in really weird places, as you can see from the NOTD pictures. Or maybe I was just especially rough with my nails. I guess wear and application vary from person to person - some people love OPIs, some find OPIs chip on them, and different people have different preferences when it comes to brushes (like how some like wide brushes and some prefer narrower brushes). But for me, I don't really like this one, and I doubt I'll be wearing it again.