Swatches, review and nail art Essence Trend Edition Rock Out!!

Things are going to get musical in october and november 2014 with the new Essence trend edition "Rock Out!!"

Essence is once again an official sponsor of the MTV European Music Awards (EMA). 

Glasgow is ready to welcome the who's who of the international music scene on the 9th of november and fans can look forward to a breathtaking show.

It's showtime...with Essence!

This trend edition features 4 lacquers and a glow-in-the-dark topcoat.

From left to right:

- 01 Best rock

- 02 Best hip-hop

- 03 Best pop

- 04 Best female

- 01 Biggest fan (glow-in-the-dark)

Swatches

01 Best rock

Picture taken in light box without flash

Picture taken outside without flash

01 Best rock is a very sheer grey/silver jelly that contains green and pink micro flakies (glass flecks).

Building it up to opaqueness is dreadful.

I've used 2 thicker coats for the swatches above and noticed that a third or fourth wouldn't make a huge difference and decided to leave it at two.

This polish is probably best used as a topcoat IMAO.

02 Best hip-hop

Picture taken in light box without flash

Picture taken outside without flash

02 Best hip-hop is a sheer black that contains multi colored and holoraphic micro glitter.

Too sheer for my taste. 

Pictures above show 3 coats but in the future I would probably layer this over a black,

03 Best pop

Picture taken in light box without flash

Picture taken outside without flash

03 Best pop is a pink crelly containing gold and pink micro flakies (glass flecks).

This polish shows a lot more pigment than the others and therefore was beautifully opaque with two thin coats.

04 Best female

Picture taken in light box without flash

Picture taken outside without flash

04 Best female is a very sheer purple jelly containing silver and pink/purple micro flakies (glass flecks).

Again best to use as a topcoat.

Pictures above show 2 thicker coats but 3 or 4 won't make a huge difference.

01 Biggest fan

Bottle shot in the dark

MTV EMA nail art in the dark

01 Biggest fan is a glow in the dark topcoat.

In the light the polish is like a milky jelly containing holographic star glitters.

The amount of star glitters is good and fishing and placement is at the users taste but not required much.

Good glow...picture however is taken after charging it with a bright light. 

Black light gives an immediate strong glow. 

01 Best Rock, 04 Best female and 03 Best pop layered over black

As I mentioned these polishes are all kind of sheer and I really wanted to know what they would look like layered over a black.

The pink (03 Best pop) was almost too opaque so I did a very very thin coat.

Review

The lacquers are all very sheer...too sheer for my taste.

I'm also not a huge fan of the jelly like consistency. 

Drying time of the first coat is okay but as your building it up, it takes more and more time.

And with at least 3/4/5 coats...I simply don't have the time!!

Layering them over other colors is the perfect solution, especially over black is really something I love.

The glow in the dark topcoat is better than the previous one by Essence. 

Consistency is easier to work with, the glow is better and I also like the addition of those cute holographic stars as it spices up the 'day' look.

I was pleasantly surprised by the glass flecks, they are more subtle than glitters in my opinion and I love the color shifts that they give.

Personal favorites: 03 Best pop and 01 Biggest fan (glow in the dark topper)

Nail art

What else can I do as taking this edition as my inspiration?!

I chose to use the bottle print as my design.

I started with a white base.

After this I randomly sponged 01 Best rock, 03 Best pop and 04 Best female over the white base.

Then I used black acrylic paint to cover the nails, leaving the letters out and showing the white sponged background.

I finished by covering the black acrylic paint with 02 Best hip-hop.

The thumb design is the same as the glow in the dark nail art from above but then in daylight :D

Madam Glam Soak Off UV Gel #75 Magenta

Today I have something new to show you!

Laura from Madam Glam asked me if I wanted to do a review on a UV Gel Polish by Madam Glam.

Always up for new things, so here it is.

Madam Glam, based in New York, is sold exclusively online.

Besides their regular nail polish, nail care and nail art products, they recently launched a Soak Off UV Gel line that will last 3 to 4 weeks!!!

