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
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