Wednesday, August 31, 2016

by Kitties26 on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 5 comments

The Polish Chrome Wars Part 8 - Multichrome edition

I have rubbed all sorts of things into my nails, and today I share with you the last of those things, the mutlichrome chromes.

There are some uber amazing looking multichrome chrome powders out there, and they come with equally uber amazing price tags. I was mesmerized by the ones I saw on Simply Nailogical, Nails 21 Brand, but at 18.50Euro per colour, no thanks. The Aora ones also look pretty amazing, but where to buy and how much. I've also seen amazing results with duochrome powder from Didspade, but they no longer sell 1g samples, and their 5g samples are $35USD per colour. I nearly bought the SolarColorDust set of six mirror colours, but at $100 for the set I couldn't justify it. Glitter Unique sells Ultra Chrome Chameleon pigment for $11.50USD a gram but I don't know if that is the pigment that you rub in as all their photos are with it in polish. Australian shop The Nail Shop also stocks Chrome and Chameleon effect powders, and with the exception of the ones below, are the cheapest I've found at $12.65AUD a gram, the swatches and reviews sound very promising.

So what have I got here? I've go the cheap alternative. The $1.99USD per colour version from the Born Pretty Store. Let's jump right in and see what they look like. All these mulitchrome powders are shown over a black base of Dance Legend Glitter base, not gel.

#687 - Gold to green

#684 Teal to purple

#682 Purple to bronze

#681 Magenta to gold

#589 Gold to green to blue

#587 - Teal green to pink to purple

#585 - Gold to green

#583 - light blue to purple

I was pleasantly surprised with this chrome powders. They did end up with a nice shiny multichrome finish after a good rubbing, but they do start out feeling a little gritty. I'm not sure I can say they have that same smooth mirror look as the silver mirror powders I've been using. These still have a slightly speckled sparkly appearance. There are a few colours in this set that are very similar as well, where you can only tell the difference between them if you compared them side by side.

One thing I noticed was that these powders are all white or iridescent, with the exception of the first one (#687). The first gold one was also the one that provided me with the best mirror like finish. Other brands I've looked at, like Nails 21 and the pigments from Didspade and SolarColorDust, the actual powder is coloured. So they are definitely a different thing. Maybe I'll cave in a buy one of those other brands just so I can compare, but for now, these are pretty good for the price point.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

by Kitties26 on Tuesday, August 30, 2016 11 comments

The Polish Chrome Wars Part 7 - Polish Vs Powder holo edition

I have two more blog posts to squeeze in before the 31 Day Challenge starts on Thursday, and they will round out my series on the Polish Chrome Wars.

Today's installment is Polish vs Powder in the battle of whether holographic nail polish or holographic powder is the winner when it comes to holo-awesomeness.

The first comparison is between some of the 50 micron holo powder (over black) and the holo-est polish I own Nfu Oh 61 (original version). You can see my silver holo polish swatch comparison and my silver holo video comparison to see why I chose that polish as the most holo.

Wow, these are so different. The index and ring finger and Nfu Oh 61 and the middle and pinky finger are the holo powder. The flame has a stronger colour intensity and is much tighter with the holo powder, even though the particles are bigger. The polish is less intense but also shows more flame on the nail at once.

My second comparison was with China Glaze OMG and the finest particle size holo powder from Daily Charme (over white). OMG is on the index and ring finger and the powder is on the middle and pinky.

Again, these are so different. I can't believe how lousy the holo powder makes OMG look. OMG is by far the finest and smoothest holo polish you can get (or not get as the case my be) and it looks like nothing compared to the powder.

My verdict on the winner. Powder. And the powder would likely have better staying power too compared to these holos, which are generally considered rather chippy and don't stay on your nails for long.

by Kitties26 on Tuesday, August 30, 2016 2 comments

31 Day Challenge update

Just a quick update on the 31 Day Challenge.

I've had quite a few emails asking if I'm participating again this year and if there is an inlinkz. The answer to both is YES.

I'll be at it for my fourth year in a row throughout the month of September.

Inlinkz for all the prompts are available now on the Inlinkz Page.

Sarah from Chalkboard nails has the most comprehensive FAQ page about the challenge, eg who can participate, the hashtags etc. Please check it out if you would like to participate.

Let the polishing begin! I sure hope you can join us!

Monday, August 29, 2016

by Kitties26 on Monday, August 29, 2016 4 comments

Seeing nail art everywhere

I'm guessing that I'm not the only person out there that can see nail art in almost anything. When I paintings, or fabric or patterns I instantly see how it can be translated into nail art.

Take this example. This is the packing for the Trefiel Hydromasks that I showed yesterday. When I saw that teal circular pattern on the package I knew I wanted to create some nail art with that on it. I actually had two stamping plates that would have been perfect. One was a plate that had this near exact design in a much smaller print, so it would have shown full circles on my nails, and then there was this one on a random Born Pretty store plate that had the large partial circles. I liked the idea of the larger partical circles better and I'm really happy with the look, as I don't think the smaller full circles would have looked as striking.

My base polish is Ulta3 Spring Shower, man I haven't pulled out an Ulta3 in ages, in fact I haven't bought an Ulta3 in ages either, I'm not even sure what new collections they might have out.

