Christmas 2014: Day 5 Ice blue and white

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

For this prompt, I did something that was more wintery than Christmassy.

The

The base is Polish Me Silly Caribbean Dreams, is a light blue to darker blue thermal polish with smaller blue and silver holo glitters. I stamped on it with MoYou London Princess Plate Collection 13 XL. Doesn't it look like icy winds blowing on a desolate landscape?

The colour shift in this thermal was very subtle. But I quite liked the mix as it is. And, it wears strong too. I took this photograph on the fifth day of wearing it. Says a lot, huh?
Did you like this manicure? Don't forget to leave a comment below. Thanks :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

#TGPNPC Dupes! Match Untried with Tried: Day 42 of The Neverending Pile Challenge

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

Rolling towards the almost end of this challenge, we have a dupe match untried with tried challenge. And I present to you Zoya Veruschka (swoon!) v/s Faces Green versus Matte.

Here's a shot with the bottles included. I used Veruschka on the two middle fingers and Faces on the pointer and pinky.  After Picture Polish Kryptonite, Zoya Veruschka was one polish I had my heart set on. Unfortunately, it came out nearly 2 years before I got addicted to polish and there was no way I could lay my hands on it. Evil Bay was out of the question. So, I prayed (yes, I tend to do that for polish) and God heard (Thank you!) :) Zoya relaunched its Matte collection and I added Veruschka, a backup (as if I was ever going to finish 1 bottle), Savita (purple), and Posh (red) to my small collection of Zoya Mitzi (chartreuse green) and Harlow (magenta).

But there was a time in between that I decided to get hold of Faces Green versus Matte to satisfy my lemming. And I need to thank my dear friend Dhara from The Happi Therapy for being an enabler. She got me most of the Faces Matte range. This was before Faces launched a counter in Ahmedabad. 

As you can see, while Faces is a beautiful polish but it cannot match Veruschka's gorgeousness. Veruschka is darker than Faces. Veruschka is pretty opaque in one coat. I used two for perfection. Faces need three to four coats to be opaque. And the biggest bummer: It STAINED! Through two coats of nail polish! Now, that is something I can do without. 
I then layered both polishes with L A Girl Crowd Surfing, a sheer apple green polish with fine green glitter and green/orange flakies 
So, what did you think of this comparison? Don't forget to write your thoughts below.
Thanks :)
 
 

Pin It

#TGPNPC Pink: Day 30 of The Neverending Pile Challenge

Pin It

Hi lovelies,
Pink is a colour I am not very fond of. I consider it too girly, that's totally not me :D Yet, surprisingly my stash does include pink polishes (wonder when I bought that?!).

Colorbar Bubbly

This is Bubbly from the Colorbar Quick Finish Range. It is a hot pink creme -- a colour I would not wear on its own. I feel it is too bright for my colouring. But since the challenge is also about wearing colours never worn before, I decided to wear it as polish instead of using it as part of a gradient or stamping polish. 

Colorbar Bubbly

 Since I was still uncomfortable going absolutely pink, I layered a glitter polish on it. I got a couple of these cute jelly glitters from a neighbouring store. They do not have any names. This one is a pink jelly with white matte hexes and bars along with iridescent micro glitters. It covered the pink enough to make me comfortable wearing it for two days.

And, I conquered my fear of pink. What do you think of this manicure? Do leave a comment below.

 Check out the other participants here:
An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

#TGPNPC Ugliest: Day 28 of The Neverending Pile Challenge

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

For this prompt, I used an old Avon polish I had bought waaaay before I joined the polish lovers' world. 

This is Shimmery Peach from its Speed Dry collection. It is a nude orangey-peachy colour.

 Here's a sunlight shot. There's a slight shimmer visible in the bottle which is not visible IRL.

The polish does nothing for my colouring. The formula was streaky (could also be due to its age). I tried to salvage it by layering a glitter polish and stamping on it. But even that turned out to be a mess.What do you think?

Check out other participants here... 
An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

#TGPNPC Untried Stamping Plates: Day 22 of the Neverending Pile Challenge

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

Of all the nail art styles out there, I love stamping the best. So, it goes without saying that I own quite a few plates. And, of course, there are many that I have not used.

Stamping: XL C plate with W7 Salt N Pepper, Milani Silver FX

This one is an amba (mango/paisley) design from XL C plate. I got this and two more XL plates through Kejal from nailartandthings.blogspot.com. Thank you Kej, these plates are really good.

