Recently I went on a night out in London and I wanted some fun nails that would stand out against the black dress I was wearing. I settled on an old favourite, China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy - you can see my swatch here - but I blinged it up a bit with China Glaze Golden Enchantment, a holographic gold micro glitter top coat (what a mouthful!). Then, as if that wasn't enough, I used some square studs that I got recently from the Born Pretty Store.
And here's a photo of it in the shade to show just how neon it is:
P.S. This is a scheduled post as I'm currently on a pub crawl on London. Fun times!
My brother and I share a car (our mum's old one) but he's gone to Australia for six months, which means I have it all to myself - hurrah! I decided to give the inside a proper clean today, which took an HOUR. In the process I found - none of which was mine - eight water bottles, two cassette to mp3 player converters, an EpiPen that expired nine years ago (neither of us could even drive then!), two sunglasses cases, and an inflatable kangaroo. No joke.
Right. Back to nail polish. China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy is something of a legend. It's a neon coral shade that, as far as I know, is completely unique. If you want to get your nails noticed it's the perfect polish, because it is LOUD. For the photos below I used three thin coats plus top coat because as with all neons, it dries to a matte finish. The first two are in the sun and the second two in the shade to show how the colour really pops.
I'm also wearing this on my toes at the moment, but I'll spare you the photos because I think feet are creepy!
You may have noticed that between this post and the previous one my nails have got dramatically shorter. They were the longest they've been for a good six months due to the wonders of OPI Nail Envy (a huge thanks to Jai for recommending it a while ago!), but I found that they just weren't very practical for work and whatnot. I love the idea of long nails in theory...but in practice, not so much. What's your take on them?
Hang-Ten Toes is a cool-toned pink neon - it's such an amazing colour that I've worn it alone twice already! - and Beach Cruise-r is a purple neon. Both have a gorgeous shimmer. I got rather frustrated photographing them because although they're really different in real life, in my photos they look quite similar! Grrr.
You can probably tell that it looks a little thick - this was my fault rather than the formula's, because I didn't make my coats thin enough! I know it's a rubbish excuse to say this looked better in real life...but it did. XD
This is not a manicure for the faint-of-heart! My nails practically stood out from a mile away. I wore this for much longer than I usually wear my manicures because I couldn't bear to remove it!
I started this manicure by painting my nails white (in hindsight I wish I'd skipped this step as you can see it peeking out a bit!). I then did two coats of Nina Ultra Pro Punki Pink and Punki Purple - both neons - on alternate fingers, before placing striping tape on my nails and painting over with Nails Inc Black Taxi.
Unsurprisingly, it didn't turn out quite as flawless as Sammy's, but I'm still pretty happy with it. It's got a kind of retro eighties vibe to it. At least if I ever go to an eighties-themed party, I've got my manicure sorted!
Aaaand just because, here is one of my favourite eighties (read: cheesy) songs ever:
Punki Pink is pretty much what it sounds like - a bright neon pink. The formula was brilliant. It covered in two coats, and while I didn't bother with a white base it still packed a heck of a punch. I felt like I needed to put on sunglasses while I was wearing it! Unfortunately, it's one of those polishes that doesn't photograph well - in real life it's closer to the colour in the bottle, and even brighter.
Also, this is my 100th post. Huzzah!
I started with two coats of Rimmel London Grey Matter. It's a medium grey - a true grey, with no hint of beige or anything like that. It's really clean and fresh-looking, and it looks great on its own, too. I then randomly blobbed on China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise, a neon turquoise with a gorgeous shimmer (FYI: it's more green-toned than it appears in my photos). It's soooo pretty! Finally, I used my trusty black Models Own Wah Nail Art Pen to draw round the blobs, and covered with a top coat. I really like how this turned out, particularly the contrast between the grey and the neon.
Have you jumped on the leopard manicure bandwagon? If not, why not?!
I've had China Glaze Purple Panic and Flip Flop Fantasy in my collection since December, but it seemed a bit weird to wear neons in the winter so they've been languishing in one of my storage containers. They both got their first outing in this manicure! Purple Panic is a neon hot pink with purple shimmer and Flip Flop Fantasy is a neon coral pink. They are both eye-wateringly bright.
Anyway, without further ado, here are the photos (ironically, the sun did appear a little while I was taking them):
What do you think?! :)
