Category: Nails

piCture pOlish – O’Hara

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So here are the first “official” swatch photos that I took on all natural nails (these photos still show the swollen pregnancy fingers that are also now back to normal). There are some iPhone shots that can be seen on my IG that were taken before these.

And can I just say YAY! It was a looooong road to get here but I didn’t give in and apply the gel back on my nails. We’ll see what the winter and freezing weather brings with it though :P Either way I don’t see the super long nails coming back soon since it’s a nice change to have shorter nails now.

Then let’s move on the beauty that is piCture pOlish O’Hara, stunning red crelly with a scattered holo effect. Such a gorgeous polish! Unfortunately I don’t have photos taken in direct sunlight but trust me, the holo goodness is there.

The formula on this was perfect! Easy and smooth application with a quick dry time. I really appreciate great quality polishes like this one right now cos the time I have to do my nails is so limited at the moment.

For this manicure I used a coat of Sally Hansen Nail Rehab, a coat of Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu! base coat, two coats of O’Hara and HK Girl top coat.

 

 

 

***This polish was purchased by me.

Jindie Nails – You Can’t Turn a Ho-lo into a Housewife

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Well I thought I had already shown you all the swatch photos that I still had gel on my nails in. Turns out I was wrong. Yesterday I found these photos. I took them last summer, moved them from the camera to my computer, put them in the wrong folder and forgot about them.

But now they have been found so here you go, Jindie Nails – You Can’t Turn a Ho-lo into a Housewife. A polish that has one of the most awesome names ever :D

“A gorgeous multi-chrome and linear holographic polish. The colors in this one include red to blue and all shades in between”.


Formula was perfect and I had no issues with the application. This was opaque in two coats and dried fast. I did a full manicure with this polish and I remember it didn’t chip but I have no clue how long I kept it on my nails. It was at least for two days, that I know.

For this manicure I used Sally Hansen Nail Rehab as a base coat, two coats of You Can’t Turn a Ho-lo into a Housewife and HK Girl top coat.

 

Jindie Nails – You Can’t Turn a Ho-lo into a Housewife – photo taken with daylight bulbs.
Jindie Nails – You Can’t Turn a Ho-lo into a Housewife – photo taken with daylight bulbs.
Jindie Nails – You Can’t Turn a Ho-lo into a Housewife – photo taken in direct sunlight.
Jindie Nails – You Can’t Turn a Ho-lo into a Housewife – photo taken in direct sunlight.

 

***This was sent for review.

 

Sally Hansen Nail Rehab nail treatment

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Since I grew out the gel nails I needed to start looking for good base coats and treatments for my natural nails. I also got an opportunity to test Sally Hansen Nail Rehab treatment. Usually nail strengtheners are not good for me and instead of making my nails stronger they make them break and peel.

Nail Rehab bottle does have the word “Strengthener” on it but I still decided to give it a try and I’m glad I did. Usually if something doesn’t work for my nails they start peeling and looking dry very fast. That happened with Duri Rejuvacote just after the third time I used it. I have now used over half a bottle of Nail Rehab and there is no peeling or any other problems at all.

To make sure it was a good product for me I only used Nail Rehab on my manicures for almost two months. On top of it I apply a coat of Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu! base coat before the polish and top coat. Between manicures I use Bliss Kiss nail oil to hydrate my nails before applying the treatment again. I only keep my nails without polish on them for an hour max at the moment since I have to wash my hands all the time cos of the new baby.

Nail Rehab has a thick-ish formula and it also smooths out your nails like a ridge filler. On the photo below I still have a gel layover on part of my nails and two coats of Nail Rehab hides the growth line almost perfectly. The color is also just lovely natural looking peachy shade. It hides possible stains on your nails when you apply two coats of it. If you have a busy day you can just apply two coats of Nail Rehab and have perfect looking nude nails.

While using Nail Rehab my manicures have stayed good at least for 2 to 3 days without chipping. I could probably go for a few days longer but I get tired of looking at the same polish ;)

 

 

So all in all this treatment works perfectly for my nails. Doesn’t make them peel or dry. Makes a good base for a manicure and doesn’t cause the polish to chip faster than usual. I can’t say if this makes my nails stronger but it doesn’t cause peeling or drying for my nails like so many other base coats and treatments do and that’s enough for me.

Only thing I’d change about this is the brush. The bristles are really short and stiff. It took some time to get used to it but after a while I didn’t have issues with the application and the brush anymore.

If you’re looking for an affordable treatment for your nails I recommend you give this one a try too. Works great for me!

