Here are some photos and swatches of my newest additions to my collection. Check out the video at the end to see the polishes in action and checkout their opacity.
First colour swatched in the video is A74. A gorgeous, bright, neon coral colour, unfortunately I do not have a picture to add yet but I will update as soon as I have one.
Second polish is 80514 a deep nudey brown, quite warm toned.
Bluesky Gel Polish 80514
Third Polish is 80563, it is a few shades lighter than the previous colour and more cool toned, although I would say it was more neutral than cool. Sorry this isn't the best picture to show off this colour, I will try and update the picture when I get a better one.
Bluesky Gel Polish 80563 (behind chevron)
Fourth polish is A44, this is more of a pink nude, very cool toned mauve pink. Has been a very popular colour.
Bluesky Gel Polish A44 on non marble areas
Fifth polish is Nude 19 (nd19), it is the lightest of the colours I swatched in this video, it is quite cool toned and slightly sheer but has quite nice coverage on the nails after 3 coats. Would be great for a french manicure.
Bluesky Gel Polish Nude 19 (nd 19)
Final polish was 7409, a medium pink that was too sheer for my liking, I do not have a photo of this colour on nails and it is likely I may never get one as I really do not like the opacity of this one. If you would like to check it out skip to 2.52 in the video below.
This is quite a hard one to explain in words, I will try to break it down, step by step. I highly recommend checking out the video at the bottom of this post if my written instructions do not make this technique very clear.
Gel Polish Stone Marble Nail
Step 1 : Apply base colour, in my case 2 coats of white curing each layer completely.
Step 2 : Apply a coat of top coat. DO NOT CURE.
Step 3 : Using a fine detail brush draw in thin lines using a dark grey gel polish. DO NOT CURE.
Step 4 : Dip the same brush in a little bit of ispropyl alcohol and start to blend the lines in a wiggling motion, hard to describe, see video for visual demonstration. Once happy, cure.
Step 5: Repeat steps 2 to 4 using white gel polish instead of the grey. You can also add in a little extra grey if you want. Once happy, cure.
Step 6 : You can now repeat the steps again or topcoat and you are finished.
Check out the video for a better explanation of the technique.
I recently shared a collage of my friends nails, done by me, on my Facebook page and I thought why not share it here as well. I shall go a little more in depth than I can in a Facebook post.
Katie's Nail Journey
First Visit. Nude Gel Polish with Glitter Fade
Katie first came to me wanting a nice, pretty, natural looking set of nails as she was to be a bridesmaid in her friend wedding. She didn't want extensions at the time because she did not want to be the only bridesmaid with false nails. So we kept it simple and went for a nude gel polish with a bronze glitter fade. You can see how I did these nails here.
2nd Visit. Purple and Gold Negative Space Nails
One week later Katie came back, although the nude design was perfect for the occasion, it didn't quite match Katie's personality. She decided she wanted to try Hard Gel Extensions, so I gave her fairly short, square extensions. We kept them short so that it wasn't too hard for her to get used to them and we kept them square because that is the shape she had always had her natural nails. Again we did a fairly simple nail art design which you can watch here. I will not that the same evening I did these nails, Katie had an incident with a cheese grater and managed to grate off the corner of her right thumb nail extension, so she did return the nest day to have this fixed.
3rd Visit. Dream Catcher inspired nails.
Two weeks later (total 3 weeks since first visit) it was time for a design change, we had a couple of millimeters of new nail growth. I filed off the gel polish design and removed any lifting, there was barely any, then infilled the hard gel and changed the nail shape to more coffin, we did not file down any length, before applying a new nail design. This time she chose a dark teal green which I thought would look great with some dream catcher inspired nail art, you can see how I did this here.
4th Visit. Negative Space and Bling Nails
Another two weeks (total 5 weeks since first visit) and it was again time for a design change. I infilled the hard gel and maintained the coffin shape, we still did not file down any length. For the design this time we kept it super simple with a little bit of negative space and a fair bit of bling. If you would like to see how I did these, click here.
