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Showing posts with label Nail polish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nail polish. Show all posts

Monday, October 02, 2017

Mavala 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar For Holiday 2017

This one is for all the nail polish and manicure enthusiasts; it contains everything from handcream and tweezers to a selection of nail polishes.
The Mavala 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar contains 12 products, and costs £45. The packaging is a cute seafoam gift box with drawers holding the products. There are three skincare products in here; everything else is for the hands/nails.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

Scroll down for the full contents of the Mavala 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar for Holiday 2017.

Here are the contents of the Mavala 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar for Holiday 2017.
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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Glam Guru Israel Beauty Box for Holiday 2015 Review

Last month, I told you I was awaiting the latest Glam Guru Beauty Box, released for the Jewish New Year - here it is!
For latecomers, Glam Guru is a seasonal Israeli beauty box I first discovered back in 2013, when this blog was at a nascent stage. They ship worldwide tracked from Israel. They release customisable boxes packed with goodies. You can check out all my Glam Guru unboxings here. Incidentally, it is the only beauty box from which I have repurchased products immediately.
The good thing about getting beauty boxes from around the world is that you stand to discover local goodies from several regions. And, believe me, there are some beauty treasures in Israel that my skin just loves.
The new Glam Guru boxes are customised according to your beauty profile. The box design is beautiful; bridal, even - look! 

Scroll down for my review and unboxing of the Glam Guru Israel Beauty Box for Holiday 2015.

Here is my review and unboxing of the Glam Guru Israel Beauty Box for Holiday 2015.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kit in Grape: Review and NOTD


Some time ago, Lisa of Cosmetics Sanctuary mentioned a Kickstarter project for Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kits. For backing the project, you would get a gel kit free and they shipped worldwide. I signed up at once. Every one of the kits was sold out in a matter of days and there were 542 backers.
Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kit in Grape
The Kickstarter project was run by Christina Kao. It took them a while to get through all the orders because there were that many! The colour options were Grape, Strawberry and Cherry Red. I picked Grape and pledged $25.
I received my kit in May but could not play with it because of travel. Airplanes, for unknown reasons, are lethal to my nails and I ended up with nubs (which are slowly growing).
This was my first time with gel polish and I was quite apprehensive about burning my hands, breaking my nails even further, ending up with no nails at all, discolouration, inability to get rid of the gel polish, World War III....

Scroll down for more about Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kit.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Periwinkle, glitter and duochrome manicure for Summer and London face

This is a very short post, since I am running from pillar to post in London. I found time to paint my nails last night - after coming back from Althorp (Literary Festival - sadly couldn't find time to visit Princess Diana's memorial thanks to the rain and train). I've bought six bottles of nail polish so far and got one free, so not too bad. Surprisingly, the OPI counters don't seem to have the sheer tints. Boo. Even the Middle East Sephoras seem to get the new launches earlier.
Anyway, for this mani, I began with Barielle Rain in Spain, which is a nice periwinkle. I wanted a glitter topper and went in for Sinful Colors Petal be the day above this. I didn't like the effect after one light coat, so I finished up with KBShimmer Urban Camo, which I love so much so that I will use it over pretty much every polish for a while. Here are the results:
Periwinkle, glitter and duochrome manicure for Summer with Barielle, KB Shimmer and Sinful Colors

Meanwhile, this has happened to my face:

Sunday, June 07, 2015

Nail tutorial: How to take your mani through the week

Greetings from London, where Summer requires a few layers, a scarf and a jacket. I was in Bristol where my internet access was irregular-to-nonexistent, so it's good to be back online. Since I am trying to do a gazillion things here as well as find time to eat and live, some of my friends are kindly helping me out here for a while. Today, it is Nidia Doherty of Lit From Within. You have to visit Nidia's blog and look at that cute firefly, the way she matches her manis to her skincare and makeup products and her trove of trivia on all topics from essential oils to moisturisers. Over to Nidia now.

