Tag Archives: nail polish

Nails of the week – multicoloured French manicure

Well, I have spring on my mind so this week I decided to go all out. YES, all out.

Not only I painted one nail a different colour but I also added French manicure on them, in contrasting colours.

And you know what? I really like it. It is a bit different, it is a bit out there, and a bit brave. I wasn’t sure to start with, but they grew on me and managed to stay for a whole week.

To achieve the look, I painted each nail using a H&M nail polish kit; for a mere £2.99 you get four summer proof shades – bright pink, yellow, mint green and purple. As I have five fingers (!) I added a pastel blue, the gorgeous Nails Inc in Oxford Street.

I mentioned the Nails Inc one before, so if you want to know more about it, check here. I was very surprised with the H&M ones – quality was good and 2 coats gave a great coverage, even for the lighter shade, the mint green – I encountered bad quality creamy coloured polish that offers an awful coverage, full of streaks, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

I then waited two hours and applied French manicure stickers which I bought from eBay, but had never used before. I applied a contrasting colour in the same order a applied them on my nails – and voilá!

Durability was ok. French is not the most durable type of manicure, as the attention – and all the rubbing – is at the tip. However, it lasted well for five days. On the sixth day, I re-touched the tips… and it was actually passable, until my next manicure.

I am very pleased I took the plunge and ventured into something different!

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Nails of the week – Nfu Oh Number 51

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I finally succumbed and paid an outrageous amount of money for a bottle of nail polish. Don’t get me wrong – it is worth it, but I did feel a bit sick afterwards, especially as you see the total with postage being taken from your account for one little bottle.

Price aside, I was extremely happy with my purchase. To start, the bottle is oh-so-pretty. My God, so cute! And it is HUGE! Definitely the biggest polish bottle I have.

I applied Nfu Oh’s Number 51 on a Barry M black base (just one coat) and it looked beautiful. I could definitely notice the plethora of tones, ranging from a deep burgundy to a dark forest green, with gold at some points. The glitter flakes just make the effect even more stunning, giving it depth and texture without actually being bumpy.

Application was smooth, not dodgy flakes poking out at the nail tip. Durability was outstanding, after 7 days, I really didn’t want to remove it, as it still looked pretty perfect!

So yes, I paid the price and I do not regret. And I will try it again on a purple base, as I didn’t see much of its lovely purple tones.

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Nails of the week – blue/pink duochrome

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This week I am a bit rushed off my feet – my office moved to  a brand new building and I am still a bit lost and until I get used to it, I think I will have this feeling of putting some extra effort into going to work – although, that can be easily explained by the fact I have probably paid a record number of visits to various high street shops in one day; office is near Oxford Street, in London, and the temptation is just too much!

I am  also going to Paris for a long weekend (yay), so that has also contributed to my lack of time…

However, I finally found a few minutes to show you my talons: this week I am wearing Andrea Fulerton’s Smile in a storm. Having used two or her duos in the past, and being very excited about those, I almost forgot I had this one; I bought it ages ago, so decided it was time to try it.

It consists of two polishes on a double ended brush; one is gunmetal grey, super sparkly and the other one is an iridescent topcoat. Together, they become a very pretty, although subtle, duochrome which varies from a light, grey-ish blue to darker blue and then to lilac and pink. Sometimes, depending on the light, you can get a glimpse of the grey, but maybe because I just used one coat of each. The reason for that is because the polish builds up quite thick. I had some problems with bubbles, when adding a third coat (second of topcoat), so removed it all and applied again, this time settling for less.

Apart from the bubbles, and the fact that the double ended brush makes it a bit clunky when applying, I am happy with it. Even with an extra shine topcoat, I noticed the finish is not too shiny, and someone even asked me if I had my matte topcoat on! Colour is fab and durability great!

Really like my new H&M ring, so decided to add it here too!

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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!

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Nails of the week – blue with glitter flakes

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Blue, I am obsessed with blue at the moment (again)!

