Zoya Summer PixieDust Stripes

Hi guys! Today I just have a little look I did using the Zoya Summer PixieDusts to make some stripes!

My lines aren't exactly perfect, and I think there are nicer colour combinations, but it was worth a shot.

Here's a photo to show off the sugary texture of the PixieDusts!

I hope you enjoyed this colourful PixieDust manicure.

Zoya Summer PixieDust - Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! I'm finally home from school and back in the posting game! I'm hoping to get back in the same groove I had last summer where I posted nearly every day. To kick off the posting season I've got a much anticipated collection to show you - the second round of Zoya PixieDusts! These were released in April and they are absolutely gorgeous. I'm so sorry about the delay in posting these swatches but the first set of these that was sent to me arrived shattered.

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The first colour that I have to show you is Zoya Stevie, a lovely lilac colour. I had no problems with the formula on Stevie and after two coats she was opaque, though some people may prefer to use three. The shimmer in Stevie is very silver.

Stevie doesn't look that great in the bottle, but once applied she looks sugary sweet!

I'm so happy to be home and be able to swatch in the sun and in the shade again, woohoo!

This is Zoya Miranda and she's a gorgeous magenta coloured textured polish. I actually did have problems with the formula on Miranda, this polish was goopy and she took much longer to dry than any other colour from the collection.

Formula problems aside, I love the pigmentation of Miranda. I really would have liked to see a hot pink PixieDust.

Zoya Beatrix is an amazing bright orange PixieDust with gold shimmer instead of the silver that we've seen so far. I think Beatrix is perfect for the summer, and that's coming from someone who is not a fan of orange polish. 

Maybe I'm crazy, but I think the PixieDusts with gold shimmer are much more sparkly than those with silver.

Just look at that texture! Beatrix is perfect, definitely one of the must-haves from the collection.

Please say hello to Zoya Destiny, a coral polish with gold shimmer that did not want to cooperate for the camera. Destiny is my favourite polish of this collection. I think. Actually, I can't decide, but believe me when I say that this is a very unique colour.

Zoya Destiny was opaque after only two coats and the formula on her was quite nice. I am in love with the gold shimmer that gives this colour so much depth.

Zoya Solange...wow, wow, wow. I thought a gold PixieDust would be weird, kind of ugly, nothing special, and boy was I ever wrong. Maybe Solange is my favourite of the collection. Maybe all the colours are so nice that I can't decide. Who knows. This is by far the most sparkly PixieDust polish I have ever applied.

Yellow golds aren't always that flattering on me, but if I manage a nice tan this summer you can bet that Solange will be the perfect complement to my bronzed skin!

Last in the collection is Zoya Liberty, a very bright blue PixieDust polish. I think that Liberty is going to be a fan favourite, but I can't say I'm that crazy about it. I had no problems with the formula on Liberty, but I just am not in love with the colour.

Does Zoya Liberty do it for you? I wish it was a bit lighter and maybe a big more teal coloured, I think that would have gone nicely with the collection.

Which was your favourite from this collection? Have you picked any of these up already, or are you planning on it? My recommendations would be Beatrix, Solange, and Destiny!

Candeo Joker Jelly Sandwich

Hi guys! Today I have another queued post for you - guess what I'm doing while you're reading this? That's right, I should have just finished my last final exam for the semester and I'm probably frantically packing and rushing to the airport to catch my flight across Canada. Today I have a fun look that I did using one of my favourite indie polishes that I've purchased and a technique I really like using for glitter polishes: the jelly sandwich!

I started out with OPI Do You Lilac It? and two coats of Candeo Joker. To finish off the look I layered one coat of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu!

Look at all that glitter trapped in there. This reminds me of gems trapped under some ice.

I love the way the sun caught the glitters in this picture.

What are some of your favourite combinations for a jelly sandwich?

Gradient + Lynnderella Love, Lace, and Lilacs

Hello everyone! I am starting to feel like it's summer, the only exam I have left is Introduction to Programming and then that same day I get to head back home for four whole months. Today I have a pretty little gradient that I spiced up by adding one of my favourite Lynnderella polishes - Love, Lace, and Lilacs.

