Ash-Lilly's Lacquer Lust

OPI Dulce De Leche and Nail Art Nail Tattoos.

2013-05-17T11:43:00.000+01:00

Happy Friday everyone.

I've been slipping on my posts again...what can I say? Nothing, apart from 'I'm getting there!'

Today, I have a quick OPI swatch and I'll also be showing off some Nail Art Nail Tattoos.

OPI's 'Dulce De Leche'.

Nail Art Nail Tattoos from Skin Art UK They are thin and self-adhesive. All you need to do is peel them carefully off the backing paper, and stick them onto your nails. Cover with a top coat and you're good to go!

I decided to add a few ribbons and tails to the bow on my nail. I was trying to be 'office appropriate' whilst wearing these. The beauty of wearing art on only a couple of fingers is that you can strategically place your gilded talons when necessary! Imagine me at the water cooler, talking to a senior manager...with my middle and ring fingers hidden behind a clip board, hahaha!

Powerpuff nails!

2013-04-22T20:29:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I've been on the blog, but here is a manicure that I'm pretty pleased with.

My eldest daughter likes to pick at her nails and in order to stop her from doing this, I've had to start bribing her...with nail art. During the Easter holidays, I told her that she could have any nail art of her choice, providing she didn't pick and tear at her nails. She chose this:

The Powerpuff girls! Do you like the way she modelled the Barry M 'Blueberry'?

I'm not the best at painting faces but these came out alright. This was done with acrylic paint and a tiny brush.

Hope you like it as much as my daughter did. This lasted for just over a week!

xx

Alessandro International - 'Espresso'

2013-03-26T22:49:00.000Z

Hi friends.

Tonight's post is one that is a review of Alessandro International's Espresso. I love that name, Alessandro. Everytime I type it, I sing 'alley alley andro, alley alley andro' to myself. I blame Lady Gaga for that. You do have to admit, though, the name rolls nicely off the tongue...Alessandro...

Anyway, this Monday marked one full week of me wearing this manicure. This is a big deal for me, folks. I never wear a manicure longer than a few days.

Espresso - a deep coffee brown with a subtle blue/grey shimmer.

This picture was taken next to a window to show you how it looks in normal day light. This is three layers of colour.

Check out that shimmer...

So you're wondering what that thing on my ring finger is? It's a Kiss nail wrap that I found in a copy of 'Nail It!' magazine. Unfortunately it only lasted one day, so I removed it and painted on some more.

Now this is my most favourite topcoat at the moment. No shrinkage!

Here is my current manicure :) As you can see, I've mastered the art of taking pictures with sheer Jedi Force...

Until next time folks!

xx

Nail designs from last month

2013-03-11T21:00:00.000Z

Here are a few things I've done over the past little while:

Water colour effect with outlines.

My favourite in a long while: Water colour effect with gold border

Patchwork nails

Hand designed 'Mock Croc'

These were some nails that I was preparing for a photo-shoot, but I'm not sure if I'm going to use them yet.

On that note, I'm off...until next time :)

xx

Black and white Gellux

2013-02-27T21:29:00.000Z

Hey all, it's been a while!

For this post I decided to play around with some Gellux gel polish (by Salon System).

I don't have any nails of my own anymore - they are so short.

I didn't actually wear these press-ons!

My favourite nail out of the lot. Side note, my camera was behaving really well for this post...not so much for the next one :(

All gel and all done with a striping brush.

I'll be back next post to show you the designs I've been toying with recently ;-)

xx

Lace nails

2013-02-22T18:00:00.000Z

I was getting a bit fed up with my short nails, so I decided to give myself some gel extensions:

I sculpted these with gel and then embedded some lace.

I added a few dots with acrylic paint to make accentuate the design.

That's it for tonight...

xx

Faded Sour Apple

2013-02-19T20:29:00.001Z

Hello friends.

Tonight I want to show you a manicure that I have been wearing, without a chip, since Sunday.

This is 'Sour Apple' by The Garden of Colour from Viva La Nails.

For the blue tips, I used Face it's BL607 - a polish sent to me by Anastacia some time last year.

I really like this green!

The crystals are from eBay and they were stuck on with only nail polish.

Next post I'll have pictures of a few designs that I've done recently...

xx

'French' Valentine's manicure, number 2

2013-02-13T22:19:00.000Z

Here is Valentine's manicure number two:

I rarely wear French manicures. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure if I've ever posted one on my blog. I wore them constantly when I had talons (natural) back in the 90's...cor, that makes me sound really old.

