Lyme Disease Awareness Giveaway Prize I Won - It's Awesome!!!

   

Finally I've managed to find time to show you the Lyme Disease Awareness Giveaway Prize I won a couple of weeks ago, and received last week.  It's so awesome, and I was blown away from the moment I opened the box!  Once you read what was included in the prize you'll realise why it has taken so long for me to get around to writing this post.

 

Alinta, the owner of the Polish and Paws blog website, ran this giveaway as a way of raising awareness of the fact that the Australian Government still does not recognise the fact that Lyme Disease exists in Australia, despite numerous TV documentaries and current affair segments on the subject; despite the fact that most doctors know it exists and are treating thousands of patients here; and these patients are literally living a hellish existence, simply because they can't afford the treatment they need and the government won't provide it.  Please check out the link to Alinta's blog post on the subject here, and please start helping us to raise awareness of this horrible disease and make the government sit up and take notice.  This is a major medical emergency in this country and needs to be fixed NOW!

To start with, here are pictures of the box when it arrived in the mail, and after I had just opened it.

   

Now to the details of what was in the box, and close-up photos.

Firstly, I discovered the Grace-full Nail Polish Limited Edition "Lyme for a Cure" polish, made specifically for this Giveaway's prize winners and, unfortunately, no one else, and another polish from Grace-full "Navy",  which is also unfortunately no longer available on the site.  "Lyme for a Cure" is absolutely wonderful, and unfortunately my photos don't do it justice, but when I actually use it in a manicure very soon I'll try and do better.  "Navy" is also gorgeous, and has so much glitter in it that it sparkles like sapphires.  Please check out the Grace-full Nail Polish site to find out what other amazing nail polishes Theresa, the owner and maker of Grace-full Nail Polish, dreams up and puts together for all her many, many fans.  I, for one, am completely addicted to her polish, as you will have discovered if you have read any of my previous posts when I've featured some of them.

   

Secondly, there were two Emily de Molly polishes; "You're not that great", a lime creme with holographic, lime and turquoise glitter with a blue shimmer, and "Queen of the sea", a green creme with gold to green shimmer; and three Emily de Molly Stamping Plates.  The two polishes are just beautiful, and the holographic glitter in "You're not that great" is just amazing.  This is another polish brand I am addicted to, and there are some absolutely amazing polishes coming out very soon, as well as the ones that are already available. I can see that I'm going to be kept very poor in the near future :) The designs on the stamping plates are fantastic, and there is a lot of variety.  The plate numbers are EDM06, EDM10 and EDM12.  Thank you so much, Theresa, for donating these gorgeous polishes for such an important cause, and especially for the limited edition polish.

   

Next, there were three Powder Perfect polishes; "Christmas in a Tropical Climate" (no longer available); "Four Poster Bed" (no longer available); and "Addictive Personality" (on special, so may disappear soon), which has a soft pink base with a crelly formula, and glimmers of navy, turquoise, pink and coral glitters will shine through as you layer the polish. My photo just doesn't do any of these justice because I had to take them under artificial light.  The weather here in Kingston, Tasmania has been so overcast, and wet, that it's been almost impossible to get decent photos for weeks now.  I'll try and do better when I use them in a manicure.  Thank you so much, Jacinta, for donating these lovely products for such a wonderful cause.

But wait!  There's more!  Next there are three polishes from EP Polish Company; "Lahni", "Waveryley" and "SPF+Sparkle HOLO Top Coat".  The blue and green are a lot brighter than the pictures show, and are actually neon colours, and the holographic effect of the top coat is just gorgeous. Unfortunately the store appears to be closed at the moment, but I think it is only while they get some more polish made.  If you click on the company name it will take you to their Facebook page, and you will be able to find out just what is available and when there.  Thanks so much to EP for donating these three lovely polishes to this cause.

 

But wait!  There was still more!  The next items I found in the box were three of the new Ulta3 Autumn/Winter Metallic Collection; "galaxy", " 24 carat gold" and "moon dust".  I have completely fallen in love with this set of five awesome polishes, and have actually bought a second bottle of each of the five polishes in the set, and now I have three bottles of these three.  YAY!!!!!  I used the copper one, "from the mine" in my last mani (see previous post), and it is just amazing.  If you have a pharmacy that sells these polishes, check them out - you'll want to buy them when you see them in person, I'm sure!

 

But there was even more!  The next thing I found in the box was a bottle of Peita's Polish "Cuticles be gone", which is pretty much self-explanatory. Peita's Polish has a very good reputation in the world of Indie polish, so please check them out.

 

But wait once again!  There was even more!   The next things I found in the box were some green cancer awareness ribbon vinyl stickers from She Sells Sea Shells in the UK.  Her range of nail vinyl stickers and stencils, and other nail art items, is terrific, so please check out this site.  You can buy these Awareness Ribbons in nine different colours, and there are 40 in a pack.  Then I found a set of four very fine nail art brushes, for find detailed work, and some gorgeous silver and gold decals in twelve different designs (see close-up below).  These are going to be great to use in my nail art in the future.

