Little picture post of nails! :)

Just some nails I've done lately,  but haven't blogged. :)

Dreamcatcher Feature Nail

Pink Feather Nails With Grey Feature Nail

Feather Nail Close Up

Glitter Gradient With Lace Detail

I've made a decision.

I'm going to make a concious effort with this blog, specifically my tutorials, to not get all fussy about tools or colours.

I hate seeing blogs with huge I used blah blah blah polishes. Most of the time, it's not essential, and it makes me as a viewer feel a bit cautious about trying the tutorial with my $2 green polish as opposed to the $20 green polish used in the tutorial. I think it can be pretty off-putting to people who're only just getting into the whole nail art scene, which I don't like. I love the wonderful world of nails, and I'd hate to think that people are being dissuaded because they can't affort heaps of striping tape, 10 different dotting tools and a buttload of OPI polishes or something.

So I'm going to make a real effort to, if I use a specific tool, offer alternatives. Instead of insisting you use an orangewood stick to pick up your glitter, I'll say that you can use a toothpick or whatever you happen to have handy. Hell, last time I glittered, I used my cuticle pusher to pick it up. Same with polishes, I'm going to say "a light, pastel green", instead of the brand and shade (although I may include what I used anyway, I will specify that any polish can be used), unless it's a water marble or something, when you may need to be a little fussier. I also will offer ways to get different looks with each manicure (like I did in my quilted post).

I'm also going to start posting just pictures of the maicures I've done, possibly with a breif  'how to', but not every one will have a step by step.

I've also been thinking that I need a bit of structure here, so my next several posts will all be 'the basics' of nail art. I'll go over tools, different techniques, different types of polish, etc. Then some pretty basic looks that are trending at the moment, like gradients/ombre (glitter and plain), the jelly sandwich nail, and a few others which are relatively easy.


Yay!

Chi Chi Vive Le Nail Salon Set Review

So, I put up a post several weeks back, saying that I'd recently purchased the Chi Chi Vive Le Nail Salon Set, and that I'd write another post letting you guys know what I thought of it. So here we go!

The set contains 6 polishes for $19.95 (AUD): a ridge filler, base coat, calcium base coat, cuticle softner, nail hardener, and a top coat. Most of these products are fairly standard (top coat, cuticle softner, base coat), so suffice it to say on those 3 that they all work fine, they're great when you consider that I paid roughly $3.30 each for them. The top coat isn't the glossiest I've ever used, but it's shiny enough. The regular base coat evens out nicely, and I didn't have any unusual chipping, peeling or wear with my polish, and the cuticle softner is, again, functional. Not the absolute best I've used,but again, it works perfectly well, and for just over $3, it's brilliant.

The other 3 products were of much more interest to me, so I'm choosing to focus on them.

The ridge filler is gorgeous. I was a bit skeptical with this one, because I've tried a few before with no particularly obvious results. It doesn't seem anything special in the bottle; it's clear and not thick or runny. You apply it after your base coat has set. My fingers don't really need a ridge filler, due to all my buffing, but I'm ashamed to say I often neglect my toes in this regard. It's always pretty devestating, completing a pedi with a gorgeous new colour only to have it looking all sad and lumpy... One coat of this product fixed that completely. After seeing what an amazing difference it made on my toes, I applied it to my fingernails out of curiousity. It did actually make a small difference, even with my fingernails already being pretty darn smooth.

The calcium base coat is pretty much the entire reason I bought this set. I needed a new base coat anyway, and my nails were getting pretty shockingly brittle, and it was relatively cheap. I've been using it now at least once a week for a month now, and I have to say, it's made a HUUUUUGE difference. Since using it, my nude nails seem glossier, much less dull, I've not had a single break (even when I accidentally banged my fingers into a wall, don't ask), no peeling, and they feel a lot more solid.

I also needed the nail hardener. The back of the box has directions for using each product, and suggests for optimal results, to use the calcium base coat for a while, then move onto the nail hardener. So I did. My nails feel stronger than they have in a couple of years. Like I said, they're not snapping or peeling (which I've always had issues with), and sitting here, if I try to bend a nail, I can't. I've always been able to bend them, but these products have made such a difference to the condition of my nails...

Like I said, I've always had issues with my nails peeling, even before I was putting all this polish and stuff on them. They've never been the strongest, I've always gotten little jags that I have to file down, and sometimes they seem to break without any reason. I've tried a whole bunch of products, from salon brands like Hawley and CND, to 'over the counter' type brands like Sally Hansen. Some of these seemed to work at first, but after a couple of weeks, I'd be back to square 1.