Here is the package I received:

Inside:

- Soak Off Base Gel

- Soak Off Gel Polish #75 Magenta

- Soak Off Top Gel

Tutorial

For those who can't or don't want to look at the video, here is a step-by-step:

Step 1: Materials

Get your materials together:

- Base Gel

- Gel Polish

- Top Gel

- Remover/Acetone

- Something to clean cuticles; brush/remover pen/orange wood stick

- Cotton pads

- UV lamp/LED lamp

- Gel cleanser (additional)

Step 2: Preparation

Make sure your nails are clean.

I simply used a cotton pad with Acetone.

I didn't push back cuticles or anything like that, but it is an option.

Step 3: Apply Base Gel and cure under lamp

You can work nail by nail, but I chose to do 4 nails at once and the thumb nail separate.

I applied a thin coat of Base Gel.

Make sure your cuticles stay clean.

Then I cured it under the UV lamp:

UV: 2 min.

LED: 30 sec.

Step 4: Apply Gel Polish and cure under lamp

The Gel Polish looked kind of syrupy and hard to work with.

Surprisingly on top of the Base Gel it applied like heaven.

I used one coat of Gel Polish.

Again, make sure your cuticles stay clean.

Cure under lamp:

UV: 2 min.

LED: 30 sec.

Step 5: Apply Top Gel and cure under lamp

I already have some gel top coats that I've tried out before and in these cases I really had to make sure that I've used a very thin coat. Otherwise the finished look got wrinkled.

I applied this Top Gel with thin and thicker coats and it wasn't a problem at all.

During application you might see some small bubbles but another brush stroke can get this away.

My tip: Keep on brushing (without taking more Top Gel) till you get a perfect smooth surface.

Don't forget the free edge for longer durability!

Then cure under the lamp:

UV: 2 min.

LED: 30 sec.

Step 6: Additional???

A few minutes (10) after curing the Top Gel, the finished nails were still wet/sticky to touch; leaving my finger print.

I'm not sure if it is the result of the sticky product that Gels can leave, too short time of curing or simply that I have to wait longer before touching.

However I used a cotton pad soaked with Gel Cleanser (Essence) and the surface was smooth again and dry to touch.

So I can really recommend using a Gel cleanser as finishing step!!

Review

Application: Application was very easy (did you notice I even did this with my non-dominant hand).

Color: The magenta color is very vibrant. I can also describe it as a darker hot pink.

Finish: Glossy. And according to the amount of layers and it being gel polishes, still very thin.

Note: Use a gel cleanser after last cure to get rid of the stickyness.

Durability: I can't tell yet but will let you know!

I did remove my nail art with Acetone and it didn't effect the Gel Polish underneath.

Soak Off: Can't tell yet but again will let you know over time.

Final verdict: Believing that this will stay on for 3-4 weeks and if you're looking for a product like that, with great color, and easy to apply. I can definitely recommend these products by Madam Glam!

You can get 30% off using my link
Or use coupon code: YGEL30OFF

Nail art

I admit: I'm terrible at making art with my non-dominant hand.

I used a zipper bag on which I put a layer of topcoat.

Then I free handed some small fall designs using acrylic paint.

After drying time I removed the topcoat with designs from the zipper bag and placed them on the nail, sealing it with topcoat.

That's it for today!

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Swatches, review & nail art Essence Trend Edition Hello Autumn

Essence just came out with their new trend edition called "Hello Autumn".

With this collection Essence welcomes the autumn season with its beautiful golden sunshine and rustling leaves.

BeautiFALL!

The nail lacquers featured in this collection are all thermo nail polish and change color depending on the temperature.

But how many lacquers are in this collection?

The blog promo I received and the website as well show 5 lacquers.

So far I could only get my hands on 4 and haven't seen the 5th one anywhere.

The 4 lacquers I could get, are:

- 01 beauti-FALL red

- 02 meet my pumpkin

- 03 charlie seen in green

- 04 keep calm & go for a walk

And this would be the 5th lacquer:

- 05 autumn & the city

Well, you know me, if I can get my hands on the 5th lacquer anytime, I will update this post with it.

