tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32183418895303005742024-03-05T11:26:30.377+00:00Nail JemsNail Art Blogger ★ Budget nail art + beauty products store ★ General Mani-ac!Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.comBlogger141125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-7539760271483584182015-06-03T13:59:00.002+01:002015-06-03T14:29:55.109+01:00Liquid Stones with Nail Gel<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hello peoples, I'm back with another blog post though it's been a couple of weeks, I have been avoiding using my computer as I have had some issues with my eye sight and it got so bad I had to give in and go to the opticians! Of the many things I dreaded about entering my 30's, a rapid decline in eye sight was not something I had considered, but over the last couple of months I have been really struggling to see things in focus, and it has gotten so bad that I now have a permanent line in my forehead from squinting all the time! Painting my nails and using the computer had become a real struggle so I decided to hold off for a while until I got my new glasses, I just picked them up yesterday and am amazed at how well I can see now!</div>
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My optician says I don't have to wear them all the time, only when I'm reading, writing, drawing, painting, doing my nails, using a computer, watching TV, driving, and 'any other time I have to concentrate my eyes on something'. </div>
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Errrrrm, so all the time then?</div>
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Anyways, now that I can actually see to type without all the letters getting their groove on and dancing all over my screen, I'm going to show you a mani I did a couple of months ago using the liquid stone method that's very popular with the Russian nail artists it seems.</div>
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At christmas my hubby updated my nail kit with all kinds of wonderful new nail technologies, and I now have everything for acrylic nails, gel nails, resins and gel polish. The acrylic and gel stuff has been great for repairs, and though I don't really enjoy wearing the gel polish because I change my mani up too often, I have enjoyed experimenting with it for 3d effect stuff, the gel products provide a lot of additional artistic techniques without having to go for a full gel mani, and the gel top coat also works better with my nail foils so I will be able to start using them again without being ruined by topcoat, so I'm pretty pleased with the hubby for kitting me out!</div>
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Liquid stones are basically 3D jewels sculpted with gel, made sparkly and gorgeous by encapsulating glitters and what not within the gel bead. After seeing a few liquid stone mani's on line I was dying to try it out, so I went for a simple mint mani with jewelled accent nail. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtpLZJF3URMpC5vaXXvVPbgP2vqh5lL_yUnRaBdvKG_OuGcV6JnhiaY9rSjbREySKLGVyDbeA1ulgZk6rzSNi0eAlVIsCitwS4SMrex3RX2cgea6MOgnFIUcBIrE4qwAJHvqcnW6ztoaOP/s1600/SAM_9840edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtpLZJF3URMpC5vaXXvVPbgP2vqh5lL_yUnRaBdvKG_OuGcV6JnhiaY9rSjbREySKLGVyDbeA1ulgZk6rzSNi0eAlVIsCitwS4SMrex3RX2cgea6MOgnFIUcBIrE4qwAJHvqcnW6ztoaOP/s640/SAM_9840edit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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My base coat is my cheap Italian market brand 'Riveel' that have no names (annoying!) in a lovely minty colour. Normally in the liquid stone manis I have seen they are also decorated with gel paint and gel foils, so the nails look like actual metal and gem jewellry, which I tried to do with my normal foils but didn't work, so next on my nail shopping list is proper gel paints and foils for the full on gilted effect that I am so in love with and looks great with the jewels. As I don't yet have the gel foils I had to improvise for this mani, so I used a nail sticker which is basically an oval shaped decorative frame, and created my liquid stone in the centre of the sticker. To create the stone I used a bit of clear top coat to stick some hot pink mylar flakes inside the sticker frame, and then applied thick, clear nail construction gel over the mylar flakes. I got a huge bead on the end of my brush, and applied it in a circular motion to create the oval dome shape, and then cured for 6 minutes. Et voila! </div>
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The myar flakes look AHHHHH-MAZING in the gel bead, and I couldn't stop moving my hands around in the light to catch all the pretty patterns and colours inside! The gel bead really creates some light & sparkle magic!</div>
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I totally loved my little jewel and it was so much fun to make, it was absolutely worth getting gel products just to do this! I can't wait to get my gel paints and foils and create many more gilted and jewelled manis! It goes without saying, jems are my favourite! :)</div>
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<!-- end InLinkz script -->Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-34814052879590091792015-05-15T12:34:00.002+01:002015-05-15T12:36:12.328+01:00Bridal Mani with Framed Stamping<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hello again ladies, I've been sick with a cold the last couple of weeks and this is the third cold/flu in 6 months since I got back to the UK, I hadn't had one in 2 years before that when I was in Australia and Brazil, so thanks British weather, but I'm totally over this shit! (Especially after the insane flu that I had back in January that had me bed ridden and dying for an entire month, happy new year indeed!)</div>
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Now that I'm starting to feel remotely human again I'm going to show you a Bridal design I did a couple of months ago for an advertisement for wedding season! I did a few designs which I will show you over the next few weeks, but I think this one might be my favourite!</div>
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I confess that I am struggling to remember which pink I used for the base, my memory has been shot recently (I'm getting old agghhhh) but I do remember everything else haha.</div>
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So I started with the unknown pink base, and then on the ring finger and thumb sponged a gradient french tip with a white creme from the Rimmel Rita Ora collection. The white stamping detail is done with Moyou London White Knight and stamping plate BP-003, and the silver stamping is Barry M Silver Foil and stamping plate BP-L007. I framed the white stamping with a tiny detail brush, matte top coated everything (cus I'm obsessed with matte lately) and then added some bling to the silver accent nails.</div>
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I think this is a perfect Bridal Design, and the white stamped image kinda reminds me of church windows, I love it! My sister also loved it and made me do it for her the week after in black which also looked very cool. She wanted me to take pictures for the blog, but she has a nasty habit of biting the skin around her nails so badly that it bleeds, swells and scabs up, so I am trying to motivate her to kick that habit, and have told her she can model for my blog once she stops cannibalising herself and lets her poor fingers heal! It's proving to be a harder habit to kick than nail biting though, so we will see if any progress shall be made and if I have any success in getting her to quit, wish me luck! </div>
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<br />Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-77350217876037735972015-04-27T18:34:00.001+01:002015-04-27T18:36:53.883+01:00French Mani with Gradient Stamping<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hello luverleys, today I am going to show you a mani I did back in March for Mother's Day. </div>
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Since moving back to the UK end of last year I have set up shop doing nail art in my local town, and as most of my advertising is based on local FB groups, I have been trying to think of designs that will appeal to everyone, with different design images that will keep people engaged when seeing my ad over and over again. <br />
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I did a special offer pamper package for Mother's Day, and for the ad I wanted to create something that was pretty and a bit artistic, but would also appeal to women who maybe don't get their nails done very often and wanted to treat themselves for Mother's Day without feeling like they had to go over the top. </div>
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So I decided to go for a classic french mani which I think appeals to everyone, but adding a dash of colour and glamour with gradient stamped flowers so the mani still had a little dash of wow factor. The result is subtle and delicate but very pretty, and I really like it!</div>
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As you know I don't usually use props in my mani photos, I prefer not to distract away from the artwork, but as this was for a themed advertisment I thought it fitting to use something on this occasion, and raided my mums place to find this pretty flower.</div>
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As I have tiny little nail beds and really wonky smile lines from years of childhood nail biting and abuse, I can't get away with just white tips over my natural nails, they look ridiculous, and so I am always forced to paint a base when I do a french and it ends up looking quite fake, I still haven't found the perfect nude to match my natural nail colour. (Has anyone?!) So because I have to paint a pink base for a french, and I hate the fake look, for this french I tried something new in an attempt to make it look more natural, and instead of painting the base pink on with a brush, I decided to sponge it on, working from the nail tip downwards and fading out the colour as it got close to my cuticles. Kind of like a sponge gradient but using only one colour and blending it into my natural colour. I have to say as I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, this french mani looks a lot more natural now it doesn't have the obvious polish edge around the cuticle.</div>
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To do the white tips I used a large rubber band wrapped around the centre of my nail to seperate the free edge from the rest of the nail before sponging white polish on the tips, I just used a Rimmel white polish from the Rita Ora collection for this. Then I took the rubber band off, used a nail art detail brush to paint the corners of the white tip into a more natural curve, then added top coat.</div>
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For the stamping I used plate BP-34 and the same Caiuro polishes from Italy that I mentioned 2 posts ago in the advanced stamping mani, unfortunately every bottle has the same colour name label despite being different colours! I used 3 of them anyway, a purple, a dark fuchsia and a more orangey neon pink.</div>
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To mix it up a little, I added a Butterfly to the thumb instead of flowers and added some tiny pearls for a bit of bling after matte topcoating everything for a softer look.</div>
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I am glad to report that the mani did very well with local mummy's, and succeeded in bringing in ladies that don't normally get their nails done, so I was pretty pleased all around!<br />
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My mani was created with a specific marketing purpose, so I would love to see other Mother's Day inspired mani's that didn't have to adhere to any generalised marketing requirements! Feel free to post links and share your Mother's Day manis in the comments below ladies, (It's about mother's Day in Australia right now I think, so not totally out of place and time!) and I would love to know if anyone else suffers the same french mani problems that I do, and if they too have any success using the sponged base technique.xxx<br />
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If you like what you see please my help my blog to grow by becoming a follower! Knowing that you all appreciate what I do helps keep me going on those days where I feel like everything I do is poo! :)<br />
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<br />Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-68146323255849140472015-04-21T16:26:00.001+01:002015-05-15T12:36:50.416+01:00Spring Fling With My Pastel Mani<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello peoples, welcome to my continued effort to get my blog back on track, with my second post in almost a year! </div>
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As regular followers will know from my previous posts I am currently back in the UK and I have been here since November, and this was the first winter I have spent at home in almost 10 years! British winters are notorious for being cold, wet, windy and generally bloody miserable, but let me tell you people, there is nothing like coming back to a country after living away for 10 years to make you realise that climate change is REAL.</div>
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This was the nicest, mildest winter I have ever known in my country! Sure it got cold, but there was no rain, no 100 mph winds that blow said rain into your face like a million tiny frozen needles, no constant dampness frizzing my hair, no seasonal depression due to the sun not showing itself for 6 months solid. I actually saw the sun plenty, it barely rained, the wind was occasional at best, I had many a hairstyle survive the season, and even wore a dress quite comfortably for a christmas do! Due to our movements between the northern and southern hemispheres, my husband and I had just enjoyed 4 summers almost in a row, (but as good as in a row as they were divided by only one very mild tropical northern Australian winter) after that kind of sunny luxury I was quite concerned about our move back into an extreme cold climate, and I spent a month trying to mentally prepare my Brazilian husband for the sensorial torture that is the British winter, but now he's just wondering what all my fuss was about! </div>
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Even now that spring has sprung, we should be barracaded in our homes so as not to shrivel up in the rain that normally occurs without respite from March to May, instead I have been laying in the garden enjoying an early summer. I don't know how to feel about it though, it's the weather we have always dreamed of having here and I'm chuffed to bits to be enjoying it, but at the same time, you know the weather is great because we fucked around with mother nature, and however glorious it may be now, it probably won't be that way forever, especially when that lovely sun has melted the north pole that the tiny island that is the UK just happens to be situated next to...</div>
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So when concerned with issues of climate change, and worries of being swallowed up by the cold northern sea, what better way to distract oneself than with a pretty seasonal mani! hahahahaha</div>
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My island might appear to be sinking, but I'll have the prettiest nails when it takes me down! </div>
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(And as it is almost Earth Day, you can then overcome the guilt of prioritisng your mani over climate change, by using said mani to raise awareness of climate change in a relevant blog post, wink wink!)</div>
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So in an unjustfied celebration of the effects of climate change, I present to you all a pastel spring themed mani, that for the first time in history represents a sunny, colourful, glorious spring time that Britain is actually having for once!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVc6u7GhqL880RLU4PBRq5P8tJnhgS3qNyi3cTzoSEoluXGikAr5bhzLCYOvczavUWa9N23gmvPob_e1XkP4arsMtCiH_6UyfazOTfbjx7qhUxICciAko8CisffiMeoTtFfBWN0gie215e/s1600/SAM_9821editcrop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVc6u7GhqL880RLU4PBRq5P8tJnhgS3qNyi3cTzoSEoluXGikAr5bhzLCYOvczavUWa9N23gmvPob_e1XkP4arsMtCiH_6UyfazOTfbjx7qhUxICciAko8CisffiMeoTtFfBWN0gie215e/s1600/SAM_9821editcrop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I did this mani about 6 weeks ago as soon as the sun started showing itself regularly, so I am struggling to remember all the polishes I used at the time. I know the thumb is Nfu-oh 354, I couldn't guess the index finger as peach is one of my favourite colours and I have this colour in a million brands ( I really should start writing this shit down if I'm not going to post while my memory is fresh!), the middle finger is maybe a Rimmel or Sinful Colours, the ring finger is a cheap Italian brand called Riveel, and the pinky is a cheap British brand called La Femme whos bottles never have names or numbers on them! The glitter polish on the middle finger, was actually just a bag of glitter mix that I won from a facebook seller and that I then put into a bottle of suspension base. If anyone is that bothered to know what the polishes are just drop me a comment and I will go through my stuff and see if I can figure out which I used.</div>
