Notd: Nubar - Purple Beach

Purple Beach By Nubar, with flash

The Nail of the day today is the luxurious Purple Beach by Nubar.  It is described as a "duochrome" polish which means it has two base colours with an iridescent shimmer. The two colours in Purple Beach are a rich purple and a dark ashy green, it also has a golden shine to it.

The duochrome effect is amazing on this polish unlike some others it works in all levels of light. Plus as it has such spectrum of colours in it there is no worry about it matching your outfit.

As you can see by the two photos the colour changes in every different light and whichever angle you look at your nails.

Purple beach by Nubar with a dash of nail art

As always with nubar colours application is easy and this colour was achieved with only two coats and lasted over a week which is websitealways a plus point.

This colour is currenlty available on http://www.beautyshed.co.uk

Notd - Mega mix gel polish with orly polish and Gel FX

Mega Mix Gel Polish

Nails of the day have been created using a new product called Mega mix. It is a new gel polish which you can mix with normal polish to create any colour you can imagine.

Here I used two Orly nail polishes the pink is Choreographed chaos for the Mash up collection and the Black with Holographic glitter is Rock solid.

For the tips I used some tape and Orly Gel fx in shine.

Mega Mix is available from http://www.megamixnails.com/ and is priced at £10 plus postage.

I will update you with the longterm results.

The idea of getting to use my old polishes is amazing, so I really hope this is long lasting. 

NOTD Gelicure Nails with real feathers

just a quick post to show you my nails and some of the art I have done.
This Manicure was achieved with Gelicure white and Rad Raspberry and some art feathers.

Gelicure Nail Art Rad Raspberry

Rad Raspberry Nubar Gelicure 

China Glaze On Safari Part 1

So the second China Glaze Summer collection is On Safari. Here is part 1 of the  swatches which include my favourite colours.  I'm not lion and Man hunt. To be honest I am not a big fan of the other colours they are quite boring, in fact this feels like an autumnal collection not a summer one.

1,I am not lion - is a dusty gold colour with holo mirco glitter
2, I herd that - Brashy gold with micro holo glitter
3, Dessert Sun, Orange Creme
4, Call of the wild, deep redy plumy brown
5, Man hunt - Cool rich creme blue.
6, Kalahari Kiss, Yellow toned creme  

China Glaze On safari 2012 summer collection swatch  

China Glaze On Safari Complete Shades:

• Adventure Red-y
• Call of the Wild
• Desert Sun
• Elephant Walk
• Exotic Encounter
• I Herd That
• I’m Not Lion
• Kalahari Kiss
• Manhunt
• Prey Tell
• Purr-fect Plum

Which colour do you like best out of part one of the collection?

NOTD Profile Bling to go Crystal Rocks nail wraps & Gellux Berry Smoothie

Bling to go and Gellux Berry Smoothie

Nail of the day today is a test of some new nail wraps we got in store this week. Profile have released "Bling to Go" 3d nail wraps with 8 different designs. In a pack you get 18 finger sized wraps and 16 toe sized wrap so you do get plenty in a pack.

3 of the Bling to go designs

I decided to go for Crystal Rocks which is what I would class as a standard crystal mani effect. I also decided to give Profile's gel polish , Gellux, another go so I applied Berry Smoothie to all my nails. I selected the nail wrap which would fit my ring finger stuck it on and filed off the excess from the free edge and sealed the edges with the Gellux topcoat. It took about 5 mins each nail and I think looks really effective.  It's a lot quicker and neater than applying each individual gem and in this pack there are two gem patterns. I went for this one in which the gems get slightly at the bottom of the nail, but there is another sheet in the pack where they are all the same size and the gems are all in straight lines.

Bling to go Crystal Rocks

 So what do you think? Will you be swapping to this quick and easy nail art solution? Or will you be sticking to individual gems? Let me know what you think x

Gellux Berry Smoothie and bling to go Crystal Rocks

Orly Dark Shadow Collection Press Release

 ORLY International announced today a limited-time nail color collection partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures in conjunction with the release of Tim Burton’s “Dark Shadows,” starring Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter, set to open on May 11, 2012.
“ORLY strives to deliver innovative products and trend-focused nail shades,” said Jeff Pink, President and CEO of ORLY International. “The adventurous theme of ‘Dark Shadows’ was a perfect fit with our brand and the fashion colors we created for this collection.”
The collection will include four lacquers, with names and shades that reflect the dark humor conveyed in the film.

