Thursday, October 31, 2013

by Kitties26 on Thursday, October 31, 2013 13 comments

Halloween Nail art - The witch returns

Yes, another Halloween nail art design! Last year I did so many because I participated in a Halloween Nail Art challenge, but I just wasnt up for another challenge this year because I had so many swatches to catch up on after the 31 Day Challenge.

For my actual Halloween nail art, I recreated one of the designs I did last year, with some slight changes. That's one of the reasons I called this mani "The witch returns". I still did a gradient blue sky. This time I used Ulta3 Midnight, Blue Heaven and Blue Hydrangea. For some twinkling stars I added a layer of Picture Polish Glitter Ball, which is the perfect mix of small and medium sized silver holo hexes at just the right density for galaxy or starry night nails.

For my stamping, again I used a bunch of different plates:

Index - Bundle Monster BM305

Middle - Messy Mansion MM22 for moon and witch, bats from BM305

Ring - Tree from Winstonia W102, cat from W116

Pinky - Tree from Winstonia W102, bats from BM305

Thumb - Bundle Monster BM305

Last years version didn't have the tree or the cat, and I used a different witch, who was flying the other direction, which is the other reason I called this mani "The witch returns", cause this time she is flying back towards her spooky house.

Which witch did you like best, this years or lasts?

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

by Kitties26 on Wednesday, October 30, 2013 3 comments

Halloween nail art (finally) - Trick or treat

It's the day before Halloween, and I've finally created some Halloween themed nail art. Being the non-scary-movie-and-gross-things kind of gal that I am, I created these sickly sweet trick or treat nails.

I did a gradient using Picture Polish wisteria, candy and peaches n cream. For added sparkle I then added a layer of Penelope Luz Mistica, which has holographic pink, blue and purple glitters.

I then stamped using black polish and a bunch of different brand stamps.

Index - Bundle Monster BM306
Middle - Messy Mansion MM22
Ring - DRK-B
Pinky - Winstonia W117
Thumb - DRK-B

I loved this, it was such a pretty Halloween mani rather than dripping or splattered blood, ghosts, ghouls or other ghastly things.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

by Kitties26 on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 6 comments

Picture Polish - Inspire shades

If you follow Picture Polish on social media of any sort then you are probably now aware that Jules, one of the girls behind Picture Polish used to be a chronic nail biter. To her amazing credit, she has ditched he habit and she how sports some great nails which she can paint in any of their nearly 100 nail polish shades. You can see a before and after of Jules nails here, which is sure to provide some inspiration to any other nail biters out there.

To celebrate her achievement, Picture Polish have released a collection of three "inspire" shades. I have swatches of all three shades, plus a bit of nail art created using two of the colours.

Believe - a dark eggplant purple with a strong blue shimmer. Dark and mysterious indoors, and sparkly in the sun. This is two coats with Seche Vite top coat.

Dream - classic Barbie pink creme. Smooth application and a classic flattering pink that anyone could wear. This is two coats with seche vite top coat.

Love - uber bright tomato red creme. I was only thinking the other day that the Picture Polish range lacked a classic red creme, and now here it is. Great formula an easy to apply cleanly on your nails. This is two coats with seche vite top coat.

Here is the nail art I created. I started with a white base and then did lots of dots in different sizes using both Love and Dream. Once that was dry, I stamped in Konad black with Messy Mansion plate MM20.

These inspire shades, as well as all the other Picture Polish shades are available directly from Picture Polish in Australia, or through their network members around the world.

Polishes provided for consideration.

Monday, October 28, 2013

by Kitties26 on Monday, October 28, 2013 6 comments

Sunflowers are not ordinary

You all know that I love water decals, and I have some new ones that I got from the Born Pretty Store. Water decals are so easy to apply and the result is always very neat and professional looking. These sunflower ones are so perfect for spring. In fact, I'm actually in the process of growing some sunflowers with Mr 5, our plants are only about 5cm tall at the moment, and I can't wait for him to see how tall they grow and how large the flowers are. They are such happy plants.

These sunflower water decals come in a pack with 20 decals, that means you'll have enough for two full manis. I painted my nails with white polish, allowed them to dry, the cut out each flower design and soaked it in water for about 20 seconds. After that time, each decal slid off it's backing paper easly and I used tweezers to position it onto my nail. Because of the water involved, you have plenty of time to adjust and reposition your decals. When I'm happy with their placement, I blot the excess water off my nail with a tissue.

I used 10 decals in this mani, and doubled up on my middle finger so I could apply a glitter feature nail.

The glitter polish on my ring finger is Penelope Luz Ordinary, and it complimented the design perfectly. The polish is a neutral golden shimmer with small gold, green and brown glitters. I wanted it to appear a little darker on my nail than in the bottle so I layered two coats over Picture Polish Demeter, but it turned out that two coats of Ordinary was very opaque and you only see Demeter at the very edge near my cuticle.

Penelope Luz polishes are available on the Penelope Luz site and they are also available through Color4Nails, who also stocks a good range of indie and hard to get international brands.

The water decals were from the Born Pretty Store, and you can use my coupon code of MNPG10 to get 10% their already discounted prices.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

by Kitties26 on Sunday, October 27, 2013 3 comments

Breast Cancer Awareness Mani

I was excited to finally find the 2013 OPI Breast Cancer Awareness duo at my local David Jones store. From the moment I saw the press release photos of the glitter polish in the duo, I knew that I had to purchase this collection.

