Silver glitter gradient over nude nails

Sorry for the absence! Hope I can make up for it with this, one of the prettiest manis I've worn in ages, and a contender for favourite bridal design:

It's a gradient of Maybelline Color Show Silver Gleam over OPI Malaysian Mist, which I did using my cotton bud glitter gradient method - it's so much easier and more precise than sponging for me! It was hard to get a gradient up the nail with such a dense glitter, so I literally dotted polish with the tip of the bud up my nail, like a big woolly dotting tool.

I wore this to Spa and Beauty Expo, and it lasted me almost a week - the glitter tips are great at keeping tipwear at bay!

piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2013

By now you've probably seen all the nail art tutorials flooding the internet for piCture pOlish's annual Blog Fest, which this year included over 130 bloggers, including me! Here's the mani I did, using the shades Hope, Dorothy and Ruby Blou:

Hop on over to my blog to see the full tutorial - it's pretty basic nail art, but I loved this mani!

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu & Pirouette My Whistle

It is official. I now own all of the OPI NYC Ballet collection. (See my other posts on the collection here and here.) Very rare for me - I don't think I own any other complete collection! The only two I was missing were Don't Touch My Tutu and Pirouette My Whistle. They actually pair together quite nicely.

Don't Touch My Tutu on its own...


...and with Pirouette My Whistle on top...


The reason I decided to complete this collection is that the formulas are consistently awesome. Don't Touch My Tutu is taking the place of Essie Allure in my collection. Both are gorgeous squishy sheer whites, but DTMT has a much easier formula to work with. Pirouette My Whistle is a really lovely subtle glitter topcoat. It really is, I swear. Thanks to the oddly translucent pieces of white(ish?) hexagonal glitter, this topcoat gives the polish under it an ethereal feel - really nice with some of the sheers in this collection! My hope is that one day they make a gold version...

Do you own a complete collection of polish? Which one(s)?

kittytokaren

Silver Sparkle - Essie Set in Stones

I was in a silver/grey/cool-toned mood the other day, and wanted to add a little something to my Essie Cocktail Bling manicure. I don't own many glitters, but for some reason when they are in an Essie bottle, I buy them. (Sad. I am such a sucker.) I put Essie Set in Stones on top and this was the result!

I'm definitely not used to seeing glitter on my tips, but I do like the tone-on-tone action that's going on here. For some reason I'm also a fan of this kind of glitter topcoat - I think it's the fine glitter mixed in with the larger hexagonal glitter. I have a few other colours, which you will see soon!

Do you like to add sparkle with a glitter topcoat? Which is your favourite?

kittytokaren

More Robot Nails! - Barry M Silvery Lilac

I really wish Barry M was available in the US. It's a lovely little brand that puts out great colours at an excellent price point. At the moment, I turn to the bay of Evil for my Barry M fix, but I just wanted to put it out there!

This is Silvery Lilac - reminds me quite a bit of OPI Not Like the Movies, but for some reason I like this version better.

Silvery Lilac is another polish that reminds me of "robot nails" but it has a healthy dose of sparkle in it. I definitely have to be in the mood for this kind of polish, but when I am, this hits the spot nicely. I also think it would look pretty fabulous under OPI Black Spotted!

Have you tried Barry M polishes? What do you think?

kittytokaren

THEME WEEK - My Favorite Glitter :)

Expecting someone who wears a lot of glitter polishes to answer the question of "which glitter polish is their favorite" is hard! I had to think on it a bit, because I love all glitters! But then KNEW.

It's OPI Crown Me Already! It's a silver glitter with multisized hex glitter, smaller round and fine micro glitters. It builds up nicely. It's a dupe of a Claire's polish that I love (and glad the OPI one was released because I can't find the Claire's polish in stores anymore). I find that a good silver glitter is almost classic for the blingy look, and the fact that this polish has different sized glitters makes it different from the other silver glitters out there.


