Simple, quick and neat: Lazy nails that still look polished!

Hi everyone,

Exams are finally over and I can start posting more often!

I thought I'd share my method for an easy, quick way of getting nails to look nice and polished without having to apply multiple costs of a colour, wait ages for layers of polish to dry, and fuss over really obvious chipping a few days later!

I came up with this a little while ago for the evenings when I haven't got the energy nor inclination to paint my nails super carefully and elaborately. I also hate hate hate chipped nails, so the fact that this involves a sheer nude polish gets around that issue.

I've used a French manicure colour from Natural Collection (which is quick drying and a steal at £1.99) followed by a coat of OPI Nail Envy. The French manicure colour is quite sheer and a little on the streaky side depending on application, but it's cheap and looks lovely and neat on the nail.

I hope this has been helpful, bye for now!

OPI Die Another Day - Review and Swatches

Hello again, for the second time today!

I picked up this polish yesterday at Sally Beauty Supply for a wondrous price of £3.64! How amazing is that? I've never managed to get OPI at such a huge discount before, and the bottle is full size too!

This is Die Another Die from the OPI Skyfall collection, as I'm sure many of you know.

It's a beautiful orange-tinted red. It's opaque in 2 coats, and I had few problems with application. It dries quickly to a satiny finish that's very very shiny. It appears to have a bright orange-red shimmer going through it that's quite silky looking, it's not frosty in any sense. In some lights this polish appears cherry red, and in others it leans more towards orange. I love it because it's a subtly different, dynamic take on classic red.

I can't comment on durability having only had it on since this morning, but I expect it to last me about 2-3 days at the maximum without too much major chipping. My nails are bendy to the point where long-wearing nail polish sadly just isn't a thing for me.

On my right hand, I used OPI Goldeneye on my index finger as an accent. I think it goes quite nicely with the red!

Here are some swatches:

I have to say, I had a couple of problems with streaking when I applied this, but that was more my lack of left hand control than anything else. I doubt that it's anything to do with the formula.

Anyway, I highly recommend this colour - it's a bright, vibrant red that's good for all seasons and is classic with a twist - definitely not boring at all!

I hope you enjoyed reading this, if you have any questions please ask!
Amber ◕ ◡ ◕

Nail Care and Maintenance

Hello!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I'm right in the middle of exams and spare time is hard to find!

Today's post goes out to my sister Cachelle, who needs some education in the nail care department. As an art student, her fingers are always covered in paint and ink, and she's always tearing her nails on things!  (＃ﾟДﾟ)  Everyone in our family has ridged, weak nails, and I have to use specific products to get mine in shape for polishing. So I present to you my nail care and maintenance routine (Cachelle, if you read this take note!!!) :


Step 1: Shaping and Filing

For shaping and filing I use the Stylfile file and buffer. The curved shape is unbeatable for getting a perfect round nail, and can also be manipulated to shape nails into stiletto, square or squoval shapes. The abrasive on the file is good quality and long lasting. The buffer works very well and gives nails a nice smooth, shiny surface for polish to adhere to.
The buffer has 4 different areas, and the file has a stronger grit and a smoother grit side:

Step 2: Nail strengthening cream

I use Nu-Nale to strengthen my weak nails before I get to polishing them. I use a small dot of cream on each nail, making sure to rub it in so it soaks through the nail's pores. This is what the tube looks like, I got it in Boots for just over £3:

I find that this product starts working overnight if you choose to go without polish and leave it on. I personally do this every few days to give my nails a rest if I can. Otherwise, it's just good to put some on and leave it for half an hour before painting your nails, just to give them some extra strength.


Step 3: Strengthening Base coat

I use Original Nail Envy by OPI as my base coat. It's very expensive for a nail product at nearly £19, but it does last a long time and keeps nails stronger and stain free when you wear polish. I recommend using it as a topcoat as well! I received this as a gift, and I probably wouldn't buy another full size bottle since they're so expensive. I advise finding a mini bottle on Ebay, that way you can save at least £10-£12 and still have enough to last you for a long time!

I also have a couple of go-to products that I use once the polish is on:

Seche Vite topcoat:

I really love this topcoat. It provides a glassy finish like no other topcoat I've tried, dries quickly and is self-leveling (i.e. it smooths out itself and the polish underneath it to minimise lumps etc). I find that it does bubble on the nail occasionally if you pile it on too thick or shake the bottle too much. It really smells very chemically since it contains toluene, so make sure to ventilate the room when you use it! It's not cheap at around £10, but it's lasted me a good few months and I'm not even half way through!

Elegant Touch Rapid Dry for Nails:

This is a sprayable version of quick drying nail oils. It's really quite handy! I use it after Seche Vite to speed up drying time further, and to moisturise my cuticles (it contains Vitamin E, which is beneficial to the cuticles I imagine).  It dries things nicely within a few minutes, depending on how thick your polish is applied onto the nail. It's about £3 from Boots.

That's a summary of the products I use to keep my nails in check. I hope this was useful, and if you have any questions please just ask!
Thank you for reading,
Amber ◕ ◡ ◕

Ocean Glitter - NOTD

Hello everyone! I hope that you had a great holiday season this December and a happy new year too! 

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, January A2 exams are getting in the way of pretty much everything at the moment.

Today I'm sharing with you a lovely, frosty manicure. It's inspired by the sea!

I really like it when holo glitter polishes are left rough on the nail, so that they sparkle more and look like mermaid scales or ice. It's an interesting, eye catching look that also seems to not be as prone to chipping depending on the polishes that you use.

This manicure works around that idea of rough glitter finishes!

I apologise in advance for photo quality, I don't have a proper camera so I have to resort to using my iPhone instead...

Here's the finished product:

And here is what I used to achieve these effects:

From L-R: Sweet Kisses by 17, Aquatic Glitz by POP, Mermaid's Dream by Deborah Lippmann

Basically, what I did on my index to little fingers was 2 coats of Sweet Kisses, followed by 1 coat of Aquatic Glitz. The pinky - nude colour of SK gives the AG a slightly more cornflower blue appearance and gives a nice subtle colour base for the glitter. Sweet Kisses applies well but takes a little while to dry, which isn't so great for someone like me who can be very clumsy with their hands! No matter, as the glitter covers any bumps and imperfections. I've reviewed Aquatic Glitz before, which you can read about in my Early December Nail post. ♫

On my thumbs are simply 2 coats of Mermaid's Dream, which is a real favourite of mine - it's like nothing I've seen before. It gives an almost sandy effect, like a mermaid tail's scales. Small blue hex glitter mixes in with gold and silver micro glitter in a frosty, pearly, slightly duochrome aqua-gold base. It applies really easily and lasts for a long time!

Over Christmas I both bought and received some really great new polishes, which I hope to show you soon! These include the Sprinkles collection by Nails Inc, OPI Nail Envy, some holographic polishes from The Makeup Store and some other ones too!

If you have any questions about anything I used in this manicure, or any other posts I've done, please feel free to ask away!

Thank you for reading!

Amber ♫