Orange You Hot?

Today I have another neon from China Glaze's latest summer collection, Orange You Hot. Ths polish is so much brighter outdoors than it is indoors. I swatched it originally inside when I first got it and didn't think it was bright enough. Once it was on my toes, wow! I would describe this colour as Mac and Cheese on steroids kind if bright. Do you remember those commercials they used to have where it would be glowing in the bowl? That is this colour!

Shown on my toes is three coats, these photos were actually taken a week after my pedicure. This was the salon pedicure I received and although it felt good I wasn't too happy with the way my nails were trimmed and shaped. Pedicures I do love and trust the professionals more than myself. I hate the bending and stretching that comes along with doing my toe nails, but I feel like could have done a better job. Oh well, next time I will go back to my regular place.

It's All An Illusion!... or a Decepticon?

So I chopped my nails down lol I got a pretty bad break on my right pointer finder and decided to trim my nails down a lot more than I have in a long time. It is a dramatic change but I kind if like it. I know they will be back in no time anyways so I'm cool :)

This may be the most colour accurate photo I got!

I decided after clipping my nails that I should try out a new Red Angel plate to stamp over Flirty Tankini, which decided to photograph more colour accurately this time around. I am actually starting to get annoyed with my set. The last post here where'd I used my new plates I realized that the images were too deeply engraved. I had originally gone for an image on plate RA-109 and had the same issue with the first stamp, it looked so messy I didn't even stamp it in my nails to test it our it loked so bad on the stamper. I decided to try again and attempted to clean the plate but it was almost impossible! The cotton pad I used literally got stuck to the design, it seemed to be sharp and pointy as well. I attempted using a q-tip and even a "no fluff" pad and they all got stuck :(

This one is pretty close too :)

I gave up on that design and tried a different one from RA-114. This one reminds me of some sort of optical illusion pattern :) My sister on the other hand was reminded of Transformers lol. I used my go to black for stamping, Sally Hansen 10 Day No Chip in Blackberry.

lots of photos to show you how the colour changes again! I wish the lines had come out a bit crisper, not sure if it was the plates fault or how I stamped the nail. All and all I like this pattern but I feel like the quality is not as high as I had originally hoped for. Have you had issues with your Red Angel Plates?

My First EVER Professional Manicure

So I got my first ever professional mani a week ago today, it wasn't as frightening as I had thought it to be lol. I had filed and shaped my nails the way I liked before I went in and told them that I would like to keep them as is. I have heard horror stories about nails be chopped clean off!

Overall it was ok, my favorite part was the massage and the whole being pampered feeling is always nice when you have someone to do stuff for you. Brought my own polish, China Glaze's Flirty Tankini. This colour is super hard to describe and photograph. All of the photos above are not colour accurate at all, it is more pink than red, that being said it also appears to be a new shade in almost every type of lighting. The last photo above in the shade comes the closest to the actual shade in real life but on my work computer this photo still doesn't capture the colour right! Originally in the bottle it looked pink, but in low light I find it to look more coral. Other times it looks bright bubble gum pink! it has a magenta shimmer than runs throughout and really adds depth to the colour. When I first bought it I was unsure how I felt about it, but now I love it :) While it is very pretty and apart of the neon collection, it isn't really as bright as the other neons I own.

Two coats were applied in the photos, but next time I would use a third. The formula was pretty great, you just have to watch how you apply it so you don't get any brush strokes. I wore this to a wedding and it matched my flowers pretty well :) My family seems to like the colour too, my mom kept making comments about it in the salon and my grandma actually wanted me to paint her nails the same shade! I ended up convincing her than maybe a more neutral shade was a better choice ;)

So would I get another professional mani? Probably not at the same place, although they were very nice and did a decent job the spa was fairly far and I didn't like that my tips were not wrapped! As soon as I got home I fixed that up. There were some other tiny things but nothing really worth mentioning.

What are your experiences like at the nail salon or spa?

Copycat + Red Angel Plates Comments

So I am finally removing my Incoco nail polish strips today, but a few days ago I decided I wanted to replicate that design on my other nails painted with Sinful Colors Nail Junkie. I found a ver similar design in my Red Angel collection which can be found on plate RA 113. It is kind of stripy and reminds me of zebras, but when paired with Nail Junkie it reminds me more of seaweed!