Review

I'm finally starting to love a good thermo polish. Especially with long nails cause it gives a perfect French manicure without any trouble.

These nail lacquers are so perfect for the fall season; great fall colors and the color change like fall leaves couldn't be found better.

I'm starting with the review so you won't be shocked when seeing the swatches :D

I had a lot of trouble catching the color change on camera. It was there in real life but subtle.

I experienced that my body temperature was low and it was a cold day as well...leaving me with mostly the "cold" color.

Holding my hand under warm water and resting my tips at some ice did show a bigger color change.

In the swatches you will see a subtle color change around the tips which was just slightly more visible in real life.

Now, if the bigger color change can only be achieved by holding your hand in hot water or a bucket full of ice...it isn't a strong thermo but my problem is that I can't really tell for sure.

Leaving you with my experience, I do have to say that even this subtle color change and simply the fall colors itself make this a beautiful fall collection.

For me all 4 are keepers!

Application was easy and these creme polishes were opaque with 2 coats.

Swatches

01 beauti-FALL red

02 meet my pumpkin

03 charlie seen in green

04 keep calm & go for a walk

Nail art

The first fall nail art is a fact.

And I tried something new for you!

Material:

- White nail polish

- Nail art brush

- Nail polish in fall colors (I of course used this collection)

- Scotch tape also known as magic/removable tape

- Pen or pencil or marker

- Scissors (preferably small and used for crafting)

- Tweezers

- Topcoat

Step 1:

Start with applying a white nail polish on all the nails. 

Let it dry completely and use a topcoat to speed up the drying time.

Step 2:

Place some pieces of tape (10 if you're going to do all 10 nails) on a flat surface. 

The pieces of tape can be as big as you want but around nail size is most handy.

Use a pen to draw fall leaves on the pieces of tape.

To prevent smudging and to make cutting easy, place another piece of tape on top of the drawed ones.

Step 3:

Use the scissors to cut out the fall leaves. 

And place the fall leave like a sticker on your nails.

Step 4:

Get your polishes and the nail art brush.

Paint small fall leaves around the outline of your sticker.

Wait for it to completely dry!!!

Step 5:

Use the tweezers or your nails to remove the stickers from your nails.

Step 6:

Apply topcoat to seal your design.

Swatches, review and nail art Catrice Limited Edition Metallure

Today I bring you the latest limited edition by Catrice, called Metallure.

Catrice: "Precious metals are conquering the late summer months and are being combined with the trend revival of the marble look. Fashion and accessories appear to be covered in a high shine and are being established as glamorous must-haves with a fashionable liquid look. Not futuristic, but fresh, natural and flowing. The limited edition Metallure is offering the matching beauty products to go with the metallic trend in August and September 2014. In addition to the classic colours of precious metals like gold, silver and copper, this collection also includes fresh pink, classical red and soft white."

This limited edition features 5 nail lacquers:

- C01 Alluring Red

- C02 Alluring Pink

- C03 Metalight

- C04 Metallicious

- C05 Metalfusion

Swatches

C01 Alluring Red

This is 2 coats of Alluring Red.

Alluring Red is a very pretty metallic red with a subtle shimmer.

Perfect for the Fall and Winter season.

It's pretty opaque and you could get away with just 1 coat.

C02 Alluring Pink

When I first saw this color I was wondering why this was included in this edition.

It looks more like a creme than a metallic lacquer.

Once it was on you can notice the same kind of shimmer from Alluring Red, subtle but it's there.

Alluring Pink is a quite sheer polish and with the 2 coats in the picture above you still have some tip see through. It doesn't bother me that much.

C03 Metalight

Metalight is a metallic warm rosé gold.

Very streaky which can be expected with metallic lacquers.

This is 2 coats but you could get away with 1 coat.

C04 Metallicious

Metallicious is a metallic gold with some green undertones as I can see it.

Again streaky and pretty much a 1 coater.

I used 2 coats for the swatch above.

C05 Metalfusion

Metalfusion is a metallic dark silver/dark grey.

