GOT Polish Challenge: Yellow/ Peach

As much as I love the colour yellow, most of us would know how hard it is to work with the formula of this hue of polish; there's always streakiness, bold patches, multiple coats to get the colour even, bad formulas, you name it. I'm glad the GOT challenge included the prompt yellow because it's bright and I have a Golden Oldie one but I hadn't brought out because of some issues mentioned above. It was even better when peach was also included because I had the perfect colour to go with my yellow. 

Not knowing where I was gonna go with this design, I started with three coats of Nubar's Lemon, a ...er, lemon coloured polish that I got in Nov 2012. I love the colour and the formula is quite buttery but it gets a lot of bald spots and it takes foreeeeever to dry. I didn't use any quick drying top coat because I'm not a fan of super thick nail art so I just let it air dry. The tackiness of the polish made me think of the way some people apply foils without glue so I figured it would be a good plan to bring them. I've had most of my foils since I started posting on this blog so if that doesn't fit the theme, I'm not sure what would.

I attempted to apply a Marble foil onto the polish but it seemed the tackiness wasn't the right type to get the foils tuck but it would catch any piece of fluff. Hmm... I free handed a nail foil glue chevron, let it get tacky and stuck the foils. It turned out a lot better than I expected but it wasn't perfect. I feel I need to mention, the wrinkles on the foils came from me rubbing the glue with the brush once dry to put another layer on but it created ridges. part of the charm, right?

Then I remembered I wanted to use Sinful Colors' Hazard as my peach polish. I got it sometime in Dec 2012 and it has been one of those polishes I reach out for when I need something quick, it's almost a one coater and the formula is OK.  Then again, I free handed the chevrons and let them dry. 

The edges of the foils seemed a little too rugged in comparison to the peach lines so I brought out my Topshop Nail Art Pen in White and tidied the edges. It wasn't perfect but it looked better. Once I was happy with the design, I applied two coats of Picture Polish's Revolution to seal the design and the foils.  

Now this design reminds me of two things. The first one being old school pencils, you know the yellow ones with pink rubbers on top; I'm glad I didn't draw the foil edges black or there would have been a lot more resemblance. The second one would this post of mine where I swore to recreate the mani and show it when it came out better. So here it is, unintentionally and not entirely the same, but done. 

I'm quite happy with the result and the fact that I pretty much winged it. Most of the time, when I wing it it turns out baaaad. Anyway, there are some other awesome designs below, so check them out. 

Until next time, 

Laura

33 Day Challenge: Freestyle

This post has been sitting in Blogger waiting to be written up for a few days but I wasn't that keen on the manicure. I wanted to do something amazing for the last day of the 33 Day Challenge so I brought out the foils and tried to create a skittle. Tried, the final result was very underwhelming even from far away. I present to you  a foiled, studded tape mani. Woot!

I started one coat of Ulta3's Black Satin, let it dry then applied one thin coat of nail foil glue on my ring and taped-up middle fingers. I let that dry and did applied a rainbow foil at random to give it a slight grungy look. I topped this two fingers off with one coat of Picture Polish Revolution and finally applied the studs with a drop of top coat. I topped all my fingers off with one coat of Seche Vite. 

The studs moved around when I was applying the last coat of Seche Vite so I had push them back into position with the brush and they ended up a little crooked. :( I'm not gonna go into too much detailed about the taped middle finger but let's say it took me three attempts to have a passable design. 

As underwhelming as this design was, I am super happy to have participated in this challenge. I have seen some amazing nails art, discovered some new blogs and met some lovely people that are encouraging and just absolutely great. I have also managed to push myself through (most of) a challenge and created designs I wouldn't have otherwise. There's also my new found love for nail art, which I want to be the focus of this blog from now on. 

Anyway, check out the other participants' last mani for the challenge. 



It was a pleasure lacquering with you all!

Till next time, 

Laura

33 Day Challenge: 3D

Oh yes! Day 11 of the challenge has come. I love sticking stuff to my nails and when I came across this manicure at the beginning of September, I knew I wanted to recreate it. And recreated it I did. Everything minus the zebra nail. I also did this a couple of weeks ago, which means I won't be late for the 3D prompt. Yay!

I used two coats of Sinful Colors in Blue By You and one coat of Seche Vite as a base. On the ring finger, I applied one coat of Ulta3 in Clear and got myself sticking differently shaped rhinestones at random. I made sure the 6 or 7 colours I used were distributed on the nail and that I didn't end up with the same colour rhinestone adjacent to each other.

