1Q32 Instant Gellish {Swatch & Review}

I have a gel polish from a brand called 1Q32 Instant Gellish from their Christmas line to show you today!

1Q32 is a gel polish that cures under either a UV or LED lamp. This means that it will not dry until you put your nail under a UV or LED lamp. {I use a 36W UV lamp.}

They claim that you do not need a base or top coat with this polish. All you need is the colour! I think that's really cool because applying gel polish can be extremely time consuming with all the coats you have to put on {base, colour and top coat}, and the cure time. But with 1Q32, all you need is one polish!

These polishes don't have names, but they do have numbers. The colour I have to show you is called #QB26. It is a gorgeous red, with lots of little silver glitters throughout. The red base gives the glitters more of a red/pink look, though. A perfect sparkly Christmas red. Although Christmas is over, I would wear a colour like this any time. I wore it on Christmas Eve, and I paired it with OPI's My Favourite Ornament on my ring finger.

To apply, start with bare nails. Push back your cuticles and you can give your nails a slight buff too. Wipe them with pure acetone, or rubbing alcohol with a lint free wipe of some sort, to remove all dirt and oils from the nails and make sure they are totally dry and clean.

Apply one very thin coat of the 1Q32 to your nails making sure you don't get any polish on your cuticles or skin because it will harden and cause the polish to peel {make sure to lightly cap the tip of the nail also!}, and cure under the UV lamp for 60-120 seconds {30-60 seconds with a LED lamp}. Once your nails come out of the lamp the polish should be totally rock solid, and 1Q32 has no sticky residue after curing like some brands do. Then apply a second coat of polish and cure again. Once cured, you're ready to go! :) They say that the polish should last 15-20 days depending on how well your application was.

1Q32 says that the removal of their polish is easy, with no damage to the natural nail. And I do believe that there should be no damage to the nails if you apply and remove the polish correctly. To remove, soak a cotton piece in pure acetone, place on the nail and cover the fingertip with aluminium foil. Leave soaking for 10 minutes. Squeeze the foil and slide it off your nail. The polish should be mostly gone. Any little bits left over can be very gently scraped off with an orange stick or cuticle pusher. {This is the same method I use to remove glitter polish sometimes - I have a video tutorial here.} I found that this polish removed MUCH easier than any other gel polish I've worn. That may be because it's only 2 coats, whereas with another gel it would be 4 coats {including top & base coat} but it was still amazing. I wore it for 2 and a half days and I had no signs of wear by then. I'm sure it would have lasted at least a few more days with no signs of wear.

I really like that 1Q32 is all in one step. This would be great for when you need a quick manicure because it would really only take about 15 minutes for the full manicure, and once cured it's instantly dry. {I know I always have the problem of having to wait for my nails to dry when I'm in a hurry!}

The formula on 1Q32 is quite thick and pigmented. I was a little concerned that the polish may dry bumpy because of the glitter pieces in it, but it dried perfectly smooth which was really nice.

1Q32 can be purchased at 1q32.com.
Each polish is $24(AUD) for a 7mL polish, which is honestly a bit steep; but when you think about the fact that you don't need a base or top coat with it, it's not so bad. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a long lasting, shiny manicure that doesn't take ages to do right at home.

Thanks for visiting ♥

Merry Christmas! {What Santa Brought Me}

Hi guys! I hope those of you who celebrate, had an amazing Christmas Day yesterday, and are having a nice relaxing Boxing Day today {if you have it where you live}. :)

I spent most of my Christmas Day not feeling too good, so I was unable to enjoy all the yummy Christmas goodies. :( But I was happy to be able to at least spend the day with my family.

I wanted to show you guys what I received for Christmas from Santa! ;) {And disclaimer: I'm definitely not trying to brag or show off by showing you what I was given, I just really like to see posts and YouTube videos like this after Christmas, so I thought someone else might like to see mine!}

In recent years, I only asked for a few things for Christmas because there's not much that I want or need, so I just ask for a few things that I'd like to receive, but I never expect to get everything I ask for at all. I also received a few other things from family members etc, but I won't be showing you those.

