My Grace-full Nail Polish Ombre Manicure for 30 June 2015

I received five polishes from the Grace-full Nail Polish "Ice Princess Collection" (inspired by the movie "Frozen") early in the week, and I just had to use some of them for this week's ombre manicure.  They are simply awesome, and I can't wait to buy the others in the collection, very soon I hope.  I used three of the "Ice Princess Collection", and two other recent purchases from Grace-full Nail Polish, as well as the Grace-full Base Coat and Quick-Dry Top Coat. Here is a photo of the polishes I used:

Aren't they just wonderful.  If you haven't tried any of the Grace-full Nail Polish yet, you really should check them out.  I, personally, think Theresa Carter is the No. 1 Aussie Indie Polish maker in the country.  I just can't stop buying her polish, and just when you think she can't come up with anything more beautiful, she up and does it again.

Now, on to the manicure.

Photo taken in sunlight!

I started by painting one coat of Pretty Serious "Rock On" Nail Strengthener on all my nails, and once that had dried, I painted another coat on my two middle fingers and two thumbs, which are both still very thin  fragile.  I then painted one coat of Grace-full Nail Polish Base Coat on all my nails.

Next, I painted three coats of "My Own Personal Snow Flurry" on my thumbs to achieve the full crelly effect that I wanted from this beautiful polish, making sure that each coat was completely dry before adding the next one. "My Own Personal Snow Flurry" is an amazing off-white crelly with black, orange, silver and blue micro-glitter with silver ultra-fine holographic glitter, iridescent glitter and silver holo hexes.  The overall effect is mind-blowing.  I don't think I've seen so many different coloured glitters in one polish before.  It went on smoothly, with good cover in just one coat, but because I wanted the full crelly effect, I decided to do three thin coats.

The second polish I used is "Ice Crazy", on my index fingers, and this is the only one I wasn't overly pleased with.  I think the colour just doesn't go well with my skin colour, but it went on easily, and I only needed two thin coats for full coverage.  It is described as "a grey crelly with a hint of blue throughout, ultra-fine silver holographic glitter, iridescent tiny glitters and little flecks of mauve and blue".  However, I found it very hard to get any glitter and/or holo effect at all, except for a tiny amount in the sun and under artificial light.  I was quite disappointed with this polish, which is a real shame because I was really looking forward to using it; but even saying that, it is a lovely polish - just not my colour.

The third polish I tried is definitely my favourite of the five I used.  I painted three thin coats of "Open Door" on my middle fingers (although two would probably have been enough if I hadn't been featuring it in my blog), and it is absolutely stunning.  It is a linear mauve holo with violet flakies, and the colour shift is amazing, especially in the sun, and even better under artificial light, where I was able to get the full linear holo effect.  This is the polish that made me decide that I have to get the rest of the collection as soon as possible.

The fourth polish I used, on my ring fingers, is "Drowning In Violets", a Special Edition polish which was only available to the Grace-full Nail Polish Fan Group members, and which was named by one of our members.  This polish is amazing, with so much different coloured holographic glitter in it that it was really hard to get decent photos of it because of the flashing effect.  It just blew me away when I put it on.  It was very easy to apply, and this is just two coats, with just a little dabbing to fill in a few gaps in the glitter. The group decided they wanted two versions of this particular polish, which the members decided on by voting on the Facebook page, one with a reddish tinge and one with a bluish tinge, so Theresa then asked us for ideas for the names for the polishes.  One of the names I suggested was chosen for the bluish-tinged one, but this version is the reddish-tinged one, named by another member.  Members get sneak-peaks of new polish collections, can win prizes, see previews of all the Grace-full polishes, and as shown by this polish and the one I named, amazing Special Editions that no one except members of the group can buy.  It really does pay you to be a member of the group, so please check it out and request to join.  You won't regret it!  We have lots of fun sharing our manicures and nail-mail on the Facebook page, too, and everyone is really helpful if you have any problems you need help with.

The last polish I used, on my pinkies, is "Mount Fang", one of the four Grace-full polishes in "The Inklings Collection" collaboration with Powder Perfect, who also had four polishes as part of the collection.  This is an amazing set of polishes, and I would recommend that you check them out.  "Mount Fang" is a deep, charcoal-based, linear holo, with red and gold sparks of colour throughout.  It went on really easily, and I only needed two coats to get full coverage.  The colour shift and glitter in this is really gorgeous, especially under artificial lighting and in the sun.

