... Flakie Comparisons ...

Bit of an odd post today for me as I'm not a fan of swatches on nail sticks but I have had a lot of questions lately that need answering ... so here goes!

I'm a self proclaimed flakie lover. They are definitely my favourite things to wear and I ALWAYS get compliments on them.

I've been busy swatching my entire stash and getting organised for once!! I'm trying to sort via colour and into fans of holos, multichromes, glitters and flakies. Now originally I posted this online which I took with my phone so excuse the fact it's not crisp!!

Beautiful Flakie Fan of Rainbow Awesomeness!!!

Unfortunately these are not all my flakies [I have a few missing in action] but it's a good percentage of them. These are all 3 coats and swatched on Ulta3 Black Satin (no double dipping or fishing around for flakies allowed!)

Colours from left to right are ...

Chi Chi - Crystal Top Coat
Finger Paints - Twisted
Australis - Speck-tacular

piCture pOlish - Festival
Glitter Gal - Lightning Ridge
piCture pOlish - Hypnotic
Finger Paints - Asylum
Glitter Gal - Andamooka Blue
Finger Paints - Motley
Glitter Gal - Coober Pedy Green
Finger Paints - Flecked
Inglot - 203
Inglot - 205
Inglot - 202
Essie - Shine of the Times
piCture pOlish - Splendour
Finger Paints - Fleshy
Nubar - 2010

First question I've been asked is regarding the bottle sizes. Now I've said for a LONG time that the Inglot flakies are my favourite polishes EVER and would totally recommend them. They are the smallest bottles out of what I own but they are definitely the most dense in regards to jam packing the flakes in!! 

Glitter Gal and Finger Paints - 15ml, piCture pOlish - 11ml, Australis - 10ml, Inglot 8ml

In regards to price - the Glitter Gals are the most expensive at $16.50AUD but the little Inglots are right on their tail at $16AUD. I'm sure by now the American girls are cringing at the price but welcome to Australia - land of expensive polish!! All except the Finger Paints are still in stock in Aussie stores!

But on the plus side - those little Inglots pack more punch with 1 coat than 3 of the others so in my opinion it's worth the price!!

So let's kick it off with those beautiful gold/orange/green flakes ...

Left to Right ...

Inglot - 202

Essie - Shine of the Time

piCture pOlish - Splendour

Finger Paints - Flashy

Nubar - 2010

While they are all "dupes" of being gold/orange/green flakes ... see how the Essie really gives the Inglot a run for it's money in terms of density!! But check out poor Nubar 2010 at the end. When I first got into blogging the Nubar was the flakie to go too ... but if you want them packed then Inglot or Essie are the ones to grab.

The only difference I can see is that the Essie has slightly smaller "flakes". Honestly from a distance you would be hard pressed to tell them apart.

Now onto the blue/green flakes ...

Left to Right ....
Glitter Gal - Coober Pedy Green
Finger Paints - Flecked
Inglot - 203
Inglot - 205

Again the Inglots clearly stand out in terms of density. I know that 205 isn't a blue/green flake but a green/gold but it's only green/gold I have and it didn't want to feel left out of the photoshoot!!

And finally the multi coloured flakes ...

Left to Right ...

piCture pOlish - Festival

Australis - Speck-tacular

Finger Paints - Twisted

ChiChi - Crystal Top Coat

I wish Inglot made a multicolour flake as while these 4 are pretty and very much the same they aren't very dense with the flakies!

The Australis and Finger Paints have slightly larger flakes which show up a lot more clearer than the other 2 from a distance but I'm sure if you own any of these 4 you will be extremely happy!!

Hope that helps all your flakie questions!!! If you have anymore leave a message and I'll get answering.

... Happy Spring Gradient ...

I decided to try something different today and try out some gradient art - now I've sucked badly at gradients in the past but practice makes perfect so I'll keep plugging at it. After failing badly at using makeup sponges to do this I received last week a cheapo sponge from Hong Kong as a freebie with an eBay order I placed. Basically it's the same shape as a Konad stamper but just has a foam base so I thought I'd give it a shot.

So I've started with yesterdays mani of Finger Paints in Art Nouv-Yellow and sponged Ulta3 in Crazy over the top.

Oooh ... actually doesn't look too bad - so to finish it off I've sponged Ulta3 in Sizzling Red on the top for a 3 way contrast.

