Nail Passion

Nail Art is my passion! This blog is all about nails :) I wanted to share my passion with others and be able to connect and follow others who share the same interests! I hope you enjoy my blog :) Feel free to comment, like, share and/or give feedback. (You can also find me on Facebook and Pinterest).

Saturday, September 6, 2014

YOU POLISH NAIL DECALS

Hello again! 
About a month ago I received some Nail Decals from Lauren with You Polish to review and over the last few weeks I've tried out a few of them. I haven't had a chance to try out all of them, but the ones I have I absolutely love! 

**These products were sent to me for review. Please see my Disclosure Policy listed in the tabs above.**


These are all of the decals I received :) 



 I know you guys have now probably seen these Mermaid Nails 2-3 times already but I have to share them again! :P 




For this mani I used the thick straight line decal (the orange decal in the photo at the top of this post). I have been wanting thicker lines than my striping tape, so this decal was perfect! 




 I used 2 different decals for this mani. I used the big stripe, as well as the sparrow. My original plan for this mani was to apply the sparrow on each nail, then apply the blue glitter, and then peel off the sparrow decal (because I'm pretty sure that's how these decals are intended to be used), but I am not good with that way of using decals...so for now I will continue using them as stickers :P

I really love working with these decals and I can't wait to try the other ones I have. They are so easy and also so fun to use!

I want to thank Lauren from You Polish for sending these to me for review and also I want to thank her for being kind enough to include a discount for my followers :) That was very sweet of her! 

If you would like any of the decals I've shown in this post, or you would like to see more of what she offers, you can find her website here: http://youpolish.com. Use code playfulpolishes10 at checkout. You can also keep up with her on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/youpolish?fref=ts :)

LEESHA'S LACQUER SWATCH & REVIEW

Good afternoon! :) I hope you all are having a good weekend! 
Today I have some fun swatches to share with you from another Indie Polish maker :) These polishes are from Leesha's Lacquer and I adore them! :)

**These polishes were sent to me for review. Please see my Disclosure Policy listed in the tabs above.**


First up is Sea Shells.



This is a gorgeous blue-green shimmer polish. It is completely opaque in 2-3 coats. I love the color, especially with my skin tone, but the polish itself is very sensitive. It does take awhile to dry and if you're not careful it can smudge very easily. But overall I really like it :) I applied the Sea Shell stamp using Winstonia plate 108 and Sinful Colors, Snow Me White and then used the Advanced Stamping technique to fill in the sea shells with some color using Royal Polish, Carnation Creation, Little Peep, Everlasting Meadow and Essie, Full Steam Ahead.


Next up is Boardwalk



At first glance I was a little hesitant about my thoughts with this polish, mainly because I haven't ever been too crazy about glitter polishes, but I actually really love it! It's so fun! It reminds me of The Little Mermaid :P I applied 1 coat for this look, because I didn't want to overdo it with the glitters.


And now for the glitters :) I have only used these glitters for one mani so far, and that was my Mermaid Nail Art...which I absolutely Love! Even though placing the glitter takes some time, I really love it!



I really love these polishes and the glitter :) I want to thank Leesha for sending them to me for review. If you would like to check out Leesha's Lacquer you can do so here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LeeshasLacquer

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

ND LACQUERS NAIL ESSENTIAL COLLECTION REVIEW

Good afternoon Lovelies!
 I'm really excited to be sharing this post with you guys today because I've been testing out ND Lacquers Essential line since the beginning of July and it's been so hard trying not to say anything about it until now! :P ...and I just want to give you guys a heads up right now, this will be a pretty lengthy post because I wanted to make sure to give you all of the details :)

The Essential line includes a Base coat, Top coat (both of which are 5-Free), Peel Off Base Coat and Cuticle Oil.

The reason I'm so excited to share this post with you guys today is because I know for any nail artist out there whether a beginner or a more advanced nail artist, you need the essentials for a good manicure, and we all know that base coats and top coats are essential for a good manicure, right? We also know that we need to take good care of our cuticles. Plus, all of us nail girls LOVE our glitters! ...and you all know I'm right about that! ;) But they're a giant pain in the ass to remove! So Natali has really thought of it all for us with this collection and I'm excited that I was able to be apart of the few girls who were able to test out these wonderful products!