I finished this weeks manicure with one coat of "Quick-Dry Top Coat" on all my nails, and a second coat on my ring fingers because of all the glitter in the polish.  The second coat was plenty to give it a lovely smooth finish.

Here are some more photos, taken inside under artificial light, in my sunroom under overcast conditions, outside in the shade on a cloudy day, in overcast conditions outside, and in a second one on a different angle in the sun.

    

     

 
The drops of water on my thumb in the sun are sprinkles of rain that fell while I was taking my photos LOL!

 As you can see, the different effects seen under different lighting conditions are amazing (this is a word my husband told me yesterday that I never used until I got hooked on Aussie Indie Nail Polish - now I say it all the time).  I just can't stop looking at this manicure, and I'm going to be very sad when I have to take it off in a few days.  I hope you'll take the time to check out all the wonderful polishes that Theresa has for sale at Grace-full Nail Polish, and that you'll check out the Grace-full Nail Polish Fan Group, too.

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you enjoyed seeing what I had to share with you.  I welcome comments, good or bad, so feel free to leave one if you so wish.  You can also follow my blog by filling in one of the boxes at the top right-hand side of the page if you would like to be notified when I add another post.  My next one will be photos of my bare nails 2 months ago compared to now, and I am amazed at the difference that short time has made to them.

Have a wonderful week, and may God bless you with an abundance of His mercy and grace!

Hugs

Christine

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

Words of Life and Hope

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

I was not paid in any way, shape or form for using any of the items mentioned in this post,
and my honest opinions are given freely and without any bias at all.

My Manicure for 1 March 2015

Today I have a full "skittle" manicure to show you, which happened by accident, because I only intended to put the pink polish on 3 nails on each hand, but I was watching TV while I was doing my mani, and before I knew what I'd done, I had pink polish on all five fingers on my left hand.  So, I just went ahead and did my other hand, but then added other polishes to my thumbs, index and pinky nails, mainly because I didn't like the color or finish of the pink nail polish on my nails, but also because I wanted to feature the Moonstone polish "Sample 10" on my middle fingers.

Photo taken in shade.

Products used:  Revlon Quick Dry Base and Top Coats, OPI "Pink-ing Of You" , Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear "Golden-I", Moonstone "Sample 10", Savvy "High Voltage", L.A. Colors Color Craze "Tinsel", and China Glaze "Bridezilla".

I started with one coat of base coat to every nail, then one coat of OPI "Pink-ing Of You" to every nail.  It was at this stage I had realised that I was supposed to be doing a "skittlette" manicure, with a feature nail and another nail with a different colour on it. (Big BOO BOO that!!!)  I then added another coat of "Pink-ing Of You" to my thumb, index and pinky nails.  However, I still did not have full coverage, so I added another coat, but still the coverage was patchy.  The polish is very thin, and not easy to work with.  It was very hard to stop it from looking patchy no matter how careful I was. That was when I decided to do a full "skittle" mani to cover up the patchiness by adding three different glitters/toppers to the pink nails, hence the "skittle" instead of the "skittlette" manicure.

Next, I added two coats of "Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear "Golden-I" to my ring fingers.  This polish is sooooooo beautiful, and I almost got full cover with just one coat, but used two for this mani, and because it is over a coat of pink, the effect is gorgeous, with just a tinge of pink showing through.  The finish is beautifully smooth and shimmery, and it went on like a dream. I will definitely be using this polish a lot in the future when I want a golden nail, or for stencils and/or nail art, and will have to go out and find another bottle before they decide to take it off the market (I hope they haven't already), because the bottle is only 11.8ml, so it probably will not last very long.

Then I added two coats of Moonstone "Sample 10" to my middle fingers.  This is a colour that, unfortunately, is no longer available, and Caitlin (the owner and maker of Moonstone polish) told me she has lost the formula, so she can't make any more.  When I first received this polish in the mail, I was so blown away by it that I went straight back to the site and bought the last bottle Caitlin had, and have since bought several more.  It is a beautiful, very, very pale blue crelly, loaded with heaps of gold and holographic micro-glitter; gold, hot pink and pink tiny, round glitter; small white square glitter; and larger pink hexagonal glitter.  It was wonderful to work with, and looked gorgeous over the one coat of pink underneath, even with just one coat, but I wanted to get the full crelly effect, so I used two coats for this manicure.  It went on smoothly, and two coats was more than enough to achieve the effect I wanted.  It looks like milky jelly with layers and layers of different glitters (see the close-up below).

