This Week's Nails #16 - Turquoise and Pink Glitter Shatter

Hey! Since I got OPI Black Shatter, I also invested in the turquoise and white versions :O
They'll be useful for making pendants as well as being super awesome on my nails! I'm still obsessed with the Nubar Sparkles polishes I got and I wanted to use another one asap. I thought I might as well combine my two latest polish favourites and see how it goes. Also, I  wanted to make the most ultra-colourful shatter manicure possible. I think the result looks really cool!

Products used:

Sally Hansen Double Duty Strengthening Base/Top Coat
Nubar Petunia Sparkles
OPI Turquoise Shatter
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Nail Art #5 - V-Day

Hey!

I've been crazy busy lately! I did makeup for a photo shoot on Sunday, it was an all day thing and I've been shattered ever since! It was a time for print job, I'm trying to get my portfolio started. I think it went well and I can't wait to see the shots when they're done, I'll definitely post some here for you all to see :)

I got some (more) new polish in the post this week :D I ordered some Nubar in Fire Sparkles, Petunia Sparkles and Violet Sparkles. They're gorgeous glitter polishes. I got them for about €8 on Beauty Bay. I also got the Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat for about €11. It's amazing :O It dries insanely fast, and gives the most beautiful shine. It gives incredible dimension to glitter polishes too. I really really needed to find this top coat. Doing my nails takes me way too long because nothing dries fast, it's a pain. I end up sat there with my hands in the freezer for ten minutes. If you're into nails and you don't have this, you need it. Trust me.
Seeing as Valentine's Day is coming I thought I'd attempt some V-Day themed nail art. I did a crap job but I tried! I hate tiny rhinestones :/ They're so fiddly! Here's what I managed anyway:

Crude Rhinestone Heart

Products used:

Sally Hansen Doubly Duty
Nubar Fire Sparkles
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
Black rhinestones from ebay

Another Face #2 - Keelin

Tonight my friend Keelin called over and I did her makeup before she went out! She was going to a gig so I did colourful, dramatic party makeup with glitter.

Before, wearing only foundation

After

Both of those photos are unedited, just cropped. I think I did ok! I don't get to work on other people as often as I'd like so it's kind of hard to tell how I'm doing, but I like how the makeup came out. Still, I feel more confident working on people than I used to. Hopefully I'll get to work on Keelin some more in the future >_^ Do some different kind of looks and stuff. Let me know in the comments what you think of this look! I know it's pretty crazy but it's night out makeup, and glitter is so much fun! Here are some more photos and a product list, see you soon!

Products used:

Face:

Maybelline Dream Satin liquid foundation - Fawn

Soap & Glory Kick-Ass Concealer
Soap & Glory Trick and Treatment Under Eye Concealer
Inglot Transluscent Powder

The Body Needs Blush - Barely There Pink

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

NYX White Base

Urban Decay Vice Palette - Noise, Vice, Black Market, Provocateur

Sugarpill - Tako, Dollipop

Inglot Gel Liner - 77

Urban Decay pencil liner - Zero

The Body Needs Glitter - Superstar, Holo-Blue

Benefit 'They're Real' mascara

Lips:

Essence Lip Liner - Cute Pink

The Body Needs Lip Luster - Rumors

Nail Art #1 - Galaxy Nails

Hey guys, today I did some nail art! I don't have much experience with nail art and I'd like to try a lot of the cool stuff I see online. I've tried using dotting tools and I've used stickers before but that's about it really! One I've been wanting to try for a long time is a galaxy nail manicure, I'm sure most people have seen this one before. It's a very awesome and popular manicure, and very easy too! These are the polishes I used:

All polishes are Essence apart from the glitter polish which is from Revlon. Here's a rundown:

• Galactic Black - Black with subtle silver shimmer.
• White Tip Painter - This is the only white I own and I've never even done a French manicure. I will though, I promise!
• Sleepy from the Snow White collection - A pale greenish blue with blue pearl.
• Let's Get Lost - My favourite bright blue and the reason I started using base coats, it stains so bad!
• Ultimate Pink - The name says it all.
• Break Through - Lovely plum shade.
• Passion for Fashion - Violet.
• Revlon's Stunning -  Clear based polish with silver glitter reflecting multicoloured, irregular sized circular and hex glitter.

The basic idea is that you sponge colours over a black base, and work some glitter in to represent stars and planets. I used a cut up kitchen sponge because I had no cosmetic sponges, and I think it worked just as well. Revlon's Stunning is the perfect glitter for this manicure because of the different sized particles. They make for great stars in your miniature fingernail galaxies! I did a fair bit of searching for a polish exactly like this for this manicure, I was so happy when I came across Stunning. Another good glitter for this I've seen used by others is NYC's Starry Silver Glitter.

I really like how my nails came out! I'd like to do it again and try different colour combinations. I took a few pictures in a few different lighting conditions. It's hard to capture how cool this manicure looks in real life!

Natural light

Flash photo

Ring light

Ring light

Ring light

I will most definitely be dabbling more in nail art, I had a lot of fun with this. I'd like to do some gradient manicures too, the ones I see on other blogs look beautiful! We'll see what's to come ^_^

This Week's Nails #13 - Jack Frost/Black is Back

Hey there! It's been a while, I've been crazy busy for weeks and had zero time, but I'm back to regular posting now. I hope your Christmas was as awesome as mine! I got some great gifts that I will review in the not too distant future :) Here is the manicure I did today:

I layered Models Own 'Jack Frost' from the Winter Wonderland collection over Essence's 'Black is Back'. I saw this combination somewhere before and I had to try it for myself, it's so pretty! 'Black is Back' is a nice black creme, opaque in two coats.