I got really picture heavy in this post but there is another version of the manicure after the break.

Practice Makes Perfect

Yes, practice makes perfect. I've learnt that in many occasions and that's the reason I'm posting this fail of a manicure. 

It all started with CoverGirl's Always Naked. I bought four of their new Outlast range at Coles for $13.30. That works out less than $3.50 each and an absolute bargain so I went for colours I didn't have. 

I first applied two thin coats of Always Naked and a coat of Seche Vite. The formula was pretty good but it was taking forever to dry. I managed to put a few dents in the polish before I put on the topcoat so I decided to cover them up with something colourful to go with the nude/bright trend I've seen floating around. I brought out my trustworthy Dollar Nail Art foils and chose the one called Marbles to create half geometric moons. The application was less than perfect, I'm not sure if it was the glue not drying properly or my skills but it didn't look pretty.

Anyway, I decided to bring out my black stripper and try, try to cover up the edges. At this point I knew I had made a mess but I thought maybe if I seal my tips with similar-to-each-foil polishes it'd look better. No, no it didn't. I topped it all off with a coat of piCture pOlish Revolution. This was the end result.

I actually debated (in my head) whether to post this mani. I mean, it looks pretty terrible but decided I'll put it up anyway and keep practicing so in a few months (hopefully), I can come back and show you the good version of this mani. I could do one of those Now & Then posts that are floating around the blogsphere. 

I'm keeping it short and looking at my nails from afar. They're not too bad that way.

Till next time, 

Laura

Picture Polish Revolution

Last year, when essence's Ready For Boarding Peel Off Base Coat came out on the shelves, I was lucky enough to get a bottle before they run out within the day. From that day on I haven't looked back and have used it for all my glitter manis and, lately, I've been using it every time I put polish on as the smell of acetone was starting to put me off. I could keep going on about how good it is but this is a post to review Picture Polish Revolution.

I was actually a bit undecided as to whether or not to post this. After trying Revolution as a base coat for glitter, I couldn't help to compare it to the PVA base coat and the difference was enormous and not in a good way either...

If you haven't seen the bottle a million times on the blogsphere, here's a picture.

Revolution promises to ease the process of removal of glitter manicures. The Picture Polish website recommends soaking the polish for 15 seconds, removing what you can and continue the process until you are done.

I decided to put it to the test with a mani that I would normally wear with PVA glue as a base coat. First, I applied two coats of Revolution, which dried within 30 seconds per coat, then applied American Apparel's Office as the colour base, followed by three coats of Nails Inc's Emerald, a beautiful, foil glitter, and finished it with a coat of Seche Vite.

Not my best mani but it looked really good from afar. :)  I wore it for a day to see how it would hold up. As you can see on my index finger, there was a tiny chip after about 24 hours. I'm not sure if this had to do with my application, the terrible shrinkage I got on the glitter polish from using Seche Vite or from the base coat. Either way, it's something to note.  Two things that put me off were the curling that popped up when I tried to clean up Office and the residue on my cuticles, which I had to pull off with my fingers and made the edges pretty untidy.

Now, the removal. I haven't used acetone in a while so I was hoping this would work quickly. I used a quarter of a cotton pad and worked finger by finger. I applied the pad for 15 seconds at the time to see how it would work.  

First try, nothing came off. Time to keep pressing that pad onto my finger. Waiting... Finger stretch... Waiting...

After a few tries, very little came off. Maybe I put it to a very harsh, five-coats-of-a-mani test. I then read on the Picture Polish website that you need to give it a bit of a scrub. Mine was a tough scrub and there was glitter coming off in small chunks that went everywhere. 

This is what my hand looked like after I finished and gave it a final swab with a clean  pad soaked in acetone. Excuse the yellow nails...

There was a lot of base coat residue left on my cuticles as well as glitter stuck to my fingers. It took me about 10 minutes in total to remove all the glitter, including the stuff on my skin. 

From my understanding and reading the ingredients on the bottle, Revolution forms a plastic base on your nails that dissolves a lot quicker with polish remover compared to you polish alone. I see this would be an option if you want your glitter mani to last longer than by using PVA glue as a base. I really can't find any other reason to use it... As I change my polish every two to three days, I wouldn't use it for that purpose. Quicker than removing it with the foil method? Yes. Tidier? Maybe not for me. Would I use it again for glitter? Very unlikely. I'm sticking  to my essence PVA coat.

