Layla Hologram Effect Part 1

When these came out the flame was just beginning with the indie holos, so these were not merely epic, but had a strong holographic flame that was longed for and well missed by those who loved the old China Glaze and OPI offerings.

This is for polishes 1-8, but they released more. All are readily available on eBay.

Pigments that seemed to be gone were not merely back, but mind blowing-ly back.

How they apply

1 - All of these are three coats - a must.
2 - Chipping -because of the rigidity of holo pigment, a good layering system helps with wear:
     Normal mani
     Add top coat
     Top off with another layer of polish
3 - Flame and top coats - Layla's flame is sensitive to top coats, I've watched while holo flame                  vanished with top coat application. The layering technique in 2 helps.
4 - Balding - these will pull up pigment with a second coat. I used a ridge filler and had no issues.

To the polishes!

Layla Hologram Effect 01 Mercury Twilight

A cool, classic holo silver. gorgeous.
Not much more to say here.
Oh. Wait. Gorgeous!



Layla Hologram Effect 02 Coral Glam

A copper pink that tends toward an earthy coral in most light. My photo pulls a little blue and softens it up.
At the top of nail on the pinkie and index, you can see the warmer copper shade come out.
A favorite, and very unique.



Layla Hologram Effect 03 Retro Pink

A soft red toned pink that is very nice. Classic and neutral.



Layla Hologram Effect 04 Ultra Violet

A classic true purple. Not a plum, not a violet, just a gorgeous purple.
A favorite!


Part 2 in a day or two!

Thanks for reading my nail polish journal! 

Flakie Bummer

I've been trying to break out more of my indies and so here we go: a polish I haven't featured before.

Glam Polish Secrets in the Sand over Color Club Give Me a Hint

Clear iridescent flakies and holographic particles make up this topper.

In the photos a strong blue/fuchsia shift appears, but on my nails I could only catch a little of that.

Why do I feel like I failed this polish? Damn.

I could get nothing out of it that approached all those photos.

From: Glam Polish

I tried a lot. So, I guess I will try again. 

In the bottle it's very translucent, so the bright colors don't pop as much in person. 

Normally I am super enthusiastic about  flakie toppers, so I don't know if my flash crushed the color or it's just the angle. 

No matter how many photos I took under my lamp and my flash, I could not recreate this color array on the nail, except in the smaller flake.

The Dearly Departed

If I've posted it once, I've posted it 100 times: I miss Diamond Cosmetics.

I finally got around to swatching an oldie!!

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm

A warm gray charcoal base with a load of holo to add some buzz. It forms a soft rainbow, so it's not a true scattered holo. I am sure with holo's these days you can define them in a lot of ways.

This is three coats, no top coat.

I think this came out before the indie market filled the huge gap in holos, so this was a semi-hot item in its day.

I like how earthy the holo looks here.

I can't immediately think of a dupe, but Cupcake polish and Illyrian polish make a similar one, but with a lot more holo. This one lets the base shine through.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

The Stars In the Rainbow

Color Club makes a line of art polishes they call Nail Art Stripers. Previously they labeled them as "Art Club" then discontinued them (how I got mine).

They have, at this writing over 60 shades. They run over $4 a bottle through their site, but can be had for about half a fiver most everywhere else. 

I love these for stamping, they are more dense and do a great job. A few weren't really stamping material, so I re-purposed it into a regular polish:

Color Club Black Hologram

I have a soft spot for these holographic scattered glitters. This is three coats with no top coat. You can see it has a soft satin finish.

A scattering of holo, micro and a little larger, make up this one. I think that the smaller one is silver, but it's hard to tell. 

This shade is no longer carried, but they have a lot of finishes, which is nice! Considering stamping polishes do go for a premium, it's nice to find some cremes that are nice and affordable. 

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Red Topper Duo

Orly 15 Minutes of Fame

Well.

I picked this up at TJ Maxx. Fairly excited by both flakies and holo in this jelly polish, I was keen to try it.

I put some over black and some over white, but neither impressed.

The components to the eye when I have the bottle in my hand are exciting: jelly base, flakies, holo,  and glass fleck.

Yet I really felt like it was not finding the right venue for this polish. I think a vamp red or maroon might be a better choice.

I might reblog it.




SinfulColors Devil's Stare

Two coats over both black and white.

This is another rare foray by Sinfulpolish to go into flakies.

I have to admit their offerings are very popular.

This is not a mylar flake like Red Ocean (or Green Ocean, for that matter), but not really a true flakie. It's like they processed the flakies into smaller bits this time around, which helps because there are no bits that want to pop up perpendicular to your nail, or hang off the edge. Nice!

I think you can see it around the web sponge manicured because if you want density, that's what you have to do.

I like SC, they are a cheap brand that does a good job with colors. I tend to steer clear of their shimmers, but like their cremes and glass fleck.

I like it best over a lighter color, but the jelly base is super strong on this one.

