30 Days of Purple - Day 25 - Long Stroke Mani

Hi Goddesses

I hope your Sunday is nice and lazy.  Mine has been dominated by Bluebelle, who did a thorough investigation of the nail room this morning.  And then she puked.  Lol.  So that was a clear signal to tidy it up, remove all shipping materials and .. yeh, just what I LIVE to do!  The good news is that the nail room (and more importantly, desk) are actually tidy at the moment, so I might take some photos for you later!  Oh and here's one of Bluebelle.  Butter wouldn't melt ... yeh, right :)

Today's mani is a companion piece to the short stroke mani I posted a few days ago - HERE.  Whereas that one depended on lots of short swipes of the brush, this one relies on fewer, longer strokes.

Like it's companion, this is random, and there's no right or wrong, making it a great splodgers mani.   Again, you want to vary the texture a little bit - but only with 1 of the polishes.

For this I used a base of Zoya Pinta and then ManGlaze Mink Mitten, OPI Planks A Lot and a medium purple KIKO.

I love the laziness of this - it's simple, and effective, and it was just as popular when I wore it to work as the short stroke version.

Enjoy xx :)

30 Days of Purple - Day 20 - Short Stroke Mani

Hi Goddesses

All Hail The Splodger !!!  Behold, the perfect Splodger's mani !!!!  :)

Lol, to be fair, that's  not how this mani started life.  A couple of months ago, Gorgeois Pig created it, and it looked like an artwork.  Well this is my version - messier, obviously - but I still like it.

There are several things I love about this mani -

* there is no right or wrong.  You can't mess this up

* it's splodgers' paradise!

* it's random

* it's flexible, and lends itself to multiple colours, tones and textures

* and doesn't it look a little like a patchwork ?

I started my mani with OPI Planks A Lot.  You need to start with your palest, plainest colour so that the other polishes still look true. 

You then take your next polish, and do a random brushstroke on your nail with it - short and swift, to create a ragged swipe effect.

I did 2 swipes on each nail in each colour, one one way, and then another crossways, but not intersecting.   After all the colours were used, I then surveyed the damage, and decided on strategic extra swipes to balance the colours out.

I deliberately used cremes and a metallic in this combo - just using one polish with a different finish adds an extra degree of delish that you just can't buy.  Don't overdo it tho - too many different textures and you'll compromise the design, with all the textures competing against each other.

When I saw Gorgeois Pig do this, my mouth dropped.  She posted an awesome video tutorial here, which I urge you to check out.  If nothing else, it will convince you how simple this is to achieve - oh, and her blog is SENSATIONAL.

I've got an alternate version of this coming up before the end of the month, this time with longer strokes - just as gorgeous.

Enjoy xx :)

30 Days of Purple - Day 15 - Ozotic 902 Sugar ... and a feather

Hi Goddesses

I have always been a massive supporter of the Ozotic brand. From the moment I first laid eyes on them, I couldn't get enough of them, from their amazing holos to their duochromes to their Elytras - I quickly and lustily amassed 20 or so.

Then a couple of months ago, they retired most of their famous polishes.  Sad, but also exciting.  I had no doubt that all the new shades were going to be awesome, and even more special than what they'd released before.  But no, one by one, they've left me underwhelmed and rather sad.

So I had already decided to leave these new polishes alone when Kim from Overall Beauty asked me if I'd like to review one.  I did think twice, as I didn't want to be disappointed, but I'd also seen them look more interesting over black.  I hummed and hawwed and then, not surprisingly, I chose the purple one :p

And THIS is why I am so grateful that wonderful people out there let me review their polishes.  There is no way I would have bought this, but now that I've worn it ?  Wow, call this one of my most sensational purples.

Sugar 902 is just amazing.  It's high on duochrome, blurpleness, zing, electricity, sizzle, shine, dazzle, and just out of this worldness.  It's AMAZEBALLS.

You'll no doubt notice there's some pretty strange hand positions in this post.  Nope, not because I took leave of my senses, but because I was trying to show the multiple personalities of this colour - it can be blurple, grape, aubergine and blueberry, all at the same time.

I really didn't want to layer over black, so I didn't.  Instead, I chose a pure dark purple - Zoya Pinta, which is pretty much as perfect and pure as deepest darkest purple gets.

So after 2 layers of Pinta and 2 layers of Sugar 902, my plan was to be ultra cool, and stamp over the mani in a dark purple.  Unfortunately, neither the purple nor the pattern were remotely visible lol, so I had to go for something a bit more obvious!

Eventually I settled on this fabulous feather design from LLC-A.  As I've said before, the designs on this plate are HUGE, so unless you have talons, you're unlikely to get the full image down in one go.

Instead, I tried to show aspects of it over the various nails - you can't deny it's a gorgeous stamp, it's just a real shame it wouldn't all fit on one nail.

Enjoy xx :)

Nails I Love - Did I Ever Mention I Love Purple ?

Nails I Love

Swatch Comparison - Deep Dark Purples

Hi Goddesses – happy weekend !

Today I’m going to be comparing 4 purples which seem worryingly similar – or are they ?   This is because I am an obsessive, always on the prowl for the “perfect” something, and it wasn’t til I was writing my review of BUTTER LONDON Marrow (here) that I realised I had not 1, not 2, but 3 very similar colours !

So, here they all are – OPI Brake For Manicures (from the new Touring America Collection) on my pinkie, Marrow on my middle finger and thumb, OPI Siberian Nights on my ring finger, and Zoya Pinta on my little finger.

Just before we get to the pics, I deliberately over-exposed a couple of them.  Whilst this makes them look a lot lighter than they really are, it really does help expose the base tones within the polish.

I was really surprised that they weren’t as identical as I thought they would be.  Also, when I wore MARROW in the week, it seemed really dark, but actually it’s the lightest of these 4!

So Marrow, we’ve already spoken about.  A really lovely pure dark purple.  No gimmicks, or blueyness or browness.  Just.  Purple.

OPI Brake for Manicures is actually my least favourite of the 4.  This is a dusty dark-grey-browny purple, and compared to the others, it just looks DARK.  It doesn’t pale in comparison so much as leech itself of all pigmentation.  Compared to the others, this is really drab and disappointing and barely purple at all (which is a real shame as I’d seen some fab photos of it). 

Siberian Nights is black purple.  Really dark, twisted and gothic.  As with all OPIs it’s really shiny, and amazing.  Don’t buy this if you want a purple, only if you want a black-purple.

Finally, Zoya’s Pinta, which was a shade that stopped me in my tracks when I first saw it.  Another VERY dark purple, this sits between Marrow and SN and is definitely dark purple rather than purple-black.  Again, this has a purity to it.

If you’re comparing Pinta and Marrow, Pinta has navy similarities to it, whilst Marrow looks dustier in comparison.

All lovely in their own way, but Brake for Manicures is definitely the runt of this litter!

Enjoy J

Top Tip – if you’re ever unsure what a nail colour looks like, go to Google images, which will give you plenty of contrasts and compares.