Chủ Nhật, 31 tháng 5, 2015
Thứ Hai, 25 tháng 5, 2015
Soft & printed
Oh wow, it's been a week since my last post? It feels like just a few days! I got sucked into a new game (LOVE The Witcher 3!), I guess that might just have something to do with it, hehe. Ah well, luckily there's some pics left in my vault of unposted stuff =)
I already shared some about this cheap brand called Perfect Touch in a previous post, and from the polishes that I have, a few are hits, and one's a big miss: this pink base. It was everything you don't want a polish to be, eek! It needed 3 coats but applied horribly, and it was very easy to drag streaks into it and very messy to get an even result. And then it didn't want to dry. And it felt like plastic instead of polish. And it stinks. It doesn't get more 'miss' than this! On the opposite side, the coppery-golden polish that I stamped with is from this brand as well and worked great :)
I already shared some about this cheap brand called Perfect Touch in a previous post, and from the polishes that I have, a few are hits, and one's a big miss: this pink base. It was everything you don't want a polish to be, eek! It needed 3 coats but applied horribly, and it was very easy to drag streaks into it and very messy to get an even result. And then it didn't want to dry. And it felt like plastic instead of polish. And it stinks. It doesn't get more 'miss' than this! On the opposite side, the coppery-golden polish that I stamped with is from this brand as well and worked great :)
Perfect Touch #13 stamped with Perfect Touch #04 and Messy Mansion MM46.
Thứ Năm, 21 tháng 5, 2015
UberChic Beauty plate collection 3!
It's just a few months ago that I blogged about plate collection 1 and collection 2 from UberChic Beauty, and now they already brought out more plates, yay! This time it's a new collection, and 4 loose plates, each with its own theme (alphabet, numbers, hipster & geek). I got the opportunity to review collection 3, and I'll tell you straight away that it's yet another fantastic collection! ♥
More nails further down, lets look at the plates! The images are clickable for an enlargement.
Plate UC3-01 has several images that jumped out to me straight away, going 'pick me, pick meee!' and it was the image on the left that won the first mani :) I can see myself using that image over and over again, I think it works wonders with a messy base and I'm curious how a similar mani in white would look!
I'm also really liking the top left circled image, and the swirly image below the big rose on the right. And the flower design, next to the big paisley just asks for some color in the hearts of those flowers, or maybe a rhinestone here and there? And the 2nd row from the bottom, those 2 images are the same, perfect if you really wants both hands to be exactly the same!
Plate UC3-02 has a design that'll fit on almost everyone's nails I'd say, haha! It's about 4.5x4.3cm even. Loving the retro design right above it on the left, I might have to pair that sometime with the image that's on the bottom right of the huge design. Or maybe even doublestamp them, the big one over the small? There's several more images that I'll be happy to play with, like the lace image or the leafy one, and I simply love the variation these plates offer! UberChic Beauty really mixes up various styles and combines them all onto 1 plate :)
Plate UC3-03 shows more of that variation; from polkadots to a strawberry design, and from swirly to geometrical. The ones that jump out for me here are the leaves (near bottom left), the swirly/dotted image (next to the text 'Be Bold'), the splattery flowers (notice there's both a full nail design and a small one), and the design that's to the right of the 'stamp ♥' image. I bet that one will work great with glequins or a messy base as well!
I love how this mani turned out, but it was one of those manis that took a lot, haha! I started with various green acrylic paints, and had the Essence peel off basecoat around my cuticles (the Elmer's glue stuff). I then stamped with Konad Black, because I wanted it to be perfectly black and I don't have anything in my stash that stamps as black as this. But it took a lot of time, since my bottle is reeeally almost empty now, so I had to hold the bottle tilted for quite a bit after every nail. Then I took off the peel off, and even though I barely had acrylic paint on it, I learned that acrylic paint and that stuff don't make the best combo... I peeled off the paint of 2 nails as well! ARGHH! So I had to redo those. Then I used top coat, I tried a newer top coat from Catrice, and I quickly noticed it easily smudges and even after 2 coats, didn't give a smooth result. Luckily matte top coat came to the rescue, heh. So it took a lot of time and some frustration, but in the end, it was worth it I think :)
Right, just a little bit more about these plates: they come with the potective cover on the back and the usual blue foil. The images are the exact same size as the previous 2 collections, 1.7x2.1 cm, and their quality is perfect! This collection costs $24.99 and can be found here.
