OPI Pirouette My Whistle

This is what I was trying to do a couple of weeks ago when I wore OPI Crown Me Already over Essie Mademoiselle!

This is two coats of Essie's Mademoiselle, with one coat of OPI's Pirouette My Whistle. Pirouette My Whistle is the glitter from OPI's recent New York City Ballet collection. The rest of that collection doesn't really appeal to me (it's all very subtle pastel jellies and sheers) but Pirouette My Whistle is just so pretty!

This is a clear base with very delicate tiny silver microglitter, and larger white glitter pieces that I think are almost translucent. The white bits almost remind me of tiny raindrops.

The glitter is very thin and delicate, so it lies very smooth on the nail. I didn't even need topcoat with this - it doesn't feel at all textured and thick like some glitters, it feels lovely and smooth and glossy.  I love how this looks with Essie Mademoiselle - so delicate and pretty. It really does remind me of a gauzy, glittery top layer of a tutu over layers of sheer net.

I'm a bit annoyed - I've lost a couple of corners on some of my nails - one caught in a cupboard and snapped off, and another caught in a shoe buckle and ripped!

China Glaze Pool Party

This week has been mostly hot and sunny, and I've had an uncontrollable urge to wear neon nail varnish. I didn't have any, so I chose two from my local shop. They had lots of this year's China Glaze Summer Neons collection, and from 2011's Poolside neon collection. I bought Pool Party from last year's, and Beach Cruise-r from this year's.

First I wore Pool Party as a French mani, with Opi's Heart Throb as a base colour. I quite liked this, but I made a bit of a mess placing the French tip guides, and there is still some of my own nail tips showing, which looks a bit messy. Still, it only really showed if you looked very closely.

The next day I changed to a whole coat of Pool Party. This is a fairly sheer neon, that dries quite matte and very smooth. This is three coats, with topcoat for glossiness.  It's very hard to photograph!

The colour is hugely bright! It's pink, honest, although it looks more reddish on my nails in these photos. It does look different on the nails from the way it looks in the bottle though. But I absolutely love how this looks in the sunlight, with a (for me) tan! I don't tan easily, this is about as brown as I get.  

I am getting used to my new square nail shape. It feels a bit odd sometimes, especially now they're getting a bit longer, and when the corners sometimes catch things. But they feel more grown up than my old rounded nails.

Revlon Facets of Fuschia

I bought this ages ago - perhaps last summer - and wore it once, and didn't wear it again, because I was really disappointed with it.

This is Revlon's Facets of Fuschia, touted on a lot of the internet as a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance, a black jelly with stacks of bright fuschia glitter in various sizes. I didn't buy the Lippmann because it was £16, and this Revlon was under a fiver. 

This is a thin black jelly with fuschia glitter in small and large sizes. The first time I wore this, I wore it on its own and it took at least three layers to be anywhere near opaque. This time I layered it over a black base (my standard Rimmel Black Out) and then added two layers of Facets of Fuschia.  Application was ok; the Revlon brush is very thin though, so it needed quite a lot of brush strokes per nail. The finish felt very rough too, so I needed three layers of Seche Vite before it felt smooth enough to not drive me up the wall. 

I feel a bit underwhelmed by this. I love the concept, but it just doesn't blow me away the way I want it to. It looks amazing in the bottle, but I think it just looks nice on the nails. I wish it looked more purple or more glittery.  

I'm also annoyed with my nail shape. I had been experimenting with a squarer nail shape over the last month, and I was taking ages to get used to it. Having corners felt really odd, and when I tapped things with my fingerips it felt really weird! I quite liked how it looked, but last night they needed shortening anyway, and I ended up cutting them really short (shorter than I wanted) and back to the round shape I was used to. Now I've done it, I hate how it looks. They look very childish to me now. So maybe I'll grow them back squarer.  What do you reckon?

Pinky Purple Stripes

I thought I'd try a mixture of pinks and purples for some stripes today - inspired a bit by my cheerful duvet cover.

First I painted Barry M Shocking Pink. This is a gorgeous, bright, glossy pink. I wish I'd taken a photo of this on its own, as it looked fab. I did two coats. 

Then I taped off the tips and painted on one coat of Barry M Bright Purple. This is another fab Barry M colour - glossy and rich, perfect coverage, and a lovely saturated colour.  

Then I taped off the tips again and painted Models Own Purple Haze. This looks a bit sparse in the photos, but in real life you can't see the gaps between the glitter. This is a fairly dense purple glitter in a clear base. On its own you'd probably need several coats for coverage, but I think I'd wear it layered.  It's very purple, and catches the light really well.   Two coats of Seche Vite over the lot (the glitter was quite gritty) and I was done.






I'm also experimenting with a squarer nail shape for the first time. They weren't quite long enough to make them very square, but I've gone square-ish, and I'll see how I get on. It feels a bit odd to have corners on my nails, but we'll see!