Purple Manicure For My Hubby's 75th Birthday Party - 19 July 2015

Hi, and welcome to my blog.  So glad to have you visit!

I wanted my nails to look extra special for my hubby, Trevor's, 75th birthday on Sunday night, so I decided to wear purple.  When my eyes lighted upon these two amazing polishes in my collection, I just knew they were the ones, and that they were crying out to be worn together for this very special occasion.

 

Outside In Sunlight

These two amazing polishes are Shades of Phoenix "Dementor's Kiss" and Grace-full Nail Polish "Twinkling Violets".  "Twinkling Violets" is a Grace-full Nail Polish Fan Facebook Group exclusive polish that I was lucky enough to have the name I suggested chosen for.  If you don't already belong to this fan group, or the Phoenix Flames - Shades of Phoenix Indie Polish Facebook group, I'd really like to suggest that you join.  They are closed groups, but are easy enough to join, and we get the chance to buy exclusive Facebook Group Limited Edition polishes, the chance to choose the names of some of the polishes, chances to win prizes, and sneak previews of all the beautiful polishes these two amazing Aussie Indie Polish makers come up with for all their lucky fanatics. We have heaps of fun, especially when trying to come up with polish names, and oooohing and aaaahing over the previews of the new collections or Limited Edition polishes when they show up on the Facebook pages.  Come on over and check them out - they're awesome.

Now to my manicure.  As usual, I started with one coat of Pretty Serious "Rock On! Nail Strengthener" to all my nails.  Since using this on my nails I've only had one break, and that was my fault because I didn't remove my polish quickly enough when some of it came off, taking the strengthener with it, of course. I banged my nail whilst cooking dinner, and the only bit of the nail that didn't have polish on it broke off - Murphy's Law loves my home!!!!!  That is why you are viewing photos of my non-dominant hand, and also why the clean-up is not as good as usual.  Once again it looked great until I saw the photos -  YAAAGH!!!!  Sorry about that, but you can take it from me, next time my nail polish starts to come off, I'll be removing it and at least applying a coat of "Rock On!" straight away - once bitten, twice shy!!!!

My base coat for this manicure is Shades of Phoenix Base Coat, and I applied one coat of this to all my nails, making sure to wrap it over the ends of my nails for extra protection, as I also did with the "Rock On!".

Then I added one coat of Shades of Phoenix "Dementor's Kiss" to all my nails, and then a second coat to all but my ring fingers.  This polish was a bit patchy with the first coat, but the second coat soon fixed that.  It went on smoothly, and it is absolutely beautiful.  It is a mid-shade purple polish, with lots of holographic ultra-micro glitter throughout, and I was just able to pick that up in my photos, which I was really pleased about.  The photos really don't do it justice, though, which is a real shame.  Teneil, the owner of Shades of Phoenix, has taken maternity leave for the birth of her new baby (born 21 July), so the store is closed at present for a short while, but the Facebook group is still very active, with people sharing their manicures, etc, and now checking out the pictures of our lastest "mini" Phoenix Flames member - she's just beautiful.  It won't be too long, we hope, before Teneil will be back making more of her wonderful Aussie Indie nail polishes.

Next, I added two coats of Grace-full Nail Polish "Twinkling Violets" to my ring fingers, which gave me an amazing jelly effect.  This is a dark purple jelly polish, with blue tones, and so much tiny purple, blue and holographic glitter it really blew me away.  I haven't been able to stop looking at it since I put it on.  I just wish everyone could have bought some of this beautiful polish, but I'm afraid that's not possible.  This polish was a Facebook group only Limited Edition polish, as I said earlier, so there is no more available at all, unless you could possibly pick some up in a destash sale online somewhere.  However, I doubt that would happen, because I can't imagine anyone wanting to remove this polish from their collection.  So, don't forget to check out the Grace-full Nail Polish Fan Facebook Group so you don't miss out on any more amazing Limited Edition polishes, and also to see the photos of all the amazing polishes swatches that members have put up on the site.  I fear if you do you may well become as addicted as I am, and your bank balance will suffer the same as mine.

To finish my manicure I used Shades of Phoenix Top Coat, which went on really well over both polishes.  The Grace-full Nail Polish "Twinkling Violets" had a slightly rough finish, so I added a second coat to my ring fingers, and that smoothed it out beautifully.  I also made sure to wrap my top coat over the tips of my nails to give me even more protection for my polish.  

Here are some more photos of my manicure, including a macro image of Grace-full Nail Polish "Twinkling Violets" which will give you some idea of just how much glitter there is in the polish.

 

Inside Under Artificial Light

 

Outside In The Shade

 

Macro of "Twinkling Violets"

So, that's my manicure for this week.  I hope you like it as much as I do.  If you do, please check out the two amazing Aussie Indie Polish makers at the links given above.  You certainly won't regret it if you are an Indie Polish fan - these are definitely two of the best brands available online.

