Guest Post - KLENails

My name is Kat Euston aka KLEnails and I was one of the lucky ladies that Dina asked to guest blog whilst she takes some time off.

I have been doing my own nails for 3 years and over time I have begun to blog about what I use and the designs I create.

Dina asked if I could come up with a blog featuring some nail art. Obviously I wanted something amazing to wow you all, so I settled for a super holographic silver polish with some optical illusion stamping over the top.

Here is what I came up with.

Color Club Nail Lacquer - Harp On It

So to start this design I began with a base of Color Club's infamous super linear holographic polish 'Harp On It'. This stunning silver holo is one of my favourite ever polishes. It has an amazing formula which requires only one good coat to create the perfect base. I would happily wear a holo polish every single day of my life but for some reason I do forget how awesome they are and I stop wearing it for a while before I dive back in and fall in love all over again.

I purchased this polish as part of a set on Live Love Polish, which sadly is no longer an option. However it is possible to buy individually for $10 but it is currently out of stock. That's the sign of a great polish! Keep your eyes peeled on the website which you can view here, for restock info.

I recently got my hands on the Uber Chic Optical Art Magic stamping plate. It's full of eye bending images that can create epic illusion themed art.

Uber Chic - Op Art Magic stamping plate

For this design I used the 1st image on the second row. A twisty vortex! I had a feeling that over the super sparkle of the holographic base it would sit perfectly.

Now for most of us nail girls, we have our go to stamping set up.

For me; I find Mundo De Unas stamping polish and Bundle Monster's Monocle stamping set to be the best way to stamp. I like being able to see where I'm placing the image, which you can quite clearly through the end of the clear stamper. Plus MDU stamping polish has the consistency of tar. I never have a problem getting a good pick up when I am using this set up.

To purchase this polish, or any other MDU goodies please click here.

MDU - Black stamping polish

I love how this look came together. In direct light the holo is almost blinding. It would look fabulous in Summer when the sun finally makes an appearance!

A quick and simple design which any holo-sexual could be proud of.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my post. I hope you like what I have created. If you fancy checking out more of my work or maybe giving my blog a read the links are below.

Instagram: @klenails

Blog: KLEnails Wordpress

Neon Watercolours

Today I have for you a nail art look that was inspired by the many festival outfits that I have seen so far this summer. 

Neon seems to go hand in hand with geometric shapes this year, so I decided to throw a little part on my nails and rock a Festival Ready Mani. 

I will be using Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection for this look, using Opulent Essences Grape, Opulent Essences - Strawberry and Opulent Essences - Blueberry (purple, pink and blue from the picture below).

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection

If you want to see more nail art looks from this collection, follow the Label: Opulent Essences. 

First I applied one coat of Sinful Color - Snow Me White to all my nails.

Then I dabbed some Opulent Essences - Strawberry and Opulent Essences - Blueberry on my stamping mat and squished my jumbo clear stamper over and gave it a little twist before pressing it on my nails. I repeated this three times on my middle finger and twice on my ring- and little finger. 

I wanted to do some gradient stamping with these shades and chose Uber Chic stamping plate 2-02 that I recently purchased. I think the diamond image works really well with this look. 

The smoosh base really makes these neons look like vibrant watercolours and I just love how it looks. 

Neons and Diamonds. 

About Opulent Essences:
Opulent Essences is a Vegan Friendly Nail Polish Maker from the UK. Behind the brand is the duo Sharon and Zoe. They are awesome, and so are their polishes.

Etsy Store
Instagram

About Uber Chic Beauty:

Uber Chic Beauty is the leading Indie Stamp Plate Maker, and the company and their leader Brittany is located in the US. It can be a bit expensive for us UK girls to get our hands on the plates if ordering directly from Uber Chic Beauty, but luckily you can get the plates from Nail Artisan UK.

Uber Chic Beauty - Fairytale 01

A while ago I purchased the Über Chic Beauty - Fairytale 01 stamping plate directly from their shop. Since then Über Chic Beauty plates have also become available from She Sells Seashells  a nail art shop in the UK.  This cuts down on shipping and VAT cost for us UK people, and I am very happy for that.