Make sure to follow UberChic Beauty on social media if you're looking for a lot of inspiration and info on (new) plates! You can find them on Facebook, Instagram, and you can sign up for their newsletter as well :)
I'm very excited about this collection, looking at one plate gives SO much ideas already, and I think they're absolutely packed with beautiful designs. Do you agree? Tell me what you think of this collection! Thanks for looking ♥
More nails further down, lets look at the plates! The images are clickable for an enlargement.
Plate UC3-01 has several images that jumped out to me straight away, going 'pick me, pick meee!' and it was the image on the left that won the first mani :) I can see myself using that image over and over again, I think it works wonders with a messy base and I'm curious how a similar mani in white would look!
I'm also really liking the top left circled image, and the swirly image below the big rose on the right. And the flower design, next to the big paisley just asks for some color in the hearts of those flowers, or maybe a rhinestone here and there? And the 2nd row from the bottom, those 2 images are the same, perfect if you really wants both hands to be exactly the same!
Plate UC3-02 has a design that'll fit on almost everyone's nails I'd say, haha! It's about 4.5x4.3cm even. Loving the retro design right above it on the left, I might have to pair that sometime with the image that's on the bottom right of the huge design. Or maybe even doublestamp them, the big one over the small? There's several more images that I'll be happy to play with, like the lace image or the leafy one, and I simply love the variation these plates offer! UberChic Beauty really mixes up various styles and combines them all onto 1 plate :)
Plate UC3-03 shows more of that variation; from polkadots to a strawberry design, and from swirly to geometrical. The ones that jump out for me here are the leaves (near bottom left), the swirly/dotted image (next to the text 'Be Bold'), the splattery flowers (notice there's both a full nail design and a small one), and the design that's to the right of the 'stamp ♥' image. I bet that one will work great with glequins or a messy base as well!
Various green acrylic paint with Konad Black, UberChic Beauty plate UC3-01 and BornPrettyStopre Super Matte.
I love how this mani turned out, but it was one of those manis that took a lot, haha! I started with various green acrylic paints, and had the Essence peel off basecoat around my cuticles (the Elmer's glue stuff). I then stamped with Konad Black, because I wanted it to be perfectly black and I don't have anything in my stash that stamps as black as this. But it took a lot of time, since my bottle is reeeally almost empty now, so I had to hold the bottle tilted for quite a bit after every nail. Then I took off the peel off, and even though I barely had acrylic paint on it, I learned that acrylic paint and that stuff don't make the best combo... I peeled off the paint of 2 nails as well! ARGHH! So I had to redo those. Then I used top coat, I tried a newer top coat from Catrice, and I quickly noticed it easily smudges and even after 2 coats, didn't give a smooth result. Luckily matte top coat came to the rescue, heh. So it took a lot of time and some frustration, but in the end, it was worth it I think :)
Right, just a little bit more about these plates: they come with the potective cover on the back and the usual blue foil. The images are the exact same size as the previous 2 collections, 1.7x2.1 cm, and their quality is perfect! This collection costs $24.99 and can be found here.
Make sure to follow UberChic Beauty on social media if you're looking for a lot of inspiration and info on (new) plates! You can find them on Facebook, Instagram, and you can sign up for their newsletter as well :)
I'm very excited about this collection, looking at one plate gives SO much ideas already, and I think they're absolutely packed with beautiful designs. Do you agree? Tell me what you think of this collection! Thanks for looking ♥
The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.
Thứ Hai, 18 tháng 5, 2015
Holo stripes with BPS
Hi guys! This was one of those manis that turned out better than I had in mind, I just love this combo! I used a BornPrettyStore plate, more on that one below :)
This BPS plate had the blue foil on the front and has a protective cover on the back, and came with its own packaging, as I blogged about last time. But here's the front of it, which is of course the most interesting part =) The image size varies quite a bit as you can see, the middle images are large, the side ones are large to small. I used the bottom left image for this mani, and even though it gets smaller on 1 side, it fit perfect on all my nails - except my thumb. There I used a nailart brush to finish some of the stripes a little. You can of course also stamp double, stamp sideways, or even use 2 images at once. Or just use a part of an image, like you could pick up the longest rope line of the top left image.
