... piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2013 ...

... piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2013 ...

Celebrating the Year of the Blogger

Woohoo! I may have vanished temporarily but I had to come back to celebrate the piCture pOlish Blog Fest especially with this time being Year of the Blogger!! *throws confetti in the air* YAY!! I had such fun last year so I knew this year would be great too.

When piCture pOlish said this year it was a nail art challenge they weren't wrong! Challenge is the key word here! We were given 3 polishes and told to put nail art together. So I got my thinking cap on and eventually came up with this.

 
Last week, like many others I saw this post by Nailz Craze. It looks so simple and easy and had many of us thinking "why didn't someone mention this years ago"! While I totally love the idea, I'm not sure if clumsy me can work holding the stamper so it doesn't roll away but it really got me thinking ... "how can I do multiple designs at once"??

I'm just going to refer to it as "reverse stamping" from here in (since instead of doing polish and stamp, you are doing stamp and then polish!) and if someone else has already covered this in detail (or if it has a better name), please let me know as I'd love to give you some credit!!!

So let's get to it! To create this funky cupcake look, you first need some polishes!!

I'm using ...

* piCture pOlish - Frosting by Cosmetic Cupcake
* piCture pOlish - Beige

* piCture pOlish - Candy

You also will need ...

* a black polish [I'm using piCture pOlish black]

* a stamping plate of your choice [I'm using Cheeky Jumbo Plate 7 - Home Sweet Home]

* a stamper and scraper [I prefer a konad double stamper and an old iTunes card]

* a small nail art brush or dotting tool

* a clear top coat

* baking paper [I've been told baking paper is the same thing as parchment paper, cooking paper, bakery paper and wax paper. Hopefully one of those terms is familar to you!]

* and patience!!!! Lots and lots of patience! 

Step 1 -  Tear off a section of baking paper and use the top coat to paint squares anywhere on the paper and wait for them to dry.

Step 2- Choose your stamping design and stamp it directly on the clear squares you painted earlier. [If you can't see where they were, just hold the paper up to the light!]. Then, wait for it to dry.

Step 3 - Grab your colours and decide which part of the stamp you wish to paint first. Unlike regular painting, you want whatever colour on top first. Not the bottom first!! So in this case, Candy for the cupcake liner and the cherry! Dab on your polish instead of using brush strokes. If you don't have a brush, a dotting tool will work the same. Fully paint over the area, including the design. When finished, again wait for it to dry.

Step 4 - Dab the next colour on. I'm using Frosting as it seemed appropriate! Mmmmmmm frosting *homer simpson drool*. Wait til dry again.

Step 5 - Cut out your design! As I only want the cupcake, I'll further trim this to remove the excess stamping before using.

Step 6 - Prepare you nails ready to be cupcaked!  I've painted 2 in Beige and 2 in Frosting.

Step 7 - Carefully peel your polish stamping from the paper. Because of the top coat, this just lifts right off! Then FLIP IT OVER!! The stamping design is right there in all it's glory, with the pretty colours behind it.

Step 8 - Check your polish! If it's still tacky then place the cupcake straight on top! If you polish is dry, add a thin layer of topcoat before placing! Because I have small nails, I've put them slightly on a slant so they fit! Also unlike decals, it does not matter if part of the design hangs over the side of your nail. The entire design is nail polish so we will remove the excess in the next step!

Step 9 - Dip a clean up brush in acetone and run it around the edge of your nail to remove the excess design. It will simply vanish before your eyes. Awesome.

Step 10 - As you flipped the design over, it should be nice and smooth as there is already a top coat holding it on as the new top. If you have loose sections or for piece of mind, just add another coat of clear top coat.

Step 11 - Add more cupcakes!!!  These little ones are from the same stamping plate and I've painted their cute faces in beige and the bottom in candy!

So there you go! While this is time consuming with waiting for polish to dry, you can make your designs a far way in advance. I've personally found polish starts peeling off the baking paper after 3-4 weeks and then it becomes more fragile to store but it's still usable.  I'll definately be reverse stamping again in the future!

You can find piCture pOlish online, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, on Pinterest, on YouTube and on Google+

Also, check out their Shipping, Network and Everyday Deals page to find out the best way to get your hands on some pretty polishes! You know you want too!

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

Want to see more? Check out instagram using the hashtag #ppblogfest2013 or hit the links below. Enjoy!!

