Guest Post by Tales About Nails: Pyjama Dotticure

Howdy there :) Today's guest post comes from a gal all the way in Australia! I know there is a huge Australian beauty blogger base, the nail bloggers even have a group they call the Gumleaf Mafia (so cute). I first noticed Lauren's awesome nails on Instagram and found she had a blog as well called Tales About Nails. Her lovely and beautifully symmetrical nails caught my eye and I hope they catch yours as well. Be sure to follow her to check out all her great nail art designs and color reviews! Thanks Lauren!

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Hey there everyone! I'm Lauren from Tales About Nails, or you may know me as @xxlovelauren on Instagram. Kellie's awesome blog was one of the very first nail blogs I started reading back when I didn't know a holographic from a shimmer or a creme from a jelly, and I never imagined I'd be on here one day! It's such an honour!

This dotticure was inspired by a pair of pyjama shorts I spotted (ha! pun intended) in a store the other day and I just loved the colour scheme. I even stood there in the store for a while thinking up the polishes that would match up with the colours haha. Dotticures are a great form of nail art for even the most beginner person. I used a small dotting tool from a nail art tool set but toothpicks or bobbypins work just fine!

Polishes used: Sinful Colors 'Cool Gray' for the base, and Sally Hansen 'Pacific Blue', China Glaze 'Flip Flop Fantasy', Ulta3 'Lily White' and Lime Crime 'Once In A Blue Mousse' for the dots.

Hope you guys like it!

Thank you so much for the opportunity to guest post for you Kellie! xx

Where to find Tales About Nails

Blog - Facebook - Twitter - Instagram

Nubar Polka Dots

Just a quick post today folks :) I reviewed the white polish from Nubar's Polka Dot duo in this post, but here are both of them together. White Polka Dot has satin opal hex glitters and iridescent tiny glitter. The Black Polka Dot has black hex glitters and tiny black glitter.

I layered the White Polka Dot over Wet n' Wild Black Creme and I layered the Black Polka Dot over Wet n' Wild French White Creme. You can get the polka dot lacquers in a set from www.bynubar.com for $20.

Products provided for review.

Nubar White Polka Dot

Is it really "spring"? Because it's been a freaking winter wonderland for the last few days. I swear we have over 2 ft. snow on my lawn. No bueno. Mostly for picture taking. It's no secret that I am hard on myself and I really hate putting up photos that are not up to my perfectionist standards (yeah like they're perfect, gag) and honestly I tend to hate every photo I take that isn't in direct sunlight. I just don't like how they look in comparison. However I've been really trying to get my lightbox and light set up to work to get some good photos so I can continue swatching with the absence of sun. Not to ramble, just thought I'd let you in on my thought process, and give you a glimpse into how crazy I am. In summation, I hope you don't hate these photos cuz I have obsessed over getting them to look good haha!

Today I wanted to show you this polish, which I've been lusting over for a LONG time. Nubar White Polka Dot is a clear polish with opal/white satiny hexagon pieces and tiny silver and blue iridescent glitter. At first glance you don't see the blue tint to the small glitters but once it's on the nail it sparks to life. I personally love the idea of satin finish glitter, meaning it's non-shiny.

I did a gradient with the glitter over one of the new Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes (which is not out quite yet) called IKB:2012, a vibrant blue jelly. I know OPI has a similar glitter topcoat coming out in their SoftShades collection, but the small glitter is different I believe.

You can get this Nubar polish in a two-pack with it's black counterpart (to be reviewed soon) for $20 on http://www.bynubar.com/, or you can get The Painted Nail's version of this polish called Moon Drops for $12.50 on http://shop.thepaintednail.com/.

Products provided for review.

essie luscious lips

this lady-like pale pink is called luscious lips by essie. it came out with the summer 2009 collection, with some of my very favorite essie shades--chubby cheeks and cute as a button. it has a very nice formula, i needed only 3 coats. i was expecting it to be streaky but it pleasantly smoothed out by itself. i had shorty nails when i wore it as you can see and i hate having to layer on tons of polish with short nails, it makes for tons of clean up and can feel yucky.

i decided to spice it up a little and took a que from steph over at steph's closet a.k.a. "the queen of polka dots" and try some white dots. i used a small dotting tool i got at walmart or somewhere like that and some acrylic paint. then i covered w/ seche vite because the acrylic paint is not waterproof. i really liked the result :) what do you think? (some of them look weird but it's just the shine of the camera haha)

orly matte couture

i bought two of the new orly matte couture polishes on sheer whim. because truth be told, i don't really like matte polish. they dry to darn fast and i like to take my time and be gentle and loving with my brush strokes. that's why i have my trusty essie matte about you topcoat, darn it! so i wouldn't be suckered into buying these matte polishes! but hey what can you do, when the polish-frenzy urge strikes, it strikes. these orlys really weren't that bad, as you will see below, if applied thickly and quickly *le sigh* they look pretty dope. the finish isn't chalky matte like the opi collection, but rather sort of vinyl and soft looking rather than stark.

purple velvetthis polish had a bit of shimmer in it which i liked a lot and was a more dark reddish purple than this picture shows. of course, my camera like most, doesn't play nice with purples and this is darker and more blue than it should be. :(


blue suede

the blue of this is also unique to my collection, but the finish didn't do it for me so much. it looks dusty, hence the "suede" name but i didn't really like it. so what do you do with a matte you don't love?? put seche on it! which i did--then promptly messed up all to hell. so no pics sorry i was fed up as it is taking pics of my right hand. please forgive.

ALSO, the finish on these is SOOOOOO fleeting! i think i've mentioned that i run my tips over my lips to check if they're dry or not and just that made my ring fingernail shiny and no matter how long i waited it didn't go back or dry or whatever made it change looks. the purple kept getting prints or smudgy looking marks on the top too, although it wasn't dents in the polish, it was just on the finish. like smudges on your windshield. NO BUENO!

so i decided to fix this crap up and put polka dots with my china glaze kaleidoscope visit me in prism on the purple velvet and use seche on top to salvage the wreck. it was fun, but i would definitely file this mani under a big fat FAIL. *humph* well they can't all be winners!

a big smooch to all you polished ladies!