Hi girls!

Just a super quick post tonight as I’ve got some chores to catch up on so that we can run out sometime tomorrow to get my hubby a rash guard. He and I are headed to the beach in Moalboal for a kid-free day-trip on Saturday to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary! Yay! I’m super excited and we are both looking forward to some snorkeling, kayaking and lazing about.

I thought I’d show you a few of the quick and easy nail art ideas I came up with using  the Caronia Shades of Summer Collection (See my swatches and review here).

First up is First Crush with a bit of subtle stamping using Color Club Eternal Beauty.  This is an extremely easy way to add a little something extra to your nails.

Next, I added a water decal I purchased from Hokee to add a funky contrast for my accent nail. Fun, don’t you think?

I saved my least favorite of this bunch for last. I try and try again to love stickers for a quick nail art fix. But stickers really seem to be a hit and miss for me. Honestly the local brand, Wish, is always a miss for me. These didn’t want to cooperate, had bits of glitter on them, and I can clearly see the line from the edge of the sticker. That really bothers my OCD self. They looked pretty cool though.

I told you it would be a quickie! That’s all for today. I hope you are all having a wonderful week. Just two more days until the weekend y’all! You can do it!!!!

Keep smiling!
Rach

The post Quick and Easy Nail Art (featuring Caronia Shades of Summer) appeared first on The Nailinator.

Want to know what these pretty purple polishes are?
Pointer – Ballerina by Nails To Go
Middle – Tropical Breeze by L.A. Colors
Pinky – Amethyst by Chic

I used a coat of white under the water decal to keep the colors vibrant. I’m not sure why I can’t get the decals to photograph as clear as they look IRL. But they really do look great.

If you are following me on Instagram you already know this… But Pretty Nifty Thrifty is generously sponsoring a giveaway (open to Philippine residents only). Three lucky winners get their pick of 3 sets of decals as a prize. All you have to do to join is follow @thenailinator and @prettyniftythrifty on IG, repost the picture about the giveaway with #pntgiveaway, and tag a few friends.  What are you waiting for? Go! Go! Go! Winners will be announced on Sept. 20!

I hope you are having a great day!
Hugs!
Rach

The post Purple Mix’N’Match Mani (Featuring Pretty Nifty Thrifty Decals) appeared first on The Nailinator.

I’ve got something super cool to share with you today! If you don’t have a very steady hand for nail art or don’t have much time to spare but want some awesome looking nails, then full-nail water decals are a must try for you. Pretty Nifty Thrifty contacted me asking if I would like to try some of their nail decals. Of course, I said yes! They have so many gorgeous designs to choose from. Just look at how awesome these are! I’ve received a ton of compliments on them.

I chose these 3 designs to try: (L to R) “Streaks”, “Hippie Feathers”, and “Peacock 1”. Keep an eye out for the other two designs in the near future.

Pretty Nifty Thrifty sells each sheet of 12 nail decals for Php80 (about $2) and have a “Buy 6 get 1 free promo”. Twelve decals per sheet means you can get a full manicure from one sheet plus 2 extras to use as accent nails on another manicure. They will even do customizable decals (Php120 or $3), too, which means you could get practically any design you wanted made.

The decals come with instructions but here’s the gist with a few tips from me.

Base coat: The instructions say to start with a white base coat to keep the colors vibrant. The decals are not completely opaque so this is a must if you want the colors right.

Prepping your decals: There are 3 sizes of decals. Use scissors to cut along the thin black outline and check the size against your nail. The smallest size fit my pinky nail perfectly, the middle size fit my middle fingernail and the biggest fit my thumb nail. For my index and ring finger, I used scissors to trim a little bit off the sides of the middle sized strips and that worked just fine.

Getting those pretty decals on your nails: Each decal needs to be dipped in a bowl of water for a few seconds. This allows the decal to slide off the paper. They should not be hard to slide off. If it gives you trouble, soak a bit longer. These decals are thin so handle with care. Before placing the decal on your nail, wipe off any excess water to prevent bubbling under the design Then place the decal on your nail and line it up along the cuticle line. Press down along the length of nail to keep it in place. The decals are not sticky but will cling to your base coat. If one gets put on crooked, just get it wet again to pull off and reposition.

