All That Glitters

 Hello!  I feel like it's been so long since I've written a post, since I've been really enjoying my time at this ballet school but I've also been really busy and with limited internet connection!  Luckily I'm back today with some swatches of a few beautiful polishes from All That Glitters!  Enjoy!

First Is Plum & Plummer.  I have to admit, glitters in shimmer bases don't normally appeal to me, but I picked this one solely for the name.  I'm very glad I did, because this polish was a pleasant surprise!  It's a mix of gunmetal and purple hex glitters in a shimmery light purple base.  The polish was easy to apply and didn't need any underwear.  For the photos I used 3 coats of Plum & Plummer, though two would be enough if you don't mind a bit of visible nail line.

Valentine Massacre is a mix of all different shapes and sizes of red and black glitter in a dark red base.  This one was a pain to apply, and it seemed as if there was more glitter than base in it.  It was really goopy, and got quite thick on some of my nails.  I do really like the final look though, I think this would be a good polish for fall and winter.  For the pictures I layered one coat of Valentine Massacre over one coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Cherry Red. 

Last for today is without a doubt one of this indie polish maker's most popular creations, Spotty Dottie Light.  I absolutely adore this polish, it's such a quick and easy way to turn a plain manicure into something eye-catching and unique!  When I wore this I had so many people asking me how I 'did' the white, and they couldn't believe it was just glitter! ("But glitter is sparkly!?")  Application is a little finicky, but the end result is so worth it.  Here I have one coat of Spotty Dottie Light over one coat of Orly Snowcone.

All That Glitters polishes can be bought on Etsy here, and like their Facebook page to keep up to date with new polishes and restocks so you don't miss out on getting yourself some of her unique polishes! 

On a side note, I just wanted to say thank you to you all for being so understanding about my lack in posting lately.  Also, thank you for all your lovely comments, even if I don't have time to respond to them right now I read and appreciate every single one!  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review and my honest opinion. 

Guest Post: Hooked On Polish

Hello!  To entertain you in my absence I have for you today a guest post from Kat of Hooked On Polish.  Take a look at what she's put together for us!  :)

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Hi there! For those of you that don't know me, I'm Kat and I will be your substitute blogger for the day since Emma is away at some godforsaken place where they don't allow nail polish.

I wanted to do something special for my post here and decided to finally try the fishtail mani! For some reason, I just can't get a fishtail braid to work on my hair so I'm happy I got it on my nails at least :D. To achieve this I used Lucy's tutorial here and changed the color scheme. I'm pretty excited about the result! It's definitely not as time consuming as I thought or that difficult. If I could do it, I'm sure anyone can too.

For this look I used Bettina Orchidea (blue-ish color) and Ortensia (green) and Revlon Silver Dollar.

The colors are mostly accurate, though Orchidea could be a touch bluer. Then, because I can't leave well enough alone, I added glitter to the solid nails. One coat of Jordana Cosmic:

I even did an upside down shot like Emma! Lol, my fingers are definitely not as graceful and elegant as hers but it'll do for a giggle.

If you're interested in doing this look, I have a couple of tips:

• If you don't know which colors to use: it helps to use colors that came out in the same collection. They almost always go great together and complement each other well and then pick a metallic contrasting color.
• Take your time but don't freak out if you don't start off fantastic, remember that the whole stripe you do is not going to show. For example, Silver Dollar would look patchy where I ended the 'swipe' but that was not visible at all so I left it as is.
• Use opaque colors! This is important if you don't want to end up with a super thick nail. I did about 5 designs in different colors before I settled on this one. Experiment and have fun with it. 

That's about it from me! Do you prefer it with or without the glitter? Is this something you would like to try? Do you think it's absolutely barbaric that they don't allow nail polish where Emma is? Should she just use the O.P.I Ballet sheers since that's what they were made for? Am I asking too many questions?  

Have a good day! 

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It looks great, Kat!  I saw that tutorial a while ago and put it on my "to-do" list, but haven't gotten around to it yet, thanks for the tips!  