My next job was to try to cover up the patchy pink polish, so I went searching through my glitter polishes and toppers and found three that completely transformed the OPI "Pink-ing Of You" to something beautiful.

The first one, which I added to my thumb nails, was Savvy "High Voltage".  It is an amazing glitter polish, loaded with gold and holographic micro-glitter (and I mean LOADED), as well as heaps of small pink and gold hexagonal glitter.  It can be used on its own, with two coats giving good coverage, but I just wanted to add a little extra to cover up the flaws in the pink polish underneath, so only used the one coat.  It was lovely to work with, and no fishing around in the bottle was needed to find the glitter. It was like adding a light smear of gold leaf with flashes of pink and gold glitter, and the shimmer effect is just beautiful.

The second glitter/topper polish I used was L.A. Colors Color Craze "Tinsel", which I added to my pinky fingers.  It is a pink jelly polish, with lots of pink and holographic micro-glitter, and larger pink and holographic hexagonal glitters.  Just one coat smothered the pink with a slightly richer, pink jelly layer that sparkles like diamonds.  It's just gorgeous in real life.

The last glitter I used is a sheer, pale pink polish with lots of holographic shimmer from China Glaze.  It's called "Bridezilla", and is simply beautiful.  It can be used on its own by using two or three coats, but even then it is very sheer, so I prefer to use it as a pink shimmer topper, and the effect is stunning.  This would work over almost any light or dark colour, and I can't wait to try it over black one day (SIGH!).

Overall, what could have been a disaster, because of the bad performance of the OPI "Pink-ing Of You", turned out to be a lovely skittle manicure, IMVHO.  I'm really happy with the result, and here are some pictures for you.

 

 

Both photos taken inside.

   

First photo taken in shade, second taken in sun.

  

The first photo is a close-up of Moonstone "Sample 10", the second one of the whole mani in the sun.

As a follow-up to last week's mani, by the time I took my polish off yesterday, 6 days from when I put it on, there was hardly any wear anywhere except the tips, which had only worn because I am constantly typing on my computer.  It left no stains on my nails, and came off very easily.  I am just so thrilled with all the Superficially Colorful polishes I have tried so far, and I can't wait to try another one from the "Remants Of Winter Collection".

 
Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you.  I have no idea what I'll have to show you next, but I will try to make it as interesting as possible.

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/

P.S. All polishes mentioned in this blog were purchased by me, and I was not paid in any way for my reviews.

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 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.
 .
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/

My Manicure For 9 January 2015

Firstly, my manicure from last week lasted 7 days with very little damage at all.  I really am amazed at the way my OPI Base Coat and Top Coat perform for me.  They keep my mani so crisp and bright, and unless I actually hit my nail on something, I get very little wear at all.  I'll be looking out for larger sizes of these two products for sure, especially the top coat, as I use it every second day.

Nothing very exciting this week, but I thought I should still show you what I did.  The products I used were:  Sally Hansen Nail Rehab Strengthener, Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Base Coat, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fruitti Petutie, Savvy by DB Confetti, Calvin Klein Hallucinate, and Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamond Shine Base and Top Coat.  I used the Sally Hansen base and top coats because I was using Sally Hansen nail polish, and they should work well together.  We will have to wait and see. Also, I still am struggling with cleaning up after I apply my nail polish.  I've got a new clean-up pen, and am still working out the best way to use it.  So please forgive the rough finish around the base of my nails.

I started with one coat of Sally Hansen Nail Rehab Strengthener because my nails haven't been doing very well just lately.  The damaged section is getting very dry, brittle and fragile, and my middle nail on my right hand is still being held together with a "tea bag" patch.  Just after taking this photo today (3rd day of my mani) I knocked my thumb nail on my left hand on the bench and took a chunk out of the tip of it.  I wanted to cry, becauses that nail was just starting to recover from a previous break and was looking pretty good.  I've filed it back a bit with my nail polish still on, and added another coat of top coat to it so that, hopefully, it will last until my next manicure in a few days.

Next, I applied one coat of Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Base Coat. I haven't tried this base coat before, so it will be interesting to see how it performs. Then I applied three coats of Sally Hansen Fruitti Patutie to each nail, followed by one coat of Savvy Confetti glitter to my ring fingers.  I did dab a few more bits of glitter in a couple of places to give it better coverage, but I didn't really need to.  There is so much glitter in this bottle of polish it is unbelievable.  It has heaps of small white, mid pink and dark hot-pink hexagonal glitter, with teeny, tiny little bits of the same colours filling just about every gap in between.  The base is clear, but you wouldn't think so when you look into the bottle.  It is just gorgeous, and could be worn with all sorts of colours, or perhaps on its own if you used two or three coats.

