Showing posts with label gold. Show all posts

Nailvengers Assemble: New Year, New Technique

Hey everyone! Before I start off I just want to say a massive thankyou to you all for voting for me in the China Glaze holiday competition, because I won!! I'm so unbelievably happy and it's all down to you, so thankyou. Anyway, today I'm super excited to share a new project with you. Me, Sammy of The Nailasaurus, Lucie of Lucy's Stash, Allie of Brit Nails and Amelia of xameliax have started a new monthly challenge group called Nailvengers Assemble. After all meeting at the Cosmo Blog Awards, we've been in constant contact, and we decided that it would be a great idea to create something like this. I'm so excited to be part of this with such an amazing group of people, and I hope you will all get involved too! We will be posting on the last day of every month with a new challenge, and you will have the whole of the next month to post your versions of the prompt. This month's challenge is 'New Year, New Technique'. If you want to get involved you can use the hashtag #nailvengers and you can like our facebook page to keep up to date with what we're doing:



So for this month's new technique I chose to do negative space nails. I've been seeing them around for a while and I've always wanted to give it a go, and I'm so glad I did. These took a bit longer than expected but I'm really happy with how they came out.  I had to take these pictures on a different camera to usual so the lighting looks a bit different, but I'll be back to my usual camera for the next post!


The base for these nails was OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then I used Barry M - Gold Foil to draw the shapes using a brush, and acetone and a wide brush to clean up the space. Then I used Seche Vite to top it off


What do you think? Let me know in the comments! 
Don't forget to use the hashtag #nailvengers if you give a new technique a try this month
Alice

Askruk46

China Glaze Happy Holiglaze Christmas Collection 2013 Swatches and Review - Part 1

Hey everyone! Today I'm going to be showing you the gorgeous China Glaze Happy Holiglaze collection. There are 12 polishes altogether in the collection so I decided to split it in to two parts so that you don't get overloaded with pictures. The first part is the 5 foils, and I also included the one textured polish of the collection. The second part will be with all the glitters of the collection, which I'll post in the next few days, so make sure to keep an eye out. Full post will be after the jump!


First up is Elfin' Around*, a coral/red foil. This was 2 very easy coats (without topcoat) but I could have probably got away with one. The photos don't show it well, but depending on the angle the colour really shifts between red and orange and it looks amazing.



Mingle With Kringle* is an amazing gold which reminds me of chocolate money. This was again 2 easy coats. I love the colour, although I feel that it doesn't really suit my skin tone, but I don't particularly like the name of this polish. I dont really understand it to be perfectly honest, I google 'kringle' and it's a kind of pastry so I'm even more confused! How can you mingle with pastry? (EDIT: thanks to Christina for informing me that Kris Kringle is another name for Santa, I should probably have guessed but I don't think I've heard it in the UK before, oops!) Anyway, this again was without topcoat and it's still amazingly shiny.



Just Be-Claws* is a pure red foil, and it 100% just shouts "CHRISTMAS!!", I can definitely see why this was chosen for the collection haha. This again was 2 easy coats without topcoat


So Blue Without You* is a bright sea blue foil. I'd say this reminds me of wrapping paper, but it also feels very summery and quite odd for a christmas collection. Although, I'm glad for the splash of bright colour amongst the otherwise quite red foils. This was 2 easy coats without topcoat



The last of the five foils is Santa Red My List*, which I feel is slightly oddly named as it's actually the least red of the 3 pink/red foils. Again this was without topcoat, but I only needed 1 coat for opacity, such an awesome polish!



Finally we have the polish I was least looking forward to from this collection, There's Snow-One Like You*, which is a white textured polish. After seeing swatches online before I received them I thought this was possibly one of the worst ideas ever, I was hoping it would be more of a texture like the black textured polish 'Bump in the Night' from the recent Halloween collection. However, my friend Emily from Very Emily had the genius idea of layering one coat over white, rather than letting it build up and get excessively lumpy, and I think it looks so much better.  I now actually really like the idea of this as a novelty polish, and I think it was also make quite a good french tip for a snow scene design if you don't mind the 3D too much. The base for these nails was MASH - White for those who are wondering



Overall I really love this collection, I think it's well suited to Christmas and (as always) all the polishes are amazing quality. However, I do believe there are too many similar red/pink/coral foils in the collection, another colour foil may have spruced up the collection a bit more. Nevertheless, they still all look awesome, and I'm so glad I got the chance to try them!

