If You Didn't Come To Party...

New Year's Eve will always, and forever be linked in my mind to Prince.

Although, come to think of it, a lot of things come back to Prince for me. Say what you will about the man's eccentricities, he has a fuckton of flair and can write a bass hook like no-one's business. He has been apologetically, unabashedly over the top his entire career, and I find that not only sexy, but inspiring. He does what he wants, wears want he wants, and is damn good at what he does behind all that flash. Eline, the very talented writer of A Fluffy Blog (which you should be reading) did a great roundup of Prince's greatest outfits recently, and I was reminded all over again just how much I love this man's chutzpah. I mean, how can you not admire a man with the sheer nerve to appear on stage in a cloud covered suit with matching cuban heels?

I'm restraining myself to one picture, because
if I start on a Prince Outfit Post then we will
be here all day

Apart from the unforgettable song all about New Year's Eve (Please, go look it up on YouTube if somehow have managed not to hear it), his aggressive self belief is also what ties him to this time of year in my head. Even his most strident fans seem express the opinion publically that he's past his prime, that his newer music isn't as good as his old music, that he's lost his touch. Quite apart from the fact that I think this is absolutely not true (listen to Musicology if you don't believe me), I'm blown away by the fact he doesn't care. Prince is just gonna keep doing what Prince gonna do, and the haters can stroll on over to the left.

Every year, the closest I ever get to a New Year's resolution is a vague desire to be happier, to love more, to be less scared, and to be more courageous. So this year I'm going to pin it right down and put it out there - My new Year's Resolution is to Be Like Prince. And with that in mind, here is my contribution to this week's Aussie Nails Monday.


Aussie Nails Monday - Party

For this manicure I went in with the aim of simply adding more and more and more sparkles until it was literally impossible to add any more. And I think I more or less succeeded. 

The polishes I used were Colour Club Halo Hues in Harp On It, Cirque Fascination Street, and Max Factor Fantasy Fire.

To get this effect, I just laid down a good solid base of the Halo Hues, and let it dry for as long as I could stand before sponging the Fascination Street over the top. There are lots of different tutorials around for using sponges to make pretty gradiated effects, but for this one I just painted a stripe of the Fascination Street onto a wedge of kitchen sponge and dabbed it on the top part of the nail until I was happy with it. Then once that was more or less dry, I got my Fantasy Fire and did the exact same thing on the upper third of the nail.

Now if only I had a perfectly tailored holographic suit in a similar gradient to go with it, my life would be complete.

Don't forget to check out the other lovely bloggers who are also in on this challenge!

Nail Gun XS - Marie’s Manicure Madhouse - Tales From The Makeup Bag - Shatter Me Claire - A Polished Prance - Tee Bee’s Nails - The Epitome of Superficiality - Lacquer Dreams - NananaisNails - Enamoured With Enamel - Pretty Polish Please - Adelle1985 - Kelly's Kolors - Polished Peripherals - Every Little Polish - Mel My Issta - Walk In My Eyeshadow - JennLojko - The Polish Haven - Nails In The Desert - Erinzi - Strawbrie - Lovessweetas - Jas' Blingtastic Nails - Mckfresh

Colour Club Halo Hues Review - The goggles, zey do nossink!

You might have noticed by now that I have a terrible weakness for anything excessively sparkly, and the wonders of modern chemistry mean that I have an absolutely staggering array of choices when it comes to bling for my nails. I've already covered Darling Diva's fantastic array of spectraflair wonders, and Cirque's unbearably classy Fascination Street, but today it's all about trashy, tacky, fanastic BLING.
Meet the Color Club Halo Hues.

I got mine from 8ty8 Beauty, on the recommendation of someone in the US. I am guessing if you're also in the US, they are probably your best bet, but their international shipping is simply APPALLING. So if you're stuck on the Continent like me, you should head over to Head2Toe Beauty, who charge the exact same amount for the polishes, but much more reasonable postage.

The ones I ended up choosing after much umming and ahhing were Harp On It and Cloud Nine - in hindsight, I probably should have gone with one of these and one of the stronger colours, since these two look more or less the same on the nail. The following pictures are all Harp On It, but the only discernible difference between this and Cloud Nine is that Cloud Nine has a SLIGHTLY warmer base colour, so the blinding silver looks a TEENY bit more pink.

The formula is lovely - I didn't use anything under it, because it's so jam packed with sparkles there really didn't seem to be any  point. It's a little patchy after one coat, so I used two. You could possibly use three if you really want to burn someone's eyes out, but two is perfectly fine.

I was a little bit disappointed in the lack of rainbow in the holographic effect. Perhaps I've been spoiled by Darling Diva and Cirque, but I was hoping for a fuller spectrum of colours in the reflection. However, it is incredibly, ridiculously shiny. I threatened to do a gradient with my two colours, and my boyfriend immediately insisted I wasn't to go outside with it on because he was concerned I would blind someone.

Sunshine, indirect light

Sunshine, direct light

Inside, artificial light

If this polish and Fascination Street were gems, this would be a diamante and Fascination Street would be a diamond. They're both really shiny, but there is something indefinably cheaper looking about the diamante. The diamond has a richer rainbow reflection, just a few more colours in it.
However, I'm certainly not too proud to turn down a big ol' diamante. There are shinier glitters out there, but quite often there is a lot of skill involved in getting a really full on glitter polish to look good. Ones with chunky glitter need to be dabbed on, ones with tons of glitter need to be soaked off a certain way - it can be tricky, and unless you have the time and energy to sit down and really learn how to do it properly you can get some really, really disappointing results.
But this, like a diamante, is the perfect starting point for any aspiring sparkle junkie. It's so cheap, it's so easy to use, and even better, it cleans up really easily. Go pick one, and blind some civilians for me!

