Lacquer or Leave Her!

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Review: Barielle's Bling It On 2015 Collection

(Press sample)

Hello!

A while back when I reviewed the last Barielle collection, several people mentioned some of their favorite Barielle polishes were glitters, and said they hoped that Barielle would put out some new amazing glitters (me included!). I had to bite my tongue, because I'd received a release about two upcoming glitter collections--so I'm extremely excited to show you one of them, Barielle's Bling It On collection, which has a blend of glitter types and colors.

Barielle Amethyst is a classic glitter topper with a uniform dusty lavender to bling your nails:

Barielle Amethyst over Barielle First Class Ticket

This is a moderate dabbing of Amethyst over Barielle First Class Ticket; you'll want to dab this to get the coverage you want, and get the glitters where you want them. The formula was good--glitters liek this always require finesse, but the suspension can make or break your application, and in this case, the formula allows the glitters to move as much as possible. This is a beautiful glitter for both spring and summer; soft enough to pair with pastels, but with enough edge to stand up to the bolder shades, too.

Next up is my personal favorite: Barielle Angel Dust. This is an iridescent shimmery glitter polish that compliments any color you top it with:

Barielle Angel Dust over Barielle Blackened Bleu

This is one easy coat over Barielle Blackened Bleu, a deep, almost black midnight blue. The formula is perfect, the glitter glides on like butter. I love the versatility of this polish; over this color, it turns the nails into an instant galaxy. But over red, it looks like a magical golden holiday snowstorm:

Barielle Angel Dust over China Glaze Tip Your Hat

This is a polish that's going to add a touch of special to anything you wear it with, in a quick swipe. :)

Next I have Barielle Shooting Star [UPDATE: I previously had this labeled as Golden Halo; turns out, the stickers on my bottles had been switched! Now the names are correct.]; this is stunning duochrome topper that shifts from blue to purple amid a sprinkle of blue glitters. Duochromes like this show best over dark colors, but I love the subtle magic of this even over lighter colors:

Barielle Shooting Star over Barielle First Class Ticket

This is one quick coat over Barielle First Class Ticket; when the light hits it straight on, the shimmer is more silvery blue, but the duochrome is very real:

Add caption

This is such a beautiful duochrome for spring--soft, gentle, but still with a clear, beautiful shift of rich color.

And then for your more dramatic needs, here she is over black undies:

Barielle Golden Halo over Julep Cleopatra

Next is Barielle Sea Urchin, a stand-alone light green-leaning teal with gold and blue glitters:

Barielle Sea Urchin

This is two coats of Sea Urchin, with no undies. I do love the ocean vibe to this, a beautiful polish to wear for a romantic day strolling next to the sea. However, I did struggle with the formula on this. I found it hard to make the polish even out; it wanted to steak a bit and the coverage was difficult. Undies didn't solve the problem. This wouldn't stop me from wearing the polish again, but it was a bit frustrating.

Last up is Barielle Golden Halo, a burnished smoky plum glitter in a antiqued golden shimmer base; it's a topper, but can also be worn by itself on its own:

Barielle Golden Halo

This is two coats with no undies; in some lights I did get some visible nail line, but in most I didn't, and I loved the delicate feel of this. I can see brides wearing this; it also makes me think of fairies and butterfly wings and pearly seashells. The formula was good--it brushed on without fuss and covered well.

Barielle Golden Halo over Finger Paints Magenta Mural

I also love this one as a topper; over darker colors the golden shimmer will shine through more, while lighter colors will allow the purple glitters to pop. :)

Overall, I think this collection is feminine, fun, and yes, blingy. The word that kept coming to mind was 'magical'--I think this collection can add magic and happy to your look in a breeze.

You can find these on Barielle's website, and anywhere else Barielle is sold.

So--which is your favorite?

Happy glittering,
M.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Before & After: Sagebloom

(Polishes sent for review)

Hello!

Today I have a soft spring look to show you, with nary a bunny in sight! Just because Easter is behind us doesn't mean pretty spring looks have to be. :)

I started with Zoya Sage, a light sage green matte:

Zoya Sage

Then I stamped with Zoya Ana, a very soft pink matte, using Born Pretty Store plate 08; I pulled different parts of the image for each nail:

Sagebloom

I love the matte-on-matte look of this, and I love how the soft color pairing keeps this on the elegant side. And these Zoya mattes wear exceptionally well, so I don't have to worry about chipping with no topcoat in a day.

What do you think of the matte-on-matte look?

Happy stamping,
M.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Saturday swatch spam!

(Nothing to disclose)

Hello!

Yes, it's time for another installment of Saturday swatch spam! Here's a selection of swatches that for one reason or another didn't make it up on the blog before now.

China Glaze Stoked To Be Soaked: Creamy neon orange

Julep Cleopatra: black wax finish

Julep Cleopatra

Julep Lola: Deep purple-leaning navy with a matte finish

Julep Lola

Orly Ablaze: dazzling neon orange with yellow shimmer

Orly Ablaze

Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer Knot-Knot over Julep Lola: Love this purple celestial glitter!

Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer Knot-Knot over Julep Lola

Sinful Colors Blue Persuasion: Textured blue polish with a dousing of pink glitter

Sinful Colors Blue Persuasion

Zoya Thandie: Peachy-Orange cream

Zoya Thandie

Hope you enjoyed these random pretties!

Happy polishing,
M.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Review, test, & How-to-use: MoYou London Kitty 14

(Nothing to disclose)

Hello!

On the heels of my comparison of MoYou London Kitty 12 and 13, I had to follow up with a review of Kitty 14, my personal favorite plate of the collection--of course, because it's one of their collage plates!

Up first is the my video:

And here are the still shots of the plate:

MoYou London Kitty 14

And to give you a general sense of the size of the elements, here is a comparison with a standard Konad plate:

MoYou London Kitty 14 vs. Konad

So how does it stamp? Pretty darn well:

MoYou London Kitty 14 stamping test

So what can you do with this plate?

1) Butterflies galore! Small butterflies. Big butterflies. And even one butterfly in the center that can get you that butterfly-wing effect manicure.

2) Flowers, flourishes, and foliage! Plenty of pretty elements to use in collages or by themselves.

3) Full-nail images: Some of these are a little tight and may work better for smaller nails:

4) Mirror-image-carbon-copy effect: My favorite part of this plate is the funky huge butterfly on the left--I love all of the scrollwork and flowers inside of the butterfly wings, and I love that you get a mirror-image-carbon-copy of the two halves, so you can play with two colors together opposing one another on different nails.

And just to finish off, here's a manicure I did with this plate; I showed it to you before, and you can see all the details by clicking here:

I turned this design so I could get each wing on a different nail, but if you rotated it about 90 degrees, you'd get full coverage over a single nail. :)

So there you have MoYou London Kitty 14!

Happy Stamping,
M.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Review, comparison & test: MoYou London Kitty 12 & 13

(Nothing to disclose)

Hello!

Nail-stamping lover: "Boy, I sure do love those MoYou London plates, but I'm never sure whether I should get the XL or the regular plates! And those cool butterfly plates, I'm not sure which will work to make my nails look like little butterflies!"

Me: "Nail-stamping lover, you have come to the right place! Today I'm going to compare MoYou London Kitty 12, which is a 'regular' plate, and Kitty 13, which is an XL plate, so that everyone can get the effect they want from this collection!"

First up, here's a video that compares the two and tests them out:

And here are some still shots of the plates for quick reference; first, Kitty 12, the 'regular' plate:

MoYou London Kitty Collection 12

And here's Kitty 13, the XL plate:

MoYou London Kitty Collection 13

And here's a side-by-side comparison of the images on the two plates:

MoYou London Kitty Collection 12 vs. 13

And just for fun, here are comparisons of each plate with a standard Konad plate:

MoYou London Kitty Collection 12 vs. Konad

Okay, now you've seen 'em next to each other, so let's get down to the nitty-gritty. As always, this comes down to two things, the size of your nails, and the effect you're hoping to create with the plates.

The butterfly-wing look: If you want to make each nail look like a mini butterfly wing, you are most likely going to need Kitty 12 to do that, unless you have very wide, long nails. There are several images that will work well on the plate for that effect.

Small nails: If you know you have very small nails, you'll probably want to use Kitty 12 regardless; it has more images than plate 13, so you're getting the best of both worlds there.

Long/wide nails: If you have very long nails, or very wide/curvy nails, you probably won't get full coverage with Kitty 12, and should stick with Kitty 13 (and other XL MoYou London plates).

Other full-nail effects: There are a number of images here that work for more than just butterfly effects. There are several that look like animal prints to my eyes, and one that even looks like palm fronds. All of them create interesting texture if you're completely covering the nail. If you want to go for those sorts of effects, picking a plate gets a little tougher. If you have very small nails, the kind that you have no problem covering with standard Konad plates, then go for Kitty 12, the 'regular' plate. But if your thumb or any of your other nails are hard to cover with standard Konad, go with Kitty 13. Or, if you want a more open look, go for Kitty 13, where the designs will be a little more open.

Here are two examples on the nail:

MoYou London Kitty Collection 12 vs. Kitty 13

Here I've chosen one of the more traditional butterfly shapes, the sort you'd use to create butterfly-wing effect on your nail. Kitty 12 is on the left, Kitty 13 is on the right. You can see that the smaller image on Kitty 12 creates more of an obvious butterfly wing, where Kitty 13 creates a very interesting efect, but one that's less clearly a butterfly wing.

MoYou London Kitty Collection 12 vs. Kitty 13

Here I've chosen an image to create an interesting full-nail effect that isn't necessarily a butterfly wing. This time I have Kitty 13 (XL) on the left, and Kitty 12 (regular) on the right. You can see the wider distance between the stripes, and how much bigger the circle is; this is going to give you a wider pattern on the nail, but cover longer nails with no problem.

So there you have it, Kitty 12 vs. 13! I hope this has been helpful when choosing which of these two plates is right for your needs. :)

Happy stamping!
M.