   

Then I found even more - three gorgeous sets of nail art transfer decals from Nailed Kit - Nail Art Made Easy in the USA, shown below.  These look terrific, and I'm going to trying to decide what I can try them out on as soon as possible.

And last, but definitely not least, there were four miscellaneous manicure and nail care items - a tube of Cuticle Balm from Powder Perfect in "Birthday Cake" fragrance (which smells scrumptious, and not too overpowering); a Two Birds Cuticle Oil Pen Dispenser with a lovely, light, lavender fragrance; a nail polish removal pen, and a hang-nail remover tool.  Please check out the Two Birds site, because they have some wonderful polish and nail-care products.

 

So, that's my amazing prize!  You can imagine how surprised I was to find out I had won this, and I was still pinching myself to make sure it wasn't a dream until it actually arrived in my hands.  

Thank you so much, Alinta, for running this Giveaway promotion, and I hope you are feeling OK.  I will be continuing to promote awareness for Lyme Disease as much as possible on Facebook, Twitter, etc, and hopefully the government will wake up to themselves and admit we have a very big problem, which they have to deal with NOW!

I'll be back in a few days with my next manicure, and until then, thanks for visiting, and I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you.  You can follow my blog by filling out the boxes at the top right-hand side of my blog if you so wish, and I'd really appreciate any comments you may wish to make.  All suggestions will be accepted with much gratitude as I try to make my blog interesting enough for people to visit.  I'd also appreciate it if you would share a link to my blog with your friends and colleagues so that more people with cancer, going through chemotherapy, can be encouraged to look after their nails before they start their treatment, and hopefully will avoid having the same damage occur to their nails that happened to mine.  After all, that is what I started my blog for, and if it helps even just one person I'll be happy.

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/

An Amazing Gift from a Very Dear Friend!!! 5th June, 2015

I have to let you know that my faith in humanity has been partially restored, and it's so nice to know that there are beautiful people out there still who care about others, and who are willing to show they care.  I received an amazing gift package from a friend, who I've only met recently, and I can't believe how generous she has been.  Thank you so much, Therese, from the bottom of my heart!  You are one very special person, and there should be more people like you in the world.  If there was, the world wouldn't be the hell hole it is today.  Here is a picture of the items Therese sent me, with more details of the polish and other items below.

 

As you can see, this stash is amazing.  There is a beautiful card with a lovely message, two awesome bottles of Pretty Serious Nail Polish, "Seasonal Sunset" and "Generally Dangerous"; two lots of striping tape (gold and hot pink); two water transfer decals which look like postage stamps (unfortunately I didn't think to take them out of the package so I could show both of them) - one shows famous European landmarks, and the other one has the word "SHOES" written all over it in different sizes and fonts; two black acrylic bow decals with holographic glitter on them; two pretty, multi-coloured, bow decals with diamantes in the middle of the bows; two silver butterfly decals with holographic rhinestones all over the wings; two gold butterfly decals with pink, yellow and holographic rhinestones on their wings; one sheet of purple floral transfer decals; and one sheet of pretty blue, yellow and white flower sticker decals. 

Here is a photo of the two Pretty Serious nail polishes:

It was extremely hard to get a good picture of "Seasonal Sunset", but it is a dark burnt-orange jelly base that leans a little towards brown, with tons of gold and orange glitter in it.  It is definitely my kind of colour - in fact, I'm starting to fall in love with browns and oranges, especially with glitter and shimmer in them.  The other polish, "Generally Hazardous", fits the bill completely, and is a wonderful orange creme with a really gorgeous golden shimmer through it.  I can't wait to try this on my nails, and I think these two polishes will go together really well in a skittlette manicure, so I might give that a try one day soon.

Overall, this beautiful gift completely blew me away.  I didn't think that people like Therese, and Christine, another friend that sent me a beautiful care package of Pretty Serious products that I shared with you recently, still existed.  I know the nail art community are extremely helpful and encouraging, but this takes that to another level, and is unbelievably kind and generous.  Thank you both for making me realise that there ARE some beautiful people left in the world.

Well, that's enough for this post.  We have been dealing with a few disasters this week, and I am physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted.  I'll post some more news very soon once I've taken some photos of some new nail mail, and also the details of an amazing, humongous prize I won yesterday.  I'll take photos when it arrives and do a post then. Will be doing another manicure this weekend, too, so will have that to show you as well.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you'll come back soon to see what I have to share with you.  Don't forget to sign up to receive emails when I have a new post, and please leave comments, even if they are complaints, so that I can continue to improve my blogging.

God bless you, and have a wonderful day!

Hugs

Christine

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

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

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.

More Retail Therapy Arrived Today 14 May 2015

I just had to share with you the wonderful polish stash I received from Hayley at Emily de Molly, an Australian Indie Polish maker, whose products I absolutely adore.  I purchased three of them, and the other one Hayley added as a bonus gift.  She also included some cute, oval-shaped silver decals. Thank you so much, Hayley.

 

"Serenity" is described as green leaning blue creme/jelly with different sizes of copper, lavender and turquoise glitter.  I can't believe how beautiful this polish is, and the name fits it perfectly.  Click on the name to be taken to the website and more photos.