The Verdict: 10/10I honestly cannot reccommend these enough. At absolute worst, some of the products are 'average'. At best, the calcium base, nail hardener and ridge filler are the best I've used. I'd happily pay $19.95 for any one of those products (and on some occasions, with some brands, I have done), let alone that price for all 6 of these products.

Quilted nails!

So, I haven't posted for a while due to some pretty severe health stuff which I won't go into, but I'm going to try harder!

 

So, quick tutorial today on these gorgeous quilted nails.

 

I've been leaaning lately towards softer looking manicures, cuz I've been sick, the weather's been awful (windy as anything, cold, few thunderstorms) and I've been wanting soft looking nails that wouldn't look out of place poking out of an oversized sweater, or wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate. You know the look I mean. These don't exactly fit that bill, but they're soft, relatively easy, and cute. Plus, they've been popping up all over my Pinterest feed, so I thought I'd give it a shot. The ones I've seen that I loved the most are all soft, pastels (cream is lovely, pale pink, purple), I went with a blue from Sinful Colors, called Cinderella. It's quite a thin polish, I did 4 coats to build it up to opaque, but it's a beautiful, soft blue with a subtle pinky gold shimmer. Lovely.

 

I swear, there IS a shimmer. This was taken outside, you can almost see it, hiding behind the refelctions on the bottle. ;P

Now, there's a couple of different ways of achieving this effect. The first is to lay down your colour, let it dry completely, then apply striping tape in a criss cross pattern across the whole nail. Paint over this, then remove the tape. The second way (the one I went with) is to dent the polish. I waited until the polish was touch dry, but still dentable, and pressed into it gently with a business card until I had the pattern I wanted. The tape method is probably less dangerous in terms of bumping the wrong bit of nail, however the few times I've used the stuff, it didn't stick properly and was kind of more frustration than it was worth.

 

But thats just me.

 

Now, you'll get thicker lines with tape, but you can have deeper grooves (if you choose to) with the card method. It's totally personal preference.

 

Once I'd quilted the all my nails, I put a piece of large glitter where each groove met another. This is optional, but it gives you that studded look to your quilting. Very cool, in my opinion. You could also use rhinestones, but I'm running out of my smaller ones, so I just used glitter. I have some tiny heart ones which would be cute... Maybe next time. ;) You could also use microbeads, which are like little teeeeeeeeny tiny balls. But I don't have any. If I did, that's the route I'd have taken.

 

 

 

Anyway, apply your studs (should you choose), whack some top coat on over the top (don't worry. It won't smooth out your grooves. That was my main concern, but it's all good) and you're done!

Food for thought: You could get a few different styles with this technique: try black with gold studs for a more edgy look (a matte top coat would be really cool with that), outrageously bright fluros (I'm not a fan of bright yellow with my skin tone, but the quilting would be really unexpected with that colour), or even try this technique on a french tip.

Glorious San Francisco

Today I picked up this bottle of polish for $4.95! The brand is Sinful Colors, and they had a pretty good colour range.This one is called San Francisco.  I loved this emerald green, and it's been a while since I bought myself a green polish. The bottle kind of reminded me of OPIs packaging. The brush is a little smaller than I prefer, but it's a gorgeous colour. 2 coats was enough, which you don't always find with cheaper polishes; sometimes they're quite thin and it needs several layers to build up to the right colour, but no such issues here. :D

Brilliant Bargain!

Just a quick post! Today I bought this Chi Chi set from Myer for $19.95! 6 bottles (cuticle softener, calcium base, regular base, nail hardener, salon formulated top coat and ridge filler)! Brilliant price, very handy things to have, and super cute packaging. :) Here's a shot of the packaging and description of the products.  I'll do a post in a few weeks to let you know if they work!

Quick Tip: Getting buff ;)

Always always always buff your nails, whether you're painting them or not.

Even if you choose to leave your nails bare, buffing leaves them looking and feeling so healthy. It also provides a much smoother surface to apply polish to, giving you a better finish overall.

You can buy a buffing block for only a few dollars from most chemists, and it makes the hugest difference. Buffing leaves your nail smooth, so shiny people wont believe you're not wearing polish, it promotes circulation and helps combat peeling and discolouration, both of which are very common nail issues.

The nail on the right side of the picture has been buffed, you can see ridges on the other nail, and its obviously not as shiny.