Hello, Readers! My name is Nidia, and I run a little blog called Lit From Within.  I'm excited to share a little nail art with you today! When I was putting this look together, I was thinking about how to take a mani through the week.  Maybe you have to be more conservative with your nails during the workweek, or maybe you don't have time to do anything other than a one-color mani most of the time, but you want to change it up for an event.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Valentine's Day Lace Nail Art with Etude House

A handy kit for hassle-free lace nail art.

Valentine's Day Lace Nail Art with Etude House Rose Flowering Nails manicure kit

This Valentine's Day, I wanted to avoid the regular red and hearts for my manicure, and try something different. I've wanted to try out lace nail art for a while, and my first attempt, with cotton lace, was an unmitigated disaster involving little bits of fabric all over my black sweater.
I came across the Etude House Rose Flowering Nails kit on Jolse.com. There are two shade options, Watery Rose and Velvet Rose - I chose the latter. This set contains two nail polishes; a dusky pink and a deep maroonish red, and costs just $7.58. There are 20 bits of black fabric lace for the nails, in two designs. The kit seemed like a better idea than further experiments with lace from the sewing kit, so I gave it a try yesterday. At first glance, the lace in the kit seemed like adhesive wraps, but the fabric peels off from the glue. The lace is thicker and stiffer than I expected.

Check out my Valentine's Day lace nail art with the Etude House Rose Flowering Nails kit.


Thursday, February 05, 2015

Valentine's Day Cupid Nail Art with OPI Fifty Shades of Grey

Valentine's Day Cupid Nail Art with OPI Fifty Shades of Grey Featuring O.P.I. Romantically Involved and My Silk Tie from the Fifty Shades of Grey collection.


Random irrelevant fact: I hate the Fifty Shades books. I would rather read about the chemical composition of earwax and bogies.
Despite this, I really like O.P.I.'s Fifty Shades of Grey collection. There are some greys, a beautiful red, a silver and a teal blue. I will swatch the whole lot for you shortly. More on the polishes I used below.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Basic water marbling nail art attempt with OPI

Yet another attempt to master the nail art technique of watermarbling. 

Basic water marbling nail art attempt with OPI polish

Of all the nail art techniques, water marbling is the one I avoid the most. I did a first attempt here, in 2013, and gave up because of the air bubbles, the inability to make decent designs and the arduous clean-up process. One of my blogging resolutions is to do better at nail art, especially techniques where I'm not very good, so water marbling will feature regularly in this year's posts.
This is a very basic, tentative attempt at water marbling. I did not try to create a fancy design, but just made random swirls in the water. 

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Manicure: China Glaze Outta Bounds

Manicure: China Glaze Outta Bounds and razor carnage
Green is one of those colours with some variants that work beautifully, and other shades that look terrible within a mile of me. As a rule, I avoid lime green, parrot green and, well, anything fluorescent or virulent but love bottle green and anything deep. China Glaze Outta Bounds, a gorgeous deep shimmery green with teal blue undertones, is a green that I love.
Unfortunately, I've had a bad nail-accident featuring an "eyebrow razor" from a Memebox which I will show you soon. As a result, I could not do any nail art with this polish. This was my first go at an eyebrow razor and, while it tidied up my brows nicely, it ruined my nail, manicure and fingertip badly.
Photos of the carnage below.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Shatter manicure: Barry M Croc Effect Nails 323

Yellow and black shatter manicure with Barry M Croc Effect Nails 323
Yellow is a colour I can never pull off, be it on my nails, eyes, lips or outfit. Possibly because my skin has yellow undertones - using the shade always makes me look ill.
The only way I can pull off yellow on my nails is if I cover it up almost completely, so that very little of the shade peeps through - and that is why shatter polish is the best solution. The only yellow polish I own is the Bourjois So Laque Ultra Shine in 39 Jaune Trendy.
I picked up Barry M. Croc Effect from Boots Dubai - they have a nice collection of Barry M polishes, lipsticks and other makeup. They had two shades in this range - 323, which is black, and 343, which is red.

More photos and thoughts on the Barry M Croc Effect polish in 323 below.