I had been pondering for a while which image to use from this plate, and settled on something cute, since Valentine's is coming up very soon.

I have really wanted to use more of my indie polishes and this time I got Girly Bits - Promise Me. This is actually one of the few mini polishes that I have, for a long time it used to be the only one and had a special place in a small Plexiglas Box for displaying purpose.

Girly Bits - Promise Me stamping using Uber chic Beauty - Fairytale 01 and L'oreal - Sweet Amethyst

Girly Bits - Promise Me is such a pretty soft pink polish with small hex glitters. There was still some VNL after 2 coats, but I am sure that would have been sorted with one more coat. It was not visible to the naked eye, you really needed to turn a macro camera at it to see. 

I used my Clear Jelly Stamper to line up the "Princess" image on my ring- and little finger. The image was taken at an angle where you can't really tell that it is written twice on each nail, but I am so happy with how it turned out.
I think I am starting to get the hang of the usage of the Clear Jelly Stamper.
I also purchased one with a clear holder, and I think that works a lot better than the purple holder.

Clear Jelly Stamper from Nail Artisan UK - link to my YouTube video of Nail- Artisan UK Haul.
Clear Jelly Stamper from BornPrettyStore - link to my Youtube video of BornPrettyStore Haul.


For a full review of the Uber Chic Beauty - Fairytale 01 stamping plate check it out below, or head over to my Youtube Channel

Work -appropriate nail art

A nail polish in this post was gifted to me, nothing else to disclose.

Today I have for you another work - appropriate polish, that packs a touch of holo.
It is from Ard As Nails, (link to my other posts from this brand), and I have had so much fun checking out that company. UK might not have loads of indie companies on the market, but the ones we have are really good.

Ard As Nails is an Indie (Handmade) Nail Varnish range created by the makers of Soap-Dodger. Their nail polishes are all 5 free, cruelty free and Vegan friendly.
If you want to find out more about 'Ard As Nails, you can head over to Ard As Nails Facebook Page, or their shop Soap Dodger .

I started out with two coats of polish on my nails, this polish seems to have less holo packed in it than the previous polish that I showed on this blog. 

Ard As Nails

I recently did a review over at my Youtube Channel for the BornPrettyStore - Jumbo Stamper. 

Using Uber Chic 3 -03 and L'oreal - Sweet Amethyst, this is the look that I came up with.

Ard As Nails stamped with Uber chic 3 -03 in L'oreal - Sweet Amethyst

I am very satisfied with the look today, and the stamper did not let me down. 

I think my nail-buddy is going to be very happy with this. 

A nail polish in this post was gifted to me, nothing else to disclose.

Mermaids

Ever dreamed about being a mermaid?
To just flap your fins in the water all day, the silence of the deep?

Today I have for you something that is outside of my comfort zone, and textures. I was experimenting on my Uber Chic Stamping Mat and came up with this look.
I posted a picture of this in a nail art group and got some questions on how I did it, so I thought I would share the details here.

Pretty Serious - Nightopia

First I filled a 5 cm x 5 cm area on my Uber Chic Stamping Mat with Pretty Serious - Nightopia (seen on the index finger is one coat of this polish). The colourshifting in this polish made it perfect for this project, so I didn't have to work in other shades to make this look like wild water.

It all started out with me trying to do decals, and I messed up one and just decided to destroy it with my dotting tool. As I was dragging my dotting tool through the polish I noticed how it created pearls and rolls with polish and that it was sticking to itself. While did was happening the polish was also slowing drying which allowed it to be molded to shapes.

It was reminding me about how you make a painting of the sea when you work with oil paints. Thick, a bit gloppy. So I slapped it on my nails and used my dotting tools as chisels to make shapes in the polish. I added more where needed, pushed it flatter here and there to make the shifts that wild water would have.

I personally think the middle finger turned out the best, the little finger sort of look like an emerald geode, which wasn't the look I was going for today.

