So, Which Red Is The Best Red?

Hi Goddesses

As part of Red Week, I wanted to do a bit of a favourites post and show you some of my essential reds.

I thought about doing a Top 10 of Reds, but in the end I settled on something slightly different - my Top Reds, by Sub-Category.   Oh yeh, we're going high on polish geekery !!

Excuse the slightly dodgy photo above - I'm getting used to my lightbox, and we're still not talking the same language!  One final word, there MAY have to be some cheating somewhere along the to make sure I feature all my favourites - ok ?

Favourite Bright Red

This is quite an easy one, and a choice I think most of you will agree with - Zoya Sooki.  She's pretty, she's bright and she applies really easily.  She's the perfect just-red.

Favourite Ruby Red

Don't Walk Away Renee by Deborah Lippmann.  Pure vamp in a bottle. 

Favourite Red Glitter

Nerd Lacquer - Warrior Ethos - see my post here

Warrior Ethos is just spectacular.  Rich and rubyish and laden with glitter, this is a truly unique creation.

Favourite Indie

Nice Scrunchy, Heather by Dollish Polish - here

This is a genuine love of mine.  I love the delicacy of this polish, and I love it's ever so retro shade of red.  Total love.

Favourite Holo

Hopefully you saw my Red Holo post earlier this week (here).  At that time, I kindly deferred from choosing a favourite, but if I HAAAAD to ..... it would probably be Ozotic 621, mainly due to this photo I captured of it.

Favourite Brit Polish

This would have to be the stunning Perceval by a-England.  Laden with shimmer and electrical crackle, this glows with life.  Beautiful.

Favourite Red for Nail Art

I usually use Right Said Red by Sally Hansen, for no other reason that it's a nice bright red and it's a good price.  Any of my nail art, there's a 95% chance this was the red I used.

Bestest Bestest of All Time ......

OK, here's the money shot - the best red of all time, in my humble opinion is .....

Ruby Red Slippers by Deborah Lippmann - here

Why?  Well for me it just took my breath away when I first saw it, and it redefined what a polish could be and the wow factor it could have.  I truly believe we would not have the indie market we now do if it weren't for this polish.

So there you have it.  There's lots of gorgeous polishes I haven't mentioned, including OPIs, Cult Nails and all sorts of other luscious lovelies.

So which one is your favourite?

Enjoy xx :)

Red Week - Kisses

Hi Goddesses

If you like this post, it's a totally happy accident.  This is not the mani I planned lol.

All along, I'd planned to do a red to white gradient, mainly because you don't see many of them, and then I saw Caitlin do this -

For quite a while, I've wanted to use those blessed french tip stamps you get in the stamping sets, and I picked out a couple of really funky ones (and one of which you can just see beneath the kisses on the thumb!).

And why tell you this?  Well, to give you hope.  Because that stamp (and the one next to it on the plate) would not stamp for love nor money.  No matter what I did, the polish would not transfer on to the stamp.

Close to a hissy fit and having exhausted all other variables (plonker, cleaning the plate, the polish), I switched plates .... and voila, perfect.  Everything super easy peasy clockwork magic like a dream.  WTH ???

Why does this happen?  It's not fair.  Not in a "woe is me" sense, but this is one of the very things that puts people off stamping.  There is no logical reason why my BM325 plate should not have worked, none at all.  It wasn't the stamper, the polish or the state of the plate, and I'm inclined to believe Bundle Monster know how to make a stamping plate.  So for all of you who have, like me, wanted to throw Konad the Barbarian out of the window, or melt his ass over a hot stove, bear with ... bear with ....

So, base polishes are Zoya Rekha and Elisa again, sponged with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and then stamped using OB28 from MyOnlineShop (here) using Nails Inc Gatwick, a gorgeous matte red (she did very well).

I haven't totally finished with Red Week yet, so stay tuned. Not sure whether I'll get to it today or whether it will tomorrow ... it's a little bit epic ... dammit, just put pressure on myself .... stooooo-pid .... why do I do these things? ..... beats me ...

