24th May, 2013
I’m back with another The New Black post! This is the penultimate set I have to show you, so one more after this. 
I was going to save this one till last but I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer. This is my favourite set out of all the ones I got! Let’s take a look.
This is the Rebel Edge set, part of the Digital Underground range. This set was created in collaboration with nail artist Christina Rinaldi. It includes 4 nail shades and a bottle of nail studs! I created some nail art with this set at the bottom of this post but I first want to share some swatches of the colours!
First up is this pearly white shade. This has a lot of tendency to show brush strokes which I find a little annoying. Personally not my favourite look! It’s not as visible in this picture though which is good, haha. I used three coats for this.
This is a lovely grey shade. I found it had a jelly-like finish as the first coat was pretty sheer but it evened out after a second coat. It was opaque but definitely has that super shiny finish! Love it.
This shade is a little harder to describe. It’s an orange toned light brown creme shade, I am guessing similar to China Glaze Desert Sun? I really adore this colour! It’s really different and interesting. I used two coats.
This is a gorgeous black creme with silver glitter. The silver glitter is quite subtle since the black base is fairly opaque. I love this black! It’s really amazing. The silver glitter particles are trickier to remove though. This was two coats.
And finally here’s the nail art manicure I created with this set! I went for an ikat manicure and also tried out the smaller ikat version which I saw on Pshiiit‘s blog. For the accent nail I used the brown polish and some gold studs. The set also includes gold round studs and silver square studs. I didn’t use any nail art brushes for this manicure. I only used the brushes that came in the bottles!
You can find The New Black Rebel Edge set on the website for €32.95. I highly recommend this set as it features some amazing shades and of course, studs! Who doesn’t love studs?!
21st May, 2013
Today an amazing package arrived containing lots and lots of nail art foils! After trying nail foils some time ago I was completely in love and decided to get some more. These 27 nail art foils are available at Born Pretty Store!
As you can see there’s tons of different designs and colours available. Gradients, solid colours, holographic designs, multicolor designs and even a leopard print. There’s also smaller and larger jars. I noticed the smaller jars with “shorter” sized nail foils were easier to manage and use. If you’re new to nail foils I recommend these!
It was almost impossible to decide which one I was going to use until I remembered a manicure I saw some time ago, by one of my favourite bloggers, The Sneakerette! (make sure to check out her blog, she’s awesome!)
When I first saw her manicure I was in love and knew I had to recreate it some day. I decided to use a different base colour, the one I used is one of the gorgeous BK Hello Kitty polishes in shade #26. I used a gold coloured foil in shade #8 which is the sixth jar from the top left in the picture above. For the black lines I used my favourite It’s So Easy nail art striper.
I really love how this manicure turned out! If you want to find out how to apply nail art foils make sure to check out my post that features a picture tutorial. Hope you like it! Let me know in the comments what you think. 
19th May, 2013
As promised, today I’m back with part 2 (of 4) of the BK Hello Kitty swatches. Again, I’m also hosting a giveaway to win 3 shades of your choice from this post. I noticed with the previous giveaway that not everyone completed the three mandatory options (FB like, e-mail and 3 colours). Make sure to double check if you have, because if not all 3 mandatory options are completed you won’t be entered!
From left to right: #33, #35, #32, #29, #28, #30, #31, #26, #27, #41.
Anyway let’s take a look at the shades! These are the blues, minty greens and purples. Aren’t they stunning? These are without a doubt my favourite set of colours. It just so happens that these are also the most opaque shades. I don’t think I could love these more if I tried!
BK Hello Kitty #33 - First up is this stunning minty green shade. It’s no secret that mint green is my absolute favourite colour. This one is so perfect! Just the right amount of blues and greens mixed together. This was two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #35 - Another lovely minty green. This one leans more towards green but it still has a slight hint of blue. I guess this is closer to the famous Chanel Jade as mint greens go. This was also two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #32 - This is a lovely pale baby blue shade. This is a jelly finish but it was still nice and opaque in three coats. Very squishy! Though you will need a top coat, as with all other shades, for the ultra shiny finish. They all have a subtle gritty finish because of the glow in the dark pigments, but don’t worry as it completely evens out once you add top coat.
