Dark Metal Lacquer True

Dark Metal Lacquer True

This is the second of the polishes I bought from Dark Metal Lacquer recently -True. A beautiful cornflower blue scattered holo! I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves... first, on a sunny day, but not in direct sunlight:

Then in strong, direct sunlight:

Dark Metal Lacquer True

And in the shade, still a very, very pretty shade of blue....

Dark Metal Lacquer True

And finally, artificial lighting...

Dark Metal Lacquer True

I love this, and holo is probably one of my least favourite finishes. Application was easy - this is two coats with Seche Vite. There was no pulling or dragging and the topcoat didn't spoil the holo, like it does with some of the fussy holo classics. I'd definitely recommend this polish to all holo fans!

I purchased True from Dark Metal Lacquer Etsy shop (using a blogger discount) - I also got a purple holo shade, Havens, which look super-pretty in the bottle - but I'm saving that one for a special occasion. Since I got these some very pretty pastel holo shades appeared in the shop too - I might be tempted by a couple of those in the future!

Laqa&Co TUXEDO and Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit - swatch and review

Laqa&Co Tuxedo

I've got some nail art staples to share today - black polishes and a nail art tool kit including brushes, striping tape and  dotting tools! 

Let's start at the beginning with the polishes. This is a polish duo from Laqa&Co - 'Tuxedo' is a glossy and matte pair. They come in the double ended bottle like the Laqa&Co Gold Fleck Manicure range - I have to say I'm not keen on the bottle format, it makes the brush harder to control because of the weight of the bottle in your hand and it leaves the tiny bottle you are painting from rather unstable. The polishes inside the bottles are great though!

Here are the black polishes on their own to start with - this is one coat of each , no topcoat. I'm impressed with both of them; the matte is a bit streaky but I think that is more down to me not being able to hold the brush steady because the 'handle' is a bottle of polish and is too long and heavy!

My first trial was to use the black polishes over my existing mani (Laqa&Co Bobby Dazzler) to create some nail art skittles using the Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit. The kit includes a flat wide brush (which I've been using as a clean-up brush for the edges of my nails; this is a perfect brush for this), a fine brush for detailing, a striping brush, a fan brush, two double-ended dotting tools (small and large) and a roll of striping tape. Just about everything you need to get started! I used the small dotting tool and the fine brush for my index finger, the striping brush for my middle finger and the fan brush for my ring finger; for all these fingers I used the glossy black from the Tuxedo duo. For my little finger I created a 'ladybird' nail - first I used the striping tape to make a neat edge for the french tip, then applied the matte black. Then I added the matte black dots with the biggest dotting tool.

Nail Art with Laqa&Co Tuxedo and Bobby Dazzler

My next test was a Tuxedo mani - but I liked the ladybird nail too much to remove it so it stays as my accent nail! I used the striping tape again to create the neat edges on the black nails.

And then I added black dots to match the ladybird nail on my other nails - glossy dots on the matte nail, matte dots on the glossy nails. I love how this worked out!

Nail Art with Laqa&Co Tuxedo and Bobby Dazzler

I wanted to wear this for a few days to see how long the matte stayed matte, so when I got bored with the ladybird nail I changed the accent for this green holo (Enchanted March 2014).

Nail Art with Laqa&Co Tuxedo and Enchanted March 2014

I'm pleased to report that the matte stayed matte until I removed the mani after three days. Sometimes matte polishes start out looking fabulous but go shiny almost overnight - this one did stand the test of time. And finally, here is a rare shot of my right hand - I reversed the pattern so I get more of that green holo goodness here. You can see the matte black is streaky here... definitely harder to apply and get a good finish with my left hand using that bottle!

My verdict on the Laqa&Co Tuxedo duo is that the polishes themselves are great, but I'm not keen on the packaging. I'd be all over these if they were sold in separate, full size bottles though. The Models Own Nail Art Toolkit is great, it contains a good range of brushes and dotting tools to cover most needs, the brushes are good quality and easy to handle. They seem to withstand cleaning in acetone pretty well. The striping tape is good and sticky (some versions are not) and a good addition to the kit - I like to use it for making neat edges as well as the more obvious 'stripey' manis!

Laqa&Co Tuxedo and the Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit were sent for review. Laqa&Co Tuxedo is available from  Retail Beauty in the UK. The duo is £14.95, which I think is quite pricey for such small bottles. The Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit is available from Models Own for a very reasonable £8. I purchased Enchanted March 2014 from a friend (the Enchanted monthly polishes are an unseen pre-order - my friend doesn't like green!).

