Konad M57 - China Glaze For Audrey/OPI Bare it in Trafalgar Square

Hi Girls

Okay, so the odd two fingered photo for my For Audrey swatch will now become clear.......

For this Konad I wanted something slightly odd. I love the colour of For Audrey and did not really want to cover it up, so I decided to use it on all fingers except the ring finger. I painted that using OPI Bare it in Trafalgar Square as it toned well with For Audrey and proved a great base colour for the leopard design I wanted to use on my ring finger.
I reviewed Bare it in Trafalgar Square here, and Wednesday's post about For Audrey can be found here.

Two coats of both For Audrey and Bare it in Trafalgar Square were all that was needed. Once dry I stamped the ring finger with the leopard design from plate M57 and konad black.
I then carefully filled in the centres of some of the spots using For Audrey, this helped pull the design together, making it look less like an odd nail and more a part of a design.


I think it works well and I like the slightly wacky look of the odd animal print nail among the cool tones of For Audrey.


Hope you like it too.

Wishing you all a great weekend !
hugs
BabyD

China Glaze polish - For Audrey

Okay, this polish has been covered so many times, I doubt there is anything I can really add........but I like to do swatches before I konad so here goes.

China Glaze's For Audrey must have near iconic status in the polish world, at least that is how it seems to a newbie like me! When I first saw this colour, I fell in love. I love blues, I love pastels and I love cremes, so this is a dream come true for me. I adore the Tiffany blue colour and it is a pastel without being chalky looking, but it still has a good kick of colour.
The application of this was actually good, a bit streaky on the first coat but opaque on the second. Nice application, not gloopy or runny.


Okay, the pic shows only my first two fingers.........there is an explanation......I was doing a mani for my konad, and the fingers don't all match, as you will see on Friday when I post it (it will all become clear, honest). Hence why I have only a thumb and two fingers in the photo, nothing bad happened to me LOL

Konad M19, M31 - Floral French Manicure

Hello Girls :o)

Okay, I was inspired to do this mani, based on a design on the konad web site. I really loved it and knew that it was one I wanted to try when I got my plates and polishes.
It has taken me a few months but I have finally gotten round to trying it........it is nice and simple and I really do like the result.
I used M19 and konad black, then stamped the flowers in white using plate M31. The dots were done using a dotting tool.



Am I the only one who hates the konad black polish?
I just seem to turn into a three year old child whenever I use it and the flipping stuff ends up everywhere! My skin gets stained and it just never seems to clean up! The more I wipe the worse it gets. It drives me crazy, I wouldn't use it except it always looks so nice on the nail......aarrghhhhh!

Konad M62 - China Glaze Grape Juice

Okay, we saw this polish swatched here, now time for the konad !

I used three coats of Grape Juice and the bead design from plate M62. I wanted something very simple as the polish is so pretty by itself, it would have looked too busy with a fussy design.......I think...... it may have looked fab, who knows!
I used China Glaze Millennium for the stamp, after all, silver and purple look awesome. I placed the design on the ring and thumb nails only to keep it minimal.


Sorry for the pics. While the polish looks great, the sparkle created by the glass fleck finish made it really hard to see the silver konad design.......no matter how many I took, the reflection always went over the nail with the design ! Hope you get the idea anyway.

China Glaze polish - Grape Juice

Hi Girls :o)

Updates my be a bit slower than usual for the next week or two. I have broken a nail on my photo hand and am gutted! So while it grows back to a suitable length I will be posting swatches and konads done over the past two weeks as a fill in. I have cut all my nails to a shorter length so they all match and won't look so odd growing back. First time I have broken a nail since Xmas so I guess it was long overdue.........on with the updates.