My nails are actually incredibly short at the moment. You wouldn't believe it, but my index finger nail is about 1mm long. I have high hyponychiums (that piece of skin on the underside of the nail where it's actually attached to your finger), so my nails look longer than they are. The French manicure also gives the illusion of length, but I find it incredibly boring...hence why I HAD to jazz it up!

For this look, I used these Gold Lace Stickers from Born Pretty Store.

The stickers come in long strips which have an adhesive on the back, so you can cut as much or as little as you want and stick it to the nail. I used two layers of top coat to seal these on because I was worried about them lifting at the edge. I needn't have worried - they were really hard to remove. I used pure acetone to remove the polish, but the stickers were stuck tight. Unfortunately I had to scrape at the stickers to get them off my nail in the end.

So there you have it. Some really easy Valentine's day looks. I couldn't go with some crazy pink design this year - I have several important meetings tomorrow and a bunch of hearts and glitter wouldn't really have been appropriate!

Use this code for a 10% discount on your order:)

Whatever you do tomorrow, have a lovely day and thanks for reading!

xx

Valentine's day manicure, part 1

2013-02-13T21:53:00.000Z

'Tis the night before Valentines, people!

I don't know how you feel about the day, but I'm neither here nor there. My wedding anniversary is at the beginning of March, so my husband and I always place more emphasis on that day.

I have a couple of manicures to show you, created with items from Born pretty store:

Barry M's 'Berry Ice Cream'

I am totally in love with these nail studs. In particular, the cut-out circles are my favourite and after searching high and low, I was stoked to see that they were available at Born pretty store.

I used the gold coloured, cut-out circles and gold mini studs to create this manicure. I stuck them into the polish when it was tacky and the designs were created with white acrylic paint. When it came to removing the studs, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the acetone had no effect on the colour; they didn't tarnish at all. They were in such a good condition that I actually kept them to use them again!

Here is me posing with my iphone case from a pound shop!

Use this code for a 10% discount on your order:)

Stick around because I have another Valentines manicure for you...

xx

Rococo Nail Apparel Purple Reign and 23ct Gold Leaf Lacquer

2013-02-11T19:29:00.000Z

I may be a bit tardy to the party, but this is my first time wearing gold leaf nail polish.

This is Rococo's 'Purple Reign' By *Rococo Nail Apparel. This polish has great coverage and I only needed two coats. The bottle also has a nice wide brush (my most favourite thing!)

'Purple Reign' and '23ct Gold Leaf Lacquer', available at Space NK You'll notice that the gold leaf has sunk to the bottom of the bottle - I'm pretty sure that this is not supposed to happen. I've just now had another look at the site and can see that my bottle of polish looks like it's missing 50% of the flakes.

Excuse the tip wear. This polish was on for three days!

The gold leaf pieces are quite large (brilliant), but they wouldn't stay suspended in the lacquer base (not so brilliant). The clear base was very thin, so trying to apply the flakes took some time. They would not come out of the bottle and I had to chase them around the bottle to scoop them out. Even after giving the bottle a good shake, I still had to fish for the flakes. If I simply dipped the brush into the bottle, the only thing that would come out was clear polish.

Having tried Rococo polishes for the first time, I was really impressed with the 'Purple Reign'. It had great coverage and was beautifully pigmented. The '23ct Gold Leaf' Lacquer', however, was a bit disappointing because it was a chore to apply. I was able to enjoy this for three days without a chip, so I guess the positives outweighed the negatives in the end.

Have you tried any of the pigmented Rococo Nail Apparel polishes before?

xx
*Sent for my consideration and honest review

Kiss my nail strips!

2013-02-09T12:00:00.000Z

If you've kept up with my blog over the last two years, you will know that I am a lover of water decals and nail stickers. Not only are they a way to instantly jazz up a plain manicure, they are also quick and easy to use when you are in a hurry. These nail polish strips by *OMGNailStrips are right up my alley.

In one packet, you'll get two sheets of pre-cut nail stickers. They are so simple to use: just size the strips up on your own nails, remove the clear plastic covering on top of the pattern, peel the design off the cardboard backing paper and stick them onto your nails. You can stretch them (which is good if you have a high apex, or curve, to your nails) and they won't tear.

