A England - Lady of the Lake: Birthday Nails!

So as you know my birthday was last week.  I posted Doctor Who, Dalek Rave nails.  But those weren't the nails I was actually wearing on my birthday.  I just thought it would be a really neat thing to get to post on my birthday.

A England Lady of the Lake was the polish I was wearing on my actual birthday.  I really didn't feel like doing anything special like cupcakes, or just in general birthday related nail art.  I just wanted simple.  Lady of the Lake is a rich, dark purple with scattered holo.  This is another brand of polish that get's it right when it comes to holos.  But then again my favourite types of holos are the more subtle ones that stand alone as a colour as well.  I used 2 coats on most fingers and 3 on a few because they were patchy.

Overall I LOVE this colour(and all of their polishes).  NEED MORE!

If you would like a bottle(or multiple) you can get this on their website if you are in the UK or from online retailers such as Ninja Polish.  They retail for around $10USD.

It's my BIRTHDAY!!! Let's have a DALEK RAVE!!!

So I am officially old.  Time to set me adrift of an ice floe.  Also these aren't actually my birthday nails as much as I wish they were.  I did them last week when my camera was still working.  My nails aren't too special today.  Even though it is my birthday I wont be celebrating till this weekend.

In my head I imagine this is what Daleks would look like if they decided to stop being evil, and started going to raves instead.  I think the 50th anniversary episode should just end with all the doctors, companions and bad guys giving each other big hugs and then having a dance party.  It doesn't have to make sense.  Trust me when I say it will work.

For this piece of nail art magic I used these circular florescent studs from The Born Pretty Store.  The package in total has 350 pieces, and comes with both circular and square studs.  Both the square and circular studs come in 6 colours(Blue, purple, yellow, pink, orange, and green).  They were super easy to place on the nail.  I found they were easier then a silver or gold stud when it came to picking them up.  I don't know if it has to do with the coating(which btw is so much more vibrant in real life!)  These also glow under florescent lights,  but my camera pooped out before I could get the bulb.  At some point I will show you them being all glow-y.  For the lines I used striping tape and Color Club Harp On It.

If you would like some fabulous studs for fabulous nail art head on over to the Born Pretty Store website.  And don't forget to use our code EAL91 for a 10% discount!  Also remember shipping is free :D  You can buy something in honor of my birth!

Ps.  As you can see I have my camera back.  They fixed the part that covers the battery, but it feels slightly flimsy now.  I'm going to have to be extra careful with it.

Random Wednesday: Camera Woes, Hair and Creeper blogging(as it happens!)

So long story short, the part of my camera I open to access my batter and memory card fell off the other day.  And my fell off I think I rolled over on my camera at night(I fell asleep with it next to my pillow)  The camera will now not turn on :(  Originally I thought I lost the piece and was told it would cost $90 to replace this tiny piece of plastic(ummmm no).  Luckily for me the other day I found it!  So I'm going to take it in this week and have them put it back on!  And that is why there haven't been any post in the past few days.  I actually have stuff ready to go and even a post written out, but all the photos are on the camera.  If I cant get my camera fixed in the next couple of days I'm just going to borrow a camera from someone.

Anyways I really wanted to post something. So let's make this a hair post! I don't like my hair(that escalated quickly).  It's all sorts if curly I have no idea what I'm doing with it 98% of the time. I decided to go online and see what the Internet has to offer.  Here is what I learnt. 1) There are different types of curly hair. 2) There are different products for curly hair. 3) SO MANY PRODUCTS! 4) Styling curly hair takes forever. 5) Getting tangles out of curly hair takes forever. 6) There is soooooooooooooooooo much information out there yet for some reason I know even less about my hair.

I'm at the mall right now btw and im writing this next part as it happens.  A man just sat next to me and is saying I'm beautiful and cute. I am writing this as he stares at me.  No lie. Go away. I don't care about your eyelashes. Leave me alone. He's singing. Now he wants to find an ugly, insecure chick because I'm rejecting him. He's still here. Don't call me sweetie. Be gone vile man. I don't care if you used to be in shape. Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I don't care about you. Or how every man needs a wife.  He lusts for woman apparently. Stop looking at me!!!!!!! Stop! And he thinks I'm writing a book and wants to know when it will be published.  I must be a genius because I'm writing a book. He's finally gone now. Ugh.

