Pretty Quirky: Milky Joe

I saw Milky Joe being modelled by Saz one day on instagram.  Around that time, I had lost a similar looking polish from Nail Lacquer UK and was in mourning.  Saz, who is absolutely brilliant, has gifted me the polish.

Milky Joe is made by the indie brand Pretty Quirky.  It's a white jelly polish with neon circular glitter in it.  The polish itself applies easily and smoothly but I did find it quite hard to get glitter pieces on to my nail.  I had to dig deep and shake the bottle each time I applied a coat (and sometimes I had to give it a big shake for each finger too).  Even after that, I still had to a lot more digging to place the glitter pieces on my nails.

I'm pretty pleased with the look of this manicure once it was finished and I got good coverage with three coats.  I topped it off with a coat of Glisten & Glow by HK girl.

I love neon colours and neon glitters, especially in the summer and I'm looking forward to using this in some new combinations.

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Pahlish: Lidded Blue Flames

Here's another "investment" from Rainbow Connection.  Today I'm showing off Pahlish "Lidded Blue Flames".

This is a fantastic grey/navy colour.  It's so deep but it's lit up from tiny gold and purple glitters.  It really shines beautifully when it catches the light.

I dressed this polish up with some freehand gold stripes and gold square studs.

The polish is great, the brush is easy to use and it dries really quickly.  My only niggle with this one is that you have to be careful when applying as it has a tendency to go a little streaky.  This is easily solved with careful application and a good top coat!

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Hare Polish: The Knockouts of the Double R

I've been on Rainbow Connection again.  Oops!

This time I've been buying some blue polishes.

The first I'm showing off to you is 'The Knockouts of the Double R' by Hare polish.  It's a fantastically bright aqua jelly with flakey glitter in it.  The pictures I've taken really don't do the polish justice, it's such a fantastic colour.

Doing BFF Friday made me realise how much I missed doing some simple nail art.  I painted my ring finger with Barry M Pearl and added some round studs in a cross formation to match up the polish.  I feel like I got the colour match spot on.

This polish is beautiful.  In my swatches I applied two coats over Barry M Huckleberry.  The polish applies well and isn't streaky.  It dried quickly and I had no chips in the two days I was wearing it.  Beautiful!

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BFF Friday: Indie and an Accent

Oh my, another two weeks have passed and me and My Mint Nails are up to our old tricks with another BFF Friday.

This fortnight is Saz's choice and she decided we should use an Indie polish then match it with a nail art accent nail.  Then she messaged me today and asked if there could be two accent nails.  Luckily I hadn't done my manicure yet, so I nicely agreed.

Anyway, the indie polish I decided to use is my last unswatched Tara's Talons nail polish.  This is a fun and colourful glitter topper called "Disneyland".  Disney is one of my favourite places to go, so of course I wanted this polish.

I painted three nails with Barry M Matte White then two with Barry M Burgundy Crush.  I added Disney land onto the white nails and freehanded Mickey Mouses with a Barry M white nail art pen.

The polish is fab, just like the rest of Tara's glitter toppers.  The only issue I had with this one was that I struggled to get the Mickey glitter pieces out of the bottle but the little buggers finally showed up with a bit of fishing.

Don't forget to check out Saz's blog and find out how her manicure went!

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Iconic Effect: Malificent & Poison Ivy

Hello all,

I'm having a tiny break from Tara polishes, just because I'm saving the last polish I have to show you for a very special manicure, to bring you some Iconic Effect.  Unfortunately, these polishes are no longer for sale as Kelly has closed down her shop but I was lucky enough to grab a couple of polishes before she did so.

I got my paws on Malificent & Poison Ivy.  Two beautiful holographic polishes (which, by the way, I'm completely obsessed with at the moment!)

Malificent is a rich deep purple holographic, easy to apply and nice and smooth.  I was really happy with this and got loads of wear out of it without chippage.

This manicure is 3 coats Malificent to get complete opaqueness and one coat Ciate Speed Coat.

I was a little bit more disappointed with Poison Ivy.  After 5 coats the polish still wasn't opaque and, if I'm going to use it again, I think I'm going to have to match the colour underneath to give it more of a base.  It applied well and wasn't very streaky though.  It's a shame because the colour is beautiful.

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The Tara Emporium: Ibiza

I'm such a lucky nail art blogger, I really am.  I've got all these fantastic polishes to talk about.  More Tara today and this time I'm here with Ibiza.  It's full of neon-y goodness and if I was one for going clubbing, it would surely remind me of my clubbing times!!  It's mixed up with black stars and shards to give a complete Ibiza-night-club-summer-holiday feel.

I layered mine twice over Barry M White to make sure the colours stood out, which it does.  As per normal, the glitter was easy to apply, gave me great coverage after a shake and was easy to reposition once it was on my nails!  I love it!

Here's the polish without flash first:

  

And now with flash:

  

Perfect!

I only have one more Tara polish to swatch - that's the lovely Disneyland.  I can't wait to get it on my nails and show it off, Disney is my favouritest place in the world.

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Tara's Talons: Barbies Hangover

Hey guys,

I need to save face after that horrific double gradient attempt I did for BFF Friday.  So here is a swatch of the fantastic "Barbie's Hangover" from Tara's Talons (or the Tara Emporium).  I realised in my last post about her, I didn't let you know how you could find out more about her!  Aren't I a naughty nail blogger?  You can buy Tara's polishes at her etsy store, visit her at her website or "like" her facebook page. While I'm doing a little bit of promoting, why not also visit my facebook page - if I get to 250 likes, I'll be launching a facebook only giveaway!

Back to the polish.  Barbie's Hangover is a fab glitter topper.  It's a mix of greens, pinks, whites with a few extra colours mixed in too.  I decided to apply this as a glitter gradient over Model's Own Hypergel in Cerise Shine for the ultimate Barbie look.

(I apologise for the photos - I realised while I was at the Roller Derby that I hadn't taken a photo of my nails!!)

    

Again, because Tara's polishes are so consistent - they applied beautifully, cleaned up well and I got great coverage without much poking and prodding.  Exactly what you need from a glitter topper!

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The Tara Emporium (Formerly Tara's Talons): Fairy Brains

My luck is in this month guys.  I won a giveaway that the fabulous Tara was hosting and was allowed to pick any 10ml and 5ml bottle of her polish.  Fairy Brains was one of the polishes I picked.  Its a fantastic glittery topper full of purple, silver and pink glitters AND pink butterflies and silver flowers!  Its what I think the insides of my brains look like.

I topped this polish over two coats of Models Own Strawberry Tart.  It was easy to apply, dried quickly and the glitter bits were easy enough to position and gave great coverage.

Here are the results (finished off with Poshe top coat)

I then thought I'd try it with a matte top coat and LOVED the results!

Stayed tuned because I still have a few of Tara's polishes to swatch!

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