"Absent Minded" is described as a purple jelly with iridescent glitter that flashes from blue to green, along with different sizes of copper, blue and red glitter.  This polish in real life is so gorgeous, words can't describe it.  You really have to check it out for yourself.  Click on the name to be taken to the website and more photos.

"A Beautiful Mistake" is unfortunately no longer available on the site (I think I bought the last bottle), and I say unfortunately because, now that I've seen it in person, I want another backup bottle.  It is the most amazing red jelly, with different-sized red and iridescent glitter.  I am in love once again, and can't wait to try it  out when my nails are ready.  I think it would be a wonderful polish for times when you try a red polish on your nails, and it's not really what you were hoping for.  One coat of this polish over the top, and Voila!  Perfection!

"Regal Beginnings" is the polish that I received as a gift from Hayley, perhaps because it was the last one, as it is now sold out. I have to admit that it is not a polish that I would have purchased after just looking at it on my computer screen, but now I've seen it in person, I can't believe how wonderful, and different, it is.  The more I look at it the more I like it, and I can't wait to try it out, perhaps on a feature nail as part of a marbled manicure, using all the colours that are used in this particular polish.  It is described as a medium purple jelly/creme, with different sizes of gold, blue and black glitter. I would actually describe it as a pale lilac, but what's in a name? 

All Emily de Molly polish is 5 free hand-blended, custom nail polish (Toluene, Formaldehyde, TSF resin, Camphor and DBP free).

I'm afraid the photos don't really do justice to these polishes, but if you check out the photos of the ones that are still available on the Emily de Molly site, there are some great photos of swatches there that will give you a better idea of their true beauty.

I also received another parcel from Catch of the Day, which is a set of three OPI Top Coats called "Sheer To The Top" Top Coat & Glitter Trio.  Sorry the photo isn't as clear as I would have liked, but with the plastic in the front of the box it was hard to get a good picture.

 

The description on the back of the box says "Top it shiny, top it matte, or for more drama, top your manicure with glitter!  The perfect finishing touch is yours for the choosing!"

Top Coat - dries nails to the touch in one minute, completely in five, with just one to two coats.

Matte Top Coat - matte protection for all OPI shades! For velvety finishes and oxidized shimmers that fly under the radar.

So Elegant - Black & Chrome confetti add sophisticated drama to this glitter.

These three top coats were a real bargain on Catch of the Day, and I just couldn't resist buying them.  Firstly because I love the OPI Top Coat, and have used it a lot in my manis on my blogs.  Secondly, I needed a good matte top coat, so thought I would give this one a try.  Thirdly, I loved the dramatic look of the black and chrome glitter in "So Elegant", and I'm sure it will be used with all sorts of base colours in future manicures.

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope to be back soon with even more retail therapy stashes, my Mother's Day present, which I'm getting tomorrow, and anything else that comes up along the way.

Have a wonderful day, and God bless you!

Hugs

Christine

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

Words of Life and Hope

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

All polish was bought by me, my opinions are unsolicited and I have not received any payment of any kind.

My Retail Therapy Over Last Three Weeks - 18 April 2015

As promised, I have some photos to share with you of some of my retail therapy purchases over the last three weeks.  Some were ordered before that, but most have been bought since my nails got so badly damaged.  I am happy to report that my nails are slowly recovering, and the Revitanail products I'm using seem to be working really well, which is a huge relief.  However, it's probably going to be about 6 weeks before I can do any nail art, which is driving me insane.  Hence the retail therapy.

Firstly, I have a stash of new and used polish I bought from a friend I've made in the Just Nail Polish Sales (Australia) Facebook Group.  If you live in Australia, are mad about nail polish, and you haven't already joined this site, please check it out.  It is a fantastic group, everyone is so friendly and you can pick up some real bargains, and possibly even some polish you may have been searching everywhere for.

This stash is mainstream polishes, but they are all gorgeous.

Next, I'd like to show you two beautiful polishes I got from Emily de Molly, an Australian, 5-Free, Cruelty Free and Vegan Friendly, Indie Polish maker.  They owner, Hayley, can only directly ship to Australia from her online store, but she has several international suppliers who stock her products for those who live overseas.  Just check her "stockists" list for your nearest supplier.

These two gorgeous polishes are "Restless", which has a metallic teal base, with a mix of colour shifting shimmer, flakies and micro glitter, and apparently gives full coverage in two to three coats; and "Cosmic Forces", which is a dark purple/plum jelly with lavender holo dots and hex and pink dot glitter, in lots of different sizes.  You might have to fish for the larger dots because they tend to drop to the bottom of the bottle, but it will be well worth it for the results.  "Restless" is still available at the moment, but it is on the discontinued list, so you won't be able to get it for much longer.  

