How many coats of polish do you think this took?

If you guessed 53, you are wrong. Which is hard to be because it's written directly on the photos. Yes, that right there is 101 coats of polish(well 100 in Robyn's case as I had top coat on in there because I wanted to keep it a bit classy).

 Robyn's coats got larger and started to flop over, whereas mine got smaller each coat.

All the polishes that were used.

I'm just going to cut to the chase and address some questions and comments that people will probably have.  This also includes a removal video:

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

Steampunk

Hi friends. I had some time to while away this afternoon, so I glued things to my nails. Here's a steampunk look using things from my craft drawer. Today you will learn a little bit about beading and jewellery supplies.

 

 My base is Revlon Hot For Chocolate.

 

The long metal thingy with the holes in it is a divider. They're great for helping multiple strands of beads stick together in a straight line. These can be purchased for cheap at your local bead store.

This triangular thingy is a connector. You can do pretty much anything with it. I have no idea where the gear thingies came from, or why I have them.

I hope this post was informative.

A Very Cuccio Christmas

Sorry, I wish I could have kept that title non-denominational…but I love some good alliteration.

Today I have some wonderful polishes and simple holiday looks to show you from a brand that just isn't getting enough love on the blog circuit - Cuccio Naturale. I own two Cuccio polishes, both of which I received through Topbox. The colours are gorgeous and the wear time is great.

First up: Moscow Red Square, a cool red shimmer perfect for the holidays. Red is my favourite colour (that is a lie, my favourite colour is all of them) and this is the red I have longed for. The formula is a little bit runny, but very manageable with 3 thin coats. You could easily get away with 2, but I bumped my nails and scuffed them :P oops! No topcoat here.

I topped it with OPI Pirouette My Whistle for a pretty snowy effect. Instant holiday cheer!

Tel-Aviv About It! is my perfect neutral. When I first saw this polish, I wasn't too excited. After putting it on, however, it was true love. It's a perfect medium tan. In some lights, I swear I see a lilac undertone. 2 coats plus Seche Vite.

For a simple holiday mani, I stamped with Maybelline Bold Gold and Winstonia plate W120, and matted the finished look. I prefer nail art that is isn't too BAM-in-your-face-CHRISTMAS, so this is a nice, subdued look for me. Without direct light for photographing, the stamping is very subtle. I love it!

Are you as enamoured with these colours as I am? If you would like to purchase some Cuccio polishes for yourself, you can get them through Cuccio Naturale's website or Transdesign.

Have a warm and happy holiday!

An Enthralling Surprise

SUP VALKYRIES

Today I have a simple little mix for you, made with stamps and striping tape. My base colour is Revlon Enthrall, my accent colour is Maybelline Bold Gold - which stamps wonderfully, so I would recommend it if stamping is your jam!

Revlon, I have talked some serious sh*t in the past, and now I gotta take it back. You're redeeming yourself with Enthrall. Look at that sparkle! I hope Kas will swatch this polish for you, it's absolutely gorgeous and my (lack of) photo skills can't do it justice!

 In some lights, this polish just looks brown, in others it glows a beautiful olive green with green and red/gold glitter. It's a real chameleon and I'm so glad I bought it! I can see myself reaching for this colour a lot.

Left to right: Born Pretty plate M57, stud, BP plate RuiZ04, stripes.

Has a brand you thought you hated ever surprised you?

hey look a post from Robyn

HEY FRIENDS

Since Fingers posted this super cute dotticure, I've had this colour combo rolling around in my head. Dots are definitely not my forte, but I love me some stripes!

My base colour is OPI French Quarter for Your Thoughts, a light, creamy grey. I love this colour so much, I think it's the only polish I've worn 3 times within a month!

 

With striping tape and OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window*, I made some diagonal stripes along half of each nail. The tip is Essie Go Overboard, with a gold stud for shazam. I think it looks very military.

How much do you love striping tape!?

*The worst polish name ever. Everyone gets their own gross mental image with this one. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, SUZI.

