Friday, February 28, 2014

Studs from Born Pretty Store



I’ve wanted to try studs for a while (so to speak), so here's a post dedicated to studs! 
I started out with small silver stars. My nails aren’t either particularly big or particularly long, so I picked the smallest stars I could find – they’re about 2.5mm. They come in a bag containing approximately 150 stars, and you can find them here.

Here’s the bag I received:


I have never tried studs before (so to speak), so I was a little bit nervous to begin with. But it was really easy. I poured some stars out on a piece of paper, and hoped some of them would land with the top side up. Then I dipped the tip of an orange stick in a non quick drying topcoat, dapped a bit of topcoat on my nail. And before that dried, I picked up a star with the orange stick (now wet with topcoat) and placed it in the wet topcoat. I repeated these steps until I had a row of stars vertically on each nail:


I didn’t topcoat it, but I’ll do that next time. The stars are not plain flat, so they look cool even on curved nails.


Next studs up (no pun intended, haha) are golden hearts, find them here.



They’re bigger than the first studs (the jokes could go on, couldn’t they), and perhaps even a bit too big for my relatively small nails. Again: I dapped topcoat on my nails and placed the hearts with an orange stick.


I tried to make a flower out of them on my ring finger nail.


No topcoat on that either.

The last studs are small black circles. And they’re really small, even smaller than I imagined. They’re still easy to work with and I think this size is really good on my nails. You can find the studs here.


I made various patterns on my nails.


And I liked how easy these were to work with, even for a n00b like myself :D



Verdict:
If you’re into studs, you definitely should give some of these a go. My favourites are the round black studs, closely followed by the silver stars. They’re all really easy to work with once you get the hang of it.


NailNation 3000 ~ Glow Worm



NailNation 3000 ~ Glow Worm
Neon lime green linear holographic

This is going to be the last NailNation 3000 I’m going to show you for now. Not because I don’t want to show you more, but I’ve only got one more, and that’s plain white. But anyway – I’ve saved the greenest one for last, hahaha!

Glow Worm is neon green, right up there in your face neon green. It’s cool to wear something flashy on your nails during winter too.

The formula is good, like with the other NailNation polishes I’ve tried. Application was easy, and I didn’t experience any dragging at all, and I just used my ordinary basecoat. It took two coats to make it opaque, and drying time between the coats were good.

And this is sweet! Here is what two coats and no topcoat looks like. The picture is taken with flash:


Is that glowing or what? Another flash pic:


And another one with flash:


I also like this polish in lower lights. The rainbows still show!


I stamped on it. I used a cheap copy no name “Suzi skies in the Pyrenees”. And I found my motifs on a Moyou London stamping plate called “Princess-11”. Here’s the final result before the topcoat. The first two pics are taken with flash:


I tried to alternate the two designs I used so the nails didn’t all look the same.


And here’s one last shot taken in lower lights without flash:



Verdict:
I don’t wear this colour a lot, but I think I’m going to change that, because I really like it. I love the way it glows and I obviously love the rainbows it flashes! I have nothing negative to say about this polish, I just like it!


Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Fast
Durability: Good
Removal: No problem at all
Overall impression: Unusual colour for me, but I love it!
Buy again: Yes


I bought Glow Worm from norwaynails.com.
You can find more info on NorwayNail’s Facebook page, link here

Norway Nails have kindly offered my readers a 10% discount code. Just use the code RAINBOWIFYME10 at checkout, and you'll be getting 10% off your purchase. 

Thursday, February 27, 2014

NailNation 3000 ~ Fan-Tabulous & Marthe



NailNation 3000 ~ Fan-Tabulous & Marthe
Fuchsia linear holographic & Deep grape linear holo

I want to show you a couple of other NailNation 3000-polishes! I seem to have developed (or re-discovered) my love for pinks and magentas. My collection seems to hold quite a lot of them actually.

Fan-Tabulous has got a great formula. The polish is easy to apply and dries fast. Don’t use too many strokes with the brush when you apply though: Because like I said, the polish dries pretty fast, and it “lumps” if you paint the polish on with too many brush strokes. It’s a one coater! I added a second coat, but honestly, it didn’t seem to make any difference at all.

Are you ready for something fantabulous? Take a look at two coats, no topcoat, and the pic is taken with flash:


Is that gorgeous, or what??


A new and different angle:



The polish is also pretty is low light, which is a huge plus. Here is a picture taken without flash:


Then I grabbed “Marthe”, which is described as a grape polish. I can’t see that no matter how hard I try. To me it’s midnight blue! But anyway – I taped my nails about 1/3 in, and applied two quick layers of Marthe. Then I painted dots down the middle of each nail. I topcoated it with H K Girl topcoat, and here’s the final result:


The topcoat dulled Fan-Tabulous a little bit, but it didn’t affect Marthe at all.