To make it all tie in with the mermaid theme I took my BornPrettyStore - BPL021, (link to full review, bought with my own money), and stamped the mermaid on my index finger using Wet N Wild - Black Creme.


I recently made an Instagram account, so if you hang around on that social media platform you can find me there as well. Click Here.


What do you think about today's look?

Christmas Decorations

A polish in this post was gifted to me, nothing further to disclose.

Today I have for you a silvery look. I thought to myself that if we were doing Gold, we had to do Silver as well. So here it is.

I started out with my new peelable basecoat from Ünt, and very keep to see how this is going to work for me. My previous attempt on using this basecoat was not successful, so maybe third time's the charm. That's a saying, right?

I started out with 4 coats of 'Ard As Nails - Radiance. I used super thin strokes, as I wasn't sure how this would be to clean up if I messed up with my new basecoat so I was extra careful and had some bald spots on the third coat. Normal application, you would only need 3 coats. As that is what I did on my cindy hand (dominant hand), 3 coats and no fancy base coat.

'Ard As Nails - Radiance is a true silver holographic polish and I absolutely adore it.

To keep things interesting I did 3 coats of China Glaze - Mistletoe Kisses as an accent, and stamped using L'oreal - 819 - Sublime Platine with Über Chic - Plate 3-03.

 'Ard As Nails - Radiance with accent in China Glaze - Mistletoe Kisses stamped using
L'oreal - 819 - Sublime Platine with Über Chic - Plate 3-03

For a complete list over my Christmas themed nails so far this year.


A polish in this post was gifted to me, nothing further to disclose.

Candy Cane

I pulled out all my stamping plates to find the perfect Candy Cane image a while ago.
Surrounded with stamping plates, I was eagerly looking for anything with stripes and swirls that would work for this delicious look.
In my previous post I used MASH-43, CH4, BM-205 and BM-210, but I had more stamping images that could possibly work for this look, so I decided to do another one.

This time I am using Cheeky - Jumbo plate 3 - European Romance, BM-301, BM-207 and Über Chic - Plate 3-02.

I started out with painting all my nails with Sinful Color - Snow Me White, one coat. Then I grabbed my newest franken creation; Secretary's Nail Art - This is My Jam? from the last post, and stamped over.

I wrote a little 101 on Frankening, that you can find over here if you are curious and want to give it a try.

Candy Cane Nail Art using Cheeky - Jumbo plate 3 - European Romance, BM301, BM207 and Uber Chic - Plate 3-02.

Which nail you do think look the most like a Candy Cane?


I hope you liked this look, be sure to follow me on the blog, Facebook, or Google + for more Christmas nail art designs only a few days left of the holiday.

For more Christmas themed nails check out my other designs here.

Happy Holo-days

A nail polish in this post was gifted to me, nothing else to disclose.


I had so much fun with yesterdays sparkly look, so I wanted to keep things sparkly.

With 2 snowflakes stamping looks, and 2 snowflakes water decal looks done, I think we all need a little break from those, or maybe that is just me.


A while back I bought some polishes from Soap Dodger and some of them turned out to be a bit different from the swatching pictures I had seen. So I contacted the maker; Kat and we sorted things out. Kat is an amazing lady and you can tell that she is working hard on her business, and loves what she is doing. This is by far the best customer service I have ever experienced.

When I first tried it on and noticed that it was more like a holo topper I wanted to see if it was possible to build it up to full opacity.
I was expecting it to go all goopy and weird, but actually it dried alright.  Wore this look for 2 days before I decided to switch it around a little.

So on my nails you can see 10 coats (!), yeah, I am not kidding around here. This is serious business. I was about to give up around coat number 7, but those last three really did the trick.

Ard As Nails - Gold Holo 

Since I never got my hands on Out The Door - Northern Lights (Gold), I think this is an excellent substitute. No settling holographics either, so no shaking needed to get great results on your nails.
I love it.


Since this is Secretary's Nail Art, I also did a Nail Art look using this polish.
I paired it up with 'Ard As Nails - Blogger Girl. Gold and purple makes a perfect Holiday manicure.

