Thursday 27 September 2012

Revlon Peachy+ Patterned Nail Art

Off late we have been seeing some new range of polishes in India! Hopefully companies in India are paying attention to our polish needs! (Now can OPI/ChG/SH launched their own brands here instead of giving old polish collections them to retailers)!!

Anyways....First colorbar launched a whole big range of their pro polishes and added new (and neon) ones to their existing range. Then Lakme came out with the fast and fabulous range of polishes. Colorama introduced some new shades. L'oreal came out with the Color Riche Le Vernis. This year has been very nice in terms of new polish launches.
 Now we have Revlon, out with the TOP Speed and Scented polishes.


These were launched in US/UK sometime last year. I am still miffed by we get stuff so late!
The range has some really pretty polishes and jellies or so I've heard.
I couldnt stop ogling at the pastels!!! Mint green, lilac, pink! The range contains a mix of cremes, jellies, shimmers and a couple of metallics. Next I need to get my hands on a couple of jellies!!



On my hand today is the Revlon's Peachy from the Top Speed range. It looks like a peachy-pastel orange bordering on neon. Its not really neon, but more like a bright milky orange. 
Dried  pretty fast in 2-3 mins. Brush is decent and offers smooth application.
Nice smooth creme finish, not very streaky, completely opaque in 2 coats. 

What Revlon Claims:
Patented fast dry formula with built-in top coat for a glossy, ultra smooth manicure with strengthening power
Fast Dry formula provides a salon quality application that sets in just 60 seconds
Revolutionary Brush Color Precise Brush with 640 count triangular bristles is engineered to work seamlessly with one coat   that gives a smooth and even salon quality application
Gentle on nails – formaldehyde free, toluene free



Lasted more more than 4 days.
Stamping Plate: BM214
Stamping Colour: Konad Black and White

I smudged the black print a bit :-/


I really like the new range of polishes! Cant wait to try the scented polishes next.
Hope u liked the nail art. Stay tuned for more.



P.S: The winner of my Hello Kitty Nail Plate is Shourima Ghosh! Shourima contact me!


*This polish reviewed by me has been bought with my own hard earned money or  maybe husbands'! :p

Monday 24 September 2012

Brocade Nail Art

Hello Gals!!
(wondering if I do have any male followers except my hubby and bro who I forced to follow my blog?)

Today I have a really pretty mani to show ya!



The base is ChG Magnetix: Positively in Love

I was trying to magnetize it but I ended up touching the magnet into my nails for some reason on almost every nail!!! Ughh! so I thot maybe i'd try that when I have short nails. So I added another base on the half magnetized base so smoothen out the magnetic effect.  I love the jewel toned shade of the base.

Stamping Plate: RA 112
Stamping Colour: Streetwear Gold
I added some bindi stickers for more glam


I think there arent enough plates which have a brocade or baroque designs. I wish I had more choice in these kinds of designs, u know the designs with creeper, leaves etc which allow enough of the base to show through. This also looks very indian to me and is quite apt for weddings/functions.

I loved how this design turned out 
Hope u  this too?

Thursday 20 September 2012

A-England: Tristam+ Water Decals

Triiiiiiistam!!!!!!!
Yes yes! its A-Englands Tristam!



My dear friend Nirah from Present Prefect Tense.. helped me lay my hands on this.
The whole day I kept going "My precious" like Gollum.  HeHe.. but true!
But Gollum didnt dance did he? Nope.. so I went like this :D



Here's a swatch of My precious!! Errmmm I meant Tristam!

Navy Blue-touching dark violet kinda shade with light scattered holo. I thought this would have looked better with a heavier holo effect showing through, but eh! These days thats all I seem to want. Holos!


I didnt wanna cover "my precious" by stamping all over it..so I went a little subtle.


I got these decals to review from the born pretty store.
Read my review on them hereThey cost $4.73 and come with free shipping and one sheet has 11 different designs (see here). 

These decals were randomly shaped, but had tiny micro glitter, which sparkled nicely at angles.