Streaky and you could get away with 1 coat.

Swatch is 2 coats of Metalfusion.

Review

I love metallic lacquers but weird enough I feel myself reaching more to the first 2 lacquers (red and pink) which are more subtle shimmer polishes than metallic.

For me the colors aren't very unique but this time a year (end of Summer) it is refreshing to have some color change towards the Fall season.

The opaqueness of these lacquers is really great. You could mostly get away with just 1 coat.

Drying time however took some longer than I expected, especially when you rather quickly apply a second coat.

The brushes weren't the worst but I still think they could improve it.

I quote Catrice: "The extra-broad reservoir brush captures just the right amount of polish required for each nail and delivers streak-free results like a pro."

Now, I don't want to call myself a pro, but I've applied lacquers enough to state that this is not streak-free!

Again, somthing I don't expect with metallic lacquers, but also something you shouldn't promise if you can't live up to it.

Verdict: Not a bad collection considering I want to keep 3 out of 5.

Nail art

I wanted to keep it close to the metal look.

Featured nail art by Catrice is a water marble but you all know how I really hate love water marbling.

I went for the dry brush technique instead.

You can find a great tutorial here by Lucy's stash

I used diagonal brush strokes creating multiplication signs.

Swatches, review and nail art Catrice Limited Edition Carnival of Colours

I was really looking forward to this colorful limited edition.

When I saw it in stores I just had to grab them :D

This limited edition comes with 7 nail lacquers.

I only got 6 of them because C07 Black For Gold is just a plain black and I have enough blacks for the moment.

Here are the lacquers I got:

From left to right:

- C01 Team Blue

- C02 Viva Brasil

- C03 Burning Down The Arena

- C04 When I Say Li, You Say Lac

- C05 Go Yellow, Go!

- C06 Feel The SpiRED

Swatches

All the pictures are taken outside in the shade as this shows the colors most truly.

C01 Team Blue

Team Blue is a deep blue.

Very pigmented as it only took 1 coat for good coverage.

C02 Viva Brasil

Viva Brasil is the kind of green from the Brazilian flag.

This is another 1 coater.

C03 Burning Down The Arena

What can I say...Burning Down The Arena is the perfect orange for all the Holland supporters :D

I'll definitely use this for my next Dutch nails.

I used 2 coats for this swatch.

C04 When I Say Li, You Say Lac

The name of this polish When I Say Li, You Say Lac isn't really suited for this polish.

Definitely not a lilac. 

It's a deep purple. Not vampy, but dark.

This is 1 coat.

C05 Go Yellow, Go!

Go Yellow, Go! is another hit with the Brazilian flag.

Quite dark again.

This is 2 coats.

C06 Feel The SpiRED

Feel The SpiRED is the kind of red that I want to see when I buy a red.

I have bought so many supposed to be red polishes that turned out to be orangy or pinkish.

This is a true sexy red.

This was the only polish that had a watery look.

I used 3 coats but you can still see the tip line.

This one would be great for a sandwich/stampwich nail art.

Review

Let's start with all the good points: 

- The pigmentation is great! They all took about 1-2 coats for good coverage.

- Fast drying.

- Glossy finish.

- I love how this edition is linked to the World Cup Brasil.

What I didn't like and/or what didn't meet with my expectations:

- The colors. I expected them to be more bright but they are all kinda dark.

- The addition of the black??? Catrice already has a great black (Black to the Routes) in their collection. Which is cheaper and it doesn't really suit the Carnival of Colours...

- The brush! Now, I love a wide, round brush but what shape is this?

The best comparison I can make is with this sign:

Did I miss something?? Is this the future?

Now, if the hairs were in a smooth line I could live with it but even that isn't the case.

It almost looks hand cut. I even checked if all the brushes had it.

It's not dramatic in use but I hope they'll improve it!

Nail art

I used the promo as inspiration and tried to hand paint the pineapples as good as I could.

Each limited edition comes with a Catrice nail design which you can find on YouTube.

This time it's a more simple version of the pineapple. Tutorial can be found here.

Here is my version:

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

♥♥♥