Line Blocking Nail Art Tutortial

Just over two years ago I did my first ever pictorial over on Instagram.  I have been thinking for a little while now that I should re do the pictorial and add it to my blog.  Scrolling through Instagram to find it is an absolute pain.  Today just so happens to be "inspired by a tutorial" for the 31DC2016 challenge I am doing.  I figure today is the perfect day to add this tutorial to my blog.

Things you will need:

* Two polishes of your choice

* Striping tape or nail vinyls

* Scissors

Step by step instructions:

1.  Paint your base coat (and top coat) and allow to dry fully.  For my base colour I am using China Glaze Knockout Orange (over white) and used Seche Vite as my top coat.

Step One

2.  Place a straight nail vinyl or piece of striping tape down the center of your nail.

Step Two

3.  Place two vinyls across the middle of the nail.  I don't like to have these lining up but that is just a personal preference.  I also cut a nail vinyl in half for this step as the vinyl is too long for what I need.

Step Three

4.  After cutting another vinyl in half place the two pieces evenly apart horizontally in one corner of you nail.  Where you start is completely up to you.

Step Four

5.  Again cut another vinyl in half, however this time you will be placing the two pieces evenly apart in a vertical direction.

Step Five

6 & 7.  These steps are the same as steps 4 and 5, however you will just be switching the direction of the vinyls.  For example, if you have your tape going horizontally near your cuticles you will want your tape to be vertical on the other half of your nail near the cuticles.

Step Six

Step Seven

8.  Apply your second colour over the top of the vinyls/striping tape.  For this step I used China Glaze Liquid Leather.

Step Eight

9.  Remove all vinyls immediately after you have finished step 8.  If you let the polish dry you may not get crisp lines.  Once your top layer of polish has dried, add top coat.  Don't forget to clean up any unwanted polish around your nails!

And the final result:

Final result

What do you think of this mani?  Is it something you will try out?  If you do make sure you tag me on Instagram (or even post it in my Facebook group) so I can check it out!

Let me know your thoughts on this type of tutorial and if there are any other tutorials you would like to see me do.

Powder Perfect Stamping Polishes - Swatches & Review

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I can not even begin to tell you how excited I am to finally be able to share this post with you.  If you follow me on Instagram than you may have an idea of how long I have had a couple of Powder Perfect's stamping polishes (the black and the white) and you will also know how much I love these!  Jacinta asked me if I wanted to try out the other three stamping polishes and of course I jumped at the chance!  Probably literally jumped I was that excited.  Today I have swatches and a review of ALL five new stamping polishes to share with you.

For all of my swatches I have used a black and white base so you can see how each polish looks over both light and dark bases.  The image I have chosen is from Bundle Monster BM-X212.  I picked this one mainly because it has a good mix of solid pieces, thicker lines and thinner lines so it can really show you how each polish performs.  I also used my Pueen clear stamper and scraper.  

Each of the stamping polishes is slightly thicker than your regular polish but not super thick.  I find that only applying the polish to the top of the image before scrapping is needed.  You definitely don't need to apply the polish to the entire image.  I also recommend leaving a couple of minutes before applying your top coat to prevent smudging.  Right, now onto the colours!

Black and White
The black stamping polish is shown over white on my ring and index fingers.
The white stamping polish is shown over black on my pinkie and middle fingers.

Orange

 Gold

Silver

What I love about these polishes: EVERYTHING!  What I don't like:  how quickly I have used them up (particularly the black - my bottle is already half empty).  You can bet I will be stocking up on the black and white.  The metallics are also really good.  I like that they don't dry super quick so you don't have to work as quick as you do with other metallics.  And while they are shiny they aren't over the top shiny that they reflect too much of the light and look bad in pictures.  That is a big reason why you don't see me using metallic stamping polishes too often.  I can never get them to photograph nicely.

The stamping polishes are available from Powder Perfect's Australian Store on Friday 30th September at 10am AEST and from their international site on Thursday 29th September 8pm EDT. 

*EDIT: I have just received a discount code you guys to use.  If you use the code NAILSTAMP you will receive 10% off all stamping polishes, stamping plates and accessories.  The code is valid until January 31 2017.

Powder Perfect Halloween 2016 Duo - Swatches & Review

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While Halloween isn't such a big deal here in Australia, I am a sucker for all Halloween nail related things.  No idea why.  I normally lean towards more girly things like pinks and purples, flowers and butterflies, etc but Halloween time is when some really unusual polishes come out that grab my attention.  Powder Perfect's Halloween Duo has certainly done that this year.   The duo is inspired by the three witch's poem from William Shakespeare's Macbeth and features complex finishes in unusual shades that perfectly capture the spirit of Halloween.  Warning: this post is a little picture heavy.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

-William Shakespeare, Macbeth.  

