Showing posts with label sinful colours. Show all posts

Rosy Russian Dolls

Hi! I'm finally home after a week away, and I'm so glad to be back to my nail-arting ways. Today's design was suggested by a friend, and it was such a good idea that I had to have a go. This is actually my third attempt at Russian dolls (the first two didn't go down very well), and I discovered that simplicity is DEFINITELY the way forward. I also made use of my brand new nail art brushes, which you will see pictured below...

The equipment:

Sinful Colors 'Unicorn'
Sinful Colors 'Pistache'
e.l.f. 'Smokin Hot'
Models Own 'Soda Pop Pink'
Models Own white nail art pen
Models Own black nail art pen
Barry M 'Shocking Pink'
No. 7 'Totally Teal'
Essie 'Matte About You'
Fine nail art paint brush
Small dotting tool
I started out with a base of 'Unicorn', which took 3 coats for opacity. Once it was dry, I applied the base red of the dolls. It's a lovely rich scarlet by e.l.f. Cosmetics, and my most used colour from the set I recently won in a competition. I tried to ensure each Russian doll decreased in size, although my index, middle and ring finger nails are all pretty much the same size.
Once dry, I started adding details. I used my white nail art pen for the dots and faces, and black for the hair and eyes. Then I used 'Soda Pop Pink' and the dotting tool for the rosy cheeks. I also used this colour for the roses, and applied blobs before painting petals using Barry M 'Shocking Pink'. I added some highlights with my white nail art pen, and then created the tiny leaves using 'Pistache' as a base, with 'Totally Teal' for added detail.
Oh, and I can't forget the lips! I painted tiny heart shapes using 'Shocking Pink' and my fine paint brush. Once everything was completely dry, I topped off the manicure with 'Matte About You'. The dolls also looked good shiny, but the matte top coat seems to tie it together more effectively. This manicure isn't as precise as I would have liked, but the tiny scale of the dolls made it almost impossible to get every detail neat and tidy. However, front a distance they look much better!
These are the brushes that arrived today. I ordered from Amazon and they cost a mere £2.26... Amazing! It's a 15 piece set and includes brushes of all sizes and widths, as well as a lovely little dotting tool. The only problem is that the coating on the handles doesn't agree with nail polish remover (as with many cheap brushes), so you have to be super careful to not make sure your painting hand doesn't get acetone on it... It turns out to be a rather sticky situation! If you fancy some bargain brushes, check them out here. They're also available in pink and black, and I could have sworn I ordered the pink ones, but never mind! They still do the job :)

What do you think?  Have you ever attempted a Russian doll manicure?

Askruk46

Sinful Colors Haul: A New Purse Friendly Favourite

Hi everyone! Long time no see... I feel guilty for not blogging for a while, but it's been a busy few weeks. I had to squeeze in lots of Dissertation (snore) work before my holiday to the South of France, so my nails have been taking a back seat! Unfortunately I haven't had time to do a new design, but I wanted to share with you my recent purchases. I've always been intrigued by Sinful Colors, as so many of the US based nail artists I follow always seem to use it! The brand is finally available in large Boots stores all over the UK, and when I first noticed the stand in the middle of the cosmetics section, the £1.99 price tags made me a little sceptical, especially after being so disappointed with other cheap brands (*cough* LA Colors *cough*). However, after reading a few reviews of Sinful Colors, I decided to take the plunge and part with (just under) ten British pounds!
This is my personal favourite, 'Easy Going', which is a soft, off-white shade with a lovely finish for such a pale polish. I love light colours and this is the perfect addition to my collection. It will also be a nice alternative to white, and will be a pretty base for more intricate designs.
'Island Coral' is yet another pink shade (the photo doesn't really do it justice) but, as its name suggests, it is a slightly coral-coloured nail varnish and therefore very summery! It only took 2 coats for a good opaque finish, which is impressive for such a bargain price. 
This pale yellow is called 'Unicorn', which is such a cute name, but I don't really understand it... I'm pretty sure unicorns aren't yellow. Anyway. It's a lovely soft colour and is much more delicate than my other yellow polishes. It took around 4 coats to achieve this finish which isn't fantastic, but this was mainly due to the runny consistency of this bottle. 
'Pistache' is soooo much brighter than the bottle initially suggests. I was expecting a sort of pastel-teal-green, but it's actually a lot more neon when on your nails. I still quite like it though... One can never have too many greens! Like 'Unicorn', this polish was a lot runnier than the other bottles. 

