Poor little courier man

Our poor courier man, we may have the two friendliest dogs in the whole world but when people come to the door they make a lot of noise. Enough noise that even when he has a 'sign for' parcel he simply drops it on the doorstep and runs. Surely though, if you're going to choose a career as a courier driver, you'd want to not be scared of dogs? Just saying.

Anyway, here's the contents of my parcel from TransDesign:


China Glaze Loves You Snow Much collection. Ruby Pumps, 5 Golden Rings, Tinsel and Emerald Sparkle. Mmmmmm, Emerald Sparkle. Photo doesn't do it justice, the pictures I've seen on other blogs are stunning - can't wait to put it on.


O.P.I. Tattoo Ta-Boo! minis set. Witch Arm?, Glow-ink in the Dark, Tattoo You Want Candy?, I Love Mummy. And super cute Halloween tattoos, those bats are adorable.


Orly La Petite French mani minis set. Orly Bonder base coat, Je T'aime, Sheer Nude and White Out. Not my colours obviously, but I'm doing nails for my little brother's wedding in December and the bride (hehe, I just typed that as 'bridge') has requested french manicures for herself and the bridesmaids so I thought I should have some appropriate shades. The inclusion of a mini Bonder is a bonus, because I've seen it recommended often and wanted to try it out.


Finally a bottle of my trusty CND Stickey base coat, a bottle of CND Air Dry, and a bottle of Poshe. I always like to try out new top coats when I see them recommended. I'm especially interested in trying Poshe, polish lovers seem to fall into two camps - those who love Poshe and those who love Seche Vite. I wonder which side I'll end up on?

Hauls, hauls and more hauls

It's been a busy few days for our courier dude, what with all the pretties that keep turning up on my doorstep.

First some Creative polishes bought from TradeMe (in three separate lots):



Look at that rainbow of colours, so pretty. Left to righ: Make a Wish, Kumquat Dahlia (best name ever, even if it doesn't make any sense), Porcelain Doll, Replenish, Rejoice, Aqua Jet, Blue Nirvana and Blue Blood.

Next some polishes from Transdesign:



Left to right: China Glaze LOL, China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out, Orly Tiki Time minis (Teeny Bikini, Calypso Breeze, Sol Cabana, Mint Mojito), China Glaze Lubu Heels and Entity Blue.

And finally, a parcel from Eyeko, which yet again had problems with a leaky polish bottle but I didn't lose too much of the polish this time thank goodness:



At back: Saucy Red Polish (for naughty nails), Punk Polish (for neon nails, and the leaky one!) and Pretty Polish (for neat nails). Middle: Minty Fat Balm, Strawberry Fat Balm and Raspberry Fat Balm. Front: Touch Up & Go Concealer and Touch Up & Go Highlighter.

I am such a fan of Eyeko's stuff, the products are adorable and reasonably priced AND international delivery is FREE! So I can totally justify ordering stuff now instead of waiting till we go to England next year. I was so impressed with the Strawberry Fat Balm I bought last time that I ordered another tube (along with the other two colours) for 13 Year Old Daughter. Like me she now carries it around with her everywhere. The Raspberry Fat Balm is a little darker than I was expecting, but I read in one of Eyeko's recent Tweets that they've just changed it and the colour is now a little more subtle (pic here). Which of course means that I'll have to order that too, but that's fine because they also Tweeted that they have a new range of polishes coming out soon in Cosmic, Vintage, Lilac, Coral, Purple and Nude, so obviously I'll be ordering those anyway!

Today's nails: a couple of reds and some biro ink

Today I decided to give the two reds remaining in my untried pile a try. First up Color Club Queen of Speed:




Despite being a jelly, Queen of Speed is very thickly pigmented. This was two coats, although there is the faintest visible nail line showing so I could have gone to three. Application was excellent and it has a beautiful smooth glossy finish. Tomato reds lean too much towards the orange for my liking, but if you're a red lover this will probably appeal and it does have a lovely depth to it. I can see me wearing this occasionally, but only occasionally. Oh and just to make a fool of me after my comment about jellies taking ages to dry, this one dried quickly!