I'm incredibly thankful for everything I received. :) ♥

Hand/nail set. This set came with some nail tools, including a metal cuticle pusher which I have actually been wanting to try for a while, some hand soap/scrub/lotion, 2 mini nail polishes and 2 nail buffers. I will definitely get some use out of this stuff. ;)

L'oreal EverCreme Hair Products. I asked for some nice hair products for Christmas because I have found that my hair is awfully dry and awful lately {I'm a bit overdue for a cut but I'm trying to grow my hair out for the wedding next year!} so I wanted to try some things to get my hair looking nice again. The products I have here are the Deep Nourishing Masque and the Nourishing Leave-In Spray from the L'oreal EverCreme range so I am really excited to try these because I have heard good things about them!

Mini Coke can. LOL. I actually received 3 of these in my Christmas sack from Santa. I guess he knows I like Coke a little too much. ;) Haha.

Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck perfume. ♥ I am SO excited about this gift! Eek! I have wanted this perfume for a while. My little sister has it and I love the scent so much, and the bottle is GORGEOUS.

I snapped a pic of the gorgeous bottle with my Christmas nails. :) {I will have more details about this manicure up tomorrow so stay tuned for that.}

So I hope you all had a lovely time celebrating Christmas & I hope you ate a ton of food for me who didn't get to enjoy much of it. :P

If you'd like to, let me know in a comment what you received for Christmas because I would love to know! :)

♥

Christmas Time Is Here Tag

I recently saw one of my favourite girls to watch on YouTube, MissHollyBerries, do the Christmas Time Is Here Tag video on her vlog channel, and I thought I would do it too, but just on my blog. :) You can see Holly's video here.

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?

I don't think I can pick just one thing that is my favourite about Christmas. I love it for so many reasons! I love spending the day with my family, I love that my siblings have just finished school for the year, I love the food {I think that has to be what I look forward to most, omg}; this time of year is just a really happy time.

When you were a kid, what did you leave for Santa on Christmas Eve?

Biscuits and milk. Usually Tiny Teddy biscuits if I remember correctly. :P My Grandma also gave us some 'reindeer food' that you sprinkle on the grass outside your house for the reindeer so we did that a few times.

Do you and/or your family have any Christmas traditions?

Not really... I mean, we usually do the same thing every year but I wouldn't particularly call it a tradition.

Ever since I was very young, my siblings & I would wake up very early on Christmas Day. The one day of the year I'll wake up just before or right when the sun comes up. We'd go into each other's bedrooms and open our gifts from Santa, and then get in trouble for getting up too early and waking everyone else up with all the noise. Oops. :D We actually still wake up really early, hehe. Up until I was about 11 or 12, one of my brothers and I would make up a 'Christmas plan' where we would decide whose room we were going to open our presents in, and a strategy so that we wouldn't get caught getting up so early. {This is making me laugh just thinking about it, hahaha.}

Oh! And an actual 'tradition', would be going to look at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. My siblings still go with my dad every year to do that, but I haven't since I was about 14, I think, because my fiancé and I usually have something on with church, or some other commitment.

When decorating, do you go all out or just do a small amount of decorating?

I'd say a small amount. We have a Christmas tree, and a few little decorations that go around the lounge room, but that's it. When I was younger I had a little desk top Christmas tree that I would keep in my room but I don't have that anymore.

What is your favourite Christmas food?

Ohhhh... ALL OF IT. Haha. Turkey, chicken, potatoes, gravy, mmm... Yummy. I also like this ice cream pudding my Auntie sometimes makes for the kids in my family because none of us have ever liked the traditional Christmas pudding. :P It's like a raspberry ice cream with walnuts and chocolate chips. :)

What is your favourite Christmas movie?

I have a few! I love Elf, though I have to admit I don't find it quite as entertaining as I did when I was younger. I also like The Grinch, Home Alone, The Holiday and The Santa Clause.

What is your favourite Christmas song?

My all time favourite is All I Want For Christmas Is You. ♥ I love the Mariah version, but also the Justin Bieber remix {don't judge}, the Glee version and Megan Nicole's version. I also love Baby It's Cold Outside, and Deck the Rooftop {from Glee}.

What was your favourite gift you ever received?

Hmm, tough one. The first Christmas gift my fiancé ever gave me was the Britney Spears Fantasy perfume, and that is now my number one favourite perfume. I feel kind of sentimental about it, so that's a memorable gift. Nothing other than that comes to mind, really. But all gifts are awesome. :)

What is your favourite Christmas memory?