I wanted to add a little more interest to the look, so I finished off my manicure with one coat of Calvin Klein Hallucinate, which is a beautiful holographic glitter in a milky, clear base. I love this polish, and have used it a couple of times in the past because it gives me just the right amount of shimmer on my nails over any colour I've tried it with.  This is another polish I'm going to be keeping an eye out for while I'm looking around online. I'm not sure where, or even if, I can get it anywhere in stores in Australia, so I'll probably have to go to ebay for it, like I did last time.

I know it isn't a very exciting design, but I had a very busy week, so I needed something easy and quick to do, and I wanted it to be pink because of the pink cricket test match that was played in Sydney last week, and Jane McGrath Day in particular, when people are asked to donate funds to the McGrath Foundation.  This foundation, for those who don't know, was the brainchild of Jane McGrath, the wife of one of Australia's best ever cricketers, Glenn McGrath, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time, and then with secondary breast cancer, which turned out to be terminal.  Jane realised that there were too many women living in regional and country areas of Australia who have to travel many, many hours to get to a hospital where they can access treatment for breast cancer, and possibly have to stay for days at a time, far away from their families when they really need them close.  She thought that, if there were enough breast care nurses in Australia, they could travel to the patients instead, and take the treatment to them, and also be there to support them, and their families, through their breast cancer journeys, whether the outcomes are good or bad.  After she passed away, the running of the Foundation was taken over by her best friend, Tracey Bevan, and Glenn, and it is so wonderful to see her dream coming to fruition.

It was the 10th anniversary of the Foundation this year, and 7 years since Jane passed away, but every year the test match played in Sydney is taken over by the colour pink - and the number of people who turned out in pink on Jane McGrath Day this year was astounding.  In fact, if you didn't have something pink on you stood out like a sore thumb, and you would really would have felt out of place.  Sponsor's logos turned pink, the stumps on the pitch were bright pink, the players wore pink caps, and had pink emblems on their clothing, and even the commentators for the match wore pink - one even had a complete suit, shirt and tie on. (They were all men but one, but the way.) Talk about commitment to the cause!!!!

This is an amazing charity and, after just 10 years, the Foundation now funds 101 breast cancer nurses throughout Australia, (and there should be more after the fundraising during this match), and their aim is to make it possible for every woman diagnosed with breast cancer, no matter where she lives in Australia, to have access to a nurse, and they believe that 200 nurses should be able to achieve that.  So, God willing, that won't be too far down the track.  It takes over $AU300,000 to fund one nurse for 3 years, and they won't take on a new nurse unless they have the funds to commit to that, so you can see what a big achievement this has been, and what a long road they have ahead of them. If you get the chance to donate to the Foundation, please do so.  I know how important the breast care nurses at the hospital were to me last year when I was going through my treatment, and they do an amazing job looking after us, but don't often get the recognition they should.  So, thank you from the bottom of my heart to the nurses who looked after me last year when things were so tough.  You wonderful nurses all deserve medals, and are worth more than words can express!

So, that's me for this week.  Please let me know if you like my nail art designs, or not, and I'd love you all to leave comments to encourage me if you could.  I've finally found the widget that allows people to subscribe to my feed and follow my posts, so I hope you will join and come back often to see what I've been doing with my nails, or what new goodies I've found to share with you.  I scored some amazing new polishes this week, at bargain prices, so I might get my hubby to take some photos of them and share them with you in a day or two.

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 New Year's Eve 2014 Manicure

I've just realised that I haven't blogged about my New Year's Eve manicure yet.  I've been so busy, that I forgot all about it. So, here it is!

I decided to use the China Glaze "Unforgettable Collection" I received in the mail the day before, which I thought was really gorgeous and would make a great New Year's Eve mani.  The colors included in the set are:  Platinum Silver, Liquid Leather (black), Bridezilla (pale pink shimmer), White On White, and Nova (holographic glitter in a clear base). Here's a photo of the collection.