Thank you so much for visiting, and if you'd like to leave any comments, I would love to know what you think, whether good or bad.  I will be back in a couple of day's time, God willing (and providing Australia Post get their act into gear for a change), with a new collection from a very new Aussie Indie Nail Polish maker, and some really exciting news, but I'll have to make you wait for the information about that until then, and leave you wondering - oh, I'm so mean!! I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you about my nail art journey since my dance with Breast Cancer, chemotherapy and radiotherapy last year (2014).  It's been a rough ride at times, and the last couple of months have been particularly bad health-wise (more about that later, perhaps), but I'm getting there!

God bless you, and have a wonderful week.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

Brown And Copper Skittle Manicure - 14 June 2015

Finally, after over a week of major ups and bigger downs in our home and in our lives, here is my latest skittle manicure.  I used five different brown and/or copper colours, and I am amazed at how well they went together.  Here are the products I used:

Now to some photos of my manicure, taken in artificial light at BigW and outside, but with light cloud cover, and just a touch of sunshine.

  

                      Under Artificial Light at BigW                                   Outside In Shade

Outside Under Light Cloud

I started with one coat of Pretty Serious "Rock On" Strengthener on all my nails, and a second coat on a couple that are still very thin and fragile.  Then I put one coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat on them all.

On my pinky fingers I used Model's Prefer "Double Shot" creme polish, which looks like a really dark brown in the bottle, but with two coats on my pinky nails it looks black, so I was a bit disappointed, because I wanted it to be brown to fit with the rest of the colours I used. However, it was very easy to work with, and I had excellent coverage with two coats.

On my ring fingers I used Grace-full Nail Polish "And My Axe", which is a dark red-brown jelly packed with holo, silver, gold, copper and bronze glitter.  In real life, just looking at it on my hands, I seemed to have full coverage with just two coats but, thanks to my hubby buying me a smart phone with such good photographic ability, I realise now that I should have added another coat, and perhaps done a bit of dabbing.  Like all my Grace-full Nail Polish, it looks amazing under any lighting, but especially under artificial light and in the sun.  Unfortunately it was cloudy yesterday, so it was very hard to get any photos in full sunlight.  That's the problem with living in Tasmania in winter.  Unfortunately this polish is no longer available, but there are heaps of other wonderful polishes available.

On my middle fingers I used Pretty Serious Cosmetics "Seasonal Sunset", a rusty, jelly-base colour packed with gold and copper glitter. In real life it is a real glitter bomb, and it was so hard to get a a photo that did it justice.  It goes on like a dream, and I only needed two coats to get fantastic coverage.  I probably could have had enough cover with just one good coat, but I wanted it to look good for the swatch, so I gave it the extra coat. This polish is also no longer available, and was a gift from a dear friend who knew that I wanted a bottle of it and that I hadn't known about Pretty Serious Cosmetics when this colour was available.  Thank you, Therese.  I absolutely love it!

On my index fingers I used Shades of Phoenix "Fred's Courage" from the Shades of Potter Collection, which is a burnt orange, autumn-leaf coloured polish.  It went on really smoothly, with full cover in two coats, but when I put the top coat on it bubbled, and got worse overnight.  I was so disappointed, because the colour is amazing, and I was so looking forward to using it.  I will definitely use it again with a different top coat.  The Shades of Potter Collection is wonderful, and I can't wait to try the other colours in the collection.

Finally, on my thumbs I used one of the new Ulta3 Autumn/Winter Metallic Collection polishes, "from the mine", which is a gorgeous copper, metallic glitter bomb with a textured finish.  I also added just one coat of this polish to my pinky fingers to try and take some of the starkness off the colour on them. I don't normally like rough finishes, but with just one coat of top coat this was not so rough that it catches on things, and I love it. All this collection is beautiful, and I just had to give this one a try.  If you haven't tried these polishes yet, get to your nearest Terry White Pharmacy and find them as soon as you can.  There are five in the set, and every single one of them is just gorgeous. 

I finished off with one coat of OPI Natural Nail Top Coat, which gave everything a lovely glossy finish.  However, as I mentioned earlier, it made the polish on my index fingers bubble, but not any of the other polishes.

So, there you have it for this post.  I'm really pleased with how the colour combination worked out and my nails are growing once again, although they still have a long way to go, thanks to both the Pretty Serious Nail Care treatments I am using, "Rock On Nail Strengthener" and "Cuticle Hero Super Hydrating Cuticle Oil".  They are really great, and I'm so glad that I discovered them, and was blessed with some items from this range by a lovely friend of mine.  Thanks, Chris, you know who you are.

I'll be back again soon to show you my birthday present stash from my hubby, and a couple of other great finds.  Thanks for visiting, and I hope you'll come back soon to see what I have to share with you.

Have a great week, and God bless you!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

burnt orange Autumn leaf coloured polish.

