Cherry Blossom Store: Broken glass stencil review

I have another review for you guys today. This is the broken glass stencil from Cherry Blossom and you can find it here. This one was easier to work with than the others, it was easier to peel and it did stick to my nail better than the very first ones I tried. It was a little funny when I peeled it the first time and I was holding the border only...

I started with two coats of Tip Top in the navy on my thumb and pinky. For my index, middle and ring finger I painted two coats of O.P.I next stop... the bikini zone. I didn't bother with it being too opaque as I was going to cover a bit of it.

I then did a gradient with Tip Top in the navy and purple reign. You can't really notice the colour shift, but it is there. I guess I should have maybe used a different purple... Or even lighter colours. Too late now!!

As I said these were much easier to work with. There was some picking, but not as much as the previous ones and there was no lifting. What do you think? Also on a side note, I am getting me a light tent sometime this month!! Any tips?

Thanks for stopping by!!

Cherry Blossom Store: Stripes review

Yay Christmas mani!! Okay, not so yay. This month got away from me. Work has been crazy busy for the past two weeks, we had our Secret Santa box opening which I was supposed to blog about today and I haven't done a thing to prepare for the big day in any way... Well at least I have a menu for Xmas day.
So I actually have two versions of this mani. The first one looks really crap, I had it one for a day and I took it off. I started with two coats of Nubar conserve on my pinky and thumb.

On my Simply Neat miracle mat I laid down the stripes vinyl from Cherry Blossom store. They were easy to work with and I had no problems of note. I like vinyls like this, as I can't lay down a vinyl in a straight line to save my life. I painted in the lines with Tip Top gold mine and Nubar conserve. When that was dry I painted two coats of Sinful Colors snow me white over it and waited for it to dry.

So that was my first mistake... I should have rather painted my nails white and used a clear coat for the stripes. I hate cleaning up Snow me white. My second mistake was being too impatient with my top coat and I smeared it. So this looks very very kak (shit).

My second version is so much better. Or at least I think so. I used polishes from my SS box. When I saw the Essence The little Xmas factory polishes, I knew I had to have them. So I sent Michelle over at Ordinary Misfit a message and asked very nicely if she came across them if she wouldn't mind getting them for me, I was quite happy to pay for this and by happy coincidence she was my SS. Anyway, I started with two coats of let's take an elfie. It's slightly thick, but I assume that's because it's glitter-ish.

I did the same with the vinyls again, but this time using I still believe in Santa Claus and meet me under the mistletoe, both polishes from the little Xmas factory. I used a clear polish and I was a bit more patient this time round when top coating.

So I like the colours of my first mani, but I prefer my second. What do you think? I am a little torn. If you're like me and need all the help you can get with straight lines, you can get these vinyls here.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Cherry Blossom Store: Spiral stencil and stickers review

Today I have another Cherry Blossom Store review for you. You can find the previous one here. I wanted to try a different technique with these vinyls. I have seen some people on Instagram place the vinyls on their Uber mat or Simply Neat miracle mat, blob polish on and then use a scraper to blend the polish into a gradient.

So first off I started with one (thickish) coat of Sinful Colours Snow me White on my index, middle and ring finger. I painted two coats of Essence island hopping on my pinky and two coats of Essence ever young on my thumb.

I tried peeling these vinyls off the backing, but it did the same as the previous ones. So I ended up picking the insides out first. I then stuck my vinyls on my miracle mat, blobbed on island hopping, ever young and island hopping again, scraped it down and peeled off the vinyl. I alternated the colours with the other vinyls. Waited for it to dry a bit and then painted a coat of Essence absolute pure (clear) over it. Once that was dry I lifted it off my mat, placed it on my white nails and trimmed it down to size.

So this was much easier than last time. Especially since there was no lifting, but then I didn't stick the vinyl on my nail. So there is ways to work around it.

What do you think? I got quite a few compliments on this mani. I'm not sure why it's so difficult to peel these vinyls off the backing though. It's the first vinyls that I have this problem with. These are available in the store for R15 on sale currently. You can find them at the following links:
Instagram
Store

Thanks for stopping by.

Cherry Blossom Store: Flower pattern stencil review

A couple of weeks ago Weheartnailart shared Cherry Blossom Store's profile on their Instagram account and since I loved their vinyls I decided to trust their judgement and went on over to Cherry Blossom's page. There they asked if people wanted to review their products. So I jumped at the opportunity as I have never really done a proper review and really wanted give it a try. So I mailed them and Bianca got back to me, asking me to have a look at the store and letting her know what I like.

I had to blow up the pic a bit so you can see the details.

So first, a little about them. The store has only been around for a couple of months, it started with the lack of all things nail art related in SA. They vinyls are made by Bianca herself, she and her friends test it out, the stamping plates and other nail art stuffs are from trade companies. Bianca is also looking into importing Born Pretty and Moyou products in the future. Good luck to that!! She is also open to making custom vinyls. Shipping is free over R350, otherwise it will be R55-R65 via overnight courier. You can find them at the links below.

Instagram
Store

Anyway, enough yapping, Bianca sent me a couple of goodies, which I didn't take a pic off (chop). The vinyls come in a plastic baggie with a tag that explains all things vinyls. First up is the Flower pattern stencil. I love this design, when I first saw it I immediately thought of stained glass. I started with two coats of I love Hean black on all my nails. Top coated and waited for it to dry. Once that was dry I started peeling the vinyl off the backing and oh my gosh, what a mission. I tried multiple sides, angles, but in the end I just sat picking out the little inside things.