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To create the design on the tips I used the same polish colours, and painted a rectangular strip of each colour onto grease proof baking paper, when it was dry I then used a tool that I borrowed from my mums craft room, its just like the shaped hole punchers, except that it is long and regtangular, and used for creating a pretty lace edge on paper or card. (My mum makes celebration cards so she has a few interesting tools that can be used in nail art too!) Once I had punched out the nice shapes from my baking paper, I cut a piece out to nail size and just stuck it on over a layer of tacky clear coat, finishing with a generous layer of top coat to smooth it out and then matte topcoat for that velvety look.</div>
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I really loved the paper edge punching tool, and my mum has a couple of different designs so I will probably play with them again in the future!</div>
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I really loved this mani and thought it was so pretty and fun to do, have you guys ever used a paper edge cutter before? If not I suggest you go find some, they will not disappoint! x</div>
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If you like what you see please my help my blog to grow by becoming a follower! Knowing that you all appreciate what I do helps keep me going on those days where I feel like everything I do is poo! :)</div>
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<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/8251015" title="Follow Nail Jems on Bloglovin"><img alt="Follow on Bloglovin" border="0" src="http://www.bloglovin.com/widget/bilder/en/widget.gif?id=8251015" /></a>Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-39575981340266822712015-04-15T17:24:00.000+01:002015-05-15T12:37:24.310+01:00The Come Back Mani - Advanced Stamping<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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No, you are not imagining things... this is a real, live post, with actual words, and pictures and everything. I know it's hard to get your head around, I know that it doesn't feel real, but yes, I have actually done a blog post for the first time in almost a year! </div>
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For those of you who don't know my blog all that well, or haven't chatted to me in various FB polish groups, I'll break it down... I used to live in Australia, I married a Brazilian man there, a new government in Australia then changed all the immigration rules and kicked us out, and then I discovered that my home country the UK had also changed their immigration rules, and I wasn't allowed to bring my husband home with me because he was a hard working student aiming towards a very specific goal of one day being a rich man, but not actually a rich man *yet*. Yes you heard that right, my right to a family life in my own country hangs entirely on how filthy rich my chosen foreign partner is because they don't want to risk letting in welfare spongers instead of hard workers. Shame on me for marrying a non EU, highly qualified, higher education student who was still a step away from achieving his career goals. How bloody well rude of me! </div>
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Our only way home was to take advantage of his Italian ancestors and claim Italian/European citizenship for him so we went to Brazil for 6 months, he got all his paper work, and I got a massive stash of awesome nail polish. (Scroll through my older posts to see them, you won't have to scroll that far, that was basically the last time I was able to post semi- regularly.) After that we went to Italy, where the long, time consuming, arduous and expensive process of claiming his citizenship ensued, and that was the death of my blog because I had no spare time anymore. :(</div>
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The good news is, we got it sorted, we are finally in the UK, my husband has every right to be here regardless of the lack of flthy richness, we won. It's just that now we are poorer than we have ever been, actually quite a bit in debt with family members, and sponging off my parents as we cram ourselves and our belongings into their tiny spare room. So thank you UK immigration, we weren't as filthy rich as you had insisted we should be, but we had savings and were comfortable until you stuck your nose in, now we are broke and in debt, and starting our adult married lives in the same financial position that we were in when we were 18 years old. AWESOME</div>
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The real joke is that the new law was put in place to prevent British citizens from illegitamately marrying poor foreigners who would then come to the UK and claim benefits, well we didn't need to do that. Our marriage is legitimate, we weren't poor and had substantial savings, just not quite the absurd amount that they insisted on, but thanks to them now we are poor and did need to claim benefits, but we never claimed them because the joke just get's funnier, and it turns out we would never have been entitled to them anyway!</div>
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So yaaahhh, great system ya got there, really, top job.</div>
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It's a bitter sweet victory really, made tastier only by the fact that
within 3 months of being here, my darling hubby had walked right into an
amazing job for one of the biggest companies in the country, in a
position for which they had been desperately searching for the right
person for over a year. So suck on that immigration, welfare sponger
indeed, I <i>sincerely</i> hope you don't choke on the 40% taxes you'll be taking fom
his wages within the next 5 five years. </div>
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Needless to say, after <i>all that</i> my head has not really been in a blogging frame of mind, hell, my head hasn't even been in a paint my nails frame of mind, and it has taken me a while to get myself out of this funk and back into my passions. Christmas helped when a bunch of family members got me lots of new nail goodies for gifts, including a few stamping goodies from MoYou and Born Pretty that I requested, because my entire plate collection had gone missing somewhere between Australia and Brazil and I haven't been able to stamp since. (Would I be justified in blaming the A-holes in immigration for that too???) So since christmas I have been getting back into my nails, slowly slowly, and have recently come up with something that is actually blogworthy. </div>
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I am not going to make the mistake of committing to X number of posts a week, I want to be realistic about what I am actually able to achieve with all my other normal life commitments and so I will just post as and when I can manage, but the fact of the matter is that I need my blog as my outlet, it's my safe space and helps me pull my head out of the darkness, so I do need to make an effort, if only for the sake of my mental health. (If I start to disappear again, maybe come and remind me of that...? lol)</div>
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Let's just say that my come back mani has certainly helped to do that. This is my first attempt at advanced stamping, and for a first attempt it was pretty damn ambitious, but I personally feel that I have pulled it off quite spectacularly and this has definitely made the top 3 of my favourite designs ever done! Here is a quick pic before I go on to explain how I did it, then I will show more pics as I couldn't decide if I prefered this design in gloss or matte, so I did both!</div>
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BEHOLD MY MOST RECENT BEAUTY AND BASK IN ALL ITS WONDROUS GLORY! ROTFLMFAO</div>
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Ahhhh, I look at this picture and think maybe it was worth waiting a year to post again if this is what I got out of it! I think this design has got quite an oriental feel to it, which I wasn't expecting but absolutely adore! </div>
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So, down to the ins and outs of this mani. The base is a cheapo UK brand called La femme, but annoyingly the polish doesn't have a name or number. I got it from a local sales group on FB from a nail tech who was closing shop, and bagged myself 16 bottles for £5. Winner. For a cheapo it has a pretty nice formula too, and cherry reds/pinks are some of my favourites.</div>
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For the stamping I used Born Pretty Plate BP-L002, the gold stamped outline is WJCon from Italy, I think its number 428 but the middle number has rubbed off a bit, so the 2 could be a 3? I have a whole bunch of awesome polishes that I got whilst in Italy, hopefully I will get around to swatching them all for you soon, and I also bought a bunch of Kiko's for a giveaway which I really need to get on with organising! Anyways, I digress. The Polishes I used to colour in the stamp were: Nfu-Oh 354, OPI You only Live Twice, and 3 bottles that I got in Italy - Shaka Holographic Violet and 2 colours of a brand called Caiuro, which I bought in a chinese store in Italy and then discovered is also available here in the UK, I couldn't tell you the names of these Caiuro colours though, as the labels are pretty messed up, I have 3 botlles all totally different colours, and they all have the same label that says 'Bluberry', go figure. If you haven't seen this brand yet go find it, the formula is a PITA for painting your nails with, but they are awesome for stamping and small bold details. </div>
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I used the standard technique of painting in the spaces while the stamped design was still on the stamper, (for the partial designs on my thumb, index and little fingers I used a clean up brush with acetone to cancel out the parts of the design I didn't want) and then painted a layer of topcoat over it once I was done. At first I peeled it off the stamper then attached it to my nail like a decal, but for some reason I kept having issues with huge air bubbles getting trapped under the decal and ruining the design, so I changed up my application method, and after topcoating the final design instead of peeling it off the stamper I left it on there, I painted a coat of clear top coat (non fast dry) on my nails and let that dry for a minute to get tacky, and then I just stamped the design straight from the stamper onto the tacky nail and it went on as smooth as a babies bum!</div>
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With this method the whole image comes off the stamper in one piece, so I still had to trim off the excess from around the edges of my nails just as I would have done with the peel off decal.</div>
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I loved the glossy look of it but have recently been a bit obsessed with my matte topcoat and so had to try both, let the enslaught of pretty pictures begin...</div>
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Gloss Finish:<br />
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Matte Finish:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGsRQSUnKg4I6ShrLNL9sAXsVPgE21BK8ovLGMDJ3GZ9UODG697IpvfKE7bBfngD1_0MHd4TDs2Pksh-aAIlZfTrCeaO95tt-BpKR_iFab-4PGeAIQNSQ9H21riyixPRjr5yjazig5YQsy/s1600/SAM_0023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGsRQSUnKg4I6ShrLNL9sAXsVPgE21BK8ovLGMDJ3GZ9UODG697IpvfKE7bBfngD1_0MHd4TDs2Pksh-aAIlZfTrCeaO95tt-BpKR_iFab-4PGeAIQNSQ9H21riyixPRjr5yjazig5YQsy/s1600/SAM_0023.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I really cannot decide which finish I prefer more, I just love this mani and that's it! What do you ladies reckon?</div>
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If you like what you see please my help my blog to grow by becoming a follower! Knowing that you all appreciate what I do helps keep me going on those days where I feel like everything I do is poo! :)</div>
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<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/8251015" title="Follow Nail Jems on Bloglovin"><img alt="Follow on Bloglovin" border="0" src="http://www.bloglovin.com/widget/bilder/en/widget.gif?id=8251015" /></a>Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-58630441631109464032014-05-02T21:06:00.000+01:002014-05-03T18:03:17.842+01:00Holographic Matte Dotticure<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ohhh I'm really excited about today's design! Not only does it look really cool with the matte effect and holographic dots, but this is also my first successful attempt at a flawless and perfectly even polkadot pattern! After the success of my singular dottified nail in the last skittle mani I posted, I was feeling brave and went for a full dotticure, and I am glad to say that I finally feel like I have mastered the dotting tool! Fuck yeeeaaahh! </div>
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So without further ado, let's see my first perfect dotticure!</div>
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And just so you can appreciate the holo-y goodness of the polkadots, here's a close up!</div>
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To do this mani I started with a simple black creme polish for the base, and mattified it using my awesome Mode matte top coat. To do the polkadots I used a large sized dotting tool with Nfu-Oh 61, a bright silver holographic polish which already has an almost matte finish all of it's own and tied in perfectly with the base.</div>
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So what do you think? Have I finally nailed the dotticure?! (pun totes intended haha)</div>
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<!-- end InLinkz script -->Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-15735809396953145742014-04-22T16:40:00.001+01:002014-05-03T18:04:28.715+01:00My First Skittle Mani!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Though this is a post I prepared months ago and have dragged out of the vault whilst I am busy getting life organised in Italy, I'm hitting a first with today's mani, my first (and so far only!) skittle! I don't actually know why I haven't done a skittle mani before, I guess it just never appealed to me more than all the other stuff I wanted to do, but then I got these 2 polishes that were sent to me for review (I already showed you swatches of them late last year so they may be familiar!) and they were just such great colours together they actually inspired me to do a skittle for the first time! </div>
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So the polishes I used were as follows: Mint Green = Mode 'Cool As'. Lavender = Mode 'Gorg'. Holographic glitter is Nfu - Oh GS07. </div>
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Despite many previous dodgy and wonky dotticure attempts I managed to do a nice even polkadot pattern on the index finger. On the ring finger I used masking tape cut into chevron shapes and painted over it, and for the little finger I used a fine striping brush. Of course I had to have a glitter finger too to give it some sparkle!</div>
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I'm actually quite pleased with my skittle mani, it was more fun than I imagined it to be, and it was actually quite simple and not very time consuming, you've gotta love those designs that have high impact with minimum effort! </div>
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If you like my nails make sure you don't miss out on future designs and how to's, become a follower! Your support would be greatly appreciated and ensures the continuation of this blog! </div>
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<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/8251015" title="Follow Nail Jems on Bloglovin"><img alt="Follow on Bloglovin" border="0" src="http://www.bloglovin.com/widget/bilder/en/widget.gif?id=8251015" /></a>Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-25816853032908178962014-04-08T17:16:00.001+01:002014-05-03T18:04:49.144+01:00Carneval Nails - What I should have worn!<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm back today with the last of my carneval themed mani's, and today's design was inspired by the 'costume' of Brazil's 'Miss Carneval' Pageant winner. I say 'costume' in parenthesis because it's actually just body paint! Brazilians don't have any problems with plenty of lady flesh on TV!</div>
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Basically the pageant was held by the leading TV channel in Brazil who went on to do full coverage of the parades in Rio, and Miss Carneval's role was to do a cute little samba dance to the opening and closing credits of the show, and they also super imposed her in giant size onto the parade runway to introduce the next samba school of costume clad people! The channel is called Globo, and the word for beauty in portuguese is 'beleza', so her title is the 'Globeleza!'</div>
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Though her body painting was rather daring and didn't leave much to the imagination, it was rather amazing and done in glitter gradients up her legs, take a look at the picture and see how fab it is!</div>
