Fake Tattoos - The Birds

Here is another design I created using the nail tattoos I received from Fake Tattoos.  All these images are from the bird design.

I created a simple blue gradient with a white base and OPI No room for the Blues.  I got the darker shade by blending a little black polish with the OPI and the lighter shade by blending a little white.

I found placement a little tricky with these, because when the paper is face down you can't clearly see the angle of the design on your nails. This mean I had to create my black french tip a little uneven on each nail to cover the gap, otherwise some birds would be just sitting there in mid air.

I know a couple of girls that would be totally freaked out by these nails, complete ornithophobics!

Fake Tattoos - Egyption sunset nail art

I recently received some temporary tattoos specifically designed for nail art from Fake Tattoos based in Sweden.  These little tattoos are exactly like the ones you would remember wearing as a kid, and the process for applying them is exactly the same.

You just choose the design you want to apply, cut it out, remove the protective film on the front and press it to a dry nail.  Then hold a damp cotton ball or tissue to the backing paper for about 30 seconds and the paper will slip off.

I actually found the range of designs on the tattoos a little quirky and odd, certainly not your usual flowers and swirling designs that you normally see.  Case and point, for this mani, I chose the large camel tattoo from the Arty Design set.

I created a gradient using Picture Polish Bombshell, Sunset and Citrus - which was such a gorgeous gradient just on it's own.

I then taped off the irregular chevrons for the silhouetted Pyramids.  I could have done these as regular chevrons, but to me, the design needed more perspective, so I created them different sizes and slightly overlapping.

I placed the camel tattoo on my ring finger, and attempted a free hand little camel off in the distance on my pinky. You can clearly see the different in fine detail that the fake tattoo provides.

I've done a few nail art designs using some of the other fake tattoo designs which I will show over the next few days.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics - indie stockist

I recently received a package from Femme Fatale Cosmetics containing one Femme Fatale polish and a Rainbow Honey polish. Rainbow Honey is just one of the many US indie brands that Femme Fatale Cosmetics now stocks. Check the Femme Fatale website for a full list of other indie brands that are stocked.  

The reason this is so great for Aussies is that we no longer have to pay a huge amount for international postage to get the overseas pretty polishes, plus it means you can select from a number of different brands and just pay the one shipping price.

Anyway, lets look at the two polishes I was sent.

Femme Fatale - Twilight Meteorite - a rich plum pink base with a blue to pink duochrome glass flecks.  To start with, I tried Twilight Meteorite on it's own.  This is three coats with seche vite top coat.

Layered over black it takes on a completely different look.  You can really see the blue to pink duochrome change very easily.  This is one coats of Twilight Meteorite over black. No top coat.

Rainbow Honey - Snake Eyes. This is my first Rainbow Honey polish, so I was pretty excited to try it. Snake Eyes has a sheer base with lots of light green shimmer. The glitters are a majority of light green, accented with glitters in purple, magenta, gold, and black.  

Now I'm not usually a fan of glitter polishes with a heavy shimmer, because they usually make the polish look very lumpy, so I was a little unsure how this was going to look.  I paired this up with the best matching green base in my collection. Ulta3 Jade from their metallic collection last winter.  Ulta3 Jade is actually a polish I don't really like because it's very frosty and brushstrokey, but I couldn't go past it for it's colour.

This is one coat of Ulta3 Jade with two coats of Rainbow Honey Snake Eyes.  This mani looked so beautiful.  The shimmer in the base of Snake Eyes completely hid the frosty finish of Ulta3 Jade, and better still, it didn't make the glitters look lumpy.  So not only is Snake Eyes a beautiful polish, it means I've got a use for one of my polishes that I filed away under "nail art only"

Both Femme Fatale and Rainbow Honey polishes are available from the Femme Fatale website. Rainbow Honey are $10.50AUD and Femme Fatale are $9.85.

Polishes provided for review.

Shades of Phoenix - Let's Hear it for the Girls - Pt 2

Here is the second part of the collection released yesterday by Teneil from Shades of Phoenix.

Chloris - a light pink creme base with multi coloured, multi sized square and hex glitters. Three coats with Seche Vite.  The Mythology: Chloris is the goddess of flowers. 

