506

After living with China Glaze Liquid Leather, a black creme, for a couple of unsatisfying hours I thought I'd play around with a special effect topcoat to see if that improved anything.

I've got a few Ozotic topcoats that I picked up on sale and have never tried.  They look gorgeous in the bottle and their website recommends to layer them over a dark base coat so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try one of them.  I'm glad I did!  I loved the final look and wore it all week.

This is one coat of OPI Matte Nail Envy, two coats of China Glaze Liquid Leather, and one coat of Ozotic 506.  I didn't use a clear top coat over the top.

Liquid Leather

The nails are getting so long that I decided to square them off and go with a really dark colour.  And what could be darker than black?

This is one coat OPI Matte Nail Envy followed by two coats China Glaze Liquid Leather.  I found it uninspiring so I didn't waste any topcoat on it.

Khaleesi

I'll admit it.  I bought this polish because of the name.  Well, that, and how interesting it looked on the website.  It's a silvery white mesh with a gold shimmer, both in the bottle and on the suppliers website.

On the nail, however, it becomes a hideously streaky, bubbly mess with no visible gold shimmer but an extremely visible nail line.  It looks like one of those frosted nail polishes from the 80s.  I hated it.

This is one coat of OPI Matte Nail Envy, two coats of OPI Ridge Filler, two coats of Hello Darling Khaleesi, and one coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat.

I wore it for 24 hours to see if it would grow on me because I really wanted to like it, but I just found it more objectionable every time I looked at my nails!  To hide the bubbling and add interest I threw on two coats of China Glaze Snow Globe and finished with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Anti-Chip Top Coat.  Tacky as hell, but at least the bubbles and streaks are hidden!

Henley Regatta

I got this Butter London polish about 6 months ago but didn't want to waste such a glorious colour on my stumpy stumps.  But now that my nails are finally starting to gain some strength and length I decided to take it for a spin.  Totally the right decision!

The last time I used a Butter London glitter I loved it in the bottle but thought it was a little thin on the nail so, after the usual base coat of OPI Matte Nail Envy, I used two coats of a similar coloured cream MUD Paradise Valley to give it a bit of depth.  This is two coats of Butter London Henley Regatta, topped with two coats of Revlon Quick Dry Topcoat.

There is both blue and green micro glitter in this blue base and the shimmer is just gorgeous.  I adored this mani and its sexy eye-catching glitz.

Royal Rajah Ruby

I love love love OPI Royal Rajah Ruby!  The formula is smooth and easy to work with, the coverage is great, and that colour is a vampy delight.  It's a very dark red with a red shimmer that catches the light beautifully but never veers into glittery or cheap.

This is two coats of Royal Rajah Ruby over one coat of OPI Matte Nail Envy and topped with one coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat.

Posh Pink

Revlon Posh Pink looks like it should come in the same box as a Barbie doll.  Definitely not my colour!  But since the whole mani was already as girly as girly can be I dumped some Nyx Pink Glitter on the accent nail.

Two coats of colour over one coat of OPI Matte Nail Envy, two coats of glitter on the ring fingers, and the whole shebang topped with one coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat.

Glitter Blue

BYS Glitter Blue is amazing!  It's cheap as balls, it's a pretty baby blue with the perfect amount of silver micro glitter, it's a suede finish, and it changes colour depending on the temperature!  

I bought it because it was a colour changer but that turned out to be the least interesting thing about it.  I was hoping that the nail tips, being cooler, would be a different colour and give me a no fuss gradient effect but, as you can see, the whole nail stayed "hot".  I eventually ran them under cold water to see the colour change and was disappointed that they only darkened by a shade or two.

The polish is quite sheer so I used four coats and you can still see the nail line, although this doesn't bother me as much as some.  The suede finish is lovely and the tiny silver glitter really makes the whole thing quite delicate and gorgeous.

Four coats of colour over one coat of OPI Matte Nail Envy.  No top coat.

Lotus

Zoya Lotus is a slightly muddy purple with a gold shimmer.  This is two coats of colour topped with two coats of Zoya Chloe, a gold/green flakie in a sheer pink base.

OPI Matte Nail Envy was used as a base coat, and the whole thing was topped with Seche Vite which, once again, caused noticeable shrinkage in the colour.

The daily biotin tablet and zinc tablet I've been taken combined with the Nail Envy is starting to have a noticeable difference in the amount of splitting and breakage I've been cursed with since my ill-conceived adventures in Shellac.  Huzzah!

Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks is a bright, bold magenta glitter which looks fantastic in the bottle but, sadly,  didn't live up to my expectations on the nail.  The colour itself is a knockout but the glitter coverage is not as dense as I'd like.  I used two coats and applied it in dim lighting conditions so I'll definitely try three coats next time.

The colour was applied over two coats of OPI Matte Nail Envy and finished with two coats of Revlon Quick Dry Topcoat.

All Tied Up

Essie All Tied Up is a muted brownish pink with a very subtle gold shimmer.  It's a nice, work-friendly colour which goes on smoothly with Essie's small brush.  Like a lot of Essie's polishes, this one dries a couple of shades darker than the polish in the bottle.

I've used two coats of colour over two coats of OPI Matte Nail Envy and topped the whole shebang with Revlon Quick Dry Topcoat.