I started with one coat OPI Natural Base Coat, which is still my favourite.  It hasn't let me down once when I've used it, so I'll be keeping an eye out for it on special for sure.  Next I added two coats of Platinum Silver to my pinkies (two coats was all I needed for great coverage), two coats of Liquid Leather to my ring fingers (2 coats also ample here), three coats of White On White to my thumbs and middle fingers (which was still didn't give the cover I would have liked), 4 coats of Bridezilla to my index fingers (I think I should have added a pink nude under this, or some other pale colour), and one coat of Nova to my ring fingers over the Black Leather.  Then I added some quirky cat stickers I picked up online some time ago (can't remember where - AliExpress, I think), and I love them.  I adore cats (have two of my own), so I will most likely be featuring cat-themed nails quite a bit :)

I finished off with one coat of my OPI Top Coat, which I still think is better than Seche Vite if you don't want any shrinkage of your polish, and you want your manicure to last more than a couple of days.  The OPI dries quickly, and leaves a great shiny finish.  Seche Vite dries your manicure faster, but as I usually have plenty of time, I won't be using it very often.  I certainly don't think I'll be replacing it after I've used it all (I've still got a large bottle to go). I'll only use it if I need my mani to dry extra quickly. As usual, I will add another layer of top coat every other day to freshen it up and keep it on longer.

As you will notice, the tip of my index finger is still showing where the nail lifted off the nail-bed down the side of my nail because of the chemo earlier in the year (see just under my logo).  My other index finger is the same, and so are several of my other nails.  In fact, my left index finger is actually looking worse each time I take my polish off.  I'm praying it is not going to come off completely.  I'm hoping they will all grow out normally, but I don't know if they will or not.  I know a lot of people get permanent damage from chemotherapy.

Also, on Saturday evening I banged my lovely middle fingernail, shown in the photo, which I have been nurturing along for months and months, and took a great chunk out of it, so I had to file it right back.  I nearly cried, because now the nail looks all lopsided as the break was so far down my nail.  The cat on that nail now has part of his tail and bottom missing.  I immediately covered it all with another coat of OPI Top Coat, and hopefully it will last until Tuesday, when I intend doing my nails again.  The reason it broke instead of flexing is because the top half of my nails are still so very fragile because of the chemotherapy damage, and still look brown and ugly without any polish on them.  I file a tiny bit back each time I do my nails, so they are slowly growing out, and I guess I'll just have to be patient.  My middle finger on my right hand is still being held together using the "tea bag patch" method because the tip is threatening to come off at any time.  The patches are working well each time I do them, though, so I can definitely recommend it as a solution if you have a split in your nail.  I just couldn't rescue the other one because it broke right off.  BUMMER!!!!

The only polish I didn't particularly like in this collection was the White On White.  It went on very patchily, and was hard to get full coverage, even with three coats. The other colours were lovely to use, and went on very smoothly.  I particularly like the Liquid Leather, which is a black polish I'll be going back to time and time again, I think.  It went on so smoothly, two coats were more than enough, and the finish was really glossy.  I just love it!    I'm still struggling to get the stickers to go where I want them to on my nails, though, so a couple of them are a bit crooked.  The trouble is they are just so darn sticky :).  I'm going to try water transfers next time and see how they go.

Well, that's me for another week.  God willing, I'll be back again next week (if not before) with my next mani, and I hope the New Year is a great one for you and your loved ones.  Have a great week!

Hugs

Christine

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

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

I have nothing to declare - all polishes were from my personal stash, all bought and paid for by me.

Another Christmas Manicure 14 December 2014

Sorry it's been a while (12 days, I see), but I had another disaster this week.

My last manicure lasted 9 whole days with virtually no damage at all.  I was amazed, but I didn't want to bore you with more photos of it. However, I stuffed up royally with my manicure for this week first time around, so I had to take it all off and start again, after I had slept on it and worked out what I had done wrong.

So, today I have a Christmas-themed skittle manicure (with each nail completely different).  Here's the best photo I could get of it - although it still doesn't really do it justice,  it's pretty close.  I love the colours of all the polishes I used, and will certainly be using them again.

I started with 1 coat of Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Base Coat.  I then added 2 coats of Colours by TBN "Dancing In The Forest" on my pinkies, 3 coats of Revlon Brilliant Strength "Hypnotize" on my ring fingers (although 2 coats would probably have been enough), 3 coats of OPI "Alpine Snow" on my middle fingers and thumbs, and 2 coats of ulta3 "scarlet" on my index fingers. I found the OPI "Alpine Snow" rather hard to work with and, if I hadn't been adding glitter and stripes to the nails I used it on, I would have had to add another coat to get a smooth finish.  The other polishes were all really easy to work with, and I only added the third coat on the gold nail to add intensity to the colour.  This is a gold that I will be using a lot, I'm sure, because it is just so easy to use, and looks so amazing.  I think it would be great for stamping and/or water marble manicures, too.