Cirque Fascination Street Review - If I Was A Princess

After my loud proclamations of feminism yesterday, I'd like to confess a deep dark secret.

I fucking love Disney Princesses.

I own this. For really reals.

 There, I said it. Judge away, you have every right. The movies are sexist and racist and dumb as a pile of bricks, and the whole court of Disney Princesses are a dreadful example to little girls everywhere, and I would be mortified if I had a daughter who wanted to be them.

But...but I still love them. They're just so damn beautiful. And elegant. And did I mention beautiful? I mean, just look at Belle, my favourite of the Disney princesses. She's smart, and well read, and looks ADORABLE doing anything. And her HAIR! Her hair is ALWAYS perfect - even when she's been running it sits in perfect little ringlets over her forehead.

Even her WTF face is gorgeous.

Moreover, everything always turns out right for a Disney princess, and I think there is a part of me that has always been desperately, painfully jealous of that. But enough of my childhood trauma. You're probably wondering why on earth I'm confessing this to the internet at large.
It's all because of Cirque's stunning polish, Fascination Street.

If I was a princess, I would have all my dresses made from this nail polish. It's that fucking beautiful. And shut up with your logic about dresses not being able to be made from nail polish, because if I'm a princess we're clearly already well out of the realm of common sense and physics as we know it. If I was a princess, I could have whatever I wanted, I want dresses made from this.

I'd heard about Cirque through the nail blog grapevine, and the reviews were always droolingly good. I admit, because I'm that kind of negative person, this made me a bit skeptical. But holy shit you guys, it really, really is THAT good.
You can actually wear this straight up with no colour underneath, which is a real rarity in holographic polishes. I first tried it over my normal base coat and it went crazy streaky, but I have read this is just something that happens with holographic polishes sometimes. The second time I tried it I used no base coat, and it went on like butter. Well, no, not butter. It didn't run down my fingers and make an oily mess or anything. Icing maybe? Something smooth and creamy that stays right where you put it? Let's go with icing. Sparkly, sparkly icing.

Under artificial light

Outdoors in the shade

Outdoors in the sun

When used on it's own, I put three coats on just to get it to the level of opacity I like. You could probably get away with two though, if you're better at putting it on really evenly than I am. The base colour is a soft purple, right down the end of purple where it runs into navy blue. In the shade, it looks like a lovely dark lavender, but in the sunshine the navy comes out much more strongly. As does the holographic rainbow effect, and that for me is the real gem.
The hologram effect in this is just ASTONISHINGLY strong, and such a complete rainbow. Comparing the rainbow effect on this to the Darling Diva I tried for my last review is like the difference between diamonds and diamantes. They're both sparkly as hell, but if you look really closely the shine on this is somehow...richer. More detailed, with more colours, and a really strong line of rainbow where the light hits it.

You could absolutely use this on it's own, but because I still haven't been able to shake that little goth inside me who is always asking, "Can it be any blacker?" I decided to try it with a dark base coat. This next lot of pictures are with the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Uptempo Plum that I used for the Darling Diva skittle nails.
(Just as a little bit of bonus reviewing, can I just say how bloody brilliant that Insta-Dri stuff is? The brush is wide and flat and just PERFECT, and the formula is thick enough that you really only need to use one coat. It's MAGIC) I was concerned the base might be a bit too red to match properly, but it turns out the colour in Fascination Street is actually dense enough to more or less cover up the base. I'm possibly just imagining it, but I do feel like the darker base does make the sparkle stand out more, even though I can't actually see that much difference in the overall colour in strong light.

However, when you have the beauty in the shade and you're not dazzled by the holographic effect, there is actually quite a difference in the overall colour when you put something dark underneath.

Outdoors in the shade

Inside, under flouro lights.

Honestly, the difference is a matter of personal taste. Both ways, it's just breathtaking, and the kind of polish that really will have you staring at your fingers every chance you get. Seriously, I've nearly dropped my coffee twice today getting distracted by my thumb nail. So, you know, maybe switch to a sippy cup if you're as distractable as I am.The other thing about this polish that is making me look a little less sophisticated than the average princess is the fact I can't keep them away from my nose. The site claimed that "Organic lavender and clary sage essential oils have been added to lend your hands a subtle scent after the polish dries." I remember reading this and thinking it was almost certainly nonsense, because, well, it sounds ridiculous. How could nail polish possibly smell NICE? But it actually DOES. It's not even a weird fake smell, just this ever so faint whaft of lavender whenever your nails get close to your nose. This seems to last at least overnight, and probably more like two days if you don't get your fingers all nicotine stained like I do. I have no idea how this works, but it's marvellous.

I had read from other nail bloggers about the idea of getting a "backup bottle" of your favourite polishes, and I gotta admit, the idea sounded ridiculous. It's just nail polish! How nice could it be? There will be another one. But now...now I understand. As soon as I first walked outside with this on, I wanted to run back in and order another bottle just in case. This polish is so gorgeous, and so easy to use, that I am totally willing to do a complete 180 on my previous scorn of backup bottles and happily stash a couple away so I can use it forever.

Anyway, that's enough fangirlish dribbling from me. You should head over to Cirque and check out their dazzling array - just don't buy any Fascination Street until I have my backup bottle. *glares*