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.

First post!

So, my first post! How exciting!

 

This post will be a review of an OPI polish.  Its called 'Just Spotted The Lizard', and it's gorgeous. It's a multi-chromatic polish, which means it changes colour depending on the angle you look at it from. The main colour is gold, but it changes to green and then blue as well. It really is a beautiful colour. I bought it from a wholesale beauty outlet, so it only cost me $10.95 AU, instead of almost $20, which it was at the chemist.

It's a wonderfully easy polish to work with; one coat is probably enough (but I always use two). It's so opaque and pigmented. The bottle has a great thick brush, which makes application really easy, and it's relatively quick drying, too.

 

My only issue with this polish is the longevity of it (or lack thereof). I've used OPI polishes before, and I had the same issue then; with a base coat, 2 coats of colour and a top coat, most polishes last 5-7 days on my nails. Ive been wearing this one for 3 days, and it's already chipped around the edges, which is pretty disappointing given how gorgeous (and expensive, at full price) it is.

 

The Verdict - 6/10
Overall, I like it, but I dont think I'd buy it again. The price/lack of staying power is just too much of a drawback for me.. However I'm sure if you've got a bigger budget than me (and do your nails more than once a week), you'll absolutely love it.

I used it for a fun french mani/pedi, inspired by this tumblr post!