5th Visit. Rainbow gel polish and pigment nails.
Two more weeks later (a total of 7 weeks since initial visit) and we decided it was time for a colourful design. This time while infilling the hard gel, I filed the extension at the free edge down to her natural nail length, turning the hard gel extensions into a hard gel overlay. I then went in and applied the design with gel polish and pigments. You can see how I did this design here.
To sum this all up, in 7 weeks we were able to grow Katie's nails to a length she is happy with. We had no nail breaks barring the one that was attacked by a cheese grater and also minimal lifting. You could definitely achieve this with out adding any extension and just doing an overlay from the beginning and wait for the length to grow. But if your client wants instant length you can do it the way we did. I made this post to say that there is no need to remove extensions to reapply, I personally prefer doing infills and overlays as I feel I can get an overlay to look much more natural and you also don't have the chance of the extension tip breaking off. As much as I love doing overlays, there are certain nails that will not be suited to overlays, if a client has nails that curve too far up or down than you would like, you may need to file the natural nail short and apply extensions every couple of infills, you may find you only need to do this to a few nails and not the whole set.
For reference I use Akzentz Proformance Hard Gel and Bluesky Gel Polish.
I hope you found this nail growth story interesting, and feel free to ask any questions as I am sure I have left something important out.
I made this swatch video for y YouTube Channel a little while ago, but I never got around to putting pictures on here. So here they are. This post will be set up a little differently from my last swatch post in which I had photographed each colour with and with out flash. In this post the polishes are pictured under my daylight lamp and on clients hands.
Bluesky Gel Polishes From L - R : A58, SP18, DC31, A52, LT137
Bluesky Gel Polish A58 is a gorgeous purple pink, it is quite bright and has great coverage.
Bluesky Gel Polish A58
SP18 is a glitter gel polish with silver, gold and pink glitter pieces in a clearish base. Can be worn alone with 3 coats, as pictured. Or one coat over any other base colour also looks great.
Thumb is Bluesky Gel Polish SP18. Paisley pattern is painted in A58.
DC31 is an off white cream shade, a very pale peachy nude. DC 31 makes a great alternative to white in nail art designs for a more subtle look.
Bluesky Gel Polish DC31
A52 is a deep green-blue.
Bluesky Gel Polish A52. Art is done with DC31.
LT137 is a beautiful army green. You could also call it olive green or khaki. It is a little less yellowy than pictured in this photo, I would say the colour is closer to the colour in the first picture of all colours swatched.
Bluesky Gel Polish LT137. Art is done with DC31.
I hope you found this post useful, Let me know if you prefer colour swatches on real hands or on nail pops. Thanks for reading. Here is the video swatching these colours if you would like to see what the coverage is like. Please disregard the last polish I swatch in the video as I think I had a defective bottle.
It has been a very long time since I last posted, and I don't even have an excuse as to why. Although I have not been writing blog posts, I have been uploading a nail related video to my YouTube Channel once a week for a little while. If you are interested I aim to upload a nail art video every Wednesday at 6pm New Zealand time, with occasional swatch videos or other nail related videos as bonus videos, although if I am low on the nail art videos I may rearrange this schedule.
Anyway, enough about YouTube. I haven't a whole lot else to update, I am still solely working for my self in my beauty business mainly focusing on nails and nail art, business has steadily been getting busier since November last year and I am really enjoying getting to know all my new regulars as well as seeing those that have been to see me since near the beginning.
I hope to continue growing my business, but I am unsure whether I will be staying in Hamilton forever or moving on to somewhere new sooner or later. I am certain I want to continue making YouTube videos, because I find it fun and hopefully someone, somewhere can learn something from my videos.
I think that is enough updates for now, I hope to be posting more regularly on here, perhaps when I have created a design I love on a client but was unable to record a video on said design, who knows, we will see what happens.
Here are a few nail pictures to make this post a little more interesting.
