Hello again!

Another swatch post coming up! I’ve got a couple of glittering beauties to show you today. These are from the CND Vinylux Starstruck Collection. The full Shellac Starstruck Collection has several other stunning glitter bombs but, from what I can find out online, the Vinylux line is only composed of these two I’m swatching today. I’ve done two coats for each of these and topped them with the Vinylux Weekly Top Coat.

Emerald Lights – This emerald green jelly is gorgeous. It is loaded with green glitter and it is so sparkly.  I don’t have a lot of green polishes and I’m so happy to have this one in my collection now.

Dark Diamonds – I would describe this one as a black crelly loaded with lots of silver glitter. Very sparkly and fun to wear.

As you can expect with any glitter polish, these take a bit of extra effort to remove. Also, I did not experience any staining, even with the green, which made me very happy.

CND Vinylux Weekly Polishes feature  CND’s “ProLight technology” which is designed to increase the durability of the top coat with exposure to natural light. These polishes are awesome. If you haven’t already seen it, I hope you will check out my thorough review and wear-test of the Vinylux line. You can also check out my nebula nails using Midnight Swim. You will find that these polishes have great wear-time and they dry quickly too!

If you are interested in investing in your own CND Vinylux Weekly Polish or trying them out on your next mani/pedi  spa day, you can get in touch with CND Philippines @cnd_ph on Instagram and Twitter or at CDNPhilippines on Facebook to order or to find a salon near you.

Which is your favorite of the two? I love them both!

Have a great week and don’t forget to keep on smiling!

Hugs,
Rach

The post CND Vinylux Starstruck Collection Swatches (Emerald Lights and Dark Diamonds) appeared first on The Nailinator.

Hello ladies!

I hope everyone is doing fine. I am just now entering my third trimester and the baby is doing great. I can complain of aches and pains but that sounds rather boring. Don’t you think? Instead, I just wanted to pop in with a quick post to share a quick skittle mani I came up with. I was in the mood for something a bit bold and funky and this is what I came up with. I have some swatch posts coming up but I wanted to share this fun nail art first.

Fun and funky, right? I’ve used several different polishes including Medusa from Nails To Go on my ring finger and Decadent by Sinful Colors on my middle finger.  I also tried out the craft scissors and ziplock bag technique for the first time. I painted a couple of coats of black nail polish onto a clean ziplock bag. After the polish dried, I peeled it off the plastic and used some zigzag craft scissors and cut some strips. I polished my pinky nail with two coats of Rendezvous by Seche and, while it was still a little bit tacky, I carefully placed the black zigzags and applied topcoat to bring it all together.  The glitter bits on my pointer and middle fingers were added using a tiny dot of nail glue to keep them in place. I recommend using an orange wood stick to apply the glue in the exact place you want it. Then seal with top coat.

Well, that’s all for now. Like i said, I’ve got some swatches coming up next. I hope you enjoyed seeing these fun nails and that perhaps it inspires you to think out of the box a bit and have some fun with your next mani. I hope you have a wonderful week and that you get to make someone smile today.

Hugs,
Rach

The post Fun and Funky Pink and Black Skittles appeared first on The Nailinator.

Today is my birthday! Woohoo! It’s been a great day too. My hubby surprised me with a music album of 40 songs by the very talented (and entertaining) Betty Hutton and later on, we are headed to my mother’s house for cupcakes and Oreo cheesecake! Yay!

I’ve been busy with several projects lately and my nails and blog have been on the back burner. I made sure to do my nails for a special occasion like my birthday and I’ve used a new polish sent to me by Girlstuff. They have recently launched their new Rave Neon collection and I chose Girlstuff Chill which is a fun blue shade. It is opaque in two easy coats and dries quickly.

I brushed a little glitter here and there and then stamped over it with my MJ XXVI stamping plate from MyOnline Shop. It’s simple but pretty. I’ve been wearing polish pretty consistently but haven’t taken the time to do any nail art. So I’m very happy to have a pretty design on my nails. Today.

I hope your day is as lovely as mine has been. Do something to make someone smile today!

Until next time,

Rach

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Boy, oh, boy am I excited to share this post with you today!
A couple months ago, Girlstuff released their new Solique line of Gel polishes. These “gel” polishes are meant to be used as a system with the nail color and top coat and they promise the durability and shine of gel polishes without the need of a UV lamp to dry them or special remover or soaking to take it off.  They are supposed to dry within minutes and give you high shine with extended wear. It all sounds too good to be true!

I don’t normally wear polishes for a whole week, but the timing of me receiving these pretties and testing them out was just right as we were neck deep in a MAJOR renovation of our office building. Since October, I have either been helping the hubs with the renovation or working extra hard at keeping things going smoothly at home so that he could focus on the renovation. I put these polishes through some serious testing! Let’s check out the color options before I get into the wordy bit.