It does say to try peeling from a different side if you having trouble, which I did. Some sides were better than others.

I then used Hean 281, 276 and 278 all from the Jungle Pop collection and tried for a radial gradient. Which didn't come out quite the way I wanted, but looks good nonetheless. The other problem that I had was that the vinyls kept lifting while I was sponging the gradient on. It's not quite obvious in these pics, but if you look at the tips you'll see where the colour bled under the vinyl. I eventually folded the vinyl under the tip of my nail to prevent it, which helped a bit. I feel that I should mention that I didn't touch the sticky part of the vinyl, tweezers were my friend.

So all in all, I really like this vinyl. People saw what I was trying to do with it, but the question is would I recommend it? To be honest, not really. It's time consuming having to pick out the insides of the vinyl and having it lift while sponging on a polish is very frustrating. And for me this is sad, as I really liked this design!!

What do you think of it? I do have more things coming your way. Hopefully it will fare a little better. I really hope it does. If you are interested in these vinyls you can find them here, they are going for R25 for 16 stencils.

Here you can sorta see the difference in the amount of thingies left behind, the result of peeling from different angles.

Thanks for stopping by and reading this long story!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

So I'm kinda running out of days before Halloween to post my mani's... Got something special lined up for Monday, I just hope I don't forget it.

For today's mani I started with two coats of I Love Hean 870 from the pastel collection on my middle and ring finger. The rest is sporting two coats of I love Hean black.

For the spider webs I painted a layer of clear polish on my miracle mat and stamped using SC Snow me White and QA26 from BornPretty. Then I painted a layer of I love Hean black over the web part, once it was dry, peeled it off and positioned on my nail still showing the base colour.

For the spider I used stencils from Revlon. I only saw these for a limited time at Edgars' and then never again. I stuck the stencil on my miracle mat and used Essie Leggy Legend. Once the spider was dry, I peeled it off and stuck it on my nail. Top coat and Voila!

What do you think? Oh you see my thumb nail... Bugger tore off. Kak (really) sore and yes there was blood. Real Halloweeny. So for the moment I have to rely on Ms Cindy to make an appearance.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monochrome Valentine's Day

Happy belated Valentine's day. Did everyone enjoy it? Spent it with someone special. In my case, my someone special was work and then my bed. It's great fun being sick. I did manage to pull off a valentine mani being sick and all.

I started with one coat of SC Black on Black on my pinky and thumb. The rest is two coats of SC Snow me White.

I used a swirly heart vinyl on my middle finger and heart stencils on my index and ring finger. I sponged on SC Black on Black and used simply peel for easy clean up.

The stencils are slightly bigger than my nails, so I cut it down to size and the little hearts that were left I used to make white heart decals on my miracle mat. It was fun.

So what do you think of my monochrome look? And what do you think of my mat?

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Hean nail polish #274 - Jungle Pop Collection

Sorry my post is a bit late today. Had to do my nails first! Well today I have another Hean from the Jungle Pop Collection and it's the second last one I have to show.

This is one coat!! I was seriously impressed with this one. One thin coat, not even a thick one.

I'm loving these holo's. This is not my favourite one, but I love that it's only one coat!

And I had to include a sunshine shot, look at that holo! Is it not beautiful? For the art I did something very simple, since that's what I'm into lately.

I used stencils from Revlon. I saw these in Edgars once and never saw them again, so I'm kinda glad I got them. I used Hean Ordinary Misfit for the hearts.

What do you think of my simple nail art? I think I need to send Shann, from We Heart Nail Art, a mail and ask nicely if she could make these stencils, or a least something similar.

Don't forget to pop over to Glamore Cosmetics if you want this Hean, it's a real beaut!

Thanks for reading!

Hean nail polish #277 - Jungle Pop collection

I am such a chop. I was meant to do a guest post over at Ordinary Misfit last week Thursday and I completely forgot!! Thank goodness Michelle is doing the #31DC2015. Otherwise I would have felt even worse. And I meant to do a post myself and I didn't even manage that!

Anyway, I had a different post for today, but I really wanted to show off my new stencils I got from We Heart Nailart! We've been tempted with photo's for about a month of their new vinyls and stencils and finally we got the go ahead to order! I'm not sure if they are online yet, because Shann is still busy taking pics and so forth. But I'm sure if you mail her, she'll be happy to accommodate.

Swatch first, this is 3 coats of #277. I top coated my index and ring finger and waited for that to dry so I can use my new fish scale vinyls.

When I trimmed the stencil down to fit my index finger better, there was still a bit left over and I started contemplating a bit of negative space....

So I took #277 off my middle finger, prepped it and used Barry M VIP, removing the stencil immediately. On my index and ring finger I sponged on VIP, again removing the stencil immediately.

In hindsight I think I should have used a different colour, but at least you can't notice my mistakes now.

 I'm so happy we can finally get decent vinyls and stencils here in SA. And they not badly priced either, only R50 a sheet. So for the next couple of mani's I'm going crazy with vinyls! And don't forget if you love the polish to head over to Glamore Cosmetics and get one before they all gone!!

Thanks for stopping by!!