9 Days of Shimmer - Day 1, Jasmine & Mermaid Scales

9 Days of Shimmer - Day 1!

Greetings all!

I recently got my grubby little mitts on a selection of ridiculously beautiful indie polishes by Shimmer. Seeing as we all love a bit of indie eye candy, I thought I'd do a themed post selection and share each and every polish with you! They really are so gorgeous they deserve individual attention. Each post will have swatches, and a bit of nail art too cause I get itchy nails!

First up: Jasmine. Beware- this is a pic heavy post!

I actually squealed when I saw this polish. It's a clear glitter base with a mixture of tiny hexes of green, gold, red, dark blue and light blue mixed with even teenier iridescent colours scattered throughout. The artistry involved in this polish (and all the Shimmer polishes) has blown me away, there's so many facets! I layered it over OPI Catch Me In Your Net, but two coats applies so opaque that you can't even see the base coat. Two top coats of Poshe for a really shiny finish. Also, lovely application, which surprised me for such a thick polish.

You can see the different colours of glitter better in the slightly blurred picture below:

I instantly thought 'mermaid' when I saw this polish- which coincides perfectly with this week's Crumpet's Nail Tarts Mermaid themed challenge - so I thought I'd add a bit of a fish scale effect with Sally Hansen Silver Sweep and my Bundle Monster plate BM-209

Isn't it amazing?! I'm in love!

Tomorrow: Liana!

Visit Shimmer' website here
Visit Shimmer's Etsy store here

 This polish was sent for review

Tapes and Polkas

Sorry I've been MIA for the last week- I've been away with work (some god forsaken field in the middle of Wales again) but only one more exhibition left, whoo!

Sadly my nails did not survive a week of lugging boxes around...I had an unfortunate disagreement with a plastic lid and snapped off my index nail! Therefore I have been forced to nubbinise my claws. Although, on the plus side it means I can rock some cute polka dots.

I used:

George @ Asda Sherbert Fizz

Rimmel Grey Matter

Tape

Dotting tool

Poshe (bubbles of DOOM!)

I put the pink on first, then once it was dry taped off half my nail and applied the grey, then dotted on reverse coloured polka dots with a dotting tool. Simple, quick, easy- my kind of nail art.

Thanks for reading!

Alice

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Invasion of the British

So, I might be a bit bit late with the whole invasion of the British thing- I know Union flags on nails have been done a billion times before- but I just thought I'd share my ones because they took fooking ages!

Did these over Jubilee weekend but never got round to blogging about them. I think I got a bit sick of being British to be honest- what with the wedding, the Jubilee, Wimbledon, I ODed a bit on the whole patriotism thing. But I am loving the Olympics so I thought I'd get back in the game!

These looked a lot better in person than in pictures, boo. This is my favoured technique- I always try and use tape where I can because a) I'm lazy and b) they make nice crisp lines.

I used:

OPI Nail Envy (blue is a bitch for staining)

OPI Ogre The Top Blue

Rimmel Double Decker Red

Revlon White

Seche Vite

Sellotape

Scissors

Tiny art brush

My red polish was a tiny bit gloopy and quickly became a NIGHTmare to work with. Next time I'll use an OPI or an Essie, as they're slightly more watery and easier to apply.

Also, I have been informed that a Union Jack is in fact only a Jack when it's on the side of a ship. Otherwise it's a plain old Union flag. Trivia of the day!

Alice

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