I bought this nail polish while I was out shopping last week and as with most Flormar polishes it is great quality, dries quite fast and is opaque in 2 coats. It was more expensive at 4.90€ than their regular range which is 2.90€ but it is still cheaper than most drugstore polishes and the quality outweighs most other similar priced brands.
I have the colour DC06 which is a lovely purple that changes to a greyish colour with a hint of mossy green, the duo chrome isn't that dramatic but it does add another dimension to the nails. It is available in a few other colours but this was the only one that really took my fancy at the moment. I think it will probably look even better with a matte topcoat but I haven't tried it yet.
I was starting to get bored of solid single colour nails so when I found a striping brush in my nail kit the other night I decided to play around. I only had a few nail polish colours with me so decided on a colour only a few shades different from what I was already wearing. I like the subtlety of the stripes and to add a little interest I added a fimo nail art flower to the ring fingers.
unfortunately the striper brush was a cheap one and it didn't hold the shape very well so when I have invested in a new one I will have a play around with lots of other colours. I think a really pale, possibly white base with pastel coloured candy stripes will look good
For this look I did 2 coats of some random cheap pinky/ purple colour then stripes of Kiko 313, I added a clear topcoat and applied the flower while it was still wet then added another coat over the top when it was dry. I am really surprised that the flowers have not come off or even lifted at all yet and they have been on for 5 days!!
After searching high and low for the holy grail of glitter nail polishes ( full coverage, mega sparkle, affordable) i gave up and decided to give rockstar nails a try. Wearing flip flops for 8 months of the year means perfect feet and perfect toenails at all times so spending time on my feet is a must, and who doesn't want pretty fingernails to match....
Rockstar nails are real loose glitter adhered to a base of either gel or shellac and then coated with a gel topcoat to seal in the glitter and give a smooth feel, it also ensures that there is no chipping or colour fade, surprisingly none of the sparkle is lost and you can use whichever colour glitter your heart desires or even use a few different colours for a gradient effect similar to what i did here .
I used the same technique, base coat of gel and cured, another thicker coat of gel and cured then sprinkled the glitter into the sticky dispersion layer, pressed into place then applied gel topcoat and cured then repeated with the topcoat and cured again. The only disadvantage with using gel is that it has to be filed off, unlike shellac which can be soaked off.
Fingers
And toes....
unfortunately glitter is really hard to photograph with an iphone camera, which is all i have at the moment, in real life this is beyond sparkly.
This lasted a good 3 weeks on my fingers before i started to get bored of the colour, there was only one small chip missing from one finger so this would be ideal if you were going on holiday for a few weeks and didn't want to risk your mani/pedi chipping. Although i don't think many people would go this hardcore on glitter for everyday wear on their fingers it is probably a lot more acceptable on toes, I've had the purple glitter on my toes for 3 and a half weeks now and so far I've only lost a tiny chunk of the corner of my big toe from when i walked into something, it isn't even noticeable enough to bother repairing yet so i will wait until it starts to grow out before i change the colour.
Have you tried rockstar nails? or have you been lucky enough to find the holy grail of glitter nailpolish???
I´ve been getting lots of inspiration online recently for different ideas to try and toenails, at first i was keen on the idea of a swarovski crystal pedicure but because i swim most days in the summer i didn't think they would last too long, plus i heard it takes about 2 hours to apply all of the crystals and it would use up loads.
so i went for second best... Glitter!
in fact i went one better and used holographic glitter in 3 different shades.
lilac blending into pale pink blending into hot pink
i applied one layer of gel and cured then another and cured again, then i applied the loose glitter with a brush for more careful placement to the tacky layer of cured gel, i finished with a gel top coat, cured and applied another so that the glitter is smooth and wont come off
and here is the finished result... i love them
They do look much better from further away, apologies for the feet pictures, i know a lot of people don't like feet but i don't think mine are particularly awful
next time I'm going to use a finer milled glitter with the gel, i tried a really fine purple glitter on a practise nail and it looked amazing.
I know its been a while since i wrote a 5 good things post but i have been so busy lately and it was easier to think of 5 bad things than 5 good things, and as the saying goes... if you cant say something nice then you're better not saying anything at all.
1. Its heating up here, it was 32ยบ c here yesterday and its going to be even hotter over the weekend, which means...
2. The pool is warm enough to swim in again, so today i got to have my first swim of the year and it was wonderful, now i have no excuse not to get some exercise.
