The Face Shop + BYS Cracked Black

So sad, I had to chop my nails down because I got a tear in one Ah well, better to have them all the same length.

Anyway,  here’s another first – my very first time using a crackle nail polish! I don’t actually own any crackles so I borrowed this one off my nail tech friend Amanda (thanks Manda!)

This was actually my second attempt at it because I had already attempted it right before this mani … I’d done one coat of BYS Orange Matte and then only a thin coat of BYS Cracked but only got very thin cracks … it was after Googling some tips that I found out you need to apply the crackle polish thickly to get bigger cracks! I then made the mistake of not waiting long enough for the polish to dry and the cracks to appear. Trust me, do not do this!! Be patient and wait. Because I was silly and applied my SV like normal and it all smudged and most of the cracks disappeared!!!

Anyway, my second attempt was much better.

I started off with my SV base coat and two coats of The Face Shop’s “GR502” (I hate how they don’t have names!) which is a bright neon lime green. This colour is awesome for toenails and I wore it a lot this past summer but is a bit much for my fingernails. It is super easy to apply and has full coverage in two coats though.

 

 

Then I added a thick coat of BYS Cracked Black and waited for the magic to happen …

 

AWESOME!!!! The cracks started appearing after a minute or so and it was completely done in about 10 minutes. This time I was patient and made sure the polish was completely dry and finished cracking. Then I applied a thin coat of my Revitanail top coat, because I didn’t want to risk it smudging again. I wasn’t sure if that had happened because of SV as well or just because of my impatience!

My favourite nail would have to be my ring finger nail there. I love the huge cracks down the side and the black space in the middle.

 

Unfortunately this polish doesn’t wear very well. By the end of the night I already had a couple of chips and the next day had quite a few chips. It didn’t matter too much because it kind of added to the irregular-ness (is that even a word?!) of the polish.

 

I’m definitely going to be placing an order for some Cracked nail polishes from Fashion Addict on pay day!!

 

Do you love crackles too?

 

Em

GiMiKd Girl Giveaway!

GiMiKd Girl is having a great giveaway!!

You can win:

• Beauty Factories leopard print false nails
• NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss in French Kiss and Vanilla
• NYX Caribbean Palette in St Marteen
• NYX Glitter Mania in Gold
• NYX Round Lipstick in Tea Rose and Pumpkin Pie
• NYX Jumbo Pencils in Cottage Cheese and Yogurt
• NYX Round Lip Gloss in Soap Opera Queen, Sparkle and Chocolate Moose
• 6 Bundle Monster Plates in BM13, BM12, BM10, BM21, BM17 and BM

Head over to the giveaway page to enter!

Em

Gumleaf Mafia

I am now a proud member of the Gumleaf Mafia!

If you look to the right in my sidebar you will see my new Gumleaf Mafia blogroll. Check out all the great Aussie/NZ nail blogs!

Em

Beauty goodies!

I bought some beauty goodies last week and I just thought I’d share:

 

Lash & Brow Groomer, Glass nail file and Ginger Apple hand cream.

The hand cream smells divine and is super moisturising.

I love finding goodies like this

Em

BYS scotch tape mani–Baby Pink & French White.

My first set of scotch tape nails!

These are the nails I wore on my first day of work on Thursday.  I’m pretty please with how they turned out. Not bad for a first attempt! First I did two coats of BYS Baby pink. This was a biatch to apply because I got a bad brush which had a few strands sticking out everywhere .. and the formula was pretty thick. After a coat of SV it evened out alright though .. then I taped off my nails and applied a coat of white and then another coat of SV. I really like both these colours. The pink is a really pretty shade.

 

I did them on Wednesday afternoon and straight after I did I went to work to sort out my access passes .. I got a compliment straight away! And then my supervisor commented on them the next morning! Everyone was pretty impressed. Next time I need to make sure the tape is down properly because I had a little bit of bleed on most nails which bugged my perfectionist self.

 

One thing I did not bargain on was how dirty my nails would get at work. Even though I don’t work underground in the mines or anything and I run between offices all day, the white on my nails got filthy. It was so disgusting that by lunch time I was dying to take it all off. No amount of washing could fix it I had to take it off as soon as I got home from work and had naked nails (bar a coat of SV Ridge Filling Base Coat, which is a gorgeous pearly colour on its own anyway!) for the next day. I felt so unfinished the whole day without pretty nails

I can’t wait to try my next scotch tape mani! Any ideas or requests for colours/designs?

Em

BYS Dark Teal with Lulu Blue

Awww yeah, much better! BYS Dark Teal with two coats (three on some nails depending on glitter distribution!) of BYS Lulu Blue. Purdy

Em

BYS Dark Teal

This is the polish I was most excited about trying from my latest BYS haul. A dark teal jelly.

Here we go …

Meh.

