On the Twelfth Day of Christmas...

I shared with thee an Illamasqua pretty.

When my Strumpet gave me two bottles of Illamasqua for Christmas I was overjoyed. I even had hot, little tears burning at my eyes with the emotions. Phallic and Poke were the two polishes I received and both were on my want list. Today I am sharing Phallic with you and Poke will make an appearance in a few days.

I thought I would use the Twelfth Day of Christmas to share a Christmas themed manicure with you. It is the perfect excuse as I did not manage to get the Christmas manicures I wanted to do done. I started with Chi Chi Gimme Gimme a Man and applied two coats.

To make the presents I taped a cross on my thumb and ring fingers with striping tape. Phallic was applied over the top and the tape removed. A coat of Seche Vite was laid over the top and this was used to affix the blue bows. This was the design I had in mind when I originally bought these bows.  Thankfully these look as good when completed as I had envisioned them in my mind's eye.

The stamping was done with Phallic and image plate MJ VII. I chose not to use the gift image as my nails are exceptionally short at the moment and would not show the design off to the best effect. Tape was also applied to the side of the middle finger and Phallic placed along the side.

This manicure gives me a giggle to think of the names of the polishes. How often do you get to feature Phallic with Gimme Gimme a Man?

Living in Sin with Fairy Bread

I managed to get my hands on Australis Fairy Bread and then it languished in a box. The good news is that I took it out and put it over another untried, Chi Chi Living in Sin. Fairy Bread is a limited edition polish and I found Living in Sin on the bargain bin at Target. Both have "silly" names that attract me, especially Living in Sin.

Chi Chi describe Living in Sin as "violet with a hint of black" but I find it more purplish blue. A blackened purplish blue if you want. I was worried about the colour because I did not know how frosty it would be. It applied well but I found that the colour is completely different with and without top coat. The name of the line is failing me right now, but I know the clear topcoat colour changing properties are a feature of a collection. In this case, the colour is paler, more silvery in appearance.

After applying one coat of Living in Sin, I brushed and dabbed on a coat of Fairy Bread. I found that Fairy Bread seemed to change the colour to appear more navy.

The curling in the glitters can be seen easily in the below picture. I think that they look good in this case but I have not been a fan of curves in my glitter so far.

In this instance I think Living in Sin with Fairy Bread is a good idea. ;)

Chi Chi Fr**ken Weekend with Darling Diva Pendragon

That post title sounds so very wrong.

I went bin diving with the Strumpet the other day and we pulled out a couple of Chi Chi polishes on clearance. One of these was Fricken Weekend. Yes, I have to admit that I was very taken with the name of it. I promised to share a decant with the Strumpet and so my bank account had another deduction. Ooops.

Weekend is an unusual colour. It is almost a greenish cast gunmetal. Application was of two coats over PVA glue as I intended to apply a glitter polish over the top. When wet this polish tends to be streaky but the streaks mainly disappear once dry. How much they disappear will depend on your application.

Over the top of this I used Pendragon from Darling Diva Polish. I was attracted to the varied green and bronze glitters in this polish from the moment I saw it in etsy. The other great surprise you get as you turn your hand is the holographic effect. This is from the small gold holographic glitter in this polish. It is beautiful.

I had brilliant customer service from Darling Diva Polish. She was very patient as I decided what I wanted in my mini bottles. I did have a worry that I may not have been able to get everything in a mini bottle as some of the larger glitters will not fit through the neck of the 5 ml bottle. Thankfully all of the polishes I wanted did.

Awesome Aussie August: Seven Little Australians

I was not a part of the Great Australian Polish Challenge but I posted some Australian polishes so far this month. So with hindsight I am now declaring it Awesome Aussie August.

First was Chi Chi with two manicures from this brand. Cradle Snatcher Gimme Gimme a Man.

Chi Chi Cradle Snatcher with accents in Daring Digits First Love.

Chi Chi Gimme Gimme a Man with accents of Daring Digits True Love.

Second was Satin Nail Enamel 21 to create our flag.

Satin Nail Enamel 21 with Konad A1 ICNA plate images in Konad White and Dark Red.

Third was Colour by T.B.N in Passion and Adore.

Colour by T.B.N. Passion with accents of Adore.

Natio Brandy was the fourth.

Natio Brandy

I "Messed Up" with Mode for the fifth.

Mode Messed Up

Next to last was BYS.

BYS Kung Fu Blue

The Seventh Little Australian is Ulta3.

