NOTW: Lava berries!

Hello lovelies!

Today I have something awesome to show you - lavaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa berries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D Lookie:

*drool* So juicy!

Lavaaaaaaaa!

You're looking at Fingerpaints Asylum - YES, that huge lemming of mine! - and all thanks to Debbie Crumpet! Just like Twisted, I picked this up in Debbie's blog sale, and actually hesitated to get it initially. I love the Fingerpaints flakies, but I had serious doubts about this one; just look at my labels cloud - barely any orange to be seen! However, all this changed when I got the polish home. As soon as I put it on my nails (two coats), I was in love! I think I may actually like this MORE than Twisted! YES, I said it: this is my favourite Fingerpaints flakie polish so far. Shock horror!

The polish is mostly comprised of orange and blue/indigo flakies, with golden/lime green flashes in the right light. The colours are truely hypnotic and a perfect match for my red Kiko. I actually think the lime green flashes really make this polish, and it's a shame that they're so fleeting - it made it hard to photograph them. I keep staring at my nails because they look so damn juicy. I think they look like lava berries ^^ I guess this just goes to show that you shouldn't judge a polish by its (in-the-bottle) colour, since I would have really missed out if I hadn't taken the plunge!

Finally, as always, let me show you the base colour for this mani, the irrepressible Kiko 238:

My perfect red!

I bought this polish about a year ago when I discovered Kiko at Westfields in London, and I absolutely love it! This polish is my perfect pillar box red - not too hot, not too cold - and it suits me right the way through the year. The formula is wonderful and the polish itself dries to a surprising shine, even without top coat! The only downside is perhaps its opacity; you're looking at three coats plus top coat, and in certain lights there's still VNL! It's frustrating but I love it sooooooo *bad Jack Skellington impression* Totally worth it! :-)


So: What's your classic go-to red? Or maybe you don't like reds? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading and 'til next time, curlettes :-)

- Skye x

NOTW: Lemming killed - Fingerpaints Twisted!!!

Hello lovelies! How are you today?

I am VERY happy, because today I get to reveal to you that I finally own one of my greatest lemmings EVER - Fingerpaints Twisted!!!

Ever since I discovered flakies two years ago, I've been obsessed with tracking down my favourite ever flakies collection - the LE Fingerpaints flakies collection. Everyone knows that these polishes are like gold dust; sold only in the US, and only for a limited time, I couldn't have picked a more elusive collection to love. I almost nabbed the entire collection just a few months ago, but the nasty, nasty RM stole my preciouses :( Fortunately, this event had a silver lining: a couple of lovely ladies in the British swap groups on FB came to my aid and declared that they had BN Fingerpaints flakies just sat unused in their collections. As a result, I now own Twisted (and Asylum - post pending) courtesy of the lovely Debbie Crumpet. Thank you SO MUCH, Debbie, for making this polishaholic's dream come true ^^

Now let's take a look at some photos:

*.* Opalescent beauty...

No words...

Swatches of this polish are dime a dozen, but generally involve Twisted layered over deep, dark colours like navy/midnight blue and black. As such, I thought I'd try something a bit new and inventive and layer the polish over a nice green. The above swatches are 2-3 coats over Catrice Sold Out Forever - and the result just blew my mind! In some lights you could barely see the flakies, and in others you got this wonderful opalescent effect which just kept growing on me as the week went on - this mani rocked and y'all know it. My epic quest for Twisted? I regret *nothing*!

Finally, as always, I'd like to show you the beaaaaaautiful colour that I paired with Twisted. Just look at it:

Beyond gorgeousness!

Catrice Sold Out Forever is a gorgeous, delicate sage green which I've been eyeing in my stash box for a wee while now; I bought it last summer in Austria for a swap which fell through, and it's been calling to me ever since! Although the formula was just that tiny bit too thick (a common Catrice trait, I've noticed), self-levelling was great and wear time was excellent. What's more, it compliments my olive skin tone perfectly; I genuinely don't think I could have selected a better muted green for myself (my photos are slightly off - the colour was slightly deeper IRL)! I actually don't own many green polishes, and have been considering branching out to find good ones, but for now, this has definitely sated my appetite for green fingers.


To wrap up this week's post, I have not one, but TWO questions for you:

1. What's your favourite green polish?
2. What do you like to layer with your flakies?

Let me know in the comments :D


'Til next time, curlettes :)

- Skye x