CND Shellac - French Manicure

Just a quick one to show you a few french manicures that I have done with my Shellac on friends and family.

My sister

A work colleague

My cousin - Nat

When someone asks me if I will do their nails for them, most people ask if I could do a French manicure - I suppose it is just such a classic design that goes with everything.

I have to say I wasn't that great at French Manicures but with practise I have improved. And I would say this to anyone, practise definitely makes perfect (well, near perfect anyway!). I feel I've become quite practised with free hand smile lines, but it does take some effort to make sure that the white isn't too raised as with repeated layers, it can lead to a 'ridge' at the end of the nail.

For these Shellac manicures, I used two coats of Strawberry Smoothie for the base colour and two coats of Studio White for the white tip. One coat of white was not enough as I found the pink seemed to leak through one coat and made it look uneven. And I obviously finished it off with a coat of top coat.

I have a few people ask for glitter, diamanté and stencilling too so I hope to post more about these in the future.

Have you tried French with Shellac yet? What do you think?

New CND Shellac Colours for 2012!!

Yep, there's six more on their way to add to CND's collection of Shellac colours. And I for one, am very excited!

The company are expanding their collection to 36 with the addition of two shimmer effects, a silver metallic, a berry, a grey and a taupe.

Photo courtesy of www.realstylenetwork.com

The colours are as follows:

Photo courtesy of www.cnd.com

I am particularly looking forward to trying out the shimmer effects in layering and the Silver Chrome to see if it really is metallic!

The release date according to CND is March 2012, but I'm not sure if that's USA, UK or both! I really hope they become available in the UK soon. I cannot wait!

For more information go to http://www.cnd.com/News-Events/Press-Releases/Shellac40-6-Shades-for-March-2012.pdf


Which new Shellac colour intrigues you most? Which are you most likely to wear?

Nails Inc. London Bridge & Diamanté Nail Art

My fourth and final post for this evening...

This week I'm wearing normal polish for a change. I really wanted to get some use out of my new Nails Inc. Glitterati Collection that I posted about here.

So I used the Nails Inc. purple glitter in London Bridge - two coats of course. But you know me, I couldn't leave it at that, so I added a heart motif to my ring fingers in a 'rainbow' effect diamanté - the exact ones I used were Andrea Fulerton Nail Boutique Crystal Gemstones which you can buy from Superdrug for £7.99.


What do you think? What are you wearing on your nails this week?

CND Shellac Blackpool and Diamanté Nail Art

Another quick post this evening, but this time just to show you last weeks manicure for myself - Shellac of course!

I had yet to use my Shellac Blackpool on myself, so decided to try it out as my nails are quite short at the moment and look good with a dark colour on them. But black was too plain, so I put a small 'lightening strike' nail art detail as an accent nail on my ring fingers. I used some simple cheap silver diamantés from eBay - I think they were about 1-1.5mm - and placed them in the top coat before curing.

Simple, yet effective! What do you think?

CND Shellac - Rockstar Toes

So my friend Kate wanted some thing equally glitzy to match her purple purple glitter fade from my last post so she went for some Rockstar Toes using the Gosh Nail Glitter in Ruby Red that matched her manicure.

I mixed the glitter with Shellac in Zillionaire, then applied two coats and finished with top coat as normal. It was a beautiful reddy-pink glitter that isn't shown well in the photo, but looked fantastic in real life.

Have you ever had a 'Rockstar Toes' pedicure?

CND Shellac Nail Art - Purple Purple & Glitter Fade

Hello and apologies, it's been a couple of weeks since my last post and the photos are starting to backlog, so this evening is dedicated to offloading them for you to read!

Another Shellac manicure, another glitter fade, but this time for my friend Kate. She wanted something very pink/purple to go with a fancy dress outfit for our mutual friend's 25th birthday night. So she chose Shellac Purple Purple and Gosh Nail Glitter in Ruby Red. And was very pleased with the results...

If you want to know how to do the 'glitter fade' effect, then check out my previous post here.

Keep reading for my next post which showcase some fabulous Rockstar Toes to match this manicure!

CND Shellac Red Baroness, Glitter & Diamanté Nail Art

Another quick mani post this evening, but this time, a friend of a friend, Stacey, asked me to do her nails...

Stacey was torn between colours but settled for my newest shade in the end, Red Baroness. She liked the style of my current manicure (in my previous post) so decided to have a swash of red glitter too. And finished off with an accent nail detail of a diamanté flower on her ring finger.

To create this look I applied two coats of CND Shellac in Red Baroness, then mixed some top coat with Gosh Nail Glitter in 09 Ruby Red and applied a coat over top. I then placed six red and one silver diamantés in a flower pattern, to the outer side of her ring finger nails, and sealed it with top coat.

It doesn't show up so well in the photos, but this effect of the glitter over the Shellac makes them very 'Dorothy Wizard of Oz'.


Stacey loves them! What do you think? Have you tried any diamanté designs on your nails?

CND Shellac Asphalt and Glitter

Just a quick post to show you my latest mani...

 

I haven't really used my Shellac in Asphalt yet, other than for swatching, so I figured this would be my next colour of choice for my nails. Alone, it's a lovely dark grey creme but I wanted to 'wow' it up a little, so used my Gosh nail glitter in Grey Moonstone over the top. It strikes me as being very 'granite' like.

