Budget Beauty: NYC Rock Muse Smoky Top Coat

After all the black glitter I've been rocking on my nails lately, you'd think I'd be bored of it. However, there's something about a particular type of nail polish that spins me out each and every time...

... the jelly finish. 

Oh yeah! NYC's Rock Muse top coat is a jelly all right! They describe it as a top coat which is how I've used it in these pictures. I chose to layer it over a dark grey No7 nail polish called Grey Matter. Have  a look at how gorgeous this polish is. 

 Rock Muse Smoky Top coat has small silver glitter particles and large

hexagonal silver particles suspended in a blackened jelly base.

I love how this polish looks, especially when I did a second coat, making the silver glitter particles in the coat underneath look all smoky due to the jelly finish of the polish. I would love to reswatch this, not as a topcoat, but as a standalone polish so I could really see layers of gorgeous cloudy glitter. 

And the price? £1.99. Yep, this little gem cost lest than a bus ticket in Birmingham! The next time you're in Superdrug, pick this little fella up. I swear, you won't regret it!

Swatch & Compare- Black Glitter Polishes: Part 1

Remember how in my last post on 17 Cosmetic's Dazzle the Night swatches, I said that I had a Rimmel nail polish similar to the Glimmer in the Night polish? Well, I thought I'd do a little Swatch & Compare!

And I was wrong about them being similar.Oh so very wrong....

On pinky and index finger: Glimmer in the Night

On MIDDLE finger only: Rimmel Precious Stones in Diamond Dust.

Yeah, that's right, only the middle finger is the Rimmel polish. As you can see, it is nothing like the 17 Cosmetics one. Diamond Dust is more of a grey colour, the silver glitter in it is much finer, and it has HOLOGRAPHIC particles in it. I like it a lot. So much in fact, that I had previously bought a China Glaze polish that was an EXACT dupe. 

Yep, silly old me. In all of the pictures in this post, on my wedding finger is China Glaze Some Like It Haute from the Eye Candy collection. 

Although these two are identical once dried on the nail, the formula of these two was dramatically different. Some Like It Haute was thin and runny and required three coats, whereas Diamond Dust was thick and required only the two coats. Both dry matte as you can see, so a top coat is essential for these thirsty polishes. I haven't applied top coat just so you can see that these two are dupes. 

What do you think of these polishes? Now I know that the 17 Cosmetics Glimmer in the Night polish is unique in my collection, I'm really kinda gutted that it is a LimEd. Boo. 

P.S Sorry for the dry cuticle situation in this post. My cuticle oil is playing hide and seek with me :/

31 Day Challenge: Day 7- Black & White

Hey guys!

I have seriously been looking forward to today's challenge! I personally think black and white on nails looks uh-mazing! I also bought the most beautiful black nail varnish the other night- have a little look:-

Illamasqua nail varnish in Creator.

 





 

 

Creator is a black jelly base in which irregular shaped silver glitter is suspended. It looks good at two coats, however it looks great with three, which is what you see here. Its quite a runny nail varnish, so be sure to apply a small amount on the nail to work with so it doesn't end up pooling in your cuticles.

 

Despite it being a glitter polish, Creator dries smooth. Drying time is also pretty quick with Creator.

 

 

Above picture: Creator in direct sunlight.

 



 

I love how the glitter is not uniform in Creator-

you can especially see this in the bottle.

 

 

So on my ring finger I did a little taping experiment! I have never tried a taping mani before, so I thought I'd keep it simple with stripes. I painted my nail in Barry M Nail Paint in Matte White and let it completely dry. I then cut some scotch tape into thin strips. I placed these strips onto my skin first, to take away some of the 'stick' so that when I placed them onto my nails, they didn't pull away the white paint. I then painted Creator on the places where there wasn't tape. When Creator was still tacky (but not wet), I gently prised away the tape. I then painted a border around my nails using Creator and a nail art pen.

 

Once everything was completely dry, I applied a glossy top coat. I then applied six diamantes, using top coat as an adhesive and a fine nail brush to apply them. Here's an obligatory close up shot:-