Vintage Valentine Nail Art

Woohoo, more V-Day nail art! Today's mani is by far one of my all time favorites. I just love vintage-y nail art for Valentine's Day... anytime really. This mani is just so simple but still so elegant. :)


This mani was done with polishes from my Valentine's Day collection (Victorian Romance) and a little help from Born Pretty Store rose decals. I started with a base of My Own Sweet Valentine with an accent nail of Parchment & Lace. Once MOSV was dry I sponged on some Cheeks Tinted Red and a little more MOSV to really blend it together. The shimmer on this gradient was insane! I used top coat on Parchment and Lace and then used a Born Pretty Store water decal. (These decals are only $0.88 right now! Plus if you use the code BPS2014 you'll get 15% off sitewide! I say these are more than worth every penny!!!)


The decal was so easy to use. Just cut it out, dunk it into water (warm water if it's winter) for 10-15 seconds and the decal will slip right off the paper and be easy to position on your nail. I lightly wet the nail and placed the rose. I used a paper towel to blot the excess water and then gently used a finger to press the decal down, getting rid of wrinkles and bubbles until the decal dried completely. Then I topped it with more top coat and it was perfect!!


I couldn't resist trying the glitter of Love & Devotion over the gradient. It's nice, but I found I preferred the simplicity of the gradient alone.

What's your go-to nail art for Valentine's Day?

pekal

0 comments:

Hairy Legs London - Bad Luck

 Hi guys, today I have a swatch to show you from Hairy Legs London.  I have been sitting on this swatch for a while now - at first, it was because the shop was closed for the holidays, then when it re-opened, I just didn't quite get around to it until now :)

This is called Bad Luck, and I was actually lucky enough to win this in a giveaway way back in October, I think.  It's a mixture of metallic silver shards, blue-green iridescent clear shards, and white flakies.  This is 1 slightly thicker coat, over Revlon - Royal. The formula was pretty easy to work with, I don't think I had to place any extra shards on the nail, but it has been a while, so I could be wrong.
I love this polish, it really does look like pieces of a smashed mirror, and those blue-green iridescent shards are just beautiful.  I think this would look fantastic over any dark colour really, but blue and black would probably be my favourites.
 I am pleased to be able to tell you that this polish is still available, despite my late posting, so if you like it, you can still find it in the Etsy store here.  You can also follow Hairy Legs on Facebook here.


pekal

0 comments:

Spotted: NEW L'Oreal Spring 2014 Les Blancs Collection

L'Oreal's been on a roll lately with their Colour Riche polishes. The new-ish Gold Dust polishes are gorgeous, and now we've got some pretty pastels and some speckled polishes too! Huge thanks to longtime reader Cyndiinphilly for this one--Cyndi spotted this brand spankin' new L'Oreal polish collection at her local Bed Bath & Beyond this week and was nice enough to share some pics. Take a peek!

pekal

0 comments:

Spotted and Swatched: NEW Bonne Bell Nail Lacquers, Lip Lacquers and Lipsticks


Purchased by Me
I spotted not one, but TWO new Bonne Bell displays at Kmart this week and I have tons of pics and swatches for you. First let's take a look at the new American Landscape collection (I'll be posting pics and swatches from the other new collection, which contains new balms and glosses, either today or tomorrow).




NEW Bonne Bell American Landscape Collection

Nail Lacquers, Lip

pekal

0 comments:

Valentine's Day #1 - Nailart



Hello lovelies! This is the first valentine's day nailart of 2014! I'm preparing a few more!

This one is so far one of my favorites! The base color is Cliché 'Faz de Conta' (review here) and it was stamped with O.P.I. Visions of Love and my very favorite plate from MoYou - Pro 07! I can't even tell you how many times I have used it already!

Cucu princesas! Esta vai ser a primeira mani de S.Valentim deste ano e sem dúvida uma das minhas preferidas, ever! A cor base é o sand cliché 'Faz de Conta' que já mostrei aqui. O verniz que usei para carimbar foi o O.P.I. Visions of Love que carimba explendidamente. A Placa usada foi a minha preferida da MoYou-London, a Pro-07. Já nem consigo contar as vezes que já a usei! 



cliche faz de conta


Info by the end of the post


  • Base Coat - O.P.I. - Nail Envy 
  • O.P.I. Visions of Love is reviewed here;
  • Cliché 'Faz de Conta' is reviewd here;
  • MoYou-London Pro Collection 07
  • no TC



cliche faz de conta

cliche faz de conta


cliche faz de conta




pekal

0 comments:

Maybelline Gilded Rose is now permanent!