It was the striped image that made me go for this plate, and I'm loving it! It's a simple design, but sometimes those are the best, and this is one of those images that I won't easy grow tired of. This plate is now on sale for $1.49 and you get 10% off with code ABJ61!
The basepolish that I used for this mani is a little bit odd... A Dutch store called Big Bazar now sells a brand called Perfect Touch, and their polish is €1 each. I checked a few of their testers (always nice to see polish testers as well!), the brush often tells a bit already about how well a polish will cover and how thick/thin it'll be. And I didn't expect it, but based on their brushes, they looked pretty good! So I took a few home. Out of the 5 that I have, 3 cover in 2 coats, 1 covered so well it works for stamping, and 1 was absolute garbage, haha! What a mess to apply, ugh. But more on that some other time!
This polish was one of the 2coaters, it applied good enough, especially for that price. But they're all weird; they smell like plastic and remind me more of liquid plastic than polish as well, eek! Nevertheless, I like this color and since I never wear a mani long, I don't mind it as much if it doesn't stay on perfect (I haven't tested it, but I doubt it'll hold as long?).
Anyway, I think it combined great with Jane Morris and this lovely stripey image! :)
Can you resist a cheap polish with a nice color, even though you know it might be wasted money? Or do you go for the well known, more expensive, but usually good quality brands? Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
This BPS plate had the blue foil on the front and has a protective cover on the back, and came with its own packaging, as I blogged about last time. But here's the front of it, which is of course the most interesting part =) The image size varies quite a bit as you can see, the middle images are large, the side ones are large to small. I used the bottom left image for this mani, and even though it gets smaller on 1 side, it fit perfect on all my nails - except my thumb. There I used a nailart brush to finish some of the stripes a little. You can of course also stamp double, stamp sideways, or even use 2 images at once. Or just use a part of an image, like you could pick up the longest rope line of the top left image.
It was the striped image that made me go for this plate, and I'm loving it! It's a simple design, but sometimes those are the best, and this is one of those images that I won't easy grow tired of. This plate is now on sale for $1.49 and you get 10% off with code ABJ61!
The basepolish that I used for this mani is a little bit odd... A Dutch store called Big Bazar now sells a brand called Perfect Touch, and their polish is €1 each. I checked a few of their testers (always nice to see polish testers as well!), the brush often tells a bit already about how well a polish will cover and how thick/thin it'll be. And I didn't expect it, but based on their brushes, they looked pretty good! So I took a few home. Out of the 5 that I have, 3 cover in 2 coats, 1 covered so well it works for stamping, and 1 was absolute garbage, haha! What a mess to apply, ugh. But more on that some other time!
This polish was one of the 2coaters, it applied good enough, especially for that price. But they're all weird; they smell like plastic and remind me more of liquid plastic than polish as well, eek! Nevertheless, I like this color and since I never wear a mani long, I don't mind it as much if it doesn't stay on perfect (I haven't tested it, but I doubt it'll hold as long?).
Anyway, I think it combined great with Jane Morris and this lovely stripey image! :)
Perfect Touch #28 Sweet Princess with A England Jane Morris and BornPrettyStore BP-67.
Can you resist a cheap polish with a nice color, even though you know it might be wasted money? Or do you go for the well known, more expensive, but usually good quality brands? Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.
Thứ Sáu, 15 tháng 5, 2015
BornPrettyStore plate & rectangular stamper
Hey lovelies :) BornPrettyStore recently send me 2 new plates and a new stamper, and I'm happy to show them, BPS really upped their game! More on that below, let's look at the mani first:
I've been using BPS products for many years now, and I remember back in the days, I think BPS just started with plates and they weren't always great. At times they had sharp edges, the images weren't always transferring as well, and some plates had really tiny full nail images. But throughout the years they kept improving their plates ánd kept adding designs. They now have LOADS of plates that are of good quality and still very affordable, but their latest package contained 2 newer plates that went even further than that: these 2 came with their own cover with a fancy looking design and a protective cover/rubber plate on the back. But most important, the images themselves have a nice size and transfer great!