Neon Galaxy Nails - Tutorial for this design will be on YouTube in the near future.
Pink and Purple Gradient Chevron - Not my original design, client brought in a picture but I didn't catch the artists name. Let me know if you know who it was.
I have decided to swatch my Bluesky Gel Polish colours because I know how hard it is picking colours online.
All swatches are with out basecoat, three coats of colour and a top coat.
Here are the reds and pinks that I currently have. I will be swatching more colours soon.
Bluesky Gel Polish 80562
This is a lovely pale dusty pink colour, with a very subtle shimmer that is only noticeable in bright light. Great pale pink for darker skin tones. Does take a few extra coats than other colours.
Bluesky Gel Polish 40511
This pink is a couple of shades darker than the first one, but it has the same rose tone to it. This colour has no shimmer and is quite opaque.
Bluesky Gel Polish 80506
This colour is a hot pink with a blue shimmer. It is a gorgeous colour, definitely a must have.
Bluesky Gel Polish 40507
This pink is very similar to the above 06 pink but this one has a pink shimmer instead of the blue.
Bluesky Gel Polish A45
This is a true red with no shimmer.
Bluesky Gel Polish 80545
This polish has a sheer purple base with red glitter. Perfect colour for Christmas. Can be hard to get an even coverage of glitter, I definitely recommend three coats with this one.
Here they are all together.
No Flash
Flash
If you would like to see these polishes being swatched, check out my video below.
Because I don't want to redo my nails every week I thought I would do some nail art experimentation posts/videos for the weeks that I have not done my nails. For this design I took inspiration from a picture on pinterest.
With these Nail Art Experimentation posts the nail art may not always turn out as my best work but they are a good way to try new techniques and combinations.
Sketched Flowers | Hand Painted Gel Polish Nail Art
I can't say these flowers are my favourite but I think they ended up not too dissimilar from the inspiration pic. It is definitely harder to create nail art from inspiration rather than just straight copying another nail photo.
If you want to watch how I did this nail art, please watch the video below.
I decided to record myself doing my nails. This wasn't mean as a tutorial more of a nail GRWM but you may learn something from this video. Sadly the video quality is not as good as I had hoped because the colour keeps changing but I think you can still see what I am doing. I hope my next attempt at a nail video goes better. I am hoping to record my own nails every time that I do them and also throw in a few quick nail art experiment videos in between.
Anyway here are the nails I did, I have kept it really simple because I couldn't decide what to do. I wanted to use my new colours and also my new holographic glitter.
Spring Flowers with Holo Glitter Nail Art.
This manicure could easily be recreated in regular polish although I would probably skip out on the loose glitter and use a glitter polish instead.
If you want to watch how I did these nails, here s the video.
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to add them as a comment.
This year I had a party to attend so I wen all out with my Halloween costume, Int the past I have generally just played with makeup and worn regular clothes because I had no where to go. I tried a little bit harder with my outfit this year although I think it is still evident that I put more time and effort in to the make up.
I have recorded myself getting ready, it is by no means perfect but definitely an improvement on previous years and I hope I will only continue to improve next year.
The two more yellow photos were taken with the flash on and the top right photo was no flash
My 2015 Zombie Look
This is a zombie look I did in 2013. Do you think I have improved?
Zombie 2013
You can watch how I got my 2015 Halloween look here:
I didn't post anything last week because I couldn't think what to post, I really want to film another nail tutorial but I am waiting on a mini tripod to be delivered so I can get a better filming angle. I also though of doing a makeup video but it had been the school holidays so we had a full house and I don't like filming with people around.
Although I have been slacking on the blog posts, I have managed to keep up with my weekly vlogs so far. I have to say last weeks vlog was not my best effort but I think the one I am editing now is much better.
I am uploading a weekly vlog every Thursday at 6 pm, so watch out for it over on my YouTube Channel.
I guess this post is just to say I have not forgotten about the blog and I hope to be back into the regular posts next week. Wish me luck, I need it.
