Pernickety About Nails (& Beauty!)

Swatched: Sunkissed by China Glaze

2013-04-28T08:00:00.000+01:00

For this post I swatched China Glaze's Sunkissed which is from the 2012 Summer Neon Collection!

Sunkissed, like many of the other China Glaze polishes I have tried, was quite easy to apply, and because of the hardeners it also had quite a nice finish on its own! However, after two coats of this particular shade, I applied one coat of Orly Magnifique topcoat, to give it an extra sheen!

Overall, I would give Sunkissed by China Glaze:

5/5 Stars!

Review: Nail Art Sourcebook by Pansy Alexander-Potter & Mineko Sugita

2013-04-17T08:00:00.000+01:00

I received this book for review from Presents For Men, which gave me the final push to create this blog in the first place!

In just over 250 pages, the Nail Art Sourcebook covers just about everything from simple polka dots to three dimensional duck nail art, animal prints to Chinese calligraphy, and more!

The nail art is separated into seven categories: Floral, Graphic, Pictures & Themes, Glitter & Metallic, Jewelled, Romantic & Bridal and Three Dimensional.

The majority of the large, featured designs in this book are accompanied by small hints, tips and descriptions, which whilst they explain the images well, they didn't really explain how to achieve the actual nail design from basecoat to topcoat.

The introduction in the Nail Art Sourcebook includes simple How To's & explanations of Gel and Acrylic nails, but unfortunately they left me desperately craving more advice on how to create the more intricate nail art featured in this book.

Overall, I love the concept of Pansy Alexander-Potter & Mineko Sugita's Nail Art Sourcebook but I would have liked to have had at least a few basecoat to topcoat tutorials included with the more detailed designs.

As a result, I would give the Nail Art Sourcebook by Pansy Alexander-Potter & Mineko Sugita:

4/5 Stars!

Combination Creation! (2)

2013-04-12T08:00:00.000+01:00

I have decided to do this Combination Creation feature to show all the nail designs or nail art that I have created (or replicated) using a combination of different brands.

For this post I decided to do whimsical "Toadstool" design!

For my "Toadstool" design, I used Orly Bonder as my basecoat, Orly Unlawful as my base colour, Attitude Snow White as my polka dot colour and Orly Magnifique as my topcoat.

To get the polka dots for my "Toadstool" design, I used three different sizes of dotting tools, two being the smallest of my set and the other being the biggest, to achieve the whimsical effect.

Combination Creation! (1)

2013-04-10T08:00:00.000+01:00

I have decided to do this Combination Creation feature to show all the nail designs or nail art that I have created (or replicated) using a combination of different brands.

For my first Combination Creation post, I decided to do a simple, purple matt polish.

For this Combination Creation, I used Orly Bonder as my basecoat, two coats of China Glaze's Tarty For The Party and one coat of Attitude's Matt Finish as my top coat!

Review: Orly Nailtrition

2013-04-08T15:32:00.000+01:00

At the moment, I am over halfway through doing a Level 2 Beauty course, where amongst other treatments we practice doing manicures quite a lot. As a result my nails have suffered. They have become weaker and even shorter than they were before!

So my mum bought Orly Nailtrition for us to try!

Orly Nailtrition is a two week treatment. In the first week, put one to two coats of Orly Nailtrition on each nail, then each day after add another one to two coats, for the whole week. At the end of week one remove all of the Orly Nailtrition. Then repeat the process for a second week!

The Orly Nailtrition two week treatment can be repeated over and over until the desired effect is achieved, however it is recommended that a week should be left between each treatment.

Prior to applying the Orly Nailtrition, I gave my nails a mini manicure, where I :

Filed my nails into a round / oval shape
Applied cuticle massage cream, to soften & moisturise my cuticles
Applied cuticle remover, to help remove / dissolve some excess cuticle
Pushed back & clipped my excess cuticle
Washed the cuticle remover off of my nails

I applied one moderate coating of Orly Nailtrition to each nail, and was pleasantly surprised. Once it had dried, my nails felt quite silky to touch and had a subtle, healthy glow!

Overall, I would give Orly Nailtrition:

5 / 5 Stars!