*These products were sent to me for review. Please see my Disclosure Policy listed in the tabs above.**


Top Coat, Base Coat, Cuticle Oil & Peel Off Base Coat
(Yes these have been used...I forgot to take a pic of them when I first received them :S)

Let's start with the base coat...since that's what we'd start off with if we were sitting down to paint our nails ;) This base coat right off the bat looks very different than pretty much all other base coats because it has a milky consistency. Now at first I was a little confused by that, but as time went on and I played around with this set I actually decided I really liked that! One thing that I haven't liked to much about using Seche Vite base and top coat is that I have a hard time telling the difference...I don't like that I constantly have to read each label to make sure I'm not putting my top coat on in place of my base coat or vice versa...so I really really like that this base coat is a milky color!
(Photo below shown with 1 coat of base coat).

Base Coat - $7.50 (13mL) $2.50 (5mL)


Another thing I absolutely love about this base coat is how fast it dries. I literally feel like within seconds of applying it it's completely dry, and I'm sure we all know what it's like to have to sit and wait for a base coat to dry...it sucks! So I am loving this this one.

The only thing I can't tell you for sure about this base coat is how long it lasts...mainly because I redo my nails 2-3+ times a week, so I can't really say how well your mani will last. But! I did use the base coat and top coat on my mom while she was here for my wedding and when she got home she had to help my sister move, and you know how moving really takes a toll on your nails and polish...well she told me that she was really impressed because other than some nail breaks (due to picking up heavy boxes and what not) there were no chips in the polish! And this ended up being about 1 1/2 weeks after I did her nails! So I guess that says it all right there!

Peel off Base Coat - $5.50 (only available in 13mL)


Photo shown with 1 (wet) coat.


Photo shown with 3 (dry) coats.

 This one is actually my very first peel off base coat. I have seen a lot of other Nail Bloggers use peel off base coats before and I have wanted to try them out myself, I just never got around to finding one...so I was excited to try this one out. Because it was my first time I did have trouble with it...I wasn't quite sure how to use it, because every time I tried to peel it off it seemed harder than just removing my polish with remover. So I got some tips from Natali and started over, and although I still need some practice, because it's not a polish I use every day, I do think it's a great polish.

It works best if you apply 2-3 coats (I was originally only applying 1), and it really does make it easier to remove stubborn glitter. Another trick I learned for when I have a hard time getting it to peel off is to soak my nails in warm water for a minute, and that really helps as well. I did try to use it around my cuticles, for when I was doing a water marble or a gradient, and it helped my clean up process so much! It does take awhile to dry because it has a thicker consistency than a regular base coat, but it's worth the wait. 


Oh, and one more quick thing about this peel off base (that I know some of you may be wondering), it did not damage my nails. Apparently some Bloggers have tried peel off base polishes that have damaged their nails during the peel off process...that makes me cringe just thinking about it...but I didn't have any problems with this one.


Cuticle Oil - $7.50 (13 mL) $2.50 (5mL)


I know a lot of you probably want to see before and after photos with the cuticle oil, and unfortunately I don't have one :( ...a few months ago I started my current nail care routine and I've taken really good care of my cuticles, so by the time I received this line I already had really nice cuticles. But with that being said I do have to tell you that I love every about this cuticle oil! Apart from the scent, just because I'm more of a fruity person and the scent is more of a floral type smell to me. But I do like that the scent isn't strong. It's a light smell, which is so nice when it comes to cuticle oils. I have tried some cuticle oils that have had such a strong smell that within minutes I have a huge headache and I can't get the smell off of me for hours and hours...this is definitely not one of those :)

I also really like that this oil has a brush and not a roll on applicator because personally I feel like I have more control of how much cuticle oil is on a brush as opposed to a roll on. Plus the most impressive thing for me about this cuticle oil is that it soaks into the skin really quickly and makes the cuticles so nice and soft! I've tried several cuticle oils over the past year and a lot of them don't soak in very well at all...so if I had to give this a rating I would give it a 4.8 out of 5 :)


