Lush Lacquer - Clowning Around

Perhaps I'm too harsh on myself but the idea I had for this mani looked better in my head. I envisioned an opaque nude print for my accent nail over a striking neon pink, yet the reality is I'm yet to find the perfect nude stamping polish. The search continues......The neon glitter over the nude, now that's a different story, its Lush Lacquer - Clowning Around, its perfect in every way.

Clowning Around is a glitter topper polish. It has a variety of neon hexagon shaped glitter pieces suspended in a clear base. This is the type of glitter polish that needs to be applied using a dabbing motion to position the glitter pieces evenly across the nail. The suspension base is very forgiving allowing you to move the pieces easily without glitter drag or ruining your base colour.

It looks completely different in the bottle than it does on the nail. In the bottle it appears as if the glitters are mostly reds and oranges, on the nail you can clearly see the variety of colours. It would look great over black, white or grey. 

The nude is OPI - Don't Pretzel My Buttons  My most used nude that I lurve to death, it suits my skin tone perfectly and it has this subtle pink tint to it that stops it from looking too brown.

The swirly image is from Pueen26. I love these plates so much that the first time I used them I put so much pressure on myself to come up with something amazing to christen them with that I couldn't decide which plate to use,  so I had a massive drama queen rage quit and sulked for a day! 

And the verdict is still out on how to say Pueen......Pween like queen? Pooeen like a big Aussie bogan? Or is it just Peen? Perhaps its a Chinese typo and it was meant so say Queen all along, I mean it does have a picture of a crown on the storage pouch. Maybe we will never know......

Lush Lacquer Princess Poodle

Its called Princess Poodle? I don't even need to see what colour it is, MUST have it! Those who have been following me for a while know that I have 2 gorgeous fluffy children, one who is a poodle. I've had poodles all my life and they are such amazingly smart dogs, not to mention cute as a button! OK, I'll stop going on about my babies so you can go look at this unique polish from Lush Lacquer. 

Princess Poodle is an off white jelly with pink, black and grey glitters. The glitter is a mix of hexagons, bars and micro dots. There are larger pink hexagons in the mix too. The formula is great, not too thick and no fishing for glitter, but I did have to spread the glitter around on my nail by dabbing the brush in empty spots. I also had to spread one or two clumps where lots of glitter had piled together but it was really easy to move around because the suspension base did not dry too quickly. This is one coat over an off white creme, OPI - My Vampire Is Buff. I tried 2 coats of Princess Poodle on its own and it was just too much, it looked crowded on the nail.

        

To create the V shape I used striping tape. The grey is China Glaze - Recycle and the pink was an unexpected winner from BYS. Its called Pink Panic and it really came to life with top coat, its a gorgeous colour with a great formula. I feel like BYS is picking up its act lately, when I first started collecting polish when I was a teenager BYS was all I could really afford and I remember it being crappy and chipping and staining my nails. Recently I have bought a few things from their new collections and I have loved every one...great news for Aussies! You can get Lush Lacquer - Princess Poodle here.

Far from a princess, my very blokey poodle Hank caught in the act digging a giant hole in the grass! What? Me? I know nothing!

Lush Lacquer - Neon Lights

The 80s called.....they want their fabulous nails back! Today's post takes a closer look at another bobby dazzler from Lush Lacquer, Neon Lights. I heart this polish sooooooooooooooooo much. Ok stop reading and go look at the pictures. 

Neon Lights is a white jelly base with a mix of neon glitters.  There are pink, yellow, green and orange hexagons in 3 different sizes. The glitter sits in the suspension base perfectly which meant I didn't need to dig for glitter, I just applied it like I would a normal polish. The formula was patchy with one coat but evened up with 2. It smoothes down nicely with topcoat. This is 2 coats, no undies with topcoat.

The hearts are sequins which I stuck on using a dotting tool and some base coat, then I applied 2 coats of Seche Vite over the top to flatten them. You can get the heart sequins here.

Really I can't express in words how amazing this polish is, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. If you love brights on your nails but want something a little less in your face then this polish is perfect for you. You know you need it in your collection. Off you go...off to Lush Lacquer and yes they ship to Australia...winning!!

Hello Kitty likes Indie Glitters

There is something very special about indie glitters. Its got something to do with the fact they are unique to their creators who pour their personalities into every bottle. They think outside the box and source custom glitters to create polishes not seen by the likes of the big boys such as China Glaze and OPI. It appeals to me that because they are not mass produced if you own them you have a collectors item in some way. So with my indie collection growing and growing I sat down yesterday to swatch them all so I can begin to keep track of the all the treasures I have. And from the depths of my Ikea Helmer I became reacquainted with my first ever indie polish purchase, Lush Lacquer - Salt and Peppa. 

Whilst I could never play favourites with my indies, I do have a thing for black and white glitters. Salt and Peppa is a combination of black and white squares in 2 sizes, and black and white hexagon and bar glitters. There is also holographic silver, blue, yellow and gold micro dots. The glitter is suspended in a clear base which is a great consistency, not too goopy. The glitter applies evenly with just a few little dabs here and there to fill in any bald spots. The bar glitter is probably the hardest to make sure its sitting nicely.

The gradient is China Glaze - Diva Bride and Barry M Gelly - Grapefruit. I used this technique to blend the colours. The Hello Kitty image is stamped and its from the MLS-05 plate. I stamped with Konad Special Polish in white with a pink coloured gemstone in the bow....ummm adorbs!!

The MLS-05 plate has some really cute images, I use the bows all the time. They are small and fit across my nails perfectly. Meow....... Hello Kitty is always a winner! This plate is in stock now. 

               

 Lucky for you guys Karin and Lexi still make Salt and Peppa and you can get it from here. I just got 8 new shades from these two so you will be seeing a whole lotta love for Lush Lacquer over the next few months.