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I decided to do a stripes and spots design with glitter polishes, but it turned out I didn't actually have that many on me, when I left Australia I posted the majority of my polish collection to my mum in the UK so I wouldn't have to travel to Brazil and then Italy with it all, and so I didn't really have a good selection of glitter colours to be able to blend them and do a gradient, but I'm still happy with what I came up with and it looks really fun!</div>
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I chose to replicate the glitter paint on naked skin effect by using a nude base.The base is a Brazilian brand which I borrowed from my mother in laws stash, the brand name is 'Risque' (I didn't buy any of their polishes in the end because they have a very basic colour range and I was looking for special effects and glitters mostly) the polish is 'Meia Calza' which my husband tells me means 'stockings'.</div>
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The glitter polishes I used were from my Brazilian Cora milky way collection, and one Hits Specialita' glitter, all of which have been swatched for you just a couple of posts ago. ;)</div>
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So here is my mani!<br />
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As you can see I wasn't exactly spoiled for choice on glitter colours and I would have had a hard time getting a good gradient by combining these colours, but I think that once I get my full collection of polish back I'll give it another go with gradient stripes. I am rather impressed by my dots, I have really struggled in the past to get a nice unifrom effect with my dots all the same size, I think I pulled it off really nicely this time!<br />
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As I'm currently nursing two teabag repairs on my blogging hand, the next few designs you will see on the blog will be past designs from the vault that I have still yet to show you!<br />
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Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-30514972038809577572014-04-03T21:25:00.001+01:002014-05-03T18:05:11.985+01:00Carneval Nails - What I could have worn!I have another carneval inspired mani today (I'm playing catch up for those of you that are wondering why I'm so late!) and today's is a pretty glitter placement design that I would have loved to have worn if I had actually had the time to do something this complicated!<br />
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I took my inspiration from my location for this one, and choose the colours green, yellow and blue from the Brazilian flag! I didn't take a pic in full sun as it was too harsh on the glitter and you couldn't make out the colours of the glitter properly for the reflections, so have a couple of different shade set ups because I couldn't decide which one was best!<br />
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The index finger is a little extract from the brazilian flag, and the middle finger represents the parade where the different samba schools who march have their own color theme, resultings in large coloured blocks of people that make the parade look stripy from above! The ring finger is a part of a flower as the costumes are covered in millions of them, and the little finger, not being able to fit much on there, represents the special stadiums in which the brazilian carneval parades takes place, it's kind of like a gigantic concrete models runway with bandstands on either side, called a Sambodromo!<br />
I placed the glitter over a base of Ludurana 'Ouro Puro' (pure Gold)<br />
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I did the index finger first and I was super impressed with my very careful and neat glitter placement, after that I'm not sure what happened, It all got a bit higgeldy piggeldy! It looked awesome though! I just wish I had had the time over carneval weekend to do these nails for my partying, I'm sure it would have gotten lots of compliments from the Brasileiros!<br />
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<br />Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-82638041826814767132014-04-01T23:37:00.000+01:002014-05-03T18:05:31.840+01:00Carneval Nails - What I Wore<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hello Lovelies!</div>
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Been out of touch again for a month as I made my move from Brazil to Italy, but now I'm here and things are settling so I can get back to it! </div>
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As some of you my know I got to spend carneval in the best place for it - Brazil! But as soon as carneval was over I had to crack on with packing my stuff and getting prepared for the big move here to Italy, so I didn't have time to work on some carneval inspired nails, which lets face it, due to my location at the time was an absolute must!<br />
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So all be it late (as has been the case more often than not in these last few months of world travel!) I decided to do some carneval nails anyway, I only managed to get a couple done which I will show you during this week, for today I'm going to show you the nails I actually wore to attend carneval, as even though I didn't get time to do any blog stuff, I did at least manage to snap a couple of pics of my nails before I headed off for a wild weekend of partying Brazilian style!</div>
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The mani I wore is a simple glitter gradient, it was a pretty intense weekend and I just didn't have the time to do something elaborate, so being forced to keep it simple I went for a super bright colour and glitter! What more do you need for carneval anyway!?</div>
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The base is Australian brand Mode ' Love Me' with Cherimoya 'Electric Heaven' Mylar Glitter topper in a gradient. I love this colour and this glitter together!</div>
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Here are two pictures that I took in direct sunlight and in shade.</div>
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This week I will post a couple of manis a bit more elaborate, with designs that I might have worn had I had the time to do them!! One is a glitter placement mani which took me hours! and the last is inspired by a 'costume' worn by a lady who won Brazils 'Miss Carneval' Beauty pageant!</div>
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Stay tuned!</div>
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Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-6492860808879979102014-03-01T00:34:00.000+00:002014-05-03T18:09:02.633+01:00Brazilian Polish GIVEAWAY!Well ladies it's the moment I have been promising for the last 3 weeks - it's finally give away time! Fu*k Yeah!<br />
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No doubt many of you have been drooling over the swatches I've been posting, and one of you lucky bitches is going to get to own 10 of them! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTft0ce47pGHMdX9QvZYOsmzkVp653HW5SUWyawIFBozv4V-AFNMXP1S6eS8NTnokNtlJaU8jpcbqnNLVHsHnjgg1WWqhWBHY2GOA84AC2Usql5bV3znULGfVFI7QuxsYQGhr9RetLh46_/s1600/braz-giveaway-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTft0ce47pGHMdX9QvZYOsmzkVp653HW5SUWyawIFBozv4V-AFNMXP1S6eS8NTnokNtlJaU8jpcbqnNLVHsHnjgg1WWqhWBHY2GOA84AC2Usql5bV3znULGfVFI7QuxsYQGhr9RetLh46_/s1600/braz-giveaway-poster.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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Let's take a closer look at the prizes shall we!?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbq2MqG0O9mujTM2Jo-wsAOt6CktpsE4S11eFPgtqjcNGmSrU0ukwbN8xcwF4B5ltyNMQ5MXQAtm7_ug9jyWAKK-H935ubtEZjYo6dr61xhkFqmqHsrvS0VQkUpIUV5BKx1mqTCh6iA-zq/s1600/SAM_7300insta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbq2MqG0O9mujTM2Jo-wsAOt6CktpsE4S11eFPgtqjcNGmSrU0ukwbN8xcwF4B5ltyNMQ5MXQAtm7_ug9jyWAKK-H935ubtEZjYo6dr61xhkFqmqHsrvS0VQkUpIUV5BKx1mqTCh6iA-zq/s1600/SAM_7300insta.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a><br />
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Ludurana Duo Chromes 'Violet - Blue' </div>
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This was my favourite Ludurana Duo Chrome, and it's versatile as it can be worn on it's own and over black for 2 different looks! I don't know anyone anywhere who doesn't wish they had a Ludurana in their collection!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfK5vH8MAIeRCpFt_GLcvxD_0NZmo0LDODFpWZQOKaiq98i5_8QbQoXKpO0itTQoLD0zox101CH-1AC4T5yogUsfGr7MUHbow-MXv_h3zANhu8sMqXGHeL5WoW8lbPNw8MucJMF5yfC-r8/s1600/SAM_7341insta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfK5vH8MAIeRCpFt_GLcvxD_0NZmo0LDODFpWZQOKaiq98i5_8QbQoXKpO0itTQoLD0zox101CH-1AC4T5yogUsfGr7MUHbow-MXv_h3zANhu8sMqXGHeL5WoW8lbPNw8MucJMF5yfC-r8/s1600/SAM_7341insta.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYhEwS9JjR3y7crzO_A4cxDVr0CgidaJEuHcKcCOYxvIfYHtJ_EyT2yH0gmXYr8hOBk_U5-o53gbV0fNzvH5938gXpHQsmZezyY4uOBBSlWVhIPkNQ3Viwe4uzx8F5fX_gr-mQAtAIZuMF/s1600/SAM_8352insta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYhEwS9JjR3y7crzO_A4cxDVr0CgidaJEuHcKcCOYxvIfYHtJ_EyT2yH0gmXYr8hOBk_U5-o53gbV0fNzvH5938gXpHQsmZezyY4uOBBSlWVhIPkNQ3Viwe4uzx8F5fX_gr-mQAtAIZuMF/s1600/SAM_8352insta.jpg" height="307" width="320" /></a><br />
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Hits Specialita' World Glitters Collection!</div>
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This is Ibiza, dark orange - red jelly base with small holographic magenta dots, and medium hexes in holographic magenta and gold.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif_7dfV3S9AC69qUufWALDaDxY7Xzkl_eWfVziHCgkgf_fuVZ-xLh7kcJsvsyQj4U9zVHQG4pQa6gXZru3Z1xRwu2uFR-n4vzU5pl55nFqHP5r95bKnaJBFshVjQzhDzzfc4c9o2L6zFTi/s1600/SAM_8366insta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif_7dfV3S9AC69qUufWALDaDxY7Xzkl_eWfVziHCgkgf_fuVZ-xLh7kcJsvsyQj4U9zVHQG4pQa6gXZru3Z1xRwu2uFR-n4vzU5pl55nFqHP5r95bKnaJBFshVjQzhDzzfc4c9o2L6zFTi/s1600/SAM_8366insta.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is 'Roma' Pale pink jelly base with small holographic magenta micro dots, </div>
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medium holographic hexes in blue, purple and gold, and medium and large hexes in matte white.</div>
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L'Apogee Fantastic Glitters Collection.</div>
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This polish brand is exclusive to Brazil and is not available for international sale! Unless you have a nail mail buddy in Brazil or are a planning a vacation here, the only other way you're getting your hands on these pretties is via my giveaway!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI59pi5j4vztUdKMw2Vs5cKVed41nILjXY_hlu8WYuFTwA-Alz-6huMLclQQIliFK7Q5mFrL1szEJAWNxC6rkO5J3nZxtVMuCDNFb7aL-nyHnik8qS7hqeplKEHSHtKIEog7h3ksGWBV4W/s1600/SAM_7161insta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI59pi5j4vztUdKMw2Vs5cKVed41nILjXY_hlu8WYuFTwA-Alz-6huMLclQQIliFK7Q5mFrL1szEJAWNxC6rkO5J3nZxtVMuCDNFb7aL-nyHnik8qS7hqeplKEHSHtKIEog7h3ksGWBV4W/s1600/SAM_7161insta.jpg" height="304" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuesZELraYJaH4pJjfeuIAORRcroRdTW9SZP_NgchvaSZ4bJKsXUWCrNNVAbaLrXo69sb8ic3glxPEneNXS_8Hu8Mim6kLJkBcPYPSpYnHY4weA06rxXRkkMlfzRWms0AB5OyfSteIE2kd/s1600/SAM_7171insta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuesZELraYJaH4pJjfeuIAORRcroRdTW9SZP_NgchvaSZ4bJKsXUWCrNNVAbaLrXo69sb8ic3glxPEneNXS_8Hu8Mim6kLJkBcPYPSpYnHY4weA06rxXRkkMlfzRWms0AB5OyfSteIE2kd/s1600/SAM_7171insta.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is 'Azul Magnifico' - light blue crelly base with black microdots and small hexes in magenta and blue.</div>
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This is 'Nude Surpreendente' -a very light pink crelly base with black microdots and small hexes in magenta and orange.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xxy2Vjh9NIPyO-_N06Ni3Onnww-iYByB-o-UpmNKXzk-9LPgg_YJn-hM_DWv4ZYzmd44Vhdj6xyKY0RtIAnUPKqdxl9OVdehAfO4bi9pFrZIGggFcRnbwthN-9XQ4VXOzvDSVkU9w0Or/s1600/SAM_7178insta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xxy2Vjh9NIPyO-_N06Ni3Onnww-iYByB-o-UpmNKXzk-9LPgg_YJn-hM_DWv4ZYzmd44Vhdj6xyKY0RtIAnUPKqdxl9OVdehAfO4bi9pFrZIGggFcRnbwthN-9XQ4VXOzvDSVkU9w0Or/s1600/SAM_7178insta.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is 'Vermelho Absurdo' - cerise pink crelly with black microdots and medium black hexes.</div>
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Cora 'Sampa' collection and 'Via Lactea - Raio Do Sol' collection.</div>
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Cora is another brand exclusive to Brazil and not available for purchase internationally , so make sure you enter the give away with as many entry's as possible to get your hands on these otherwise impossible to get polishes!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMgdn9kJM-jsDq-YsLYW-GFQ9pwSWwdrygJcDBqWwoUOrr1qtxWkTP5kS_CwFHyZTZ-FtCCeMM8Zza0XdNmUyEjGyL0ZAZ-Waph-oLQnxxsIfIP_g8Wollpo8fw_3ohfJ2fjFrL-w3oCqu/s1600/SAM_8254insta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMgdn9kJM-jsDq-YsLYW-GFQ9pwSWwdrygJcDBqWwoUOrr1qtxWkTP5kS_CwFHyZTZ-FtCCeMM8Zza0XdNmUyEjGyL0ZAZ-Waph-oLQnxxsIfIP_g8Wollpo8fw_3ohfJ2fjFrL-w3oCqu/s1600/SAM_8254insta.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a>This Sampa collection is inspired by Sao Paulo and named after its<br />
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This is 'Ibirapuera'<br />
I mentioned in my blog post that this kind of green was impossible to capture on a camera, and impossible to colour match in photoshop, it had to be seen with your eyes to know the true colour, so how I could I not include it!</div>
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This polish also from the Sampa collection is called 'Garoa'. Both this and the previous green colour are crellys layered over a white base in my pictures.</div>
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These next 2 are from the Via Lactea collection and this one is called 'UV' - a dark antique rose with ultra fine gold glitter that builds up coat by coat into a fleck like effect.</div>
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This is called 'Radius' and is a bright teal blue with ultra fine gold and green glitter that builds up coat by coat into a fleck like effect. These are my favourite Cora's ever!</div>
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All these polishes have been swatched from my own personal haul, but the bottles you receive will be brand new and un-used. I had the idea for the giveaway after starting to swatch my own collection, and then went out shopping again to buy duplicates of whatever I could find from my personal haul! So new and full bottles for you lovelies!</div>
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This giveaway is open internationally but PLEASE NOTE that I do not have any special permissions or liscences to post nail polishes under the new postage restrictions. I will do my absolute best to package them properly and ensure that they do not break during transit revealing the contents to postal authorities, I will disguise them the best I can amongst other surprise goodies, and I will blatantly lie to the post office about the packages contents, but I cannot be held responsible if the package does not arrive to you!</div>
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I ask that the eventual winner does not give me any drama if the package does not arrive, this is not a sponsored giveaway, these prizes have not been donated! I have purchased these polishes and will pay for the shipping out of my own pocket (and I haven't worked for 6 months!), so if your prize does not arrive then WE BOTH loose, please be respectful of that!</div>
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As I will be leaving Brazil and moving onto Italy in a couple of weeks time, the giveaway will run until April 14th 2014 when I can be sure that I will have settled in Italy properly and I will have the time and resources to deal with drawing the winner and posting the prize in a timely manner!</div>
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Other terms and conditions:</div>
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* This giveaway is not sponsored by any nail polish manufacturer, distributor or supplier, or any internet based social network or company. Nail Jems is entirely responsible for the management of this giveaway.</div>
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* There will be only one winner of the giveaway, no runner up prizes.</div>
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* The winner will receive a notification by email and has 48 hours to respond and claim the prize before another winner will be drawn.</div>
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* The winner accepts to provide their full name and postal address in order to receive the prize.</div>
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* If the selected winner has not completed all the mandatory tasks on the Rafflecopter, they will be disqualified and another winner selected.</div>
* Extra entries can be earnt by sharing the giveaway image on various social networks, the giveaway image is the first image on this post and consists of the collection of swatches of the prizes. This image can also be found pinned on my Facebook page and on my Instagram account to facilitate sharing.<br />
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* New entry's can be gained daily via the sharing options, and this give away will also be reposted on its own page and accessible via the page tabs at the top of the blog to make the rafflecopter easier to find for repeated daily entries.</div>
