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.

Manicure for 17 January 2015 - Very Disappointing!

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God bless you, and have a wonderful week.

Hugs

Christine

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

Words of Life and Hope

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