L'Oréal 842 Aurore & second attempt at water marbling

L'Oréal - 842 Aurore, 4 coats

Another old sucky L'Oréal LaquiResist polish, I haaaaaate the formula! I had to do four coats to hide VNL, and of course it wouldn't dry and I woke up with sheet marks. Mind you that there was at least six hours between me finishing the mani and going to bed. The colour itself is cute, a pastel baby blue, but the finish is somewhat frosty and the fact that it won't dry... yuck.

L'Oréal - 842 Aurore & water marbling, 4 coats

(Eek, I can't believe how hard it was to get a decent shot of my right hand...) Quick, you have to camouflage the ugly! I used Essie Mod Squad (pink), Misa Honeybunch (white glass fleck) and H&M Hello Kitty brand turquoise. Even though I worked fast, I had trouble with the layer of polish hardening before I could drag a toothpick across it to make the pretty swirls. The water I used was regular, room temperature soft tap water that I had left to sit overnight... I may need to experiment with store-bought filtered water.

Petites Daze & LaRosa Maroon Red

Petites - Daze, 3 coats

Dazed, yes, but definitely not confused - unless this out-of-this-world green foil causes you to drool all over the keyboard and its stunning beauty gives you heart palpitations. :P~ This is perfection, my quest for the ultimate blend of kelly/lime green has come to an end. Since the Petites are only .25 fl.oz. each I bought two bottles of Daze so I won't have to regulate its use.

Petites - Daze & LaRosa - Maroon Red, 3 + 1 coats

...And of course I had to try crackle over Daze. Maroon Red has two purple pigments in it which you can clearly see in the photo above. This is what the Joker would wear as his mani, lol.

China Glaze Lighthouse & first attempt at water marbling

China Glaze - Lighthouse, 2 coats over 1 coat of Rimmel - Sunshine

This is Lighthouse, a cheerful yellow glass flecked polish, and my favourite from China Glaze's Anchors Away collection. It's a relative of Misa Under My Sunbrella but whereas the Misa is like a tall glass of chilled fruit punch, Lighthouse is sunshine in a bottle. B)

China Glaze - Lighthouse & water marbling

This was my first foray into the world of water marbling and albeit messy, it was also tons of fun. I used Essie Mod Squad (pink creme), Misa Honeybunch (white glass fleck), a white jelly and a clear polish. Most people use Scotch tape to ease cleanup, but I grabbed a tin of unused petroleum jelly lip balm (didn't like the scent) and an artist's brush and carefully masked the cuticle area and the surrounding skin with the jelly. This took more time than covering the skin with tape, but oh how easy it was to simply wipe away the excess polish afterwards! Of course you'll have to wait for the water marble to dry but that doesn't take long.

H&M Peppermint Fusion, Milani Cyberspace & IsaDora Spraycan Blue

H&M - Peppermint Fusion, 2 coats

I've been lemming for Barielle Slate of Affairs for ages, and now H&M has released a colour that is very close to it! A dusty periwinkle with turquoise shimmer, Peppermint Fusion is slightly more vivid than SoA but it's a near dupe and close enough to the Barielle to kill my lemming.

H&M - Peppermint Fusion & Milani Cyberspace, 2 + 1 coats

Did a coat of Milani Cyberspace, a blue scattered holo...

H&M - Peppermint Fusion, Milani Cyberspace & IsaDora - Spraycan Blue, 2 + 1 coats

...and then applied IsaDora Spraycan Blue crackle over the whole thing. This dark blue crackle is not completely opaque, letting the underlaying polish to shine through, and has shimmer in it. IsaDora's brush is perfect for applying crackles with one stroke and their formula is among the best.

Lilac OPI knockoff & nail art stickers

Lilac OPI knockoff & nail art stickers, 2 coats

Here's a fake, stinky "OPI" that I found on eBay about a year ago. The bottle has a white cap and the sticker on the bottom says the colour is #681 Sheer Nude. :D It has the ProWide brush which I love, but the formula was terribly thick and I ended up thinning this one a lot. I pretty much had to pat the polish on and then wait 30 minutes between coats to avoid bubbling. Nevertheless, it's quite a cute colour and reminds me of Nubar Vaso.