Dance Legend - Fruity Milk

I have two more Dance Legend polishes to share tonight. These ones are from the Fruity Milk collection which cosists of pastel milky polishes with coordinated glitters. There are six polishes in the collection.

Kiwi Smoothie -  a pale green milky base with bright green and pale green metallic hexes.  There are also tiny green and gold hexes.  The formula was good but a little sheer.  It took three coats to build it to opacity, but you could always layer it.  The glitters lay smooth and flat and were easy to spread on the nail without creating bald spots

Pink Marshmallow - a pastel pink milky base with a variety of glitters.  There are larger red, green, blue, gold and silver hex glitters as well as gold, silver, green and pastels blue smaller glitter and a fine silver shimmer.  Again the formula was good and easy to apply.  Opacity was a little bitter with this polish, but I still did three coats.  All the glitters lay smooth and don't curl and there is a nice mix of glitters without it being a heavy glitter polish.

Dance Legend ships internationally and their shipping rates are cheap.  Only $10, and free if you order more than 10 polishes.  Just remember that the shipping is slow - or at least has it been for both of my experiences.  I made an order back when I showed you the first Dance Legend holo polishes in early May.  It took about two weeks to get a tracking information, and it's been already been 33 days since it was lodged at the post office in Russia.  It should be here soon (I don't even remember what I ordered now!)

Products provided for review.

Fail Art

Yep, that's not a typo, this is not nail art - its fail art!  Today I have some of my most spectacularly crappy nail art ever!  I'm kinda embarassed to share my mess, but thought you all could do with a laugh.

You know the Nailed It meme right?, let me refresh your memory!

source

source

source

source

This is the beautiful design that I wanted to recreate.  It's by My Dainty Nails I originally saw it on instagram and then quickly started following her blog. 

I didn't have my ipad or phone in front of me when I recreated the design, I just went from my memory.  As a result I ended up doing random coloured lines rather than balanced lines of the same colour.  I also didn't use black striping tape which I realized I should have to get the perfect black lines.  I also went for really bright dark colours, which meant you couldn't see my hand drawn trees.  But then again, maybe it's a good thing you can't see those blobs of trees on my nails.

Now, brace for it...

So yeah...

I'm going to attempt this design again soon, following the brief much more closely! Stay tuned for me to (hopefully) redeem myself.

Gold dotted water decals from the Born Pretty Store

I'm sure just about all of you would be familiar with the Born Pretty Store. I have to say that those ladies are persistent.  They've been emailing me for ages asking for me to review some products, so I finally got my act together and selected some products to try.

The first product I tried was these gold dot design water decals (design T302).  The pack comes with 15 water decals, in 3 designs.  I was able to get two manicures of out the packet by cutting the third design so it formed two separate dotted wavy lines.

I found these decals very easy to work with, the only thing I noticed was that I need to let them soak in water for about 2 minutes before they would slide off the backing paper.  Usually decals come loose after about 30 seconds, so if you find they don't budge, just let them soak a bit longer.

When they are ready to slide off, grab a pair of tweezers to help you hold and place them on your nail.  

I found the thickness of these decals to be just perfect for me.  Thick enough so that they held their form when the were wet and off the backing paper, but not too stiff so that they wouldn't lay flat on your nail. They are right in the goldilocks zone!

The first design I applied over Ozotic 619 - the gorgeous red scattered holo. Sadly it was very overcast, so I only have shade and bathroom lighting to show you.  This is two coats of Ozotic 619 with water decals and Seche Vite top coat.

The second design I placed over Picture polish Kryptonite. Again, no sun, so the photos don't show this at it's best. This is two coats of Kryptonite with water decals and Seche Vite top coat.

I really loved these water decals, as you can see they apply very cleanly to the nail and the edges of the decals are invisible. If you dip your nail into water just before you place the decal on your nail, then you will be able to move the decal around to get the placement exactly where you want it.  When you are happy with where it is, you can blot the excess water off your nail with a tissue or cotton pad. I got lots of compliments on my nails the two days that I wore these manis.

I notice that the Born Pretty Store is also have a flash sale right now on a bunch of their stamping plates. Selling them for only 99cents each.

Of course just in case you don't already have a Born Pretty Store coupon code, here is mine (to add to the hundreds out there) - NMPG10.

Mont Bleu products incl. glass files review

I recently got the opportunity to review some Mont Bleu products.  I had already read some excellent reviews of their products, so I was super excited to try them for myself.

Here is some info about Mont Bleu. Based in the Czech Republic, they are one of the worlds leading suppliers of glass nail files. Their glass nail files are made of high quality Czech glass and are decorated with patterns or with Swarovski crystals. 

 

When my hubby and I were traveling Europe, I remember fondly the time we spent in Prague.  If you have ever been there I'm sure your memories are just as great as ours.  I have numerous gorgeous crystal items that we bought there and took home, such as our crystal grapes, Swarovski panther and kitten family.

