You know you haven't been doing your nails when...

You have no black polish, and you probably haven't had any for months.

Yup, not a single black polish. So for this manicure I used a coat of Sinful Colors Secret Admirer as the base, and black acrylic paint over it.

Honestly my nails have been looking rough the past few months. In part because I was busy, and in part because I was sick during the end of June and most of July, which totally threw my nails through a loop because I wasn't healthy in the slightest(I'm much better now). But they are finally starting to look decent. Huzzah!

So today I bring you these skull wearing crowns from the Born Pretty Store. I have been sitting on for a such a long time they no longer sell it(sorry, fail on my part). But I'm still going to review them. I love skulls and I love crowns, like any person with healthy interests, so you put a crown on a skull, I will like it.

This was honestly bigger than I expected, and would have looked better when I had longer nails. But either way they just fit. Application is always easy with these because of their size. Now for big 3D nail art like this you want to glue them down not just stick it into the polish, and don't even try and top coat it. And when you are done with big pieces like this, you can easily peel them off and use them again.

Now because I flopped harder than Ryan Lochte(ok not that badly), I actually don't have a link for where you can buy these and they don't sell them any more. So here are a couple links to some 3D skulls from them that I think you should check out. And remember to use are 10% discount code if you plan on buying them(or anything else from their site!)

 

While these aren't rhinestones to me they have the same feel, and they appear to be smaller. 5 currently on sale for $2.14 USD.

 

These ones are like a party/rave version of the ones I have. They incorporate both the skull and crown, and we actually reviewed them here before! Currently on sale for $0.59 USD. 

*Product sent for honest review

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

*Singing* Be a friend to the earth, cuz you know how much it is worth. It's worth more than gold. It's worth more than jewels. So help clean it up, AND DON'T BE A FOOL. Be a friend to the earth.

I kid you not that was a song my class wrote when I was maybe 8. I figured because of the title this would be one of the only times I would get to share this just missed out on the top 100, songs of the 90's you might have missed.

Anyways this post in no way apart from the song has anything to do with me being a friend to the earth. Not that I'm not her friend, I just prefer calling her my acquaintance. I mean we get along but I wouldn't call her a friend yet. Back on topic! My nails! So I had a really hard time wanting to take off the last mani. I ended up wearing them for almost a week. By the time I took remover to my fingers I had already taken off the studs the night before. When I took them off I though "You look fine", so I  kept them. Long story short the black studs in this manicure are the exact same set of studs I had used in my previous gradient and black manicure! I figured why not use them again if I'm only going to get 50. Not only that but they hold up just fine, like they have never been used before!

Do you guys reuse nail art supply's like studs? I like saving larger studs and of course stuff along the line of charms.

More Bunnies(but of the dust kind) - My Sneeziest Manicure Yet!

One thing I haven't done in a while is just a really weird manicure. I actually wasn't planning on doing this but other ideas fell through.

1)When I originally chose the eyeballs for review from KKCenterHk I had a REALLY cool idea. It's a shame I completely forgot what it was.
2)My next idea was to add them to some cat water decals. Because cats with googly eyes are AMAZING! But the cats were to small and it was less funny when it was a cat body with an eye head.
3)My next idea was add them to water decals I had of random thing like lips, sunglasses and mustaches. Because googly eyes on inanimate objects is EVEN MORE AMAZING! Buuuttt I could not for the life of me find them.

So I ended up with these Dust Bunnies. Made from actual dryer lint! It was easy to place the lint on, and I did it in a similar manner to when you would use flocking powder. Then I put 2 dots of nail glue and stuck the eyes to them using a dotting tool dipped in clear polish.

The googly eyes are 3mm in diameter. They are the smallest you can get. I honestly think )for me at least) any bigger and they would be overwhelming. I stuck these on with nail glue because I don't think these are something I would top coat, as they are tall(3 maybe 4mm). They are also a bit harder to pick up then most studs, because when you lay them out they almost always end up on their sides. I also found it easier once they were on the nail to press them gently with my fingers. You don't have to worry about ruining the rest of the design because again, they are so high. On the website it says each jar comes with 40pcs, but there has to be at least 150 in here, if not a bit more.

If you would like your very own jar of eyes, head on over to KKCenterHK where they retail for $5 USD. You can also try and use our discount code(listed on the left sidebar), BUT I'm not sure if it has been extended yet or not. I'll place the code in here when I know for sure.

