Dollish Polish - Deadly Nightshade

Hi Goddesses

So here, as promised, is your 2nd Halloweenie Purple of the day, and I have to say, (and it saddens me to say it), I like this LOTS more than ye goode olde Crows Toes.

Deadly Nightshade is Dollish's purple halloweenie, and like Purple People Eater (by Crows Toes - here) it features green and purple glitter.

There are several key differences between the 2 polishes, and which one you will prefer will depend on your own personal tastes.

Base - PPE comes in a clear base.  DN comes in a smoky coloured base.

Glitter colour - both feature purple and green.  DN also has some black specks.

Glitter Size - this is the key differential.  PPE is micro glitter, whereas DN is denser and more random, giveing better coverage.

I layered DN over KIKO 333, a delicious dark purple, and I wish I'd layered PPE too, as I think it would have looked much more glorious with some dark undies.

Overall, DN like any Dollish, was a pleasure to apply and glided on.  PPE required much more dabbing.

So - which was been your favourite purple so far?  Don't forget, there was also Witchy Woman from Pretty and Polished and tomorrow .... oh tomorrow, we have a Sonoma double bill .... including The Purple One.

Enjoy xx :)

Autumn Fishbraid - with OPI Schnapps Out Of It

Hi Goddesses

First and foremost, sending hugs and safe wishes to all my friends on the East Coast of America.  The photos I've seen this morning are incredible, and I just hope that you're all safe.

It almost feels a bit wrong to be doing an autumn post on a day like today.  I think it's the fact that it's New York that makes Sandy seem so unbelievable.  As someone who lives in the UK, NY has this image of being unbreakable, and it always comes as a shock to see it under attack.

Well, today's post is another piece of art with one of the OPI Germanys, which are soooo autumnal in colour.  This one is Schnapps Out Of It, and it's another that got a bit slated for being a granny colour.

I'm torn, to be honest.  It's lovely, it's creamy, it's rich, but it is a colour I've moved away from in the last 2 years.  It's that "not quite pink, not quite brown" kind of shade which does look great on older ladies, but it's hard to funk it up with glitter or art.

I'd wanted to try a fishbraid mani for the longest time, and I'm actually really pleased with how it turned out.  I used Jade Mystic Gold and OPI ... ah, either Germanicure or Oktoberfest.  

Surprisingly, I think the colours do work well together, and I love how the gold just pops against the darker colour.  

A word of warning though - a fishbraid is NOT a quick mani. Unlike a lot of nail art, this can't be rushed, and you need to wait for the previous stroke of the plait to be dry before you do the next one.

The good news is that it WASN'T as difficult as I thought it would be, but I would still refer you to my Number 1 piece of advice - practice it on a mani you are about to take off, and start with just doing an accent nail.

Enjoy!  xx :)

CROWS TOES Purple People Eater

Hi Goddesses

This Halloween season has been verrrrry good thank you to the purple lovers amongst us.  The indie makers have spoilt us with a plethora of glitters of all shapes and sizes.

Ironically, this is possibly my least favourite of the Crows Toes Halloween Collection.  How is that even possible, I hear you gasp.  Well, let me explain.

For a while now, I've been getting really turned off by polishes that are fine micro glitter in a clearish base.  As you know, I'm not the cleanest of pups, and I struggle to get the really fine stuff into all the right places without leaving masses of uncleanable stuff on the sides.

In CT's defence, I should have known better, and layered this over a colour, but I thought that being a Crow it would layer up thickly.

It's still a nice glitter (owch, that word sounds wrong about a Crow), with it's blend of dark purple and deep emerald, but it would have been much more amazing with some bigger glitter pieces too, and possibly some black.

In a couple of hours, I'll show you another green and purple Halloweenie - Dollish Polish Deadly Nightshade - and you can decide for yourself which you prefer.

Enjoy xx :)

CROWS TOES Tangled Web

Hi Goddesses

Now THIS was an unexpected winning combination for me.  Don't you just love it when you buy a polish with modest aspirations and it turns into a stunner?

Tangled Web is a black and electric blue glitter bomb which retains a soul of darkness.   It's the usual mix of hexes, bar glitter and small glitter, but there's something about the combination that is oh so right.

I think a big part of why I loved this mani is the base - KIKO 380 is a divinely dingey dark grey, and it played to the dark heart of this polish perfectly.

When I said I thought I ruined Last Call At The Crow Bar with the undies, this was on my mind.  I think if I'd layered it over this base, it would have looked much darker and delicious.

I love the blue in this.  A colour that should be vaguely happy and electric sits with remarkable contentment next to the blackness of this glitter.

All in all, a great combination - enjoy xx :)

CROWS TOES - Last Call At The Crow Bar

Hi Goddesses

Happy Crumpet's on Holiday Week!  I hope you're ready for the amount of posts that are going to hit you lol.  The vault is having a HUGE clearout!

Crows Toes Halloweenies continues with this interesting polish.  I'm going to be honest, I'm really on the fence about this one, but I think a lot of that could be to do with the undies I chose - nothing has looked good over that polish so far lol.

So, LCATCB is a gunmetal grey glitter, with stray colours thrown in.  It reminds me of the grungey goth cousin of Rainbow Connection, and it also reminds me of all the things you might sweep up off the floor of the Crow Bar - beetles, spiders, ants, blood drops.

In some of the photos, this looks really gorgeous, and in others it looks a bit flat to me.  I layered it over KIKO 338 a gorgeous creamy lavender, but I really think it was a bad choice of base.  Crows Toes polishes need dark or deviant or bold bases, so I'm probably going to redo this one at some point.

I really love the random yellow or pink or orange piece of glitter, but then when don't I love a Crows Toes :)

Stay tuned - there's at least one more Crow flying into the blog today.  Enjoy xx :)