Black Opal Effect Mani!

Inspired by the wonderful manicures produced by the TraceFace Philes, in particular this post I decided to do a holographic strip over dark polish manicure.  I wasn't sure which strip polish to use but then remembered I'd picked up a lovely NYX polish in Purple Ave during my last trip to the Outlet village!  Although it looked lovely in the bottle, when I applied it over a pale colour it just didn't look as good.  But I think over a black polish it is absolutely stunning!


I applied 2 coats of a black polish I had to hand (in this instance a Rimmel black) and then a coat of Seche Vite to seal the colour.  I then applied 2 coats of the NYX followed by another coat of Seche Vite to give it real gloss and this is the result:

The polish on my pinky was a trial of another glitter polish!

It's really hard to convey properly in photographs (especially as I'm rubbish at taking them!) but the holographic particles catch the light beautifully and reflect different colours.  It really does give the effect of a black opal.  The NYX polish is similar to a bar glitter polish but the shapes are random which I think gives a great effect.  I can't stop admiring it and moving my fingers around to catch the light in different ways.

I think this is one of my favourite manis to date, but I'm tempted to take a leaf out of Tracy's book and top this off with a crackle polish, just to see how it works.  If I do, I'll let you know!