Grave Mistake - is a Dark Red Creme
Buried Alive - is a Deep Brown Shimmer.
Mysterious Curse - is a Purple Duochrome Shimmer
Decades of Dysfunction - is a Pale Pink Creme.

After China Glaze's dip in to film tie ins with the Hunger Games collection, Orly have decided to join in it seems. I am not sure about this collection and IF  I was making a film tie in I would go for a more girly film/ fun film.
My fave out of the collection is Mysterious Curse the other colours look a bit boring. When I get my hands on them I will swatch them for you so you can get a better look.

Orly Mysterious Curse - is a Purple Duochrome Shimmer

China Glaze Hunger games Collection Luxe and Lush

China Glaze The Hunger Games Capitol Colours

With the release of the film The Hunger Games,  which is set to be one of the biggest films of the year, China Glaze has brought out its first movie tie in. The Capitol Colours. Now I had never even heard of the books before I got the info sheet from China Glaze and thought this was quite an odd idea. The links to the film seemed a bit weak and I am not sure of the colours as they are a bit drab for me. I have decided to swatch them so you can decide for yourself.

My favourite is Luxe and Lush. This colour is inspired by Katniss' interview dress and I am sure if you watch the film you will have an idea if it matches. :) Luxe and Lush is a massive chunky flakie. If you have seen Nubars 2010 its like a chunky version of that. If you like a smooth finish this is not the polish for you !!  

China glaze Luxe and Lush over Lcn Colour me Up collection

Here I have put it over LCN's Colour Me Up collection Left to right they are :

Colour me up

Some like it hot

Spice up your life

Fanappleistic

China Glaze Luxe and Lush over Rad Raspbery Nubar

Comparison of China Glaze Luxe and Lush and Nubar 2010

This colour is really hard to photograph but I hope you get the idea.

So will you be adding Luxe and Lush to your collection? And will  you be off to the Cinema to see the film?

More colours to follow :)



Orly’s Spring 2012 Collection Cool Romance

Just a quick post about the new Orly’s Spring 2012 Collection - Cool Romance is out and pays homage to some of the gentlest pastels around. We’re not talking sweet-shop pastels here, these are the slightly edgier, grungier cousins of the pastel world. Just about.

• You’re Blushing: Muted Lilac Crème
• Prelude to a Kiss: Pastel Pink Crème
• Jealous, Much?: Pastel Mint
• Faint of Heart: Soft Grey Crème
• Steel Your Heart: Charcoal Shimmer
• Artificial Sweetener: Dusty Rose Shimmer

They are available at the new price of £5.15 plus vat but they have also made a cute little gift pack with a chain mail esque bag for £12.99

Valentines nails featuring Gelicure, Kooky Nail wraps and Progel.



Progel and Kooky Nail wraps

I have been a little quiet on here this month as I have had a little operation, but I am back to update you on the nails I have created recently.

We started stocking Kooky nail wraps, so I thought it was best to try them out before we sold them to make sure they were easy to apply and long lasting. As the wraps were from their Valentines collection I decided to apply them as accent nails to the ring finger and use sparkly Poker Red, Progel by Supernail. The wraps lasted really well but the progel was a bit flakey, so more testing is required.



kooky Nail Wraps




I also did my own nails using IBD's New LED Gel polish- Just Gel. I used Gerber Daisy as my base colour which is a nice rich shimmery pink. I then used Orlys Instant artist to create some freehand nail art. I was really pleased with the finished result, but yet again the Just Gel did not last a whole week. So more testing of that is needed

IBDs Just Gel Gerber Daisy

Finally I did a bit of practise using Gelicure by Nubar. I hope you like my nails and sorry for the delay :) x



Valentines practise using Gelicure



Freehand Nail Art

NOTD - China Glaze Summer Neon Collection 2012

China Glaze Summer Neon Collection 2012

Nails of the day are the China Glaze collection Summer Neons. It will not be in the UK until March, but here is a sneak preview of the colours. As many of you already know, neon is the hottest thing around for the spring 2012 season so this is a great collection to get your nails on trend. 

