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Tips and Tricks

China Glaze Crackle Glitters swatches and thoughts.

Recently I posted about the new China Glaze Crackle Glitters in this post right here. And now I have a little exclusive for you all, I have been sent these to review and swatch so hang on, keep on readong and I’ll show you what these look like! And I’ve got to say, I wasn’t expecting this because I was a bit over crackle but oh man, these are so cool!

As you can see there are four lovely glittery crackles to this collection, they all came with the same little tag (as pictured on the polish on the left) that has the China Glaze logo on the front and on the back there are directions on how to apply these to the nail. (Click the image to read the directions)

Just to make sure I did everything right I read these little notes before swatching them as some crackles are to be applied when the base polish is still wet, the other type, like these, are to be applied when your base polish has dried completely.

I used a black polish called Liquid Leather, and a white polish called White on White, both by China Glaze, as a base of these swatches and made sure it was completely dry before I applied these crackles. Application went really smoothly, something I did not expect as glitter can be quite problematic to apply.

As you can see when you click on the picture on the left, this glitter is just so fine that you don’t have any trouble distributing them evenly and you have a moment to make sure all is covered before these start to crack.

And oh my, when it starts to crack it is very pretty! The glitters are shimmery and light enough to contrast beautifully with the basecolor and you get a nice clear crackle effect. It is important that you do topcoat this after it has finished cracking as it seems to dry quite matte.

Sadly I don’t think swatching these on my own nails would look very nice at the moment as I pretty much broke all of my nails on my left hand when I picked up my laptop and it slipped. Ouch. So you will have to do with my nailwheel instead I’m afraid. I hope you can forgive me.

Let me show you these on the black base first:

Jade-d is a soft green, so soft actually that it looks more gold than anything. But it is pretty, especially in certain color combinations which I will talk about soon as well.

Glam-more, the second polish pictured is a nice and bright fuchsia that really pops over a dark color and looks really nice over a light color as well.

The third color Gleam Me Up is a light blue, I think, after Glam-More my favorite polish of the set.

Last but certainly not least there is Luminous Lavender a soft purple, or indeed lavender color.

I personally prefer lighter colored crackles like these over a dark base, but to each their own of course. I will show you these colors over white next to show you the difference in effect.

See how the Glam-More pops and the other three are just kind of sitting there being pretty?  There’s nothing wrong with them over white, but with the black they just look better to me.

I was toying around with them a bit more in combination with other China Glaze colors and I came up with a few snazzy combinations.

First there’s Jade-d over Stella because the green looks even more gold over this luschious wine red it gives it a very interesting look don’t you think?

The next two combinations just scream summer to me, Glam More over For Audrey and Gleam Me Up over Orange Knockout, these colors just pop over brights like these and they’re sure to catch anybodies eye.

Last but not least Luminous Lavender over Urban Night, both a shade of purple, but still complimenting each other rather well. Very classy I think so myself.

Now you’ve seen my swatches and read all about the polishes do you think you’ll get yourself this set? I was not planning on buying these but now that I have them and was able to test these I have to admit I am quite impressed with them! So if you get the chance, do pick one up, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised as well! They will be out this may!

I go Gaga for silver leopard nails.

Today I kind of have a little mixed media project on my nails because I’ve used several things to get to this flashy end result.

I started it all off by using a nice base coat and covered that with a silver polish by Barry M as a color base. I used a silver polish as a base because I intend to use a silver nailart foil. And the foil doesn’t always stick to the glue right you might get some bald spots. So this is just to make sure you cover your nails completely.

After that had dried I applied special foil glue and added a layer of silver foil that I’ve ordered from Dollarnailart ages ago.

Nailfoils are nothing like the nail stickers that Sally Hanson or all the other brands currently are selling. Foils are sold in a long rolled up strip that you can cut sections off of. You then rub those sections onto your nail after putting on a special glue. This glue dries clear and tacky and it helps the foil adhere to the nail. Once you’re certain the foil has attached to the glue you very gently pull it off. So what is left on your nail is a very very thin layer of color that has come off the actual foil that is now clear. The layer is so thin that it will get scraped off easily, this and the glue react strongly to certain topcoats so you need to be careful with that as well.

Just so the foil doesn’t crinkle I coated the silver nails royally with a waterbased topcoat by Piggy Polish, and by royally I mean at least three layers. After that had dried I stamped it with my black Konad stamping polish and Konad plate m57 topping it off with a regular topcoat.

