 |
| Target |
On my ring finger I placed a black bow to match the ribbon belt on my dress. Manicure complete. It drew some admirers too. That is always a sign of a job well done.
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Inspired by my new blue dress
This past weekend I bought a simple but lovely blue dress from Target. On Monday I wore this dress going to training off-site from my regular workplace. Why not go the full package and wow them? Yes, my nails were going to match the jacquard design you can not quite see in the below picture.
As my base colour I chose to use Orly Royal Navy. I thought that Royal Navy would be a lot lighter than the blue in the dress but that I needed a lighter colour when stamping black over the top. The added blue shimmer would help give a little extra and define the design.
After going through quite a number of plates and using different black polishes, I ended up stamping with Konad Black. I really did not want to use Konad Black because it is such a pain to clean up. Even then, I had trouble with the stamping. To combat this, I had to suffer for my nails and turn both the air conditioning and the fan off. This enabled me to stamp properly but I only had time to stamp an accent on my middle finger. A Bundle Monster image plate was used. I know I tried both BM 20 and BM 21 but I am not sure which one I used in the end as both plates have a similar design on them.
On my ring finger I placed a black bow to match the ribbon belt on my dress. Manicure complete. It drew some admirers too. That is always a sign of a job well done.
On my ring finger I placed a black bow to match the ribbon belt on my dress. Manicure complete. It drew some admirers too. That is always a sign of a job well done.
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
Happy Birthday January
I know I missed out on December's birthday post. I did have a plan for it and that did not involve the December floral emblem of holly. There will be another December to post in since the world did not end. ;)
Many of you would know that the birth stone for January is the garnet. The rhinestone flowers I used in this manicure represent garnet. I know that most people picture garnet as a different shade of red but that was the best red I had in my wheel of blossoms. What you may not know is that the Chinese plum (aka Japanese apricot) is the January floral emblem in China. Plum blossoms are a common oriental motif that I like so I thought I would bring it back to the blog after the last appearance in Spring.
My base colour is a-England Dragon. Two coats were applied but the beauty could not be appreciated when I first took pictures as it was overcast. I am not going to complain because the coolness the weather has brought is a welcome relief from the high temperatures we have had lately. The sun did peep out for a few moments after I had applied some cuticle oil. A dash was made to take at least one picture to show the scattered holographic loveliness that is Dragon.
Using Konad plate M66 I stamped my favourite stone fruit blossom image in China Glaze Cherish. I did consider a red for the stamping but I decided for the chrome of Cherish instead. Seche Vite was applied over the stamping. What is unusual is that I stamped directly on the dry base colour. This colour dried satisfactorily fast to enable me to stamp without waiting hours for the firmness required.
On each fully stamped blossom a rhinestone was placed on the wet Seche Vite. That brings us to the end result. I think the manicure turned out well but the red and green could have a Christmas vibe to it. Still, I like it and I hope those who celebrate their birthday in January do as well.
Many of you would know that the birth stone for January is the garnet. The rhinestone flowers I used in this manicure represent garnet. I know that most people picture garnet as a different shade of red but that was the best red I had in my wheel of blossoms. What you may not know is that the Chinese plum (aka Japanese apricot) is the January floral emblem in China. Plum blossoms are a common oriental motif that I like so I thought I would bring it back to the blog after the last appearance in Spring.
My base colour is a-England Dragon. Two coats were applied but the beauty could not be appreciated when I first took pictures as it was overcast. I am not going to complain because the coolness the weather has brought is a welcome relief from the high temperatures we have had lately. The sun did peep out for a few moments after I had applied some cuticle oil. A dash was made to take at least one picture to show the scattered holographic loveliness that is Dragon.
Using Konad plate M66 I stamped my favourite stone fruit blossom image in China Glaze Cherish. I did consider a red for the stamping but I decided for the chrome of Cherish instead. Seche Vite was applied over the stamping. What is unusual is that I stamped directly on the dry base colour. This colour dried satisfactorily fast to enable me to stamp without waiting hours for the firmness required.
On each fully stamped blossom a rhinestone was placed on the wet Seche Vite. That brings us to the end result. I think the manicure turned out well but the red and green could have a Christmas vibe to it. Still, I like it and I hope those who celebrate their birthday in January do as well.
Friday, 11 January 2013
MUD Nail Stickers - Star It On 001
I have had MUD nail stickers since Woolworths released them. Since it was late November when I bought them, I thought I should try them out. They would have been wonderful to wear over the Christmas season as the design I have is 001 - Star it On. The sticker backing is clear to show a base colour. Each of the stars have a silver reflective backing so that they stand out against the base colour and are not affected by the colour choice. They always appear like white rhinestones.
For Christmas I received the gorgeous purple shimmery Illamasqua Poke. I love their delightfully wicked names. Over a PVA base I applied two coats of Poke to my nails.
After allowing the polish to dry for about 10 minutes, I started to apply the nail stickers. As I have very short nails, I was able to get two nails covered for each nail sticker. When I placed the sticker I then smoothed it down with my finger. Excess was trimmed off with a pair of nail scissors. A cardboard nail file was included with the package of nail stickers but it did not do a very good job of filing off the excess to neaten the end.
