Friday Challenge - Graffiti!

This week's Friday challenge is... GRAFFITI.

My favourite ever piece of graffiti is this - I snapped this photo in my town centre about 5 years ago. It's still there, and every so often I see it, and smile. 

 However, I decided not to recreate this on my nails.  Instead I did this.

This was done by splodging on a mess of a combination of Barry M Greenberry, Satsuma and Cyan Blue, and Models Own Bubblegum. Then I added a coat of Layla Bubbly Effect in Black Forest. On the ring fingers I did my initial (yes - Elanor isn't actually my real name!) in what is meant to be a graffiti-esque style, using Barry M Nail Art Pens in white, pink and silver, over a base of W7 Black. Doing my right hand was hard!
 

I was a bit disappointed with how black these are - I had hoped more colour would show through. I'd forgotten that the Layla Bubbly Effect needs a very VERY thin coat! My right hand looked lots better, because I did that second. I can't photograph that though! However, I'm still pretty pleased with these, as I do think they look quite graffiti-ish.

(You'll notice that my nails are all short and horrid - I ripped a nail off in a door at work, and had to cut them all short to match. Booooo!)

 

Layla Bubbly Effect - Black Forest

Do you know about Sally Magpies yet? If you haven't, you really should! This UK online shop sells all sorts of fancy overseas nail polish brands that we can't otherwise get in the UK, and at really good prices too.

One of the big hits of last year was OPI Black Spotted, which was a limited release in France only, as far as I can tell. This is Layla's Bubbly Effect, which is essentially the same thing, at half the price. The Layla range is also available in several colours, which the OPI isn't.  This is Black Forest.

I splodged lots of different colours on my nails (there's a mix of Barry M Satsuma, Blood Orange and Bright Purple, plus China Glaze Escaping Reality and Creative Fantasy) and then added Black Forest over the top. You have to add a very VERY thin layer, or the polish floods your nails completely. It's a very watery finish, and if it's applied thinly enough, it then bubbles all over to show your base colour.

After trying this glossy, I also tried it matte, which I think I prefer.

What do you think? Matte or glossy?
 

Layla Hologram Effects - Purple Illusion

If you liked yesterday's Layla Red Taboo, you'd better be sitting down for this one! This is Purple Illusion, from the same collection. Two coats, no topcoat.  I would apologise for the number of photos... but... nope. :)

Ready?

This photo is in my normal photo-taking place, with indoor light. This is Purple Illusion looking at its most ordinary:

Everywhere else, especially in the sunshine (yes, we have some today!) and it goes mad:

I love this! It's so pretty and so shiny and so crazy sparkly! 

Application is even and smooth, dries quickly, opaque in two coats. Yesterday's Red Taboo lasted well, no chips at all after 24 hours wear, so I'm assuming this will be similar. 

Don't look at the cuticule on my little finger. I'm not sure what happened, but I think it may be a cat scratch. It's been swollen and sore for a few days now, and is going a bit red. 

Layla Hologram Effect - Red Taboo

Layla is one of those brands which aren't usually available in the UK, so I was very excited to find some of the Hologram Effect range on Amazon UK, at very reasonable prices. I snapped up two - Purple Illusion (I'll post over the weekend) and this one, Red Taboo.

This is two coats of Red Taboo, with no topcoat.

Red Taboo isn't really red at all - I'd say it was more bright fuschia pink. However, it is really pretty! It's not quite as holographic as I was expecting, but it is really shiny and pretty in bright light.

The first photos were all taken in bright-ish artificial light. These last two were taken with my phone's (very bright) flash. 

As you can see, the flash really brings out the holo!

Application was a little thin and runny (it pooled round my cuticles a bit) but was even and did dry quickly. I put this on last night, and then I've worn it all day at work, and it's still fine, although there is a tiny bit of tip wear.



I'm pretty impressed with this! It's not quite as amazingly holo as I was hoping from some swatches online, but it's not like anything I've seen before in the UK, but it's really pretty, wore well, and was a good price (I think £5 or £6 - not all the colours were the same price for some reason).