I wore these for a couple of days at the end of last week. I used 6 of the Models Own Polish for Tans for this watermarble.
I started with a base of Models Own Coconut Cream, and then used Island Hop, Barrier Reef, Boat Party, Sarong Wrap, Beach Hut and Beach Fire to watermarble over the top.
These polishes spread so easily on the water and are perfect for water marbling. I imagine I'll be doing plenty more of these in future.
I love how these came out!
Here are some more nails I wore in the last couple of weeks, that I hadn't got round to blogging. I thought I'd see whether the Barry M Lolly Gloss polishes work for watermarbling.... and they do!
I started with a base of Barry M Cotton, and then watermarbled using Pink Candy, Purple Pop, Orange Fizz and Cherry Drop.
As you can see, they work really well. I'd wondered before about water marbling with sheer polishes, but the OPI Color Paints I have are only minis, and I wasn't keen to waste loads of polish. The Barry Ms are a fraction of the price, and are easier to replace, so I went with those. Plus these smell pretty!
What do you think? I really love how these look, and I'll be doing this again. I wish they did a green and a yellow as well!
Today I got the urge to do an autumnal watermarble! This was done with all Barry M Gelly colours.
I'm really happy with how this turned out!
I've used Mustard, Mango, Paprika and Cocoa, which I think work really well together.
What do you think?
I'm excited about today's post! I have a third lovely Jacava polish to show you, plus some nail art I've done using the new polishes, plus details of an exciting Jacava giveaway which will allow one lucky person to win the entire Woodlanders polish collection!
Photo credit: Jacava.com
These were the three polishes I tried:
You can see my swatches of Holbein Place and Justice Walk by clicking on the links. Today I have Phene Street to show you.
This is the darkest of the three, and is a gorgeous muted, dusky purple. I really love the tone of all three of these polishes (and of lots more in the collection) which really does fit in with the misty autumnal woodland idea of the collection.
Phene Street is another polish with a fantastic formula and finish. This is two coats, although this was opaque with one. I only added a second out of habit!
I really like how these colours go together, so I also used them for a couple of nail art looks. First off, I used sellotape to make a simple blocked tape design.
I was really pleased with this, and wore this for a day at the weekend.
The colours go so well together, I think!
Then today, I've used the colours to make a gradient and a water marble.
These worked really well for water marbling, I was very impressed! And they're fabulous for gradients - I love how nicely they blended.
Last up, the exciting news! Jacava are running a competition which will allow someone to win the entire collection! (See the range here - that's SEVENTEEN bottles of polish!) All you have to do is check out their Twitter or Facebook, and follow the instructions to enter.
These polishes were provided for my honest review. I don't get anything if you enter or win the competition (I'm entering it too!) See my Disclaimer section for more information.
Today I was in the mood for a water marble. I wanted to make a neon rainbow one, but I just could not get the polishes to spread on the water, so I gave up that plan and made a pastel one instead using China Glaze polishes.
I started with a white base, and then used Tart-y For the Party, Pink-ie Promise and Keep Calm Paint On for the marble.
I've added topcoat for shine. This looks a bit scruffy round the cuticles, especially on the thumb, as I found it quite hard to clean up for some reason. My cuticles are really dry at the moment too. I need to do a deep-moisturising treatment!
Ever since I first saw the press release for these, aaaaages ago, I have wanted the OPI Color Paints polishes! They're described as "blendable nail lacquer" colours that can be combined for all sorts of artistic effects. Officially, these aren't on sale in the UK until July 1st, and will only be available in Selfridges. However, they are available on Amazon from lots of different sellers. I bought a set of the minis, as I couldn't decide on what colours I wanted, and didn't want to spend a fortune buying several and then be disappointed.
This set has Silver Canvas, the 'undercoat' polish, and then 5 of the 8 colours: Primarily Yellow, Chromatic Orange, Pen & Pink, Purple Perspective, and Turquoise Aesthetic.
How sheer are they?