These nail stickers look great being worn. They are fairly easy to apply if you are not a perfectionist. I should note, this is the first time that I have applied nail stickers. As the backing on this particular design is clear, it is more forgiving when you make mistakes or have less than perfect application. Although the directions state that you apply these to the bare nail, I have not noticed a difference in wear between bare nail and polished nail.
On the negative side, these will annoy you if you need perfect application. The backing seems like a normal sticker and therefore difficult to get smooth and flush at the free edge. Star It On is a raised design and that may not appeal to some people either. If you plan to use a nail sticker for more than one nail you need to take into account that there is a graduation in the size of the stars from large at the base to small at the top. I think the way I have applied my stickers looks effective in having large portions on my thumb, index and middle fingers. The remaining fingers have the small portions that combine to appear graduated from large to small across my fingers.
MUD Nail stickers can be bought from Woolworths Supermarkets in Australia. The retail price is $5 for a set of 16 stickers with a nail file included. (Although they sell the set for $5.38 from Woolworths online.) They are produced by the same company that manufactures Ulta3 and I am not sure how these compare to the Ulta3 nail stickers.
For Christmas I received the gorgeous purple shimmery Illamasqua Poke. I love their delightfully wicked names. Over a PVA base I applied two coats of Poke to my nails.
After allowing the polish to dry for about 10 minutes, I started to apply the nail stickers. As I have very short nails, I was able to get two nails covered for each nail sticker. When I placed the sticker I then smoothed it down with my finger. Excess was trimmed off with a pair of nail scissors. A cardboard nail file was included with the package of nail stickers but it did not do a very good job of filing off the excess to neaten the end.
These nail stickers look great being worn. They are fairly easy to apply if you are not a perfectionist. I should note, this is the first time that I have applied nail stickers. As the backing on this particular design is clear, it is more forgiving when you make mistakes or have less than perfect application. Although the directions state that you apply these to the bare nail, I have not noticed a difference in wear between bare nail and polished nail.
On the negative side, these will annoy you if you need perfect application. The backing seems like a normal sticker and therefore difficult to get smooth and flush at the free edge. Star It On is a raised design and that may not appeal to some people either. If you plan to use a nail sticker for more than one nail you need to take into account that there is a graduation in the size of the stars from large at the base to small at the top. I think the way I have applied my stickers looks effective in having large portions on my thumb, index and middle fingers. The remaining fingers have the small portions that combine to appear graduated from large to small across my fingers.
MUD Nail stickers can be bought from Woolworths Supermarkets in Australia. The retail price is $5 for a set of 16 stickers with a nail file included. (Although they sell the set for $5.38 from Woolworths online.) They are produced by the same company that manufactures Ulta3 and I am not sure how these compare to the Ulta3 nail stickers.
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
You need to Just Keep Swimming in this heat.
We are looking forward to having Summer days with the temperature in the high 30s. That is in degrees celsius. It is times like these that I wish I lived closer to the beach. Then again, I lived on the beach as a child and I don't remember taking every opportunity to swim in the ocean.
I bring another Darling Diva polish today. It is Finding Nemo's Dory inspired Just Keep Swimming. This was one coat over three coats of Satin Nail Enamel 10 which is a smurf blue with pink shimmer.
I found the white bar glitter a little "hairy" but I managed it ok. I was able to get it put into position and not hanging over edges fairly easily. The white bar glitter seems to be rather finer than the bar glitter I have had in other polishes. You can easily see the hex glitters in my pictures but it is more difficult to see the green micro-glitter. Of course I say it is green but this is most likely due to the blue tinted base making yellow appear as green. The flecks can be slightly seen in the shade photograph below.
I bring another Darling Diva polish today. It is Finding Nemo's Dory inspired Just Keep Swimming. This was one coat over three coats of Satin Nail Enamel 10 which is a smurf blue with pink shimmer.
I found the white bar glitter a little "hairy" but I managed it ok. I was able to get it put into position and not hanging over edges fairly easily. The white bar glitter seems to be rather finer than the bar glitter I have had in other polishes. You can easily see the hex glitters in my pictures but it is more difficult to see the green micro-glitter. Of course I say it is green but this is most likely due to the blue tinted base making yellow appear as green. The flecks can be slightly seen in the shade photograph below.
Sunday, 6 January 2013
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas...
I shared with thee an Illamasqua pretty.
When my Strumpet gave me two bottles of Illamasqua for Christmas I was overjoyed. I even had hot, little tears burning at my eyes with the emotions. Phallic and Poke were the two polishes I received and both were on my want list. Today I am sharing Phallic with you and Poke will make an appearance in a few days.
I thought I would use the Twelfth Day of Christmas to share a Christmas themed manicure with you. It is the perfect excuse as I did not manage to get the Christmas manicures I wanted to do done. I started with Chi Chi Gimme Gimme a Man and applied two coats.
To make the presents I taped a cross on my thumb and ring fingers with striping tape. Phallic was applied over the top and the tape removed. A coat of Seche Vite was laid over the top and this was used to affix the blue bows. This was the design I had in mind when I originally bought these bows. Thankfully these look as good when completed as I had envisioned them in my mind's eye.
The stamping was done with Phallic and image plate MJ VII. I chose not to use the gift image as my nails are exceptionally short at the moment and would not show the design off to the best effect. Tape was also applied to the side of the middle finger and Phallic placed along the side.
