A Love Letter for ILNP Open Fields

So today, since I didn't have too long to prepare a more detailed post (because I just got back from a weekend away) I'm sharing with you one of my favorite straight flakies I've played with so far!



I really just love the color shift of ILNP Open Fields, it's the perfect combination of gold to green to blue on the edges and is really just so spectacular as a straight flakie! I haven't tried wearing it along yet, but I think that might just make my head explode.



Open Fields is the first ILNP flakie I broke out for a mani all on it's own, and because I holo all the things, I just had to layer it over ILNP Princeton to see what it looked like with some lovely holo behind it.



It was gorgeous. And I know I don't have an alone shot of ILNP Princeton, but it is just this lovely creamy mint green holo. Open Fields was a lovely compliment to it.



Then I kept seeing these gorgeous swatches of Open Fields layered over a grey. So I went to my collection and found the perfect grey pairing. The base here is Zoya Caitlin, which is almost a purple leaning grey color.



It created the most perfect background, and someone on IG said that the base here almost looks matte and I agree. It is just a great solid creme base and it looks great behind the beauty of the shift in Open Fields.



So what do you think? What has been your favorite flakie so far? And yeah, ILNP is having their holo flakie presale right now, so you should really check it out. I have of course ordered the holo version of this (because WOW, Cait at Polish Hound really wowed me with her swatches).

And the flakie scene is really picking up. The silver flakies with the mulitchrome flakies with the holo, the combinations are endless. I'm currently wearing a spectacular one by Different Dimension that combines a lot (if you follow me on IG, you'll see it!). The makers have really run away with this trend so far, and I'm liking a lot of it. Especially the ones that are combined with other types of things like like, holo etc.

That's all for today, but don't forget to enter my blogiversary giveaway, it ends on Friday!

Green and Gold Skittle Nails

Hi everyone, today I am featuring two polishes I paired together using nail vinyls to create a fun skittle nail look.



To create this look I used two really amazing polishes, which unfortunately are not available for sale anymore. So I'm sorry to make you drool at these hard to find polishes, but they just paired too well together!



Ok so this amazing green polish is Octupus Party Nail Lacquer Chimera. This lovely polish is a olive-leaning green polish with a holo finish and various multicolored flakies scattered throughout and subtle gold flashes of color. The mastermind behind Octupus Party Nail Lacquers, Dave, released this beauty on his birthday and I'm not quite sure if it will be back at some point or not, but you never know with him. He likes to keep his fans happy!



The gold polish I used was Different Dimension Armstrong, part of the Shooting Star Series which was inspired by Astronauts. Armstrong is a beautiful bronze holo polish with tiny copper flakies scattered throughout. The holo in this one is very strong in direct sunlight, below.



Overall I just really loved how this skittle came together. I like how each polish had its own subtle hint of flakies, which I'm really starting to like the most regarding this whole flakie craze. I think that flakies are best served as a subtle extra to a color or look which gives it an extra unique little something. I like when there is a just a tiny scattering of flakies, because flakies all on their own look a little textured to me, and I was never much into the textured trend. I like smooth shiny nails! I also really like how the gold flashes of Chimera complimented the bronze shine of Armstrong.

I also just really love skittle nails because I wear them longer because it takes me longer to get bored of them!

What do you think about this whole flakie craze? You like it in your face, or as a subtle extra? Or with added holo?

P.S. Stay tuned everyone! I've got my blogiversary coming up on Friday and you won't want to miss the epic giveaway I am hosting to celebrate!

ILNP Holo and Flakies Stripes Manicure

Going through my recent purchases lately, I came across my flakies, and the new one I purchased to round out my collection and this idea just popped into my head.

What will they look like all together on the same nail, in stripes, almost rainbow like and put together? And how cool would it be to have a holo base?! Because I'm starting to suspect my motto should be, holo all the things!



I'll start with the stars of the show! I got a fun mirror and thought it would be a good idea to use it to bounce the light to show off these lovely colors. In the shot above are ILNP Electric Carnival, Supernova, Mega (L), Open Fields and Phoenix.

Now onto the lovely mani!



So you know the order of the stripes, from top to bottom are Electric Carnival, Open Fields, Supernova and Phoenix. Mega (L) is the base. I used nail vinyls to create this look! Nail vinyls are the best! They can make any manicure look terrific!



What I love so much about this manicure is, you can really compare the flakies side by side here. You can see the color shift, and the way the shifts play of each other. Almost a rainbow of flakies.



And then in the sun, you have holo amazingness. Mega (H) is new to my collection, and it makes a super fun base! I love it, but I'm not going to lie, makes it a little harder to see the flakie shifts!



Flakies are tough in the sun. And since I live in California, the sun is out a lot! I think their shift hides in the sun, they really shine in the shade. This is why I thought the holo base would be great!



All the flakies in this post can be found at ILNP! The flakies retail for $12.50 and the holos retail for $10. 

