Category Archives: Nails

Nail Art Experiments

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I have been seeing some INCREDIBLE nails around the beauty blogosphere lately – special mention to LabMuffin, Nail Romance,  So Nailicious and the queen of nail art, Zooey Deschanel – and decided I needed to step up my game a bit.

Can I just start by saying that DIY nail art is HARD. How do you get straight lines? How do you you do your right hand if you're a righty? How do you make every nail look as identical as possible (if that's what you're going for)? All questions I am yet to answer and probably won't be able to help you with (I suggest you ask the aforementioned experts).

All the same, here are some experiments I've tried out lately.

The last one is washi tape that I cut to the shape of my nail and then put a clear polish over. It worked surprisingly well for paper tape (I had just had a shower before taking this photo). I believe that is a tip for you, there you go, this post wasn't COMPLETELY unhelpful after all.

Are you game to art it up? Do you have any specialties or tips you'd like to share? Go on, tell me your secrets in the comments below!

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NOTD: Spotty Feature Nail

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I saw this on Pinterest the other day and had to try it out, so cute! I love a feature nail and spots and this colour green so it was 

I'm lacking the finesse to properly nail art my own nails, particularly on my right, so I have to keep it pretty basic!

 

L'Oreal Colour Riche Le Vernis in Perle De Jade RRP AU$6.95

Model's Own Nail Art Pen in white RRP US$9.99

This nail pen by … is pretty helpful though. It has a pen tip at one end and a very fine brush at the other end. Good for nail art beginners such as myself.

 

This little mani went well with all the rings I decided to wear this week too!

What have you been doing with your nails lately?

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I know I promised……..but I lied!!

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Remember the horrific Babyfoot series?  And I promised that I had posted my last photo of my feet.  And I bet you believed me.  And until this week I believed me too.

But look….(squeals with delight!)…

I lied!!  I'm so sorry….but aren't they cute!?

These are my 'let my hair down' summer crazy Christmas toes.  And I had to share them because they are so gorgeous, so 'out there' for conservative old me, and such a great walking advertisement (ha ha … walking…get it?) for Sue Janz at The Nail Den.  Sue is a nail artist who gels my nails every fortnight, but, as I've shared before, her great talent and skills are wasted on me as I only ever go for conservative colours (no blue, green, yellow or black) or the traditional french polish.

Here is a great example of the beautiful work that Sue and Erin do at The Nail Den, at Springwood in Queensland.

But not on me.  I'm so middle of the road I look like a white line with cats eyes.

And my finger nails, well ….. they match my toes.  But without the polka dots.  Come on … I've gone crazy since giving up the corporate life, and I figure I can still hide my wild toes inside shoes if I have a business meeting.  Ooooo …. I feel so frivolous and fun.  Have you done anything 'out there' in a fit of summer madness?

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NOTD: Matte Black Nails

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So I happened to be in Brisbane last week (that would mostly explain the lack of posts around here lately) and, during a speed shopping trip with my bestie, I stumbled upon a matte black nail polish. 

We were running around the shops looking for Saturday night outfits and on the register of Bardot, at arms length, was a selection of cute nail polishes.  Among them, a bright pink and a matte black.

I have been looking for matte black nail polish since I came across some of these on Pinterest – can you blame me!?

 

One thing that I have noticed since my purchase is that the matte nail is a controversial one – there are a lot of haters out there, but I really like the different texture just to change things up a bit.

OPI did a limited edition matte range that I'm pretty sure you can only get on eBay every now and again, but I picked up this BYS brand from Bardot for $7.95. A bargain! And a great way to try out the trend without having to search high and low on the Internet for it!

What do you think? Are you a fan of the matte nail? Would you try it out just as a one off? What do you think?

 

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October Pink!

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I've always been a fan of pink, and the neons and pastels that are everywhere for summer have just made me crazy! I decided to put them together for an all out pink experience.

It's been two weeks now that I've been rocking the neon pink and baby pink combo and I think it's time to share it.

This photo was taken a week after applying the polish and is only two coats. The Revitanail base coat and over coats would have a LOT to do with this, I would say…

Then I decided to attempt a French mani but the Revlon Colorstay is SO gluggy that it just didn't quite work.

The colours:

Baby pink – Revlon Colorstay in Cafe Pink

Neon pink – B by Bloom in Hollywood

Top/Base – Revitanail Nail Strengthener

I'm so into pink, I keep eating pink food that matches my mani. It's getting a little crazy! Have you been obsessed with any colours lately?!

 

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Revitanail Happy Nail Fun Times

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When I was younger, I had enviable nails. They were strong and long and never broke or chipped or really did anything other than look good, I kid you not. Then, suddenly, about a year ago, they just became the complete opposite. They peeled and chipped and were weak, it's kind of upsetting to have something and then lose it. Even something as small as eviable nails!