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* Most importantly please remember- though I will do my very best to ensure safe delivery of the prize, I cannot be held responsible if it does not! <br />
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And that's all ladies! I hope you like the giveaway and the polishes I managed to get my hands on, if all goes well this time around then I may do another Brazilian polish giveaway when I come back to visit next year!<br />
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Good luck to you all!! xxxx<br />
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<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/9949210/" id="rc-9949210" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a><br />
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script></div>
Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-85055991878734918132014-02-27T17:55:00.000+00:002014-05-03T18:07:20.790+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatchathon - Ludurana Supernovas<div style="text-align: justify;">
My god ladies do I have some beauties to show you today! I mentioned in yesterday's post that the 'Aurora Boreal' collection was at the top of my wish list, but that's only because I didn't know that this collection had been released since then! (Aurora would still take a very close second place though!)</div>
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This is the Supernova collection, and they are multichrome holo's! My favourite things all in one ohhh lordy! I told you I alway saved the best til last! ;)</div>
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They are 'multichromes' but seem to have 3 main colours, with only 2 colours at a time being seen in different lighting situations. They have a strong holo flare in full sun though this does diminish the multichrome effect quite a lot. Unlike other multichromes the colours do not show up with underwater photography, and layering these over a black base does not help at all, it actually does the opposite of what you would expect and almost cancels the multichrome effect completely, but you do get a different and interesting darker shade of the dominant colour within the polish, and the holo effect is much stronger over black too. I have found that the best lighting in which to appreciate both the multichrome and the holo effect at the same time, is with the harsh white strip lights or with very bright white day time bulbs, but to be honest you get lots of different effects in all kinds of different lighting. I have been wearing a couple of them over the last week and have seen them in sun, in shade, in a dark garage, under storm clouds, sat outside smoking a cig under a dingy light at night... you name it.. and in every lighting situation the polishes look completely different, anyone who owns these will just not be able to take there eyes off their nails when wearing them! There were so many shades and combinations of colours to these polishes that it was just impossible to get photos of every possibility, and with multichromes and holos being a bitch to get good photo's of at the best of times, you can imagine how hard it was with the two effects combined! While looking at the pictures just remember - however lovely you think these polishes are in my pictures, they are a 100 times more awesome in real life!</div>
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I managed to get 3 from this collection and I <3 them all, but as usual I always have my favourites!</div>
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Let's start with 'Orion' who's shifty colours are navy blue to blurple to pink with a good holo flare.</div>
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Here I am wearing 3 coats without a black base, and this first pic was taken in full sun. </div>
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As I said the multichrome was difficult to catch in full sun, though in my pics done in the shade it doesn't look much better either, it is much more visibile in real life. In the shade you get a much more pastel version of the colours. You don't see much blue and the blurple looks much more like lavender with hints of pink.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpUF5icRO2nv8I8N0M0ajDVE6IxvoLKesFR_EgXvmv83rCZpeo9o5rglzcTYHagiMV6CKbsCTvwkYDqMuPmKQr3P1p9oWPb-4YuHA9G-xfjFSKQkgHVuVLw2qlxNdR87xbQYTGo3_oZhzM/s1600/SAM_8449.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpUF5icRO2nv8I8N0M0ajDVE6IxvoLKesFR_EgXvmv83rCZpeo9o5rglzcTYHagiMV6CKbsCTvwkYDqMuPmKQr3P1p9oWPb-4YuHA9G-xfjFSKQkgHVuVLw2qlxNdR87xbQYTGo3_oZhzM/s1600/SAM_8449.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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This next picture was taken indoors under the bright white lights I mentioned before, as I was not using a lightbox set up the picture is not the best quality and not very sharp, but that's the sacrifice I had to make to capture the colour shift better under the harsh white light.</div>
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In this last pic the polish is 2 coats layered over a black base, the multchrome is pretty much gone, but you get a nice navy holo out of it!</div>
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The next polish I have in this collection is called 'Onda De Luz' (Light Wave) and shifts from very pale mellow yellow gold to peach to pale rose pink, it is totally lush, but the worst of the 3 polishes to take pictures of! Again here I am wearing 3 coats without black base, this first pic taken in full sun.</div>
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Here it shows up as a really warm and rich nude colour, but in the shade it's much more mellow with the gold tones more visible. Though the rose colour is not really visible per se, it does give the whole polish a slight pink glow to it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP1jTOaHHzI4mHv4IPjMBnILSHH_CLq0k1iZcHzacw_D7lNKzbfJOgQV7vQ03TkcajZyxco5BR-av8DIkB53nJRdj2L1CdLeO5VPjPME_I6rrEEWULkODVKFhRd2rAaPbsdvaIsR3fwkXM/s1600/SAM_8453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP1jTOaHHzI4mHv4IPjMBnILSHH_CLq0k1iZcHzacw_D7lNKzbfJOgQV7vQ03TkcajZyxco5BR-av8DIkB53nJRdj2L1CdLeO5VPjPME_I6rrEEWULkODVKFhRd2rAaPbsdvaIsR3fwkXM/s1600/SAM_8453.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here is the pic that I took under the harsh white lighting, there is a more warmer richer gold tone under this light with the pink shift being much more visible.</div>
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Though I would not say that the pink was the dominant colour in this shifter, thats what you got when layered over a black base.</div>
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The final polish of my Brazilian polish haul and swatchathon, and probably my favourite of them all is 'Fenomeno' and shifts from a light powder blue to aqua green to violet. This has the most obvious colour shift of all them and looks fricking amazing in harsh white light! Here it is in full sun first where the light blue and violet (which looks more lavender here) are the most obvious colours.</div>
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In the shade the aqua green is much more obvious and the violet looks more like mauve.<br />
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I want to show you the polish layered over black before I show you it on it's own in white light, cos it's damn glorious and totally the right pic to end my 3 week swatchathon, so here it is over black first and in full sun.<br />
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And now you can see the polish on it's own in harsh white light, you should probably grab a towel or something because you're undoubtedly going to drool all over yourself just at the sight of it. This is why Fenomeno is my favourite polish of the whole haul....<br />
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Isn't is just fu*king glorious! I want to paint my whole body like this, I want clothes bags and shoes like this, I wanna glow and sparkle in pretty girly colours like a frickin holographic unicorn! And I aint even the girly, frilly bows and unicorns kinda gal! How could anyone not fall in love with that? Seriously, try to tell me you don't love it and I must insist that you are not really a polish addict! I dare you to not like it dammit! <br />
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The formula on this polishes was wonderful, a wee bit sheer but still opaque in 3 coats, smooth glossy finish and quite long wearing too. These polishes have been out for a while as far as I'm aware, and I don't know of any comercial brands that have started doing multichrome holo's yet, Indie makers have only just been doing them since the beginning of this year, but Ludurana did it first so in my book that makes Ludrana an official trend setter! <br />
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I have loved swatching my brazilian haul for you, many of those pollishes I bought remained untried, so I'm really pleased I got to wear them all and see them and appreciate them properly, and that you came along with me for the ride! <br />
It's got to be said that the Brazilian polish addicts are very lucky and have got some seriously amazing polishes going on here. Normally I would be totes jealous but I'm actually really happy for the Brazilian ladies.<br />
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The poor people here get ripped off by their government at every turn who pretty much tax everything except the air you breath, and at ridiculous rates. People are starving here, continually drowning in floods because the infrastructure sucks balls, constantly getting robbed cos everyones just so damn short of everything, and all while the government pile millions into stadiums for football and the olympics - events which are going to break the people here, because while those events are going on the price of EVERYTHING will triple. People can't afford food as it is and I fear for what will happen to the Brazilian people when these events start. The saddest bit is that the tourist dollars won't even end up in their pockets, just in the governments via the enormous tax rates that business owners will be subject to while these events are taking place. It's just fucking tragic, it really is. <br />
So if Brazilian gals can't afford our foreign brands now while they are set at the standard of 100% tax upon entering the country, imagine how much the poor loves are gonna end up paying during event time, even just for a normal drugstore brand like Sinful Colours or something, it sickens me to think. You can forget about OPI in this country, cost of a bottle of that stuff will feed your entire family for a week here, and so amazing polishes like that remain but a distant dream for the loveley Brasileiras!<br />
For that reason I am really really happy that the homegrown brands here in Brazil are really making an effort not just to keep up with the nail trends, but to set a few of them too, and provide some of the nail addicts here the awesome polish they deserve. I hope they keep it up, and give the rest of us a reason to envy the ladies here!<br />
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Tomorrow I will be posting my giveaway, so makesure you come back to check out the prizes and enter!<br />
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I still have a couple of weeks left before I leave Brazil, and like a good girl I've done most of my preparations to leave, so after Carnaval I'm really hoping to have some free time to do some nail art as I haven't done any in months! Even if I don't get the chance, I still have a few designs that I did last october, to keep you entertained until I get to Italy at least! Thanks for reading me during my swatchathon, I'll see you tomorrow for giveaway time :)<br />
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<br />Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-45441914984078993992014-02-26T23:54:00.001+00:002014-05-03T18:10:20.285+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - Ludurana and Bonus Brand Mohda Flakies!<div style="text-align: justify;">
So I'm back with more gorgeous polishes for you (and these are truly gorgeous!) but I confess I told a little lie! I said this was Ludurana week because I completely forgot that I have another brand of flakies to show you! I had been saving them until now because I really wanted to show you one of them with one of the Ludurana polishes I will show you today, but I forgot all about it until I found the photos again last night, so today you get an unexpected bonus brand! Yay!</div>
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So I'm going to start with the Luduranas, this first one I found in a sale bin, and I almost didn't buy it until I actually opened the bottle. It's called 'Rubra' (Ruby!) and on the bottle it said was a creme polish, but I was confused because in the bottle it looked black not red, and I thought there must be some kind of mistake so out of pure curiosity I opened the bottle, and I'm sure as hell glad I did! What I discovered inside was not a creme polish, but an absolutely stunning deep blood red jelly! It reminded me of the fake gel blood you can buy at halloween, and it went straight in my shopping basket!</div>
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It's a very darkly tinted jelly and I managed to get full opacity in 4 coats which I was very pleased about, I absolute ADORE the colour, but what I love the most about this polish is the finish, it's the glossiest shiniest polish I have ever seen, it reflects the light like pure glass! It is so shiny that I dared not even touch it for hours because it just appeared to be wet and I couldn't be sure if it had even dried or not! I have never seen a top coat that can achieve this kind of mega gloss! Top coat would just ruin it!</div>
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I also took pictures of this polish in the shade where the reflective surface was even more apparent, but in the end I chose not to show them, because in that perfectly reflective surface on each single nail was a crystal clear image of my face! I looked a right mess too, shitty hair no makeup and pyjamas! lol! So as I also work as a model I have a reputation that does not permit me to circulate photos of myself looking anything less than FABULOUS! hahahahaha. </div>
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On to the next polish, and this one is from the collection that was on the very top of my wishlist! The absolutely incredible 'Aurora Boreal' multichrome collection! Unfortunately I was only able to find this one, it turns out the Brazilian girls don't like this particular colour much and I found it on sale everywhere, but only this colour! The only place I ever saw the rest of the collection was on the stall that I posted a pic of on last fridays's post, but they were <i>really</i> expensive, even if I had known that I would never see that stall again I still don't think I would have bought them. To give you an idea of how expensive, the average polish here retails for 4 Brazilian Reals, the average Ludurana polish retails at around 8 Reals, but the Aurora Boreal collection on this stall were a whopping 20 Reals each! I was with my mother in law too and I think she may have fainted had she witnessed me spending so much for one polish, especially in a country where saying that money is 'tight' would be a massive understatement! I have since found a Brazilian website that still has the whole collection for sale, and to be honest, I think once I get back to Europe and start earning again, I'm going to purchase the full collection (at a nice price cos the conversion from euro to real is awesome!) and have it delivered to my mother in laws house to keep until I visit next! It will be difficult to live until next January knowing that they are sitting there waiting for me, but at least they will be mine!!!</div>
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Anyways, the polish! This one is called 'Espetacular' (can you figure it out?!) and is a multichrome wihich shows gold, copper, red, green and even a hint of blue at extreme angles.Personally I thought it was lovely and couldn't understand why it was the only colour that had not been sold out like the others. Being a multichrome I took a shit ton of photographs in different lighting and stuff, these first 2 were taken in full sun where the colours come up quite dark and metallic.</div>
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Tilted at an angle you can start to see the green coming through, but in full sun you can really only see this red, orangey copper and green.<br />
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These next pics were taken in the shade and the colours are much lighter with a lot more of the gold tones coming through.<br />
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Of course, to do a multichrome polish any real justice with photography, I had to dunk my hand in some water and catch ALL the magic colours. We had just had a lot of rain so it was too cold to get in the pool, I had to settle for lying on the floor next to it and dangling my hand in there to get the pics, but the family actually had work men at the house wondering around and fixing stuff, I swatched a few multichromes in the pool that day, and I'm sure they thought I was quite mad lying on the floor every half hour and dunking my hand in the pool to take pics, I was getting some<i> very</i> strange looks, but screw em', they wouldn't understand even if I had explained!</div>
