Swatches, review and nail art Jior Couture Sagittarius - The Archer

+Jior Couture  is an Indie brand located in the US.

Besides the beautiful collections they're bringing they also provide the service of making your own custom nail lacquer with desired color, bottle size, finish and name!

 

Pretty soon they are coming out with their new summer collection (which I might bring to you as Jior reviewer :D)

So, I'm just in time to show you this nail lacquer from the latest collection "Star Signs (Zodiac) Collection".

 

 

Now, I've purchased the Jior Top Coat Treatment Set as well but I won't be reviewing them today.

 

Today's feature is all about the gorgeous Sagittarius - The Archer nail lacquer:

 

 

No surprise...I'm a Sagittarius.

This is a beautiful glitter thermal that shifts from blue (warm) to purple (cold) and these colors also happen to be my favorites...Lucky me!

This lacquer retails for $8.50

 

First things first.

Look how I received my package:

 

 

My products were packed as little gifts with their custom wrappings...

isn't that a great way to receive your purchases!

And as a little gift I also received the "Sooth & Protect Me Cuticle Balm".

 

Here is my haul:

 

 

- Jior Couture Holo At Me "Holographic Top Coat"

- Jior Couture Matte Me "Matte Finish Top Coat"

- Jior Couture Sagittarius - The Archer

- Jior Couture Cover Me "Fast Dry & Seal Top Coat"

- Jior Couture Sooth & Protect Me Cuticle Balm

 

Swatches

 

 

Pictures above show 3 coats and natural lighting.

 

Macro Shots:

 



 Natural ligting                                                 Artificial lighting

 



Review

Sagittarius-The Archer is a thermal holo jelly that changes from purple when cold to blue when warm.

It reaches opacity within 2-3 coats and a basecoat and topcoat won't effect the thermal effect.

Application is very smooth and drying time is good.

We didn't have sun the day I took this pictures and I had some trouble catching the gorgeous holo sparkles (simular to Fairy Dust) but believe me when I say that it is gorgeous!

Definitely a nail lacquer I can recommend...stash wise sure within my top #5.

And jelly's are just great to play around with for nail art :D

 

Nail arts

The first nail art I want to show you is a swirl design.

The swirl design is a free hand design using a detail brush and 2 lacquers:

- A-England Tristam (which is simular to the 'cold' purple)

- Classics 140 (which is simular to the 'warm' blue)

 

I've painted the A-England swirl on the upper half and the Classics swirl on the tip side:

 

 

 

Now it was hard to get the nails totally warm or totally cold but the idea was when reaching one total color that you only see one of the two swirls and it worked!

 

The second nail art that I want to show you is of course a sandwich (stampwich) because the jelly is perfect for it.

I've used a mini plate and mini stamper from a Konad promotion kit and Essence 001 Stamp Me! white stamping polish.

One coat of Sagittarius - stamped butterflies - two coats of Sagittarius

 

 

Cold

 

Warm

 

For the third and last nail art I tried to stamp with Sagittarius.

I recently bought a new Essence stamping plate that I wanted to use.

I don't own many stamping plates but I have tried to work with Essence plates before and I wasn't satisfied with the outcome...it feels the designs aren't deep enough which causes them to take less polish out of the design leaving the design being too vague or not transferring totally.

It's been a while since then so I had to give it another try with a new plate.

Material used:

- Only You White French (base color)

- Essence stamping plate (flower deisgn)

- Sagittarius as stamping polish

- Konad stamper

 

 

Honestly..."Essence, this is still not better!

Please make the designs a bit deeper because it will make such a huge difference!"

 

Now, it could still be that Sagittarius just doesn't work to stamp with.

I tried the butterfly design from the Konad plate again. Using Sagittarius as stamping polish and the same Konad stamper.

 

 

It looks much better right?!

 

This is it. Thanks for reading!

If you like to find out more about +Jior Couture  you can find them at the following links:

 

https://www.facebook.com/JiorCouture

http://instagram.com/jiorcouture

https://twitter.com/JiorCouture

http://jiorcouture.wordpress.com

 

Swatches, review and nail art Color Club Paris in Love collection 2014

I told you before about Nailpolis: Museum of Nail Art and them hosting international contests as well.

I've entered the Easter nail art contest a while ago with this design:

 

 

And guess what?!

I won. Yay!!!!!!

 

The prize was the complete Paris in Love collection 2014 by Color Club!

 

 

From left to right:

- Color Club 1036 Macaroon Swoon

- Color Club 1037 Je t'aime

- Color Club 1038 La petite mint-sieur

- Color Club 1039 Je ne sais quoi

- Color Club 1040 Holy chic!