Awesome Aussie August: Chi Chi Gimme Gimme a Man and Darling Digits True Love

Oh dear, have a look at what I used - Gimme Gimme a Man True Love. Ooops. When I looked at my latest additions, I thought that I would layer Daring Digits True Love over one of the blues since I already used the orchid pink/purple.

I need more practice with large glitters in polish but this time around it was slightly easier since I had some idea of how it would behave. It was easy to get some of the hearts out with the gold glitter without needing to fish for them. The gold glitter in True Love is comprised of two different sizes of gold hex glitter.

Gimme Gimme a Man applied as well as could be expected from a pale colour. I like the colour but I am not sure how well it suits my skin. It can be difficult to tell how a colour looks with my skin at this time of year because it is cold. Are the tips of my fingers red because I am cold? I took the first set of pictures in the shade where there was still frost.

Brrrrrr! Can you see the frosty leaves behind my hand there?

Awesome Aussie August: Chi Chi Cradle Snatcher and Daring Digits First Love

Decisions, decisions. It was tough trying to decide what to use first out of my latest haul. I wanted to try First Love from Daring Digits. Considering what I bought, Chi Chi Cradle Snatcher would have to be the best match as a base for First Love's shimmer.

Cradle Snatcher is an orchid pink/purple. This was my first time using Chi Chi and I can't complain about the formula or anything in this $5 polish. I used two coats as I painted my nails in a sleepy and half darkness.

Over the top of my index and ring fingers I applied First Love. I have never used a large glitter like this before and so it was a new experience. In future I think I will apply the shimmer after removing all of the hearts. Then I would place the hearts on with a tooth pick, dotting tool or some similar implement. The magenta shimmer goes well over this polish and I had many compliments about my manicure today and that makes me happy.

Overload! Nail Polish everywhere. (Picture Heavy)

A trip to the city! Hurray! I had a wonderful trip away and I managed to steal some time to oggle nail polish. There is not much available locally and I went into overload when I saw what one Target had. Sadly, I did not get a good look because I had to take someone to the toilet before heading off again.

Finally, I was able to bash my credit card around at Target, Priceline and Terry White Chemist. There was also a side trip to browse at Myer. Sadly, none of the assistants were interested in helping me there. That is probably a good thing because I may have caused my credit card to commit suicide with Illamasqua. I did have trouble deciding what to get because I think I already have a lot of polish. Admittedly I do not have as much as some people out there but... I need to remember that I have to store it somewhere. Miss L had to take her own picture of the haul.

I was thrilled with finally seeing essence branded polish. Although the bottle is small at 5 ml, I did not realise that it would be cheap as well at $2.55. Some time soon I think I will have to try Absolutely Blue to see what it is like. There was also a "Gel Look" top coat that I grabbed. I have since tried essence gel-look and it did not seem any different to the shine of the Seche Vite on my other hand.

There were a few deals in Priceline and one enabled me to finally get some of Revlon's Quick Dry Top Coat. I had read a good review on this and thought that it was worth trying since it was something I could buy in a hurry if I ran out until I could get other top coats. While I was there I also bought a Colorstay Base Coat.

Also at Priceline, I bought two L'Oreal polishes. Normally I do not buy L'Oreal but Miss L and I liked 613 Blue Reef and 211 Opulent Pink. Blue Reef is more teal than blue and a good addition since all of my teal polishes tend to have some kind of shimmer and are not a creme finish. Opulent Pink was chosen because I want to try a manicure idea with that type of shade. It is not quite the strawberry pink-red shade I wanted but close enough.

Miss L chose two Nicole of by OPI polishes in purple. I adore purple and so does Miss L. These are One Less Lonely Glitter and Virtuous Violet.

Almost there! We have two Chi Chi polishes next. My friend asked me if I was trying to tell her something when I showed her the name of the polishes I chose - Gimme Gimme a Man and Cradle Snatcher. Should I admit I had a giggle over the names and bought them in part because of this? I have an orchid pink in the same colour family as Cradle Snatcher and I hoped for a better formula than the Models Prefer one I have. I am very happy to report that the brush from Chi Chi is much better and the polish stays better.

Finally...

These came from Daring Digits when she had a sale in July. The bottles are 12 ml each and are very elegant. I bought Robin because I thought he would make a good Christmas polish. The other two have hearts in them. Awww, how sweet. The level in First Love is lower because I had to re-take the pictures when I had already used it.

Phew! Done!