Hi Goddesses
Today's choice was a hard one for me. My favourite patterns aren't necessarily the easiest - watermarbles, tape manis - and so I thought instead I'd do what I'm probably best known for.
I'm probably Queen of 2 things - the splodge, and the splatter - both of them random excuses to make a lot of mess! Nothing was calling to me splodge-wise, so I decided to do an autumnal splatter using some of the Mentality polishes I was sent for review.
On base we have the utterly superb OPI My Vampire Is Buff, the perfect neutral, and then I splattered, from dark to light, with Allure, Sexy, Flirt and Enlighten.
I broke one of my cardinal rules though - never splatter with shimmery polishes! Gah, clean-up was a biatch! Splatters always involve a lot of clean-up, but it seems like there is some evil rule of the universe, that the more shimmery a polish is, the further it will travel and the harder it will be to clean up!
There's something indefinable about the overall effect here - it reminds me of a gateau for some inexplicable reason - cream, raspberries, hazelnuts and peaches. Lol. My mind is weird.
Don't forget to check Mentality out HERE - you won't find better value for money.
Hi Goddesses
You may remember me whinging last week about how disappointed I am with most of what I have done for the #33DC so far, so I decided to up my game tonight!
I reached for one of the gorgeous Mentality Nail Polishes I ordered / was sent for review weeeeeeeeeks ago, and picked Brute, a sensational royal blue.
You've not seen as much as you should have done of them yet, but the Mentalitys really are something special, especially the mattes, which are one coaters AND even more extraordinary with a gloss coat.
Making a great matte polish is a wizardry very few understand, and it's a sign of a great one when it looks just as good both ways. It also floors me how much light is contained within such a "dead" texture - wizardry indeed.
I then decided to add my lines with another Mentality - Enlighten. In the bottle, this is a pale copper holo, but on the nail there's a lot of gold to it, like a rose gold.
I used my thinned out striper brush, and it was a while before I realised I had created the patterns I usually do with tape. Hahah - behold the tapeless mani!
I think these colours play well together, and I'm really digging the index finger. There's something quite medieval about them too.
There will be a lot more Mentality on the blog over the next few weeks. I am finding a lot of these polishes match my gothic mood right now. If you're looking for deep saturation, look HERE, or if you're in the UK HERE.
(This product *might* have been sent to me for review lol - I bought some and was sent some and got all confuzzled. Dizzy Crumpet)
Hi Goddesses
I had a hard time choosing 3 patterns today, and I this is another reason I am sooooo disappointed with my efforts during this challenge. I think I've raced through it, and rather than doing my very best work, everything is just a little limp and .... meh.
So here are 3 patterns from one of my many wondrous MoYou plates lol, and on base we have OPI Anti-Bleak from last year's Mariah Carey collection, which I was sent for review by Chemist Direct - just click HERE for loads of polish bargains.
Whilst Anti-Bleak is gorgeous and deeply saturated, it left me a little meh, mainly I think because OPI has done this colour A LOT over the years, and I'm not a big one for owning colours that are just 1 click different. That said, this is a great berry shade if you don't already own any.
The stamping is from MoYou Princess Collection 14, and whilst they do sort of go together, they really don't go with the base in my opinion, and deserve something more pastel-y and fairytastic.
There's only 2 weeks of this challenge left now, and I'll be glad to see it done, if only to have the time to post all the other manis that have been breeding in the vault in the meantime!
Hi Goddesses
Wow, is it Thursday already? That's such good news. I can't decide if I'm in a blogging funk or not. Each night, I have less and less motivation to write these posts, but I have so many pretty polishes and patterns and ideas in my head. Maybe I just need a little rest and then it will all spill out deliciously.
I think I'm also really disappointed with the manis I've created for this challenge - very few of them have made my heart sing, so perhaps that's why I haven't wanted to post stuff.
Now ... wow, today was a tough one! My colour I own the most of ... lol. Undoubtedly the purples. I was going to do something using several purples, but that then ruins my plans for another prompt, so instead I pulled an untried from my pile.
Now, as far as untrieds go, NARS Purple Rain is pretty criminal. It's one of those legendary polishes that make it on to pretty much every purple lover's list.
In the bottle, I was a little underwhelmed, but once it's on the nail, you can totally see why it has such a reputation - sparkly, dark and rocking!
The base purple is deliciously dark, like plum skin, but it's the insane fuchsia dancing glitters that I love in it. Although this is a smooth creme gloss, the macros show a fabulous level of texture to the colour that is truly a work of art.
Oh, and if you live in the UK, you'll recognise it as the purple of Cadburys haha.
Once it was on though, I had a dilemma as it seemed to pure to art over. In the end, I reached for one of my very very very few MoYou plates (cough) and picked this dandelion design, and a smaller print from MoYou Pro Collection 12.
On a tip off from Nory of Fierce Nails and Make-Up, I stamped with OPI This Gown Needs A Crown from the Miss Universe Collection. It's a very sparkly silver and I am beyond excited that it stamps. All of my silver stamping has felt dull lately, but not now, not with this baby.
