The Time Has Come...

I have been contemplating writing this post for a while now, and I can't put it off any longer. I have been blogging for a long time, si...

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Sensationail Invincible Gel Polish Starter Kit

I was recently given the opportunity to try out and review one of the latest trends in the nail and beauty world. Do it yourself gel nail kits are all the rage these days and I have been dying to try one. This kit is from Sensationail by Nailene. I've always had good luck with Nailene products so I was expecting to have a great experience with this. I was also intrigued by the LED lamp used with their polish, which cures in half the time with no heat, unlike UV lights.
The starter kit contains everything you need for a beautiful salon-worthy manicure you can do at home. First you prep your nails with the gel cleanser, then apply a quick coat of the gel primer. Next apply a coat of the gel base & top coat and cure in the LED lamp for 30 seconds. Then you apply a thin layer of gel polish and cure for 60 seconds, repeat for a second coat. Then you top it off with another coat of gel base & top coat and cure for 30 seconds. Then you clean up with some gel cleanser and enjoy your manicure!

I found the kit really easy to use. I actually did this manicure while propped up on pillows in bed! The color I got is Raspberry Wine, a beautiful magenta reddish shimmer. It's a luminescent color and the gel topcoat incredibly shiny. The shine is what made me fall in love with this manicure. The gel polish truly is different than regular polish, the feel of it on my nails was seriously awesome. I did leave a bit more of a gap around my cuticles than with normal polish because you have to be careful not to get the gel on your skin, which could cause your polish to lift. This photo is of my nails the day after I did the manicure.

It was hard for me to keep this polish on for a "long" time only because it's hard for me to keep any polish on for more than two days. But in the name of science I tried my darn best. The photo below is after six days of wear. I was amazed at how shiny it stayed and for real my nails felt indestructible. Like I had armor on. It was easy to soak off, I just used acetone, cotton and wrapped them in tinfoil for a few minutes like I do with regular glitter manicures. Sensationail sells the special foil wraps but I haven't tried those. 

I loved this DIY kit and will definitely use it again, most likely for vacations and for my toes. I was really impressed with the quality of the kit and can highly suggest it if you're looking try out at home gel nails. The kit and other Sensationail products can be found at Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, and Target stores for around $60. The individual polishes are around $12. What do you think of the gel nails at home concept? Have you tried any kits like this? Would you? Have a great day dolls!

Product samples were provided for consideration.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Ozotic Sugar 904

This polish from Ozotic is a part of their Sugar & Beam collection. This and the other Sugar shades are inspired by the idea of 'adding a tiny drop of food coloring to icing sugar' producing a sweet and scrumptious shimmery effect. These can be worn on their own for an angelic soft look or layered on other colors to change up the look of the base. This is one coat of Sugar 904 over Sheswai's Dig It that I reviewed yesterday.

I also layered two coats here over white and black cremes, Cult Nails Tempest and Nevermore. It's funny that I chose to layer it over a green above and when layered over a black, the crystals reflect to appear green :) The formula is on the thick side and I found it a little tricky to make my layers even when I tried to paint on the second layer too soon, so give yourself adequate drying time between coats for best results.

I like the idea of the Sugar collection from Ozotic. I love the celestial pale yellow almost gold of this shade. You can buy Ozotic Sugar 904 online at Picture Polish's Australian website for AUS $12, on Harlow & Co for $14.50, or on Llarowe for $14.50.


Product samples were provided for consideration.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Sheswai - Dig It

Today I'd like to show you a new polish I have from Sheswai Lacquer called Dig It. It's a lovely mid-tone grassy green that totally coincides with the "modern glamour with a rootsy feel" mantra of Sheswai. This is wonderfully pigmented and super shiny. This is two coats.

I will always love Sheswai polishes first for their beautiful bottles, the wooden cap is just a showstopper. The quality of their polish is also always top shelf. You can purchase Sheswai Lacquers like this one on their website http://www.sheswaibeauty.com/ for $16 each. What do you think of this beautiful fresh creme?

Product samples were provided for consideration.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Picture Polish - Demeter

Today I have a beautiful Picture Polish shade that they made in collaboration with Katie from Harlow & Co, an online store for nail polish based in Canada that ships internationally. Katie wanted to make a chocolate brown holographic shade and PP delivered with this luxe earthy scattered holo beauty that she named Demeter. This is two coats.

I forget how much I adore brown polishes. I have a lot of them I just don't get around to wearing that often, but I need to make sure I do. This polish has an excellent formula, very buttery on application and nicely opaque. You can buy Demeter online at Picture Polish's Australian website for AUS $10 or on Harlow & Co for $14.50.


Product samples were provided for consideration.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Coral and Golden Sand

This mani was inspired by a fellow blogger, HeartNat. It is Essie Come Here from their 2013 resort collection with an accent of OPI Honey Ryder from the new Bond Girl collection on my ring finger. The gorgeous bright coral of Come Here is incredibly hot and I think it's perfect for sunny weather. I used two coats of the gorgeous creme. Honey Ryder has a liquid sand finish and is a sparkling mid-tone gold that is blingy and gritty in an awesome kind of way. Two coats as well.

The combination of gold and coral and the juxtaposition of the smooth and gritty textures is exciting and quite pleasing to my eye. I picked up the Essie at my local CVS for about $8 and the OPI was provided for my consideration, but I believe you can pick it up at Ulta and other salon locations for around $9. How do you like this pairing? 