The bottles are sitting on some gorgeous cat nail vinyls, which unfortunately I cannot show you the details of because they don't show up in the photographs, but you can check them out here if you are interested.  They really are amazing, with 60 cat stickers and 30 cat stencils.  Each cat design has the reverse image as well, which is often not the case with nail stickers and/or transfers, etc.  Also, Hayley, was kind enough to include some lovely silver, square nail decals, shown in the photos, as a thank you gift.  I can't wait to see what she may have coming up for sale in the future.  I'd love to buy every single one of her polishes, but I simply couldn't afford to.  The range is awesome, and so are the colours and finishes.  Please check out Hayley's store, or one of her suppliers, real soon.  You won't be disappointed, I assure you.

Next, I have two beautiful polishes from ella+mila, another 5-Free, Cruelty Free and Vegan Friendly Indie Polish maker, this time from the USA.  They ship internationally, which was a real plus for me, and they are beautifully packaged.

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These two polishes are just gorgeous, and will be perfect used in the same manicure.  The one on the left is "Entice Me", from the "Dream Collection".  It is a beautiful dusky mauve, which just a hint of shimmer.  The one on the right is "Honeymoon Bliss", from the "Love Collection", a gorgeous very soft pinky/lavender polish.  It is very hard to describe, and I couldn't quite catch the colours on my camera.  They came in cute little boxes (shown in photo), and were very carefully packed so they wouldn't get damaged.  I can't wait to do a mani using these two beautiful colours.

The third lot I would like to show you are two amazing polishes from KBShimmer, an Indie Plolish company in the USA.  I bought these from "Harlow & Co", who ship to Australia, and I can definitely recommend this company. (Please excuse the cat hair in the photo - it is one of the inherent problems found when living with two cats, and I didn't notice it until I loaded it onto my blog.)

The polish on the left is "Goldie Rocks", a yellow gold metallic polish that has a linear holo sparkle.  It is absolutely gorgeous, and the photo doesn't really catch the holo effect, unfortunately, but you should get full cover in 2-3 coats.  The polish on the right is one I have been dreaming of getting ever since I first saw it blogged online - "Men Are From Mars-ala".  This is a wonderful earthy, red-brown shade which, when indoors, is rich and warm, and outdoors or in bright light features a linear holographic finish. The photo simply doesn't do this justice, as I couldn't pick up the amazing holo effect, but if you click on the name you will be taken to the "Harlow & Co" site where you can see fantastic photos and swatches of it.  These two colours would also be awesome used in the same mani, which is what I hope to do once my nails have recovered.

Well, that's it for today, but I will be back soon to show you some more of my recent purchases, especially the two lots I bought over the last couple of weeks from "Grace-full Nail Polish" in Tasmania, Australia.  They are absolutely amazing, and I want to do a special post on these in the next couple of days.  

Please let me know if you have enjoyed seeing the pictures of my recent purchases, and I hope you'll come back soon to see what I have to share with you.  You may follow my blog if you wish by filling in the boxes at the top right-hand side of the page.

Have a wonderful day, and God bless you all.

Hugs

Christine

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

Words of Life and Hope

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

Before and After Photos of My Nails, Manicure for 23 February 2015, and Polish Review*

Hello once again!  Today I have some photos of how my nails are coming along since I started my blog, my manicure for this week, and a review* of the polish I used.  Firstly, the photos of my bare nails BEFORE and NOW.
 

BEFORE (19 October 2014)

NOW (24 February 2015)

When I saw the two photos side by side I couldn't believe the difference.  Admittedly, some of my nails have pulled even further away from the nail bed, but otherwise they are a lot stronger, and in much better condition than they were when I first started my blog.  It just goes to show what a little TLC, and lots of time and effort, can do when you put your mind to it.  It's been a long time, and I still have a long way to go to see if my nails will really recover properly, or if I'm going to be left with nails lifted off the nail bed down the side, etc permanently.  At least they look OK with polish over them, and the colour is a lot better.  I apologise for the horrible looking hands, but that is a result of losing a lot of weight and old age (I'm 66), and excess skin does not disappear and shrink back - it just sits there and looks horrible and wrinkly.  I lost 15 kg after 2 foot operations 4 years ago, and this is the result. So don't let these weight loss people tell you that you can immediately look wonderful after you lose a lot of weight.  I have excess flab all over my body, arms and legs that is just sitting there looking ghastly.  I'd love to know how these people in the weight-loss promos look so wonderful - they must all have cosmetic surgery to remove all the excess skin.

Now, on to this week's manicure and the review.

The polish I am wearing this week is another Superficially Colorful polish called "Turbulence", which is from Jin's "Remnants of Winter" Collection.  Jin describes it on her site as "a dark violet-pink with a hint of color shift of blue, red and gold. Not a multi-chrome, just an undecided color that changes with the light. Inspired by the unquiet air, the faraway lightning storms and the clouds colliding and leaving."

 

Photos taken in shade (click for closer view)

I started with a coat of Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, then two coats of "Turbulence" to all my fingers, and added a coat of Savvy "Purple Viking" to my middle fingers.  I then added a gold decal to my index fingers, bought from echofairyland on eBay, and finished with a single coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat to all fingers except my index fingers, on which I used two coats as extra protection for the decal.