Once my polishes had all dried, I placed strips of masking tape and striping tape on my thumbs. I then added one coat of ulta3 "scarlet" over the nail, quickly removing the tapes before the polish dried.  I'm afraid I wasn't very happy with the way the stripes turned out, because there were a few spots where I obviously hadn't pressed the tape down firmly enough, especially on the edges of my nails.  I discovered last night, after I had finished it, a tip suggesting that I use a coat of top coat on my nail before doing the striping, and I'll try that next time. However, as a first time striping job (where I painted over them instead of using them as the stripes), I am reasonably happy with it.   I then added 2 coats of KBShimmer "Kringle All The Way" to my ring fingers, and 2 coats of ulta3 "disco fever" to my index fingers.  I had to fish around for some large glitter with the KBShimmer, but there is heaps of different-sized glitter in the bottle (red, green and silver in different sizes, and tiny holographic glitter throughout), so it wasn't hard to get some large ones.  The ulta3 red glitter was really easy to use, and also has plenty of glitter.

Finally, I applied 1 coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (Yay! I finally got some!) to each nail, and I'm thrilled to bits with the finish it has given to my nails.  It covered all the glitter beautifully, and dried my manicure so quickly I couldn't believe it.  I will be interested to see how long my manicure lasts with this as my top coat.  I'll be adding another coat, as usual, every other day, and will let you know next time how well it goes.

The damage on my nails is still growing out, and I am nursing another break on my right thumb, but each week there is less of the horrible, dark-brown, fragile, flaking area on my tips left, and more of the lovely pink new growth at the base of my nails.  I am just filing a small amount off each week before I do my new manicure, and my nails are definitely getting a lot stronger each week since I started using the Jojoba oil at least twice a day. They seem to be growing faster, too, which is fantastic.  I'm also using Swisse "Hand Skin Nails" tablets, and I'm sure they have helped, too.

I've been having trouble finding a good, natural cuticle oil that uses Jojoba oil as a base that is a reasonable price, but have decided to make my own after I have used up all the treatments I've already bought.  I'm also having trouble finding a good, hydrating hand cream, but I've found some great recipes online, so I've decided to source all the products I need to make my own, and have also found a recipe for an exfoliating sugar hand scrub, and will be making some of that this week once I find some nice jars to put it in.

I'm amazed at how much information there is available about natural solutions to my hand care problems, and I have found suppliers and recipes for just about everything I need to make my own.  I am allergic to perfumed products, and also to a lot of the preservatives and other artificial additives cosmetic companies use in so many of their products.  It's hard to avoid some of them with my manicures, of course, but at least I can with the products I use every day on my skin and nails.

As I used 2 ulta3 polishes this week, I thought I'd mention the fantastic Christmas gift ideas they have available here in Australia this year.  My hubby bought me a wonderful ulta3 Advent Calendar full of mini nail polishes, and so far the colours have been amazing, and I haven't got any of the ones that I've opened the window for, so hopefully I won't have any of them.  There is also a cube of 18 full-size ulta3 polishes, and a large candy cane full of full-size polishes. I think they have a couple of other gift items, too, but I haven't discovered them yet.  Of course, I've put my order in to Santa for one (or more, perhaps) of them for Christmas.  There are some great Colours by TBN gift sets as well, and lots of others around the stores for other brands, so I'm hoping Santa gets the message and is feeling generous.

So, that's it for another week.  I hope you like what I've shared with you this week, and that you'll come back often to see what I've been up to.

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.

Quilted Nail Art with Gold Decals & Glitter

Sorry this is a bit late being posted, but I've had an extremely busy week, with lots of doctors' appointments, etc, but I really wanted to show you what I did this week, because I am so pleased with the way it turned out.  Here is a photo of the mani for this week, taken just after it was done on Sunday, 2nd November.

I apologise for the picture being slightly blurred, but we are still trying to work out the best way to photograph my manis, etc.  However, you can see pretty well what it looks like.  