Anyways long story short in over 20 years I still have yet to figure out my hair. It's like Area 51. I know it's there but not 100% sure what's going on.  Sorry I kinda lost track of this post. Either way you should check out this vine. It's my hair woes in a nutshell.
 

FOUND IT! Now you can see Kleancolor Chunky Purple!

So I the post after the skull nails was actually going to be another really cool Born Pretty post, BUT I lost my camera :(.  I looked everywhere for it and at first thought I might have lost it in the real world.  Thankfully I found it 3 days later in my room!  It had fallen behind my bed!

So for the past almost four days I have been wearing H&M Plum and Kleancolor Purple Chunky Holo over it.  I've already reviewed Plum, but Purple Chunky Holo is a multichrome glitter and not a holo.  The glitter is in a light purple base.  In all honesty over dark colours the base wouldn't really make that much of a difference.  Let me just say it is beautiful over plum and the glitter is noticable from a distance.  And I don't know what it was but this wore like iron.  At the end of 4 days it still looked perfect!

Ps. Don't forget about our GIVEAWAY!

Day 1 Sunlight

 Day 3 Indoors

 Day 3 indoors (2 coats of chunky holo)

 Bottle shot

Skull and Crossbones + Black Pearl. This could be a Pirates Of The Caribbean post!

Good news everyone.  I have finally (sort of) figured out my eyebrows!  It's taken me long enough :P  I always (sort of) kept them in check, but as of recently I was done with them trying to amalgamate.  And got them so MUCH more under control.  Next up big girl make up!  It's funny because I can barely do a natural look but if you want me to look like my face was slashed open, I can do that!

Anyways on the the reviews.  First are the born pretty, gold skull, nail art decorations I got.  I kinda love these.  They look ridiculously cool and they are super easy to use.  While you can wear them horizontally across the nail like you would those bows you've probably all seen.  I liked wearing it over my entire nail.  It reminded me of a pirate flag.  Because I didn't wear them out I only placed them on top of the wet polish, and then took it off soon after.  Had I been going out I would have used nail glue.  As you can see in my last photo the back of the skull isn't filled in, so there is less surface area for it to stick.  So I for sure would have gone for something more heavy duty.

Next is Chanel Black Pearl on it's own.  This was the first Chanel polish I ever bought.  Although I have never shown it on the blog, I have worn it multiple times before.  Black Pearl is a charcoal gray, packed with green shimmer.  Don't let these pictures scare you.  This polish is NOT streaky in real life.  It looks more like the last few photos with the skulls almost all the time.  This reminded me of really murky, creepy, stormy water.  So I thought this would be perfect with a skull!

If you would like the Chanel polish, it is part of their core line.  It retails for around $27USD.  You can find the skulls over at the Born Pretty Store.  They retail 2 skulls for $0.99USD(but I do wish they came in a pack with maybe 10), and come in gold or silver.  If you would like these skulls or anything else from the Born Pretty Store you can also use our discount code EAL91 and get 10% off whatever you buy!

*Some products sent for honest review

Our Super Awesome, Somewhat Nautical, Mostly Nail Art Stuff Giveaway - Sponsored by KKCenterHk!!!

So the lovely people at KKCenterHk were kind enough to sponsor this giveaway!  Everything that you see was chosen by us.  Also we don't have an essay this time!  Yay!

 

 Check out the editing skills!

Now let put our serious faces on and read the rules.

1) International (unless you live in a weird place that has weird laws when it comes to shipping stuff...here's looking at you Italy).
2) You must do ALL 3 of the mandatory entries.  Not doing so will result in all your entries being disqualified.
3) Don't cheat.  Lying is never in season.
4) Winner must respond within 24 hours, or new winner will be chosen.
5) Ends October 4th at 12am.
6) Don't let some of the questions scare you off.  So long as it's not something that involves your info(Like email or username), there are no wrong answers :P

At this point you probably are wondering "What exactly are the prizes?"  Actually let's be honest.  You probably scrolled right past everything and looked at the prize list first.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  But if you did read all the rules and stuff first let me now show you exactly what you could win!