Stamping: XL C plate with W7 Salt N Pepper, Milani Silver FX

I used different polishes on my nails:
Pinkie: I dabbled 2 coats of Milani Silver (silver hexes in clear base) from their Jewel FX collection. Boy! I was blinded by the glaze. It shone like an armour. I have wowed to paint all my nails with it one day :)
Ring and Middle: I used a generic white
Pointer: I used W7 Salt N Pepper, a creamy white base with black matte glitter, which looks like, what else, salt and pepper of course :D 
This look caught a lot of attention. What do you think?

Check out other participants here:
An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

#TGPNC Gradient: Day 20 of the Neverending Pile Challenge

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

Here's moving on to Day 20 of the Neverending Pile Challenge. Here's what I did...

Gradient using Pretty and Polished Dresden Doll Diamond and Tears of Dionysus

Both the polishes are from Pretty and Polished's Gems 'n' Gellies collection. The green is Dresden Doll Diamond, a gorgeous deep green jelly packed with green glitters, while the purple is Tears of Dionysus, a royal purple jelly polish named after an old Greek Story about the gem Amethyst.

Gradient using Pretty and Polished Dresden Doll Diamond and Tears of Dionysus

I was hopeless in catching the beauty of this polish. I took several photographs but most of them were either blurred or colour inaccurate. The purple tricked my camera into believing it's blue (even in these pictures). ToD is a rich purple and DDD is a jewel green. I caught many people staring at my nails, and some even complimented the look.

Macro shot of Gradient using Pretty and Polished Tears of Dionysus (L) and Dresden Doll Diamond

 Like it, hate it? Don't forget to leave a comment below :)

 

Check out the other participants here:  An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

#TGPNPC Vampy: Day 13 of the Neverending Pile Challenge

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

I managed to use two unused polishes for the Vampy challenge: Violet Divine from Revlon StreetWear's Shine Divine range, and Chunky Holo Black from Kleancolor to create this look.

Violet Divine is a dark eggplant purple creme. The first coat is a little streaky, and two coats will do the trick if you apply it carefully.


Sorry for the underwater look :P. Mercury touched 45°C and my topcoat began bubbling like crazy.
Here's another shot of the creme.

Then, I layered Chunky Holo Black over it. Though named so, there is nothing black or holo about this polish. It actually has a murky brown base with large and medium green-orange duochrome glitters. 

The Kleancolor covered the eggplant base completely! I just could not stop looking at my nails. Just check out the duochrome in this picture.

Though it contains chunky glitter, I just needed one coat of Seche Vite to make it smooth. I was captivated by this look despite all the polish trouble I had due to the crazy hot weather here.

Check out the other participants here:
  An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

#TGPNPC Least Expensive: Day 11 of the Neverending Pile Challenge

Pin It

Hi fellow lacqueraders,

I was spoilt for choice for this challenge. And decided to use up four insanely cheap polishes to get them out of my way. 

Etude 114 (jade green creme), Etude 137 (metallic purple), Insight 231 Bold Blue (dark blue creme), Insight 254 Dream star (shimmery gold-green).

  These are Etude 114 (jade green creme), Etude 137 (metallic purple), Insight 231 Bold Blue (dark blue creme), Insight 254 Dream Star (shimmery gold-green). I got the Etudes and shimmery green Insight for Rs 25 ($0.41). I bought Insight Bold Blue for Rs 35 ($0.58). I think they might contain 7 ml polish. I don't know which polish can be cheaper than this! 

Etude 114 (jade green creme), Etude 137 (metallic purple), Insight 231 Bold Blue (dark blue creme), Insight 254 Dream star (shimmery gold-green).

I put down a base coat of the green creme, and swiped a stripe of the shimmery green in the middle of each finger. I put down a strip of blue on each side of the shimmery green. And then, striped the metallic purple on each side of the blue.
While it sounds complicated, the polishes dried fast and I was done with the manicure in 2 minutes. All I needed was a nail art brush. I used one from a nail art pen. 

Etude 114 (jade green creme), Etude 137 (metallic purple), Insight 231 Bold Blue (dark blue creme), Insight 254 Dream star (shimmery gold-green).

 This is the first time I used stripes in a manicure. I found this to be quite an interesting look. What about you? Leave a comment below.
Check out the other participants here...

An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

#TGPNPC Boutique: Day 8 of Neverending Polish Challenge

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

For Day  8 of the Neverending Pile Challenge, I bring to you a simple but mindblowing polish to you. Presenting, Cirque Vectors from their Alchemy Collection.

