Red and Sparkly

One of my favorite types of glitter topcoats to make is holo glitter, especially if it's multi-colored.  In my opinion, it looks good with ANY color underneath.

This is my go-to red, Revlon Red.  The glitter mixture is assorted sizes of tiny hex glitter in metallic and holo colors!

I also had Revlon Red and this multi-holo glitter applied to my toes yesterday during my pedicure.  The technician said it looks just like Christmas!

 

Speaking of which, the next time I post, I hope to have some true Christmas creations to show!

Neutral + Sparkle!

Sometimes I like to wear a very understated color on my nails, but I still want them to sparkle.  This is where neutrals come in!  I don't wear neutrals often, but when I do I find they make an excellent background color for many glitters.  In this case, it's a holographic metallic chunky glitter topcoat I made several months ago.

The neutral--which is, of course, too light for my skin tone to be a true nude--is Brain Power by Formula X for Sephora.  I really like this color, and the Formula X line is a new and increasing favorite of mine as well.  I've mentioned that glitter typically peels off my nails in whole pieces, but this never happens when I use "The Formula."  Sephora has developed a set that works with their Formula X polishes, and the set consists of a nail prep/cleaner, a base coat, a color of your choice (complimentary), and a top coat.  I use my glitter topcoat after the nail color and before the Formula X topcoat, and it wears...and wears...and wears.  I don't have to worry about chipping or the polish peeling off!  I usually have one set in use and a backup; this is the backup (less the bonus polish, in this set it was a color called Extreme)

This is certainly one solution if you find that glitter manicures peel from your nails all too easily!

Red, White, Pink

OPI has a gorgeous polish out right now called Minnie Style.  I mentioned it here before, and posted a manicure "inspired" by it.  Made up of red and white glitter, it's different from most glitter polishes.  I thought about buying it, but being it that I already have a ton of red and white glitter, I decided to make my own version.

Minnie Style, pictured below, has matte white and metallic red hex glitter, although some people seem to have gotten bottles containing white square glitter.

 

And it's really pretty.

However, I decided to play around with a few glitters and I made a version that has frosted hex glitter instead of opaque, matte red hexes instead of metallic, and matte pink hex glitter.  

I swatched it over several magenta, red, and pink polishes, and I finally settled on a color to use as an undie--Party Pink by Ruby Kisses.

My version, unnamed, shown below with and without flash.

It wasn't my intent to create an exact replica, so I love the way it turned out.  It's a keeper!

Living My Life Like It's Golden

This is a gorgeous selfie, a topcoat with assorted yellow and gold glitters.  I also made a smaller version with a shimmer base; the large size has a clear base.

This is over a yellow creme by Ruby Kisses.  I like this.  A LOT!

Again, I just LOVE bright colors on my skin.  This is a winner, a definite keeper.

I wish I could always be inspired to make something so pretty!

Pink and Blue Mani

I like this look...it's a pink and blue mani with an accent nail.  The topper is a selfie of course, one of my favorites, whose pictures do NOT do it justice.  It's a fun, confetti look.  One of these days when I'm not using an iPhone as a camera, I'll take a GOOD picture of this topcoat so I can show it off.  I use it so much that I guess it deserves better representation!

This is with and without flash.  The blue is one of my Disco Brites (one of my favorite collections of all time) and the pink, I'm pretty sure, is Ruby Kisses Pink Flamingo.

Today's Mani

Today's mani: an unknown Color Club over a matte and satin glitter selfie:

I used a combination of bold and pastel glitters for this one, with a few flower shapes added to the mix.  This one got a lot of compliments, and application is a breeze; I didn't really have to "fish" out the flowers.

A suggestion about making glittery selfies: add a lot of glitter to the bottle, stirring as you go along.  And when you think you've added enough, add more.  And then when you think you've added too much, add more.

You'll thank yourself when you're trying to apply it.

This isn't a hard and fast rule, only a suggestion.  At times you'll want the glitter less densely packed in the polish, but for all intents and purposes, the more glitter the polish contains the better!

Speckled Polish: The Trend

These speckled polishes by Ilumasqua are gorgeous.  Too bad they cost so much, huh?  Sixteen dollars a pop!

I attempted to replicate this on my own a few weeks back.  While I didn't (or didn't bother taking the time to see if I actually did) have the same sizes and shapes of black glitter, I don't feel that's very important because the glitter I DO have can still make a polish with the same overall look and feel.

I decided to try it in a color that isn't represented in the actual collection (a pale yellow), and after a few minutes of playing around, I came up with this:

I don't have the actual polish on hand to compare it to, but from swatches I've seen, it's not that bad.

You wanna know the irony?  I love polish so much that I just decided to break down, in the end, and buy a set of the Ilumasquas.  But they're sold out, so I can't.  I was unsure of whether or not I'd try another bottle--after all, the recipe does need a bit of tweaking--but now it seems that if I want it in another color, I'm going to have to.

Valentine's Day Manicure

I decided to go with a foil look in various shades of red and pink foil and nail polish.  This is over an unknown Color Club:

One thing I have to say is that foil wears away very easily.  While it's a cinch to remove with regular nail polish remover, if you do a lot with your hands, you'll find you won't need nail polish for it to come off.  I'm always typing, or washing dishes, or washing my hands, so a lot of times manicures are very short-lived on me, but I don't mind.  With all the nail stuff I have in my stash, I NEED an excuse to change my manicure every single day!

Another Foil Look

Another foil manicure with a matte topcoat.

I have quite a few different matte topcoats.  I don't know why I use them more.  They look great over glittery polish as well.

Embracing the Foil Nail Trend

A company called Ciaté came out with a foil manicure kit.  I saw it and had to have it.  And once I got it and tried it, I realized I liked it--a lot.  Browsing various blogs, I realized that many women have been doing foil manicures for ages.  So I decided to go to a third party vendor and order additional foil and glue.  I don't readily endorse many other companies on here, but I was pleased with the company I ordered the supplies from.  And the third party foil and glue is a lot cheaper than the Ciaté kits!

This is one of my foil manicures.  I'm pretty sure I used third-party foil for this:

I've probably foiled my nails five or six times by now with either the standalone foil or Ciaté foil, and suffice it to say, if I'm not wearing glitter on my nails these days, I'm wearing foil!

Very Pink-ish

I don't have a name for this one, but it's made of several types of glitter.

Swatched with Revlon Sugar Glaze:

I like!

Zoya Gold Glitter

A lot of manufacturers are coming out with gold glitter topcoats.  Unlike typical gold glitter topcoats, the better ones these days contain actual gold.  When I saw these, I knew I wanted to own a few.

Pictured below is just a snap of my fingers wearing the Zoya gold topcoat.  I can't remember what color is under it, but the combination of bright gold flakes over the rich pink polish looks fantastic.

The polish, non-surprisingly, is quite thick, and the glitter is more sparse than it appears to be.  I used three layers of it to build it up to this density!

But I like the polish a lot.

Having gold-trimmed fingers isn't super inexpensive, though.  It costs around $35 per bottle.