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Alice

Askruk46

Mechanical Nails: Inspired by Models Own & Ford Fiesta

Happy Saturday everyone! Today I bring you a review of a new Models Own set, and some funky mechanical-inspired nails. My favourite nail polish brand and Ford Retail have recently teamed up to develop an A/W collection, and the colours all match the new Fiesta shades. These varnishes are perfect for petrol-heads with a penchant for pretty polish!

First up is 'Candy Blue'*, which I adore. I have a thing for blue and turquoise polishes, and this is a lovely edition to my collection. Once applied it has more of a green tint than the bottle suggests, and there's a gorgeous fine glitter throughout. This only took 2 coats and it dried nice and quickly, like all Models Own polishes. My only gripe is that the consistency was rather runny, but this always tends to be the case with subtle shimmers.
Next is 'Fashionista'*, which I hate. I have never come across a nail polish colour that I dislike so much. I knew as soon as I saw it that it would NOT be a winner, and once I applied it, I was so unimpressed that I had to remove as quickly as possible! There was just something about the colour that didn't sit right with me. I tend to like my golds really rich and lively, but this has more of a greenish tint. The finish was also streaky, and it took quite a while to dry so I smudged it a lot. 
Finally is 'Hot Magenta'*, and I'm so gutted that my iPhone camera doesn't do the colour justice, because it is gorgeous! It's a deep burgundy with a very subtle red shimmer throughout, and it only takes 2 coats for a perfect, smooth finish. This cheered me right up after my 'Fashionista' woes, and I loved it so much that I kept it as a base for my manicure!

So, as I said at the beginning of the post, Models Own and Ford Retail have recently partnered in the creation of a new collection - the 'Glam It Up' set - which will be exclusive to test drivers of the new Ford Fiesta throughout the month of September '13. To get your paws on a set, all you have to do is register your details with Ford, visit one of their new car showrooms, and take a car for a test drive. Then this set will be posted out to you! The whole concept developed from the new Ford Fiesta's contemporary style, with every feature designed to make for a state-of-the-art, fashion forward driving experience. 

I wanted to do some car-inspired nail art for this manicure, so I Googled 'car engine' and used the images as a starting point. It would have been reeeeally difficult to recreate an actual engine on my nails, so I kept it a bit more simple and just took inspiration from the components. My manicure ended up looking quite tribal, but I still think it echoes the cogs and contraptions of a combustion engine, and the added bits of glitter make it very girly!

The equipment:

Models Own 'Hot Magenta'*
Rio gold nail art pen
Rio silver nail art pen
e.l.f. 'Dream Maker'
Tiny dotting tool
With my rich red base, I began to add details using Rio nail art pens. I used the striping brush ends for the lines, and then added more details using the pen nibs. I combined stripes, dots and dashes, and then carefully added the larger sequins from 'Dream Maker' using the dotting tool. 
I wasn't too sure about this manicure at first, but I really like how random and funky it is. I also love the gold and silver details on top of a red base, it's very autumnal! What do you think? Do you like Models Own and Ford Retail's "road-worthy nail polish collection"?**

*'Glam It Up' will be exclusively available to test drivers of the new Ford Fiesta for the month of September. To book your test drive visit www.glamitupagear.co.uk. These products were sent to me for review, however this has not influenced my opinion in any way. As always, I have been 100% honest about my experiences with the product.