Cirque Vectors layered over Faces Matte Silver Delight

This is my first Cirque polish. Vectors is a glitter topper packed with multi-shaped and sized black glitters floating in a clear base dotted with micro holographic glitter. You can see squares, hexes, circles, stars, bars, diamonds in this manicure. You can also the holographic sparkle on my pinky finger.

Faces Matte: Silver Delight

I managed to use another untried: Faces Matte Silver Delight. I love matte polishes for their quick drying properties. It is a boon when you are in a hurry or hardpressed for time to complete challenges ;)
This is a silvery greyish matte polish. The shimmer in it stop its from looking like cement. It is a beautiful work-appropriate polish, suitable for dark skin. The formula was great. This is just one coat of the polish. Amazing, isn't it?!

Cirque Vectors layered over Faces Matte Silver Delight

I dabbed a single coat of Vectors  over Silver Delight. I used two coats of non-thick Seche Vite to make it smooth. This glitter topper looks gorgeous on bright colours, too. I lent this to a friend who used it over a chartreuse green polish and it looked awesome!
I loved this combination, and plan to use it on a bright colour soon. Any suggestions? Don't forget to leave a comment below.

Check out the other participants here.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

#TGPNPC Indie: Day 6 of Nevending Pile Challenge

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

For day 6 of Neverending Pile Challenge, I present one of my two most favourite indie shops. I love polishes from K B Shimmer and Different Dimension. While you have seen a lot of DDs on my blog, KBS is still a hidden gem. So rectifying the issue, I bring to you the aptly named  I Got A Crush On Blue by KBS.

NPC Indie: KBS I Got a Crush on Blue

This is how the website describes the polish: A royal blue jelly, this polish was born to add sparkle and shine to your nails. Holographic glitters ranging from micro to extra large in size capture the light  to reflect a rainbow of colours. When applied in three thin layers, the  glitters seem to float in a sea of blue jelly, something that camera has a hard time capturing. This polish also looks stunning when layered over black or navy  blue.

K B Shimmer I Got a Crush on Blue

I layered it over Colorbar Pro Phantom, a deep, dark, shimmery blue. I swear, I tried, and tried, and tried, and tried but I just could not capture the glory of this gorgeous KBS polish.

I wish I could have captured its holo-iness. As with most glitter polishes, I kept the bottle upside down to get to the large hexes. The polish was a bit thick as is usually the case with glitter bases. But application was trouble-free.

Check out the other participants at:

An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

#TGPNPC Glitter: Day 1 The Neverending Pile Challenge

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

Like every polish lover, I have my share of untrieds. I felt guilty looking at them, till my good friend Dhara from The Happi Therapy told me about the Neverending Pile Challenge by Missy of Gnarly Gnails.
If you're interested in joining, it's running through a group on Facebook called the Glittah Pirates. The point is to use the polishes you bought with love, passion and hardearned cash, but never got around to wearing them. I have way too many of them gathering dust, so here goes....

OPI The Living Daylights Matte

The glitter is OPI The Living Daylights from the 2012 Skyfall collection. I mattified it with OPI Matte Top Coat. Here's the glossy version.

OPI The Living Daylights Glossy

The Living Daylights is a glitter topper with a mix of silver, light gold, teal and copper (or is it peach) metallic hexes in a clear base. As you can see here, it can be used sparsely for gradients, or for full nail cover just as easily.
These are actually two untrieds here. The base is the very cheesy sounding Pinky Pamper, a pastel nudish pink, from the Colorbar Quick Finish range.


If you are interested in the challenge, here's what is in store:

An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

31DC2013: Day 18 Half Moon

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

I have never done a half-moon manicure before so Day 18 was a challenge. I was in no mood to remove my splendor-ous glitter manicure from the day before, so I worked out something to my satisfaction.
And here it is:

Ain't it festive? I had none of the half moon stickers that people usually use for nail art. And then I got an idea from Wackly Laki's post here. Blogger Anutka used a stamp to create a half-moon. This was better as there was more detailing compared to a simple half-moon. And ta-da!
Anutka at Wacky Laki and Melissa at the DailyNail are two bloggers who have some amazing and amusing half-moon manicures :)
So, if you liked this manicure, do leave a comment below.

Colours used:

Base: Color Club Holiday Splendor

For stamping:
Polish: China Glaze Passion (antique gold)

Plates: Mash 47 (abstract flowery circle) 

 P.S. Connect with me.

