Showing posts with label gold. Show all posts

Essence Advent Calendar swatches

Hi!
 Today I'm going to show (FINALLY) swatches of nail polishes that I got in Essence Advent Calender.  
I know it took me 3 months to finally show you the swatches, but they say better late than never, so I dedided to show the to you anyway.

03 My wish list

3 coats no top coat 


09 the night of magic and 04 north pole princess

2 coats od 09 and 2 coats of 04 over 09 ( the creal hexagonal glitter is almost invisible, I'm really not sure what's the point of this top coat. Any suggestions?) 


 08 my dear reindeer

2 coats no top coat 


 01snowflakes are kisses sent from heaven over 08 my dear reindeer

This top coat is quite interesting, although I'm not sure wether I like it or not. I used 2 coats of 08 and one coat of 01, both applied like butter.


 15 from me to you

A dusty raspberry colour, you can never go wrong with this one. Every girl/woman should have a shade like this in her collection (2 coats, no top coat, easy application) 


 15 from me to you and 01 see you in my dreams

One coat of 01 over 15. no top coat. I'll definitely use this top coat again, because it is perfect for spicing up a creamy nail polish.


06 sweet caramel sweets

2 coats, no top coat. This is one of the best nude nail polishes I own. Thank you Essence!
(The only thing that makes me really sad is that Essence nail polishes are pretty fast when it comes to chipping)


 05 meet me at the chimney

A satin finish dusty/pastel green. This shade is definitely the most interesting in the bunc, especially because this is a Christmas collection =). Application was great, and I really like the unique colour. Great base for nail art. See my post about BP-75.


 14 have a very pink-x-mas!

Another raspberry shade. I have a lot of similar shade. Definitely suitable for Christmas time. Great application 2 coats, no top coat.


02 made with love

Sheer milky white nail polish. After 4 coats nail line is still visible. I will definitely not use this one again.
 10 do you hear the jingle bells?

In real life it leans a bit toward pink, so it kinda reminded me on rose gold that is so trendy lately. I really like this shade, it is definitely something special and something I don't have in my collection. the downside of this polish is dry time. The last time I wore it, it just took ages to dry. I applied 2 coats, no top coat.


 07 winter wonderland

A pastel blue for Christmas? Why not, if there is a pastel green, there should be a blue too. Great base for nail art and stamping. I applied 2 coats, no top coat.


07 winter wonderland and 02 candy cane lemonade

This is literally the worst sheer top coat I tried. I already tossed it, because it made me too angry when I wanted to spice up a stamping with this one it only smudged my manicure to something unrecognisable, It melt my manicure.
I used 1 coat on pinkie, 2 on my index finger, 3 coats on my ring finger and 4 coats on my middle finger. It applied uneven and looked really horrible.


 12 berry-tale

A beautiful dark purple with lighter purple and magenta simmer. Too bad it chipped on my nails in less than a day. Good application, 2 coats used for swatches.


 04 what a grey-t night!

This one was on promo pictures and I really couldn't wait to get it in my calendar. I think I got it more towards the end. It is also pretty interesting, and I like it. Shimmer is really subtitle and I like it just the way it is. I used 2 coats, no top coat.


11 kiss under the mistletoe and 03 add on magic!

I played with this one in December. I used RockNail Star stencils and I really like how this manicure turned out. I have to use this stencils again. 
11 (2 coats) and 03 (1 coat). Both applied nicely, 03 dries to a matt finish.



 13 Rudolph's favourite and 01 message from the north pole

I really don't know how I managed to delete swatches of 13 Rudolph's favourite from my computer, but you can also see the colour in this picture (2 coats, great application). Over I applied one coat of 01 message from the north pole. This is also one of the best top coats, just look at that purple/gold shifting shimmer!


So, what do you think? Essence did a good job?
I was really pleased with the colours, but sadly Essence nail polishes don't last long on my nails (The used to, but it looks like that they changed their formula when they changed the bottles, because since that moment on, essence nail polishes chip too fast).

The struggle of finding a perfect yellow gold stamping polish is over!