BK Hello Kitty #29 - Here’s a lovely turquoise blue. It’s bright and gorgeous! I think you can never go wrong with shades like this. They’re perfect for summer too! Isn’t this the perfect tropical beach shade?! This was two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #28 – This blue is slightly more muted compared to the previous and less green. I noticed a tiny bit of VNL when I was processing the pictures but it wasn’t as visible in person. I used two thin coats but in hindsight I could have added a third.
BK Hello Kitty #30 - This is an awesome bright blue. It’s slightly darker in person than in my pictures though it obviously depends on lighting. This was also two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #31 - Now this blue is a little harder to describe. Peacock teal blue? It’s definitely unique that’s for sure. It’s such an interesting shade. I really love this one! It had a jelly finish but I found the coverage pretty decent after two thicker or three thin coats.
BK Hello Kitty #26 - This is a lovely pale purple that slightly leans towards blue. Isn’t this gorgeous? It’s similar to American Apparel L’Esprit which I featured in a nail art not too long ago. I’m not a huge fan of purple but I can never resist to shades like this! I used two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #27 - A slightly different pale purple as it’s a lot warmer. Equally stunning though! This was also two coats.
BK Hello Kitty #41 - And finally this “odd one out” in the post, a shimmery gold. It’s a little sheer so it might work better for gradients or layering on top of other shades. It’s super pretty though! I used three coats but there’s still some VNL.
From left to right: #33, #35, #32, #29, #28, #30, #31, #26, #27, #41.
And finally how the shades look when they glow in the dark. Shades #32 and #41 seem to have a slightly brighter glow than the others. As with the pink shades, these BK Hello Kitty polishes have an amazing formula. They glide on like buttah, they’re opaque, they smell really nice and the bottles are adorable. What more could you ask for?
Below you can enter my giveaway to win three polishes of your choice from this post! Make sure to complete all 3 mandatory entries to be entered, after which you can unlock more chances of winning. Also, my giveaway for the pink shades is still open if you’d like to enter that too. 
If you want to get your hands on these polishes anyway, head over to the Born Pretty Store website where you can purchase these for $4.99 a piece (grab them while you can!).
P.s. It’s so hard to pick just three but I’d go for #33, #31 and #26.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
18th May, 2013
Today I’m back with another awesome set by The New Black. As you know by now, they have great nail art kits and ombre kits, but they also have duos! These polishes are from the Subculture line where you can find really nice 2-piece sets. The one I was able to get my hands on is called Electric Daisy and features an orange and purple shade.
This is my swatch of the orange shade from The New Black Electric Daisy set. Sadly the shades don’t have names. It’s a lovely warm coral orange with subtle shimmer. You can’t really see the shimmer on my nails but if you look closely at the bottle you can see some hidden shimmer. On the nails I found the shimmer pretty hard to notice though sadly, but the colour is gorgeous! This was two coats.
And this is the amazing deep purple shimmer. Isn’t this colour stunning? I could stare at this swatch forever! It’s a little warmer and less blueish in person. It also covered very well in just two coats and application was a dream.
Here’s a nail art manicure I created using the two The New Black polishes! I went for a negative space manicure which is one of my new favourite looks. It’s a little tricky to do but if you don’t use a base coat you can easily sharpen up your lines with a brush. I hope you like it!
Make sure to check out the other duo sets by The New Black on their website. You can find the Electric Daisy 2-piece for €13.95 at The New Black’s website. The quality of the nail lacquers is absolutely amazing! They’re a dream to apply and I’ve found them to be incredibly long lasting so I can truly recommend them. Have you tried The New Black yet?
15th May, 2013
One of my other passions besides nail art and make-up is knitting and crochet. I grew up around yarn since my grandmother and mum have been avid knitters all their lives. I briefly tried knitting as a young girl but I never really got into it. Then I rediscovered crochet a few months ago and found myself hooked (excuse the pun ). Since crochet was becoming less challenging for me I decided it was time to start knitting!
For some strange reason that still isn’t clear to me, knitting came extremely naturally to me. I thought I’d never be able to knit since I always found it so difficult. Then suddenly I found myself tackling projects that are intermediate or even highly challenging skill levels with ease. Lace knitting, entrelac, stranded colourwork, etc. That last one is the technique I used for the pillow you see above. I’ve only been knitting for two months so I’m pretty proud I’ve accomplished so much in so little time!
I found the pattern for the pillowcase in a Filati Home magazine and I simply had to make it. Why? Because it immediately reminded me of a nail art design. I used my favourite cotton yarn to make this pillow, Schachenmayr SMC Catania.