I like it, but I don’t love it. This is three coats and it’s not as dark as the bottle colour. Maybe I needed another coat or two because I did have a couple of little bald spots. I love jellies, but this one just wasn’t anything that special. Application was easy and not streaky at all. It was fairly thin, as most jellies are, but not too runny and hard to manage. I think it would look awesome with some glitter over the top .. might give that a crack!

 

Em

It’s Almost Friday Funny Video

This one is so ridiculous it’s funny … I guarantee you will get this stuck in your head aaallll day :P

 

 

Enjoy!
Em

<3

I’m in looooove! My partner has some competition for most loved, because my Seche Vite Fast Drying Top Coat and Ridge Filling Base Coat have arrived!!!!

 

Very hard to get a pic of the top coat because it’s so shiny!

 

Goodbye, BYS Base Coat and Orly Sec n’ Dry Top Coat. You have served me well. Especially the BYS Base Coat, because even with the darkest nail polishes, my nails have never been stained. I stain the crap out of my cuticles, but my nails have always been perfectly clean. The Sec n’ Dry was pretty good, but it doesn’t compare to Seche Vite. I have no thinner at the moment so it was hell to get on my nails because of how little was left. I was also getting major shrinkage. I didn’t get any of these problems when I had a fuller bottle, though!

 

The Seche polishes are both amazing. The base coat is a pearly colour, which I’m really not used to, but it really does make my nails nice and smooth and ridge-free. I have these weird ridges on the very side of my thumbnails, and it sorted them out no worries. The top coat is just … perfect! I made sure I applied it neatly and not over any mess I wanted to clean up, because I’ve heard it’s hell to get off in clean up. The result? Perfect, glossy, hard nails without a wrinkle or dent I’m so happy!!!

I’m currently putting together an order from 8ty8beauty.com for some China Glaze and Colour Club polishes … any suggestions?

 

Em

BYS Hocus Pocus

Lovely, lovely, lovely colour! A gorgeous aqua with a hint of silver shimmer. Divine.

 

The photos don’t even do it justice. This is two coats.

 

Sadly, a mere few minutes after I took these photos I smudged three fingers on my left hand and two on my right. Arrgh!!! And I got major shrinkage almost straight away because my Orly Sec n’ Dry is on its last legs. Thank god my Seche Vite arrived today!!!

 

I got a couple of comments even with the smudgies, so it’s a beautiful eye catching colour. Would be amazing on the toes, I think! And it would be such a fun summer colour.

 

Coming up … my review on Seche Vite Fast Drying Top Coat and Ridge Filling Base Coat!

 

Em

The Khromazone's Giveaway

Jump over to The Khromazone and check out her awesome blog. While you're at it, enter her birthday giveaway.



You can win 10 bottles of BYS nail polish in your choice of colours. Have a look through my previous posts and you can see just some of the colours you can choose from!

Em

The ABC of Me :)

This tag was nabbed from the lovely love vulcanella! Check out her great blog

A. Age: 25 .. quarter of a century, eep!

B. Bed size: Queen, baby!

C. Chore you hate: Hanging out washing, mopping

D. Day: Saturday.
E. Essential start to your day: Brushed teeth

F. Favourite colour: Blue

G. Gold or Silver: Silver ... but white gold is my favourite :)
H. Height: 159cm

I. Instruments: None :( Musically illiterate!

J. Job title: Document Controller (as of Wednesday, weee!)

K. Kids: 2 gorgeous green and golden bell frogs, Chad and Kroaker

L. Live: In the desert of South Australia

M. Mum’s name: Hmmm would rather not disclose on a public blog! Starts with A :)

N. Nicknames: Em, Emz

O. Overnight hospital stays: None, thank god!!

P. Pet peeve: Lateness

Q. Quote from a movie: Shite, I'm bad at quotes, let's skip this one...
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: An older brother and sister

T. Time you wake up: Depends.. a sleep in can be as late as 11am but my getting-up-for-work time is about 6:45-7am

U. Underwear: Boylegs, bikini

V. Vegetables you dislike:Artichoke. Blurgh.

W. What makes you run late: Not much!!! If a previous appointment is running over time, that's about it. My partner :P

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth ... knee. I think that's it.

Y. Yummy food you make: Chicken Tortilla Stack .. yum!

Z. Zoo: Haven't been since I was about 16 ... would be interested to go again!

 

Your turn! Do the survey and send me the link.

BYS Fern

I’ve been looking for the perfect green polish, and I think I may have found it.

I give you, BYS Fern.

Look at the pretty silver shimmer through it! The shimmer is a bit lost in the shade but it’s still a gorgeous shade of green which seems to suit me really well. I kind of don’t want to take it off my nails!! I can tell it’s going to be a bitch to remove, because it even stained my fingers while I was doing clean up!!!

