Layla Ocean Rush & Ultra Violet

Hi, today I'm showing you the other two Layla holographic polishes that I meant to show you three months ago! (You can see Mercury Twilight and Flash Black here.) Today's are definitely my favourites - with a purple and a blue, how could I resist?! I didn't use a base or top coat for the swatches, I just prepped my nails with the Layla nail buffer.

First up is Ocean Rush. It's a bright blue linear holographic. It's quite pigmented and only needed two coats. The holo effect is very strong, even in the shade.

Ultra Violet is a blue-toned light purple linear holographic polish. I used two coats again.

Sometimes when I see a really hot guy or a really cute puppy my brain just sort of stops working for a moment like it's gone into cardiac arrest, because it simply can't handle the gorgeousness... These polishes have the same effect. They're just too pretty! I'd be hard-pressed to pick my favourite of the two. Layla recently released some more holographic shades, and while I haven't bought any of them yet, my resistance is waning!

Layla Mercury Twilight & Flash Black

Today's post has been a long time coming! I bought four of the Layla holographic polishes back in April (I used one in my St George's Day manicure) but waited for a sunny day to swatch them all. This finally happened in May - thanks, British weather! - but then the photos just, um, sat on my camera for the next two months. The reason? I took close on fifty photos of each polish, and I liked them all so much that I just couldn't narrow down which ones to post!

So more than three months after I first bought these polishes, I have finally been ruthless and chosen the best photos. Today I'm showing you two of the polishes, and I'll show you the other two tomorrow. The swatches show no base coat or top coat.

First up is Layla Mercury Twilight, a classic silver linear holographic polish. I don't have any other silver holographics to compare it to, but it looks pretty darn holographic to me. I found the formula to be a little lumpy, which I've heard can be a problem with some linear holos, but I then shook it well and this got rid of them. It was also a little sheer; I used three coats.

Layla Flash Black is, as the name suggests, a black linear holographic. It was more opaque than Mercury Twilight and I only needed two coats. I think I like it more than MT - I'm a huge fan of unusual black polishes. It also wasn't lumpy!

I got these polishes from Simply Occasions, the UK supplier of Layla polishes, for £11.25 each. They were dispatched very quickly and came with a free Layla nail buffer, which I used to prep my nails before painting them. Even having done this, I found that I still had to be careful when painting each coat not to press too hard or it would create bald spots. Still, I think such gorgeous nail polishes are worth a bit of hassle!

Do you have any of the Layla holographic polishes? What do you think of them?

Happy St George's Day!

Happy St George's Day (and Shakespeare's birthday, and JMW Turner's birthday)! I did festive nails for St Patrick's Day last month, so it's only fair I do them to celebrate England's patron saint too. (In case you were wondering, I am mostly English but with a couple of Irish great-grandparents, and a French grandfather.)

An-y-way, I decided to use the English flag as my inspiration as it's patriotic *cough* and easy *cough* but with a little twist. I used a recent addition to my nail polish collection, Layla Mercury Twilight, a silver linear holographic, as my base (you will be seeing proper swatches of this polish very soon). I then used a striper brush to make the cross shape using China Glaze Ruby Pumps, a red glitter. On with the photos!

So there we have it: my blingy English nails. Is anyone else doing anything to celebrate St George's Day?