The worst, most disappointing review you will ever read. We tried.

Hello friends! Today I want to show you a beautiful flakie polish from Born Pretty Store. I want to, but I really can't.

Dazzling Starry Magical Multicolored Shell Glitter Nail Art Polish Varnish in colour #4 is a "classic" flakie with a standard orange-green shift and hits of fuschia, giving it a bit more interest than most regular flakies. This polish has a slightly purple-tinted base, so it looks best over darker or well-saturated colours.

Now, let me tell you, I absolutely suck at taking photos. I blow hard at colour accuracy. My lighting is never quite right. My hands can never stay still enough to get the right angles. THIS POLISH WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO PHOTOGRAPH. Kas came over and we worked on this for 2 hours. We were ready to give up on life. So I need you to trust me when I say that in real life, it's absolutely gorgeous.

My base colour here is OPI Lincoln Park After Dark.

 We tried to take comparison shots for you, with Essie Shine of the Times. We failed. Base colour is NOPI Fell From The Tree. You can kinda see how the Sweet polish has that hint of pink.

HEY LOOK AT THE BOTTLE IT'S REALLY PRETTY

This is really all I can show you. All of our other photos represent failure on a mass scale and I'm deeply ashamed.

So if you believe me when I say this polish actually is really great, head over to Born Pretty Store and grab a bottle for only $8.99! Don't forget our coupon code for 10% off.

*Product sent for honest review

**We know we suck. We'll try harder next time. We're really sorry.

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

Born Pretty Nail Strips - Checkered Watermelon Nails!

These nail strips from Born Pretty actually feature checkers AND leopard print. "Checkered watermelon" is the reaction I got from a friend who noticed them after downing a mug of rum.

I really wasn't sure about this design at first - Kas picked them out and surprised me! Once they were on, though, yes. This pattern is amazing. Check it out:

I did have some issues with application, however. The package doesn't indicate if they're real nail polish strips or stickers - we think they're stickers, but very thin ones. They can stretch a LITTLE bit, but be careful as they can tear! Because they're not very forgiving, I found it difficult to apply them completely flat and most nails had a few bumps in them. I suggest placing them along the centre of the nail first and then smoothing them out along the sides.

This is what happens if you try to "clean up" the edge with acetone. It's not pretty. Be sure to cut them to size and place carefully!

Kas wiggled the thumb sticker around a bit for me, but it ended up tearing. Watch out for that! Fortunately, it wasn't really visible from a standard hand-to-face distance.

These lasted me well through an evening, but they started to look pretty ratty after 8 hours. If you're planning to wear these for more than a night out, be sure to wrap your tips well and use the hardest-wearing topcoat you've got.

Final Verdict: These are not the best. But for $2.99 and free shipping, they're worth the price for a fabulous one-night manicure! Now that I know what to avoid when applying them, I would happily try them again in many of the very exciting designs available.

Go check out Born Pretty Store for these and more fabulous nail art supplies! Always remember our coupon code for 10% off!

 

*Product sent for honest review 

The Monarch has many ways to sting!

I love cartoons. Especially inappropriate cartoons. The Venture Bros is a long-standing favourite. When season 5 was (FINALLY) announced, oh man, a handful of friends and I were pretty much barfing with excitement.

If you're not familiar with the show, here's a quick summary: it's a parody of Jonny Quest-style boy adventurer 60's cartoons, put in a present-day setting with heaps of modern cynicism. The plot revolves revolves around Hank and Dean Venture, teenaged sons of failed superscientist Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture, who lives bitterly in the shadow of his own very successful father. Every superscientist worth his salt needs an arch-villain...enter THE MONARCH!

 Pictured here with his faithful and way-smarter companion Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. He's the best villain in the history of villainy. He's obsessed with butterflies, while demonstrating limited understanding of them. Go watch it. You will hurt yourself laughing.

