Before & After: Elle's Spell + Diamond filigree

Hello!!!

Day 19 of the CNT 31 Day Challenge is to do something with your favorite polish.

Oh, the agony.

So many pretties to choose from...so many preciouses...I have discovered so many new and wonderous polishes since I started blogging in April, it was a near impossibility to narrow it down to one. And every time I thought I did--so much guilt about not choosing that one or that one...or hey, what about that one? I can't even understand how anyone narrows it down to a top 10 list at the end of the year, let alone ONE.

I did this post several times, with different polishes, because another thing I found was that a polish I thought was absolutely the pinnacle of amazing will turns out to have been bested by another that I found later. It's like my polishes keep upping the ante, lol! So, I'll show you those other polishes (Nfu-Oh 51 was one of them) in future Before & After posts.

Finally I decided to limit my decision to my favorite color, red. Then, I decided it had to be an extra-extra ultra special red--which means a specialty finish. I'll be honest, it was a very close call between Hits Ares (gorgeous red holo) and Barelle's Elle's Spell, the polish I finally decided to go with.

Elle's Spell is a beautiful red jelly with yellow/orange/gold flakies. When I went to put it on, I realized I have yet to use it as a base polish in a mani, and I've never done a full swatch of it--I have mostly used it for nail art. When I put it on, it went on a bit lighter than it looks in the bottle and I realized it looks a lot like the Layla flakie I got a while back, and I'm going to have to do a comparison post. This is 4 thin coats (due to my jelly issues) and Seche Vite:

Barielle Elle's Spell

Barielle Elle's Spell, plus requisite random fibers

To decorate it, I wanted to do an overall pattern on the nail, with a little extra something to make it a bit special. So, I stamped with Butter London The Full Monty (a great gold to stamp with if you want a little extra sparkle in the gold), and LeaLac plate LLC-A. Finally, I put some gold diamond-shaped glitters down the ring finger as a final accent:

These rocks don't lose their shape...

Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

I'm not going to mention the source for these diamond glitters, because I've since found a better one; I got just a small package of these for my money, and I've since got a pot of silver diamond glitters from Born Pretty Store that is *huge* for a very reasonable price. So I'll be reviewing those for you shortly, and if in the meantime you want to get some of these, I think they're a good source for you. You can also get 10% off from them with the coupon code on the side-bar--and no, I don't get a commission, lol! They just really are a better price for a lot more.

So what do you think? The flakies show through a bit, and I do like the scroll work. But honestly this polish doesn't need anything to be beautiful, and when I do this again I think I'll just decorate the accent nail and let the flakies keep the stage.

Thanks for taking a look! Please check out the other favorites below. :)

Xoxox,
M.