three layers of awesome

Hey guys!
Yesterday I showed you a great hot pink polish from NOX Twilight and I teased you with a great layering combo... So here it is!

As a refresher, this is what NOX Twilight - Crush looks like. A hot neon pink creme.

I had just gotten some really cool stuff in the mail, so I added 2 polishes on top of this one that I don't think I've seen layered over colors like this!

First I added a coat of Max Factor - Fantasy Fire.
This tiny little polish is a gem from the UK. These are being swapped out of England like crazy, but lucky me, I have an aunt in England and she picked this up for me! Along with two of its friends, of course.
Fantasy Fire is a purple polish with intense multi-chromatic shimmer, much like the very very very extremely hard to find and expensive Clarins 230.
I haven't swatched this little beauty yet so in the meantime please check this post from Polish Ninja that compares the two!

I couldn't see all the colors in Fantasy Fire while layered over the pink, but the vibrant purple base made this crazy weird neon magenta color. It almost didn't look real when it was on my nails. The color was something I'd never seen before in polish-form.
I'm not sure if the photos quite show the uniqueness of the color but take my word for it, it was really cool!

I didn't stop there. I added a third polish that gave it a whole new look.

I added Deborah Lippmann - Across The Universe.
I don't think I've ever seen this polish layered over purple before, and it really is stunning! Especially over such a bright and shimmery purple.
ATU as it is affectionately known is a dark blue jelly polish with blue and green glitters, small and large.

Isn't it kinda strange how you see all the layers? You can see the blue jelly and the glitter, and the shimmer from Fantasy Fire, but still you can see the brightness of Crush too. Totally weird, and very cool!

I got this Lippmann when they were on sale half price after Deborah was on some television show. So this was $9. I'd have a hard time paying full price for Lippmanns, but I can do $9.

Well there you have it! Three great polishes that make a great combo. What do you think?

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Fun is ... Clairns 230, Fantasy Fire and a gold/green morphing franken

For nearly two years now I have been stalking ebay looking at bottles of Clarins 230 thinking these various thoughts:

"Yes, I should get it now before all the bottles are gone"

"No *slaps face* don't be stupid and pay that for a bottle of polish:

"Oh look, this one is only $60, quick I should get it now"

"No, I can totally franken this using red/green colour morphing powder"

"Hang on, how will I know if I have my franken recipe is just right if I don't have the real thing to compare it too"

"Just get Fantasy Fire and be satisfied with that"

"But the collector in me really needs to own a bottle of 230"

"Imagine if I found a box full of 230's in some garage sale, I could make a squillion dollars"

And so on and so forth.

So a few weeks ago,  I did the deed.  I paid a horrid amount of money for a single bottle of nail polish.  And do I regret it? Nope, not one little bit.  I feel a small amount of relief as I gently stroke my bottle *my precious*.

What do you do when you get your bottle of Clarins 230, you slap it on and compare it to the other polishes you bought (yes you Fantasy Fire) and made (yes you purple franken with red/green pigment) and see what they all look like.

First I tried just Clarins 230 on it's own.  This was three coats, which all looked very smooth and even in real life, although in these photos the index finger looks like it got a thicker coat.  So pretty and squishy and the red/green sparkle really is to die for.

Next, I compared Clarins 230 with my franken and with Fantasy Fire.  

Verdict: franken is much more opaque, Fantasy Fire is a much brighter purple and neither of them quite had the same strength to the green sparkle that Clarins 230 had.

Next, I tried them all over a purple polish, and my favourite go to purple polish is Ulta3 Orchid.  This one really showed that the sparkle in the Franken and Fantasy Fire wasn't as strong.

This set of comparison photos is just of Clarins 230 and Fantasy Fire over Ulta3 Orchid.  Are you sick of this yet??

Finally, because I was disappointed that my franken didn't have as much green sparkle as Clarins 230, I added a good few heaped straw measure fulls into the bottle.  BAM, lots more green sparkle, and lots more red sparkle!  DOH I added too much, now I have to split it into two bottle and dilute it.  Actually, if I just left it as one coat of my franken instead of two, it's pretty damn close.

Well, that was fun.  I totally enjoyed my play with the magical unicorn pee and it's friends.

More about → Fun is ... Clairns 230, Fantasy Fire and a gold/green morphing franken

Swirly shiny konad

This effort, whilst not my first, was one of my first konad designs. Actually I think it was my second one, but is was certainly the first one I took a photo of. Konad is pretty cool (despite the name - but more on that later).

The base for this was Max Factor Nailfinity in 'Angel nails'. A very pretty pale pinky mauve foil finish polish.

I then stamped over it using plate m63 with the brightest red polish I had. But because it's not a konad special polish the colour really thins out on the stamp. That's why the stamp looks pink.

The final effect was still pretty, and I got lots of comments about my nails.  I really like this stamp on plate m63, I've since used it quite a few times.

This was two coats Angel nails then stamped.  Revlon speed dry top coat (done before I had my Seche Vite).

More about → Swirly shiny konad