KBShimmer "Men Are From Mars-ala" & Powder Perfect "Horse-lords" - 7 August 2015

I am in love once again - this time with KBShimmer "Men Are From Mars-ala", which I have used for this manicure, with Powder Perfect "Horse-lords" used as my feature nail.

I know KBShimmer "Men Are From Mars-ala" has been around for quite some time now, but I was only able to buy a bottle a couple of months ago because it is from a USA Indie Polish maker, which meant it was much more expensive than Aussie Indie polishes, and I've been dying to try it out.  As I'd been so busy last week, I decided to do a simple manicure this week, and while I was looking through my polish collection, trying to work out which ones to use, my eyes lit up when they saw this polish.  Before I purchased it I'd found lots of blogs that absolutely raved about this polish, and I wondered if it would really live up to its hype - and I can assure you it did.  I then looked through my jelly glitter polishes to find one that would go perfectly with this superb marsala shade, and Powder Perfect "Horse-lords" fit the bill exactly.

I started my manicure as usual with a coat of Pretty Serious "Rock On" Nail Strengthener, which is simply the best strengthener I've found anywhere, and I recommend it to everyone.  My nails are never intentionally without it, but after a really busy, rough week, my last mani had lost bits of polish here and there, and when I removed my polish I discovered I had three breaks that had to be patched.  I also had to file down a couple more nails on my left hand, which is usually my go-to hand for photographing, and that is why I've included a photo of my right hand because the nails are a bit longer. Once the strengthener had completely dried, I added a coat of Grace-full Base Coat, which I've found to be fantastic.  Whenever I use it, the polish stays on my fingers a lot longer than with any other base coat I've used to-date, and because I usually want my manicures to last for at least 4 or 5 days, and sometimes even longer, this is exactly what I want.

Then I added two coats of KBShimmer "Men Are From Mars-ala" to every nail except for my ring fingers, although one good coat would have been more than enough if I hadn't been going to photograph it for this blog.  This is one of the most beautiful polishes I've added to my collection since beginning my nail art journey, and since doing my manicure I haven't been able to stop looking at it- literally!  The colour looks amazing on my skin colour, its changes according to the light are wonderful, and the linear holographic shift, especially in sunlight, is unbelievable until you actually see it in person.  It went on smoothly, with no brush marks, and I think I can say, without a doubt, that this has been the easiest polish to apply that I have found since I started doing my nails last October.  The colour is simply beautiful - from a gorgeous, soft marsala shade under indoor lighting, to a simply amazing holographic, shimmery, bright marsala shade in the sun, and all the shades in between depending on what light I happen to be in.  Put quite simply, every facet of this polish blew me away, I'm now completely in love with the marsala colour itself as well, and will definitely be looking for more similar polishes to add to my collection. The only nail polish store I could find who stocked this polish, and would send it to Australia, was the Canadian online store, Harlow & Co., and you will find a link to their site if you click on both the name of the polish and the name of the company.

Next, I added two coats of Powder Perfect "Horse-lords", a rich, maroon jelly with gold & bronze glitter from this wonderful Australian Indie Polish maker.  This went on really easily, and there is heaps of glitter in the bottle, so I didn't have to go fishing for any, or even dab any extra bits of glitter on to fill in any gaps.  Two coats gave just the right amount of glitter, and I'm looking forward to actually trying this polish over a dark base polish, or even over a lighter polish that doesn't particularly please me.  The colour proved to be the perfect foil for "Men Are From Mars-ala", and the overall effect was just beautiful.

To finish off my manicure I applied one coat of Grace-full Nail Polish "Quick Dry Top Coat", which was more than enough to cover even the rough finish of the Powder Perfect "Horse-lords" glitter jelly polish beautifully, and give a smooth, glossy finish.  I love this top coat since buying it, and think it is easily the best one I have at the moment.

Here are some more photos of the finished manicure under different types of lighting so that you can see why I am so in love with this polish.  Unfortunately I was unable to get my camera to catch the full linear holographic effect that you can just see in the bottle in the photo at the top of this post, and also the photo taken in sunlight below, because it caused the camera to flare it was that bright, but I assure you, it is there, and in spades.

 

 

So, what do you think?  Do you agree that the KBShimmer "Men Are From Mars-ala" polish is as wonderful as I do?  And do you love the beautiful jelly glitter polish Powder Perfect "Horse-lords" as much as I do?  Please let me know if you have any comments, good or bad, or perhaps even some suggestions to help me improve my blogging skills, because I would love hear from you.

Well, that's me for another week.  I hope you will come back often to see what I have to share with you, and I can promise you I have some exciting posts coming in the not-to-distant future.

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/

All products used in this post were bought by me, and my opinion is given honestly and freely.

 

Pretty Serious Cosmetics Polish - My Latest Purchase and RAOK - 27 May 2015

I just had to come back and tell you about some more gorgeous polish I received last week, as well as three fantastic nail care products.  Some I bought, some were a Random Act Of Kindness from a dear friend I've made online through her blog and interaction on Facebook.