I will show the round plate some other time, but here's a closer look at the rectangular plate. This is plate BP-L015, or Forest Pattern Trees on their website. This plate costs $4.79. I'm loving the designs! I can see myself using the image that I used today over and over again, but that's not the only image that I can envision on my nails!
The images are 2.0x1.45 cm (you can see the size on my comparison as well), and this size is perfect for my nails. Not too small to make me have to put effort into fully covering each nail or having to doublestamp, yet not too big to loose a lot of each image. Happy with this plate! :)
Another item that BPS send me is this stamper, it comes as a set of a stamper and a scraper, but I didn't receive the latter so I can't say much about that. If you order this set, i'm sure you'll get both though! The set costs $3.74 and can be found here. If you order anything, don't forget to use coupon code ABJ61 for 10% off!
As you can see, the size is perfect for the images on the plate shown above, and I think it'll be a helpful tool when you really want to stamp straight. You can line up your image perfect with the stamper, and then line it up against your nail as well. The stamper is quite shiny, but as always with a new stamper, I gave it a gentle filing for the first use and that took the shine away, making it look more like the stampers we're used to. It works great and the white part fits perfect in the black holder, without falling out or sinking in too deep.
I've shown the big round stamper before as well, it's also a BPS stamper and it's my favorite nowadays, I don't use anything else anymore! I used the Konad doublesided stamper for many years, but ever since I got the feeling for the big, squishy BPS stamper, the Konad one feels odd, haha. I'm glad the rectangular stamper is now a part of my stash as well, it's the same squishy thing but in a different shape. Tip: I've noticed that these squishy stampers can easily attract fluffy bits (like tiny pieces of fabric), and cleaning them with remover isn't always handy. But I think that'll eventually dry out your stamper anyway, and a lint roller works SO well to clean your stamper! So nowadays I work with squishy stampers and lint roller, and I wouldn't want it any other way anymore :)
And here's the nails again!
What do you think of the plate, and what's your favorite stamper? Thanks for looking and have a lovely weekend! ♥
The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.
I've been using BPS products for many years now, and I remember back in the days, I think BPS just started with plates and they weren't always great. At times they had sharp edges, the images weren't always transferring as well, and some plates had really tiny full nail images. But throughout the years they kept improving their plates ánd kept adding designs. They now have LOADS of plates that are of good quality and still very affordable, but their latest package contained 2 newer plates that went even further than that: these 2 came with their own cover with a fancy looking design and a protective cover/rubber plate on the back. But most important, the images themselves have a nice size and transfer great!
I will show the round plate some other time, but here's a closer look at the rectangular plate. This is plate BP-L015, or Forest Pattern Trees on their website. This plate costs $4.79. I'm loving the designs! I can see myself using the image that I used today over and over again, but that's not the only image that I can envision on my nails!
The images are 2.0x1.45 cm (you can see the size on my comparison as well), and this size is perfect for my nails. Not too small to make me have to put effort into fully covering each nail or having to doublestamp, yet not too big to loose a lot of each image. Happy with this plate! :)
Another item that BPS send me is this stamper, it comes as a set of a stamper and a scraper, but I didn't receive the latter so I can't say much about that. If you order this set, i'm sure you'll get both though! The set costs $3.74 and can be found here. If you order anything, don't forget to use coupon code ABJ61 for 10% off!
As you can see, the size is perfect for the images on the plate shown above, and I think it'll be a helpful tool when you really want to stamp straight. You can line up your image perfect with the stamper, and then line it up against your nail as well. The stamper is quite shiny, but as always with a new stamper, I gave it a gentle filing for the first use and that took the shine away, making it look more like the stampers we're used to. It works great and the white part fits perfect in the black holder, without falling out or sinking in too deep.