I do agree that it is barbaric that they don't allow nail polish, but I'll definitely be stealth and wear my OPI NYCB colours!  Shhh!  ;)


Thanks again for doing this great post Kat! Make sure to go check out her blog Hooked On Polish! :)

The Polish Bar: Oceanside & Shirley

 Today I've got two more polishes from The Polish Bar to show you! If you missed the first part, go check it out.


 Oceanside is my favourite of the bunch.  It's a mix of matte glitter in different shapes and sizes and shades of blue and green.  I layered one coat of Oceanside over a subtle gradient of SH Xtreme Wear Mint Sorbet and NYX Matte Teal.  The gradient was more noticeable in person, and this combination was absolutely gorgeous.  Application on this one was pretty good, but I did go back and place a few of the larger pieces afterwards to fill in the spaces.  Two coats of Seche Vite, voila!

Last is Shirley, which is a mix of pink and black glitter in a clear base.  I layered one coat of Shirley over two coats of Zoya Dove.  The application on this one was super easy just like Neon Lights and Dreams which I showed the other day.  One coat of Seche Vite.  

Bottle shots for some matte glittery goodness: 

As I mentioned in the last post, I've been told by Janice that the bottles I have were still "prototypes" and that the versions she is selling in her shop are more densely packed with glitter so you'll get more coverage.  

Both of these polishes are from her Color Play collection which is fully composed of matte glitters, so obviously I love them all!  You can get polishes from The Polish Bar on Etsy here.  I expect this brand to grow pretty quickly, so be sure to go grab yourself some of these pretties during her next restock!

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review.

The Polish Bar: Neon Lights & Dreams

 Hello! I've got four amazing indie polishes from The Polish Bar, so I'm splitting it into two posts.  I haven't seen much of this brand around yet, but the polishes are gorgeous and unique, and Janice is so lovely and talented!  Take a look!


First is Neon Lights, a mix of hot pink, white, light pink, and purple mini matte hex glitters in a clear base.  Of course I just had to layer it over a neon, but I nearly smacked myself when it came to taking pictures.  We all love taking pictures of neons, right?  Anywho, this is one coat of SH Xtreme Wear White On, followed by one coat of Orly Glowstick, and topped with one coat of Neon Lights and one coat of Seche Vite.

 Next is Dreams, a beautiful mix of light purple, white, dark purple, pink, and light grey mini matte hex glitters in a clear base.  I wanted to layer it over something that would complement all of the glitter without blending in, so I chose Orly Snowcone.  Because I chose to wear this one for a few days, I used two coats of Seche Vite to smooth it all out.  Isn't this pretty?

 And a couple bottle shots to see all the different glitters:

Neon Lights

Dreams

The application was great, absolutely no problems with the glitter spreading evenly.  I've been told by Janice that the bottles I have were still "prototypes", and that the versions she is selling in her shop are more densely packed with glitter so you'll get more coverage.

Both of these polishes are from her Color Play collection which is fully composed of matte glitters, so obviously I love them all!  You can get polishes from The Polish Bar on Etsy here.  I expect to be seeing this relatively-new indie brand around a lot more going forward, she's doing it right! :)

Keep an eye out for part two of this post, which will include my favourite polish from The Polish Bar!


Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review

Black & White Polka-Dot (& Update!)

 Next to stripes, polka-dots are probably my favourite pattern.  Especially when it comes to nail art, they're so quick and easy, but have such an impressive visual effect!

I've used my trusty one-coat black, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, and made the dots with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On using my uber-professional dotting tool: a pin stuck in the eraser-end of a pencil.  


This is what I wore when we went camping over the weekend, because it matched my bathing suit! :) I also knew that I had to have something that I wouldn't mind wearing for 3 days straight without a change.  Luckily I avoided any breakages while setting up tents and such; but unfortunately my cuticles are nasty, and in the swatch pictures I took today they look less-than-satisfactory.  Boo.  Oh well, pretty pictures for today! 