I applied two coats of the Asphalt and then mixed a little top coat with the Grey Moonstone glitter and applied one coat over the top.

What do you think? Let me know your thoughts.

Glitter Nails - Nails Inc. Glitterati and POP Confetti Glitz

Earlier today, I posted a Birthday/Christmas present stash post on my sister blog Brush up and Make-up! where I mentioned this Nails Inc. set that I received for my Birthday. So I thought I'd combine it with a new POP beauty nail polish I've got and post about some post-Christmas glitter nails.

Left:
Nails Inc. Glitterati Set including Hatton Garden (silver), London Bridge (purple) & Chelsea Embankment (gold)

Right:
POP beauty Nail Glam in Confetti Glitz



First up, the Nails Inc. Glitterati set - I'd asked for this amongst many other beauty things, not because I needed it, but because I thought it was the perfect collection of glitters for the festive season. I have lots of metallics, but few glitters in my nail polish collection, and although I could utilise my Gosh Nail Glitters more, I feel that their role belongs purely in Nail Art.

The set consists of three full size glitter polishes, with London themed names, in typical Nails Inc. style. Also included, was a £10 off voucher as pictured above left, for this Spring at selected Nails Inc. counters - as I've never been for a Nails Inc. manicure it is highly likely that this will get used by the end of January!

Secondly, I bought (on a whim) this fabulous glitter polish from POP beauty (top right). I've never bought from this brand before, but I have seen it a few times popping up (excuse the pun!) on beauty blogs and ASOS.com . The shade is called Confetti Glitz and is no longer available on ASOS.com but is available on the POP beauty website RRP £6.50.

The photos to the right, first show one coat, then two coats of each polish (without base or top coat).

The Nails Inc. polishes applied with ease and gave good coverage in two coats, the purple and silver could have had a third, but personally I would be happy with just two. I was most pleased with how the gold one applied,
this was by far the easiest and smoothest application. I                                    Above & below L-R:
also liked that in the purple one, the polish base was blue                    Nails Inc. Chelsea Embankment, 
and not black. I think this makes the purple colour stand                       London Bridge, Hatton Garden
out much more. All would need one coat (maybe two) of                               and POP Confetti Glitz
top coat to smooth out the rough glitter finish.

The POP beauty polish was extremely difficult to apply but I adore the effect it gives. Even after one coat, I had to use the brush to manoeuvre the glitter pieces, which are quite big, around the nail to make sure they were evenly placed. This was also the same for the second coat and then the third. This polish definitely needs three coats and at least two coats of top coat as the surface is very rough once dried. Although it is a nightmare to apply, the final effect of this polish (not shown at its best in the photo unfortunately) is truly amazing. It's not one to do in a hurry, it's much more of a delicate application process to take time over.


In all, I am very pleased with the new additions to my polish collection, I've just got to find the time to wear them all! Here's to hoping that they will all easily remove too... well... who am I kidding! They're going to be a nightmare, but for nails that glam, I can put up with some difficult removal!

Do you own any of these glitter polishes? What is your favourite glitter polish?

OPI's Best of the Best Mini Nail Polish Set

Having done so many CND Shellac posts recently, I thought it about time to review a few of the latest regular nail polishes that I have picked up in the last month or were given for my Birthday/Christmas.

First up is the fabulous OPI Best of the Best mini nail polish set that I picked up from the website BuyaPowa. I did a quick swatch of the colours in my sister blog Brush up and Make-up and promised I would review them in a little more detail on here.

I paid £17.50 for the set (RRP £27.50) which is supposed to contain their most popular selling shades. I thought it was a great way to try out OPI polishes; I've never used their colours before but I've heard a lot of good reviews, so I thought this was a fab way to introduce myself to the brand.

The set contains 10 polishes, 3.75ml in each. And I love the names of each colour! Very cute and quirky. All the swatches gave enough coverage in two coats (as pictured) and are without a top or base coat.

Top row L-R are all creme colours:
Alpine Snow - a soft white
Bubble Bath - a soft natural pink
Tickle My France-y - a nude pinky begie
Strawberry Margarita - a soft fuchsia pink
Cajun Shrimp - a bright, almost neon, coral red/pink

Alpine Snow and Bubble Bath will work very well together for a French Manicure design and I think Cajun Shrimp or Strawberry Margarita are great Summer colours for the toes. Not quite sure how I'll wear Tickle My France-y though.
 
Bottom Row L-R:
Big Apple Red - a bright 'pillar box' type of red creme
I'm Not Really A Waitress - a dark rich metallic red
You Don't Know Jacques - A dark, mushroom-like, grey
Russian Navy - a dark metallic blue
Lincoln Park After Dark - a very dark plum/purple which looks almost black

My favourite of these is Lincoln Park After Dark and I'm also growing very attached to I'm Not Really a Waitress. Not sure if the You Don't Know Jacques is doing it for me really, but it's supposed to be one of their most popular selling shades!

All I need to do know is try some of them out for real. I'll have to wait until I give my Shellac a break!


Which is your favourite OPI colour? Do you own the Best of the Best set too?