Bluesky Gel Polish Swatches | Reds and Pinks

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

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If you would like to see these polishes being swatched, check out my video below.

Spring Flowers with Holo Glitter | Gel Polish Manicure

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.

Manicure Monday - Pink and Silver Nails

Acrylic nails with gel polish

Today we have a set of sculpted clear acrylic nails with a custom blended gel nail polish on top. To make the pink colour I mixed a hot pink with a french pink to lighten the colour without turning the colour into a pastel which happens when you use a white polish to lighten colour.


On the ring finger is a silver glitter finger applied in the normal way. I plan to do a step by step post on this, the next time I do my own nails.

Also on the thumb I stamped some flowers using the Konad m57 plate before applying topcoat.

You may notice the Manicure Monday in the title again, I am planning to post a nail design every Monday if I can keep up with it. I have 3 weeks planned already so hopefully that is enough of a head start to keep up with it. I'm not promising post on any other days but there will most likely be a few other odd posts here and there.

Day 14 - Pink, Purple and Black Nails

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Today's post is going to be a really quick one because I have been working all day and I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and think of a good idea for a post.

Here are a set of nails I did the other day. My client brought in a picture of this design in different colours and asked me to recreate it. I do not know who did the original design so I can't link to it.

She chose pink, purple and black and also asked me to add the purple hearts and pink stars to the design. We reversed the colours on the thumbs.

This design is done with gel nail polish.

Day 12 - Valentines Day Nails

Here are my Valentines Day inspired nails. They didn't turn out exactly as I pictured them in my head but I thought I'd share them anyway. I ended up just doing a custom blended pink and accent glitter nail on my right hand.

I started with applying to coats of base colour, pink on the pointer and pinky, white on the middle finger. I then made a gradient. White to pink on the middle finger and reverse on the pointer and pinky.

On the ring finger I mixed some gold glitter with some pink glitter to make it fit in with the theme a little better.

I painted one heart on the pointer, middle and pinky fingers in the original base pink.

I painted some roses using the colours I used in the gradient on my ring finger.

On my thumb I did three coats of white and then painted on a heart on the original pink.

If you have any questions on this design or would like a more in depth tutorial let me know.

Pink and Rose Gold

Orly Je'Taime and Orly Rage

So, it seems I have been a little obsessed with changing my nail polish this week.

I loved the Orly Luxe polish I used in my last post so much that I couldn't wait to try out its sister Orly Rage, a lovely rose gold colour. I paired it with Orly Je'Taime for a pretty girly manicure.

Orly Je'Taime is semi sheer, but I don't mind this because it is quite a nude pink anyway.

I chose to add dots of O.P.I Kiss me on my Tulips to give a bit of colour to the manicure. I also added pale pink rhinestones on my ring finger.

What's your favourite nail polish?

Manicure Monday: Accent Nail

Orly Goth and Orly Rio

I have been slacking in my blog posts for a week or so now but I've been very busy with work since doing a deal on GrabOne. I'm not sure if I will be able to keep up with three posts a week but we will see how I go.

On my nails at the moment I am wearing Orly Goth and Orly Rio on my ring fingers.

As always I used a base coat. Today I used Orly Nail Defense.

The goth colour is an opaque black with small silver glitter pieces in it. It looks more glittery in the bottle than it does on the nails. Because the black is opaque the glitter doesn't show through too well. Also as with any glitter polish it is hard to get the glitter evenly spread over the entire nail. For me most of the glitter stays near the cuticle. The finished look is a fairly subtle glittery black. From arms length you can barely see any sparkle but up close it looks a little like the night sky. If you are looking for a lot of glitter you would be better off going for a plain black and then adding a coat of clear glitter polish over the top.

Because I can never just have plain nails, I had to do an accent nail. I chose to use Orly Rio because t is just a beautiful colour. It is a pinky purple with a little bit of a duo chrome look to it. It is gorgeous and bright and a happy colour.

Both colours were opaque after two coats. As with all Orly nail polishes I have tried the finish is not as shiny as other polishes like OPI. I think this is because they are designed to be used with a top coat. This is fine for me as I always use a topcoat. The top coat I used is Orly Polishield which claims to fuse with the nail polish to make it last longer. I find this top coat gives great shine and makes my nail polish last at least 10 days.

I love accent manicures for when I am being lazy or in a rush. There are endless colour combinations and I don't think I will ever get bored of it.