I did go to Sally's on the weekend, and ended up with quite the haul.  I even got asked if my nails were stickers (by the lady with the large leopard-print and rhinestone stick-on talons on her fingers, lol.)  They had this great deal on where if you bought two bottles of Orly, you'd get a free full-size bottle of any of the new Orly Electronica polishes!  The lady working there was really nice, and even counted my two clearance-price Orlys and allowed me to get MORE free polish!  I ended up with Orly Snowcone, Nite Owl, Glowstick (clearance), After Party (clearance), Shockwave (free), and Decoded (free), as well as my first Finger Paints, Motley (clearance).  Hooray!! :D  

As you may already know, I'm leaving this Saturday to go away to train for a month at a full-time ballet school where they don't allow us to wear nail polish.  I'll have my computer with me when I go away so I've got a couple of my own posts lined up, as well as a few great guest posts!  I've still got room for a few more, so I know this if fairly last-minute but if you'd like to do a guest post for my blog send me an e-mail at ecm.dancer@gmail.com.  As long as you can get it to me by August 4th, then it's not too late! 

This week is very busy with packing and such, so this could very well be my only post this week.  In fact, I probably shouldn't be doing this right now... If my mom knew she'd probably tell me to get off here and work on my packing list... She'll probably read this in the morning... Oops. Too late.  Anywho, shoot me an email if you'd like to guest post!  :)

Mesmerised & Whimsical

I have no idea what I did differently this time, but I just LOVE these photos; they turned out perfectly!!  

*Le drool*

Anywho, shameless self-pride aside, this is a combination I've been meaning to try for a while.  This is one coat of Essie Mesmerised followed by two coats of Revlon Whimsical and one coat of Seche Vite.  I love how the light blue jelly base of Whimsical turned Mesmerised into a color closer to Essie Coat Azure (which I own but haven't shown here before).  

Can all my pictures be this perfectly lit and drool-worthy?  Pretty please?

Seriously... just... GAH.  O_O

Quick post today because I'm leaving today to go camping for the weekend.  Luckily our family's version of camping involves sleeping in a tent at a campground that is 5 minutes away from civilization.  We spend most of our time in town though, where there just happens to be a Sally's!  I'm still looking to grab a gigantic bottle of Seche Vite.

Do you like this combination?  Is it just me or is this not one of the most beautiful things ever?? :)

Aphrodite Lacquers: Outta This World Collection

Today I've got a few more Aphrodite Lacquers to show you.  If you missed yesterday's post on the Romance Novel Collection, be sure to go check that right now; you're missing out on some stunning polishes!

The formula on these three polishes were all very similar.  They were perfectly opaque in three coats, and any nail line that may be visible in the photos wasn't visible at all in real life.  The glitter spread evenly, and it dried quickly enough so there was no worry of dragging previous coats.  All pictures are with one coat of Seche Vite.

First we've got Nebula,  a mix of silver and sky-blue glitter and microglitter in a black jelly base.  This is probably my favourite out of the three; I love the depth of all the glitter.

 Next is Asteroid, which is small silver glitter and sparse shimmer, as well as large white hexes in a black jelly base.  The white hexes weren't too hard to get, sometimes one would just come out on the brush though I'd have to place it where I wanted.  Just as a note, all of these hexes were placed on during the third coat, otherwise they'd get buried underneath the jelly and not look as nice.  One coat of Seche Vite evened out all of the glitter except for the large hexes, so if things like that bug you I'd recommend at least one coat from an old thick bottle to even it out.

Last is Galaxy,  a beautiful polish with a mix of small cobalt blue hex glitters and shimmer that shifts from blue to purple, though that was near impossible to catch in the pictures.  This was three easy coats topped with one coat of Seche Vite, which evened it all out.

Aphrodite Lacquers can be purchased on Etsy here, and like their Facebook page for updates, sneak peeks, and swatches.  

These are all very unique and interesting polishes; which one is your favourite? :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review and my honest opinion.