Hi everyone! My name is Valesha and I run a little blog called Peachy Polish. I’m so excited to get to do a post on KBShimmer’s blog! It is such an honor for me since KBShimmer is one of the first indie polishes that I fell head over heels for. 🙂
For those of you who don’t know, “undies” are polishes that are worn under glitter topcoats. So I’m here to show you how I pick my undies! This is by no means the be-all and end-all of picking out undies and there are infinite exceptions to my thoughts and ideas of what looks good. I do spend a lot of time before I start swatching any polish, picking out undies I think will fit nicely with a particular glitter polish. Choosing colors that look good together is something I’ve been meticulous about since I was a child. My mom tells me horror stories of me being in complete disarray because my stirrup pants didn’t match my turtleneck. Yep, I was one fashionable kid. LOL! I think picking good undies is the key to making your manicure pop so here are my personal do’s and don’t’s for picking out undies!
DON’T: Pick undies that make the glitter disappear.
While the undie choices here makes the glitter look very subdued (which is great if that’s what you are going for!) it also makes one color of glitter blend into the base. If you want to show off a glitter polish to it’s full potential, you want to pick an undie that will make the glitter be the focal point. Here I used one coat of “A Dot Mess” over Illamasqua “Obsess” and Essie “Licorice.”
DO: Pick a color that let’s the glitter do the talking.
In these photos I used “A Dot Mess” over Zoya “Song” and Zoya “Arizona.” I chose these two colors as undies because they really let the glitter be the star. The colors of the undies compliment the colors of the glitter without overwhelming it. Now, I would never wear this mani exactly like it is here because it is much too busy to use two base colors with a glitter that’s so detailed as it is but each undie on it’s own with “A Dot Mess” on top would be magnifico!
Here’s another fun example of letting the glitter do the talking. A red and white glitter such as “Candy Cane Crush” is reminiscent of so many holidays so it’s visually appealing to layer this pretty glitter over a variety of colors. A purple polish like OPI “Tomorrow Never Dies” topped with a coat of “Candy Cane Crush” is perfect for Valentine’s Day. CCC on top of Zoya “Song” is a great combo for the 4th of July. CCC over OPI “Pink Friday” is a tasty treat that reminds me of Valentine’s Day or a peppermint-y Christmastime treat! And Essie “Mint Candy Apple” under CCC is like a bright and fun winter theme!
DO: Wear multicolored and neutral glitters over every color of the rainbow!
Glitters like “Clown Puke” have such an abundance of colors that you can basically wear it over any undie! When in doubt, a multicolored glitter over white or black polish always makes a statement! There really isn’t a don’t for this except that usually it looks best if you use an undie that’s complimentary to one of the colors in the glitter or use a neutral like black, white, gray or nude as the base color. “Clown Puke” for example is bright and bold, so I choose bright and bold undies! It wouldn’t have looked very good layered over a dark colored undie like maroon, for example. From pointer to pinkie: Zoya “Darcy”, OPI “Who The Shrek Are you?”, Zoya “Zuza” & Butter London “Primrose Hill Picnic” all topped with a single coat of “Clown Puke.”
When we are talking about neutral colored glitters, they can truly be worn over any color. The sky is the limit when it comes to undie and glitter topper combinations. “Grayscale” has white, black and gray matte glitters and would look amazing over every color. I choose to layer it over (from pointer to pinkie) Face Shop “PP405”, Essie “Turquoise & Caicos”, Essie “She’s Pampered” & Zoya “Gie Gie.”
I would also consider silver to be a neutral, since it’s along the same lines of gray. You can wear silver glitters over any color you can think of, as well. I prefer wearing silver glitters over creme polishes as to not overwhelm the amazingness of the blingy silver, especially if the glitter is holographic. We want to holo to do the majority of the talking here so I used one coat of “Ice Queen” over Essie “Snap Happy”, Dior “Mango”, Deborah Lippmann “Almost Paradise” & Nfu Oh! “JS15.”
DON’T: Go too crazy when choosing a contrasting color!
Do we want the undies to contrast the glitter topcoat enough that the glitter won’t disappear? Yes! But bear in mind, you can go too far. Pairing a pastel glitter like “Pastel Me More” with an olive green like China Glaze “Trendsetter” or a deep reddened orange like Sparitual “Clay” takes away from the fun and cheeriness of the glitter and isn’t aesthetically appealing. The pairings do nothing for the undies or the glitter. You want the undie to make the glitter better and vice versa!
The same goes for these combinations of “Squared Away” with Essie “She’s Pampered” and Cult Nails “Afterglow.” The colors of the polishes and glitter just don’t do anything to make each other better.
DO: Choose an undie that’s in the same color family!
A great rule of thumb is to choose an undie that’s just a shade or two different from one of the colors of glitter, since we don’t want the glitter to disappear. This is a good example of what I mean, each column starts out lighter at the top and gets darker as you go down but it doesn’t change in color tone (like an ombre!) For this I did one coat of “Pastel Me More” over Essie “Where’s My Chauffeur?” and OPI “Pink Friday.” Each of the polishes are just a shade or two off from one of the glitters in “Pastel Me More.”
Once again, the same goes for these combinations of “Squared Away” with China Glaze “Beach Cruise-r” and Face Shop “BL602.” Each undie is a “one-off” of one of the glitters in the topper. The undies really compliment the glitter, while still making the glitter bits stand out.
And here is one last example of using base polishes that are just one or two shades different from the colors in the glitter polish. All of these are gorgeous combinations that are really eye catching! I did one coat of “Bejeweled” over NCLA “Venice Beach Vixen”, Rescue Beauty Lounge “Pause”, OPI “Wooden Shoe Like To Know” & Zoya “Rocky.”
I hope that these are some useful pointers for those of you who might have a hard time trying to choose good undies! I’d love to know, how do you like to choose undies for your glitter toppers? Do you have a method you like to use or do you like using a randomly picked base color?
Thank you to Christy from KBShimmer for letting me come over and do such a fun guest post on the KBShimmer blog! ♥