I’ve been wearing it for two days now, coming on for three, and it’s worn really well. Only minimal tip wear which I’m pretty sure is my Orly Sec n’ Dry ‘shrinking’ it a bit. I’m almost at the bottom of my bottle of it and waiting for my Seche Restore to arrive in the post so I can thin it. I’ve also ordered Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat and Ridge Filling Base Coat. I can’t wait to try them. Everyone raves about SV!

In the next few days I’m going to place an order for some China Glazes and Colour Clubs … now that I have a job I was offered the job I interview for on Thursday a mere 3 and a half hours after I finished the interview, and I couldn’t be happier. What an excuse to splurge on some pretties!!! Once I start working I’m going to buy some Nfu Oh’s because the flakies look amazing.

 

This is Nfu Oh #51. I got this image from The Polish Addict’s awesome blog.

Seriously, how could you not love that?!

 

Anyway, that’s enough from me. See you soon with some more greenies!

Em

Spellbinding Nails Giveaway!

Spellbinding Nails are having a 500 follower giveaway!

Visit Spellbinding Nails here to enter.

You could win an awesome prize consisting of:

• 6 Beauty UK - The Wild Child Set.
  
• 6 Models Own including: Jade Stone, Feeling Blue, 
• Sophie's Pink, Betty Blue, Slate Green and Utopia.
  1 Designer Nail Plate - Shoes.
• 1 Designer Nail Plate - Food and Drink

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The winner will also be able to select 8 Random plates from Chez - Delaney.com

 

Get on over to Spellbinding Nails and you can win this awesome prize!

BYS Pink Manicure

Behold, naked nails!

Something you won’t see too often. In fact, my partner comments every time he does see it

 

Yesterday’s mani was BYS Pink Manicure. I had high hopes for this polish being a pretty, feminine, interview-safe colour. Well, meh. It was okay. It was really hard to apply, streaky as hell and took three coats to get anywhere near the bottle colour. It’s still not 100% but I just lost patience with it.

It is a pretty colour, but it doesn’t suit me. It brings out the red in my fingers, yuck. It also took ages to dry, even with my Orly Sec n’ Dry top coat over it. I got a couple of wrinkles which I tried to smooth out and failed. Meh, it did the job in my interview because I kicked ass and I’m pretty sure the job is mine. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.

 

Look at the pretty roses on my thumbnail! My friend Amanda is a professional nail technician and has recently learnt folk art for nails. Looks awesome!

 

Til the next mani, I will leave you with the first “It’s Almost Friday Funny Video”. This is a hilarious video:

 

Em

Interview appropriate colours!

Woohoooo, I have an interview tomorrow morning!!!!

Now excuse me while I go do an interview-safe mani .. I'm thinking BYS Pink Manicure.

*bounces off*
Em

BYS Ocean Breeze

My first proper review – woo! I decided I had to try BYS Ocean Breeze on my nails first. I was a bit nervous about this one because I thought I’d need a million coats for good coverage, and I thought it would be rough and hard to manage. Well, that’s everything this polish was NOT!!

 

This is just one coat of Ocean Breeze.

 

And this is two.

 

How amazing is that?!?! I still have a tiny bit of VNL (visible nail line) but nothing major. I love this polish. I can’t stop looking at my sparkly fingers!!! It’s got a sheer light blue-green base, fine silver glitter, larger blue glitter and silver bar glitter. I love me some bar glitter!! This was so, so easy to apply. It was the perfect consistency and even without a coat of Orly Sec n’ Dry top coat, it was smooth and shiny.

 

Here’s a close up of the bottle for sparkly goodness.

How can you not love it!??!

 

And a blurry close up to show off the sparklies.

 

I really don’t want to take this off my nails but I also really want to try the other BYS polishes I got yesterday. It’s a hard life when that’s all I’ve got to worry about at the moment I still can’t get over how cheap BYS polishes are and how amazing quality they are. If you’re an Aussie nail fanatic, you’ll know that a bottle of OPI nail polish retails for $19.95, some special collections are even higher. There is nowhere in South Australia to get China Glaze, we have a limited range of Orly polishes (I’ve only seen mini bottles for $8.95 in SA) and forget even trying to get NFU Oh. We get majorly ripped off here, that’s for sure. That’s why I’m so heavily into BYS. They have a great range and they are such good quality. You can get them from K-Mart, The Reject Shop and online at Fashion Addict.  Fashion Addict is the only e-tailer I’ve found who sell a great range of BYS.. There is one other site which has a limited range but nothing spectacular.  Now, if BYS just started making holographic polishes, my life would be perfect

 

I’ve been reading a lot of nail blogs (shock horror!!) and have seen some really cool designs which are easy to do. I’m going to try my hand at some funky designs and see how I go! Stay tuned for some weird designs.