This week I am wearing a metallic cobalt blue with a pretty glitter flakes topcoat.

The metallic blue (Blue me away) is from Collection 2000, and the fact that I wore it before on its own proves it is great, only one coat provides great coverage. The topcoat is from a Brazilian brand I didn’t know: Big Universo, and this one is called Raio Gama;  its flakes are transparent with a laser type effect; a lilac/purple/blueish sheen. The polish is laden with flakes and its base, although translucent, has a bit of the flakes colour too. The effect is really pretty and although it didn’t come out well in the pictures, there is a subtle colour change on the nail surface and the flakes, from light to deep blue to purple…

Application was great; the Collection 2000 blue provided a great base, and then I added two coats of the Big Universo on top. Durability is also great, no chips in sight after five days.

I am very pleased with this combination, I really think the beauty of it lies with the subtlety of the colour and how, in a way, the topcoat softens and adds dimension to the base polish. In fact, I like it so much that decided against trying my nail stamps for the first time, but I shall be doing that soon!

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Nails of the week: half-moon black and blue

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Inspired by fashion week, I decided to try something different on my nails, so, for the first time I had half-moons on my talons. And I settled for matte pastel blue and black, after my gold and black attempt failed.

Tip number one: paint the half-moon colour one day and the top colour the other, to avoid disappointment.  Initially, I used Barry M foil effects in gold; it is a thick polish and even though it  seems to dry really quickly, after an hour, I applied the French manicure stickers to the bottom of my nails, painted the rest black and when I peeled them, the gold came off.

So I decided to change colours and used two coats of Nails Inc in Oxford, and the following evening, I used new stickers and applied two coats of Black Barry M over it.  Application was smooth, and the Nails Inc pastel wasn’t a pain to apply, as most creamy light shades; the second coat provided a good coverage, fit for a full 24-hour solo use! The Barry M was also good,  two coats for perfect, smooth and super shiny jet black.

Now, second tip: because I wasn’t sure I wanted matte effect, I waited a bit to apply the topcoat. The adhesive on the strips was very strong, so fluff from a hand towel kinda stuck to the remainder of glue on my half-moons and it was pretty hard to get rid of. I should’ve put the topcoat immediately after painting. You live, you learn!

For the very first time I also tried Gosh’s Matte effect topcoat.  It creates a great matte effect which I loved; the idea of turning any nail varnish into matte is indeed very appealing, but after a few days of wear and tear it started to look shiny again, so a re-touch is definitely recommended after three or four days to take it back to its matte glory.

I had to put four coats of nail polish plus one topcoat. Add to that a topcoat re-touch, and you have SIX layers altogether – way too much for my liking, looks like I am growing a nail on top of my nail! It lasted surprisingly well, I really though all the layers would compromise durability, but there isn’t a single chip in sight, after four days.

Overall,  I love the half-moons; the pastel blue+black combination is great. I know they are not perfect, but I am pleased as a first attempt. I will definitely venture on to other designs, have already some things in mind, so watch this space!

Have you tried it before? How did you find it?

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Nails of the week – pink and copper duochrome

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click to enlarge

Another colour changing beauty is on my nails this week – a delightful pink and copper duochrome from Accessorize, called Pink Spice.

It is super sparkly and the colour changes beautifully – it is true you need light, as the shades are not that contrasting, so when I painted my nails, at night, I was a bit disappointed. However, in the morning, I could notice the subtle, but lovely transition between the reddish pink and brownish copper hues.

Just like Aztec, which I tried previously, this polish does not disappoint. One coat is indeed too thin, but you can achieve the effect with two. Application was ok, I still find their brush a bit too small, but didn’t affect application. It has a good consistency and spreads evenly. Durability is good, no chips in five days, so (non-chipped) thumbs up – worth noticing I always use a topcoat to improve durability anyway!

