Chi Chi Bling It On

As a fan of all things glitter, I just couldn't resist when I saw this pack on sale.

The various glitter colours aren't named, but here they are in their bottles:

And here's what they look like on nails:

Application was okay, but not great.  Perhaps that's why they were on sale???  I think I'll need to use a bit of thinner on these . . .


I've used Kleancolor - Black as the base colour in these photos, and I think they all really do need to have a darker base colour to accentuate their glittery brilliance.


What I like:  Nice big glitter pieces.

What I don't like:  Gluggy formula and difficult to get the glitter evenly spread across the nail.


Rating:  6 / 10


NN

Glad wrap mani - take two

Inspired by Nihrida's recent tutorial (she's so clever!), I retried saran/Glad Wrap nails.


Last time, painted the colour onto the Glad Wrap itself and then dabbed it onto the nail.  This time, I dabbed the second coat of wet nails (very gently) with the Glad Wrap.


A much better result, don't you think?!

I used Essence - You Belong To Me as the base colour, and Essence - Let's Get Lost as the top colour.  I might give this another go shortly with metallics - I have a purple/green combo in mind!


NN

Konad stamping

Life has been getting in the way of this blog lately.  Apologies for the absence!

I've recently picked up some Konad nail stamping plates (in addition to the el cheapo kit I got earlier last year - check it out here and here). 

Konad brand is the premium gear for all things nail stamping.  Each plate costs $8 (from where I buy them) and two for $15, hence why I only have a few select ones.  These are the plates:

Now, stamping does take some skill, not only to get the image onto the stamp, but to then to position it correctly on your nail.  I like these tips put together by the blogger Simply Rins. I also like these tips and stamp options detailed by the blogger Rebecca Likes Nails, but there are plenty more out there if you search "nail stamping" or similar variations.


Konad kits come with their own nail polishes, but it is not necessary to use them, as they are quite expensive.  Generally, a polish can be used if it is opaque in one coat (but there are always exceptions to this).  I find that metallics work best, and there are a few cremes which also do the trick.  It also helps your design to stand out if your base colour is matte.  I've previously used Australis' Blue Tiger for the base colour and it works well, especially using Revlon's Silver Dollar or Gold Coin as the stamping colour.


I've definitely still got my "L" plates on with this technique, so bear that in mind for these photos of some recent attempts:

From Konad plate m60

Base colours:  Sinful Colors - Snow Me White (one coat), Australis Nail Glitter - Milky Way
Stamping colour - Ulta3 - Orchid

 From Konad plate m60

Base colours: Sinful Colors - Snow Me White (one coat), Australis Nail Glitter - Milky Way
Stamping colour - Ulta3 - Orchid

From Konad plate m60

Base colour:  Kleancolor - Black
Stamping colour:  Ulta3 - Lily White

From Konad plate m78

Base colour: Kleancolor - Black
Stamping colour: Ulta3 - Lily White

From Konad plate m64

Base colour: Kleancolor - Black
Stamping colour: Ulta3 - Lily White

From Konad plate m28

Base colour: Kleancolor - Black
Stamping colour: Ulta3 - Lily White


I do enjoy stamping, but the practicing of it can make you a little weary.  You also have to be prepared, with cotton balls and buds soaked in nail polish remover so you can wipe excess polish from your implements so as to transfer your designs cleanly.  But the excitement of pulling off a successful "stamping" is enough incentive to keep wanting to try it again and again.


NN

Rokk96 - Confetti

Just a real quick post - my local Price Attack was having a closing down sale, so I popped in and had a quick look and found Rokk96 - Confetti:

I used Kleancolor - Black as the base and popped Confetti over top.

Confetti is a multi-coloured micro-glitter, which, in certain lights, can look a little holo! I've only applied one coat of Confetti in these photos, but it seems quite pigmented, so perhaps that's all that's needed.  Super easy to apply.


NN

Australis - Nail Glitter Colour

I know it's juvenile, but I find it difficult to pass up a good glitter polish.  The downside being that glitters can be so tricky to apply evenly without being streaky and the glitter clumping in one area on your nail.  And then, there's the removal - so much work!


Regardless, I'm still not deterred.  Here's a couple of new ones I picked up recently.


Australis - Milky Way (2 coats):

Milky Way is a white polish with micro blue glitter, dispersed with multi-coloured small to medium-sized glitter elements throughout.  Application wasn't too difficult, however, I think next time I wear it, I'll put down a coat of plain white polish first, just to get the opacity prior to putting the glitter over top.


Australis - Space Jam (2 coats):

Space Jam is a plum polish with micro maroon glitter, dispersed with steel blue/grey and royal blue small to medium-sized glitter elements throughout. Application was very difficult!  This one just didn't seem to want to cooperate and spread evenly, and instead the glitter clumped up all in the same area on the nail.  The brush didn't seem to help matters, either.  I think I might put some thinner in this one to help application.  I also might wear a base colour, perhaps a black or shimmery dark maroon, again, to help with opacity before the glitters are painted on.


Final verdict:  Milky Way - good (with a little extra prep. of a base colour).  Space Jam - looks really pretty in the bottle, doesn't translate to the nails, but I'll keep you posted once the thinner goes in.


NN

Nail Art Pens - Test Drive

 

Yesterday I got it in my mind to play around with my nail art pens and make some funky designs. 