Today I am swatching the China Glaze polish Grape Juice. It is from the Summer Days collection, I have five out of the six of this collection, must pick up the last one soon.
I have Orange Marmalade, Strawberry Fields, Watermelon Rind, Raspberry Festival and Grape Juice. Funnily enough, Grape Juice did not appeal to me as much, from the photos I saw of it, not sure why, but I went for it in the end and I love it so much now I have it, it is much prettier in the flesh!
These polishes are amazing, they have a wonderful, glass flecked finish that just makes them sparkle like crazy, they are so pretty on the nail. I have not seen anything as pretty as these for ages, they are so different.
This was quite sheer on the first coat, a second coat looks much better and is fairly close to bottle colour, I tried a third coat on this one and I think it did benefit from it, as it deepened the colour beautifully. The formula was quite draggy on the first coat, but no problems applying the second and third coats.
I used my new Seche Vite as a top coat so it all dried real fast, loving that too........ (update: apart from the shrinkage! My nails looked realy odd after one day, the polish had literally shrunk and it looked like I had bad tip wear......not liking it so much now, plus it chipped on day 2)


Oh, how I love this colour!!!!! It is so unbelievably pretty. It sparkles so much and is such an gorgeous shade of purple. I seriously could not stop looking at my hands with this on.

Konad M57 - OPI Suzi Skis the Pyrenees suede

Hi Girls :o)

Okay, so I posted the swatch/review of this polish here, now comes the Konad !!

I had to use silver to compliment the polish, besides, not much else would show up anyway ;o)
I used plate M57 and a lace strip design, haven't tried these before so time to have a go!
I used China Glaze Millennium, as it is just the best silver I have tried, though Stargazer Chrome works very well too, and it is cheaper ;o).


I angled the strip to go across the nail diagonally to add interest, then went over the top with Nubar matte top coat to keep the suede look but still seal the design.


Hope you like it!
hugs
BabyD

OPI polish - Suzi Skis the Pyrenees Suede

As you know, I got this in the haul I showed yesterday, and yes there have been a few hauls recently, trying to swatch as many of them as I can ;o)

I was dying to try the suede finish ones and I loved the grey tones of Suzi Skis the Pyrenees, so that was the first on the list.
It applies okay, not as bad as I was expecting. It is thicker, quite opaque and dries mega fast! I gave this two coats to even it out, first was a tad streaky, but I did put it over two previous coats of nail envy I had on ;o) I have heard these should not go over base coats, but who am I to stick to rules, I had to try it out to see why, so far so good......


I love, love, love this polish. The finish is gorgeous, it has a speckled look, like stone or granite. The colour is perfect, just what I was after, a deep charcoal/gunmetal shade, with lighter silvery speckles.


I wore this for two days with no chipping, removed it then as I was bored and wanted to try something else. It seemed to last okay, but I am aware these do not last like normal polishes.

Another Haul, some OPI, Misa and Nubar!

Okay, so I have yet another haul post, this time some OPI's for you to see, as well as a Misa and two Nubar. I am still trying to get hold of all the ones I have missed over the years.....

I am going through a really bad green phase and so I am trying to get as many as I can find, along with some other brights. I must be yearning for Spring/Summer with all these colours! I also wanted to try a couple of the OPI suede polishes.

OPI The 'IT' Colour, In my Back Pocket, Green-wich Village


OPI, Over the Taupe, Ink Suede, Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees Suede


Misa Green with Envy, Nubar Lemon Sorbet, Green Tea

As usual, I will be swatching these over the coming weeks.

Konad M70 - China Glaze Pink Underground

Hi Girls,

Okay, today's Konad uses China Glaze's Pink Underground, reviewed earlier (link here). A great polish, good in two coats, I did three for maximum colour.

It is quite a vivid colour, strong in attitude, so I thought the graffiti design from plate M70 would be perfect for this mani.
I used konad black polish for the graffiti design and liked the grungy look it gave the mani.

China Glaze polish - Pink Underground

Hi Girls,

I am such a sucker for China Glaze, I just love the colours they do. Pink Underground is no exception. I have a lot of pinks, most of them are cremes but I have some shimmery/frosty ones too. This shade is a weird mix of the two. In some lights it looks very creme, but it has in fact got a subtle shimmer to it. It has almost a lilac/blue sheen in the bottle, as the light catches it. This shimmer is not as obvious on the nail as it is on the bottle, but it gives it a lovely bluish tinge to the pink, stopping it being too sugary, it really cools it down, very unusual, I like it!
The application was actually pretty good, not as gloopy as some CG's can be, it was a bit streaky on first coat and very even on the second. I could have left it there, but decided to try a third and this did intensify the colour a teeny bit more. I felt the colour looked a tiny bit deeper on the nail compared to the bottle shade.