I decided to merge two of my passions so that’s what inspired these nails! I used the same pattern and colours that I used in my pillow. I painted it by hand using very thin nail art brushes and I used BK Hello Kitty nail polishes in shades #01, #29, #27 and #25. For the black I used OPI Black Onyx and I also used China Glaze Below Deck.
I really hope you like how these turned out! I love them so much because they were inspired by my pillowcase. I’ve noticed there are many nail bloggers that also love knitting and crochet! It’s so exciting to see people that share your passion. If you love knitting and crochet like me, make sure to add me on Ravelry! What are your hobbies besides love for nail polish and nail art? Let me know in the comments!
12th May, 2013
A few days ago I shared a picture on Facebook of the BK Hello Kitty nail polishes that are available at Born Pretty Store. I also hinted that I might be holding a giveaway for these polishes! At the bottom of this post you’ll find a Rafflecopter widget where you can pick three shades of your choice and get a chance to win them! First let’s take a look at the colours.
From left to right: #01, #02, #03, #04, #39, #16, #17, #18, #19, #21
There are 41 shades of the BK Hello Kitty Nail polishes in total, first up are these 10 colours. As you can see they are the pink shades! Since it’s Hello Kitty after all I decided to post these up first. Over the next few weekends I’ll post up the other shades along with more giveaways.
BK Hello Kitty #01 - As you can see this is a lovely white nail polish. It’s great to use underneath sheer colours or neons, or for french manicures or nail art. It covered extremely well in only two coats. It’s my new favourite white polish! There’s something so pristine and lovely about solid white nails I think.
BK Hello Kitty #02 – This shade is a very sheer pink. You can use it for french manicures as I did above (I used #01 for the free edge) or simply use it for layering over other polishes. As it’s the brightest glowing nail polish this works great as a simple glow in the dark top coat as it’s pretty sheer and doesn’t give too much colour. Pictured above is three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #03 – This is a super cute pale pink. I really love this! It reminds me of OPI Soft Shades collections. I think it looks really beautiful and dreamy. It’s a little sheer but it wasn’t streaky and it applied very nicely. This was three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #04 – Another lovely cute pale pink. This is slightly darker than the previous one but application was very similar. These really glide on like butter! This was three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #39 – This is a slightly different one as it has really beautiful shimmer. You could use this as a top coat to add some shimmer to your manicure. Isn’t it pretty?! On its own it’s a little sheer as I used four thin coats.
BK Hello Kitty #16 – This is a stunning hot neon pink! It’s funny because I didn’t expect it to be so bright as it looks much darker in the bottle. I used only two coats and that gave me completely opaque coverage. Love this one! It’s awesome.
BK Hello Kitty #17 – This is a pretty blueish pink jelly. This shade is great if you have a reddish undertone in your skin. I used three coats but there’s still some VNL as it’s a jelly.
BK Hello Kitty #18 – This is another awesome neon pink. Quite similar to shade #16 but this one is slightly darker. It also needed an extra coat for complete coverage, 3 coats.
BK Hello Kitty #19 – This is another bright neon pink with jelly finish. It’s more of a true neon so the sheer finish is normal. I’d personally layer this over #01 for extra brightness! I used three coats.
BK Hello Kitty #21 – Finally this lovely dark red with blue shimmer. The shimmer is absolutely stunning! It’s a really gorgeous shade and application was a dream. I used two coats. Sadly this doesn’t glow as strongly as the others (as you can see in the picture below) but maybe that’s because I didn’t shake up my bottle properly. It’s still a gorgeous polish regardless!
I have to say these BK Hello Kitty polishes are my absolute favourite nail polishes from Born Pretty Store! They glide on like butter, they cover nicely, they don’t have a strong smell (in fact they smell surprisingly good!) and they are glow in the dark! What more could you want? The cute bottles are just a bonus!
These are all shades on swatchicles, the image below is what they look like glowing in the dark! From left to right: #01, #02, #03, #04, #39, #16, #17, #18, #19, #21
As promised I have a giveaway for you! You can win three BK Hello Kitty nail polishes from this post. Feel free to enter if you have daughters, sisters or cousins you want to gift these to, or if you just want to keep them for yourself. To enter simply like my Facebook page, leave your e-mail address so I can contact you and pick your three favourite shades from this post. Make sure to do all three mandatory options to unlock more chances of winning.