Sunday, October 05, 2014

Autumn nail art challenge: Red and black

Autumn nail art challenge: Red and black manicure
What kind of complete klutz breaks a whole bottle of O.P.I. I'm Not Really A Waitress halfway through application for a red-themed nail art?  And then realises that this was the only true red polish she had?
I know it is well over three months since I last painted my nails. The fact is that all the travel I have been doing broke and damaged my nails badly - airplanes and lugging suitcases - and I developed weird hangnail-like protrusions from the sides. I will tell you more about them and how I solved the problem in another post. For now, I am going to celebrate my return to nail polishing with a nail art challenge series that runs through the rest of this year.
Read on for more deets and photos.

Thursday, September 04, 2014

Lip Factory August 2014 review, unboxing

Lip Factory August 2014 beauty box review, unboxing
Amid all the beauty boxes from Asia, I am also a Lip Factory subscriber. For first-time visitors, Lip Factory is a US-based makeup subscription box that ships worldwide. You get five or six full-sized makeup products each month. The operative word here is full-sized. Every three or four months, they do an all-lips box, featuring lip makeup alone. The subscription costs $22 a month within the US, with an extra $10 for worldwide addresses. To order, go to lipfactoryinc.com. Make sure you quote my referral code 385650 for 50 points apiece, which you can redeem against products or boxes.
I cannot find a theme for the August 2014 box. Usually, this is printed somewhere or the product card. The September box, on the other hand, is Fall-themed, from spoilers.

Here is my review and unboxing of the Lip Factory August 2014 beauty box.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Ciate Chalkboard Manicure Kit review

Ciate Chalkboard Manicure Kit review and first attempt
My nails are getting nubbier. Once a breakage-phase begins, they keep on peeling or breaking for a while. When one breaks, I have to file all the others down. And then, another one breaks to repeat the process. I actually wish my ring fingernail would break, too - it is the only intact nail and I don't want to file it into evenness for fear that it will break further and I will have to file all the others into the cuticles. However, I am not going to wait for them to grow, but will continue with nail art challenges.
Anyway. Ciate's Chalkboard Manicure kit was on my wishlist for a while and I was delighted to find it at Sephora ME. The base polish and the pens are intended to mimic blackboard and chalk respectively, creating "classroom chic".

Here are my thoughts on the Ciate Chalkboard Manicure Kit and a first attempt at nail art with it.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Manicure: Rainbow Honey Nail Lacquer Persephone

Red manicure with Rainbow Honey Nail Lacquer in Persephone
I swear I was not going to do another sticker manicure! In fact, I wanted to wear this nail polish by itself. But this polish alone would not have fulfilled the requirements of the GOT Polish Challenge, where at least one of the elements of the manicure must be one year old, or more. This challenge is partly responsible for the spate of sticker-based manicures I have done recently. I promise you that next week's submission will be a technique I have not tried before.
Having seen Rainbow Honey Nail Lacquer on several blogs, I could not wait to try out their polish. I finally got a nice little bottle in my amazing Vegan Cuts Beauty Essentials Kit, seen here.

The whole point of this mani, though, is to swatch the amazing Rainbow Honey Nail Lacquer in Persephone.

Wednesday, June 04, 2014

Manicure: Bourjois nail art kit and China Glaze Desert Sun

Summer manicure with Bourjois nail art kit and China Glaze Desert Sun
Coming home from the supermarket with a generous supply of roasted pistachio seeds - shells intact - meant that my nails were vulnerable to breakage, and the dreaded event occurred when I was removing my previous manicure. I am not a fan of my nubs; my fingers are too short and stubby to pull them off. So I decided to do something simple for this week's GOT Polish challenge, where the theme is "a silver accent".
Sometime last year, I had bought the Bourjois Easy Nail Art Kit and forgotten all about it. This was a Spring-Summer 2013 launch. I picked the swallows from the kit because summer is the right time for swallows. More on the kit below.

Here is a summer manicure using the Bourjois Easy Nail Art Kit and China Glaze Desert Sun nail polish.