However, firstly I'd like to tell you that I hope to be able to do my first mani, after 9 weeks of going naked due to the nail glue disaster, this coming weekend.  Finally my nails have all grown past the nail bed, so it's safe to polish them again.  You have no idea how chuffed I am to finally be able to plan a manicure and, because I've done so much retail therapy to help me recover, I think I'm going to have to do full skittle manis for the next few weeks so that I can feature all the amazing polish I've accumulated.  I also think I may have found a place where I can buy storage cabinets for my nail polish, and if I have, I will share the news with you when I get them.  I saw one in my doctor's surgery treatment room, and it is exactly what I've been looking for, but the nurse couldn't remember exactly where she bought them.  She thinks it may have been from one of the hardware stores, so I'll be checking out Mitre 10 and Bunning's ASAP.  Please pray that I can find some, because the situation is becoming desperate.  I'm nearly drowning in nail polish and nail art supplies and tools, with nowhere to store them.

Now, on to the polish, and the nail care, that I received last week from Pretty Serious Cosmetics. Three of these products I purchased myself, and the other three were a RAOK sent by Christine of the Serenity Nails blog, for which I thank her so very, very much. I didn't know people like her existed any more, but I've made some amazing friends since starting my blog, and following other people's nail art blogs, and I've found they are all so helpful and encouraging.  Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

As you can see from the photos, all Pretty Serious Cosmetics nail products come in beautiful boxes: nail polish in gorgeous purple boxes, and nail care in gorgeous blue boxes. To start with, I'll tell you about the polish, and then I'll go on to the nail care products.

The first polish is "VT100", is described by Kaz, the owner of Pretty Serious Cosmetics and maker of these beautiful polishes, as a "fabulous emerald green filled with golden micro-glitter!".  I found it too hard to really capture the beauty of this polish, but if you click on the name, it will take you to the page on the store's site where you can see more photos.    It will open in a new window and take you there straight away. This is the green I've been looking for to use on St Patrick's Day, and probably at Christmas time, too.  Oh, and it's on special at the moment, and I think is going to be discontinued, so if you want some you'd better get there right away before it all disappears!

The second polish is "Kashmir", described as "a dark red based purple jelly with golden and copper microflakes, colour shifting purple to blue glass fleck and red opal flakes." Designed by Christine from the Serenity Nails blog, but made by Kaz.  The colour and shift is just soooo complex, and amazingly beautiful, and I was blessed with this polish by Christine herself, as part of the RAOK she asked Kaz to add to my order.   Check out Christine's amazing swatches on the Pretty Serious Cosmetics site by clicking on the name once again. It will open a new window and take you there straight away.  You can also see her review of this polish on her Serenity Nails blog here.  Her blog has been such an inspiration to me since I started doing nail art and looking for ways to repair and continue to look after my nails, and I know you won't be disappointed by her reviews, etc there.

The third polish is "CGA", which seems to no longer be available on the site.  I bought it while it was on special, and it has been discontinued, so unfortunately you won't be able to buy any, unless you can pick some up somewhere online in a destash or from a friend.  The only way I can describe "CGA" is as a pink/lavender creme with a blue-green shimmer.  It is just so pretty, and I wish it was still available. 

Now on to the Nail Care items from Pretty Serious Cosmetics.

Pretty Serious "Rock On" is a nail strengthener described as "just what you need to revitalise weak, peeling, break prone nails. This amazing formula strengthens the nail without hardening to allow for flexibility and minimised breakage. No more brittle nails here!"  As you know, my nails are really weak and fragile from my chemotherapy last year, and I have tried so many products that claimed to strengthen my nails AND protect them while doing so, none of which have lived up to the "protection" side of things.  However, with my first application of "Rock On", my nails were immediately stronger, and I haven't had a chip or break on them since last week.  Before that I was getting chips, peeling and breaking constantly throughout the time I've had naked nails while waiting for them to heal.  So, you can imagine how amazed I was to find them feeling so strong and flexible straight away.  Some of my nails are really thin, and were still a little too flexible, so I am using 2 coats of "Rock On" on them.  Of course, I know the permanent strengthening TREATMENT part of this product won't really take effect for at least 2 months or more, but at least I know that they will be protected while I'm waiting for the old nail to grow out.  I just wish I'd discovered this product when I first started doing my nails back in September/October.  So, please check it out if you haven't already done so.  You won't regret it, I'm sure.  Christine of Serenity Nails has done a wonderful review of this product, with instructions on how to best use it, and anything else you need to know about it, here.

"Cuticle Hero" is one of Pretty Serious Cosmetics' newest nail care items, and is described thus:
"If you need something a little more heavy duty than our Cute Cuticles range, then look no further. Our new Cuticle Hero is the hero your dry cuticles have been holding out for! Created from a blend of spa quality massage oils, Cuticle Hero will save the day leaving you with a smile and a delicate orange scent."  This product contains nut oils, so people allergic to nuts should beware.  I have been using this on my nails and cuticles ever since receiving it, and they simply slurp it up as though they are dying of thirst.  It has the most delicate citrus aroma, which hasn't affected me at all, even though I'm normally allergic to perfumed products, which give me asthma.  I've used it at least 3 times a day, and most days even more, and you can see by the level of the oil in the bottle in the photo, which I only took today, you only need a very small amount on each cuticle, so a bottle this size would last you for ages.  Find out more information on the site here.

