Llarowe Haul

I've still been painting my nails but they've been in a bit of a state due to breaks.  I'm pretty sure that changing my polish as often as I had been was making them weaker so I'm trying to cut down on the number of changes; every other day AT THE MOST.

I've had some trouble with my camera battery charger so I haven't got a good archive of my progress other than a few pictures on my phone which are better than nothing.  Anyhoo...

I placed an order with with http://www.llarowe.com/ on December 21st which arrived early this morning.  I ordered one stamping plate and nine bottles of polish in total.  I could have ordered more but I like to spend no more than about $100 if I'm using an international website that I haven't used before, fretting till the day of delivery.  A few quick pics of the polish below.

First off is the Esmaletes da Kelly in Elenice, Ines and Fabiana.  These bottles are teeny tiny at 8ml but feel so nice in my hand that I fell in love with them.  I haven't tried any either to wear or on swatch sticks (still in the post) but they're so cute they can't fail to impress right?  Right???

Next up is the Arcane Lacquer in Funhouse and Modern Trimmings.  I fell in love with Modern Trimmings when I saw it being reviewed by Lab Muffin and it's probably a big part of the reason for me using Llarowe in the first place since it was the only website I could find that had it in stock and shipped to the UK.

And finally the rest which are CrowsToes Shoot The Butterfly, piCture pOlish Moody Blues, Ruby Wing Electric Firefly (ordered for novelty value) and Color Club Sugar Rays.

I'm pretty excited about getting to finally try these out and I'll definitely be happy using Llarowe again.  The shipping took a little while (3 weeks) however I was expecting that and my items were very well packaged so no complaints.

And now to catch up with the posts on bloglovin' which I've not had a chance to keep up with during the last week or so.  Nearly 500 posts is a little daunting.

December Haul Reloaded

This was the other delivery I received earlier in the month...

It's getting out of hand.

Beginner's Brocade

I first remember seeing brocade nails in this post by Amanda N and I fell in love.  I ordered both the Essie Sable Collar and now the Color Club Sugar Rays just so I could try a similar look.  While I wait for the Sugar Rays to arrive I decided to search out some brocade images when I came across the wrapping paper below.

I suppose it's a bit garish but I liked it so I thought why not?  This is my stab at it...

I started with a base of Revlon Cupid which was not the easiest to apply for me.  It did that weird thing where first coat is easy and subsequent coats are a pain.  Perhaps I don't allow enough drying time between coats?  Anyhoo, on top of that I used clingfilm to add the darker Barry M Shocking Pink which I think looked really nice with the paler pink of the Cupid.  Finally I stamped on a pattern form the Cheeky Jumbo Plate 8 Princess Charming using L'Oreal Sublime Platine.  I think the L'Oreal worked really well for stamping but wasn't so fond of the clean-up  around the edges of my nail because I couldn't seem to get rid of the shimmer of silver 100%, though  it seems okay now.

It's still a little full on for all my nails but I'm not taking it off because I really REALLY like it so those whose eyes find it hard to deal with will have to look away :D

December Haul

If a company or individual goes to all the trouble of making a polish then I feel it's my right - nay, my duty - to buy that polish.  Since I'm not one to shirk my responsibilities, this keeps happening...

I was so excited when these dropped through the door. I ordered them from a Canadian website and wasn't expecting them to arrive too quickly.  The first four, all by KBShimmer, are Clown Puke, Candy Cane Crush, Watercolor and Sand In My Stocking.

The next four are Jindie Nails Taste Like Snozberries, Happy Hands Tropical Storm, Cirque Electric Circus and Cirque Kaleidoscope.

And with that I leave to make some swatch sticks for these.  I've actually used the Candy Cane Crush already as you can see but really I don't like the way this came out.  I first tried using the pinks on their own but the pales ones seemed to need so many coats in was unreal.  I tried using a coat of white first and that was quite a bit better but I think maybe I picked the wrong combination of colours.

Shhh... More polish arrived today.

Seasonal Colours

This was what I had on before my Santa and Elves. They look battered but this was after a day or two of getting my hands bashed about at work so I'm not overly concerned although I'll try to be better about my application and clean up in future.  That may or may not be a lie.

The white is Zoya Purity which I found to be a little bit weird.  The first coat goes on thin and streaky which I'm learning is the nature of white polish but the second coat is hard to apply thinly.  I'll try again as it might be my technique but it definitely felt like something weird was going on.

The green is Zoya Holly.  When I first saw it in the bottle after delivery (I mostly order online) I was a little disappointed but something happens when you put it on and I'm glad I used it because it's lovely.

The red is Butter London Knees Up and the gold is 2Mad Striperz Gold Shimmer.

Santa-ish Nails

You know I was really excited about these nails and wore them with pride today but now I see a close-up picture I'm not so sure. Bah humbug to the harsh magnification and startlingly accurate view through a lens.

I used Zoya Logan for the elves suits, China Glaze Ruby Pumps for the santa suit, China Glaze Liquid Leather for the belts, OPI Solitaire for santa suit trim and 2Mad Striperz* Gold Shimmer for the buckles.

I'm slowly coming to the realisation that I may be forced to cut my nails down to get them all the same shape and length but I'm finding it so difficult to do.


*The use of the letter z here makes me want to "have a word"

Sticks A Plenty

I've just about completed swatching all the polish I've amassed in the last few months.  I plan to top coat the little buggers but I've been having too much fun playing with them so far.  I haven't quite decided if I should add a coat to some to reach opacity or leave them all at two coats of polish as they currently are, excluding glitters which I've left at one.  This is a quick post complete with shoddy photo as I'm off to get ready for work.  Toodlepip!