... AN Monday - Hearts ...

It's been awhile since I did one of these ...

Todays theme was heart and I've been wanting to try out the hot technique of using a hole punch to make designs. Glad I did. That stuff is addictive!!

So this is 3 coats of the stunning Mellow Yellow from piCture polish with hearts made from piCture pOlish Ocean, Kryptonite and Shocked.

I was really surprised on how simple and easy this was ... and also surprised that no one came up with this sooner!!! Basically I painted 3 coats of polish onto baking paper [parchment paper] and let it dry. Then cut the heart shapes out with my heart hole punch and then stuck them on [the baking paper just falls off when you cut! YAY!]

I'm really please with how it worked out! I'll definitelly be using this one again in the future!

For more pretty Aussie Nails check us out on Instagram using the tag #anmonday or check out the following ladies!

Elissa - Ten Little Nubs

Bec - Nail Gun XS

Marie - Marie’s Manicure Madhouse

Sarah - Shatter Me Claire

Chantelle - A Polished Prance

Teneil -Shades of Phoenix

Nicole - The Epitome of Superficiality

Bec - Lacquer Dreams

Naomi - NananaisNails

Eboni - Enamoured With Enamel

Adelle - Adelle1985 (Instagram)

Kelly - Kelly's Kolors

Rebecca - Polished Peripherals

Rosemarie - Every Little Polish

Melissa - Mel My Issta

Natalie - Walk In My Eyeshadow

Jennifer - JennLojko (Instagram)

Erin - Erinzi’s Nails

Astrid - Lovessweetas (Instagram)

Jasmyn - Jas’ Blingtastic Nails

Kate - Mckfresh (Instagram)

Jessica - Maedaynails (instagram)

Elizabeth - Lili_Bete (Instagram)

Cassandra - The Reluctant Femme

Tammy - Lacquer and Leather

Julia - Messy Mansion

Ann - Nailovelogy

Ronda

Theresa It's All About The Polish

Katie - Pretty Polish Please

Melissa - polished_off (Instagram)

Jennifer - jennersx (Instagram)

Rachael - thepolishedclaw (Instagram)

Julz - Julzperrinails

Caylah

Tash

Jane - Nails In Oz

Jasmine - Nailed By Jasmine

Sylvia - lilyandjinks (Instagram)

Genna - Eternal Dreamer

Tammy - http://ohmygoshpolish.blogspot.com.au/

Stacey - @staceymeldrum (Instagram)

Jess - radjecca (Instagram)

Shannen - shannen_arrowsmith (Instagram)

Sarah - lilyloveslouise.blogspot.com

Tracy

Kate - Pimped Out Nails

Casey - Drama Queen Nails

Holly - nails_by_holly (Instagram)

... Celestial Cosmetics - Part II ...

I really wanted to put this as a post on it's own as it deserves your full attention. So get comfy!!

Basically ... if you don't already own a dark blue holo ... YOU NEED THIS!!!!

*drools* Isn't it gorgeous!! This is Galactic Holo from Celestial Cosmetics. It's a pretty dark blue ... and it's holo! Do I need to say more?? No?? Have some more pics then!

All these swatches are 3 coats of pure awesomeness. Fast drying and drool worthy. And in fairness here is one pic indoors to show off the beautiful colour!

So the closest I could find out of my vast holo stash was Glitter Gal Marine Blue. Close match but I wouldn't call them 100% true dupes as marine blue is slightly darker. Side by side in their bottles they definitely don't match [esp under artificial light], Galactic Holo is more on the purple side of blue and Marine Blue is more on the green side but hey ... if you aren't too picky I'm sure you won't notice the difference!!!

Left - Celestial Cosmetics Galactic Holo
Right - Glitter Gal Marine Blue

And finally a comparison against other random blue holos I own ....

Colours left to right are ... Glitter Gal Marine Blue, Chemistry 515 [same as Ozotic 515], Celestial Cosmetics Galactic Holo and China Glaze 2Nite.

Sadly I don't own OPI DS Glamour but I'd be interested to see how it compares!!

Currently Nicki doesn't ship outside of Australia but I'm sure if you email and ask nicely something can be worked out [or I'm happy to be the middle man!]   I'll be back soon with a final installment!

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

... Celestial Cosmetics - Part I ...