I have soo many. One that always makes me laugh is when I was 11, on Christmas morning I was opening gifts in my brother's room, and I was sitting on his bed {which was on wheels}, leaning against the wall and I leaned too hard, pushed the bed away from the wall and ended up falling on the floor. :P That's just a funny memory I have. Oh, and the whole Christmas morning 'plan' thing with my brother. That just cracks me up.

Does it snow where you live?

It's summer time right now, but it doesn't snow here even in winter.

Do you own an "ugly holiday sweater"?

No, because Christmas time is summer here so I would probably melt if I put on a sweater. {Though some years have been cool enough on Christmas to wear one.}

Hot chocolate or eggnog?

Hot chocolate. But not on Christmas, because again, it's summer so I will be sipping away on an ice cold Coke, probably. ;) I don't think I've ever tried eggnog either, but I'm 99% sure I wouldn't like it.

Have you ever been kissed under a mistletoe?

Nope. Haha. I've honestly never even seen a mistletoe. :/ Do we even have them here...?

So, that's it for the tag. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I tag all of you to join in & do this tag too. Leave me a comment and let me know if you did the tag so I can check it out. :)

Merry Christmas ♥

Rudolph Nail Art featuring B Squared Lacquer

I've been so busy lately, but I had to make some time to do some more Christmas nail art before the season is over. I have lots of ideas and lots of Christmastime polishes to use so I have to get a wriggle on!

Today I have a very quick & easy Christmas manicure to share with you, also featuring a new indie polish.

On all the nails except my ring finger, the base colour is Rimmel's Acid House which is one of the new-ish Kate Moss shades. It's a beautiful shimmery dark green.

Over the Rimmel shade I've used B Squared Lacquer's Glitzy which is a beautiful gold glitter! It has a whole bunch of different sizes and shapes of holographic gold glitter including stars. {I actually used one of the stars in this for the tree in my Christmas Cuties nail art.} I have more polishes from B Squared Lacquer to share with you very soon so keep your eye out for that! :D

For my little Rudolph, I used Rubi Taupe, Essence Red Ahead, China Glaze Winter Berry and Ulta3 Black Satin.

Let me know if you might be interested in a quick video tutorial for my Rudolph buddy. :) It's super easy but maybe somebody would like it.

I hope to show you the rest of the Christmas & New Years polishes from B Squared Lacquer before the end of this week! :) Stay tuned for that.

Christmas Cuties ❅ {Nail Art}

I'm finding myself super busy lately, leaving me little time to do my nails at all, let alone do any nail art. But I recently made some time to crank out some cute Christmas nail art.

I've included lots of standard Christmas things in this manicure. Santa Claus, a snowman {although it doesn't snow here and I have never seen snow!}, a Christmas tree, a pudding and a Christmas jumper pattern!

My nail art skills are kind of rusty, so I made each nail pretty simple. {It may not look that simple to some, but I promise you, it really was. The whole manicure only took me about an hour to do. A normal one-colour-manicure usually takes me about 30 minutes for reference.}

Polishes used in this manicure:

• Sinful Colors Rich In Heart
• Ulta3 Lily White
• OPI My Very First Knockwurst
• China Glaze Winter Berry
• OPI Big Apple Red
• Ulta3 Black Satin
• Essie Fear or Desire
• Revlon Jaded Night
• OPI My Favourite Ornament
• China Glaze Be Merry, Be Bright {'ornaments' on Christmas tree nail}
• Rubi Shoes Taupe
• Rimmel Acid House
• B Squared Lacquer Glitzy {one star glitter used on Christmas tree nail}

Sooo, as you can see, I used a darn lot of polishes in this manicure. LOL.

Oh, and the weird red & green lines on the tip of the Snowman nail? That's supposed to be a scarf, k? ;)

On my thumb nail, I stamped over Sinful Colors Rich in Heart with Nailz Craze plate NC 03*, with Ulta3 Lily White polish. Despite Lily White not being completely opaque, it stamped pretty well!

I have had my eye on this stamping plate for a while because of this adorable Christmas jumper pattern image! A few stamping companies have similar images now but I think Nailz Craze was definitely one of the first to do it.
I used this squishy XL stamper from Winstonia to stamp with, by the way.

I have some more Nailz Craze plates to share with you soon {I cannot wait!}, and I'll probably use this one again in a full manicure because I love it so much. :)

Thanks for visiting, my lovelies. :D I hope I have some time to do more Christmas nail art before Christmas is here but I'm not sure if I will. I have a lot of posts planned & a whooooole lotta swatching to do!