It's my favorite because it's so bright and blingy... and also because what can be done do it. Which is gradients. I like layering up, gradient style, sheer shimmer or glitter polishes on top of it. I've done it before but did it again for this post.

sunlight

in the shade

The green is NYX Girls Emerald Forest. It's sort of sheer, but not super sheer -- I used a sponge to make it lighter in the middle and used the brush of the polish itself to make it darker at the ends. I love the look of gradients! There's such depth to it and it's easy to do. Instant nail art :)

THEME WEEK - My Favourite Glitter

I don't own many glitters. Too much bling on my fingers makes me feel awkwardly overdressed and teenagery, I feel self-consciously like I have strobe lights on my fingertips - as much as I love how glitter looks in swatches, I can't wait to get it off!

That's why China Glaze Some Like It Haute is such a great glitter for me - it's sparkly, with round holo glitters, but the charcoal microglitter tones it down. The holo glitters are also always obediently weather appropriate, looking muted on cloudy days and blindingly bright in the sun.

This is two coats over one coat of ulta3 Metal, a gorgeous charcoal shimmer that looks like lead pencil, one of my top ten ulta3s. I can't stand how Some Like It Haute is translucent when backlit (e.g. when using my phone), and for some unknown reason it looked weirdly gritty in my photos of it on its own, so Metal is the perfect opaque underwear!

Can anyone recommend some other slightly-toned-down glitters?

THEME WEEK - My Favourite Glitter!

We are currently in the midst of THEME WEEKS here at Polish or Perish! Last week was Favourite Red Week and each day you got to see a post from a PoP blogger revealing their fav red polish. Today we're kicking off...

FAVOURITE GLITTER WEEK

Now, admittedly, I'm not the biggest glitter fan. I'm a little...scared...of glitter. I LOVE it on my toes in winter, like my dirty little gleaming secret. But I'm a bit timid when it comes to sporting the sparkles on my tips. OPI Spark de Triomphe is one of the few mega glitters that makes me feel glam and not self-conscious!

The colour of this is just awesome - a mix of gold and silver glitter of varying sizes. Really the only words that aptly describe this are "jewel-encrusted". When the light hits it...it's bananas, y'all. Even though it is so blingy, I feel like the metallic colour makes it pretty wearable - especially for a special night out with an LBD. I wouldn't want to be without this in my collection!

What do you think of my pick? What's your fav glitter?

kittytokaren

Illamasqua Snap

This is absolutely the colour of HB pencils. The stripey yellow and black ones you use at primary school, before you're allowed to graduate to pens, with their greater potential for indelible inky disaster. This polish resulted in some serious flashbacks! (By the way, yes, those are gloves - it hasn't made it over freezing for the last week or so, and I'm feeling the cold).

One coat, plus top coat (which really didn't want to play ball, hence the giant cuticle gaps). Applied itself, practically. Plus I got it for a song (£4.50!) courtesy of the Illamasqua sale, plus clubbing together with one of my girlfriends to get over their free postage threshold, plus my loyalty discount. There are many really crappy things about living in the UK (the weather, Dale Winton, the strange compulsion to mash everything that looks like a vegetable before eating it) but cheapo Illamasqua sales is a good 'un.

What nail polish takes you back?

The reason I have so much polish: LA Girl Glitter Addict Explosion and OPI Crown Me Already comparison

I wonder sometimes why I have so much nail polish. And when I go to de-dupe my collection, it is very obvious to me why I do. 

LA Girl Glitter Addict Explosion & OPI Crown Me Already

Looks pretty similar, right? Silver hex glitter and silver glitter suspended in clear polish. I figured I could get rid of one of them (if not both). 

LA Girl Glitter Addict Explosion (index/ring) & OPI Crown Me Already (middle/pinky)

over Orly Rock Solid

When I applied them side by side... sigh. I see them as very different creatures. Not only do they contain different sizes of small glitter and hex glitter (Explosion has bigger glitter than Crown Me Already), they apply very different as well.