I've shown the big round stamper before as well, it's also a BPS stamper and it's my favorite nowadays, I don't use anything else anymore! I used the Konad doublesided stamper for many years, but ever since I got the feeling for the big, squishy BPS stamper, the Konad one feels odd, haha. I'm glad the rectangular stamper is now a part of my stash as well, it's the same squishy thing but in a different shape. Tip: I've noticed that these squishy stampers can easily attract fluffy bits (like tiny pieces of fabric), and cleaning them with remover isn't always handy. But I think that'll eventually dry out your stamper anyway, and a lint roller works SO well to clean your stamper! So nowadays I work with squishy stampers and lint roller, and I wouldn't want it any other way anymore :)
And here's the nails again!
OPI Thanks A Windmillion with A England Proserpine and BornPrettyStore BP-L015.
What do you think of the plate, and what's your favorite stamper? Thanks for looking and have a lovely weekend! ♥
The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.
Thứ Tư, 13 tháng 5, 2015
Testing out Incense Burner!
As I said in my Rossetti's Goddess post, the whole collection works for stamping! But Incense Burner was the polish that I had most doubts about, since it was a bit sheer on the first coat and really needed that 2nd coat for full coverage. And yes, it's a little sheer for stamping, but with the right undies and image, it's no problem!
This was a nice test for the Messy Mansion plate as well (this one's included in my full review of 4 MM plates), such fine lines can be a bit problematic and often involve a lot of platecleaning in between. But not with these MM plates, I started with my pinky and worked towards my indexfinger, and as the latter shows, that's when I should've cleaned the plate. But still, that's 3 perfect transfers including all those little lines, without cleaning the plate in between! I'm impressed :)
If you look at the color difference between my middlefinger and ringfinger, you can probably tell that Incense Burner is a bit sheer for stamping. But my nails are tiny compared to these photos, so none would notice that irl! And yes, once again I used this Dance Legend as base, I simply love that polish :D In short, happy with the plate, happy with these polishes!
Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day! ♥
This was a nice test for the Messy Mansion plate as well (this one's included in my full review of 4 MM plates), such fine lines can be a bit problematic and often involve a lot of platecleaning in between. But not with these MM plates, I started with my pinky and worked towards my indexfinger, and as the latter shows, that's when I should've cleaned the plate. But still, that's 3 perfect transfers including all those little lines, without cleaning the plate in between! I'm impressed :)
If you look at the color difference between my middlefinger and ringfinger, you can probably tell that Incense Burner is a bit sheer for stamping. But my nails are tiny compared to these photos, so none would notice that irl! And yes, once again I used this Dance Legend as base, I simply love that polish :D In short, happy with the plate, happy with these polishes!
Dance Legend #1035 with A England Incense Burner and Messy Mansion MM46.
Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day! ♥
Thứ Hai, 11 tháng 5, 2015
A England Rossetti's Goddess
Hi guys! Well I can just start writing a whole lot of compliments and other positive words here, because A England did it again: Rossetti's Goddess is a collection with absolutely stunning polishes that apply like a dream ♥ Get ready for some serious picspam!
Starting with a little note: as more often with Adina's creations, these polishes were a bit camera shy, they're even more fantastic in real life!
Starting with Captive Goddess, which is a blue-ish grey with just a slight hint of purple, a strong blue flash and a holographic effect to top it all off.
Captive Goddess covered in 2 coats, and I think I used top coat here (I swatched this one a couple of days before the rest, and now I can't fully remember!).
Proserpine is a teal polish with the holographic sparkle that we know and love from A England. The color is a perfect mix between A England's Tristam and Saint George, and if you love those 2, this one will steal your heart as well I'm sure!
This is 2 coats (close to 1-coater) of Proserpine, no top coat. As usual I swatched without basecoat, and I'm happy to say that none of these stained my nails when doing so. I don't think there's a lot of A England polish that stains, but with this kinda color, I'm always happy to find out when it doesn't!
Jane Morris, a gunmetal grey with purple shimmer and again the holographic sparkles. The color looks a little lighter or darker, depending on the light. To give you an idea: I'd say the basecolor is pretty close to A England's Ascalon, but Ascalon has a strong purple flash which makes it lean a little purple as well, and compared to it, the shimmer in Jane Morris looks very blue. Both beautiful, and definitely no dupes.
I used 2 coats (again, close to 1-coater) of Jane Morris, with top coat to make that lovely shimmer shine a little extra.
