Manic.Monday: China Nail Art

There's no denying that in the UK we have an amazing selection of brands available to us, but there are some that we just can't get - at least not yet, and a few examples are Marc Jacobs, Wet n' wild, Bath & Body Works and IsaDora. I'm sure that the first three brands are very well known to many of you and I have mentioned IsaDora previously, but if you haven't seen that post it's a Swedish makeup brand which is very popular in Europe, that offers a great range of products and colors at very affordable prices. Every time my parents visit they always bring me one or two IsaDora products with them as a surprise and for Christmas I was very happy to get three lovely effect polishes from the IsaDora China Nail Art collection for Christmas. Since it is the Chinese New Year I thought I would join in the celebrations by showing these fun and colorful polishes inspired by Chinese culture.

The China Nail Art collection is a range with nine glitter polishes that alludes to new and old China that you can use as a top coat, but they are so enriched with different colored glitters that you can also easily wear them on their own. Like many glitter polishes the consistency is a bit thicker than you'd find with ordinary polishes, but they're still easy enough to work with without getting a gloopy thick layer on your nails. The brush is of fairly average width but because of the richness of the glitter you get a good amount on the brush to apply to the nail. You can of course apply the glitter polish exactly as you would an ordinary nail polish , however as with a lot of glitter polishes the distribution will be fairly uneven and you might need to go back in and move the glitter around. Personally I find it easier to dot the speckles onto the nail, placing them exactly where I want them, rather than brushing them all over the nail and that way there's less correcting afterwards.

Despite having a slightly thicker formula, the polish dries quickly and evenly for a wonderful glittery effect that will last for about 4-5 days. If you want to use these as a top coat, they are intended to be used mainly on top of a black polish for a truly stand out effect and if you also apply a high shine top coat, you'll get a gorgeous colorful effect, almost like fireworks against a dark night sky. On the other hand if you like the textured look and feel of these fairly coarse glitters, you can quickly build up a nice and solid glitter and for the colors and effect to really pop, I would recommend that you apply at least three coats. The downside of applying several coats of an ordinary nail polish is of course that you make it more sensitive to chipping, since the slightest nudge can really mess up your mani - BUT when it comes to glitter polishes it seems like the more and thicker the layers you apply, the easier the glitter is to remove and you can almost peel it off the nail without having to scrub or use tinfoil or whatever wonderful trick you normally use to get rid of glitter polishes.

From left to right (3 coats, but no top coat):

Isadora 864 Hong Kong

Isadora 866 Dragon

Isadora 868 China Empress

The three shades I got were; 864 Hong Kong which is a luminous almost electric blue with a neon luster and silver specks that reminds me of big city lights and neon signs in the evening, 866 Dragon which is a beautiful jade green that makes me think of the scales of a powerful Chinese dragon and 868 China Empress which is a lovely rusty regal bronze shade that makes me think of a heavy, opulent and lavish brocade in a dress fit for an empress.

They are all gorgeous and eyecatching and as we're seeing out the end of the year of the snake and welcome the year of the horse, I do it with a sparkly Chinese inspired mani, wishing you all a Happy New Year - Kung hei fat choy!