Some of the products pictured are samples provided for consideration.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Cult Nails Dance All Night Collection Swatches and Review

The folks over at Cult Nails have put out a new collection for early summer called Dance All Night. The collection features three sumptuous opaque cremes and three blingy chunky glitters.

First is Faded, a slightly blue toned grey creme. This color is really gorgeous and right up my alley. I found the formula to be a tad thick on application, but I've heard others had no such issue so it might've just been me. This is two coats.

Next is Dance All Night, the polish the collection is named after. This has a clear base with lots of blue and green blingy hex glitters, some iridescent hexes, and lots of micro iridescent glitters. This was on the chunky and thicker side, making it harder to apply evenly. I took my time and this is the result of two coats of placing the glitters with the brush. I want to like it but it's not my favorite.

Here is Nakizzle's Shizzle, a lovely bright robin's egg blue creme. It's the quintessential Cult Nails creme formula, great flow-ability and awesome coverage. Two coats.

Over the blue I layered Walk of Shame, a fabulously decadent gold glitter. The light gold pieces are multi-sized and shaped and there is a hefty dollop of holo bits in it as well for extra wow. This is such a ME polish it's not even funny! One coat.

The last creme is Love At First Sight, a pink toned pastel purple creme. I don't usually gravitate to colors in this family but I really liked this on me. Another perfect formula, two coats. Very shiny :)

And the last glitter is called Center of Attention. I. LOVE. THIS. It's a rosey pink glitter mix like in Walk of Shame but over the purple some of the glitter looks almost duochromey to a lavender! I la la love it so much!! Two coats.

You can purchase this collection right now during the pre-sale event Cult Nails has on their website.  All polishes will be available for purchase individually, starting on Sunday, May 19th for $12 per bottle, including their new "wax" topcoat Wax That. What do you think of these beauties? Are you ready to Dance All Night with Cult Nails?

Product samples were provided for consideration.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Picture Polish - Dorothy

Today I have a lovely new polish to show you, Dorothy by Picture Polish. This polish is a pinkish red jelly with truckloads of silver and red glitter swimming inside, reminiscent of course of the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. Not exactly a summer shade but I just love how it glimmers in the sun! Plus I just posted about some Oz shades, so I figured I'd continue the theme ;)

This is two coats. This was a fabulous to apply shade, flows great and easy to make opaque. I think I would prefer if this was slightly more pure red, but I still really like it. You can buy Dorothy online at Picture Polish's Australian website for AUS $10, on Harlow & Co for $13 or Llarowe for $12.50.


Product sample provided for consideration.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Link Love


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

OPI Soft Shades: Oz The Great and Powerful Collection Swatches and Review

OPI has coincided their release of the yearly Soft Shades collection with the new Disney movie, Oz the Great and Powerful, making it a whimsical fairy tale themed collection inspired by the movie. The collection includes three milky soft jelly cremes and three blingtastic glitter toppers.
Don't Burst My Bubble, I Theodora You, Glints of Glinda

Lights of Emerald City, Which is Witch?, When Monkeys Fly!

First up is Don't Burst My Bubble. It's a classic OPI Soft Shade, demure and classic. The color is an almost white milky palest pale pink. Beautiful and a great "palate cleanser" if you're looking to take a break from loud bright shades like I do on occasion. Or it's a perfect work-appropriate shade for you folks who want/have to keep it conservative. This is two coats.

Over the base of Don't Burst My Bubble, I layered Lights of Emerald City. A unique and still delicate glitter topper, it is made up of white glitter squares and iridescent mylar squares in a clear base. It's quite dense, this is just one coat! I love the way the mylar hits the light and changes colors.

The next jelly creme is Glints of Glinda. I loved this in the bottle, a milky peach nude. On my nails it isn't my favorite, maybe because it's too close to my skin tone? I bet it would look amazing on someone with a dark complexion. This is two coats. It was less streaky and easier to make opaque than Don't Burst My Bubble but still very jelly-like.

I layered When Monkeys Fly! over Glints of Glinda. This is probably the most unique and fantastical glitter I've ever seen from OPI. It is made up of large mirror-like gold hex glitter and smaller holographic silver hexes. Unfortunately it came to light than many customers were experiencing warping and curling of the giant gold hexagons. They addressed this on their Facebook page, if you're interested. I didn't have a problem with my glitters in the least, and I really am in love with this mani. Two coats of glitter.

This is I Theodora You, a more opaque and less jelly but still squishy pale pink. I absolutely adore colors like this. I feel so feminine and classy when I wear such clean shades. This is two coats.

And last is glitter Which is Witch? A clear base filled with tons of micro holographic silver bits, bars, and hexes. Super dense, this is one layer over I Theodora You. Another hit in my opinion, yet this is probably my least favorite out of the three glitters I swatched. Maybe I need to try it over another color for it to really wow me.

This collection also included a Liquid Sand polish which I will show you in another post, as I didn't care for the way my swatches of it turned out at the time of this post. I loved this collection, and even though I haven't seen the movie it's based upon yet, I can imagine myself in Oz whenever I see these beautiful soft shades ;) My favorites would have to be When Monkeys Fly! and I Theodora You.

This limited edition promotion is available now at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCP Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $9.00 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each nail lacquer.

Product samples were provided for consideration.
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