Love Month. Day 17: Pink & Gold Chevrons.

Hi friends!

I am so sorry. This post was supposed to go up yesterday. I thought I'd have time earlier today to get a post up, but my fiancé and I ended up spending the whole day getting wedding things done! I'm really glad that we were able to do that, though. :)

Today will be a quick post to show you a manicure from about two weeks ago that I didn't share here! I can't believe I didn't, because I really loved this mani.

For this manicure I used OPI's Mod About You - one of my all time favourite pink polishes. 

I paired that with a chevron accent nail using China Glaze's I'm Not Lion, a gold holographic glitter. I have a picture tutorial on how to do a chevron nail here, but I actually used a different method for this manicure which is a bit less time consuming. Nailsofjessiek on Instagram has a video tutorial for the method I used, which you can see here. I find this way to be a bit easier & less time consuming.

Hope you enjoyed. :) ♥ Hopefully I will be able to get back on track with my posts tomorrow.

Love Month. Day 8: Gold and Pink Valentines Mani.

I've had my DSLR camera for about 2 months now and I only just figured out how to use the live view function (so you don't have to look through the little viewfinder thing). Yep, took me 2 months to figure out how to turn it on. All I was doing wrong was that I didn't press the 'ok' button. Seriously?!
Anyway. Nevermind that. Today I have a short post to show you another Valentine's Day nail look. I really like this one.

My skin colour looks fairly alien-like in these photos... Please excuse that.

For this manicure I used China Glaze Something Sweet (baby pink), Loki's Lacquer Scrooged (glitter) and OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips (hot pink).

I really like the pink and gold colour combination right now!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend. ♥

Beachy.

Hi there! Hope all my fellow Aussies are staying cool at the moment. It's gotten pretty hot again here in SA.
I have a quick post about some fun beachy nail art to share with you guys today! Perfect for the super hot week we're having. I wish I were at the beach.

I added some cute shells from Born Pretty Store to this beachy coloured gradient. These little shells come in a pack of 20 and you can choose between silver/gold, and 3mm/5mm for $2.78. I placed the shells onto the nail when my polish was still a bit tacky, and then topped the nail off with a layer of top coat.
Polishes used: Glints of Glinda by OPI, Once in a Blue Moon by Face of Australia & My Favourite Ornament by OPI.

Born Pretty also sell super cute accessories, like this bright turquoise coloured rubber watch! These watches only cost $5.99 and come in 9 fun colours.

You can get 10% off your Born Pretty order using the code CAL91. They do free worldwide shipping all the time.

*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*

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 ♥

B Squared Lacquer Christmas & New Years Set {Swatches & Review}

Hi guys! I have some swatches to share with you today from a new to me indie brand from the US! B Squared Lacquer is owned by the lovely Mia {@miadillpicklenails on Instagram}. She has a fantastic range of polishes in her store so I definitely recommend you check them out.

I have 8 polishes from B Squared to share with you today, from the Christmas & New Years set.

This post is going to be majorly pic heavy so please click the Continue Reading button below to see the swatches. :)

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. :)

Fat Lacquers - Dollar Menu Collection {Swatches & Review}

Hi friends! I have a new indie brand to show you today. Fat Lacquers is a US brand that just released for pre-order. I have swatches of their 4 piece Dollar Menu collection for you.

This collection is inspired by fast food; so unique! The labels are adorable, and check out these Nutrition Facts labels on the back! So cute!

30oz Sweet Tea is a very shimmery golden brown.
I found the formula on this one was quite thick, so I did add a couple of drops of polish thinner to it before I swatched it, as it was just a tad too thick for my taste.
2 coats {no top coat}.

Daddy Chicken Patty is a clear base with gold, copper, brown, white, black and green glitters.
This one also has a thick formula.
1 coat over 30oz Sweet Tea.

Soft Serve is a shimmery bright white.
This one had pretty much the same formula as 30oz Sweet Tea, so I also added polish thinner to it.
2 coats {no top coat}.

Two All Beef Patties is a clear base with brown, gold, black, copper, green, lime green and red glitters.
Again, another thick polish but that does help a bit to give a good coverage of glitter.
1 coat over Soft Serve.

By the way, when I say that these polishes have a thick formula; don't get me wrong. It's not an awful thick formula, they aren't gloopy and unusable. But for my taste they are a tad too thick and would benefit from a couple drops of thinner.

This collection is now available for pre-order, from Fat Lacquers' BigCartel store.

Fat Lacquers

Store | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

*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*

ANMonday - Metallic {Indie Month}

Hi friends! Happy Monday. Hope your weekend was awesome. :)

To finish up ANMonday's Indie Month, the theme is Gold / Silver / Black / White or another metallic colour. I only have one or two silver indie polishes and not many black / white ones, so I went with gold! :)

I went with a combo that I have worn before {and posted on Lissa's Polish Addiction} but loved it. The base colour I used is OPI Just Spotted the Lizard, which is my fiance's favourite polish of mine! I topped that with one coat of Eventide by Femme Fatale Cosmetics.

Eventide is a clear base with looooads of gold glitters in different sizes and shapes. There's also some pink glitters in there.

I absolutely love this combination. It's so blingy and perfect. :D

Thanks for visiting. ♥

piCture pOlish 'Imperial'

Hi guys! Today I have a manicure to show you that I wore on the weekend.

I have a fairly new polish from piCture pOlish to share with you! piCture pOlish is a brand that I really like, although I haven't tried many of their colours {yet - I actually now have a ton to try haha!}. I like that they support nail bloggers & have created a bunch of collaboration shades with them!
I have one of their newest collab shades to show you today.

I'm not sure why my photos seem to look really bad quality in my previews so I apologise if they look that way on your browser too! :/

Imperial is a shade that was created with Jeanette from The Swatchaholic, who is a fantastic nail blogger from Germany. I adore Jen's swatches! ♥ Her photos are incredibly perfect. {See her swatch of Imperial here.}
Imperial is a vibrant purple with a blue shimmer and small gold glitters. It dries a bit matte, as it is quite bright. But I always add a top coat so that's not an issue for me. The formula was nice, as I have found with all the PP shades I've tried. It was the teeniest bit sheer on the first coat, but it only needed 2 coats for opacity on my nails. I really enjoy the PP brush also. It makes the polish really easy to apply.

I paired Imperial, with one of my favourite glitters, I'm Not Lion by China Glaze. {Sorry, my application was a little careless, so there are some bald areas.}

My camera sucks at photographing purples like Imperial, so I had to do some colour correcting in Photoshop. I tried my best to get it as accurate as possible, but below is a photo I took on my iPhone which is very accurate. {Go figure - my phone would take better pictures than my camera.}

piCture pOlish shades tend to go in & out of stock every couple of days so if you're interested in purchasing any of their collab shades {which seem to sell out the quickest I think}, just keep checking back for the one you want. :) That's what I had to do to get my hands on the ones I wanted.
At the time of writing, Imperial is in stock. :)

piCture pOlish is an Aussie company, but they also ship internationally, which is good news for my international friends. They also have some international stockists, however.

piCture pOlish

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

*Products in this post were purchased by me. For more info please see my disclosure policy.