The stamping polish was a Mundo de Unas teal colour.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

by Kitties26 on Sunday, August 28, 2016 2 comments

When your nails match your Trefiel anti-ageing face mask

I was recently contacted by Australian brand Trefiel to see if I would like to do some nail art inspired by their hydromasks. Intrigued, I jumped over to their website to read about their product. What I discovered was they offer a plant based face mask designed to be moisturizing, nourishing and anti-aging.

Anti-aging, hello, this chicky is going to be 42 in December and I need all the anti-aging help I can get. Plus, the masks are a very chic black lace, and who doesn't love black lace nails! So the collaboration was on.

My package arrived super fast and I was very excited to try out the mask, which I did yesterday on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Now I'm a face mask virgin, so I had no idea what to expect. The texture of the mask is really cool (both in the fun sense and the temperature sense), you can't feel the lace at all, all you feel is a thin gel layer that is super smooth and cold. It was really refreshing and relaxing.

You may have noticed that I don't show my face around here often - not that I'm some hideous monster or anything, it's just that my blog is about nails and nail art, not really the whole beauty thing. In fact I think I'm a bit too old to be considered a Beauty Blogger! I'm certainly not going to plaster my saggy wrinkly eyes over my blog, although I might post an Instagram story with my full mask on.

A single package contains both an upper and a lower face mask. You can position them and overlap them however you need to get full coverage. I would definitely recommend lying down whilst wearing them, otherwise they do tend to slide down off your face. It is definitely a good excuse to have a quite moment to yourself (or not, if you are like me and have your kids coming around and poking at your face saying it feels slimy and you look funny).

Let's look at my matching lacy nails. My base is Picture Polish Cherish and I stamped with Mundo de Unas black polish. the stamping place was Messy Mansion MM44, and I used a lace image that I hadn't used yet. I think this stamp really matches the lace in the mask quite well, right down to the round circles.

Here I am, outside scoring some vitamin D on yesterday's glorious late winter's day with my anti-aging lace mask on. Canberra winter's really are the best. Ok we get cold mornings, but we also get so much sun shine.

So what did I think, did I look any younger and were my wrinkles reduced? I can't say that I noticed much significant difference in appearance after one application, but I can say that my skin felt different. Much smoother and more hydrated. After applying the mask, I also rubbed the excess liquidy goodness that was dripping off it, into my hands, fingers and cuticles. They too felt a bit softer and more hydrated. Man how I would love a lacy pair of hydro gloves to wear to make my hands more moisturized and less wrinkly too - what do you reckon Trefiel??

These super elegant lacy face hydromasks are available from Trefiel. Look out for my nails on their instagram too - @trefiel

Hydromask provided for nail art inspired collaboration.

Saturday, August 27, 2016

by Kitties26 on Saturday, August 27, 2016 2 comments

Inspired by inspiration

Gee we are getting close to the end of the year long 40 Great Nail Art Ideas challenge. We started with about 60 participants, but every week now it seems to get smaller and smaller, and I think we are down to about 10 regular participants now.

This week's theme is inspiration, which is a really broad theme. Sometimes with really broad themes it can be more challenging to think up a design to do. I ended up doing some google image searches for nail art until something caught my eye. Something did catch my eye, and when I did a reverse google image search on the image, I discovered it was created by YouTuber Have Less Travel More - previously know as Juliatmll.

The reason this design struck a chord with me was that it was an intense dotticure, and dotticures remind me of the lady who organised this whole nail art challenge about this time last year - the Crumpet. So my inspiration nails go out to the lady who inspired us to take on this monumental year long nail art challenge.

An InLinkz Link-up

Friday, August 26, 2016

by Kitties26 on Friday, August 26, 2016 1 comment

Dance Legend Angel Wings Collection

I have some simple geometric nail art with some soft shades from Dance Legend tonight. These two shades are from the Angel Wings collection, which is a collection of six neutral shades all with a strong shimmer and a semi matte finish.

The two colours I chose to review are Fly Away and Over Cloud. I teamed these up with some holographic grey striping tape.

Over Cloud is a very pale creme shade with a gold glass fleck and a silvery shimmer. When I saw these in the bottle I was worried that it would end up looking really frosty on the nail, but it doesn't, instead it has the ethereal quality to it that is very soft and elegant. I did three thin coats here and topped it with seche vite, because I found that top coat bought out the shimmer so much more. The formula is easy to apply, and the first two coats will look a bit streaky and patchy, but the third makes it look like the outside of a pearl.

Fly away is the darkest shade in the collection and a a cool toned neutral beige that has plenty of silver flecks and shimmer. This is a lovely nude shade that brings more than just a regular mannequin hands look. This was three thin coats with Seche Vite Top coat.

Here are all the Dance Legend links for your shopping and social engagement.

Polishes provided for consideration.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

by Kitties26 on Wednesday, August 24, 2016 5 comments

The Digital Dozen does birthday's

It's birthday time again at the Digital Dozen and this time around there are two to celebrate. Amanda from Lady Maid Nails and Tamara from Canadian Nail Fanatic. Happy Birthday girls. Together they chose this crazy pop art image for us to all interpret as nail art.

I thought it would be easy peasy, but it was actually really difficult.

I did these on a stamping mat using a bunch of different stamps and then cutting out bits of each of those decals and sticking them on top of each other. the orange starbursts and the text were done freehand, as well as the line around the dots.

I like that the image had four characters, so I could put on on each nail, although it would have been awesome if its say POW, cause then I could have used the Bundle Monster plate with that on it.