GOT Polish Challenge: Pastel

Well, it's not Thursday today but I can reassure you this post has been in planning since Wednesday night last week. I knew I wanted to use Sweet Hook by China Glaze, my first pastel polish after much resistance from my part, but didn't know how I would use it. After some frustration research, I end up with some saran wrapped, drippy nails. It took me three goes to create the mani you see below from having to do and redo the drips; they would come out crooked, too fat or too chunky. This was an OK try but I actually liked the second one better didn't take photos of it but never mind, I'm happy with the result.

For my last attempt, I started with two coats of China Glaze in Sweet Hook, which has been used a lot in this blog, and let it mostly dry. I then applied one thin coat of Australis' Aqua (please don't judge, it was an early time for this blog) and saran wrapped it off while it was still wet. I then dotted a line of Butter London's Union Jack Black along the tips of the nails and two dots at different levels of the nails to create the drops' base. I let that dry for a few minutes before taking the Topshop Nail Art Pen in Black, tool that I have used almost to the bottom of its container, to smooth out the dotted lines and creating the neck of the drops. It turned out super chunky so I waited for it dry for a while before creating the highlights on the drops with the white Nail Art Pen from Topshop. Once all that was done, I finished with one coat of HK Girl top coat.

This nails were chunky on the tips, I could feel them and it bother me a little but I kept them on overnight. When I woke up, they were a lot smoother and looked nicer, unfortunately I had to go to work before the sun had come up so I couldn't take new photos (mostly from tiredness). When I finished work I had a tiny little bit of tip wear and was tempted to cover it and take new pics but the day got on the way and that thought went out the window. What I figure is that the thick tips protected this mani and allowed me to keep it for a few days before it peeled off in thick, black chunks.

The thing about this mani, even though not perfect, has shown me that I have come a long way in nail art. I used to get frustrated because I couldn't come up with acceptable stuff and would just take it all off without posting anything on this blog. This time, I had basic tools, knowledge of how to use them, better colour theory and most important of all, a lot more patience and persistence to create a funky mani (from afar, it looked better from afar). Who would have thought painting nails would have so many benefits?

Till next time, 

Laura

Australis Milky Way: It's Almost A Trap-Eze dupe

It's been a while but instead of making excuses, I'm getting straight onto the post.

Indie polishes have always caught my attention but I was always demotivated by their high prices, inaccesibility (eg. not being able to be posted to Aus) or the long postage times. I would rather turn up to a shop and get the polish then and there or get it from a seller on eBay that I know will arrive in my postbox in 5-7 days.

When China Glaze came out with their Cirque De Soleil collection and introduce the indie look to the masses, I was pretty happy to know that I would be able to go for the look without the wait or price tag. Unfortunately for me, my trustworthy eBay seller has had It's A Trap-Eze, the one that caught my attention the most, out of stock for a while. 

I was ready to patiently wait for it be restocked as I wasn't really in a hurry to purchase it. However, a few weeks back, I went into Priceline and found this little beauty. Australis' Milky Way from their A Galaxy of Nails Collection. Close enough, I thought and took it home.

The swatch below is four coats and the formula was a little gloppy, you can see it on my pinky, but was still rather managable. No top coat used for the photos below.

 

I ended up using my trustworthy Rimmel Pro Matte Top Coat and I liked the way it looked much better. It made it look smoother and the layers of glitter were a tad more visible. 

The thing that I like about Australis is that they keep up with up-to-the minute trends and create similar, if not exact, dupes of popular polishes. They are available in more than one place; Kmart, Priceline, Target and Big W all stock this brand and unless you live in the middle of the Australian desert, they'll be near you. Lastly but not least, they are very affordable. I picked up this bottle for $7.95 out of complete impulse but I'm sure if I had waited a week or two, I could have gotten at least a couple of dollars less. 

Bottle shot for show.

Even though Milky Way is not an exact dupe of China Glaze's It's A Trap-Eze, I'm very glad with my purchase and I might give It's A Trap-Eze a miss.

Til next time, 

Laura

Australis Rose Tattoo: an Essie Penny Talk dupe?

I have a bit of a crush on rose gold. I recently bought myself a rose gold Mimco pouch and a pair of rose gold heart earrings. So when Laura showed me a picture of Essie Penny Talk, I fell in love.

Essie Penny Talk (beautezine.com)

That's not my swatch because 1. my swatch pictures aren't that smashing, and 2. I don't own Penny Talk yet.  I came across Australis Rose Tattoo on one of my many visits to Priceline, and at $4.95, I had to buy it. Don't look to closely at my cuticles, my hands get pretty beat up at work. They were actually a lot worse a few days ago, but I've started massaging rose hip oil into them. That stuff is magical!

Australis Rose Tattoo

Australis Rose Tattoo is a shimmery metallic. The colour is definitely more of a bronzey rose gold than Penny Talk, which looks more pink in the countless swatch pictures I've seen. The finish of this one reminds me OPI Goldeneye. It's a shimmery, glittery metallic, and streak-free! I was skeptical when I read 'streak free' on the bottle, because I think we all know that cheap metallic polish can look awful when it dries. In this case, the bottle is not lying.

So is this a dupe for Essie Penny Talk? I don't think it's an exact dupe, but it's pretty close. It's a gorgeous colour on it's own, and great value.

Tasha

Australis Aqua

As we all may know, Pinterest can be such an inspiration for cooking, decorating, art, nail polish... So i jumped on it to get some sort of colour inspiration and long story short, I ended up checking out these shoes from Sole Society. I am a bit of an impulse buyer and almost, almost bought them but decided to wear the colours on my nails. After all that's the reason I jumped on Pinterest.

Aren't they pretty? I really wish I had lots of places to go to so I could justify spending money on beautiful shoes. So here's my interpretation.

I know, really straight forward but after all my failed attempts last week, this is rather enjoyable. The blue is actually an aqua colour but I don't seem to get the colours right with my camera sometimes. This polish is the happy medium between green and blue. 

Polishes used:

Blue: Australis Nail Colour in Aqua. If this isn't an original name, I don't know what is.

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

The striping tape I got on eBay from this seller. I got 18 rolls of different colours for $2.60 ages ago. At the time of posting, the seller had similar offers for purchase. Mine came from China and took a little over two weeks to get here but the wait was worth the quality, quantity and price.

I'm gonna check out some more Pinterest pictures for future inspiration. 

Till next time, 

Laura