Zoya London: Sooooooo Quirky.

But not.

Today is the A-Z Challenge and once again I will be late. Not only am I busy this week, but I am doing things that need my nails to not be too quirky(The letter this week is Q). So I have gone in the total opposite direction of quirky and have a swatch for you guys.

This is London from Zoya's soon to be discontinued PixieDust line. It's a gray textured polish with silver shimmer. I used 2  easy coats for this swatch. To get it smooth I only needed 2 coats of top coat. Honestly out of all the textured polishes I have, this is probably the one I like the least. Not to say I don't love it, just out of all of them I am the least impressed with this one. It's very pretty, but doesn't make me swoon.

No topcoat

 Topcoat

Beyone The Nail - Winter Wonderland: I'm just going to keep your gift for me.

 Today is actually the A-Z challenge but I'm actually going to show you that post later as it's not done. Why is it not done you ask?  Well did you ever put on a polish with the intention to do nail art, but then you just can't do it right away. You just have to wear the polish on it's own for a bit. Well that is the case today. 

I saw a couple of swatches of Beyond the Nail's Winter Wonderland while looking for a polish to give as a Christmas gift, and I immediately knew I had to have it. This colour sort of remind me of a colour I love to hate, OPI's My Point Exactly. Both are pale grays, with blue undertones, but MPE is darker. Two things I loved about this polish was unlike a lot of pale colours, especially crellys, this did not need a million coats. It only needed two, but I added another because I knew I was going to use flash. I also love the fine holographic glitter. It's packed to the hilt with it but it still isn't overwhelming. It's quite the chic holo. You can also get this polish scented with either Eggnog, Spiced Cranberry, or Gingerbread scent. I can't tell you if these are good as I chose unscented. Scented polishes for me smell great for maybe half an hour, then they usually start making me queasy.

I'm really glad I bought it, but I'm sad I didn't get more. Especially when I saw the polish I bought for part of my friends Christmas gift, Space Cadet, a purple holo jelly(You can see it at the bottom). There was a small part of me that thought "Maybe I should keep it". Anyways, if you would like a bottle, you can head on over to their website where their polishes sells for in between $6.50-$10(USD). The two I got were both $10(USD).

 FLASH(AH-HA!)

 No Flash

 Not the best photo, but I wanted to try and show off just how much holo is in it.

Space Cadet and Winter Wonderland

If my friend who is getting Space Cadet sees this, sorry. That being said I don't know if she even reads the blog :P

Happy Birthday Doctor Who: Perfect time to whip out Who themed polish!

So I have been SUPER busy the past few days.  I usually get home close to midnight.  Last night I got home just after one, after a fantastic show I did and I'm going to be doing another show tonight.  I actually won't be able to watch Doctor Who's 50 Anniversary special because I will be on my way to rehearsal.  My original plan was to do some really cool nail art, but I was so tired and I just gave up.  But as a loyal Whovian I still had to have Who nails.  So I made it easy for myself and just used my bottle of Nerd Lacquer Don't Blink.

If Don't Blink or Weeping Angels mean nothing to you, I linked you to some info. Because I don't have much time atm.   I will say It's one of the few things I like Steven Moffat for.   This polish was is a light  gray crelly filled with with white and silver hex glitter of varying sizes.  I used 3 coats.  I would have only used two but the the glitter was VERY sparse on the first coat.  My one issue with this polish is that the glitter sinks.  So if you don't shake it after a few nails you won't get enough glitter.  Shaking aside I thought it was VERY pretty.

So tell me what are your feelings on the 50th?  Spoil away. I'm not a person bothered by spoilers.

A little less white in person.

Claw Polish - Phantom + The cutest zombie hand ever!

Let's just bang out the polish review first.  I actually won Phantom!   I was going to try and find a bottle of China Glaze Immortal(Halloween 2012) originally but when I won this my cravings for a shimmery gray had been satisfied.

Phantom is medium, leaning dark gray, with silver, blue and pink shimmer.  It was opaque in only 2 coats.  It was pretty much a perfect gray polish.  Honestly if you like gray polishes you should try and get your hands on this.  I can't tell you where to buy them or how much they are as I won this and have never seen it in stores.

 The pink was hard to capture, but you can see it here!

I wore it for 2 days before I decided I wanted to do some nail art on it.  So I thought it would be cute to do a little graveyard mani.  And my ring finger is a zombie hand reaching out.  I don't know why but my first thought was "That's a cute little hand."  My second thought was "It's probably a child."  Then I started thinking, would I have it in me to kill this undead child?  Probably.  The cross is a little decrepit and uneven looking, but I'm just going to say it's because it's an unknown grave, that has been neglected and forgotten over time.

I look mildly jaundice!

It has been far too long since my Last Doctor Who manicure. Time to whip out the Nerd Lacquer.