After all this whinging, I must admit, if you haven't seen this post, I got Revolution to use as a top coat for foils. I have used it for that purpose and it works really well. I felt like I needed to post about its original purpose before I moved on to better things.

Do you guys own Revolution? Have you found it to be amazing or would you give it a miss? Any other methods you have for the removal of glitter? I'd really love to hear what you think about this product.

Till next time, 

Laura 

Dorothy For The Land Of Oz

Back when I was about 9 or 10 years old, I went to my dad's place where he had a computer game about Leonardo da Vinci, this was back on 1995/96 so it was super exciting. It was basically a game that run you through all of his career paths and all the inventions that came out of that, think the very early stages of helicopters, forts, painting, discoveries in anatomy, scuba diving. He was an painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, planner (source), and who else knows what would run through his head that he didn't put down in paper. Since then, I found the man utterly fascinating and have been jaw-droppingly amazed at what the human mind can do and create. 

Now you may think, why is she talking about Leonardo when I came here for nails? Well, I'm just having a bit of a rant. Skip the next couple of paragraphs if you only came here to see Dorothy. I don't want to put you off. Anyway, I'm finding a tad difficult to think that I have to sit exams and take a lot of pressure for four years to do ONE thing for the rest of my life.  I know I will get bored, I know I will need  a big change every decade or so. I wanna have twenty odd careers in my life, like Leonardo (not saying I'm a genius but it would be nice). I'm really over the fact that I have to pay $40,000 for uni to work for when I could be learning through experience and inquisitiveness. I guess I won't beat the system on this one.

I think I'm just having a shitty time trying to get my assignments done and pushing myself past a mental barrier that's stopping me from thinking freely and getting them done. I can also be a perfectionist with what I do and if it's not great, I'd rather not do it.

In the meantime, I'll keep going with this colourful hobby of painting my nails to cheer me up a little and stop that mental block. 

I present to you Dorothy from Picture Polish, a raspberry red jelly with tiny silver glitter.  the formula was pretty good, if a little thick like Peacock, but still manageable and expected from such dense glitter. Photos done below with two coats and no top coat.

I've checked out other blogs to make sure there's only silver glitter but I swear it looks like there is pink glitter. I had to take some macro photos of the bottle and nail to convince myself that there's only silver. The polish on the nail looks a lot pinker and the glitter may even look golden in some lights.

To be completely sure, I applied some Rimmel Matte Top Coat, which made Dorothy even lighter. I'm still in doubt.

Hmm... Either way it is a beautiful polish that shines and sparkles like you would expect a piCture pOlish glitter to do. I added a tape accent nail with Layla's Mirror Effect in Metal Chrome and dotted Dorothy on top. 

Funny how that perfectionist streak hasn't translated to this blog because I can tell by the above photo, that's not my best work. 

It is still fun and very sparkly, though. Hope you guys can take some enjoyment from the swatches and my tiny rants.

Till next time, 

Laura

Do You Wanna See My Peacock?

I've had an exam and handed in assignment in the last three days, I think I need some down time. Really, what better way to do it than by painting my digits with my new polishes?

I thought of doing swatches according to how much I liked them but the other three have holo glitter/flakies. Unfortunately, every time I tried to take a photo the sun would hide behind a cloud and the holo goodness wouldn't show.

That left me with Peacock by piCture pOlish, a beautiful dark purple jelly with tiny green hexagonal glitter and silver rectangular glitter. According to the piCture pOlish website, there is blue hexagonal glitter in there but I can't see it. Maybe it's hiding behind the purple jelly. Peacock shown with three coats for opacity and no top coat (still waiting on that Seche Vite!!!).

A closeup of all the glitter goodness.

 A few more for fun.

If you've seen other swatches (who hasn't?) or own the polish, you may notice the photos above a little overexposed. I really wanted to show the colour of the jelly as it isn't overly noticeable in real life. Either way this polish had buttery formula but after three coats it got a little thick on the nail. It also dried fairly smooth for such a dense glitter, which wouldn't bother me anyway but it's something to note.

This is such a pretty polish and the first time I saw it in Pshiiit, I fell in love straight away. When I got the polish earlier this week and saw the bottle, I was a little confused as I thought there was purple glitter in it.I still love and I'm very glad I FINALLY have it in my collection but it turned out to be something different to what I expected.