They're sheer, but very pigmented, so they're nowhere near as sheer as polishes like the Sheer Tints. Depending on the colour, some are more sheer than others. They are beautiful, glossy and pigmented jellies.
Here are, left to right, Primarily Yellow, Chromatic Orange, Pen & Pink, and Purple Perspective with one coat each.
Here they are with two coats each.The yellow is obviously more sheer than the others. The purple in particular is almost opaque. But I love how juicy and glossy they all are!
Do I need the silver base?
Well, it's going to be up to you. You probably don't need this specific silver base. Do you need a silver base? No, but it does do something different to the polishes.
Here is Turquoise Aesthetic left to right over the silver base, no base, and a white base. As you can see, the polish is less streaky over the silver base, and the colour pops much more. On its own, you have the sheer effect and less colour-pop, and over white you get the colour-pop but have some streakiness. Which you prefer is going to be a matter of personal taste.
How does the silver compare to other silvers?
Left to right, I used Models Own Chrome Silver, Barry M Silver Foil, OPI Silver Canvas, and OPI Push and Shove. These are all one coat, except the Models Own, which is two.
The Models Own Chrome Silver is good for stamping, but I find it hard to use as a polish on its own as it is quite thin, and drags a bit on application, so ends up streaky unless you're really careful. As you can see, it's a bit uneven in application. The Barry M Silver Foil is excellent for stamping, but nothing special to wear on its own. Silver Canvas is nice and even. OPI Push and Shove is really nice as a shiny chrome, and is definitely shinier than the others here. I found the two OPIs very similar in application, although Push and Shove is more of a mirror-shine. Silver Canvas is really nice to apply, and isn't nearly as brush-strokey as many metallic polishes are. If you already have a silver chrome/metallic that you like, then you probably don't need Silver Canvas too.
I tried the Color Paints over all the silvers. As you can see, they're much of a muchness, so if you already have a silver you like, I wouldn't buy another just to use with the Color Paints.
How do they compare to the OPI Sheer Tints?
Very well! I was really excited when the OPI Sheer Tints came out, but they were so disappointing. Formula was gloopy and thick, and the colour was far more sheer than I'd hoped for. The Color Paints are what I hoped the Sheer Tints would be.
Here I've compared Purple Perspective and Don't Violet Me Down from the Sheer Tints range. Left to right is one coat of Don't Violet Me Down over silver and on its own, then Purple Perspective over silver and on its own. This is typical of the difference - the Sheer Tints are very pale, just a hint of colour, where the Color Paints are very pigmented. The formula of the Sheer Tints is also really difficult to work with as it's so thick and sticky. The Color Paints have a much better formula - it's much less thick, and not at all gloopy. It seems strange to me that the formula can be so much thicker on the Sheer Tints, and yet the colour less visible, but I suppose that was what they were going for. Anyway, Color Paints beat Sheer Tints hands down for me.
Do they water marble?
Yes. I struggled to get the mini bottles to drip well, which meant that the colours dried more quickly than I could work with, but the actual spread is really good, and they look really zingy.
Left is over silver, right is over white. I think my issue was only because the mini bottles are so small that you need to be careful with the brush, so the dripping takes longer and leaves time for the polish to dry on the surface of the water. With full size bottles, I think this would be fine.
Do they stain?
Generally, no. But you probably need to be very careful with Turquoise Aesthetic!
Can you stamp with them?
No. But you can stamp with black over a base, and then use them for leadlighting. This is my next mani plan for these - I'll add a link here when I've tried this!
What can you do with them?
Lots of things! Here are two designs I did.
This ruffian design uses the Silver Canvas base. I then painted on Chromatic Orange and Purple Perspective on alternate nails. I also added a stripe of another colour over the original - Primarily Yellow over the orange (which doesn't show) and Pen & Pink over the purple (which does!).
I wore these for a day, and loved how glowy they were.
My second design was this freehand flower art, which I did using all the colours and a fine paintbrush. I don't have the green one, so I used yellow and turquoise together.
I love how this looks!
It really glows in the evening sunshine!