To show what 'Ard As Nails - Gold Holo would look like topped over another polish, I did one coat over Blogger Girl, then I stamped using Uber Chic 3-03 over the 10 coats of holo, and stamped over it with 'Ard As Nails Blogger Girl for the accent. 

Ard As Nails - Blogger girl with Ard As Nails - Gold Holo as accent, stamped using Uber Chic 3-03.

For more Christmas themed nails check out my other designs here.


A nail polish in this post was gifted to me, nothing else to disclose.

Let It Snow

Products in this post has previously been sent for reviewing purposes, to view the original post, follow this link.


So the part of me trying to only post about one and one of the Advent Calendar polishes, to avoid spoilers for others is going out the window. I got a bit eager on trying them out, so I will just post them as I see fit.

Creating backgrounds for mail art

I started out with Ciate - Ferris Wheel, and Ciate - Boom Box, both polishes turned out to be quite sheer so I decided to build them up over each other to create a sort of marbleized background for my nail art today.

First I prepared the Uber Chic Stamping Mat with some base coat, just to note to you there that the base coat from Ciate that you get in the Advent Calendar is not good for this purpose.
Once prepared, I dropped two drops of each polish on to the mat close to each other and squished the stamper head down over them and did a little twist before transferring the polish from the stamper head to the prepared surface on the mat. This process was repeated 5 times in order to build a suitable opacity.

Once the decals where dry, I peeled them of and stuck them on my nails and cleaned away the excess polish.

Ciate - Ferris Wheel, and Ciate - Boom Box marbleized together

When it was all done, I added two quick coats of Ciate - Snow Globe over all my nails, and topped that off with 2 coats of topcoat, preparing it for the next step.

...

adding snowflakes, stars, a reindeer, and some extra dots using a dotting tool and Sinful Color - Snow Me White.

I am using the BornPrettyStore D264 Water Decals again.

This look took many steps to complete, but I am so happy with the final result. The extra coats over the flakies from Ciate - Snow Globe really helped creating a smooth surface to put the decals on.

Ciate - Ferris Wheel, and Ciate - Boom Box marbleized together, with Ciate - Snow Globe over, and dots using a dotting tool and Sinful Color - Snow Me White and water decals from BornPrettyStore in D264

Ciate - Ferris Wheel, and Ciate - Boom Box marbleized together, with Ciate - Snow Globe over, and dots using a dotting tool and Sinful Color - Snow Me White and water decals from BornPrettyStore in D264

For more Christmas themed nails check out my other designs here.

Products in this post has previously been sent for reviewing purposes, to view the original post, follow this link.

Pancreatic Cancer Awareness

A nail polish in this post was gifted to me, nothing else to disclose.

I dedicate this post to every person that is a survivor, going through this battle of Pancreatic Cancer.
If you want to see my first post about Pancreatic Cancer, you can see that post here.

Pancreatic cancer begins when abnormal cells in the pancreas grow out of control and form a tumor. The symptoms associated with pancreatic cancer are often vague, similar to symptoms caused by other conditions and may not be present in early stages of the disease. To learn more about pancreatic cancer symptoms, types of pancreatic cancer, diagnosis, treatments and more click on the link.

All my blog-income for November month was donated to Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.
Every little help. In total we raised £6.25.

'Ard As Nails - Little Legs

I am over the moon happy with how 'Ard As Nails - Little Legs looks on my nails. I usually have a dislike to all things pink, but this polish is not one of them. The holographic in this is what I would call "of medium strength", and looks amazing. I wore this polish for 5 days, and not a single chip (!). It survived house-cleaning, laundry, and a wet night out on the pub.

Paint me impressed.

Ard As Nails is an Indie (Handmade) Nail Varnish range created by the makers of Soap-Dodger. Their nail polishes are all 5 free, cruelty free and Vegan friendly.

'Ard As Nails - Little Legs is a part of the Here Come The Boys Collection, and a 4.5ml bottle sells for 3.50 £ and 15ml bottle for 6.50 £.
As you can see I got the mini bottle on the picture above, 2 coats.