Since then, I've tried vitamins and Shellac and wearing nail polish ALL THE TIME (not necssarily a bad thing) but, sure enough, three or so days into my home mani, the tips peel and my nails look awful again.

Cue Revitanail! I recently decided trying Revitanail's multi award winning products was my last hope and I needed the Nail Strengthener in my life.

I have applied the Nail Strengthener every day for seven days, as per the instructions, and none of my nails have peeled! After about three days, I was bored of natural nails (it paints on as a very thick, base coat) and I painted a very cheap, very bright blue polish over three days of Nail Strengthener (my nails seemed thicker already) and then proceeded to paint over the top each day. Aside from the strongest nails I've had in a long time, my very cheap blue nail polish stayed in tact for an entire week. Brilliant.

The next Revitanail product I got my hands on (literally) is the Nourishing OIl. I recently learned that your cuticles are actually the biggest impact on the health of your nails so if your cuticles are in turmoil, they will affect your nails. I've been putting the Nourishing Oil on every night after the Nail Strengthener and the quality of my cuticles have significantly improved in just one week. I don't think I'll ever go without this stuff in my life. It paints on with a brush and I just massage it on each night. Easy peasy.

A new product in the Revitanail range are the new Nourishing Remover Wipes. Um, which total genius decided to combine the messy nail polish remover and cotton pad together?! Amazing. Plus, you know how normal remover completely dries your nails out? Well the wipes (that come in a super handy little tub) are the complete opposite, they're kind of greasy. While this did freak me out a little at first, once I realised that they were probably doing my hands some good, I calmed down a bit!

The last item I tried from Revitanail was the Precision Corrector. Oh my gosh, this thing is so good if you are a little heavy (ie messy) handed when applying your bright nail polishes. That's me. This thing is like a felt pen, except you use the felt tip to remove all the messy little mistakes you have around your nails. And then there are spare tips stored in the bottom. Seriously, I'm so excited about this little guy! Good bye messy fingers post-mani! Hopefully this will dramatically impact my Nail of the Day posts (fingers crossed).

I don't think I have been this excited about my nails in a long time! Sure there are great colours and new fancy things you can do to decorate your nails, but without a good, solid base, cool manis mean nothing. These Revitanail products that I've had the chance to try lately have really reminded me of that and I can't wait until I have strong nails again!

The products (all available from Priceline and most chemists):

Revitanail Nail Strengthener – $29.99 (It may seem pricey, but it's really the price of one manicure and it's a giant 30mL bottle. You apply two coats and then one every day for seven days, remove and do it all again three times)

Revitanial Nourishing Oil – $14.99 (contains a blend of nourishing oils, herbal extracts, and vitamins for soft, healthy cuticles)

Revitanail Conditioning Remover Wipes – $5.99 (so cheap and convenient, plus the contain Vitamin E and are acetone free, plus handy to keep in your bag for any chipped nail nightmares)

Revitanail Precision Corrector – $12.99 (with three replacement tips. It contains nourishing Jojoba oil to fix up any mistakes without having to ruin all your other nails)

I'm a convert and I highly recommend these all. The only problem I'm having now is the mess the bright blue, cheap nail polish has made of my hands. Maybe I need to check out some of the Revitanail colours oh and maybe the Cuticle Remover Gel…yes, I'm addicted!

 

 

Disclaimer: These items were provided to us for editorial consideration but Mum has been using Nail Strengthener and Nourishing Oil from Revitanail for years and I was going to buy these myself so they defiinitely are my own views and we are not affiliated in any way with Revitanail.

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L’Oreal Colour Riche Vernis

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Last week I won Crashing Red's Colour RIche Vernis giveaway and Maria sent me two of the hottest nail colours for Spring/Summer from the miniature nail polish collection – Dating Coral and Perle De Jade.

I decided to dedicate one hand to each colour and I love the look. It might be a bit out there but it makes me happy!

The other thing that made me happy, aside from the gorgeous colours, is the wide, flat brushes contained within the tiny bottles. They spread the polish effortlessly and evenly and the colours are vibrant and great quality. Alll I can say is that good things come in small packages and that definitely applies to the L'Oreal Paris Colour Riche Vernis!

Writing this post actually reminded me that another blogging beauty, Samantha (she has a giveaway that's still going), gifted me a couple of these little delights (in Purple Disturbia and Blue Reef) a while back and I haven't even tried them yet! I can't wait to give them a go as well and I can see this tiny collection getting epic pretty quickly. At $6.95 for 5mL, it's just too easy to try out all the new summery colours!

