Bluesky Shellac - Diamond Plum

Today I have something a little different, (and perhaps controversial in some circles).  I looked up these Bluesky products before deciding whether to try them, and saw a sea of voices saying 'its not Shellac if its not CND'.  Well fair enough, most of these people were nail professionals and if I was going to a salon then yes, I would expect a premium product for the price. No different than if I was going for a manicure and polish, would I be happy paying salon prices to have my nails painted with a supermarket brand?  No, I would want my OPI dammit!

Here's the thing though, I am not a professional, I am a hobbyist. I have said this before to some of the nastier critics (yes there are some awful people out there who can be bullies about how you paint or shape your nails, seriously how wrong and tragic is that!)  But I digress.

So today, after deciding I would give them a whirl, I have a selection of colours and one full manicure to show you.  I was sent these from a lovely lady at Shellacworld (<<<clicky for link) after perusing the site, and deciding these were the colours I liked the most.  Obviously a UV nail lamp is needed, and I have an old UV lamp from a Rio gel nails kit that was purchased many moons ago from good old ebay, but it did the trick nicely even though it isn't particularly high powered.

First I had to decide which colour to choose, from these five pretties, to try a full manicure with.  Thumb to pinky are Crystal Flame, Crystal Curacao, Diamond Ocean, Diamond Plum, and Diamond Storm.

Once I had decided that if its purple, and its got bling, then that's the way I must go, I got started.  First I made sure my nails were clean and dry, and then wiped them with remover to remove any oil etc (or the mani can lift).  I then applied a base of Bluesky Soak Off Gel Basecoat, and added a thin layer of Bluesky Shellac in 'Diamond Plum.' Then another slightly thicker coat of Diamond Plum to reach the opacity I wanted, and finally finished off with Bluesky Soak Off Gel Topcoat.  I cured each layer for two minutes under my UV lamp before adding the next, and simply used isopropyl alcohol wipes to wipe off the sticky residue of the last layer when I was done.  Et voilà, lovely glittery nails that were surprisingly easy to do.  The colour, base and top coats were easy to apply, the colour being a bit thicker than a polish would be but nothing problematic, and the base and top coats applied as easily as polish does.

Sunlight

Shade, natural daylight

I do like them and I am glad I gave them a try.  Diamond Plum is a rich dark blue based purple that is jam packed with glitter, there are small and large sized holo glitter pieces in this that are so twinkly when it catches the light.  Of course that appeals to me anyway, purple and sparkly, hell yeah!  It has some lovely depth to it as well, with the glitter looking likes its floating in there, in layers of loveliness 

I was quite surprised that they turned out so well on my first try.  Lovely and smooth, no lumpiness at all, and nice and shiny too so no layers of topcoat to smooth out the glitter.  I have had them on for four days now, and they are not showing any wear at all, and I even had a girl at work admiring them and asking me what polish it was.  When I told her, she said 'ooo can you come to my house and do mine please!' which is quite a compliment I reckon!  My only criticism with this one is that it looks slightly thicker on the nail than a standard glitter polish and topcoat would, but its not obvious, and mostly I believe its down to it being so packed with glitter (for which I am prepared to forgive it, because, well its just soo pretty!).

I will be trying all the others as full manicures as well in due time, but for now I am happy looking at my purple pretties twinkling away at me.  I am happy with them, and I hope you like them too :D


(Products sent for review)