This manicure gives me a giggle to think of the names of the polishes. How often do you get to feature Phallic with Gimme Gimme a Man?
When my Strumpet gave me two bottles of Illamasqua for Christmas I was overjoyed. I even had hot, little tears burning at my eyes with the emotions. Phallic and Poke were the two polishes I received and both were on my want list. Today I am sharing Phallic with you and Poke will make an appearance in a few days.
I thought I would use the Twelfth Day of Christmas to share a Christmas themed manicure with you. It is the perfect excuse as I did not manage to get the Christmas manicures I wanted to do done. I started with Chi Chi Gimme Gimme a Man and applied two coats.
To make the presents I taped a cross on my thumb and ring fingers with striping tape. Phallic was applied over the top and the tape removed. A coat of Seche Vite was laid over the top and this was used to affix the blue bows. This was the design I had in mind when I originally bought these bows. Thankfully these look as good when completed as I had envisioned them in my mind's eye.
The stamping was done with Phallic and image plate MJ VII. I chose not to use the gift image as my nails are exceptionally short at the moment and would not show the design off to the best effect. Tape was also applied to the side of the middle finger and Phallic placed along the side.
This manicure gives me a giggle to think of the names of the polishes. How often do you get to feature Phallic with Gimme Gimme a Man?
Saturday, 5 January 2013
Santa left Illamasqua in my Christmas Stocking.
Before Christmas I had the opportunity to visit Illamasqua. I had decided that I would get Viridian as my chosen polish. When I arrived in store I browsed the holiday special catalogue and found the two Christmas duo packs. The bright pack had Viridian and a special limited edition release, Glitterati. Needless to say, I did not pass up the opportunity to get the pack at the special price of $38. Usually it would cost $42 to buy two Illamasqua polishes.
After I got home I stashed this set away to put in my Christmas stocking. Hey! I need to have something for Christmas when Mr R and Miss L are getting exceptionally spoilt. How else can I get spoilt except with some lovely polish? Illamasqua no less.
Viridian has been shown to perfection on much lovelier nails than mine. I thought I would show Glitterati with some nail art done with Viridian. Two coats were applied of this gorgeous dark red jelly-like polish that is packed with holographic glitter.
To do the nail art I used two circle paper reinforcement stickers to make a curved shape on my thumb. My nails were cut and filed back today because of breakage and I felt that my thumb offered the best canvas as it is the largest area to work with. Then I dotted on the version of OPI Not Like the Movies that is not "oil slick" multi-chromatic. A large and small dotting tool were used. Inside the large dots I finally dotted some Virdian. Without placing this over Not Like the Movies, I feel that you would not have been able to appreciate Viridian against Glitterati. Sadly, my top coat did smear some of the Viridian dots.
After I got home I stashed this set away to put in my Christmas stocking. Hey! I need to have something for Christmas when Mr R and Miss L are getting exceptionally spoilt. How else can I get spoilt except with some lovely polish? Illamasqua no less.
Viridian has been shown to perfection on much lovelier nails than mine. I thought I would show Glitterati with some nail art done with Viridian. Two coats were applied of this gorgeous dark red jelly-like polish that is packed with holographic glitter.
To do the nail art I used two circle paper reinforcement stickers to make a curved shape on my thumb. My nails were cut and filed back today because of breakage and I felt that my thumb offered the best canvas as it is the largest area to work with. Then I dotted on the version of OPI Not Like the Movies that is not "oil slick" multi-chromatic. A large and small dotting tool were used. Inside the large dots I finally dotted some Virdian. Without placing this over Not Like the Movies, I feel that you would not have been able to appreciate Viridian against Glitterati. Sadly, my top coat did smear some of the Viridian dots.
Friday, 4 January 2013
Inspired by the Christmas Beetle
The Christmas season brings the arrival of the beautifully iridescent Christmas Beetle. I remember watching the shimmer of the shell for ages when I found the beetles in my room.
This year I have only found one beetle and took the opportunity to photograph it for you. I took many pictures as I had trouble with capturing the colour of the shell and keeping the Christmas Beetle in focus. While I was taking the pictures the beetle crawled around on my hand and bumbled with some flying.
When I first saw Pretty Serious Mummy Mush, I thought of the Christmas Beetle immediately. It has a pale gold base with pink and green shimmer. To get a good base, I used three coats as this is a polish on the sheer side. For the design I decided to do a modified version of the ladybird (ladybug/ladybeetle) manicure.
I trimmed a nail art brush to make it finer and shorter and used Ulta3 Black Satin. You can tell why I do not freehand nail art as I am simply terrible with art. Over the top of the black lines I applied Ozotic 503 for a green shimmer. It does not look right... So I had another go.
I only applied Mummy Mush to my nail because I was not intending to keep the design on my nails. Hence, that explains the lack of clean up as I just wanted to see if my second thoughts after studying the picture of the Christmas Beetle were better. I also used the same black.
Hmmm. Shoddy looking but I thought I would add Ozotic 503 again. This did soften the design. If I wore this out in public I am sure I would get questions as to what on earth I had on my nails.
This year I have only found one beetle and took the opportunity to photograph it for you. I took many pictures as I had trouble with capturing the colour of the shell and keeping the Christmas Beetle in focus. While I was taking the pictures the beetle crawled around on my hand and bumbled with some flying.