The colours I used were Maybelline "Tart", which is a beautiful, rich, dark plum colour, and MUD "paparazzi", which is gold and silver hexagon glitter of different sizes in a clear base polish. On the feature nails I added gold striping tape and placed 1.5mm gold decals where the tapes crossed over each other.  The"Tart" went on really well, and I only needed 2 coats to get full coverage.  The "paparazzi" only needed one coat to get this effect. I started with 1 coat of Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat and finished off with Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat, using 1 coat on the glitter nails and 2 coats over the taping and decals on the feature nails.  I am topping it up each day with another coat of the top coat.

Unfortunately, the photo just does not do it justice, because it really looks amazing.  The dark plum colour is so rich, and the gold and silver glitter, and the taping and decals, shine so brightly that the result is really eye-catching. Everywhere I've been this week people have said how gorgeous it looks, and asked how I did it, which has been really encouraging for me. I, myself, am really chuffed with the way it looks.  It took me ages to do, because it was my first time using the striping tape, but I just love the effect it gives and I have heaps of different colours, so I will definitely be using it more tapes in the future.

Thank you for checking out my blog, and I hope you'll come back to see what I have for you next week.

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/

Update On Last Week's Nail Art Design

Last weeks mani lasted for about 5 days before it started chipping, and here are some photos of how it looked last Sunday before I took my polish off to do my next mani, which was a full 7 days from when the mani was done.  I added a top coat every other day, and I'm sure that helped it last as long as it did.

As you can see, the nail with the glitter had hardly any wear at all, which quite amazed me.  The fingers not shown had a little wear, but not very much at all.  Overall, I was very pleased with the way these polishes performed.

Thanks for looking, and have a wonderful day.

Hugs

Christine

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

Follow-up To Last Post

Here are the pictures of my nails done on 26 October 2014 using the Essie Breast Cancer Awareness Collection I talked about in my last post.  The picture on the right is the one that is closest to the true colour of the dark pink polish.  It's even brighter and a bit deeper than it looks here.  Absolutely gorgeous!!!!!

I started with the essie "Grow Stronger" base coat, which came as part of the collection, but as you can see, I did not use the pale pink polish, essie "I Pink I Can".  When I put it on, even after 3 coats, I could not get an opaque coverage, so I scrapped it and went all dark pink instead.  The colour was gorgeous, and the polish was quite free-flowing, but I just couldn't get an opaque finish.  Then, as always happens, that very night I discovered what could be a solution to the problem, when I found a tip that said to try putting a white polish on your nail first to make your colours "pop".  I might try this polish again doing that, and if I do, I'll definitely mention it.

The dark pink polish, essie "Pink Happy" was amazing to use.  Even with just one coat it was completely opaque, but I added another coat just to help the manicure last longer. The colour is absolutely gorgeous, and is actually a lot darker and brighter than it seems in the bottle, and it went on so beautifully I would definitely recommend it.

The pale pink glitter, essie "Pinking About You", is gorgeous, but not easy to apply.  I found it tended to clog on the brush, and I worked out that the best way to apply this was by letting most of the polish run off the brush, and then dab the glitter on until I got the coverage I wanted.  The glitter is in lots of different sizes, from tiny little white specks to quite large hexagon shapes, and on the "Pink Happy" polish it actually looks almost white.  It is very effective, though, and I will definitely be using it again.

I finished with 2 coats of Manicare Glam Nails "Nail Art Top Coat" over the two ring fingers with the glitter, and 1 coat of Revlon "Quick Dry Top Coat" on all the other nails.  I will be topping them up every other day with 1 coat of the Revlon top coat, and I will let you know in my next post how long the mani lasts before I have to remove it.

Overall, I was very pleased with the collection, except for the coverage of "I Pink I Can".  I'm fairly pleased with the look of my mani, although my hands still look awful :(, and I will definitely be using all these colours again.  I hope they stay as part of their permanent collection and don't disappear too soon. I'll have to see if I can get some full-size bottles of them all as soon as possible in case they are discontinued.  I will probably use the pale pink for dotting, marbelling, and other forms of nail art instead of as a full nail cover, unless I get good results from using the white beneath it.

So, that's my mani for October 27th 2014.  I hope my next one will be a bit more interesting, because Breast Cancer Awareness Month will be over, and I can start using different colours instead of just pinks.

God bless you, and have a wonderful day.

Hugs

Christine

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

Essie Breast Cancer Awareness Collection 2014

I almost went into raptures when I received my Essie Breast Cancer Awareness Collection 2014 in the mail today.