Enjoy xx :)

Red Week - Red Squared

Hi Goddesses

Today's mani is super simple, but it makes me happy nevertheless.  It's a recycle of Monday's Zoya nails (here).  The stamping is the Fun2 plate.

There's something about this geometric design I really love, and it stamps super cleanly, better in fact than something similar I have on a more well know brand plate.  Stamping was with Konad White.

I love the effect of this - so classic and retro.  I feel like a whole 1960's kitchen could be built round this pattern!

Lol.  As I'm getting better at stamping, I'm starting to notice things more, and the latest thing to catch my eye is how the stamping becomes less crisp as you go round your hand. Previously I'd always wondered why people cleaned their plate between each nail, but THIS is why - it keeps your image sharp.  Look at the ring finger.  Can you see how much crisper it is than the middle finger? Yup, because I cleaned da plate.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the last day of red week, but I still have some other ideas for posts that I haven't started yet, so I'm probably going to trundle this red cart all through the weekend.

Enjoy - and don't forget to check out my other amazing friends xx :)

Red Week - Holo-Lot of Dots!

Hi Goddesses

It's Day 3 and I'm finally cracking the nail art out lol.  Sorry, it's been a hectic week, but let's just say you might end up with more than 5 posts to make up for it :)

This is one of my favourite style of dotticures - the dot within the dot, and despite how it looks, this is ridiculously easy.

The base for this mani was the holo comparison you saw yesterday (here).  I then added dots using Zoya Farah in various sizes - super large and small.  The super large ones were done by wiggling the largest dotter around, to make the dot larger - that's why some of them are a little wonky. It wasn't til after I'd started that I wondered why I hadn't used the end of a pencil, which is what I usually use for my large dots!

I then took a medium dotter, and once the large dots were dry, added a dot inside them using Ozotic 621.  

There's no great science to this mani, but I love how they turn out!  Have you given this one a try yet?

Enjoy xx :)

Red Week - Zoya Rekha & Elisa

Hi Goddesses

It's a Theme Week this week on the blog, and the theme is RED.  I love red - such a happy colour, the colour of life itself.  A few of my best blogger friends are joining me as well, and you can see a link to everyone at the bottom.

Now, I am cheating a little. Today I am playing very boring with what is essentially a swatch post, and we all know that's not my favourite kind of post to do.  So why, Crumpet, why ?  Well, because I did possibly the world's largest ever blog sale this weekend, and It Took Over My Life!!  I had no idea it would be so exhausting - thank God Beth's on hand to do most of the wrapping!  So, instead of having Red Week prepped before we start, I'm in eeeeek mode.  Don't worry, I'll make up for it :)

These 2 gorgeous reds are from Zoya's new collections - Rekha is from the Designer Collection, and Elisa is from the Diva Collection.  To swatch them, I decided to do them on the same hand, partly to showcase the vitality of Elisa, and partly because I haven't seen them swatched that way yet!

For all the photos, Miss Rekha is on the thumb, middle and little fingers, with Mlle Elisa on the index and ring fingers.  Oh and it's also Left Handers Day today apparently, so I painted with my left hand!

Rekha is the more grown up of the pair.  A sleek cherry creme, she glides on smoothly, as you would expect a Zoya to do.  She's pitched somewhere between Sooki and Dakota - pretty much your perfect "average" red (in shade, not quality).  She's nice, but I know I've owned at least 3 Zoya dupes of this shade over the years, so if you already have a good selection of Zoya reds, you don't "need" this one.

Elisa on the other hand, is where the money is at.  She is a stunner.  Faintly metallic, she shivers with electricity and positively glows.  She's a real wonderchild.

Regardless of what you already have in your stash, you'll love this one.  I love how she shakes her little tail feathers at the light - she's a real little show-off - and then captures and holds all that light, til she ripples with it.  Lovely.  Cheeky.

Now, never fear, there is some nail art, stamping and all sorts of other bits and pieces coming up through the rest of Red Week including a comparison of 6 holos, my favourite reds, gradients .... oooh it's lovely and it's RED.

Enjoy xx and don't forget to check out my besties below :)