Time flies when you are having fun the days are all mushed into one big long continuous mess. This post has been a long time in the making and I apologise for that. Some of you may recognise these photos from Instagram last month. Hopefully my blogging mojo will reappear in full soon as I've missed it. I think I've only painted my nails once (and had someone else do them another time). I really do miss myself. Thank you to those who have been looking out for me.

Today I'm showing you some beautiful polishes from an Aussie Indie called Celestial Cosmetics. Honestly this is well worth a look. Australia is pushing out some fantastic Aussie Indies at the moment.

First up is Cosmic Ray. It's what happens when you combine a dark blue jelly with silver bar glitter and white flakes.

Anyone who knows me, knows that bar glitter and myself are not friends. Well I thought not until I met this. OMG I stand corrected. Honestly it blew me away on how much I truely enjoyed this polish. The blue is awesome but having those little glitter pieces shining through ... wow.

Next is Your so W-Earth it ... HA HA HA ... Love the pun!! This is one of those colours that likes to change depending on the sunlight. Sometimes it's more a pastel blue, sometimes its more of a light mint. Tricky! It's also chock full of green, blue and white glitters! They really compliment the base colour.

Mercury Rising is a pretty silver shimmer with a speckle of blue glitter throughout. I don't own anything like this and it was a real treat and it was something different to the rest of my collection. I totally love the shimmer and while I'm here I'll point out that even though there is a lot of little glitters, this was a breeze to remove! I was expecting to find little bits still on my nail days later! But no! Definitely a big plus.

The Pink Planet is a really pretty pink that is more towards red on the colour spectrum. It's packed full of holographic hex and little micro glitter. The world needs more pink! This was very easy on the eyes.

Martians have landed is such a me colour. Mmmmmm metallic! Look at that shine!! In the bottle it's more red but outdoors in full sun, its more purple. Either way I love it so much!  I really want to revisit this colour soon and make it matte!

Currently Nicki doesn't ship outside of Australia but I'm sure if you email and ask nicely something can be worked out [or I'm happy to be the middle man!]   I'll be back soon with Part II

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

... Hiatus ...

 

Thank you to the beautiful souls who messaged me to find out why I abruptly disappeared after the launch of my piCture pOlish collabration shade. It should have been a grand time here at SMC but then life decided to change the direction of where I was heading

Originally I was knocked down with my first flu of the winter season ... but then something else picked me up and tossed me around. The death of a family member is never easy and I'm only just getting to a spot where I'm able to express this to those who aren't close. It was very shocking and unexpected and ripped more than one family apart in grief.

Nails and blogging and generally being online has been majorly bumped down my list of priorities. I'm hoping to get published the reviews that I was set to do before this happened and then continue on my break. I would like to thank these people for their patience with me.  I'm sure I'll be back to nails soon but in the meantime I thank you for your positive thoughts.

xxx

... OPI - The Impossible ...

OPI - The Impossible

Gifted but available online

Today I've got one of the OPI Liquid Sands polishes to show you. I brought this really to have my own opinion on it. I don't like textured polishes in general but I like to form my own opinions on things instead of just trusting the internet ... and I don't regret buying this one at all!

This is 3 coats without a top coat and while it was gritty it wasn't "pick at me" gritty. I've definitely worn worse glitters in the past. I was surprised on how much I liked it even though it wasn't silky smooth.

Close up of the glitter goodness. Can you see the star shapes? Hot!!! I always like the hidden surprises and any glitter that isn't the standard ol' hex is loved by me.

These polishes were a part of the Mariah Carey collection and while I'm not a huge fan of hers, I definitely am a huge fan of this colour! It's gorgeous!  Also I must say the wear on this was fantastic! I didn't have any chips or flakes from it in days except for some tip wear which is to be expected.

** Final Verdict **
This really surprised me. I was expecting to hate it since I'm a fan of things that aren't smooth but wow! I don't regret buying this at all and while I totally understand that it's not for everyone, if you want to try for yourself the liquid sand trend then get your hands on this one!

... piCture pOlish - Shocked ...

I'm really excited to have the opportunity to bring this exclusive to you all! Introducing Shocked ... by Shatter Me Claire ;)

IT'S PARTY TIME PEOPLE!!!   Celebrate good times c'mon!!! Oh wait ... wrong song! *changes CDs*

♫ Tell me, I'm only dreaming ... and I'll believe you! ♫ 
♫ Can't see how this could be true!! ♫

I'm sure a lot of you remember the last piCture pOlish blogfest from last July. There were so many pretties showcased that day and  I was very flattered to be given an offer to be included in their collaboration range along with so many well known bloggers who are already listed.