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Look at all those amazing colours! I love how the red becomes so dark and deep but still goes through the whole colour shift all the way to the blue! I apologise for the reflections on the water surface, I didn't realise they were there until days later when I went to sort the pics, and I had already travelled to my husband's home city by then, didn't have the polish with me or access to a pool to re-do the photos! Here's one more pic that captured the blue just perfectly!</div>
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What I loved most about this polish is that I didn't need to mess around with a black base first, I did swatch a finger over black just to check, but the polish is so highly pigmented it made absolutely no difference, the formua is fantastic, the only polish I ever wore here that was flawless in 2 coats, and it has a really glossy finish too which is unusual for metallic type polishes, have another look at the pics taken in the shade and see how glossy it is, no top coat!</div>
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Now for the flakies! This first one I wanted to show you with the Ludurana polish I just showed you, because it's a colour shifting flaky with exactly the same colour range, and turns a magic polish into a mind blowing one! The brand is called is 'Mohda' and the collction is 'Flocado Estilo' (Flaked style). This particular polish is called 'Techno' and had an amazing formula for a flaky, it's densly packed with flakes and you get a lot of coverage in just two coats, and it dries perfectly smooth, if you run your finger over it (when it's dry!) you wouldn't even know that there were any flakies in there! </div>
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This first pic was taken in full sun, which didn't show much of a colour shift in the flakies, but they gave the Ludurana a stunning sparkle and helped to bring out more of the Luduranas gold tones which without the flaky were not very visible in full sun.</div>
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This next pic was taken in the shade and the green and copper tones of the flaky are much more obvious, and combined with the colour shift of the base polish just looks frickin' awesome!</div>
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And of course, I took an underwater pic too! So gorgeous I can't even get over it! It's polishes like this that remind me why I love polish so much in the first place, you can get so many amazing effects that just can't be reproduced in make-up or clothing! </div>
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I also have a couple of pictures of this flaky layered over a plain black creme base so that we can appreciate the colour shift of the flakies alone without the added confusion of the shifting base below. The clouds were coming back to start raining again when I was ready to take this first picture and so couldn't get a full sun shot, but shifters don't fare well in full sun anyway so I figured you would forgive me! </div>
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Ahhhh just as glorious even without a shifty base! I took a pic in the pool too and was surprised to discover a very blue tone to it, you couldn't see that even in the bottle!<br />
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One last flaky from Mohda and this is called 'Mix Ballada' which I was unable to translate! I should have swatched this one first, it's not a colour shifter but it's still pretty, it's just that after witnessing the magic of the last one it made me feel a bit meh! I have to get that colour shifter out of my head and try this other one another day and I'm sure I'll feel better about it! It has blue, green and copper flakies, and I have it here layered over black in full sun and shade. Though not as pretty as the last one the formula was just as great! </div>
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So that's it for todays post, I hope you enjoyed the bonus flakies and the shit ton of pics of colour shifters! lol! Tomorrow I have the very last of my Brazilian polish haul, but as always I saved the best til last, so if you thought that today's polishes were beautiful, tomorrow Imma' blow yer socks off! Don't miss it!</div>
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Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-57201434396084361672014-02-26T01:44:00.000+00:002014-05-03T18:11:00.336+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - Ludurana D'lux and Alta DefinicaoYay more Ludurana polishes and I have a couple of polishes from two different collections to show you today! A couple of these were even on my wish list!<br />
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The first collection is 'Alta Definicao' (High Definition) and they are just simple metallics in bright gold and silver. The reason I wanted them is because I don't have a silver as bright as this one, and I don't have a gold as bold as this one either, the silvers I have are more like shimmery shades of grey, and I usually normally go for lighter tones of gold and this one is pretty dark, so I needed the variety.<br />
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This polish is called 'Prata Pura' (Pure Silver) and is a really light super bright metallic polish, just blinding in the sun. It has a quite a pasty texture but apply's really smoothly and dries super fast too.<br />
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The second is called 'Ouro Puro' (Pure Gold) it's dark and warm toned but did not have the same texture as the silver polish, this was more of the usual jelly base and takes quite a bit longer to dry, though technically it does say that they are fast dry on both bottles. The gold Is faster drying than the average polish here, but not as fast as the silver.<br />
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The next polishes are from the D'lux collection and were both on my wish list, so when I found them at a slightly discounted rate I snapped them up! <br />
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This is called 'Acao' (Action) and is a light fuchsia shimmery jelly with very light gold, large fleck glitter. It had a really nice consistency and went on nice and smooth despite the odd shaped glitter. I'm really loving the fleck type glitters and think I'm going to need many more!<br />
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This last one is my absolute favourite and is called 'Jambo' (which is just one of those made up names and doesn't really mean anything!) This a dark magenta jelly densly packed with fine glass fleck glitter which flickers between blue and violet. Again this had a pefect formula, and was so much more sparkly than it is in the picture. I also have a ring that matches this polish perfectly, but that was even worse to get pictures of than the polish! It's basically a trasparent magenta, oval shaped stone, with the surface that is rough as though it were covered in tiny glass shards, but the shards are actually irridescent blue and violet and the pink stone shines through from underneath. It's just cheap crap that turns my finger green, but it's sooo pretty and is just totally the jewellry baby of this polish! <br />
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I still have more Luduranas and as usual I always save the best til last! So keep up with me this week as then it will be the giveaway!<br />
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<br />Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-39804298320710747812014-02-24T22:10:00.000+00:002014-05-03T18:11:52.209+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - Ludurana Duo Chromes<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hey everyone! Welcome to the third and final week of my Brazilian polishes swatchathon! </div>
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I have been showing you new different brands almost everyday the last couple of weeks, but this week is a little different as I really only have one brand left to show you, my favourite of all Brazilian Polishes - Ludurana! I had been drooling over pics of some of these polishes for the longest time, and when I found that I was actually going to come to Brazil I almost died! Finally I was going to get my hands on some long time lemmed polish beauties! I have managed to get my hands on quite a few Ludurana polishes while I've been here, some from my lemmings list, some not, but I still have more Luduranas in my collection than any other brand, so I will have to spread it out over a few days to not overwhelm you! </div>
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Today I am going to start with my least favourites, the duochromes. Now you're asking yourself 'why on earth would duochromes be your least favourite!?' and the sad truth is that a couple of them were frankly a bit disappointing, It's a good job I found them in a sales bin and didn't break the bank on them as with some other Ludurana polishes. Let's get the biggest disappointment out of the way first.</div>
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The first polish is Ludurana Duochrome Magenta-Gold, which I was excited about and thought would be fabulous, but is anything but! Before I go on just take a look at the picture, I already know what you're thinking - 'That my friend - is the shoddiest paint job I have seen you do in a while!' and I couldn't even blame you for thinking so, but I promise it wasn't me, it's just the crappy polish, and I'm sure it's the crappy polish because I painted my nails three times to get this swatch, black base and all! The first time I painted them I thought 'Bloody hell love, you must have beer goggles on today cos you've done a terrible job!', so I took it all off, painted the black base again and covered it with the duochrome. This time I was very careful about my application, but it still looked terrible, and I thought 'Jeeeez I'm going crazy today!'. So I took it all off <i>yet again</i>, re-painted the base, applied the duochrome with painful attention and precision, and when it came up the third time looking just as bad a the first two, well, there was nothing else for it, I just had to resign to the fact that the polish is poop!</div>
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First of all, it's not even magenta, it's lavender, and mixed with gold comes up a very strange and rather unattractive shade of lavender, not loving the colour at all.</div>
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Secondly, it does just does not apply well. It doesn't matter what I do it just doesn't spread evenly on the nail, there is streaking with dark patches and light patches, It pulls away from the cuticle revealing the black base, and it generally just looks terrible. Three attempts and it still looks bad! I just don't ever want to wear this polish, and wouldn't even know what to do with it to franken it and make it useable! Suggestions on a postcard please!</div>
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This next Duochrome is Orange- Blue and disappointed me too, though not nearly as much as the first!</div>
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The reason it was disappointing is because there is virtually no duochrome to be seen at all, not on camera, not irl, not in the sun or the shade, there just is no duochrome, only blue (which is surprising because the dominant colour in the bottle is actually orange!!) It's a shame because I thought that orange and blue together would be rather lovely. There is a consolation though, that being that the shade of blue is rather spectacular, and the formula was light years ahead of the last polish, so it might not be the duochrome I hoped for, but it's still pretty and wearable. Here is a pic of it layered over black.</div>
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The last duochrome I have I like to call 'the redeemer' because it is everything I want in a duochrome and didn't disappoint even a tiny bit! Unlike the last two it had nice opacity in 3 coats so can be worn on it's own without a black base and the duochrome is still nice and obvious, (I didn't even need to take extra shots at different angles the duochrome is so obvious!) but you can also wear it over a black base too for a much darker shade and a totally different look, so it's a versatile polish too. It also had a very nice non streaky formula. In the first picture I am wearing the polish on it's own, and in the second I am wearing it layered over black.</div>
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So these were my Ludurana duochromes, it's not the best collection they ever brought out, you will have to keep tuning in this week to catch my other Ludurana's, some of which are spectacular! </div>
<br />Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-36759137569719887322014-02-21T21:05:00.000+00:002014-05-03T18:12:48.290+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - Hits Specialita'<div style="text-align: justify;">
Yaaaaay we've finally made it to my two favourite Brazilian brands, and today it's Hits Specialita' which is 3 free..</div>
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To be honest, all the best polishes that I wanted from this brand have been impossible to find. I have searched and searched and searched some more, but they are nowhere to be seen. I have managed to buy a couple that I adore and a couple that I like, but the vast majority of what was on my wish list are still extremely far from my grasp. I'm happy that I found a couple from my wishlist, but mostly disappointed that the rest escaped me :(</div>
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The first 3 I will show you are from the 'Glitter World' Collection, all glitter toppers where each polish is named after a major city somewhere in the world. For each topper I have tried to pick a base colour that matches the jelly base of the glitter.</div>
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This first polish is named after the city of Cancun in Mexico and it's a light peachy jelly base with magenta micro dots, and holographic medium hexes in gold and magenta. When I say holographic though I really mean it, these glitters are MEGA bright and shine all different colours in the sun. This is two coats layered over Australis - Sinfully Sweet, and as you can see you get <i>a lot</i> of glitter on the nail.</div>
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The next polish is named after the island of Ibiza in Spain, and essentially it is just like Cancun but with a much darker orange jelly base, you might say it has quite a brick red tone to it too. I chose to layer it over Duri - Summer Peach, but if you layered it over something more red I'm sure you would get a totally different colour.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfSEhv_djDRcBLbOHooXpUf6mw1qMHXN5cp7BCfMjTlhtPcnuvW6n_eU-jxah1KAS_AqEE-Nw6o_xve5ih6nvPb5mEibR5RiJ1bz5xtQRUDuc4TnrTG1TbXjU-DRGAVJRcKYqRaRhOrqjb/s1600/SAM_8352.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfSEhv_djDRcBLbOHooXpUf6mw1qMHXN5cp7BCfMjTlhtPcnuvW6n_eU-jxah1KAS_AqEE-Nw6o_xve5ih6nvPb5mEibR5RiJ1bz5xtQRUDuc4TnrTG1TbXjU-DRGAVJRcKYqRaRhOrqjb/s1600/SAM_8352.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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The last one I have from the Glitter World collection is named after Rome, and seen as I lived in Rome for 5 whole years, well, I could hardly turn my back on this one could I!? It is awesome though, and is one of the many that was on my wishlist! Its a light pink jelly base with similar glitter to the first two, magenta micro dots and medium hexes in holographic gold, but it also has the addition of medium holographic hexes in blue and purple, and medium and large matte white hexes which give it a totally different look. Again this is just 2 coats and you get so much glitter!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyP4DIHTGHJ-D4datrbWska2IgJbXoZomCVIONaIElvj1VvDshZqRRqDafBhYhlOD4y5O5t4eenZ4SE1axsKK8h2FiDPl-hMebY6ZAWQ_ldWIMjxSAVBIHf1hYL1uBQCF7XOb8Jq4owRA6/s1600/SAM_8366.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyP4DIHTGHJ-D4datrbWska2IgJbXoZomCVIONaIElvj1VvDshZqRRqDafBhYhlOD4y5O5t4eenZ4SE1axsKK8h2FiDPl-hMebY6ZAWQ_ldWIMjxSAVBIHf1hYL1uBQCF7XOb8Jq4owRA6/s1600/SAM_8366.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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The fourth polish I have to show doesn't appear to be from any particular collection, and is called 'Power Pop'. I thought it was a glitter topper, it's basically a lightly tinted peach jelly base packed with an orange irridescent glitter, so I layered it over Rimmel - Lemon drop. But after applying just two coats of the glitter I couldn't see the lemon base at all, so I guess you can wear it on it's own too! The irridesence of this polish brings up extra colours of yellow and green, though for some reason when I took the pictures those colours only showed up in the bottle and not my nails. :( Still damn pretty though!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMu_zQRGCqxwccem7otzkEXFhxabSy9hm-fy43Kbj-tYXwWnQGvU0Z96kfAqeUDZKzmLWSB9afhGjyoC12cNZakc3zUFqr7BWPoTLA0eqv6rugzZkxFv4oF5D4Yq7tpKvyYHR0vhlzy3bK/s1600/SAM_8341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMu_zQRGCqxwccem7otzkEXFhxabSy9hm-fy43Kbj-tYXwWnQGvU0Z96kfAqeUDZKzmLWSB9afhGjyoC12cNZakc3zUFqr7BWPoTLA0eqv6rugzZkxFv4oF5D4Yq7tpKvyYHR0vhlzy3bK/s1600/SAM_8341.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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This last polish, ooooohhhh this last polish! I saw this on a stall in a shopping mall my first week in Brazil and the stall had quite the selection of polishes from my wishlist. I restricted myself to buying just this one from Hits and a couple of other brands, the prices on the stall were quite expensive to be honest, and I thought 'Don't go mad yet, you just got here and can probably buy these cheaper elsewhere'. Just in case though, I did ask the girl if she was in this mall all the time, and she told me she was a permanent fixture, but when I discovered that all the polishes she had were impossible to find elsewhere I went back to the mall to buy my wishlist items from her, and she was gone! Permanent fixture my ass! I deeply regret not buying everything I wanted from her when I was there the first time, I could have smashed most of my wishlist right there, but because she lied to me about being there permanently I lost the chance, and my wish list remains just that, a wish list :( Why would you do that? Why would you not just tell me that you move around and where I can find you so that I can come and give you my money? It makes no sense to me at all, but I need to get out of rant mode before I go over board! GAH!</div>