 

As you may have guessed they are super neon and most of the polishes have a shimmery finish. The colours are really rich and some you could get away with one coat! I would always finish them with a nice topcoat and Orly's Polishield is still my favourite.

 

 

China Glaze Summer Neon Collection 2012

 

1, PINK PLUMERIA

2, FLIRTY TANKINI

3, SURFIN' FOR BOYS

4, ORANGE YOU HOT?

5, SUN-KISSED

6, I'M WITH THE LIFEGUARD

7, SPLISH SPLASH

8, RIDE THE WAVES

9, UNDER THE BOARDWALK

10, BEACH CRUISE-R

11, HANG-TEN TOES

12, LOVE'S A BEACH

 

 

My Favourite out of the Summer Neons Collection is Under the boardwalk. Which is your Favourite??

 

 

 

NOTD - Chinese new year nails Freehand

Chinese New Year Nails

Nails of the day today are a set I created for a Chinese New Year competion. I did not win the competion, but I have had some nice comments about my nails so it has given me the confidence to enter more.

To create this look I used Sexy red by Nubar as the base colour. Then using Orly's Instant Nail artist I carefully painted the nail art details.

I think the little lady with the fan was very cute, if I do say so myself!
What nail competions have you entered? What theme nails would you like to see?

NOTD - Aztec Style Nail Art with Video

Nail of the day - Aztec Nails.

I was asked on instagram if I could do some tribal/aztec style nails so this is my effort

I took lots of photos and made this quick video tutorial hope you like it and let me know if you try it out xx

NOTD- Gelicure Silver Waterfall with freehand Winter Snowflakes

Gelicure Silver Waterfall with freehand Winter Snowflakes

Nail of the day - Gelicure Silver Waterfall with freehand Winter Snowflakes. Here are my winter season nails I started off by apply two coats of Nubar's Gelicure in Silver Waterfall then using nubars nail stripers I applied freehand snowflakes in white. I then added dots in white and blue with a dotting tool.

As always with Gelicure my mani lasted ages which was great as with Christmas and parties I did not have time to redo my nails so I got 4 weeks out of this one :).

What nails are you rocking this month? Let me know and add a link to your blog below xx

NOTD - Tape Mani in Purple Panic and Petunia Sparkles

Tape Mani with China Glaze and Nubar

Nail of the day is my new addiction Tape manicures. As you see from my picture I went a bit mad. I did try lots of different types  The idea is using cellotape to mask off parts of the nail creating cool patterns and crisps lines.

I started with a base colour of China Glaze Purple panic, which to be honest is a bright pink rather than purple. Then I applied the cellotape which I had cut into little strips which was actually the hard bit. I then sponged on the Nubar petunia sparkles which is an amazing purple glitter polish. I think sponging it on its better than painting over it as it not as thick

Nubar Petunia Sparkle

final look 

 How will you wear your Tape mani? share your photos with me xx

Orly Christmas Holiday Soiree 2011

Orly's 2011 Christmas collection was delivered last Friday and I have just got round to doing the swatches and images. The collection is called Holiday Soiree and has a french theme each polish comes with a cute mini file.


I had to translate 2 of the names  Androgynie which means unisex ( which I already knew but thought it must have a differnet meaning in frech as it is an odd name )  and Ingenue which means innocent.   


Here is a list of the collection:


Androgynie: a quite sheer black with glitters and mini hexagon chunks. Au Champagne: pearly champagne
Ingenue: magenta with gold glitter that’s on the sheer side.
Le Chateux: intense petrol green
Ma Cherie: a creamy and sexy red
Oui: deep purple with gold glitters that provides a quite sheer coverage


My favourite colours in this collection are Oui and Androgynie. Although  think Androgyie is a dupe of  Topshops Gypsy Night. I will do a comparison when I get chance.

Which colours will you be buying?