 Colours used: Orly Liquid Vinyl, Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, Orly Androgynie. Acrylic paint for the butterfly, rhinestones for shazam.

 You can see some drag on the crown  :(

 This kind of looks horrible close up. But from a standard hand-to-face distance, it's good.

If you're not sold on this show yet, just watch this:

Any Venture fans in the house?

ALSO just to let you all know, I think my camera is about to die. I have no means to replace it, so unless I can get it repaired for cheap, I may not be around for a while. Going to try to make it last for a while longer but who knows!

It's my party and I'll watch spend all day doing my nails and watching cartoons if I want to

I am 25 today! Not into it. Being an adult is not cool. So I've spent all day watching Samurai Jack and putting together a fabulous manicure.

2 Kleancolors for this look: Mystic Grass, stamped with Black. I added some striping tape and rhinestones for shazam. Super digging these!

The unicorn stamp is Winstonia W117 and the leopard is M57 from Born Pretty Store.

A rare thumb shot! My thumb cuticles are normally totally gross but they're not too bad lately. Enjoy!

Oh, happy birthday to Canada as well. I guess I can share.

Textured Chevrons

Initially, I wasn't too sure about this season's texture trend. While reading up on it, I came across a swatch of OPI Get Your Number with topcoat...well, that holo glitter got me! I later found it in a discount bin and decided to go for it. After playing with it a bit, I kinda started to like the texture. Of course, I couldn't have just a boring, lumpy mani...

Starting with a base of Hot Topic Finn on every nail, I stacked shaped manicure guides from Born Pretty Store onto my index and middle fingers to create the pattern. One coat of Get Your Number, remove guides, bam! Pretty neat way to work the texture trend.

I actually like these a lot!

These would also be really easy to do with scotch tape. I'd like to try this look again with a contrasting base, or a more wild design with striping tape.

Have any of you wonderful readers tried any textured polishes?

Unleash Your Inner Queen...On Your Nails!

Ahoy Valkyries! Let me tell you about these fancy little crown decorations from Born Pretty Store. These pretties are metal with an ivory-coloured enamel detail, and 1x1 cm wide. Because they're metal, you can use them again and again! Value for money, guys.

For a truly regal look, I started with a base of A England Avalon,  the purple of my dreams! Finished off with Essie Good to Go! topcoat.

Application was quite fiddly, using nail glue, tweezers, and swearing. I recommend putting the glue directly on the crown, rather than the nail. This way, the glue kinda drips down onto the nail and creates a sort of "wall" between the deco and your nail. Maybe you knew that, but this was my first time gluing stuff on my nails so it was an "aha!" moment for me!

I LOVE how these look. They take a bit more time and some practice to apply, but they really add something special to your manicure. So head over to Born Pretty Store for these and more great nail art supplies, and don't forget to use our coupon code!

ETA: Because they're so big, I had trouble getting them to stay on for more than 12 hours. But those 12 hours of tacky, glamourous ultra-fab time were amazing. Highlight of my week.

*Product was sent for honest review.

Neon Matte Madness!

Hi friends! I've been sick as balls for the last few days…which has meant Hannibal and nail art! Have you guys been watching that show? It's REALLY good. Mads Mikkelsen, get in my bed. You can bring Hugh Dancy too. *AHEM* Sorry, the cough syrup is getting to me.

For this design, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted something loud. Mission accomplished!

 Started with a yellow base, I then sponged randomly with blue, green and orange. Pink stripes in the remaining yellow patches. Then added black chunks. Then dots. I'm sure I could have kept going but it's probably good that I stopped there.

On my left middle finger, the topcoat caused some drag - which I thought looked really cool! The rest of my fingers had dried quite well, though, so this was only cool smudgey one.

I would normally never show you a picture of my thumb, because my thumb cuticles are always so gross. But this looks so rad.

China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat, Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, Essie Orange It's Obvious, Prevail Roof Top Bar, Personelle Emy, Art Deco Wild Fuchsia and Black, Warpaint Beauty Matte Topcoat.