Of Nail Polish and Swatch Sticks - Nail Mail!

Over the past couple of months I have been buying quite a few nail polishes and related items online. It's like going through a phase where soemtimes you favour buying lipsticks, other times blush and other instances nail polish. Although most of the time it's all these things together, lately, the latter category tickled my fancy the most. Well let's face it, nail polish was my first love :) Here's what I got!

To start with, I bought a set of soak-off nail clips so that I can use these when I want to take off hard-to-remove nail polish or gel polish by soaking my nails in acetone. I have already used these a couple of times and I quite like them for they are easy to use and hold the cotton disc in place. I also got a new box for all my nail art brushes and tools and I'm happy to say this houses all my tools neatly. 

Moving on to actual nail polishes, I bought quite a handful, starting with Zoya Ibiza and Neve for I was looking for a nice metallic blue. I first got Ibiza and it turned out to be the perfect blue but then I saw swatches of Neve which has a hint of purple and looks like nothing in my collection so I went ahead and got that too.

I also got three shades out of the Essie Cashmere Matte Collection, namely, Coat Couture, Comfy in Cashmere and Just Stitched. I have already worn the first two and I'm in love with their finish! They lasted for around three days without chipping (remember they dry matte so I didn't top coat them) and I really like the iridescent sheen in them.

I have also acquired three Sinful Colors in the shades Shamrockin' (which of course I wore for St. Patrick's) as well as Flower Power and Petal Be The Day from their Spring collection. The formula with these is very nice to work with and the glitter is evenly distributed.

From OPI, I got the Fifty Shades Collection and the Sheer Tints both in the mini versions. I really like the mini bottles can't wait to use these polishes!

Lastly, I got myself 6 packets of swatch sticks and ring binders to re-organize my swatches. The thing is, I had my swatches on swatch wheels but whenever I got a new polish, I had to paint on the next available post on the wheel and to me it just didn't look right to have a light coloured polish in the middle of dark ones etc so I looked up alternative methods of organizing swatches and this appealed to me the most. So I went ahead and bought myself all the supplies and swatched all my collection in 4 days. I'm really happy with how this little project turned out so if you would like me to do a post on how I swatch and organize my polish collection, please do let me know!

Nail Polish Collection | O.P.I., Zoya, Essie & Orly

Next up in my nail polish collection are O.P.I., Zoya, Essie and Orly. I have grouped these brands because I do not have a lot of polishes from any of them. Out of all these, O.P.I. is my favourite brand. I really like their formulas and the creative names they always come up with! I tend to go for their glitter mostly because of their unusually unique combination. I would like to experiment more with the other brands though especially Orly since I use their Gel FX on my clients. Here goes!

 

 

Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It (Vintage Minnie Mouse Limited Edition - Summer 2012) - iridescent pink, purple and gold glitter and light pink heart confetti suspended in a light pink jelly base

Minnie Style (Couture de Minnie Limited Edition - Summer 2013) - pink, white, red small hex glitter and white square confetti in a transparent base

Lights Of Emerald City (Oz The Great and Powerful - Spring 2013) - opaque white squares and smaller iridescent square confetti in a clear base

What Wizardry Is This? (Oz The Great and Powerful - Spring 2013) - dark brown with greenish-gold reflects. Dries to a matte finish and features O.P.I's ground breaking textured finish

When Monkeys Fly (Oz The Great and Powerful - Spring 2013) - large gold hex confetti mixed with different sized holographic hex glitters in a clear base

The World Is Not Enough (Skyfall 007 | The Dangerous Shades - 2012) - pewter with pink, blue and silver shimmer and a touch of bronze

Skyfall (Skyfall 007 | The Seductive Shades - 2012) - luxurious burgundy crème with maroon undertones

 

 

 

The Man With The Golden Gun (Skyfall 007 - 2012) - luxurious 18K gold leaf pieces in a clear base.

 

 

 

 

Lara - bright pink crème

Neely - pastel mint crème

 

 

 

 

Vanity Fairest - sheer nude pink with tiny silver shimmer

Licorice - black crème

Stylenomics - dark green crème

Very Structured - dark tan crème

In Stitches - dark old rose crème

Shine Of The Times - iridescent flakes in a clear base

 

 

 

Dazzle - silver foil



From Orly, I also have my two favourite base coats of all time, namely Nailtrition and Bonder which help strengthen my nails and polish to adhere better respectively.