And here’s the shot without flash:



Verdict:
The NailNation polishes I’ve tried so far have been no less than great! I love the formula, the coverage and the drying time. And I love, love, love the holographic goodnesses! (Did I just make that word up?) Total winners in my book!


Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Fast
Durability: Good
Removal: No problem at all
Overall impression: I love the colour of Fan-Tabulous and the holoness of Marthe. Two winners for sure!
Buy again: Yes, definitely!


I bought both polishes from norwaynails.com.
You can find more info on NorwayNail’s Facebook page, link here

Norway Nails have kindly offered my readers a 10% discount code. Just use the code RAINBOWIFYME10 at checkout, and you'll be getting 10% off your purchase. 

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

NailNation 3000 ~ H2-OHHH & Fuchsia Holo GASM



NailNation 3000 ~ H2-OHHH & Fuchsia Holo GASM
Pale baby blue holo with micro sparkles and aqua glitter & Pink holo with fuchsia glitter

I am sure y’all are aware of my love for holos by now – and probably also for glitter. I have often thought: Why not combine the two and make a holographic glitterpolish. It seems that NailNation 3000 has made my dream come true with these two polishes.

I couldn’t decide which one to wear first, so I wore them both! The formula is great, I had no problems with application whatsoever. Drying time is average, and coverage is good. It takes two coats to make it look good – and that goes for both polishes.

Let me show you what two coats and no topcoat looks like. This picture is taken with flash:


It looks pretty cool in my opinion! You can see the superstrong holo underneath the glitter!


Here is a picture taken in lower lights without flash:


In this light the glitters really pop, and that’s what makes these polishes so cool!

I stamped on them both! On H2-OHHH I stamped with Essence “Hard to Resist”, a dark blue shimmer, and on Fuchsia Holo GASM I stamped with Gosh “Berry Me” which is a berry coloured crème. I used a stamping plate from Moyou London called “Princess-13”.

Here’s what that looks like. The picture is taken with flash:


The flash overwhelms the motif, so let me turn that off for you.


And one last shot, because this is a mani that I don’t want to take off!


Here are the polishes I used for this mani:


Oh yes, this turned out much better than I expected it too! I love that this mani works both in lower lights and in the sunshine – which we haven’t got much of at the moment, admittedly! 

I wonder if you like it as much as I do – or don’t you like holos and glitters at all?


Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Average
Durability: Good
Removal: No problem
Overall impression: The best of two worlds in on bottle. I’m impressed!
Buy again: Yes! And also in other colours, should they be available


I bought the NailNation 3000s from norwaynails.com.
You can find more info on NorwayNail’s Facebook page, link here

Norway Nails have kindly offered my readers a 10% discount code. Just use the code RAINBOWIFYME10 at checkout, and you'll be getting 10% off your purchase. 

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Essence ~ Superheroes



Essence ~ Superheroes
02 The Incredible, 03 Power Girl, 04 Super, Man!, 06 The Awesome

This winter Essence came out with a collection they called “Superheroes”. There were six polishes in the collection, of which I bought the four named. The two I gave a miss was 01 Fantastic Girl, which is a pink thermal polish, and 05 Wonder wow! Man! which is a metallic gold. I knew I wasn’t going to wear any of those, and I don’t buy polishes I know I am not going to wear.

So anyway – let’s concentrate about the four polishes I actually bought, shall we? :)  

02 The Incredible, 04 Super, Man!, 03 Power Girl, 06 The Awesome

First one up is 02 The Incredible. It’s a turquoise textured polish with shimmer, and I thought it was going to be my favourite of the bunch. I turned out to be wrong about that.

The formula is OK, but it’s definitely not the best texture I’ve tried. Drying time is really slow, like it was with the first generation of textures. It takes two coats to make it opaque.

Here’s two coats:


And another shot:


Verdict:
I was really disappointed in this. I like the colour a lot, but I don’t like the slow drying time. I don’t like that the shimmers drown in the polish either, and aren’t as visible I had hoped they would be.


Next one up is 04 Super, Man! Essence calls it the polish with “holo effect”. It’s basically a metallic silver with holographic microglitter. I was really curious if they would drown in the polish too.

The formula was good, no problems with application. Drying time is faster than the first one, but not superfast. Let’s say it’s average, haha! Coverage is good – it was almost opaque after the first coat, so two coats is what it takes.