The colours are just awesome, and I'm going to use them this weekend when I do my nails for the last week of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I've seen swatches of the gorgeous pink glitter on both of the pink polishes in the set, and it looks wonderful on each one.  I've really fallen in love with these colours, and that's why I just had to share them with you.

The collection consists of 5ml bottles of Essie "Grow Stronger Base Coat", Essie "I Pink I Can" (which is a scrumptious pale pink), Essie "Pink Happy"  (which is a bright dark fuschia pink), and Essie "Pinking About You" (the most amazing pale pink glitter I've ever seen).  Here are photos of each item in the pack in the order I have listed them.

When I have done my nails this weekend I'll post a photo of them so that you can see how beautiful (hopefully) the colours look together.  (Please don't expect wonders, because I am still a beginner :D and have only been doing my nails for about 2 months now.)

Have a great weekend, and God bless you all.

Hugs

Christine

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

The Start Of My Nail Art Journey

It is now 6 weeks since I finished my chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment for Breast Cancer (after having a huge lump of my breast removed), but I will be on hormone therapy (or I really should say anti-hormone therapy) for at least another 5 years, and according to the latest research, it could even be for 10 years, to try to stop it coming back again. So I'm on the road to recovery, but I'd like to encourage all you ladies out there, young and old, to make sure you check yourselves regularly for breast lumps, because too many women, especially young ones now, are being diagnosed every day with Breast Cancer of one type or another. Don't just leave it up to your regular check-ups, either, because I was 2 months from having my scheduled breast screen when I found the lump myself.  If I'd waited another 2 months it could well have spread further into my body, and I would have a lot harder, longer course of treatments ahead.  So, ladies, PLEASE DO IT RIGHT NOW!

I'd like to show you what my hands look like at this stage of my journey, as of 19 Oct 2014.  

Here is a photo of both of my hands, and you can see how bad my nails and hands are after all the treatment, and this is six weeks after finishing my treatment.

 As you can see, they look absolutely ghastly.  Unfortunately, today I had to file some of them back because the nail on the middle finger on my right hand, which I have been nursing along trying to save by using patches, finally gave way, as you can see in the photo.
Oh, well, these things come to try us!

Now I'd like to show you close-ups of each hand separately, showing the details of the damage.

So, now I have to repair all this damage.  I wish someone had told me before I had chemotherapy that I should use cuticle oil and/or strenthening serum, a base coat and a top coat on my fingers, instead of just telling me wear nail polish to help to stop them getting damaged. 

Please, ladies, if you know anyone who is going through chemotherapy, or someone who has just been diagnosed with cancer that is going to require her having chemotherapy, tell them the proper way to look after their nails. I would hate for anyone else to go through what I've been through with my nails.  And, my nails are in the process of growing out now that I have learned what to do about them (notice the pinker, softer looking areas at the bottom of each nail).  I wish I'd taken photos when they were first damaged because they were horrible to look at, and watching them start to flake away and pull away from the nail bed was scary, to say the least.

I will keep you updated with how my nails are progressing as time goes by, and hopefully there will be great improvements, especially as I'm going to be starting to use a new cuticle oil treatment containing Jojoba Oil, which I have heard, and read, is simply amazing for damage to nails, and almost anywhere on your body.  Especially on your face and hair, too.  I can't wait for it arrive so I can get started.

I will be posting shots of my nail art results, hopefully at least once a week, and I will also let you know about any great sites I come across during my travels out their in Naill Art World, so please come back often to see what I've found.

Thanks for checking out my blog.

Hugs

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

How My Nail Art Journey Began

I discovered the world of nail art when my nails were destroyed by the chemotherapy and radiotherapy that I went through in the middle of 2014. I was told that I should wear nail polish, but not that I should use a nourishing treatment, or a base coat under my nail polish, or a top coat on top of my nails.  Consequently, my nails ended up brown, flaking, chipped, and peeling away from the nail bed.  I needed help, so I went searching the web.

Thus started my nail art journey, as I quickly discovered the wide world of

NAIL ART!

I now use nail art every week, nourish my nails like there is no tomorrow, and search the web every day for new ideas, hints and tips. What I hope to do on my blog is tell you what I have discovered about caring for my hands and nails, show you my weekly manicure, with details on brands and colours used, and also have lots of links to great nail art sites I have found and fallen in love with.

So, please join me as I start my nail art journey, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I hope to! Who knows where this journey will lead me?  Only time will tell!

Hugs

Christine

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

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