Instagram: http://instagram.com/indianlacquerade#
Bloglovin: http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/3701687/indian-lacquerade
Google+ Circle: https://plus.google.com/u/0/113117093379493032774/posts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndianLacquerad
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Indianlacquerade

Pin It

31DC2013: Day 17 Glitter

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

Day 17 is a glitterific challenge. There are very few among us nail art lovers who do not like glitter. Even those with a nude polish fetish love some bling.
My favourite glitter collection among branded polishes remains Color Club 2011 Christmas offering. And in this, my favourites are Sugarplum Fairy (here) and Holiday Splendor.

Isn't it GORGEOUS!!! It has been aptly named Holiday Splendor. This is green and holographic glitter in a squishy green jelly. I love jelly glitters!!! Frankly, this picture does not do justice to how awesome this polish is. Everyone is gaga about China Glaze Atlantis (an aqua jelly glitter), but this beats it hollow in colour and glitterness (is there such a word?).
The opacity is good for a jelly polish. This is just two coats. Since it is loaded with small and micro hex glitters, it dries slightly gritty. Nothing a top coat cannot fix though. Removal is tough like all glitter polishes. I get away by layering it on a peel-off base.
What's most wonderful about it is that it is still available online at many stores .  

Product: Holiday Splendor 

Brand: Color Club

Collection/Range:  Beyond the Mistletoe 2011
Colour: Vibrant green jelly
Finish: gritty
Qty: 17 ml
Price/Availability: $3.10 but can be bought for a discount at certain websites (Not available in India. Can be ordered through Amazon and transdesign) 

Pin It

31DC2013: Day 5 Blue

Pin It

Hi!

Day 5 of the 31 Day Challenge is blue. The night before I received a parcel from Different Dimensions. And it had just what I wanted to meet the challenge.

I had an early morning movie date and in my hurry, I managed to damage my manicure as you can clearly see here. Nevertheless, I fell in love with the polish. Who can resist circle glitters after all! 
The polish on my pinky and pointer is Deborah Milano Sense Tech 10, a beautiful shimmery matte blue. Since I didn't want to topcoat it, I couldn't smooth out the damage.
The polish on the remaining fingers is Different Dimension Never Grow Up. This is a white crelly base filled with blue shimmer and several sizes of blue and silver circle, square, and hex glitters -- some of them holographic. Since the crelly was bluish white, I layered it over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, a white tinged with grey.
Did you like this take on blue? Do drop a line :)

Polishes used:
Ring and middle: Never Grow Up by Different Dimension
Pinky and pointer: China Glaze Winter Holly

P.S. Don't forget to connect with me on Instagram.
Catch me at http://instagram.com/indianlacquerade#

Pin It

31DC2013: Day 3 Yellow

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

I have got my internet for a while, so I am grabbing this chance to upload as many pictures of the challenge as possible. To ease my life, and put less load on my Internet, I am reposting my pictures from Instagram, so please bear with me.
Day 3 was yellow, a colour I sport very reluctantly. But I really really loved what I ended up with. Want a look? Here...

Isn't it gorgeous? The base is a pastel yellow which I have layered with Lush Lacquer Freckles -- small neon matte glitters in orange, purple, hot pink, green and blue. I could be missing a couple of colours here. 
I am glad I layered this polish over a pastel instead of white. It was a beauty alright!
Once the challenge is over, I promise to swatch and review all the glitters and indie polishes I will be showing along the way :)
Would you like that?

Polishes used:
Base: VoV pastel yellow
Glitter: Lush Lacquer Freckles


P.S. Don't forget to connect with me on Instagram.
Catch me at http://instagram.com/indianlacquerade#

Pin It

Diamonds are a girl's best friends

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

This post is for the second part of the Girly Girl Challenge that a Facebook group had thrown up. The challenge is called 'Gimme That Bling'. 

For this, I have gone back to my favourite combination of blue and green. This is Deborah Milano no 03 which is a flat, matte navy blue polish. I layered with NFU-Oh 52, a blue jelly jampacked with green flakies. 

I applied LA Colors Sparkling Diamonds, a mix of micro and medium hex glitters, on the tips to bling it up. 

The lighting is dim in this one, but I had to show you how gorgeous it looked even in the dark! Do you like it? Don't forget to leave a comment. 

Pin It

My favourite pink

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

I have entered a new challenge, the Girly Girl Challenge, thrown up by a member of the Indian Lacquer Lovers group on Facebook. And I have taken this up as a joke because anyone who knows me personally would never ever EVER associate the word 'girly' with me. I think I'd take it as an insult, too. But my love for polish has made me very tolerant... sigh. So, here goes...