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

I don't know how I feel about you... I think I just fell out of like.

So just a quick post because I've been a bad blogger this year :P

1)  I don't think I have mentioned it here(or I may have just mentioned it in passing), but we have an Instagram now.  So everyone should go and follow us over there because that's the cool thing to do.  Everyone's doing it.

2)  This man.  All I did was use some white and then I used the saran wrap technique and blotted on Essence Ultimate Pink and Milani Dude blue.  I finally ended with a square neon pink stud from The Born Pretty Store.  I don't know if I like it.  I liked it when I originally finished it, but I kinda just fell out of like.  There's nothing wrong with it, I just had a really short like affair.

What do you think about this mani?  Are you in like with it?

*The colour of the pink stud was REALLY hard to capture in some of these.  In real life it is probably closer to the second picture.

Also if you would like to buy these studs you can get them here. And you can also use our 10% Born Pretty Discount code EAL91.

*Some products were sent for review.

Black on Rainbow: My first rainbow gradient

For the first time in a long time I did something the other day that I hadn't done in years.  I fell off the bed.  I wasn't laying down either, I was sitting at the edge and gracefully toppled over backwards.  Luckily I put my hand out and caught myself on a step stool I had.  I ended up breaking my thumb nail on my left hand when I caught myself.  But looking back I'm grateful.  It was either me, or the nail.

My design today was inspired by these nails by More Nail Polish(who was inspired by other blogger, who were inspired by other bloggers :P).  I decided that since I had these black circular rhinestones from KKCenterHk's Candy Series I would do it in reverse.  Black on rainbow!

I'm honestly pretty bad at gradients and rarely do them.  This is maybe my 4rd attempt.  I painted all the colours(Red, yellow, green, blue, and purple) on a makeup sponge and dabbed it against my nails which already had white polish on them.  It was MUCH easier then I the past few times I did it.  And although it's not perfect I still think it looks good. The only thing I would do differently next time is do the colours in reverse so the red isn't near the cuticles.  It was flippin hard to clean!

Then I  easily placed the solid black rhinestones.  They are 2mm in diameter and they say they include around 100 rhinestones.  If I were to take a guess I would say there was well over 100 in the bottle it came in.  I used 20 and you would never know I used any if looking in the container.  My only "problem"(and reason I only did the row of black as an accent nails) was it's really hard too see what side was the top or thw bottom when you were picking them up.  The colours in the Candy Series are solid colours unlike their other rhinestones, which are transparent, and have silver bottoms, making the bottom easy to identify.   It also probably doesn't help that my eyes are bad.

Overall I really did love these rhinestones!  If you want some head on over to KKCenterHK they also come in MANY other colours.  They retail for $4.50 USD, but you can use our 15% coupon code 'varnishedvalkyrieevent15off' and get them for a bit less :D

What do you think of my gradient?

You have to look close to see if you are picking it up from the top or the bottom.

*Product sent for honest review

LynBDesigns - Frogs Breath: I've made a huge mistake. But frogs make everything better!

Today I have another LynBDesigns!  This is also from The nightmare begins collection.

I sort of wanted to put this and Deadly Nightshade together, but I didn't want to overload the post.  The reason I wanted to put them together is because along with Deadly Nightshade, Sally also put Frogs Breath into Doctor Finkelstein soup.

Frogs Breath is a bright green, jelly polish.  It kind of reminds me of murky water.  The polish is filled with matte black hexogonal and bar glitter.  As well as black matte shards.  Application was really easy and was 3 coats.  This is not a polish you'll ever get light impenetrable opaque and in my opinion, that's just fine.

Here is where I made my mistake.  I layered it over Orly's Lucky Duck.  I honestly don't think it worked.  Don't get me wrong they didn't look bad together they just kind of fell flat.  SO I ADDED A FROG WITH 3D EYES!  And everything was better...minus the blah nails that weren't the frog.  I would have loved the accent with the polish on it's own.  If you are going to layer this you need to find the right colour.  Or you kind of just destroy the magic of the polish.

 If you would like a bottle of this you can head over to LynBDesigns Etsy shop.  Polishes retail from between $8-$10USD.  And if you order now through Sunday, and use the code CHICAGO you can get 50% of your purchase of $16 or more. 

Do you think it looks better with the undies I chose or without?