Cauldron Bubble is described as a darkened multichrome lacquer that shifts from purple to green and feature copper-fuchsia-green ultra chameleon chrome flakies.  I'm not sure about the base colour shifting from purple to green.  To me it looks like a darkened purple base with green shimmer and the ultra chrome flakies.  However, you want to describe it this polish is awesome!  I particularly like it matte.  The formula is good, although it does apply unevenly on the first coat.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken outdoors in overcast sunlight

Picture taken outdoors in overcast lighting

Picture taken in light box with flash

Picture taken in light box

And the mattified version.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken outdoors in overcast lighting

Toil & Trouble is a murky olive green with contrasting pink iridescent flakies and gold holographic glitters.  Unfortunately by the time I got to swatch this all forms of "sun" had completely gone.  In fact, I had trouble finding a picture that didn't have rain drops on it.  Oh the joys of trying to swatch things.  Anway, the formula of this one is great.  It applies evenly and is opaque in two coats.  The pink flakies are a little tricky to see in pictures.  They are more obvious (but not in an over the top, in your face kind of way) in person. 

Picture taken outdoors in overcast lighting

Picture taken in overcast lighting

Picture taken in light box

And the mattified version.  Personally I prefer this one mattified.  I just can't stop looking at my nails.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in overcast lighting

This is a seriously awesome Halloween duo!  I particularly love the mattified versions of both polishes.

The Halloween Duo is available from Powder Perfect's Australian Store on Friday 30th September at 10am AEST and from their international site on Thursday 29th September 8pm EDT. 

Pueen Cosmetics Theme Park Collection - Halloween Party 01 - Swatches & Review

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I am sure I say this way to often but I honestly can't get over how quick this year is flying by.  It's so crazy.  I had a serious reminder that October is soon approaching when the new Pueen Cosmetics Halloween Party 01 plate arrived at my doorstep.  In fact, I have actually had a few Halloween things arrive for me to play with lately.  There is definitely some exciting things being released which I will begin sharing with you this week.  So let's kick off the Halloween celebrations with Pueen's Halloween Party 01 plate shall we?

Image from Pueen

This is definitely one of the most cutesy Halloween plates that I have seen and I really like it.  I can see me using this one a fair bit over the coming month.  The images are quite large (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) but they stamp really well.

The Halloween Party 01 Stamping Plate is available from Pueen Cosmetics.

Uberchic Beauty Lovely Leaves Stamping Plate - Swatches & Review

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It appears that while I am begging for some lovely Spring weather, the rest of the world is preparing for Autumn/Fall.  Of course that means that there are lots of fall coloured polishes being released and of course fall nail art supplies.  I was lucky enough to receive the new Lovely Leaves Stamping Plate from Uberchic Beauty which I will be sharing with you today.  Now because my mind isn't in Fall/Autumn mode so I may have used this plate a little differently than most. 

Image from Uberchic Beauty

There appears to be a change in the blue film/plastic that comes on top of the stamping plates.  I noticed it with the last of the plates I reviewed (although I can't remember if I mentioned it or not) that the new blue plastic leaves behind a lot of sticky residue on the plate.  It does come off with acetone, but boy is it a pain.  That really is the only complaint I have with this plate.  The images are great and they stamp really well.

The Lovely Leaves stamping plate is available from Uberchic Beauty.

Lilypad Lacquer September 2016 New Releases (Part Five) - Swatches & Review

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Melbourne decided to turn on a little bit of sun again the other day (including a sun shower which made swatching certainly interesting) so I managed to complete all of my swatches of the new releases from Lilypad Lacquer.  Yay!  I will have all links to all of the other new releases at the bottom of this post.  In case you are curious and have missed out on any so far there are a total of thirty new polishes.  So many pretties.  Right now let's take a look at the final seven polishes shall we?

There are a couple of things I should note before jumping in.  The day that I swatched these the sun was very hit and miss.  When it was out it wasn't always that strong so some of these polishes are more holo than they may appear in some of my photos.  Also, all pictures are shown without any top coat.

Beet This is a vivid magenta holo.  Now this polish screams my name.  I started drooling as soon as I saw this one.  The formula is fantastic, it applies evenly and is opaque in two coats.  And the colour is to die for.  Seriously!

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Nightingale is a black holo with a golden hue.  This one I found dragged a little when you applied polish over the same spot so minimal brush strokes are needed for this one (mainly on the first coat).  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in overcast lighting

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Nightshade is an eggplant holo.  The formula is great and easy to use.  For my swatch I used two coats.

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Nu-clear Pink is a neon pink holo. This one is quite a pretty colour,  It is a little on the sheer side.  I found that I had a slight visible nail line still after three coats.  I would wear this one over a white base next time.

Picture taken in overcast lighting

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Phantom is a deep pink toned purple.  Nice colour and good formula.  My swatch shows three coats.

