Balls....beach balls....

Today was interesting.  I went with George, my mother and my aunt to visit my aunts, best friends mother.  Do you still follow?  Well my aunts best friend had given us the apartment number 305.  So when we got there we called this lady's mother and said we were there and she said she would see us in a bit.  Cut to us knocking on 305 for the next 2 hours.  Did I mention the lady we were visiting was 92?  And when we tried calling her back there was no answer and the phone was off the hook.  We decided to wait and get the super, because  we were worried she might and fallen and something may have happened to her.  Finally we got a hold of her daughter. "She lives in 504".  ............... -_- ............  Anyways long story short she was very much alive, I got to paint a 92 year olds nails and someone in apt 305 was probably wondering who the crazy people at their door were(despite no one answering we think someone was there). 

Anyways on to the nails!  Today I have these full nail stickers from The Born Pretty Store.  If you have been here for a while you probably know by now I am a big fan of nail appliques.  I find them for the most part easy to use especially when you want some easy nail art. 

My first impression of these stickers was two of them don't match(3rd from the left 2nd from the right).  My second impression was these smell like something familiar.  Beach balls. I used to like sniffing them...is that weird?

So I always read the instructions first and I think this is the first time I looked at the instructions and thought "What?".  If you get these here are a few things you should know.  The pictures up top depicting how you apply them reads backwards.  If you are reading the instructions it pretty much says take off the clear front, size it, and then put it on your nail.  It never actually says take off the back of the sticker(Step 1-4).  Regular top coat worked fine(Step 7).  And for step 8 skip everything and just remove excess with a small brush and remover.

I applied them like I do all my nail appliques.  Took off front, took off back, stuck and adjusted to nails, then melt away excess with acetone.  I would say these are comparable to the NCLA wraps.  They both have a rubbery finish and because it's not polish I find that more detailed designs look better.  Here's where this one differed.  It wasn't as thick, so you really couldn't adjust it nearly as much because they were more prone to tearing.  Because you only had a shot or two to adjust  I ended up with lumps in all the nails(which TC covered up nicely).  Another thing that stood out to me(and the reason I only wore them for a few hours was, soon after I put them on they started to lift by the cuticles.

Overall they have some pretty neat designs, but these are the kinds of nail wraps I would buy and wear for a night out, not 3-5 let alone 7 days.  And you know what?  For only $1.99 USD for a pack of 14 honestly does not bother me.

If you would like a pack of these head on over to their website.  And don't forget to use out 10% discount code EAL91!

*Product sent for honest review

SCIENCE! And the tale of a review that almost never was.

So today I have these fun nail art hex studs from Born Pretty Store.  This review is almost 10 days in the making.  It all began when I chose the studs.  I'm not one of those people who can buy something and think "I don't know what I'll use this for or with, but I'll find a way".  Nope, I need to know that I have at least some sort of idea of what I can use it for.  That's when I though CHEMICAL STRUCTURES!  A unique and fun idea. 

Fast forward to receiving the hexes.

I ended up doing this manicure 3 different times.  The first time after I places the hexes, I added all the other stuff with a roller ball pen.  BUT I was in a bit of a rush so I gave up, took off my polish, added new polish and just placed a stud at the base of each nail.  The second time I ended up screwing up the writing, so again I gave up.  Finally on my third and final attempt I actually couldn't find the hexes.  Now since this was a review my options were 1) Find the hexes. 2) Go in the garbage and fish out old hexes I had already used(I knew they were still in the cotton balls) or 3) Buy more.  Now I didn't want to buy more just because it takes quite a while to arrive here, so since at that point I couldn't find them I decided it was garbage hunting for me.  I managed to find 4 studs and still in their tin foil cocoon, as I dove back in something caught my eyes.  The studs.  I don't know how they got in the garbage but, I am glad that I decided to go rummaging through there, or they would have been gone for good!

Anyways!  Like I said the nails are chemical structures (L-R) Dopamine, Asprin, Tetracene, and Toluene.  I was going to do all nail related things but, they were either too complex, or didn't use any hexes.  Application of these was simple, but if you are someone who uses toothpicks to pick up studs you may have some problems as these aren't huge bu any means, but they are slightly heavier and larger than most of my small studs at 3mm, and therefore harder to pick up with a toothpick(I generally pick up studs with a dotting tool dipped in a bit of clear polish).  They lay flat on my nail and stayed put till I decided to take them off.

If you would like a pack of these they come in both gold and silver and retail for $4.99 USD at The Born Pretty Store.  According to their website there is approximately 150 pcs per pack.  You can also add our discount code for an extra 10% off!  Yay!

 

*Product sent for honest review

Giveaway Winner!!!

Here's a heads up.  To the person who sent in a wishlist that was simply and iPad, yes you were actually selected.  And for obvious reasons you did not win.  But I am happy to say the Rowena B. did in fact win!  Congrats Rowena!  When all the stuff is bought we'll share it with you guys. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you everyone for entering!  And thank you for sharing your favourite tea, and your confusion over Jason Orange.
 