Hi!

I'm not sure of you have this problem, but I have always wanted to find that perfect YELLOW GOLD stamping polish. I have quite a few gold polishes for stamping but none of them is not yellow, like real gold. ( It is actually funny how much I wanted a yellow gold polish, but I really hate wearing any king of gold jewellery). 
When looking at the Born Pretty Store stamping nail polish collection I noticed that #1 looked promising, but I did not expect much from it (because I've had a lot of gold polishes that were not good for stamping). It really surprised me when it arrived! It was that perfect yellow gold with great pigmentation that in my opinion every girl MUST have.
It cost's 8,42 $, (if you use my code you can get it for 7,58 $)

First I tried it over a red base. Red and gold combination is a classic for me. I used BP-L029 stamping plate and added some dots with dotting tool. The transfer of the desing was good (one flower is croocked because of my clumsines, not the polish)



Here I tested this stamping polish over black and white and you can see that it works over both bases, but it looks more yellowish when stamped over black. Again I used BP-L029 stamping plate.


I did a sloppy job at stamping here, but I just wanted to show you how it looks over different bases.


Here I used it also as a freehand nail art polish and because it is pigmented it worked great!


Which one is your perfect gold stamping polish? 

My opinion:

It is a great stamping polish (way better than Konad gold), it is not the cheapest out there, but for the quality and quantity (15 mL) you get it I think it is worth the money! It transfers great, but I did notice that it has a funky smell ( I got used to it, so now it does not bother me anymore). I will defenitely get myself some more (when I earn some money, since I'm broke at the moment).

You can use my code (COLLX31) at the checkout for 10 % discount.

This product was sent to me for a review.

Born Pretty stamping plates with fathers

Hi!

Today I have a review post on a stamping plate from a well known Born Pretty Store. Here is a link to their nail art department where they have tons of nail art related items: stamping plates, nail decals, glitters, rhinestones, dotting tools, brushes, foils and many other items.

In this post I'm going to show you 2 manicures I created with BP-75 stamping plate from Born Pretty Store. You can find it here, it costs 2,99 $, but is currently cheaper and you can get it for only 1,99 $.  



Size: 
all over designs: 
lenght 2,2 cm
width 1,5 cm

smaller designs:
lenght 1 - 1,8 cm
width 0,8 - 1 cm

My opinion:

I really like the designs on this plate, you can create different looks with them. If I compare them to larger square plates from Born Pretty Store these designs are a bit more shallow, but they still transfer wonderfully without any bald spots. They also have a paper backing that will prevent any cuts when handling the plate. After stamping you can simply store it in a cardboard pocket. In my opinion this plate is worth the money, but after trying out bigger square stamping plates from Born Pretty Store I do think the bigger ones are better, because they look classier and are a bit better engraved. (also the cardboard pockets are prettier).

Here are 2 different manicures I created with this plate:

Essence: meet me at the chimney 
Born Pretty Store BP-75 and Peripera Metallic Green


Essie: licorice and garden variety
Born Pretty Store BP-75 and their special gold stamping polish 



You can use my code (COLLX31) at the checkout for 10 % discount.


This product was sent to me for a review.

Hehe 060 stamping plate

Lady Queen is an international beauty shop, selling nail art,make-up and tools, jewellery, fashion bags etc. They offer free shipping all over the world. Here is a link to their nail art department where they have tons of nail art related items: stamping plates, glitters, rhinestones, dotting tools, brushes, foils and many other items.

 As I mentioned in my previous post I personally think that they offer the biggest selection of nail decalls, but besides that they offer a wide variety of stamping plates. I already reviewed hehe050 here. 

 Today I'll present another hehe stamping plate. Since we are close to Christmas this one is a must have for the season, because it offer a wide variety of designs.
You can find it in Lady Queen nail art store in the section Nail Art, or you can just click this link.
This plate retails at 2.99$, but I got offered a 15% off discount code for all of my readers so you can get it even for less!