Here is a picture of some nails I did last week. Hand painted with Gel Nail Polish.
Red, black, white and gold nails
And here is last weeks vlog, if you want to check it out. It is a little bit shorter than normal.
I don't think I have ever done a favourites post before so here goes my first one. You will probably notice a recurring theme in these products, I love things that have multiple uses. These favourites are in no particular order.
Current Favourites
Goodness Chia Seed Oil - I recently bought the Goodness Skin Care trial kit and I really love all of the products in the kit but I especially love the Chia Seed Oil. I use it morning and night, it really helps to moisturise my skin and calm my breakouts. I have also noticed since switching to the Goodness skin care range my lips have been a lot less dry. This Oil also works great on my cuticles.
Sukin Hydrating Mist Toner - I also picked up this toner when I bought the Goodness Kit, I had used it before and I remembered it being nice so I thought I'd give it another go. I think I love it even more this time around. I use it after washing my face before applying the Chia Seed Oil and moisturiser. I also use it before applying my makeup and after to set down any powders. Its also great as a refreshing mist throughout the day. Plus it has a lovely rose smell. I practically bathe myself in this mist twice a day.
Nars Albatross - Before I bought this I rarely highlighted my face and if I did I would just use an eyeshadow. Albatross has started my love affair with all things shimmery. I use this product as a face highlight as well as an eyeshadow. It is such a lovely colour although sometimes I feel it can be a little strong as a face highlight for everyday but it is great for a more glam look and makes a beautiful lid colour.
Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Barely Branded - I use this in basically the same way as I use the Nars Albatross, although this colour is more of a champagne gold and I find it gives a much more natural look for everyday. I also use this on the eyes either as a base for other colours or just on its own. I love this product as my everyday face highlight and if you want an extreme highlight you can layer the Colour Tattoo with the Nars Albatross. It is a cream product but it dries and lasts forever on the skin.
Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Bronze - I also never really bronzed my face before getting this bronzer, I always thought I was too pale for bronzer and I would end up looking orange. This bronzer is a great colour and the pigmentation is not too strong, so you can build up the colour to your liking. On a everyday basis I will just use this bronzer to warm up my face and skip out on the blush. I also love to run this bronzer through the crease of my eye to add a little definition. It also works great as a transition shade for most eye looks.
Have you tried any of these products? What did you think?
All of these techniques can be varied by using different polish colours and glitter colours. You can choose to use the same colour polish and glitter or use a different coloured polish and glitter. This looks especially good with method 1 using your manicure colour as the base polish and adding a gold or silver on top. Also with method 2 a black base and silver glitter look nice together. I think I also need to add that the photos do these nails no justice, it is so difficult to get a good shot of glitter.
Sheer Gel Polish Glitter Nail
1. Sheer Glitter Nail
For this method start by applying your basecoat and two coats of colour polish curing between layers, if your colour is not opaque apply more layers. On a palette place a drop of top or base coat and add loose glitter of your desired colour and mix together. Then apply this mixture to the nail, I like to use a dabbing method as it gives more even coverage. Then cure the glitter layer. You can stop here and apply top coat or you can add another layer of the glitter mixture if you want more glitter. Once you have applied your final top coat check to make sure there are no rough areas, if there are then buff the nail and apply another layer of top coat.
Medium Coverage Gel Polish Glitter Nail
2. Medium Coverage Glitter Nail
For this method you want to start the same way as the first method, apply your basecoat and 2 colour coats curing between layers. Get your glitter on a fluffy brush and press the glitter into the sticky inhibition layer. Then cure in your lamp. Now gently dust off ant loose glitter and apply a top coat. Remove the sticky layer and buff the nail before applying a final top coat.
Full Coverage Gel Polish Glitter Nail
3. Full Coverage Glitter Nail
For this method apply your base coat and one coat of colour polish and cure between layers. Next add a second coat of colour but before curing pour on your glitter until it covers the whole nail, shake off any excess and cure in you lamp. Now brush off any loose glitter, apply a top coat and cure. Next remove the sticky layer and buff the nail before applying a final top coat.
