Tag Archives: water decals

26 Dec

Review of Chic Shadow Crystal and Blooming Nail Cebu Water Decals

Merry Christmas!

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!

On to the nails… I planned to post this a couple of nights ago but I got hit with a bad migraine and it just didn’t happen. I was too busy yesterday preparing for guests today and just hanging out with the kids and Mr. Nailinator, so I’m posting it now.
Chic Shadow Crystal with "ugly sweater" water decals

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.

Chic Shadow Crystal swatch

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.

Christmas Lantern - Merry Christmas to you!

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

30 Sep

L. A. Girl Teal Dimension with Decals

Hey girls!
I hope everyone is having a great start to the week. I have been having so much fun with my new polishes that my sister (The Shutterbug) brought back with her from Texas.

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!

08 Aug

BK Holo 21 and Rose Water Decals

Hi everyone! I hope you are having a fabulous week. I’ve been busy and keeping it pretty simple with the nail art this week as I’ve been reorganizing everything in the house that got disorganized while I went all crazy with the nails during the Rather Awesome 31 Day Challenge. It was a load of fun but I’m happy for a bit of a break. Ha! My hands are enjoying it too. 🙂

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!

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04 Jul

Black Dragons

Hello ladies!
I’m back with another entry for the Rather Awesome 31 Day Challenge Giveaway hosted by Craftynail, Brijit’s Digits and Eeeek Nail Polish! Day 4 is black and white and I am here with my first experience using nail water decals.

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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