"Harden Up" is another of their newest products, and Kaz says "We ain't got time for weak, puny, brittle nails! Get this strengthener on your nails right now! Harden Up helps thin, overly flexible nails find their inner strength. It's time to Harden Up, princess!"  I haven't tried this product yet, but if it is anywhere near as good as their other products that I have tried, I'm sure it will do my nails the world of good.

"Cuticle Hero" and "Harden Up" were part of the RAOK Care Package, and are definitely an amazingly thoughtful gift, for which I am very, very grateful.  Thank you so much, Christine.  You'll never know how much your generosity has touched my heart.  You are an angel sent from above, and I'm so glad that we met.

Pretty Serious Cosmetics is an Australian based company creating cruelty free and vegan products, and they ship worldwide, so nobody need miss out on any of their wonderful products.  I, for one, will be buying many more items from them in the future, and am really looking forward to receiving another package from them as soon as I can afford some more.  As I use these products for my manicures and nail art I'll will review them in more detail for you.

I'll be back in a day or two with the details of a stash that I received today, but that's it for now.  Thanks for visiting, and I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you.  You can also follow my blog if you so wish by filling in the boxes at the top right-hand side of the page.

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/

My Latest Purchases From Grace-full Polish as promised - 26 April 2015

Sorry for the delay, but I've had a very busy week.  I can't believe it has taken so long to put these up, because they are absolutely awesome.

I have eight bottles of polish to show you today, all made by Theresa Carter of Grace-full Nail Polish in Port Sorell, Tasmania.  These polishes are all hand mixed, and 3 free, which means they don't have those horrible nasties so many of the mainstream polishes have.  Unfortunately I still cannot swatch any polish, so all I can show you are the bottles.  If you want to see some swatches, just click on the name of the polish, and it will take you to the link on the Grace-full Nail Polish site.

Here are the first four polishes I want to show you, which were in the first order of the two I'm featuring today:

 

 

 

The first one is "Christine", which is "a gorgeous rich teal with shimmer and flakie sparkle", which I just had to have, of course, because my name is Christine.  However, the main reason I bought it is because this is such a beautiful teal shimmer polish in any light, and photos just can't do it full justice.  The shimmer effect is amazing.  It is on sale on the site at the moment, so I don't think it will be around for much longer, because I think it has been discontinued.  So, if you like the look of it, you'd better get in quick before it is all gone!

The second polish I have to show you is "Mandy", which Theresa describes as "a deep blue that has purple undertones, lighter blue micro flakies and blue fantasy flakies that have sparkling effects and a glamorous look", and that's exactly what you see when you view it in the flesh.  It is such a vibrant blue, unlike any I've found anywhere else.  It also is on sale, and probably is on the discontinued list, so it is another one you should hurry and grab now before it, too, disappears forever!  This polish was a free gift to help cheer me up, and I'd just like to say thank you to Theresa for being so kind and thoughtful.  I can't believe how generous and encouraging all my nail art friends and the Aussie Indie Polish makers have been to me since my nail disaster 5 weeks ago.  They are really such a wonderful group of people, and I'm so glad I've met them all, and am making new friends daily since joining some of the Facebook groups.

Now onto "Eboni", which is described as "a dark purple galaxy, similar to O Holy Night but in purple with silver holo stars, violet hex and squares and rainbow iridescent glitter."  I bought this polish for 2 reasons - firstly, because it is the name of my cat (if you change the "i" to a "y"), but mostly because it is soooooo AWESOME!  The photos leave a lot to be desired, because it's almost impossible to show it in pictures.  The swatches on the site are really good, though, and will give you a better idea of what it's like.  It's like looking up into the sky at midnight when you are out in the open away from artificial lighting!  I am dying to get this onto my fingers, and the wait is really depressing me.  A friend suggested swatching these polishes onto swatching sticks/wheels, but I WANT TO SEE THEM ON MY NAILS!  Please pray that my nails will hurry up and grow out so that I can start painting them again.

The last polish in this section is "And My Axe", which unfortunately is no longer available.  It is a beautiful brown jelly, loaded with copper, gold, pink and holographic glitter of various sizes and shapes. It truly is a unique polish, and it's a shame that it has disappeared from the site, because once I'd received it I would have loved to have bought another bottle.  I'm going to see if I can talk Theresa into bringing it back sometime soon.

Now to the next four polishes, which are from the second purchase that I'm featuring today:

 

 

The first of these polishes is "Tiffany" (which is the name of my other cat), and is a polish that Theresa added to my order as a special thank you gift, and to cheer me up.  Apparently it was a polish she made for her friends for Christmas, and I'm sure, if I was one of her friends who received it, I would have gone into raptures, and would immediately declare Theresa as my BFF, because that is how I felt the moment I saw it.  It is a beautiful red/gold microglitter, holographic colour-shifting polish, and is mind-blowing. I haven't been able to stop looking at this polish since I opened my package, and my husband kept laughing at me, because I kept picking it up and moving it about under the light, and/or in the sunlight, and saying "I can't believe someone would be so kind as to give me this!", or "OMG! This is soooooo AWESOME!" The pictures above were taken in natural light, but here are a few other photos I took under artificial light to try to give you a better idea of it's beauty:

  

As you can see, this one was a very hard one to catch the real effect of on camera.  I just wish everyone could have a bottle of this amazing polish.  You really have to see it to believe it!  Thank you so much, Theresa.  You made my day!!!!