First off I can now officially say people have asked me for my autograph more than once, and second, my autograph is horrible.  Problems eh? 

Anyways I did another one of those fan fiction shows and as always it was super fun(even when I had to put someones hand in my mouth).  The theme this month was again Doctor Who.  I was going to wear my TARDIS dress but there was a TARDIS console built on the stage.  So if I dressed like a TARDIS standing in the TARDIS that would be some weird paradox stuff I want to steer clear of.  So I decided instead to go as Jack Harkness!

I decided I wanted to keep my manicure simple.  So all I did was use 2 coats of OPI's You Don't Know Jacques Suede, and on top of that I used 1 coat of Nerd Lacquer's Exterminate(My first NL BTW).  I used this specifically because a Dalek is what kills him the first time.  And since I didn't have a jacket for him I decided to do a simplified version of the detailing on the shoulders of his jacket for accent nails.  On my thumb and ring fingers I used Sephora By OPI's Break a Leg Warmer and OPI's My Pointe Exactly(I JUST realized they were both from two separate ballet collections :P).  And I also used a combo of Dior's Bronze Libertine and Chanel's Graphite for the button.

I like how it turned out.  Simple, but I like it.

 Detailing on Jack's Jacket

This is either the worst Valentines Day post or th best + 'Like' me!

So I had something else in mind for today.  I had been wanting to do it for a while.  And I started it last night. But the problem is my sleep schedule has been getting rather normal.  Horrible I know.  So while I was waiting for the polish to dry I flat out fell asleep.  And long story short today I dont have it in me to do nail art.  But don't worry I still have this!  It's either the best or the worst Valentines Day mani.

It's either the worst because it's just a swatch.  3 coats of OPI's My Boyfriend scales walls.  A white polish with gray undertones.  Who's formula was ok.

Or it's the best.  Because while the manicure may be plain, what it actually represents is the purity that is love.  Or some mushy bs like that :)

I will post show you what I had originally planned to do sometime next week!

Also you guys would make my Valentines Day if you went over to (https://www.facebook.com/GirlyBits/posts/289245867871098?comment_id=1300111&offset=0&total_comments=108) and 'like' my comment. "Tie your Girly Bits Down".  I'll level with you.  I want to win and I have no shame(That part of my brain was removed).  Vote for me and I will also lower your taxes and give you free health care(if you don't already have it)* Contest ends at midnight.

*legally I can’t do those things.

Fancy Polish...if it burns a little that's ok right?

So after my audition(which as it turned out went well) yesterday I decided to go out and buy a bottle of nail polish.  I went looking around Chinatown to see if there was anything interesting.

That's when I found this bottle of what looked like black stuff with glitter.  It had no labels at all on it.  When I opened it I realized it was a black glitter with large, medium and small hexagonal glitter in a grayish base.  I thought cool, I'll buy this.  At the counter the lady smiled at me and said "Fancy polish."

Indeed it was.

When I got home I opened the bottle and wow did it smell like hell on fire.  And the smell just lingered.  Anyways I decided to layer it over a plain ol white.  This confirmed that the base was i fact gray.

Now you know when you put on polish your fingers get that cold feeling?  Well that happened.  Followed by burning and tingling.   I hoped when I removed it my nails wouldn't come of with the polish.

Sorry the pictures aren't the best.  It was extremely cloudy, and I took the pictures and then took it off soon after.  The sun came out later but I was not having my fingers fall off.

I probably wont use this again.  This is like the gonorrhea of nail polish.  That's one of the burning diseases right?

Zoya FeiFei: In which Zoya is redeemed.

So you all know about my love/hate(more hate) relationship with Zoya polishes.  Much like Lippmann, Zoyas chip on me in HOURS.  Like, just so fast.  It's rage inducing to paint your nails a gorgeous new colour only to have to take it all off before you're able to wear it out of the house.  I very rarely buy Zoyas because I never wanted to have to buy a separate base and top coat just to use them.  I think brands like Zoya can afford to step up their game and make polishes that work with other top and base coats.  Come on, guys.  It's not hard.

BUT recently I decided to go for it and I swapped for the Zoya Colour Lock system,  so I decided to get myself a new Zoya to test it out.  I decided on FeiFei really easily, it was just so interesting that I knew I needed it, even if it never left my house.  FeiFei is a true chameleon, one of the nicest polishes I've ever seen.  A grey(I THINK) base with lots of blue, purple, green, and gold.  Every time it hit the light I got a different colour.  I love this so much.

So the big question, how did the base a top coat fare?  Well... Better than usual, but nothing terribly amazing.  I wore it for three days, had a very small chip on day two and a larger chip on my thumb on day three.  I tried the "system" with Charla and Mimi in recent days as well to similar results.  So Zoya with it's special and fancy "Colour Lock" system lasts for less time on average than A England with whatever I have lying around.  Sure, I'm impressed, but only because anything longer than two hours with Zoya on is practially a miracle for me.