Which is your favourite brand/shade out of the ones in this post?

*Update*

Here are two O.P.I. polishes that I have received after posting this collection instalment:

 

 

Alcatraz...Rocks (San Francisco - Fall 2013) - navy blue with multi coloured shimmer. Dries to a matte finish and features O.P.I.'s ground breaking textured finish

Which Is Witch? (Oz The Great and Powerful - Spring 2013) - holographic silver large hex and bar glitter 

 

 

Valentine's Day Nail Art Tutorial | Leopard Print & Hearts

Hey dolls :) It's been a busy few days for me so that's why I wasn't active much here. Anyway, here is a nail art tutorial for the manicure I will be wearing for Valentine's Day.

I chose leopard print frankly because it is sexy and while not everyone is keen wearing on leopard print clothing pieces, leopard nails are much easier to wear. As for the hearts, I think the reason is pretty obvious! Read on for the tutorial and more pictures!

1. Prep nails with a good base coat and leave to dry.

2. Paint on two coats of a nude beige nail polish such as Catrice Ultimate Nudes Nail Lacquer in Same Seine But Different on all the nails except the ring fingers. Leave to dry thoroughly. 

3. In the meantime, paint two coats of a sparkly gold glitter polish on the ring fingers. I chose Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish in Gold Fever which also has red glitter particles to make the hearts pop even more.

4. With a darker nude brown (E.L.F. Smoky Brown) and using the polish brush, place random dots on the top part of the nude coloured nails. Don't worry if they are not neat, as it will give more resemblance to actual leopard print. Leave out a small area so that you can paint a heart in the next step.

5. By means of a dotting tool and Essence Colour & Go Polish in Fame Fatal, draw a heart on each of the nails.  On the ring fingers, place it at the bottom of the nail, right in the centre as shown in the photographs, while on the other, paint the heart in the blank area. To draw a perfect heart shape, place two dots of red nail polish facing each other, then drag their centres downward and fill in the centre of the hearts.

6. Subsequently, go around the brown dots and hearts with black nail polish (Essie Licorice) and creat jagged 'C' shapes around them to finish off the leopard print.

7. Seal your design with a glossy top coat and you're done!

Enjoy Valentine's Day!

NOTW: Stylenomics, matte and glossy!

I have been meaning to try out matte and glossy nails for a long time now and Johan's work dinner was the perfect occasion so try some sophisticated nail art. Instead of the usual black, I opted for Essie Stylenomics which is a very dark (almost black) green and paired it with gold accents courtesy of China Glaze Midnight Kiss.

1. Prep nails with a good base coat to avoid staining from the dark colour. 

2. Paint on two coats of a dark colour of your choice and when it is totally dry, apply a matte drying top coat.

3. Using the same base colour, apply stripes, thick and thin on all the nails and let them dry. You can also add dots for further matte/glossy contrasts.

4. To add more interest to the design, use a metallic nail polish to draw more lines on the nails. I used gold to match my outfit.

5. There is no need to apply top coat to this design otherwise the effect will be ruined. Have fun!

NOTW: Baroque Details

Baroque detailing is one of the biggest trends in fashion this season but it is definitely not for the faint hearted.  If however you still want to have a go at the look but fear you might look like King Louis XIV, you can always experiment with nail art for a minimalist take on this anything but subtle look.

This week I had a go at some baroque inspired nail art myself, and as usual, here is the step-by-step tutorial for you all to try and re-create the look :)

1. Start with a base coat to protect your natural nails and then apply two coats of an opaque black polish to all the nails, omitting the ring fingers. I chose Essie Licorice.

2. For the ring fingers, I applied two coats of Essence Vampire's Love Trend Edition Nail Polish in Gold Old Buffy which is a black base with tons of golden shimmers.

3. When the base colours have dried, apply one or two coats of a gold-leaf top coat to the plain black nails. I used O.P.I. Skyfall 007 The Man With The Golden Gun.

4. On the ring fingers, I created some baroque inspired scrolls with Essence Breaking Dawn Part 2 Trend Edition Nail Polish in 03 A Piece Of Forever which is a yellow gold shade.

5. Seal in your design with a top coat and you're done!

NOTW: Holographic Fusion

I have finally found some time to do proper nail art this week. I have a lot of new polishes that I haven't used yet and I decided to start with one of my favourites... Gosh 549 Holographic Hero which Misha from Enigmatic Rambles kindly sent me.

