NailSpa Experience!!! Festive Glitter Mani

How would you like to get pampered and bask in serene bliss and get your nails done at the same time?

I know I'd love to :D

This mani is the result of that! 

(and this post is pic heavy coz I couldnt resist uploading more pics)

NAILSPA EXPERIENCE –Style Salon & Spa, a fast-growing player in the nails & spa industry, which boasts of a new level of indulgence with lavish nails, eyelashes, pedicures and body care treatments enduring relaxation of body, mind & soul. NAILSPA EXPERIENCE’s offers 5 star services in nails like Acrylic/Gel glitter Nail extension, Pink & White Nail extension, Diamontee Nails, Bridal Nails etc for self sprucing. Whitening Facial, Body Wraps, Eyelash Extensions, Recliner Massaging Pedicures are some of the many enthralling offers that too can be experienced by visitors.

CHANEL, DIOR, INGLOT, OPI, CHINA GLAZE- these are the some quality brands that they use. There were around 11 different kinds of manicures and pedicures that the salon offers. The ambience is great with soft music and spacious.

One can relax without the 100 types of different machine sounds you'd hear in a beauty salon. They also offer rejuvenating body massages and different kinds of nail treatments for various nail problems like peeling/brittle nails, fungus, etc.

Nail art prices start at Rs500/-, nail extensions start at 1950/- (gel and acrylics). The place is open 7 days a week from 10.30am to 9.00pm. To see more services offered see their website here. 

Some pics of the place: 

Some samples of nail art done by their experienced technicians:

My experience at the spa was truly nice. I can be a bit finicky about hygiene in such places and I was pleased to see that all technicians and staff wore face masks, the instruments were clean and well maintained. The place was spick and span. I opted to do some nail art on my hands coz it feels really good to have someone do your nails :D (ahhhh..bliss!!)

Since the festive season is about to begin in India with the advent of Navratri (festival of 9 days of dance), followed by Durga puja and Diwali (Hindu New year), I thought it was befitting the season to have some bling on my nails. The technicians and staff suggested french glitter nails with some 3-D accent and I agreed to that. Must say I am pretty pleased with the result.

My nails were first prepped with a bit of cuticle pushing and filing. Then my hands were sanitized and cleaned before SoSo (the technician who did my nails) proceeded with the base coat. Artfully she applied loose small hex glitter in gold. She had a strict eye for detail and finish. 

After glitter was applied, she proceeded to do the accent nail on my ring finger with 3-D. I was a bit apprehensive of using acrylic on my nails but she patiently answered my questions and cleared my doubts about using it and its effects on my nails. Using acrylic powder she made and moulded the flower and leaves on my nails itself. Lastly she put a tiny crystal in the centre to complete the look. This nail art would have been priced at Rs.1200/- (as per the salon)

I love love love the whole effect. Glittery and oh-so-cute!!

I leave you to drool over some pics of the manicure.

I couldnt stop staring at this pretty accent nail!

Also if you'd like to visit the place: NailSpa Experience has some attractive offers going on for the festive season: 

Special Festive offer: French/Glitter Nail Extension + Get FREE Back Message and Back Bleach worth 1000/- all for just 2500/- only .Offer Valid from 9th October - 24th October 2012

I loved the whole experience. Do you like to get your nails done at a nailspa?

*Disclosure: Service offered by NailSpa Experience for review, free of cost. However this is an unbiased review based on my personal experience, and all opinions are my own.

Summer Blossom Nail Art

These days I am all about pastels and pinks. No wonder then I have another pastel pink lined up.

Jasmine!! 

Doesnt that name conjure up an image of turrets in the desert with a princess, Alladin and a Genie next to them! Ahh If I met the Genie I'd ask for more nail polishes! :D

Diana of London (DOL) is an International makeup brand manufactured in France and imported to India. According to the company their nail polishes are “State-of-the-art nail enamel, High-shine finish with an instant stroke of glamour, irresistible colors go on smoother and faster without chipping and streaking, set in 60 seconds, Toluene,DBP, Camphor & Formaldehyde free”. However ingredients list is not mentioned on the bottle.

Now thats one thing I appreciate: being “3 free”. That means harmful chemicals are excluded from these polishes making them friendly for your nails. Although their shade collection is a little limited with hues of pinks, reds and browns. Also finishes are limited to crèmes, pearl-ies and a few frosties.

Sigh!! How I wish Indian brands would come up with more of glitter, flakies, foils, glass flecked, matts and the ever desirable multi-chromes and holos.

Price: MRP: Rs210 for 12 ml (although available on online sites with a discount)

Image Source: Diana of London Website

Jasmine (48) is a nice pastel nude-pink on my hands and quite apt for the season. Application was a bit streaky but a careful 3rd coat and it went completely opaque and smoothed it out while drying to a very nice glossy finish. I was pleasantly surprised at the glossy finish on this crème. Most of the crème finishes available locally do not have a gloss as good as this one.

You see the gloss on the pic above. That gloss remained the same even after the polish dried. The formula is slightly runny and the brush does leave some streaks. I would have been happier with a better brush. Drying time was quick for the first 2 coats (say 10 mins) however the third one took a bit more to dry.

Again I am pleasantly surprised, this polish lasted a really long time on my nails. I wanted to test this for wear and I successfully wore it for 5 full days with minimal tip wear the the end of 5th day after which I wiped it off out of an itch to change my polish. Very rarely do I leave a polish for so long.