When I first saw Pretty Serious Mummy Mush, I thought of the Christmas Beetle immediately. It has a pale gold base with pink and green shimmer. To get a good base, I used three coats as this is a polish on the sheer side. For the design I decided to do a modified version of the ladybird (ladybug/ladybeetle) manicure.
I trimmed a nail art brush to make it finer and shorter and used Ulta3 Black Satin. You can tell why I do not freehand nail art as I am simply terrible with art. Over the top of the black lines I applied Ozotic 503 for a green shimmer. It does not look right... So I had another go.
I only applied Mummy Mush to my nail because I was not intending to keep the design on my nails. Hence, that explains the lack of clean up as I just wanted to see if my second thoughts after studying the picture of the Christmas Beetle were better. I also used the same black.
Hmmm. Shoddy looking but I thought I would add Ozotic 503 again. This did soften the design. If I wore this out in public I am sure I would get questions as to what on earth I had on my nails.
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Pretty Seriously Serious Mummy Mush
Happy New Year and welcome to 2013. I hope that the new year has started off kindly for you without too many hang overs from seeing the old year out.
I used three coats of Pretty Serious Mummy Mush for some nail art. To "upcycle" the manicure I added Darling Diva's Seriously Serious.
Seriously Serious is a purple and green version of A Christmas Story. This polish did not need to be thinned and I applied one easy layer over the top of Mummy Mush.
Darling Diva recommends not using Seriously Serious over the top of purple polish as the purple micro glitter can not be seen. I thought the pale champagne gold glass fleck multi-chrome would show both the purple and holographic green micro-glitters well. I think at some point in time I will wear it over a green such as China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald or maybe a mauve.
I will leave you with a picture that shows a little more of the holographic sparkle from the green holographic micro-glitter.
I used three coats of Pretty Serious Mummy Mush for some nail art. To "upcycle" the manicure I added Darling Diva's Seriously Serious.
Seriously Serious is a purple and green version of A Christmas Story. This polish did not need to be thinned and I applied one easy layer over the top of Mummy Mush.
Darling Diva recommends not using Seriously Serious over the top of purple polish as the purple micro glitter can not be seen. I thought the pale champagne gold glass fleck multi-chrome would show both the purple and holographic green micro-glitters well. I think at some point in time I will wear it over a green such as China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald or maybe a mauve.
Monday, 31 December 2012
Darling Diva Apple Crisp
Time has flown over the Christmas break. It is not too long before I will need to go back to work. Until then I will continue to enjoy the antics of Mr R and Miss L.
Today I bring to you Apple Crisp from Darling Diva Polish. It is a scented polish and it slakes my desire for Femme Fatale Stolen Reindeer except for one important point. I removed the polish soon after as the scent was not my cup of tea. Although I am sure I picked up a vanilla smell, I am sure it also smelled like cinnamon as well. No, they are not bad smells but they were definitely too strong!
For my base colour I used two coats of Colour by T.B.N Raisin. This brand of polish has a strong smell but it has an interesting array of colours available for a cheap price. Raisin is a great brown and it helps to flesh out the browns in my collection.
.
Look at the mix of colours in this polish. I love the addition of the different red glitters with the holographic and iridescent. My version of the polish does not appear to have as much green glitter as in the pictures from Darling Diva's listing. I do not mind one little bit as this is still visually appealing. I just wish I could stand the smell of this.
Unlike most Darling Diva Polishes, I did not need to thin this. Darling Diva does not cut the suspension base so you can add thinner to make the consistency you would like. Most of the time I find I need to add thinner because the base is too thick to apply.
Today I bring to you Apple Crisp from Darling Diva Polish. It is a scented polish and it slakes my desire for Femme Fatale Stolen Reindeer except for one important point. I removed the polish soon after as the scent was not my cup of tea. Although I am sure I picked up a vanilla smell, I am sure it also smelled like cinnamon as well. No, they are not bad smells but they were definitely too strong!
For my base colour I used two coats of Colour by T.B.N Raisin. This brand of polish has a strong smell but it has an interesting array of colours available for a cheap price. Raisin is a great brown and it helps to flesh out the browns in my collection.
.Look at the mix of colours in this polish. I love the addition of the different red glitters with the holographic and iridescent. My version of the polish does not appear to have as much green glitter as in the pictures from Darling Diva's listing. I do not mind one little bit as this is still visually appealing. I just wish I could stand the smell of this.
Unlike most Darling Diva Polishes, I did not need to thin this. Darling Diva does not cut the suspension base so you can add thinner to make the consistency you would like. Most of the time I find I need to add thinner because the base is too thick to apply.
Monday, 24 December 2012
O Tannenbaum! O Christmas Tree!
I am not having much success with using PVA as a base coat ever since I had a manicure done. I suspect that the buffing they did on my nails made the surface so smooth that the glue does not have the type of surface it needs to adhere well. Every time I have worn a manicure since the manicure I have used PVA and the polish just pops off.
For this Christmas I had planned to do a few different manicures and life got in the way. We have come to the holidays now and I get to post my Christmas Tree. Someone had mentioned in a post on a blog that Darling Diva's Mitochondrial Eve looked like a Christmas Tree complete with ornaments. There and then I decided that I would get Mitochondrial Eve and I would do a Christmas Tree manicure.
