Pearly Gels

Good evening everyone :)

The UK is still outrageously warm but somehow I haven't melted yet (well, just a little bit).  Apparently we're going to have cooler temperatures and rain next week though and I CANNOT WAIT.  Guaranteed I'll be complaining about the rain after two days, but such is life.

I have another Born Pretty Store review today (I will post something else soon, honest! Maybe...).  It's another gel polish but this time one with a pearl effect.

This is Chameleon Pearl Lustre Gel Polish in BP-11.

The website advises using it over black or white to show it off properly, so I decided to show you both.  I also used it over grey on my ring finger, just to make it look a bit less random having one white nail.

Application was mostly fine.  I used two coats, but I thought it looked a bit patchy on the black nails so I went for a third.  Wish I'd stuck wih two in the end because I don't think it improved the patchiness but it made it a bit pale for my liking.

This polish wasn't for me to be honest.  Nothing wrong with the polish itself, just the look isn't one I like to wear (so yeah...don't know why I chose this polish.  Oh well!).  I don't mind it over the white and grey actually, but over the black I find it a bit dated maybe..?

If you are a fan of this look though, you can find the polish in 6 different colours here.  It's £3.33 a bottle or if you buy all 6 then you can save yourself a few quid.  Don't forget you can use the code LKL91 for 10% off storewide and delivery is free wherever you are in the world.

Review: Born Pretty Store Flakies

It's the weekend, hurrah!  Although I did only work one day this week (and that wasn't work so much as watching people present and eating a free lunch)...but still, weekends mean family time :)  And even more so this weekend because the in-laws have come to stay!

Today I have the second item I received for review from Born Pretty Store.  Prepare yourself for holo flakie goodness.

Honestly, the pictures do not do this justice (blogger fail...oh well!).  I literally gasped when I applied it.  I do like me some sparkle...

I was a little confused by the instructions though.  Not that they weren't clear, more that I was a doubter.  So it says for a full coverage mirror look you should cure your no-wipe gel top coat and then dab it on - the pot even comes with a little applicator by the way!  Alternatively, for more of a flakie look, the instructions say to apply to your top coat before curing.  I didn't understand how it would stick after curing, so I went for the flakie look.

The flakes are mostly a lovely warm purple and dark blue.  Then there's also holo glitter in there so you get the flashes of that as well.  Frankly, it is perfection.  Oh and it's shown here over black polish for best effect of course.

I used this with gel polish as per the instructions (I'm a stickler for following the rules don't you know).  When I googled for reviews of it though whilst trying to sort out my confusion about when to apply it, most reviews I read had just used it on normal polish applied to wet top coat, so that's also an option.  If you don't use gel, you don't need to miss out!

You can find this glitter here, and the colour I've used is #3.  Don't forget, shipping is free to wherever you are in the world and you can get 10% off with the code LKL91.  And while you're there you might as well treat yourself to a few other bits...

Review: Born Pretty Store Thermal Gel Polish

Happy Thursday!

Our heatwave here in the UK is still going strong, and somehow I've survived.  We bought a gazebo earlier this week so now we can actually go out in the garden rather than cowering in the house with the blinds all closed (this skin was not made for sun exposure).

Today I have the first of my latest haul of Born Pretty Store products to show you.  Just so we're all clear from the offset - I LOVE THIS.

So what is this?  Well it's only the most fabulous thermal gel polish I have ever seen (also the only one, but let's not let that take anything away from it's wonderfulness).  I've long been a fan of thermal polishes, what with them basically being magic and all, but I haven't tried a gel one.  I was a bit dubious...I've found in the past that sometimes thermals don't work that well if you paint it on too thick, so I wondered how well it would work what with gels generally being thicker.

Well, it worked bloody wonderfully.

When it's warm, this polish is a sort of hot barbie pink.

When cold, it went to a really deep purpley mauve.  I know these are like the vaguest colour descriptions ever, but they were hard to pin down!

What I really loved about this polish is that most of the time it had an amazing gradient effect.  I have pretty cold hands and the last thermal polish I tried was just constantly the cold colour unless I put my fingers in hot water (which obviously I did).  I also love the gradual transition between the colours rather than a sharp line between the hot and cold colours.

The picture below shows the polish transitioning from warm to cold.

And lastly, for your amusement...  I have Raynauds but for some reason decided it would be a good idea to photograph this polish after taking the bins out in the cold.  Evidently my ring finger warmed up quicker than the others...

If you would like your very own fabulous thermal gel polish (and you should) you can find it here.  The colour I'm wearing is BP-11 Strawberry Shake.  Don't forget, shipping is always free and you can get 10% off your order using the code LKL91.  Happy shopping!

More Stranger Stamping

Hello everyone.

Today is probably the hottest day of my life.  It's literally insane.  If I don't literally melt by the end of the day it will be a miracle.

My daughter currently refuses to let me put her to bed, so while my husband is doing that (after me trying and resulting in her screaming the house down - sorry neighbours!) I thought I'd catch up on some blog posts.  You know, because the cleaning can wait.

So this is the final look I have that I did over my base of OPI On Stranger Tides with the Sensationail Polish to Gel Transformer top coat.  As the floor outside Swansea train station says, ambition is critical.  Sometimes, however, you need to reign in that ambition and be realistic about your capabilities.  So this time I only attempted stamping on one nail instead of them all.

The gold accents are my old faithful Barry M Gold Foil.  Yet again my Seche Vite smudged my stamping so we're not on talking terms at the moment, although it's probably my fault for neglecting it for like two years and then using it without adding any thinner.  Oh well.

Anyhoo, this is the last manicure I did over my Sensationail base because I received some items to review for Born Pretty Store and I was itching to try the thermal polish.  This was great though, so easy to remove the nail art with an acetone-free remover so you can switch it up a bit, meaning you get all the benefits of gel without being stuck with the same boring manicure for two weeks.  Yay!

Stamping on Stranger Tides

As I said in my last post, I tried a couple of different stamping looks over my OPI On Stranger Tides and Sensationail Polish to Gel Transformer manicure.  This is the first of those.

I think the lovely muted green of the polish calls for some delicate white and gold detailing, so I rummaged through my plates and settled on this floral design from Konad plate M73.

I then added some little gold dots that you can’t actually see, such is their delicateness, but I assure you they make all the difference.

Then I added Seche Vite topcoat but it had gone all gloopy and smeared my stamping everywhere leaving me with this mess of a manicure, and I probably shouldn’t even admit this but this is actually the third attempt on my ring finger, at this point I just gave up. So yeah...stamping 1, Sam 0.

My second look was marginally more successful, so keep an eye out for that in the next few days!

On Stranger Transforming Tides

As mentioned in my last post, I was bought a gel polish starter kit for Christmas. So obviously I had a little spree and bought myself lots of pretty gel polishes.  It did seem a shame that all my (hundreds of) normal polished would now be sitting neglected though.

But then! I was reading a post on Mumsnet about gels and someone mentioned Sensationail Polish-to-Gel Transformer. Obviously I had to order it from Amazon immediately.

As the name suggests, the transformer allows you to convert a normal polish into a gel. There are two ways of doing this - you can either mix the transformer with the polish to create a gel polish, curing each coat, or you can just apply your polish as normal and the use the transformer as a topcoat, so only that coat needs curing.  Naturally I went for the second, far less faffy option.

I decided to try it out with OPI Stranger Tides, which is one of my favourite muted shades.

I applied my usual OPI Natural Nail base coat followed by two coats of my colour. The instructions then say to leave your polish for 30 minutes or so to ensure it’s fully dry, so I resisted the urge to Seche Vite them and waited like I was told (convinced the baby would wake any moment and it would be game over). Then it’s simply a case of applying your Transformer, curing and you’re done!

I don’t think they’re as shiny as full gel nails, although I haven’t used any other Sensationail products to compare with, and perhaps your choice of polish underneath makes a difference.  These nails definitely lasted longer than they would have with just Seche Vite, although I did start getting a bit of tip wear after a few days.  With it being a light colour though it wasn’t really an issue.  And to be fair, I had been messing around with stamping on top and removing with acetone...

When the time came to remove the polish, it was so easy.  I used the usual method for removing gels (although didn’t bother filing the surface), and within 5 minutes in foils the polish was clean off. Hurrah!

I’ll definitely be using this again and would absolutely recommend it.  No, you’re not going to get the same wear out of it as you would a full gel manicure, but application and removal are both MUCH quicker, and you can use all your non-gel pretties! I think next time I’ll try applying the transformer top coat straight after my colour though (not that I’m impatient) and see if it actually makes a difference, unless anyone comments before then to say they’ve tried it and it was a disaster.

I did try a few different stamping looks over the top of this which I’ll be posting in the next few days, or you can go to my Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to have a sneak peek (links in the sidebar).

Two and a Half Years Later

I’m alive, hurrah!

I can’t actually it’s been so long since I last posted, although it has been a very busy two and a half years. When I last posted I was living in Kent and was in the last few months of my training scheme. Since then, I’ve finished my training, got a new job, moved back to Wales, moved again when we bought our first house and had a baby!

I don’t know why I’ve decided that now, when I spend most of my day running around after my 9 month old trying to stop her head butting sharp edges on furniture, is a good time to restart my blog, but I have. So there we go.

There’ll be a few changes from back in the day. Firstly, you’ll have noticed the blog has a new look (all feedback gratefully received! - I’m aware of the issues with the background displaying on iPhones and will sort it once I work out how the heck to edit the code). Secondly, I’ll be making no promises about posting several times a week or anything like that, my daughter will mostly be deciding my posting schedule... With less time to write blog posts though, I will be more active on social media.  Some manicures may never make it further than my social media accounts, and you’ll get sneak peeks of any upcoming blog posts, so make sure you’re following me on either Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Lastly, my Mum bought me a gel polish kit for Christmas so expect to see lots of gel nails! As well as obviously lasting longer than normal polish, gels have the added advantage of not chipping when my daughter chews my fingers, which can only be a good thing.

So, I think that’s all I have to say for now, now to get on with posting some nail art!