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Here is a picture of my ridiculous face when I first found that stall with my entire wish list on it:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-px_HQyja8KICLZbyX_kH9eLTqRe0MYuutX5hyFpzoPF-n8zIuNA65bHVPa1eMWQFlJUQRcyZMq0ychPCCjriA55at3r9O-NW-w1BLDvYuI-nzOapvn4SmLVRkMoA_A32UQIJwb0nfFH_/s1600/20131028_145720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-px_HQyja8KICLZbyX_kH9eLTqRe0MYuutX5hyFpzoPF-n8zIuNA65bHVPa1eMWQFlJUQRcyZMq0ychPCCjriA55at3r9O-NW-w1BLDvYuI-nzOapvn4SmLVRkMoA_A32UQIJwb0nfFH_/s1600/20131028_145720.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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Look at all that damn polish, I should have just spent all our savings right then and there! </div>
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But anyway, the polish. This is from the 'Hits phenomena' collection, and it's a fricking multichrome glitter! A MULTI CHROME GLITTER! I never even knew such a thing existed! I thought it was just polish that could do that, not glitter! A goddamn phenomena indeed! *Cries because she didn't by the whole collection when she had the chance* :(</div>
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It's called moonbow, and the dominant colors in it are purple and green (of course!) but at extreme angles you can also get blue, pink, purple, reddish copper and gold.</div>
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I did two coats over a base of Colorama - Amethyst, which I swatched in last friday's post, and then tried to take the pictures. In the sun I could just about pick up the purple and green. The green came out very tealy (nice) but even in the shade it was difficult to get more than those 2 colours despite their being many more.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzh4lV7l5LTYp4KdqLAbVw1f145bu2DWc8HeRznVEKfrYm5ASIviZ6NSeweGDYhTVNuQPBERV9p_H7w0JiAN4mn6si1lthyphenhyphenMuwEoeDD9nQ4Va7lKhOF53en2BXFOCnUwZAqCuYIiugMcQ/s1600/SAM_7400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzh4lV7l5LTYp4KdqLAbVw1f145bu2DWc8HeRznVEKfrYm5ASIviZ6NSeweGDYhTVNuQPBERV9p_H7w0JiAN4mn6si1lthyphenhyphenMuwEoeDD9nQ4Va7lKhOF53en2BXFOCnUwZAqCuYIiugMcQ/s1600/SAM_7400.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4Am0oTgmbGC0nE1Ib5DLFZX_Sk7NGIQ-MR1v-hHVQZGsr2XVm7Hdm2sv35aT4SjZubSJLXQS7PuWFfi8z_BYC6MV_aNOxlKfPtYbR6LrKKZpNMy6xbIS0VP_Xk0xLgMANeFit1StXyOk/s1600/SAM_7403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4Am0oTgmbGC0nE1Ib5DLFZX_Sk7NGIQ-MR1v-hHVQZGsr2XVm7Hdm2sv35aT4SjZubSJLXQS7PuWFfi8z_BYC6MV_aNOxlKfPtYbR6LrKKZpNMy6xbIS0VP_Xk0xLgMANeFit1StXyOk/s1600/SAM_7403.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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I took literally hundreds of photos just to get these 3, which let's face it, for a multichrome is not that good. I got so hot and bothered about it that I had to take a break and go for a dip in the pool, and that's when I remembered what needed to be done for a polish like this one, under water shots!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhWPphP7NpsmCGx1FcdevqPuLFtFDZxp0owMogeCcYDLSXFtb4CuO8N0LqMlMr5NE1hU9NoXZL6NOTFXSaeMOOcntHSuGp-epX0Y46IfcwKVieoQQloENy5Zs7tqYKB2XMrA8s_FHlsYTk/s1600/SAM_7410.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhWPphP7NpsmCGx1FcdevqPuLFtFDZxp0owMogeCcYDLSXFtb4CuO8N0LqMlMr5NE1hU9NoXZL6NOTFXSaeMOOcntHSuGp-epX0Y46IfcwKVieoQQloENy5Zs7tqYKB2XMrA8s_FHlsYTk/s1600/SAM_7410.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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I took hundreds more similar pics, but this one just captured all those awesome colours perfectly anyway, and this post is already long enough. Plus, I just don't wanna look at too many pics of this to be reminded of the rest of the collection that I left behind on that stall....... *Cries some more*</div>
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At least in the last brand I have to show you next week I had a bit more luck in finding some of my wishlists, though even for this last brand there are still many many more to find! </div>
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Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-49990703825986910992014-02-20T22:04:00.000+00:002014-05-03T18:13:27.831+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - Mixed Brands<div style="text-align: justify;">
Welcome back lovelies, today's post has 3 polishes that are all seperate lonely brands that I only have one of, but that makes em' special right? :)</div>
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The first brand is 'Eliana' and the polish is called 'Chrome Attitude', as you can tell from the name it's a metallic chrome polish! I don't think that technically it's a duochrome, though when in the shade and the sun you get two different colours. In the sun it's a gorgeous dark purple with a bright violet shimmer where the light hits it, and in the shade it's a dark marroon brown with a hint of purple. It had a nice smooth and easy to apply formula, opaque in 3 coats, and I got it for less than a dollar in a sales bin! Don't have many browny shades in my collection, and it was a bargain, so winner!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIIiil2z3TXnq2nmQ8MlIYHH1HN-RCtpszOng5x4JC-la-H8mHyclLqrn6C2RswfMu6d2lNn4x4-md-83VscRLiwpQ19R1QrHjCpb7h4Ry2X4NoHu2r-HFcXzGkvCnksRugQBLvzCXmI3P/s1600/SAM_8382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIIiil2z3TXnq2nmQ8MlIYHH1HN-RCtpszOng5x4JC-la-H8mHyclLqrn6C2RswfMu6d2lNn4x4-md-83VscRLiwpQ19R1QrHjCpb7h4Ry2X4NoHu2r-HFcXzGkvCnksRugQBLvzCXmI3P/s1600/SAM_8382.jpg" height="448" width="640" /> </a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhioUmPXrVBUy4k9OqBE5Ym9oFVrJb4YfQaQt6qC_QSqBSgdJWdP1K2OtbzYu3wwlVxO__KDFZDuj8Xeyj3M-nGn3XYt843-crxCvntr14wIg8dmWL8_N0y-ctGLTr2sDPXEwL14DTzGMTG/s1600/SAM_8394.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhioUmPXrVBUy4k9OqBE5Ym9oFVrJb4YfQaQt6qC_QSqBSgdJWdP1K2OtbzYu3wwlVxO__KDFZDuj8Xeyj3M-nGn3XYt843-crxCvntr14wIg8dmWL8_N0y-ctGLTr2sDPXEwL14DTzGMTG/s1600/SAM_8394.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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The next polish was actually created by some famous Brazilian designer for a large chain of pharmacies own line, so the brand is actually the name of the pharmacy 'Panvel'. It's a beautiful pinky coral orange with a strong gold shimmer, and is simply called 'Coral' The formula is a little dense but nothing that I can't work with, but even though it's a bit dense it still needed 3 coats, the density also means it streaks a bit if you're not careful. I also have to make sure each coat is fully dry before I apply the next, otherwise it bubbles quite badly, so application time is a bit long, and it's a total no go if you're in a rush. I do really love the colour though, It's a great summer polish when I have the patience for it!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBWIg8IV9dYM06PmMDvTwSfi9iw0XVxKrIB5y5KRmBqb_Zy7Wqe68OS6TH_pjrzTaadKzK2Xlm6xX4OMrrg4CX2JCi8r6maoln7Uz6iqH-1RcOluNxq-ZGUd8Fb7qHvvMpWFZDRvgPbpBK/s1600/SAM_7437.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBWIg8IV9dYM06PmMDvTwSfi9iw0XVxKrIB5y5KRmBqb_Zy7Wqe68OS6TH_pjrzTaadKzK2Xlm6xX4OMrrg4CX2JCi8r6maoln7Uz6iqH-1RcOluNxq-ZGUd8Fb7qHvvMpWFZDRvgPbpBK/s1600/SAM_7437.jpg" height="448" width="640" /> </a></div>
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This last polish is frankly a bit of a cheat, because it's not actually a Brazilian brand at all and says on the bottle that it was made in Los Angeles. But I'm going on the rule 'I bought it here so I'm counting it' simply because I am totally in love with it and just HAD to show you it. I think this might be my most favourite glitter polish of all time, so how could I not show you it regardless of where it comes from?!!</div>
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The brand is 'Cherimoya' which I had never heard of until I came across this, now I'm curious to know where else in the world I can find it, because if they have any more glitter polishes similar to this one, I'm going to NEED THEM ALL.</div>
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Basically it's a glitter topper in a lightly tinted peachy transparent base, and the reason I love it so bad is that the glitter is not made out of the usual foil, it's actually made from mylar. If you don't know mylar, it's basically a transparent plastic material that comes in different light pastel coloured tints, and the effect of the pastel tint on plastic gives it this totally magical color changing rainbowy irridesence that reminds me of my favourite precious stone in the world, the opal. </div>
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This particular polish is called 'Electric Heaven' which is a pretty suitable name, because everytime I wear it I feel like I have actual heaven on my nails! As it's just a topper in these pictures I have it layered over a base colour, I prefer this mylar glitter when it's layered over a very light base but I have also done more pictures with it layered over a dark colour too. As this glitter is technically transparent, it's also a bit of a bitch to photograph, so I've done a few in different lighting to try and catch all the different colours. The base contains tiny microdots and medium size hexes in a predominantly golden peachy colour, but the glitter ranges from gold to green to orange in the shade, and from blue to pink to violet in the sun, it also has a small spattering of light matte pink stars in it too, not too many though, just enough for you to get one or two on each nail. The consistency is a bit thick and gloopy and needs a good fast drying top coat, but frankly it could have the consistency of porridge (thats oatmeal to you Americans!) and I wouldn't give a crap, I love it so much I would totally make it work anyway!</div>
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First the pictures layered over a light base of 'Australis' Sinfully Sweet.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOpO2Pi_mwEHLa6ifeNeRgohWgbIsjlTpWnREjzpYc2i6bg5dqJTI6X416r587yeQDLZrH4kjmSkWynAHO5vB7Dp34x3iypQ7nlCZOlpJdiRQWg5593E84H26PqZ_sfPmAkgzNPRDudlkX/s1600/SAM_8400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOpO2Pi_mwEHLa6ifeNeRgohWgbIsjlTpWnREjzpYc2i6bg5dqJTI6X416r587yeQDLZrH4kjmSkWynAHO5vB7Dp34x3iypQ7nlCZOlpJdiRQWg5593E84H26PqZ_sfPmAkgzNPRDudlkX/s1600/SAM_8400.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is the polish in direct sunlight with the sun behind me shining directly onto the nails, you can mostly make out blue tones but to the naked eye there is also violet and pink too.</div>
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This time I am facing the sun so it is shining on my face but the nails are backlit by the sun rather than having it shining directly on them. There is the blue tone from before but a lot more gold and peach tones here too.</div>
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This is in the shade, but it's still difficult to pick up the pink and aqua green tones you get, like I said, a bitch to photograph! </div>
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In the next pic I have the glitter topper layered over 'Colorama' - Noite Quente, which I swatched for you all in last fridays post.</div>
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This pic was taken in direct sun light, on a darker base the blue tones are much darker but you can at least make out a bit of green and peachy tones too. </div>
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In this picture the polish is backlit by the sun, and the gold and peach tones are much stronger. I did also do a pic in the full shade, but it was just the same as this one really.</div>
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Unfortunately this was just one of those polishes where there is not a photo in the world that will do it even a bit of justice. It has to be seen to be believed! If you have access to this brand go now and buy this immediately, I promise you will not be disappointed, and if you are I will let you slap me in the face, I am that confident that anyone would love this just as much as I do. If you do find it, let me know if there are more similar!!</div>
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I have only 2 brands left to show you which are the two I was most excited about buying, I only managed to find a few of one brand so I will show you those tomorrow, and I managed to buy quite a few of the last brand, some of which are frankly spectacular, so the final brand will span out over 2 or 3 days next week. I really did save the best til last so make sure you tune in! </div>
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Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-21061308348113658242014-02-20T01:59:00.001+00:002014-05-03T18:14:22.940+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - Mereje and Big Universo<div style="text-align: justify;">
Today I'm going to show you a couple of different brands which I only have two each of, three of the four polishes I will show you were again given to me as a gift from my lovely sister in law Deborah. (The family may have slated her somewhat for being an 'enabler', but I LOVE enablers! hahahahah)</div>
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First I'll start with a brand called 'Big Universo', and this first polish is the one I bought. It's from the collection 'Quantum' and is called 'Kryptium', its a beautiful golden sage green metallic, and though it doesn't say anything on the bottle I think that it's supposed to be a duochrome technically, though there's not really any duochromyness going on. I should probably layer it over black for the effect, but to be honest I love the colour just the way it is, and can get full opacity in 3 coats.</div>
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The next polish doesn't appear to be from any particular colection and is called 'Icaro' (Icarus), with the name of a legend from greek mythology you would think it would be from a collection, but unlike the first polish there is no mention of it on the bottle. Anyways, this is a dark metallic mustard yellow, and though probably not a colour I would have thought to buy myself I do quite like it, I certainly don't have anything like it in my collection already so it's a welcome addition!</div>
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The formula on Big Universo was not too bad, it was a little bit watery and I had to be careful not to flood my cuticles with polish during application but it had a really smooth finish, and the streaking wasn't too bad for metallic polishes either. What I did like about this brand was the bottle size, a whopping 15.5 ml. That might not be so whopping to most of us when the standard bottle size in the rest of world is between 12 and 15 ml, but here in Brazil the standard size of every other brand I have seen is only 8 ml, so this is almost double the polish the other Brazilian brands offer you, and at about the same price too. Infact I have gotten so used to the smaller size bottles, I had difficulty posing my fingers for the photos over this big beast of a bottle!</div>
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This next brand is called 'Mereje Trends' and if my sister in law hadn't bought them for me I wouldn't own this brand at all because I have not seen it for sale anywhere! I have 2 lovely neons anyway from the Brasileirissima (Very Brazilian!) collection and this first one is called 'Rio 40 degrees' (It's actually just the little circle sign for degrees, you can just about make it out in the pic on the purple label , but I couldn't find it on my portuguese keyboard!). It's a neon creme in a slightly orange leaning yellow, and over the last few months I've been developing a bit of a thing for light orange and coral shades, so I'm loving this one. Technically it's supposed to be a shimmer polish too, but it is sooooo damn subtle, that I could only just about make it out by holding my nail one inch from my eye, so forget trying to capture it in a photo!</div>