Solique Gel Polish By Girlstuff Swatches

Manila Girl – is a fabulous red with a fabulous name (For those of you outside the Philippines, Manila is the country’s capital city.). This crelly is a two-coater and very squishy looking. I love a good red, and this did not disappoint! Easy cleanup and no staining! Yay!

Such A Fantasy – is a girly, pink cream that needs two coats. I guess it is the crowd-pleaser of the lot because I got heaps of compliments while wearing this.

Love Me Like You Do – is very chic, light-gray creme that I think is a timeless, classy shade.  With a little care this is a two-coater. I say that because I was watching a movie while applying this one, and I messed up a couple of nails and had to put a third coat on. It still dried super fast!

Hush – is a lovely, almost white creme that has just a whisper of pink to it. It’s perfect for people like me who like the crispness of white nails but don’t like it to look like I used correction fluid on my nail. Hush is a two-coater, which is hard to find with a polish of a delicate tint like this.

Midnight Dreams– is a dark blue crelly loaded with tiny, shimmery flecks. It has a purple luster that can be seen in certain lighting, but I wasn’t able to capture that, as you can see. It is a two-coater and the only dark shade of the collection.

Baby Blues – is a pastel blue creme that stands out without being too in-your-face. With care, you can get away with two coats of this baby.

The Review

Wow! Wow! Wow! You guys, this system is AMAZING! First, let me remind you that these polishes are meant to be worn with the special Solique topcoat. Also, I have never used or worn regular gel polish myself, but I have heard the pros and cons of them.  I have also removed gel polish for a friend and know the difficulties of gel removal.

Application – The formula on these is a bit thicker than most regular polishes so you may need to take more time and care when applying. I found that using more product on the brush helps as well. Cleanup around the cuticles was no problem.

Drying time – This is a quick drying system, and including the three coats on a couple of nails that I messed up a bit, my nails were dry in a flash. No need for a UV lamp like regular gel polishes.

Removal – When I removed my friend’s gel manicure, it took ages. Lots of soaking (with pure acetone…boo!), waiting, and rubbing on the nail to get it all off. With Solique Gel, I used my favorite non-acetone polish remover on a cotton ball and it came right off.

Wear time – Now to the part that I’m sure you are really curious about. How did Solique Gel Polish hold up over the test of time? Did I get the extended wear promised? Let me answer that by showing you a picture of my extended wear test results of Hush (with a bit of glitter). Keep in mind that this manicure endured a certain number of days of taping, floating, and sanding drywall, and sanding and staining wood panels – in addition to all my regular chores and work at home.

How many days old would you guess this manicure is?

Five days old? Nope!

Seven days old? Not even close!

Ten days? Keep guessing!

This is actually FOURTEEN DAYS of wear and tear! Have your nails ever looked like this after wearing the same polish for 14 days? I know mine haven’t!

You can see a bit of wear on the tips but it’s still totally passable for a nice manicure. While I have heard of the amazing strength and wear of gel polishes, I never expected these results from a polish that applies, dries, and removes like a regular polish. The biggest issue I have after 14 days is the gap from the new growth of the nail since I applied the polish

Still not convinced? How about this 10-day wear shot of Love Me Like You Do (with some subtle holo stamping).

Oh yeah! If you want to cut down on your salon visits or how often you do your nails at home, then you will love this new product.

The downside – Really, the only downside to this system is that the color selection is limited. But they just released a new shade so they are already adding to the line. Yay!

 Final thoughts

These would make a great gift for yourself or for a special someone in your life. Keep in mind that the Solique line is meant to be used as a two-part system. These amazing results cannot be guaranteed if you do not use the Solique topcoat.

Solique polishes cost 180Php per bottle and the Solique topcoat is 200Php per bottle. They can be purchased at any Girlstuff kiosk or directly from Girlstuff online. Their customer service is fantastic, so do not hesitate to contact them for any inquiries or shipping. You can also check out their website and contact them about having polishes shipped to you. Check them out on Facebook and follow them on Instagram @girlstufforever to keep up with their news and promotions.

I hope you found this review helpful. I love sharing great products with you and I try my best to be thorough and to include information that I personally find helpful when choosing products. Do let me know in the comments if you have any questions.

Enjoy the holiday rush but don’t forget to stop and smell the roses (or in my case stop and hug the kiddos). Have a lovely day and keep smiling!

Hugs,
Rach

The post Girlstuff Solique Gel Collection Swatches and Review appeared first on The Nailinator.

Hello ladies!

I’m sorry that it’s been so quiet around here this past month. Between being out of town for a while, finishing up the school year with the kids, needing a break afterwards, taking care of other responsibilities, and enjoying motherhood and life in general, it’s been hard to find the motivation to sit and blog. I have been doing my nails, though, so I have some things to share with you soon.

