Layla Purple Illusion

We're down to Layla #13,  and today I'm showing you Purple Illusion. Purple Illusion ia actually more magenta than purple. I have no idea how Layla came up with these names! 

This is two coats of Purple Illusion.

It's also pretty darn holographic, I might add!

Despite the booboo with the naming, Layla has managed to come up with such an intriging shade for a holographic polish. This one was a little more pigmented than the other pinks/purples and that made me love Purple Illusion just a little more. 

Layla Red Taboo

Dear Layla, please come up with better, more colour-accurate names. Reb Taboo isn't exactly red. It's more like a saturated dark fuchsia. 

This is three coats of Red Taboo.

Red Taboo isn't the most holographic of the bunch but it still is pretty and it's a pretty unique colour in my stash so this one's a keeper. Besides, I'd never separate my holo family!

Layla Shock Pink

I wouldn't call it Shock Pink a shocking pink. It's more like a coral pink actually.

This is three coats of Shock Pink.

Shock Pink is entirely out of my polish comfort zone. I'm not even a pink polish person, let alone such a bright shade of pink, but the slight tinge of orange in Shock Pink made it a little more interesting.

Layla Emerald Divine

Emerald Divine is one of my favourites from the new eight Layla Holograms.

This one was pretty saturated so I only needed two coats of Emerald Divine.

Absolute love!

Emerald Divine is simply divine. The colour is the lushest thing ever. A green holo isn't all that common and this particular shade of green just sold it for me.

Layla Gold Idol

Finally getting down to blogging about the new eight Layla Holograms! From the moment I got them in the mail, I WAS IN LOVE.

I'm starting of with Gold Idol, a soft gold holo. It isn't as yellow as Jade Mystic Gold so it's a much more delicate shade. It actually reminds me of spring!

This is three coats of Gold Idol.

The three coats I painted for Gold Idol went on much easier than any of the previous eight Holograms. I have a feeling Layla tweaked the formula for the new Holograms and I'm loving it!

Stay tuned for the other seven Layla swatches coming your way!

OPI On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The moment I laid eyes on Zoya Fei Fei, I had to have her but Zoya's pretty hard to buy where I come from so when OPI released On Her Majesty's Secret Service, a pretty close dupe for Fei Fei, I was pretty ecstatic!

This is three coats of OHMSS with one coat of Essie Good To Go.



OHMSS is a sheer polish that is sooooo complex.  It actualy slightly duochrome as it flashes from green to purple but unfortunately, my camera was having a bitch fit so I didn't manage to capture the pretty duochrome. :(



I'm totally in love with the gold and blue and periwinkle shimmer swimming amidst its slate blue base.





Seeing how sheer OHMSS was, I thought it'd be a pretty good topper so I decided to try layering it over a couple of dark, sexy colours.

From L-R: One coat of OHMSS over NOPI Khloe Had A Little Lam Lam, Revlon Chic, Essie Going Incognito and Beadstreet Black

Here are some super close up shots!



One coat of OHMSS over NOPI Khloe Had A Little Lam Lam



One coat of OHMSS over Revlon Chic



One coat of OHMSS over Essie Going Incognito



One coat of OHMSS over Beadstreet Black

OHMSS is one of my favourite polishes from all of this year's release. That's how much I love it!

Black and White Glitter Bomb

It all started with Lynnderella Connect The Dots. The black and white glitters had me at hello and then all the indie brands started making their own dupe versions. I almost caved a couple of times for a couple of them but then TKB started selling black and white glitters in all these various shapes and sizes and that was when I finally caved!

I bought the squares, hexes, diamond and bar glitters in a variety of sizes but I held back with the diamonds for this franken because I didn't want to go to town with it. Besides, I can always do some variations with the whole mix n match thing.

This is 3 coats of OPI Bubble Bath and 1 coat of my franken which I've named Technicolour Dreams, after a phrase from Matchbox Twenty's song, Black and White People.

Black and white glitter polish lemming KILLED! And at a fraction of the cost of a bottle of Connect The Dots!

SCORE!

Till my next post! :)

Birthday Jelly Sandwich Manicure

I celebrated my birthday a couple of days ago and knew I wanted a pretty glitter mani for my birthday mani but I didn't want to do the whole Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday thing because it's so been-there-done-that. Then I thought why not do a white multi-coloured glitter mani? I really wanted KBShimmer Oh Splat! but it's out of stock on Harlow & Co so I decided to flex some creative muscle and come up with a similar look.

My birthday jelly sandwich mani started with one coat of my trusty PVA glue base coat and then four coats of OPI Care to Danse.



Then I topped that with one coat of Nail Pattern Boldness Le Big Party, a gorgeous multi-coloured tiny square and hex glitter topper.



Then it was sandwich time so on went another coat of OPI Care to Danse.



Next, I painted a layer of Amy's Nail Boutique Fiesta, a multi-coloured large hex topper.



And on top of that was another two thin coats of OPI Care to Danse, which completed the whole (10 layer) jelly sandwich.



I'm a little bummed that I couldn't really see Le Big Party as clearly as I wanted to. Maybe I'll skip the layer of Care to Danse between Le Big Party and Fiesta the next time I do this mani but overall, I still loved how cheerful this mani looked. It really helped cheered me up especially since I've been working in the West (I stay in the East so I have to travel all the way to the other end everyday) for the three weeks.
Hope you guys liked the jelly sandwich! :)

Cirque Ophelia Jelly Sandwich Gradient

I grabbed three Cirque polishes when Mei Mei was having the introduction sale for Cirque polishes and Ophelia's the last of the three.

Ophelia's a beautiful periwinkle blue glitter polish that contains medium hex and small circular glitters in a clear base. I wanted to try out a jelly sandwich with Ophelia so I started out with four coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu.



Then I topped that off with Ophelia, which I dabbed around, trying to create a glitter gradient.






In the picture below, I layered on another thin coat of Don't Touch My Tutu on my index and middle fingers, finishing off the jelly sandwich. I left my ring finger and pinkie nails as they were though, so you can see the difference between the jelly sandwich and just layering Ophelia on top of Don't Touch My Tutu.



Here, I have one thin coat of Don't Touch My Tutu on top of all my nails.



I love how the extra coat of Don't Touch My Tutu on top made Ophelia more pastel and muted.











Here's two close up shots of Ophelia and you can see that Ophelia actually has a secret iridescent shimmer in it as well! That was a nice surprise!







Here are some shots of the Ophelia jelly sandwich with a top coat.








I hope you can see the iridescent shimmer a little better in this last picture. I think the top coat helped the shimmer to sparkle a little bit more. Also, it helped that Don't Touch My Tutu was sheer enough that it didn't bury the shimmer!



I really love the colour combination of white and periwinkle. It's just so clean cut and classic, kinda reminds me of the china set I have at home. I'm looking forward to wearing Ophelia on top of the boring pink/nude shades I have to wear to work and I'm already thinking of a Bubble Bath and Ophelia combination for another jelly sandwich! :)

As for the lavendar and sage scent present in all Cirque polishes, I've heard loads of rave from fellow polish lovers but it's a little too sweet smelling for my liking. It's just me though. Each to his own right?
If you're interested in grabbing some Cirques, you can buy them directly from Cirque or head on down to Meimeisignature! Meimei ships internationally with the exception of Italy!