If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen me freaking out about this earlier today. Guess what? The Maybelline Fall/Winter 2013 Limited Edition Brocades Collection shade, Glided Rose, is now PERMANENT! When did this happen? I have no clue, but I spotted one bottle at Kmart this week, all by itself in the permanent display. And it was NOT a leftover from the Brocade display. Check it out:

pekal

0 comments:

New from IsaDora and Sally Hansen plus a little haul from BeautyJoint

***Don't forget to participate in my Essie giveaway, it ends tomorrow!***

It's still quite cold and wintry here, but yet there seems to be growing number of spring colors making their way to the stores already. I just got some new spring polishes from IsaDora and Sally Hansen for review and since I haven't seen yet seen too much of either of these around, I thought I'd share some bottle pictures with you guys. Also, I included a little haul that I made from BeautyJoint at the end of this post. But first, let's start with those IsaDora polishes.

So these five polishes from IsaDora's spring collection called Ray Of Light are (from left to right): Dragonfly (777), Halo (778), Glorious (779), Opaline (780) and Ray Of Light (781).

The colors are really delicate and springlike pastels. IsaDora describes these as glowing iridescent, light pastel shades that contain exclusive luminous pigments. These do have a gorgeous shine and glimmer in them, but the do look a bit pearly in the bottles, so we'll see how they will look on nail. I will do swatches of all of these as soon as possible.
 
Dragonfly and Halo look bretty similar in the bottle. I'd say Dragonfly has more like a very light green base whereas Halo is white base with some pink hues.

Glorious is described as mix of champagne and peach, again quite soft shade as all of these. Opaline is soft light pink and Ray Of Light is leaning towards very light purple.

I'm really interested to see how these all will look on nail and how those luminous pigments will come to life.

I also received six Sally Hansen Satin Glam polishes to try. There are total of eight polishes in this line, so I have all but Metal Iced and Sun Sheen.
These dry on nail to a satin finish, which basically means that they have that matte finish with a lot of shimmer. These are from left to right: Go Gold (01), Crystalline (02), Chic Pink (05), Teal Tulle (06), Taffeta (07) and Silk Onyx (08). I'm really eager to see how these will look on nail as you can't really tell that based on the bottles only. I'll swatch these too as soon as possible.

Judging from the bottles I'd say Go Gold, Crystalline and Silk Onyx might be the ones that I would like the most, but we'll see how these look on nail!

Like I said, I also made a little haul from BeautyJoint.com. This was my first time bying anything from there and based on this one order, I'd say that I was quite impressed by the place. My package arrived really quickly, I don't think I've ever gotten a parcel quicker from the US. Also the shipping costs were very reasonable, you can pay using Paypal and they sell some brands that may be harder to buy here (like Milani or L.A. Girl).

I bought the two polishes I really wanted from China Glaze Sea Goddess collection: Wish On A Starfish and Seahorsin' Around.

These both look so gorgeous in the bottle, I can't wait to try them out!

I also wanted for a while to get some of those L.A. Girl Splatter polishes, so I included three of those to my order.
These are called Splash, Splat and Spatter. Those names are really confusing, it's impossible to remember which one is which! But other than that these look really awesome! I just have to figure out some neat colors to use these with.

*****

Sain IsaDoran ja Sally Hansenin maahantuojalta eilen postissa molempien sarjojen kevätuutuuksia ja ajattelin näyttää teille hieman pullokuvia ennen kuin saan kunnolliset swatchit tehtyä näistä kaikista lakoista.

IsaDoran Ray Of Light kevätkokoelmaan kuulu viisi valoa hehkuvaa pastellisävyä: Dragonfly (777), Halo (778), Glorious (779), Opaline (780) and Ray Of Light (781). Kuvauksen mukaan lakat sisältävät valoa heijastavia pigmenttejä, ja ne kyllä näyttävät varsin kimmeltäviltä jo pullossa. Odotan mielenkiinnolla sitä, miltä ne näyttävät kynnellä!

