Color Club Uptown Girl

Today I have Color Club Uptown Girl from their Rebel Debutante collection. Uptown Girl is a stunning dusty mauve, purple creme. I'm so glad I finally got around to trying this!

I used a base coat of Revlon Calcium Gel Nail Hardener. I followed with two thin coats of Uptown Girl. Thankfully, this polish actually got along with my base coat! Application was very smooth and easy. I finished it off with a top coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat.


So here are the pretty pictures :)

Color Club Uptown Girl in Artificial Light

Color Club Uptown Girl in Artificial Light

Then these ones in natural light.

Color Club Uptown Girl in Natural Light

Color Club Uptown Girl in Natural Light

Just as gorgeous in the shade :)

Color Club Uptown Girl in the Shade

Color Club Uptown Girl in the Shade

The finish on this one is gorgeous! I'm a sucker for these dusty cremes :) This is one gorgeous colour and I think it actually suits my skin tone - although it kind of makes my hand look like one of those fake practise hands! A friend of mine thought I had fake nails on hehe:)

Weekly Giveaway Round Up

Giveaway time!!!

Prim and Polished is having a Birthday Giveaway!

The prizes are:

• China Glaze: Grape Pop
• China Glaze: Swing Baby
• China Glaze: Sugar High
• Nicole by OPI Texture Coat: Black
• Nicole by OPI Texture Coat: White
• Nicole by OPI Texture Coat: Red
• OPI: Ink
• OPI: Pink Shatter
• Nicole by OPI Texture Coat: Silver
• Nicole by OPI Texture Coat: Turquoise
• Nicole by OPI Texture Coat: Gold
• Dr.'s Remedy: Revive (Ruby Red)
• Zoya: Demi
• NYX Girls: Between Mauve and Purple

There will be one very happy winner! This giveaway ends 3rd May 2012. To enter click HERE. 

Deuce Beauties is having a 2500 Followers Giveaway!

 

The prize is:

•  the entire OPI NYC Ballet Collection

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 2nd May 2012. To enter click HERE.

Karinea0a is having a 350 Follower Giveaway!

 The prizes are:

• Hits Mari Moon Trendy
• Hits Mari Moon Cutie Pie
• Hits Glitter Forte Progressivo
• Hits Glitter Forte Brit Pop

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 20th May 2012. To enter click HERE.

Dragon Lady Nails is having a 750 Follower Appreciation Giveaway!

The prizes are:

• China Glaze Full Spectrum
• China Glaze Liquid Crystal
• China Glaze Polarized
• China Glaze Optical Illusion

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 31st May 2012. To enter click HERE.

Polish Fixation is having a Nicka K New York Nail Colour Giveaway!

 The prizes are:

• 8 Nicka K New York Nail Colors

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 4th May 2012 at 12.01am EST. To enter click HERE.

Luv My Lacquer is having a 500+ Follower Giveaway!

 The prizes are:

• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
• Burt's Bees Tips And Toes Kit
• 4 Jordana Glitters Nail Polishes

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 11th May 2012. To enter click HERE.

A Girl And Her Polish is having a 300 Super Awesome Follower Giveaway!

 

There are 3 prize packs!

The first prize pack is:

• Orly Dark Shadows Collection

The second prize pack is:

•  Collection of 4 Jordana Glitters

The third prize pack is:

• Sinful Colors Cinderella 
• Revlon Whimsical

There will be three lucky winners each of whom will receive one prize pack! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 5th May 2012. To enter click HERE.

Ambianceshop is having a 25 Follower Giveaway!

 

The prize is:

• A bottle of Nubar Reclaim or Gem or 2010

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 23rd May 2012. To enter click HERE.

Spilled Polish is having a Yellow and Pink Themed Giveaway!

 The prizes are:

• E.L.F. Nail Polish - Golden Goddess
• L.A. Colors - Pink Sizzle
• Color Club - Hot Couture
• 3 Mini L.A. Colors Glitter Polishes
• Yellow & White Sprinkle Resin Mustache Necklace
• Lemon Yellow Stripe Bead & Stone Skull Stretch Bracelet

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 7th May 2012. To enter click HERE.

Summer Dotting!

I finally got around to trying one of the many, many, many bookmarked nail designs that I wanted to attempt. First up, I wanted to try this dotting design from Nail Polish Wars. I was using my previous manicure for my base colour and chose corresponding summery colours.

I used the largest of my five dotting tool and added drops randomly along one side of each nail in China Glaze Poinsettia and China Glaze Peachy Keen. Then I moved down one size in my dotting tools and used China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, again placing random dots along the same side. Again, I moved down another size in my dotting tools and added dots with the others in China Glaze Oh How Street It Is and Color Club I Always Get My Mandarin. Lastly, I used China Glaze Lemon Fizz using a smaller dotting tool again. Then I sealed it off with Sally Hansen Mega Shine.

Unfortunately, I only have photos in artificial light because it was raining the next few days when I was wearing this :(

Summer Dotting in Artificial Light

Summer Dotting in Artificial Light

Summer Dotting in Artificial Light

Summer Dotting in Artificial Light

I absolutely love how this turned out! I was a bit worried when I started because Poinsettia and How Street It Is didn't really show up extremely well again Style Wars but I think it worked out well. I decided to overlap each dot and I like how it worked. I would definitely try this again and would like to try this without overlapping the dots to see how it turns out!

Well I'm off to see the Avengers! Oh and if you could let me know if the word verification is off now? I tried to remove it but I'm not sure if it worked. Thanks!

China Glaze Style Wars

Continuing my attempt to pretend it's Autumn I decided to go with an orange and somehow ended up with China Glaze Style Wars from the Kicks Collection. Style Wars is a vibrant orange jelly with a reddish tint to it.

A base coat of Revlon Calcium Gel Nail Hardener to start me off (why do I keep using this??). When I was applying my first coat of Style Wars all I kept thinking of was orange cordial because it was so thin and runny O_o. I followed it up with another two coats to try and get it as opaque as possible. I found the first coat of polish was the hardest to apply because it was so this so I had to paint slowly to control the brush and therefore the polish.

Now I tend to watch a movie while I paint my nails so I have a habit of paint a few nails and then pausing to watch the screen. But with this polish I discovered THIS IS A BAD IDEA!! I did my right hand and then moved onto my left but got distracted by the movie. Then when I got back to doing my left hand I discovered that the polish on my thumb on my right hand had pooled down the side of my nail because I had been holding it at an angle >.< I was one unhappy camper! So I learnt to paint my nails quickly and then lay them flat and keep them there!

After applying my final coat and leaving my hands nice and flat to dry I applied a coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine for my top coat. Luckily since it is a jelly the mess I made when applying my first coat was easy to remove when cleaning up my manicure.

And pictures!

China Glaze Style Wars in Artificial Light

I'm sitting here looking at my nails in the artificial light and they're not this bright!

China Glaze Style Wars in Natural Light

China Glaze Style Wars in Natural Light

This is one elusive colour to capture! It shifts from a bright candy orange to a bright reddish orange depending on the sunlight.

China Glaze Style Wars in the Shade

Glorious jelly goodness!!! Lol! I really love this colour. I actually didn't realise it was a jelly when I bought it so I was quite surprised when I applied my first coat. As with most jellies there is still a VNL which I usually prefer not to have but I couldn't be bothered doing a fourth coat so late at night. Ooohhh I definitely see a jelly sandwich in my future :)

Autumn Leaves

Since we are supposed to be in Autumn (anyone else still dealing with high temperatures? O_o) I got the idea in my head to do some Autumn leaves on my previous manicure. It was the picture below from Konad Stamping Nail Art that inspired my design, of course my nails are NOWHERE near THAT long!!

Konad Design from KONAD

So with that in mind I scoured through my Konad plates until I found the design I wanted to use. I used the leaf designs on Konad plate M20.

Konad plate M20 Image from ICNA

I only stamped half the design on each nail alternating either the big leaf or the small leaf. Then I moved onto the next colour and again alternated which leaf I used. I kept doing this with a new colour until there was no room left - so there are fewer colours on y pinkie compared to my thumb. All up I used Konad Special Polish Gold, Yellow, Blue, Light Grey, Dark Purple, Gold Brown and Green for each successive leaf. Lastly I used Konad Special Top Coat to seal my design.

So what did it end up looking like...

      Left Hand

Autumn Leaves in Artificial Light - Left Hand

Autumn Leaves in Artificial Light - Left Hand

Autumn Leaves in Shade/Natural Light - Left Hand

Unfortunately it was overcast the following day so I have no photos in full sunlight.

    Right Hand

Autumn Leaves in Artificial Light - Right Hand

Autumn Leaves in Artificial Light - Right Hand

Autumn Leaves in Shade/Natural Light - Right Hand

I'm happy with how this turned out :) I wanted it to have multicoloured leaves on the brown background and that's exactly how it looks. I also found it useful to see which colours turned up on the brown for when I want to stamp on similar dark colours. My pad of paper had a large amount of mess left over after stamping so many times!!

Weekly Giveaway Round Up

It's that time again!

SPLAT is having a Jelly Sandwich Giveaway!

The prizes are:

• New York Summer Hot Atomic Red
• New York Summer Hot Pink
• New York Summer Hush
• New York Summer Hot Baby Blue
• Icing Birthday Beyotch
• Icing Radio Super Star

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 30th April 2012. To enter click HERE.

The Nail Polish Guru is having a 300 Follower Giveaway!

The prize is:

• A bottle of Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed

There will be one very lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 30th April 2012. To enter click HERE.

Need More Nails is having a 300 Follower Giveaway!

 The prizes are:

• Revlon Grapefruit Fizz
• Revlon Watermelon Fizz
• Revlon Orange Fizz
• Revlon Pineapple Fizz
• Revlon Apple-rini Fizz
• Revlon Colada Fizz
• Revlon Mint Fizz
• Revlon Grape Fizz

There will be one very lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 1st May 2012. To enter click HERE.

Varnished Valkyrie is having a 62 Follower Giveaway!

 The prizes are:

• Warpaint Beauty - Matte
• Mattése Elite - Revolution
• China Glaze - Techno
• Chanel - Péridot

There will be one lucky winner!! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 9th May 2012. To enter click HERE.

Polished Criminails is having a 700 Follower Giveaway!

 

The prizes are:

• Models Own - Indian Ocean
• Models Own - Copper Pot
• Models Own - Tropical Sun

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 11th May 2012. To enter click HERE.

Nail Polish Addiction is having an Appreciation Giveaway!

 The prizes are:

• Impala ~ Na Mira 3D
• Impala ~ Disco Ball
• Risqué ~ Chão De Estrelas
• Risqué ~ Viúva Negra
• Risqué ~ Miragem Azul
• Risqué ~ Poção Do Amor
• Risqué ~ Cobertura Encantada
• Risqué ~ Maltês
• Risqué ~ Husky
• Risqué ~ Azulcrination

There will be one unbelievably lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 12th June 2012. To enter click HERE.

Lucy's Stash is having a 2800 Follower Giveaway!

 The prize is:

• the Color Club Back To Boho Set

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 13th May 2012. To enter click HERE.

Lauryn Lofgren is having a 100 Follower giveaway!

The prizes are:

• Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure
• Finger Paints - Twisted

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 6th May 2012. To enter click HERE.

The Crumpet is having a Models Own Hed Kandi Giveaway!

 The prizes are:

• Models Own Ibiza Mix
• Models Own Disco Heaven 

 There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 29th April 2012. To enter click HERE.

Konadlicious is having a $500 Awesome 3000 Follower Giveaway!

 There are two prizes you can choose between.

 Prize 1 (Vintage):

• A $100 Miskonduct Clothing gift certificate

Prize 2 (Nail Polish):

• $50 store gift certificate for Cult Nails
• $30 store gift certificate for You Mix Cosmetics
• $25 store gift certificate for Ninja Polish
• $25 store gift certificate for All That Glitters Nails
• $20 store gift certificate for Dollish Polish
• 8 Le Beauty Nail Polishes from Le Beauty
• NerdLacquer All of Time and Space
• Glitter Gal Light As A Feather and Blue
• Pretty And Polished Pool Party
• Lacquistry Konadlicoius (ONLY EXISTING BOTTLE)
• OPI Dutch Treats Mini Set
• Orly prelude To A Kiss
• Orly Steel Your Heart 
• Orly Bonder
• Orly Polished.
• A pair of handmade earrings from Beady Wendy

There will be two winners, one of each prize pack. This giveaway is open internationally and ends 16th May 2012. To enter click HERE.

Things I Love At The Moment is having a 400/500 Follower giveaway!

 The 3 prizes are:

• 1 Custom Lacquistry Polish named Rouhir and Now
• 1 Lacquistry Polish-Devil's Dandruff
• 6 Nail Art Polishes

 There will be three lucky winners! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 1st May 2012. To enter click HERE.

A Plethora Of Nails is having a Giveaway!

 The prizes are:

• Revlon Facets of Fushia
• Revlon Radiant
• Revlon Popular
• Revlon Whimsical
• Sinful Colors Cinderella
• Essence Choose Me
• Claires Candy Shop

There will be one lucky winner! This giveaway is open internationally and ends 25th April 2012. To enter click HERE.

Ulta3 Cocoa

I was changing my nail colour and wanted to match it to a gorgeous dress I was wearing. So that's how I came to choose Ulta3 Cocoa from the Metallic Crush collection. I've shown you swatches of this colour and I loved the gorgeous metallic brown then and I love it now!

I applied a base coat of Revlon Calcium Gel Nail Hardener. This base coat disagrees with several of my polishes and Cocoa was no exception >.< I applied two coats because the first coat did the same 'balding' that I've experienced with other polishes using this base coat. I find Cocoa easy to apply just keep the brush straight! I know that others don't like this collection because they find them too frosty, showing all the brush strokes, but I love them! I finished it off with a coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat.

So onto the pretty pictures!

Ulta3 Cocoa in Artificial Light

Ulta3 Cocoa in Artificial Light

 Then the following morning I took these.

Ulta3 Cocoa in Natural Light

Ulta3 Cocoa in the Shade

Cocoa is such a gorgeous reddish brown metallic! This colour matched my dress perfectly. The thing I loved most was how quickly it dried between layers since it was rather late at night when I finally got around to painting my nails!

Nails Inc. Whitehall (Pic Heavy)

After swatching the China Glaze Magnetix collection I wanted to try a magnetic polish from a different brand and the beautiful blue colour of Nails Inc. Whitehall was calling :)

Magnet

The nail polish comes with a wave magnet so you don't have to purchase it separately like you do with China Glaze Magnetix collection. The cap comes off separating the nail polish from the magnet.

 

 

Instructions

There are instructions on the cap for using the magnetic polish:

• Firstly, remove any oil from your nails by cleaning your nails with nail polish remover.
• Then take off the over-cap which contains the magnet. You will find that there is an inner cap that you can use to apply the magnetic polish.
• Then apply one coat of your base coat.
• Follow with one coat of your chosen magnetic polish on all 10 nails and leave to dry for a few minutes.
• Then create the magnetic effect, one nail at a time.
• Apply a generous coat of magnetic polish to one nail and immediately hold the cap that contains the magnet, over the nail.
• There is a small lip on the cap which should be placed just below your cuticle allowing the magnet to be positioned perfectly over your nail.
• Hold very close to the nail but take care not to touch the nail with the magnet.
• Hold the magnet for 10-15 seconds and move away to reveal the stunning effect.
• Repeat on all 10 nails.
• After a few minutes, apply one coat of top coat to seal in your nail design and to create an ultra glossy, salon finish

I apply magnetic polishes the same as the instructions as above! I applied a base coat of Revlon Calcium Gel Nail Hardener. I applied two coats of Whitehall, one as a base coat and then with the second one I applied the wave magnet for 15 seconds.  I don't think Whitehall liked my base coat because immediately after applying it began balding and since it dried so quickly when I tried to "fill in' the gaps it would sometimes pull *argh*. So that was my only annoyance and again it wasn't the polish but my base coat :( I then added a nice coat of Seche Vite. I did notice some "settling" occurring after I applied my magnet.


The following photos are in artificial light.

         Left Hand

Nails Inc Whitehall in Artificial Light - Left Hand

Nails Inc Whitehall in Artificial Light - Left Hand

Nails Inc Whitehall in Artificial Light - Left Hand

         Right Hand - hehe what happened to my ring finger O.o

Nails Inc Whitehall in Artificial Light - Right Hand

Nails Inc Whitehall in Artificial Light - Right Hand

Nails Inc Whitehall in Artificial Light - Right Hand

I don't have any pictures in natural light since it's been overcast and raining :( So I will have to remember to take them when I wear this again - which I definitely will soon!!!

OMG I am so in love with this polish!! This polish is just amazing. I keep moving my nails around as they have an awesome 3D effect depending on how the light is hitting them!