1) Ebalay Golden Iridescent Polish (Swatch)
2) Black, curly moustache nail art decoration (5pcs)
3) Black and gold fluffy leopard stickers
4) Sailing water decals x2
5) 2mm, silver, circular studs
6) 15 piece nail art brush set
7) Striping tape in silver, gold, black, laser dark violet, and laser blue

Click on the links if you would like to know more details on each products!

And you know what?  If you don't win hope is not lost.  You can still use our new KKCenterHk 15% off coupon code: varnishedvalkyrieevent15off.  Valid from now till March 11th 2014.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

H&M Cherry - I do not know why I have only been using you in nail art, you sexy minx. Two magical coats of creamy, cherry red perfection. Are all H&M polishes this amazing? But I will say I do wish red polishes were a bit easier to clean up. This has been a title post.

Alchemy On Alchemy

So September is here, and that means fall is just around the corner!  Fall is sort of my favourite season!  And I say sort of because I love the first half of fall, it's perfect sweater weather!  I also love the second half of spring!  It's like the first half of fall but in reverse.  I love the season of sweater :)

Now the polish.  This is Sally Hansen Salon Alchemy.  It is a beautiful deep plum purple filled with pink and copper shimmer.  Although the copper isn't all that visible it's still super pretty!  It only took two coats to reach full opacity.  It's super vampy and sexy.  Which is perfect for fall, for those who like to stay on trend.  I have no idea how much these retail for as I bought this on sale for $2.

Natural light(cloudy)

 Light box

The minute I bought this polish I knew I needed to do alchemical symbol symbol nails.  There was a bunch of symbols I wanted to use but i had a hard time cutting it down.  So then I just decided to go with five of the seven planetary metals(Seven metals are associated with the seven classical planets, and seven deities, all figuring heavily in alchemical symbolism).  I used gold microbeads from the craft store, and the bled which made me sad. Do you know what the symbols I used represent?  And do you know of microbeads that don't bleed?

Do you ever get inspired by the name of your polish?  What is your favourite season?

KKCenterHk Full Nail Water Transfer Stickers: They're MELTING!!!

So first of all if you haven't it would be great if you could go over to the previous post and answer those questions.  My friend and I need to figure out what people like and what people don't like on vlogs.  And for the record the reason we want to know this isn't as obvious at it may seem, but I'll get into details later.  But I think(I hope) you guys will all love what we have in mind :P

Now today I have water transfer sticker from KKCenterHk in Illusion.  It's a bunch of black and white swirly illusion patterns.  It looks pretty cool both up close and far away!  Now I decided to try these because I had already given water decals a go, but nothing that covered the whole nail.  These looks like normal nail polish stickers/wraps, but they apply just like the smaller nail art decals.
 

 Came in a set of 12 and had a petite nail file

On the back of the packege there is a set of instructions, both in pictures and written out.  This was a bit confusing.  1)The photo wasn't clear that after you dip it in the pater you then take it off the back.  2)The written instructions didn't even mention putting it in water.

Here are some things I noticed about these.  Once you get them off their backing after dipping them in water they apply just like nail polish appliqués or stickers.  Although because of the water when you put them on they may be a bit slippery a first.  Something else I noticed was while they were very easy to put on you had to be VERY careful, as they are VERY delicate and tear easily.  Especially when you file the tips off.  So a trick I learnt for getting rid of the tip was acetone.  You can watch these melt with acetone.  I would cut the tip as close as I could to the nail, and then get a brush soaked in acetone.  I then would place the brush on top of the portion hanging off my nail and it would literally just melt away.  On the melting topic, you can also do clean up with this like you would for polish.  But be careful because again these are delicate and it's easy to melt away too much.   Also there is a clear border around the actual design, but that's easy to melt away too.

Something I noticed after a day of wearing them was they had started to crack.  Even though I had added a layer of topcoat(Sally Hansen) like they suggested, I added another coat that seems to be holding strong.

While these aren't as durable as some of the other nail wraps and polish appliqués I've tried, and the designs aren't as crisp, I would completely buy them again for a special night out.  They have some pretty unique designes.  I would just use 2 layers of topcoat next time!

If you would like to try these out you can find them over at KKCenterHk where they retail for $8.52 USD.  And get 10% off with our coupon code 'varnishedvalkyrie'!

*Product sent for honest review

Questions!

What kind of things do you like watching on beauty vlogs? 

 What kind of things are you not so crazy about?

*Does not have to be limited to vlogs that are mainly nail related.