A lovely colour which I am happy with and generated compliments, but lacks a bit of oomph if you ask me… Do I love it madly? not quite… rather pleased to see reddish pink on my nails once again, but the effect, for me, is not impressive enough (certainly not as impressive as Aztec), don’t quite know why; maybe it lacks a bit of contrast, I think. Still, at £4, a great buy for a duochrome – pretty, and I am happy to recommend and perhaps, wear again!

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Nails of the week – holographic glitter

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OPI Save Me - Nicki Minaj, holographic glitter

click to enlarge

This week I am wearing my new acquisition: Save Me, from OPI‘s  Nicki Minaj collection. I was so excited to receive this, I painted my nails on the very same day it arrived –  it looked to stunning in the bottle!

The final result was amazing: the polish has a very saturated silver glitter base, so it’s super sparkling. The holographic strands are beautiful, and as they get distributed unevenly,  it’s pretty much guaranteed that one will be catching the light at some point, so the effect is very noticeable and the colours really varied.  I got countless compliments on it!

I wore a black nail polish from Barry M as base and the application for both was fine. I kind of expected the black to be opaque enough with one coat, but two were necessary. I then applied a coat of Save Me on top of it. I am not going to lie: it was a bit of a pain, not so much while applying, but when cleaning the excesses –  not only was it hard to remove but also the holographic strands tend to poke out of the tip of the nail, and removing them can leave a gap… so I struggled a bit, having to do a *lot* of filing to smooth out the ends, a bit of cutting of stray strands, as they kept catching on everything, even after using a topcoat, my nails were so rough at the end I think I could cut stuff with it… a bit of a pain, really.

Durability is good. As a glitter polish, I am expecting it will be very hard to remove *sight*, but that’s unavoidable! Also, I do still have an issue with the texture of a glitter polish, even with top coat, it is quite rough for my touch; but that’s a totally personal point.

Overall, I am truly in love with this varnish: it is exquisite and nothing like any other holographic or glitter polish I have ever worn before.

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Nails of the week – multicolour gold/green/blue

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This week I am wearing a nail polish I had been looking forward to trying on, as the colour is so vivid: Trendy, another Specialittá polish from the Marinoon Multigirl collection.

Now, one of the colours on this duochrome is definitely gold. The green part gets a bit complicated – I really loved the spectrum of colours on this: from the bright gold yellow, it changes to a subtle apple green, ending on a blue-ish, grey-ish green, with more or less variations depending on the lighting. Truly amazing colour! It is very shiny, the gold very yellow and intense.

The not so good bit is that application wasn’t that straight forward; although I just needed 2 coats (differently from the previous one from this range I tried, which was quite thin), I can still see the brush strokes marks, no matter how careful I was. Although to the untrained eye on a daily basis this is not noticeable, you can still notice in my pictures. This upsets me, I like my polish smooth and shiny, so a big let down. Drying time was slightly above standard but durability is very good!

Overall, love the colour, but a bit of trouble for what it is worth. The brush stroke marks are really bothering me, but a nice choice anyway.

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Getting over the fear of light colours on my nails

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The lovely pastel colours KG shoes I bought are helping me put my fear of light colours on my nails behind me, I think – or at least they contributed to the very first step!

I came across this lovely set from Nails Inc called “The Candy Shop” with the most charming pastel shades plus a lime nail polish. I cannot believe it was half price (£12.50 for four bottles) as the colours in it are very hot for this spring! And they all go really well with my new shoes, and outfits I will put together with it. The blue is really cute, and although I couldn’t bring myself to wear mint green last year, I am confident I will make it this time around. But the star for me has to be the lime shade. Love it!

At the moment, I am obsessed with lime green (or yellow? ummm…) and been looking for some items of clothing to buy. As my outfits always start with the shoes, I do blame KG for all this. Talking about that, I found the cutest super skinny lime belt in Topshop, which has tiny silver studs, and I think it is perfect for my new shoes!

I cannot wait for spring, not only because I am very excited about putting together a fresh wardrobe, but also because I am really looking forward to the warming weather and the beautiful flowers everywhere. Always a comforting thought, when you are still wrapped in your fur coat!