Avon Gel Finish Mudslide

I don't really know too much about gel effect polishes, except lots of nail polish manufacturers seem to be making gel effect polishes, polishes that you apply like a normal polish but have the finish of a gel manicure, without the curing, and heat lamps.
I have never had a gel manicure so I don't have first hand experience of the differences, but I gather the polish should last much longer and stay glossy.
Avon Mudslide is my first gel effect polish, and whilst I loved the colour and the glossy finish, I am not convinced it lasted any longer than a normal creme polish.
I didn't top coat it as the Avon website implied that base and top coat were unnecessary. I'd already put a base coat on before I thought to check.
The polish applied well, a bit streaky on the first coat but beautifully glossy with complete opacity after two coats. I'd say it stayed glossy for the rest of the day but by the next morning, it was less shiny, and I had one tiny chip, but then that could happen with any polish.
At an introductory price of £3.50, I think the polish was good value, I'd probably top coat it next time but I do love the colour. Mudslide is a creamy chocolatey brown, with maybe a hint of grey so it's not too warm. I loved the colour, and I am glad I chose this for my first try, as it is not a dupe for any other polish I have.
Because of the tiny chip, I did put a glitter topper over this (I'll blog that later) and 2 days later it is still looking good, so while I am not sold on the gel concept, this is still a great polish.

Avon Gel Finish Mudslide

  

 

Liquid Sky Lacquer Iris Illusion

Today I have another lovely thermal polish for you, from Liquid Sky Lacquer. This is Iris Illusion and it changes from blue when warm to purple when cool. The polish also has a scattered holo effect which is very pretty and so sparkly in the sunlight or bright lights. The shades from blue through to purple are all shades you would associate with an iris, and this is very wearable at all stages. The warm shade, blue, is slightly dusky, along the lines of Leighton Denny Between Blue, OPI I have a Herring Problem and OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdam - 3 of my favourite pale blue polishes, that have that tiny hint of greyness to them. The cool shade of purple is a beautiful soft mid purple, not too blue, not too red.
This was quite a thin polish and I did use 3 coats for full opacity, but I didn't need undies in the warm phase which was good, the polish remained opaque at all temperatures.
I really enjoyed wearing this, loving all stages of its transition although I didn't get the thermal gradient a lot, except by dipping my fingers in cold water, and the temperature evened out pretty quickly so I didn't capture the strongest effect on camera. One effect I did get quite a bit but failed to capture on camera was the reverse gradient where the tips of my nails had warmed up when I balled my hands into a fist although my hands were cold, but again as soon as I opened my hands up they cooled down really quickly and reverted to purple. 
So, my love of thermal polishes continues... 

Liquid Sky Lacquer Iris Illusion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anna Gorelova by Dance Legend No.11 Mavka

I feel bad about this one. Ever fallen in love with bottle pics and swatches only to find that it just isn't you? The bottle looks so pretty and even the box is cute with the little owl but for some reason I am not sure I like this on me.
The whole Anna Gorelova collection by Dance Legend looks lovely, and they are all available at Rainbow Connection.

Mavka is a rich green jelly with gold hexes in various sizes. It's got a lovely depth to it and the green and gold go beautifully together. It is a delightfully grassy, foresty green.

Because it is a jelly obviously the nail line would be visible, and since I didn't have a suitable green to use as undies, I layered this over Nails Inc Basil Street, which is as close to my natural nail colour as I could get to mask that line. I then did 2 layers of Mavka very carefully as I find with jellies I get a streaky effect if the layers overlap. The glitter distribution was good, and again you can't really dab them around as the jelly then becomes patchy. 

A beautiful polish, probably worth that extra bit of effort to apply it carefully, but sadly not for me, I think mainly because of the all gold glitter. I could layer this over a darker shade, with just one layer and I think I would like the glitter distribution better but then the gorgeous green base would be lost.
That said, I am glad I tried it, otherwise I'd have kept  longing for it and it is a very special polish.

Anna Gorelova by Dance Legend No.11 Mavka

   

  

 

 

how cute is this box?