Royally Obnoxious

GOOD LORD, VALKYRIES. GOOD LORD. This review took an embarrassing amount of time to produce.

Born Pretty Store sent us these really groovy 3D skull nail decorations, and I was all excited to try 'em out. My first nail art attempt didn't thrill me, so I took it off and thought "I'll try again tomorrow". Tomorrow came, and my cuticles had exploded as a result of the crazy weather we're having. Over a week later, they're still rather gnarly, but good enough. So here we go.

How fun are these? They're available in green, orange or pink. Since I removed them multiple times, I can safely tell you that polish remover doesn't strip the colour off, making them completely reusable and permanently fabulous.

The back of the skull is hollowed out and slightly curved, which helps them stay on the nail very effectively.

My base for this simple look is Orly Liquid Vinyl, stamped with Maybelline Color Show Bold Gold and Winstonia plate W112. I applied just a little bit of glue to the skull, and found it stayed on quite well with no extraneous fiddling.

These come in a pack of 5 for only $1.99 from your friendly neighbourhood nail art supplier!

*Product sent for honest review

Fancy Nail!

When I saw these...I'm going to call them Luxury metal nail decorations from The Born Pretty Store I knew I had to have a pair.  I've seen nail decorations like this and I have always loved how they looked.  I love a good pop of bling and easy nail art!  If you go to the website you can see I got #9.  I liked it because it reminded me of a mirror, and a corset all at once.  Also it fit my nail, shape and size wise.  Application was simple, a bit of nail glue as well as a tacky topcoat, and then I carefully pulled it off when I was finished with it*.

I'm really happy with the one I got but there are a few things you should keep in mind if you would like a set. 1)The length and width of your nails.  The website gives measurements for each different decoration.  Before hand I measured my nails so I would know if it would fit me properly.  The width of these ranges from 10-11mm and the length wise 15-17mm.  The one I got was 15x10 and fit my middle finger perfectly.  These probably work best on medium to long nails. 2) Keep in mind your nail shape if you want full nail coverage.  You may like one that is oval shaped, but know that it will look different from your other nails if they are square.

Overall I really like these and I am itching for a second pair!  I already know which one I want!

If you would like a pair you can get this from The Born Pretty Store for $2.99USD(Although they are currently on sale for $1.99).  In addition to that you can use our 10% discount code on your entire purchase: EAL91

 The blackened red I'm wearing is Barry M Red Black

 

*I only wore these for the picture.  I broke a nail and wanted to file down all of my nails, but I wanted to show you guys this before I filed them down.  The decorations wouldn't have fit the way I wanted them to had I filed them first.  Had I worn them for longer I probably would have used a bit of remover to loosen it, pulled it off, then removed any excess polish with remover and a cotton swab.  I never soak off decorations like this.
**Product sent for honest review

Love is Blind...Colourblind!: Having fun with my new dotting tools!

So I wasn't intended on doing Valentines nails but when I thought of this I had to do it!  Here's how it all started.  I have a fear of going blind(So romantic), and when I say fear, I mean terror.  The fact that for one hot moment they though I had glaucoma did not help it.  I decided to go online and look at forums that discuss this fear.  After doing that for a while for some reason I had this urge to look up "What do people see when they are colourblind?" And I started looking at these comparison pictures between normal vision, and different types of colorblindness, and it's kind of insane.  Then out of know where I thought of the saying "Love is Blind" and then I thought "Colourblind"  Random, I know.

OR maybe it's my subconscious speaking and this whole thing really about interracial relationships!  I don't know why my subconscious would do that though.  Trust me, the conscious part of me could have told you how they can be fab.  And you know the old saying "Once you go black, you may or may not go back.  It all really depends on the person, and what they are like on the inside.  Like their personality and blood type. You can never have too many kidneys."

Anyways this mani took FOREVER to finish. Apart from the bright orange on the index finger, EVERY other colour had to be mixed(acrylic paint) because I didn't have the colours I wanted in a cream form.  The actual shapes(X❤OX) and the dots themselves were easy to do.

Decided to mattify it.

AND one more fun thing.  Even though I'm sure my colours are off, if this is correct everyone with perfect colour will be able to see everything that's going on on my nails.  If you can't see red or green, the only thing you will see is half a heart.  And completely colorblind, you'll just see a bunch of dots.

This whole mani was done with my new dotting tools from KKcenterHk.  They are double ended and come in 5 different sizes.  One side of the dotting tool has varying sizes, and the other side the sizes are equal.  The blue dotting tool is the same size on each end.  These were easy to use, but in my opinion you only really need three of them.  Small, medium and large.  It's very easy to get the sizes in between with those tools alone, you just have to use more or less polish or paint.  But overall I'm glad I have these.  Prior to this I had two dotting tools, and they were both the really small ones.

If you would like a set like this for yourself, head on over to KKcenterHk where it retails for $7.99 USD.  And use our 15% discount code(which is only valid for another month): varnishedvalkyrieevent15off

 

*Product sent for honest review

Literary Lacquers As The Waltz Was Ending + Love You Forever: I can't angry blog.