But... I left off buying Mitochondrial Eve. I was trying to be financially wise and then when I was able to buy, the polish was not listed any longer. Oh no! I messed Darling Diva and asked if it was possible to get Mitochondrial Eve. Joy of Joys an affirmative response was received.
The base colour for this manicure is Ozotic 502 that reminds me of Sally Hansen's Nail Prisms Golden Cinnbar when worn. This polish is lovely by itself and I did not take pictures to capture the different colour shifts.
To create the Christmas Tree I simply used tape and applied two dabbling coats onto the nail. Simple, done. If I had longer nails I would have added a star at the top but I do not believe I had the space to make it look good.
You only get three fingers in this picture as I hurt my poor index finger. You can also tell that I did not clean up afterwards with the top coat. Not too long after these pictures were taken when POP! off they came.
For this Christmas I had planned to do a few different manicures and life got in the way. We have come to the holidays now and I get to post my Christmas Tree. Someone had mentioned in a post on a blog that Darling Diva's Mitochondrial Eve looked like a Christmas Tree complete with ornaments. There and then I decided that I would get Mitochondrial Eve and I would do a Christmas Tree manicure.
But... I left off buying Mitochondrial Eve. I was trying to be financially wise and then when I was able to buy, the polish was not listed any longer. Oh no! I messed Darling Diva and asked if it was possible to get Mitochondrial Eve. Joy of Joys an affirmative response was received.
The base colour for this manicure is Ozotic 502 that reminds me of Sally Hansen's Nail Prisms Golden Cinnbar when worn. This polish is lovely by itself and I did not take pictures to capture the different colour shifts.
To create the Christmas Tree I simply used tape and applied two dabbling coats onto the nail. Simple, done. If I had longer nails I would have added a star at the top but I do not believe I had the space to make it look good.
You only get three fingers in this picture as I hurt my poor index finger. You can also tell that I did not clean up afterwards with the top coat. Not too long after these pictures were taken when POP! off they came.
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Countdown to Christmas
It is hard to believe that it is only two weeks until Christmas. We spend so long with the build up in the shops and then the day itself is suddenly here.
We have two countdown calendars in our house. One for Mr R and one for Miss L. Yesterday I took pictures of Darling Diva's A Christmas Story with Miss L's. I did intend on trying to get the pictures up last night but I am sure that somewhere it will still be 15 days to go when I post.
Most of the pictures I have seen posted of A Christmas Story have shown the polish as a green and red microglitter mix. It sparkles freely but there is a hidden delight. Yes, there is a holographic element. Taking the pictures in the sun showed the rainbow of colour.
For the base colour I used Sephora by OPI Mr Right Now. I feel this was the perfect red after applying two coats to match the red of the glitter in the bottle. Only one coat of A Christmas story was required and I applied two coats of Seche Vite as the first coat was not smooth and slick.
We have two countdown calendars in our house. One for Mr R and one for Miss L. Yesterday I took pictures of Darling Diva's A Christmas Story with Miss L's. I did intend on trying to get the pictures up last night but I am sure that somewhere it will still be 15 days to go when I post.
Most of the pictures I have seen posted of A Christmas Story have shown the polish as a green and red microglitter mix. It sparkles freely but there is a hidden delight. Yes, there is a holographic element. Taking the pictures in the sun showed the rainbow of colour.
For the base colour I used Sephora by OPI Mr Right Now. I feel this was the perfect red after applying two coats to match the red of the glitter in the bottle. Only one coat of A Christmas story was required and I applied two coats of Seche Vite as the first coat was not smooth and slick.
Saturday, 1 December 2012
Dead Ringer for Fantasy Fire. Shift Happens eh?
It seems a long time ago when I bought Ringer from Darling Diva Polish on etsy. Ringer is much more affordable and in a larger bottle than Fantasy Fire. That is even when you consider shipping it to Australia. I thought I could go the whole hog and get a mini bottle and a large bottle for that shifting goodness.
Then when my bottles arrived there had been another arrival in Australia. Yes, Max Factor had released Fantasy Fire here. Of course I had to secure my own bottle. Ok, maybe I had to get two but I did share!
Looking at Ringer and Fantasy Fire in their bottles they seem to have exactly the same shift at the same time. Sometimes when I look really hard I wonder if the particles in Ringer may be a little larger than Fantasy Fire. The base colour appears similar although Ringer is more sheer in appearance. Maybe there are more particles in Fantasy Fire but using the polish I did not notice any difference on the nail.
For my base colour I tried to choose a similar colour to the base colour of Fantasy Fire. I wanted a simple creme polish but I found that I did not really have one even though I love purple so much. There seems to be an added factor to most of my polishes. I used Satin Seasonal Nail Enamel 1. Two coats were applied but I feel I should have added a third. This is because I think it would have added more depth to the colour and made the polish pop more.
I had exceptional trouble trying to capture Fantasy Fire on camera today. It is swelteringly hot and I wonder if somehow the camera is affected. That seems silly but I could not stop taking pictures and getting good shots the last time I photographed Fantasy Fire for Spring. Fantasy Fire was applied to my index and ring fingers and Ringer graces my middle and little fingers. For an extra comparison but not really captured, I used Girly Bits Shift Happens on my thumb.
