Lilypad Lacquer - The Dotted Tape Mani

Hi Goddesses

A bright and fun post for you today.

This started off as a fairly normal tape mani - OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls on base, and then a gradient (on some nails; some nails used just one colour) of 2 lovely Lilypad holos - Too Much Excitemint (the darker one) and Aquadisiac (the paler one).

I quite liked how the tape mani turned out - and isn't it funny how patterns conjure certain things, even if the colour scheme is wrong?  This still looked nautical to me, even though it used green instead of blue lol.

Because my nails were short, I thought they needed another pattern on top to pop a little, and I considered glitter and stamping before settling on ... dots.  Wow, I must use dots more often lol.

I wanted a bit more grit in the mani, so picked KIKO 632, their Sugar Mat red - and so vibrant it is too.  I love the way it plays off the smoothness of the holo.

Overall I really like the effect.  I'm quite intrigued by the layering of patterns at the moment, and I've been putting dots over all sorts of things lol.

Do you prefer it with or without the dots?

GOT Polish - Stripes

Hi Goddesses

Some new stuff today in between all the de-vaulting!

This week's GOT Polish Challenge is Stripes, and I've gone for something super subtle.

When I was making the red stash video, I realised I hadn't worn Deborah Lippmann Footloose for the longest time, so I immediately put that on my nails.   It's a gorgeous, vibrant, orange toned red, and I love how glossy and glam it is.

I dithered with what to do for stripes.  I considered stamping, tape and then - boom, freehand.

I added my stripes with a KIKO red texture polish 632, and whilst I thought they would stand out a little more, I quite like how subtle this is.  The colours matched more than I expected, but overall, I think it works.

Don't forget to check out the other ladies :)

An InLinkz Link-up

The Other Stuff I Wore This Week - KIKO Sugar Mat Texture Polishes

Morning Goddesses

Welcome to another instalment of The Other Stuff, where I show you the manis I have worn which HAVEN’T made it to the blog.   I’ve been super poorly this week and actually wore the same mani for 5 days, but this is what I was wearing the OTHER week  - lol.

These are the KIKO Sugar Mats which are their range of textured polishes.  KIKO is a brand I have a LOT of love for.  They apply easily, the brush is perfect, they are reasonably priced, and the colour choices are great.  As I knew I wouldn’t be able to get my hand on the Zoyas, I turned to KIKO to help me put a summer twist on texture.

The range was divided into 2 halves – “plain” and “sparkly” – let’s do the plain ones first.

This is True Red, or 632 as KIKO prefer to call her.   Super vibrant.  This is a really bright, poppy style red.  No hints of ruby at all.  I loved this one.

Next is Lilac, 634.   As you know, I am a purple and therefore lilac whore, so this one was a must.  However, it didn’t look very lilac-y to me.  There’s a LOT of pink undertones in this one, and for me, it ended up in that pink/lilac no man’s land that I hate.   It did make a good base for the purple crackle gradient though.

637 is Turquoise.  This was a colour I was really keen to get my hands on.  Turquoise is officially this year’s obsession.  This is bright, intense and cheerful as a spring day.  Lovely.

The sparkly ones start with Sea Blue aka 644.   This is quite a dark denim colour, scattered with shimmer.  I hoped it was a blue-purple hybrid, and whilst it does have tones, this is definitely almost completely blue.

I mixed the Sea Blue and Turquoise for my Fake Tattoos gradient.   I don’t think the textures lend themselves to art very well at all, but the gradient was interesting.  Due to the texture, the colour blend is more forgiving.  If gradient is still something that perplexes you, it might be worth practicing with textures.

639 is Golden Mandarin.  Again, I was lusting after an orange texture, and as this had added gold shimmer, it seemed a perfect choice.  Sadly, it was one of those oranges that just didn’t quite suit my skin tone, and it made my hands look tanned all day.  It is a fabulous colour – this is probably the one with the most complexity and wow factor.

Finally 642, Hot Pink.   This is lovely.  I could have stood for this to be a few shades darker.  This sits in Bubblegum land, but it’s lovely.  The shimmer is perfect, and there’s almost an indian vibe to this one for me.  Really lovely.

So overall, winner winner chicken dinner.    KIKO rarely put a foot wrong, and this is a great range of texture polishes with something for everyone.  There is a mint, which I regret not getting, and a few friends have swooned in front of the green.

If you’re in the UK or Europe you can buy KIKO online.

Enjoy xx  :)