**Quote Ford Retail's Group Marketing and E-Commerce Director, Celia Pronto.

Askruk46

JACAVA London: Swatches and Review

Hi everyone, I hope you're all well! Today I have a review of a lovely new brand called Jacava, a UK-based company that specialises in luxury nail polish. Jacava's nail polish 8-free. You may or may not have heard about 3-free polishes (brands such as OPI and Essie don't contain Dibutyl Phthalate, Toluene or Formaldehyde, which are considered toxic) and 5-free polishes (the likes of Chanel and Dior are also free of Formaldehyde Resin and Camphor, which research has also proved risky). Well, Jacava take this even further by ensuring that all of their polishes are free from eight key nail varnish downfalls: there's no Formaldehyde, Camphor, Toluene, DBP, Collophane, Phthalates or Animal Testing. What's more, their bottles boast a gorgeous 22 carat gold print, so if the science and ethics don't impress you, surely the packaging does?!
Anyway, I originally chose to review 'Chillax'*, which is a beautiful, metallic turquoise. It looks more green on both the colour menu on the site, but even though the true colour is more teal, it's still lovely. When my parcel arrived, to my surprise the generous people of Jacava London had sent me two other shades to review: 'Midnight's Secrets'*, a shimmery royal blue, and 'Mont Blanc'*, a smooth pure white. 
Although their selection isn't huge, there is certainly a shade to suit everyone. From the menu, I can say that 'Knightsbridge Opulence' and 'Marrakesh Nights' have also caught my eye... How perfect are these names? Honestly, being a nail polish namer must be the best job in the world...
Jacava's packaging is really impressive. The bottles are a good size and feel sturdy, so there's little risk of smashes or cracks. The lids are long and smooth, and easy to grip, and the brushes also appear to be long enough to touch the bottom of the bottle. I've found this to be one of my pet hates of nail polish - why do some companies make the brushes so short? Some people actually want to finish bottles of nail polish, y'know! 
All of the polishes applied beautifully. The brushes are a good width to reach the corners of your nails, and there were no stray bristles on the first opening (another pet hate). The consistency was great, and both 'Chillax' and 'Midnight's Secrets' only took 2 coats for opacity. 'Mont Blanc' required 3 coats, but as I always say, that's just to be expected of pale polishes.
My favourite is definitely 'Chillax', because I love the subtly of the shimmer and the rich turquoise shade. However, I'm also really glad that I received 'Mont Blanc', because I've been in need of a quality white for a while. 'Midnight's Secrets' is also really pretty, and despite my vast collection of blue polishes, it's quite different to every other.
What do you think? What's your favourite shade? Have you ever tried Jacava, or other luxury nail varnish brands? 


*Jacava London nail polishes RRP at £14.50 each and can be found via their website. These products were sent to me for review, however this has not influenced my opinion in any way. As always, I have been 100% honest about my experiences with the product.

Askruk46

Butter LONDON Marbs - Review and Nail Art

Hey everyone! Today I have a quick review of Butter LONDON 'Marbs'* from Butter LONDON's new Summer Holiday 2013 collection. It's a lovely gold with a hint of silver in it as you shall see. I couldnt resist creating a bit of nail art for you too using my new Orly Dotting Tool* and Orly Striping Brush* that I received from HQhair (a deceiving name considering they also sell nail products too). 


I originally tried to create a design with dots and triangles together on the alternative nails but it looked overcrowded so I ended up redoing it. I used the striping brush for the triangles and touched it up with the dotting tool. For the ring and pointer finger I used striping tape. The black is China Glaze - Liquid Leather 


For me the striper was too long to use as it was so I cut it down, but once I had it worked brilliantly. 


This was just one coat of Marbs* with no top coat, it's ridiculously opaque and it looks brill!



What do you think? Will you be buying Marbs? You can get it here on lookfantastic.com for £12 with free postage worldwide! You can also get the striper here and the dotting tool here on HQhair.com for £7 each, again with free shipping worldwide, and I'd definitely recommend them!

Also, my giveaway is now over so dont forget to check your emails to see if you've won!

Alice

*some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but my opinions were not influenced in any way

Askruk46

7 Deadly Sins - Pride

Happy Sunday! (And Father's Day, if I happen to have any readers who are daddies...) Today I'm presenting you with a tutorial for my next Seven Deadly Sins manicure, 'Pride', and I've worked with the concept of peacock feathers ('Proud as a Peacock', I think the saying goes). I've seen lots of a peacock inspired nail art, and I love the combination of colours and the simplicity of the design.

