OMG Nail Strips Review

*Press Sample*

Today I've reviewed OMG Nail Strips in Crow. In this kit, you get the standard 16 polish strips in the standard varied sizes. These strips are thicker than Sally Hansen's polish strips, but not quite as thick as China Glaze's. They claim up to ten days wear, but I took them off after just a couple of days. I get bored too easily.

Application was pretty standard. Pick the proper size, and off you go. The instructions did recommend trimming the strips with scissors if you needed to make them more narrow, but I used an orange stick like I do with other strips. They also recommended swiping with polish remover after placing the strip to allow the strip to "melt to your nails" and promote longer wear, and finish with top coat.

I was a bit worried that using remover would blur the image on the strip, but it didn't at all. Again, I can't attest to the wear time as I had them off in two days. You can choose from fifty designs available for $6.89/set on the OMG Nail Strips website.

Valentine's Day Mani - A Quickie



Revlon Colorstay Nail Color in Ripe Raspberry with a Stiletto accent nail. Accent nail stamped with Color Club Halo Hues Eternal Beauty, other nails stamped with Color Club Halo Hues Kismet.

I can't remember the names and numbers of the stamping plates, so I'll add those later. Accent nail from Cheeky CH15 from the Vibrant Collection, and others are from Vivid Lacquer plate VL001

I wish it were better, but it's only the 2nd or 3rd stamping mani I've done.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Stamping with Vivid Lacquer, Zoya, and Essie!

I've been spending money like I have it lately, and I've come home to a mailbox with bubble envelopes and a box by my door almost every day for the last week! I got my Vivid Lacquer nail plates (VL001 & VL002) earlier in the week, but haven't gotten my stamper and scraper yet. I patiently waited, but couldn't take it any more, so I went to Sally's and picked up the Salon Express As Seen on TV kit-thingy so that I could use the tools with it. :) 

Two coats of Zoya Evvie

A couple of days ago, I got my BOGO polishes from the Zoya promo and had picked up Penny Talk and No Place Like Chrome from the Essie Mirror Metallics collection for stamping. I decided on a base of Zoya Evvie from the Fall 2012 Designer collection (beautiful dusty, murky grey-green that's opaque and perfect in two coats) and topped it with a honey comb pattern and Essie Penny Talk.

Obviously there are some wonky spots and some not-completely-covered spaces, but I don't think it's too bad for a first try. This pattern is on Vivid Lacquer's VL002 plate. There are so many cute designs on her stamping plates. She sells them in her Etsy store here. Anni also sells some awesome polishes. I've got two of those coming up for review soon.

I hope to have some better stamping nail art for you soon!

China Glaze Real Nail Polish Appliques - Cherry Blossoms

Today I've got the second set of China Glaze Nail Polish Appliques from my last trip to Sally Beauty. (See my previous post for an in-depth review of application, wear time, etc.) This set is called Cherry Blossoms, and features large red blossoms and dark branches on a creamy, yellow-white background. Very pretty and just as easy to apply as the Loop Hole set.

China Glaze First Mate & Black Poppy Gold Saran Wrap mani

I wore China Glaze First Mate for the Doctor Who season 7 premiere Saturday. I was going to do something more fancy-pants, but ran out of time. So, TARDIS blue it was! (If you want to see an awesome set of Doctor Who nails, check out Sarah's post at Samarium's Swatches!)

Two perfect coats of First Mate. Man, I love China Glaze's formula!

Last night, I was putting away dinner and decided to try the Saran Wrap mani I've been seeing everywhere. It's very simple! I cut off a few pieces of Saran Wrap and scrunched them down into loose balls. I added a coat of Black Poppy Gold to one nail, then immediately smooshed the Saran Wrap ball onto the nail. It lifts off some polish, and mars up what's left on the nail for a cool effect. 

Sorry about the blurriness of the photo, I was quickly snapping and didn't realize it wasn't clear. I;m shooting with the wrong hand as I've got a nasty hangnail on my left hand.

China Glaze Real Nail Polish Appliques in Loop Hole

Today I've got China Glaze's answer to the popular Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips. The mouthful of a name ChG has chosen is China Glaze Real Nail Polish Appliques. These strips are currently offered in twelve different designs. My friend at Sally Beauty Supply thinks they will be part of their permanent collection as they've reset their display to include them.

The pattern I'm showing today is called Loop Hole. It features overlapping grey and black squares with rounded edges over a plain white base. Very cool, very retro.

Application is pretty on-par with other polish strips. The set comes with 16 different sized strips, which seems to be standard. You choose a size that is close to the size of your nail and smooth it down. Once it is in place, gently file the extra off with the included nail file. The instructions recommend applying the strips to warm nails to improve adhesion, and it also suggests using topcoat. (I didn't because I didn't look at the instructions until after I was done. Rebel!)

I've only used the Sally Hansen's and China Glaze's versions of nail polish strips, so I'll share some similarities and differences. 

