Lessons From the Looney Bin- Lesson Five.

Lesson five: Partner Polishes.

Flaky polishes are GORGEOUS and great for layering but they look totally different layered over another polish than they do in the bottle.  Mind you, they still look beautiful layered over other polishes whether they look different than the bottle color or not. 

The problem for me is, I LOVE how they look in the bottle!  I buy it for how it looks in the bottle.  So I WANT it to LOOK like it looks in the BOTTLE!  They are just way too sheer to layer coat after coat and build them up to the bottle color, not to mention way too expensive to do 5-6 coats a mani, so that option is OUT. 

My solution was to layer them over other jelly polishes that match the base color of the flaky as CLOSE as possible.  I used Nfu-oh flakies but any flaky will work.  My goal was to achieve the look of the Nfu-oh flakies actual bottle color by using other polishes as base coats.

I tried this out for Nfu-oh polish #50 for my first go round.  I think it turned out pretty well.

 I started out with a nude base coat, then 2 coats of what I decided was nfu-oh 50's partner polish- Zoya Juicy.  This needed to be a TAD lighter but I think after layering it is PERFECT.


To find a partner polish, you want to thinly swatch your flaky on some white paper and look for the base color.  Or, you can hold up your flaky bottle to your stash and find a polish that matches the base color of the flaky.  Ignore the color of the flakes or glitter!  Keep in mind that 2 coats of the flaky will slightly lighten the partner polish.

Then I layered 2 coats of Nfu-oh 50 over Juicy.  This photo is outdoors in the shade.  I think it's pretty close to the bottle color don't you?

Closer.

Here it is outdoors in direct sunlight.  This is what I'm talkin 'bout!  I got this polish because I loved the POLISH, and now I can wear, THE POLISH! Score!

Here is the same method used on Nfu-oh #59.

 I started with 2 coats of Orly Naughty. I thought this was the best partner polish for nfu-oh 59.

Then I added 2 coats of Nfu-oh #59.  Damn this is DEAD ON dudes. This is in direct sunlight.

Shade.

Indirect sunlight.


Obviously this trick is not just for Nfu-oh polishes. It can work for ANY polish that you love but simply can not build it up to the bottle color by layering.  Partner polishes save TIME and money by saving on coats of your precious flakies or glitters or whatever.  Of course it is also nice to layer these over everything under the sun and make your own looks, but being able to wear them exactly how they look in the bottle is a nice option to have.

Love, MM

Ya Rly

Orly is quickly becoming one of my favorite brands.  Between them and Misa they are starting to give China Glaze a serious run for their money.   The rubberized handles are simply perfection.  I also am totally in love with the fact that the bottles look really large, they are heavy, solid, and feel like they are great quality.  They are really doing the trick for my bottle fetish.  The color selection is pretty good too.  I just really wish they had more blue and green cremes.  But I am covered on pink, red and purple cremes from them, holy crap.  

This is about as close to straight up pink as I allow myself to buy anymore. I just have too many pinks.  That's a real problem because pink is not my thing.  This is 2 coats. 

Gorgeous!  From the promo pics I thought this would be more of a true red but it isn't.  Its a gorgeous reddish purpley raspberry color and I adore it!  2 coats.

Another wonderful red creme added to my stash.  This is perfection in a bottle my friends.  I cannot get enough of good red cremes.  This one is so smooth, not too orange, and dries SO shiny.  2 coats.

Gah!  Love!  Super dark, vampy, red jelly.  It's got some brown in it but not too much.  It's killer awesome.  3 coats.  I really needed this when I did my vampies comparison but I didn't have it then so whatever.  My guess is that this one is right between Zoya Casey and Misa Love Bite.

So this is a tad less blue than shown here because my camera is the devil and loves to add more blue to anything purple.  It's so pretty though.  It's also a dead on dupe to Zoya Lael. 2 coats.

I've been dying to start another giveaway and it's been nearly impossible to wait until the first one was over.  But today I woke up in a foul mood with an incredibly sore throat from snoring and walked into my kitchen to find 4, count them FOUR, piles of Manatee crap.  FOUR!  We aren't talking 4 little nuggets here folks, there were four PILES.  He must have been saving it up all day like some sort of mobile poop piggy bank.  Do you know what that means?  It means that little butt hole got OUT of the bed with me on FOUR separate occasions, sauntered into my freaken kitchen, did his circle dance, and pinched a loaf.  Each time returned to my bed and snuggling back up with me in the warm covers as if he hadn't just shit in my kitchen!  He is STILL snuggled up in the warm bed this very minute!

So my morning got kicked off to a great start on my hands and knees on the freezing cold floor, scrubbing up Manatee presents.  After I collected myself, showered and had a few sips of coffee I realized a grand realization people!  This is my shit and I can do whatever I want!  So today the new giveaway starts!  

The new prize is a new bottle of Orly Enchanted forest, a gorgeous green creme, and a brand spanking new bottle of Matte Magic Top coat. 

Here is my swatch of enchanted forest, don't worry I have two bottles. 

The rules are the same as last time.  Tell somebody, link somebody, email somebody or whisper to a stranger in the checkout line about the contest and post who you told in the comments.  International followers welcome!  Contest ends Next Monday at midnight.