Have you tried these little guys? The range is extensive, which colour would you go for?!

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Priceline splurge + Essence Cosmetics

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I went into Priceline the other day because I was about 10 minutes early for work and in desperate need of some hand cream. I've decided that Priceline is a little bit like Ikea.

You can go in there with the best of intentions, to purchase one necessary or predetermined item, and walk into a haze, coming to only as you pay for a multitude of items you somehow picked up on the way to the check outs. Then you walk out of the store and the fog lifts and you can't quite work  out what happened.

So, along with my Cetaphil Intense Moisturiser for hands, I also walked out with a bunch of Essence products. Partly because they are cute and have some great colours going on, but mostly because they are SO CHEAP!

I don't know this brand AT ALL except that I got the Essence mascara from Lauren in our Christmas in July beauty swap and I love it. 

Here's what I picked up:

I got three nail polishes. Nude Glam in Toffee To Go and Colour & Go in Let's Get Lost for $2.55. Then I picked up Rebels Rock Coat for $3.50 – I didn't even know what it was but it looked fun (more on that later).

I've been wanting a gel eyeliner for ages but wasn't sure if I'd use it. At $5.95 for the eye liner and $2.95 for the brush, it was a no-brainer.

I've been thinking I need some more bright eye colours for summer and this Sun Club palette just screamed out to be bought – $5.95, it's a joke!

Here' s a little swatch of the palette. I love the range of colours!

I'll report back when I've tried these beauties out, but so far I'm pretty happy with my purchases! It gives me a chance to try some new things before I buy a more expensive version!

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Hello Darling – Rockcandy nails

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So the other week I mentioned my dilemma in trying to decide on which Rockcandy manicure to try. I ended up going with Millions and Billions because it reminded me of Fairy Bread and the pink nail polish that accompanied it was such a vibrant pink, I couldn't really go wrong.

When it arrived, in a matching bright pink bag, I busted it open to have a crack at the Rockcandy mani. I was a little nervous at first, fancy nail art is certainly not my forte, so I went to the Hello Darling blog where I discovered a handy Rockcandy tutorial (that was accidental but too awesome to change).

I'm actually really impressed with the Hello Darling nail polish. You know how you can just tell a great quality polish? Well, Hello Darling definitely falls into that category, I cannot wait to try more.

And then I tried a more modest version, so I wouldn't look too crazy in my new corporate office.

I loved how it turned out and I imagine you could easily do every nail for a special occasion to really stand out.

After about about five days of doing my nails, the polish is still perfectly in tact. The little beads, however, are a little worse for wear. They have almost all fallen off and left little coloured divets in my nail polish, I think it will take a bit more practice before I get them to stick better. And, if you are anything like me, you will keep finding them all around the house. But they are so much fun, they are definitely worth trying!

With my new discovery of the awsomeness of Hello Darling nail polishes, it was brought to my attention today that the newest Hello Darling Spring ranges are about to be released. They are called Not Your Nana's Nightie and Crazy in Love and they're about as different from each other as they sound and just PERFECT for my favourite season.

 

Not Your Nana's Nightie is a collection of gorgeous pastels (swoon) and Crazy In Love is the complete opposite – a range of neon brights (gorg!). I don't know about you, but I will be mixing up between the two different styles for Spring because I love them both!

Rockcandy is available from Hello Darling for $24.95 and the new collections are currently available in the presale for $18.95 (or 20% off if you buy the whole collection!)

Have you tried a Rockcandy mani yet? How did yours go? What do you think of the new summer colours?

 

Disclaimer: I bought Rockcandy with my own money and my opinions are my own. I was in no way compensated for this post, I just had to share my excitement over my new love of Hello Darling!

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Hello Darling Rockcandy dilemma

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I don't know if you've heard, but everyone is talking about Rockcandy by Hello Darling. What a brilliant idea to add another dimension to the home mani by supplying a tub of beads to dip your recently lacqured fingernail into. I don't know about you, but I am just loving this (removal, however, is something that concerns me slightly).

You will imagine my dilemma when trying to decide what colour to choose. Take a look for yourselves at the variations on offer.

I finally decided to bite the bullet today and buy one of the kits to try out, and a new dilemma has presented itself. Half of the colours are currently sold out (the promise to be back soon though)!! What am I to do? Learn a valuable lesson from taking too long to decide which one to buy? Wait until they come back into stock? Or go with a colour that is still available? Oh, woe is me. 

There are 10 Rockcandy shades to choose from and they are $24.95 each from Hello Darling with FREE SHIPPING (my favourite). What colour should I get? Have you tried them? Do you want to try them? Get in quick before they're all gone!

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