Finishing up: The instructions say to use nippers to clip any excess hanging over the free edge of your nail. I highly recommend doing this if you have pair of sharpened nippers. If you use nippers that aren’t sharp, you may end up tearing your decals. If you don’t have nippers, you can just cut it close to the edge with scissors and apply your top coat. The top coat will melt the design to the base color and any part of the decal hanging over the edge will melt enough to use an orange wood stick to pull off any excess. Or you can wait for the top coat to dry and file off any excess and touch up the clear coat on the tips to make sure your decals don’t try to peel up.

Wear time: I’ve been wearing these for 5 full (and very busy) days now and they wear about the same as my regular nail art. Add another coat of top coat after 2 or 3 days to make it last longer.

Over all, I am very impressed!
The selection is great and this design looks amazing on my nails.
Check out Pretty Nifty Thrifty on Facebook or on their Instagram account to see all they have to offer. It’s not just decals. I saw just the other day that they also sell nail foil glue which I haven’t been able to find anywhere! Must. Buy. Some. Soon!

Have you tried these decals before? Let me know if you have any questions about this product.

Have a fantastic day!
Hugs,
Rach

The post Pretty Nifty Thrifty Nail Decals in Hippie Feathers (Review and Application) appeared first on The Nailinator.

I decided to take a blogging hiatus as we visited our family and loved ones in Texas. We had an amazing trip filled with much fun, laughter and lots of love. We are back in Cebu now, and have (mostly) gotten over the jet lag. I’ve been unpacking, dusting and cleaning everything! I’m about ready to get back to blogging. I’m going to have to find a new rhythm as we also just started our school year. I am continuing to home school and my boy is starting 1st grade. Fun, fun, fun!

Anywhoooo… While the blog has been on stand-by, I HAVE been posting stuff on my Instagram account. In case you don’t follow me on Instagram, I thought I would share some of the very simple looks I have been sporting the past 3 months. I appreciate you sticking around despite my absence on the blog. I decided to soak up as much family time as possible with those we see so rarely. I have lots of new goodies to share with you as I get back into the swing of things. Lemmings were CRUSHED!

Have a fabulous day and thanks for tuning in!
Hugs,
Rach

Girl Stuff – Wild Berries

L.A. Splash Tailscales

I Love Nail Polish Brand  (ILNP) Molly – So stunning!

Color Club – Harp On It

Nail Ritz Nail art Pens and Pueen Stamping

L.A. Girl Purple Effect

The post I’m back! appeared first on The Nailinator.

This is two very easy coats of San San Tea Rose. I think this may be the only exception to my severe case of VNLphobia. But I will definitely be more open minded from now on and give a polish a chance to win my heart like Tea Rose did. The accent nail is a full nail water decal I purchased from My Online Shop on Facebook. I added a coat of Tea Rose to make it match the other nails.
The combination of my nail shape, the floral pattern and the dusty pink just screams vintage romance. Don’t you think?

I also added a pearl accent to the accent nail. These are from Blooming Nail Cebu.

San San polishes are available at HBC branches and retail for 37 Philippine Pesos per 12 ml bottle.

How do you feel about VNL? Are you getting in the mood for some romantic nail art for Valentine’s Day? I’m looking forward to some extra girly looks in the coming days.

Have a fabulous day!
Rach

The post San San Tea Rose Reinvention appeared first on The Nailinator.

I hope you had a wonderful day filled with much love and laughter and that you got to spend it with people that you love. We enjoyed a Skype date with my hubby’s folks in Texas and we enjoyed a lovely lunch with my parents and siblings here in Cebu. Among other yummy things, we had some awesome mashed potatoes for lunch. Mr. Nailinator found this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. The secret ingredient? Cream cheese! Best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten!

Sometimes a girl needs some nail art that is easy and super speedy. This was just that. I applied my polish ahead of time (I’ll talk more about the polish in a bit) and had planned on doing a lovely free handed design, but due to time constraints (seriously, I’ve got two very active kids and a household to run) I chose to use the Hot016 Christmas themed water decals (should have taken a picture) that I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu a while back. It doesn’t really get much easier than water decals, gals. The Blooming Nail decals are great quality. They are so easy to work with. They have vibrant images, and they are thick enough that I was able to use my tweezers to position them, mumble under my breath at my lousy attempt at centering the design, and reposition it several times. Then I applied topcoat to seal it and smooth it out. I forgot to make sure the decal was completely dry before I placed it on my ring finger, thus you can see I experienced a bit of bubbling. Hopefully the next time I do decals I won’t forget that step and they will all be smooth.