Next Creative Nail Designs Red Baroness:




My pretties, this is the elusive Holy Grail of nail polish - the One Coater. Aside from a bit of visible brush strokage application on this is damn near perfect. Shame I don't like it. Again, if you're a red lover then you're probably going to like this one, it has a lovely gold shimmer through it and it's very attractive, it's just not me.

And finally the one I've really been looking forward to, Eyeko Vamp Polish:





Can you just give me a minute here?

*swoon*

Oh. My. God. I love this colour. Love it. This is dark, dark biro ink blue bordering on black. You can just see the blue in the top picture. In many lights Vamp Polish is almost black but it has a gorgeous depth of colour that lifts it and the elusive blue cast in some lights makes it deliciously intriguing to wear. Two coats, and the shine that you see in the photos isn't down to the polish, which applies super streaky. A coat of Seche Vite fixed it beautifully, as you can see, but I would say you couldn't wear this polish without a top coat. But who cares, this may have just become my favourite colour of all time. So now I'm super bummed about it leaking in transit. When we go to England next year (did I mention blah blah, yadda yadda England etc) I think I may stock up on a bottle (or three) of this.

How to: nail art using painters' tape

After the success of yesterday's nail art I thought I'd do some on myself today and blog it as a tutorial.

First up, assemble your items. You'll need a base coat, your chosen colours, top coat, scissors and of course painters' tape.


The polishes are Creative Stickey base coat, O.P.I. No Room for the Blues, O.P.I. Dating a Royal and Seche Vite top coat.

Next, cut your painters' tape into strips. It's best to do this before you start painting your nails, to lessen the chances of smudging your polish. I've used straight edge scissors but I've also seen it done with craft scissors (the type used to cut wiggly designs in paper) and even craft stamps.



Excuse the hair on some of the tapes, the dog got a little close!

Now paint your entire nail, first with the base coat and then with the first of your chosen colours. It's best to do the lightest colour first because the darker colour layered over the lighter colour will show up better than vice versa (especially with some of the sheerer light colours). Apply as many coats of the first colour as you need to achieve a good colour density (in this case it was two coats of No Room for the Blues).



Apologies for the quality of the picture, I think it's time to invest in a new camera. Oh and apologies also for the state of my nails - I'm growing them out post-acrylic damage, and my fingers are a lovely shade of pink because it's cold dammit!

At this stage you want to wait a good few minutes for the polish to dry well, otherwise it will tack up when the painters' tape is applied.

Now apply your tape to the first nail, whichever which way you want. I decided to go for a straight vertical line so my finished design would be a vertical half-and-half.



Make sure the edge of the tape is sealed all the way along where the second polish is going to be applied, otherwise the polish will seep under and ruin the design. (All these things I learn by experience so you don't have to!)

Now apply your second colour. Do one nail at a time, applying the tape, then your second colour and then gently removing the tape straight away - the longer the tape is left on your nail the greater the chances of it damaging the first colour. For this reason you want to choose a polish for your second colour that is as close as possible to opaque in one coat (in this respect Dating A Royal wasn't the greatest choice). Also make sure that your application isn't too thick, especially along the edge of the tape, otherwise when the tape is removed you're likely to get polish bleeding over the first colour.



In hindsight choosing a first colour that is identical to the painters' tape, and a second colour only a little darker than it wasn't such a great idea from a photographic point of view! That is really a photo of Dating a Royal, you may have to trust me on it.

Repeat the tape-polish-remove routine for each nail then apply your top coat, which will not only protect your polish but will also make the ridge between the two colours appear smoother and less obvious.

Et voila, decorated nails.



Yep, most definitely time for a new camera. However, enjoy and please share your pics of your own designs with me.

EDIT: I finally remembered where I saw the painter's tape idea, it was over at The Hungry Asian. She did a series of them, so I've linked to the post where she used a craft stamp, which I haven't tried on myself yet - enjoy.