Water Based Nail Polish!

This post is going to be very picture heavy as I'm totally in love with this polish. I was recently approached by Younique Nails and asked if I'd do a review of the products they carry. I have worked with water based nail art, but not actual nail polish. This made me very excited as I've been dieing to try a good water based nail polish. Younique Nails is now offering our readers a coupon for %10 off : lauren10


They sent me a great Christmas card with my samples! Aw!

The polish line they sell is called AQmore which is made of %50 water and has no formaldehyde, toluene, or acetone. The nifty thing, is if you make a mistake you can just wipe it off with a wet cotton ball.
I sat down to prepare for a long learning session... But, I made no mistakes. Not because I'm just "that" skilled, but because the polish applied VERY easily. Like butter! In my opinion, application felt no different then a lacquer based polish. It even looks just as good when finished. I was pleasantly surprised.


Straight from Younique Nails "AQmore meets international SGS and FDA testing, dermatologists recommend AQmore as it is made of natural ingredients, contains no organic solvents, which will not to hurt your skin and nails."

The colors I picked were AQmore Mediterranean and Bloom Green Top coat. Interestingly enough the top coat I chose has a freshly cut green flower inside. I asked Younique Nails about this and they said it's a real (once living, you know, before it was cut) flower so you can see that their polish does no harm to the flower. I think it looks really nice in the bottle, and they have a good selection of different colored flowers. You can also purchase plain top coats or sparkle top coats.


Anywho, onto the actual polish. Mediterranean is a beautiful mint green color. In one to two coats it's beautifully sheer. I used 4 coats for full coverage. Each layer dries very fast (under one minute) so it wasn't anything like waiting for a lacquer based polish to dry. After applying the color, and allowing it to dry you HAVE to use the sealing top coat.




I took a super hot bath after I painted my nails, and I will say thing - be sure to cap all free edges of the nail. The parts fully covered had no problem, however, I forgot to cap a few nails and the free edge paint began to lift. Removing it after on those nails was alot of fun though. Once the water begins the lift you can peel it off (safely) like a face mask.

All in all, even though its different, I do really like this product line. My one (and only) concern is the site states "Every single cosmetic has its suitable time of use, and the best time of use for AQmore within 7-14 days." although it also states the shelf life is 1-2 years. That is a bit confusing? I know most water based polishes can be revived with a bit of water.

Right now all prices at Younique Nails are %10 off. The usual price is $13.90 USD per bottle, which is a high price when compared to lacquer based polishes. However, if you're looking for a safer alternative then I believe it is worth the extra money. I hope to purchase more of the colors available soon for my daughter and myself.

What do you think? Would you try a water based nail polish?


I was given the product by the good people of http://www.youniquenails.com/ to try for free. All opinions are honest and are in my own words (except where I quoted the Younique Nails Website)

Spring Nail Design

So I know spring seems so far away right now. Especially after us here in the north-east received a winter gift of 2 ft. of snow. I need warmth! I need spring! So I jazzed up my nails with some color.

For the base I used Opi La Paz-itively Hot Nail
. It's a lovely almost hot pink with some purple shimmer in it. Although way over the top for conservative settings it's still very beautiful.



I then used Nail Art Club Green
(with a long tip, specifically for nail art, the link is for the whole set) for the green leaves. Designs like these are the easiest to do. Gather polish only at the tip and work in one smooth quick motion. Practice makes perfect. Even I make mistakes (you can see them) if I slow down. Work quickly.



To add a tiny bit extra I used adotting tool
to add some sparkley silver nail polish. I hate using dotters with actual nail polish. In my opinion, they work best with watered down acrylic paints. Some ladies are awesome with them though. Kudos if you are!



So my nails won't actually make the temperature warmer outside and melt the huge piles of snow. However, they certainly make me feel warmer and put a smile on my face.

OPI Swatch Royal Rajah Ruby

Painting my nails this week hasn't been easy. So I'm doing the best I can for the time being. The house has been filled with family. It's been great spending time with everyone, but I'm already feeling like I need some me time. I bet you ladies know how I feel!