I think over a similar red, or a maroon, or violet red it would be very nice.


To conclude, both of these polishes weren't making me roar.

Both can be found online with some poking around, though Devil's Stare is easily found on ebay.

NOTE: blog sale page is up and running, so please take a turn and check it out. Let me know if you want to make an offer: I am open!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Capacity for Dystopia

I admit my encounters with young adult literature entailed a lot of horses and a lot of history and classical literature. I read one sci-fi that my sister liked (the Tripods trilogy), but I was much happier parsing the world of Walter Farley or Jack London.

So when I picked up a few random polishes from a big Nail Supply order I got a few that said "The Giver" on the lid. Based on a book, based on a movie it's a sad story about a sad future. (Read 1984, then look at the current news media, you don't need a book to show you dystopia!)

Reading the wicky-dicky about The Giver, I really have so little incentive to open the book, much less see the movie, that I can't really tell you much more than the bottles have "The Giver Limited Edition" on them. Although I've found a dupe, I am wondering if China Glaze pulled a few old recipes out of a box for this collaboration. I know they got hung out to dry on the Hunger Games movie (yet another sad future for us all, sigh), but this seems like something I missed then accidentally happened upon.

What I've got on: China Glaze Capacity to See Beyond (no pressure) topped with Nicole by OPI Wink of Twink.

A rich blue that is not super unique, but drenched with summer sky. I like it, although I did manage to slop it around with enthusiasm! I did try clean up, but as you can see, that wasn't the whole-lotta-win I was hoping for.

I like this polish at three coats and I won't complain about it. Much. It is loose, but I can award it props for being so pretty and drying very well.

I think you can rustle these "Giver" polishes fairly easily these days.

Wink of Twink is an old Nicole by OPI from  what sounds like a holiday collection. Though I tried flash, sun, angling my hand in the lamps, I could not get a decent holographic rainbow out of it. Even at close examination, I can't even find an implication of holo in my photos.

Having said that, it's a pretty silver topper that may, grab some holo in person in the sun, but it's not really very holographic at all. 

I am debating if I should just relegate it to silver topper or move it along. With the latter being pretty much my feeling towards it.

Too bad, it does have a soft twinkle but it's supposed to be holographic. 

Sad future for this polish.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Summer Melllows

It's the waning days of the truly hot weather here and although the change to mellowing heat and cool nights is heartily welcome, the small town sights of kids biking home from the pool, sunlicked anglers home from sport, and the pervasive scent of barbecue on a Saturday evening are less frequent.

I know that I love this time of year. It is, truly, the best time to try something new. Not too hot to try a bike ride, not too cold to try a hike in the mountains, and sun lingers long enough to enjoy the evenings and you see the baby quail learning the ropes of navigating the neighborhood.

While everyone is rushing into autumn collections, I'm lingering a little more in summer here in the blog.

Maybelline Bamboo Yellow

A very old Dollar Tree find. I think it is my favorite yellow. But I love the pale yellows quite a bit. 

Three-not-so-free stinky, it's the old Express Finish line that was purged long before I got into polish and holds its own, still.

Three coats, no top coat. Vaguely sheer, so next time I might don a nude base to make it a little better for coverage. 

I love the soft frost finish, it's less of a distraction since the polish is light.

I think it might be floating around eBay and that sort of thing, it's long since discontinued.

China Glaze Midnight Kiss

Three coats, no top coat.

Bright yellow gold foil. The first coat is sheer enough to know it won't translate into a stamping polish, but I do admit that on the nail it's my kind of foil: summery, bright, grabs the light, and grabs attention.

This is an oldie I picked up fairly recently, it's from their 2010 holiday collection. China Glaze has been a strong traditionalist with regard to holiday collections. They've done a lot of great ones, and bent some expectations, too. I suggest checking out 8ty8 or Nailsupply for a vast catalogue of holiday shades. Fun browsing time! ;)

Thanks so much for reading my little nail polish journal!

I appreciate it! 

:)

Emily de Molly. Lost...Then Found

I realize that I have over 1000 posts. Wow!

Some years I jammed out content almost every other day, other years I barely seem to get my act together! 

Here's  more evidence of the latter: I found two photos from 2016 that I thought I posted somewhere, but not here. My rule has been to always treat the blog as the one place to post my important content.

I will be honest, social media of all the different stripes feels like a full time job, so I haven't delved into super hard. Tumblr is constantly cross-selling content to me, and I'm not interested. I know: I need to try instagram.

Anyhow. Here are a few old stamping photos I may have posted on social media elsewhere, but I can't find them. (how embarrassing!)

Both of these are stamped from Emily de Molly plate 05. Her site was having a sale on "flawed" plates and I snapped them up. The flaws were so minor that it took a note about each one to even find them. Perfectionists may differ, but it often was on one design on the plate and it was so worth it.

The polishes, however are a mystery. I apologize for that!!