Closeup of Explosion

Explosion is pretty clumsy and clumpy. It doesn't go on that smoothly (because it has bigger glitter) and it takes a bit of finagling to get even vaguely consistent coverage. The above shows three coats. If I wanted it to be opaque, I could've added one more coat... and spent an extra ten minutes finagling.

Closeup of Crown Me Already

In comparison, Crown Me Already goes on very smoothly (due to the smaller, more easily manipulated glitter) but is much more suited to being a layering polish. The above shows four coats. If I wanted it to be totally opaque, six coats would probably do it.

Another really striking difference is that when I went to remove the polish shortly after taking these photos, Explosion was still entirely wet and came off easily. Crown Me Already actually needed a little muscle to be removed.

My final verdict? They are different. I like them both. Therefore, I need both. ...and this is how one accumulates too much nail polish. 

Chanel Graphite & Color Club Clean Break

Chanel Graphite

When did I start buying Chanel polishes, jeez. Expensive habit, that. Should've never started... and I come up against the same question that I have with almost about 80% of the Chanel polishes that I buy: I love the polish itself but do I think it's worth $25? (Especially since Revlon seems to be having some success with their dupes of recent Chanel colors for a fraction of the price.) I have a ton of silver and gunmetal polishes but Graphite is probably better described as pewter because of the gold microglitter that gives it a warmer appearance than most silvers. It applied well in two coats and had pretty good staying power (which I find is true of many Chanel polishes). I think this one (like Particulaire, Jade Rose and Paradoxal before it) may become a "conference" polish. It's not the most understated look but it's still elegant and can pass for professional. 

Color Club Clean Break over Chanel Graphite

A good white crackle is hard to find because most whites need multiple layers to appear anywhere near opaque. This one, which was sent to me for review by Color Club, is one of the better white crackles I've tried because it is a little more pigmented (but still crackles very well).   

Closeup of Clean Break Over Graphite

I still don't know whether I like crackle polishes or not. I think they can look very, very cool. But they can look very messy if not applied well. They also take better to larger nails, I think. It's difficult to apply one uniform layer of crackle on a small nail because usually, the brush isn't big enough to do the nail in a single sweep... and it isn't large enough that two sweeps won't overlap. So crackles are very hit or miss with me. I'm endlessly surprised that crackle caught on as a trend. It's been around for awhile but now, it's everywhere. Is it because it's a way to... double one's manicurial wardrobe at low cost? 

Some Color Club Foiled swatches (Fall 2011)

I am super behind on Color Club swatches. :( Between what I've bought and what they've sent (such as this collection), I really could wear nothing but Color Club for over a month. It would be a pretty good month. Anyhow, the Foiled collection brought China Glaze Khrome to mind and I couldn't help comparing the two when I applied and wore the polishes, though the two collections actually feel pretty distinct. (Khrome was more metallic, Foiled is more... foil. Brighter, more sparkly, with more of a textured feel.)

I have a weird relationship with foils: I like them but I don't love them and yet I probably wear them more often than most other finishes. Sunlight does fabulous things to them but they're dull as all heck indoors. So I never plan to wear a foil. I only wear foils when I don't have time to do my nails. Application is very forgiving, quite a few are one coat wonders, most dry very quickly and it looks pristine for the first 24-48 hours. Absolutely perfect in a pinch. 

Almost all of my Foiled photos are actually NOTDs because they arrived during an extremely busy week... So I was a little put out when some of the Color Club Foiled polishes were somewhat thin and didn't dry quickly. But it varied from polish to polish. 

Color Club Antiquated

Silvery champagne. The above shows two coats but I think it could've used three: it was pretty thin. It dried very quickly though. Good staying power. 

Color Club Perfect Molten

Darkened seafoam. Two coats was perfect. Oddly, it dried slower than Antiquated. Still, much faster than many polishes. One of my favorites from this collection. 