The second polish in this section is "Love's Bouquet", described as "a deep purple jelly full of violet, fuchsia, red, garnet, lilac and purple glitters in various sizes."  This one is so gorgeous, and the flashes of colour when you move the bottle are fabulous, but it also is on the discontinued list, and is on special, so check it out on the site before it disappears forever.  Don't miss out, now!  Be quick and check out the beautiful swatches on the site so you can get a better idea of its true beauty!

The next polish in this section is "You Have My Bow", which is from the "Fellowship Collection", and Theresa describes it as "inspired by Legolas Greenleaf and named after the pledge he makes to Frodo that begins the fellowship. This jelly has a leaf green base and is packed with different green glitters in hexes, triangles and dots as they represent both woods of the elves and his last name, and a sprinkle of small gold glitter to represent his blond hair."  This is the green jelly polish that I wish I'd had for St Patrick's Day (if I'd been able to do nail art for St Patrick's Day sigh!).  The green is sooooo green, it's like looking at the clover in your backyard lawn just after the rain, with the sunshine reflecting off the raindrops on the leaves.  It also appears to be going to disappear soon, because it, too, is on special, so you must grab this one if you love to celebrate St Pat's Day!  I'm sure you'll regret it if you miss out, so don't wait too long!

And the last polish I have to show you today is just wonderful.  It's called "Trudi", and is another beautiful explosion of glitter in an amazing jelly polish.  Theresa describes this one as "a deep magenta jelly base with Fuchsia diamonds and dots, orange hex and gold squares and large dots."  I couldn't believe the colour of this one when I saw it, and it just blew my mind!  The different size and shape of the glitters are so amazing, and I fell in love AGAIN!  You really should check out the photos on the site to get a better idea of just how beautiful this polish is.

I really don't know how Theresa comes up with such beautiful polishes time after time after time, and I didn't think she could top the ones she already has on her site, but she has just proven me wrong.  Her latest collection, the Fireside Collection, is so fabulous it set my heart beating the minute I saw the teaser swatches on the Grace-full Nail Polish Fan Group page on Facebook. (You really should join this group if you want to find out what's coming up.  It is a closed group, so only members can get to see the sneak previews, etc, but it's very easy to join).  Then, when Theresa finally showed us the official release photo of the set, ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE in the group, I think, fell completely and utterly in love with them all.  I have purchased the whole collection, and they may well be the first lot of polishes I review when my nails are ready to be polished again.  So, keep an eye out, or better still, check them out right now at Grace-full Nail Polish "Fireside Collection".  If you do end up buying some of Theresa's polish, please let her know that you heard about her site on my blog, and also let your nail art friends know about her site, too.  It doesn't get me anything at all, except the pleasure of introducing someone else to some of the most beautiful polishes available, and to think they come from my beautiful home state of Tasmania makes me so proud.

Well, that's all for today.  I'm sure these photos will give you all something to think and talk about, and I hope you love all these polishes as much as I do.  Since discovering Aussie Indie Polish makers online I've become even more addicted, if that is at all possible.  At the moment just about every one of them is putting out new collections, and trying to choose which one to buy now, and which ones I can wait a pension day or two for, is very, very hard. 

I will try to show you some photos of my new polishes as they arrive, and of course, Mother's Day and my birthday are both coming up soon, so who knows?  Maybe I'll be blessed with some more wonderful polish.  My nails are growing slowly, are looking quite good, and I only have one more week of this first 28-day treatment program, so I may even be able to try to swatch some polish next week.  It will depend how strong they are.  If they are still too weak, I'm going to wait a week or so and then repeat the program for another month.  I would rather suffer from withdrawal a bit longer than risk damaging my nails again by starting swatching and/or doing nail art too soon.  I must say that retail therapy has helped a bit, but having all these beautiful polishes just sitting here looking at me, and begging me to try them out, is driving me quite spare.  Oh, well, better to be sure than sorry.

I hope you'll come back soon to see what else I have to show you, and that you will let your friends know about my blog. You may follow my blog if you so wish by filling in the boxes on the top right-hand side of the page.

Have a wonderful week, 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/

I was not paid in any way, shape or form for showing you these polishes.
 I bought them all with my own money, except for the two cheer-up gifts, and my opinions are given freely and without bias.

Nail Recovery Update, BUT New Damage! 10 April 2015

Hi, everyone! I hope you had a great Easter and got lots of rest, and hopefully got time to do lots of nail art.

I thought I'd better touch base and give you an update on how my nails are recovering after the disaster I told you about in my last blog two weeks ago, and also let you know what happened yesterday - another disaster!

Here are some photos of my damaged nails from 2 weeks ago and how they're recovering.

 

As you can see, the two badly damaged nails on the left hand are starting to recover nicely, and so is the thumb on my right hand.  I have been using an intensive recovery regime on all my nails and my hands since all the damage was done, and it is very encouraging to see that it appears to be working.  For the first week I used pure Jojoba Oil, Revitanail Nourishing Oil, Revitanail Keratin Strengthening Serum and Revitanail Hand & Nail Cream. 