You can just about see the blue tone in the photo, it really is a lovely shade of pink, and very different to any of my other ones. I had been a bit worried about it being too vibrant, like a shocking pink, but the pink is softer and the blue tinge just calms it down. Glad I got this one....soon to be konaded ;o)

Konad M7 - Rimmel Shocker/Green with Envy

Hi Girls, another Konad for you, this time a real fun one!

This time I used two colours, Rimmel Shocker which I reviewed earlier, and Green with Envy. I used two coats of Shocker on the whole nail first. Then I painted two coats over only half the nail in Green with Envy, which is a daft name as I think it has a lot of blue in it, more of a teal really, this is even more obvious when layered over the pink!

Once dry I used plate M7 and special polish in black to stamp laces over the join in the colours. I used the full design on ring and thumb nails but only the lacing and no bow on the rest.



I thought this was cute and a lot of fun to do. I can't wait to try over other colour combo's.

Weekend Polish Haul

Hi Girls :o)

Hubby took me shopping last weekend (just got around to posting it though) and kindly bought me some new polishes!! Lucky girl!

First we went to Superdrug and picked up two Gosh polishes.....

Golden Dragon and Rainbow

Golden dragon is a wonderful green/gold metallic polish, Rainbow I have been after for ages. It is a clear varnish which has iridescent flakes suspended in it, they glow many colours as the light catches the bottle! Stunning and I am dying to get this over some darker polishes, it glows like embers over blacks, amazing.

Then we went to Boots where I picked up Sally Hansen MegaShine top coat and Seche Vite Fast Dry Top coat. I have never tried Seche Vite before so am very interested what I'll think, as I know it is a bit of a HG to many people. It kind of worries me though as I have read the application is a bit odd to get used to and has a tendency to shrinkage, will see how I go.......



While in there I decided to give the Collection 2000 polishes a try, I have seen these popping up on a few blogs with great reviews so grabbed a few....

Button Moon (mint), BMX Bandit (periwinkle), Dynasty (lilac)

Will be swatching these over the coming weeks!

Rimmel polish - Shocker

This is Shocker from Rimmel, part of the 60 second range.

It applied well, very opaque and had a shimmery look to it. I felt it needed two coats to achieve bottle colour. It is a proper shocking pink, with a hint of blue/purple as the light hits it, not duo-chrome though, just a glow from it.
Application was okay, it was a bit thicker than say OPI, and you needed a good glob on the brush otherwise it dragged. I think this may have been down to the 60 second formula, however it took a fair while for two coats to dry considering this is supposed to be a quick dry polish, it really seemed about the same as usual to me.
These are okay polishes, they don't really do much to get me excited as say China Glaze, OPI or Nubar. But hey, I can get them at my supermarket, so I can drop one in the basket each time I go, so they are great for that! LOL
I could not capture the blue tint to this polish no matter how I photographed it, roll on Summer and nice lighting again!


Got a funky konad coming up with this as a base.........

Konad M19 & M57 - French Zebra

Hi Girls :o)

Today I have another French mani for you. This time I went a bit wild!

I used konad white and M19 to do the tips. I then used black and plate M57. I do have the zebra styled tip plate but thought the lines looked a bit thick for this, so I used the full pattern instead as it's more delicate.



Looks funky and wild, don't you think?

hugs
BabyD
xxx

China Glaze Haul!

Hi Girls,

Sorry to have been a bit quiet the last day few days. Life is kind of catching up with me and I have taken a bit of time out. Last year was a very traumatic and tragic year and I have been kind of not facing up to things. But they bubble out eventually and you have to deal with them. Hope to be back on track shortly. Think I am hiding behind my polish buying impulse, well it helps to cheer you up for a bit, doesn't it. Okay, back to the blogging!

Anyway, I have another haul for you, this one is China Glaze. As ever, I am playing catch-up trying to hunt down the colours I have missed out on.

Pink Underground, Tree Hugger, Grape Juice

Bahamian Escape, Sky High Top, Bermuda Breakaway

I hope to swatch these over the coming weeks. Pink Underground will be coming up first, plus the inevitable konad with it ;o)