It may seem in the above photo that the middle finger may have less pigment but you can not tell any difference in reality. The difference in the picture may be the angle or the like.
Shift Happens seems to change more readily from red to yellow and for longer than Fantasy Fire and Ringer. Essentially, there is not much difference in the Ringer from the handmade batch I had to Fantasy Fire. I would call them dupes. Shift Happens is a great alternative and could be applied to a greater array of colours as it does not have the purple coloured based of Fantasy Fire and Ringer.
I was thrilled when I was able to capture this blue shift that came after the green shift. This seems to be the greatest extreme of the colour shift in these polishes.
All three polishes are beautiful and I feel fortunate in owning all three. Shift Happens ended up being the most difficult for me to buy but it eventually came my way from Llarowe. Personally, if you just want Fantasy Fire and can't buy it at a local shop, I would buy Ringer from Darling Diva. I would hurry because it seems as though this pigment is going to he hard to get if at all. For versatility, I would get Shift Happens. I have one more way I want to try Shift Happens as the colour shift changes nature depending on the base colour.
There you go Melissa. I posted as promised. :)
Then when my bottles arrived there had been another arrival in Australia. Yes, Max Factor had released Fantasy Fire here. Of course I had to secure my own bottle. Ok, maybe I had to get two but I did share!
Looking at Ringer and Fantasy Fire in their bottles they seem to have exactly the same shift at the same time. Sometimes when I look really hard I wonder if the particles in Ringer may be a little larger than Fantasy Fire. The base colour appears similar although Ringer is more sheer in appearance. Maybe there are more particles in Fantasy Fire but using the polish I did not notice any difference on the nail.
For my base colour I tried to choose a similar colour to the base colour of Fantasy Fire. I wanted a simple creme polish but I found that I did not really have one even though I love purple so much. There seems to be an added factor to most of my polishes. I used Satin Seasonal Nail Enamel 1. Two coats were applied but I feel I should have added a third. This is because I think it would have added more depth to the colour and made the polish pop more.
I had exceptional trouble trying to capture Fantasy Fire on camera today. It is swelteringly hot and I wonder if somehow the camera is affected. That seems silly but I could not stop taking pictures and getting good shots the last time I photographed Fantasy Fire for Spring. Fantasy Fire was applied to my index and ring fingers and Ringer graces my middle and little fingers. For an extra comparison but not really captured, I used Girly Bits Shift Happens on my thumb.
It may seem in the above photo that the middle finger may have less pigment but you can not tell any difference in reality. The difference in the picture may be the angle or the like.
Shift Happens seems to change more readily from red to yellow and for longer than Fantasy Fire and Ringer. Essentially, there is not much difference in the Ringer from the handmade batch I had to Fantasy Fire. I would call them dupes. Shift Happens is a great alternative and could be applied to a greater array of colours as it does not have the purple coloured based of Fantasy Fire and Ringer.
I was thrilled when I was able to capture this blue shift that came after the green shift. This seems to be the greatest extreme of the colour shift in these polishes.
All three polishes are beautiful and I feel fortunate in owning all three. Shift Happens ended up being the most difficult for me to buy but it eventually came my way from Llarowe. Personally, if you just want Fantasy Fire and can't buy it at a local shop, I would buy Ringer from Darling Diva. I would hurry because it seems as though this pigment is going to he hard to get if at all. For versatility, I would get Shift Happens. I have one more way I want to try Shift Happens as the colour shift changes nature depending on the base colour.
There you go Melissa. I posted as promised. :)
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Starbucks and Zebration for my 100th post!
When I looked at plate MJ VI I thought that the lady image looked familiar. At first I thought it may have been a logo for Godiva until I went into the kitchen and noticed that the logo on my Starbucks cup was the same. In my defence, I have probably had something from Starbucks less than the number of fingers on one hand. There is not an outlet locally either.
To start I stamped the Starbucks Mermaid onto the more rigid plastic of a sandwich bag using Konad Black. Ulta3 Lily White was brushed over the top. I had to try this a couple of times because I did not wait long enough for the black to dry the first time. Applying the white smeared the black to make a round grey mess. I left that to dry for another day's manicure. This is a method that I bookmarked from Polished Peripherals.
The day finally came to do my manicure and I had to select my green. None of the greens in my collection matched that of my cup. They were either too pale or too dark. Ulta3 Frog Prince is the closest I could come to the right colour. Two coats of Frog Prince went down over a PVA glue base and another layer of PVA was added to the top on my thumb to stick my mermaid onto. I allowed all of the layers to dry before adding Seche Vite.
On my index and little fingers I used Peita's Polish Zebration to carry through the black and white theme from my Starbucks Mermaid. Konad White was used for the two images on my middle and ring fingers. I thought I would add some beverages onto those fingers. The take away cup with straw was too large for my trimmed down shabby nubbins but I still think it looks good. It came from plate MJ VIII. For the coffee cup I used only the cup part of the "Coffee Addict" image. You can find it on the Fun 2 plate.