After a week, once my nails had stopped hurting so much, I started on the Revitanail Nail Strengthener program, which involves 2 coats on the first day, 1 coat each day for the next 5 days, removing it on the 7th day, and then repeating this for 3 more weeks.  The whole program takes 28 days, and then you can leave it off for a week or two, and repeat the 28 day program again until you are happy with the strength of your nails.  You can't use nail polish over the treatment, so I'm afraid my nails are totally nude all the time at the moment.

As well as the Nail Strengthener, I have continued to use pure Jojoba Oil, Revitanail Nourishing Oil, Revitanail Keratin Strengthening Serum and Revitanail Hand & Nail Cream as often as I can, and will continue to do so in the future, particularly as it really does appear to be working so well. My husband keeps looking at me and saying "Are you still rubbing your nails?", and I just say to him "Again, darl, again!". Nearly every 30 minutes finds me rubbing one treatment or another into my hands and/or nails.  In fact, I find myself massaging my cuticles even when I'm just sitting reading because it has become such a habit. Some of the skin on my fingers has started to peel off, too, caused by the burning from the acetone I used trying to get the nail glue off my nails and fingers. The tips of some of my fingers are still very tender and quite sore, so I'm having to be really careful what I do each day so no more damage is done.

So, that's the good news!  Now to the disaster last night. When I took the nail strengthener treatment off last night, I discovered that I actually had two more nails that were broken right down below the quick, and I felt physically sick.  I couldn't believe it, even though I had suspected for the last couple of days that one of them may be broken.  So, they have now been filed right back as far as I could, and I also filed back my unbroken nails so that they don't look ridiculous.  The broken nails are really sore, too, because of how far down I had to file them. Here is a photo of my right hand showing the damage, and also how some of my nails have lifted off the nail bed due to the damage done from my chemotherapy treatment last year. Most of the nails that have broken have suffered this damage, and that is why they have broken so far down my nails.

  

Now it's back to the drawing board, and onward and upward, I hope! I'm heartbroken that all this has happened just when my nails were starting to grow, and had started to look quite good when polished.  I didn't get to do an Easter design, which I was really looking forward to doing, and it doesn't look like I'll be doing one for Mother's Day next month, or perhaps even for my birthday in June.  Getting my nails in good, strong condition is more important at this stage, so that is what I am endeavouring to do.

I will be back in a couple of days to show you some of my new polishes that I have been receiving in the mail.  Retail therapy is great when you're feeling miserable, and many of the Indie Polish makers have had sales and special offers on over Easter, so I've been busy checking them all out.  It helps to keep my mind off things, too, which is good.  I only wish I had more money to spend, because, after all, a girl can NEVER have too much polish, can she?

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and for those in Tasmania, make sure you keep warm.  It's going to be a wet, chilly couple of days. Please come back soon to see what I have to share with you, and please let others know about my site if you have enjoyed your visit.

Hugs

Christine

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

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

Absolute Disaster on 27 March 2015 - DON'T BUY THIS NAIL GLUE!!!!!!

Yesterday I had an absolute disaster with 3 of my nails which I was trying to patch, using a different nail glue to the one I usually use, and here is how my nails and fingers look today!

As a result of this, I want to advise everyone NOT TO BUY THE NAIL GLUE shown below:

and here's the full story of what happened.

After taking off last week's manicure and the patches I had on three of my nails, I still couldn't cut my nails back because they were broken a long way down the actual nail, and not only on the tip section.  So, I set out to put patches on them again before I put on this week's mani.  I had run out of the glue I had been using, which came with the Manicare Nail Repair Kit I bought months ago, so I decided to use the nail glue shown above, which I had bought to use to attach artificial nail swabs to my nail polish bottle lids before I put them up on the shelves.  It said "Nail Glue", so I presumed it would be safe to use, and I had to make a tiny hole with a sharp needle in the top, so there should have only been a small drop of glue on the index nail on my left hand (the one with breaks on both sides of the nail) when I put it on.  However, that is not what happened.  It spread all over my nail, and onto two of my fingers, and then dried instantly.  My fingers were stuck together, but I managed to get them apart, and managed to finish that patch.

I then spent half an hour trying to get the glue off my fingers with acetone, and still didn't manage to get it all off, but I wanted to go ahead and patch the other two nails that needed repairing, so I decided to finish trying to get it off after I had finished the patches.  I had read during the week that micropore tape from the pharmacy is a good alternative to tea bags to use for patches, so I applied some over the splits on the middle finger on my left hand and the thumb on my right hand.  I filed off the excess bit of the fibreglass tape that I used with the nail glue patch, and smoothed off the surface of the glue.  

Next, I added two coats of Sally Hansen "Hard As Nails" original formula nail hardener to all my nails, waiting for each coat to dry before adding the next one.  I then added one coat of Jordana "Mellow Yellow" to all my nails except for my ring fingers, and one coat of Sinful Colors "White On White" to my ring finger nails.  I was planning to do a gold and green water marble manicure for the Cricket World Cup Final on Sunday, 29 March 2015, in which Australia are playing.  However, when the polish finally dried on the patched nails, I noticed that the polish was really rough on the ones I used the micropore tape on.  So, I decided to remove the micropore patches and do them the same way as the one with the glue, and that's when disaster struck.

