Nails of the week -blue and glitter tips

Here I come with another experimental nail creation…

I had spotted Andrea Fullerton’s Georgia Glitter Duo, a pretty set with two glitter puff dusts and a topcoat, a while back but for some reason, forgot about it. What I really liked was the holographic sheen on the gold and silver glitters that came in the set.

So we met again, and I decided to take it, at £6.99 from Superdrug. I had been dying to try this new Ana Hickmann blue nail polish, Rock, which I bought recently, and thought the blue glitter, fading from the tip to the middle of the nail would look fab.

And it does – like a mini winter wonderland! Application of the polish was good, it is quite sheer, more than I expected, but it is good enough on two coats.

The puffs are easy enough to use, although I think I need a small brush to even it out a bit; I did it with my fingers, and was very worried about ruining the polish. Obviously, they are not all the same, and that bothers me a bit, but I am sure that I will improve with practice.

Durability was kind of alright; the glitter rubbed off from my thumb, indicator and middle finger; but I gave it a re-touch five days after doing the manicure, so not too bad. have to say it wasn’t very easy to remove, as expected from glitter! Still, I cannot wait to use the gold one!

You can get a set with five glitter puffs,in varied colours from eBay too, for only £5.

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Nails of the week – black/gold giraffe print foil

Months after buying a pretty giraffe print Nail Rock wraps, I decided it was finally time to try them. Have to confess just the thought of using a hair dryer and frantically preventing/fixing creases was enough to make me feel a bit lazy, hence the procrastination – which in this particular department is quite unusual for me, as I cannot wait to try new stuff… Anyway…

I actually found application easier than I dreaded all this time; after two or three nails, the process was quite straight forward, and it took me a couple of minutes or so per nail. I thought with myself: “This is great! I am never painting again!”. They looked *fabulous*!!! I was so excited…

However, excitement didn’t last too long. After a couple days, the foils started to snag in the “most used” fingers (thumbs and indicators)… I tried desperately to hang on to the beauty, but the ragging was really irritating… it caught on tights, hair, it felt weird on touch (as you will know by now, I am very pedantic when it comes to my nails… I am not a big fan of texture, I get quite bothered when the manicure has little bubbles or is not looking perfect, and so on) and by the third day I decided I could not take it anymore – I removed them. So a NOTW part II will follow, as I painted in replacement of the foils.

I knew they weren’t going to last long when I applied them. I so knew. But I was hoping to be proved wrong, after all they say in the packet it last up to 10 days! Removal was alright; again, using the hair dryer to make the foils soft enough to pull off.

Having said all that, I really loved the effect and the finish when they were good, so I will definitely wear again. The final verdict is: as “occasion” nails, YES, PLEASE, WE LOVE YOU!!! As weekly manicure, unfortunately is a no-no. If you are prepared, like me, to change twice in a week, then go ahead. Or if you have that all special event that requires extra nail impact. But if you just want to think about again in seven days, you will be disappointed!

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Nails of the week – blue + stamping

Well, it seems I am still a *little* bit obsessed with blue, and this week, I have painted my nails another shade of this lovely colour.

The blue I am wearing at the moment is electric, almost royal; it falls a shade or two shorter from it, and it is called Pop Fiction from Miss Sporty.

I am rather excited about my nails this week as I have tried a couple things I had never done before: an accent nail, which I painted with Nails Inc. in Oxford, a lovely pastel blue, and nail stamping.

I bought 16 Bundle Monster plates a while back, plus a Konad double ended stamp and scraper, and was looking forward to trying it. So, within this post, I will do a mini review of the plates. The patterns are ok, I mean, there are only about six plates I really like, but that didn’t bother me that much. A major disappointment was the fact some of the patterns are not deep enough, so when you scrape, no polish stays in, so there is nothing for the stamp to pick up. I tried several nail polishes and some of the patterns I really liked were, unfortunately, unusable.

As a first time experience, once I found a pattern I liked and that worked, from plate BM19, I think it was relatively ok. I had to remove the polish and re-do a couple times, and do the “paint plate-scrape-press stamp” act one too many times (and sometimes the pattern on the stamp wouldn’t be complete) but it looks cute and I am very happy with the result! I am not sure if I could actually cope with stamping every single nail…. I suppose practice would help!

The nail polishes application was very good; the Miss Sporty one has exceptional coverage; I used two coats, but with only one the colour was solid enough. The Nails Inc pastel blue was also very good, coverage was great, but two coats are a must. Durability is alright, there was one or two minor chips after five days, but I did put my nails through a bit!

Overall, a winner – the Miss Sporty blue for me is the star here; it is absolutely stunning and is quite similar to a blue Beyoncé was seen using a few weeks ago. I was very surprised I loved it this much, as there had been a very long time since I last wore a block, plain colour on my nails, as you know, I’ve really been into my effects nail varnish! I am very glad I did!