31DC2015 Nail Challenge - Styles

I'm back with the second part of my round up for the 31DC2015 Nail Art Challenge.  This round focuses on different styles.  I quite like the manis that I came up with this year and so happy that I managed to make my own stamping decals successfully.  Woohoo!  Like the last round up, I have included a couple of collages of the manis that I did last year.

Polka Dots

Stripes

Animal Print

Flowers

Delicate

Geometric

Glitter

Half Moons

Galaxies

Watermarble

2014

2014

I'm both excited and nervous for the third part of this challenge.  It definitely gets the thinking cap on.  Wish me luck!

Powder Perfect Halloween 2015 - Swatches & Review

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Paint your nails as black as the soul of the spectre you're channeling this Halloween!

Halloween is fast approaching which means Halloween polishes are starting to be released.  Now I don't normally celebrate Halloween but I do however celebrate polishes.  Today I am excited to share with you Powder Perfect's Halloween 2015 polish.  That's right, polish not polishes.  I love that there is only one polish and this is definitely a gorgeous polish (and not one that is a Halloween only polish).

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Black, Like My Soul is a glossy black creme polish with silver glitters like sparkle like a starry sky.  This polish is quite camera shy and is definitely sparklier in person.  Formula is fantastic and only requires two coats to be opaque.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Did I mention that I love this polish?  It really is stunning, especially in person, it's definitely one you need to add to your collection.  Now if you are like me and love to "fill a cart" to save on postage, then you may be confused that this is only one polish.  Never fear, because there is another collection being released at the same time.  I will have my swatches and review of these up next week.

This polish is available for pre-sale on September 24th at 10am from Powder Perfect.  And as a special treat, pre-orders from the 24th to 30th of September will receive a 10% discount.  

Throwback Thursday: China Glaze I'm Not Lion & China Glaze Purr-fect Plum

On my very first Throwback Thursday post a couple of weeks ago, I had a request from one of my dear readers Christy to Throwback to China Glaze's On Safari Collection.  This collection was released back in 2012 and consists of twelve polishes with a mix of finishes.  I only picked up four of the polishes (some of the others still remain on my wishlist) - I'm Not Lion, I Herd That, Jungle Queen and Purr-fect Plum.  Today I am going to share with you my two favorite polishes from this collection.

I'm Not Lion is a gold, silver and holographic glitter.  This polish can either been worn on its own (like I have for my swatches) or layered over a base colour.  I personally prefer to wear this one on its own.  It's really sparkly and applies really well.  I used three coats for my swatch.  Now I will apologize that I do not have a good sunshine picture.  I worn with this on a day that was meant to be sunny according to the weather man, but apparently he was very, very wrong.  There was not a single patch of sun.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box with flash

Purr-fect Plum is a dark plum creme.  This is definitely one of my favorite winter polishes and it also stamps rather well over lighter colours.  Application is great, and it's close to being a one coater.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

I do love both of these polishes.  They are definitely my favorite from this collection and I would probably even go as far as saying that they are some of my favorite polishes that China Glaze have ever released. 

I believe both of these polishes are still available (I have seen them online) but I don't know about availability in stores.

Grace-full Nail Polish Vampire Collection (Reformulated) - Swatches & Comparisons

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Grace-full Nail Polish have been very busy lately.  Birthday celebrations, new collections, markets, exclusive polishes.....the list just goes on really.  In amongst everything else, Grace-full have also had to reformulate a few polishes due to a change in one of the tints from the supply (please note there is nothing wrong with the original formulas so there is no need to be alarmed.  The colour of the tint has changed meaning to colour of the polish is altered).  While the new formulated polishes aren't completely identical they are exceptionally close that you do not need to buy both versions and you don't need to be upset if you missed out on the original version either.  Now this post is going to be quite picture heavy so I will leave my babbling to a minimum.  The formulas on the new polish are all consistent, easy to work with and only need two coats to be opaque.

Queen Of The Damned 2.0

Please note that this polish is actually more holo in person than it looks in my picture.  I had lots of trouble with the sun but that's a whole other story really.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

 Comparison

This polish probably has the greatest difference between the two verisons.  The original version is darker and a slightly different tone of purple.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Vampire Countress 2.0

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Picture taken in direct sunlight

Comparison

Definitely not  a huge difference between these two.  The original version is slightly lighter.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Vampire Of Groglin Grange 2.0

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Comparison

Again not a huge difference between these two.  The original version is lighter.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Vlad III The Tyrant 2.0

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Comparison

The only difference I can tell is that the original version is slightly more purple toned.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Like I mentioned earlier, the formula on the reformulated polishes is fantastic.  It's super easy to work with and only requires two coats to be opaque.  As for the difference between the original and new versions, there really isn't much at all.  Theresa has done a great job trying to match them.

There isn't a release date for these new versions yet (and I believe some of the original ones are still available) but I would suggest joining the Grace-Full Nail Polish Facebook Group as I am sure Theresa will make an announcement about their availability.  Plus there is also the bonus of sneak peeks and getting to chat and share all things Grace-full.

