piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2013 - Celebrating the Year of the Blogger!

Hi everyone!

I'm really excited to to be a part of piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2013! The brief was to create some nail art using 3 shades supplied to us by the lovelies at piCture pOlish. It's doubly exciting because there are 3 awards available, with the prizes being the opportunity to make a collaboration shade with piCture pOlish. The 3 prizes are chosen by 1) the fans and friends of piCture pOlish, 2) the participants of blogfest and 3) the girls of piCture pOlish (Jules and Megs). You can vote on your favourite nail art creation by hopping over to piCture pOlish on Pinterest and voting. Update: You can go to the piCture pOlish website to vote. But hurry, because it only runs till the end of tonight (NZ time).

The 3 shades I got were 'Atomic' (a collaboration shade with the super talented Sarah from Samarium's swatches), 'Denim' and 'Electric Blue'. This is the look I came up with...

As soon as I saw 'Atomic', 'Denim' and 'Electric Blue' together, they absolutely screamed gradient. They work so beautifully together.

Right, let's get on with how I went about getting this look...

 

First, I painted my nails with strengthener and base coat, followed by one coat of 'Atomic'. Once dry, I taped off my cuticles in order to make clean up a little easier later on.

 

Next, I painted a generous line of 'Denim', 'Atomic' and 'Electric Blue' on some wax paper. Using a tooth pick I swirled the adjacent colours together just a little bit, mixing 'Denim' out slightly to each side. I dipped the sponge into the polish, tapped it lightly on the wax paper, then sponged on to my nail moving up and down my nail with very small motions to ensure a smooth gradient.

I have to thank Sammy from The Nailasaurus for this particular technique! You can check out her original tutorial here. 

 

I repeated the sponging steps 3 times, ensuring the previous coat was completely dry each time. After that, I cut the tape off and cleaned up around my cuticles using an angled brush and pure acetone.

This is the cleaned up gradient and at this point it doesn't look very smooth. I slapped on a coat of quick-dry top coat and then once dry I used a coat of piCture pOlish 'G'day Matte' (matte top coat) on all but my ring finger. On my ring finger, I used a second coat of my regular top coat.

 

I waited until my nails were entirely dry and set before I went near the taping part. In fact, I did the taping part the next day. Using Magic Tape, I masked off the lines to taper near the cuticle end. You could use striping tape here, but as I show you my dominant hand (I have to do all this with my left hand), I used full tape so I wouldn't go over the edges.

Wait for the previous stripe to dry and set COMPLETELY before taping off the next one. I can't stress this enough, because they will pull off with the tape otherwise and you don't want to have to do the whole gradient over again. Paint the stripes (I used 2 thin coats for 'Denim' and 'Atomic') and carefully pull the tape off - preferably while the stripe polish is still wet. I repeated this whole process, with lots of drying time in between, to get 3 stripes on each nail.

 

To finish up, I added some studs to my feature nail, just sticking them on by dipping a tooth pick into top coat, dabbing it on my nail and then using the tacky toothpick to pick up and place each stud. I spaced them in a way that mirrored the gradient effect on my nails.

Phew, so this is it. I quite liked the way the gradient looked once matte, with the shiny stripes on top. What do you think?

You can check out everyone else's manis by checking out #ppblogfest2013 on twitter and instagram. Also make sure you are following piCture pOlish. They can be found in lots of different places - Facebook     Twitter     Pinterest     Instagram    You Tube    Google +.

piCture pOlish polishes can be purchased directly from Australia (check out their Everyday Deals page too), or visit their network page so you can find a distributor closer to where you live.

These products were provided for blog fest 2013.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Fated Prince - a-england

I have another new a-england beauty to show you today. Today's polish is 'Fated Prince' and is another in the Burne-Jones Dream collection. If you didn't see it the other day, check out 'Rose Bower' - the first of the Burne-Jones Dream collection I have shown you.

'Fated Prince' is a gorgeous gun-metal/charcoal grey holographic polish. It is the sort of holographic finish that is linear, but scattered (I never know if that makes any sense). The holo in 'Fated Prince' is much more apparent than the holo in 'Rose Bower', but it's not too over the top or in your face. In low light the holo, rather than being a rainbow, appears just as though the polish is glowing - super pretty.


'Fated Prince' was slightly on the thick side, but not in a bad way. Barely 2 coats were needed for full opacity and there was no problems whatsoever in application.

a-england polishes can be purchased from a lot of places around the world. Unfortunately, you can only order direct from them if you are in the UK, but be sure to check out their list of worldwide distributors to find a place close to where you live.

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Octopus's Garden - Enchanted Polish

Boy, do I have a pretty polish to show you today. A good old Enchanted Polish multichrome. The more I wear these, the more I think Chelsea is some sort of evil genius! How does she put so many colours in one polish. Seriously! HOW?!

'Octopus's Garden' has a ridiculous amount of colours. I don't really know where to start. I think the most prominent colour you see in normal lighting is this royal purple colour seen in this picture. Ironically, it was the most difficult colour for me to capture. I love the shift to copper. It makes me think of a sunset at the beach.