Sally Hansenin Satin Glam kokoelmaan kuulu yhteensä kahdeksan lakkaa, joista sain testiin kuusi sävyä: Go Gold (01), Crystalline (02), Chic Pink (05), Teal Tulle (06), Taffeta (07) and Silk Onyx (08). Pullojen perusteella Go Gold, Crystalline ja Silk Onyx näyttävät ehkä kaikkien houkuttelivimmilta, mutta saapa nähdä miltä nämäkin kaikki näyttävät sitten kynnellä!

Lisäksi tein vastikää ensimmäisen tilaukseni BeautyJoint.comiin. Tilaus tuli Amerikasta alle viikossa, en ole varmaan koskaan saanut pakettia sieltä näin nopeasti! Lisäksi postikulut olivat ihan kohtuulliset, kaupassa voi maksaa Paypalilla ja myynnissä on sellaisiakin merkkejä, joita ei ihan joka paikasta löydy (esim. Milani ja L.A. Girl). Omaan tilaukseeni otin kaksi lakkaa China Glazen Sea Goddess kokoelmasta ja kolme L.A. Girlin Splatter glitteriä.

***Muistakaahan myös osallistua Essie arvontaan! Arvonta päättyy huomenna.***

pekal

0 comments:

Essence Metal Glam em Portugal

Em breve, em Portugal - Podem ver todos os produtos da colecção aqui.
 Offical press release from the portuguese essence distributor. You can see the complete collection here.


pekal

0 comments:

IsaDora Peel Off Base

I got IsaDora Peel Off Base for review a while ago and I've been trying it out thoroughly with several manicures and different polishes. I've used Essence's Peel Off Base Coat before this IsaDora one, but somehow I just couldn't make that one work for me, so I was little bit doubtful on how this might work. I've also tried to make my own peel off base coat by mixing glue and water, but that didn't turn out too great either (and now I can't even open the bottle anymore as it's glued...). So I really wanted to see how this IsaDora one would work as it would be really helpful especially with glitter polishes.

It comes in the same kind of bottle as all IsaDora polishes do and so there's 6ml (0.2 Fl.oz) in the bottle. Quite little if you ask me! But I do love that IsaDora Wide Brush, it makes the applying really easy. This has that water based formula and it smells like glue, not too bad, but you can still smell it. It's also quite thick, thicker than some regular base coats.

Here I have just applied the base, one coat for each nail except my index finger where I have two coats. It says in the instructions in the bottle that you should use one coat, but I also saw some other instructions where it said that you should use two coats. So here I was trying out which would work better.

You should let the base dry out completely before applying any nail polish, I'd say 5 minutes would do the trick. It's really easy to see when it's dry as it becomes transparent. It took only couple of minutes for this to dry on those nails where I had only one coat of the base. My index nails took much longer with those two coats.

I was really interested in how easy it would be to remove this as that is where I have had problems before with these peel of bases. They all say you can remove the polish really easily in one sheet, but I've always ended up with just tiny bits coming off. This wasn't the case with this IsaDora one, the nail polish really comes off in one or two big pieces! And it comes off really easily too, you just take one edge and start working from there.

Like I said I tried this with several different manicures and here's what was left of those after removing them:
So all of them came off really easily and it didn't matter which type of polish you had. The more coats you had and the thicker the polish layer is, the more easily it comes off too. 

Of course this makes you worried about how the your manicure will last, right? Well, I didn't have too many issues with this either. I noticed that if you use two coats of that Peel Off Base, then your manicure might chip easily or even come fully off, but if you use only one coat, that shouldn't happen. For example, I wore that gradient manicure with those flower decals for five days and washed my hands regularly, showered, did some cleaning and so on and it stayed on really nicely.

Basically, I love this! It's really making me want to wear some glitter bomb polishes more often as I know that the removal wont be so hard. The only thing I don't like about this is the fact that it's one of those limited edition type of things, so it's going to be available only short time, at least for now. I'm really hoping IsaDora will make this a part of their permanent selection, but if see this, you should really grab it while you can!


*I have gotten this product for review. For more information see my disclosure policy.

*****

Tänään siis testissä IsaDoran Peel Off Base, jonka sain jo vähän aikaa sitten arvioitavaksi. Tykkäsin tästä ihan hirmuisesti ja tämä todellakin toimi ainakin minulla! Tätä Peel Off Basea kannattaa lakata kynsille ainoastaan yksi kerros ja antaa tämän kerroksen kuivua ennen varsinaisten lakkojen lakkaamista kunnolla. Näin ainakin minulla lakkaukset kestivät hyvinä useita päiviä, eivätkä ne alkaneet mitenkään halkeilemaan tai irtoamaan. 