Did you like my precious? :D

P.S: I was told by a reader and a dear fellow blogger that she thought I did my nails early morning, took pics, and edited and put up a post by 8.00 am in the morning. Which I do not, coz its not physically possible by me. So I was told to mention that I schedule them in advance so as to make people think I am just as human as you are :p :p :p
and yes I struggle to make posts just like anybody with a full time job, a social life, friends, catching up with movies, watching tv etc etc :D :D :D


Monday 17 September 2012

DIY: Make your own Gentle Remover: Nail Care


How many of you balk in disgust at the sight of white, fraying dry skin after you use a Nail Polish remover? Or run to splosh moisturizer on your cuticles?

I may have a solution to help your cuticles feel better!


I know we get Acetone free removers, but they take years/ages to make to polish come off.
Acetone is a good solution to that, but it dries ur skin! And How!!!

I was searching to buy a nice nail polish remover that doesnt try to kill my cuticles and I chanced upon this DIY Gentle remover. Its made on the lines of Zoya's Remove Plus Nail Polish Remover.

Essentially you use acetone coz its very effective to remove nail polish, but add the goodness of glycerin to make sure that acetone doesnt harm your cuticles.

Ready to make it? (if you said oh yeah!!! read further! 
if you already made it, please give your suggestions/tips on how to make this better.)

__________________________________________________________________

Reader Q: What Do I need?
A: A bottle, Glycerin, Pure Acetone and filtered water


Reader Q: Is it gonna be an expensive affair?
A: Nope. 100g glycerin costs Rs.45/- ($0.9) and Pure Acetone costs me Rs: 84 for 400 ml. Water is freeeeeee freeee freeeeee LoL!!

Q: Do I need an empty bottle?
A: Depends if there is room in your acetone bottle you can use that...or just clean out any used up container of a body lotion or body wash/hand lotion etc. The container you are mixing into must be see through. Or you wont know how much to mix.


Q: Ok, I got an empty bottle.. now what?
Put as much acetone as you want..leave room to add and mix other stuff. I have taken an old bottle of M&S body lotion and clean it out with water and soap. I like a bottle with pump for acetone. Makes it easier to use. You may want to try a bit first instead of mixing the whole acetone. 


Q: How much Glycerin to add?
A: Take Glycerin in the cap of the bottle and add to acetone. You'll see glycerin plonk straight to the bottom of the bottle. Now mix it hard by closing the bottle and give it a shake. The glycerin is soluble in acetone, but not beyond a point. 

Q: What is Glycerin?
"A versatile liquid listed as safe for human consumption by the Food and Drug Administration, glycerine is viscous, colorless, and has a slightly sweet taste. Food and drug makers use it in everything from candies to toothpaste." Source


This is bottle before the glycerin was mixed up.
Keep adding Glycerin and shaking it till you see that glycerin doesnt mix anymore. So its helpful to keep mixing as you add along. 

Q: Okayyyy,  the glycerin doesnt mix anymore. Now what?
A: Fret not even if you dont get this exact. I had added roughly 4 capfuls of glycerin without shaking it up. 

Now close the bottle and mix hard. If you have any extra glycerin that wont mix into the acetone it will get mixed as you add water. See, glycerin is completely soluble in water. (bet u didnt know that..haha).
I'd suggest you should add little water little by little and shake it out and see if the glycerin has got mixed. 

Now you wont be able to see any distinguished separation in the bottle. 


Q: Managed that without spilling any of this mixture in my eye.
A: Now use it and come back here and tell me how it worked for you :p

I still have 1/3rd of the acetone bottle left and more than 3/4th of the glycerin left for future use.

Some more FAQs:
Q: This feels slightly sticky!!
A: Thats coz there is more glycerin in the mixture. My first batch was slightly sticky, but then I didnt really mind the sticky-ness as it just as easily comes off with washing your hands in soap water. (which I would normally do after using a nail polish remover anyways). I am happy to not see any more dried, white cuticles.

Q: My cuticles still feel dry!!
A: Add more glycerin. Glycerin has properties to retain moisture from the air around it.

I've read a post about this from Anutka on her blog :Wacky Laki and then made it myself the first time.
You can check her post here. She has a cool blog!!


Got anymore questions?
Do leave your comments, I'd love to hear them.

Thursday 13 September 2012

Lacey Sticker Nail Art


Lately I have been really hung up on lacey dresses and tops so when I came across this lacey sticker I grabbed it up asap. Mind you not just this one..there are more where this came from :D


The base is a Miss Claire Polish (made in Korea). There is no shade name but just a no. A13.