Em

BYS haul

Can I get a woopwoop? My BYS haul just arrived from Fashion Addict and I could not be happier!!! I placed my order last week and quickly got an email back from the Director of Fashion Addict, Dave, saying that three of the colours I’d ordered were deleted lines. I selected four different colours and asked him to send me an updated total, but he was awesome enough to say not to worry about it, that I didn’t have to pay any more My polishes were shipped on Friday and they’re already here!!!!! It’s only Tuesday, plus yesterday was a public holiday. Now that is fast postage, especially out here in the sticks. Even better, postage was free because I spent over $40!!! I’ve just heard that they are now shipping internationally, which is fabulous.

BYS are my favourite Aussie nail polish brand. Unfortunately I’m pretty limited where I live for nail polish choices, especially BYS. A gift store here sells a few BYS colours but a lot of them are old and starting to get thick and gluggy. Last time I bought a few polishes from there, they were way too thick. Oh well, I’ll thin them out with Seche Restore when I get around to buying it!

Anyway, I digress. Onto the goods. But first, look how carefully and considerately these babies were posted to me?!

 

 

Wrapped in bubble wrap, then some kind of soft material, THEN held together with plastic and padded with paper in a sturdy box. I was so relieved! I’ve heard and seen way too many horror stories about broken nail polishes in the post, spilling all over everything.

Eleven lovely polishes all standing in a row …

 

Indian Nights, Plum Crazy (glitter) and Raspberry Sorbet. Raspberry Sorbet is a gorgeous dark red with a shimmer through it. Beautiful!

 

Dark Teal, Fern (glitter), Hocus Pocus (glitter) and Ocean Breeze. Dark Teal looks like a jelly – squeeee!!!! And Hocus Pocus looks completely and utterly amazing. I wish I could have capture all the loveliness but to be honest, I suck at taking photos and this camera is just not that great. I may have to pinch my partner’s to see if it’s any better.

 

White Pearl, French White, Pink Manicure, Baby Pink. Some fairly tame colours which I desperately needed (I’m currently job hunting and need some “safe” interview colours).

 

The only dilemma now is which polish to try first!? Any ideas? I need to do my toes too, which I’m thinking I might do Plum Crazy … is it okay to post toe pics on here!? I know some people are funny about feet, but I don’t mind them. I’m a massage therapist so I’m often asked to massage feet, and I don’t have a problem with it. As long as they’re clean and taken care of, I see nothing wrong with feet.

You’ll hear from me soon!
Em

First frankens

Welcome to my first frankenpolish post! First, if you’re not sure what the hell a frankenpolish, check out Dr Frankenpolish’s post on Frankenpolish 101. It will tell you everything you need to know about frankening.

On Saturday I made my very first franken, a baby pink glitter.

I mixed 2/3 of a bottle of a Colour Co pearly white shimmer with 1/4 of a bottle of a The Face Shop’s bright pink and added fine white glitter. Next time I will have photos of the nail polishes I used which went into the mix instead of just the end result. But this time I got a little overeager and forgot!!

Here’s my end result:

Sorry for the crap photo. I’m learning how to take good photos of nails!! I promise I will get better!

This franken turned out pretty good. I liked the colour, but I definitely overdid it on the glitter so it was too lumpy. God it was thick, but it actually made it really easy to apply.  I put on two coats of Orly Sec n’ Dry in the hope that it would smooth it out a bit. It did, but not enough! I’ll add some clear polish to the mix and that should thin it out a bit. I didn’t name this one because, well, it’s crap, so let’s just call it No.1.

 

My second franken went very well! I’ve completely fallen in love with jelly polishes but find them really hard to find in South Australia, let alone the desert where I currently live in a mining town 600km from the capital city of Adelaide.  So I decided to do the next best thing and create my own.

I call this one Squashed Grape.

Pardon the messy cuticles.

I love it, love it, love it!!! It’s a gorgeous purple, almost magenta (the colours are slightly pinker in this photo because of the light) which looks so squishy and cute. My first jelly!!! It was a fairly thin consistency so I had to make sure not to overload the brush when I was applying. It’s worn pretty well, only one chip on my thumb and one bald spot on the other thumb (maybe I just have weird thumbs!)

For this one I used half a bottle of Mode XOXO purple creme polish and half a bottle of some Maybelline clear top coat I had lying around. It was so, SO easy and I see many more jellies in my future.

 

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get my order of BYS polishes which I ordered off Fashion Addict. I’ve ordered 12 of them so stay tuned for some reviews on this great Aussie brand.

Em

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog, Nails in the Desert. I am a 20-something year old from Adelaide currently living in the desert, well out of my comfort zone and away from friends and family. So how do I deal with this? I paint nails!

For the past six months I have been getting more and more obsessed with nail polishes. My collection of polishes is growing and I'm now starting "frankenpolishing", which is mixing my own nail polishes.

Stay tuned for a couple of my own creations, I hope you enjoy!
Em