[essence] Special Effect Toppers (spring/summer 2011)

I recognised that many of you are after this collection and thus spontaneously swatched Time For Reflection, Mystic Mermaid and Hello Holo over my (then) current mani (which was Don’t feed the birds by Catrice).

Index: Time for Reflection, Middle, as well as in my hand: Mystic Mermaid, Ring: Hello Holo. (Thumb and little finger – just Don’t feed the birds.) I wanted to take advantage of the sunlight and thus applied them very quickly.

I thought that the would never work with a yellow, sparkly polish but in the end it looked pretty good. Hello Holo was nice to look at but it didn’t create a holo effect. Mystic Mermaid turned out to be a silver shimmer with small glitter particles. Actually I was quite surprised by Time for reflection with its fine blue shimmer.

I’m not that much into toppers but instead prefer applying them on their own.

[Essence] Circus Confetti

Sheer jelly base loaded with multicolour round and hexagonal glitter chunks.

Finally, I managed a swatch. This is Circus Confetti over Barry M Berry Ice Cream (I chose this colour randomly since I was swatching it anyway), which made a surprisingly nice combination. I’m not that much into pastels at present – not any more -, and the Confetti gives them a kick.

These pictures were taken later, in September 2011. I used Circus Confetti for a jelly-based frankenpolish called Evaverse (named after my little one again).

Deborah Lippmann’s Happy Birthday came to my mind when hearing of Circus Confetti; that’s why I didn’t want to buy it at first. However, they are in fact different; Happy Birthday (right) contains bigger hexagon shaped glitters while Circus Confetti appears to be more colourful because of its loads of pink and purple glitter particles.

To be honest, I begin to like Circus Confetti more than Happy Birthday but I guess it depends on which shade you are going to combine them with.

[essence] mystic mermaid

Another glitter topper which contains a silver glitter finish, alluding to a mermaid’s scales.

Two coats.

Mystic Mermaid layered over p2 elegant.

[essence] blair & chuck

Nail art twins “blair” (sparkly) and “chuck” (blue). Love those! I am definitely a huge fan of Gossip Girl, and Blair is my favourite character. Her style is gorgeous!

Chuck (creme finish) on his own, two coats.

Chuck topped with Blair. This is beautiful!

[essence] edward & bella

Nail Art Twins “edward” (sparkly) and “bella” (teal). I’m not a fan of the Twilight series though but I guess that those might sell well.

Bella topped with Edward. Sorry for the cut on the middle finger (happened while I was cooking dinner ). Bella was quite opaque after just one coat, anyway I used two coats for this swatch. Please DO wear a base coat with Bella (otherwise she’ll dye your nails green).

This is nicer and might give you a better impression – in direct sunlight.

[essence] time for reflection

Special effect topper; this one has got a pearl shimmer effect with a tad of blue.

Two coats. Sorry for messing up the index.

[essence] hello holo

One of their recent special effect toppers; this one has silver holo particles.

I love wearing toppers on their own. This is two coats.

And finally Hello Holo layered over p2 elegant.

[p2] Crackling (crackle top coats)

Silver Blast and Black Explosion. Both are crackle coats, with a matte finish.

Silver Blast over The One That Got Away (OPI Katy Perry Edition).

With gigantic (p2).

Black Explosion over various p2 polishes (thumb to pinky): rich & royal, be wild, gorgeous, elegant, so cool.

[essence] Julia

Sheer base with silver glitter particles. Very nice for layering.

Over Nicole by OPI’s You’re A Star see here