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Thread nail art with Essie St Lucia Lilac polish

Thread nail art with Essie St Lucia Lilac polish
This is a beauty blog. Not a glossy magazine. And I am not a model, but a snub-nosed, wonky-toothed, oily- and acne-skinned former tomboy who is only learning my way through makeup. So there are bound to be fails.
But the courage to show a makeup fail has not been easy to find. You want to show the world your best efforts, not the ones that went awry. At the same time, fails show both of us where I went wrong, what not to do and how to improve on my attempt.
This is a nail art experiment I did with stranded embroidery yarn. I had seen string or thread manicures using sewing thread and wanted to try them out but ended up with stranded embroidery yarn instead of thin sewing thread! Thankfully, no freehand work was involved.

Here is how I did a thread manicure over Essie St Lucia Lilac nail polish.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Ciate Colour Foil Manicure kit: Nail art fail

First go at Ciate Colour Foil Manicure kit: Nail art fail
I did not want to buy the Ciate Very Colourfoil Manicure Kit in the first place, I wanted the Chalkboard nails kit. Unfortunately, the fiddly thing was unavailable at Sephora Dubai and they only had foil and caviar kits. As I already have enough caviar beads to cover an elephant twice over to see me through for a long time, I opted for the foil kit. Why was I against it? Because foil is way too blingy, shiny and "goldy" for my liking. Give me a plain black creme polish and I will cease nagging. It did not help that Sephora offered a deluxe gift from Benefit for accumulating 2,000 points and I wanted the points if I had to buy 20 boxes of Sephora wet wipes.
Anyway, the deed being done, I hemmed and hawed my way through almost half a year before deciding to try out the kit. The cover of the box proudly displaying multi-coloured bling, I made up my mind to go all out in imitation of the manicure pictured.

But before that, here are the contents of the Ciate Limited Edition Very Colourfoil Manicure kit.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Blingy glitter NOTD over O.P.I. Ink

Blingy glitter NOTD over O.P.I. Ink nail polish
First of all, this is a nail art fail.
The GOT Polish Challenge must include a polish you have owned for at least one year. So far, I have tried to include either a nail polish or nail art accessories I have owned for 12 months. This time, though, everything featured here has been in my stash for more than a year.
This week's theme is "bling". I have pretty much thrown every bit of shine and bling I could at my nails, literally plastering them in glitter. The result, which you will see below in a minute, is not very pretty. But aesthetic appeal was sacrificed in favour of going way too over the top. But I have made up my mind to share my nail art fails as well as the ones that look decent - and I get it wrong quite a lot.

My base colour for this manicure is the gorgeous O.P.I. Ink nail polish, which I have swatched by itself.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Textured Manicure: Sally Hansen Sugar Coat nail polish

Textured black and white nail art with Sally Hansen Sugar Coat nail polish
Number of nail polishes used: Two - one creme polish and one textured polish.
Number of base coats: One.
Number of top coats: Nil.
Number of times this manicure was redone on at least two nails: Eight.
Findings: Detailed below
It was one of those almighty messes. But I think the results were worth it. Read on for more details about this textured black and white manicure using striping tape and Sally Hansen Sugar Coat nail polish in Lick-O-Rich.

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Neon manicure with Color Club Peace Out Purple

Neon manicure with Color Club Peace Out Purple and nail art stickers
Neons are sadly lacking in my nail polish stash, which now holds only some 300 bottles. Apart from China Glaze Four Leaf Clover, which my camera miraculously turns into a turquoise blue instead of the neon green it is, I don't own any real neon polishes. I received my first Color Club nail polish in my April Lip Factory Box - it was Peace Out Purple, a bright purply-pink, and decided to rope it in as my base colour. I then picked some fluorescent green nail art stickers I had picked up back in 2012 from a roadside shop. Believe it or not, the glue still adheres!
Color Club Peace Out Purple belongs to the Poptastic Neons Collection, which includes "psychedelic" shades inspired by the 1960s. It certainly looks Pink Floyd-ish! Here is how the nail polish looks without the stickers, in natural light: