Friday mail day + Miki goodies

Wheeee! Friday was mail day. Love it

But on Thursday I was getting impatient waiting for my China Glaze, Color Club, OPI, Essie, SpaRitual, Nubar and BYS polishes to arrive. Sooo I strolled down to the chemist and what did I see?

 

 

Cute little mini Miki’s!

They do not have names so I shall name them! The left polish is actually a beautiful dark green with a gold shimmer through it, so I’ve named it Forever Green. The red also has a gorgeous gold shimmer and I called it Fire in Her Eyes.

 

This Little Piggy, Rainclouds, Spring Sky, Faded Frog.

 

Two for $5!!! Tell me, does that count for breaking my No Buy August?  

These just screamed out at me… such pretty, spring colours! Do you like my names for them?

 

So first up in my Friday mail was a bottle of Seche Restore:

Waaay back in June I ordered some off ebay. The seller never sent it, I had to lodge a dispute through PayPal (thank God for PayPal!!!) and I eventually got my money back. I had to reorder it from somewhere else and I finally have it! Yay I have a few polishes I want to thin and my SV bottle is almost at the stage where I need to thin it.

 

Backups of SV (you can never have too many ) and China Glaze Matte Magic top coat (awesome photo, Emma, face the label AWAY from people )

 

Hopefully my COLOUR polish hauls will be here soon!!

Em

The Face Shop Bling Bling

The other day I painted my nails with a Face Shop polish I’ve only tried once before.

I love Face Shop polishes. They have so many gorgeous colours and if you buy 4, you get the 5th free! Definitely going to be taking advantage of that when I go to Adelaide on the weekend!

 

Anyway, this is GL111, but I shall call it “Bling Bling”:

 

Two coats of awesomeness, perfect formula. It was very smooth so only needed one coat of Seche Vite just for staying power. It certainly didn’t need any more shine!

I did not realise just how much glitter was packed into this polish! I got quite a few comments on my nails at work – people loved the bling!

 

Do you have any Face Shop polishes? From what I understand, the prices and styles of bottles vary from state to state (in Adelaide they are $4.90 for the basic colours and $12.90 for ones like these with glitter. I read on another blog (Ree?) that they were only $3 in Melbourne!!! Jealous!

 

Em

Confession time

I have a confession to make.
I broke my No Buy July.
Totally failed it.

I started off with a big stamping plate that I stumbled across on ebay and just had to have (of course!)
Then I made the mistake of visiting the new (and much easier to navigate) Transdesign website, Nailsupplies.co. I bought $55 worth (including shipping) of China Glaze, Essie, Color Club and OPI.
Then I got some Seche Restore, Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat and China Glaze Matte Magic top coat on eBay. Aaaand then I topped it off with the SpaRituals Earth Day pack of two gorgeous greens (I blame you, steffels!!!!) and a Nubar flakie.

*hangs head* for shame, Emma, for shame.

I almost made about three other orders too but managed to stop myself in the nick of time. See, I can show a little self restraint, it's just that most of the time I don't want to :P

I'm thinking of doing another no buy... but need some support. Whose with me!?

Em

Milani holos & The Face Shop with Konad

Last Saturday my partner’s sister and Mum flew in from Adelaide to spend the day with us for my partner’s birthday.
We had a lovely lunch and I did their nails
Here’s what they chose:


The Face Shop PP403 (two coats) with some Konad stars stamped on in the eggplant colour Princess Special Polish.


This turned out great, although the image on the Konad plate was a little hard to use … I had to try multiple times before the entire image transferred onto the stamp. Pretty, though.

His sister requested Milani 3D Holographic in Digital, a pretty pink which is transformed in the sunlight (which was apparently lacking in my photos).


Three coats of Digital with some cute leaves and flowers stamped on with the Konad Princess Special Polish in purple. Excuse the bit on the index finger, she accidentally bumped it right before I took the shot!!


Close up of the flowers on the thumb. Pretty, huh? She loved it!
I love doing people’s nails

Em

LA Colors Color Craze Cayenne Pepper

I was a bit worried about this colour. I bought it in my last Cherry Culture haul and when I got it I kind of thought “meh”. It just seemed like a bit of a dull colour, and it looks more brown in the bottle.

I’m happy to say that I love it.

 

This is two coats which gave me full coverage. It was so easy to apply so it was pretty neat around the edges! It doesn’t wear particularly well, with tip wear the next day.

 

Of course, the next day I couldn’t leave it alone …

 

Prettttyy   This is with one coat of Kleancolor Chunky Black Holo on top. I’ve seen this polish all over the nail blogs lately an I’m sooo glad I bought it! It just adds a whole new dimension to the mani.

 

Happy

Em

Kleancolor Metallic Green + Disco Ball

Warning: Disaster area ahead.

 

Urgh. Urgh urgh urgh.

Ho ho ho, it’s the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen! I look like a freakin’ Christmas tree.

 

What possessed me to do this?! As if the Kleancolor Metallic Green wasn’t loud enough, I went and added Kleancolor Disco Ball to it.

It looks disgusting.

I was self conscious of my nails all day, and naturally, I got a few comments. They were comments like “Oh! Look at your nails!”, not compliments like usual! I could not wait to get this off my fingers.

Massive fail.

 

Anyway, the application was great (of course, a colour I hate is awesome to apply!!) and it was probably my neatest mani ever. It’s more of a foil than a metallic and it has full coverage in two coats. This is just one coat of Disco Ball on top. It’s strange, Disco Ball is actually purple and blue glitter (see photo below, second from left) but the glitter turned bronze and red on my nails?! It looked more like I applied Firework (left).

 

 

I’m definitely going to need to give this polish another chance and wear it over a better colour.

Oh, and it’s true what they say, these polishes stink. I dislike the bottles too because they hurt my poor little hands when the lid is stuck on tight and I have to wrench it open. Solution: use a square of anti-slip rubber matting to open hard to open things. My partner taught me that

 

Anyway, sorry this post was so, well, ugly. But I figure I might as well show you the fails as well as the successes!! I’m only human, after all.

Em

BYS Matte Grey with white Konad zebra stamping

I did not have any luck at all with my nails tonight! I painted them a beautiful Face Shop pastel blue colour and stamped them with Konad heart tips and then smudged the crappola out of my right hand. Sigh.

I just didn’t know what colour I wanted to paint them, and then I remembered I had this beauty:

BYS Matte Grey. This is two coats without a top coat. This is almost a one-coater, but not quite. Goes on beautifully and dries quickly (as most mattes do).

And then of course I had to practice Konad-ing!


Zebrahhhhh!

The smudginess is annoying me … hurry up and get here, Konad kit!! If they all looked as good as my ring finger I’d be happy, but my middle and little fingers are bugging me. This will come off tomorrow night. I’ve lost patience tonight!!!

edit: As much as the perfectionist in me isn't entirely happy with this mani, I've had some good feedback! One of the girls at work said she loved my nails and asked where I got them done.. When I told her that I did them, she said "oh, I don't like fake nails" and I said "they're not fake, they're real" and she just about fell over! It was awesome :D Gave me a buzz for the rest of the day!!

Em

BYS Indian Nights with Konad white swirly stamping

I think I’m in trouble.

I’ve discovered the world of Konad.

For those of you who don’t know, Konad is nail stamping, and it is amazing.

I borrowed my friend Amanda’s Konad image plate, polish, scraped and stamp and have been experimenting with it. This is my first attempt at swirly Konad accent nails:

 

 

This is three coats of BYS Indian Nights and white Konad stamping. There are so many things wrong with this photo:

• The bald spots
• The huge gap on my thumbnail
• The smudged Konad

BUT I do have reasons for them. BYS Indian Nights is a biatch to apply. My bottle is pretty thick so I’m going to have to thin it before I use it again. It doesn’t have great coverage; this is three coats and I still have a few bald spots. And apparently I have an abnormally wide thumbnail, because the whole nail designs are too small for my nail!!! After trying again I’ve managed to get it with minimal gap on the side but this attempt was just a fail!!!

As for the smudged Konad, I blame SV. You’re supposed to use the Konad top coat so it doesn’t smudge.

 

That will be fixed soon

Oh yes, I did it. I bought a Konad kit. And not just a small one either. I blame my partner; he found this one for me and said it was much better value. I had to agree, of course And that is how I already spent a quarter of my net pay this week … But trust me, it will be worth it. I won’t show a photo until I get it, which will hopefully be within two weeks. Today is stupid 4th July in the US so it’s delayed my order I don’t care about the 4th of July, I just want my dang Konad!!!!

 

Do you like Konad-ing?

Em

The Face Shop PK105 + Sally Hansen Accent Nails

I really, really hate it how The Face Shop don’t give their polishes names. It feels so wrong I might give this one a name … how about Raspberry Frosting?

Anyway, even though I hate that about their polishes, I love everything else about them!!! So easy to apply, this one was opaque in two coats and long lasting.

 

See the gorgeous light purple shimmer? It’s hard to see because I suck at taking photos and I didn’t have any sun or natural light, but it’s there!

 

I wore this for all of two hours before I got bored with it … so I decided to try some accent thumbnails!

 

With a stripe of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Celeb City.

 

Celeb City is a gorgeous metallic, glittery silver which, paired with the pink, totally reminds me of a present. Love it So easy to do (scotch tape method) and jazzes up the whole mani!

Do you like accent nails?

Em

BYS Flirty Sparkle

This is my all time favourite polish.

 

This is two coats of BYS Flirty Sparkle and a coat of SV.

 

The photos don’t do it justice, seriously. I always get compliments when I wear this on my nails. It’s a beautiful deep pink with a touch of red and a silver glitter shimmer through it. So hard to explain and even harder to capture on film. But so, so gorgeous.

Try it, you won’t be disappointed. It is the easiest polish to apply ever, too. This is the quickest and neatest mani I’ve ever done. It doesn’t wear too well, unfortunately. After a day’s wear I had a couple of small chips. Nothing major, and this polish is great in that you can touch up the chip and don’t need to paint the whole nail because it blends well.

It is soo gorgeous. I never want to take it off my nails when I’m wearing it!!

Em

Milani 3D Holographic–HD

I truly wish I owned this polish, but it’s another one I borrowed from my nail tech friend. And she got it in Fiji

When I first applied this polish I though “meh, this isn’t going to be very holo … how disappointing!”

But I put on my three coats and then a coat of SV and went outside to take some photos …

 

 

Woah. Woaaaaaaaaah!

Look at all the pretty holo dancing in the sunlight!!!

Here’s a blurry shot to show more of the prettiness.

 

 

Oh how I wish I owned this polish … where do I get Milani polishes from!? I’ve tried ebay and only found one colour I didn’t like. But this one is goooorgeous! It has fuelled my holo addiction even more. Must buy holos! Can’t wait til my first full pay. I think I’m going to go nuts ordering US brands

 

Edit: I just found a website to order Milani’s from!!!! Cherry Culture is a US site that ships to Australia!!!  And their postage is very reasonable … I just ordered 11 polishes and it was US$25.43 postage (7-14 days) including insurance! They had Milani holos on sale for $3.75 – bargain! Sooo I ordered all six colours And a Milani Nail Flash polish in “Photo Flash”. And a couple of LA Colours for $2 each. Aaand a couple of Sinful Colours for $2.50 each. $62 later … not bad for 11 polishes though!

 

Are you in <3 with holos as much as I am???

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

<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