The micropore tape nails were easy to clean and remove the tape, but when I tried to do the patch on the first nail, glue went all over my fingers again.  I then tried to add some acetone to a cotton swab to try to get it off, but the acetone went all over the nails on my right hand, and I just burst into tears.  Then I tried to use the acetone to remove the glue from my fingers once again, and most of it just wouldn't shift.  I used the foil method with 100% acetone on the two nails with the glue on, and after 15 minutes they still hadn't shifted, so I added more to them, left the remover on for 15 minutes, and the glue hadn't even budged.  I tried again, and again, and finally managed to get the patch piece off, but the glue underneath still wasn't going to budge.  

Meanwhile, all this time, my finger and nails was burning because of the acetone, so I switched to an acetone-based polish remover, and after about 2 hours I finally managed to remove most of the glue, but in the process the nail on my index finger broke right off, and the other break got worse.  That's when I really gave up, and decided to cut all the broken nails off as carefully as I could, and filed the rest of my nails back a lot so they didn't look ridiculous.  I was really crying my heart out at this stage, because I was watching 9 months of careful nurturing and beautiful manicures going out the window, and my nails looked worse than they did when I first started my blog after the chemotherapy damage.  One of the nails even started bleeding, and you can see how badly the tips of my fingers were damaged by the glue and the acetone.

 

 

So, now I won't be able to do anything but nourish, strengthen and pamper my nails and hands for weeks until they start to recover, and start from scratch again.  I am absolutely heart-broken, and feeling extremely discouraged.  I just wish I could find some glue like the one I got with the Manicare Nail Repair Kit to use with the tea bag patches, but I think the only way I'm going to be able to is to buy a whole new kit, even though I've still got half the fibreglass strips left, and the emery board will last for a long time yet.  

This was a horrible lesson to learn, but I will never put nail glue made for false nails near my nails again, especially the one I tried.  After more than three whole hours just to get the two patches off, plus the time taken to put the base coat and polish on, and then take it off, and still picking glue off my fingers, I guess all I can do is start treating my nails and hands with kid gloves, and use everything in my arsenal to repair the damage.  My first port of call was, of course, my Jojoba Oil, but I have other things I can use, so my next few posts will most likely be updates on how my nails are going and how the different products that I use perform. 

I hope you won't give up on me, and that you will come back again to see how things are going.  If I find anything interesting on my travels around the internet I'll let you know, and will also keep you informed about any new polishes I get while I'm waiting to start polishing my nails again.

Bye for now, and I hope to be back real soon.  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/

My First Water Marble Manicure - 24 March 2015

Yesterday I did my first water marble manicure, and I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. 

Picture on left was taken inside under artificial light, and the one on the right was taken in the shade.

 
Please forgive the rough skin around my finger tips and cuticles, but my nails have had a pretty tough time over the last few days.  My index finger and my middle finger on my left hand, and my thumb on my right hand, all have patches on them.  They broke half-way down my nails - they have all pulled away from the nail bed down the side of the nails because of the chemotherapy damage, and they are still very thin and fragile there.  I still don't know whether this damage will be permanent, or if they will grow back onto the nail bed as the new nail growth comes through.  Only time will tell!  I went out today and bought some Revitanail "Strengthener", "Keratin Strengthening Serum", Nourishing Oil" and "Hand & Nail Cream".  They are on special at Terry White's Pharmacies, 3 items for the price of 2, this week (in Australia), and I'm going to start using them all as often as possible.  I'm afraid I haven't been following my own advice lately because I've been so busy, and have also been feeling really depressed and not at all motivated, so I have to start practicing what I preach again and try to get things back on track.

Now, on to my water marble manicure.  I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen "Hard As Nails" strengthener because all my nails are so fragile, and I'm hoping this will help to keep them from breaking.  I got 6 bottles of it REALLY cheap before Christmas on eBay, but forgot I had it.  When my nails broke (after I'd stopped crying - literally), I started thinking about what strengthening base coats I had that I could use, and I remembered I had this.  So, God willing, I won't have any more breaks for a while.

I then added two coats of OPI "Alpine Snow" white cream polish to all my nails. I don't really like this polish because I need three coats to get a smooth finish, but because I was actually planning to do a plastic wrap marble manicure (tutorial here http://polishandpearls.com/watercolor-nails/ and elsewhere online), I just left it at two coats.  However, I couldn't get this manicure style to work with the polishes I wanted to use, so I decided to try an actual water marble instead (tutorial here http://www.beautybay.com/EssentialBeauty/Articles/watermarblenailstutorial and in many other places online). 

I then smeared Vaseline around all my nails and part-way up my fingers to make cleaning up a lot easier, because water marbling is very messy.  I had to be careful not to get any of the Vaseline on the actual nails, because it would have stopped the nail polish from going onto the nails.

Next, I filled my bowl with tepid water straight from the tap, and added drops of OPI "Alpine Snow" (white), Face of Australia Pastels "Boys 'N' Berries" (blue), OPI "Mod About You" (pale pink) and OPI "Planks A Lot" (lilac) (in this order).  I did this three times for each design (twelve drops in all), and then used a toothpick to make my design, following the above tutorial as a guide.  All the polishes spread over the water really well, which was great. I used a small glass bowl because I wanted to do all my nails at the same time, instead of individually or in pairs, which is the usual way it is done, because I was so frustrated that the other design hadn't worked and wanted to get it over and done with.  My design was a random one, instead of any particular design, in which I just swirled the colours around and through each other until I was happy with the distribution of the colours.  Then I just dipped all five fingers of my left hand in the bowl at once, and repeated all this with the other hand.