I haven't bothered to swatch 'Black on Black' because, well, it's black. I must say though, this is one of the best black polishes I've come across (especially for the price), because it only took 2 coats to achieve a really good finish. All in all, I'm pretty impressed with Sinful Colors and I won't hesitate to buy again, but this is mainly due to their £1.99 price tags. The consistency of the polish is a bit too runny for my liking, especially in the cases of some of the shades, but the bottle sizes are really good and the brushes are nice and slim. The colour range is also exceptional, so if you're a UK resident who's looking for some bargain nail varnishes, head straight to your nearest 'big' Boots!

Has anyone else tried Sinful Colors? Or can you recommend any other bargain brands? I promise I'll be back soon with some new nail art... I'm currently cooking up a design inspired by my holiday, so watch this space! 

Askruk46

Barry M Nail Art Pens Review

Hey everyone! Today I have a post which I'm super excited to show you, using the 4 new Barry M nail art pens. They were released in Superdrug and online today (10th April) and will be released in Boots on the 17th April. As you will see, I highly recommend getting at least one of these pens because they're awesome and completely unlike any other nail art pens I've tried before. More after the jump!




First up is the White Nail Art Pen. The design I chose to do was inspired by this Nancy Mc design, which I've wanted to do for ages but haven't had the courage to do with a brush. I started with a base of OPI - Just a Little Rosti at This and then drew a line followed by two dots on either side for the bone, then I topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite. 


I also did a matte version of these nails, because you know I can never resist, which do you prefer?



As you can see the nib is unlike most nail art pens. Rather than squeezing thick nail varnish through a tiny needle (which always gets blocked) you instead push the end of this down until the nail varnish flows through it. I'm not entirely sure if this is pure nail varnish, because although it's super opaque it's a lot runnier than usual, but it's definitely better than any other nail art pen I've tried. 


This Silver Nail Art Pen was probably my least favourite of the bunch. In person the silver looked completely opaque so if you're not a nail blogger like me it shouldn't matter, but the camera made these look quite translucent. I think I may have done something wrong and I shall be trying this again to make sure because the rest of the pens are great. My only issue with this is the opacity, and another layer over this would have solved that, so overall it's still a great pen. 

For this design I painted 2 layers of Barry M - Black, and then I painted a layer of Barry M - Aqua Green over the top for the duochrome effect. I painted on the baroque print using the silver nail art pen and topped it off with a layer of Seche Vite. 



I absolutely love this Pink Nail Art Pen, and I'm so glad they chose to include it as it gives a burst of colour to the collection. I really hope they bring out more shades because my experience of these so far has been nothing but positive! (Blue perhaps?) This pink is super opaque and dries really quickly. 

Anyway, for this design I started with a base of Essence - That's What I Mint and then I painted on the hearts in pink, then I outlined them with dots and added the lines using the White Nail Art Pen. Then I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite. 




Last but not least is the Black Nail Art Pen, This and the white are my favourite of the pens, they're opaque and easy to use, as are all the pens, but I absolutely love creating nail art with black and white, so I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of these. 

For this design I started with a base colour of an unknown purple, and then added Sinful Colours - Frenzy over the top. To smooth it out I added a coat of Seche Vite before doing the rest of my design. I then drew the outline of the bow in Essence - That's What I Mint, using a MASH - medium length striper brush, and when that was dry I added the spots using the White Nail Art Pen, and then outlined it in the Black Nail Art Pen, topped off with another coat of Seche Vite.

These nails were inspired by this design by Lexi over at Finger Painted, but I'm afraid it's nowhere near as good!


Overall I'm super impressed with this collection. They're wonderfully opaque, except my slight issue with the silver, they dry fast and they're not thick at all so they wont smudge with a top coat if you apply it soon after. I really hope Barry M bring out more shades of these pens because I think they're brilliant and you'll definitely be seeing more designs using these on my blog over the next few months. 

What do you think? Will you be picking up any of these colours? And which is your favourite design I created with them? Let me know in the comments!
Alice

This product was sent to me for review but any opinions included are entirely my own and were not affected in any way.

Askruk46

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