As I mentioned before this is not a before and after using this Cuticle Oil, I just wanted to share a picture with you that shows what my cuticles looked like before I started taking extra good care of them. I'm a little bit amazed at the difference now that I see these 2 pics together :P

Top Coat - $7.50 (13mL) $2.50 (5mL)


I had to save the best for last! ...and if that's the only thing I said about this top coat, you should trust me on that! This topcoat gets a 5 out of 5 in my book! I've been an avid Seche Vite girl for a few years now and have yet to try another top coat that I like...but I've been wanting to find something better than Seche Vite because I don't like that the Seche Vite top coat shrinks my manis. I also don't like that once I get half way through a bottle of top coat it gets really thick and goopy real fast. So the first thing I have to tell you is that if you have tried Seche Vite, you know how fast it dries...pretty fast. Well this top coat dries faster! And I mean it literally dries in seconds! 

When I was doing my moms nails I applied a white base coat and then several neon colors with the dry brush method before I was going to stamp an image over the top in black (pictures below). So just to make sure the polish was smooth before applying the stamp I applied the ND Lacquers top coat and told my mom we needed to wait for it to dry, and she actually pressed down pretty hard on her nail and it was completely dry. I was shocked! I had applied the top coat on all 10 fingers, closed the bottle, set it aside and was getting the stamping tools ready and it was dry...and not just top dry, completely hard all the way through! I did not expect that at all!



One thing I wasn't quite sure if I liked at first was that this top coat applies pretty thin, but after working with it I decided I really like that! I think I've been working with my Seche Vite getting pretty thick for so long that I didn't know what to think about such a thin top coat. My mom really liked that as well.

I used 1 coat of Top Coat for my 4th of July mani (2 coats over glitter).


1 coat of top coat for photo below. Polish is by ND Lacquers. I applied 3 coats for full opacity.


So there you have it! If you have stayed with me through this entire post Kudos to you ;) I know it was long, but for an Essential line I felt that I needed to share a more in depth review for you guys. 

I hope you found it helpful. If you would like to try this wonderful line out for yourself, you can find it here: http://ndlacquers.bigcartel.com, you don't have to wait! The entire set together is $22, which is a really decent price for all 4 if you ask me!

And I just want to say a Big THANK YOU to Natali for sending me this line to review! 
XOXOXO!

Monday, September 1, 2014

MOYOU LONDON NAIL STAMPING CHALLENGE

Hello again! So if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you most likely have seen these designs recently, but I wanted to post them all here on my Blog as well. 

MoYou London is a company that sells Nail Stamping Plates...that are GORGEOUS!! Seriously if you haven't seen them you need to check them out! And they come out with new ones like every week! It's so hard to keep up! Anywho lol :P They hosted a challenge last week as a celebration of them reaching 20K followers. This Challenge/Contest was to create a mani each day with a different color of the Rainbow (colors for specific days, see pic directly below) using MoYou London Stamping Plates. Sadly, as of right now I only own 1 of their plates (Pro Collection - 03) so I didn't have a lot of options, but it was still a really fun Challenge to participate in!


MONDAY - RED


A few months ago I purchased several Zoya PixieDust polishes and one of them happened to be Chyna, the gorgeous textured red you see in the photo. I've never been a big fan of red, especially on myself, but I absolutely loved this design! It's so simple, yet just enough detail to catch the eye.
The other colors I used were China Glaze, Red Satin, Sinful Colors, Snow Me White and Zoya PixieDust, Dahlia


TUESDAY - ORANGE


It's really funny to me how some of the designs that I do that aren't my favorite actually end up being some of my most liked photos :P This happens to be one of them. It's not that I don't like it, because it did turn out really cute...I just wasn't really in the mood for orange, and it turned out a little too Halloween-ish. But you all loved it so I'm happy about that :) The colors I used were Essie, Fear or Desire, Zoya PixieDust, Dahlia and Sinful Colors, Black on Black.


WEDNESDAY - YELLOW


I didn't realize when I was doing this design that it would end up more pink than yellow (Oops! :S lol), but this one was really fun to do. I used the Advanced stamping technique with China Glaze, Happy Go Lucky, Sinful Colors, Black on Black and Zoya PixieDust, Miranda to fill in the flowers.


