Glam (Polish) Snowflakes

Here’s another one for the pretty ‘n’ glittery mani files, this time a semi-successful pastel snowflake design atop a holographic gradient using a Glam Polish lacquer that always reminds me of round, glittery Christmas ornaments.  Actually, save the base polish (lakur’s beautiful purple-grey Opal) and the bright turquoise creme on my index and pinkie fingers (A England’s Whispering Waves) I used three Glam Polish colours here, glittery, ornament-y You’re Entirely BONKERS, dusky pink Hey Mama and sea foam Ladies Choice.

I’m not sure how successful I was with the design on my two middle fingers – it looks more like coral or some sort of hanging flower than a snowflake.  I suppose that’s a function of the colours I chose here – there really aren’t that many pink and blue snowflakes out there.  And if there are…well, that probably can’t be good. 😉

Little Bones

Bitty little femurs in Glam Polish lacquers named after a couple of goth girls who surely know their bones, purple Lydia (Deetz, of Beetlejuice fame) and blue Wednesday (Addams, of the Addams Family.)

Flashy ‘n’ Foggy

Today started off Indian Summer foggy and ended Victorian London bleak.  That’s what happens when the temperature plummets 30 degrees in the span of a few hours and you live on the edge of a river.  Or at least I swear there’s usually a river back there somewhere. 😉

After staring into the mist (just not, you know, THE Mist) for hours on end, I thought I’d perk myself up with an ultra flashy manicure, but even this lacquer, Glam Polish’s The Best Futterwacken in All of Witzend (just rolls off the tongue, don’t it?) proved to be no match for all the glum.  Shame, because this polish is essentially a Rockette costume ground up and stuffed into a bottle.  That sounded more attractive in my head.

Here’s hoping those grey skies are gonna clear up in time for the weekend; it would be nice to actually get out and enjoy the leaves while they’re at their autumn peak.  Definitely not foggy on that.

Pretty Glittery

Yes to both!  Because sometimes between nail art seasons – here the just-passed Valentine’s Day and the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day – you need a bit of a glittery palette cleanser, here Essie’s glittery pink topcoat, A Cut Above, over Glam Polish’s Second Star to the Right, a shimmery blue, and Ladies Choice, a pale aqua blue.

Tough and Tender

For those days when you want your pretty, glittery nails to sport their very own brass knuckles.  Except on your nails instead of your fingers and silver-plated, here a couple of favourite spiky nail charms from Daily Charme atop Glam Polish’s Six Impossible Things.

Laces Out

I was initially going to call these Ren Faire nails, but there’s really not enough boobs on display.  Gotta have the heaving cleave!  Also brocade, gold filigreed ribbon and enough velvet to choke a team of department store Santas.  But mainly laced-up boobs, and seeing as I don’t really go in for the joke store approach to nail art, it became laces atop a velvety sort of gradient (Glam Polish’s purple Lydia edged with a tiny little bit of night blue Second Star To The Right) instead.  Huzzah!

Viva Las Vegas

Saving the best for last, here is the fourth lacquer I recently purchased from Glam Polish, Viva Las Vegas.  The other three polishes I’ve featured from Aussie indie Glam Polish have all been from an Alice in Wonderland-themed collection, whereas this stunning metallic glitter comes from their springtime The King Collection, a lacquered nod to all things Vegas and its patron musical saint, Elvis Presley.

Viva Las Vegas is beyond gorgeous, with a gaudy mix of iridescent glitter nestled in a champagne-hued micro-glitter base.  It’s Vegas in a bottle, all slot machines and stainy, rum-based drinks, white leather jumpsuits and golden pyramids, poker chips and all-you-can-eat buffets (of which there had better damned well be some fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches on offer for the King.)

Here we have three light coats of Viva Las Vegas.  These micro-glitter polishes tend to dry down with a bit of texture; use a layer of topcoat like I did if you’d prefer to smooth things out (which I always do, because high gloss topcoats pull out all sorts of fun colours and hidden dimension.)  I purchased my Glam Polishes, including Viva Las Vegas, from indie stocklist Harlow & Co., because I also always do.  Ka-ching, I’m all shook up!

You’re Entirely BONKERS

Kicking off the week with another everything-and-the-kitchen-sink lacquer from Glam Polish, this time the super sweet You’re Entirely BONKERS from their It’s Only a Dream, Alice Collection.