"Turbulence" is another amazing polish from Superficially Colorful.  It went on like a dream, and two thin coats were more than enough to give full coverage.  It dries with a semi-gloss finish, with some micro-glitter scattered throughout, so it has a slightly rough, textured finish.  Jin mentioned on her site that it really needs a top coat to get the best effect, and she is correct. Once the top coat was applied the finish was lovely and smooth.  The colour was beautiful without the top coat but, once I added it, the effect just bowled me over.  It is so hard to describe, because it changes with the light, and with each movement of your hand.  One minute it's purple, then it's burgundy, then it gets a dark blue shift, and then you'll see just a shimmer of pink/violet. You can just make out the little bit of glitter in it if you look carefully (it shows up really well in the sun).  What looks like stains on my fingers right next to the nails is just a reflection from the polish.  That's how strong the colour is.  The extra glitter from "Purple Viking" is very obvious in the sun and the close-up swatches below.  I really didn't need to add the coat of Savvy "Purple Viking" to my middle nails, but I usually do a skittlette manicure, so I added it anyway, and the colour matched "Turbulence" perfectly and gave it that little bit of extra pizzazz.

All in all, I think Jin has got another winner with this polish, and I suggest you head over to Superficially Colorful right now to check it out, and all of Jin's other polishes while you're there.  I haven't been disappointed with any of the ones I've tried so far, although I know I had my misgivings about "Don't Leave Me This Way" last week (mentioned in my review of the "Troubled Love" collection last week). However, the longer I had it on my nails, the more I grew to love it.  I had so many compliments from people who saw it, and it lasted 9 (yes NINE) whole days, with very minimal wear, so I am extremely impressed with the quality of the polish. 

Here are some more photos I took, and the colours are very close to what they look like in real life, but it is so subtle that it was hard to get all the different colours to show up. My hubby bought me my first smart phone the other day (Samsung Galaxy S4 i9505), and it arrived yesterday, so I was able to take the photos using it.  It has speech control for the camera (awesome), so it made it so easy to take the photos myself.  All I have to do is say "SHOOT", and it takes the photo.  Although, because it only seems to take the photo if it hears the "T" clearly, there is probably another word that would work if things are not going right LOL!  You can see the detail so clearly in the photos that I'm afraid it showed up some bits of polish and glitter I missed with my clean-up.  I'm going to have to be ultra-careful when I do them in future so that doesn't happen again :)  Now I just have to wait for my sim card to arrive and then learn how to use it properly.

Photos taken in sun (click for closer view)

  

Photos taken inside (click for closer view)

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you enjoyed your visit.  I don't know what I'll do next, so you'll have to come back again to find out.  I've finally worked out how to add the gadget that allows people to follow my blog, so if you want to do so, don't forget to fill it out.  It's on the top right-hand corner of the page.

God bless you, and have a wonderful day!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog, too.)

Words of Life and Hope

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

*Polish reviewed and all other items mentioned were purchased by myself and I received no payment for my comments.

 dark violet-pink with a hint of color shift of blue, red and gold. Not a multi-chrome, just an undecided color that changes with the light. Inspired by the unquiet air, the faraway lightning storms and the clouds colliding and leaving. - See more at: https://sclacquer.com/shop/remnants-of-winter/turbulence#sthash.WhVZ4wJX.dpuf

a dark violet-pink with a hint of color shift of blue, red and gold. Not a multi-chrome, just an undecided color that changes with the light. Inspired by the unquiet air, the faraway lightning storms and the clouds colliding and leaving. - See more at: https://sclacquer.com/shop/remnants-of-winter/turbulence#sthash.WhVZ4wJX.dpuf

a dark violet-pink with a hint of color shift of blue, red and gold. Not a multi-chrome, just an undecided color that changes with the light. Inspired by the unquiet air, the faraway lightning storms and the clouds colliding and leaving. - See more at: https://sclacquer.com/shop/remnants-of-winter/turbulence#sthash.WhVZ4wJX.dpuf

Manicure for 4 February 2015 - Not Happy, Jan!

Firstly, I'd like to say sorry for not showing you my nail polish stashes that I received last week as promised, but I put them all away, and they all got muddled up with my other polishes before I remembered I was supposed to be photographing them for my blog.  OOOPS!!!

Now to this week's mani.  After looking at the photos my hubby took for me today, I have to say that I have a lot to learn about the art of cleaning up my manicures.  My cuticles and the side of my nails look dreadful, so I'm going to have to do some research and see if I can find any tutorials to show me how to do it properly.  However, despite the horrible cuticles, etc, I've decided to show you my first mani for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month - featuring the color "teal".

Products used are:  OPI Natural Nail Base Coat; Revlon Top Speed Fast Dry Nail Enamel Spirit, the white polish on my index and ring fingers; Essie Beach Bum Blu, the teal blue shimmer on my pinky and thumb nails; and LYZ Cosmetics Fairybread Nail Polish Mermaid's Voice, the first Australian Indie nail polish I have used, on my middle finger. I also used Savvy Teal and a stencil from Smart Nails (see photo above) to do the OCA ribbon design on my ring fingers, and two different shape and size teal blue rhinestone decals, bought through AliExpress, on my index fingers. Then I finished it off with one coat of OPI Top Coat on all nails except the nails with the decals, where I used two coats..