And then I decided to get out the OPI White Shatter to see what that looked like on top. In hindsight I probably should have stamped on top but hey - next time! It still looks happy even though I should have waited longer for the red to dry as I have pink in a few places instead of white.

** Final Verdict **

I was quite pleased with myself with how it went so I'll definitely try this technique out again in the future!

... Finger Paints - Art Nouv-Yellow ...

Finger Paints - Art Nouv-Yellow

Gifted from the lovely Tamala

I've already said I've got a thing for yellow this spring! So this one was jumping at me out of my untested overflowing helmer drawer.

This is a beautiful yellow - it reminds me of bananas! Nom nom nom. I've seriously missed eating bananas and can't wait until they are back in production and cheap to buy again! [For those non-Aussies banana prices jumped to a seriously expensive $15/kg due to a cyclone that hit North Queensland last summer - they are only starting to drop in price now]

This is 3 coats and while there is some visible nail line going on it's still really beautiful. No lumps or bumps with this polish but there is a slight dent on my nail which I apologise for - that's my actual nail doing that not the polish.

** Final Verdict **
Ah yellow ... such a happy colour. I would have loved it if this particular yellow was thicker but it's still a beautiful polish. Makes me smile!

... It's all in a name & NOTD ...

I seem to have offended someone lately with this so I'll come clean. Personally I don't see the big deal - as a name is a name but I don't want anyone feeling unloved that they didn't know and I don't want anymore hurt feelings.

For those of you who don't know technically my name isn't "Claire" - It's not the name written on my birth certificate and really it's more of an alias. A portion of people in my real life that I have met in the past few years call me Claire which is a really long story that I don't have time to type up but it started with someone believing my name was Claire and calling me that constantly. Dunno where it came from but it became more of a humourous point of my life than an annoying point - my husband and I get a huge laugh from it and I seriously don't mind being called Claire - she seems to have a lot of fun!

I'm a big believer that if you tell someone that "they don't look like a *name goes here*" then the reason is simple ... you know someone with the same name and that the 2 people don't look alike. I struggled in high school reading a book about a character named "Homer" as all I could think of was Homer Simpson [doh!] ... so I must look like a Claire!

When I started getting back into polish I had a dream about a blog and I was going to call it "Shatter me Claire" - I don't often remember dreams so it was a weird occasion for me but I took my own advice and here we are today.

So ... there you go. Feel free to call me Claire still ... or you can go to Sarah Claire which is what I'm on Facebook as these days. Honestly I'm not fussed but I don't want anyone else to feel upset over it.

And with that out of the way .... here are my nails of the day.

This is Finger Paints Add & Abstract with China Glaze Fairy Dust over the top ... pretty. The sun is out today so holo away my beauty! I've already done a swatch of Add & Abstract in the past but I'll do a full one on Fairy Dust soon!

Have a good one *heads out into the sunshine*

... Finger Paints - Add & Abstract ...

Finger Paints - Add & Abstract

Gifted from the extremely lovely Tamala

Firstly ... I haven't been around for the past few days as I haven't felt like swatching or even changing my polish. I caught my right hand middle finger badly and it caught well below where it should [ow ow ow ow ow ow]. 

I know it's silly but I felt really crappy about it and didn't want to do much with my nails - but I missed you guys ... now I'm aiming to have it grown out in time for my brothers wedding in October *crosses fingers* ... Now moving on!

This is my first finger paints and I was so excited to receive it! If you ever hear random squeals of excitement then it's only me receiving wonderful mail! This is a beautiful colour which I'm going to say is a teal. It's definitely a green blue in the shade and more of an azure blue in the sun. There is a slight shimmer aswell which is beautiful

These swatches are 2 coats on nude nails. I found it easy to apply with no streaks or bubbles appearing. Also the drying time was really good so no need for a quick dry.

Inside looking greeny-blue

In the sun looking more of an azure blue

* Final Verdict *

I love this polish. It was beautiful and easy to wear plus seriously this polish reminds me of my first car - my beloved Mazda. Sadly we departed ways under a year ago and I still miss her. I know it's sad to have an attachment to a material item like a car but we were together a long time. Technically she was blue but she used to shift in the sun like this polish *loves*

{photo taken from Google image search}