Review: Nailtiques 2+

Since starting to paint my nails more often I noticed a deterioration in the strength of my nails and they started peeling horribly.  I had to file them right down to the bottom so I ended up with no white tip, just to stop them breaking all over the place.

 

Super short nails... boooo

So I decided to do some research into how to fix this.  I tried the Sally Hansen Miracle Cure but it didn't work for me, and after watching ArcadiaNailArts video on nail strengtheners I ended up buying a bottle of Nailtiques 2+ from a seller on Amazon

The bottle is quite small but I have had this one for about a month and a half now and you can see how much I have used - it is filled up to the bottom of where it says "Nailtiques" on the bottle.

I have be super impressed with this. It does exactly what it says it will and it literally has stuck  my peeling nails back together. I was prepared to file back to nothing but decided to give it a go on slightly longer peely nails and I noticed an improvement in about three days. I haven't used it exactly as it says to (the instructions are a little confusing and I had to google them), I ended up  using it as a base coat under coloured polish which I normally end up re-doing about three times a week.  So basically I re-applied it three times a week.

This stuff is like magic.  I have been using it for about a month and a half and have already had to file my nails down twice as I like them to be just long enough to peek over the top of my finger - but I am sure they would grow much longer if I let them. I will definitely buy another bottle of this but I am tempted to go for the Nailtiques 2 this time as they have improved so much, and I think this one is less strong.

Here are my natural nails now. You can see there are no peels! They are a little stained but that's from the polish I have just taken off. They have also been filed down twice since I started using the Nailtiques

Here is a picture with the Nailtiques applied - it gives a slight shiny finish so looks good on bare nails

So a winner I think :D

What do you think? Do you have trouble with peeling nails? What do you do to fix it?

Bye for now x

Mint Candy Apple Stamping

Mint candy apple stamped nails

I love the mint candy apple colour and I wanted to try some subtle stamping. I didn't think anything too colourful and wild would work so I went with a simple white design.

Mint Candy Apple by Essie and Konad Special Stamping polish in White

I used plate 314 from my Bundle Monster stamping set and used the small geometric design in the top right

I did two coats of Mint Candy Apple, let them dry then stamped on the design at an angle.  I used a coat of SecheVite to finish the design.

I also think this would look good with some silver stamping.
 
What do you think? What colours work with Mint Candy Apple?

Bye for now x

Blue Stripy Tips

A different version of the red stripy tips I did.

I used Barry M White for the very tips of the nails and Barry M Gelly Blueberry for the second part of the tips.

I enjoyed the red stripy tips I did but I wasn't too impressed with the striping tape so I decided to give it a go with using just polish and I was really pleased with the results.  I used striping tape to tape off the tip of my nails and used a nail art brush to fill in the tip blue.  I waited for it to dry completely and then used more striping tape to tape off a smaller section of the tip.  I used a nail art brush to fill this in white.  I topped the whole thing off with a coat of Seche Vite and I was good to go :)

This lasted much longer than the version I did with the striping tape.

What do you think about variations on the classic French manicure?

Bye for now x

Summer Skies

I love summer and one of the things I love the best is gazing up at blue skies with fluffy white clouds.  I did this manicure by firstly doing a gradient in blue using Barry M Cobalt Blue and Barry M Gelly Blueberry (can you tell I'm a Barry M fan yet?!  :P  )  There are lots of ways to do gradients but I favour The Nailasaurus's technique of using a make up sponge and gradually building up the colours.  Surprisingly the clean up wasn't too bad.

When it was completely dry I stamped the clouds on using Konad Special Stamping Polish in White (from amazon) using plate 312 from my Bundle Monster collection. I then topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite.

I certainly enjoyed creating these nails but I'm not sure how fond I was of wearing them.  The blues are pretty intense...

What do you think - do you like bright bold nail colours?

Bye for now x

Review: Essie Mint Candy Apple

I am aware I am a little late coming to the Essie Mint Candy Apple as it has been doing the blogging rounds for a while now.  But I am from the UK and Essie have only recently launched their collections in Boots and Superdrug.  Before that they were a little hard to get and too expensive for me to justify buying.  I have three other colours in my collection: Vanity Fairest (which I LOVE - it is a subtle pink shimmer), Not Just a Pretty Face (which is a peachy pink jelly that is nice but doesn't really suit my skin tone) and Allure (which is a great very pale pinky nude that I actually wore on my wedding day a few months ago.  Apparently Kate Middleton wore it on her wedding day too although I am not sure how correct that information is!). Anyway... it's nearly the end of the month and I noticed I had a few pennies going spare so I decided to treat myself to a new Essie and I had to go for Mint Candy Apple.

I just LOVE the Essie colours. I do occasionally find myself on their American Website just drooling over all the different colours.

I really like the formula of them too and the super wide brush makes it really easy to cover your whole nail in two strokes.

So here it is....

I love it. It's a really wearable colour.

What do you think? Are you a Mint Candy Apple fan or do you have another favourite Essie?

Bye for now x

Red Stripy Tips

I decided to do a tweak on the classic French manicure by adding a strip of red striping tape under the white tip.  This was quite an easy manicure to do and I would of been really pleased with it apart from the fact that when I added a top coat to the design the striping tape bled its colour which you can see on my pointer and pinky in the picture above.  Is this normal or do I need to invest in some better striping tape?  The tape also peeled off the next day leaving me with peely nails.  Oh dear.

I used Barry M White for the Tip, a nail art brush, striping tape I got from amazon and SecheVite top coat. 

However... it looked good for a little while and was relatively easy.  I simply taped off the top section of my nail and used a small nail art brush to paint the tip white.  I peeled the tape off after a few seconds to get a nice crisp line and then when the tip was dry I added a stripe of the red striping tape.  I finished the whole thing off with a top coat and... job done.

What do you think - are you a fan of striping tape?

Bye for now x

Green Roses

Green roses to celebrate the fact some things in my garden are actually growing! I used NYC Mint Macaroon for the base and stamped the roses on the top with NYC Foil Explosion in Magic Earth.

 

I want to start this post by singing the praises of the NYC Collection of nail polishes.  I got these on offer in Superdrug and I think I ended up paying about £1.79 for each of these. Not bad at all! (In fact - having just checked the Superdrug website Mint Macaroon is currently 2 for £3 and Magic Earth is £1.99 - Bargain!). I really like the formula of both of them and I was really impressed with Mint Macaroon.  It had a lovely consistency and self levelled very well to leave a really smooth finish.

 

I started off with two coats of Mint Macaroon and then used my Bundle Monster 323 plate to stamp the roses on the top in Magic Earth.  I really liked the subtle effect I got with this design.  I topped it all off with a coat of SecheVite.

What do you think about same colour stamping - do you like the subtle effect or do you like the colours to pop?

Bye for now x