So which is your favorite? I can't choose but I really really like seeing them all together. And layering? I haven't even tried that yet, but I've seen some crazy combinations out there lately! Flakies are all over the place, what have tried with them? What shift do you like best?!

Indigo Bananas Holo Chrome Flakies Review

Wow are flakies all the rage these days! Flakies, flakies everywhere! Everyone seems to be under the flakie spell lately and I am definitely no exception!

Today I am sharing with you three new Indigo Bananas Holo Chrome Flakies which I totally had the luck to win in The Mercurial Magpie's Holiday Hullabalo!

I'm not going to lie, it is super late here (I'm typing this the evening before the post goes live), midnight in fact. But I couldn't sleep without delivering the magical flakie goodness! So I goof on typos or am a little loopy, please forgive me!



Anyway, on to the review. These aren't just your typical flakies, these are holo flakies, taking the whole flakie craze to the NEXT level. And since it's holo, you know I had to jump all over that!

Formula wise, these were all a pleasure to work with. Each polish was packed with various sized chrome flakies (there were a few stray larger pieces, but not too many that stood out) and the formulas were all very easy to work with. Removal was a breeze too, just like a creme polish practically, nothing like a gritty glitter.



Indigo Banana's Chrome Flakies Collection features four different polishes (three you see here) in both holo and non holo versions. The three I have here are all the holo versions. I have a close up (because let's be honest, I don't have the equipment for a macro) of each polish in the bottle, a shot in direct light and a shot in shaded light. These polishes all retail for $12 (15ml) and $7.25 (8ml). That is one of the things I love so much about Indigo Bananas, they always have their polishes available in a mini size, so if you aren't sure the polish is the right fit, you can pay less for a smaller amount.

Anyway onto the individual polishes.

Event Horizon (Holo) is a green-blue to purple chrome flakie polish with linear holographic glow in direct light. I found this polish to be opaque in two coats, but added an extra one just for the extra flair. I looooved this color, it definitely felt aquatic to me, so you will most definitely see this in an ocean-themed mani in the future!

Accretion Disk (Holo) was the most complex of the three I got to try. This polish hosted multi-colors of chromes, and almost translated to a full rainbow on the nail. Under direct light you see green, a rosey-copper and gold shifts with the holo bling thrown in for full measure. This was my favorite of these three, and the one I reapplied after swatching all these polishes. Once again, two coats for opacity, three for extra bling!

Galactic Halo is a royal purple to radiant orchid multichrome flakie with hints of gold and copper at certain angles. Under direct light, this is mostly royal purple, but still very complex! This one seemed to require three coats for full opacity.

The Indigo Bananas website says that these polishes are meant to be worn on their own, but can be used as a topper, so I wanted to see how that looked. These are rough and dirty swatches I did on three fingers so you could see the polishes and their shifts side by side. Once again, I'll share one shot in direct light and one in shaded light. The undies I used are OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around.



From left to right, Event Horizon, Accretion Disk and Galactic Halo.



Overall I would definitely recommend that you check these polishes out. They are different than your average mulitchrome flakie, and you can order a mini of these polishes if you aren't quite sure and just want to test out the trend. Andrea of Indigo Bananas, as of yesterday I think, released her own line of Mega Chrome Flakies, which also are available in mini sizes. The Mega Chrome Flakies, from what I can tell, seem similar to the ILNP Ultra Chrome Flakies, which I reviewed a few weeks ago. What she released yesterday is the first of three different releases of her Mega Chrome Flakies!

Which of these is your favorite? Have you tried out Indigo Bananas before, I'd love to hear what polishes you have from IG!!!

ILNP Ultra Chrome Flakies Review

Hey guys! I got my ILNP Ultra Chrome Flakies in the mail today and I don't care how late I had to stay up to post this, it was going to happen!

It is nearing midnight now and I had to cover a school board meeting, but I couldn't resist staying up to play with my new polish and bring you guys swatches right fast!



Now these photos are not the greatest, but I wanted to get you the awesomeness as soon as I could!

The ones I chose, from left to right, are Open Fields, Electric Carnival and Supernova!



A close up of the three. From left to right in this shot - Super Nova, Electric Carnival and Open Fields. I did two thin coats over Zoya Chantal (I finally found a flattering nude creme, so amazing)



These polishes were extremely easy to work with and I can't wait to play with them and pair them with different base coats! I just wanted to get a side by side comparison for all you people who are interested in purchasing them! If your curious about my five nails above, they are EC, SN, EC, OF and SN.

Unfortunately, due to shipping issues with ILNP getting their bottles, the release date is most likely pushed back until late December. But follow them on Facebook to get all the latest updates. Each bottle retails for $12.50. If you want to get them as a gift for Christmas and they aren't in stock on time, try getting them an ILNP gift card, it will be just as good and they can get the polish as soon as ILNP restocks! I hope you all like this post, I just love these polishes. I only chose three from the entire collection – believe it or not there are actually 13 to choose from!