- Color Club 1041 Fondue for two

 

 

Looking at the promotion above I believe Color Club's inspiration for this collection came from Macarons.

Macarons are very popular in France.

In Paris, the Ladurée chain of pastry shops has been known for its macarons for about 150 years.

 

Swatches

Swatches are all 2 coats over a clear basecoat and no topcoat.

Pictures are taken in the sun.

I tried to match the colors with some macarons flavors but I'm no expert and of course there are many more flavors that will fit the color.

 

Macaroon Swoon

 

 

Macaroon Swoon is a yellow pastel or more so a vanilla color.

Looking at the macaron this could be the vanilla, white chocolat or lemon flavor.

 

Je t'aime

 

 

Je t'aime is a pink pastel.

This could be the strawberry or raspberry flavor.

 

La petite mint-sieur

 

 

La petite mint-sieur a mint green.

This could be the mint or pistachio flavor.

 

Je ne sais quoi

 

 

Je ne sais quoi is a marigold yellow. Mustard is what comes to mind.

This could be the flavor chocolate, crème brûlée or caramel.

 

Holy chic!

 

 

Holy chic! is a periwinkle.

This could be the flavor black currant, lavender or blueberry.

 

Fondue for two

 

 

Fondue for two is a brown, chocolate color.

This could be the flavor chocolate or coffee.

 

 

Review

Colors

My first reaction to this collection was: "OMG are those going to be the colors for this Summer?!"

Don't get me wrong: I love soft tones especially in Spring but brown and mustard...what were they thinking?

But as I swatched these and doing my research for this blog post I actually came to loving this collection.

I love how the colors fit to the inspiration of Macarons and Paris.

Looking for some nail art inspiration I found a lot of simular images like this one:

 

 

And look at the used colors!

Exactly...they match too :D

Now it doesn't come as a surprise that my personal favorites are the sweet colors (and these 4 come in a mini set as well).

My least favorite are the brown and mustard with Je ne sais quoi as #1...it doesn't fit my skintone, I hate mustard :D and really I have nothing that would match with this color.

 

Application and coverage

I was amazed!

It was very hot here in NL when I swatched these.

Most polishes are getting dry on the brush before I'm even applying them.

But these applied quite smooth and that's very good for being creme polishes.

All the polishes only needed two coats for opaqueness and the finish was pretty glossy.

Nail art

Yes, of course I made a nail art for you!

My inspiration came from the name of this collection "Paris in Love"

I started with a gradient of Holy chic!, Je t'aime and Macaroon Swoon using the sponging method.

Then I did a free hand design using a detail brush and the colors of the collection.

I finished with a matte topcoat: Jior Couture Matte Me

 

 

This is it!

 

Many thanks to Color Club for this beautiful collection.

Many thanks to Nailpolis: Museum of Nail Art for hosting this contest and being a fabulous gallery for all of us addicted :D

And of course many thanks to Celine Peña from Celine does Nails who chose my design as one of the winning designs

♥♥♥

 

Golden holo nails with 3D nail art

Today I have another Herôme polish that I want to show you.

Another holographic one to be more precise.

 

It's part of the W.I.C. (World Inspired Colors) line.

W.I.C. by Herôme is inspired by the richness of different cultures and every nail polish is named after a world city.

The polishes are oxygen permeable and enriched with Silica and Vitamin E for optimal care and brilliant shine.

 

Let's start with some swatches of W.I.C. by Herôme 73 Kingston:

 

 

Picture above is taken in the shade to show you the color without direct lighting.

It's quite dull but still a very pretty champagne like color that will match many outfits.

 

But will there be holo in direct lighting?

The following pictures are taken in the sun:

 

 

 

 

 

The polish is very rich pigmented and takes only 2 thin coats to be opaque.

Application was very easy and no dragging.

The color shifts in different lighting from beige/brown, champagne to gold.

The holo effect is scattered with a subtle prism.

The prism is more strong in real life though but not as strong as some other holo polishes.

 

Here is a macro shot of the polish:

 

 

I'm in love with this polish.

I'm more a fan of the holo's with strong prisms but this one would be a perfect nude holo.

Gorgeous for events when you need something subtle but still want to stand out with your nails.

 

For the nail art I chose for something bold.

As a contrast to the subtle and classic polish.

Something with more texture and 3D effect.

I've used the following polishes for this nail art:

- W.I.C. by Herôme 73 Kingston

- Maybelline 820 Winner takes it all!

- Classics Metallic 03

- Essence Metal Glam 01 Steel-ing the scene

 

I wanted to create some kind of circular gradient.

