Nail Art: Easy Bright Summer Nails

Hello! I'm back! Summer is almost over and it's already the end of July! I guess time flies when you're having fun... Today I'll be sharing with you a bright summer design that's really easy and simple. It's really eye-catching and fun, I like it a lot! The bright base provides a really nice contrast to the black dots, and the pink prevents the black from being too harsh against the coral base. I actually came up with this design by accident... I wanted to have just one black dot at the base of my nail, but I found it looked a little weird so I decided to add two more black dots... I then discovered that I made it look even worse, so I tried to save the design by adding the pink dot in the middle. It turned out really nice so I decided to make a post about it. I don't know if I really need to do a tutorial on how to recreate this design... I think it's pretty self-explanatory, but, if anyone wants me to, just leave a comment and I'll try to get one up as soon as possible! Let's get to the design! 

What I used: 

Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy Matte

Polish: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Snappy Sorbet, Nails Inc Black Taxi, L'oreal Penthouse Pink

Top Coat: Pro FX Fast Drying Top Coat

As always, thank you so much for your support and for taking the time to read my posts! 

Mostin

Swatch and Review: Spring Flower Manicure with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

Hi guys! It's March! I can't believe it's already been two months into 2014! And... I can't believe that's it's still snowing where I live. I thought winter was over, but obviously, it's not. Just yesterday, the snow was starting to melt, the sun came out, and it actually smelled like spring. Then this morning, when I woke up, surprise! Everything outside was completely white, I couldn't even see the house across from me! So, naturally, I decided to create a spring flower mani with a few cheerful colours. I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Fuchsia Flare for most of my nails, then for the accent nail on my ring finger, I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lickety-Split Lime for the base. Using a nail art brush, I drew five straight lines to create the flower petals, then used a dotting tool dipped in Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Good to Grape for the middle. I've already done a swatch and review of this colour, if you're interested, click here. A complete review of the rest of the colours I used will be after the photos.

In general, I like the Insta-Dri line. The two colours I used for this mani had a great formula. It was creamy and thick, without being clumpy or gooey. They were bright and completely opaque in two coats. I do have to say though, that the formula for the pink polish was slightly runny and it was hard to keep it from running into my cuticles. There are many colours in this line, maybe around 20 or 30 colours, with a good colour range; from sheer nudes, to the darkest black. Definitely a line that I trust and recommend!

Mostin

Swatch and Review: Revlon Plum Seduction

Happy New Year! It is officially 2014!!! Anyone excited about the first day of 2014? I sure am. Pantone has announced the colour of the year for 2014.... radiant orchid. You can find their post announcing the colour here. I thought it would be very appropriate to start off the 2014 year with a post of a swatch of polish that is the Pantone colour of the year! Today I'll be showing you a gorgeous polish, Revlon Plum Seduction. It's a beautifully rich fuchsia plum jelly. Whoo, that was a mouthful! I really like this colour. It's so bright and cheery, but also rich and warm at the same time. In the shade, or indoors, you can really see the purple undertones in the colour. I love how it's slightly sheer, though not too sheer that you can see my nail bed. I used two coats for the photos, though I could have applied three for full opacity. 

What I used:

Base coat: 1 coat of Pro FX Protein Enriched Base Coat and Revitalizer

Colour: 2 coats of Revlon Plum Seduction

Top Coat: 1 coat of Pro FX Quick Dry High Gloss Top Coat

I hope you all enjoy the first day of the new year! Cheers!

Mostin

Perfect Manicure Step #3: Base Coat

Hi guys! Today's post is step three to my perfect manicure series; base coat! This step is often overlooked because it seems like an unnecessary part of a manicure. So what exactly does a base coat do? A base coat is a thin layer of clear polish that is applied as the base layer. It creates a smooth surface on the nail, which gives the polish something to adhere and stick to. It is also a layer of protection, preventing the nails from being stained by the coloured polish. 

I like to use base coats that are strengthening because my nails are weak. If you've read my other posts, you would have noticed that I include a little information section about what I used for the manicure. Most of the time, I use a base coat from the brand Pro FX. I found it at Walmart for about 5 dollars, which is pretty good considering the size it comes in. I'll link my post in which I explain each bottle in more detail here. 

There are a lot of base coats on the market. Ones that claim to make your nails grow fast, grow stronger, grow thicker, make your nail polish last longer.... the list goes on. I recommend choosing a base coat that is moderately priced, around 5 or 6 dollars is reasonable. If it's a strengthening base coat and made by a more expensive brand (OPI, Nailtiques, Essie...), it should not cost more than 12 dollars... Keep in mind that really cheap base coats may not work well. I'm not saying that the really expensive ones will work the best, because that is not true, but I do find from my own experience that cheap polishes in general contain ingredients that are more harsh and will more often damage my nails. 

Here are two of my favourite base coats from Pro FX. 

Thanks for reading! Come back soon for more posts!

Mostin