There are two polishes in the Pink of Hearts set, the first is a pink creme called Pinking of You. It's a pretty classic pink shade, but the formula is a little patchy and you need three coats for it to look good.

More than a Glimmer is the polish that I really wanted, and OPI have really stepped it up with the multicolour glitter polish. The packaging says the polish contains pink, silver and teal glitters in a matte base, but on a closer look you can see that there are pink, blue, green, yellow and silver hexes in two sizes. The base isn't totally clear, it is slightly milky, so the mix of the matte finish and a slightly milky pink base provides good coverage on its own with a multicoloured chrome finish.

The package also comes with sheet of pink ribbon decals and silver rhinestones, which really provide the perfect extras to create stunning Breast Cancer awareness manis.

I believe this is a must have collection for everyone. Not only does purchasing it raise funds for breast cancer research, but the pastel multicoloured matte glitter is a unique a beautiful polish.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

by Kitties26 on Saturday, October 26, 2013 4 comments

Lynnderella - Halloween Twinset

Can you believe that its the end of October this week, which means it's Halloween. And can you believe that I haven't even done a single Halloween mani! Halloween isn't very big here in Australia. We've only ever had kids knock on the door once for Trick or Treat and that was probably more than 10 years ago. No one dresses up and no one has parties, at least no one I know. So wearing crazy Halloween nail art can make you look a little weird here. Instead of nail art, I've worn a couple of Lynnderella Halloween polishes from the Halloween Twin Set.

This twinset of polishes is in a different shaped bottle compared to the regular square Lynnderella bottle. This will completely freak out the OCD collectors that hate having their collections of polishes not matching, but I'm not OCD, so I'm totally ok with it. The other thing about these hexagon shaped bottles is that they are the most comfortable bottles I have ever held whist taking swatch photos. The flat edge created at the 120° angle from the front of the bottle is just perfect to hold!

Ghouls just want to have Fun! - a multiglitter made with various orange, purple, and neon glitters in a purple-shimmered clear base. The purple shimmer is strong, but not so strong that it makes the glitters look chunky and bumpy. I really loved this combo in real life, it seems more like splatter nail art than a glitter bomb. My base was Picture Polish Beige and I used two coats of Ghouls just want to have fun! Topped with Essence Gel Look top coat and Seche Vite.

Are you a good witch? - is a multiglitter made with assorted black, green, purple, white and neon red glitters in a violet-blue-shimmered clear base. I layered one coat of Are you a good witch over Pretty Serious Into Dreams, which is just the perfect slightly red toned purple that matched the glitter mix nicely. Topped with Essence Gel look top coat and Seche Vite.

Lynnderella polishes are available from:

Lynnderella.com for USA and Canada deliveries
Norway Nails for European deliveries
Glitter Connect for Australia.

Aussies - don't forget to follow Glitter Connect on Facebook to keep up with the latest Lynnderella news in Australia.

I've also got my Lynnderella Colour Guide up to date with the114 Lynnderella polishes that I've worn or swatched. I still have a bunch of poilshes from last years Seasons Glitterings, and a few other odd ones ones here and there that I will add gradually.

Polishes provided for consideration.

Friday, October 25, 2013

by Kitties26 on Friday, October 25, 2013 5 comments

JOSS - Collour Illusion Collection

I have the last six polishes from the new collections released by Aussie brand JOSS. I think that this collection of six polishes is my favorite of the bunch. The colours are so bright a vivid and the mixes are quite unique in me collection.

778- Fashionista Statement - a bright raspberry pink with a blue shimmer and an ultra fine holographic glitter. Nicely pigmented and easy to apply. This is two coats with Seche Vite.

779 Desert Sunset - A bronze to yellow duochrome glass fleck with ultra fine holographic glitter. I love this one so much. The duochrome colours are obvious without having to layer it, but you could easily layer one coat over a dark colour to get an even more dramatic effect. Its warm tones would really appeal to those wanting to wear Fall colours. This is two coats with Seche Vite.

780 In a Violet Haze - a silver to violet duochrome glass fleck with ultra fine holographic glitter.The instant my mum saw this one, she fell in love with it, and I've not seen the bottle since. She loves layering one coat over just about anything. This is two coats with Seche Vite.

781 Magic Potion - a medium green glass fleck with ultra fine holographic glitter. This is the green version of the previous two polishes. Amazing reflective and shiney green glass flecks with a scattered holo shimmer. The polishes dry completely smooth, so you can't feel any grittiness from the glass flecks or the glitters. This is two coats with Seche Vite.

782 A Calming Influence -a medium purple shimmer with ultra fine holographic glitter. This one doesn't have the same glass fleck appearance as the others, it's more of a dense shimmer with holo glitter in it.

This is two coats with Seche Vite.

783 In a Mermaids Dream - a blue to violet glass fleck duochrome with ultra fine holographic glitter. This one is back to the same appearance as Desert Susnet, In a Violet Haze and Magic Potion. The duochrome shift is very obvious and this is another one that would look pretty spectacular layered over a dark colour. This is two coats with Seche Vite.

Photos really don't do these polishes justice. They look spectacular in the bottle and even better on the nail.

These are all available in Australia from Beauty World for just $6.95. Four of there also stocked by Llarowe, but it looks like only In a Violet Haze and Desert Sunset are still in stock - which are personally my two favorites from the bunch.

Polishes provided for review.