I found I needed to wait for each coat to dry quite well before applying the next coat, otherwise if the brush moved any of the lower glitters, they would leave gaps in the creme base.  This polish looks kind of bumpy until you apply top coat, and then it looks smooth and oh so pretty.

Enyo - a deep rusty red jelly polish with multi sized red, orange and yellow glitters, some matte and some holo, with micro red glitters that give it a slight shimmer. Three coats with Seche Vite.
The Mythology: Enyo is the goddess of destructive war! 

Formula on this was really great, smooth and easy to apply with just a scattering of glitters.

Eris - a black jelly base with various iridescent glitters colour shifting glitters, including red to gold and orange to yellow. There are also fine blue to purple iridescent bars and small bright red glitters. Three coats with Seche Vite.  A little tricky to apply because of the bar glitters, but totally worth the effort.

The Mythology: Eris is the goddess of strife, discord, contention and rivalry.

Hermera - This one is the only one that can't be worn on it's own, it's a glitter topper in a clear base.  The glitters are copper, gold, rose gold and light pink hex glitters in various sizes and the sparkle projected from this is just gorgeous.  I layered two coats of Hermera over OPI Designer de better finished with Seche Vite.  The photos don't show just how stunningly gorgeous this was in real life - of course it was gold too, so I'm absolutely completely in love with this one. 

The Mythology: Hemera is the goddess of day time.

Persephone - this one is the limited edition polish and it has a deep plum purple base, with a blue/purple duochrome shimmer. There are also small purple glitters and lavender flakes in it. Three coats with Seche Vite.

The Mythology: Queen of the underworld and wife of Hades (God of the underworld)

Shades of Phoenix polishes are available on the Shades of Phoenix Etsy shop for $9.50AUD.  The Etsy shop only ships to Australia, but international ladies will soon be able to get these through Color4Nails.

Shades of Phoenix - Let's Hear it for the Girls - Pt 1

Aussie indie brand Shares of Phoenix opened her Etsy store tonight with her new collection "Let's Hear it for the Girls".  I have all nine polishes, including the Limited Edition, to share with you tonight and tomorrow night.

Artemis - a white creme/jelly base with rose pink hex's and small pink and gold holo glitters. There is lots of glitter int his one and it does look rather rough and bumpy until you put top coat on.  But as soon as you put top coat on everything levels out beautifully. Two coats with Seche Vite top coat.

If you're not familiar with Shades of Pheonix, then let me tell you that all the polishes are themed around Greek Mythology.  Therefore each polish has its matching mythology: Artemis was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and protector of young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.

Athena - deep red jelly base with small red hexes and matte black hexes.  Also a few large matte black hexes.  The jelly base for this one is gorgeous, just enough tint to hide the nail line, whilst still being super squishy. Three coats with Seche Vite.

The Mythology: Athena is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill (busy lady).

Ceto - A dark teal jelly with small matte light green hex's, round aqua dots and small blue glitters. In full sun you can still see through this one to the nail line, but the jelly finish allows you to see through to al the layers of glitter providing heaps of depth.  Three coats with Seche Vite.

The Mythology: Ceto goddess of the dangers of the ocean and of sea monsters.

Mother is God 2.0 - a rustic plum creme base with rose coloured large holo hexes and small pink glitters.  Two coats with Seche Vite.  This is another polish that looks so much better with top coat then before top coat.  I applied my Seche Vite while the base polish was still wet, and I think the Seche Vite brush may have wiped some of the polish of the very top of the large hexes.  This made them shine through and sparkle so much more.  Really pretty.

This one isn't named after a greek goddess, rather this is what Teneil says about this polish. "This polish is dedicated to my mum. Mother Is God 1.0 was the first polish I ever made and I gave it to my mother for a Christmas gift and this is a second re-vamped version."

Shades of Phoenix polishes are available on the Shades of Phoenix Etsy shop for $9.50AUD.  The Etsy shop only ships to Australia, but International ladies will soon be able to get these through Color4Nails.

I'll be back tomorrow with the five other shades from this collection, which are totally worth the wait if you are trying to decided before placing an order.

Polishes provided for review.