Nail Art I did with DOL's Jasmine as the base after 2 days of wearing it plain: Hardly any tip wear.

Base: Diana of London Jasmine (48)

Stamping colour: Konad Black

Stamping Plate: BM 224

Dotting tool: various coloured dots

Verdict: I 'd say DOL polishes are definitely worth the money. I'd buy other shades if I like them.

Disclaimer: Product sent by the company for review. However this has not affected my opinion...Really!

Got Monday Morning Blues?? Beat them!!

Got monday morning blues? I got some..actually I get many! Aarrghhhh!

I think I start getting them by sunday evening just coz I know it monday tomorrow. LOL!

I've put on this really bright and cheery mani to help me put them off. 

I have used Sally Hansen's Firm Fig for the base + Inglot Matte Top coat

Stamping plates: M69 (stamped straight and upside down on alternate fingers)

Stamping colour: Konad White

Sally Hansen's Firm Fig is sheer and the above pic took 4-5 coats to make it opaque, resulting in pillow imprints on my nails from the previous night when I applied it. 

 This is how the base looks with Inglot's Matte Top coat. (Rs. 490/-) ($10)

This is my first matte top coat and I am in Love with this effect. It also smoothened out the pillow lines :)

Dries really fast and gives a nice smooth matt look. Doesn't feel powdery.

This top coat does show little tip wear after 2 days..as you see in the mani (1st pic), the tips have a slight sheen. But one can easily re-apply top coat  every 2 days as it dries soon.

I loved the effect of this. Instead of searching for various shades in matt, I think its best to buy a matte top coat and use it on your existing polishes. 

Do you have a Matt top coat? or plan to buy one?

Love to hear your comments on this.

P.S: Also I am making a couple of easy-to-do nail wheels for Indian marriage-y nails. 

If you have any colour suggestions that you'd like to pair with a dress do let me know. If you are the bride-to-be I'd love to come up with some easy peasy manis for your big day. 

Do leave your suggestions for colour combinations you'd like to see.

*: All polishes/top coats have been bought buy me and I am not affiliated with Inglot

Spring time! Flower overload!

Hi Ya!! I m back from my rafting trip and I had a super-rocking-time!! 

(will spam you a few pics later with the mani I wore for my trip). 

Well coming back to this post. I am not a flowery person..as in I dislike flowers in designs. I like flowers, but not things that have flowery designs...know what I mean?

No flowers on clothes, shoes, jewelry. Somehow as a part of my wardrobe revamp I've decided to add stuff I usually do not wear. Got a few flowery tops and dresses. And yes a flowery mani was due.

Surprisingly I like it :D 

So much so that I have a few more coming in the spirit of spring (or a full blast summer in Mumbai!!)

Base: Colorbar Exclusive 37 (White)

Stamping colour: Lakme Metallic 241 (bronze)

Stamping plate: BM 211

For those in search of stampy polishes..Lakme's (Indian Brand) metallic polishes surprisingly stamp well.

Like it?

Laced Pink Pop

Hi All,

M back with a new post. Have been thinking how often should I be posting? As of now I post once a week. Its not easy to manage a full time job and a blog. Even if I paint my nails twice a week, I feel lazy to edit and upload pictures withing the same day or two. So I am now practically sitting on atleast 7 or 8 potential posts. Do you do the same?

 Anywho, I'd been wanting to do a girly manicure and couldn't think of anything other than pink and this delicate design from M71.

Base: Miss Claire 062

Stamping plate: Konad M71

Stamping colour: Konad Black

Please leave your comments as I love reading those and follow my blog for regular updates!!

♥♥♥

Candy Roses

Some days back I had seen a lovely rose tutorial mani from Nail Nerd, which was requested by another fav nail blogger of mine; I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous. So I decided to try it out myself as both their mani's looked so pretty. Here's my version of Candy roses.

I used colorbar's white as the base. It took me 3 coats to get it opaque and it still showed streaks.

Please excuse the untidy edges. I wasn't sure if I still wanted this as base

After it completely dried, I made a baby pink colour by mixing red and white acrylic paints to make irregular blobs.

With Flash

And added the detailing with dark red. I did try leaves, but they didn't turn out well. So I left them out, as I thought the design was looking really pretty like candy pieces. They did seem easy in the tutorial, but it took some time to get the petals right.

Up close the design looked a little messy to me, but if you kinda watch it at hand's length it doesn't seem messy.

Without Flash

I kept looking at my hand all day, as the roses really looked so pretty!

What do you feel about it? Or should I just stick to stamping?

♥ Till I see you next ♥

Flower Power

Hi,

Please excuse my week long hiatus. My parents left yesterday for Canada on a month long vacation and I was helping them pack, plus we had a long weekend last week so I was completely off the computer, and out with my mom helping her shop for the trip. This mani below, is what I was wearing last week. I had wanted to do a nude base since quite some time and a full nail stamp design. So thats what I did.

 Base: Nude from Streetwear

Stamping: Konad violet pearl with BM 205

Although the top coat smudged the stamp a bit, I thought the overall look was quite cute and girly.

I also put a few nail stickers in pink to make it fun.

(indoors with flash)

Do let me know your comments and thoughts on this flower power.

Oh! and if you are from Canada or know about it, can you recommend any polish brands for holographic,crackle and stamping polishes(non konad kinds), that  I can call for. Ciao

Spring time!

Any tips or comments on photography or nail art are welcome.

Pretty pink

My first attempt.

I wanted to start with something small and simple.

Do let me know your comments.