So, here we are again!  I have been VERY dormant over the last long while, but I have decided that now I have a little more time on my hands I am re-starting my blog *yay*.  Upcoming posts will feature the mirror chromes and the mirror chameleon powder pigments for gel/uv, as well as a plethora of nail polishes and nail art.  I missed this, and I must have all the polish!

Stay tuned, coming soon!  Thanks for hanging in there guys!  Lots of love, Shel xx

Models Own - Copper Pot, Indian Ocean & Juicy Jules

I have three beautiful Models Own polishes in todays post which I am really happy to share with you all.

The first up is Copper Pot, it is a lovely multi-chrome metallic polish which flips from gold to copper with flashes of green hidden in there for good measure.  I didn't expect to like this colour as much as I did, it is gorgeous!  The formula is a little thin, but it is still only 3 good coats and a topcoat on my nails here so no biggie really.  I also layered a coat over black on my ring finger to which greatly accentuates the green in the polish.  I really love how this glowed in the sun and I will be wearing it again, a lovely colour for both Summer, and Autumn, its a keeper.

The second polish I have is Indian Ocean.  So beautiful, insanely pretty and makes me think of faeries and insect wings.  Another multi-chrome, this one flips from baby blue to baby pink shimmery glass fleck polish with flashes of gold.  As with the previous one, the formula is a little thin, but the coverage isn't as opaque.  For my pics I had four coats on and still there is visible nail line (but it wasn't as obvious in reality).  I will forgive it this though because the payoff is very much worth it.  I also layered this over black on my ring finger, which accentuates the pink, but also shows the gold flashes off a little more.  I love it worn either way, so that makes it a 2 looks for the price of 1 polish, which for any lacquerhead is always a bonus.

Last but certainly not least, is the very sparkly Juicy Jules.  This is a silver holo glitter suspended in a clear base.  My pics don't do it justice it is beautifully sparkly and blingy, and topped over Indian Ocean looked stunning.  It obviously works well as a topper, but I think with two or three coats it would be pretty opaque, so I will be wearing it with more coats over a silver polish too.  There are a fair few of this type of glitter around, but if you don't have one already this one is definitely worth a buy, and at only £5 a polish from models own website, and widely available from www.littlewoods.com nail care section (and other outlets too of course!).  I am loving Models Own polish right now.  Bring on summer, I'm ready :)

(Products sent for review)

Alessandro International - Vibrant Fuchsia

I have on my nails today a new brand to me. Alessandro International is very well known in mainland europe, but it is new to the UK and has just launched over here too.  I am always pleased of course to see new polishes coming our way, so today I have 'Vibrant Fuchsia' to show you.

Firstly let me say my pics are pulling a little more pink than the true colour, it is more of a purple berry than a pink, but it is very pretty indeed.  The formula was no problem to work with, although it was a little thinner than I expected but it dried quickly so it wasn't an issue.  The finished mani in the pics is three thin coats and a top coat, so whilst it looked a little streaky on first application it evened out well with good colour saturation.  I also liked the brush, it was a good width and easy to use.

I have had this on for a couple of days now as it is advertised as lasting up to 7 days, and have a little tip wear but nothing that I wouldn't get from any other premium brand of polish, so all in all, yes, I give this one the thumbs up.  I will try others in the range based on my experience with this one, and I will be looking out for them becoming widely available soon.

You can visit the Alessandro homepage here at Alessandro-International to see their full range of hand care and polishes.  You can also visit their facebook page or follow them in Twitter

(product sent for review)

Bluesky Shellac - Crystal Curacao

Well hello there :) today I want to show you the divine Crystal Curacao from Bluesky Shellac.  Its one that I have worn and removed now so I can give you a full review about how well it lasts, and how easy removal is.

First, let me start with the colour, it is blue, not just blue but BLUE in big shouty letters!  Electric blue with a gorgeous sparkle as well, ooo yes please! Application, as in my previous post about shellac, is easy to do (remember you do need a UV lamp) although I think I should have taken a bit more time with mine as I was in a bit of a rush and it has gone on a little thick on my middle finger.  I rather think that was just clumsy application by yours truly and not the shellac, and it looks worse in the pics than it does in real life with the shots being up close.