My top picks? I’d go for #01, #16 and #03 or #21.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
10th May, 2013
Today I’m back with another one of the signature ombre sets by The New Black. This time one of their Advanced Ombre sets, last time I featured one of the Original Ombre set in the shade waves. The Advanced Ombre sets are a little different and less obvious gradients. They are still gorgeous nonetheless! Let’s take a look.
This is the Cloudy Ballet Advanced Ombre set by The New Black. It comes with five shades that go from light to dark and features different finishes. You’ll find a creme, shimmers, pearls and even a glitter! The other set that is part of the Advanced Ombre range features greyish blue shades and is called Stormy Vapor.
These are the five shades that come in the Cloudy Ballet set. As always they hold 4ml and are 3-free and cruelty free. I say this again and again, but I do wish they held more product. The main reason being that the formula is so amazing! The New Black promises longwearing and chip-resistant polishes and it’s no lie. I’ve personally had some of the best experiences with the formula. Chip-free nails for over 5 days. That is pretty damn amazing, right?!
Here are all five shades on the nails. As you can see, not an obvious ombre but it’s still a gorgeous effect. I especially love the glitter shade in the middle. Here’s my thoughts on each shade:
- Thumb: This is the darkest shade from the set. It’s a lovely pearly mauve/burgundy with silver shimmer. It’s hard to describe. It’s not a shade I would typically wear but it looks really lovely on the nails! I used two coats.
- Index: This shade is a soft coral toned pink with silver specks and shimmer. I used three coats.
- Middle: As you can see this is an awesome pink glitter! It’s absolutely wonderful! I love this glitter. You can use it for gradients, layering, or on its own. I used three coats to get an opaque coverage.
- Ring: This is a stunning nude creme. I am a sucker for cremes so this is without a doubt my favourite shade from the set. It’s the perfect pale coral-y nude. This had flawless coverage, I could have gotten away with one coat but I used two. Just in case.
- Pink: This is a pale pink with pearly finish. I won’t lie, “pink with pearl finish” makes me not even want to look, but this shade is really well done. It has soft brush strokes but isn’t streaky at all, and I actually think it looks kind of cute. Or am I just losing it? This was three coats.
That concludes my review on another lovely set by The New Black. You can find the Cloudy Ballet Advanced Ombre set for €29.95 online at the-new-black.com. The price may be a little steep for some but you are getting a very high-quality formula and multiple shades, so I think they are definitely worth it! Make sure to check out the site because they have some absolutely awesome sets.
5th May, 2013
Today I’m back with another awesome The New Black set. This time one of their duos of the Super Swagger line. The Super Swagger duos are two polishes, one has a matte finish, and the other has a shiny finish. This obviously leans itself towards awesome nail art!
The New Black Super Swagger set I got is the red set called Claret Cream Shine. The other two sets are a black set called Ink Cream Shine and a blue set called Indigo Cream Shine. All three sets feature a lighter colour and a darker colour. The Claret Cream Shine set features a brilliant bright red (shiny) and a stunning deep burgundy red (matte).
It took me a while before I knew what type of nail art I wanted to create with this set. In the end I settled for a chevron manicure using nail art brushes. I sadly didn’t use tape so my lines aren’t perfect. I’m much too impatient for tape manis and I find cutting stationary tape such a hassle.
I still really enjoyed how this manicure turned out! The two shades work beautifully together and create a nice contrast in both colour and finish. The matte nail polish is absolutely flawless. Make sure to check out the bonus swatch of the matte shade after the jump!
You can find the Super Swagger Claret Cream Shine set for €13.95 on The New Blacks website. Once again I can’t praise the formula of The New Black enough! The polishes glide on like butter and have flawless coverage. It’s such a shame they’re only 4ml a bottle. The New Black currently only sells nail art sets (which are awesome!) but I personally would be very excited if they brought out a range of full-size polishes. What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
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1st May, 2013
Nail foils is something I’ve been dying to try for probably months, probably even over a year! I never got around to it because I couldn’t find it locally or shipping was too expensive. Recently KKCenterHK added some beautiful foils to their range so I finally got around to trying them. Yay!