Here are the main shifts that I could see. 'Octopus's Garden' shifts include blue, purple, a pinky cranberry colour and the copper/orange. The shift is always wonderfully strong, to the point where The Boy looked down at my nails at one point and asked me what new polish I'd put on. It's like wearing a new polish each time you walk into a different room.

At certain angles, 'Octopus's Garden' becomes really blackened. I love this side of it so much too and the holo pops against the dark side of it too. Plus look at that electric blue would you!

A little close-up and a bit of a summary shot to finish with... Just because.


Formula was brilliant and easy. I used 3 thin coats for these photos and I had no problems at all.

I know, I know, gush gush gush. But I love these multichromes so much that I can't even explain. I am dying to get my hands on the new ones, but these days the restocks are just too damn hard to deal with (especially living on the other side of the world), but I will getting my greedy fingers on them eventually.

Speaking of restocks, if you are quick, you can get Enchanted Polish from a few different places. I have bought all of mine from either Harlow & Co. or Llarowe, but they are available from other places too. Be sure to check out the Enchanted Polish website for their restocks too.

Love Is Enough - a-england

I have another new a-england to show you today. This is the latest addition to the Heavenly Quotes Collection 'Love Is Enough'.

'Love Is Enough' is one seriously complex polish! At first glance it is a moody olive green-ish polish, look closer and you see all sorts of colours in there. The overall effect is that this polish really lights up with the predominantly golden shimmer/micro-glitter. My favourite part is the tiny pink/purple micro-glitter that catches my eye all the time. So interesting and really quite beautiful. In some lights the olive looking base appears to have a slate/grey tone to it (like in the top photo).

'Love Is Enough' was really easy to work with and I used 2 coats in these photos to give perfect coverage. The nature of the micro-glitter means that it can be a bit tricky to clean up, but not a biggie, just be careful when applying is all. Although it is packed with sparkly goodness, I used 1 coat of a thin top coat and it was lovely and smooth.

Currently, 'Love Is Enough' is not yet on the a-england website, but pop over there and look at the list of distributors worldwide to find a source near you. Just a reminder that if you are outside the UK, unfortunately yo ucannot order direct from a-england anymore due to regulations of Royal Mail (there are a heap of distributors though).

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Rose Bower - a-england

I am so excited to show you this polish today, mainly because I was so very excited to wear it. The lovely Adina from a-england has done it again, making 5 holographic beauties in the Burnes-Jones Dream collection. I won't get in to the inspiration behind the collection, other than to say it is inspired by paintings by Sir Edward Burne-Jones - a series titled 'The Legend of Rose Bower' - depicting the fairy tale we all know and love, The Sleeping Beauty. My reason for not getting into it is simply that I could do it no justice. I really recommend popping over to Ommorphia Beauty Bar, Eugenia has such a beautiful way with words, so fitting for this sort of collection. Anyway, on to the first polish that I tried, this is 'Rose Bower'.

 

 

 'Rose Bower' is about as eye-catching as you can get in my opinion. Verging on my perfect, dream polish. Red and subtly holographic, let's just say I am one happy camper. I love how in slightly lower light she becomes almost moody and darkened around the edges. So elegant, yet with a slight edge.

'Rose Bower' is not a true red, but rather a jewel toned ruby, almost cranberry leaning colour. It is just plain gorgeous and incredibly flattering. It feels very sophisticated and classic, but with that edge of holographic sparkle. This polish has the most subtle holographic finish of the collection, but I think it is just right for the shade.

Formula was everything you expect from a-england and more. 1 coat would have been enough except that I always expect to do 2 and so my first coat wasn't very neat, hence a second thin coat was used for these photos. 'Rose Bower' applied like butter, so easy to apply!

a-england polishes can be purchased from a lot of places around the world. Unfortunately, you can only order direct from them if you are in the UK, but be sure to check out their list of worldwide distributors to find a place close to where you live.

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Beyond - Color Club & Some Holo Nail Art!

Hi people!!

How are you all? I've just had a really lovely mini-holiday on Waiheke Island and considering it is the middle of winter, the weather was so perfect. If you follow me on Instagram (@pinpointpolish) you may have seen some pics of it. Anywho, I went to the NZ Beauty Expo on Saturday and managed to finally get my hands on the latest Color Club Halo Hues (how did it take so long?!), so naturally I had to try one as soon as I got home. And by try one, what I mean to say is try all 6... at once ;)

A mani that Sam (from Fashion Polish) did a bit ago was certainly the inspiration for this mani, though I went about this one quite differently from what Sam did. For my take on this look, I used Saran Wrap. I love how it turned out. I used all of the holos in the collection for this look. 'Beyond' was the base and then using the Saran Wrap, I dabbed on 'Kismet', 'Cosmic Fate', 'Miss Bliss', 'Over The Moon' and 'Eternal Beauty'.

You can see the colours better in this photo, as you would be able to see them in real lower light. I love how the black base of 'Beyond'  peeks through. To say these holos are full-on would be a serious understatement. It was so hard to capture the colours in this mani without just seeing holo in my photos. I had to crack out the light box for once.