Like Six Impossible Things, a polish I took a closer look at last week, You’re Entirely BONKERS (emphasis on the “bonkers,” gotcha) is a silvery-blue holo stuffed with iridescent mirco-glitter, tiny chromatic flakies and a smattering of razor thin glass glitter. Six Impossible Things’ pale pink glitter gives that polish a delicate, sort of romantic look, but You’re Entirely BONKERS positively dazzles with a disco’s worth of purple, blue and green glass glitter that actually looks like ALL the colours of the rainbow when it’s out in the sun doing its sweet thang.

Speaking of, also like Six Impossible Things, You’re Entirely BONKERS was just a total jerk to try and photograph, both in and out of the sun, but particularly in the shade where its iciness registers as out-of-focus.  Another pretty polish that presents so much better in real life than in photographs, but gorgeous all the same.

Party in a Bottle!

That’s what I’m going to call this polish, another sparkly pick from Glam Polish’s Alice in Wonderland-themed It’s Only a Dream, Alice Collection, because its actual name, The Best Futterwacken in all of Witzend, is an unwieldy nightmare and I have no idea what it means.  Neither does Google.  Probably something inane that ninny Mad Hatter cooked up. So Party in a Bottle it is!

Like the polish I featured yesterday, Six Impossible Things, Party in a Bottle is a stunning mix of micro-glitter, matte glitter and tiny chromatic flakies in a rich holographic base. Unlike Six Impossible things, though, which I actually think looks sweet and delicate – like sparkly spun sugar – Witzend (sorry) is a super vibrant holo glitter bomb, packed to the decorated rafters with a rainbow’s worth of dazzling holographic micro-glitter for a fun, speckled, confetti cannon-type of look.

Like its collection mate, Party in a Bottle applies smoothly and evenly in just a couple of coats and removes like a dream if you don’t mind peeling off your polish.  And before anyone gives me grief for destroying my nails, I find that scraping away at my glitter-crusted nails with an acetone-soaked cotton ball actually does more damage to the surface of my nails than simply peeling it off, but whatever works for you.  All the same, this polish really is the Best Futterwacken Party in a Bottle I’ve ever seen. 😉

Six Impossible Things

Astute readers may have noticed that I have been way off the swatching pace lately. Truth is, my polish purchase power is at an all-time low, as there are very few polishes that have caught my eye this year.  I think that’s just what happens when you already own a tremendous load of lacquers, to say nothing of my “only one of a type” stance regarding my personal collection – I just don’t need (nor do I have room to store) five variations on a pastel green creme.

Then Glam Polish, a favourite Aussie indie, released an absolutely gorgeous and unique collection of glitter-stuffed, micro glitter-packed, holo-infused polishes, and I caved HARD.  Like, four polishes at one time hard – had to hold myself back from snapping up all nine lacquers in the Alice in Wonderland-themed collection, actually.

This pretty pink pick right here is Six Impossible Things from Glam Polish’s recently released It’s Only a Dream, Alice Collection.  Regrettably, one of the Impossible Things would seem to be the ability to take a decent photo of this stunning polish; like all of the truly gorgeous ones, it’s a bit of a wallflower and does not take kindly to having its picture taken.

But in real life, heavens, Six Impossible Things is spectacular!  Fun, sparkly and ever-changing as you move your hands about, this gorgeous glitter polish flashes an icy, rosy pink from the smattering of pink chromatic flakies suspended in its holographic base. A sprinkling of iridescent micro-glitter provides a beautiful hit of colour-shifting fun, while the pale pink glass glitter adds just the right amount of delicate visual interest.  I think Six Impossible Things would actually be pretty great as a manicure/pedicure polish for brides and/or their attendants – it’s that highly covetable “flashy without the tacky” dichotomy blown all to smithereens. Formula-wise, Six Impossible Things applied nicely in three even coats, although it does dry ever so slightly textured, so you’ll want to top this one with a high shine topcoat.

Glam Polish does ship internationally, but with the ever-looming threat of a Canada Post strike at hand, they’ve suspended shipments to Canadian customers until the successful resolution of the situation (BAHAHAHAHAHAHA.)  I purchased my polishes through Harlow & Co., an international stocklist run right out of my home province of Ontario. Harlow has done well by me over the years, and vice versa – I’ve never had anything but great experiences dealing with them, and that includes navigating the recent “Will they/Won’t they?” lockout (my polishes were sent via Canada Post; they haven’t declared their intention to strike just yet, although Harlow has alternate shipping arrangements in place should the strike actually go down.  That’s just a fabulous bit of customer service right there, no?  One of the many reasons I love Harlow, and the awesome products they stock.)