Here’s the end result:

They are a bit hard to photograph because of how reflective they are, but they are so much fun to wear that I just had to give it a shot and take a picture for you all.

Have you ladies tried foils before? If yes, did you like it? If no, would you in the future?

 

 

When yellow isn’t so mellow…

Yellow nail polish is currently quite a hit and I’ve rocked the color numerous times already. But what if, underneath it all, your nails are stained just as yellow and you’re afraid to go ‘bare nail’ because of that?

If you have stains on your nails from nail polish or other staining things like paint and such, luckily there are a few things you can do about it. You can start by using a good basecoat religiously and wait for the yellow stains to grow out, but you can also speed up the process by doing a few other things…

  • You can use one of those nail-buffers that you can use to make your nails shine to buff the top layer off of your nail. If you’re lucky and you’ve only had a polish stain the top layer, this is the perfect one time solution to getting rid of those ugly yellow tint stains on your nails. Because this is quite an aggressive way to treat the stains I suggest you do this no more than once every month or two.  Buffing your nail does make your nail thinner every time you do it and you will end up with perhaps pretty looking, but extremely thin and fragile nails.  You don’t want that do you?
  • You can soak your nails in water with lemon juice or lemon slices. The acid in the juice will strip away stains and grease. Do not do this too often as your nails do, of course, contain calcium and calcium and acid aren’t exactly friends and it can leave your nails soft and weak. If you don’t have much time and don’t want to do the whole soaking things; simply rub a slice of lemon directly underneath and on top of your nails.
  • Mix up a nice little paste with some lemon juice and baking soda. It doesn’t only look cool because it will start to fizz a little, but it will also whiten your nails quite a bit when you scrub your nails with this mixture using an old toothbrush. Beware that this is quite an abrasive little mix and it might end up making your nails feel quite rough, so do not do this too often!
  • Not everyone has just a couple of lemons or baking soda lying around, so you can also use a common whitening toothpaste. So try scrubbing your nails with an old toothbrush and whitening toothpaste!
  • This is something I do often myself: Dissolve a tablet of denture cleaner into a small bowl of lukewarm water. Then, soak your nails for about five to ten minutes. Sure your fingers will smell minty and that’s not always something you want, but it will also have cleaned your nails quite a bit. This is also a great tip for people who have long acrylic or gel nails to get them really cleaned up well underneath as it’s sometimes hard to get into each nook and cranny when washing your hands!
  • If you happen to have some 3% hydrogen peroxide in your medicine cabinet you could soak a cotton ball with it and rub it into your nails. Let it dry and rinse your hands before putting on a basecoat or a nail treatment of your choice.

Be sure to always wash and moisturize your hands after doing these treatments as both mint and acid works as an astringent and will leave your nails and  your hands feeling quite dry.

Will you be trying out or have you tried some of these out before and would like to share the experience, please comment below!  If you have other tips share those too! I’m curious to know what you think.

Does glitter make you bitter? I just might be able to cure that!

I don’t know about you, but I personally have worn less glitter nail polish in my life than I would like to.  The reason: glitter polishes are just such a pain to get off your nails once you want to change your color.  Well, I thought I’d give you two little tips that have made my life a little easier and has enabled me to wear more glitter lately. Keep reading as it might make your life a bit easier as well.
This is what I do; Pour some of the acetone into a little non plastic egg cup or something else that is small.  Put your finger in that for about half a minute, wipe off the excess nail polish with toilet paper or something similar.  I don’t recommend cotton because it leaves hairs behind.  Soak again for a little longer if the glitter is still hanging on. This is something I usually do myself just using the cap of my remover bottle.

You can also put little pieces of tissue or cotton pads that have been soaked in acetone remover around your fingertips and secure them with an elastic band. Example shown below.

Keep them there for about two minutes for normal polish and polishes that contain glitter that is difficult to remove.  For everything else like shellac you will need about ten minutes. After letting them soak up the polish take the pads or pieces of tissue off while twisting it a little to reveal lovely bare naked nails.

After this be sure to wash your hands thoroughly and moisturize them as Acetone can be very drying for the skin!

 

I hope this little trick will help you as much as it has helped me already.  And let me know if you’ll give this a go and what you thought of it!


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