Here is 'Beyond' all by itself. AMAZING! These polishes have a really strong linear holo finish. It is far from subtle and I love it. These photos are shown without top coat, just because I was going to be putting things on top of it. To be honest though, I think top coat makes the holo even more awesome!


Formula of 'Beyond' was sensational too. No aqua base or any other faffing around required. And it was really opaque. I only needed 1 coat on my left hand, but for the sake of neatness on my swatching hand, I have shown you 2 coats. As I mentioned, shown is without top coat, but as you can see with the top pics (with top coat), there isn't any dulling of the holo effect.

Color Club is sold a lot of places. For the kiwis, I know these are sold in Amazon stores, but they can also be purchased online from a lot of places.

Some of these products were given to me. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.
For more information, see my disclosure policy.

As You Wish - Dollish Polish & a Bit of a Skittlette

Hey hey,

How are you all? Yesterday I received the polishes I ordered from the new Dollish Polish collection based on The Princess Bride. I had to get some of them because of the inspiration alone. What a classic movie. In fact, I watched it again last night. Naturally, the first polish I had to try was 'As You Wish', but as soon as I saw them, I knew that it would need to be paired up with 'Hello, My Name Is Inigo Montoya' (does everyone else say the end of that quote every time they see the name of that polish?). I did a bit of a skittlette with 'As You Wish'. If you don't know what a skittlette mani is, make sure you hop over to ChitChatNails. The wonderful Marta, one of my favourite bloggers, coined the term and her skittlettes are always so beautiful.

This is my first skittlette attempt and I'm digging how it turned out, albeit slightly Australian feeling. I love, love, love the look of 'Hello My Name Is Inigo Montoya' over top of 'As You Wish'. It's just one coat and it gives such a beautiful olive colour. For the stamp, I used a-england 'Saint George' and the LeaLaC XL-B plate. On my index and pinky fingers I have a couple of glequins from Born Pretty Store.

I love 'As You Wish'. Surprised? Nope, not a bit. It's a gorgeous olive leaning gold holo. I find it difficult to wear gold often, but 'As You Wish' is a really soft gold and very wearable. The olive undertones also help with the wearability in my opinion.


'As You Wish' is a little bit sheer, but over all really easy to work with. Shown is 3 coats and in the photos you can see a wee bit of VNL, but it's perfectly fine in real life for me. I didn't use any special base coat for this polish either, just my usual Duri 'Rejuvacote' and Cult Nails 'Get It On' combination (these are my absolute holy grail strengthener and base coat by the way). The photos of 'As You Wish' alone are without top coat.


'As You Wish' and 'Hello, My Name Is Inigo Montoya' are available from Dollish Polish (at least they are available at this very moment). The LeaLaC XL-B plate is available from Llarowe and 'Saint George' is available from a bunch of places (check out the 'Where To Buy' tab on the a-england website).

Looking For My Mr. Big - Dollish Polish - and... Goodbye Google Reader

Hi everyone!

Long time no see. But, I'm back baby! I have missed painting my nails so much, but I have had a gel mani on for the last 2 weeks from that hand modelling gig I did a couple of weeks back. Let's just say, I will never complain about removing glitter ever again! It took me 3.5 hours to get those freaking things off last night. The girls showed me how to do it and in principle it was simple, in practice... not so much. My cuticles have been thoroughly bathed in acetone and I think I'm lucky they haven't revolted and gone AWOL completely! Anyway, I have finally painted my nails and they are slowly heading back to my square shape and I'll be getting back to a regular posting schedule.

Next thing is, and I'm sure you've read this on about a gajillion blogs, Google Reader is disappearing, today. Best place to follow me is probably Bloglovin' (there's a button on the right that takes you there), or Twitter (@PinpointPolish). You can also follow on Instagram (@pinpointpolish). If you hop over to Bloglovin', there's an option to import blogs from Google Reader, that way you can keep following all your favourite blogs :)

On to the polish... I have a polish on today that I've had for a while and worn a few times, but never gotten good pictures of. This is Dollish Polish 'Looking For My Mr. Big'...

I love 'Looking For My Mr. Big'. As you all probably know by now, I am a huge holo lover. This polish also has some electric blue shimmer added in there that catches the light so beautifully against the soft pinky lilac.

'Looking For My Mr. Big' has a linear holo finish, but the type that is slightly scattered. It is certainly not hidden, but it's not one of those really strong linear holos. In less direct light it appears more scattered. So pretty!


Formula wise, 'Looking For My Mr. Big' is really quite sheer. That absolutely doesn't bother me because it's nice and thin so building coats up doesn't mean you feel like your nails are an inch thick. I used 5 thin coats, but you could certainly layer this over something if you weren't keen on that. The dry time was fast though, so the extra coats weren't a problem. The only small problem is that I had a little bit of pigment that wasn't mixed in. Not a biggy, but again something that might be a problem for some people.


Unfortunately, I think this is one polish that Dolly had to discontinue a while back. But there are plenty of other lovely Dollish Polish creations to get your mitts on (or get on your mitts). I am looking forward to my picks from the Princess Bride collection that I ordered arriving :) Dollish Polish is available from Dolly's Big Cartel shop and also from Llarowe.