Notable Mani's of May 2014

I'm sad to say that I haven't got a great deal to share this month. As some of you know, I had an incredibly difficult month, dealing with a break up after a relationship of several years, whilst also studying for finals at the same time. I really didn't spend much time on my nails! Anyway I do have a few to show...

I was instantly drawn to this peachy gold polish. It's a classy colour without being too boring.

This fuschia polish was impossible to say no to. It was on sale when I bought so it was less than $2, score! It definitely made my gloomy days a little brighter.

OPI 'Penny For Your Thoughts'

Face of Australia Siren Polish in 'Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend'

Leopard print is such a simple yet awesome mani to pull off. I was tossing about what sort of colours to use, of course I chose pink...

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in 'First Blush'

Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine in 'Lustrous'

OPI 'Designer De Better'

These polishes appear in literally every mani post! Everyone needs a versatile pink, a black and gold/silver in their collection. 

This was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest. I absolutely loved the colour combo, mint and pale pink go together so well! I used a fine dotting tool to extract single bits of glitter to use on my feature nail with the flowers. This glittery OPI polish is one of my absolute faves, it's just so pretty!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'First Blush'

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in 'White On'

OPI 'Pink Yet Lavender'

Revlon 'Minted'

Again, some familiar suspects here...

Those are my mani's of the month...I hope you enjoyed them xx

Notable Mani's of April 2014

I had a pretty boring month last month with my nails, luckily I have lots of exciting mani's to share with you from April!

Polka dots

China Glaze 'For Audrey'

Revlon Colorstay 'Sequin'

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'White On'

This was a very easy mani to do! For Audrey is one of my favourite colours, and it's quite well known in the nail world. 

OPI 'Designer De Better'

Ulta3 'Creme Brulee'

Sally Hansen Laquer Shine 'Lustrous' 

This mani was inspired by Be Happy and Buy Polish. I love her blog and her photos are gorgeous! I'm actually wearing Creme Brulee right now and I'm loving it. It's a great nude for my skin tone. 

Pretty Serious

'The Pink One'

'Crystal Lake'

I placed an order with Pretty Serious Cosmetics last month and here are some of their polishes. The pink polish is super hot pink with a bit of blue toned sheen and has become my new favourite pink. Crystal Lake is also very pretty, and in the photo above it's been layered over a turquoise polish.  

Rimmel I Love Lasting Finish 'Misty Jade'

Rimmel 60 Seconds 'How Do You Lilac It?'

Ulta3 'Pink Peony'

Ulta3 'Lily White'

Sally Hansen Extreme Wear 'First Blush'

Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine 'Lustrous'

Rimmel 60 Seconds 'Sunny Days'

Rimmel I Love Lasting Finish 'Apricot Punch'

Essie 'Bikini So Teeny'

Seeing as Easter was this month, I thought I would jump on the Easter mani bandwagon. I wasn't entirely happy with how the bunny turned out because it looks a bit zombie-like, but overall it was pretty cool. So many polishes used for this one! Also it's the first time I've ever used yellow nail polish, it wasn't as bad as I thought. 

Chanel 'Black Satin'

Ulta3 'Lily White'

OPI 'Designer De Better'

Rimmel 60 Seconds 'How Do You Lilac It?'

This turned out to be a very nice colour combination. 

OPI 'Koala Berry'

Chanel 'Black Satin'

OPI 'Designer De Better'

This mani felt really classy and got a lot of compliments. I definitely will do one like this again and swap the colour palette. 

Powder Perfect 'Elation'

I can't resist glitter, so I obviously had to get this. It's my first Powder Perfect polish and I'm impressed with it, it's a gorgeous forest green that looks amazing in the sunlight.

And that's it from me for the month, I hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned for next month!

Notable Mani's of March 2014

I have had such a busy month that I haven't been doing many cool things with my nails. As I type this, my nails are sporting shellac from the Epic Nail Shellac Kit - I went away for a week and didn't want to have to worry about chipping. For the next few weeks, I'm on placement for uni + still working weekends so that leaves not much time for my nails :( anyway, I do have a few pictures...

I ordered a couple of Emily de Molly polishes...they are the bomb! I am totally in love with the glittery green one (although it is super hard to remove) and the holo is pretty cool too.

Emily de Molly polishes

Folklore

Moment of Impact

I saw this on Pinterest and had to give it a go! It would have been perfect for Valentine's Day. I got so many compliments on this which was awesome because it was such a simple design.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'Lust for Blush'

Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine in 'Lustrous'

Jordana Polish in 'Fascinated with Red'

And that's it for the month. I'm sorry it wasn't as exciting as previous months but life is getting in the way! Thanks for reading xx

Notable mani's of February 2014

Welcome to my second installment of mani's of the month. Catch up on January's post if you would like to :) If you are following me on Instagram then you need no introduction. If you're new here, basically I treat my nails like a canvas and I like to paint pretty things on them as much as possible :)

A zig zag mani, inspiration courtesy of Pinterest. I actually didn't like it very much because I felt the silver-grey dulled it down too much. Maybe if I had used a bright pink instead. Other than that, I'm happy with how the zig zags came out.