THURSDAY - GREEN


This one has to be my favorite out of all of the designs I did for this challenge! ...and it was really really hard having to take it off the next day! Haha...but I justified that with the idea that I will recreate it really soon :P Colors used were Alchemy Lacquers, Kelpie Seaweed, one of my ALL TIME favorite Indie polishes! And Essie, The More the Merrier.


FRIDAY - BLUE


You guys know me and my blues! ;) This one was actually kind of weird though. When I was working on it I wasn't really liking it...I almost took it off! But I decided to keep going and boy am I glad I did! This was actually my first time trying out the glitter gradient and I love the way it looks! :) I definitely need to do that technique more often! 

The colors I used for this design were Sinful Colors, Snow Me White, and China Glaze, So Blue Without You and Bells Will Be Blinging. The two I used by China Glaze were actually brand new. I haven't used them before now...I know, crazy huh!? I won them from a Contest by China Glaze...the Christmas Nail Art Contest, do you remember that? That was a fun contest :) I was so excited to win 12 polishes from China Glaze but they sent me their Christmas Collection in the middle of March, so I kept them in their box and never tried them...I feel kind of bad about that.


SATURDAY - PURPLE



I know it's hard to see this design but I really really loved this one! And I was only able to wear it for all of about 15 minutes :( Because of the holiday weekend I knew I'd be busy working all day on Sunday so I had to plan ahead and do Sunday's design right after I finished this one. But, I did get a few extra pictures :) The first pic is with a flash...you can see the holo-y goodness, and the second one is a sun shot that is stunning! I just couldn't pass up sharing it! :D Colors used were KBShimmer, Pansy-Monium and and ILNP, Charmingly Purple.



SUNDAY - PINK


If you can't tell by now I'm a little obsessed with my PixieDust polishes this week :P I used the Advanced stamping technique again for this design...I knew all week I wanted to use this flower stamp, but each day I tried it it just didn't seem to work out the way I wanted it to...so I'm happy it worked out for the last day with pink :) The colors I used were Sinful Colors, Snow Me White and Black on Black, Zoya PixieDust, Miranda and Royal Polish, Carnation Creation.


So there you have it! A weeks worth of fun, colorful stamping designs! MoYou will be posting the winners on Wednesday so cross your fingers for me! :) Muah!

MERMAID NAIL ART

Hello lovelies! I hope you all are having a wonderful extra long Holiday weekend! :)
 I have a few fun posts to share with you today...I'm a little behind because I've been working a lot, but I'm really excited to share the designs I've done with you.

This design features products from two wonderful ladies. The Mermaid decals came from Lauren at YouPolish, and the glitters came from Leesha at Leesha's Lacquer. I have several other decals (bows, stars, birds, etc.) from YouPolish to try out, and when I do I will do another Blog post with all of those goodies :) And I will also be doing another Blog post with some polishes from Leesha's Lacquer as well. But any who...lets move onto this fun design shall we!?



I only used one polish for this design (other than base coat and topcoat of course) and that was Sinful Colors, Snow Me White and then placed the glitters using the glitter placement technique. The glitters are awesome! They came in a few different sizes but I picked the bigger ones for this technique..If you haven't tried glitter placement I do recommend you do unless you don't have much patience, because as you can probably tell, it does take time! :P But it's so gorgeous to look at in person!

...and before anyone says something, I know the decals are meant to be painted over and then peeled off, but the color they are worked so well with the glitters that I just used them as stickers, and I love it! 



I had no idea how this design was going to turn out because I just kind of made it up as I was going...doing just one nail at a time, but I have to say that this is the first time that I've done that and have been super In Love with how it turned out! It usually doesn't turn out that way :P

So there you go! Short and Sweet :) If you liked this design please let me know in the comments below. Also, just for you lovelies, Lauren (YouPolish) has given me a coupon code for my followers, so if you love these decals and have to get your hands on them use code: playfulpolishes10 at checkout on her website :)

You can find her website here: http://youpolish.com
You can find Leesha's Lacquer here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LeeshasLacquer