Iconic Effect Astral Plane

Iconic Effect Astral Plane 

This is my first Iconic Effect polish! Quite timely because the day it arrived, Iconic Effect was announced UK Indie Brand of the Year, and winner of the best UK Indie Polish (Extreme Holo Topcoat) so I was feeling a bit sheepish not having tried them yet. Especially since I won the UK Indie Mani of the Year with my Quirk Madame Thenardier mani (last mani in this post here)   :)

It's a super holographic duochrome in a bright purply-blue with a strong purple shift, a sort of coppery purple. Although I have a lot of pictures, at this time of year its hard to do a holo polish justice, but in artificial light, it is really holo - I'm looking forward to revisiting this one in the summer. Here it is in the best sunlight I had all day:

And in more subdued light, you can see the duochrome shift better...........

Popping it under my daylight lamp really shows off the holo, although this burns out the duochrome. This polish seems impossible to photograph showing off both the duochrome AND the holo at the same time!

Iconic Effect Astral Plane 

Macros are obligatory I think - starting with an abstract, fuzzy one; I love how the holo particles spread out into little pools of colour!

Iconic Effects Astral Plane 

These two are a bit more representative of what the polish looks like under my daylight lamp, with holo in full on bling mode! I could only take macros under the daylight lamp, the DSLR and macro lens need this much light.

Iconic Effect Astral Plane 

In terms of application, Iconic Effect Astral Plane is very straightforward. The polish is rather sheer, so I applied it over a dark blurple base (OPI Sapphire in the Snow) to make the duochrome and holo pop, as suggested in the swatches on Etsy. Next time I'll use it alone; I think that would give a softer look and it would maybe take a few coats to build up a good density of colour.

Actually, I bought two Iconic Effect polishes (to spread the cost of shipping, or is it so they don't get lonely in the post - I can't remember, lol); the other one I got was Northern Lights. Northern Lights is another holographic duochrome, blue-purple again but this time with more of a teal base. I think the shift is more coppery than Astral Plane.  I added a gradient of this polish over Astral Plane. The difference between the two is quite subtle but I like the finished effect!

Iconic Effect Astral Plane with Northern Lights gradient

Iconic Effect Astral Plane with Northern Lights gradient

Honestly, I'm not surprised how popular these polishes have been, they are superb! I purchased Iconic Effect Astral Plane and Northern Lights from the Iconic Effect Etsy shop.

Nelly Polish *holo* in Burnt Copper and Night Sky

Nelly Polish Burnt Copper and Night Sky

OK, I combined these two polishes in a gradient and I like it so much that's where I'm starting my post! I reviewed Nelly Polish Forest Holo the other day, and I mentioned I had a couple of others to try.......... well here they are! The are the same smooth, shimmery formula as Forest and two equally delicious colours. First up is Burnt Copper:

Nelly Polish Burnt Copper

This is a rich copper shimmer with a touch of holo - just what it says on the tin really. Application is very easy, the polish is a nice texture (I got the ready mixed versions of all these; I'm too much of a coward to risk mixing my own polishes from dried ingredients, but you can buy Nelly Polishes in a dried format if you do fancy having a go at mixing) goes on smoothly. I used three coats and a coat of Seche Vite quick drying top coat to give it a good shine - Nelly Polish Burnt Copper dried semi-matte.

Nelly Polish Burnt Copper

There's no sign of any brush strokes, as you can see in my macro shots (second one in brighter sunlight):

Nelly Polish Burnt Copper

And here is Night Sky. This might be my favourite of the three, but I love blue nails.

Nelly Polish Night Sky

On the nail, this one has a bit of a duochrome shift to purple in the sun, which I really like. As before, this is three coats with Seche Vite quick dry top coat to make it shiny......

Nelly Polish Night Sky

And a couple of macro shots to show the shimmer in its full glory!

Nelly Polish Night Sky

Then I decided to play around with a gradient. Blue and brown is one of my favourite colour combinations, but since these polishes are quite sheer, I wasn't sure it would work so well, but I was very pleasantly surprised!  I applied the gradient with the two colours painted on a damp makeup sponge over a base of Nelly Polish Burnt Copper. I needed to go over each nail twice with the gradient, but the results were well worth the effort.

Look how the blue and brown pigments blend into each other  - this shows up best in the macro pics...........

Nelly Polish Burnt Copper and Night Sky

Over the copper, the blue tends to reflect a bit more towards purple, but I like that contrast a lot. I love these polishes, they are great on their own but especially fab in combination for a gradient!

These products were provided for my review; you can purchase Nelly Polishes direct from the maker Hilary at her Etsy Shop