This is what's on my nails this week. What are you wearing?

Manicure Monday: Nude and Dotty

After 14 days of wear

Before I get on to this weeks manicure I wanted to show how my last manicure went. The photo on the right is my manicure after 14 days. It is a little grown out and there is some chipping on both of my index fingers. but overall I would say it has worn well. I could easily fix up the corner of my index fingers and it would still be an acceptable manicure if I was in a rush. The manicure stayed relatively chip free until around day 10 when the index fingers chipped. I did not take any extra care of this manicure, I left it as it was when I finished it.

Nude and dotty

Today's manicure is fairly simple although it requires patience.

After I had removed my old polish, I quickly manicured my nails before applying basecoat.

Next I applied two coats of Revlon Nude Chic to all of my nails. This colour is actually slightly pinker than in the photos.

After letting this dry at least 90%, I made a vertical line of dots down the centre of my ring finger using a dotting tool and pink and white nail polish. You could choose any colours that you prefer.

I then continued to fill my entire nails with vertical lines of pink and white dots. I did two pink dots in each column. I tried to make it random but a lot of my pink dots ended up in line diagonally.

I chose to only do the dots on my ring finger because I lack patience and couldn't be bothered to do it to all my nails, but if you have the time and you like that look, then you could.

It is important to make sure that the dots have completely dried before adding topcoat because if they aren't they may blur and the finished product will not look as crisp.

I think this is a great way to add something interesting to a nude manicure. It doesn't take much skill although a steady hand can help, but so long as you take your time, anyone can do this.

F.O.T.D Friday: Pink and Purple Eye

Pink and Purple Eye

I did this make up for work, it is quite natural, but a little different with a bit of purple thrown in there.

I forgot to take a before photo but if you watch the video you can see my beautiful no make up face.

I started off with the Designer Brands moisturising primer because a few of my spots were a little dry and this primer helps to stop my foundation clinging to them.

Next I applied Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Buff using the Real Techniques Buffing Brush.

I then sprayed my face with the Australis Make Up finishing spray and buffed it into my foundation a bit to make sure my foundation was blended well.

Next I applied a pale shimmery pink to my eyelid and then a bright purple shadow into my crease and outer V, I then blended it. I also applied a small amount of the pink to my brow bone. And defined my lower lash line by applying the purple to the outer corner of the lower lashes.

I then did a thin, slightly winged liner with my Maybelline liner.

I drew in my eyebrows using the Rimmel Eyeshadow in Dusk and then set them with the L.A. Colors clear mascara.

I set my foundation with the Rimmel Saty Matte Powder in Transparent.

I contoured with the L.A. Colors pressed powder in Cocoa.

I applied a pale pink blush to my cheeks and highlighted my cheeks with a skintone shimmery shadow.

On my lips I am wearing L.A. Colors auto liner in Nude and Wendy Hill Lipstick in Au Naturel, as well as a little bit of a nude Models Prefer Lip gloss.

Here is the video, if you want to watch me ramble on whilst I apply my make up.

Manicure Monday: Nail Care Routine and Nail Art Tutorial

Pink and green nail art

To make up for missing last weeks Manicure Monday, today is a double whammy. I am doing a step by step nail care routine and also a nail tutorial for this look.

First off, let's start with nail care.
Step 1: Trim nails with nail clippers. You only need to do this if you are wanting to shorten your nails dramatically. Make sure not to cut your nails too short.
Step 2: Using a fine grit nail file, file your nails to remove sharp edges and get the exact nail edge you want. This is the point where you can make your nails round, square, pointy etc.
Step 3: Remove excess cuticle. See the video for my rant about what you can use to soften your cuticles.
Step 4: Trim off any hang nails.
Step 5: Buff your nails to remove ridges if you have any. You can skip this step if you want to.
Step 6: Remove any oil from your nails using a cotton pad with nail polish remover on it. This is an important step because if oil is left on the nail, the nail polish will not bond with the nail and it will not last.

Now on to the nail tutorial.
Step 1: Apply a base coat. This will help your manicure last longer and prevent staining.
Step 2: Apply the colour you want for your border all over your nail. I chose O.P.I. Kiss me on my Tulips. I only needed one coat to get the opacity I wanted. If you need to apply two coats, go ahead and do that.
Step 3: Make sure your border colour is dry and then go in with your middle colour. I chose O.P.I Fly. Apply this like you did the first colour but leaving a 2 to 3 mm border of your first colour at the cuticle and side walls. Let this dry and then apply another coat to reach your desired opacity.
Step 4: You can at this point choose to leave it as it is or make a full border by painting your first colour on the tip of your nail as though doing a very thin french manicure. I chose not to.
Step 5: After making sure your nails are at least 90% dry, apply a top coat. Then once it is dry, your manicure is complete.

