Layla Soft Touch in Mudhattan

You may recall my appreciation for the Layla Soft Touch line in my posts here and here. Well, it hasn't wavered with my latest experience with Layla's Soft Touch in Mudhattan; I'm still loving this smooth semi-matte nail finish! Mudhattan is, as you might guess, the colour of mud. More particularly, it's the dusty taupe brown of dried mud. And it's also got the coolest red micro shimmer- seriously, click the pictures to make them bigger and scope it out! 

Very cool. This manages to feel chic and edgy at the same time. I can't recall if I bought this particular bottle through Nail Polish Canada or Ninja Polish, but I can vouch for both of them being fantastic retailers!

Have you tried any of the Layla Soft Touch polishes? If not, have I piqued your interest in them?

Layla Soft Touch - Stone

Awhile ago I showed you one of the Layla Soft Touch polishes (a deep red, called Queen Bordeaux), and today I have another one to show you. This is "Stone", a gorgeous and soft greyed out pale purple that has silvery pink shimmer running through it. The Soft Touch finish is very unique- not quite a matte or a rubber type finish; this particular shade is most like the OPI suede finish polishes, but even then it's a little different. Not quite as dull, and the shimmer isn't quite as pronounced. The formula was good, and although it took awhile to dry, it wore like iron. Better than any matte-type polish I've ever tried, and in fact better than most manicures I would usually finish with topcoat. Impressive!

What do you think of Layla Soft Touch in Stone? Have you tried any of the Soft Touch polishes yet? If so, how would you describe the finish?

Layla Bubble Effect in Black Forest

Today I've got one of the Layla Bubble Effect polishes to share with you- this is Black Forest, a polish very similar to OPI's Black Spotted lacquer (which was exclusive to Europe, if I understand correctly). In terms of application, I applied this as I would a shatter topcoat: I used one medium coat, applied it quickly and evenly, and then I stopped fussing with it. The end result was this oil-on-water kind of effect. The base colour is SpaRitual Quietness. 

I also layered this over Man Glaze's Butt Taco (oh, that name...) which I think provided a more striking effect.

What do you think of Layla Bubble Effect in Black Forest? Think it would quell any lemming for the hard-to-procure OPI Black Spotted? If so, and you're wondering where you can order it, you can find it at Nail Polish Canada, which is where I ordered mine from. 

Layla Soft Touch in #07 Queen Bordeaux + Jindie Nails Candy Cane

Today I've got another festive manicure to share with you- this is Layla Queen Bordeaux with Jindie Nails Candy Cane as an accent nail. I was extremely excited to try out the new Layla Soft Touch line; it features a fairly unique finish, a combination of suede/matte/rubber finishes. It's not as stark or chalky as a straight matte, and the shimmer isn't as evident as with the OPI suede polishes. This has a lot  of depth- it's not immediately apparent in these photos, but Queen Bordeaux has a fiery red metallic shimmer in it, although it's rather subtle. I don't have anything similar to it; Man Glaze's Fatty's Got More Blood is more plum toned, and has very different shimmer. 

Overall, I'm very pleased with how this manicure turned out. I also opted to do an accent nail using Jindie Nails Candy Cane, in order to amp up the festive holiday theme. Candy Cane is a lovely white jelly/creme with different sizes and shapes of red and green glitter in it. It's quite sheer, so expect to use 3-4 coats for full opacity. The end effect is glorious- like crushed candy canes on your nails! 

I think this picture in full sun brings out the depth of Layla Queen Bordeaux the most. Isn't she beautiful?

What do you think of my festive manicure? Are you intrigued by the Layla Soft Touch line, or have you had enough of matte/suede/rubber finish polishes?

Availability: I purchased Layla Queen Bordeaux from Nail Polish Canada, and Jindie Nails from her Etsy shop.

A belated Halloween manicure!

Tonight I've got a Halloween manicure to share with you- I wish I'd posted it before now, but better late than never. And this is a good one. 

I started out with Layla Mercury Twilight, a gorgeous silver holographic. There are tonnes of silver holographics out there, but this is the only one you need. Stunning. 

Then I added a few Halloween-themed water decals to the manicure; I'd never used water decals before, and at first was kind of intimidated. But it's actually super easy! Just cut out the decals, and dunk them in mildly warm water for a minute. The backing will peel off, and you just slide it onto the nail, and manoeuvre it to where you want it. As a nail art novice, this was an easy way of accomplishing a cute mani. I was extremely pleased with the end result, and the stark black of the design contrasts wonderfully with the silver holo base. Very cool looking.

The water decals are available here, via an online retailer called KKCenterHK. The product number is "N.NAIL-WDHHK099". 

What do you think of my belated Halloween manicure? Have you tried water decals before?


*Nail decals were sent to me for unbiased review; all opinions are my own. 

Layla Black as Ebony (Mirror Effects)

Monday I posted about Layla Metal Chrome, and today I have Black as Ebony, a gunmetal grey chrome from the same collection. All I can say is...

YOWZA. Check it. 

In sunlight:

In the shade (super reflective!):

Yep, this is THE BEST chrome polish I've ever tried. Totally unique (at least I can't recall another gunmetal grey chrome polish), and it surpasses expectations when applied to the nail. Utterly gorgeous.

