Jun 29, 2014

Rockjewel gaining strength with Arcane Lacquer The Power The Passion

The Power The Passion by Arcane Lacquer was one of many polishes I bought at the latest sale at Norway Nails. I think this was in the sales section so it was already at a very reasonable price, and the sale cut that price with 50%. A bargain!

It is a beautiful deep dark blue-ish purple with multi-colored micro-glitter. I love this kind of polish, they are like starry skies. In the right lighting it looks like it is really deep, much deeper than the mere millimeter on the nails.

Easily applied, two coats gives opacity. It is lovely without topcoat, a bit of matte finish, but even more beautiful with topcoat. I used two coats of Orly Sec'N Dry. If you have a thicker topcoat, like Seche Vite or similar, on coat might be enough.

Jun 28, 2014

Rockjewel had hopes fulfilled with Dance Legend Wow Prism High Hopes

When I first saw photos of the Wow Prism collection by dance Legend I thought it looked nice, but I wasn't overwhelmed. Still decided to order Posion and was surprised that it was so much more beautiful irl. 
I bought High Hopes from Llarowe a while ago, if I remember correctly it was on sale. I'm as impressed by this as with Poison, lots of shimmer, beautiful scattered holo with lovely color shifts. 
The formula is excellent, most DL-polishes are like that. Almost a one-coater but two makes perfect. Another good feature is that it almost looks like a glitter polish, but not any problems removing it. 
As always I use Sally Hansen Hard as Nails as basecoat and Orly Sec'N Dry as topcoat.

I took pictures both outside in the sun and inside with artificial lighting. 

Jun 22, 2014

Rockjewel tips the fez for stunning Colors by Llarowe Young Turks

I tried once, it sold out. I tried a second time, same thing. I finally did get this polish, on the third try, happy as a kid :-)
Who can blame me for being persistent, it is really stunning! It is a clean turquoise with a fantastic linear holo, and a kind of satin shimmer. 

The formula is really good! Two easliy applied coats is enough, and the polish ends up where it is supposed too, not too runny, not too gooey.

Jun 15, 2014

Rockjewel scales it up with MckFresh Lady Scales

Lady Scales by MckFresh was included in May edition of What's In-die Box. I really love this sort of dusty green color, if you can say dusty about a polish with loads of shimmer. A proof of my love is that I a couple of weeks before I got this polish I bought Formula X Star Power, a polish with exactly the same color. 


The polish is a bit sheer, but I think three coats on its own would give ok opacity. I actually used the Formula X Star Power as undies. Star Power has a bit of textured finish so the result with both that and the texture from Lady Scales created a nice finish. Still I put topcoat on to smooth it out a bit and enhance the sparkly effect. I was really pleased with the result! Take a look!

Jun 8, 2014

Rockjewel puts Jax's bike on the nails, Harley Dyna by Celestial

I must admit, I haven't seen Sons of Anarchy. I intend to. Maybe a SOA marathon soon? Until then I can enjoy a Harley Dyna. Luckily not the bike, I would look ridiculous on it. The nail polish by Celestial suits me much better.

Harley Dyna is a black jelly polish packed with glitter in various colors and sizes, only small glitters, perfect for me. It is really shiny and sparkling, really beautiful.

The application is easy, the glitters is evenly distributed without effort. I did this mani a couple of weeks ago so I'm not sure if this is two or three coats, probably three since it is a jelly base. 

Jun 6, 2014

Rockjewel jumps on the TARDIS train with Above The Curve Donna

Above The Curve is a new brand to me. I don't remember if I happened to stumple upon it, or if it was a friend who found it. Either way I decided to order some, and another friend joined in,  she is a big fan of Dr Who. I must admit that I'm not. Dr Who is entertaining, but I seldom become a fervid fan of any tv series, I like a lot of them but I seldom follow any of them slavishly.
However... I think I can become an avid fan of Above The Curve! 
So far I have tried Diablos 2.0 and this: Donna. With the Diablos I was a bit tired when I put it on and I didn't want to eternalize the sloppy result, I will do a better job next time. But I managed to put Donna on my nails without major disaster, at least a good enough result :-)

Donna has a very good formula, two coats covers, and the application is quite easy. For the record Diablos 2.0 was as easy and opaque as Donna so I guess that this is common for all Above The Curve polishes. We'll see when I try the other three. The holo effect is medium strong, mostly scattered but in sharper lighting a bit linear holo is also present.
I have also seen swatches from some of the polishes my friend ordered, I might need some of them too. And maybe some from the new ultra holo collection, they are lovely.

Jun 1, 2014

Rockjewel wants a whole bracelet with Lilypad Lacquer Red Pearl

Long time, no Lilypad. But now it is high time to go back to the roots, I mean back to my favorite brand: Lilypad Lacquer.  
This is one of the pearl polishes, Read Pearl. I have three of them (I think...) and they are similar in finish but still different enough, all leaning a bit to the color that their names indicate. Having said that, I think this polish leans a bit more to red-purple than pure red, and that is not a bad thing. 
The fantastic thing about these Pearl polishes is that it is almost impossible to decide if they are dark, light or something in between. It all depends on the lighting and angle: I tried to pick out photos to show the different looks, but it was not easy to capture.

As always the formula is excellent! Two coats, easily applied, covers perfectly. The linear holo effect is stunning, with a lovely color shift.