To start I stamped the Starbucks Mermaid onto the more rigid plastic of a sandwich bag using Konad Black. Ulta3 Lily White was brushed over the top. I had to try this a couple of times because I did not wait long enough for the black to dry the first time. Applying the white smeared the black to make a round grey mess. I left that to dry for another day's manicure. This is a method that I bookmarked from Polished Peripherals.
The day finally came to do my manicure and I had to select my green. None of the greens in my collection matched that of my cup. They were either too pale or too dark. Ulta3 Frog Prince is the closest I could come to the right colour. Two coats of Frog Prince went down over a PVA glue base and another layer of PVA was added to the top on my thumb to stick my mermaid onto. I allowed all of the layers to dry before adding Seche Vite.
On my index and little fingers I used Peita's Polish Zebration to carry through the black and white theme from my Starbucks Mermaid. Konad White was used for the two images on my middle and ring fingers. I thought I would add some beverages onto those fingers. The take away cup with straw was too large for my trimmed down shabby nubbins but I still think it looks good. It came from plate MJ VIII. For the coffee cup I used only the cup part of the "Coffee Addict" image. You can find it on the Fun 2 plate.
Monday, 26 November 2012
MUD Blue Moon - What is MUD polish like?
The packaging makes a few claims about this polish. They claim it has high shine and does not streak. I think it fails on both accounts because the only way this polish became shiny was with the addition of a top coat. Application was streaky and required three coats to achieve the opacity in these pictures. Blue Moon's packaging claims that you only need two coats under their Tips and Tricks.
Blue Moon IS a pretty polish. If you ignore the claims on the packaging and consider it as a budget concious polish, then it is not too bad. It is a lovely shade of blue that looks good within three coats of polish. That is not overly excessive although I prefer to use two coats at the most.
To spice up the manicure I added Humble Bee. I want to do a proper manicure with effort for this heavily desired and hard to get polish. I think it pops nicely against the blue. It would have been great to get more pictures but my PVA glue based polished started popping off before I could get more pictures in the afternoon after work. I just don't have the heart to redo the manicure and it looks like overcast, miserable weather has set in.
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Christmas Pudding
Ever since I have seen Christmas Pudding manicure designs, I have waited for Christmas to arrive so that I can finally do one. With the work Christmas Party, I thought it was a brilliant opportunity to be able to do a Christmas Pudding design earlier.
For the cake part of the pudding I started with OPI Who Comes Up With These Names? Two coats later I left it overnight. In the morning I applied L.A. Girl Uninhibited to represent the fruit in the pudding. It would be great if I had a polish with the small black glitter for the sultanas and raisins and the larger glitter was red for glace cherries.
Excuse the very early morning light for the picture. I was up and making cupcakes for the party that night at 4:30 in the morning. The glitter dried quickly and that allowed me to paint the sauce on using Ulta3 Lily White with a nail art brush. I always envisaged having this manicure with holly on it but I didn't have anything I could use and my nails are too small for any stamping images.
I managed to get the cakes cooked, frosted and decorated before I left for work that morning. A load of washing was done for the children with their school uniforms for the day. Phew! The party went well and we scored plenty of things. I won a bottle of wine with my raffle ticket and another two bottles through auctions with play money. Mr R spent the rest of my money and was very proud of himself. He won a hamper stuffed with sweet and savoury food. Only about half of the items can be seen here.
Friday, 23 November 2012
News Flash: MUD Make Up Design at Woolworths
Do you remember how Woolworths had the Ulta3 bins in the supermarket a few months ago? Now they seem to be all gone with a few lonely baskets of polish waiting to be reduced further. In this week's catalogue for Woolworths they introduce a new cosmetics range called MUD - Make Up Design. They seem to be a very popular release because there was not much available when I did my grocery shopping last night and slipped a couple of items in.
As you can see (excuse the impatient night picture with flash), the products are individually packaged so that you do not need to worry about whether someone has opened the bottle of polish and played with it before you buy it. In the nail range, they have nail polish and nail stickers. It is a small range of colour but at least it has a daring range of colours. They do not stick with traditional pinks and reds.
Look at the nail stickers! Admittedly these were the most interesting and unique of what was available. There were only four designs available: a lace design, a pink glitter, a red base colour with white polka dots and this raised crystal star design. All of them can be easily replicated with stamping or a dotting tool apart from the stars. I have never tried nail strips before but I thought I would try these at $5.
MUD is another cosmetic range from the Heat Group. They also make Ulta3 and NYC. Woolworths are selling the 13ml polish for $3.
As you can see (excuse the impatient night picture with flash), the products are individually packaged so that you do not need to worry about whether someone has opened the bottle of polish and played with it before you buy it. In the nail range, they have nail polish and nail stickers. It is a small range of colour but at least it has a daring range of colours. They do not stick with traditional pinks and reds.
Look at the nail stickers! Admittedly these were the most interesting and unique of what was available. There were only four designs available: a lace design, a pink glitter, a red base colour with white polka dots and this raised crystal star design. All of them can be easily replicated with stamping or a dotting tool apart from the stars. I have never tried nail strips before but I thought I would try these at $5.
MUD is another cosmetic range from the Heat Group. They also make Ulta3 and NYC. Woolworths are selling the 13ml polish for $3.
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Nail Fail - Glitter and Gradient Stamping
Today I bring to you a nail fail. It does not look overly terrible except for the fact that I did not clean up at all in the end because I knew it was not working out. The manicure does not work like it is supposed to do.