The formula on this was also better than on Metal Chrome; it wasn't as brushstrokey, and where Metal Chrome was a bit of a pain to apply, this was definitely easier to manage (although you'll still need to wait a tiny bit longer between coats to prevent bald spots).

If you're a chrome/metallics lover, you should probably have this one in your collection. I got mine at Harlow and Co., a Canadian nail polish retailer which carries a nice variety of hard to find polish brands. Shipping is quite reasonable (especially for Canada), and they ship very quickly. Even better, they still have Black as Ebony in stock!

What do you think of Layla Black as Ebony? Are you as crazy about it as I am?

Layla Metal Chrome (new Mirror Effect polishes!)

Today I have one of the brand new Layla Mirror Effect polishes to share with you! This one is Metal Chrome, and it is a classic silver chrome.

I was incredibly excited about this collection when I first heard about it, because I LOVE metallics and chromes and Layla has been knocking it out of the park lately when it comes to their unique polish lines (their holographics and magnetics are both great). Now that I've tried the Mirror Effect polishes, my excitement is slightly dampened, but only a little (after all, my expectations going in were extremely high). I'm not sure I'm totally prepared to grant this the title of "Best Chrome Ever", but it's definitely up there. Like most chromes, it will show up every imperfection in your nail, so be prepared to buff them a little before hand. Application is also a little challenging; wait in between coats to ensure even coverage, and be careful when applying to minimize brushstrokes. What you see here is 3 coats.

Indoors, out of direct light, this lacquer does take on a "mirror effect" appearance, which is pretty cool. In sunlight, it's less reflective, but still unabashedly chrome. I did use a topcoat for these photographs, which I suspect may have compromised some of the mirror effect, but I really wanted this manicure to last. For my next Layla Mirror Effect review (I'll be showing you Black as Ebony in my next post), I'll be sure to take picture before and after topcoating. 

I purchased my bottle of Metal Chrome via Harlow and Co., a fantastic Canadian-based nail lacquer e-tailer. I highly recommend them, and they carry a nice range of hard-to-find brands. 

Layla Magneffect Glamour Lilac / China Glaze Cling On

I'm a huge fan of the magnetic polish trend (they're far more appealing than the crackle polishes, in my opinion), and I'm a huge fan of the Layla magnetic lacquers in particular. Today I have Layla Magneffect in Glamour Lilac to share with you. Layla is an Italian brand, and they first introduced about 12 different magnetic lacquers (mostly in shades of purple, blue and gold/silver) last year. Recently I spotted another 12 or so colours that have been added to their line of Magneffect lacquers, and this time there is a greater variation in colour. I picked up two (a sparkly lilac which you'll see today, and a vibrant red to show later on), and I also saw a deep green, an orange, and several others shades.

The magnet on the Layla Magneffect polishes is on the top of the cap; while I wish it had the little ridge that Nails Inc and China Glaze have to assist with magnet placement, I still find this to work fairly smoothly (although steady hands will definitely help). I also appreciate that the Layla magnet is quite strong; I don't find I have to hold the magnet to the wet polish for more than 5-10 seconds to be sure that a good pattern will form. I struggled a bit with the China Glaze magnets for this reason, and you'll see my less than stellar attempts at working with those towards the end of this post.

For these pictures I applied two coats of Glamour Lilac, and on the second coat, after immediately applying the polish, I held the magnet on the cap close to the wet polish for several seconds. I waited a slightly longer time than usual to allow the pattern to dry before applying topcoat. The good thing is, if you don't like the pattern you've created, you can just paint over it and try again.

I really love the large shimmer particles in Glamour Lilac; the overall effect is very striking, and the shimmer actually shifts in colour from purple to gold (only visible at some angles/in some lights, but you can see it in the above photo).

The magnet in the Layla polishes creates a straight line pattern; even though there is a line drawn on the cap to show you which way the pattern will form, I do find it challenging to get all the nails exactly the same (you can see my index finger and pinky are straight, and my other two nails are more angled).

I love the process of using magnetic polish; it's like NAIL LACQUER combined with SCIENCE. And who didn't love playing with magnets in elementary school science class? It's like that, but for your nails. Awesome.

That said, when I tried the China Glaze "Magnetix" line, I was less than thrilled. I had an unexpectedly tough time using the magnet effectively. My patterns didn't show up evenly, and they weren't very crisp. Here are some pictures of my attempts at using China Glaze "Cling On":

This is what the magnet looks like close up- you can see the ridge on which you are supposed to rest at the base of your nail; unfortunately, I felt like it was too short, and often my nail would make contact with the magnet, smudging the design.

My nails were also too curved, or perhaps the magnet too weak, to create an even pattern over my whole nail. Here you can see where the star pattern doesn't reach to the end of my nails, particularly on the ring finger.

This is what the China Glaze  magnet looks like. The bonus is that it comes with three patterns, although I've found them to be a bit tricky to use compared to other magnets. I did manage to get a clear star pattern on my thumb nail, which was easier to achieve as my thumb nail is not as curved as my other fingernails.

If you're trying magnetic polishes for the first time, I'd recommend reading Scrangie's helpful post on how to successfully apply magnetic polish. It's very helpful and very thorough.

What do you think of magnetic polish? Are you as much as fan of this trend as I am? Do you have a favourite brand of magnetic lacquer?