I started with the darkest color: Steel-ing the scene and used  a bigger dottingtool to place the polish at the outer side of the nail.

I dabbed as many times with the dottingtool and polish till I was satisfied with the texture.

I then worked my way in with the same techique and the lighter colors.

 

I'm not sure if my explanation is clear but if many of you want a tutorial for it...I'll make it.

 

 

 

World Turtle Day

Are you familiar with Nailpolis: Museum of Nail Art?

It's a place where all nail fanatics post their swatches and nail arts.

Besides this museum part they also host challenges and contests with prizes (internationally)!

This time the challenge was an event: World Turtle Day which is today May 23rd.

 

This is my entry:

 

 

I started with applying Sally Hansen Marine Scene.

Then I took acrylic white paint to make the waterlines and added another coat of Marine Scene to make them less visible and therefore more natural looking.

With a detail brush and acrylic paints I painted the turtle.

 

Here is a swatch of Sally Hansen 280 Marine Scene:

 

 

NYC City Samba Summer Color Collection swatches+nimbus nail art

Let's start with some chit chat shall we :D

 

In my preparation for writing this blogpost I came across some obstacles.

I bought 4 out of 6 colors from the brand NYC which I believed was a new collection and/or limited edition. At least this was how it was presented in stores.

Yesterday I was ready to write this post and I wanted to know to which collection/edition these polishes belonged as I couldn't remember from the store.

I had a nice Google lesson as the keyword "NYC" of course only brought New York City hits.

Changing it to "New York Color" helped a lot but still nothing about this collection.

I've searched for collection 2014, spring collection 2014, summer collection 2014, limited edition 2014 etc.

No hits with my polishes!

Okay...last change...searching the exact polishes by polish name.

GOSH that didn't help...oh well, maybe they are just too new?!

Eventually I ended up at the New York Color website and my polishes were presented there as a part of the regular collection (at least for this time a year).

 

Was I going crazy???

Out of frustration I went to the store today and made a picture of the presentation.

 

Here is NYC City Samba Summer Color Collection:

 

 

Like I said I got 4 out of 6 polishes:

- NYC In a minute 345  Peach Popsicles

- NYC In a minute 355 Lavender Blossom

- NYC Expert Last Nail Polish 267 Picnic on the lawn

- NYC Expert last Nail Polis 269 Hudson Breeze

 

Swatches

 

NYC 345 Peach Popsicles:

 

NYC 355 Lavender Blossom:

 

NYC 267 Picnic on the lawn:

 

NYC 269 Hudson Breeze:

 

Review

I love the mix of bold and more pastel colors in this collection.

Perfect for the transition from Spring to Summer.

The polishes retail for €2,49 ($3,41) In a minute nail polish and €2,99 ($4.09) Expert Last nail polish. This is in Holland perhaps your country has other prices.

Price wise NYC isn't an expensive brand and in my opinion you get a lot of quality for a low price.

Application is easy and colors are high pigmented.

I used two coats for all the polishes but the Expert Last nail polish were almost 1 coaters.

Now, it was close to 30 degrees Celsius when I was swatching these which isn't the best temperature for nail polish.

The Expert Last nail polishes applied very smooth. The In a minute polishes could use a topcoat to smoothen things out...but maybe this was due to the weather.

Nevertheless great polishes, great colors and especially Hudson Breeze because I didn't have something simular yet :D

 

Nail art

I decided to use the 4 colors for a nimbus nail art.

A tutorial can be found at The Nailasaurus

 

 

Disney inspired nail art

This week the challenge at NPQ is "Disney"

And who doesn't love Disney??

 

A challenge I can't skip!

However still enjoying the great weather so I chose for something that wouldn't take ages :D

 

Designs are all free hand made with acrylic paint.

 

I was inspired by the Disney Princesses and to be more precise their hair accessories.

Can you guess which Disney Princesses have these hair accessories?

 

 

I'm available to swatch, review and art for you!



Holo watercolor nails

 

For more than 30 years Herôme has been the leader in hand- and nail care.

In the Netherlands that is.

The quality of their products is very good and they are medium priced.

Herôme: "Our approach is solid research and live up to what our products promise."

They also have a wide range of gorgeous nail polish colors.

And as I'm writing this I'm asking myself why I don't have more by this brand???

 

When I was shop hopping through local stores I found a store selling some Herôme mini nail lacquers (4ml).

The lightening in that store was horrible: I had trouble seeing which color I was holding.

There were some mini bottles which looked like plain silver lacquers but when holding one really close it looked like it had some shattered holo in it.

Well...you should know by now that I'm crazy for holo's so I grabbed two (just in case it turned out to be holo), one for me and one for my "growing give away".