Mermaid's Voice was one of the two polishes in the December Sweet Surprise Box I purchased from Fairybread Nail Polish.  They put out a Sweet Surprise Box every month which has two polishes in it, and all you see in the listing is the name of the polishes and two photos which give you a clue to what type and colour polishes you may receive.  It is such a lovely surprise to get when you open the packaging.  So, in case you decide you want to purchase the December box (it is still available on the site), or one of the other boxes on offer, I won't tell you what the other colour I received is.  But I can assure you it is beautiful.  My photo doesn't do Mermaid's Voice polish justice, though.  It is a soft teal base, with heaps of teal and pink small and medium hexagon glitter, and lashings of microglitter, and looks particularly beautiful in the sun or under artificial light.  I used 2 coats of Mermaid's Voice on my middle fingers, and got good coverage, but I'm still trying to work out whether I should have used it as a top coat or on its own. It looks beautiful in the sun, and in the shade, but I couldn't catch it properly in my photo.

I'm afraid to say that I do not like the Revlon Top Speed Spirit I used on my index and ring fingers.  It was hard to get good coverage and, even after three coats and a top coat, I still couldn't get a smooth finish. I certainly won't be using it as a base for any nail art again.  It may be good for stencils and dotting, etc. though, so I'm sure I'll find a use for it sometime.

The Essie Beach Bum Blu is a beautiful, bright teal blue shimmer, and it went on very well, but it took 3 coats to get full coverage, because it is a fairly thin polish.  Unfortunately, though, after I put the top coat over it, the polish on my right thumb bubbled, so it looks awful.  However, the other three nails I used it on are just fine. So it really has me puzzled.  Also, I have no idea what the white mark is on my thumb nail in the photo, as it's definitely not on my nail.  All I can think is that it must have been a trick of the light at the time.

The Savvy Nail PolishTeal  I used for the stencil came out a lot darker than it looked in the bottle, which was disappointing, because I thought it would be just a bit darker than the Essie.  However, the SMARTnails Stencils were amazing.  They stuck to my nails really well, without being TOO sticky, and I had no trouble with smudging when I removed them.  However, when I put my top coat over my middle nails, the ribbon smudged badly on my left hand (I obviously put too much pressure on it, because it was very, very dry, and shouldn't have smudged.  It smudged very slightly on my right hand when I virtually just waved the brush over it with the top coat, but nowhere near as badly, and that is why you are seeing my right hand instead of my left, which is actually my preferred hand to photograph because it is my non-dominant hand, and the nails are actually better to look at with regard to shape and length.

When attaching the rhinestone decals, I dabbed a little top coat where I wanted them to go, picked them up with a wax pencil and placed them on my index nails. I then put two coats of top coat over them to hold them in place.

Overall, I'm pleased with the actual colour and design of the manicure, but I just wished my nails looked neater, and that the photo showed the colours better.  I really am going to have to work on both of these aspects of my manicures, because it really upsets me when I see how bad they look compared to others on the web.

I hope you all have a wonderful week, and that you have enjoyed my reviews and my manicure.  I hope you will come back often to see what I have to show you, and check out the beautiful, exciting hand-made nail polishes at LYZ Cosmetics Fairybread Nail Polish, the fabulous nail art stencils at SMARTnails, and the wonderful array of nail art supplies available at AliExpress.  You will be very pleasantly surprised if you haven't discovered these sites yet.

God bless you!

Hugs

Christine

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

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

Manicure for 26 January 2015 - Australia Day!

It was Australia Day on Monday, so I decided to do a red, white and blue manicure with Australian Flags on my middle fingers. Sorry it doesn't show very clearly in the photo,

I started with one coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.  I then painted my middle finger with three coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White. This colour was not easy to work with, and even with the three coats, I wasn't really happy with the coverage but, because I was going to put a transfer on those fingers, I decided to leave it on.
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Next, I painted my thumb and pinky nails with 3 coats of MUD Deep Blue Sea.  I found this polish to be very, very thin, and even with 3 coats it was still very patchy, so I decided to cover it with glitter (details below).  I followed this with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine Luminous, which I can honestly say I have fallen in love with, to my index and ring fingers.  It went on like a dream, and if I'd been putting anything else on the nail I could have just used one coat, but decided to do 2 because I wanted it to look great!  The colour is so rich, and one of the most beautiful reds I've come across so far in my nail art journey.  I know I will be using this again and again, if I can continue to get it once my bottle runs out.  I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for any on sale.

Now to the glitter, Avon Opal, which I'm absolutely drooling over.  The photo doesn't do it credit, because it is the most amazing clear-based iridescent glitter, which really looks like you have placed shards of opal all over your nail.  One coat was all I needed to get this much cover, and the glitter is right through the polish and hadn't sunk at all, so I didn't have to go fishing for it.  The finish was a bit rough, but a good thick coat of top coat soon fixed that. I think I'll be buying some more of this next time it's on special at Avon, just in case they take it off the market.  I might even buy two bottles, because I think I'll be using this one a lot, it is just sooooooo beautiful!

