... AN Monday - Subtle/Neutral ...

Hurrah! It's AN Monday!! Todays theme is "Subtle/Neutral" so I've chosen to go with a Shellac colour with stamping and gemstones.  Now I haven't had a gel colour appear on the blog before so feel loved that you are witnessing this moment!!

Originally I was going to just go for a simple French mani but I saw this design on a stamping plate and thought it would work well.

So this is 2 coats of Shellac "Beau" with stamping on top using Konad White. I was really impressed with Shellac Beau to be honest. Even though it's on the sheer side, it still managed to cover up things like stains that I had on my nails previously that I'm trying to grow out. The stamping is from a plate I brought from Cheeky that seems to be the L plate. I've just rotated the image so that it runs along the nail.

I added the gemstones as a last minute thing as I felt it needed something else. I really like the combo but I can see I need to do a lot more practice with placing the gemstones down where I want them to go!

Even though this mani has some major visible nail line going on, I really like it. It's simple yet effective. I really think I'll be revisiting this in the future if I have an event where I need my nails to sport something subtle.

Now I wanted to point this out incase you haven't had a bottle of Shellac before in your little hands. The packaging shows how sheer it is! I love that and it's so simple!! How I wish general nail polish came with a similar system!! I would have saved a lot of money on things that I thought were something they weren't.

Wanna see more Aussie Nails? Check out these links or check out #anmonday on Instagram!

Lily Jinks - @lilyandjinks

Ann - Nailovelogy

Tracy - @oliviajade19

Holly - @nails_by_holly

Naomi - @nadeekay and Nananaisnails

Erin Wu -  @erinzi and Erin Zi’s Nails

Elissa -@tenlittlenubs and Ten Little Nubs

Kate - Pimped Out Nails

Astrid - @lovessweetas

Sarah Claire - @shattermeclaire or Shatter me Claire

Julia - Fancy Nails and Cups of Tea

Sylvie - @smudgedpolish

Relle - @lazylacquerista or Lazy Lacquerista

Tammy - @ohmygoshpolish

Christinemay - @xtinemayyy or Nails at 2am

Tash Birch - @tashisdead

Nicki - @celestialcosmetics

Briana -

Loz - Polish Patterns

Kelly - @kellyskolors and Kelly's Kolors!

Tara - @lokislacquer or  Osiris and Loki paint their nails

... Epic Nails Nail Transfer Foils ...

Quick break from the Christmas Nails today but I'll be back tomorrow with another! Be warned, this is a long post but it's pretty awesome so hang around and learn with me!!

I was contacted recently by the lovely people at Epic Nail to see if I'd be interested in reviewing some nail transfer foils. I was extremely intrigued by the Epic Nail website which states their foils work on Shellac / Gel Polish by using the sticky residue.

I won't lie. I have struggled with transfer foils in the past but no longer! I've ruined a few manis by not transferring them properly and also with having top coats ruin the finish but I'm so glad that I learnt about using gel polishes to help. So let me show you!

Firstly the pack I received was the Essential Kit and it contains everything you need!  Foils, Glue, Cuticle Sticks, Instructions and Information.

There were 6 foils included and even if you are like me and not a foil pro, you'll find you'll get many manicures from them as rolled out, there is a metre on each roll! Plenty of room for practicing! The colours I received are All Laced Up, Winter Is Coming, I Heart You, Nautical, Pipe Dream and In The Jungle.




As I mentioned above, I was extremely intrigued by the fact you can use this in Gel Polish manicures and in the past I've had trouble with top coats dulling the final result so all the fantastic foil designs below were created using Shellac and OPI GelColour gel polishes and top coats

All the following were created by doing some preparation for gel polish, a base coat and a coat or 2 of gel polish and then using the sticky residue I've transferred these designs! Then a top coat to seal the deal!

All  Laced Up

Winter is Coming

I Heart You

 Nautical

 

Pipe Dream

In The Jungle

Like stamping, transfer foils take practice so keep at it! I think you can see with these swatches, which were my first! Once I got the hang of it, it was super easy and fast!!  I definitely found using Shellac helpful as I didn't wreck my whole mani if I made a mistake. Sure you lose your sticky residue when wiping off but you can use the glue and then top coat without losing your underneath colour! Winning!

If you want to give these foils a try, there is free standard shipping on orders over $30 if you use the code BLOGSHATTER on checkout! I know I'll be checking out more colours!

Foils were provided for review but all opinions, Aussie humour and dodgy photography are my own!