Wednesday 17 August 2011

Pink Wednesday: Color Club Raspberry Rush and Claire's Nail Decals

Hello lovely readers! I haven't posted a pink mani for Pink Wednesday in forever but I have one for you today! (Mostly just by chance, but that's ok.)

This mani's base is Color Club Raspberry Rush from the Wicked Sweet Collection. This was my first encounter with scented polish. I like it a lot and was very surprised by how long the scent lasted. That said, I don't think I would ever buy a polish just because it was scented. What about you??

Besides the scent, this color is AMAZING! I have lots of hot pinks in my collection, but I am pretty sure I have nothing like this. It dries super shiny (the pics are before topcoat). It reminds me of shiny plastic. 



Instead of doing any stamping, we added these nail stickers from Claire's. My husband wanted me to get them, but I was skeptical of the quality. In my opinion, Claire's is overpriced for not that great of quality. Anyway, here's the packaging. I ended up with enough extra to use for accent nails in a few more manis.




And here is the final look! These had a cool texture to them...I was worried it would be obnoxious, but I barely noticed.


All you do is find stickers that fit your nail and apply them. Finish off with a topcoat and you're done! The topcoat seems to be the key in these lasting. I wore these for almost 2 days before there were  any signs of wear. 



I have to say I would defnitely try these again if I ever came across them for a good price (these were a little steep at $7). I love finding new and different ways to spice up my nails! Would you ladies ever use these?

Also, on a slightly unrelated note, Born Pretty has some new Hello Kitty Necklaces that I LOVE! I have a serious soft spot for HK! This baby is only $3.62 and with code FREEL73 you can get 10% off. Great deal! <3




Tuesday 16 August 2011

My take on dry water marbling

Ok, let's just get this straight.  I am the queen of suck when it comes to doing water marbling.  I shit you not when I say I get it everywhere and end up with a god awful mess both over my fingers and on the actual nail itself. In fact I'm sure I've told you this before!  The truth is, I had decided never to do another water marble again.

Then I saw the most amazing water marble ever done by Christine from Let Them Have Polish.  When you see something like that, it makes you want to try again.  Then I read a tutorial on dry water marbling by the Enamel Girl.  I really liked this idea, but wanted to make a few changes.  But first I will show my final products.  I tried this twice and therefore have two finished manis.




I know these are are far from good, but they are way better than anything I have achieved with water marbling before.

The biggest problem I have with water marbling is, first getting a nice image in the water, then trying to position the best part of that image correctly on my nail.  I also feel bad about the amount of nail polish that water marbling uses and surely I don't even need to mention the clean up.

My new technique allows me to pick and choose which parts of the design I like best, which fingers I want those design bits on and use one marbling design for multiple fingers.

What I did was create the usual water marble in the cup of water, use a plastic bag to pick up the design, let it dry, cut out the bit of the design I liked, apply it like a foil to my finger.

Here are some step by step pictures.

First make the best design you can with your polishes in the water.  I'm not going to go into how to do this because there are other bloggers out there that explain this, and do a far, far better job than me.

Cut out a piece of plastic from a zip lock bag that will fit inside your cup of water.  I also leave a little tag of plastic which makes grabbing it out easier.


Place you plastic over the pattern on the water.


Lift out the plastic with the image now attached to it.


Here is the underside of the image, straight after taking it out of the water
.

Lay your piece of plastic on a tissue or some paper towel. (see my blue set of pictures below for an additional step I learned here)


Allow the polish to dry on the plastic, then cut out the bits that you want to apply to your nail.


Now, on a painted nail, that has been drying for at least 5 minutes (you really only need one coat just to make it grab, if you have more than one coat let it dry longer), place the piece of plastic on your nail with the polish facing down.


Firmly press the polish down around all the edges, then grab a corner and rip it off quickly.  The polish will remain on your nail and will have smooth and shiny finish.


Here is a second lot of pictures I did with the second mani. See how I suck at doing the pattern in the water!


Plastic goes in, lays flat on top of the water and is then lifted out.


Here is the plastic resting on a tissue. See the water drops on the design.


Here is my additional step, grab a tissues and gentle blot the water drops off the plastic. This just makes the design a bit cleaner in that you don't see water drops.  Don't forget though that where you blot off the water will actually be against you nail, not on the top, so you don't see it much anyway.


The finished piece of designer plastic after it had dried.


Lazy me just applied this over my existing mani.  I just did a quick top coat, and let it dry for five minutes.


Pushed onto my thumb nail.


Rip, just like waxing your leg.  See how it just peels off the plastic.  Obviously some clean up is required.


My other fingers ready to go.