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Shockwave is a bright royal blue holo.  I think this one would make a fantastic base for some galaxy or night sky nail art.  The formula is awesome and so close to being a one coater.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in overcast lighting

Picture taken in direct sunlight

S-tealing The Show is a rich teal holo.  Really pretty colour with a great formula.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in overcast lighting

Picture taken in direct sunlight

There are so many gorgeous colours in this lot of the releases.  My personal favorite maybe out of all thirty of the polishes would have to be Beet This.  I also really like Nu-clear Pink, Phantom, Shockwave and S-tealing The Show.

You can see the other twenty three polishes in the following posts:

Part One can be seen here

Part Two can be seen here

Part Three can be seen here

Part Four can be seen here

All of these polishes are available now from Lilypad Lacquer.

Wave Of Polish Auctions - Press Release

Today I have a completely different post for me.  I normally skip over posting Press Releases here simply because most of them are posted a billion times everywhere else.  This press release is something that really needs to be posted anywhere and everywhere.  It's for such a great cause and I hope that a lot of you guys will jump on board and share some manis throughout October (particularly on October 15th) and take part in the auctions.

Press Release 2016

October is International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. Sadly, still today one in four pregnancies end in loss, leaving behind devastated families. According to the Stillbirth Foundation Australia there are six stillborn babies born every day in Australia, a statistic that has not changed  in decades. 

Throughout the month of October, the Wave of Polish campaign runs two main events to promote awareness and support for pregnancy and infant loss, as well as to raise funds to support the charities supporting bereaved parents.

In the first event you are encouraged to paint your nails pink and blue to show your support.  You will also help raise awareness of pregnancy and infant loss. We are in our 4^th year and have found many people encouraged to share their story, some for the first time, just through the simple act of sharing our nails.  Please don't forget to post your manis on social media using the hashtag #waveofpolish and follow the IG @waveofpolish. October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss awareness day, this is the best day to show your support. If there is only one day you can paint your nails this month, please chose this date. To honour the little ones taken too young on the 15th of October at 7pm wherever you live please join in and stop a moment with us and light a candle. As the clock, strikes seven in different parts of the world a wave of light will wash over the world for those precious angels who we no longer share this earth with. We also want this to be a day across the nail community that shows parents we care, we remember, we are here to support you by sharing your nails.

The second event is a large auction of one of a kind polishes made especially for Pregnancy and Infant Loss awareness and not commercially available. We have many extremely talented makers from around the world that have created this polishes. The Wave of Polish auctions start on the 8th of October and finishes on the awareness day 15th the same time you light your candle, 7pm. Gorgeous hand blended nail polishes are on offer as the auction ships internationally to anyone in the world who registers. All the proceeds go to help the parents and families grieving the loss of their child by going to SANDS Australia and MISS foundation in United States. Details on how to bid on the gorgeous polishes offered are on our blog site http://www.waveofpolish.blogspot.com or at our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/waveofpolish/

There are some scars that can’t be seen by the eye

Some wounds that will never heal

Some hurts that time will never mend

And broken hearts with pieces missing that will never be whole again.

Contact: Theresa Carter tacmac@westnet.com.au

Lilypad Lacquer September 2016 New Releases (Part Four) - Swatches & Review

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Melbourne has finally decided to give me some sunshine so I am finally able to share some more the new releases from Lilypad Lacquer.  I still have another seven polishes to swatch so fingers crossed I get some more sunshine soon.  Today I have eight polishes to share with you so this post is going to be quite picture heavy so I will keep the chatting to a minimum.  All pictures are taking both in direct sunlight and in natural lighting (with the exception of one which was done in my light box as it was more colour accurate in there) and all swatches are done without top coat.  I will pop a link to parts one, two and three at the bottom of this post.

Calypso is a lime based chartreuse holo.  This one applies evenly, although is quite sheer in colour.  I used three coats for my swatch.

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Cranberry Pop is a cranberry red holo.  The formula is great and easy to use.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Furnace is a rusty orange holo.  Again this one is easy to use.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Galliano is a bright yellow holo.  Now this one is very sheer.  I used four coats for my swatch and still have a visible nail line.   I would definitely wear a base colour with this polish next time.

Picture taken in overcast lighting

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Ghost is a white holo.  I quite like the colour of this one.  While it does apply unevenly on the first coat, it did even out on the second.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in overcast lighting

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Hearts And Daggers is a rich red holo.  Easy to use and does have a very slight visible nail line at two coats (shown in my pictures).

Picture taken in overcast lighting

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Lilypad is a blue based green with a golden hue.  Such a pretty colour and great formula.  This one for some strange reason wouldn't photograph accurate in natural lighting so I have included a light box picture of it instead.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Mudpie is a mocha brown holo.  This is another nice colour with a great formula.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken in direct sunlight

There are definitely some great colours in this months releases.  My personal picks from the polishes I have shown you today are Ghost, Lilypad and Mudpie.

If you have missed the previous parts you can check them out below:

Part One can be seen here

Part Two can be seen here

Part Three can be seen here

All of these polishes are available now from Lilypad Lacquer.