***This was sent for review.

Some Mavala Techni-Color’s collection swatches

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This summer I got an opportunity to try some Mavala polishes. It’s been forever since I had a bottle of Mavala polish and I have to say my experiences with them have been more or less average. So I wanted to test this summer collection just of curiosity and I was so pleasantly surprised! The polishes had a good, highly pigmented formula. Application was smooth and easy and drying didn’t take forever. Some of these were almost one coaters. I also LOVED the colors! Not amazingly unique but bright and vibrant colors that go well with any time of the year.

Some of these are also so pigmented that they work for stamping. I haven’t tried stamping with them but I’ve seen it done by other bloggers.

This was a summer collection but at least where I live I’ve still seen it been sold a few days ago. So if you never paid attention to these I suggest you check them out while you can.

Today I have swatches of three colors out of the six on this collection. Again these photos were taken during summer when I still had gel on my nails. I think that this is it though and next photos are gonna be all natural nubbins swatches ;)

 

 

102 Cyber Yellow – Two coats with Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu! base coat and HK Girl top coat 
 Bright yellow with green-ish shimmer and glow. Amazing application for a yellow polish. This one has a tiny bit of visible brush strokes in it but it’s really not too noticeable in real life.
106 Orange Fusion – Two coats with Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu! base coat and HK Girl top coat 
Really fierce orange shade that looks like it’s on fire. Amazing application and this is a one coater even if I applied two. Yes, this came out in a summer collection but how perfect is this color for fall too!
103 Cobalt Blue – Two coats with Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu! base coat and HK Girl top coat 
Very vibrant blue creme that is a borderline crelly if you ask me. Very glossy and bright! Again, amazing application and very well pigmented formula. This instantly became my favorite blue and I think I need to get a backup bottle while I can still find one. Love, love, love it!!

***These polishes were sent for review.

CND Vinylux swatches

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Today I have more older swatch photos to show you. Again these were taken during summer when my nails still had some gel layover left on them. So the nail shape is a little weird and you can see the gel growth line on some of the photos.

Now all the gel is grown out so that won’t be a problem anymore on the newer photos. Though now my problem is that my nails are nubbins. I’m never totally happy :P

So today I have some random CND Vinylux swatches for you.

“VINYLUX™ is a breakthrough polish system that endures a week of fashion perfection…without a base coat! Exposure to natural light secures the patent-pending technology, creating an enduring, long-lasting polish. While ordinary polishes become brittle and deteriorate over time, VINYLUX dries naturally to a flawless finish and strengthens its resistance to chips over time. VINYLUX is available in 71 fashion-forward polish colors and 60 colors that match popular CND Shellac™ shades.”


All of the swatch photos are taken without a base coat and using Vinylux Weekly top coat. All the polishes applied well and were opaque in 2-3 coats.

 

 

Studio White (3 coats and Vinylux Weekly Top Coat)
Grapefruit Sparkle (3 coats and Vinylux Weekly Top Coat)
 
 
Limeade (3 coats and Vinylux Weekly Top Coat)
 
 
Locket Love (2 coats and Vinylux Weekly Top Coat)
Pink Bikini (2 coats and Vinylux Weekly Top Coat)
 
 
Pretty Poison (2 coats and Vinylux Weekly Top Coat)

***These polishes were sent for review. I don’t benefit from clicking any of the links on this post. 

Dollish Polish Got Snow Cones? and Murky Dismal

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It’s about time I show you some of the swatch photos I took during the summer and never posted here on my blog. So let’s start it off with two Dollish Polish pretties. On these photos I still have some gel left on my nails and they are longer than my nails are at the moment.

 

Got Snow Cones? (Glisten & Glow Stuck on Blu! base coat, two coats of Got Snow Cones? and two coats of HK Girl top coat).

Application is easy when you use a very light hand to prevent the glitter pieces from dragging bald spots on the white base. It also helps to let the first coat dry well before applying the second one. I placed some of the glitters to get a more even looking result. This is such a cute and fresh looking polish!

 

 

Murky Dismal (Glisten & Glow Stuck on Blu! base coat, three thin coats of Murky Dismal and a coats of HK Girl top coat).

This has a very good formula and application is really easy. I used three thin coats to achieve a good sandwich effect.

 

 

 

***These were sent for review.

IsaDora Gel Nail Lacquer

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I’m still in one piece so I’m trying to get a few posts written before the baby decides to arrive :) I’ve taken these photos quite a while ago and just haven’t had time or energy to write the post. So next few posts will still show my nails with some gel layover on them. Now all the gel is gone and my nails are all natural. Just gotta get these few posts out of the way and then I can show you what my nails look like now.