Some errors I made were:
  • Not waiting long enough for my underwear to dry (I mean the base coat of nail polish here ok).  It only needs to be slightly tacky, not wet.  If it's even slightly wet still, the polish wont transfer off the plastic.
  • Not waiting long enough for the polish on the plastic to dry.
  • Not waiting long enough before applying Seche Vite top coat.  My polish was still moist from being in the water, so I got bubbles with my top coat on some nails.
  • Cutting the plastic designs too small for my nail.  I know, dumb beginners mistake this one. I did that on the ring finger on the pink design
So basically, being a little too impatient was my biggest downfall.

Now this was only my first (and second) attempt at doing this, and I was so happy that I had something I could leave on my nails. Plus it was a pretty clean exercise.  I also like that I can do up the marble designs transfer them to plastic then leave the plastic designs in may box with nail art stuff and apply these at a later date.

Sure I know I leagues away from anything like that amazing marble linked above, but I think I could create something better with practice.  So if you totally suck at doing water marbling the traditional, maybe you could try it this way?  What do you think?

EDIT - check out my later dry water marble here, it's much neater and shows how you can get better with practice.

Milani Crystal Eyez Sparkling Eyeshadow Review

Ok. So I really wanted to like this product. It looks amazing in the tube and who can say no to holo glitter? I think I was expecting something more along the lines of a cream eyeshadow, but this is a gel based formula. If this product were to be remade into a cream with more pigment, I think this would be a winner!

I am talking about Milani's Crystal Eyez Sparkling Eyeshadow in Lovely and Luminous. In the tube it looks like a charcoal gray, but when swatched it is actually very sheer and gritty. I felt like a 10 year old with my first makeup kit using this product. I will say though, this product would be great for the use of costume makeup.



Here's the packaging, which I think is lovely. Definitely sucks you in.


In my quest to salvage my first impression of this product, I layered Lovely and Luminous over a bunch of my eyeshadows to see if I could find a winning combo.

From L to R before and after- All ELF Mineral Eyeshadow- Outdoorsy, Beachy, Royal, Socialite, Flirty, and Angelic


Before and After with shadows from Wet n Wild's Spoiled Brat and Enter a New Realm Palettes.


Before and after with shadows from Wet N Wild Earth Looks Small from Down Here, and Blue Had Me at Hello palettes.



I was surprised to see that even though this gel has a gray tint to it, it really didn't change any if the shadow shades at all. It just added glitter. I settled on using ELF Socialite since this one is closest to the Milani gel color. I used a tiny dot and dabbed it on top of the shadow. I had to keep my eye closed for a few seconds to let it dry. For me, the effect was still underwhelming and juvenile.

L-R: Before and After


Overall, I would only recommend this product if you want to add some extra glitter to your makeup look, which in my opinion isn't very functional for most people. I don't think this adds the "sparkling finish" the packaging promises though. Maybe my expectations were too high?

What do you think ladies? Have any of you used this and had different results than me? Please let me know if you have!! <3

*This product was sent to me for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

Julep Maven - Box 1

So last week, right after I showed you my review for Julep polishes, I caved and joined the Julep Maven program.  I thought it was a great deal at $19.99, and also, as nail mail is one of my guilty pleasures, I figured it was a good way to get a box of nail goodies every month.

I received my first box today, and I am very happy with it.  Here's what I found when I opened the box (it was all in a gift bag, btw)...






And here are the 2 colors I received...


Samantha - bright pink.  This one is amazing.  It has a jelly-ish finish, but it was opaque in 2 coats.  

Zoe - bright copper.  Seriously.  This is like the color of new pennies.  This is one of their not-yet-released fall colors.  3 coats.  

This is the "Bombshell" box.  Honestly, I had to do a little manipulation to get this box.  I took the "style quiz" at least twice, and it each time it came back as "All American Beauty".  Well, while that may fit my fashion sense, it's not exactly what I prefer on my nails.  So, I chose the strappy shoes instead of the platforms, Chanel as my designer, rather than J.Crew, and picked Colin Farrell over George Clooney (what?) and voila... I'm a Bombshell.

Also, keep in mind that Julep has a few coupon codes for the Maven program floating around.  I think there is one on Facebook, and also, when I took the quiz, I got a code in my email box to for 1/2 off my first month.  Unfortunately, I had already joined by that point, and I'm still trying to see if I can get that retroactively applied.  So be sure to check for those codes before joining.  

Even with paying full price, I still think this is a great deal.  I know Julep polishes get a bit of a bad rap for being such a small amount (.27 oz, compared to .5 for OPI), but as I have NEVER used a full bottle of polish, I think I'm good.  LOL.  Plus, there are other goodies, and 20% off all other items that you order (I am eyeing Stella) and free shipping (which when I get free shipping, I feel like I've won the lottery, so that's awesome!).

And, if you refer your friends to Julep, you will get $15 when they become a Maven as well.  You can join the Julep Maven program on their website, or by clicking here.

I paid for my own membership to the Maven program.  However, the links within this post are affiliate links.  I will receive $15 when you join by using my link.  When you join, you will get your own link.


