Secretary`s Nail Art: nyc

Showing posts with label nyc. Show all posts

28 February 2015

Easter Flowers over textured nails

I received this product of my choosing, free of charge for my honest, non-bias review from the Born Pretty Store.

I was in the mood for something bright, and as I had just been planning my Easter Holiday, I was in the mood for something yellow. I had just received some stamping plates from Born Pretty Store, and was eager to try them out.
Before I left Spain this summer I snatched up a couple of the polishes in the Cupcake line from KIKO, when I was looking through my yellow polishes, I just had to use this one.

The texture did not distribute evenly with this polish, and it was a little bit tricky to work with, luckily it still looks very pretty.

KIKO - Cupcake - 648

When it came to choose a design and plate, this one just jumped to me, and I instantly had an idea of what I wanted to do with it.
I stamped using NYC - Flat Iron Green, a polish I have never worn as a mani, but used every now and then for stamping and nail art. In the bottle it looks pretty much black, but when you use it for stamping you can see that it is more like a dark mossy green. A blackened green polish.

I used the Y 003 plate, and picked the design to the top left. I really like this plate, and I have been wanting a plate with some lace patterns and these are really sweet. I was playing around on a sheet of paper to see how well it was stamping and to test out ideas on what to do with my nails.

Do you ever have moments when your head is swirling with so many ideas that you just can't seem to stick with one? That was me.

NYC - Flat Iron Green stamped with Y003 from Bornprettystore over KIKO - 648

If you click on the pictures it will enlarge them, and you can see more closely how the stamping look over the textured polish underneath. I have to day, I really like the look.

I couldn't stop there, I needed to fill in the flower. I decided to use Barry M - Crush, and W7 - Pink Suede for that. It kinda reminded me of a two toned 5 petal flower I had seen on Pinterest a while ago.

NYC - Flat Iron Green stamped with Y003 from Bornprettystore, flowers filled with Barry M - Crush and W7 - Pink Suede, over KIKO - 648

If I where to correct on anything with this mani, it would be to have more of Barry M - Crush show in the flower, I did not quite get the look I was trying to achieve, but I still like the end result.

So there you have it. A bit early for an Easter Manicure?

If you wanted to get hold of this plate, sadly, at this writing moment Y003 is sold out, but I am sure you can find plenty of other great stamping plates at Born Pretty Store.

Y003 came in a very sleek and minimalistic designed white cardboard sleeve. It had the blue film over it, which you are expecting to find on plates now a days.
I tested the edges of the plate, and they seemed very rounded, so there are no dangers of cuts.

The plate was easy to work with, and the etching was very good, and I had no problems picking up the images with my Konad or my Moyou London stamper.

If you will be placing an order, feel free to use my 10 % off coupon: RAMG10
There are plenty of products to choose from at their site, not just nail related items, and the prices are very affordable and they have free worldwide shipping.
Click the image below and you will be taken to their site.

I received this product of my choosing, free of charge for my honest, non-bias review from the Born Pretty Store.

17 February 2015

An Essie watermarble

I wanted to experiment with water marbles, specially since I have been seeing so many of them in my feed recently. I wanted to go with green shades since I live in Northern Ireland, and it's all about green.

Essie Watermable starting point, still in the cup

As I wanted to have more control of each nail, I used the decal method. Which means that I did the marble as normal in the water, but instead of dipping my fingers in the water, I allowed it to dry completely over night, before sticking it to my nails.
This also allowed me to make more than one design, and rather spread it out when I was wearing them.

Essie Watermarble - Allowed to sit over night, picture taken before patted dry

I used a handful of polishes for this design, and they where all ESSIE polishes.

ESSIE - Navigate Her
ESSIE - Mojito Madness
ESSIE - School of Hard Rocks
ESSIE - Turquoise & Caicos

Essie watermarble manicure - cut to fit, and after clean-up

As one of the nails didn't turn out the way I had planned due to bad positioning of the decal, I made a flower using NYC - Flat Iron Green. First I stamped using MASH 46, but it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, so I traced it with a brush, and made the flower a bit bigger, using an angled brush to make the petals the way i wanted.

Essie Watermarble manicure - with an accent, and added topcoat

I am quite pleased with the end result. A lot of work went into this manicure, even though it kinda look effortless...

29 July 2013

Stars in the Sky

It's been incredible sunny in England lately. I already had a tan when I came back from Scotland ( who would have thought you could get a tan there?!), and its been building a stronger tan ever since then. I can't resist the urge of soaking up some sun, when its here. Besides, I think tanned legs looks more sexy anyway.

Time to do some nail art, and test if the NYC Foil Explosions stamp well.

As a base I used NYC - Power Of Elements. 1 coat.

I stamped using NYC - Enchanting Fire, and Cheeky plate CH52.

What I really like about this stamp, is that it's not a cluster or separate stars, but rather a cluster of over-lapping stars, and they got space between each star. It does however mean that its more or less impossible to separate out a full star, so you have to use the whole image. Which suits me just fine.

Enchanting Fire stamped perfectly, I had no problems with it, and it came on very clear and crisp.