I would like to add a little disclaimer about the video. This is the first time I have ever recorded myself on camera and you may notice I stumble over my words and ramble quite a lot, so please do not judge. Also the pink does not show up true to colour in the video, it is an almost neon pink. The photo does it more justice.




The files I used in this video are here. And here is the buffer and cuticle pusher.

Manicure and Tutorial

This is what I have on my nails right now, it's really easy so I thought I would share it with you.

Step 1. Always start with clean freshly manicured nails and remove any grease from the nail plate with nail polish remover

Step 2. Apply your favourite base coat to protect your nails and make your manicure last longer. I am using O.P.I Nail Envy.

Step 3. Pick two nail polish colours, they can be contrasting or complementary. You can even use just one colour. I have chosen Orly Purple Crush (pink polish) and O.P.I Fly (blue-green polish).

Step 4. Using a thin nail art brush and a black acrylic paint brush two stripes onto each nail in a cross shape. The crosses can be different on each nail or the same if you prefer. You can use black nail polish for the crosses if you have it. If you want really crisp lines you can tape off your nails in the cross shape. I don't use tape because your nails must be completely dry before putting tape onto the polish.

Step 5. Apply your favourite topcoat and enjoy.

Don't worry if your crosses don't look perfect close up, I always look at my nails from arms length and if they look good from there I'm good to go.

Manicure of the Week and Nail Polish Review

My manicure for this week is quite simple because I can finally start growing my nails I thought I would do a coloured french manicure, so instead of doing a whole lot of tutorial photos I thought I would review the nail polishes that I have used in this manicure.

Coloured French with reverse ring finger.

I applied my regular base coat, OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener for Sensitive and Peeling Nails (it's the one with the orange writing). This base coat works well for me, I don't have sensitive or peeling nails so I can't judge it on its ability to help with that but it helps to prevent staining on my nails. I do still get slight staining when I wear green and blue polishes, so I recommend trying two layers of base coat if you are using blue or green polish.

Next I applied two coats of OPI Pink Flamenco to all my nails except my ring fingers. This colour applies nicely to my nails and is opaque in two coats. It is also very shiny, even without a topcoat, but I always apply a topcoat so I get as much wear as possible.

Next I applied three coats of Revlon Orange Pop, which is scented when dry. Like all Revlon polishes that I have tried this colour needs three coats to be opaque. It is less shiny than the OPI polish but this doesn't matter because I put a topcoat on top. At first I thought the scented when dry idea was a silly gimmick because you can't smell it after you have put top coat on, but I find it useful. I know that when I can smell the orange then the polish is dry and ready for another coat.

I then free hand painted french tips on all my nails with the opposite colour. I did two coats of the Revlon Orange Pop and one coat of the OPI Pink Flamenco.

Once it was all dry I applied Nailene Acrylic Strong topcoat. This gives a nice shine and helps prolong the wear of my polish. But I do find that I can get bubbles in my nails when I use this topcoat.

Overall I like this combination of polishes and it usually lasts at least a week on my nails, although I do find that when my nails are longer the polishes tend to crack after a few days because my nails have more flexibility than the polish. I try to prevent this by adding a layer of topcoat every couple of days.

Nails

Here are a few of the nail designs I have done in the past year or so. Please excuse the poor quality photos, most were taken with my phone.

These are acrylic nails I did on myself. The have a gel topcoat and nail art on the ring finger. They are small purple beads with a flower.

Here are my friends nails, again with acrylic, although with a purple glitter tip. I mixed purple glitter with a clear acrylic powder before mixing with the monomer and applying to the nail.

Another friends nails, this time gels. The glitter was applied before the gel topcoat as well as the pink and blue rhinestones.

Here are my mother's nails with a subtle pink water marble with regular nail polish.

My own nails again, this time with a retro looking design that I absolutely love.

My nails again.... This is bluesky shellac with a glitter on top.

These are my sister's nails, there are two pictures because I think they are awesome. They are my version of a galaxy nails, done using Bluesky shellac over a gel nail overlay.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Frankie.