I finished off my manicure with one coat of Revlon "Quick Dry Top Coat", which gave me a beautiful, glossy finish. I am rather pleased with the end result, and really love the way the colour combination worked out.  Of course, I still have a lot to learn about this technique, but with all the advice and tutorials available on YouTube, and numerous blogs and websites online, I should be able to have a lot of fun trying out new designs, and a multitude of colour combinations, in the future.  It really is quite easy to do, I found, and the mess was easy to clean up because I had used the Vaseline around my nails and fingers.  Next time I'm going to try using sticky tape around my nails and fingers, and see how that goes.

Thank you so much for visiting, and I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you.  If you so wish, you can follow me by filling in one of the boxes at the top right-hand side of the page, and I'd love you to share it with your nail-art friends.  Now I'm off to put some cuticle oil on my cuticles and lots of hand-cream on my hands.  I couldn't believe how dry they were until I took the  photos.  My new phone has a really good camera, and it's picking up flaws in my manicures, and every little bit of damage to my nails, cuticles and hands, which don't show up when you just look at them day to day.  So, I've got lots of work to do to repair all the damage, as if I didn't have enough problems with my nails already.  Oh, well, that's my own fault, I guess, for letting things slide.

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/

Caring For Your Nails Before, During and After Chemotherapy

I have just realised that, despite the main aim of my blog being to help others who are going through chemotherapy, I haven't put my nail care advice guide, that I wrote just before I started my blog, on the site.  Silly me!!!!!  So, here it is, and I hope it can help keep someone going through chemotherapy from experiencing what I went through with my nails.  Firstly, I'd like to show you the damage done to my nails by the chemotherapy.

Caring For Your Nails Before, During and After Chemotherapy

Before I started chemotherapy for breast cancer, I was told by my oncologist, and the breast-care nurse, to paint my nails with dark nail polish to protect my nails from the sun's UV rays, and to hide any damage that might occur.  Despite using nail polish, my nails were still horribly damaged - they went a horrible brown colour, started to flake and peel, and even started to come away from the nail bed.  I went searching for information to help me repair my nails, and also ways to care for them once they were looking good again.  No one told me any of this information before I started chemotherapy, but if they had, I possibly may not have had any of the problems with my nails that I did.

So, I decided I wanted to try to help prevent all the beautiful women (and men) going through chemotherapy from going through the same experience I did.  Here are some things I WAS NOT TOLD that you really need to know BEFORE you start chemotherapy.

1.  Prevention is better than a cure, of course, so be prepared and start early. As soon as you know that you are going to have chemotherapy, start using the nail and hand routine below, and do it every day without fail.  Hopefully, this may stop you from getting the severe damage I did.  I can't promise it will prevent all the damage, but it should help a lot, and should definitely help to keep your nails from drying out.

2.  Buy yourself the best CUTICLE OIL/NOURISHING SERUM you can afford.  Revitanail and Sally Hansen make some really great ones that nourish, strengthen and protect your nails, but there are other brands out there too.  They are readily available from pharmacies, department stores, beauty shops, Priceline stores and, of course, online.

     

     I have recently discovered that PURE JOJOBA OIL is the best thing you can use on your hands and nails, so I am using that now, too.  It is available at health food shops, Priceline and Chemist Warehouse, but it is a lot less expensive online, and there are many companies that sell it.  Check out eBay, or just Google it and you will be amazed by the other uses it has, too.  It's also odourless.  AMAZING STUFF!!!  

    I would suggest you use both the cuticle oil and Jojoba Oil to give you even more protection from damage.  Massage one of them into you nails and cuticles every time you wash your hands if you can, but at least twice a day, morning and night.

3.  ALWAYS use a GOOD QUALITY BASE COAT on your nails before applying your nail polish, because today's nail polishes are made to adhere to the base coat, not your nails.  It will help stop your nails from being stained by the nail polishes you use, too.  You can also get strengthening and nourishing base coats - even more protection and nourishment for your nails.  Availability is the same as for the cuticle oils. 

4.  Apply as many coats of nail polish as you need to get the coverage on your nail you want, waiting for each coat to dry before applying the next coat.  Usually two coats are enough, but some polishes require three.  Apply thin coats, because the thicker the coat the longer it will take to dry.  They are available from the same places as mentioned above.

5.  If you want your nail polish to last more than just a few days, you should use a good quality TOP COAT to stop it from chipping and getting damaged.  There are some great top coats available, from the companies I have already mentioned, and of course from the same places.  Reapply your top coat every other day to make your polish last longer.

6.  Finish off by applying a good quality HAND AND NAIL CREAM.  Massage a generous amount into your hands and nails at least twice a day, but more often if you are washing your hands a lot, because washing dries out both your hands and nails.

7.  Always try to use gloves when you are washing the dishes, gardening or cleaning around the house, because they, too, will help to prevent your nails from getting damaged.

8.  Always use an ACETONE-FREE POLISH REMOVER, because acetone dries your nails out, and is very harsh on your cuticles.  There are some great conditioning ones for different skin types. They are available from the same places as the other nail care products.