But who am I to not put nail art on this, after all I am Secretary's Nail Art, right?

I wanted to raise awareness for Pancreatic Cancer this month, so I paired this gorgeous polish with some stamps from Uber Chic Beauty collection 3-01 using Barry M - Berry Cosmo.

A Purple Ribbon for Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic Cancer Awareness using Uber Chic stamping plate, 'Ard As Nails - Little Legs, and Barry M - Berry Cosmo

If you want to find out more about 'Ard As Nails, you can head over to Ard As Nails Facebook Page, or their shop; Soap Dodger .

A nail polish in this post was gifted to me, nothing else to disclose.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pancreatic Cancer Awareness

A nail polish in this post was gifted to me, nothing else to disclose.

I dedicate this post to every person that is a survivor, going through this battle of Pancreatic Cancer.

This type of Cancer doesn't get much attention in the media, but it's one of the worst Cancers among the rest. According to a recent global survey found that 60% of people know "absolute nothing" about this disease.

Source: uchealth.com

Pancreatic cancer begins when abnormal cells in the pancreas grow out of control and form a tumor. The symptoms associated with pancreatic cancer are often vague, similar to symptoms caused by other conditions and may not be present in early stages of the disease. To learn more about pancreatic cancer symptoms, types of pancreatic cancer, diagnosis, treatments and more click on the link.

My blog-income for November month was donated to Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund. In total this raised £6.25. Every little help.

I started out with Barry M - Gelly - Guava. I just love this polish, and even though the first coat was a little bit streaky, it covered completely in 2 coats.

I then grabbed my Bundlemonster BM-321 as an accent nail and Uber Chic Collection 3 stamping plate, using 3-01 for the remaining nails. I did all the stamping using Ard As Nails - Blogger Girl. I love how this polish stamps, it was so easy to work with.

I am so happy with how this look came together.

Barry M - Gelly - Guava 

Barry M - Gelly - Guava

Barry M - Gelly - Guava - Stamped using Bundlemonster BM-321 and Uber Chic 3-01

Barry M - Gelly - Guava - Stamped using Bundlemonster BM-321 and Uber Chic 3-01

A nail polish in this post was gifted to me, nothing else to disclose.

An InLinkz Link-up

HPB Presents: Halloween a Zombie pond

Hobby Polish Bloggers presents: Halloween

My last Halloween manicure was such a success that I decided to do another one. I understand you want to see more of them, so I deliver to you, a Zombie pond. *cue scary music* So with the girls at Hobby Polish Blogger, I present to you: Halloween.

For this manicure I used Sally Hansen - 540 - Jell-ous? to help out on the decal making I started out with two coats on the Uber Chic stamping mat, and did one stamp and continued to build Sally Hansen - 540 - Jell-ous? between the stamps.
All in all I used 9 coats on the index finger with one to two arms for each layer of polish. Ring finger and middle finger had 5 coats and my little finger had the least amount of coats with only 4 coats (!!) I also applied some splatter using Makeup Mekka - Strawberry Daiquiri on the second layer before using the splatter.

HPB Presents: Halloween a Zombie Pond

For those of you that are curious I have attached below the image plate and marked the different sections used for this look.

For a full review of this plate head over here.

An InLinkz Link-up

Confessionails: LoveThyPolish - Magic Forest

I have been wanting to do something like this for a while now, and I finally decided on doing it.

I bring you, Confessionails. Get it? Confessions, and nails mashed together. I will do a couple of these Confessionails and set up the hashtag on Pinterest and stuff to make it easier to find.

Firstly lets start with a new to me, polish. I got my hands on this lovely green shade, LoveThyPolish - Magic Forest. LoveThyPolish was an Australian brand, and is sadly no longer around. Sorry girls.

I got my hands on this polish when a girl here in the UK decided to sell all her nail polishes as she was not longer into the hobby. I thought it was sad to stash them away and not love them anymore so I took it in, along with a bunch of other polishes that I will show one by one.