Natural low light.  LOOK AT THOSE COLOURS DO YOU SEE ALL THE COLOURS?????

Sally Hanson's Gray Area: Y U Bubble?

Sally Hanson's Gray area is a gray cream with brown and purple undertones.  For these photos I used 2 coats.  And the formula was pretty good!

My problem with it was when I woke up the next morning it had bubbled.  You can actually kind of see it starting on the ring finger in the photos.  Now maybe it was my fault.  Maybe I layered the coats on too thick.  I'll give this polish another shot though.  It's such a pretty and chic fall colour!

I should also mention I can't stand the bottle.  You wipe off the brush, start doing your nails, and boom, an avalanche of polish that had been on the length of the brush. Longer doesn't mean better...if you know what I mean. (Get your face out of the gutter).

Ruby Kisses-Steel Magnolia + OPI-I Lily Love You = Times Square After Midnight

So the only reason I bought I Lily Love you is because back when I was in NYC last September I was going to a taping of Anderson Coopers talk show and I wanted to change my nails up.  George had ILLY you and And I had Steel Magnolia.  I don't know why but I decided to layer them.  I loved it! It reminded me of photos I had seen of Times Square after midnight, after the confetti, and after every one had left. Well minus all the disgusting garbage.

Steel Magnolia is a charcoal gray packed with silver shimmer (that flashes the dreaded teal).  The formula is fantastic.  To EASY coats.

ILLY is a very pale pink jelly packed with iridescent flakies and glitter of all shapes and sizes.  I used two coats on my nails.  This was a mega bitch to take of.  One of the worst polishes to remove in my opinion.

 You can see the teal here.

And a bit here.

 With I Lily Love You.

 Wish the photos were a bit better.

But I didn't notice till after I took it off and uploaded the photos.

OPI's My Pointe Exactly + Illamasqua's Raindrops = Perfectness

My Pointe Exactly is the only shade I got from this years soft shades collection from OPI.  I don't LOVE soft shades and I don't wear them a lot but I do like them.  And I like knowing I have some work safe shades.  You know in case I ever get a real job. I was lucky enough to a) Buy Illamasqua Raindrops on sale from Illamsaqua's website for £5. b) Buy it before it was discontinued.

My Pointe Exactly is a sheer gray Jelly. I used 3 coats for the swatch.  Although if I wanted to layer these 2 again.  I would probably only use 2.  The formula was fine.  No problems at all.  I then layered 2 thin goats of Illamasqua's Raindrops on top. Raindrops is a blue/gray, jelly polish full of iridescent flakies.

I think My Pointe Exactly works as perfect underwear for Raindrops. And what girl doesn't like really nice underwear?

Side by side. My Pointe Exactly looks less blue in person.

 It's still a bit sheer with 3 coats as you can see.  But nothing major.

 With Raindrops!

Guest Blogger No.1! - The One With The Domo

Hello Valkyries of the Varnished persuasion! I was seriously stoked when Kas and George invited me to guest blog while they are away. This is my first time as a guest blogger, so I'm a little nervous and excited. I hope you'll all enjoy my little contribution to this fantastic blog.

I have an ombre manicure to share with you all today- my first ever ombre manicure, as it happens, which is very fitting for my first ever guest post on another blog. I decided to do a greyscale ombre manicure, which is inspired by a greyscale-themed Domo I have. If you are familiar with my blog, you'll know I often feature those little guys in my posts- I find them irresistible, and have amassed a small army of them (they happily coexist with my nail lacquer collection, if you're wondering).

Here's the line-up!

From left to right we have Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Cement, Nubar Palisade, Nubar Stronghold, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out. Up front we have an adorable Greyscale Domo, the inspiration behind today's manicure!

This is, of course, Greyscale Domo taking a picture of himself, which I assume he'll later post on Facebook ("Guys! Check it out! I was totally partying with these sexy polishes on Varnished Valkyrie!").

Ahem. Onward to the nail pictures!

What did you think of my first ever ombre manicure? Which shade of grey is your favourite? Myself, I love a light grey, so Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Cement is my clear favourite here.

Before I finish up my post here, I want to give a quick heads-up to anyone who might be interested in entering my Lynnderella Connect the Dots Giveaway, which is currently going on at my blog, The Lacquer Tracker. You have until June 21st to enter, if it's something you'd like to do. Click here to check out the details.

This has been a blast, and thank you so much to Kas and George for inviting me to write a post for Varnished Valkyrie! It's pretty awesome to be able to be a part of a blog that I admire and enjoy reading so much. Thanks!