Finished product.

The OMGNailStrips after one day of wear. There is some tip wear, but I'm not known for wearing washing up gloves and I had washed three heads of hair with these on.

Weird hand pose...

Have you worn these strips before? What do you think?

xx
*Sent to me for consideration

Painting with my eyes closed...

2013-02-07T23:31:00.000Z

Tonight, I have a quick post showing you the results of boredom.

I was watching a few YouTube make up videos and saw that a few ladies decided to make videos with them putting on make up without mirrors. Some of them were pretty good! I thought I'd do the something similar - so I painted my nails with my eyes closed:

Absolutely abysmal.

Hmm. Not even the wonderous Rimmel Flat Brush could help me...

Dear, oh dear. I'm actually quite shocked at how badly I did!

Have you been bored enough to try this out? If you have, let me know :)

xx

A fast polish drying spray that actually works!

2013-02-01T19:30:00.000Z

Happy Friday everyone.

Notice anything different about my nails? Yes, I've taken off my acrylic extensions...and my nails are still strong, don't worry :) When they are a bit longer I'll file them into an almond shape.

Today's post is two-fold; I want to show you a new polish of mine, but I also want to show you a product that was recently sent to me. I was contacted by Angela at Beauty Narcotix who dared me to try 'The Ultimate Fix' - a polish drying spray.

£17 for the 200ml bottle.

This is the polish I decided to experiment with: XOXO Nail's Angel Spell - (two coats of )a clear jelly with matte white hexagons and shapes.

After my base coat, I sprayed a shot of The Ultimate Fix on my nails and continued to do so after each coat of Angel Spell and 'normal' top coat. Would you believe it, the spray wasn't oily at all. In fact it absorbed into my nails and skin pretty quickly. It did have a smell that reminded me of a perfumed body spray, but it was quite pleasant and not too over powering.

Did it dry the polish quickly? I am pleased to say that the polish did dry a lot faster than other sprays that I have tried (and subsequently thrown in the bin) over the years. I did give it about 10 minutes before starting to tidy things away, but my nails were definitely dry by that point. The Ultimate Fix is also supposed to prolong the longevity of your polish and guard against chips. I can't personally comment on this however, because I don't like to wear the same polish for too long.

Would I buy this? Based on the speed with which the spray works, I can see the benefit of paying £17 for a product that is guaranteed to work effectively. I can also see this being quite handy on the set of a photo shoot, when there's a demand to create manicures that don't smudge when a stylist decides to swap outfits on a model at the last minute! I think I'd probably use this in conjunction with the fast dry polishes I currently use - for extra speed.

What do you think about the idea of polish drying sprays? Would you use them?

Whilst you are thinking, have another look at this beautiful polish and have a great weekend!

To gloss or not to gloss? That is the question.

2013-01-23T21:43:00.000Z

Hello there!

Tonight, I want to share one of my Poundland bargains. I have at least 15 Revlon polishes - only one of which was bought for the full price (£6-7). This one was bought for £1...

Revlon's 'Red Ribbon'. Yes, it's a matte polish and yes, it did look like suede...but when adhering the rhinestones, the polish became glossy in some areas. To fix it, I covered it with a glossy top coat.

Admittedly, I do love glossy polishes. I'd rather turn a glossy finish into a matte by using a matte top coat, because that eliminates streaks (for me, anyway).

This is what happens when you use cheap rhinestones! As soon as I embedded these rhinestones in the top coat, their backs started to wrinkle. Any integral shine they had diminished immediately. I ended up smothering them in top coat in the end. Now they don't even look like rhinestones!

So, how do YOU feel about matte polishes? Are you a sucker for gloss, like me or is matte the way forward for you? Let me know in the comments box.

Take care!
xx

Racer back nails!

2013-01-18T22:03:00.001Z

Happy Friday, friends!

Tonight, I'm featuring a manicure created by Madeline Poole. I love her work so much because she has come up with some amazing concepts and works in the world of celebrity and session manicuring (something I am also working towards...slowly, ha!)

First, let me show you the polish I used as a base:

Maybelline's 'Audacious Asphalt'.
Two coats, one layer of Toma 45 second top coat (I didn't use a base coat because I'm wearing acrylics which have a uv gel top coat on them).

Generally, I'm not a fan of nudes, greys or beiges. This, however, I do like.