The polish I used as my base is Chic Shadow Crystal (PHP 34.75/US$ 0.78). It is one of the 5 shades in their Grainy Collection. The polishes in their Grainy Collection dry to what I would describe as a slightly textured semi-matte finish. This is two thin coats of Shadow Crystal over one coat of San San Cloudy Gray. I think Shadow Crystal would need 4 coats for it to be opaque on it’s own so I decided to use undies again. I really love this polish. It dries fast and I love the finish and the little sparkles. It reminds me again of glistening snow except with a grayish silvery tint. I received several compliments when I wore the polish on it’s own. If you look closely at the pictures with the decals, you will see that there is no visible tip wear. I had already been wearing it without topcoat for 2 full days when I added the decals so it wears quite well also. Cleanup was very easy for me. A few sparklies were left behind, but they came off easily when I washed my hands. This is another perfect holiday shade in my opinion.

I’m still getting used to doing actual reviews on polishes. I would really appreciate if you would tell me if there is any lacking information in this review that you would like me to include in future review posts. Or feel free to tell me what I did right.

Mr. Nailinator convinced me to take the plunge and file my nails to a sort of pointy almond shape so the next time we meet I will be sporting a different look. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback so I hope you all love them too.

I’m singing off for bed now. Again, I hope you had/are having a very merry Christmas. May God bless you and yours.

Hugs,
Rachael

The post Review of Chic Shadow Crystal and Blooming Nail Cebu Water Decals appeared first on The Nailinator.

I’ve got a cool look for you today that was so easy to do. I started with 3 thin coats of L. A. Girl Teal Dimension. I’ve added some water decals I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu. This whole sheet (Hot-010) cost me 15 pesos (about 35 cents USD) and has a variety of decals on it to choose from! They have some great stuff available for very affordable prices and they ship internationally for the best price available.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… I LOVE these L.A. Girl polishes. The base for their 3D Effects line is a tinted jelly but when you remove the polish there is absolutely no glitter nightmare left behind like a typical glitter polish. So I’m not sure exactly what makes up the holo glittery magic they have got going on. But I appreciate not having a difficult time cleaning up after wearing it. In addition to that, it is so easy to apply and is extremely forgiving. It dries quick too! Win win win! If live outside of the US, you can order these from Cherry Culture as they ship internationally (Philippines included! Whoop!).

I hope you have a great week!

The post L. A. Girl Teal Dimension with Decals appeared first on The Nailinator.

I’m showing you another simple but pretty look today. It’s very feminine and I’m loving how quick it was to do. I started with two coats of BK Holo #21 which I purchased from MyOnline Shop.Then I added some black rose decals I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu (only 10 pesos for the full sheet). I finished off by adding some dots with my dotting tool and sealed it with top coat.

I’ve got several shots so you can see what it looks like in my light box and in warmer indoor lighting which makes the holo show better. The warm lighting shows the color and holo rainbows more realistically. I love me some holo polish and feel so very happy when I’m wearing my BK holos. I can’t wait to compare these to my CC Halo Hues that will be making their way to me in just a few more weeks.

Any tips on photographing holographic polish? Enjoy the pictures and have a great week!

lightbox

lightbox

The post BK Holo 21 and Rose Water Decals appeared first on The Nailinator.

I purchased these full nail water decals from Meann of MyOnline Shop. These came in a package of 12 decals which means there are just enough for one full manicure with two extras for using as an accent nail in a later manicure if you feel so inclined. Not bad for 20 pesos! Yep, just 20 pesos for the pack! That’s not even $0.50 folks!

I had never watched any tutorials on how to apply water decals but I had seen pictures. I misunderstood and thought that these would be extremely thin like a temporary tattoo and would need a base color. I was wrong. Turns out though that the way they work is, after lining them up properly you are supposed to apply clear coat and it melts the decal and you can pull off any excess hanging off the nail gently with a toothpick. If you look closely (Please don’t! Ha!) you can notice I was still getting the hang of it and messed up the tips a bit by pulling off the excess a little too roughly. They still looked great though and were fun to wear. I worked really hard all day cleaning house and there was no damage to the decals from my working. I’m impressed. I have two more sets of decals I’m eager to try. Go visit Meann’s shop and get some for yourself. You won’t regret it!

Tell me what you think.

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