I then covered all my nails with one coat of OPI Top Coat, which is still my top coat of choice.  Then I placed a transfer of the Australian Flag in the shape of a heart to each of my middle nails.  This was my first time using transfers, and I actually found these easier to work with than stickers, because stickers have got a habit of grabbing on before I have them exactly where I want them.  They are just so sticky, but I guess I'll get used to them after I've used them more.  I have lots of both transfers and stickers, so will be using these a lot in the future.  I then applied one more coat of OPI Top Coat to my middle fingers over the transfers, which actually caused a bit of a disaster.  On my left hand, I was a little heavy-handed with the brush when applying the top coat, and the colour smudged.  On my right hand, the one in the picture, of course, I just sort of waved the brush over it with a rather thick glob of polish on the brush, and it turned out fine.  So, another lesson learned through trial and error.  And, you know how the saying goes, one should learn something new every day or it has been wasted.  I've certainly not been wasting my manicure days, I can assure you, because I learn something new each time I do a new manicure.

I have been inundated with new polishes this week, but haven't yet got any photos of them, so can't show them to you yet, but I will as soon as possible.  They all turned up at the same time yesterday (Tuesday) - some were brand new Indies (YAY!!! Finally got some!), some were mainstreams I'd ordered online from BuyInvite last month, and the rest were from someone destashing, which only cost me postage.  I can't thank her enough, because she ended up sending me 13 polishes, and I was only expecting 6 or 7.  If she reads this, she'll know who I'm talking about, so thank you so much, Brianna.

I finally got my Konad stamper yesterday, too (the postman was overloaded with packages for me - 6 all-up for the day), so I might try experimenting with some stamping again and see how it works.  I hope it does, because otherwise I'm giving up on stamping forever.  There are so many other wonderful things I can do with my nail without resorting to stamping, so it really won't be a loss.  I love the look, though, and I've got some wonderful stamping plates, so I'm going to give it one more try.

Well, that's it from me for another week.  I hope you'll come back and visit often, or even follow me through G+ or email, because I've finally worked some more of the gadgets out for blogging on Blogger, so more learning as I go.  I'll work it all out eventually, and hopefully my hubby and I will be able to get some better results with our photos, too.  We're still trying to figure out the best place in the house, or outside, to take them, and what to use as a background.

So, 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/

Manicure for 17 January 2015 - Very Disappointing!

 

Above you can see this week's manicure, and to say the least, I am extremely disappointed with it.  I thought I would give Seche Vite another go for my top coat, in case the problems I had last time I used it were because of incompatibility with the polish I used, but I wish I hadn't used it again!  As you can see, after only 2 days (and in actual fact the morning after I did my manicure), the polish had started shrink back from the tips and bases of my nails, and a hard edge had formed along the side of some of the nails, instead of being lovely and smooth like the other top coats I've used in the past.  All I can say is, I will only use Seche Vite again if I plan to only leave my manicure on for a day or so, e.g. if I am doing a review of polishes for someone, etc.  If I want one that lasts, I'll use something else.  Oh, well, one learns from one's mistakes, but I'm upset because this was my first time doing an ombre manicure, and I was hoping it would work out as well as it looked before I put the top coat on.

The polishes I used for this manicure were from a Fing'rs EDGE OMBRE Nail Polish boxed set of 5 different mini purple nail polishes.  The set came with a bit of sponge, too, so that I could do a sponge ombre manicure if I wanted to, and I might try it in the near future.  I'm sorry the colours didn't come out quite right in the photo, because they really are so rich and pretty. We're still experimenting with how to get the best results with our different cameras we have in the house, but I'm still not happy with the way the colours turn out.  I'll have to try some different lighting experiments and see if we can find something that gives better results.

I started with a coat of OPI Ridge Filler Base Coat, followed by a coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.  The individual bottles in this set didn't have names for the colours, but you can see what shade I used on each nail, so it doesn't really matter.  All the polishes went on beautifully, and I only needed 2 coats to get lovely even coverage.  I then added one coat of Sinful Colors I Miss You glitter polish, which looks lovely under some lighting, but not so bright indoors in natural light.  The glitter in the bottle is a lovely tiny silver and holographic purple in a purple base, which was pretty transparent, but you could probably get full cover with 3 coats.  I might try this sometime and see how it turns out.

Next, I added 3 different shaped and sized gold decals to my ring fingers that I bought on eBay from echofairyland.  They have an amazing selection of Nail Art products, and their prices are amazing, so I can definitely recommend them.  Then, finally, as you already know, I added a coat of Seche Vite to all my nails, and another coat to the nails on my ring fingers.  No more need be said on that subject.  I think I covered it all at the beginning of my post.

The colours in the set look wonderful together, and I'll definitely be trying another ombre with them in the future, but with a different top coat.  I wasn't too sure how they would look before I started, so it really was an experiment to see what an ombre manicure looks like on MY nails, instead of on someone else's nails online.  I was a bit nervous before I started, as I always am when I'm trying something new.