I’ve got a short and sweet post for you tonight. I started with CND Pink Bikini. I’ve told you before how I love the formula of the Vinylux polishes. This one gave me some issues at first. I think it was because there was some dried polish at the neck of the bottle. I cleaned up the neck and then it worked out well enough. So pretty and fun to wear! The weather has been so gloomy and rainy here in Cebu and a pop of color is just what I needed!

I sponged some Ocean Green (Sinful Colors) on the tips of my nails. I grabbed Ocean Green while I was in Texas last year and I really love it paired with this pink. It is iridescent and so pretty.

I’ve always loved glittery tips and it really is one of the easiest ways to spice up a mani. All you need is a makeup sponge and some glittery polish. Just put some glitter on a bit of the makeup sponge and start dabbing. You can’t really go wrong.

These sparkly nails are my entry for Day 7 – Glittery! of the OMD3 Challenge hosted  by Brijit from Brijits Digits, Jacqui from Craftynail, Jemma from Eeeek! Nail Polish!, and Lindsay from Nail That Accent!. Check out the other pretty glittery nail art below

I hope you are having a great week and that you make someone smile today!

Hugs,
Rach

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Hey ladies!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and, while I’m not a sucker for the commercial side of the holiday, I do enjoy seeing the heart decorations, and I like to make my hubby a little something sweet to eat and maybe an extra nice dinner at home. He has hinted at a fun surprise in the works for me this year so I’m excited about that. I know there IS polish involved, so I am sure I’ll be pleased.

Do you like the title of this post? What I’m sharing with you tonight has to be the girliest of all the girly manicures my digits have ever sported! I can totally see Barbie showing these off at a Valentine’s date night with Ken. I have received a ton of compliments on these nails. They are very fun to wear.

I started with two coats of Girlstuff Pink Lemonade, which is a hot pink creme from their Summer 2014 collection. It is a vibrant, eye catching color on its own. I added one coat of I  U from their Confetti Collection. This is a perfect glitter topper for Valentine’s Day or any time you want something sweet and girly. The hearts took a bit of work to fish out, but it wasn’t difficult and the payoff with the rest of the glitter mix was great with just one coat. The hearts are small enough that they don’t stick out awkwardly on my very curved nails. I always hate it when I put glitter shapes on my nails and they stick out oddly and tempt me to pick them off my nails. One coat of Girlstuff Fast Dry Top Coat (more on this amazing new product later) and I was good to go. I have been sporting these for 5 days now and they still look fabulous. I love when polish wears well despite my daily chores and such.

Here is my swatch of Girl Stuff Pink Lemonade on its own. So pretty!

Girlstuff is a cruelty free brand, and their polishes are all 5 free and safe for little ones and pregnant women as well. Check out their Website or find them on Facebook to find out how to get your own.

I hope you have a great week and that you get to make someone smile today. You are fabulous!

Hugs,
Rach

The post Barbie’s Ultimate Valentine’s Date Night Nails (Featuring Girlstuff I Love You) appeared first on The Nailinator.

Hi lovely ladies!

I hope you are having a great start to the year. While we enjoyed our holiday break, things got off to a bumpy start for us yesterday with getting back to work and back to doing school with the little ones.

I was originally planning on doing a glitter placement mani to ring in the new year. But since I was sick and preparing for a trip out-of-town, I wanted something that was quick and easy but didn’t skimp on the bling. I also wanted something that wouldn’t chip off while I was out-of-town.

My hubby surprised me by bringing this beauty home one day while we were in Texas this past Summer. Pure Ice Spit Fire is a gorgeous glitter bomb with multi-sized hex and square glitters suspended in a clear base with a pinkish tint to it. The smallest glitters are light pink, but there are also some bigger silver holographic glitters that give this some major sparkle.

I started with a thin coat of Color Club Miss Bliss which is a holographic pink polish. After that dried, I put scotch tape around my nail and cuticle area to minimize cleanup time. Then I used the bottle crush to put a drop of Spit Fire on the sponge and then dabbed the glitter onto the nail. I kept working until I was satisfied with the coverage. I included the out-of-focus shot so you can see more of the holo sparkle. I received many compliments on this flashy mani.

Check out this macro shot! Oh so pretty!

Tip: Use an orange wood stick to help with glitter cleanup around the cuticle area. Just use your flat brush to brush some polish remover on the cuticle and then gently scrape off any glitter that is crampin’ your style!

What did you sport on your nails for the New Year? I hope you have a great day and fabulous year to come!

Hugs,
Rach

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Hello Lovely  People!

I hope you all had a merry Christmas with your nearest and dearest. I’ve been so busy the past two weeks baking goodies to give away, doing nails for some friends and family, and finishing up school with my kiddos. We’ve also been dealing with some sniffles in the house so that slows things down a bit. There is my explanation for why is has been a bit quiet around here. We had a wonderful day with the family yesterday, though. We fixed Mexican food and had everyone over at our house. It was a lovely day for sure! God has blessed us so!