Size:
Whole design
width 5 cm
height 5 cm

Here are some more informations about the plate;

 No protection on the back (lightly sanded edges that are not too sharp)
Light weight
Well engraved
Good transfer to the stamp
Hard peace of metal and can not be bent or broken

My opinion:

I tried 2 different designs with this plate and I had no problems with stamping. The image transferred well, and didn't smudge. I tried to stamp all parts of the plate and I haven't notice any "bad" spots, so I can say that it is really well engraved. Because it is an all over design I had a lot of options in my mind. I also tried to put the horizontal designs vertically which turned out great (with smaller designs you don't have this option, because images are too small to flip them on the other side and they the design does not cover the whole nail). It is relatively cheap comparing to some other stamping plates.

Here are two designs I made with this plate:



In the pictures below you can see that even the sign Merry Christmas transferred really well on my nail. I really love these hehe plates! With this design I also flipped horizontal design vertically and I got even better results.





I really like how many options this plate offers. I will definitely use this one for other occasions too!

For all of my readers Lady Queen offered a coupon code for 15% discount. Use WEXS15 at the checkout. 

This product was sent to me for reviewing purpose. See my disclosure.

Born Pretty Store BPL-023 image plate

Hi!

Today I have another review for you! 


We all know Born Pretty Store. Here is a link to their nail art department where they have tons of nail art related items: stamping plates, glitters, rhinestones, dotting tools, brushes, foils and many other items. 
Pay them a visit, you won't regret it, nether will your wallet since their assortment is relatively cheap and they also offered a special coupon code (see below)!

Here is the image plate:

You can find it here! It cost's 5,99$, but it is currently out of stock (why not, this plate is absolutely stunning and the only plate you'll need this winter)

Size:
Snowflake design: 
width:3 cm

lenght:5,4 cm


Full nail designs:
width 1,9 cm

lenght:2,2 cm

Smaller designs
aproximitely 1 cm x 1 cm



Quality:

I used it many times, but I still didn't tried all of the designs. Designs are very well engraved, because the designs transfer crisp to the nails. It is quite heavy, this gives it a high quality feel. The backing is secured with hard plastics, so no sharp edges! It comes with a pretty cardboard pocket, where it can be stored between usages. The only downside for me is that all the plates have the same pocket so if you have a lot of this plates it is harder to find the one you want, but this can easily be solved by marking the pockets =). 

Pros:
a lot of designs
well engraved- crisp image transfer
low price considering the amount of designs
no sharp edges
quality production

Cons:
This is not a real fault, but I don't like that all the pockets for storing the plates are the same (can be solved with marking the pockets)

Overall, I'm really impressed with this one. I really wasn't expecting this quality.

Here are some of examples on how to use this plate:






Now who could resist this image plate? I really have to get some more of these plates, because they have a lot of different designs! (I already ordered 2, and they are just waiting for me to use them)

They were kind to offer a 10% OFF coupon code. Use COLLX31 at the checkout!


This product was sent to me for reviewing purposes (see my disclosure)

Untried Polish Challenge - Cheapest

Hi!

Time for another post from Untried Polish Challenge. Today I will show you the cheapest polish I have in my untried polish pile.
It is Joy nail polish that costed me a bit under 1€. Sadly it doesn't have a number on (looks like I scratched the sticker off). 
IT looks wonderful in the bottle, but the application was hellish, not to mention that it smelled badly and it almost had no shine when it dried (at least it dried pretty fast). Because of missing shine I applied top coat for swatches. 
Here it is
Voliare Joy (unknown number) 2 coats
Essence: the gel nail polish top coat ( 1 coat)




It looks great right? I almost forgive it the horror that it caused me =)
Because I just received and image plate for a review and just because I really want Christmas to come (or at least December because I can start opening my advent calendars) I decided to do something more winter like =)

I used:
Base Voliare Joy
Stamping: BarryM Gold Foil and BPL-032



And a bonus picture! When I wanted to take pictures of this nail polish this is what was waiting for me:

Looks like one of my cats wanted to try out how tissue paper reacts to claws =). Thank good I have loads of paper napkins at home =)
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