Incense Burner is the odd one of the collection, and when I say odd, I mean gorgeous duochromey, yum! It just lacks a holo effect that the rest of the collection does have :) I'd call this an eggplant purple with golden/olive green duochrome shimmer. There's more going on colorwise, but let's keep it simple and let the pictures do the talking, haha!
Incense Burner covered in 2 coats, that first coat was a bit sheer, but the 2nd coat build it up to perfect coverage. I did use top coat here.
Ahh what can I say, yet another A England collection that I just LOVE! I can't pick a favorite here, they're all unique and amazingly beautiful, and I'm very happy that these are a part of my collection now. And, if the looks and application of these polishes weren't enough, these all work for stamping! ♥ I'll be showing that in the coming posts. What do you think of this collection, will you be getting any of them? Thanks for looking and have a great day :)
You can buy the Rossetti's Goddess collection on the A England website, and if you're not from the UK, here's a list of webshops that carry A England.
The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.
Starting with a little note: as more often with Adina's creations, these polishes were a bit camera shy, they're even more fantastic in real life!
Starting with Captive Goddess, which is a blue-ish grey with just a slight hint of purple, a strong blue flash and a holographic effect to top it all off.
Captive Goddess covered in 2 coats, and I think I used top coat here (I swatched this one a couple of days before the rest, and now I can't fully remember!).
Proserpine is a teal polish with the holographic sparkle that we know and love from A England. The color is a perfect mix between A England's Tristam and Saint George, and if you love those 2, this one will steal your heart as well I'm sure!
This is 2 coats (close to 1-coater) of Proserpine, no top coat. As usual I swatched without basecoat, and I'm happy to say that none of these stained my nails when doing so. I don't think there's a lot of A England polish that stains, but with this kinda color, I'm always happy to find out when it doesn't!
Jane Morris, a gunmetal grey with purple shimmer and again the holographic sparkles. The color looks a little lighter or darker, depending on the light. To give you an idea: I'd say the basecolor is pretty close to A England's Ascalon, but Ascalon has a strong purple flash which makes it lean a little purple as well, and compared to it, the shimmer in Jane Morris looks very blue. Both beautiful, and definitely no dupes.
I used 2 coats (again, close to 1-coater) of Jane Morris, with top coat to make that lovely shimmer shine a little extra.
Incense Burner is the odd one of the collection, and when I say odd, I mean gorgeous duochromey, yum! It just lacks a holo effect that the rest of the collection does have :) I'd call this an eggplant purple with golden/olive green duochrome shimmer. There's more going on colorwise, but let's keep it simple and let the pictures do the talking, haha!
Incense Burner covered in 2 coats, that first coat was a bit sheer, but the 2nd coat build it up to perfect coverage. I did use top coat here.
Ahh what can I say, yet another A England collection that I just LOVE! I can't pick a favorite here, they're all unique and amazingly beautiful, and I'm very happy that these are a part of my collection now. And, if the looks and application of these polishes weren't enough, these all work for stamping! ♥ I'll be showing that in the coming posts. What do you think of this collection, will you be getting any of them? Thanks for looking and have a great day :)
You can buy the Rossetti's Goddess collection on the A England website, and if you're not from the UK, here's a list of webshops that carry A England.
The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.
Thứ Tư, 6 tháng 5, 2015
Cute pink cats
Just a short post today, with the result of stamping on my nails with a Dance Legend Hammering polish! I did use more polish than usual on the plate (filled the plate in a bit, instead of my usual stripe of polish near the top of the image), to make sure the image would be covered and wouldn't get tiny holes from the hammered effect of the polish. As you can see, that worked perfect!
I've shown the plate with this adorable design in this post, this plate offers a lot of feline designs and I can totally see a nice kittycat themed skittlette mani. But I'm not feeling so great atm, so I went for a less inspired, simple tone-on-tone design. Doesn't make these cats any less cute though! :)
I've shown the plate with this adorable design in this post, this plate offers a lot of feline designs and I can totally see a nice kittycat themed skittlette mani. But I'm not feeling so great atm, so I went for a less inspired, simple tone-on-tone design. Doesn't make these cats any less cute though! :)
Dance Legend #1035 with Dance Legend #4 As You Wish and Messy Manion plate MM50.
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