Thursday, May 31, 2012

Ozotic 504

Today I have another Ozotic for you, but this time a multichrome. Ozotic makes some truly amazing multichromatic polishes and it is such a shame that they are being discontinued. There were a few that I was lacking since I have been slowly collecting Ozotic polishes, but when it was annouced that they were being discontinued, I had to grab the ones that have been on my lemming list for ages.

Ozotic 504 is the polish that I chose to wear today and it is truly STUNNING! The pigment in the polish shifts from blue/purple/red/orange, making it look like a truly amazing sunset on your nails. The color really benefits from being layered over a darker color, so I layered it over black so that the colors would really come out to play.

1 coat Ozotic 504 over 1 coat Finger Paints Black Expressionism (My HG black polish)


I am completely smitten with this polish! Again...if you are still in need of some of the Ozotic multichrome beauties, run (don't walk) to Llarowe or Overall Beauty and grab them while you still can!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

CrowsToes Nail Color Swatches

Hi everyone! I hope you are in the mood for some glitter today! I have been suffering from glitter overload for about a week, so I have avoided it like the plague. Last night, however, I was finally in a glitter mood again. I have recently purchased a few polishes from CrowsToes Nail Color, and they do not disappoint in the glitter department!

For my mani last night, I was excited to try out my most recent purchase from CrowsToes: Absolum - Your Potions Master. This polish was inspired by Absolum, the blue caterpillar from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. I think she hit the nail on the head with the gorgeous mix of colored glitters in this polish. There is blue, green, orange, black, and even some silver holographic glitter in there. I think the random sprinkling of black bar glitter gives it even more interest. Like most chunky glitters, application does require a little finesse, but all in all it applies nicely with fantastic coverage.

This is 1 coat of Absolum over 2 coats of Finger Paints Inkblot Blue (from their recent Neons collection). I used 1 coat of Gelous and 1 coat of CND Air Dry to smooth the glitter.



Close Up Pic

Next, I have some pictures of the other two CrowsToes polishes that I own. First up is Cheshire, the other polish that was inspired by Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, this one by the Cheshire Cat. This polish has purple, magenta, and holographic glitter in it, with the wonderful addition of larger yellow hex glitter which peeks through and reminds of me of the Cheshire Cat's eyes creeping out of the darkness.

This is 1 coat of Cheshire over 2 coats of OPI Visions of Sugarplum (a 2009 Ulta Holiday Exclusive). I used Gelous and Seche Vite as topcoats for this mani.



The last polish I have to show you is the polish that started CrowsToes' venture into the indie polish world, Murder by #s. This polish is very complex with green and holographic glitter in a gorgeous purple/green duochrome base. It is opaque on its own in two coats, so there is no need to layer it over black like with many duochromes. The duochrome in this one is difficult to photograph, but it is much more apparent in real life.

Here is 2 coats of Murder by #s with 1 coat of Seche Vite.

CrowsToes Nail Color is available here for purchase. There is currently no stock listed on the site, but she updates with new stock pretty frequently. I can't wait to see what she has in store for us next!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Layering with Clarins 230 and Cult Nails Seduction

Since I am just starting up my blog, I decided to include a few entrys here and there of some past manis that are among my favorites. I hope that you will indulge me in sharing them with you, because they just make me happy!

Here is one of my favorite manis that I have ever done. I decided after collecting nail polish for about a year that I was going to pull the trigger on one of the most coveted polishes in the nail polish community: Clarins 230. Thankfully, there have been several polishes that are good imitations of the elusive 230 in the past year or so, both by indie sellers and commercial brands (Max Factor Fantasy Fire). I do have several of these dupey polishes and they are gorgeous, but the collector in me still wanted to add the real deal to my collection. So, for my birthday this year, Clarins 230 was finally mine!

We'll take a moment to admire a few bottle shots. It truly is fantastic in the bottle. The red/green/gold color shifting pigment stands out against the sheer purple base.

I've found that it is true of most of these polishes with color shifting pigments that they really come out to play over a dark base color. For this mani, I chose to layer 230 over Nails Inc Belgrave Place, a dark blurple creme.  

Here is 1 coat of Clarins 230 over 2 coats of Nails Inc Belgrave Place



Next I decided to see if I could take this mani even further with MORE LAYERING! I recently ordered Seduction, a fabulous flakie from Cult Nails' recent Divas and Drama collection. I am a huge Cult Nails fan, so I always jump on the bandwagon when new shades are released. Their formulas are always top notch and they have some really unique polishes. This one did not disappoint.

Look at the awesomeness in the bottle! It has a purple jelly base with predominantly blue, red, and orange flakies that have some color shift to green and even yellow. The flakies here remind me somewhat of Fingerpaints Asylum, but they are larger and more dense (and, of course, are in a colored base).

I layered 1 coat of Seduction over my existing mani with 230 and Belgrave Place. Oh man...I loved this mani so much!




Cult Nails Seduction is a limited edition polish, but fortunately it is still in stock and available here. Be sure to get it while you can! You will not regret it!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Ozotic 518 over OPI Royal Rajah Ruby

If you've decided to join me, welcome! I have toyed with the idea of starting a blog for awhile, and after several requests for links to my non-existent blog, I decided to go for it!

As I'm sure a lot you have heard, the amazing Ozotic 500 series polishes from Australia are being discontinued, so I decided to order several from Leah Ann at Llarowe to round out my Ozotic collection before they are gone forever. The Ozotic linear holographic polishes are very nice to work with and do not require any special base or topcoats like some linear holographic polishes on the market, so they would be an excellent addition to your collection if you don't care to worry with finicky holos. They remind me very much of the older linear OPI DS holograpic polishes.

Ozotic 518 is a gorgeous true red linear holographic polish. It looks lovely on its own, but I decided to borrow an idea from my friend Noelie at Noelie's Nails and layer it over a deep burgundy to make it into a gorgeous, vampy holo. I am very pleased with the results.

First up we have pictures of the base color, OPI Royal Rajah Ruby.
Royal Rajah Ruby is a gorgeous burgundy shimmer from the OPI India collection. I saw swatches of this on MUA and I knew I had to get my hands on it. It screams fall to me, but I am happy to wear it anytime.
Next I layered 1 coat of Ozotic 518 over RRR. Here are a few pictures in indoor light.

Now a few pictures in the sunlight.


If you are interested in acquiring some of these beauties before they are gone, they are available from Llarowe and Overall Beauty. These e-tailers are both lovely to work with, I would highly recommend them both. They are also available from Picture Polish, but there will be international shipping charges for those of us ordering from the US.