*Products marked with a * were provided to me by the company or PR for my 100% honest review. For more info please read my Disclosure Policy*

China Glaze 'Just Be-Claws' + Bundle Monster Stamping ♥

Christmas is only just over 2 weeks away, and I have my first Christmas nail art for the year to share with you today, using a polish from China Glaze's Happy HoliGlaze collection for the Holiday season this year. I bought this set of 4 'mini' polishes from the collection. {Though they are definitely not your typical minis. They are 9.6mL each and most mini polishes, eg. OPI minis, are around 3mL!} I had to try one of them out right away. :D

Just Be-Claws by China Glaze is a super shimmery red foil. It has a little bit of a pink look to it sometimes too. It applied super opaque and smooth. I used 2 coats.

I stamped over Just Be-Claws with a plate from the new Bundle Monster Holiday set! The plate is BM-H01. I used a snowflake image on my pointer and pinky, and a full nail image on my ring finger. My stamping definitely needs some work so please forgive me haha. I am rubbish at stamping full nail images. The image is so pretty, though, so I will definitely be using it again. :) The polish I used to stamp is China Glaze's Passion which is just a nice metallic gold.

Thanks for visiting. :)

Christmas Wish List 2013

Hi friends! Happy Monday. :D

Christmas is only 3 weeks away! It's coming around very quickly, so today I thought I'd share with you my beauty and nail polish wish list for this Christmas. :)

1 // Perfume
I'm not the type to have more than a couple of perfumes on the go at once. Mainly because I don't really like to buy them for myself and only get them as gifts. At the moment I'm using Viva La Juicy by Juicy Couture, which I was given almost 2 years ago for my 19th birthday. I only have the teeniest bit left now, and while it does smell nice, it is expensive and I've become bored of the scent, so I probably wouldn't get it again. I really love fruity, girly scents. I'm not a huge fan of anything too strong, floral or 'grown up'. Haha. {I'm also on the hunt for the perfect wedding day perfume...}
Some perfumes I have my eye on at the moment are:
Fantasy by Britney Spears. This was probably the first 'real' perfume I ever owned. It was the first gift my fiance ever gave me so it has a special place in my heart, and it's probably my favourite scent ever! It also sells for a really affordable price these days.
Wonderstruck by Taylor Swift. My sister has this perfume and I love it. It's really fruity and girly. I've seen this on sale at some chemists recently, which made me want it even more because it was quite expensive at the time my sister got it.

2 // Essie Toggle to the Top
This polish has been very popular for this Holiday season; I've seen a lot of photos of it on Instagram. It's a beautiful deep red with a whole lotta sparkle. It's kind of the deeper sister of Essie's Leading Lady from their Winter collection from 2012. I heard that the formula isn't fabulous on this one, but I don't mind. I can overlook a crappy formula for a beautiful colour like this!

3 // Essie After School Boy Blazer
Another Essie polish! You may not believe it, but I don't own too many Essie colours! After School Boy Blazer is a very deep navy colour that has also been getting quite a bit of hype on YouTube, Instagram and beauty blogs! I've been quite loving darker colours lately and I think this one would be the perfect addition to my Essie collection.

4 // The Body Shop Almond Hand & Nail Cream
I love keeping my hands and nails moisturised at all times, and am always on the look out for new creams and oils to try. I heard about this Almond Hand & Nail Cream from the Body Shop, and heard it was pretty awesome. I'm intrigued and really want to try it, but would probably never buy it for myself because it's a bit pricey in my opinion.

5 // DSLR camera strap
I just got my first DSLR camera and I am so excited to start using it! As with anything I own, I have to make it cute & accessorized. {I love decking out my phone & tablet in cute cases!} I found lots of super cute camera straps and covers for camera straps on Etsy, in lots of cute colours and patterns. :D I would love to decorate my new camera with such cuteness! I love this one from twopinkhearts on Etsy.