The two polishes that I used to create the gradient are both from OPI's Spring collection, OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and OPI I Saw...U Saw...We Saw...Warsaw. 

I love this Lynnderella polish and I can see myself using it a lot more in the future. I have a bad tendency to hoard my most precious polishes instead of using them and showing them off to the world!

Gradients are my thing lately, I cannot get enough of them.

Thanks so much for reading guys!

Gradient + Connect the Dots

Hello everyone! Today I have a fun gradient manicure that I took to the next level by adding one of my favourite and most versatile polishes - Lynnderella Connect the Dots. When I was picking the base colours something just stood out about the combination of peach and purple. I later realized that I had just been swooning over this manicure by Rebecca Likes Nails, so I credit her with the inspiration for the colour scheme.

The two colours I used for the base were Barry M Peach Melba and Zoya Megan. I photographed this a few days after applying it and you can see that the Seche Vite has done a number on it, look at that shrinkage around the tips!

I love Connect the Dots. I love Lynnderella polishes in general. I can't wait until I can afford to buy some more.

Lynnderella The Glittering Crowd

Morning everyone! I have a confession to make today..this is the manicure that I wore on New Year's Eve. That's right..nearly three months ago. I honestly just found these photos and I couldn't believe that I've waited so long to show you this stunning Lynnderella polish.

I really wanted the glitter in this polish to stand out so I layered two coats over black. Did you know that there are over 100 different types of glitter in The Glittering Crowd? I was so lucky to snag a bottle of this before Lynn stopped making it!

As soon as I applied the polish it was begging me to matte-ify it, and I complied. Following one easy coat of Essie's Matte About You this is what my nails looked like.

Mmmm, look at all those different glitters. This look is so fun and colourful.

What would you use as a base colour for The Glittering Crowd?

Lynnderella Sweet Dreams

Good morning everyone! This is a manicure I was actually sporting the week of Valentine's Day because it's super appropriate for the occasion. This is a colour that Lynn herself sent me around this time last year. I know a lot of people won't buy Lynnderella polishes because of the drama or the price, but I haven't found a brand that I enjoy as much as hers and I know I will be a lifetime customer.

So I originally layered Sweet Dreams over two coats of OPI Pink Friday, but much to my dismay it changed the colour of the base from a sweet baby pink to a different pink that I didn't like. To combat this, I added one coat of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu for a jelly sandwich-esque look!

Here's a bottle shot for you, I love how many types of glitter are in this, I'm not sure if I could ever count them all.

Here's a picture of the manicure before the sheer white topcoat. Still nice, just not how I imagined it would look.

Do you own any Lynnderella polishes? Which ones are your favourites?

Zoya PixieDust - Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! So you probably all saw my last post featuring the Zoya PixieDusts where I featured them in a striping tape manicure, and today I finally have swatches of the entire collection to bring to you.

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Keep reading to see all my swatches, I've put it under a jump because there are quite a few!

Animeniac Cosmetics - Swatches & Review

Morning everyone! I hope you're all having a great first day of the month. Today I have a new indie brand to share with you that I'm really excited about - Animeniac Cosmetics. I was contacted by them to try out and review a couple of their polishes and I think you guys are going to like what you see! They generously offered to send me a full sized polish and a couple of their minis to play around with - let's see what I got up to with these!

This is Sandman and it's a beautiful gold metallic foil polish. I used two easy coats here for opacity, this glided on like butter! I was really impressed with the formula on Sandman. I have to say, I'm a big fan of the full-size bottles that Animeniac Cosmetics uses, they are clean and professional looking.

Here's the colour label attached to the bottom of the polish bottle.

And here is something I'm thrilled to see included on their bottles - an ingredients list! 

I wanted to put Sandman to the test and see how it fared again my favourite gold polish ever - Quo by ORLY Filthy Rich. Here you can see that they are quite similar in colour, with the Animeniac polish leaning a bit more silver. 