18 July 2013

Mystic Dotticures

It's been incredible sunny lately, its insane. I would never guess that England could be this warm and toasty. It's like being in Florida. My hair goes all curly, I don't sleep as long as I usually do, cause its just too warm, too bright a light outside. I get about 4-5 hours before I'm up again. Then another hour middle of the day, when I'm outside working on my tan (I got an alarm waking me up after 30 min, to turn around, and do another 30 min)
I have decided to get a decent tan this year. Nothing over the top, but a little bit more than a base colour. Last year, my tan stuck on my skin for 6 months before it was gone (without added sun). I'm guessing that's what you get when you avoid sun for all cost when you are younger. At least I am conscious about the dangers of overexposure, and use sunscreen and stuff.
An hour outside a day has really done wonders for my skin though, not just with giving me some color. If you are a regular visitor you might also have noticed that my normally super dry hands are not so dry. I'm very pleased with that.

I'm back with a nail art using NYC - Aqua Mystic as a base colour. I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I opted for dotticures.

This looks so pretty. The sticker with three dots on the other nails.

I feel like this was a bit too much. It would have worked without the sticker in my mind. Stick to one thing...

A Magic Earth For Audrey

I'm back with a nail art using Magic Earth from NYC Foil Collection as a base. I choose -China Glaze - For Audrey as my stamping colour. It was about time I used that one again. It used to be all the rage, but you hardly hear anyone talk about it anymore. It's really pretty.

Seeing it on my work space, makes me want to do a manicure using it as a base color again. Get a better swatch of it as well. This was one of the first polishes I bought when I started doing my nails, so it holds a special place in my heart.

I choose a delicate lace image from my Bundlemonster BM206 plate.
I think it fits really well with the Magic Earth, to avoid compeating with the beauty of the foil polish, I only did the stamp as an accent.

17 July 2013

NYC Foil Explosion Collection Swatches

I recently bought the NYC Foil Explosion collection. Here it is, all swatched and ready. I bought this with my own money blah blah blah ...

The formula is smooth, the brush flares out easily. As all other foil polishes, it does lean on the streaky side.
I have used 1 coat on all swatches, on some of them I would recommend a second coat to even out the streaks, but that does not go for all of them.

They retail for £ 1.99 at Superdrugs, and are 3 for 2 currently. I had to get the collection at 2 different places, cause my area only had taken in 3 of the 5 colours.

First out is NYC - Pure Air
A rusty orange metallic colour.

Out of the entire collection this was the only one that I had heard was a wee bit tricky, as the formula was a tad more "watery" than the rest. I did not have any problems with it at all. As you will see from the pictures, this was the one that applied the least streaky of them all, for me.
This felt very elegant to me, I couldn't stop stretching my hands out, and looking at it. Its such a subtle orange, it's almost like wearing a nude color. Almost.

Next is Enchanting Fire.
A rose pink / pink toned red.

I'm usually not a lover of pinks, but this really hit me in the heart. Its gorgeous. I felt very pretty wearing this, and will definitely try this with a "diamond" rhinestones or something. Maybe a lady-like stamping image, I'm not sure what to do with it. What would you add to this polish for a full nail art look? Let me know in the comments below. This might actually be one of my favorites in this collection.

Next out is Power Of Elements.
Warm lavender shade with hints of pink.

Surprisingly enough this left me with a visible nail line on two of my nails. you could not see it until my nails where fully bathed in the sun, with indirect sunlight, it was not visible at all. Something to note, when using this again. I feel like these foil polishes looks great with my skin-tone. I got a slightly hint of a tan, after my trip to Scotland, and these polishes seems to play very well with me, cause of that. How does this compare to Barry M - Lilac Foil? I will have to check that out on a later date.

Fourth out is Magic Earth.
Mossy green.

Such a gorgeous green, look at that. I really like this color. I wonder if these polishes stamps as well. I will do a test later in the week. Same as always just one coat in the swatch, the glided on well, without any problems. They don't smell much either, come to think of it. Of course if you stick your nose in the bottle it will smell, but thinking about fumes while polishes my nails, was barely even there. A think to note is that this did stain my skin a little bit when I removed it. It stains the skin with a blue colour, no idea where that is coming from, since this is a green polish, but, that's what it did. So be aware of that. I did not experience staining on the nails with any of these polishes, just the skin with this green one here.

Last out is Aqua Mystic
Oceanic blue

As the purple one this one also left me with visible nail lines. Only visible when my nails are bathed in sunlight, as it is on the last picture there. It's there, but not very obvious at it. Unless you got someone inspecting your nails this close, noone can tell. Great colour, very pretty oceanic blue.

If you didn't jump on the wagon last year when Essie had their mirror collection out, or where horrified by the price, these are a bargain. £ 1.99 for 9.7 ml / 0.33 fl.oz.

As far as I have been told...
NYC - Power Of Elements dupes with Essie - Nothing Else Metals

NYC - Aqua Mystic dupes with Essie - Blue Rhapsody

That was the entire collection. What do you think?

I think this is a strong collection, the colour selection was good, it gave me what I was looking for. I'm looking forward to use this more, and come up with interesting ways of incorporating this metallic look with subtle designs and prints.
Who knows, I might even dare using Pure Air for an animal print ...

2 October 2012

UK Haul Part 3

I decided to split these posts in several parts, since there was so many polishes to cover, and I get overwhelmed when there is to much. So that's why my new babies needed three posts.

UK Haul:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

This one will have the odds and randoms I bought, and non of these where on my wish list prior to the trip.