Hello lovelies,

I've made an order in the recent 50% Models own sale offer and today I'd like to review Artistix Nail Art Pen. I've had few people asking me for comparison of Models own and other nail art pens so that's why I purchased one.

Each pen holds 6 ml and has metal tip and striping brush. I have used the striping brush for the whole manicure because the metal tip was just too thick/big for my liking. But first I had to prep the striping brush. It didn't come nice and thin like I would expect so I cut off few bristles to make it thin enough to paint the lines on my thumb...and those aren't too thin either...

I have painted just random patterns on my nails to test the pen. The biggest problem I've had was that it started to get really gloopy not even halfway though painting my hand. I've had to be really careful around the neck of the bottle and swipe all the gloopy polish off. Sure, some thinner would help but I wouldn't expect it to go gloopy after few nails. Not good...

I have tested the nail art pen over five Models Own HyperGel polishes. They were good to apply and all were opaque in two coats. Although the white was a bit streaky and less pigmented and I expected excellent pigmentation and secretely hoped for it to be one-coater. That didn't happen. I'm glad I tried them though and even better on 50% sale. I don't think I would be too happy paying full price for them.

Now let's get back to the nail art pen. I told you that the metal tip is quite big and here you can see for yourself how it compares to Nails Supreme and Rio Beauty pens.

As you can see, the Nails Supreme pen (bottom) has the thinnest tip and can produce nice and thin lines. Then there's the Rio Beauty pen (middle) which is slightly bigger but I can still work with it quite fine. And lastly the Artistix pen (top)...I just don't get it...I was so gobsmacked to see such thick tip, just what were they thinking? This is supposed to make nail art easier, not more difficult! I know that it doesn't seem that much bigger but trust me, it makes a huge difference when using it.

Overall, I'm very dissapointed with the pen and if you ask me which pens to buy, definitely invest in a set of Nails Supreme. They don't have striping brush (which you can use striper brush instead) but their metal tip is the thinnest I've tried.

*PR samples

Hello lovelies,

Hope you're all well! Today I'm trying a new to me indie brand Luscious Potion. I've got here four pretty holographic shades. It took me a while to swatch because there weren't many sunny days until recently.

Luscious Potion is an American indie brand based in Texas that offers different polishes from glitters and holos to thermals and shimmers.

Rising Shine - caramel brown holographic and thermal. I haven't seen many caramel holo polishes around so I was quite glad to try one. The formula was sheer so I've applied two thick coats and it still wasn't 100% opaque. It dried quite fast and smooth but not very glossy so it needs topcoat. The formula with this one was ok to apply although slightly thicker. I must say I didn't really observe a thermal effect on my nails.

Ruby Kiss - maroon holographic colour. Interesting shade this one - the reddish brown is nice and vivid and looks very good with the holo particles. Unfortunately the formula of my mini sample wasn't very good. Whilst it was well-pigmented the polish was thick and gloopy and very hard to apply. I ended up painting two thick coats because thick coats were more manageable and less prone to patching. I also needed a coat of topcoat to smooth the surface completely and get high gloss.

Glaciate - aqua blue holographic shade. This colour is not my cup of tea to be honest because it doesn't suit my skin tone. The formula was on the sheer side and thick and gloopy so I needed to apply thick coats. Two thick coats were still not completely opaque but I just couldn't do another coat because the application was quite a pain. It dried quite fast and smooth though.

Emerald Mint - dark emerald green holographic shade. I like this colour very much. The shade is quite dark and could be called blackened emerald I think? I'm quite sad that this polish also had thick and gloopy formula that was hard to apply. The pigmentation was good but I still had to apply two thick coats to avoid patching.

I must say I was very disappointed with the formula so I've contacted Luscious Potion directly to ask about it. Apparently another blogger has given her a similar feedback so I was assured that since then she checks all polishes before they are shipped to customers. So I hope that if you order you'll get much better formula than I have. Otherwise I liked the colours, especially the Emerald Mint and Ruby Kiss.

Luscious Potion is available at their e-shop and you can keep up with any news on their Facebook page.

*PR samples