Fancy Gloss Dark Knight

Today's polish is a bit special - it's dark, it's thermal and it's a scattered holo! Wow!!! what would there be not to love about a polish with all those features!!
I had not heard of Fancy Gloss until Annette at Rainbow Connection started selling them quite recently, but when I heard of a thermal that didn't change to a very pale shade when warm , I had to give then a try! Dark Knight changes from dark blue when cold to a mid grey when warm, and it has a scattered holo effect too. When cold the blue is a real midnight blue, and with the scattered holo it's like a starry night. It is a lovely blue, and actually a lot nicer than it looks in the bottle, almost an indigo blue, like dark jeans and very wearable.
When warm although still quite dark I did find the grey shade was a little less opaque so I have used one coat of Nails Inc Gilston Road as undies, it is not a bad match colour-wise and didn't seem to distort the colour at all. I can't bear to see the nail line so I felt happier ensuring it was covered.
Here I have used 1 coat of Gilston Road and then two coats of Dark Knight.
I really like this, I wasn't too inspired by the colour in the bottle but I love it on my nails, I love the blue, the grey and all the in between shades as it moves from cold to warm! The thermal gradient looks great although I have really struggled to capture it on camera, and the sparkle is very pretty, but camera shy!
Lots of pictures as I attempted to capture the many colours of this fantastic polish. I bought another Fancy Gloss thermal at the same time as Dark Knight and I can't wait to try that too!

Fancy Gloss Dark Knight

 

  

 

 

  

   

Moyra 254 Aquarius

I am not sure I can do a full blog post on this polish as I am afraid I tried some stamping rather unsuccessfully, and don't really have many pre-stamp pictures. It was raining so I took a few with the flash, with the intention of waiting for better weather to take some more. Then I stamped all over it forgetting it hadn't been blogged.
However, it was a pretty mani and deserves a mention. Aquarius is my 2nd of the Moyra holographic polishes, and again, I am impressed with it!
The holo is really strong as you can see , it's visible even without any sun. Remembering a bit of streaking when I applied my previous Moyra holo, I was careful to make sure I had a generous amount on my brush and it applied well, great coverage with 2 coats. This is a lovely blue, Aquarius is a great name for it, it has that hint of the sea, just leaning a tiny bit towards teal.
The last pic is a tiny hint at my stamping effort!

Moyra 254 Aquarius 

 

  

 

Moyra 254 Aquarius with stamping!

Above The Curve Cherry Blossoms

I have a very pretty pink holo to show you today. I saw someone wearing this a couple of weeks back, and thought how lovely it was. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw it for sale on a swap page just a few days later.
I really like the Above the Curve polishes I have already tried and I really wish they were easily available in the UK. They have some gorgeous polishes, and this one is no exception.
It is quite a thin, runny polish compared to some so I used 3 thin coats. It applied well, dried quickly and the 3 coats gave a perfect coverage. This really is a very pretty polish, such a lovely delicate shade of pink, just the colour of cherry blossoms, with a gorgeous holo effect that is not too strong, just right for this soft spring shade.
I then set off in search of a blossom tree to take some pics, easier said than done! I am sure I saw lots really recently, but most seem to have lost their petals in the few days rain we had. I found some in the park but they were too tall, finally I had to resort to the ones in front of the shops in the village - there  a mad woman with a camera could be seen lurking taking pictures of her nails with the blossoms!
Not all the pictures are in the sun, you need to see that this is pretty even when you can't see the holo, but in the sun it is utterly beautiful!

Above The Curve Cherry Blossoms

Above The Curve Cherry Blossoms

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Liquid Sky Lacquer Midnight Lavender

Yesterday I was going to wear a pale pink holo, but the sun was not shining, and it was a dark gloomy day - not a holo day at all, so instead I chose this dark thermal from Liquid Sky Lacquer.
Midnight Lavender is very dark, moving from deep purple when warm to black when cold. It is also very glittery (with fine green and purple glitters) and without a top coat it has the texture of a sand.
I did wear it for a day without topcoat, but it wasn't wearing brilliantly so I did topcoat it on the second day. I felt I needed 3 coats for full coverage, and as it had worn quite a bit I added a 4th coat before top coating it. It is a lovely quality polish though, painted on well and dried quickly.
The colour change is quite subtle and in some lights the warm purple shade does look more grey than purple, but I still like it. My initial swatch frustrated me a little as I couldn't see the colour change but on wearing this I really like it, perfect for the dark couple of days we've just had, but very sparkly when the sun does peep through!
I may well have included too many pics but there were none online when I was googling this, so I am keeping them all!! They all include the thermal gradient, with black tips, but again, that's what you want to see, right? you've seen black before!

Liquid Sky Lacquer Midnight Lavender

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Midnight Lavender before I topcoated it