 

 

Previously, I only had the Sally Hansen brand of pens in Black, White, Silver and Red.  Their performance has not been consistent (that's putting it nicely), and I could only seem to find those four colours in the stores, even though there are seven colours in their range.

 

 

I was frustrated that they didn't seem to have a Gold colour, and so I went out to find one.  I came across the 1000 Hour Nail Design Pen (comes in six colours, including Gold) and snaffled that up. 

 

 

Later, whilst wandering around Priceline, I found a Glamnails Manicare Nail Art Pen in Lilac Purple.  You may notice that the link for the Glamnails pens I've posted takes you to Priceline - it seems that the Glam by Manicare website doesn't have these pens listed on it (not that I could find, anyway), however, you can get some of the range in Priceline stores, and most of the range if you order them online through Priceline.  I say "most" of the range, because according to the Glamnails packaging, it says there are "12 designer shades" to choose from, however, the Priceline site only lists 11.  The mystery of the 12th shade!  I wonder what it is/was?!

 

 

Anyway, this is what each of the pens looks like (below):

 

 

For ease of use, I would put the 1000 Hour and the Glamnails pens way ahead of the Sally Hansen pens.  They all have a similar design in that you have to press the nib down a few times to get the polish flowing, and I think that's the trick of getting the pens to work consistently.  If you ink up your pen properly on first use, you shouldn't have any problems with it. 


Unfortunately, the Sally Hansen pens don't seem to want to ink up correctly for me.  When I finally got the polish flowing, it did so in a big puddle on the paper that I used to get the ink working instead of inking up the nib, so I was forced to soak the nib in the puddle of polish which resulted in my designs being uneven and patchy.


Regarding the other two pens, the polish seemed to flow fine once the nib was primed, and they were very easy to use.


Here's a few things I did yesterday with the pens.  Because I'm still learning and just playing, they're not perfect, but it's all a learning curve . . .


I started by painting my nails with Models Prefer - Skinny Leg Jean (a navy blue with an emerald green shimmer).

I then used the Glamnails NAP in Lilac Purple and drew a border around my nails.

 

Because I couldn't leave it alone, I drew another border inside the first one.



 

 

 

And finally, I thought I'd finish it off with a dot in the middle, et voila, nail art design finished.

 

On my right hand, I tried out the 1000 Hour NDP with a few different designs.  Even though it looks bumpy/patchy, it's only because I hadn't let the background polish dry properly on my nails before putting the pen over top.  That is the main rule with NAP's, the polish underneath absolutely needs to be completely dry first!

Okay, to be clear, there are a few rules with the NAP's:

1. Before you use the pen, there should be a base coat or polish on your nails first.  Don't use the pen directly on your nails, and try to keep it off your skin.
2. Your base coat or polish needs to be completely dry before you use the NAP's.
3. You will need to use a topcoat to protect your design - but wait until the NAP design is completely dry first.  The NAP's tend to wear off very easily without a topcoat.  The good thing is, if you stuff up your design, you should be able to wipe it off with a tiny bit of water on a cotton ball, without needing to completely strip all polish from your finger and start again.

Happy designing!


NN

New-ish OPI additions

Staying true to my word, I have never bought a $20 bottle of any OPI polish. I refuse. C'mon, that's ridiculously too expensive for a product that, as yet, still hasn't proven to be a fabulous nail polish. Okay, they're alright, and they have some nice colours, but they're not anything special and most of the cheaper polish brands tend to copy their colours anyway, so that's usually the option I go for.

Recently, however, I stumbled across one of my retailers having an OPI "sale" for discontinued shades. It went a little something like this: Oh, okay then, I'll claw through the big tub of a million polishes to see what I can find . . . . WOO HOO! A couple of colours from the recent 007 Skyfall collection, The World Is Not Enough and On Her Majesty's Secret Service!

I have been coveting these two for a while, and even when I recently went to New Zealand I saw them at the airport and nearly got them, but thought, nah, they're still a little bit too expensive. I went on the buy Save Me from Nicki Minaj's collection and My Private Jet (the newer version), but that's for another post.

So anyway, here they are, my pretties:



 
Above: The World Is Not Enough (apologies about the tip wear)


TWINE (LOL funny acronym) is a pinky/silver micro glitter polish which presents on the nail to be a light brown metallic colour. The polish finish is smooth and unlike most glitters, it's easy to remove. This didn't want to photograph properly, but it looks nicer in sunlight light. In artificial light, it's understated, and a work-friendly colour.



 

 

Above: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

 

OHMSS is similar to TWINE in glitter characteristics. It is a blue/green/silver/gold micro-glitter polish and it is spectacular! In certain light, you can also see a purple tinge.  Check out the pic below of the polish, close-up! 

 

 

 

 

 

I also found another colour that I've wanted for a little while:  Austin-tatious Turquoise - it fits in with my obsession for all things Peacock: 

 

  



Austin-tatious Turquoise is a teal micro-glitter polish with a purple tinge in the bottle, but the purple doesn't seem to present on the nail (bit disappointing).  I like it anyway.


So I eventually got what I wanted, and for less!  I have no idea why OPI is so expensive for Australia and New Zealand.  The only thing I can think of is that the costs are associated with importing them, but c'mon, they're only nail polishes.  If the polish companies don't step up, and get real, they're going to lose business to the other brands whose polishes are, I think, just as good, and cheaper (Sinful Colours and Essence to name a couple).


NN