Color Club Foil Me Once

Cool pink. This one I cursed. Three coats, took longer to dry than the other two, and then started chipping immediately. I was not a happy camper. 

Happy OPI Ulta-exclusive Holidays! - OPI How's It Snowin?

Every year I look forward to OPI's Ulta-exlusive holiday colours. After all, it's the release that brought us Dazzled by Gold a few years back! This year OPI deviated from their traditional red/purple/gold scheme and offered us two reds and a silver. I did not pick up the reds - one is an exact dupe of Excuse Moi from the Muppets collection and the other looks identical to China Glaze Ruby Pumps. But, I did pick up the silver glitter!

As you know, I'm not really a glitter person, but I've been feeling festive. If I'm going to do glitter it's definitely going to be in a metallic shade!

This is OPI How's It Snowin?...

A wee bit closer up so you can see the different sizes of glitter in the polish...

And this night shot is closer to what it looks like in reality - a deep gunmetal colour...

The colour of this glitter makes it much more wearable to me! It's deep and smokey, and I love that. The glitter is also the same texture/shape/size/whathaveyou as one of my other favourite glitters - OPI Spark de Triomphe - it is simply different in colour.

All in all, this definitely put me in the holiday spirit!

Have you picked up any of the OPI Ulta holiday polishes this year?

kittytokaren

Up Close & Lovely - OPI Designer...de Better

I ended up buying another polish from the OPI Muppets collection - and I'm glad I did! I absolutely adored Warm & Fozzie, and I very much like this one - Designer...de Better (dumb name), but it's not head-over-heels love.

My normal shot holding the bottle didn't really work out, because the polish is so reflective! Here are some other attempts...

A close-up so you can see the orange flecks in the silvery polish...

Designer...de Better is very boring colour from afar, but a very interesting colour up close! (Usually it's the other way around, right?) When you first clap eyes on it, it looks like a normal champagne/beige foil. Snoozeapalooza. But then you squint to get a closer look, as something isn't quite right...this champagne snoozer is actually a silver foil with orange or bronze particles in it - really cool! It's like something special, just for you.

Is there a polish you like better up close?

kittytokaren

Desperately duping graphite

I have a rule against buying Chanel polishes. I lust after them, I render myself completely broke buying them, I apply them with a frantic anticipation, I am disappointed. This is how it always goes. I adore a luxury purchase as much as the next girl, but every Chanel lacquer I've had has ended up in the swap pile. But Graphite...*sigh*. I adore Graphite. Quite apart from the fact that I'm not supposed to be buying polish at all, never mind Chanel polish, this one has my heart. So I went rummaging through my stash to see if I had anything similar that would prevent me from hitting 'purchase!'.

This is what I turned up: 'Mischa' by Andrea Fullerton, a brand available in Superdrug in the UK. The colour is definitely not a dupe, but it's in the same vein, and a very fine colour in its own right. It's a foil with dominant colours of pewter, violet, and gold. From a distance it looks like a dark grey with warm undertones, and it sparkles nicely in the sun. This is three coats, and longevity has been good (I'm on day four of wear today with no issues, although I will be removing it tonight).

But, I'm not convinced by the brand. The bottles are teeny - 5.5ml - and are priced at £5.50 each. At £1 a ml, these are more expensive than my Illamasquas (£13.50 for 15ml, although I nearly always purchase in a sale, making them more like £10 each). They're not even far off Chanel, which is £17.50 for 13ml. I bought four of these when I first started my internship, and the colours are really gorgeous and unique (I'll swatch some of the others in the coming weeks) but they are expensive given the small quantity you get. Not sure why I'm complaining, given that I rarely dent my big 15ml bottles, but the size of these does feel a bit stingy.

Are you ever put off polish purchases by the quantity you get in a bottle?