3. the other week one of my friends that i haven't seen since college came over to Spain with her mum to stay with family for a week, so we met up in Benidorm which was about half way from both of us, it was lovely to see her and her mum and we walked about 5 miles round the old town and the full length of the promenade and back.
4.The business opportunity i mentioned a few posts back is going well, i am still working full time at my current job and having to fit in this project in- between which means i have practically no spare time but if it helps us secure a future for ourselves then it will all be worth it.
5. Chrome effect nail polish, this was a bargain from mercadona supermarkets own Deliplus line, they have a new nail effects range out and this was one of the base coats for the crackle range and was only about 2€, i also bought it in gold.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend,
what are your 5 good things this week?
I felt like getting a bit creative the other day when I was infilling my gel nails, so I raided my nail art kit. I found a stamp machine similar to a Konad stamp, I've had it for so long that it actually came with an instructional video (VHS)!!!
I liked the butterfly design best which was a 2 part stamp ( a solid background and a detail outline) but i wanted my French manicure to show through so only used the detail outline stamp to press butterfly's randomly across my nails,
I then applied gel top coat and dipped the tips in iridescent white glitter then used a small brush to sprinkle more into the gaps between the butterfly's then cured for 1 minute, I applied a second coat of gel top coat to seal the glitter and cured again... Voila sparkly butterfly nails
They would look great for a wedding or if you used a different design or colours would look great for Christmas as the glitter looks a little like sparkly snow. You can buy Konad ( or similar stamps) from
Beauty supply shops and eBay
I had to file my nails short this week as i have a lot of typing to do and long nails really are´nt practical for typing, so i seized the opportunity to try a colour that would look a bit silly on long nails. I picked up this lovely pale blue colour by Astor in the supermarket last week, unfortunately it needed 3 coats to be opaque which is why there are little marks in the polish. I just added a row of crystals to the ring finger for a Tiffany inspired look.
I spotted Kiko had some new nail colours out this week and i couldn't resit snapping up a few of them, so after infilling my nails at the weekend i tried out 2 of my new purchases.
I love this colour, its a really deep raspberry (red toned pink) and as with most Kiko polishes is perfectly opaque in 2 coats.
This is from the "rock top" shatter range and it is a white gold shimmer (number 615) with a shatter effect, it tones down the darker colour nicely and adds a different touch, i think this would look nicer over a paler or brighter colour. I love that these dry in seconds too, so if your polish is starting to chip or you are getting bored with the colour you can just add a layer of shatter and with a few minutes your good to go.
You can see the full range of nail polishes and buy online at Kiko´s website nail polishes start from less than 2 pound and are excellent quality.
Disclaimer: i am not affiliated with this brand and the products were purchased with my own money
As i mentioned in a recent Friday 5 good things Kiko have just released a collection of magnetic nail polishes. When nails inc brought out their collection of 3 magnetic nail polishes i really wanted to try them but with them being so expensive to start with then to add the cost of P&P to Spain would have made them at least 20 pound and i am not prepared to spend that much money on a single nail polish.
Kiko have released 8 different shades each retailing at 4.90 pounds and a separate magnet for 1.90 pound you can view them all and buy online from their website here . I think having a separate magnet has a view advantages, a lot of people struggled with the nails inc magnet because it was part of the lid, this one can be held easily and used in different directions to achieve different effects such as criss-cross, vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines. The only downside would be that you could possibly lose the magnet with it not being attached to the bottle.
I bought 4 of the 8 colours available and one magnet:
(left to right: Emerald turqoise, Purple, Wine red, Charcoal)
The magnet and a close up of my thumbnail
Close up of fingers (difficult to photograph)
The polish applies just like any other nail polish ( maybe a tiny bit thicker), i applied one coat and allowed to dry then applied a second coat (one finger at a time) and while it was still wet held the magnet of the nail polish to create the effect, i didn't try out any of the other ways to hold the magnet on this attempt but i will in the future.
Overall i like the effect it gives, it is much more interesting than plain colour and i am looking forward to trying the other colours that i bought, it dried quickly and is just starting to chip slightly on the edges ( after 3 loads of washing up). For the price and colour range i think these beat the nails inc version hands down.
So i tried water marbling my nails yesterday, it was a complete disaster, the polish wouldn't spread properly and then it just clumped together when i tried to make patterns with it and went on my nails too thickly (because it hadn't spread). I will try again with different polish and different water, apparently the water has to be perfect for it to work.