Here’s two coats, no topcoat:


And another one to flash the hologlitters:


Verdict:
Yes, this works! I like silver polishes even though I don’t wear them that often, and the addition of holo glitter is really sweet. This is really Super, Man! :D


The third one up is 03 Power Girl. Essence calls it a polish with “Oil slick effect” – in my world this is a blue/purple duochrome. Potato, Potahtoe, I guess.

Application was a breeze and it took two coats to make this opaque. Where the textured product was the disappointment of this collection for me, Power Girl is the positive surprise. I honestly didn’t expect much, but wow, this is beautiful! Drying time is average, which is ok.

Here’s two coats and no topcoat:


I mean, look at that colour change! It’s so cool!


Verdict:
Oh yeah baby, here’s the winner for me. I love the easy, smooth application and the really cool colourshift. And I love the colours!


Last one up is 06 The Awesome. “Galaxy Flakes” is what the sticker on the bottle says. In reality it’s a pink jelly base with pink, silver and holographic glitters in various sizes. Nothing wrong with that, but I see no flakes!

It’s probably a polish that can work on its own, but my guess is that it will take three coats. I wasn’t in the mood for that, so I layered it over the blue/purple duochrome, Power Girl.

The base is relatively thick, but that just works for me. The glitters don’t need to be dapped around, they just spread out effortlessly. And the amount of glitter you see on each nail is a result of one dip in the bottle, sweet ladies!


I say that this is a pretty good match, don’t you think?


Verdict:
Yes, this glitter is a keeper. I actually like how it looks over blue/purple, so it’s not the last time I’ve tried that combo!


Overall impression: Essence makes some pretty cool collections, and I’m glad I got my hands on these four.
Buy again: Yes – except for the textured product.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Musical Mani Monday, week 2: Culture Club ~ Karma Chameleon



Welcome to the second week of my new music challenge. I’ve chosen a number of songs that I want to translate into nail art. I may let the lyrics inspire me, the video or even the name of the song.

Second song up is Culture Club with “Karma Chameleon”. The song is from 1983 when Boy George was young, hot and looked like a girl, hahaha.

I took my inspiration in the title of the song, Boy George’s outfit and the chorus, that goes like this:

Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon,
You come and go, you come and go.
Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams:
Red gold and green, red gold and green.

Here’s my mani:


Red, gold and green, check. Chameleon, check. Boy George’s outfit, check.
Here’s what he looks like in the video. I’ve taken inspiration from the pom poms on his scarf.


Anyway, for the red/gold gradient I used two polishes from Sally Hansen’s Complete Salon Manicure-series: Right Said Red and Gilded Lily.
The multichromatic polish is from I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) and is called Mutagen. It’s a beautiful polish that shifts from green to blue to purple to pink to red and finally to orange. Crazy colourshift. I used three coats, but two would have been enough on my short nails.


I didn’t catch all the colours in Mutagen on camera, but trust me, it’s an amazing chameleon.


I like these colours together!


Here are the three polishes I used.


I might as well link you up to the video. But do know that it’s an earworm – I’ve been humming it to myself for a couple of days now, argh! :D



That was the second challenge in my Music Mani Monday. Stay tuned next week to see how I interpret Aerosmith’s Pink! 

Here are the other cool manis inspired by Culture Club:


Sunday, February 23, 2014

Arcane Lacquer ~ Funhouse



Arcane Lacquer ~ Funhouse
Magenta base with a mix of magenta and blue glitters

Today I’m going to show you something really cool. Funhouse is a magenta ‘in yer face’ glitter. The type that I just love!

The formula is good and easy to work with and coverage is really good. It took me two coats to make this opaque and the drying time between the coats is average. And this polish is just everything I wanted it to be! I applied a layer of H K Girl topcoat before I took my pictures.


Isn’t that just gorgeous?!?! I love it!


It is amazing how well it covers in just two coats.


I stamped on it. Surprise!! I used a stamping plate from Moyou London called “Princess Collection-13” and a no name black stamping polish. When I had done the stamping, I topped it all up with another layer of H K Girl topcoat. Here’s the final mani:


And another picture to show off the prettiness of the polish:


One last shot in lower lights. This polish just works!!


Funhouse may well end up as a favourite of mine. It’s such a cool colour and I love the glitter in it. This is a mani I don’t want to take off again!


Number of coats: 2
Drying time: Average
Durability: Good
Removal: No problem
Overall impression: Wow!!
Buy again: Yes


I bought Funhouse from norwaynails.com.
You can find more info on NorwayNail’s Facebook page, link here

Norway Nails have kindly offered my readers a 10% discount code. Just use the code RAINBOWIFYME10 at checkout, and you'll be getting 10% off your purchase.