 LoveThyPolish - Magic Forest

LoveThyPolish - Magic Forest

It really is a gorgeous polish, don't you think?

For this manicure I used Moyou London  - Scholar Collection - 01, Uber Chic - Zombie Love Ltd and BornPrettyStore - BPL - 021. for all the stamping I used Sinful Color - Snow Me White.
I really like how this all came together. See the confession?

Confessionails: He Wants Me For My Brains

Zombie Love A Pretty Serious Production

I have never been a fan of "all things scary", I am the person that hides behind the couch when the big orcs in Lord Of the Rings comes on... to my defends I was 13. My imagination is far too good, and I scary myself on a daily basis, don't need the help from scary movies.

I am a fragile little butterfly. You may call me a wuss now. It's okay. 

When I saw the Uber Chic Zombie Love stamping plate I knew I had to own it. I am not sure exactly why, as I don't really like Zombies...

During my  #51in15 (a challenge in which you try to play 51 games in 2015, that I completed in June), I came across a lot of boardgames with a Zombie Theme. This warmed me up to Zombies, so while I am still not okay with the movies (except Warm Bodies), I am starting to see the fascination.

If you want to see my review of this plate, check it out over here. 

I recently got my hands on some Pretty Serious nail polish. This is an indie brand that I have been wanting to grab for awhile now, and they got some pretty awesome stuff. Today I have Pretty Serious - Gruesome Groom for you. A mossy green with red hex glitters, and there was no need for fishing, and applied like no other. I used two coats. 

Sections used from Uber Chic - Zombire Love LTD stamping plate

I stamped using Maybelline - Bleached Neon - Citrus Collide, as I just got it from Poundland, and was on my desk. I am pretty happy with how well it stamped. 

Pretty Serious - Grusome Groom stamped with Uber Chic - Zombie Love LTD stamping plate

Pretty Serious - Grusome Groom stamped with Uber Chic - Zombie Love LTD stamping plate, posing with Zombie Dice a Steve Jackson Game

I had to pose with my favorite Zombie Game, Zombie Dice by Steve Jackson.

What do you think?

Uber Chic Beauty - Collection 3

As some of you may have seen it already, I did a haul from Über Chic Beauty and got some of their plates as well as the Über Mat. I have already done a review on the Zombie Love plate. 

I bought Collection 3 because of the positive message that is on plate 3-01 and 3-03.

It reminds us that you should never face your fears alone, and that you are Beautiful.

I actually have "Be-you-tiful" as a pictures on my wall here in my nail cave. So important to remind yourself of that.

My Über Chic Haul

This is the Secretary.

Make sure that you subscribe to my channel for more stamping plate reviews. 

I hope you all enjoy the video I put together, I had a lot of fun making it. 

Stamping test of Über Chic Beauty - Stamping Plate - Collection 3

The plates can be bought at Über Chic Beauty, and cost $24.99 for all three.

Until next time, remember that YOU are beautiful.

Links to:

Manicures using these plates

Über Chic - Limited Edition - Zombie Love

Hello everyone. I went on a huge online shopping spree not long ago, and the parcels are now arriving one by one. 

One of the things that I purchases was the Über Chic - Limited Edition - Zombie Love stamping plate. Hallowing is coming up next, and I wanted to be ready this year for some Ghoulish Demands. 

This year I might actually participate in a Zombie Event. They were hiring "improve theater people", and I sent my application couple of weeks ago. Since I do so much roleplaying, I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for me to show of my skills, as well as trying Zombie life out.
I am usually not the Zombie in these kind of events, but a Zombie Hunter.

...But all of you didn't come over here to look at my Zombie Hunter outfits. Why would you, when I got an awesome stamping plate to show you. Without further ado:

Make sure that you subscribe to my channel for more stamping plate reviews. 

I hope you all enjoy the video I put together, I had a lot of fun making it. Below you can find a still image of the entire plate. I was playing around with my scanner and found a great way to get good pictures of stamping plates. 

 Über Chic - Limited Edition - Zombie Love 

The plate can be found at Über Chic Beauty's web page and cost $14.99.