Anywho, I did play around with a beautiful color today. I'm not a fan of red-reds but OPI Royal Rajah Ruby
is a VERY deep shimmer red. It's gorgeous in all lighting.


Royal Rajah Ruby is from the India collection from Spring/Summer '08. It's still readily available online and through Amazon. It's great for the winter being such a velvety deep color.



In Darker light it almost looks brown-black. In very well lit situations it looks very shimmery ruby red.

MAC Nail Design

Now that the new year has rolled in, its time to start thinking of spring. At least, thats my reasoning! It has been warm here, even after the huge snowstorm. I hope it stays warm.

Today I did a new design for my nails. I used M.A.C. Bad Fairy for the base. I'm still so in love with the color. The pink works so well with the orange glow that shines in the light.



For the design I used GCOCL plate m76 which looks like branches with leaves. I used Konad Black
special polish. It actually looked amazing alone over Bad Fairy.



To finish, I used teardrop shaped teal sparkles from Viva la Nails. I covered a few of the leaf designs on the nail stamp. I think it worked out really nicely. Unfortunately, the sparkles are big, and my nails are quite curved. So they flaked off pretty fast.

All in all, I'd definitely do this design again sometime soon, even with the sparkles. Next time I'll pay better attention to placement.

Winter nail design for New Years

What a crazy week. My internet has been acting funny, I think its the wireless base and not actually the cable - hence the delay in posting. I had prepared the posts but could not get online to post.

For the next few days I'll be with family and friends celebrating Christmas (we have several gatherings to go to). Then even more on New Years, add on the fact that my nieces birthday is Jan 1. So I wanted to post the design I'll be sporting on new years.



The base I did with OPI Ski Teal We Drop
, which I reviewed in an earlier post. It's a lovely navy (however, in some light it looks forest green). I do like the shade, mostly. I'd like it more if it never appears forest green.



For the Snowflakes, I used GCOCL plates, which are like the cheaper version of Konad nail art plates. The plate I used was m10. The paint used was Konad Sky Pearl
which is a mid-light blue with shimmer. The shimmer is not usually visible after stamping, but the color is lovely.
If you haven't tried nail art stamps before, I highly recommend it. The expense adds up buying plates, but they last forever and you can reuse them indefinitely.



I tried not to center the large snowflakes so I could add partials to the sides to make it look more like falling snow. I love how the look came out. It's probably one of my favorite nail stamping designs.

Holiday Pedicure

In my in laws houses there is a *VERY* strict no shoes rule. So the holidays require me to have my toes nicely done.

I just rubbed heavy lotion on before the pictures, so it shows up in a few of the images.



I started with silver nail polish. I used Wet N Wild precious metals(Lilac Available on Amazon
). Then I used water decals on the big toes for the flowers. I could've painted flowers on, but I was in a rush. I really don't like water decals too much, working with them is a pain. I think I work with them improperly.



After I finished the rest of the toes with little red foil strips in a pattern so it almost looked weaved in. I wish I hadn't run out of time to apply top coat as some weren't sealed down. However, it still looks really good.



Probably one of the only videos I'll include for a bit. My Holiday wishes from my family to yours.

North Point iBand - Feliz Navidad (instruments are iPhones, iTouch, and iPad)

Fun nail art

What a week it has been. First, my iPhone "breaks" into an infinite boot loop. I only use linux, so I had to hoof it to my sisters to use her computer to restore it. Since I had no backup I lost everything.

Add to that, more christmas shopping. AND I prepared my post and found out 2 images I saved somehow became unusable(or unreadable). Bummer.

I did however get 2 great images of my funky nail art. I was going for an almost japanese look of cherry blossom branches and cool tips.




I started with OPI Glamour and Glitz, a fun cool gold color. I then used acrylic white paint and a nail art striping brush to do curvy branches. Then I used a small dotting tool to make what looked like flowers.




I finished with "Dazzlings" in round from Viva La Nails. The color I used was like a purple, and I don't see it available on their website anymore.

