Couldn't Remember...

Whenever I thought of white polish, these came to mind, which may be some people's cup of tea but not mine, or simply undies for marbles/nail art/non-acrylic french manicures. As I was browsing Pinterest this morning, I came across a beautiful gold glitter, pink AND white mani. There was a lot of white in it and it somehow it looked amazing so I thought may be I could overcome the fear I had of white by recreating it. I really wish I hadn't closed the browser tab two seconds after looking at the pic so I could show you what it looked like and I could have a better guide.

I need to say, the only two similarities of this mani and the one I saw in Pinterest are the colours and the use of tape. The Pinterest mani had beautiful pink and white triangles near the tips where mine just has lines. You could say this is not the greatest (white/pink/gold) mani I've ever seen, this is just a (very toned down) tribute.  *Ba dum tssshhh*

I hope my lame humour hasn't put you off and you look at the rest of the post. :)

I started with three coats of theBalm's You're So Hot and Gold, which I've reviewed here, let it dry, taped each finger with striping tape and carefully applied a coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On. I find this white polish can be a one coater if I'm very careful with the application and, together with luck and patience,  I managed to do it this time. I had to apply Seche Vite to make sure the white was completely dry before applying the last colour.

Once dried, I taped up my fingers again with striping tape and painted essence in Raspberry Twist  from the Marble Mania collection. This was a one coater reddy, coral pink that's been sitting on my polish rack without too much use and I knew this could be it's time to shine.

I applied one final coat of Seche Vite to make all the layers even. All up I ended up with seven layers of polish over a PVA base so it's looking thick, it's most noticeable at the tip on the above photo. I wanna see how long it last and hope none of the nails just pops off from all the weight. It's happened before.

Overall, this mani took me a little over two hours to finish mostly from waiting the polish to dry. I am very happy the way they look and in no way they remind me of these. I'd say the effort was worth it and may have even given me the incentive to show white on manis more often.

What's your take on white nails? Yes, partly or just plain no? Is there a colour polish you guys won't wear? 

Till next time, 

Laura

It's My Birthday...

...And I can cry if I want to 
Cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you 
*Catchy tune plays*

This song just pops up in my head every time there's a birthday. Today, it just so happens to be mine. Woohoo! And there's nothing to be sad, no Johnny hasn't given Judith his class ring. It is, however, the last day of semester so I'm gonna quickly show you two of my favourite polishes. I used two coats of Choose Me! by essence and three coats of theBalm's You're so Hot and Gold, which I've previously reviewed here (please ignore the stamping bit, it's terrible!), as an accent. I love how sparkly these polishes are and both formulas are pretty amazing. Topped the blue with one coat of Seche Vite and the gold with two as it can get a bit gritty.

I've used Choose Me! a couple of times before and about a fifth of the bottle is already gone. I know essence is not selling it anymore since the bigger bottles came out and I'm a bit heart broken. I believe Choose Me is a dupe for Catch Me In Your Net by OPI, which is nearly impossible to find, and Charla by Zoya, which costs around $20 for Aussie buyersat the time of posting. I'd love to splurge on a bottle but I just cannot justify it at the moment. I guess if I use it for special occasions, I'll be able have it for a few years.  

I couldn't capture how sparkly and deep the shimmer in Choose Me! is but please take my word when I say it is a stunner. If you own it, you would know what I'm talking about.

Are there any polishes that you seldom use because you know you can't reasonably replaced them? Or do you keep polishes for special occasions?

Til next time. I'm running off to finish assignments, eat french food and very likely have some cake.

Laura

theBalm's You're So Hot and Gold

In the last post, I wondered how many other brands didn't capitalise their names. I didn't go out looking for them but I came across theBalm at David Jones, which I guess is half way there. I'm not a grammar Nazi or anything of the sort, but it makes me think brands are overusing the lack of capitals just to give their name an edge. Anyway, we're all here for polish so I'm gonna show you theBalm's polish I purchased on the weekend.

This one is called You're So Hot and Gold from the brand theBalm. It's basically small glitter (small, not fine) suspended in a clear base with a scattered holographic effect. It is soooo pretty and sparkly, even in low light. It can be used for layering but I like the way it looked on its own better. The formula was amazing and there was an even coverage of of the glitter without having to dab the brush on the nail. The swatches above and below are done with three coats. It dried rather gritty, which could be expected from a glitter polish, and needed two coats of top coat to give it a completely smooth finish. 

One blurry photo to show the holo effect...

I'm not a fan of just swatches so I stamped what I think is an abstract leaf pattern on my ring finger for an accent, excuse the dodgy stamping skills.

If I must show the holo effect properly, I need to show sun photos

Sunny, extra blurry photo to show the beautiful colours of the holo...

 

Polishes used:
Gold glitter: theBalm Hot ticket Nail Polish in You're So Hot and Gold (what a mouthful...)
White stamping: Konad Special Nail Polish in White 
Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri
Stamping plate: Bundle Monster in BM-204

And just in case you are wondering what the bottle looks like.

Now for some low-down on the brand. TheBalm is made in the USA, designed, distributed and marketed by a team in San Francisco, California. I'm not sure how long the company has been around but there it seems a most of the people working behind the brand have been working on the make-up industry for more or less a decade.

In Australia, theBalm has been exclusively sold by David Jones (not sure about e-tailers) from the beginning of August this year. I only came across it on the weekend and unfortunately their range didn't seem that catchy. It doesn't feel like there's too much to tell this brand apart from all the other million that pop up every week. I mean, I didn't really look at their lipsticks, foundations, etc., but the nail colour range seemed very safe. There were only six or seven polishes that were nudes, taupes, black, a base or top coat and this holo glitter. They also go for $13.95, which for me at least is a bit high for colours I can get somewhere else for cheaper. 

If you were to jump on theBalm website, you can see the range is a lot bigger and out there than what is offered at David Jones. Which is really a shame because I guess what give them the edge (apart from the lack of capital at the beginning of their name) is the quality. I'm glad I was in a impulse shopping spree and grabbed this colour. I'm so in love. 

I'm just gonna show you one last thing. When I started applying the polish, I really liked the way it looked with only one coat, as it was very subtle, everyday sparkle. The second coat still subtle but was way but sparklier. The third coat gave it almost full opacity. Check it out.

This is without top coat.

This is with top coat on. I felt the top coat brought out the sparkle on the glitter and didn't dull it at all, like it can happen with holo effect polishes, scattered and linear.

What do you reckon? Would you give it a go?

Till next time, 

Laura