Australis – Bronze Flash

This is an old polish – note the square bottle, not the spiffy round style they have today. It needed a little thinning, but otherwise applied beautifully. It dries a little bit darker than the bottle colour.

After a couple of days I thought I’d try a coat of Essie’s Luxeffects ‘Shine of the Times’ over the top, and wow! It’s a little bit hard to see here, but it really brought out the oranges and reds in ‘Shine of the Times’. The flecks of green around the edges were pretty, but not overwhelming.

Loving that combination!

Set in Citrus

Hi… it’s been a while. My inclination to Konad has dwindled, but the polish has stayed so I figure I might as well share what I’m wearing, even if it’s not stamped. All right, let’s get this nail du jour thing started!

This is Australis ‘Citrus’ – the original orange with gold shimmer, not the new orange creme – with a layer of Essie ‘Set in Stones’. The formula on Citrus is super-streaky for the first coat, but seems to sort itself out for anything after that. Set in Stones is a dream.

Mango Lace

Revlon’s Mago Zing! lives up to its name – all the beautiful colours on a mango skin condensed into one hot, hot duo-chromey polish. Foolishly I thought that pastel orange would be more visible, but Mango Zing! subsumed it. If you caught it on just the right angle it stood out, but you’d have to be looking pretty closely to see it.

Revlon Mango Zing! with m57 and Konad Pastel Orange.

On the right angle...

Oh so much zing!

(I also did a really bad job of sitting still while waiting for these to dry; I had to touch up my index several times, which the polish hates, and snagged my pinkie. When I chipped the polish the next day, I gave up and took it off completely.)

Summer sakura

It feels like it’s rained almost non-stop this month – tiring, if not altogether surprising for spring. I’m so ready to bust out summery colours on my nails.

So I did.

Revlon Sizzle with s9 and Konad White. Topcoat: Revlon Sunflash.

Revlon Sizzle with s9 and Konad White. Topcoat: Revlon Sunflash.

Sizzle is one of my all-time favourite polishes. I wish I’d bought more of it! In the bottle it looks peachy pink with a gold shimmer, but a single coat comes out a beautiful apricot on my nails. A trick of the light because of all the gold, but a trick I love.

Because I didn’t want bright white tips, I used Sunflash as a topcoat – it’s a very sheer ‘crystalline’ polish. Just enough to take the edge off.

Simple chocolate swirl

So, the pink base of my last manicure started leeching into the white french tips after about a day. It was quite odd and I probably should’ve taken a photo, but that didn’t occur to me until after I’d taken it off.

A simple one this time: chocolate swirl.

OPI "Sand" Diego with m64 and Konad Princess Chocolate.

Candied silver

I don’t have the words to tell you how much I hated this pink and silver concoction when it was done. But, it was done and I thought it might grow on me so I left it.

Max Factor Candy Pink, m64 and Konad Silver

(Don’t get me wrong – I adore Candy Pink when I’m in the mood for it, and I really thought I was, but alas no.)

I felt slightly more kindly disposed to it this morning, in the aftermath of Bathurst, beer and barbecue, but the feeling was fleeting and by this evening I’d decided it had to go.

Start from scratch, or just try to rescue it? Last night’s beer dictated rescue, so I gave it a quick lick of white across the tips and konaded the smile line.

Voila!

Max Factor Candy Pink, Nutrimetics French Tip White, m36, Konad Silver and Princess Chocolate.

(Yeah, it’s a bit wonky and smudged on one nail, but I can live with it.)

Lovely leopards

That this orange on orange leopard print is so hard to see (and photograph!) automatically bumps it to the top of my ‘favourite subversive work konads’ list.

Orange on orange on orange...

It wasn’t, admittedly, the look I’d intended to achieve. I thought OPI’s Brisbane Bronze would be browner and Konad’s Pastel Orange would pop more… more of a reverse leopard print than tone-on-tone. In the bottle, the colours look miles apart.

I think I’m most enamoured by the interplay of shimmer and flat colour. A happy accident!

OPI Brisbane Bronze, Konad Pastel Orange and m57.

Lovely as tone-on-tone nails are, however, I was really hankering after some leopard print nails for tonight’s Roller Derby match. Since I found myself cheering inexplicably for Brutal Pageant in the first clash, I thought I’d show Smash Malice a little love this time.

Delightfully not subtle.

Australis Gold Lurex, Konad Princess Polish in Chocolate and m57.