 *Product sent for honest review

Lava Nails: This is the reason I have a bottle of textured polish. That and SCIENCE!

Fact:  I own one bottle of textured polish at the moment.  Zoya Dahlia.  One of the main reason why I bought it was to try this.  I think I would call this a success!

I started off by leaving on the base of Moonlit Dance.  Then with black acrylic paint I messily painted on where the black was going to go.  After that I painted on Dahlia over the black paint using a nail art brush, and adding a tiny bit of black on top of the orange.  This looked much cooler in real life as in some of the black areas I went over them maybe twice.  Then in other areas I went over them around six times.  Not only did I have textures going on because I did more layers in some places more than others it gave it this really neat 3D look!  After I did that I decided to go over the orange with a sheer orange Orly polish(I don't remember the name right now and I can't find it on the bottle(mini)).  I wasn't really loving how shimmery the original orange looked under it.

Fact: Lava- Molten rock above the earths surface, expelled by volcano.  Magma- Molten rock below the earths surface!

Ummmmm...SCIENCE!

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?

3D Lego Nails!

Ugh As soon as clicked on the new post button, the new post page loaded and then my internet immediately cut out!  It obviously was down a few days ago when the power went our but for the past few weeks it's been finicky in general.  Anyways I hope you had a great few days.  I had a new first!  A man followed me the other day!  Luckily is was by a busy road, and when I lost him I went and hid in a store for a bit.

Now onto things that aren't creepy men!

I've been wanting to do 3D nails for a while now but wasn't sure what I wanted to do.  I knew I didn't want anything too over the top, or something that would interfere with me doing things.  So a few nights ago I was looking at The Daily Nail's site, and I came across these Lego nails.  Not only did I think they looked nifty, I thought I could do something like that but actually make it 3D.

First I painted my nails the base colour of whatever the block was going to be.  Next I placed between 2-6 pieces of KKCenterHk gold circular glitter down depending on how many bumps the block was going to have.  After that I got out some nail glue, placed a tiny bit on each piece of glitter, and stacked another piece of glitter on top of the original piece.  Then I repeated that step so each of the bumps consisted of 3 pieces of glitter.  When that was done I got out my acrylic paint and painted over just the bumps, focusing on the sides.  Following that I went over the entire nail with the acrylic paint (you may need to do this more than once if the base colour of polish is slightly different than the paint).  Finally I topped it of with a couple thin coats of top coat.

Note:  My pinky finger was done entirely with polish because I didn't have the shade of green I wanted in paint.  While you can do this entirely with polish I found it much easier with paint.  Not only that but I found the bumps were more more defined with paint.

What do you guys think of 3D nails?  Thoughts on creepy men?

Born Pretty Store Fimo Nail Decorations!

So I've been absent lately, which I should apologise for.  I've been dealing with some family things including a very sudden death back in South Africa, but I will be much more present now that we've handled it together, so BACK AT IT!

I got THESE from Born Pretty recently, they're adorable little fimo nail decorations in various shapes and colours.  I know that they're definitely not for everyone, but here at VV we can definitely appreciate the fun and whimsy of stuff like this, so if you're not into it... Jog on, I suppose!

I decided to wear these with Essie In The Cab(ana), which is a sweet, fun blue from this year's resort collection.  I love this colour and I can see myself wearing it a lot.

These fimo decals came with a tube of nail glue to attach them, which I really liked.  It's nice to get that little extra bit for your money.  I also love that there was no warping or strange variance in size with these, which is a definite hazard with inexpensive nail art stuff.  Everything was uniform in size and shape, with the only variation being in thickness.

Attaching them was very easy, I found the glue to be extremely effective.  It stuck fast and stuck well.

I decided to use a bunch of different decals so you can see some of the options.  I didn't do my thumb as I had a cut on it and wasn't wearing polish, so just ignore :P

I didn't do a proper wear test as I work in an environment where it really wouldn't be fair(I spend all day prying things with my hands, mixing stuff, and typing), but these did last through cooking myself a big lunch, walking my dog, and doing some light cleaning.  I think they would very easily last through a night or day out!  In fact, I'm going to wear the flowers to a music festival next weekend.

(While we're at it, let's all examine my weird skin.  Yellow in the first two photos, pink in the last.  Ohhhh, genetics.)

If you would like to get your hand on these head on over to the Born pretty website!  And don't forget to use our 10% code, EAL91!