Christmassy-polishy-swatchy.

OK, I re-did my attempt at a Star Kin Christmas mani.
Before you look at the photos...I have had quite a bad week, in terms of my fingers. They are wounded, and some are sore. I also managed to slam the chest freezer lid on my hand today. It was completely and utterly not due to any stupidity on my part. That freezer is incredibly evil. You know, it stores the body parts of horses, chickens, cows, deer and pigs? Even whole pig heads. Sometimes it also has rabbit parts in it. It's a terribly malevolent appliance.
To photos!
First up-Xmas Eve. Star Kin's description-"An inky black night (or black jelly base) swimming with small silvery glitters of excitement, and the red and green glittery decorations of the festive season. This polish also has green and red holo bell shaped glitter, and red holo hearts (for love, of course!)"

My base coats, from thumb to pinky, are: none; Miki Black, Star Kin Polished, Sinful Colors Exotic Green, and Revlon Mon Cherry.

I like it best by itself (2-3 coats), or over black.

Now-Merry Solstice. Description-"This polish has mostly circles, including large, medium and tiny ones, but also some hexes and squares. The glitters are holographic, matte and metallic. There are mostly green and red, but also some gold glitters in here! The base in the bottle looks grey, because I have thrown in a festive helping of cosmetic grade holographic shimmer, which means that anything it is layered over will now have the holographic rainbow in the sunshine."

Base coats are the same. I have 2 coats on, so I could grab some of the bigger glitters.

I like Merry Solstice alone (2-3 coats), but LOVE it over Polished. Polished, another Star Kin, is gorgeous. I'll show you pics of that next time.
 Star Kin is one of my favourite brands. They go on so well, I've found minimal fishing for glitters, and are just so stunning.

Ami and Annette are a mother-daughter polish-making duo, based here in New Zealand, using ingredients that are not tested on animals, and base and dyes which are vegan friendly. They have recently been joined by Harriet, over at Nailhilism. Go check her out!
You can find the Star KinEtsy store here, and have a look at Ami's blog, and facebook page.

It's not really a review, but these opinions are my own, and I bought these polishes of my own free will...and will buy more.

JulieG Holiday 2013 Frosted Gum Drops Collection-post 2

I need to start this off with a warning. BASE COAT! Base coat the hell out of your nails before using Sleigh Ride. Look:

 Not hugely pleased about that, but shit happens, and I really like the polish.


Ok, today I have Silver Bells and Ho Ho Ho. I was talking about polish with one of the kids at work (I'm a nanny; currently have girls aged 8 and 3, and boy aged 5) about the blue, and asking what I should do next. 3yr old A suggested love hearts. Pink ones. So, I obliged.
First up-macro bottle shots.

Silver Bells-did you pick that?

Ho Ho Ho.

Ho Ho Ho is pinker than I had hoped. Yes, it looks pink in the bottle, and I know that comment sounds ridiculous.

And nail shots.

 Macro shot, in attempt to show texturey loveliness.

 I have a couple nubbins at the moment. I had a bad, bad nail day. I cannot face nubbin-ising them all, so they are uneven.
I did the hearts with doting tools. This polish dries fast-which is fantastic for following coats (all pics are 2 coats), but it means you need to work fast when dotting/drawing etc.
Again-no problems with formula or application, it's east to apply and the fast drying means you aren't waiting around to apply the second coat.