I had wanted a holographic polish for ages and now I finally have one :D I was unsure how to wear it though so I opted to pair it with black and this is the end result:

Here's a step-by-step tutorial to achieve the look:

1. Start with a base coat to protect your natural nails.

2. When dry, apply two coats of Gosh Holographic Hero to all the nails.

3. For the dots, start by painting half the nail with Essie Licorice in a diagonal fashion and using a medium-sized dotting tool, dot three or four dots along the lower edge of the black polish.  Place your dotter half on the silver polish and half on the black polish to make the black dots look like they are coming out of the black part.  Place black dots on the silver area as shown in the pictures.

4. Repeat with the silver polish on the black end to achieve the full effect.

5. Seal with a top coat to protect your design.

Top Nail Polishes for Fall ~ 2012 Edition

Although there may still be a lingering thought that summer is not over yet, it is unfortunately well and truly over...it is getting dark earlier, the evenings are cooler and we are also getting the occasional rainy day so with autumn paving it's way, here are my top nail polishes for this season in no particular order.

1. China Glaze Jungle Queen can be a classified as a close enough dupe to Chanel's Paradoxal. To me it is a very particular purple with eggplant undertones further enhanced by a lighter purple shimmer running through the polish.

2. Essence Vampire's Love Trend Edition 03 True Love is my favourite polish out of the 5 available in this limited edition. Again it is a purple but it leans more towards the red spectrum (therefore it has a warm undertone) and has a nice lighter purple shimmer running through.

3. Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer in The Devil Wears Red is perhaps one of my go-to colours every Autumn. It is a sophisticated shade of vine red which turns out to be more brown than red on application of the second.  It is a nice all rounder as it will match most of your autumn wardrobe.

4. Essie Stylenomics is part of the brand's Fall 2012 collection bearing the same name as the polish. It is the IT colour of the season... a dark green with strong grey undertones that make it look like it is black.

5. Essence Colour & Go in 113 Do You Speak Love? is my favourite red this season. It is dark but not too dark and can carry you from the office to the bar and still look classy and elegant.

Those are my top polishes for this season. Do we have any common favourites? 

Tag: Nail Polish Addict

I just saw this fun tag on Christine's blog and wanted to share with you all my answers to these 10 nail polish related questions :) Enjoy and link me back your responses if you decide you want to this tag as well! 

Whats your favorite nail polish company? 

My favorite nail polish company is without any doubt China Glaze.  I get my polishes off ebay as over here in Malta I only know of one shop that sells the brand and each polish retails for around €7 whereas on the internet I can get them for €4 - €5. I also like the Color & Go range by Essence Cosmetics as they have a nice selection of colours and they only retail for around €1.40!

Glitter or no glitter? 

Depends on the occasion really as glitter is quite stubborn to remove and even with the foil removal method, I always end up with glitter all over my hands lol.  None the less, I still love playing around with glitter nail polishes because they can change the look of a nail polish instantly!

OPI, China Glaze or Essie?

I have never tried OPI as I just can't bring myself to fork out €9.95 or more on a bottle of nail polish so I cannot really comment on the brand.  On the other hand, I have tried both China Glaze and Essie and while I love the Essies I have in my collection, I prefer the China Glaze formulation as it lasts longer on my nails. Also, China Glaze are always coming up with fun collections and at the moment I'm really lemming some polishes from the Prismatic and the Safari Collections.

When do you change your nail polish?

I usually change my nail polish every week but sometimes I find myself changing it twice a week especially when I buy a bunch of new ones :)

Whats your favorite color on your nails?

Pinks, reds and purples are the colours I reach for most often but I do like to change it up every once in a while and opt for a green or blue or any other colour! 

Dark or bright? 

Both! You will never see me sporting full on black nails though... I hate black!

What are you wearing on your nails right this moment?

I'm actually donning a fresh manicure! It's quite girly and I have used the sponging technique. Stay tuned for the tutorial ;)

Matte nails - in or out?

I have tried matte nails but I still cannot decide whether I like them or not as I do prefer shiny nails.  However, dark colours tend to look better matte. I just need to experiment a little more ;) 

French manicure?

Definitely yes!! It is French so I like it :P Joking apart, I just can't a resist a well done French manicure as it looks so clean and fresh.

Favorite winter color?

Hmmm a nice reddish plum or taupe/greige are my go-to winter nail colours.

I tag all of you to do this fun tag. I would love to see your answers to these questions.