Fashionista Nails Review

Recently, a dear friend I met a few years ago in another world (yes, another world) contacted me to let me know she was creating a product I just might be interested in.  Since we met in that other world, we've become friends in this one and she's seen the many photos of my fingernails I post up at Facebook, and she joined the "Nail Polish Collectors" group there. Fantastic group by the way, join us! Erin of the Tropical Mind Blog started the group and we share photos, lemmings, whatever. If you haven't joined that party, you are missing some fun (and maybe missing out on contributing some fun too!)

I digress.

My friend Esther and I chatted a bit and she offered to send me some rough samples.  I'm talking about something I've been tweeting and facebooking about for a few weeks now. Fashionista Nails!  

Ok, I know what you're thinking: "Everyone is doing nail covers. I've seen them, don't need to see anymore." Let me tell you and then show you what's different about these.

1. They are water decals, not stickers. Full nail coverage in a water decal. This means easy removal folks, this means you can move them around until you get them placed where you want them without messing them up.

2. They are precut so you just do a little snip snip and they're ready to play with.

3. They wear like regular nail polish, so if you keep the tips touched up, they'll last for a few weeks providing you stay out of water and all the regular things you want to avoid to keep your manicure looking nice.

4. And this is the best one: They are sheer...but not so sheer that you can't see the beautiful designs on your nails, but oh the fun I had with this part! You put them on over nail polish 

The first set I tried was named, "Seduce" and I wasn't crazy about it on the paper, but I put it on over Orly Glitz and Glamour to make the lines pop and it worked. I'm rogue like that...I read the instructions and then interpret them my own way.  Take a look: (and you can click pics to make them larger)

I will tell you now, that manicure is a week old there. :)  I got lots of compliments on this manicure.

So, I wore some other colors and took my time cutting out the next set...so that when I sat down, I could do them all and see how long application would take in the new format (precut!)  After laying down the polish bases, it took me about 20 mins to do the whole decal application/sealing thing. So it adds about the same amount of time as a basic Konad design, but you get a bit more...and you can konad over this stuff, add bling or what ever the creative muse tells you to do.

For the second set: "Fever" I decided to play around with the base color. On my pinkies I used a Pink Foil from Europe that has no name, ring fingers got Orly Glitz and Glamour again, Middle got Nfu Oh #61, forefingers got a coat of Sally Hansen Celeb City (or some similar silver foil) and the thumbs were a base of China Glaze Millenium.  So you can see how the different base colors can change the overall look. Check it out (and remember to click!)

These photos were also taken about a week into the manicure...so I remain impressed. I couldn't see the wrinkles that the macro setting sees.
I love how the ring finger looks more festive in a holiday kind of way...and the holo underneath the design is just amazing. My favorite one.

See?

Overall, I will probably get a few more to keep around for special occasions when I want to rock something completely different that allows for me to add my own twist. 

I think the price is right there with the "norm" for manicure items similar to this, but this is more versatile and honestly, it was fun to have a different base color under each one...kind of an artful skittle. 

I made a video and when I figure out how to post it to my Youtube from my phone, I'll post it up. You have to see the holo in action.

Fashionista Nails has a Facebook Page and a Twitter account in case you want to follow them. Last week they gave away a couple sets to followers. But you can see the designs here: http://www.fashionistanails.com/designs

What do you think of these?

Champagne Toast Anyone?

I had to post this up because I haven't seen pictures that do this polish justice AT ALL. Even our Goddess of Nail Polish: Scrangie, didn't truly capture it's awesomesauceness.   I'm talking about Barielle's Jess's Champagne Toast.
This polish is simply tantalizing and I cannot stop looking at my nails. It's a lavender silver with tiny pink slivers of glitter. It's just amazing in it's simplicity and elegance. I love this polish...can you tell?

All the photos were taken under incandescent 12 volt light with the white balance on my camera set manually to capture true white. I have looked at these beside the color on my nails and this is true to form, though the second photo captures it best. I have to add, it looks textured in the photos, but it really isn't...this polish is smooth even before topcoat.

I think the polish looks a whole lot like the bottle color and I truly do love this one. Looks like my son will get one more ornament to add to his tree. :)

Remember to click so you can see all the detail (and my winter cuticles.)

On another note, I tried NailTek II and my nails are peeling more than ever before. Guess that is proof that everyone is different. Anyone want a couple of bottles of this stuff...one brand new and the other slightly used? I've honestly not had much luck with some of the stuff I've seen suggested on other blogs lately. Dermelect seems ok, but I don't get the stellar results that Scandalous or Bright Lights, Big Color have seen on their nails. I guess it's time for me to return to my old favorite...more on that soon.

Did you pick this one up? Did you like it or hate it?

Holy Holo Fun Batman!!!

I have acquired quite the collection of Holo Polishes...and yet, my collection is incomplete and I need MORE! HEHEHEE!
I had some fun with Milani, China Glaze and Color Club and the intermittent sunlight we had yesterday while waiting for the Tsunami to hit the Santa Barbara Coast. Things were a little tense downtown, but here at home we have an 80 foot drop from the bluffs to the ocean, so I wasn't worried. It turned out to be uneventful but with all the earthquakes happening, the hubster and I decided we would be wise to make sure we have plenty of bottled water in case the big one hits close to home. Santa Barbara is somewhat isolated from travel in the event of a big disaster as we learned when the mountain fell in 2005 cutting us off from most suppliers. Our grocery stores were almost bare when they finally reopened the roads.
Our lifestyle has us basically prepared anyway, but we need to keep a few gallons of fresh water on board too...but I digress into unhappy things..., let's move on to polish, shall we?

I chose Milani HD and China Glaze OMG to compare and play with, Take a quick look:

What you're looking at: from Pinkie to Thumb: Milani HD 3 coats, ChG OMG 3 coats, OMG topped with HD 2 coats OMG, 1 coat HD, HD 3 coats with ChG Matte Magic over the top, and on the thumb I did OMG on the left side (upper in this pic) and the omg/hd combo like on the middle finger on the right side (lower in this pic) then I put Matte Magic over the top.

Let me say first off, putting a matte topcoat over a holo, takes away the Holo completely...and you cannot get it back. Nope, not even if you put a shiny topcoat on top. Look:

See? Nuthin'.

Let's move on, shall we?

Here's a closer look, side by side: click it!

Now, I don't own Nfu Oh #62, but I think Middle finger just found a good dupe! I'm telling you, getting that smooth rainbow topped with the chunkier one and it was blingtastic! Gorgeous! Those of you who do own the Glorious #62, please tell me what you think, I need to know if I still need to add it to my hubby's buy list. :)

I love Holos for their color and for their drying time. I will say that HD was MUCH easier to apply, just smooth and nice as I don't give each layer much drying time, I don't have the time! :)  OMG was a bear, dragging polish for the first two layers so I applied it a bit more thickly for the third and it evened out. I used no top coat for the non-matte nails.

I will definitely layer the Milani Holographic polishes over the corresponding China Glaze OMG series colors because it's just so much more holographic. I like having options!

PS: For those of you having issues with blogger, be it posting, commenting or whatever. Get Google Chrome. DO EET NAO!! It works seamlessly and I am in heaven.