I received two glass nail files.  A regular full sized one and a mini one.  The full size one has clear and blue Swarovski crystals on a clear glass file. The mini has shades of purple Swarovski crystals on a purple coloured glass file.

The crystals are adhered to the file very cleanly. There is no sign of any glue oozing out from beneath a crystal, nor is there bubbles or gaps behind any of the crystals.  The finish is very professional - and apart from anything else, super pretty.

Here is a comparison of the full sized Mont Bleu file against my current glass nail file. My current file is a QVS brand that I got a Priceline.

The Mont Bleu file has a much sharper end on it, and the grit is so much better.  I always thought my glass file was pretty good, but having used the Mont Blue, I've realized how smooth my glass file has become.  The QVS is still a good file, but I've been using it for two years and the tip on the end is almost smooth. 

I've had to be very careful using the Mont Blue file because it will take off a lot more length if I file away at the same speed I usually did with my old file.  I know there girls out there that hate filing their nails, whether it be the chalkboard feeling or the smell.  If you are one of those, then I highly recommend these files, because you will really be filing for a much shorter period of time.

The other thing I love about the Mont Bleu is the fact that it has the crystals on it. Not because they just look pretty (although that helps), but because I can now see my file.  I can't tell you the number of times I've lost my glass file because I couldn't see it!

The mini file works just as well and is the perfect size for my handbag.  That's where it now lives!

As I'm showing you a new glass file, I thought I would do a quick write up about how I file my nails.  Firstly let me say, I'm not a nail tech and I know I do not file my nails the way you are suppose to, eg in only one direction at a time.  But this is how I file my nails and it works perfectly fine for me.

I like to file my nails into a square finish at the tip, therefore I use the glass file to go back and forth across the nail tip.  I never file the sides of my nails, although I will smooth out the corners so they are not too stabby if I were to rub my eyes. I always try to file my nails with polish on too, this is because I have different length nail beds, and if I filed each nail so that the length of the free edge was the same, then one nail would be very short compared to the others.

After filing the tips straight across, I find I have rough bits beneath and above the nail.  I remove those by gently running my file under my nail like this.

I smooth the rough bits on the top edge by gently filing down at this angle.

The Mont Blue scissors are super sharp and this pair features a flower made out of Swarovski crystals.  I never use scissors to actually cut my nails, I always file. But I do use scissors like these to cut hang nails at the side of my nails.  Yeah, I know that you are not suppose to cut your cuticles etc but sometimes you just have to grab a pair of scissors to snip off one of the pesky little buggers that hurt like hell.  I love that these scissors are very sharp right at the tip, which makes it much easier to just cut what you want without butchering up your entire finger.

Mont Blue tweezers.  This are in fact eyebrow tweezers, which I should most definitely use with my magnifying mirror and attack my brows (before my brows plural become the dreaded brow singular - the mono-brow).  Ok, that's not true, I'm not a sasquatch, but my brows are in need of attention.  

I've already used these tweezers heaps of times, and not once on my brows.  I've used these when doing various nail art, specifically I been doing a fair bit with water decals, and these have been perfect.  The point is angled and it comes to a very tight and smooth closure when you pinch them, making them perfect for holding extra file items such as wet water decals.

Again I've found the Swarovski crystals to be more than just pretty. In this instance, they provide a nice bit of texture on the sides to grip the tweezers with.

This next product is not nail related, but is is stunning.  This is a metal compact mirror, decorated in a swirl pattern with clear and charcoal coloured Swarovski crystals.  It's just stunning.  This one is also now in my handbag, protected in it's little box.

Lastly, another non nail related product, but I thought I would share it anyway, a pair of multichromatic crystal earrings.  These shift in nearly every colour of the rainbow, blues, yellows, pinks, reds.  It makes me want a multichrome polish that does the same colour shift!

Mont Blue nail files and other accessories are available from Design Glassware by Mont Bleu. Regular and mini glass files start at €4 and crystal ones at €10.

How many of you already use a Mont Blue file?  I'd love to know how well they last - something I will only be able to comment on in a year or two. Although they do say on their website they have a lifetime filing surface.

Products provided for review.

Emily de Molly holos

I have swatches of some of the Emily de Molly holo polishes to show you tonight.

The formula on all these was great. No streaking or balding and each was opaque in two coats. The holo flame is bright and strong on all of them and they wore really well whist I was away on holidays. All these photos show two coats with no top coat, taken in direct sun.

Ground Control - a medium brown with grey undertones.  

High Distinction - a light yellow gold. Love!!  I tried frankening a yellow gold holo once, but my pigment didn't play nice with the polish base and it all wen thick and green.  This one is lovely, and is still on my toes from my holiday.

Indigo Flow - medium blue.

Land of Confusion - a green turquoise.

Seeing Red - a bright raspberry leaning red.  The base in this is very red, but the blue reflections in the holo flame lean this slightly pink.

Emily de Molly polishes are available in Australia from the EdM Etsy store. If you are outside of Australia you can get them at Llarowe in the USA, Shoppe Electicco in Singapore and Norway Nails.

Polishes provided for review.