My Skittlette Mani On 31-5-2015

YAY!!! Finally I've been able to do a manicure!  I am so over the moon that I could finally paint my nails, and even though my camera showed EVERY flaw on my cuticles and the fact that I couldn't paint over the tips of my nails because they are so short, I'm very pleased with the result.

So, here are the products I used:

 

I decided to do a skittlette manicure so that I could feature several of my new polishes in the one mani, and these three look amazing together.  All these polishes are Aussie Indie Polish from some of the best makers in the world.

I started by putting one coat of Pretty Serious "Rock On" strengthener, and then one coat of Revlon "Quick Dry Base Coat" on all my nails.

Next, I painted two coats of Grace-full Nail Polish "Kate" on my thumb, index and pinkie nails, although one coat would have been enough if I'd used a thicker coat.  This polish went on like a dream, and the colour just blew me away.  It kept changing depending on what angle the light was hitting it from, so it is very hard to describe.  Theresa, the owner and maker of the amazing Grace-full polishes, describes it as a hot pink linear holo, and it is from the "Last Girls Of Summer" collection.  All I can say is, if you don't already have this polish in your stash, you are missing out badly.  I'm going to order another bottle soon before it disappears forever, so that should tell you how much I love it.  Thanks, Theresa, for making such an awesome polish.  You're the best!

On my ring finger I painted Shades of Phoenix "Dobby's Ears" from the "Shades of Potter" Collection.  This polish I found to be very thin, and I needed three coats to get full coverage, but it did go on very easily, and dried quickly, with no streaks at all.  The colour is a bright muted pink, with a pearl/shimmer finish in the shade, and a lovely, soft holographic finish in the sun.  I'm really hard to please with pink nail polish, because so many don't look good on my olive skin, but this one is definitely exception.  I looks great on my nails, and will be used often in the future. This collection of polishes was bought for my by my daughter for Mother's Day, and I'm so glad she did (thanks, Megs). Thanks also to Teneil for producing such wonderful nail polish for her adoring public. They are just soooooo pretty.  There are five polishes in the collection, and they are all completely different, so please check them out.

On my middle finger I then painted three coats of LYZ Cosmetics Fairybread Artisan Nail Lacquer "Flowers For My Love" from the January "Sweet Surprise Box" so that I could get the real crelly effect that I was looking for.  This polish is an absolutely gorgeous, and the only way you can get it is by purchasing the surprise box, which will not be available much longer, and Elizabeth is not doing any more of these boxes in the future, which is a real pity.  She told me that she would be replacing it with something equally as good, though, so I'm keeping an eye out to see what she comes up with, but if you'd like to get this particular polish, you'd better be quick.  It is a beautiful very pale pink crelly, with different sizes of hot pink and gold glitter, and a gorgeous soft shimmer.  It is really hard to describe, but is really pretty.  Here is a macro shot of it.  The crelly effect is amazing!  Thank you so much, Elizabeth, for this beautiful polish, and for all the others that I have purchased from you.

Next I added some gold decals to my ring fingers, and finished off with one coat of Revlon "Quick Dry Top Coat" on all my nails except for my ring fingers, to which I added two coats for extra protection for the decals.

Here are some photos taken in different lighting effects to show the amazing differences I found in all these polishes depending on where I was when I looked at them.

Left hand in the sun

 

Right hand under fluorescent lighting in the doctor's surgery.

Right hand in the kitchen.

Right hand again in the kitchen.

   

On the left is my left hand under light at night; on the right is my right hand in daylight inside.

So, that's my manicure for this week.  Even though I was so out of practice, and made a bit of a mess of it, I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out and, of course, the beautiful polishes made all the difference.  I only wish I could have had longer, better shaped nails so that I could do them full justice, as others have done online.  However, now my nails are starting to grow again, and I'm thrilled to bits with that.  Since starting to use my Pretty Serious "Rock On" Strengthener I haven't had one break, whereas before that I was having them nearly once a week at least, so I love this product, and can definitely recommend it.  I am also using Pretty Serious "Cuticle Hero" Super Hydrating Cuticle Oil, their heavy duty oil, which is only a very new product in their range, and was sent as part of a RAOK by a friend. Unfortunately, yesterday morning I was in such a rush, because I had two doctors' appointments, one in the morning, and then another one early in the afternoon, I forgot to oil my cuticles, which is why they look so dry in the photos.  They have improved immensely since my accident with the nail glue, and I'm really disappointed that I had to use these photos, but we hardly had any sun today, and the light was terrible.

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you.  I received three more lots of nail mail today, so will share that with you very soon.  Please let me know what you think about my blog and/or reviews and swatches.  I'd really appreciate your feedback.  You can follow my blog if you go to the top of the page on the right-hand side and fill out the boxes, etc.

Have a wonderful day, and may God bless you.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope

http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

a bright muted pink

a bright muted pink

a bright muted pink

a bright muted pink

All these products were either bought by me or given to me by family or friends, and I received no reward for these reviews.