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The last one for today is from the same collection, and is called 'Bahiana Arretada' I cannot translate this name for you unfortunately bcause apparently it's slang from a dialect specific to one region of Brazil, google couldn't translate it, word reference couldn't translate it, and neither could my Brazilian husband so go figure! </div>
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Anyways, it's a bright coral red creme polish with a subtle violet shimmer, it's a rather unusual combination and I rather like it! I also have many reds in my collection but not one coral red, so yet another welcome addition!</div>
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I liked the formula of this polish, there was virtually no streaking which for cremes is unusual, and they had a really nice glossy finish. I'm wearing 3 coats in the pics which by now seems to be the standard for these Brazilian brands. I would be interested to see what else there is from this brand but I never come across it in the stores, and it's too late now as I'm leaving Brazil shortly! Merrrr :(<br />
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At least the next time I come to Brazil it will be for a holiday and not because Australia kicked me out of the country last minute and I had nowhere else to go(!), and that means that next time I will actually have proper spending money and not just minimal savings that I'm attempting to live off! Watch out Brazil, next year it's gonna be a polish spreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!<br />
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<br />Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-3562827129908220042014-02-18T23:58:00.000+00:002014-05-03T18:15:04.107+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - Cora Part 2<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hey there!<br />
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This is day 2 of my stash of Brazilian 'Cora' polishes and I seriously heart this particular collection!<br />
The collection is called 'Via Lactea' (Milky Way) and is divided into 3 parts, or collections within a collection if you like, 'Raio Do Sol' (Sun Ray), 'Luar' (Lunar), and a third collection that is something to do with stars, though I don't remember the name exactly because I didn't buy any. Basically the starry collection was just holographic glitter in a clear base, one gold, one silver etc, and let's be honest, I have plenty of those already!<br />
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I have three of the Raio Do Sol and one from the Luar collection, but only because it's the only one from the Luar collection that I could find, otherwise I might have had more!<br />
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So let's start with the Luar collection, this is called 'Gallileu' (I think I might be insulting if I translated that actually!) and is a decently tinted bright magenta jelly, filled with silver glass fleck glitter. I have bought a lot of pink polishes while I have been here, some I am still yet to show you, but in my defense, I did mention some months ago that even though I like pink it's a colour somewhat lacking in my collection for some reason! The excessive purchasing of pink polish this season could also be due to the fact that I died my hair bright magenta pink at the beginning of this summer, and I guess I just had to have matching polishes! <br />
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Now for the Raio Do Sol collection and these are my favourites because the colours are just too amazing!<br />
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This first polish I LOVE despite thinking I wouldn't, and it's a lime green jelly densely packed with bright yellow gold glass
fleck glitter called 'Colossal'. In the end this was too sheer to wear on it's own (at least for my personal taste) and I had to layer this over white like yesterdays crellies, but it came out
exactly the same colour just without the visible nail line.This particular one my sister in law Deborah bought for me (I got the rest) and I honestly thought I
would really hate it, because of all the colours in the spectrum I
dislike lime green the most, but with this bright yellow glass fleck it
was just too awesome to not love!<br />
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These next 2 polishes are my absolute favourites, they are soooooo beautiful, first I'm gonna show you second place and as usual save the best til last!<br />
This is 'Radius' and is a gorgeous bright blue jelly with extra fine gold and green glitter giving it that lovely green glow. Technically the glitter is not glass fleck, but it is so fine that as it layers up with each coat into little groups it gives the impression of glass flecks. I took a second photo of this polish in the shade as in direct sun is was difficult to make out the glitter effect properly, and in the shade it is more teal blue and just beautiful!<br />
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Lastly my favourite, and this is a stunning dark antique rose with the same ultra fine gold glitter as the blue polish, giving that fake glass fleck appearance, and this is called 'UV'. If you have followed this blog for a while you will have seen me mention several times that my favourite colour combination in the whole world is pink and gold, especially antique rose with gold, so this polish is just the top of the top of the top for me! Consider that antique rose and gold is also actually very difficult to find in a polish, and you will understand when I say that I nearly screamed the shop down when I found this!!!<br />
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I apologise for the polsh application looking a bit sheer in places, I'm pretty annoyed by it actually as it's all just camera trickery, I always check my polish in full sun to make sure it's fully opaque before I take the pictures, and I promise you that to the naked eye it was flawless! Then when I looked at the photos after I had taken it off the camera had picked it up as quite light in places, mostly on the index and little fingers, I was so annoyed!<br />
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I applied 3 coats of all of these polishes and that was enough for full opacity (apart from the green which was layered over white, and the rest were opaque at least to the naked eye!) and the formula was just perfect with a nice smooth finish.<br />
There was a dark emerald green of this Raio Do Sol collection too which I didn't buy in favor of the others, and I'm really starting to regret that decision now as I don't think I'll have the opportunity to go back to the city and buy it before we leave Brazil in a couple of weeks! GAH! I should have just stook to the essential rule - BUY ALL THE POLISH!<br />
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In the next couple of days I'm gonna show you a few more brands that I have one or two of, and to finish the swatcathon I'm going to show you the two top brands that I was most excited about purchasing when I first found out I was coming to Brazil! When the final swatches are up I will be announcing the details and prizes of my Brazilian polish giveaway (which shoud be around Thursday or Friday of next week) So stick with me ladies as it's just gonna get better and better!<br />
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Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-25733593063185830762014-02-17T21:26:00.000+00:002014-05-03T18:15:54.826+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - Cora<div style="text-align: justify;">
Greetings lovely ladies! I welcome you to the second week of my Brazilian polish swatchathon and there are still many more to go! </div>
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Today's brand is 'Cora' and I have 4 polishes to show you today and another 4 tomorrow, though it has to be said I am a very lucky girl as I actually only purchased one of today's myself and the rest of them were given to me as a gift from my sister in law Deborah! Needless to say that I will love her forever! </div>
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In today's polishes I have 2 neons crellies, a holographic glitter (which is the one I bought of course, nothing ever changes!) and a crackle polish!</div>
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Let's do the neons first, I have 2 crellies from the 'Sampa' collection, the name being an abbreviation of 'Sao Paulo' and the names of the polishes are untranslatable as they actually refer to the names of urban areas within the city of Sao Paulo! I love that my Brazilian polishes are sharing a bit of Brazilian culture with me too!</div>
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The first polish is 'Ibirapuera' and is a weird mix of apple and lime green. As the polish is a crelly I tested it for opacity before doing a full swatch, and I discovered that it is very sheer and after 5 coats was no closer to being opaque. As I hate VNL and hate wasting polish with 20 layers just to cover it even more, I layered this and the next polish over a white base, and 2 coats was all they needed with a base, just to get nice even coverage.</div>
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Now I have to apologise, this image is not a true representation of the actual colour of this polish, my camera picked it up much lighter and mintier then it really is, but I thought hey no problem, I can do a colour balance in photoshop to get it right. Actually no, turns out this is the weirdest shade of green ever, and despite fannying around with various colour adjustments in photoshop for over 2 hours, and getting my computer nerd designer husband working on it too(!) I just could not get the colour to match what's in the bottle. I even went on line and searched a trillion colour charts to get the exact right shade of green and found nothing that even came close! It's like this shade of green never existed until this polish came out! The image is the closest I could possibly get it, but imagine it's a bit darker with a hint more lime, it's like a weird acidic cross of lime and apple green. I know it sounds like it shouldn't be that hard a colour to find, but my husband, 2 hours on photoshop and a further hour searching colour charts beg to differ! I couldn't even try to get the colour darker because it just ruined the neon affect, so it's just going to have to be one of those polishes where you think you know what colour it is, but will never truly know until you've got it on your nails! I even checked other Brazilian girls swatches of this polish, and non of them had managed to get the exact colour spot on either! GAH!</div>
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Anyway, it was a MAJOR stress and I need to get over it already, so let's move on! </div>
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The next neon crelly, also layered over a white base, is a lovely royal blue and this is named after the Sao Paulo neighborhood of 'Garoa'. Thankfully, even though my camera also picked this colour up much lighter than it really is, it was very easy to colour adjust in photoshop and get it exactly right! When I managed to get the colour of this polish right in just one click I was like 'Phew! Thank fuck for that!'</div>
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This next polish is the one I purchsed, and you know I chose it because it's another holo glitter! The collection was simply called 'Holographic' and the polish name is 'Eclipse', its a dark purple jelly with quite fine silver holo glitter. This is another polish that gave me grief when it came to the pics though, I couldn't get the holo effect to show up very well at all, I tried everything and took over 200 photos just trying! Even my usual 'professionally taken blurred images' (lol!) couldn't pick up the colours, and that usually works every time! I don't know if it's because the glitter is so fine, but my camera already hates holographic glitter anyway so I was fighting a loosing battle! This is one of those occasions in which you're just gonna have to trust me when I say 'it's so much sparklier in real life!' You should believe me though, you know what that holo glitter can do! <br />
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This last polish is a crackle effect, and I have to say, I haven't played with one of these in a good couple of years, and I forgot how much fun they can be! I know a lot of nail bloggers say that crackle polish was just a fad that everyone got over real fast, clearly I thought I had too if I haven't touched it for so long, but doing this swatch just served to remind me that actually, the effect is kinda frickin cool!</div>
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The polish I have is a bright pink shimmer, aptly named 'pink'!</div>
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I layered it first over the purple holo glitter thinking that purple and pink would be awesome together, but upon doing it I realised it was a little sheer, and you can't really do a second coat of crackle, you gotta get it right first time! It still looked interesting though so I will you show you the pic anyway, but then I took it off and layered the crackle over white too so you could see the colour better. It crackled much better over a smooth base instead of the glitter too, though you might think it would work the other way round!</div>
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Overall I was impressed by the formula of Cora polishes, nice and smooth and easy to apply, no streaking (which I at least expected from the crellies but didn't get any at all! Awesome!) I will be defintely be keeping my eye out for more of these! This is also another brand that I haven't been able to find for sale internationally and shall be included in my giveaway prize back, but I'm not telling you if they will be from todays, tomorrow's or both sets of swatches, you're just gonna have to wait for the surprise!<br />
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The Cora polishes I will be showing you tomorrow are from a rather awesome collection and definitely my favourites of the whole bunch!<br />
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<br />Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-9340012085736677742014-02-15T00:24:00.000+00:002014-05-03T18:16:51.174+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - Colorama<div style="text-align: justify;">
Welcome back to my Brazilian polish swatchathon, today I have the kind of brand that we all love, the cheap and cheerful drugstore kind! Sure, drugstore brands are certainly not as awesome as our beloved OPI's and China Glazes and what not, but they are definitely not without their uses or their own charm, and at the cheap prices we get them at we can also hold them responsible for assisting us in owning an impressive quantity of polishes! What's not to love!</div>
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My drugstore brand of the day is 'Colorama' and I showed you one of these in yesterday's neutrals post. To re-cap what I said about this brand yesterday, the formula is a bit hit and miss, sometimes being quite dense and other times quite runny, but if you've got the patience and skill to work with that, they have a pretty vast selection of basic but interesting colours, and today I'm going to show you another 4 that I have in my possession! Raiding the stashes of other girls that I have got to meet here in Brazil, I have seen more awesome colours from this brand that I want even more than the ones I already have, but unfortunately have not yet come across to purchase, so let it be known that even if you don't love the colours I have today, it would be impossible for you not to find something from this brand that you totally adore! </div>
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First up is 'Noite Quente' (Hot Night) and is a simple purple creme with a super glossy finish. </div>
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Next is 'Absinto' (Absynth) and is a luscious minty green with a very subtle lime shimmer.</div>
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The last 2 are my favourites and also managed to surprise me, as when I bought them I believed they were just plain cremes, and it wasn't until I wore them and saw them properly in the sun that I realised they both have a shimmer too! When I'm in the shade the shimmer is completely inperceptable, so it's a bit like having 2 finishes in one polish!</div>
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This is 'Jeans' and is a gorgeous navy blue with a slighly muted greyish tone to it, and a very subtle silver shimmer which you can only just about make out around the cuticle area.</div>
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Lastly this is 'Ametista' (Amethyst - I keep translating the names but I'm sure many of them are quite obvious!) and it's a stunning deep black purple with a silver shimmer. </div>
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I guess I have a particular fondness for this last one just because of it's
name! Even if you don't know this blog well, you may have deduced from
it's title that my name is Jem, which of course refers to precious and
semi - precious jewels such as the Amethyst. As a result of my name I
have always had a fascination with precious stones and have a collection
of rocks from all over the world almost as big as my polish collection!
I have opals and sapphires from Australia that I mined myself!