This is the nail foil I picked out. A beautiful gradient foil that goes from green to blue to pink, and it also has a subtle geometric reflective design to it. It comes in a handy jar, and the foil is 150cm in length (59 inches) so you’re getting a lot! You can either choose to purchase the foil alone or you can purchase it with a bottle of foil glue. The foil glue comes in a fairly large bottle and as you only need a tiny amount, it should last you a pretty long time.
Here’s how the application process works:
- Add a base colour to your nails, I used China Glaze First Mate.
- Cover your entire nail (or the area you want to cover) with a very thin layer of foil glue. Wait for it to fully dry and become clear. I am not sure what type of glue the foil adhesive is, as it doesn’t act like Elmer’s glue (but it does look like it!). In any case it’s a super tacky glue!
- Carefully place a piece of foil you’ve cut out on your nail. You can use tweezers for this, make sure to handle the foil with care as it’s very delicate.
- Take a cotton round and rub across your entire nail to make sure the foil adheres properly to the nail. You’ll notice it will start to peel away by itself once the foil has transferred.
- Carefully add a slow drying top coat or a water-based top coat to minimize crackling. Quick drying top coat completely ruins the design and makes it wrinkle up like a crackle polish.
And this is the finished result! I wish it looked even a little close to how it looks in person but it doesn’t come anywhere near. I’ve never had this much trouble trying to accurately capture a manicure! The foils are so bright and reflective. You honestly have to see it on your nails to appreciate the full effect! It’s simply mesmerizing! I’m also in love with this gradient.
I do have to say, application can be a little tricky. It’s hard to cover your entire nail without leaving some bald spots. Top coat also tends to make the foils crackle which is a little frustrating so make sure to use a slow drying top coat. I used a water-based top coat and that worked reasonably well. I did notice the foils are very prone to wear. Maybe it’s the glue? I couldn’t get my manicure to last one day without tip wear which was a little disappointing. The nail foils give an absolutely unique and wonderful effect but it has its downsides.
You can find this stunning nail foil (and many other designs and shades!) at KKCenterHK for $7.69 (not including glue). So what are your thoughts on nail foils? Have you tried them? What was your experience? Let me know in the comments!
28th April, 2013
Today I’m back with another amazing set by The New Black. This time I’m featuring their Rock N’ Roll Royalty set which is an awesome set that comes with lots of nail art decorations. Time to glam it up!
This set comes with a black nail polish, gold glitter nail polish, red creme nail polish and a jar of studs and rhinestones. It usually comes with a top coat as well, but mine came with a spare red for some reason. It’s one of the best red polishes I’ve tried so I can’t say I’m unhappy about the anomaly!
- The New Black – Gold glitter: This is a great glitter for gradients or layering. I needed about 3-4 coats to get it opaque on its own which isn’t too bad.
- The New Black – Black: This is a stunning black polish with very fine silver glitter. It’s somewhat sheer on the first coat but it completely evens out after the second coat. I absolutely love black polishes with glitter!
- The New Black – Red: Seriously one of the best red nail polishes I’ve tried. It’s opaque after one coat. That’s right, one coat! It’s simply the perfect red. Glides on like butter too!
- The New Black – Accessories: What I love most about the Rock N’ Roll Royalty set is the bottle of studs/rhinestones that it comes with. Even though the polishes only hold 4ml, you will be absolutely amazed at how many studs fit inside that small bottle. There’s a huge amount of gold square studs, round silver rhinestones and black round rhinestones that come with this set.
Here’s the nail art manicure I created using this set! I went for a fun mix ‘n match manicure to show some different looks you can create with The New Black Rock N’ Roll Royalty set. On my index finger I went for a gradient using the black and gold. I’ve honestly never been able to create such a flawless glitter gradient before! The gold polish makes it so easy. On my middle finger I added a row of black rhinestones on top of the gold glitter base. Then on my ring finger I went for a simple leopard print. Since you can never go wrong with leopard, right?! And finally on my pink I added one of the square studs on top of the black polish.
On my thumbnail I added six square studs to create a triangle. Looks pretty cool right?! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a stud manicure I didn’t like, haha!
You can find this awesome The New Black Rock N’ Roll Royalty set on their website for €29.95. The nail art possibilities are endless with this set. Make sure to check out the other amazing sets on The New Black website too. They’ll be releasing some ah-mazing new sets soon so make sure to keep an eye on their Twitter and Facebook page. What did you think of this nail art set? Let me know in the comments!
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