OPI Crown Me Already

Just a reminder to follow us on twitter at ValkyrieNails!  There will be some very special stuff going on there in the future and if you're on twitter, you won't want to miss out.

Now HERE's a polish that I'm not surprised I love.  Obnoxious silver glitter?  Sign me up!  When the Miss Universe collection came out, I saw this and knew it would be mine.  I love the wide variety of glitter in this polish, and I love that it looks like I have a disco ball on my nails.  It just reflects so much light and almost glows.

Photos do this no justice, it truly is stunning in person.  This is one of my favourite manicures to do because it makes me feel like a fancy pirate princess.  I think it was Scrangie who said this looks like a treasure chest and she was totally right.  It's so magical.

This is two thin coats over one thin coat of China Glaze Icicle.  I tend to wear it like that just to cover up any bald spots.

Just look at the sparkle!

Do any of you own Crown Me Already?  How do you wear it?  What's your favourite glitter?

OPI Pink Friday

So I've said it before here and I'll say it again:  I like bright, crazy colours, preferably with glitter.  I like things that make people stare.   So it came as a major surprise to me when I fell in love with this colour.  OPI's Pink Friday from the Nicki Minaj collection is my perfect pink.  It's a gorgeous bubblegum shade that is both bright enough for my taste, but also muted enough to wear to work(or I think so :P).  

I loved the texture, so creamy and lovely.  It applied easily and built up nicely in three coats.  Thicker coats and I could've done two.  It's SUCH a gorgeous colour, totally backup-worthy in my opinion.

While on the subject:  I LOVED the Nicki Minaj collection, but funnily enough I only bought the cremes!  I got Metallic 4 Life, but realised that it was just not me, so I passed it onto Kas.  Bar glitter leaves me cold, so I left Save Me as well.  But the cremes... Oh the cremes.  OPI has reignited the love for cremes that lay dormant in me for so long.  This is what I need, more beautiful brights with such wonderful formulas.  Absolutely thrilled with that collection.

I have no idea why this is upside down.  But I have to go to work so DEAL WITH IT :P

What did you guys pick up from the Nicki Minaj collection?  And can someone explain to me why people like bar glitter?  It looks like fur!  And not in a fun way D:

Take That Part 2

This post was inevitable.  And in case you didn't know I have a mild love for Take That.

I got my inspiration from Take That Presents:  The Circus Live.

This is my right hand.  I'm surprised by how much I like it. 

 

My right hand is based on the Clown Medley.  At first I did colourful french manis in the colours of their hats.  But it didn't look all that interesting to be honest.  So I did it again and used the colours of their hats but used dots instead.  And my thumb is their jacket/pants. The horizontal lines look kind of shaky.  I find they are much harder to do than vertical for some reason.

 

Mark, Jason, Gary, Howard :D, (Robbie had yet to rejoin the band at this point).  Now you can fill out the Take That question in our giveaway!

If you want to know what colours I use feel free to ask.  I would put them but I don't remember all of the right now.

So I'm going to go now.  I had too much to drink last night.  But I'll leave you with the the Clown Medley, and a BIG yay for all our new followers.  Almost 200! Anyhoo...I sleep now.

How many coats of polish do you think this took???

5?  10?  15?  30?  If you guess those you were wrong.  Actually if you guessed anything that wasn't 53 you were wrong.  Yes that is 53 coats of polish (and would the base coat sort of count as 54?)

I was seriously bored, schoolwork was done, it was too late to go out and start anything so I had nothing better to do with my time than to do this.  To be honest I had actually thought of trying this before.  Just layering as much polish as I could just for the heck of it.

 

What I'm trying to say is if you have a dream.  Just go for it.

                                     

Most useful post ever.  You're welcome.

Don't worry real posts coming soon.

ETA:  This took over 2 hours to do and I actually stopped because the polish started to make me feel ill.  I had it on for just over 3 hours and it was super easy to remove because it NEVER dried.  I used a tissue to take most of it off.  And there's everything from creams to full on chunky glitters in there.

Illamasqua Nomad and some news!

So I've been a little missing lately because life has been crazazy, but I am making my triumphant return!

First things first:  Varnished Valkyrie is now on twitter!  FOLLOW US for all kinds of surprises, I promise they'll be well worth your while.

Secondly:  I broke a nail on the weekend, so I have nubbins for the time being.  Luckily my nails grow fairly quickly, so I should be back to normal in no time.  I have a few swatches from before, but there may be some nubbin posts in your future.  Just an FYI :P

And finally:  Some swatches of the beautiful Illamasqua Nomad!  As you know if you've picked up on a few things, we are Canadian, so there are a few brands that we can't really get here, and until recently Illamasqua was one of them.  Canadian Sephora stores now carry Illamasqua polishes, but not the makeup.  Oh well, it's a small step in the right direction!  For now I'll be saving the lion's share of my Illamasqua purchases for visits to the USA as it's cheaper, but I made an exception for this collection, which is one of the nicest colours I've found this spring.

One thing I love about Illamasqua is how they put out comparatively few products, but what they do put out is generally of absolutely fabulous quality.  I wish some other brands would take their cues from them.  Illamasqua is the longest lasting polish I've found, I've worn it for five days with tip wear and no chips, which is beyond amazing wear for me.  It's absolutely excellent.

So Illamasqua describes this shade as a "bright jade" and I think that's pretty apt.  This colour is stunning in person, really one that needs to be seen.  The colour is bright and gorgeous, but not obnoxious.  It's not mint, it's not aqua, it's the perfect bright jade.  Just amazing.  It was opaque in two coats, no dragging, and the formula practically applied itself.  Perfect.

Do we have any Illamasqua fans here?  What's your favourite shade of theirs?  Will you be picking up Stance or Nomad from this collection?

OPI Over The Taupe

 Let's talk nudes for a second guys guys.

1) Always, always, ALWAYS lock your phone.  You don't want people rummaging.
2) I wish there were more nude polish collections that also had darker skin in mind.  The few nudes I have are random browns, from random collections. And most nude collections look far better on lighter skin.

Anywhoo just a simple swatch today! Over The Taupe is green... It's not, it's taupe. OPI made this easy for me. It's a taupe cream.  It reminds me of coffee!  I used 3 coats in the photos.  The sad thing is I love this colour but have only worn it out once, yet I've done I think 5 manicures with it.  Most of the time I either ended up not going out or taking it off because I changed my mind.

I added black tips(OPI Black Onyx) in an attempt to look classy with a side of badass. I'm pretty sure that was a success.

ALSO before I forget (because I keep forgetting and just remembered when I saw the first comment to this post!) Thank you Stephanie over at A Little Polish for the The Liebster Award! Everyone needs to go and check out her blog!

62 Follower Giveaway!!!!

Yay guys the time has finally arrived!!! It's our first giveaway!!! So here is what you as a viewer could win.

Mattese Elite Revolution - Gray with a light linear holo effect.  Color Club Revvvolution's little sister.

Warpaint Beauty Matte Top Coat - We've used it before.  Great quality. Holds its own against Essie.

China Glaze Techno - Crazy, retina burning, hodgepodge of small and large holo glitter.

A slightly better look at the glitter.  But this is crazy holo in real life.

Oh and this ol' thing. 

Chanel Peridot - Gold amazingness.  We know there's lots of dupes coming out but let's be honest.  Who doesn't like  saying "Chanel, my dear" when someone asks what you're wearing.

Rules are simple.  The giveaway is international.  UNLESS you somewhere where nail polish is not allowed to be shipped.  Also we would prefer that you be 16+.  If we catch anyone cheating all your entries will be disqualified.  Contest ends May 9th at midnight EST.

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