9.  Every time you remove your nail polish, massage your cuticle oil/nourishing serum into your nails and cuticles several times, over a couple of hours, before applying your next nail polish.  This gives the oil/serum a better chance of getting right into your nails and cuticles, and will really make a difference to how strong and healthy they are.

10. Don't use a metal nail file or emery board on your nails, because they will only cause even more damage.  Buy a good quality Czech crystal/glass nail file , which is a lot finer and so much kinder to your nails.  Manicare sell a great one which I use.  Don't be tempted to buy a cheap Chinese one, because the quality is inferior and could cause damage.

11. There are ECO-FRIENDLY VERSIONS available for all the products mentioned above if you are concerned about the environment or have allergies.  These are usually advertised as being 3-free or 5-free, which means they don't contain the nasty chemicals most of the other polishes do.  Just Google for more information and where to purchase them.

12. Lastly, one of the most important reasons for putting nail polish on your nails is that it not only helps to protect your nails, but THEY WILL LOOK GREAT, too, and that will make you feel better about yourself, and that has to be a good thing.  When you see the range of nail polish and nail art products available, even scented ones, you will be amazed at how attractive you can make them, it will really lift your spirits, and may even help to take your mind off what you are going through, which is what happened with me.

If this information helps to keep just one person from getting the damage chemotherapy did to my nails I will be happy.  Seeing my nails the way they were was so depressing, and that was the last thing I needed, and the last thing YOU will need while you are going through your chemotherapy treatment, and afterwards, during your recovery period.  If you already have damage, it's never too late to start looking after them.  It really is worth the effort.

Here's a photo taken on 25th February 2015, less than five months after the last photo was taken, showing the improvement which following the above regime has made to my nails and cuticles.  There is still some damage, for example the lifting from the nail bed, but I'm hoping that will improve with time, God willing.  Most of this improvement has come since starting to use the pure Jojoba Oil mentioned earlier.  Please do give this amazing essential oil a try.  It's an absolute miracle worker, and makes your hands and nails feel great, too.

I would like to wish you all the best for your journey through your cancer treatment, and hope that you reach the other end with a good outcome.  Look good and you'll feel better!

© Christine Chipman 2014

 My Nail Art Journey - http://chips48nailartjourney.blogspot.com.au/

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.

Amazing results from last mani!

I'm completely amazed at the results I got from my last mani.  After 10 days, just before I took it off, there were only two chips in my polish.  I'm definitely going to keep using the OPI Natural Nail Base Coat and OPI Top Coat.  They are awesome.  I topped up the top coat every other day, and I just can't believe how long it lasted.  Here is a photo showing you how it looked after the 10 days.  Sorry about the focus, but it was the only one I had to show you.

Below is how my nails looked after I took my nail polish off.  You can see that the new growth is looking really healthy, but the tips are still looking awful. 

 

There are actually 3 different areas of growth on each nail - the tips show the damage done by the chemotherapy, the middle of my nails shows how they have regrown just using Revitanail Nourishing Oil and Revitanail Keratin Strengthening Serum, and at the base of my nails you can see where I started using Pure Jojoba Oil as my main treatment, with the occasional use of the nourishing oil and strengthening serum, and of course, hand and nail cream (I have still to find an ideal one, but I slather it on as often as I can).  If anyone knows of a good hydrating hand cream that will plump up the skin on my hands so they don't look so old, that is reasonably priced, I'd really love to hear about it.

I use Jojoba Oil at least 3 times a day, and some days even more, especially before I do my new manicure each week.  I spend about 2 - 3 hours rubbing Jojoba Oil into my nails and cuticles every half-hour or so before I start applying my polish.  The results are fantastic, and I would recommend Jojoba Oil to everyone as their main cuticle and nail treatment.  You can buy it here, or just Google Jojoba Oil.  Also check out just what you can use it for.  I was extremely surprised with just what it does.  It will be very easy to find wherever you live, I'm sure.

I'll be back tomorrow with my new nail art for this week, and will also show you what happened that brought me to tears yesterday while I was out shopping, after I'd taken my nail polish off, but before I had done my new mani.

Thanks for visiting, and God bless you.  I hope you'll come back soon to see how my nail art journey is developing.

Hugs

Christine

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

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/

30 Easy Nail Art Designs eBook

Today I'd like to tell you about a great Nail Art eBook I found about a month and a half ago which has been a huge help to me with my nail art.  It's by Maria Vlezko from the SoNailicious website.  You can find it at http://sonailicious.com/30-easy-nail-art-designs-nail-tutorials/, and it really is a must-have in your nail art collection.  There are 30 great nail art designs, with step-by-step photos for each one, plus heaps of hints and tips to help you get the best out of your nail art experience.  Here is a photo:

I hope you will go and check it out, and while you're there, also checkout Maria's blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.  She has some terrific tutorials, and lots of nail art ideas, hints and tips.  You will find links on the same page as the book details. 

I don't have anything more for you today because I had a doctor's appointment at the local hospital (my 6-week post-radiotherapy checkup), and he said everything seemed fine, and I don't have to go back for another 4 months.  YAY!!!!!  I also went looking for more nail art supplies at our local large stationery store, and I found some interesting bits and pieces which I hope to feature in the future on my blog for you.

Have a very happy day, and I'll see you again soon (I hope).

Hugs

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