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Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Powder Perfect - The Crossroads and Ensorcel from The Hardwicke Collection

Hi Goddesses



A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to receive the new stained glass collection from Jacinta at Powder Perfect for review.   What I didn't expect was that she would also sneak 2 new polishes from The Hardwicke Collection into the package as well :)





Powder Perfect is a brand I have long adored.  Rich, intense, decadent colours with a Victorian vibe, there is nothing half-hearted about this indie.  Everything is as intense as it can be, and I have yet to be disappointed.





Now, obviously I love the purple I will be showing you, but seriously, will you look at this brown?   This is The Crossroads.  And I do not like brown.  At All.





Yet The Crossroads is one of the most breathtaking polishes I have ever seen.  The composition is spectacular, making this as much a work of art as a nail polish.




The Crossroads has a dark taupe / milky coffee holographic base.   WITH COPPER FLAKIES.  I know, it's OMG overload, but those flakies, wow, they SLAY it.





I think it's that so unexpected.  You assume the violet and steel-blue flashes of holo will be enough, and then you get this added bonus on top, a bonus that complements yet just slightly clashes with its base.  Genius.





And then the purple.  Ah.  As you may have read on this week's Crumpet's Journal, times have been a-tough over here, but this reminds me WHY I love polish.





Ensorcel is a deep purple (probably more plummy and brown-toned than my photos show) which is just perfect in colour and tone.  And then it has all these gold flakies in it.  And well, I don't know, but I may have peed a little.




And look, this polish is sooooo beautiful I even went outside to photograph it in the shade so you could see the flakies better.   Indoors, the camera crapped out a bit with all the holo (interesting to see too how these 2 polishes photographed differently, purely because they were taken at different times of the day.)




Can I hear a WOW??



These polishes were sent to me for an honest review and can be purchased HERE.



Tuesday, 26 May 2015

MOD Lacquer Aerial Phenomenon - Flower Stamping

Hi Goddesses



I love date stamps on photos.  I knew this had sat in the vault the longest of all my manis, but I didn't realise I did it nearly 9 months ago lol.





On base we have the lovely holo glamour of Aerial Phenomenon by MOD Lacquer, a delicious raspberry pink.




I love the combo of pink and red so decided to use MoYou red as my stamping colour - but as you can see, it's a little hard to identify the pattern when that holo starts to bend.




The floral pattern is from one of my LilyAnna plates - 03 - and is just the sort of big and bold pattern that I love.




This mani is a great example of 2 things - one, that it IS quite tricky to stamp over holos; ya gotta that polish combo right - and two, sometimes, it always looks better in real life :)



Monday, 25 May 2015

52 Week Challenge Catch Up - Lilac and Green

Hi Goddesses



Whilst I'm moving house, I have some stuff scheduled for you.  Ironically, just before my break, I was doing some of my best nail art lol, so lets hope I still remember how when I come back!




This mani was for the Lilac and Green prompt of the 52 Week Challenge and should have gone live on 16 March.





Like a few of my nail art friends, I am a little obsessed with needle drag, but have always struggled with it.  Until now.   I appear to have accidentally stumbled on a magic formula - do it on bare nails.  Seriously.  And that way, when it goes wrong, as the ring finger did 5 times, it's easy to wipe off and start again.





Emily aka The Lacquerologist also mentioned she got better results using gel polishes, so when I picked up these 2 beauties from the Sally Hansen Gel line, that's what I tried first of all!  (B Girl and Street Flair).





This is by FAR the best needle drag I have ever managed, so much so that I am going to continue to experiment when my neons arrive - mmmmm :)