Serena Glam Slam! - Wimbledon

I grew up in a "tennis family". I've watched tennis on TV since I was in utero, and one of my earlier memories is of jumping up and down on my bed yelling "Go, Agassi, GO!!". ( This was way back when he had long hair and was the new kid on the tennis block...I feel ancient.) I've also spent years of my life watching my little brother - who is *phenomenal* - compete in a million tournaments. My family has trekked to tennis events all over the world, and I have to say, my absolute number one favourite is Wimbledon! So naturally, I was excited about the polishes coming out for the most storied of the slams!

I only got the polishes from one of the duos - the silver one. The purple just simply didn't appeal to me. Here they are...

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness

A really beautiful silver foil. Completely over-shadowed by Chanel Graphite, which was released at a similar time, but it really deserves some real kudos. It's like Grahite's younger, lighter sister - yes, a silver foil, but just a bit more complex than that. It has a touch...juuuuuussssttt a touch...of gold pigment thrown in. This serves to warm the polish up a bit, which I appreciate. Other silver foils, like OPI DS Radiance, were too cool for my skin tone. I find this one very wearable for me.

OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

Usually not something that is up my alley, but it's a cute layering polish. I chose not to show these two polishes to you layered, because I don't like the way they look together, and I think you get a better idea of what is in this polish from a bare-nailed pic.

As lovely as these polishes are, they really don't say Wimbledon to me. Wimbledon is all about classic - classic all-whites, classic traditions, classic strawberries & cream. In that sense, I'm a little disappointed. BUT, that being said, they are completely Serena. Which is what it's really all about isn't it?

Are you a tennis fan? What's your fav Slam?

kittytokaren

Worth it - Chanel Graphite

I had convinced myself that I would never buy a Chanel polish again. They chip horrendously on me and are terribly overpriced. However, Graphite really really called to me - ever since I saw some promo shots from the runway those many months ago. Upon it's release online, I managed to hold fast - I resisted!! I told myself I didn't need it, it wasn't *that* special, and Barry M would come up with a good dupe before long.

Then my mother went to preview the Chanel fall collection. I think she wanted some of the new eyeshadows. (Which I want as well.) She saw that Graphite was a hot commodity, and decided that she needed to get it for me. She even told me it was "the only one of them that won't make your skin look even more jaundiced that it already does". Ah, honesty.

How glad am I that she picked this up for me?

So glad.

Shockingly, I've been wearing this for *days and days* now, and am in the midst of moving and it has only chipped a tiny bit on one finger, where I smudged the polish initially. Seriously shocked at this. Also...it's effing gorgeous!! It's like OPI Brand New Skates on shimmer 'roids! I love things that have a bit of a gold tinge to them - I usually wear gold jewelry so it works for me. Honestly, I can't really explain, either in pictures or in words, how densely packed with shimmer this is, or how gorgeous and multi-faceted the colour is. I implore you to go to your nearest Chanel counter and check it out.

In the end I managed to stay true to my mantra of "don't buy any more Chanel polishes," thanks to my mother's generosity. But sometimes mother truly knows best. My verdict on this one? Even as a Chanel skeptic, I say - worth it.

Have you tried any of the Chanel Fall 2011 polishes? What about the eyeshadows? I'd love to hear what you think!

kittytokaren

Sticks & Stones - Thumb Accent Mani

When I wore this mani, I got insulted for it. And honestly, it really hurt my feelings. I didn't think it would - I'm usually pretty confident about my fashion and life choices. But it stung.

Essie Pound Cake with OPI Spark de Triomphe thumb:

My labmate (who is consistently seriously rude to me) saw my mani, grabbed my thumb, gasped and made a face, then said:

"Are you kidding me with this?! That is so high school."

I guess it hurt because the implication was that it was tacky - and I really don't like or want to be tacky. I tend to be more reserved in my fashion choices and I like it. Hell, I even think of my fashion sense as classy. So I think that is why her words hit me like that.

But - sticks & stones, right? I've decided to believe that her insults stem from jealousy - this seems to be the common thread in most of her put-downs. I have tried to stay above it by never saying anything negative or mean to her, but it hasn't really worked.

