NOTD: China Glaze Jitterbug

I haven’t been blogging much lately and that has meant that I am way, way behind on my posts. These photos are a month old now! This mani is particularly special, however, so it deserves to be posted. This is the polish I wore to my graduation! It’s China Glaze Jitterbug, a gorgeous dark grey shimmer. It’s almost a foil but doesn’t quite make it there. I wanted something simple to go with my graduation robes as my hood was lined with gold (and not the nice kind of gold, this was icky bright yellow gold). Jitterbug was perfect at two coats and lasted well throughout the day - I don’t think I had a single chip actually!

NOTD: Zoya Holly

Today’s NOTD is Zoya Holly. While the formula is great - these photos show two coats plus top coat - I’m not sure I like the finish. I expected it to be a standard shimmer, but it’s actually a lot more metallic. I find that polishes with metallic finishes are harder to get looking ‘flawless’. There’s always a brush stroke somewhere or a build up of pigment somewhere else. I am a perfectionist and little things like that can really bug me!

NOTD: China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

Today’s polish is China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy. This shade is neon, really neon, and my photos do not show this at all. It’s so bright! Perfect for summer but also great for brightening up a grey, wet, cold, dismal winter’s day. I used three coats, but from memory I didn’t really need the third. I like to do three coats with true neons - as in the ones that dry matte - as I think it makes the colour pop a bit more, plus three coats means that you’re less likely to see streaks or bald patches on your finished mani.

Another reason why I love this polish is that it matches the flowers in my jeans here! And hey, while you’re clicking that link, why don’t you follow me on Instagram?

NOTD: Color Club Harp On It

HOLO OVERLOAD! This is two coats of Color Club Harp On It, a silver holographic from the Halo Hues collection (I think this was one of the first six polishes released). I don’t think I really need to say much more, except that you should buy all of the Halo Hues if you haven’t already!

NOTD: Milani Cyberspace

I really love holo polishes. Can you tell? Part of the reason I wear so many of them is that clean-up is really easy. I don’t topcoat my holos. I understand that some brands are affected by topcoat and some aren’t, but I simply don’t have the energy to research every brand and shade I have before I wear it, so I play it safe and skip topcoat on every single one. I also find that a lot of my clean-up is Seche Vite related. While I love its quick drying abilities I find if you accidentally apply to much it pools on the sides of your nails and in your cuticles really badly. And then when you go to get rid of it, it’s as hard as nails (hah) and takes a fair bit of effort to remove. So no Seche Vite means easier (and quicker) clean-up. Do you see where I’m going with this?

Anyway, back to the polish. This is three coats of Milani Cyberspace. Cyberspace is not a traditional holo in the sense of China Glaze OMGs or Color Club Halo Hues. It’s different - it’s sort of ‘flecky’. There’s particles in there… bits of shimmer, bits of holo. Not a glitter but it almost wants to be one. The colour of this one is also really cool. It’s not a bright blue or even a pastel blue. It’s very muted. And kind of icy looking. Awesome!

NOTD: Daring Digits Punch Me Purple

I recently had a real itch to wear pink and purple together in a mani. These photos show what I came up with. I used two coats of Zoya Areej and one coat of Daring Digits Punch Me Purple.

Areej is an odd shade - personally, I say it’s pink - but it does sit right on that fence between pink and purple, so I can understand if someone else calls it purple. Application was perfect, something I find with almost every Zoya I use.

Punch Me Purple is a clear-based glitter topper with teeny white hexes and larger purple hexes. I did need to dab this polish on as the purple hexes wanted to bunch up and stick to each other when I applied it with a swipe, but the consistency of the base was great. Sometimes I find indie glitter toppers have quite a thick base - none of that here though!

Haul: Hits

Just a quick post today with lots of photos and not many words. I recently received my goodies from a Hits group buy coordinated by my lovely friend Rachel! Rachel went through a fair amount of stress with this order due to several situations that were out of her hands, and I want to give her a shout out for toughing it out and delivering all of us our pretty polishes in the end. Thanks!

27 March: Mellow Yellow

Top: Garage @ The Warehouse

Dress: Supre

Slip: Supre

Shoes: Garage @ The Warehouse

Earrings: The Warehouse

Make up: Eyes - MUA Every Lash mascara in Black/Brown; Lips - MUA lipstick in shade 3; Face - Nivea Visage Young tinted moisturiser, and Australis concealer; Nails - Depend 210 and China Glaze Glistening Snow (check out more photos here!)

So this is my first OOTD post with my new camera! What do you think of the photos? Overall, I think they are better than my old pictures. The lighting is a little off in my full outfit shots (my face is a bit too shadowed for my liking, it makes me look like I’m grumpy or frowning), but I definitely prefer how it captures details.

NOTD: Depend 210

I don’t wear a lot of yellow on my nails, but today this gorgeous buttery yellow shimmer was calling out to me. This is three coats of Depend 210.  I bought it on a whim as I feel like I don’t give yellow enough love (when it’s really not that bad), plus it feels like yellow shimmers are very rare! The formula was a bit streaky and everything looked uneven after two coats, so the third was definitely necessary. You probably don’t need to be told that yellow is well-known as the problem child of the polish world.

For something a little different, I used China Glaze Glistening Snow as an accent on my ring fingers and thumbs. I didn’t use top coat on this polish as I liked the sort of matte glitter look it had going on - sort of similar to the Liquid Sands and Pixie Dusts that are oh so popular now. It wasn’t rough and didn’t catch on my clothes or hair, and I really liked the effect!

NOTD: Glitter Gal Teal Green

Another Glitter Gal and another holo today! This is Glitter Gal Teal Green. I don’t consider this a teal, however. It looks more emerald to my eyes. That’s not a bad thing though, it’s gorgeous! These photos show two effortless coats. It’s an absolutely stunning polish and has instantly skyrocketed into my list of favourites.