'Jack Frost' is a pretty glitter containing a myriad of blue and purple hues. I don't care for it much alone since it's quite sheer, but layered over other colours it looks great! The formula is SUPER thick and goopy, you need to scrape a ton of polish off the brush before you apply it or it will refuse to dry. This is the second time I've done this manicure on myself, the first time was quite bad since I layered 'Jack Frost' too thick and it ended up smudging really bad later on. Also, this glitter absolutely demolishes topcoat. It's a bit silly! I applied three layers of a topcoat here, two of 'normal' consistency and one very thick one. For about an hour or so my nails felt smooth, but now they feel rough again. I love the colours in the glitter but the particles have such beautiful dimension when they're smoothed and glossy, and it's a shame that's so hard to maintain that wet look. I took a blurred picture of this manicure too, to show off the glitter some more:

I'll leave it at that, but I'll be back again soon. Thanks for reading!

This Week's Nails #11 - Goldeneye

Hey! It's been a busy week so not a whole lot of time for blogging. My nails were a complete mess until yesterday, I was quite disgusted with myself! I feel so much better now that they're manicured again. I got the 'Get Bonded' collection by OPI this week. I was dying to get some of the Skyfall collection polishes, I picked it up for €19.95 on http://www.cloud10beauty.com/, reduced from €29.95. Such a steal! The set contains three full sized (15ml) bottles of polish. 

The Spy Who Loved Me, Goldeneye, Skyfall

I've ordered some nail wheels from ebay so that I can swatch my polish hauls, and I was going to wait until they arrive to show you guys this collection but I couldn't wait to wear Goldeneye! The Spy Who Loved me is a bright red with gold shimmer, and Skyfall is a deep, oxblood red. Very trendy for both autumn and the upcoming festive season! Here's a photo of Goldeneye on.

I'm crazy about this polish. I'm not that fond of gold in general, I don't like gold embellishments on clothing or purses, or gold jewellery, but I love gold nails! Goldeneye is kind of a glitter polish, but the glitter doesn't feel rough like in other polishes. It's more like foiled gold. It's opaque in two coats and looks super fancy! This is the first OPI polish I've used, and I haven't worn it for long enough to comment on its longevity or anything like that, but I'm very impressed with the formula and how it looks. This collection would make a great gift for a loved one, or for yourself if you're having trouble choosing from the extensive Skyfall collection.

This Week's Nails #10 - Black Galaxy

Sorry it's been so long! I've been quite busy this week, I didn't really have a chance to get anything beauty related done :( Last night I decided I couldn't take it anymore and I did my nails!

Once again I've gone with my 'screw autumn' theme. It feels far too cold for all these warm reds and oranges that are still hanging around. I'm very cold, god damn it, and my nails will reflect that! This gorgeous shade is Isa Dora's 'Black Galaxy'. Black polish with silver glitter that reflects rainbow colours. I picked it up for €3.75, reduced from €7.50. A very good deal! Here's a close up:

After two coats the polish was opaque, but one layer of topcoat didn't suffice. I used three coats to completely smooth the polish and make the glitter look its best. The topcoat I used is quite thin, so perhaps just one or two coats of a thicker one would do. This is my second Isa Dora polish, I'm becoming a big fan of theirs!

This Week's Nails #8 - Wanna Say Hello/Time For Romance

I did my nails last night and I'm really happy with how they came out! I wanted something trendy and I wanted to use glitter, and after some rummaging in my polish box I found a couple that I thought would look nice. I'm having a really rough time photographing glitter, so I'll post a few pictures. Unfortunately none of them do it justice, so try to use your imagination! ^_^

The first colour I applied was Essence's 'Wanna Say Hello', a rich, dark, chocolate brown. My bottle is from the older range, but the good news is that this polish is still available! It's priced at €1.79 and has a new and improved design.

I layered two coats of Essence's 'Time For Romance' on top of the brown. Again, my bottle is the old design, but this one is still available too! It's also priced at €1.79. This polish is gorgeous, and compliments 'Wanna Say Hello' just perfectly.

It's a real shame that the glitter doesn't photograph well. I'll describe it as best I can! It's coloured a rose gold shade, but more peachy. It has a sort of glow about it, it's lovely. The glitter is irregular  and some of the smaller bits reflect green, blue and sliver. You'd have to see for yourself! Alone it has a wine coloured base, but you can't see this over the brown polish. I'm not sure what it looks like on, I've only swatched it on white paper to see what it looks like. I hope you like this manicure as much as I do! See you soon ~_^

This Week's Nails #7 - Trophy Wife/Emerald Isle

Hey there! I lifted my nail polish ban last weekend while I was away in Galway. This week I'm wearing two of the polishes that I bought there! One is Essie's 'Trophy Wife', here's a picture of the bottle and nails:

This is my first Essie polish, and I like it! I got it at Boots for €12.99. It's a deep teal colour, I had to have it as soon as I saw it ^_^ The accent nail I did with Angelica's 'Emerald Isle', here's a look at the bottle:

I applied it only to the little finger, to cover up some black face paint that wouldn't wash off without scrubbing the colour off too! This is a glitter polish, quite similar in colour to 'Trophy Wife'. It doesn't photograph well but it is pretty! I'd seen Angelica polishes before at Penneys on Patrick Street Cork, but only the pastels. In Penneys in Eyre Square Galway they have a much wider range! I picked up two for €2.75 each. Well worth it! You have to apply a couple of topcoats to smooth the glitter, and it comes out very blingy! I'll have to get my sister to pick me up some more Angelica polishes when my ban is lifted.

Tomorrow I'm going to a Zombie Walk in Cork. I've been practicing my makeup for it lately, and having the best time doing it! I'll write up a post on that over the next couple of days. See you soon!