This is quite a 'bright' grey. It catches the eye because it has a blue undertone.

Another shot of the 'racer back' nails look created by Madeline Poole. You can find a tutorial for this look right HERE.

Have a great weekend!

xx

Barry M 'Black Multi Glitter'

2013-01-13T16:13:00.000Z

Hi everyone.

Today I have a polish for you that I bought before Christmas and never worn. It was the holographic particles that swung it for me.

Barry M's 'Black Multi Glitter'

This was amazing in the bottle, subtle on the nail, but so difficult to capture with the camera.

Far better in real life - really! I can't really fault any of the Barry M nail paints. They always seem to (quietly) release new polishes with such regularity.

I'm also using a different top coat at the moment. Recently I went to my local beauty supply before a shoot and I was horrified to find that there was NO SECHE VITE in the store. As the blood drained from my face, the sales assistant said, 'you can try Toma'. I was at a loose end, because all I had in my Helmer was the OPI Rapid Dry (and I don't particularly like it), so I grabbed some Toma.

I'm happy to report that this was a very welcomed alternative to Seche Vite, for me anyway. There wasn't an issue with shrinkage either!

Thanks for reading.

xx

Leighton Denny 8 Piece Mini Mani Collection

2013-01-11T14:51:00.001Z

Happy Friday everyone.

I have something special to show you today - Leighton Denny 8 piece Mini Mani Collection from QVC!

Admittedly, I've never used any of the products created by Leighton Denny, but I'd heard that he had some amazing polishes. When I was offered the chance to review this nail polish set, I had to accept.

The set comprised of 5 colours.
L-R: High Flyer, Diamond Diva, Rampant Rose, Pleasing Purple and Butterfly Wings.

L-R: One For All (base and topcoat), Precision Corrector and Miracle Drops Speed and a precision brush.

Exciting, huh?

Let's have a look at the colours first...

High Flyer (4.6ml) - a turquoise shade enriched with silver glitter. This is two coats plus on layer of the One For All topcoat. This was my favourite shade. The brushes weren't wide and flat, but they were well made and the consistency of the polish was creamy.

Diamond Diva (4.6ml) - molten silver shade which can be used as a French manicure tip. I chose to put it on the whole nail, however, because I don't like how the look of a French manicure on almond shaped nails. The polish is beautifully pigmented and would look amazing marbled with a black polish. This is two coats without a top coat.

Rampant Rose (4.6ml) - deep red with a touch of brown. Two coats of creamy perfection.

Pleasing Purple (4.6ml) - The website states that this is a 'navy blue with a subtle purple shimmer', but I suspect that they swapped the colours around. This is a PURPLE with a BLUE shimmer, in my opinion. Initially I didn't like this at all, but after three coats, it grew on me. You may be able to detect a smudge on the ring finger...I used the polish drying drops and they did nothing to speed up the drying process.

Butterfly Wings (4.6ml) - sheer peach with an iridescent shimmer. This was my least favourite shade, because I'm not fond of shimmers. I will admit that this shade would look amazing layered over a darker colour. This didn't actually occur to me until just now!!

Left: One For All (4.6ml) all-in-one base coat, top coat, ridge filler and clear gloss coat - perfect for when you're on the go...or so the blurb says.
It is fine as a base coat and gives a lovely glossy shine when applied as a top coat, but because it is not fast drying, I simply would not buy this. This is not a reflection on the quality of the polish, I just prefer the convenience of a fast drying polish.

Middle: Precision Corrector (4.8ml) - a three-in-one product that tidies up nail polish mistakes; also the key easily creating the perfect French and Naked Moon manicures.
I love this! Seasoned nail polish bloggers will all confirm that a good 'clean-up job' is imperative, when polishing nails. This does not appear to be acetone, because it does not leave a dry, white mark on the cuticle area after use. It's not harsh on the skin and it removes spills with precision and speed. I don't know what is in this miracle elixir, but I love it. The little brush contained in the pack is the perfect size and the hairs are stiff, so they don't splay when you are cleaning the cuticle area.

Right: Miracle Drops Speed (4.8ml) - specially formulated to radically speed up drying time, help stop smudging and add lustre to nails and cuticles.
Unfortunately, the only thing these drops did for me were make hydrate my cuticles! After a few minutes, my nails still smudged. Again, perhaps I'm just used to my normal fast drying topcoats, but I'm not used to having to wait for my polish to dry anymore!