 

And today I'm going to show you this mini lacquer by Herôme.

Good things come from Holland :D

 

Swatches Herôme mini nail lacquer (4ml) #314

 

 

OMG and this is going to be in my give away as well!

 

I'm in love again :D

 

Now, I wasn't really feeling it to make a nail art today.

We finally have some Summer weather again and I just wanted to enjoy it with my hubby and kids.

I chose for something really simple and done before (but not with holo).

I got this idea from Glitter.Gloss.Garbage

I used the OPI Sheer Tints to make the watercolor effect.

Using the regular polish brushes and randomly placing the colors on the nails.

 

 

The picture doesn't even do it justice!

I want to have this nail art on for...like forever :D

 

YES L♥VE nail polish (review, swatches and nail arts)

Recently I received three Yes Love polishes in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

Yes Love can be considered as a low-budget brand.

Besides nail polish they also have a nail art and make-up line.

It surprised me that this (for me unknown) brand has such a wide range of collections when it comes to nail polish. From regular colors to a nice amount of special effect nail polishes.

Luckily I received three polishes from three different collections:

* G13-6 from the Foam collection

* G2-3 from the Glow in the dark with coke/soda collection

* G1-3 from the Neon speckled/glitter collection

 

Swatches and review

G13-6

First up is G13-6 from the Foam collection.

The name Foam had me to believe that we were dealing with something new here.

Unfortunately this wasn't the case.

G13-6 is a clear base filled with white and light blue hexagons.

The amount of glitters in this polish isn't enough for making it opaque...leading it to be a topcoat.

It can be layered over another color or you can just wear it on its own.

I tried layering it over some different colors but decided that darker or without is the most beautiful as the hexes are best shown.

 

Here is G13-6 (1 coat) layered over China Glaze 544 Liquid Leather:

 

 

 

Cons:

- The polish is a bit smelly

- It requires glitter fishing and placement

Pros:

- Perfect for a fast, simple and fun look

- The clear base has a very high shine finish

 

G2-3

Next up is G2-3 from the Glow in te dark collection.

I've swatched some glow in the dark polishes before and a few of the cons were: needing a (special) lamp to load or the thickness of the polish. The last con makes it almost impossible to have beautiful nails by daylight as well.

Now, with this in mind you can tell I wasn't expecting much from this polish.

G2-3 is a clear base (which looks a bit cloudy in the bottle) filled with white round micro glitters and peachy round glitters.

At least it already has the ingredients for a nice daylight mani.

G2-3 can be worn on its own or layered over another color.

 

Here is G2-3 (2 coats) layered over Catrice Limited Edition Creme Fresh C03 Evergreen 60s:

 

 

 

Cuteness by daylight!

But what about the glow in the dark part?

I was expecting one or both glitters to light up and needing a lamp...

This wasn't the case:

 

 

Cons:

- A bit smelly

Pros:

- Easy to apply

- A very nice look by daylight as well

- Doesn't need a (special) lamp to load

 

G1-3

Last but not least is G1-3 from the Neon speckled collection.

Although the polish has a sweet green color in the bottle I found it more leaning to green pastel than neon.

Therefore I was pleasantly surprised that it did indeed look like neon on the nails.

G1-3 is a neon green crelly base filled with neon glitters in different sizes and shapes.

There are neon blue, green, pink and orange small hexes as well as bigger neon pink, purple and green hexes.

 

Here is G1-3 (3 coats):

 

 

 

 

 

Cons:

- A bit smelly

- Hard to remove

Pros:

- Coolest neon I've seen so far

- Easy to apply

- Doesn't require fishing

 

Verdict

I'm very pleased with these 3 polishes.

Besides the smell there isn't really a bad thing I can say about these.

Quality is good. Application quite easy.

Great colors and effect.

And best of all they are cheap!

 

Nail arts

Yes. Of course I made some nail arts as well :D

 

 

Yes Love G13-6 layered over Rimmel Cocktail Colour 130 Apple Berry Smoothie.

Free hand Diddl nail art using acrylic paint.

 

 

Yes Love G2-3 layered over Catrice Limited Edition Creme Fresh C03 Evergreen 60s

Then used a detail brush and China Glaze 544 Liquid Leather to make the designs on the nails.

 

 

On the accent a water marble nail art using the following polishes:

- Models Own Luis Lemon

- Models Own Bubblegum

- Models Own Toxic Apple (can you tell that the greens are very much a like color wise)

- Boulevard 7ml neon orange

 

A great big thank you for you reading this heavy text and picture post.

And to Esther who mailed me these polishes ♥

 

These polishes can be found in the Yes Love Shop

And on Facebook