Today I’m showing you one of my favorites, OPI Alcatraz Rocks. This is another polish I saw swatched by Jemma of Eeeek! Nail Polish! and I just HAD to have it. The super sweet Jacqui of Crafty Nail sent me this in our nail swap last year and I have worn it before but I haven’t posted it with any nail art yet. So here it is in all its pretty glittery goodness. Thanks again Jax!

I added some snowflake stickers to make the look more festive. The stickers are super cute but they peeled up a bit along the edges when I added topcoat. I really like having smooth nails so little bits sticking out really annoy me. I usually end up picking at stickers that peel up. So these didn’t last too long.  I do have a tip to share for using nail stickers. Do NOT apply them to wet polish thinking that they will stick better since they will dry with the polish. It doesn’t work. What I figure is that the solvent in the polish messes with the adhesive on the stickers and just makes them gooey and not stick properly. It is much better to wait until the polish is dry.

Alcatraz Rocks takes two coats for full coverage. It is a gorgeous blurple (bluish purple) liquid sand polish which means it dries  to a very textured finish. I added two coats of topcoat for this smooth finish. I prefer Alcatraz Rocks with topcoat as it really brings out the glitter. I’m ALL about the glitter y’all! That being said, since it is a glitter polish, this takes a bit of effort to remove. So worth it though!

Well, that’s all for me today. I’m off to play with the kids and I’ve still got a bit of cleaning up to do. I hope you are all having a great holiday and that you get to spend some quality time with those you love most.

Happy holidays from my family to yours!
Hugs,
Rachael

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Hi ladies!

Just because it is Monday doesn’t mean we should feel blue. Of course, that is easy for me to say because Monday is my hubby’s day off, and we went out today, had a grand time with the kids, and got most of our Christmas shopping done. Win! Plus it is finally December 1, which means Christmas everything. Bring on the holiday nails!

I’ve got a quick and easy look to share with you today. All it takes to do this is a pretty icy blue shade and some glitters. I started with couple coats of this lovely, light, icy blue polish, ironically named Warm Blue (by Sansan). I added a glitter ruffian flair with the pearly glitters from the hexagonal glitter set sent to me by Born Pretty Store. After applying the second coat of Warm Blue, I used a damp orange wood stick to pick up the glitters and place them where I wanted them. Then I finished with topcoat. Easy peasy!

This was easy to do and ended up looking so pretty! I will definitely be doing this type of look again. The glitter adds just the right amount of sparkle. The colors I chose are definitely winter appropriate. I had a couple of people tell me they looked like “Frozen” nails. I can totally see Elsa rocking these babies and singing, “Let it SNOOOOOW”! Haha!

Well, I hope you liked these. If you want to order the 12-color glitter set from Born Pretty Store (or anything else for that matter) you can use my coupon code for 10% off your entire order!

I hope you have a great start to the week! Keep smiling!
Hugs,
Rach

The post SanSan Warm Blue with Icy Ruffian appeared first on The Nailinator.

Hi lovelies!

I’ve got  two-looks-in-one for you this evening. First up, I’ve paired this lovely hot pink with a gold glitter accent nail. I like to use glitter as an accent nail when I don’t have the time or inspiration for nail art but I still want something flashy and interesting. Do you do this too? This pink is Pretty In Pink by Girlstuff Forever. It is a two-coater creme polish that dries fast and is so bright and fun to wear. It cleans up easily too.

For my accent nail, I chose 24K which is also by Girlstuff. The bottle is packed with remarkably sparkly holographic gold glitter suspended in a clear base. You could paint it onto your nail for the typical coverage of any glitter top coat. But, if you want the coverage I have, you will need to grab a makeup sponge. I put tape around my cuticle (to minimize glitter sticking to my finger) and put a drop of 24K on the sponge. Then I sponged that directly onto my nail and repeated the process until I was happy with the coverage. The great thing about this method of application is that you can get all the glitter on the nail and most of the clear base will be left behind in the sponge. So you can have full coverage without having to use 14 coats of glitter. Make sense? Finish it off with topcoat to seal your glitter and enjoy the sparklies! The accent nail took a bit of elbow grease to clean up, but that’s typical for glitter.

After wearing Pretty In Pink for a few days, I decided to try out Blues, another one of my new beauties from Girlstuff. This navy blue creme is another two-coater that dries quickly with a great shiny finish and also cleans up easily.

The more Girlstuff polishes I try, the more I love them. I’ve heard they are good for stamping too, so that is on my “things to try” list. I’ll let you know.

I hope you are having a great weekend. Make someone smile today!
Hugs,
Rachael

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