Emily de Molly August 2015 Releases & COTM - Swatches & Review

Emily de Molly recently released six new polishes (she even more recently released some new stamping polishes but I haven't ordered these yet) and while I had some time and sunshine I thought it would be the perfect time to swatch them.  So without further ado let's jump in.

Great And Small is this month's Charity Of The Month (COTM) polish and $4 from every bottle sold goes to the ACT Animal Rescue.  I know I have mentioned this before, but I am such a huge fan of this idea so have no problems with ordering the polish every month - particularly this one.  Great And Small is a gorgeous dusty blue/purple holo with pink shimmer.  It is easy to use, although it is slightly on the thin side so needs three coats to be opaque.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Ambitious Flower is a red base purple with silver and pewter holo.  No surprise that I love this one.  The formula is fantastic and only requires two coats to be opaque.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Copper Patina is a medium shade green with strong red to gold duochrome shimmer.  So unique and a little tricky to photograph.  The formula is great and it only requires two coats to be opaque.

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Picture taken in direct sunlight

Cracks In The Wall is a light brown/grey base with silver and pewter holo.  I love this one.  The formula is great, although a little on the sheer side.  I used three coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Fruitcake In August? is a dark brown jelly with gold, silver, copper and multi coloured glitters.  This really does remind me of fruit cake.  It is easy to use and has a great amount of glitter.  No fishing required.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

Sleep Walking is a dark blue holo with green shimmer.  Really pretty blue.  Now this one only needs two coats to be opaque, but I stupidly knocked a couple of nails so I needed the third coat to fix it.  

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

I'm a big fan of this month's releases.  If you can't get them all my personal picks would be Great And Small, Ambitious Flowers and Cracks In The Wall.

These polishes are available from Emily de Molly's Australian site.  US customers please check Emily de Molly's US site, and for all other customers head over to the stockists list.

Nail Stamping Decal Tutorial Featuring Uberchic Beauty Uber Mat

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It's no secret that I am a HUGE fan of Uberchic Beauty.  I have a number of there plates and reach for them constantly.  So you can only imagine my excitement levels when my lovely delivery lady dropped of the most amazing Uberchic package last week.  Not only did I receive some of the new plates (which I will be doing some reviews of over the next week or two) but I also received the Uber Mat!!!!

Image from Uberchic Beauty website

For those of you who may not know what the Uber Mat is let me give you a brief run down.  It's an awesome flexible mat that you can test colours on, stamp on, make decals (which I have a tutorial for in this post), really there is so many different things.  Best part of all, you can clean it all up with pure acetone.  How cool is that?  It's definitely going to save me a lot of mess.

My first use of the Uber Mat without question, had to be a stamping decal (or reverse stamping).  Now I have been trying to make these for what seems like forever and I always struggle.  I end up with cracked decals, images that don't transfer on the nails properly...really it has been a technique that I had nearly given up on.  Until now....

Things you'll need:
*  An Uber Mat
* Stamper and scraper (I used my rectangle squishy stamper from Messy Mansion and an old gift card)
*  A stamping plate (I used Uberchic plate 5-02)
*  Stamping polish (I used Konad Black)
*  A clear top coat (I used OPI Top Coat)
*  Polishes of your choice to fill in your design (I used China Glaze Bottoms Up, Son Of A Peach and That's Shore Bright)
*  A small brush or dotting tool (I used a Winstonia #00 brush)
* Tweezers

Step by step instructions:
1.  Paint a layer of clear top coat on the Uber Mat.  It can be anywhere on the mat.  I chose to do it on the nail shapes as a guide for how big I needed to make my decal.

2.  Stamp you desired image onto the top coated section.  I did this both when the top coat was slightly tacky and when it was dry and didn't find a difference in how the image transferred.

3.  Fill in your image with you choice of colours.

4.  After about 10-20 mins add a layer of top coat and allow to dry fully.  Paint your nails the desired base colour while you are waiting for your decal to dry.  I used OPI Alpine Snow as my base.

5.  After you have allowed you decal to full dry (I have seen people use timeframes from one hour to overnight - I left mine for about four hours) gently lift up your decal from the mat with you tweezers.  They should left quite easily but just make sure you do it gently and slowly to avoid breaking your decal.

6.  Now the next part it up to you.  You can either trim down your decal to fit you nail or you can leave it as in, apply it to the nail and then clean up.  I tried both ways and it didn't effect how the decal applied.  Only the clean up time.

To apply the decal, paint a thin layer of top coat onto your base colour.  Whilst the top coat is still tacky, position the decal on the nail and lightly press down to smooth out the decal and make sure it sticks to the nail.  Clean up any excess parts of the decal, add top coat and you are done.

I know my mani isn't perfect (I put some creases in my decals when I placed them on my nails) but I am so happy with how it turned out.  This is definitely the best stamping decal mani I have ever done and I owe it all to the Uber Mat.  You can bet that I will be practice more stamping decals in the future.

The Uber Mat is currently in stock and is available from Uberchic Beauty.  It has sold out before so definitely grab one (and some plates) while you can.