HITS Hula and Salsa

Hi Goddesses  

So, as you may know, England isn't exactly BLESSED with great weather.  Typically, we had a week of awesome sunshine at the end of March, and then it's pissed it down ever since.  This is really annoying for many reasons, especially when you have curly hair which shrinks in the rain, but it's INCREDIBLY annoying when you're gagging to break out all the holos you've been buying like a squirrel tucking things away for the season.

Sooooo, sick of all the pukey pastels and unable to crack out the holos, I decided to settle for something else, and for this week at least, it's been Hello Summer on my nails.

This is the cracking Hula (orange) and Salsa (pink) from HITS.   Both are flakies, but not in the way the clear flakies are.  These have flakies buried within them that emit and carry light, but they don't really change colour.   They sizzle on and off according to the lighting, but for the most part, they are an integral part of the polish, rather than a technicolour dream coat.

Hula is officially now one of my favourite polishes.  I have LOVED wearing this on my nails.  It reminds me a lot of Picture Polish Vegas - they both have that "we're so orange we're flirting with red" vibe going on, and they are both succulent with juiciness and intensity.  Best of all, the flakies in Hula make it look like molten lava on your nails - seriously cool.  Well, hot actually, but you know what I mean.

Salsa I am less in love with, mainly because it's the sort of sickly type of pink that doesn't sit well with my skin tone.   It's a creamy dark bubblegum kind of colour, and I probably wouldn't keep it for it's own sake, but this looks great as a contrast and will look fab in gradients.  For my money, it's also a better bet than Deborah Lippmann's Sweet Dreams - about a quarter of the price AND a nicer colour.

Finally - don't they just look WOW together?   Screw Edward and Bella, this is possibly the hottest pairing this side of the sun.  These nails have brought me nothing but happiness, even when the weather (and, therefore, the hair) have conspired against me.

Enjoy :) xxxx

The Battle of the Red-Oranges

Hi Goddesses  

A few weeks ago, I bought a Picture Polish called Vegas, and fell in love with it.  I then realised it might have been similar to another polish I owned, so I did a comparison post - see here.

Well, fast forward a couple of weeks and I seem to have 2 MORE polishes that look similar, so I decided to a fuller comparison.

You ready ?  Here we goooooo:

* thumb - OPI Animal-istic

* index - HITS Hula

* middle - CG Riveting

* ring - Zoya Nidhi

* pinkie - Picture Polish Vegas

First thoughts - uh oh.

Closer inspections - 

* thumb - Animal-istic is super shimmery, with lots of light threaded through it.  It's a notch or 2 lighter than Nidhi and Vegas

* index - Hula, aaaaah Hula.  Love this so much.  Her flakiness sets her apart

* middle - Riveting.  Totally different to the others.  Not only lighter, but look how it HOLDS the light, like a secret.  Faintly metallic, very electric

* ring - Nidhi - glorious.  Just-red, with shimmer and tones of orange and pink.  Glorious

* pinkie - Vegas - gorgeous .... and er .... shit that looks similar to Nidhi.  MUST be a difference somewhere.  Looks closer.  Nope, can't see it.   But she's sooooo pretty.   Sisters should stay together, right ?

Actually, actually ... yes, hold on ... yes, under my Gazillion Microscope, I can see ... yes ... definitely different .... more shimmer in Nidhi.   Only by about the weight of half a gnat's fart, but it counts, right ?

Whichever of these you own, they're a joy.  There's something about this type of colour that makes me feel happy inside.  And YES, I doooooo need them all ;)

Enjoy xx :)

Stamping Sunday - Queensday!

Hi Goddesses  

Apparently, today is Queensday in Holland, which by the sounds of it, is a great excuse for a celebration, merriment and general happiness.   So the challenge today was to create something that either echoed that or matched the Dutch colours.  Personally, I love the idea - how else would I EVER have stumbled across doing a Queensday mani.

This is a very simple post, so it's quite a short one. It's not my best mani, but hopefully it represents the theme and does my Dutch friends proud :)

I've been wearing HITS Hula for most of the week, a deliciously juicy orange flakey, with an accent nail of HITS Salsa (the pink one).  It seemed to make the perfect base, so on top of this I stamped a gold crown using Mash 19 and Barry M gold foil.

This looked a little lonely, and I didn't want to do more crowns, so I then used a stamp I would never have otherwise turned to - Konad m64 and did white arches with Konad white polish.  I then added some Queenly sparkle with the holographic Out The Door top coat.

So, as I said, not the most stunning mani, but the heart is in the right place.    Claudia, Diana, Malinka and my other friends - enjoy your weekend xxx

Enjoy xx :)