Both include sixteen strips, instructions, an orange stick, and a file. Application is very similar. Both have varied patterns available. Leopard spots, feathers, zebra stripes, net patterns, tile patters, etc. Wear time is excellent, and I think both are a good value if you are not good at nail art when you consider the cost of a comparable mani with nail art at the salon.

Differences are few, but I think they are significant. First is the cost. I am a Sally Beauty Club member, so my cost for the China Glaze set was $5.99. If you're not a member, cost is $6.99. I've gotten the Sally Hansen strips for anywhere between $6.80 and $9.99. I've seen them for more than $10, but I didn't buy those. 

Second are the strips themselves. SH strips are much thinner and more flexible. This makes them very easy to trim off the extra from around your cuticles. However, if you accidentally place a strip crooked, good luck getting it off without ripping it. ChG strips are much more substantial. This makes them easier to adjust the sticker if it's needed. I found that the ChG strips wore better on me as well. I had them on four days before any wear at all. I usually get three days out of SH strips before I start seeing tip wear.

Other differences are minor. SH claims up to ten days of wear on the package and ChG claims up to seven. ChG's instructions recommend using topcoat, which I did not do, and I don't believe SH instructions mention this.

After the first set, I do like the China Glaze strips better than Sally Hansen's. Both are great for when I want some easy nail art, and I can definitely still see myself picking up special edition Sally Hansen strips. I'm curious to see if China Glaze releases similar sets.

Cloud Mani with China Glaze I'm Not Lion

I started this week with a China Glaze I'm Not Lion manicure. I spent Monday's lunch break helping DH change the completely flat tire I found on my CRV and chipped the polish on 3 or 4 nails. Amazingly, I didn't want to redo them and saw that Let Them Have Polish! posted a cloud mani. The light bulb went off and I went to dig through my Helmer to find some colors.

I used two coats of the super sparkly, opaque, cool-toned CH I'm Not Lion from the Out on Safari collection as a base. The lower cloud is one coat of Hot Topic Black, and the gold is from Black Poppy. The gold was a little too sheer for one coat over black, but I did well with two careful coats.

I'm pretty happy with the results, and if you want to re-create it, see the original tutorial here on Nailside's blog.

Olympics Nails (P.S. I can't make rings!)

I probably won't be too active on the blog, Twitter, etc. for the next 2 weeks or so as I LOVE to watch the Olympics. Kiddo is vacationing with friends and DH is pretty self-sufficient, so I expect my after-work attention to be split between the Olympics and Paint Box Polish (both the blog and Etsy store).

While watching Men's Swimming Saturday, I decided I wanted to do an Olympic rings mani. I learned that I cannot make free hand rings. Then I tried using straws. Too big and not even enough. So, I decided to bring back the Independence Day dots, but in the colors of the Olympic rings.

My base was OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I dotted with the flat end of a bamboo skewer for the larger dots and a dotting tool for the smaller ones. The yellow dots are Paint Box Polish Hufflepuff, green are butter LONDON British Racing Green, blues are butter LONDON Blagger, red is Zoya Sooki, and black dots Zoya Raven. I am pretty happy with it and have gotten several compliments at work.

I debated using my Paint Box Polishes for all the colors but black because they fit with the Olympic colors, but stock is getting low and I have pigments being shipped, so I decided not to. 

Happy 4th of July Gradient Dots Manicure

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans! I got home from the gym yesterday with a butter LONDON box tucked into my storm door. Gotta love 30% off sales! So there I sit with the beautiful cobalt blue Blagger in my hand on July 3rd, and am hit with a patriotic nail art idea. 

Sarah from Chalkboard Nails posted an awesome gradient dot mani over on her blog. (check out her post here) It is beautiful, dramatic, and above all simple. At least she made it seem simple. Since I am not a gifted nail artist, I decided to give it a go.

I started with 2 coats of the fabulous butter LONDON Blagger, then dotted on large white dots with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls near the tips of my nails with the flat end of a bamboo kabob stick. (Working with what I've got!) Next, I used a small dotting tool to add some white dots near the base of the nail. Lastly, I repeated the dotting process with Zoya Sooki. 

Look at that! Nail art! And I think it looks pretty decent. Happy 4th of July guys!!

OPI White to Blue Gradient Mani and Super Bass Shatter.

Gradient manis and tutorials have been popping up everywhere, and as I said in my last post, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls was like a blank canvas mocking me and daring me to slap something fabulous on it. I spied this tutorial and decided to see how it would look with $OPI Slushied from the Glee collection. 

I think it turned out really great! I am very happy with my first ever attempt. Next time I'll take care to keep the fading further up on the nail. I got so many compliments on this mani, even from folks who usually pay no attention to things like this. A few people even accused me of pulling their leg when I said I did it myself.