Turquoise from Argentina, Citrine from Chile, and some beautiful
Amethyst pieces from right here in Brazil, as Amethyst is the most
comonly found semi-precious stone mined on this land. I am also a June
baby and it is often debated that Amethyst is the birthstone of June
(even though many say it is the pearl instead) so what with my new
Brazilian family ties, my birth month and my general affinity to
beautiful rocks, I couldn't help but love this beautiful Brazilian polish gem! </div>
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These polishes are simple with no fancy finishes, but are still well and truly deserving of a place in my collection, and perfect for a number of nail art applications, and with that awesome drugstore price that I love so much you just can't go wrong! </div>
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I may be back tomorrow with some Valentine's nail art seen as I keep missing the holiday nail art occasions, but as a big storm just showed up here and I don't have an indoor light setting for photos here in Brazil, whether or not I am able to post some nail art tomorrow all depends on if there is any sun in the morning to take some pictures! If not I guess I will have to miss another holiday mani, we shall see!</div>
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Even if I miss tomorrow, I will still be back on Monday to show you the rest of my Brazilian polish collection, and there are still many more polishes to go! Yay!</div>
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Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-3701088837433692842014-02-14T00:34:00.000+00:002014-05-03T18:17:13.800+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - Neutrals<div style="text-align: justify;">
Today I'm doing a post just about neutral shades, the main reason for this is that a couple of the neutral shades I have are brands that I have no others of, so rather than doing a post for just one polish of one brand, I've stolen a couple of neutrals from other brand collections I have and added them to those couple of singles so I can fluff this post up a bit!</div>
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The first brand we already looked at yesterday, and that is Impala, though to be honest, you wouldn't even know it was the same brand, the difference is astounding. I had high expectations of the quality after my experiences with the fabulous polishes I posted yesterday, but instead I was left feeling sorely disappointed, but I'll get to that in a second. This polish is from the 'Disco' collection, which doesn't make much sense to me as I don't see what's disco about a neutral shade, but ah well! It's called 'Filo' (Mesh - as in the textile) and is an off white creme leaning ever so slightly pink. What I was disappointed about with this polish was the formula. It was really quite dense and very difficult to get thin even coats, it streaked like hell and didn't level out on the nail and had an uneven and lumpy finish, even 3 coats of top coat couldn't smooth that bitch out! You can see here in the picture that along the sides of each nail there are faint shadow lines from the unlevel streaking in the polish. I know that a bit of streaking is to be expected from cremes, but this was just too much. A far cry from the great quality of yesterday's polishes, and it's a shame because this shade suited my skin tone really well.</div>
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Moving on from the disappontment to something considerably better, (which is totally wrong considering I am now talking about a cheap and cheerful drugstore brand and not something more high end like Impala!) I have this rather lovely creme in a shade of light tan/brown leaning taupe with a subtle copper shimmer from 'Beauty Color' and this is called 'Sand'. For a cheap little drug store brand it wasn't too bad, unlike the expensive Impala the streaking was minimal, and it's a really lovely colour that looks great with a tan.</div>
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This next one is my favourite of all the neutrals and is another cheap drugstore brand 'Colorama'. To be honest I've tried a few from this brand (and I'll be showing some of them in tomorrows post) and it's always been a bit hit and miss, sometimes it's been a bit too dense and streaks similar to the first Impala, other times it's way too watery and completely floods my cuticles if I'm not extremely careful in my application, others have been more or less OK. So yeah, this brand kinda needs to work on at least getting the formula consistent, but what I like about it is that they have quite a vast core collection of some really interesting and pretty shades. The one I am about to show you is called 'Champagne' and it's a very light fleshy pink with a golden shimmer, it's a stunning base for a classic french. The formula on this particular shade is a bit dense, but nothing that a drop of thinner and a good top coat can't sort out, and I can live with that because I love the colour and it really suits me.</div>
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Last one for the neutrals post is actually quite dark, it's a weird shade of taupe that I'm not quite sure how to classify, but despite it's darkness it still feels like a neutral shade to me. To be honest I'm not entirely sure that this is a Brazilian brand, it has very vague info on the bottle and doesn't even have a name or number, but my sister in law Deborah gave it to me as a gift, and it was purchased here in Brazil cheaply which leads me to believe it's not an import, as all imported goods are subject to a tax of 100% of the purchase price upon entering the country, making imported polishes very expensive here. Either way, I got it here so I'm counting it! The brand name is 'Doty by Broadway' and as I mentioned earlier does not appear to have a name, it's a charcoal gray yet also slightly brown leaning taupe with a strong violet shimmer, I found it quite unusual and loved it just for that. The formula was pretty decent too.</div>
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So those be my neutrals and I like 75% of them, not too bad I reckon! Join me tomorrow to check out some of the pretty colours I have from Colorama!<br />
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<br />Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-83829969753738571962014-02-13T02:37:00.001+00:002014-05-03T18:18:01.306+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - Impala<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hello Lovelies!</div>
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It's half past midnight here in Florianopolis and I meant to post this hours ago, but Floripa (as it's called by the locals) is a party island full of hippies, backpackers and dread locked types, and with the local fancy hotel throwing a free pool party with live music, you can guess where I've spent most of the day! But here I am anyway, and better late than never right?! Today's (or rather tonight's!) brand is Impala, and I hadn't seen anything online about this brand before I got here either, but they have some beauties! For those of you that are into that kinda thing, they are also 3 free!</div>
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I'm gonna start with a couple of basic polishes that I got because they were on sale, I have purple and green, again! But only because these were the only 2 colours from the collection left on the sale rack! Despite being colours I already have a million versions of, I really wanted them because they are metallic, and I really don't have much metallic polish in my collection!</div>
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This first one is 'Meu Estilo' (My Style) and is a gorgeous aqua green. </div>
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The next polish is 'ficadica' (which apparently is slang for 'tip' as in: I'll give you a tip on how to use it!) and it's a really striking dark lilac.<br />
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I liked these two polishes, they were a bit sheer and needed 3 coats for full opacity, so I doubt that like other metallic polishes they would be good for stamping, and they are a <i>little</i> streaky, but nothing that bothers <i>me</i> that much. For the price I got them at I'm perfectly happy. The next three polishes I'm about to show you though, those are the real beauties! ;)</div>
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I am totally in love with this next polish! It's called 'Charming' from the 'Brilliant Glam' collection and is a very light blue crelly base with tiny blue and silver glitter, small green hexes and tiny blue bar glitter. It doesn't sound like much I know, but just look at it! I have actually worn this polish before I got the chance to swatch it, but it was really <i>really </i>sheer, even with the glitter it took a full 6 coats to get complete opacity! Aint nobody got time for that! So, as the standard polish bottle size in Brazil is only a mere 8ml (meeerrrrrr) I didn't want to waste the time or the polish trying to get the same opacity as before just because I hate visible nail lines, so this time I just did two coats over a white creme base. What I can tell you is that 2 coats over white is waaaaaaaaay prettier than 6 coats on a natural nail! I normally don't like bar glitter either, but I can live with this tiny stuff and it suits the polish nicely.</div>
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As if this polish wasn't gorgeous enough, next up I've got more HOLO'S! And these two are spectacular!</div>
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The first spectacular holo is from the 'Celebrations - Prismatic'
collection, and is called 'Conquiste Sempre' (Always Conquer) and it
sure as hell conquered the shit outta me! The bottles already more than half empty and I'm gonna have to replace this bad boy before I leave Brazil! It's a cool toned dark gold with very fine non linear holo sparkle. What I like about this holo is that the flare is quite strong, but because it's diffused and not linear it's quite subtle at the same time. I also just adore gold, so I never stood a chance of resisting this one did I!</div>
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Yet another spectacular holo to finish with, again with almost half the bottle gone already! This is the 'Army' collection and is called 'Mira 3D' (3D Target) and it's the only one I've seen from this collection, I really <i>really</i> want to see the others! This polish has a charcoal grey jelly base with a strong violet shimmer and is packed with silver holo glitter.</div>
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As usual, blurred picture because you see all the holo colours better that way! (It did disguse the violet shimmer though!)</div>
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The formula on these last 3 polishes were great, full opacity in 3 coats on the holos, nice smooth, streak free application and good durability. As I mentioned in a previous post all the polish here in Brazil seems to take a bit longer to dry so you really need a quick drying top coat, but it is incredibly hot and humid here, Australia was sub-tropical but here is full blown tropical, so it may just be the climate that causes the long drying time.</div>
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I'd like to buy a million more of these but they are a bit pricier than the average polish here, and seen as both me and my husband are living off savings I was lucky to get away with these 3! Actually, with almost a 40 bottle stash of different brands so far, I'm surprised the hubby hasn't cut me off already! Hahahahaha</div>
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Stay tuned tomorrow to see what other awesome brands I convinced him to let me buy! :D</div>
<br />Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-88039764048247318712014-02-11T23:00:00.001+00:002014-05-03T18:18:57.919+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - L'Apogee Part 2<div style="text-align: justify;">
More gorgeous polishes that the intar-webz is not already flooded with yaaaaay, you gotta appreciate that shit! </div>
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I've got 4 more from the L'Apogee brand today, and I love these even more than yesterdays </div>
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Though L'Apogee really rock it with the glitters and I have been mostly interested in those, (I have been trying to just buy polishes with nice effects and finishes and avoid standard colours that you can get from most brands, as I do have to cart them all back to Europe in my suitcase after all!) but there was one non glitter that I found that I just had to have! </div>
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This is from the collection 'Mil Encantos' (A Thouand Enchantments) and even has a little doodle of the famous paving pattern from copacabana beach and Christ the Redeemer in Rio De Janeiro, both of which I was lucky enough to see for myself in January! The polish is a gorgeous cornflower blue, slightly metallic creme with a subtle gold shimmer, and even though it's not glitter I still did a macro so you could see the shimmer better, the shimmer is what really makes this polish and gives it a lovely marine green tint when you move it around in the sun!</div>
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This next polish is pretty standard, if you can call holo gitter standard! This (and the next polish too actually) is from the 'Special' collection and is called 'Intuicao' (Intuition, and there should be accents on some of those letters but my english keyboard doesn't do them!) and is a black jelly base packed with silver holo glitter, it's a pretty basic polish, but as we all know, anything that has the word 'Holographic' in it's description really just has to be mine! For a jelly it had good opacity and stood up to the usual 3 coats for this brand. I included a slightly blurred pic as without a blur my camera doesn't pick up holo colours very well, but no macro as we all know what standard silver glitter looks like! </div>
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The third polish is also a black jelly, but this baby has got a pretty special glitter mix in it, I absolutely ADORE this polish! I normally don't like glitter polishes with too many different colours of glitter mixed together, but this combination is just soooooo perfect! This is called 'Night' and I really think that this is what the night sky would look like if you managed to get a better look at it through a telescope and could see some spacey bits! Telling you what the glitter is exactly is no easy task though I can tell you! From what I can tell it has small hexes in blue, violet, copper, silver and gold, medium hexes in aqua green, silver and gold, and large hexes in a bright blue, gold and copper. I have of course included a macro so that you can get a better look, but it was done in the shade as full sun gave too much glare to see the colours well.</div>
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Lastly I have another polish that I adore, this is actually from the same collection 'Fantastic Glitters' that I showed you two of yesterday, but I decided to keep it seperate because I wanted to show you what fun you could have with it! This is called 'Vermelho Absurdo' (Absurd Red) though I found it to be much more pink than red. Its a dark cerise crelly with black microdots and small matte black hexes.</div>
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Now what does this polish remind you of? It's not<i> exactly</i> the right shade of red/pink, but it's pretty similar to a watermelon, so I decided to have some fun with it and add a french tip!</div>
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How cool is that?! I've seen loads of water melon nail art around, but how could I resist when it was just as simple as adding a french tip in green! Easy peasy! I do apologise for the slightly wonky tip lines though, I literally just swiped it on fast for demonstration purposes, but with more time, patience, and a proper nail art brush I could have done a better job!</div>
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The formula of all these polishes was just as I described in yesterdays post, smooth and easy to apply, good durability and no streaking. I really love this brand, and every time I return to Brazil to visit the inlaws I think I'll be stocking up on whatever I can!</div>
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I'll be back tomorrow with another brand that I didn't really know about until I got here, the brand is a little more expensive than this one, but they have some stunners! Don't miss 'em!<br />
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UPDATE: Literally 2 minutes after this post went live, I discovered that my nail besty in Australia just posted watermelons too, and neither of us had any idea of the other's intentions! Yay for random coincidence bestie twin nails! (Her's are better than mine though cos she didn't have a polish that made it easy to cheat and unlike myself actually made an effort!)<br />
Go check hers out at <span data-measureme="1"><span class="null"><a class="_553k" href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdorothyandalice.tumblr.com%2F&h=AAQF5PbCL" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://dorothyandalice.tumblr.com/</a> and give her a round of applause for her technique and clean up, my girl is getting more skilled everyday! I'm like a proud mum right now! </span></span></div>
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Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218341889530300574.post-57946288621892051512014-02-10T22:38:00.000+00:002014-05-03T18:19:28.092+01:00Brazilian Polish Swatches - L'Apogee<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hello there Ladies I'm back!</div>
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I apologise for yet another very long absence and welcome you to my first post of 2014!! (very <i>very</i> late I know, but better late than never, right?)</div>
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I don't want to bore you with a million excuses for why I've been gone so long, but to put it briefly, I have been travelling A LOT the last couple of months, I've barely been at home at all, and as you may know I am here in Brazil visiting my inlaws for the first time, obviously they want to make the most of the time I have here, especially as I have less than a month left before I leave again! So I'm afraid I've had to prioritise family time over blog time! I have missed my blog and painting my nails often, but it has to be said, the times I have managed to paint my nails, it's been nice to wear what I've done for more than 48 hours! </div>
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Now that I'm back it's time to fulfill my promise of showing you all some of the fantastic polishes from here in Brazil, and while all the travelling has kept me away from my blog, it has at least given me plenty of polish shopping opportunities and I've managed to collect rather a substantial stash of beauties! I've got almost 40 so far (still got a month left for shopping too!) so basically all you'll be getting for the next 3 weeks is swatches of gorgeous Brazilian polishes. (You poor, poor girls!)</div>
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Before I crack on with the polishes though, I would just like to let you all know that tomorrow I will be going polish shopping for you! I'm going to be hosting a giveaway of Brazilian polishes for one lucky winner, some of which will be a brand I love, that as far as I am aware (and I searched pretty hard!) are not available for sale internationally! How's that for an exclusive prize my lovelies? Definitely keep your eye out for that! </div>
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Now for the polish! Today I'm going to be showing you a brand that I had not heard of before I got here (obviously once I found out I was coming here I jumped straight online to find all the best polishes I needed to add to my wishlist!) this was not one of them as I didn't come across it anywhere, which surprises me because they are great quality polishes, cheap, and with some great colours and finishes! Definitely one of my faves! This is also the brand that I mentioned for the giveaway, that is not available for sale internationally!</div>
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The brand name is L'Apogee, and I have 4 polishes to show you today (all glitters!), and another 4 tomorrow! So let's begin shall we?!</div>
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These first two polishes are from the 'Fashion' collection, and in 2 of my favourite colours, purple and green.</div>
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This is 'Liberty' and is a lilac shimmer base with small pieces of blue and purple glitter.</div>
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As we are dealing with fine glitter here I have taken a macro shot for you, though I apologise for the medium quality, it wasn't until after I'd done the pics and taken the polish off that I realised my macro settings on the camera were not quite right, but you can still see pretty well though.</div>
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The next polish pic is 'Maxi' and is a light minty green shimmer base with small darker green glitter, followed by a macro of it.</div>
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To be honest, I liked these two more in the bottle than I did on my nails, but they still be mighty pretty! </div>
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The next two polishes are from the 'Fantastic Glitters' collection, and I LOVE them!</div>
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First up is 'Azul Magnifico' ('Magnificent Blue', my portuguese is coming along nicely so I will always try to translate the names for you where it's necessary!) and this a light sky blue crelly with black micro dots, and small blue and magenta glitter pieces. Again, as we're dealing with fine glitter I've included macros of both of these polishes for you too.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMmQKnMPLFlt7qN2jUK-XyMuJCZmgkLXD-BE2oZBx8KwR7T5fv4V5pwBf5posngd9dQpxyNo-8e3bkTumJPpacdmJWjD4HWdyqhM_CaT8xsVj8Bz_neDMyNiHlU8OWzxjPQvP2QNTZT1tX/s1600/SAM_7161.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMmQKnMPLFlt7qN2jUK-XyMuJCZmgkLXD-BE2oZBx8KwR7T5fv4V5pwBf5posngd9dQpxyNo-8e3bkTumJPpacdmJWjD4HWdyqhM_CaT8xsVj8Bz_neDMyNiHlU8OWzxjPQvP2QNTZT1tX/s1600/SAM_7161.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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The next polish in this collection is 'Nude Sorpeendente' (Surprising Nude, as if you couldn't guess it!) and is similar to the first, its a neutral peachy tinted crelly with black micro dots, and small orange and magenta glitter pieces. </div>
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As far as the formula of all these polishes goes, I have absolutely no complaints. Despite being pretty sheer the standard for this brand is 3 coats for good opacity, which I personally think is pretty good, especially for crelly's! The formula was a nice consistency and glided on the nail quite smoothly without streaking or lumping, and they have pretty good durability too.</div>
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One thing I have noticed, and this is for all the Brazilian brand polishes I have tried so far actually, not just this brand, is that the drying time is a bit lengthier than what I'm used to, so you would really need a good quick drying top coat just to make sure you don't mess it up easily while it's curing. </div>
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So what do you think of these polishes then? Pretty enough to include in the giveaway you reckon? I have 4 more from this brand to show you tomorrow, and those are even prettier than these! So stay tuned for a sneak peek of what might be included in my giveaway prize pack! </div>
<br />Nail Jemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12303402790449543818noreply@blogger.com1