So i took it all off and painted my nails with this instead:
Flormar supershine miracle colors in U23
My nails remind me of jelly beans, bright pink and shiny and glittery, nice and cheerful on these cold wintery days.
I love the miracle colors range, i have a few now and they are all super shiny and sparkly and a great price at just 2.99€
So its Friday already and that means its time for my 5 good things of the week
1. Blogging - i am really enjoying blogging, having an outlet to talk about things i love is really making me happy, even if nobody is reading at least i get to talk about things, having no friends in this country is really hard for me and just getting my views out there and hoping that they will be of benefit to somebody else is making it all worthwhile.
2. Followers - i now have 11 followers and i am grateful to each and every one of you for taking the time to follow me, i am finally starting to feel that i am not just talking to myself.
3. I realised today how lucky i am that my boyfriend does the majority of the housework, i do most of the cooking and a lot of washing up but he does pretty much everything else, i know most girls would love to have that.
4. Fiesta of Santa Agueda this week - I live in the countryside, but to get to our house you have to drive through a tiny village which is attached to the main village by a long road lined with terraced houses, there is a small church square and every year at the end of January the villagers celebrate with a fiesta for the patron saint " Santa Agueda" The road is filled with stalls selling handmade candles, baskets, jewellery, sweets, olives and other nicknack's and there is a candlelit parade to guide the statue of the patron from the tiny church to the church in the bigger village where there is a full fairground set up. While i am not religious at all its nice to have something to do and see so close to the house. The only downside is i have to park about a mile away from my house and walk there when the stalls are set up because there isn't space for cars to get through.
5. Nails - i infilled my gel nails last weekend and now they look like this
All nice again, i prefer to do french tips, i think they always look clean and smart and when they start to grow out i can paint them and take advantage of my ever growing nail polish collection. Today while catching up on my you tube subscriptions one of the suggested videos in the side bar was for water marbling, so i watched it and was totally amazed!! i am a qualified nail technician and i had never seen this before, where have i been? living under a rock? i have to try this, here is the first video i watched, Amazing!!!!
Cuticle oil is a very important part of my daily routine, if you have artificial nails then it should be part of your daily routine too, even on natural nails i would recommend using it a few times a week at least.
Cuticle oil moisturisers the cuticle and surrounding skin, stopping the skin cracking or peeling, preventing lifting of artificial nails and promotes the growth of stronger longer nails.
I was a bit wary of the yellow colour at first but its smells divine, like lemon sherbet, it is in a nail varnish bottle and has a lovely soft brush, ideal for applying just the right amount. I have had many different oils in different bottles before, squeezy tubes and dropper types are a pain compared to this. I use it every morning after my shower and every night before bed, also during the day at my desk before applying hand lotion if i remember.
This really makes a difference to my gel nails, i don't get any lifting and when they start to grow out and my cuticles don't start to look dry and raggedy like they do when i don't use a product like this.
It cost 4.99€ from Flormar cosmetics, website here i think it is 2.50 pound on the UK website.
Disclaimer: All products i review have been bought with my own money or bought for me as a gift unless otherwise stated. Honest opinions always.
If Cinderella wore nail polish to the ball, it would have been this one.
Flormar nail enamel shade 392
(apologies for the grown out gel nails, i need to infill them at the weekend)
I LOVE this nail polish, unfortunately it is difficult to photograph but in reality it is the perfect holographic silver made up of the tiniest opalescent glitter particles, full coverage in 2 coats and its been on my nails over a week and hasn't chipped yet. ( although they are gel nails so polish does tend to last better on them due to the hardness.)
And a huge bonus...... It only cost 2.99€
I bought it from the new Flormar shop in centro commercial Nueva condomina in Murcia, but there are new shops opening up in other areas and you can buy from the UK Flormar website, it looks like they do international delivery too.
Click here to go to the Spanish website ( language can be changed and there is a bigger selection of the products available but it doesn't look like online shopping is available yet)
The shop had only just opened when i went in just before Christmas and they had a huge collection of nail varnishes which is what drew me in, i bought about 6 different colours and have been very impressed with most of them, excellent value for money. Some of the other cosmetics seemed overpriced but as i haven't experienced the quality of them yet i cant judge. I did however buy an amazing mascara from there. Review coming soon!!!!
Whats your favourite nail polish? have you tried anything from this brand?
Disclaimer: i am not affiliated with this company and all products i review have been purchased with my own money or given to me as gifts ( unless otherwise stated).
