Giveaway announced!

Wow - I am overwhelmed at the number of entries in my giveaway. Thanks so much for taking the time to look at my blog and participate in the giveaway.

The winner of my giveaway is:

Congratulations!! I've emailed the winner and she had 48 hours to respond or another entry will be chosen.

Giveaway update!

Just a quick reminder that there's only a few days left to enter my giveaway. I'm off on school camp for few days (argh - surrounded by 100 nine year olds!) See you when we get back!

Press Release Color Club in NZ

INTRODUCING MAGNETIC FORCE: THE NEW MAGNETIC NAIL POLISH COLLECTION FROM COLOR CLUB 

MARCH 2012 – Auckland, New Zealand

- Color Club NZ Ltd, distributor of the New York based nail color company announced today the debut of Magnetic Force, the new magnetic nail polish collection coming this April. The Magnetic Force Collection features six nail polishes -- from Cop an Attitude to Steel of the Night and Electro Midnight. This new vegan, formaldehyde, toluene and DBP-free collection comes with a magnet cap that creates a one of a kind wave design on the nail. To use: Apply two coats of polish, while the second coat is still wet, hold the magnet over the nail for 5 seconds and a wave design will appear.

Introducing the Magnetic Force Collection by Color Club:

SCI-FI: GOLDEN GREEN 

COP AN ATTITUDE: COPPER

HIPNOTIC: BURGUNDY RED

MAGNETIC FORCE: PURPLE 

STEEL OF THE NIGHT: BLACK STEEL 

ELECTRO MIDNIGHT: NAVY BLUE 

Color Club’s Magnetic Force Collection will be available in New Zealand from mid-April 2012. All Color Club products are made in the USA and are not tested on animals.

About Color Club 
A favorite of celebrity manicurists and nail color fans worldwide, Color Club is renowned for its high performance rich shades and exceptionally safe products. From the brightest neons, to glitter and French, all nail colors are vegan, formaldehyde, toluene, and DBP -free – and made in New York, NY with the best raw materials. Color Club is available in New Zealand in selected Pharmacies and Fashion stores including Amazon Surf & Skate

Nail polish earrings

After looking at Chalkboard Nails post I was so inspired - I thought I can do that! So thanks to her link I made an account at Etsy and low and behold here I am. I must admit I've gone a bit crazy - just because these are so easy and fun to make.

I used 12mm cabochons and a variety of blanks. I found using a small amount of bluetack (putty) to hold the cab in place worked best and then I painted the reverse (flat) side.

When they were dry I used superglue to place them in the blanks. It does require a bit of thought as you have to work in reverse so with the stamping I stamped the image, topcoated (to protect the image from smudging) and then did the polish colour.

So here's some of what I've made so far . . .

Please read on after the jump if you'd like to see some more!

Butter London HRH

Phoar - what a purple this is! Even in the bottle it's a gorgeous metallic, blue-based purple that can only be described as 'royal'. I had some issues with application as the formula dries very quickly and ended up with two pretty thick coats. This is certainly a striking looking colour and I can't stop looking at my nails! I only realised now that my bottle is missing some text - lol never mind it's what's on the inside that counts eh?!

China Glaze Liquid Leather with Red Angel stamping

Sooo how about some black with gold stamping? It's been ages since China Glaze Liquid Leather popped its head out of my collection and todays the day! I love the black and gold combination and was keen to try another of my Red Angel image plates. Liquid Leather is lovely to apply and is opaque in two coats. Cleanup can be a bit messy - but you get that with black! lol This image plate was brilliant to use. The image transferred really well and I'm happy with the result.

Base colour: China Glaze Liquid Leather

Nail plate: Red Angel RA-114
Stamp colour: China Glaze 2030
Topped with Essie Good to Go

Essie Masquerade Belle

The weather is cooling off here and time to bring out some warm autumn colours. This is Essie Masquerade Belle which is a rich brown burgundy. My hubby even thought this was a nice colour lol Masquerade Belle applied beautifully although this shows three coats just because I have issues with it looking lighter around the cuticles. I completely flooded one cuticle and removed it straight away but from that I can tell this is going to stain like mad when I remove it. Fortunately my trusty OPI Expert Touch remover has just arrived in the post - yippee!

I didn't get a chance to stamp it but some gold stamping would have looked nice I reckon . . .

OPI Purple with a Purpose with FLAKIES!

Oh my! I just love how this turned out and couldn't wait to share it. Purple with a Purpose was one of my very first polishes and my first post even, but today I've added flakies from Maybelline Colorama Pink Pinata and I LOVE how it turned out. Pink and purple - what more could a girl want!? lol

Butter London Old Blighty with Stamping Konad M85

I've had the Konad M85 plate for a while now and finally got around to using it. The image sizes are great and transfer is excellent so no complaints. This is three coats of Butter London Old Blighty stamped with China Glaze 2030. Quite a milestone there actually, as I've used up my first entire bottle of 2030 and will have to start the laborious task of hunting out some more of my trusty old favourite! Ebay here I come! lol

Base colour: Butter London Old Blighty

Nail plate: Konad M85
Stamp colour: China Glaze 2030
Topped with Essie Good to Go

Butter London Old Blighty

Today's polish is Butter London Old Blighty (love the name!). I would describe this is a rustic brick red creme. Old Blighty has a very gel like formula and applies easily. I find the Butter London brushes very easy to load up and manoeuvre. This shows three coats just to tidy up and make sure my entire nail is opaque.

I'm also trialling Zoya Remove polish remover. My thoughts so far are that I definitely do not like the smell which is extremely overpowering and the formula is not as moisturising as OPI Expert Touch remover.

Also I've changed the width of my blog page to enlarge the photos (as per your requests!) Do you  prefer the larger pictures or is smaller ok? Do they take too long to load? Your comments appreciated!

Nail Mail!

These are some recent arrivals I wanted to share . . . We are coming out of summer now so thinking about some rich Autumn shades.

My first Barry M polishes - the colours look really vibrant!

Another four glorious Butter London polishes . . .

And finally another three to add to my Cult Nails collection . . .

Color Club Fashion Addict

Color Club Fashion Addict is a beautiful soft baby pink with loads of holographic glory. Unfortunately the sun wouldn't play nicely and vanished as I was taking my photos. Please be assured this is a LOT more holographic in real life. While the colour isn't a lot to write home about inside - sure it's pretty and pink and all - out in the sun is where it really shows off.

This shows two coats but could almost have been a one coater. I love how these holographic polishes dry super fast.

Glam Polish giveaway

Glam Polish is having a fantastic giveaway of three of the much sort after China Glaze OMG polishes. Check out the giveaway here