Overall, this was a sweet little pack with some top quality polishes. If the top coat had been a speed-dry polish, I would have been in heaven.

If you go head over to the QVC website, you can find this set for the introductory price of £28.44.

Have a great weekend!

xx

Strawberries and cream

2013-01-08T21:30:00.000Z

A few weeks ago I was in the mood for some Eton Mess. Yes, that lovely, simple dessert comprising of meringue, strawberries and whipped cream was on my brain for days. When I'd made up my mind to go and buy the ingredients, there was not a strawberry to be found at my local Sainsbury's! It was when I was staring at my lonesome double cream in the fridge, that I had an idea...strawberries and cream!!

You'll see that I found my strawberries in the end! I went for pouring cream...made out of acrylic. The white acrylic powder was sent to me along with 17 of it's colourful friends, courtesy of Born Pretty Store. If you've never visited before, please do - and use the 10% discount code in the sidebar for any purchases.

Out of the 18 tiny pots of acrylic contained in the package, I used the one pot of white powder with a monomer, or acrylic liquid. Because the powder is specifically for creating art structures, it was 'slow setting' and I was able to mold and shape the acrylic without it drying out too quickly. This acrylic is a different consistency (in my opinion) to that which you would use to create a french tip on a sculpted acrylic nail extension. Unfortunately I spilt the little pot of powder after doing these nails, hence why I left the two fingers 'creamless'. Honestly, I could've kicked myself.

The 'seeds' are plastic yellow bullion. No glue was used - they stuck quite well in a clear top coat which was covered in a further two coats of Seche Vite.

Another gratuitous shot of the highly sought-after strawberry.

I loved them so much that I decided to make some false nails...using some white molding acrylic powder (for extensions) which has a different consistency to the previous powder. It wasn't the same, but I had to improvise because having this idea bouncing around in my head would cause me to have sleepless nights. Really.

I'm not usually one for wearing fruit on my fingers (it's not quite office appropriate, is it?), but I thought these were cute.

Would YOU wear food on your fingers??

xx

Maybelline's Chocolate Frost on gel nails

2013-01-07T12:14:00.000Z

Here are some gel nail extensions that I did for GW recently. I now have a tiny lamp which is pretty powerful, so finally, I was able to capture some pictures of work I've done on others. When I work on clients, it tends to be in the evening and I never get decent photos because of the lighting.

GW trusts my judgement when it comes to her nails and after I had removed some Gellux and acrylic holly (similar to what I am wearing in this post), she wanted to continue with a little length.

The gel system I used was NSI and the polish was a Chocolate Frost by Maybelline. I'm not 100% sure, but I think this one may be discontinued - I haven't seen it anywhere. Don't quote me though. Here it is in another old post picture:

These pictures are pretty old, so feel free to visit the original post

Party menu

2013-01-06T12:26:00.000Z

Hi everyone.

This is a quick post to show you the menu I had for a nail polish party I did a few days before Christmas '12 (that makes it sound so far away, doesn't it?)

I can't wait until my next party - it was so much fun!

xx

2True 'Shade 3'

2013-01-04T11:43:00.002Z

Recently I've managed to build up quite a few un-tried. What with frivolous polish buying and taking part in a Secret Polish Santa on Instagram, my second Helmer (yes, I now have another) is now brimming.

Here's one I picked up and have been staring at for a few weeks:

This is 2True's 'Shade 3'.

This is two layers of a blue jelly polish jam packed with glitter hexagons. So jam packed in fact...it was quite thick. I some of the hexagons were standing on their sides - that's how thick the consistency was. I had to pat them into place! Stroking this onto the nail was not easy.

I think I may have to add a few drops of polish thinner before wearing this one again. It's really not bad though because this only cost £1.99 (from Superdrug).

Have a good weekend and thanks for reading.

xx

Mani's I've missed

2013-01-02T12:00:00.000Z

You know what it's like. You do a mani, you remove it and then you forget to post it?

As I've already said, my New Year's resolution is to be more organised in terms of blogging (and schedule posts if I know I have a busy week). I also need to make more use of my blogging app on my phone too.

Here are a few things I've done recently.

Some press-on's I did for Annie for a photo shoot.

This pattern was created with acrylic paint and Nails Inc's Baker Street.

Black Gellux and glitter.