Valitettavasti tätä on liikkeellä vain rajoitettu määrä ja monist kaupoista tämä on ollut loppu jo hyvän aikaa. Esimerkiksi Joensuun Sokokselta sanottiin, että heille ei ole lisää tulossa. Maahantuojan mukaankaan tätä ei ole ainakaan näillä näkymin tulossa lisää, sillä kyseessä on kausituote, ellei se sitten joskus muutu pysyvään valikoimaan. Facebookin kynsikoristelut -ryhmässä jaettujen vinkkien perusteella eri kaupunkien Stockmanneilta tätä tuntuisi vielä löytyvän sekä mahdollisesti Carlsonilta, eli kannattaa sieltä käydä kurkkaamassa jos olet vielä tällaista vailla. Jos kumpaakaan ketjua ei löydy lähettyviltä, näyttäisi tätä löytyvän myös vielä Pretty.fistä, täältä. Itsekin tilasin toisen kappaleen juurikin Pretty.fistä varastoon, niin ainakin riittää edes vähäksi aikaa...


*Peel Off Base on saatu arvioitavaksi maahantuojalta, Pretty.fin likki on tässä vain vinkkinä, en hyödy sen käytöstä mitenkään.

pekal

0 comments:

The Polish Bar Swatches

PRESS SAMPLE


The Polish Bar

Hello lovelies! A couple weeks ago, The Polish Bar maker, Janice, sent me a package with a bit of everything by The Polish Bar to show you! It took me a while to swatch them all but here they are! The Polish Bar is featured on my Indie Guide Project and you can see the Janice interview here. 
 I hope you love them as much as I did! Brand contats and how to by are in the end of the post, as usual.

Cucu!! Hoje trago-vos um pouquinho de tudo o que a marca Indie The Polish Bar tem para nos oferecer. Demorei um bocadinho mas aqui estão os swatches dos lindíssimos vernizes que a Janice, a criadora, me enviou para vos mostrar! Esta marca já apareceu no blog, no meu Guia de Vernizes Indie e a entrevista com a criadora, a Janice, pode ser vista aqui. 
 Espero que gostem tanto deles como eu gostei. Os contactos estão no fim do post, ja sabem! :p

the polish bar betty nails






Holiday Collection 2013


*brand info by the end of the post*


- Jingle Stars
Top coat glitter, clear base, blue, white, silver and black multizided and shaped glitter with silver stars. 1 to 2 coats. Glitters spread nice and evenly. 5 mins drying time. 






- Merry and Bright
Top coat glitter, clear base filled with small green glitter and large round multicolored glitter. 1 to 2 coats. 





- Soiree
Red Holographic Gelly. Gorgeous red gelly holographic polish. 3 -4 coats alone, 1 when layered over red. 5 mins drying time.






- Chocolat
Black Holographic Gelly - Stunning gelly black based holographic polish. 3 thin coats alone or 1 when layered over black. 5 mins drying time. 








Fall 2013 Collection

- Far Far away
Medium Purple Holographic Gelly - Gelly Medium purple with holographic finish. 3 coats for full opacity. french tip of nailart - see contrast with Cosmic Glow. 5 mins drying time.





- Cosmic Glow
Light lavander holographic gelly - Top shade of nailart. Light violet, lavender shade with gelly holographic finish. 4 thin coats for full opacity. 6mins drying time. 





- Sugar Kisses
White based glitter. White base color filled with light purple, light purple, nude and mint multisized and shaped small glitters. 3 coats for full opacity or 1 when layered over white. 5 mins drying time. 







Holo Gellies Collection
Cosmic Blue
Blue Gelly holographic polish - Cobalta blue is with 3 coats in the pictures. The formula applies very well and drying time is quite fast, around 5 mins.
A aplicação é muito simples, sendo necessárias 3 camadas para o efeito abaixo. Cerca de 5 mins de tempo de secagem. 




*the products on this post were sent by the brand for an honest review, all opinions are my own*



The Polish Bar INFO 

Blog: n/a

pekal

0 comments:

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)