Orly Polish is available from http://www.idealhairandbeauty.com

Notd - Nubar Chic Collection

When I was shown images of the Nubar Chic collection back in July I was not blown away they all looked very safe colours and I expected a snoozefest. It is also hard to imagine winter colours when your surrounded by summer neons and pastels. But when I saw the polishes in real life I was pleasantly surprised. My favourite colour in the collection is definitely Elegant Indigo its a dark blue with purple/blue micro glitters!! Imagine Purple Rain but better. I also love the creamy teal of Stylish Peacock. The only colour that I would not want myself is the Beguiling Carmine, red is not a polish colour I crave and it doesn't really suit my skin tone  On a whole it's is a really nice rich and creamy collection and I think "Chic" is an apdt name for it. Here is the press release discription:

"This season Nubar brings you eight new and enticing, fashion forward colors of our premium carcinogen and cruelty free lacquer with the Polished Chic Collection. Offering contemporary colors perfect for work, casual daytime wear or even a night out, every woman can look to Nubar's Polished Chic Collection to update her look. "

Nubar Chic Collection

Always free of DBP (phthlate), formaldehyde and toluene, the nail lacquers included in Nubar's Polished Chic Collection are (from left to right):

• Beguiling Carmine: a brick red creme.
• Elegant Indigo: a sparkling, blackened blue.
• Vogue Vert: a contemporary, light green creme.
• Stylish Peacock: a perfect teal creme.
• Edgy Umber: a deep brown creme.
• Mod Aqua: a light turquoise creme
• Classic Camel: an updated buff creme.
• Faded Putty: a modern, pale putty creme.

What do you think of this collection and which ones will you be buying?

Nubar polishes are available from http://www.idealhairandbeauty.com  or http://www.beautyshed.co.uk xx

Notd - Gelux review with Gelicure & acrylic 3d Nail art

Gellux

Nail of the Day is a review of Salon Systems new Gel polish Gellux. I already own 3 different brands of Gel polish but as this one is cheaper I thought it would be worth giving it a go. I picked two colours I liked:
Jade (green)
Raspberry Sorbet (pink)
The big difference with the Gellux range is that the base coat and topcoat is in one bottle. This saves money on buying two products, but makes me think a shiny base coat is not a great base coat. I used the Gellux LED lamp and it states it cures in 30sec which to be honest it does not it take 1 and a half minutes at the very least. It applied quite thickly and I had to wipe the brush a lot as the brush seems to carry a lot of product. The pink was nice to apply but the green was another story and took ages to cure. The next day the green bubbled and I had to remove it on both hands. I actually picked it off as it had come loose due to the air bubbles. The Gellux underneath was still sticky and uncured? My co-worker also tested it the same night and she had to replace 4 nails due to bubbling as well. So all in all there seems to be some issues with this product it cannot recomend it as its a bit hit and miss.
After a couples of days I decided to add a bit of nail art and used the White in my trusty Gelicure by Nubar.  I added spots to my nails and sculpted a 3d bow out of white acrylic. I have had it on for a week now and it still looks great :) I am going to remove it tonight so I will update this post with how easy/hard it is to remove. Hope you enjoyed my post xx

Gellux with Gelicure nail art

Notd - China Glaze Neon nails with Freehand Animal Print Nail Art

Sorry for the long gap between posts, I have had a busy month! Today's Nail of the Day is the nails I did for this years Reading Festival. Its one of the UKs biggest music festivals and I go every year. I decided to go for neon nails so they stood out :).
I started off with Gelicure by Nubar and applied a base colour of white. There are two reasons why I did this one was to make the neons "pop" and the second reason was to make my mani last! As Gelicure lasts for up to three weeks I knew my mani would last the whole weekend of mud!

I then applied the China Glaze Colours, I used:
Pink Voltage
Purple Panic
Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
Kiwi Cool-Ada
Bahamiam Escape (blue)

I used a latex sponge to "splodge" the polish on in random parts of each nail. I have a little picture of my thumb at this stage.

I then used Orly's instant artist paint in black to apply leopard print and tiger print to alternate nails. Then I finished them off with two coats of topcoat.

I hope you like my nails, here they are at the festival :

Notd- Cath Kidston style Freehand Nail Art request.

the finished result

Nail of the day was requested by my friend @charleymarley she loves Cath Kidston so when I saw some nail art inspired by  Cath Kidson on all lacquered up,  I had to send her a picture. So then she asked me to do them on her nails. Now I love a challenge so I got out my Nail trainer and gave it a go. I think they have come out really well and I am very proud of them. I used Orlys instant artist acrylic paints and they were easy to work with.

If anyone has any other requests then let me know and I will give it a go, if I can :)