Fun with Layla hologram effects

Layla flash black? YES PLEASE!

I have silver holos of all kinds, but I also got Mercury Twilight on a recommendation from (and also from the stash of) GoldenAnkh, and recently I received Retro Pink in a summer gift swap :)

This man is a little older ( a few months) but I think its worth posting.

A diagonal tape mani with Layla Flash Black and Mercury Twilight!



I think I may do this again as a patchwork mani with the retro pink also.

I love the Layla holos! I used the Jessica holo base coat (from the Disco Diva set) and no top coat and it wore at least all day. The holo effect was seamless (which I appreciated) which is why I suggest doing this kind of mani with holos from the same brand (different particles used by different brands will reflect light differently and may produce an ugly jagged effect.

Some new old polishes

No pics yet... been too busy and tired...

Recently, I've bought OPI Movin Out, Man of La Mancha, Gift of Gold and SH Bronze ruby. I actually got all of them for regular retail, which is a little surprising considering that the OPIs are available for around $30ish each. I'm not crazy about Bronze Ruby, but its not bad.

Just a little mini update... I'm too tired to care now :)

China Glaze Hunger Games Luxe & Lush & Sally Hansen HD Cyber

OK, so I am a huge Hunger Games fan. When I saw the China Glaze collection, I about freaked out. I did abstain from a lot of them, though. I'll post the others that I DID get another day.

Today's swatch is of Luxe & Lush. In the bottle, Luxe and Lush looks like lovely rainbow flakies.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen HD Cyber



Pretty, red-toned purple. To be honest, L & L confuses me, because its clearly a top coat and I would never want to layer it over a single other polish in the HG collection. A lot of browns, taupes, tans... not really good bases for rainbows.

Anyway. I'm only going to post one picture of L&L



What. The. Hell. Is. This.

These rainbow flakies are actually more like shards of glass. They were lumpy, jagged, not even rainbowy, and all-around unpleasant.

Three coats of gelous could not tame this bish.

Recent Sephora Purchases - Illamasqua and Pantone Universe

Recently I went with my family to Sephora for my cousin's birthday and wound up getting three polishes (for not a cent, thanks to my mum).

First, I got Illamasqua's Jo'Mina.


I love this color to death. Its a bright, neon lavender. Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing. The formula was great, coverage was nice, and it didn't really chip!

My one issue is that with Illamasqua's Force (electric blue polish from the same collection) fading all over the world, is Jo'Mina safe??? I think I'd have a fit if I discovered this to be faded.

The other two polishes I got were the matte and glitter polishes from the Tangerine Tango set! (My mom wanted the shimmer and creme, so she gave me the other two lol)


(The matte obviously has top coat over it)

I can honestly say that Tangerine Tango appears to be universally flattering. The only issues I can see is if you have too much red or yellow in your skin it may not look great, but If you like intense, rich colors, give this one a look.

Avon Blue Escape

Normally, I avoid Avon polishes. They just don't wear on me for more than a few hours, but I saw this one on a friend and went home and ordered it.



So yeah, I happen to have at least two other polishes that are the same exact color, but I just love this shade of bright, neon blue

For reference, here are some similar shades



Here it is next to Zoya Phoebe

And some color wheel swatches:



The three colors are nearly identical, but with different shimmers. Phoebe has top coat over it since its a matte polish. Its really hard to tell in my pictures, but you can kind of tell that Phoebe has the weakest shimmer, Blue Escape the most intense, and Wicked Sweet a little more golden.

The Avon's formula was decent, but pretty sheer. I needed at least three coats and I still had visible nail line (ugh). Layer it over white or silver and I bet you'll get a better result.

Mari Moon Trendy

I really need to start doing the whole acetone clean up thing... but when you change your polish daily, it really seems like time I don't want to spend.

Anyway, here is Mari Moon Trendy by Hits layered over Rimmel Black Satin



I would describe this as the toxic green version of Peridot



Its hard to catch the color flash in the direct sunlight (or on my shitty camera) but it does have that same sort of blue-lime iridescence of Peridot



In shade it looks a lot more amber gold.

All the colors I can find in this polish: amber, gold, lime, blue, and olive.

The bottle is tiny at a miniscule 8 ml, and a bit pricey, so layer this one!

Water Marble - Kleancolor Metallics

This is another old picture set.

I decided to try water marbling... again... My first few attempts yielded less than perfect results. This one wasn't perfect either, but I did love it anyway!

I decided to do a rainbow and I chose Kleancolor Metallics Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Sapphire, and Purple.

First, I put on Sally Hansen Celeb City as a base coat.



I figured since water marbling tends to make polishes more sheer, and just in case there were any gaps, the silver foil would look nice.

i don't have any pictures of the cup of water or the swirling process, but i don't think they're really important. For reference, I used a small, ceramic bowl, bottled water, and a knitting needle to swirl.

i didn't tape off my skin because the tape didn't stick... so I had a major cleanup to do.

Here are some pics of the initial mess:






And here is the mani mostly cleaned up and already chipped








(I love that pinkie nail, it looks like a little rainbow in the sky)












Lots of pictures!