Then I decided that I hadn't yet used my OPI Super Bass Shatter from the Nicki Minaj collection, and the purple would probably compliment the blue and white nicely. I was also very happy with what the top coat added.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I went back to blingy manicures again with HITS Atena. It is such a beautiful holo! One of the nail obsessed ladies I follow on Instagram did Nailside's cloud mani, and I decided to copy it. :)
I stuck with Atena as the base, then did a coat of Black Poppy Silver, and Nails Inc Charing Cross. I think my right hand looks better than my left (who'd have thought?), but my left has a nasty hangnail.
I think it turned out great! I hope you all have fabulous Valentine's Days and be sure to tell your loved ones how you feel every day, not just today.

Holiday Half-Moon Mani

I saw ThePolishAholic's post of her Gwen Stefani inspired manicure just when Snow Bunny was biting the dust. It looked very festive, but simple, so I decided to go for it. I started with 2 coats of Wet n' Wild Shield, then used french tip guides at the base for my half moons. I preferred a sharper curve, so I had to pull the ends to fudge the lines a bit. I painted 1 coat of Zoya Sooki over Shield, and carefully pulled the tip guides off as I finished each nail. I absolutely loved the effect and plan on trying this look with other color combos.

2 coats WnW Shield, 1 coat Zoya Sooki

ETA: I posted this over on Twitter for the Glamour Magazine #wkndmani contest, and won! I'm pretty sure it was a random choice, and I think I won the Zoya Gems and Jewels holiday collection and a bottle of Remove+. Yay!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Plaid for You

I was texting Abbie an realized that I haven't written a post about this pattern! I was thinking it was a red and green plaid, but it's really red and black. Wear time has been better with this set than Snow Bunny, but I'm not going to make it 10 days. My nails must be growing really fast. I've got to take them off, because it's driving me nuts!

ETA (12/29/2011):

Removal on this one was so weird. The black came off in rubbery pieces that lodged into the sides of my nails and had to be picked out with a toothpick and orange stick. I had to use pure acetone. Blech. I'm wearing Prep's Cool now and am kinda dreading taking it off.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Spun for You

I love these things! My friend gifted them to me and they turned out fabulously. Sadly, I broke a nail after wearing them for 3 days. :( I was able to carefully trim all my nails down to the same length and save the mani.

I have gotten so many compliments on these! The kids at work absolutely love them. After 3 days I had only minimal tip wear, but after filing down, tip wear is gone!

I got a Nails Inc haul from Sephora, but am patiently waiting until the strips get worn (10-14 days usually) to swatch them.

Mummy Mani

Nailside posted more awesome pics on Tumblr, and the next thing I know, I'm cutting strips of Scotch tape. :) This is Zoya Raven over butter London Victoriana. It turned out pretty well. There were a couple of places where the tape pulled up the polish, but I think it's because I wasn't careful.

Explosion manicure... Sort of.

Got bored and decided to try a scotch tape manicure I saw on Nailside's tumblr. (Tutorial here)

I decided to go for butter London Yummy Mummy after I took off DS Mystery. It was a nice, neutral palate cleanser, but then I decided to try something new. I used Rescue Beauty Lounge Anne for the explosions. Needless to say, I love it. I've gotten several compliments at work.

You should check out Nailside's other tutorials as well. They look easy, but very cool.

My final HP House Colors Mani!

I decided to try scotch tape, and I LOVE it! This is what was on my nails for the movie. The colors are as follows:
Index: Zoya Ibiza over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Cement
Middle (hee hee!): SH Wet Cement over Butter London British Racing Green
Ring: Sinful Colors Let's Meet over Rimmel Burgundy Flirt
Pinky: Zoya Raven over Sinful Colors Let's Meet
Thumb: Zoya Raven
All of these were already in my stash, so that was a bonus. And now I think I'll go mourn a little more.

Harry Potter House Colors mani #2

I went to Sally and got a striping brush in hopes that the stripes would be better. They were, but I still wasn't happy. So, for try #3, I thought I'd try something different.

Harry Potter Mani & first ever nail art

*note - I'm pretty sure my computer is dying... It's not playing nice with Blogger, so I have to do the mobile posting thing for now. I'm not a huge fan of the format, but it's better than nothing!
It may be hard to believe, but this is my first attempt at nail art (tongue firmly in cheek there!). I'm a HUGE Harry Potter dork, and wanted to do a HP mani for the last movie. I won't post spoilers, but I will say that my hand knit house scarf is crusty from tears and snot. People have been saying their childhood is over now, and at 31, I have to agree. :)

It's a little hard to tell, but my first finger is blue & grey for movie Ravenclaw, my middle finger is green & grey for Slytherin (because they def deserve my middle finger...), ring finger maroon & gold for Gryffindor, and pinky gold & black for Hufflepuff. I tried making the stripes with a toothpick and wasn't happy with the inconsistency. Complete user error. And my left and right hands didn't match at all. So then we have take 2...