Monday 15 August 2011

Another update on colour morphing powder orders


This is my dining table at the moment.  Envelopes, addressed and ready to go. Those green stripes, they are Australia Post Customs Declarations, each one completed by hand!!   And this is only about half of them.  I am ready to go, I just need the powder.









Unfortunately, emailing the supplier is a painful process because of time zones, I send them an email, they reply during their business hours which is while I'm sleeping. I wake up and reply straight away at about 7.00am, which is just as they are finishing work for the day. They read that email the next day and reply, which I don't get for 24 hours!   The time zones are killing me!





So what is happening?  Well, I had asked whether my first order (paid for more than two weeks ago) had been shipped yet - cause I knew they had to order more.  The latest email received this morning said:



"I was under the impression you wanted all of them to ship together so no it has not shipped.  I'm sorry I must have misunderstood. Do you still need these and the others you wanted? We have plenty in stock now.  If you don't need them now I will refund the amount you already purchased.  Sorry for all the confusion. "



Needless to say, I confirmed with him straight away that I need all the bottles I have ordered and paid for, and he must be working overtime today cause he just wrote back saying they "will get it out as fast as they can" - HOORAY




So now, I'm begging with you to continue being patient.  I have received a few emails asking where their powder is and why I haven't emailed individuals yet with an update.  I just have too many people to write to individually, it is far quicker for me to update you all here.  





Please don't email me asking if they powder has arrived.  I promise I will post here as soon as it does and I'm not gonna run off with your money. Are we good? OK. It's a deal? Sweet.






CND Asphalt

Hey ya'll! Hope your Monday is going great...as great as a Monday can be anyway. hehe

I have another CND polish for ya today. My husband, who perfectly painted this mani, said he was very impressed with this polish and it's formula. That is saying a lot coming from the perfectionist he is! This polish is pretty much a one coater...always a huge plus! And as with CND Gold Chrome, this polish dried super fast. I would say within 10 minutes it was totally dry.

I think Asphalt is a gorgeous shade of grey. Although I don't normally gravitate toward dark colors as often, I really love this one.




Of course I couldn't just leave this alone...I recently bought a Sally Hansen Color Quick Pen in Fuchsia Chrome on clearance at Target. The Chrome pens are amaZing for stamping...I highly recommend them! Here is something else that I used a chrome pen with in a previous mani. So that's what the stamping color is and then the plates used are BM 19 and Born Pretty plate 59. I had a freak out when I saw how beautifully it all came together. I am a girly girl through and through so I looove these designs! :)




Anyways, that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed this mani! <3

* CND polish was sent to me for review in exchange for my honest opinions. 

Sunday 14 August 2011

Chemistry 517



Today I'm showing you Chemistry 517.  Recently piCture pOlish got 517 in stock in the Ozotic range, but as I had this version, I didn't need the other.  This is supposedly the green holo, but it is such a pastel green that it is almost a silver holo.  I have previously posted about Artform 517 too, which again is another dupe - although no longer name under that name.  I believe Glitter Gal Holographic Green is a dupe too.



While the green in this is a little disappointing, the holo certainly isn't.  It's super holoy goodness at it's best this one! It's very sheer too, so you could use this as a holo top coat over other polishes.




















Indoors below you can see that even with three coats there was still VNL.






I gave my nails a file down this morning. The left hand that is, the
right hand is still nubbin city.  I finally feel like I have found the right length for my nails.  It's funny, I look back at some of my
earlier blog posts and look at the length of my nails and think they are
ridiculously long.  So now my nails are a mm or two shorter than they
are in these pics.

Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso Review


Good morning! For today's post I reviewed one of Milani's baked blushes. The shade is Luminoso. Since last summer, I have converted to using only cream/mousse type blushes. I love the flawless look that comes from that formula. So I was nervous of what my opinion of a non cream blush would be.

For reference, this is how this blush comes packaged. I like it and didn't think it was too cheap looking or anything like that. The actual blush pan lifts up and underneath there is a mirror and little brush there.  


Now onto swatches! This is a peachy blush which was a bit out of my comfort zone...I always gravitate towards pink/bronze shades. But I really think this shade can be universally flattering on any skin tone...I would love to see what this looks like on you ladies with darker skin. When I first swatched this on my hand, I noticed more shimmer/glitter than what I am used to. But when actually using it on my face it wasn't too much at all! I quickly fell in love with this shade!

Here are swatches...all the same shade but I feel like the multiple pics help capture what this blush is all about best. See how natural this looks? It really compliments the skin instead of taking over.


 And finally, here is the look I put together with this blush. I love the glowy look that this blush creates without it just looking like I have on a bronzer.


This blush retails for $7.99 on Milani's website. Have you ladies tried any of Milani's Baked Blushes? Thanks for reading!! <3


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Twitter: @milanicosmetics

*This product was sent to me for review in exchange for my honest opinions.