The acrylic extensions I gave myself for Christmas. I had some staining which I covered with a rose blush acrylic.

That's it for now.

xx

2013, welcome...(NYE mani enclosed!)

2012-12-31T23:17:00.000Z

As I sit here typing at my archaic PC, after a major laptop crisis...which ended up being no crisis at all, I'm pondering over this old year. During 2012 I managed to accomplish several goals I have set myself and also gain from experiences I never thought I'd have. In terms of the 'nailism', I got my qualifications, insurance, set up a website (which I did not promote, due to my health being fragile) and had the new-found confidence to take my skills and passion to a different level.

Throughout all of this my blog fell to the wayside, because being a mother to small children, an employee, a blogger, a nail art lover, a nail painter to myself, a manicurist to others and a session nail technician became a little overwhelming. The session work came as a pleasant and welcomed surprise, but my love of late nights, early mornings, busy days and a stressful office job meant that something had to give.

This year, I aim to be more organised and actually read the 'to-do' lists that I make at home. Perhaps diarising things may ease the anxiety I've felt on occasion, when I've sat here staring at the 'compose' page.
Don't get me wrong, I still love my blog (hence the little overhaul), I hate that I've neglected it.

I will now post everything I do, my nails and other peoples too. My love for polish and nail art has not changed; I've just been a little pre-occupied.

What I'm wearing right now...Jacava's 'Blueberry Muffin'*

Can I just say that I love this shade?? It's a British brand (whoop, whoop!) and it's 4-free, meaning there's no formaldehyde, toluene, camphor or DBP in it to be of detriment to your health.

I couldn't stop staring at my nails.

I'm also loving my acrylics...I've missed having nails *sobs*

And to make this manicure more New Year worthy, I threw glitter at it.

Why the drips? I don't know, I just like drips!

I'll end, saying only that I wish you all the very best this year. Make those dreams work in 2013...

xx
*Sent to me for my coconsideration.

Merry Christmas?

2012-12-28T23:17:00.002Z

Sooo, how was your Christmas? I hope it was what you wanted it to be.

Mine was good. Lots of presents for the kids, another Helmer for me (yay) and above all, good company and smiling faces.

I wore this mani for the 'big day' after putting on some acrylic extensions (I refused to have nubs for Christmas!)

I thought I'd go with some plaid and some holly too.

I added some glitter to the acrylic by dipping my brush into coloured acrylic first, then into the glitter - this only made it hard for me to form the acrylic balls. I should have formed ball first, applied it to the nail and then added some glitter to it. Oh well, you live and you learn.

Now that I have some nails and another week off work in the office, I may try some more acrylic 3D molding.

As always, thanks for reading!

Gellux: Oriental Poppy and Gold Rush

2012-12-04T21:06:00.003Z

I know I've said that I'm usually not partial to gel nail polish, but I cannot deny that it is really practical for me. I suppose my main concerns were that I wouldn't be able to find a good variation of colours and that doing art would be too difficult.
Welp, I've proved myself wrong.

This is Oriental Poppy, with Cherry Blossom (pink) and Gold Rush.

This took a little longer to create (not much) than a manicure with normal polish might've...but this is because I had to cure every single layer of gel polish that I applied, before going on to the others. Sound excessive? Well, it wasn't, considering it only took 30 or so seconds for each coat to cure under an LED light (it would've taken 2 minutes with a UV light!)
The only thing I had issue with was the black acrylic paint. Initially, the lines were much thicker, but after curing, the top coat over the thick lines bubbled. After each layer of gel is cured under a UV/LED light, there is a sticky layer left. This is not removed if you are going to continue applying more colours or topcoats - this sticky 'dispersion layer' is what bonds one layer of gel to another. I have a feeling that I covered too much of this dispersion layer with my acrylic paint and this caused the topcoat to bubble in these areas. Had I used a black gel polish, I wouldn't have had this problem. I just picked off the bubbled area, buffed the shine off the polish and then repainted the lines. I always find a work around and I enjoy experimenting to make things work for me.

I'm going to try my best to stick with this manicure over the next few weeks - just to test Gellux's longevity. Hopefully, if Santa is good to me this year, I might be able to increase my Gellux stash!
I should also say that despite there being reviews suggesting that there have been issues with removal, I've not encountered any problems. On this occasion I've used Salon System Profile's new 'Easy-off' base-coat...we'll see how it goes.
xx