Thursday 27 June 2013

piCture pOlish Jealousy - Swatches


Hi! Today I have the second in my series of piCture pOlish posts, and it's a good one! Jealousy is a beautiful green glitter that I can only describe as looking like sparkly grass! It's a very densely packed, full coverage glitter. I only needed 2 coats plus top coat! I would suggest using a peel off base coat such as PVA glue with this to make removal easy.



It's made up of grass green and silver micro glitter, along with slightly larger pieces of a brighter green glitter, which you can see in the macro shots below.




I love love love this! It's very unique in my stash and I do love a good full coverage glitter!

piCture pOlish can be bought directly from picturepolish.com.au, or through their international network. In the UK, you can find them at Sally Magpies.

Follow piCture pOlish on - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

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Monday 24 June 2013

Colourful Giraffes

Another slightly random one today. These were inspired by a set of postcards that I found in Ikea, by an artist called Jeni Matheson. I couldn't resist trying them out on my nails! You have to take inspiration from anywhere, right??

I used Essie Blanc for my base, and various Barry M and Essie colours for the giraffes. I painted them on using a medium nail art brush.




And here's the postcard I was inspired by:


They're so silly, they look like aliens. It's now up on my wall!
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Thursday 20 June 2013

Inspired by...a pen!?

We all have a favourite pen, don't we? (Don't tell me it's just me, I hate writing with any other pen!) I have this one on my desk and I've been looking at it for a while thinking it might make some interesting nail art. I'm not too sure it actually did, but it's different to say the least!

I used Barry M Lychee Gelly for the base, and various colours for the rest. I used a medium nail art brush to paint it all on.




Almost forgot to include a picture with the pen! Then it would have looked even more weird!

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Tuesday 18 June 2013

piCture pOlish Mad Magenta - Swatches and Nail Art



I'm really excited to have some beautiful piCture pOlish shades to share with you over the next few weeks! piCture pOlish is an Australian boutique brand that has become hugely popular and you've probably seen swatches and nail art featuring PP all over the blogging world!

The first shade I've got to show you is Mad Magenta, a purple/pink creme. This is my first creme from piCture pOlish and I'm suitably impressed by it, application was very smooth and I only needed two coats (plus a top coat). Very shiny too, as you can see!




I added a leopard print accent nail by painting the tip on freehand using Mad Magenta, then added the leopard print on my bare nail using a nail art pen and dotting tool.




One of the other things I love about PP is the square bottles and rubber-feel lids! 

piCture pOlish can be bought directly from picturepolish.com.au, or through their international network. In the UK, you can find them at Sally Magpies

Follow piCture pOlish on - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest


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Saturday 15 June 2013

Nailtopia Nail Stickers - Rose Fantasy



I must admit, nail stickers have never been something that have really appealed to me, but having seen the big range to choose from on Nailtopia, I thought why not try some? This set is called Rose Fantasy and features cute little pink roses.

I used a base colour of Illamasqua Jo'Mina, and freehanded some polka dots using a Barry M nail art pen. I then placed the rose stickers using tweezers to take them off the backing and to place them. I added a top coat after to help them stay in place.




Cute aren't they? They really prettied up the polka dots and it took literally seconds to apply them! The stickers are flat and rubber-like which makes them very pliable and easy to stick down. I found removal pretty easy too, I just used nail polish remover and teased off any stubborn bits with the flat side of an orange stick. Are nail stickers something you use or would use? 

You can find the Rose Fantasy set here on Nailtopia for £2.99 a pack. 
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Thursday 13 June 2013

Zoya Micky and Hazel - Swatches and Nail Art


It's a week of firsts for me, continuing with my first ever Zoya! I've been dying to get my hands on some Zoya for a long time now so I was really happy when Nail Care Club offered to send me some. 

Micky is from the Summer 2013 Stunning collection. It's a rose pink creme with hidden shimmer! I've said it before, I love me some hidden shimmer. It's not very evident unless you're in the sunshine, but I love it anyway! I used 3 coats and top coat. It was a little bit streaky to start with but the last coat sorted it out. It's so glossy!




Hazel is from the Summer 2013 Irresistible collection. It's a silvery blue foil with lots of gold flakes, which makes for a unique polish in my collection! I used 2 coats.




I love the combination of silver and pink, so I did some quick nail art using both polishes and some striping tape.




Pretty happy with my first Zoya! I love the bottles and the fact they all have girl's names, too. 

You can buy Zoya in the UK from Nail Care Club, which is the official UK distributor. They're a little bit of luxury at £10.50 a bottle, but it's reflected in the quality. Do you own any Zoya? I want to get my hands on the rest of these collections!


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Tuesday 11 June 2013

Kiko Gradient and Swatches

Here I have my first Kiko polishes. My lovely friend Hannah of Polly Polish was kind enough to pick me some up from her trip to Paris, and she chose very well! I've used Blue Spot and Pearly Peacock  (two limited edition colours) to make this gradient. I added some square studs from Born Pretty Store on my middle finger. I love how it turned out, it reminds me of the surface of the ocean!




Swatch of Pearly Peacock, an aqua-green foil which looks kind of glassy. I used 2 coats.



Swatch of Blue Spot, royal blue full of silver shimmer. Perfect in two coats. I adore the formula of both of these polishes!



Definitely been bitten by the Kiko bug!

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Friday 7 June 2013

Barry M Summer 2013 Limited Editions - Swatches


Have you seen the lovely new limited edition shades from Barry M? They're part of  a promotion in Superdrug where you get one free when you spend £6 on Barry M products! Swatches under the jump:



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Wednesday 5 June 2013

Dance Legend Prism - Android and Harbor


Here's the penultimate post in my Dance Legend series! Click the jump to see swatches of Android and Harbor from the beautiful Prism collection:

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Monday 3 June 2013

Tutorial: Colour Block French



This is a tutorial for my colour block french manicure, as seen in Nail It! Magazine!

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Saturday 1 June 2013

Elegant Touch Envy Wraps Bling - Dotty Hot Pink

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Well, here we have my first foray into nail wraps. I've always been rather scared of them due to the size and shape of my nails, but I was tempted by the Elegant Touch range because they all look so pretty! I'm sure most people are familiar with nail wraps, but if you're not, they're basically just thin, flexible strips you stick on your nails and file down to size. I decided to cut mine down to size first because none of them were anywhere near my nail shape.

These are the "Dotty Hot Pink" wraps from the Bling range. They have little clear rhinestones on them! I started by placing the wraps at my cuticles and doing my best to smooth them over my nail. I used the mini nail file (included in the pack) to file the excess from the tips. Bear in mind you do not use top coat with these!


As you can see, I did struggle a bit. I had difficulty trying to smooth them over my nails and you can see bumps in the wraps, although from a normal distance they aren't actually noticeable at all. 



They're not perfect, but not too bad. I think I struggled because my nails are crazily curved and quite an odd shape (long and thin) so perhaps not everyone would have the same problem. I think I managed to get them to an acceptable level though (just about!) 

Removal was pretty easy, I just used the flat side of a cuticle stick to tease the edges up and then they just peel off. You can remove the sticky residue easily with a bit of nail polish remover. I do like the idea of nail wraps, they're good if you're not into doing your own nail art, but I just don't think my nail shape lends anything to them! What's your opinion on nail wraps?

Elegant Touch wraps are available at their website plus a huge range of shops, click here to see a list of UK and US stockists!

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