Piano Key Nails

Hello everyone! It has been such a long time since I've been able to create a video, blog post, or even just do a design on my own nails...but alas I am finally figuring out how to make so "me" time amongst all the chaos. So for my first design back I figured this piano key design was the place to start.
Overall the process was simple and all it really comes down to is drawing a lot of straight (or in my case semi-straight lines). I hope you enjoy the photos and video below and would love to hear your thoughts!

Eyeko ‘Pastel Polish For Nice Nails’ Review

If you’ve read the title then you may be wondering what I am doing reviewing another Eyeko nail polish. Well, this actually a limited edition product which I figure at least deserved a little bit of my time and a few pictures. The color is beautiful, a baby blue with a seafoam green duochrome effect. The color is light enough that one coat would leave you with a sheer light nail but, if you bump it up to three coats, you have a nearly opaque baby blue. This color reminds me very much of spring which I can’t wait for!


My complaint, you may wonder? I absolutely despise the brush and handle and I fear that the polish will dry out very quickly since the mouth of the bottle is very large. Of one thing I’m certain, air+polish in bottle=thick goopey mess.

Onto the Pictures!

The Duochrome-y goodness

The Brush

The wide mouth of the bottle

1 coat

3coats

What do you think of this color?

Eyeko Vintage Polish Review

I have been craving a mint green nail polish for quite a while now. First, I thought I wanted Essie Mint Candy Apple but unfortunately that polish has long been sold out here. I’d also been wanting to try Eyeko nail polishes in general for a while and since Eyeko had the minty green “Vintage Polish” I decided I should bite the bullet. I also ordered the Eyeko Cream, Eyeko Tinted Cream, and the trio of Fat Balms and Vintage (the polish retails for $5). This is my first experience ever ordering with Eyeko. I actually placed an order about a month ago and received my products in about 2 weeks (regular first class shipping). Back to the polish; Vintage is a mint green nail lacquer which even though it is cool toned looks wonderful on my warm toned skin. I was pleasantly surprised with the color to say the least. It took three coats to get an opaque finish and I should note that this is a cream formula with no shimmer. The polish itself is quite thin when you apply it, almost runny but it still dries fairly quickly. I used my normal base coat combo, then 3 coats of Vintage, followed by a coat of Seche Vite.

In terms of wear:

After wearing this polish for a week I found that my dominant hand (Right hand) chipped significantly on my index finger and middle finger. The wear however, on my left had was nearly perfect with only one minor chip. Here are some pics.

(Above is 3 coats)

(Left: 1 coat     Right: 3 coats)

(Left: 2 coats     Middle: 3 coats     Left: 1 coat)

(Above: Left hand after 1 week)

(Above: Right hand after 1 week)

I hope you enjoyed this review. Unfortunately this specific shade has sold out via the Eyeko website however, there are plenty of other shades that look just as fun like their Lilac polish.

Sula Paint and Peel Polish

I am very excited to be sharing this review with you as it is a product which holds a place very near and dear to my heart. Paint and peel polish has been a product which I fell in love with at an early age. As a child I would receive Children’s Nail Art Workbooks which had several pages of designs as well as several colors of nail polish to create the designs; the best thing about these books was not necessarily learning the designs (although in hindsight I find my love of nail polish probably sprung out of this) but the polish that came with the books. They were bright colors: red, white, yellow, orange, pink, and green, with maybe a black and brown in there; together they were all the colors any budding child nail artist would ever need. I would use up all the polish that came in the books in about 2 weeks. I would paint anyone’s nails as long as they would let me and my biggest selling point was that if they didn’t like it, they could just peel it off (I was an entrepreneur at a young age). I probably made every design in the book and a few of my own but in painting my own nails (almost on a daily basis) just for thrill of peeling off the paint. Those days were all but forgotten until (dun, dun, dun!) I found Sula Paint and Peel Nail Polish!

This isn’t the first that I have heard of Sula; in fact I used to use their fragrances a few years ago for summer. The fun of the fragrances was layering. At the time, I can remember there being six different fragrances that you could either wear alone or layer to create unique scents. Since then I haven’t thought much about the brand until I stumbled across these polished while walking through the fragrance section of my local ULTA. I thought about how fun peeling the polish would be again but now I also weighed the price and decided against it. It had all but vanished from my thoughts when I saw them again in a larger display just last week. I decided that I HAD to try them. The fates had put them there for a reason and I left the store with two new beauties: Azure and Dove.

From here I decided some testing was in order and so the following happened:
1. I applied two coats of Azure (no base or top coat, just as directed so that I could still peel the polish. Keep in mind that if you apply base and top coat you will have longer wear and the results could be different then what mine were.)
2. Wore it for two days
3. Then wrote this review

Here is the first coat:

As you can see the application was VERY streaky and although you can’t truly see it, the texture was not very even.

Here is the second coat:

Still streaky in appearance and texture.

Here is the applicator:

It is a bit short for my liking but it did the job!

After two days of wear here are the problems that I encountered:
1. Rubbing the nails together caused the polish to dull
2. Small nicks would spread and start the peeling process
3. Overall rubbery feel to the polish

Some things I liked:
1. Dried very quickly
2. Some of the colors are really unique
3. Good overall color selection
4. Fun concept
5. Easy to peel off

My recommendation:
Truthfully I won’t repurchase these or add anymore to my collection. Because of the streaky application it is difficult to apply and looks a little sloppy. Also I really no longer have a need to peel off my polish—fun for kids and for the kid at heart but in reality is quite limiting because of the need to touchup and/or reapply. Perhaps with a base and top coat the wear would be so improved that it would make having a Sula manicure really worth it, but until I try it I can’t say that I truly think these are worth $9 for 11ml/.37 fl. Oz. (for reference OPI [at ULTA] is $8.50 for 15ml/.5 fl. Oz.)

Fergie Inspired Domino Nails!

For my first video back from the computer fiasco I chose a very simple but prevalent design--at least on Fergie. On numerous occasions, whether it be on the Internet or in magazines I can always find a picture of Fergie with the domino nail design. I like it! It's simple, quick, easy and a bit quirky--all things that attract me to the design!


So with that inspiration I put my own twist by switching up the numbers on the dominoes. I used and iridescent white for the base color and a "Stripe Rite" nail polish in black. Let me know what you think about this look in the comments section!

Children's Artwork Nail Design

When I sat down to do my nails I though to myself, "Audrey, ladybugs!" and after painting the light blue background I decided against. My niece had sent me some artwork and that is where the inspiration for this design came from. I think I might do a version of this for each season--Let me know what you think!

This design reminds me of being back in elementary school and let me tell you--I loved art class! It was my favorite subject! I had a lot of fun with this design mainly because I got to make the light blue color. For those of you who are new to nailpolish the process of creating/mixing your own color is called "Frankening" sort of like creating your own little Franken-polish...

If you ever purchase a color that you don't love and can't return, keep it and make your own color! I just wanted to throw out a reminder that I am about 27 subbies away from a contest!! Woo Hoo!