Darling Diva Haul: Part One - Drop Dead Sexy Glitter

So maybe it's a bit late in the game for me, but I finally decided to take the plunge into indie polishes. Turns out not a lot of them ship to Germany (apparently most are located in the U.S.), including Etsy sellers, and if they do the shipping costs can be as much as the polishes themselves!

Among the first indie polishes on Etsy that caught my eye was Darling Diva. Since shipping rates would be lower if I got a few bottles, I decided she'd be my first indie polish buy. With almost 60 different polishes to choose from in her store, it was tough to narrow it down to a few choices.

Turns out my mistake was that I didn't buy more!

Of the 6 bottles chosen, I decided to do three blog posts with 2 polishes at a time, because I was just blown away by them. So let's get right to the pictures...

I took so many! I was mesmerized by how these swatches looked in person and the ones in this post were my favorites. I so wanted to really capture the depth and shine these polishes radiate.

The first polish I swatched was ELECTRIC SEX (all caps via Darling Diva) a juicy black jelly base loaded with big gold holographic hexes, gold hexes, gold squares and (the part I was looking forward to most) gold holo bar glitter!

I figured it would make a great topcoat but I really wanted to see it on its own, and got a great result from three thin coats.

Very nice coverage, but still sheer enough that you could tell it was a yummy jelly polish polish that looked amazing with the glitters layered.

The second polish I swatched was Auld Lang Syne, a mix of silver and gold micro glitter, glitter powder, and just the right amount of gold hex medium glitters thrown in for fun in a clear base.

I played around with this one a bit until I settled on a gradient.

For the background color, I used two coats of Catrice Drama Queen, a black with gold powder to make the blending of the gradient smoother. Then I lightly dabbed on a very thin coat of Auld Lang Syne about 2/3 of the way up my nail, then a bit more dabbed on about halfway after I'd already done a round on both hands, and I went a little crazy at the bottom, going for a few of those precious medium gold hex bits on the bottom 1/4 to really amp up the drama. 

I loved it so much I wore it for a few days, including to a Christmas party where I got loads of compliments.

I began both looks with my usual base coat of CND Stickey. I also have to add that while these Darling Diva polishes are smoother than quite a few other glitter polishes I've used and were both easy formulas to work with and apply (just make sure to give 'em a good shake and roll in case the glitter particles settle a bit!) a thick topcoat like Seche Vite not only smooths out but gives these already show-stopping polishes that much more of a wow factor. 

I'll be swatching the other four over the coming week, so stay tuned...

Thanks for visiting!