So here is the finished look. Now I had some issues with this design inparticular, first of all the design is engraved to deeply. What happens when the image is to deep is when to go to stamp it on your nail or smudges :( I had to be really careful with not pushing too hard on the stamper when picking up the design and gently rolling it on the nail. After a couple of tries I got the hand of it, but below is an example of when I stamped too hard (left) and just right (right).

A little messy right? I guess that is something to be aware of when stamping with new plates. I didn't realize that deeply ingrained images could be just as bad as shallow engraved images. I guess I will need some practice to get it right.

Hope you have a great weekend :)

What a Nail Junkie

I decided that since I am going for my first ever salon manicure that this week I would wear a glitter. I LOVE glitter, but removal is annoying, so I'll just let them remove it :) my glitter of the week? Sinful Colors Nail Junkie.

This polish consists of a green/teal jelly base with so much glitter I don't know where to start! There looks to be two different larger glitters, both irridecent with one having flashes of blues and purples while the other is more orange and gold shades. This polish is also packed with holo and gold glitter, I love how it is suspended within the jelly base. I only used two coats because I knew I would remove it in only a few days. If I were wearing this for longer would either apply another layer or use a nude or teal base.

You may also notice the Incoco polish strip is still on as well. I was ready to take it off finally but then realized that those too are glitter! So I let them be for a few more days. Other than some tip wear they are holding up pretty well! I had these applied on June 30th! you could probably tell from the space between the strip and my cuticle...

I haven't quite decided what colour I'd like for my upcoming mani pedi. I was thinking of keeping it simple and using the same colour for both since I will be in a wedding party the next day, don't want to clash with the dress!

Zuza!!

Zazu, zuzu, zuzee lol I always want to pronounce Zoya's Zazu wrong! Eow, that is like a tongue twister it's self. Zazu was the one colour I knew I HAD to have from the latest summer collection from Zoya. First of all it's teal, and shimmery and Zoya! I have been a fan of Zoya's formula since the first bottle I tried and this one is no different.

I applied two coats total but could have gotten away with one thick coat. I usually prefer two though. The formula was a little thick, so before applying the second coat I added some thinner to my bottle. The finish is a foil, but I feel like it's updated for summer and more creamy. In low light and in the shade the polish shines silver, but in the sun and direct light it shimmers more gold. I love the gold I this colour, it really complements the green/blue hue.

Zuza actually reminds me of another polish I have from Sally Hansen, Honeydew. Honeydew actually has a faint shimmer of silver rather than a foil or shimmery finish, but they still feel close in colour in my mind. You can see when I wore it last summer HERE.

As you can tell I paired it AGAIN with the Incoco nail polish strip I got applied over a week ago. Seriously, at this point I want to see how long it really lasts because at this point it is ridiculous! The wear is just fantastic so close to two full weeks of wear plus a filling and it is still in top condition.

Haulin' Part 2

Happy Friday!!!

Woots! My Zoya package came :) I picked out some polishes a little while back when they had the buy three for $15 + free shipping! The three polishes had to be from the summer collection, but still an awesome deal! I took advantage of the free shipping and added another polish to my order as well.

So here is what I got, left to right:

Zuza and Myrta

Tracie and Rica

The first three are from this years summer collection and the last one is from last years summer collection. It's supposed to be a close dupe for the Wet n' Wild Waves of Enchantment so I had to get it! It was a tough decision though, I almost picked up Apple.

That is all for now, have a good weekend :)

Revlon Super Shine Buffer Review

I week ago I received a fairly new product for review from ChickAdvisor.com, the Revlon Super Shine buffer.

What is it?
Put quite simply a buffer with a slightly rough side and a vinyl-ish smooth side.

What do you get?
Essentially you receive two small fun shaped buffers in one pack, I'm not sure if shape varies but I got a heart and a flower. The back of the packaging includes more information and instructions for use.

What the product claims:

CLAIMS

How it works:
Use the rough side to gently buff the nail bed to remove any ridges and imperfections, then buff with the smoother side to shine the nail.

filed down with the rough side.