So, I finished applying, base coat, couple of coats of colour, then top coat, and that was it.  I left it for two and a half weeks, doing all my usual things.  Walking the dogs, typing, filing, generally being busy, and not a chip or ding anywhere, not even tip wear so yes, it wears very well.  I decided to take it off after giving it a thorough bashing, and I was starting to get new growth showing anyway so I thought it was time.  The removal too a little longer than the previous one I used, I think it is because of the micro sparkle in it, but it was no more problematic, I just had to soak my nails in acetone a little longer.  I used the foil method, of wrapping a pad with acetone over my nail, then covering it in foil to stop evaporation and just leaving it for 15 minutes or so.  After soaking the shellac was all cracked and it just flaked off, then I moisturised thoroughly.

So there you have it, if you are interested in any of these shellacs they do a range of all things UV related, gels, shellacs, wipes,and all you need from www.shellacworld.com where I got mine from.  They also have a new facebook page too, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shellac-World/170844893062153 go along and 'like' them, discount codes will be happening!  And if pinterest is your thing, you can find them there too pinterest.com/shellacworld

(product sent for review)

Bluesky Shellac - Diamond Plum

Today I have something a little different, (and perhaps controversial in some circles).  I looked up these Bluesky products before deciding whether to try them, and saw a sea of voices saying 'its not Shellac if its not CND'.  Well fair enough, most of these people were nail professionals and if I was going to a salon then yes, I would expect a premium product for the price. No different than if I was going for a manicure and polish, would I be happy paying salon prices to have my nails painted with a supermarket brand?  No, I would want my OPI dammit!

Here's the thing though, I am not a professional, I am a hobbyist. I have said this before to some of the nastier critics (yes there are some awful people out there who can be bullies about how you paint or shape your nails, seriously how wrong and tragic is that!)  But I digress.

So today, after deciding I would give them a whirl, I have a selection of colours and one full manicure to show you.  I was sent these from a lovely lady at Shellacworld (<<<clicky for link) after perusing the site, and deciding these were the colours I liked the most.  Obviously a UV nail lamp is needed, and I have an old UV lamp from a Rio gel nails kit that was purchased many moons ago from good old ebay, but it did the trick nicely even though it isn't particularly high powered.

First I had to decide which colour to choose, from these five pretties, to try a full manicure with.  Thumb to pinky are Crystal Flame, Crystal Curacao, Diamond Ocean, Diamond Plum, and Diamond Storm.

Once I had decided that if its purple, and its got bling, then that's the way I must go, I got started.  First I made sure my nails were clean and dry, and then wiped them with remover to remove any oil etc (or the mani can lift).  I then applied a base of Bluesky Soak Off Gel Basecoat, and added a thin layer of Bluesky Shellac in 'Diamond Plum.' Then another slightly thicker coat of Diamond Plum to reach the opacity I wanted, and finally finished off with Bluesky Soak Off Gel Topcoat.  I cured each layer for two minutes under my UV lamp before adding the next, and simply used isopropyl alcohol wipes to wipe off the sticky residue of the last layer when I was done.  Et voilà, lovely glittery nails that were surprisingly easy to do.  The colour, base and top coats were easy to apply, the colour being a bit thicker than a polish would be but nothing problematic, and the base and top coats applied as easily as polish does.