The equipment:

Rimmel 'Azure'
W7 'Neon Green'
Missguided 'Misslead'
No. 7 'Hot to Trot'
No. 7 'Totally Teal'
Models Own ' Gold Finger'
Rio black nail art pen
A fine nail art paint brush
I started out with a lime green base, using two coats of W7 'Neon Green'. I initially painted my thumb nail the same as the others, but I soon decided that this would alter at the end of the manicure!
Next, using No. 7 'Hot to Trot', I added ovals of gold in the centre of my nails. I used a fine paint brush to neaten up the edges.
Once dry, I used the gorgeous Rimmel 'Azure' to add tear drop shapes inside the gold ovals. I absolutely adore this colour, and it's absolutely perfect for a peacock design. I also topped the lime green sections with Missguided 'Misslead', which is a subtle shimmery polish in yellow.
Then I added small black circles to the bottom of the azure tear drops, and using the striping brush end of my nail art pen, I painted a line up to the base of my nails.
Next, using No. 7 'Totally Teal' and the paint brush, I added darker green details to the feathers. I also added sparkles to the gold section of the feather, using Models Own 'Gold Finger'. It's a very subtle effect, but it makes the feathers sparkle when they catch the light!

Finally, as can be seen in the first image, I painted my thumb nail with Rimmel 'Azure' and then wrote 'Pride' using the black nail art pen. I also added a few more sparkles using 'Gold Finger', which ties the whole manicure together.

These are the first photos I've taking using my DIY light box (courtesy of my lovely boyfriend). I think I may post a tutorial of the whole process, because it was so simple and yet it works a treat! There are lots of DIY light box tutorials out there, but mine is slightly different, and I think it was actually much easier. Watch this space...

Askruk46

7 Deadly Sins - Greed

 
Evening! Yes I've been a rubbish blogger YET AGAIN... The weather has been so gorgeous recently that I've tried to be out and about as much as possible. My nails have either been bare or a simple shade of peach for the past week, so I thought it was about time to do something sparkly and O.T.T! Here's my latest offering to the theme of Seven Deadly Sins...
I decided to represent the sin of greed with diamonds, glitter and jewels. I used two gorgeous shades - Rimmel 'Pompous' and Models Own 'Gold Finger' - along with my beloved Nails Inc. 'Bling It On' in silver, a couple of studs, and some tiny gems. I also used Rio nail art pens (I seem to have misplaced my Models Own ones, and Rio work just as well).
As always, I started out with my bases. Can you believe I achieved this finish with only 2 coats of each varnish? I highly recommend Rimmel for this - all of their polishes have a really good consistency, a lovely flat brush, and end up looking perfect after only a couple of coats. They also tend to be very quick drying, which is a plus! 'Gold Finger' is also brilliant in terms of minimal application, which is surprising for a glitter polish.
Once dry, I used a white nail art pen to begin the base for a diamond. I used the striping brush end to get clean, straight lines, and then filled it in.
Once both of my diamonds were dry, I applied Nails Inc. 'Bling It On', which is a fine silver glitter in a cute little bottle. I dabbed it on with a brush, then cleaned up the edges (my little finger nails is a diamond prior to the clean up!) Then I used my black nail art pen to add more details to the diamond.
I normally avoid using large embellishments on my nails, because they're so slim and curved. These studs would be ideal for someone with lovely flat, broad nails, but hopefully the two clear top coats I applied will keep them in place! I added purple gems to this nail, and on the final purple nail I used silver gems.

Finally, I wrote 'Greed' across my thumb. These nails are far too O.T.T. for day-to-day activities, and I'm pretty sure I will lose a few gems while washing dishes/washing my hair/living in general. However I think they aptly represent the sin of greed because they're so embellished and opulent. I also think the purple and gold shades complement one another beautifully, and really relate to the concept of wealth and indulgence!

What do you think? Do you like to use studs or gems, or stick to something more simple?

Askruk46

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)