What's this you ask? The first challenge is to 'Think Pink' and wear my favourite pink polish with nail art. And this is my favourite. Inglot 517, a gorgeous creamy matte pink. 
Isn't it the most elegant colour you've ever seen?!
As much as I use glitter, I have to say I love mattes. Maybe because it satisfies the impatient me. Mattes are polish-and-go polishes. They dry as soon as you apply and there... you're done. Thankfully, this one did not dry as fast as the Zoya, which meant I could apply it more carefully and avoid lumpy streaks.

You would think that glitters and nail art would catch people's eye. But you have no idea the amazing number of compliments I got for sporting this colour! This is such a work-appropriate choice for places that frown on loud nail colours. 
This is two coats. One coat is a bit streaky.
This looks lovely even with topcoat. But since I love the matte look, I kept it as it is.  Which means chipping, a problem with most mattes. 

Sorry for that picture... Just had to put it up to show how I made this manicure last for 10 days.

Yep. Glitter to the rescue. This one is Blonde Bombshell from China Glaze 3D collection. The uneven application is because I thought I could just paint the gradient on than sponge it over. Never again. 
But I love this combination. Do you? Don't forget to leave a comment and do check out the other participants. 

Pin It

Rainbows on my tips

Pin It

Hi!

Today, I have the most awesome polish to share with you. It's called Orly Sunglasses at Night and here's the reason why!

It looks as if the rainbows have settled on my fingernails. Sunglasses at Night is holographic bar glitter in a very sheer navy blue base. I used three coats here. These bar glitters are not thick and in your face. They are quite thin, like strings.

  It didn't seem as I if would get it opaque even with four coats of the polish, so I layered it over Colorbar Pro Phantom, a deep dark shimmering blue.  

 Interestingly, the polish also contains micro black matte glitter as you can see in this photograph. It is slightly gritty but not irritatingly so. The glitter is holographic, not in your face. But, oh lord, is it MESMERISING!

I just could not take my eyes off the magic going on, on my fingertips. The photographs has just not been able to do justice to the beauty of this polish. So, I decided to make a video. My first amateurish attempt, so please excuse the flaws and just check out the polish :)

I need to try it on another colour base to see if it has more potential. But I do love, love, love the way it already is. What about you? Don't forget to leave a comment. And please do check out other nail art fanatics from the Indian Lacquer Lovers group on Facebook.

Product: Sunglasses at Night

Brand: Orly

Collection/Range:  Glam FX  

Colour: Navy blue jelly with holo bar and micro black matte glitters  

Finish: gritty   

Qty: 18 ml    

Price/Availability: $4.25. Available on transdesign.com and other US online nail supply stores

Pin It

Enchanted nails

Pin It

Hi lovelies,

I apologise for being AWOL. If you've been following my blog, you will know about my finicky internet connection. I decided to take another recourse so I would not lose you guys. I am blogging from another computer.
My blogger friend Dimpal Rathore from Crazy Polishes started a new Facebook group called Indian Lacquer Lovers. The nail art posted by some members are so ah-mazing, you have to see it to believe it. To cut a long story short, Dimpal came up with the idea of having a regular Friday feature for ILL. So, here goes...

Isn't this a beauty? Green jelly gorgeousness. 

And squishy holo-ey gorgeousness. 

If you haven't guessed till now, this beauty is NYX Enchanted Forest twice layered over Revlon Forest Green. 

 Enchanted Forest has tiny, medium and large holographic glitters in a thick, light green jelly base. Application was easy though you might have to fish out the large glitters. The thick base ensures that the glitters look suspended instead of sitting flat on your nails. 
The Revlon Forest Green is a green forest green creme. It dries darker than the shade in the bottle. It is not a one coater. Two thick coats should do the trick. WARNING: It stains like a biatch. I loved this combination but the Revlon stained my nails YELLOW through two coats of peel-off polish! UGHH!
Oh, btw, if you are looking to buy the NYX, there are two versions out there with this same name. Be sure you are getting the chunky glitter and not the fine glitter polish. 

Product: Enchanted Forest
Brand: NYX Girls

Collection/Range:  Regular
Colour: Large, medium, tiny green holo glitters in light green base
Finish: Jelly, smooth
Qty: 12 ml
Price/Availability: $2.25 (Rs 125 approx). It is not available in India. Can be ordered through beautyjoint.com and cherryculture.com

Product: Forest Green
Brand: Revlon

Collection/Range:  Regular
Colour: Dark forest green 
Finish: creme, smooth
Qty: 12 ml
Price/Availability: Rs 140. Easily available at any store selling Revlon or shop online. 

Pin It