KBShimmer Swatch Spam

Hi Goddesses

It's time to open that creaky door and peer into the vault again!  This post is a real mish-mash, but all of it features your favourite indie polish maker of 2012 - KBShimmer.

Way back in September I was lucky enough to receive a super exciting box from Christy.  This mostly contained her Halloween Collection which I swatched and posted really quickly.  It also contained a few other polishes, and I swatched them too, and then in a moment of appalling blogger etiquette, forgot about them.  So Christy - I am super sorry, here finally are your babies, (except the Glow In The Dark one) and my deepest apologies that I somehow locked your babies in the vault :(

Proud Peacock you've seen before, when it was the base for a starfish mani.  This is a pale blue jelly base, filled with white, darker blue and fuchsia glitter.

It's the fuchsia glitter that really makes it pop, and the coral starfish popped beautifully with this background too.  For me, there's a little bit too much hairy glitter in there, but not too much to make me dislike it completely.

Cheerleader is a magenta jelly base featuring white, pink, blue and purple glitters.

This is a really nice polish, but I wish I'd layered it over a berry base to give it more depth.

Next, Orange A-Peel, which is the only one here which didn't come from Christy.  This came via a swap, and sadly, I didn't realise it was from the neon collection.  Although I now have a massive love of orange polishes, anything too bright or neon-y looks wrong on me.

That said, the glitters in this polish are a beautiful combination, and quite unusual too.  I'm quite sad this one didn't suit match my skin tone.

I'm going to end with my favourite - Christy's other orange, Orange POP.  Wow, this is pure happy in a bottle !!!

The base is deeper and less neon than Orange-A-Peel, and this one is chock-filled with tiny glitters, making it look like orangeade with sprinkles in!

I absolutely love this one - it's so happy - and I can see this being a quick emergency reach in the summer.

Finally, here's some side by sides of the 2 oranges so that you can see their differences.

Christy's Spring Collection is out now, and I suggest you head over to Cosmetic Sanctuary to drool at some seriously fab photos.

Enjoy xx :)

31DC Day 30 - Inspired By A Tutorial

Hi Goddesses

One of the things I love about the nail community is how inspiring they are.  There are so many amazing creative ladies doing amazing creative things with their manis, that days like this aren't difficult.  It's also part of the reason Monkey See, Monkey Do Mondays started - to honour and share the genius of nail bloggers.

Today's mani comes from a tutorial my beloved Sarah of Chalkboard Nails did in the summer - starfish nails.  Her mani was very different, both in colour choice and positioning, but what I loved was how simple her tutorial made the drawing of a starfish.  Previously, I'd have tried to draw a star - unsuccessfully probably - but thanks to Sarah, this is how it's done - 

Since then, I'd seen versions of this in more traditional colours, and I loved the vibrant clash of the turquoise and coral, so that's what I aimed for.

The night I did this, it wasn't my plan to at all, but the minute KBShimmer Proud Peacock landed on my nails, my head couldn't think of anything other than a seabed.

Proud Peacock is a gorgeous aqua blue jelly, laden with multi-blue coloured glitters.  I think I used 2 coats here, and I loved how at that moment, it had blueness, but also transparency, just like exotic seas.

So, then I did my starfish, using Sarah's simplified shape-building and Barry M Coral.  There's something about coral on blue that just POPS.   The lighter dots were done with Models Own Fuzzy Peach.

Overall, I really love this mani.  No, the starfish aren't perfect, but overall the colours work and the theme works. So thanks Sarah for breaking it down to a level even a splodger like me can understand!

Enjoy xx :)