This post was actually originally written yesterday, and the whole thing started out as a rant at something I was mad about.  Now I generally love sharing with you guys stuff about me, but when I read it over it was not only did a write something that came off as VERY angry.  It came off something personal that I didn't want to tell someone, but I still wanted them to find out about.  Subsequently it made writing the actual review near impossible, because I just wasn't in the right head space.  So I had to step away and come back to this.  I didn't want to write a sub par review because of things that had nothing to do with it.  So lesson learnt, I can't and wont blog angry.

Jacquie

Jacquie

Jacquie

Today I have 2 polishes for you.  Both Literary Lacquers, and both from the community collection.

First up I have As The Waltz Was Ending, created by Lacey from My Boyfriend Hates Makeup.  And is inspired by one of her favourite books As the Waltz Was Ending by Emma MacAlik Butterworth. "An autobiographical account of a young girl whose ballet career with the Vienna State Opera was interrupted by the invasion of the Nazis and who later had to fight for her life during the Russian occupation."  To check out why Lacy chose this book go here.

ATWWE is a pink-purple liner holo.  And I'll be honest with you, it was so hard to photograph.  It always came out more purple than pink.  But the shots I did end up with are very close.  I used 3 coats and the formula was typical of a Literary Lacquer holo...  Perfect.

Sunlight

 Indoor FLASH *AH-HA*

Next up I have my favourite of the four polishes from this collection I have reviewed called Love You Forever.  It was created by Crisdee and her daughter Keera, and was inspired by the Robert Munsch children's book Love You Forever. "It tells the story of the evolving relationship between a boy and his mother."  If you would like to see the full story behind why they chose this book check it out here.

Love You Forever is a sky blue linear polish.  And man oh man is it beautiful.  Again like ATWWE, I used 3 coats and the formula was perfect.

Overall I love Literary Lacquers holo polishes.  They aren't super holo indoors, but they come to life in sunlight.  And while they may not be super holo indoors, that's ok with me, because the colours are all so beautiful.  Even when you can't see the holo in full effect, the colour itself can stand on it's own.

If you would like a bottle of one of these, or any other Literary Lacquer, head on over to the LL etsy page!  The bottles retail for $10 USD each.

Do you own any Literary Lacquer holo's?  Aren't they amazing???

*Products sent for honest review

Literary Lacquers Goodnight Moon: First foray into shaped glitter

I had lobster poutine the other day.  It was amazing.  The end.

Today I have another Literary Lacquers for you guys, it's Goodnight Moon, created by Tami of The Manicured Mermaid, and based on the Children's of the same name.  A book about a child saying goodnight to everything (Read full story of inspiration here).  And I'll be honest, I've never read it and I never had it read to me.  Is that weird?

Good night moon is a sheer blue jelly polish, filled with holographic glitter, silver hex glitter and of course silver and blue moon shaped glitter.  I applied one coat over Cult Nails Time Travler, a deep navy TARDIS blue.  I did have some problems getting the moons out though,  I kept having to shake and fish for them.  That being said overall I did really like this polish, and I have some nail art planned for it!

If you would like a bottle of this you should head on over to Literary Lacquers and grab a bottle for $10 USD.

ETA - Wait no.  This is the second foray into shaped glitter :P

*Product sent for honest review

Literary Lacquers Thermodynamics - The only thing I understand about Thermodynamics is you should wear this over black. DO IT!

This polish is Thermodynamics from Literary Lacquers Community Collection.  It was created by Alex of Sparkly Vernis.

Now normally I like starting off Literary Lacquers posts with a bit of info on the book the polish was based on.  Amy reads science books, and one thing she said she could read about all day is Energy and Work.  Yesterday I couldn't tell you what that meant, today I still can't.  I honestly tried to understand it.  I even used Wikipedia, trusted encyclopedia of Universities throughout the world.  It was if I was reading the words and they immediately fell out my ears.  So I gave up and accepted the fact that science wasn't my thing...minus genetics when I was in school...and pig dissections.

Anyways, less about piggies and more about polish!  Thermodynamics is described as a sheer cherry red jelly polish with a blue glass fleck and a touch of blue iridescent glitter.  Although I would say it was more of a pinkish red.  I used 4 coats due to bumping my hand and covering it up with an extra coat.  But you really only need 3 if you want it pretty much opaque(there may be some visible nail line).  Then I layered 2 coats over one coat of black.  I'll be honest, this isn't really my type of polish, but over black ASDFGHJKL!!!!!  All the particles stand out a bit more and it kind of has this duochrome-y feel to it.

With no undies

 FLASH *AH-HA*

 Over black

When I was done I decided to add some nail art.  This is equatsion, it's where k_B is the Boltzmann constant, and Ω denotes the volume of macrostate in the phase space or otherwise called thermodynamic probability...you know...that. *blinks*

If you would like a bottle of this, head on over to Literary Lacquers page.  A bottle of this .5oz polish is only $10 USD.

*Product sent for honest review