There's a new flakey in town! Esse just released a collection that includes Luxeffects top coats. For this week's mani monday I used 2 coats of Illamasqua, Rampage; a rich, deep, dark semi-jelly cream emerald green. What's great about this particular green is it doesn't live in the forest! It's a dark warm-toned green which is kind of hard to find. It looks great with my neutral-warm-toned skin. I then topped the edges with Esse, Shine of the Times Luxeffects top coat; a multi-dimentional flakey glitter.

The shape of this flake is much smaller than the INGLOT flakies or Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. It's also a bit more condensed. You really don't need more than 1 coat. I used a tiny bit a the tips of my nails and then spread it down with a cleaned off brush. The effect is gorgeous! I completely obsessed with the Esse Luxeffects!

Top picture taken in indirect sunlight, bottom in direct sunlight. You can see the different colors at the different angles.

Bonus shots of Esse Luxeffects, Shine of the Times:

(direct sunlight)

(indirect sunlight)

Last friday I had a couple of girls over for a mini crafting party that ended up turning into a mani-pedi party. I brought out all of my nail polishes and we went to town! Sonia (@alwaysinstyle) created an such amazing combo for her toes that I just HAD to steal it!

I used 2 coats of O.P.I. DS Coronation, a silvery holographic glitter and topped it with a coat of INGLOT #205 Flakies. I finished it off with 2 coats of Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat to smooth out the texture.

For the bonus glitter ombre

Keep Reading...

Happy Monday Kittens! Today's manicure was inspired by the awesome nail blog Chloe's Nails. She always does amazing things with her nails and one idea that I got from her was the concept of the matte flakies. Up until a few days ago I was struggling with my inferior matte top coats. One wasn't matte enough while the other cracked apart while drying. I finally caved and bought Essie Matte About You. I seriously am smacking myself for not buying it sooner. I saw it at Duane Reade for a few dollars cheaper than anywhere else, so that must have been a sign. I FREAKING LOVE IT! I don't know what about fall makes me want matte nails more, but I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of matte mani mondays in the fall.

Now, don't get too put off by the amount of layers on this particular manicure. It evolved over a few day span.
1. I started off with GOSH, Fix Base Coat
2. Then applied two coats of Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Extreme Wear, Purple Pizzazz, a jelly finish purple with specks of golden pink micro flake.
3. Then topped it with a coat of Seche Vite, Fast Dry Top Coat
4. Followed by another coat of Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Extreme Wear, Purple Pizzazz.
5. One more coat of the Seche Vite, Fast Dry Top Coat
(Geez, that's a lot of coats, eh?) I wore that for a few days (no chips baby!) before I added...
6. INGLOT, 205 Flakies
7. One coat of Essie, Matte About You.

Flakies and I were taking a break after a whirl-win romance about a year ago. But when I saw their beautiful duochrome and fiery glow the spark in my glittery heart came rushing back. Oh flakies, how could I have ever let you go!?

Do you like matte nail polish?

Two manis in a week? YES! Here's my St. Patrick's Day manicure for you all! My background color is two coats of CND, Green Scene. I then then it topped with a coat of INGLOT, 203 which is a green-tone flakie in a clear base. Sally Girl, Chunky Gold Glitter finished off the look. I applied a coat of Seche Vite, Fast Dry Top Coat between the flakies and the gold glitter and two more on top. I included a close up picture to show the depth. Its a little on the blurry part, I should have lit it better and maybe used a tripod. oh well.

The inspiration was green for obvious reasons, the flakies add an essence of magic and the gold represents the pot of gold. Horray... now lets drink a green beer and call it a day. Cheers!

As most of you know, I am abso-obsessed with all flakie polish. It's such a cool effect and adds so much dimension to your nails. When I was given Barielle Elle's Spell I totally sqeeled. Red Flakies are perfection for the holidays. Unfortunately, this polish doesn't do so well on it's own, so I think layering is a must. I chose to go a with red-on-red. However, the red flakies would probably look KILLER on top of gold, silver or white. Who knows, it could even elevate a rich chocolate brown color to the next level.

I used Essie Limited Addiction for my base color. I applied 2 coats, waiting a few mintues between coats. Then I applied 2 coats of the Barielle Elle's Spell, which I also let dry between coats. I finished it all off with a coat of Sechie Vite Fast Dry Top Coat. Enjoy!

(as always, click picture to see detail)

Do you love rocking a red nail in the winter? Have any other suggestions for flakie layering?

If you have been hiding under a rock, you may not know about the amazingness that is the flakie. They are one of the coolest nail polish trends to hit the beauty world in a long time. Iridescent flakes of varying sizes and shapes reflect different colors depending on the light, angle and background color. Seriously. They are ridiculously cool.

Products used:

Color Club, Master Of Disguise
INGLOT, 205
Seche Vite, Fast Dry top coat

On the black background, the flakies appear to shine yellow and green. On other background colors, they look different.