What's the formula like?
It's good. Even and smooth, and not too thick and gloopy like the Sheer Tints, but not so runny that it floods the cuticles. Application is nice and easy, and drying time is normal.
Overall, I LOVE this collection. I am definitely going to buy the red one in a full size, although I'm not sure I need the darker blue or the green. I may well also buy some of these mini colours in the full size, although I need to wait til after pay day!
I've got another Born Pretty Store stamping plate to show you today, with two separate looks.
This is plate BP-50, which you can see for sale here.
The first look I did was a bit of a failure. Nothing to do with the plate, it was just colour choices. I did a blue and white water marble, using Barry M Cotton and Cyan. Then I stamped using Barry M Silver Foil. The plate itself is really good - the design transferred really clearly. However, the silver was just too pale to really show clearly, I think. It's pretty, but I wish I'd stamped using dark blue or something.
The second look I did was a gradient of Barry M Cotton and Key Lime, and then stamped using the leaf design and MoYou London Spring Green. I love how this came out!
The leaf design is really pretty, and I think it's my favourite on the plate.
The plate is currently $2.99, but you can get 10% off using my discount code.
I received this product for review purposes, but words and opinions are entirely my own. I do not receive anything if you use my discount code, although when it's been used ten times, BPS will let me host a giveaway for my readers! See my Disclosure page for more details.
I'm back! I've been away on holiday (camping in the Lake District) with no internet, which was lovely. The only downside was that I broke the thumbnail on my blogging hand, really low down across the quick, ouch! So you won't be seeing my thumb in photos for a while!
Today I have another Born Pretty Store review for you. This is the stamping plate BP-40, which has a mix of floral and leafy patterns, a cute bow, a dog, and a couple of other patterns. The plate is available here on the BPS website - and it's currently half price, at only $1.50!
For these nails, I started with a water marble base, just because I fancied something different. I did this marble using Models Own Gold Digger, and Barry M Dragon, for a subtle pinky gold combination. I then stamped using Models Own Chrome Cerise and the rose pattern.
I love the effect of this design! And the colours look fab in the sunshine.
For some reason this plate didn't pick up the polish as easily as they usually do, although I only tried the one polish, so it's perfectly possible that it was that, and not the plate. I had initially wanted to use the bow design, but I couldn't get it to pick up the polish cleanly. The rose worked fine though!
The Born Pretty plates are such good value! You can also get an additional 10% off with my discount code:
I received this product for review purposes, but words and opinions are entirely my own. I do not receive anything if you use my discount code, although when it's been used ten times, BPS will let me host a giveaway for my readers! See my Disclosure page for more details.
Recently I've been seeing alcohol spray nail designs everywhere (often referred to as hairspray manis). This is a form of water marbling.
The way this works is that you drop the polish on the water as you normally would, but instead of dropping concentric circles and swirling them, you spray some form of alcohol on the surface after the first drop of polish has spread out. This should break up the surface of the polish into lots of little holes, which you then dip the nail in to.
I started with a base of Models Own Coconut Cream, a lovely creamy white polish. I then used Bubblegum and some Impulse body spray to make the first layer of colour. This is what it looked like!
I was using liquid latex to keep the skin round my fingers clean.
I then used Chrome Cerise to make a second layer, and Sun Hat to make a third. I then cleaned up and added topcoat.
I'm a bit disappointed in the lack of contrast between the colours - next time I'll choose something far more contrasting - but I LOVE the way the patterns formed and the way this turned out. I like the index finger nail best.
I was going to do my nails this evening and do a proper post, but I'm ridiculously tired and a bit headachy, and I just want to go to bed. So in the meantime, here are a couple of photos of a watermarble I did a while ago, and which I never posted for some reason.
I can't even remember what polishes these were! I suspect they are Barry M Gellys, but I'm not sure.
I think I didn't post these because I'd broken my ring finger nail, and it was so short and stubby. Now I look at them though, they're pretty!
I haven't done a watermarble in a while - maybe it's time to do one again!