Mystery 1

Pure delight.
One of my favorite books is called The Handbook of Ornament by Franz Meyer. It is packed with design motifs from the ancient world through the Victorian Era.
This stamp reminds me of English Renaissance motifs.

This is a pale gray topped with a green that stamped well, but what were the polishes? A mystery!

Topped it with Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. Delightful outcome.

Mystery 2

From the same plate. A silver chrome and a feisty cherry red. Beautiful combo!

Emily de Molly is currently carrying plates on both her US and Australian site. Plate 05 is a round plate. Quite delightful!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Zoya Rica Above and Beyond

Zoya Rica over OPI My Private Ornament.

I don't think I can convey my adoration for this combo! It reminds me of Nicole by OPI Coral Denominator (a backup-worthy, desert island polish).

I like Zoya Rica a lot. I inadvertently bought a second bottle in one of those Zoya sale frenzies. Ah well. No worries. Rica is sheer. It behaves like a topper and I love the heck out of that!!

I first put down  in this order: Rica, MPO, Rica, MPO, Rica; I may not have needed the second coat of MPO, as it's a fairly dense glitter.

I wore this fore several days and it was heavenly. Just perfect.

The play of that warm silver of MPO and the gold fleck and gorgeous juicy reddened coral in Rica just worked beautifully. I love when a layering combination creates a third creature of great beauty. I should start a page that lists these combos.

If you have these two, definitely layer them!

Here's Rica alone, stamped:

Over a nude I used 4 coats to acquire some density. It wasn't hard and I think Zoya's formula was easy to work with: it didn't slop or pool -  without some help from me, that is! :)

Stamped with a plate I forgot to write down! Borghese Mezzanotte Blue was the one I grabbed for a fast stamping job. I actually tried a new thing I read about on Makeup Alley from a poster called Urang: I mixed some shimmer from a 

I know that I added a Chaos and Crocadiles sheer holo topper for a bit of holo fun in the sun.

I won't lie, Rica never gave up on me! I wore it a lot and though it's a sheer one, I love how Zoya pulls the glass fleck out of their hat to come up with these kinds of collections!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Konfetti~*~*~``~`*

Actually, from Dance Legend's Confetti Collection, a bunch of super saturated metallic pearl shades that are hard to dislike.
Well not much at Dance Legend that is hard to love!! I've got a running cart that is in the low three digits and I really have a hard time paring it down.

Meanhile, Dance Legend 533

Luminous is the first word that pops through my head.

Three coats, no top coat.

Excellent formula, excuse my slapdash application!


Dance Legend has such an extensive line that international stockists don't carry the full array. Their site is fairly easy to navigate and though it takes time, they ship internationally. I haven't pulled the trigger on an order, but I anticipate doing a big one when I do!!

You can find them in the smaller indie shops, blog sales, etc. Worth the hunt!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

Glitter Sponge Learning Curve

I wanted to try sponging a glitter again and sharing the highs, lows, ups, downs, etc.

Sephora by OPI G-listen To Your Heart

Sponged on over black with a triangle cosmetic sponge found at Dollar Tree.

First off: what a delightful shade of purple! I love how fresh and bright.

So, what I learned this round:

• Protect your fingers - I use latex body paint that I use for stamping, it makes a huge difference. Cleanup was still a chore, but it sure went much better than the last time (A lot of that glitter on my fingers is from the swatches I did the previous glitter post)
• Let the sponge do it's job - the sponge needs to pick up that extra base so you can add the glitter without building a big soupy mess. Have a tissue handy to squeeze out the nail base between applications of glitter. If your sponge is too saturated, it won't be useful any longer.
• You don't need a base color - I put down black, but really I didn't need it. It doesn't show up, that's just the black reflection of the light not hitting that glitter.
• Let coats dry - I jumped the gun on this one. The sponging part went very well, but I tended to not do a lot of waiting and I think it would have helped.
• Thinner topcoat - this went a little overboard. I should have used a thinner coats so I would be able to really make it work. 

So I am getting closer to making it work better. I don't know that it was a viable manicure because it did get soupy and it did get a thick dose of topcoat. Neither of which are the best to help it dry down through the layers.

Sephora by OPI G-listen To Your Heart has gone the way of the Dodo. I would check eBay or Amazon. I found mine at Big Lots! for $1.99 and I am glad I grabbed it! In its heyday Sephora by OPI was about $12 a bottle. It was prohibitive while I could snap up Color Club in 7-packs and OPI for $4.50.
Then it was starting to discontinue, so it went down to $4-5 a bottle through Sephora and then it was just gone. OPI got out of the relabeling business with Sephora (who knows who they work with now, super secret spy stuff I guess!).  Sephora has their X brand, but it's truly not affordable for so little information one has about it, and they transition collections with the season (and these days with fast fashion, there are virtually dozens and dozens of seasons) so I don't really keep track of it.

I haven't been in a Ross for over 4-5 months and I used to see the joblotted stuff there.

Now you know! ;D

Thank you for reading my little nail polish journal!