Hope you liked this post. :D

I hope to have plenty more Christmas/Holiday related posts up for you in the next couple weeks. Let me know if you have any requests! :)

Love Thy Polish: A Very Snowy Trio {Swatches & Review}

Hi everyone!
Well, I am living up to my blog name right now. My nails are nubs. Just when I got them to the perfect shape and length, I went on a crazy filing spree. I had a job trial, and I'd most likely be working with my hands a bit so I decided to file my nails as short as I could go. I then shaped my nails round again - do not even ask me why I keep doing that, knowing that I don't like it - then I decided the next day that I didn't like it and went back square. I didn't have much nail to work with either, so now my nails are insanely short... Woops! So please just excuse the nubbies. Anyway, enough about that.

I have the A Very Snowy Trio from Love Thy Polish to show you today! This is Emma's Christmas trio for this year. :) This trio is based on snow, as you may have guessed. I don't know a lot about snow because, well, I've never seen snow. Haha. Anywho. Let's get into the swatches, shall we. :)

Plowed is a holographic dark grey {with a blue sort of undertone to it}. I love Emma's holos. :D
The formula on this was lovely, and quite opaque. I always find that Emma's holos dry quite fast {in a good way!} and this one was no exception. :) In my light box the holo wasn't very visible at all, but in the sun it was a little more visible. It definitely does look more holo in the bottle, though.
I used 2 coats + 1 coat of top coat for my swatch.

Sitting Pretty is a very dark chocolate brown jelly base with small white glitters and a subtle holographic shimmer. This one was a little sheer but easy to apply. It was pretty much opaque in 2 coats but I decided to do 3. :) This was suuuuper sparkly in the sun but I couldn't capture it. :(
I used 3 coats + 1 coat of top coat for my swatch.

Snowflakes Falling has small silver holographic & blue square glitters in a clear base. Great glitter payoff in just one coat!
I used 1 coat of Snowflakes Falling layered over black + 1 coat of top coat. :)

These 3 colours are very unique for a Christmas collection! I really like it. All 3 polishes could be worn any time of the year which is great because sometimes it can seem a little pointless to have polishes that you would ONLY wear one day / time of the year.

The A Very Snowy Trio will be available this Saturday, the 30th of November {at 10am South Australia time}.

The prices will be:
$6.50 for an 8mL mini {holos $8.50}
$9.50 for 12mL full size {holos $12}

Love Thy Polish

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Other Love Thy Polish stockists:

Femme Fatale Cosmetics (AU only)
Mei Mei Signatures (international shipping available)
(also available in 2 salons in SA - see here for more info)

*Product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company or PR for my 100% honest review. For more info please read my Disclosure Policy*

Pretty Pots Nutcracker Trio {Swatches & Review}

Hi guys! I have a Christmas trio from Aussie indie brand Pretty Pots to share with you today! This is their new Nutcracker collection for Christmas.
The Nutcracker was one of Jalene's {the creator of Pretty Pots} favourite Christmas stories, so that's where the inspiration from this collection came from. {Whenever I think of the Nutcracker - my mind goes straight to the Barbie & the Nutcracker movie. LOL - anyone else? Please tell me I'm not alone.}

Without further ado, here are the pretties. :D

Christmas Treats is a white shimmery base with red, green and gold small glitters, plus red and green circle glitters and gold stars. The large glitters in this do require a little fishing, so Jalene included a little baggie of stars and circle glitters to add to the manicure which is really nice. :)
This polish is beautiful, and perfect for Christmas! You guys probably know that I love star {and other shapes - but especially star} glitters, so I adore this polish! :D
The colours in Christmas Treats are made to resemble a Christmas tree.
2 coats + 1 coat of top coat.

Princely is a sheer blue jelly base with gold, red and silver glitters. This is so packed with glitter, so the best application method for these would be to dab the glitter on. I think most people would prefer to layer this over a base colour but I just did two coats alone.
The colours in Princely are inspired by the Toy Soldier in the Nutcracker.
2 dabbed coats + 1 coat of top coat.

Sugar Plum Faerie is a purple tinted base with purple, pink and silver micro glitters. This is another that you may want to layer over a base colour, but I chose to do two coats alone. Next time I would probably do a third.
This baby is super sparkly and gorgeous. The glitters in it are mostly holographic so it really goes crazy in the sun! :D
Sugar Plum Faerie is sparkly to give it a sense of magic.
2 coats + 1 coat of top coat.

The Nutcracker trio is available now from the Pretty Pots store. {They can be purchased separately or in the trio.}

Pretty Pots

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*Product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company or PR for my 100% honest review. For more info please read my Disclosure Policy*