Sunlight

Shade, natural daylight

I do like them and I am glad I gave them a try.  Diamond Plum is a rich dark blue based purple that is jam packed with glitter, there are small and large sized holo glitter pieces in this that are so twinkly when it catches the light.  Of course that appeals to me anyway, purple and sparkly, hell yeah!  It has some lovely depth to it as well, with the glitter looking likes its floating in there, in layers of loveliness 

I was quite surprised that they turned out so well on my first try.  Lovely and smooth, no lumpiness at all, and nice and shiny too so no layers of topcoat to smooth out the glitter.  I have had them on for four days now, and they are not showing any wear at all, and I even had a girl at work admiring them and asking me what polish it was.  When I told her, she said 'ooo can you come to my house and do mine please!' which is quite a compliment I reckon!  My only criticism with this one is that it looks slightly thicker on the nail than a standard glitter polish and topcoat would, but its not obvious, and mostly I believe its down to it being so packed with glitter (for which I am prepared to forgive it, because, well its just soo pretty!).

I will be trying all the others as full manicures as well in due time, but for now I am happy looking at my purple pretties twinkling away at me.  I am happy with them, and I hope you like them too :D


(Products sent for review)

Guess who's back...Back again! With China Glaze Riveting

*Sings* Guess who's back, back again, guess who's back, tell a friend....

Yes, I am back again (again!) wow has it really been sooo long since I posted!  Well I have been working on another non polish blog for the rescue I volunteer for which was good.  I have also been doing lots of tedious life stuff, life, death, the whole damn shooting match, but I won't bore you with the details.

So I thought, what says bang, I'm back.  I looked at my ever growing stash, and BAM right in the kisser!  Yep, its China Glaze Riveting, from their Hunger Games collection.  It is a vibrant, saturated, glass flecked screaming ORANGE!  It isn't quiet about it, it does need the caps lock, it shouts proudly.  I absolutely love it, it is loud, proud and gorgeous to behold.  If you don't have this, then you are missing out.  Ladies and gentlement, I present to you, Riveting :)

piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2012

Wow exciting times, its blog fest 2012 organised by the wonderful girls at piCture pOlish there will be 80 bloggers around the world all posting today to launch the new shades from piCture pOlish, and I count myself honoured to be a part of this again :)

So, the polishes!  I was sent 'orbit' and 'warning' as my shades, and I am loving them both.  One is a one coater, oh yes!  First up though, we have 'warning'.

This one is such a hard one to describe, it is a duochrome sparkly interesting and beautiful polish, it doesn't really fall into any one category and I definitely don't have a dupe for this.  It has a mother of pearl type of effect, it is duochrome but not in the expected sense, in that all the colours can be seen mostly at the same time.  There is also a micro sparkle in there which catches the light and I can see blue, purple, silver and pink but this isn't apparent individually unless you look really hard.  It is a tough one to describe accurately, but all the ingredients make up to a lovely blue purple colour that is so pretty.  It was a little sheer, but not problematical and built nicely after three coats.  I wouldn't care if it took ten coats though, just look at it!  All sparkly and pretty and making me go all girly pah!  It makes me think of faeries and dragonfly wings and magical things.  I will try layering this one for sure, but right now I wanted to show the polish in all its own splendour.  Isn't she a pretty one.

Direct Sun - Look at those colours

Same polish in direct daylight

Second one up is 'orbit'.  Oh my!  I just love this one so much more than I thought I would.  It looks promising in the bottle, but on the nail, oh yeah it made me have a moment.  It is a perfect midnight blue with a hint of purple and a gorgeous sparkle.  In the shade it has a bit of a suede type finish, with silvery and blue particles in there giving it an extra dimension.  In the sun it sparkles like a glitter.  It is absolutely stunning.  I also slapped a shiny top coat on it because I just had to, and it really made it pop.  Oh and did I mention, its a one coater!  You betcha that made me happy shaped,  A quick mani that looks this good, oh yeah sign me up for some of that!

Without Top Coat

With Top Coat - Oooooo!

I hope you like these as much as I do, and believe me when I say they really do look better in real life.  The bottles all have a QR code which can be scanned and that will take you straight to piCture pOlish online or to a Network Member depending where the polish was purchased, pretty cool.  These can be ordered direct from www.picturepolish.com.au or from any of the girls in their international polish network.  You can also follow the girls at piCture pOlish on facebook or on Twitter or if Pinterest is your thing, you can follow them there too!