Gel Polish Glitter Nails are so easy to do and add such a great accent to any manicure. The colour combinations are endless. I hope these steps made sense, if anyone would like me to elaborate or make a video tutorial please let me know.
Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation in Ivory - Before and After
I filmed a little GRWM video on this make up look and I though for my blog I would do some mini reviews of the products I used.
Starting with the foundation I used Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation in Ivory. This foundation has more of a dewy finish than the Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Foundation. It also has less coverage and this colour is quite yellow, but because it isn't full coverage it doesn't end up looking too yellow on my skin. I like the finish that this gives to my skin but it doesn't last very well with my oily skin. It is definitely a foundation that needs powder.
Under my eyes I used the Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in fair. This concealer is ok. The colour isn't perfect for me, it is quite pink toned and light so if I use too much I look a little crazy. I also find it settles into the creases under my eyes.
I used Estee Lauder Double Wear Concealer in 1C light to conceal my many blemishes. I really like this concealer, it covers well, lasts really long on my skin. If I'm being lazy and don't want to wear foundation I will use this alone. The colour matches my skin really well.
For powder I used the Rimmel Clear Complexion Powder in Translucent. I picked this powder up while I was in the UK. I haven't really used it long enough to have a clear opinion on it but it does the job. I can't say it has wowed me but it also hasn't disappointed.
I used the Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Bronze to bronze up my skin. This is really great pale girl bronzer, its not too pigmented so you can build up the colour instead of going in too strong. Its also a great colour, not too orange and according to the packaging it is waterproof. It also has quite a perfumed smell which I can't say I'm too fond of and I was a little worried the fragrance might break me out, so far it has not. I also used this as eyeshadow in my crease.
On my cheeks I used the Top Shop Cheek and Eye Duo in Bitten Cherry. This is very pigmented and dark. After watching back the video and looking at the pictures I think this is too dark for my pale skin on an everyday look. It would be great for a dark vampy look. I also think I applied it too low down on my cheeks, so that doesn't help. It is a really great colour and I can see it being a lovely eyeshadow.
I used Nars Albatross for my highlight and also as an eyeshadow. I love this product, it is so beautiful. I do think it is possibly a little too much for everyday on my fair skin because it has a very gold reflect and I think something more champagne or peach looks more natural on my skin for everyday. I absolutely love this as an eyeshadow as well.
On my brows I used the Jordana Eyeliner in Taupe. I have used this a long time, it gives a great natural looking brow that is not too warm toned. Also can't go wrong with the price.
For eyeliner I used the Nutrimetics Defining Waterproof Eyeliner in Mahogany. I don't love this product but its not bad. I like that is retractable so I don't have to worry about sharpening, it doesn't smudge or transfer throughout the day. Its not a bad eyeliner but I just don't love it for some reason.
I used a sample of the Estee Lauder Sumptuous Extreme Mascara in Extreme Black. This is an ok mascara. Defiinitely looks better when I curl my lashes, but most mascaras do. It added length and thickness and doesn't smudge through out the day. Overall a good mascara but I don't think its really any better tan a lot of cheaper mascaras I have used.
Finally on my lips I used the Rimmel Provocalips in I'll Call You. The colour is a great muted hot pink, very wearable everyday. The product is good too. Easy to apply, lasts well. It does end up peeling off at the end of the day and does wear off a little in the inner rim from eating. I like to carry a tinted lip balm product with me so if it starts to wear off in the inner rim or is getting a bit dry, I can apply the balm. The tinted colour of a balm helps to blend the apocalips colour with your nude lip colour so it isn't such a stark difference.
Overall most of these products I would recommend. I can't really bash any of the products I used in this GRWM. My favourite product would probably be the Nar Albatross, because it is so pretty and shimmery I could stare at it all day. My least favourite product is the Maybelline Fit Me Concealer just because I think the colour I have is a little off on me and it does crease a little.
