Man Glaze Cabron and Black Cat Lacquer Black Hole

Feast your eyes on Man Glaze Cabron: a shimmery matte in a deep blackened indigo purple shade. Very dramatic, and totally stunning. As we've come to expect, the label art is amazing. 

On a side note, whenever I pull this lacquer out I immediately start humming this song (which is a great bonus to owning this polish, now that I think about it):

Finally, I've got a few glorious snapshots of how Cabron looks with Black Cat Lacquer's Black Hole layered overtop; you might recall that I first showed this one on my blog here, but failed utterly at choosing a winning layering combination. I'd say that problem has been rectified here, wouldn't you agree?

Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily with Pirate Polish Lovandula

After my disappointment with Rescue Beauty Lounge's Piu Mosso, I'm happy to report that Aqua Lily rather makes up for it. It's a gorgeous turquoise blue with lovely purple/pink shimmer. The formula was quite dense, covering easily in two coats. I found this shade to be really flattering on me, and I'm definitely happy I was able to snag this when it was re-released last fall. 

Aqua Lily was also the perfect base for Pirate Polish's Lovandula (a lovely lavender glitter from the Valentine's Day collection); I love the contrast between the pink and lavender glitters and the vibrant turquoise of Aqua Lily.

What do you think of Rescue Beauty Lounge's Aqua Lily? Does it make a good base for Lovandula? There are still a couple bottles on sale in the Pirate Polish Etsy store, if Lovandula is catching your eye!

A-England Dorian Gray and Lush Lacquer Lite Brite

Here's a look at a combination I did back in January: A-England's Dorian Gray with Lush Lacquer's Lite Brite layered overtop. First up, here are a couple pictures of Dorian Gray by itself:

Dorian Gray is a charcoal metallic grey, opaque in two coats. It has a somewhat pearly finish, and at first I thought it might show a few frosty brushstrokes, but after drying it looked pretty smooth. Overtop I layered Lush Lacquer's Lite Brite, an extremely punchy and vibrant glitter topcoat; I can spot big magenta metallic glitters, small turquoise squares, various orange, blue, and purple glitters, along with some tiny silver speckles. Overall, it's a really fun and high impact layering glitter. Highly recommend.

As I mentioned, I originally wore this manicure earlier in the year, and at the time I happened to be visiting Banff and Lake Louise. While sight-seeing around the Chateau Lake Louise, we were lucky enough to have a look at some amazing ice sculptures that had been carved as part of an ice-scupting competition. There were so many incredible and intricate sculptures- here's a look at one (with a pretty stunning backdrop, to boot).

Enchanted Polish Starbright Sparkles and NOPI One Less Lonely Glitter

Tonight I've got two different layering combinations shown over Zoya Bela, a pale pinky-peach jelly, to share with you. The first layering combo features Enchanted Polish's Starbright Sparkles. Starbright Sparkles features a sheer silvery holographic base containing a multitude of different coloured hexagonal glitters. This polish is definitely best layered because of the sheer base, and I think the holographic nature of this would be best displayed over a darker colour- I'll definitely be trying that next time. 

The second combination I have to show you is Nicole by OPI's One Less Lonely Glitter. This one is a delicate and pretty mixture of fine metallic pale purple glitter. What you see below is one coat over Zoya Bela.

If you recall, "One Less Lonely Glitter" is from the NOPI Justin Bieber collection which came out a couple years ago. Yes, a truly gag-worthy inspiration for a nail polish collection. Almost as bad as the Kardashian collections...

...but the truth is, while this lacquer is pretty enough, the reason I picked it up was so I had a reason to post this video. I hope you get a laugh out of it! 

OPI - The Man With The Golden Gun

Tonight I've got OPI's The Man With The Golden Gun topcoat to share with you- while I couldn't justify shelling out the cash for this myself, I was pretty thrilled to find it in my stocking at Christmas. The gold flakes aren't very dense in this- what you see below is one coat over Zoya Marley. This is a pretty Easter look, but next time I think I'll try this over a darker colour (although I think I'll wait for a semi-special occasion... I can't help but think plastering gold leaf on your nails requires a special event- I guess grocery shopping doesn't quite count). 

I kind of think this is worth it based on the shiny golden bottle alone- it's like a trophy! Definitely the ideal gift for a nail fanatic. Did you buy into the gold flake topcoat trend this past season?

OPI Siberian Nights and F4 Polish Heavy Metal

Siberian Nights is another polish from the OPI Russia Collection (Fall 2007) that I adore; it's a gorgeous blackened aubergine-purple creme. 

Siberian Nights also made the perfect base for F4's Heavy Metal- an insanely glitzy mixture of reflective metallic square glitters in all different colours. This was a showstopper, but one that is definitely best with a couple layers of topcoat. Love it.

What do you think of this combo? 

OPI Suzi Says Da! + Dandy Nails Grave Robber

I'm ashamed to say that these pictures are from a manicure I wore waaaaay back at the beginning of last November. I guess they just kept getting pushed to the back of my un-posted folder. Nevertheless, you're finally seeing them tonight. Suzi Says Da! is one of the polishes I picked up from the OPI Russian collection (which I'm extremely enamoured with- it's an older collection from Fall 2007, but there are still a few polishes kicking around from it if you look hard enough). This is a deep red-toned brown creme. It reminds me a little of darker Chanel Rouge Noir. From what I recall, the formula was good, and I used two coats for these pictures. 

This one was taken under bright artificial light:

This was also a perfect base colour for Dandy Nails Grave Robber, a combination of metallic orange and steel-blue shredded glitter in a clear base. Very unique, and such a cool colour combination. I applied it as a gradient to the tips of my nails. I really love how this turned out, and it wore for ages. 

I'll also take this opportunity to show you a really cool bracelet I picked up last fall- it's a white "blood vessel" motif cuff that I really loved pairing with the vampy-ness of Suzi Says Da!. I purchased it from Nervous System's Etsy store. I highly recommend checking them out- they make some really amazing and unique items!

What do you think of my accessorizing? Have I piqued your interest in anything I've shown you today?

Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso with Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Rescue Beauty Lounge's Piu Mosso is a deep navy blue with barely-perceptable golden shimmer (easy to see in the bottle, very hard to see on the nail). I've tried my best to catch the shimmer in these photos, but in reality, it mostly looks like a deep navy blue creme. 

Directly under artificial lighting- the most shimmer I could coax out of this polish:

Piu Mosso is the very first Rescue Beauty Lounge lacquer I've ever tried- and I have to admit, it didn't quite live up to expectations. While gorgeous in the bottle, that pretty golden shimmer doesn't really translate on the nail. And it certainly didn't look anything like it does in these swatches. Formula-wise, it can't be faulted (practically a one-coater, easy to control), but it was something of a let down. Especially with the high price tag (even higher once you factor in international shipping). 

Thankfully, I have a super awesome friend who is also into lacquer, and presented me with Max Factor's fabled Fantasy Fire for my birthday back in November! Amazing, right? Even better, she gifted me TWO bottles of Fantasy Fire. It's like she could see the dilemma coming- if you've only got one small bottle, you can only use it sparingly. But with a back-up, I can awesome-ize any boring manicure I want. Case in point: Piu Mosso gets taken from "meh" to "zomg!!1".

In the sun:

In the shade:

Utterly drool-worthy. And to think, I'd never expected to get my hands on this one. Fantastic birthday present, from an amazing friend. You know who you are!