Why must women be so cruel to each other?

kittytokaren

Winning Duo - OPI Spark de Triomphe + White Shatter

OPI Spark de Triomphe and White Shatter are two polishes newly introduced in one of the Serena Glam Slam duos released for the French Open. (Spark de Triomphe...get it? *eyeroll*)

Spark de Triomphe deserves kudos for being amazing all on its own! It's a gorgeous combination of gold and silver that needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated, but here it is...

It's packed with different sizes of glitter...

My favourite are the larger discs of glitter that seem to sit on top of the polish - it looks completely jewel-encrusted...

When I initially purchased the duo, I fully intended to swap or give away White Shatter, but I tried it for fun and ended up really loving it!!

Spark de Triomphe peeks through the cracks - so when you coat your nails in a couple layers of topcoat, the end result looks like an opaque white stone with veins of gold sparkle running through it - a gorgeous gemstone.

This duo is a total game-set-match style win for me! (Maybe it will be for Serena as well?) I expect that Spark de Triomphe will be on my toes many times this summer...and maybe even on my tips if I need a glittery pick-me-up! And now that I know I actually *like* the White Shatter, I'm excited to try it over some pastels.

What are your thoughts on the Serena French Open duos? Are you planning to pick any of them up?

kittytokaren

*insert pirate joke here* - my POTC picks!

You've already heard (way too much) about the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean Collection, I'm sure, so let's get to the meat of this sandwich!

These are the colours I chose from the collection, and I think they are all must-haves!

Stranger Tides

Probably my #1 favourite - a murky pistachio green that feels like it was designed with my skin tone in mind. Neutral enough to be wearable as it doesn't scream "GREEN!", but different enough to be edgy and cool. I. Am. In. Love!!! Unfortunately, this is *really* close to Essie Da Bush - from the Essie Resort 2011 Collection, which you will see soon - but I love the colour so much I'm going to keep both. (For those interested, Da Bush is a bit darker and ever-so-slightly more blue-toned.)

Skull & Glossbones

Again, this feels like it was made for me. Usually greys turn purple on me thanks to my yellow skin - even Essie Chinchilly, which many people claimed had green undertones, looks purple on me. See? Other greys are just too cool-toned for me and look...off. But this is my perfect light grey! It is somehow grey and warm at the same time. *swoon*

Steady As She Rose

I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I do! It's a great pale pink - it looks practically lavender in the bottle! On the nail murky and blue enough to keep this pink from being too sugary and girly - it's feet stay firmly in chic territory. Hallelujah!

Mermaid's Tears

This is my one kind of iffy one, but to be fair, I haven't worn it as a full-on all-day-all-night manicure yet. (And it looks stunning on my friend Megan!) It's like a murky piece of polished jade - I was surprised to see that it was quite similar to Essie Turquoise & Caicos in colour, but not necessarily in saturation/brightness. To me, this is T&C's dustier, more sedate cousin. I think that while T&C is out at the beach in a bikini, Mermaid's Tears is brooding in a cafe. I'm just not sure this colour looks *quite right* on my tips...

Silver Shatter

This is probably the one I will use the least, but have the most fun with! A little fling every now and again is just fine (with polish)! Here it is over Essie Mint Candy Apple, for funsies. It's SUPER shimmery, but doesn't seem to crack as much as Black Shatter. I like to apply thicker coats to get more divided cracks - less of the spider-web effect.

I know this collection is being talked and talked and talkedandtalkedandtalked about, but I have to say it is my favourite OPI collection since Holiday 2009. I feel like these dirgy (dirty + dingy) pastels are right up my alley and will have a long, happy and loved life in my collection. Couldn't be happier. Just when we thought Johnny Depp couldn't get any better...

Did you score any POTC polishes? Which ones and what do you think?

kittytokaren

P.S. Shout-out to my friend Keeley who is doing her preliminary exam today! Good luck and knock 'em dead with your knowledge!!!