This Week's Nails #18 - Essence St. Patrick's Day Shatter Nails

Hey guys!

Sorry I've been AWOL again, I've been busy working on some projects. I've been getting some more time for print and unpaid work and I'm so happy! They've been loads of fun and I'm meeting lots of new people and gaining tons of experience.

I've done my nails three times this week. I got some stamping plates, so I've been messing with those. They're a bit tricky to use but I'll keep it up and be pro in no time :D I didn't photograph those manicures, they were cool to me because they were stamped but they were pitifully done!
My latest manicure is another shatter one, I can't get enough of them. I was in town recently and saw the Essence 'Oz the Great and Powerful' collection. There are five shatter colours in it! I got them all..They cost about €12 total and they're really awesome so it was well worth it! I'll do another post soon with swatches from them all so you can have a look.

I've seen some St. Patrick's Day manicure's around. Some of them are pretty cool, but most just don't appeal to me! Paddy's day isn't a big deal to me despite living in Ireland, so while I like the colour theme I'm not so fond of the leprechauns, pots of gold and flag colours. I wanted to do a themed manicure for this holiday but a more understated one, so I topped Essence's 'Walk on the Wild Side' with their 'Master of Illusion' shatter topcoat. I love the result!

'Master of Illusion' is a pretty colour. I'd call it jade green, but I've seen others call it aqua or turquoise. It is a little on the blue toned side. 'Walk on the Wild Side' is a deep green with grass green shimmer. The shimmer isn't that visible in this manicure though. Here's what I used, see you soon!

Products used:

Sally Hansen Double Duty Base/Topcoat
Essence - Walk on the Wild Side, Master of Illusion
Seche Vite Dry Fast Topcoat

This Week's Nails #17 - Delirio Rosa

Hey!

Nails again. Holographic polish, I think it's incredibly cool. What do you reckon? I picked up this pink holo polish by Jade on Llarowe last week and I love it! The only down side is the super strong smell. Luckily it goes away once it dries but god damn it was potent. Worth it though! I think the name's pretty cool too. I made a pendant with this, looks really nice :) It'll be up on my etsy shop after I get it photographed, along with a good few more. Check out some shots of this awesome polish!

Shot with ring light

Shot in natural light

Shot in natural light

Products used:

Sally Hansen Double Duty Base/Top Coat
Jade - Delirio Rosa
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

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

Polish Haul and Black and Yellow Shatter Nails

Hey!

I bought so much nail polish :O Look:

Most of these were half price, and I wouldn't even feel bad if they weren't because I was on a spending ban for all of January and I rocked it :D These are the names from left to right!

Rimmel - Sunshine
Essence Cherry Blossom Girl LE - Fortune Cookie, It's Peach Not Cherry
Essence Vintage District LE - Vintage Peach, Get Arty, Antique Pink
OPI - Black Shatter
Catrice Million Styles Special Effect Topcoat - Shake it! Flake it!, Return of Space Cowboys, Have an Ice Day, Godfather of Pearl, ¿Holo Que Tal?!
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure- Ivory Skull

I got the Catrice topcoats to do some more nail polish pendants with, they're all really cool! Here are some closeups of the bottles:

Sunshine, Fortune Cookie, It's Peach Not Cherry, Vintage Peach, Get Arty, Antique Pink

Shake it! Flake it!, Return of Space Cowboys, Have an Ice Day

Godfather of Pearl, ¿Holo Que Tal?!

Black Shatter, Ivory Skull

I did a manicure using Sunshine and Black Shatter! I'm really happy with how it came out, but the bottle of Sunshine I got is pretty crappy. Applied really streaky and took 3 coats to be opaque. I couldn't have worn it alone, it didn't look good at all and I don't think topcoat would have helped much. I was planning to use Black Shatter anyway, but I would've been cranky if I wanted to wear Sunshine alone. I got a massive chip on my thumb that I expertly concealed in the photo, but I don't think that's Sunshine's fault because all my other nails are still perfect. Have a look, I promise this is the last photo. See you soon!

This Week's Nails #15 - Cotton Candy

Hello! Since I can't wear makeup until I'm better, I did my nails again. I used 'Cotton Candy' by Fearne. It's from a Fearne Cotton nail polish set that I bought after Christmas in the Boots sale. I paid €7.50 for this set, which was half price. This set is called 'Perfectly Polished. There six polishes inside, so this was a really good deal for the price I paid! There are some lovely spring and summer colours in this one. There is a set with darker polishes too, called 'Midnight Manicure'. I got that as a gift for Christmas. I used some of them to make pendants with, but I haven't applied them to my nails yet. They look gorgeous, though.

'Cotton Candy' is a pink lilac creme. The formula is thick and it gives fantastic coverage. I used two coats for this manicure but I could probably have got away with one. My application is a little messy, sorry about that!

Off Topic - Etsy Shop

Just a quick post to let you all know that I opened an Etsy shop! I do crochet and a little jewellery making, and I've decided to try to sell some items. My shop is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/StuffChicksMade. I just opened it and I have listed eleven pendants for sale. I made them with nail polish! Here are a few photos of some of them, let me know what you think of them: