Hello lovelies,

Yesterday I've spent a day training Gelish (gel polish) application at Nail Harmony UK headquarters together with some other bloggers. I will be preparing post about it so stay tuned!

Today I want to show you an experiment with stamping decals and the new(ish) Kaleidoscope stamping plate from MoYou London. Let's have a look at the final look:

Kaleidoscope Nails with Spell Polish + TUTORIAL
Kaleidoscope Nails with Spell Polish + TUTORIAL
Kaleidoscope Nails with Spell Polish + TUTORIAL
Kaleidoscope Nails with Spell Polish + TUTORIAL
Kaleidoscope Nails with Spell Polish + TUTORIAL

 

This manicure consists of two main elements - polka dot nails and the kaleidoscope design nails. The polka dot ones are plain easy and created using dotting tool so I'll focus on the kaleidoscope design nails.

 

How to:

 

Step 1 - Paint several rectangle shapes larger than your nails on a non-porous, smooth surface like a plastic folder or a silicone pad using a top coat. Once they dry properly stamp over them with your chosen design.

 

Step 2 - Start colouring in different parts of the stamped design using small brush and different nail polish colours. Bear in mind that the parts that are transparent will be in the colour of nail polish you are wearing underneath

 

Step 3 & 4 - Paint your nails with two coats of nail polish and let them dry OR apply the decal over the second layer of nail polish while it's still wet. Apply coat of topcoat over the nail which will seal the decal in place

 

Step 5 - Clean up all the excess of decal and edges of nails using flat brush dipped in acetone

 

 

Kaleidoscope Nails with Spell Polish + TUTORIAL

 

 

Products used:

Spell Polish Smile Transference

Spell Polish Swinging Through Stars

MoYou London Kaleidoscope 04 stamping plate

Konad Special Stamping Polish in black

Seche Vite Top coat

Small detailing brush

 

Here's a video tutorial on stamping decals I did earlier, it's basically the same process only with different design:

 

 

 

 

 

I think that this design would look even better in some bright colours but I wanted to use the new Spell Polish multichromes and I really liked to see the colour-shift in the design. What do you think? What colours would YOU use?

 

Have a good day and stay polished! Lucie x

 

 

*PR samples

 

Hello lovelies,

 

Guess what? New A England collection is out and I have swatches! The collection is called Elizabeth & Mary and is inspired by '2 iconic Queens in British history'. It consists of 5 brand new shades, 3 holographic, one shimmer and one metallic.

 

Adina, the creator of the A England brand, says: "I tried to catch the mood from their portraits, their story and from the idea of the mossy Fotheringhay Castle where Mary met her destiny."

 

A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches

 

 

Crown Of Thistles - a purple holographic that matches the national flower of Scotland. This is a gorgeous medium purple with very fine and quite subtle scattered holographic effect. It's quite a signature for A England to create subtle holo shades rather than full-on linear holos. The polish had really good formula that applied smoothly and dried fast. All I needed were two thin coats because it's highly pigmented. It dried glossy so I'm not wearing topcoat in the photos.

A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches

 

 

Virgin Queen - antique white/silver/bronze holographic shade. Virgin Queen is one of those so hard-to-describe colours. I can see shades of silver brown, antique gold and hints of bronze. All that infused with subtle scattered holo powder. It has a bit of a metallic feel to it but it is not really metallic. It has easy to apply formula that dried fast and smooth and was fully opaque in two thin coats. Very unusual and A/W appropriate shade!

A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches

 

 

Fotheringhay Castle - mossy green scattered holographic with gold reflections. Second very unique colour in this collection, I don't think I have a dupe in my collection. The name is somewhat a problem for me as I can't even pronounce it but that doesn't stop me painting my nails with it! The formula was excellent and easy to apply and this polish is almost one coater. I applied two thin coats and no topcoat. It dried fast and glossy.

A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches

 

 

Gloriana - metallic rusty red base with gold flecks. Gloriana is very rich colour that was very hard to capture. It looks different in daylight, different under artificial light and in the sun. I just want to call it foxy red but I guess that's not really perfect description for it :) The formula was again easy to apply with great pigmentation. I'm wearing two thin coats and no topcoat.

A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches

 

 

Queen Of Scots - deep, rich royal blue shimmer. Oh wow, what a stunning blue! This is a perfect winter vampy shade and I absolutely love it! It is so glossy and smooth even without topcoat and the formula is opaque in one coat. I'm wearing two thin coats to get the best possible finish. It applied so nicely, I only have one thing to say about it - just get it while you can!

A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches
A England Elizabeth & Mary Collection - Review and Swatches

 

 

I really don't know what to say and not sound like I'm fan-girling over this collection. It's full of awesome colours with excellent formulas so that's really all you need to know. This collection is another 'nail world' masterpiece and I just don't understand how Adina does it. If A England can have such perfect formulas why can't other brands??? A England sets a very high standard for polishes (at least in my eyes) and they are totally worth the price, even better when there is a promotion running.

 

Elizabeth & Mary collection and all the others are available at www.a-england.co.uk and will be soon at various international stocklists.

 

Have a lovely day and stay polished! Lucie x

 

*PR samples