Photo taken in natural sunlight

Anyone who is a long time reader of my blog, knows that I love pink! Also I like things that are full of sparkle and eye catching!  Shocked is all of the above. It's very me and although I didn't physically make it, I'm glad that it turned out to be myself captured into a bottle.

Photo taken in natural sunlight

Obviously "Shocked" is a vibrant pink and it has a hidden gem of holographic glitters through out. These photos are all 3 coats of yummy goodness and like all piCture pOlish polishes, it was fast drying and lump free! Awesome! I found I had a good chip free run aswell with it which is fantastic if you don't want to change your polish every 24 hours.

Photo taken in natural sunlight

And I'm sure there will be people out there confused over the "blurb" which is ...

Rock your nails
With our Kylie

Nope - my name isn't Kylie!! But if you don't get the reference then hopefully this YouTube clip will help explain the motives behind it.

*queue dodgy 90s Australian music clip*

I chose the name "Shocked" because a] I was shocked to even be considered as a finalist and b] I wanted to name it after something Aussie. I like Kylie Minogue and while I was thinking of names, this came on the radio. Really, it worked in well because the piCture pOlish girls thought of Kylie's song Shocked aswell when I submitted the name. It was meant to be!

Photo taken indoors

As I just can't leave things alone, here it is with some pretty heart stamping taken from the Lilic's A02 plate. I thought hearts were appropriate as I love it simply just because it's so me!

Shocked is available from today [woohoo!] from piCture pOlish and other network members.  Currently it's in limited supply so if you'd like a bottle then get onto it sooner rather than later!!

... When acetone is not your friend - Part 4 ...

Continuing on, I found these nail stickers in my collection and I was intrigued so let's give them a whirl. They are called Kiss Nail Dress and this design is called Cocktail.

I'm pretty sure this brand is from the US but I've definitely seem them in Australia at Priceline.

These have raised dots which I thought I'd find annoying as I personally don't like it when my polish isn't smooth but I didn't find it too bad. They didn't catch as much as I thought. I found myself rubbing my finger pads over them but I didn't pick at them which is what I'd usually do with anything that isn't flat.

I won't lie. I was skeptical about these. Especially once I took them out of the packet and realised that the non-pink was clear and my natural nail will show through. You could still see my bruise but from a distance it was covered up pretty well.

The hardest part of application was getting the tip right. Because of the raised gem dots, filing is not easy. In the end I grabbed some scissors to get it super close and then filed the edge.

Pros - Pretty, Easy to remove.

Cons - Not as easy to apply as others I've included in this series, No showers! The slightest bit of water makes them lift around the sides.  Not long lasting but would be great if you are in a rush for a 24 hour period.

Depending on your nail shape this could be a pro or a con ... I found that the stickers in this pack were on the larger side width wise. I don't have the smallest nails but I used up all of the smallest stickers in the packet. Out of a packet of 28 strips I am now left with 18 that I can't use and that also means no spares. Unlike the foils that I reviewed earlier in the week, these are a lot harder to be cut into the right shape if you need them.

But ... If you found that in the past, stickers haven't covered your nails entirely (especially thumbs) then this brand will work for you.

So for now that's the end of this series but I'll be back to visit it in the next 4-8 weeks while this is still going on. If you have any tips or suggestions please let me know!

... When acetone is not your friend - Part 3 ...

Quite a few people have suggested using peel off base on my injured nail. I love the idea that it's able to be removed easily without acetone but I've been trying to use it sparingly because of the deep dent/scratch. I don't want it to seep in or get stuck or cause more injury but if you just have a bruise or a cut on the skin then this would be ideal.

This is Femme Fatale Twilight Meteorite over a base coat of peel off base. Application is really easy on the peel off base, don't be shocked when it comes out white. Just remember the good old days of school and aquadhere! Just be patient and it will dry and become clear before your eyes. Once it's clear you are good to go and paint as normal.

Pros - Easy to remove! No acetone required! You can paint your nails as normal and no one will know

Cons -  If manage to get any peel off base on your skin or catch the polish it may peel off before your eyes in a big piece. This is not always handy when you are out and about.

I'll be back tomorrow with another suggestion! Any tips or hints? Keep them coming!