L-R

Australis Nail Colour in 'Aqua'

Australis Nail Colour in 'Peek-a-boo'

Ulta3 in 'Lily White'

Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine in 'Lustrous'

Revlon in 'Silver Screen'

A Valentine's Day mani! I have already done a post about this mani and how it was done, so to avoid repetition I won't say too much but feel free to check out the post :)

Again, something I saw on Pinterest. I absolutely adored this mani! The pale pink is such a pretty colour, and the stripes look really awesome too. 

L-R

Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine in 'Lustrous'

Revlon Colorstay in 'Sequin'

Ulta3 in 'Lily White'

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in 'First Blush'

No special nail art here, but this colour is the brighest pink I have ever seen. It is literally fluro highlighter pink. I got so many compliments while I was wearing it!

Ulta3 in 'Fruit Tingle'

Pinterest strikes again! I used a fine brush and a LOT of patience to do the design for this. Well worth it though. 

L-R

Face of Australia Carnival in 'Ferris Wheel'

Ulta3 'Lily White'

And that's it for the month! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post :) xx

Notable mani's of January 2014

If you're following me on Instagram, you'll know I'm always doing something with my nails. ALWAYS. There's never a bare moment. So I think I'll do a monthly series where I showcase my notable mani's of the month. These pictures are mostly taken from my Instagram account (username: chocolate_squeeze), so those of you who are following me may have seen these photos before.

Mint Leopard Mani

I created this using a tutorial by Elleanddish. I absolutely love her tutorials, they are so creative and easy to follow. Definitely check out her channel if you're a nail junkie :)

Polishes used:

Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine in 'Lustrous' 

Revlon in 'Newly Minted'

Rimmel 60 Seconds in 'Caramel Cupcake'

Sally Hansen Gem Crush in 'Big Money'

Marc Jacobs Inspired Mani

Again, another tutorial by Elleandish!

Polishes used:

Ulta3 in 'Lily White'

Rimmel 60 Seconds in 'Caramel Cupcake'

OPI in 'Goldeneye'

Revlon in 'Gold Coin'

Glittery mani

Polishes used:

Butter London in 'Henley Regatta'

Rimmel 60 Seconds in 'Green With Envy'

Shellac mani

Using a shellac polish called 'Cheeky Pink' from the Epic Nail shellac kit! Review to come verrry soon ;)

I hope you enjoyed this post. Follow me on Instagram if you'd like to see my nail adventures :)

Epic Nail: Essentials Foil Kit

Today, I'm reviewing the Essentials Nail Foil Kit* from Epic Nail. I've not had much experience with nail foils, so I was keen to give it a go.

So the basic gist of it is that I was sent a kit with everything you need to complete your foil manicure. Currently, the kits (of which there are several) are 50% off for $37 - I've also got a discount code which I've included for you at the end of this review. Each of the foil rolls can do about 60 manicures which is pretty awesome and makes it good value.

The box itself and flyers

What's in the box?

Nail sticks

6 x foil design rolls

Nail glue

Included foils

There were a few instruction flyers on how to apply. I've included a photo (taken from the website) of the one that I used to do my nails.

Source: http://www.epicnail.com.au/buy/nail-foil-kit-essentials/ENAF001

To be honest, I think this guide is a little lacking. I followed these steps, and the first time - I completely failed at it. No one told me not to use Seche Vite...it makes the glue not stick properly. So I'd suggest skipping the topcoat when you do the first step.

After watching a few YouTube videos, I discovered some useful tips. The foil should stick to the nail pretty much instantly and not require too much smoothing down.

Let me show you my results, in order of attempts....

Okay, so these are the first three designs I tried out. Will they look as good as they do in the picture below?

Adapted from Epic Nail website

Attempt 1: I painted my nails with OPI 'Koala-berry' and did not use a top coat prior to foiling. I let the glue dry and then proceeded to stick on the foils...

Not too bad, there are some bald spots but I think it looks pretty cool.

Attempt number 2: I painted my nails with Chanel's 'Black Satin' and tried out the lace foils.

I think I should have opted for a different coloured background, but still happy with the results! I initially did use a silver polish (Revlon's 'Sequin') but the grainy texture doesn't agree with the foils. 

Attempt 3: SUCCESS! I didn't paint my nails with anything except a base coat, then used a very thin layer of glue...

How awesome does that look?!

So after some trial and error, I was finally successful. They're a quick and easy way to do a funky nail design without needing a lot of skill or patience. I think these kits make a great gift idea for nail savvy friends/family, and why not grab one as a Christmas gift while they're on sale? 

Now, for purchases over $30, you're eligible to use my DISCOUNT CODE to get free shipping! Just use the code: BLOGPRETTY prior to checking out. This code is available until the 31st of December.

Do you use nail foils?

*product was provided for consideration and has been reviewed in accordance with my disclosure policy.