Usage and results:
The first time I attempted to use this was on my toe nails and i found the shape of the buffer was a bit awkward to work with. On my fingernails however the petals of the flower seemed to be the perfect shape for my nail bed. I still get that the buffer could have been more of a longer shape to be easier to grip in my hand. Here are my nails buffed.

freshly buffed nails

You get a good buff with this which surprised me because the grit is so fine, I don't feel like I'm damaging my nails.

Next I used the patterned side of the buffer to add gloss to the nail. It worked pretty well! Very shiny, my nails looked like that had been wiped with oil! Very nice. This would be great to use for a French mani or when you don't have time to change polish after removal. BUT I would love it even more if the shape if the buffer was a little more ergonomic.

Brights!

The weather has been freaking amazing the last week and what better way to celebrate than with a bright neon! I picked up China Glaze Shocking Pink on one of my first ever trips to Sallys making it one of the first China Glaze polishes I ever owned!

Fast forward to now and it has been collecting dust, never used. I had sudden urge to pair the Incoco design I had on my ring fingers with a hot pink, that was when I thought of using Shocking Pink. I thought I would finally try it out... And it is awesome!

Application however is a whole other story :( neons are usually a little difficult to apply, this one in particular was visibly thin, meaning multiple coats were needed for opacity, yet thick in smoothness. Since neons dry matte they also dry faster which I found if you went over the same spot more than one you get some balding. I only applied three coats to my nails but could have used four on some nails for strokes and eveness. Luckiliy Seche Vite was good at leveling everything out and making everything glossy and pretty :) three coats was perfect for me.

I feel lie the accent nail looks a lot better with pink, I wasn't given a choice when they were applied. I decided to keep the nail strips on to test out the wear on them. So far they have been going strong for a full week! And that is after filing my nails down with them on! I am super impressed with these.

Win Shellac for Life!! - New Contest

NailPolishCanada.com feels there’s too much pain and suffering caused in the world due to chipped nails and smudges. Years of life are lost re-doing nails (ok, that may be a slight exaggeration).

 That’s why they are leading the charge and changing somebody’s life, by giving away a lifetime supply of CND Shellac. The prize goes to whomever can show they will be most impacted by winning (for better or worse).

 What an awesome opportunity, right?! Below is the official press release they sent to me:

WIN SHELLAC FOR LIFE ($1266 value) - NAILPOLISHCANADA.COM TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Image borrowed from NailPolishCanada.com's web site

 “To be fair, it’s actually only a 25 year supply, so we can only hope the winner dies early to keep me an honest woman” - Nikki Smith, VP of Glitter, Nail Polish Canada.


CND Shellac is a cross between nail polish and gel which is cured under a UV lamp and lasts up to 14 days without chipping.


Chipped nails are an important issue that affect lives in many ways. “We’ve invented substantial research and the reason women slap or bite in a catfight is fear of chipping their nails. Hopefully, together, we can build a world where a woman can throw a punch at the bitch who kissed her boyfriend without worrying about chips” said Ms. Smith.


The prize will go to whomever can show that their life will be most impacted by winning Shellac for life. Be it better, or worse.


Maybe it stops your polish addiction long enough that you can save money, go to school, become a doctor, go to Africa and start saving lives. Did we say that this contest saves lives?


Now we did. Or maybe you’re just looking for a little understanding, “My husband will finally understand that other people take polish as seriously as me...” - Sarah P.”


Or perhaps the result won’t be as positive, “I’ll probably spend all my time painting my nails, not go to work, get fired, now I’m homeless, damn you NPC.” - Beth C”


If you or a loved one is still stuck in a world of chips, smudges and wasting countless hours re-doing nails we urge you to take a stand. Enter at http://www.nailpolishcanada.com/categories/cnd-shellac.html


Grand prize will go to the best description of how winning a lifetime supply of Shellac will change their life. Winner selected August 7, 2012.


Prize Details & Entry


Grand Prize (Value $1266): 33 Bottles of CND Shellac + 36 Watt UV Lamp + 5 Topcoat + 5 Basecoat + Scrub Fresh.


How much Shellac do I need to last 25 years?


1300 (weeks in 25 years) / 2 (weeks application lasts) / 20 (applications per bottle) = 33 bottles of Shellac color


Open to Canadian and United States residents only.