Have you ever had a massive lemming and turned out to be different when you finally got it?

Till next time, 

Laura

Lemmings? Why Lemmings?

The package I was so eagerly waiting for has arrived.  It contained five piCture pOlish, er, polishes, three of which I'd been eyeing for ages but had never deemed completely necessary for my collection. I figured there was very little room on my rack for new polish and I couldn't really afford it. However, when I heard that Revolution, originally a base coat for the easy removal of glitter, could be used as a top coat for foils, I was sold. 

PiCture pOlish has Everyday Deals where you can pay for four polishes and get one free or buy seven bottles and get two free. Since I was buying four, I figured I might as well get the fifth one free. 

On the left is my longest-time lemming from the brand, Monroe, a dark red jelly with scattered holo glitter. On the right, a month-old lemming, which I could not wait to get my hands on. 

The next two, I've also had wanted for quite a while. I first saw Peacock on Pshiiit some time last year. She has very dreamy photos, which made me fall in love straight away. Then, when her collaboration shade came out, I fell in love with it too.

Finally,  I chose Dorothy as my gifted shade. I like the whole range piCture pOlish has in offer, but let's be honest, those girl know how to mix glitter/flakie/scattered holo in jelly polish and make it look like a million dollars.

I'm so itching to do a manicure or just a plain old swatch but I have an exam tomorrow and I really need to study. Cannot wait for all this glittery, jelly goodness to be on my nails... and foils. Let's not forget the foils.

I just googled the word lemming and this little guy came out.

Source

 English is not my first language. Even though I've been in Australia for 13 years, sometimes I discover words, like lemming, that are given a meaning and then discover the original meaning. How did this little rodent's name become synonym to a desired, unattainable polish bottle? Anyone know why that happened? Would you care to enlighten me? :)

Till next time, 

Laura

P.S. Well, Google came in handy again and I found out why. If you weren't aware, check this out or the comment below by Jessie and Alicea. Thanks!

piCture pOlish Kryptonite by More Nail Polish

About a month ago, Cathy from More Nail Polish hosted a giveaway and I was lucky enough to get the fourth out of four prizes. As you may have imagined from the title of this post, the prize was a bottle from piCture pOlish's Collaboration Shades in Kryptonite.

This bottle is my first piCture pOlish lacquer and I will tell you it is amazing!!! The dark green jelly with large flakies has no fault in my eyes. It dries relatively quickly, it is opaque in two coats, it is super shiny by itself and the combination of flakies and jelly gives this polish so much depth. I wanted to do some nail art with it but my limited imagination and the richness of colour/sparkle of the polish didn't give me a lot of options. A swatch wasn't going to be enough, mostly because there are tons of them on the net. So, I just added a coat of my trustworthy Rimmel Pro Matte Finish top coat. We all love matte flakies, right? Or am I too late for that trend?

 Showing off the flakies.

A shiny swatch of this polish can be found here. 

I loved this polish so much I might go to the piCture pOlish website and get some more.

Ooh, I just checked and they have polishes for as little as $6.50. good thing it's payday today. Or is that bad?

Til next time, 

Laura

Kids by MGMT inspired nail art

This is one of my favourite music videos, ever. When MGMT first came out, I listened to their first album a lot. This music video was made by a film student with a couple of his friends and some Youtube clips, and has millions more views than the official Kids video. I love the make up and lighting in the video. It's not flashy or professional, but I think it fits really well with the song. 

I haven't watched it for a while but today, I was looking at some flakie nail polish and I realised that it reminded me of this video. So I decided to do an MGMT inspired mani, complete with nooby nail art.

Don't look too closely at my little Abby (left) and Rafael (right). 

I used BYS nail art lacquer in black and white for the faces on my thumbs (with a dash of red and pink for the lips), and Nicole by OPI No Limits as the base coat. Picture Polish Festival is the flakie overcoat I used, and I stuck a few chunks of a BYS gold hexagonal glitter over the top. It's hard to properly capture the effect because I don't have a decent camera, and have to take pictures with my phone camera.

Nicole by OPI No Limits, OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender, Picture Polish Festival, Essie Jelly Apple and BYS nail art lacquer.

No Limits is a deep, inky blue-black that reminds me of the night sky. The flakie over the top made it look like the twinkling lights in the video. I'm still learning how to do nail art but with practice, I'm getting better :)