Now to the other disaster that occurred while doing this manicure.  I had intended to do some stamping on my feature nails, but the two different stampers I already have, which I received in stamping sets, just don't work.  One came with my Salon Express Nail Stamping Kit, and the other one came with some stamping plates I bought online.  I tried using some stamping polishes that came with the stamping machine I bought to try (silly me), but they dried on the plates before I could even get the stamp on the plate.  So, I tried a couple of different nail polishes, but still no luck.  They aren't very soft, so that could be part of the problem, but even using the nail polish I barely got any of the image onto the stamper.  I tried a few different plates from different brands, but still no image.  So, I had to give up on that idea and I'll have to go back to the drawing board on that issue.  I'm going to try again with different polishes, and if I still can't get them to work, I'll buy a new stamper.  I even tried two different types of scraper, and an old credit card, but they didn't work either.  Altogether, the whole experiment was a disaster, and I was so looking forward to having a lovely design on my nails to show you.

I've also received my first request to do a review of some Indie nail polishes, which is a real thrill for me.  I didn't think anyone would ever ask me to, and I was really surprised when they said they wanted me to do some, and that they would send me their new collection to review.  I won't spoil the surprise by telling you the name of the polishes, so if you want to find out what they are and who they were made by, you'll have to check back in a few weeks (or earlier if they don't take too long to arrive).  It is not an Australian Indie polish, which is another reason I was so surprised that I was asked to do the reviews.

So, that's it for another week. I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you, and you can now choose to follow me if you want to do so.  The links are on the top, right-hand side of the page.

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/

Christmas Nails for 2 December 2014

Hi, everyone.  Today I have my first Christmas-themed nails for 2014.  I had a few disasters whilst preparing to polish my nails - three of my nails that I had been nursing along with patches finally gave way, so I had to file them back even further.  Very discouraging, but I persevered, and this is what I finally came up with.  Sorry the photo isn't better, but it's a really dull day here in Tasmania, so the light wasn't very good.

 

I started with one coat of Sally Hansen Nail Rehab Strengthener, then followed with one coat of OPI Natural Base Coat.  The red polish is China Glaze "Just Be-Claws", which went on really easily. The colour is a rich, shimmering red, and I only needed two coats to get full coverage.  I love this polish, and will be using it a lot in the future, I"m sure.

The white polish is OPI "Alpine Snow" - I needed 3 coats to get full coverage, and even then I still had some streaks. The colour is very nice, but I must say I'm not a fan of this particular polish. I was using stickers and decals anyway, so I used them to cover up the streaks. The snowflake and Christmas tree stickers, and round gold decals, were just some miscellaneous ones that I had in my stash, which I chose at random. I wasn't really happy with the size of the gold decals on the Christmas tree nails, and I would have preferred to pick out some individual pieces of smaller glitter from one of my gold glitter polishes, but it was getting very late and I didn't have time to do them again, and I needed to finish, so I left them as they were. Another lesson learned - give yourself more time to do your manicure! 

I then applied one coat of Calvin Klein "Hallucinate", which has a clear base with gorgeous, tiny holographic glitter thickly spread throughout.  The glitter does not drop to the bottom of the bottle, either, which is a real bonus.  I was really surprised at what a difference this glitter polish made to the overall effect of the whole manicure. The photo does not do it justice, and in sunlight it is just beautiful.  It covered up the streaks in the white polish, and I think it actually saved the manicure.  Thank the Lord for glitter polishes!

I finished up with 2 coats of OPI Top Coat, which I am absolutely in love with.  My manicure from last week was still intact before I took my polish off to do this week's mani, which was great.  Of course, I did apply a new coat of Top Coat every other day, as usual.

I can definitely recommend the China Glaze "Just Be-Claws", but I'm going to have to find another white polish if I want a good finish.  I'd appreciate any recommendations for good, shiny white which gives good coverage if anyone can help.  Being a newbie, I'm still checking out all the reviews on blogs, etc, so maybe I'll find one there.  One of the main problems I have is the inability to get so many of the beautiful polishes that I see recommended on other people's blogs.  Tasmania is really deprived with quantity, quality and range of polishes available, and it is so hard to get polishes online at a reasonable price.  Hopefully, with nail art starting to take off here in Tasmania, demand may force suppliers to offer more options for us in the near future.  So, if you live in Tasmania, and want our stores to stock more choices, LET THEM KNOW that you aren't happy with the limited stock on offer. 

So, that's it for my manicure this week.  Unfortunately, I damaged it in a couple of places while I was doing the clean-up on my fingers (so please don't look too closely), but I'm still learning, and hopefully next week's manicure will be better.  We all learn from our mistakes, so I'm just looking on this as a learning experience, and practice makes perfect (I hope).

Thanks for checking out my blog, and I hope you'll come back again soon, to see how things are going with my nails, to find out what I have discovered online that has helped me a lot, or something that I've fallen in love with.

God bless you, and peace be with you all!  Have a wonderful day!

Hugs

Christine

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

Words of Life and Hope

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

P.S. I have received no monetary or material gain from my reviews of the products used for this manicure.
Everything comes from my personal stash, all purchased by me, either in-store or online.