I loved the finish of this polish..Very Foil like but shimmered a lot in light. Almost like the foil was broken in tiny pieces. Anyone know this finish is called exactly?

Miss Claire markets this as a one stroke polish but it took me 2 coats to make opaque.

Last weekend I had gone on an offsite visit from my office. It is supposed to be like a semi work thing where we get to have fun while we also have to sit through a couple of presentations. This year was a really short trip to a resort nearby. We went to Radisson Blu at Alibaug, just a couple of hours away. Nice resort, but the food wasnt that great. I had good fun overall.



I wore this mani for the trip as I was really short of time the night before leaving. 
Applied the stickers and topped with SV.

What kinda manis do you do when you are short of time?

Monday 10 September 2012

Sponging Nail Art: Using Lakme: Autumn Trend


Whew! For some strange reason google blocked my account yesterday! :O
Yes that can happen. I am not sure why but I had looged in using my hubby's pc and logged out. Again after half an hour I logged in using my pc and I got error saying my account is blocked due to some unusual activity. My only guess is google probably registered a change in IP address. So it blocked my account. Google please note that I log using whatever is at hand. My pc, His pc, My cell, His cell(s), mom's pc when I visit her..its a long list.  Please do not keep blocking for this. I had a mini heart attack yesterday when I couldnt see my blog.

*rant over* Coming on todays mani..

Sometimes I get these sudden strong urges to do sponging. And then I keep thinking about it all day and realize I just have to do it to get it out of my mind. 



I decided to use an unused polish I had. Lakme Crimson Fire from the fast and fabulous range.
Its a true blue red. to read my review of these Fast and Fabulous polishes click here.


I sponged using Lakme Fast and Fabulous' Popping Pink at the nail base and OPI's Funkey Dunkey at the tips. Now Popping pink blendsreally nicely into Crimson Fire. If you look closely you can see a distinct pink hue at the nail base but its very difficult to make out where it starts and where it ends.
Applied SV for top coat. 
Stamped it using: A Miss Claire Gold Polish
Stamping Plate: XL K

SV bubbled a bit :-/ But overall it was a very pleasant mani.
Instantly brightens up your hand. 


If possible do leave a comment on how you like this. I know its not possible to comment on every blog you follow and every post you see. Maybe you could make my day today :)

Have a good week ahead!

Thursday 6 September 2012

Sandy Matt Purple + Rhinestones Nail Art

By now you probably know that purple is my fav-ever colour. If not then you know now anyways :p
Of course my friends think I have everything purple in an overdose while I think I still need some more purple in my life. This one polish just reminds me how everything else would look soooo nice if it were purple. Hmmm...purple water or hmmmm..purple beaches/sands!! <3 p="p">

And I have got more sandy matt spam to show today!!
This polish makes it just easy to imagine a beach full of clean shimmering lilac sand! Sighhh.



Base: Purple/Lilac Sandy Matt Polish
The pic shows more shine than there actually is coz I was photographing right in front on an evening sun and this being a light shade really caught on the shine. The first pic above is a more close swatch of this polish. 
I added stripes in Black, white and pink at one corner free handed. My hand was shaky!
Then I added flower shaped rhinestones in red for the accent. Though they didnt stick around more than a day coz I am real fidgety with these things. But they looked very pretty while they were there.


Hope you like these sandy matts! I am totally in loooove with these.
Click here to see more of the sandy matt polishes I have used earlier.
Still have a few more shades to show ya.



Monday 3 September 2012

Formal Nail Art: Black


Hello Hello! Wassup!
I've had a really hectic weekend! Havent slept well 5 nights in a row and now have racoon eyes as well.
Had office picnic over the weekend. Awesome time, lotsa games and loads of mad fun. 
Really short post today.. no energy left to blabber. Enjoy the pics.


Base: Sandy Matt Grey

Tried stamping with Konad yellow but it wasnt showing well. So stamped Konad black over it. And I like how the double stamping has a very interesting effect. 


Stamping plate: BM322
Stamping Colour: Konad Black

The mani had a very formal kind of a feel to it. Perfect for a formal party or even an interview as the base is quite subtle. 
Hope you like this one. Catch you soon once I catch up on my sleep.