Iconic Effect Tortoiseshell

Today I am showing you my beautiful custom polish, made by Kelly and Kerrie at Iconic Effect. I was SO lucky to win a giveaway which included a polish of  my choice from their range (I chose their Extreme Holo top coat) and a custom polish. On the day of this exciting win, I was actually wearing Iconic Effect Turtle Shell, and as I lay in bed thinking what would I like, I thought, something similar to Turtle Shell but more autumnal in tone.
What they came up with is this stunning beauty, russet brown hexes, bright pink squares, plum squares, small magenta hexes, gunmetal and gold hexes and tiny weeny red and brown glitter - I think that's everything!!
I dithered for a while whether to do my first mani using this over a dark red, or what I eventually chose, Leighton Denny Graycious. I felt that this lovely polish deserved a bit of a contrast, it blended beautifully with the likes of Nails Inc Victoria, but the russet reds and deep pinks stand out so well against the lovely dark grey of Graycious. (I also swatched it over Femme Fatale and it looked gorgeous!)
I love this, love that is special because its custom made and it is just so stunning! Kelly and Kerrie really did make me something utterly beautiful, thanks girls!!

Iconic Effect Tortoiseshell

 

 

 

 

 

Indy's Indies Crunchy Leaves

Here is something quite special. Indy's Indies is another UK Indie, and Crunchy Leaves is one of her first polishes. I was lucky enough to win this in a give away, and I was delighted when she emailed me as this is definitely my favourite. It absolutely captures the spirit of Autumn, the combination of colours is perfect. There are gold, brown, red, purple and orange hexes, very small orange hexes, and green squares. I love that there is some green in here, I think it makes the whole combination really work. This really is Autumn in a bottle!
And then for a base, well what wouldn't work? I tried dark teal, dark brown, shimmery brown, green, deep dark red - they all worked. I am absolutely certain black and purple would look great too, and I think it would lovely with nudes, oh so much more swatching needed here!
Anyway this is where Leighton Denny Feel the Burn came in. It was sat on the side while I decided its fate and I thought, maybe I'll just give it a try. I wasn't sure it would give enough contrast but actually I think the 2 polishes work really well together, the green really stands out and the other autumnal colours blend beautifully. This is just one coat of Crunchy Leaves.

Indy's Indies Crunchy Leaves

 

 

  

 

Leighton Denny Feel the Burn

Today I am way out of my comfort zone with this polish. Leighton Denny Feel the Burn is a dark terracotta red creme. I think I get away with wearing this today as I am wearing autumnal colours, chestnut brown and olive green, so it doesn't feel too extreme, but it really is not what I call a "me" polish. It painted on beautifully, opaque in 2 coats and this lovely glossy finish is without a top coat.
I took great care to paint it well and chose some good props for my photos to give it the best chance but I am afraid although I am pleased with the pics I took I couldn't warm to this colour. I did like it more than I expected to when I painted it on, but no love this time.
It is a very Autumnal shade I think, but it's just not me, too warm. It was a huge leap to try red nails about a year ago but I still go for blue red, rather than orange red.
Anyway, here are the pics and the next post will show you what I did with this :)

Leighton Denny Feel the Burn 

 

 

 

 

Iconic Effect Extreme Holographic top coat

Today I have something really special to show you! Iconic Effect Extreme Holographic top coat, it is awesome. Iconic Effect actually make 3 holo top coats: extreme, normal and subtle, but I decided if I was go to go holo I may as well go full on holo!
I have never really been into holos as a lot of them have seemed quite bright or pale colours that aren't really me, but this is perfect! I can wear my dark moody colours and make them holo - how cool is that?
So it arrived today and I have put it on straight away over the lovely grey green, Leighton Denny Femme Fatale and it is fantastic!
My nails are so fascinating to look at, they have a sort of velvety depth to them and of course totally impossible to capture on camera, if I hold them under the light I can see the holo at its most extreme but get too much glare and the camera screen flickered like mad. Even away from the light the effect is so pretty, the grey green of Femme Fatale has that shimmery sheen to it, but then the camera just picks up a silver shimmer and the colour is lost.
Hoping for a sunny day tomorrow so I can grab some more pics. Anyway, these are what I got so far and I just have to share.

Iconic Effect Extreme Holographic top coat

 

 

 

Leighton Denny Femme Fatale

I did say that Leighton Denny Between Blue was my favourite LD shade of 2013, but I think this one might just take that position! Leighton Denny Femme Fatale is an absolutely beautiful grey green creme. It is a real "me" colour, its dark and dusky and I love it.
I'm not really sure what else I can say, it painted on beautifully in two coats, with a perfect glossy finish. I don't know how to describe the colour other than it being a grey green, which makes it a stunning neutral shade with that much more interest. I adore neutral shades, bright shades are fun but these are my "go to" shades when I just want my nails to look great but not shout about it!
Lots of pics because I didn't want to delete any! and I think the colours are pretty true on these.

Leighton Denny Femme Fatale

 

 

 

Pocket Money Polishes All I Want For Xmas

Continuing with the untried polishes beginning with A, I have topped my last mani, OPI All A-Bordeaux The Sled with Pocket Money Polishes All I Want For Xmas.
All I Want for Xmas is one of four polishes in the set Santa Babies - Special Christmas Collection. It contains White Christmas, Silent Night, All I Want for Christmas and Jingle Bell Rock and there is a quick swatch of them all at the end of this post, over Black Taxi.
I expect if I had chosen the base to wear under this I wouldn't have worn it over the dark red OPI, I might well have gone for Black Taxi or something contrasting like a blue or green, but I think this combo works quite well. This polish is made up of purple and gold hexes, small purple hexes and large pink hexes that change colour as they catch the light. That pink I think looks lovely against the dark red and this is so super sparkly - this would be a great party glitter - a real knockout!
We had a bit of sunshine today, so I got some outside pics but I think the purple gloves confuse my camera.
You'll have to excuse the ravaged cuticle on the index finger, where I tried to tidy up from yesterdays mani, just a little too roughly I think!

Pocket Money Polishes All I Want For Xmas

 

 

  

This is the full set- Jingle Bell Rock, All I Want for Xmas, Silent Night and White Christmas

OPI All A-Bordeaux The Sled

This week I am continuing to use untried polishes only, but we are also having a Polish Alphabet week in All Things Nails so I am using untrieds beginning with A. This was quite an easy choice as I only had 1 old untried creme polish beginning with A. OPI All A-Bordeaux The Sled is a dark red creme which I have to say surprised me a bit. Swatches I have seen looked a bit brownish, other blogs suggested it was brown and it looks brown in the bottle, but as far as I can see this is deep dark burgundy or Bordeaux as the name would suggest!
It has a beautiful glossy finish but as with many OPI polishes it did take 3 coats to reach full opacity. The one I have is a mini but I have many other dark reds, like Nails Inc Victoria  and I am sure it is very similar.
A lovely classic polish for the colder months.

OPI All A-Bordeaux The Sled

 

 

Pocket Money Polishes This is the Life with matte top coat

Bit of a cheating post today as this is the same mani as last week with a matte top coat! I was going to change my nails but got a bit caught up with work so I thought I'd try Rimmel matte top coat with This is the Life. It worked really well, I love the satin feel to my nails when I use this top coat, and I think matte works really well over glitter.
Personally I don't like a matte finish on a plain creme, but lately I've seen so many glitters matted and I think they look great.
It has rained all day so these are indoor pics, including the last one which is not nails or knitting - my kittens! Thought you may like to see how cute they are, they sleep almost all the time!

Pocket Money Polishes This is the Life with matte top coat

 

 

 

Sleeping babies