I'm so glad it's finally night time here. Hopefully, I can get a good nights rest. I'm not going to count on it though. Both my daughter and I are coming down with a cold. However, on a bright note, the holidays are here and seeing her so happy (even when she is sick) is so wonderful.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Nail Designs

Woo, Christmas is almost here. Which is actually why I didn't get to post my nails up yesterday. See, my brother from Florida made a surprise visit. So I spent some time with him.

Anywho, to help me get more lifted and into the spirit I went a little wild.






I used MAC Mean and Green as the base, then some sparkle/glitter from VivalaNails. It turned out OK I think. I tried to make trees on my index and ring finger, but they were a bit funky.
I do really like it though, and the green base with pink sparkles from the MAC nail polish works well for the season.




Today we finished MOST of our shopping. We have a few last second gifts to get. "Tweens" are so hard to shop for. They want big gifts, but we can't afford them. So we're trying to be very particular in what we get for them. The rest of the nieces & nephews are young.


Tree Up Close

Wish us luck, and enjoy the holidays! I'm going to go bake cookies with my daughter.

Toe Nail Designs

So I realized I left my whole mani kit at my dads last week. Luckily, I had some back photos that helped me get by. I'm going to be picking up the kit on Friday, yay. Basically, it has everything I need (cuticle creams, clippers, polishes, nail art stuff).

One of my back designs I was saving for later was again another toe french. This time, with white tips (oh white polish why do you curse me!) I used OPI Nail Polish Alpine Snow
.

For the artsy stuff I used nail art items from Viva La Nails which were given to me for review.



The cool star sparkles are actually "Dazzlers", and the pictures do it no justice. When they capture the right lighting they shine back beautifully. The only downside is they are thicker than most glitter.
It requires a few good top coats to seal them in so they don't snag off.



The bottom flower design is from their white nail stickers collection. They're also thick, and kind of like a foam. A real pain to put topcoat over. I suppose the only good thing is they give a 3D effect, AND theres some silvery sparkly spots on it, so it's not just white. Still, if ordering I'd probably pass.

I promise, new nail stuff up here monday and no toes!

French Pedicure

Having some more fun with my items from Viva La Nails items I received. I wanted to share a really simple pedicure design I did but I got a lot of nice feedback on.

I love doing french pedicures, unfortunately, I hate using white nail polish(only because of the issues that come with white nail polish... Not white enough, too sheer, too many coats required). So often, for my toes, I do a color french pedicure.

I started with OPI Designer series in Exclusive to paint my french tip on. I used a craft brush with acetone to create a smooth smile line (Designer series works great for this application).

After, I applied 1 coat of base coat on and added a few close matching pink pieces of glitter. I think these are actually super glitter? It's hard to tell because nothing was labeled in my review kit and I cannot find rounds on their website besides the dazzlings, which are much larger.


I finished with a couple layers of top coat (allowing each to dry first.)

O.P.I. nail polish To Eros is Human

Happy Monday!

I got a chance to play around with O.P.I To Eros is human. A discontinued duechrome color. This is a deep pink almost red shimmer color. Very pretty, without being overbearing red.




The beauty of this color is it looks very warm in some light, but in others very cool. In fact, it's quite noticeable even indoors as you walk into different lighting situations. In my opinion, it's the perfect shade for a different color french tip.



This color may be discontinued, however, it's still readily available through online marketplaces... at a slightly more expensive rate. If you really love this polish then it may be worth it for you.



Again, another beautiful Holiday color, without going to deep into "red" nail polish territory. I'm not a giant fan of reds, if you can't tell already.



Speaking of the Holidays... What are your plans?

OPI Fireflies

Want one word to sum up Fireflies by O.P.I.
from the Holiday 2007 collection? NO.
What was OPI thinking? So the allure of the color is better than the actual polish on. Fireflies are so beautiful, mystical, fun. On nails it just doesn't work.



I suppose if you want a sheer no matter how many coats(I did 3) that also looks like you stained your nails then go for it. Hehe. But otherwise, I could only see this color being useful for layering nail polishes.

I'm normally all for weird nail polish colors and I don't like to be negative about many things but like my OPI feet in peach, this is going in the "do not use again" box.



What have been your nail polish no no's?