Hi Goddesses
A few weeks back, I was contacted by smART Nails to see if I would like to review their nail art stencils. By coincidence, I'd just bought (but not yet used) some off eBay, so I jumped at the chance to try some more.
Now, this is not the most positive review I've ever written, so I want to say upfront - I REALLY like the idea of the product, the reality of it just needs tweaking.
These stencils are slightly different to other nail vinyls in that they sit over the whole nail. For some patterns, this is a real bonus - like lining up the zig zags or chevrons. They are also super sticky, but in the right way. They adhere well, and are still sticky enough to reuse the next day.
For me, the product has 2 problems. The first is that they are super thin. This means that delicate or hole-y designs struggle against the weight of the polish when you start to pull it off, causing distortion of the pattern.
Secondly, this problem only gets worse when you try to reuse the product, and you will want to reuse it, given the price (USD1.99 for 10). You won't want to use a new one on each finger and spend $1.99 per mani.
As you can see on each of the manis I did, the pattern gets more distorted as I reuse the sticker. The thumb is always the first nail I do, and is therefore the crispest. Some of them deteroriate quite badly.
I know other bloggers have had more success with these - maybe they didn't reuse them, I don't know. I think you'd probably get better results sponging your polish on top of the stencil (less weight), but I am not sure whether this would give you the colour density you need.
So, sad to say, I'll use my remaining stencils but won't be buying anymore. If they can fix the weight issue, they have a potentially great product, but at the moment, these stencils don't give guaranteed results.
You can check smART Nails out HERE. These products were provided for an honest review.
Hi Goddesses
Today's post was a great excuse to use a polish that has been languishing in my stash a long time - but I'll get to that in a minute.
First up, let's look at the base - Ceram Sea by Elevation Polish. This leans a little more sea green than sea blue on me, but luckily, it works with my skin tone.
I love how serene and deep it looks, and also how glossy! Imagine sitting looking out at a sea that colour - amazing.
So back to the non-glitter topper. Remember 3 years ago when flakie toppers were FIRST the rage? The Fingerpaints range,the piCture pOlish versions, Nubar Hidden Treasure? I remember looking and looking for China Glaze White Cap, and I know for a fact that I only used it once - on an afternoon 3 years ago when I did loads of Barry M swatches.
And yet look at it. Look how it works WITH the base polish and just lifts it to another level of lusciousness. Sigh. So how does such a lovely polish get forgotten? Well, I can probably come up with 982 reasons - a girl only has so many fingers lol.
I then decided to add some stamping, also in gold, and used OPI Love Angel Music Baby. To be honest, I expected it to stand out more, and whilst it was more visible in real life, it's damn tricky to spot the stamping in these photos.
I used Cici&Sisi07 and a lovely butterfly pattern, but the butterly is a little lost in the shimmer storm.
Hi Goddesses
Recreating old stuff is a great way to measure your progress, or just have a more educated attempt at something that didn't quite work the way you wanted it to the first time.
I was, literally, spoilt for choice, and didn't know how I was going to pick just one, so in the end I let my RANDOM POST button do the work, and just sat there clicking til it settled on something appropriate.
I was semi-happy with the original mani. Whilst I loved the pin which inspired it, I wasn't totally happy with my finished version, mainly because the teeny dots weren't very uniform.
I decided to redo it in a different colour scheme and I love it SO much more this time. The base is still OPI My Vampire Is Buff, and this time the large dots are from Elevation Polish Aconcagua, a sublime jaffa holo with real depth. The micro dots were added with "watered down" Barry M Blood Orange.
So why do I feel this one works better? Seriously, I think it's the orange. The originally colour scheme was very subdued, and whilst I loved the base dots, the tiny dots didn't LIFT the mani.
And now I can't wait to do this in blue :)