So lets get this party started with IsaDora Gel Nail Lacquer review. This is a polish that dries in sunlight and doesn’t require UV-lamp to cure it like regular gel polish. I received a limited edition shade 224 Scarlet Red for testing and I was quite happy with it.

This polish doesn’t require a base coat but it is recommended that you use your preferred base coat at least with darker colors so they won’t stain your nails. After the base coat you apply two coats of gel polish and let it dry for 3 minutes. Then add a coat of IsaDora Gel Nail Lacquer Top Coat. The application of Scarlet Red was flawless. The polish was very well pigmented and with two coats it was perfectly opaque. Top coat is a bit thicker and I took a good amount of it on the brush. The top coat was still easy to apply and it gave my nails a very nice, gel like glossy finish.

 

 

 

I tested this polish on a pedicure first and the result was impressive. I used Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu! as a base coat and then followed the application instructions that are also printed on the bottles. The manicure dried within minutes and looked really shiny. I kept this manicure on my toe nails for 3 weeks before it started chipping. The polish stayed very shiny for the first two weeks and was still pretty good when I removed the pedicure after 3 weeks. For me this was a good result. Usually my pedis stay good two weeks max before they start chipping. Naturally there was minor tip wear but not noticeable enough that I needed to do something about it.

After that I did the manicure test. IsaDora promises up to 7 days of wear time for these Gel Nail Lacquers. I only had an opportunity to test this for four days though. I already mentioned the flawless application and for my manicure I used the same base coat as I did for the pedicure. Where the pedicure stayed excellent for over two weeks the result wasn’t the same for the manicure. I did not expect it to be either though. The shine started to fade a bit after 3 days and day 4 there was the first chip. My test wasn’t perfect though since my nails were still very thin and I was growing out the gel nails removal damage. Also left hand nails still had some gel layover left. So on healthy nails I probably would’ve gone more than four days without chipping.

As said the shine and glossy look stayed perfect for over two weeks on my pedicure but started fading from the manicure after three days. This is mostly caused by the fact that I have to wash my hands a lot. I wash dishes without gloves and so on. So all the soap and chemicals that I expose my hands to during the day definitely took their toll on the shine.

Removal of this polish was very easy with non-acetone nail polish remover and there was no staining since I used a base coat.

 

I’m very happy with the wear time on the pedicure and I think this performed well on the manicure too. Quick dry time makes these Gel Nail Lacquer perfect for everyone who wants easy to apply, simple and quick manicure that lasts for more than one day. Color range is pretty and there’s also shades for creating a full french manicure using these polishes.

I will definitely be using this polish and buy a few more shades to use on my pedicures and on the days when I need something reliable and quick to apply for my manicures.

 

 

 

***IsaDora Gel Nail Lacquer and Top Coat were sent for review.

Some Dollish Polish pretties

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Here’s some Dollish Polish swatches that I’ve been sitting on for a while now. I absolutely love Dollish Polish polishes and lately I’ve been making my collection bigger a couple of polishes at a time :)

 

EXPECTO PATRONUM

 

“This is a milky white crelly polish with a hint of Mint Green, has iridescent flakies and varying size Teal Green holographic glitters for a magically enchanting manicure worthy of Hogwarts!”
 
This polish is like a breath of fresh air! I love the simple color combination and quality on this. Application was smooth and easy. No need to fish or place the glitters. This is two normal coats and HK Girl top coat.
PURPLE NURPLES
 
“Inspired by the Cartoon Network’s Chowder, this neon purple jelly has tons of glitters, ranging from hexagons, squares, and circles, all in varying shades of periwinkle, purples, pinks, magenta, and blue/green iridescent glitters.”
 
This awesome jelly is so juicy and squishy! Such a vibrant purple glitter bomb, a jelly polish at it’s most perfect form! The formula is quite sheer so if you’re not a fan of multiple coats of jelly goodness like I am I suggest you layer this on top of a creme polish. The application is flawless and you can apply this so thin that four coats seen on the photos really weren’t a problem at all. Just created amazing depth and squishy-ness (yes, that must be a real word :P). This is four very thin coats and HK Girl top coat. (This was a hard one to photograph accurately so I did adjust the colors on the photos to make the polish look more like it does in real life).
ROCKIN’ RAINBOW SHERBET
“A pale pink crelly, jammed with tiny white squares, white stars, and a mix of neon pink, green, purple and orange hexagons and squares.”
This one has such a delicious color combination, perfect for summer! One of those cheerful fun polishes that put you in a good mood :) Application was good and this was easy to apply thinly so you can layer it for a nice sandwich effect. I suggest you turn the bottle upside down before application to help get the stars out of the bottle. This is three thin coats and HK Girl top coat.

***These were sent for review. I don’t benefit from clicking any of the links on this post.

Back to natural nails – progress on both hands

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Today I’ll show you how my “Back to natural nails” project is going. On the photos you can see about month and a half of growth on my right hand nails and 3 weeks progress on growing out the gel layover on my left hand nails. This is always such a long and patience requiring project but so far so good. Naturally I’d like to have strong and long natural nails instantly but unfortunately it doesn’t work that way :P

So here’s where I started from 29th of May. Ultra short nubbins damaged by removal of the gel layover.

 

And here’s how they looked yesterday 15th of July. There’s still a tiny bit of the damaged part left on my pinky, ring and middle finger nails. Another week of growing and then filing them shorter again should do the trick with those nails and then they are all my natural nails and all healthy.
Index finger nail is another story though. It had some gel left on it since it was fixed one more time later than the other three so there’s still some growing to do. Now the gel layover is gone due to a moment of “Do as I say, not as I do” action. The layover started to lift a bit and in all my wisdom I decided to just rip it of. NEVER do that!! Always file the layover off GENTLY and CAREFULLY without damaging your natural nail! So now I have a very thin and damaged part of the nail to grow out for the next few weeks *sigh*

So let’s move on to the left hand. Here’s how the nails were doing 21st of June.

 

And here’s the situation yesterday, 15th of July. So on the photo you can see about 3 weeks of growth. The gel layover is still perfectly attached and I’ll leave it be for now on. I keep filing these nails shorter once a week and now there isn’t a huge difference between my right and left hand nails. Both thumbs are in the same point with these ones. About half of the nail plate showing and the rest still has the gel layover on it.

Then let’s talk a bit about the products I’ve been using.

I’m still using Bliss Kiss Pure Nail Oil daily and my opinion about that hasn’t changed. It’s simply amazing and my nails love it! It has made the world of good for my cuticles and my nails always look nice and well moisturized.

I have also been testing Duri Rejuvacote and I’m afraid it does the same to my nails as most nail strengtheners do, it makes my nails peel. If I use it for three or more manicures in a row my nails start to peel. I switched to Essie Nourish Me but that didn’t stop the peeling completely so I took a few days break from nail polish and just kept applying Pure Nail Oil several times a day. Then I filed off all the length and peeling parts and kept using the oil.

Now I’m going to test Sally Hansen Nail Rehab treatment and see if that works for me. I’m really dying to find a good base coat/treatment for my nails. I always use Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu! on top of the treatments, before the polish to prevent staining. I also like the sticky base it creates for the polish.

So all in all the nail growing project is moving along nicely. I’m happy to have my natural nails back and very excited to see if I can find the right products to keep them healthy too.

 

 

***Bliss Kiss Pure Nail Oil and Essie Nourish Me were purchased by me. Duri Rejuvacote and Sally Hansen Nail Rehab were sent to me for free. 

A little update and glitter-y gradient nails

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Hello lovelies! Lately I haven’t been blogging as much as I’d like to due to (as some of you already know) me being pregnant. I’m simply just too tired and exhausted with two young kids and this beached whale body of mine to get anything done. Now the weather also got a lot warmer here in Finland so my fingers are super swollen and not really swatch photo material at the moment.

I’m due in early September and I’ll try and keep posting somewhat regularly till then. My plan was to get some nail art done for some scheduled posts but we will see about that LOL I might need some guest posters too to help me keep my blog alive. So other than being huge and super tired all the time everything is ok :) I have a lot of polishes to show you and some cool nail art ideas too. I hope I can find the time and energy to get something done soon enough.

Here’s a manicure I did before my fingers started swelling up. The base is Wet n Wild Break The Ice (white shimmer), the light blue gradient is done with Dollish Polish Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Glitter (CesarsShop exclusive that is only available in Finland) and the gold glitter is F.U.N. Lacquer Gold Mark. Base coat was Glisten & Glow Stuck On Blu! and everything is topped off with HK girl top coat. This looked much better inside my head, as usual, but I’ll post it anyways :D

Today my fingers actually look reasonable so as soon as I hit the Publish button I’ll go and take photos of my nail growing progress. At least that is going well :D

 

 

***Wet n Wild Break The Ice was purchased by me, Dollish Polish Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Glitter, F.U.N. Lacquer Gold Mark, Stuck On Blu! and HK Girl were sent to me for free. I don’t benefit from clicking any of the links on this post.