Early in the days of this blog I posted a haul post. This is one of my most successful posts even though it only consists of pictures of nail polish bottles I bought... Two of these polishes are Nicole by OPI polishes called Virtuous Violet and One Less Lonely Glitter. This is the first time I have ever used them.
Virtuous Violet is a nice colour. In the bottle the shimmer seems almost duochromatic. To get enough coverage on your nail you need four coats. I used three here because I knew the glitter would work fine with only three coats.
I seems it would take too many coats to make One Less Lonely Glitter opaque. On other blogs I saw that most people seem to still have some nail visible at three coats. It has pretty mauve small and microglitter in a clear base. The brush seemed rather clunky but I applied the polish without problems.
Onto the fail part of the manicure. Miss L decided she wanted both Kleancolor Metallic Pink and Metallic Aqua "side by side". I sponged a gradient on for her and she was mightily pleased. Her nails are very small and the ridges around the cuticle and the sides of her fingernails are deep. It makes it difficult to get the sponge into the area to dab the polish on.
I decided that these two colours would go well with the purples. Since I already did a sponged gradient, I thought I would stamp one onto my fingernails. The plate I used was an MJ plate but you can not see the full nail heart design. Part of the problem is that I used the double sided stamper from Lightinthebox.com. It was TERRIBLE as the silicone part of the stamper is much harder than the Konad one I adore. I switched over to the Konad double stamper after doing my thumb and index finger.
This one will come off soon. Thank goodness I used PVA glue as a base.
Early in the days of this blog I posted a haul post. This is one of my most successful posts even though it only consists of pictures of nail polish bottles I bought... Two of these polishes are Nicole by OPI polishes called Virtuous Violet and One Less Lonely Glitter. This is the first time I have ever used them.
Virtuous Violet is a nice colour. In the bottle the shimmer seems almost duochromatic. To get enough coverage on your nail you need four coats. I used three here because I knew the glitter would work fine with only three coats.
I seems it would take too many coats to make One Less Lonely Glitter opaque. On other blogs I saw that most people seem to still have some nail visible at three coats. It has pretty mauve small and microglitter in a clear base. The brush seemed rather clunky but I applied the polish without problems.
Onto the fail part of the manicure. Miss L decided she wanted both Kleancolor Metallic Pink and Metallic Aqua "side by side". I sponged a gradient on for her and she was mightily pleased. Her nails are very small and the ridges around the cuticle and the sides of her fingernails are deep. It makes it difficult to get the sponge into the area to dab the polish on.
I decided that these two colours would go well with the purples. Since I already did a sponged gradient, I thought I would stamp one onto my fingernails. The plate I used was an MJ plate but you can not see the full nail heart design. Part of the problem is that I used the double sided stamper from Lightinthebox.com. It was TERRIBLE as the silicone part of the stamper is much harder than the Konad one I adore. I switched over to the Konad double stamper after doing my thumb and index finger.
This one will come off soon. Thank goodness I used PVA glue as a base.
Monday, 19 November 2012
Movember and International Men's Day
Today is International Men's Day and about two thirds of the way through for those growing their (hopefully) spectacular moustaches for Movember. I am proud to admit that Movember was started in Australia and has grown from there. It seems we have a lot to do to catch up to those Canadians but at least we are giving our men some support for men's issues.
Visit the Australian Movember website has lots of information, merchandise and ways to connect to other Mo Bros. Most importantly you can donate to the foundation for the funds to be used for men's health initiatives such as prostate cancer and mental health.
The theme for International Men's Day for 2012 is health to tie this post in nicely with the aims of Movember. Helping men to be aware of their own bodies and minds will help them to live longer and happier lives. That is something to want for every special man and man-to-be in our lives.
Don't Feed the Hand Models from Sephora by OPI tends to be my go to nude base colour. I have used it here in two coats to represent skin. I would have done different skin colours but I did not have the polishes to represent that.
On the new MJ VIII image plate there is a full nail image of different moustache styles. These are perfect for Movember. Different shades of Kleancolor Metallics were used to represent different whisker colours for the moustaches. We have Metallic Black for black whiskers, Metallic Mango for the ginger whiskers, Metallic Yellow for the blond whiskers and Coffee Addict for the brown whiskers.
Visit the Australian Movember website has lots of information, merchandise and ways to connect to other Mo Bros. Most importantly you can donate to the foundation for the funds to be used for men's health initiatives such as prostate cancer and mental health.
The theme for International Men's Day for 2012 is health to tie this post in nicely with the aims of Movember. Helping men to be aware of their own bodies and minds will help them to live longer and happier lives. That is something to want for every special man and man-to-be in our lives.
Don't Feed the Hand Models from Sephora by OPI tends to be my go to nude base colour. I have used it here in two coats to represent skin. I would have done different skin colours but I did not have the polishes to represent that.
On the new MJ VIII image plate there is a full nail image of different moustache styles. These are perfect for Movember. Different shades of Kleancolor Metallics were used to represent different whisker colours for the moustaches. We have Metallic Black for black whiskers, Metallic Mango for the ginger whiskers, Metallic Yellow for the blond whiskers and Coffee Addict for the brown whiskers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)