November Challenges - Gothic

The prompt for #clairestelle8nov was Gothic - what better place to start than with one of the gothic beauties by A England - Jane Eyre.
Jane Eyre is a deep dark black with red shimmer, in some lights it does just look black but it has these gorgeous red glints when you catch it in the light so I used that as the base for this mani.
I did have a couple of false starts as I had been playing with the matte / shiny idea but stamping matte top coat looked wrong, and matting Jane Eyre looked wrong so I stamped with Kleancolour Madly Black which is matte and I know it stamps well.
I was quite pleased with the way this turned out and even more pleased I managed to get a reasonable photo.

A England Jane Eyre

 

Kleancolor Madly Black and Cici & Sisi 12

 

 

A England Jane Eyre

A rare sight on my nails today - a polish I have worn before! I have been aiming to use untrieds for most of my manis but A England's Jane Eyre is Gem of the Month for January and it prompted me to dig it out. Last time I wore it I failed miserably to capture its beauty - I think I have had a little more success this time.

Jane Eyre is essentially a black polish packed with tiny pinky red glitters that catch the light and add real warmth to the polish. In some lights it is just black, no complaints from me - I love black but under my LED desk lamp and out in the sunshine the red really glows.

The sun is at a tricky angle for photos at this time of year but I discovered a better angle to take my pics so that I don't end up with bleached out hands! The sun did actually shine today and the sky was an amazing blue, before it clouded over and rained again so I was lucky to get these shots and yes, I took loads!

This polish applied really nicely, perfect coverage in 2 coats and is wearing well on its second day. Photos are taken with a top coat.

I am so glad I brought this one out to try again and Gem of the Month means it's only £6, a real treat.

A England Jane Eyre

 

 

 

 

 

 

OPI When Monkeys Fly!

Well, lots of chatter about this one : OPI When Monkeys Fly!.
This is part of the new collection inspired by the new Wizard of Oz film, Oz the Great and Powerful, made up of 3 glitters, 3 pale shades and one liquid sand.
When Monkeys Fly! is made of up large gold hexes, smaller silver hexes and holographic glitter. The issue that has concerned many is that the gold hexes are curling, rather than laying flat on the nail. Certainly in the bottle they look very curly, but having read a number of reviews I took extra care to turn most of them over so that they curled downward, and then I added 2 coats of topcoat. On some nails I could still see and feel that the glitter was not flat so I added a couple of layers more of topcoat so now they all feel smooth.
This is a super sparkly combination which is truly beautiful. Having read the reviews I was quite nervous but I love it, despite the hard work to get it right.
It's shown here over A England Jane Eyre, a shimmering blackened red.

 

 

And a couple more pics - one in daylight...

and then in full sunshine.

A England Jane Eyre

This is a beautiful polish but a swine to capture on camera. I went through deleting all the pictures that just looked black and didn't end up with many!
Jane Eyre is a blackened red, and to the naked eye the red shimmer is beautiful. It is one of five Gothic Beauties brought out last year by A England. I didn't buy all 5, and in most lights the 3 I have do look very similar, particularly this one and Ophelia. This polish has a beautiful consistency and 2 coats gave full coverage.

The flash photo makes my hand look deathly white but does give a good impression of what this polish looks like when the light catches it.

Under a daylight bulb...

A few shots which begin to capture its beauty offset against a woolly I am currently working on...

 

 

 And finally a couple of shots I took the next day when the sun came out, hooray!!!

  

I love dark nails so despite my failure to capture the red, I do still like this but can't help thinking that this and the other 2 Gothic Beauties I have are actually like having 3 blacks.