Here you can see a comparison between the two, they're obviously quite similar and I'm very happy about this because my Quo by ORLY polish is running out. I think the Quo polish is a little more opaque, but I usually end up using two coats of either one so it doesn't much matter.

I'm thrilled to have found a polish that can rival one of the staples in my collection.

This is Geek Chic and it's one of the mini bottles I got to try out. This isn't a combination of glitters that I would pick out for myself, but if multicolour glitters are you calling then you should check this out. Here I used two easy coats over OPI You're Such A BudaPest. It was easy to get a lot of glitter on the brush, I never had to fish around.

I like the combination of the different shapes and sizes of glitter in Geek Chic. I bet this polish would look awesome layered over a bunch of different colours.

Here's a bottle shot of Geek Chick, it's pretty fun isn't it? Glitter polishes with such a heavy presence of red and pink aren't usually ones that I opt for, but I did like the way this looked layered over a cooler toned colour.

The next polish I was sent to review is Mayhem, and it is not yet available on their website. I honestly wasn't expecting to like Mayhem much - boy was I surprised! I couldn't tell by looking at the bottle if it was in a truly clear base or not, and it definitely is for anyone who's wondering. I chose to layer it over both OPI Skull & Glossbones and OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok Fine! Shown in the above photo is two coats of Mayhem.

I knew I loved this polish as soon as I saw it over the darker OPI, but there was something missing - matte! I threw on one layer of Essie Matte About You and took this manicure from cool to amazing. Mayhem reminds me of crayon shavings on a chalkboard, I can't get enough of this combination.

Here's a closeup of the matte goodness for you to enjoy. I really like the purple glitter shards in Mayhem.

Such a fun polish, I can't believe I didn't think I'd like it at all. If you're interested in trying out a glitter shard polish Mayhem is absolutely one I would recommend, the glitter was easy to work with and none of it stuck out from my nails.

The last polish that I received to review is Screen Saver. This is a gorgeous black and white polish in a transparent base. To really show this off I chose to sport two coats of Animeniac Cosmetics Screen Saver over a gradient using China Glaze Happy Go Lucky and OPI Can't Find My Czechbook. Something to note about this polish that sets it apart from all the Connect The Dots - esque polishes is that the white glitter isn't completely opaque, which I think is a nice touch.

I think this is just gorgeous, such a fun gradient and Screen Saver looks awesome over top. Once again I had no problems with the formula. I did end up fishing a little bit for the two bar glitters, but I know that some people hate bar glitter so much that this might be a bonus for them.

Something I did notice about this polish was that it took quite a while to dry completely, this may have to do with the many layers of polish to achieve this look, but I would recommend a coat of a quick dry topcoat like Seche Vite.

Here's a bottle shot of Screen Saver, see what I mean about the white glitters being slightly translucent? 

Overall I'm quite pleased with the Animeniac Cosmetics nail polishes that I got to try out. They have a great selection on their website, I love that they don't stick to just glitter topcoats and that they have a variety of nail polishes that cater to those who aren't so crazy about glitter. You can purchase Animeniac Cosmetics nail polishes from their website right here. 

What did you think of these polishes? Which was your favourite?

EDIT: The lovely people at Animeniac Cosmetics have been generous enough to offer 25% your order to all Cutie-cles readers! You can enter the code CUTIECLES25 at check out to get this discount. This code is valid through March 31st, 2013!

CrowsToes Cheshire Jelly Sandwich

Good morning, everyone! I showed you CrowsToes Cheshire a little while ago and I knew that I wanted to turn it into a jelly sandwich immediately. I love the look of laying a jelly polish over a glitter because it makes the glitter look like it's trapped under a layer of ice or something and it really softens that look.

For this look, I first put down two coats of my favourite white polish, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Next, I layered on one coat of CrowsToes Cheshire. To finish off the jelly sandwich effect, I used two coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu!

Here's a close up shot of this manicure for you. My only wish is that I had more of the gold glitter on my finger nails. What are your favourite polishes to do jelly sandwiches with?