Full rules and entry are HERE.


For further info please contact rachael@nailpolishcanada.com


Trademark Disclaimer: This contest is not sponsored, endorsed, or affiliated with Creative Nail Design Inc. Product names and other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.


Super psyched about this one! I wonder if I can enter, I would definitely love Shellac for life :)

Konad Starter Kit Review!

Today I have an kit for review from NailPolishCanada.com, it's from Konad so you know it's gonna be good ;)

They provided me with a Konad starter kit which is great for beginners because it includes all the essentials, stamper, scraper, special polish plus plate M-36. I was lucky enough to start out using Konad branded plates when I first started stamping, maybe because at the time there were no other substitutions! However, if you are new to stamping I would highly recommend starting with Konad as well, you cannot beat the quality.

I decided to try each design over an orange card with the white stamping polish that came with the kit. The scraper you receive in this kit is metal, which is personally not my first choice, my go to stamper is fully plastic.

My experience with metal scraper was alright, compared to my regular plastic scraper I felt like I had to apply more pressure to remove re excess polish from the design. It also left very fine scratch marks on the plate, fortunately this does not effect the designs at all.

The mini special polish applied quite well to the image plates and the brush was the perfect size, so no issues there. I did feel like it was the tiniest bit thinner than the special white polish I already own but that may be because I have had it for years!

The only issue I had was with the intricacy of some of the designs on the plate. I could just not get them to stamp fully! I applied less polish, more polish, less pressure and more pressure to the scraper and stamper. Below was my best run at stamping all of the designs with the products included in the kit.

I also wanted to refresh my mani so I applied my favorite design over Nfu Oh 65.

Overall I would recommend this kit is you are looking to start Konad stamping, it would be nice if you were able to pick your own plate to go with the kits. I did have some issues with Plate M-36 particularly but I have never had these issues with the other Konad plates in my collection.

Also...

Don't forget the contest NailPolishCanada.com is running to win a Konad prize pack valued at $51! Click here to find out more information.

*This product was sent to me for an honest review, all views expressed are my own honest option.

An Incoco Surprise

So my awesome boyfriend took me shopping at the mall for my birthday and what did I spot? An Incoco kiosk! I haven't seen these before, but I do have a few of Incoco products I have yet to use. Anyways, anything that has to do with nails I am drawn to, so I gravitated towards the booth and started to educate my boyfriend.

A sales lady poped eventually up and proceeds to ask if I'd like a demo! Super cool. So she applied some nail polish remover to my ring finger nails and picked out a patten and slapped them on. Seeing application in person was awesome plus it looked super easy! I think she could have been a tiny bit neater with filing off the excess, but maybe that's just me!

As you can see the pattern is a gold glitter base with a zebra type pattern in black. I applied top coat over it the next day, again, just me being anal (I also touched up the uneven tips with China Glaze's Blonde Bombshell), but it has worn wonderfully! No peeling or chipping, I am very impressed, so far it has been four days and no wear whatsoever! I definitely have to bust out some of my other Incoco and Sally Hanson strips to wear soon!

Have you tried nail polish strips before? Which are your favorite?

Happy Birthday to Me!

More like happy belated, my birthday was on July 1st which is also Canada day :) I gave myself an extra long weekend and went back to work yesterday hence why there have been little posts lately.

Today I have my birthday mani!! It has been sunny and hot out so I chose my Nfu Oh light blue holo to wear, it is number 65. In these photos, believe it or not, is only 1 coat over Nfu Oh's Aqua base. This was my first time using it and it really helped a lot with application, super smooth.

After a day of wear I thought it would be wise to add an additional coat of each the base and polish since I did not use a top coat. Unfortunately I still got tip wear with this one. It makes sense though I was in and out of the pool for a good part of the weekend and regular showers and dish washing. Oh well!

My camera could not capture how holo-rific this actually is in real life. I find that if you give the bottle a good shake before application the effect is stronger. It's so pretty, I could not keep my eyes off my nails, even when I got back to work yesterday! I have awesome lighting over my desk, too bad it was overcast outside.

Oh well, as long as the sun comes back for the weekend which will be here again soon enough ;) I love short weeks!