Rejuvacote Review

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to share my opinion about Rejuvacote from Duri Cosmetics. About two weeks ago I filed my nails back from rounds to squares which left them quite short so I thought it was the perfect time to test this product out.  The directions say to use it as a base coat and as a top coat but I did not want to stop using my favorite top coat while testing this. Below is a picture of day one, please excuse the staining!  You can see that there is not too much length happening.

 

 

 

 

I used Rejuvacote under every manicure for two weeks straight and I have to say I am very happy with the results!  First of all the odor is not too bad, it has the same level of odor that your typical polish has.  My husband just caught me sniffing polishes... great!  Next I find that the overall condition of my nails seem quite good, they are looking healthy and are feeling pretty strong.  It did protect against staining except for one polish, it did let some of the red color I use penetrate the nail. Last, growth... I am very impressed with the growth that I had with this product.  Within two weeks of use I was back to the point where people have been asking me if these are my real nails.  Typically my nails grow at a satisfactory rate on their own so I feel like this did a great job with boosting their growth.  Below is at the two week point.

 

 

 

 

This last picture is a side by side comparison.

 

 

Overall I am very happy with this product and will repurchase it in the future!

Thanks for reading everyone, have a good night!

 



 



Swatches and Review of Liquid Sky Lacquer

Hi everyone!  A few days ago Carolyn creator of  Liquid Sky Lacquer was kind enough to send me 5 of her polishes to swatch and review.  First of all I want to mention that she is a wonderful person to work with and is so kind!  She kept me informed as to watch polishes I was getting and emailed me a tracking number which I really appreciated so I knew when the polishes would arrive.  As well she was available to answer any questions I had and very promptly.  All summed up it is my opinion that she is only class act!

 

 

I'll start with the Holographic polishes that she sent me.  First is "Glistening Coral".  This is a gorgeous Coral linear holographic polish.  The application was beautiful, as I found with all of her holographic polishes, they go where you want them to which leaves you with very little clean up.

 

 

This is 2 coats plus topcoat

 

 

Close up

 

 

Next is "Moonlight & Roses".  This one is a light dusty pink linear polish.  Again, the formula is fantastic!

 

2 coats plus topcoat

 

 

Close up

 

 

Then we have "Rock My World".  This one is a light purple linear polish.  Application was great, the first coat was very sheer but it goes opaque in 2 coats.

 

2 coats with topcoat

 

 

Close up

 

The last of the holo's I have "Mint To Be" which is probably my favorite!  I'm a sucker for mint color's and then you add a holographic property to it and I'm in love!  I had so many compliments on this one and I wore it alone without any art on top, I find that putting nail art on a holographic polish just makes everything look too busy.  This one is a little more subtle then the others but is very unique and stunning in real life!

 

2 coats plus topcoat

 

 

 

Close up

 

 

 

The last polish that I have for review is "24 Karat Rose".  This one is a thermal polish that that transitions from a flakie gold when warm to a flakie pink when cold.  I love this polish!  It's an instant gradient and it's always fun to play with it in warm and cold water!

 

Warm state with topcoat

 

 

 

Cold state

 

 

 

Transition state

 

 

 

With animal print nail art.  I think I will do these again in the summer months, I love how they turned out!

 

 

So there it is guys.  I hope you enjoyed this and found it informative.  If you have been thinking about purchasing any of these polishes in my opinion I say it's worth it, the quality is fantastic!  Keep an eye on her website Liquid Sky Lacquer or on Instagram whimsicalcolor.  She is restocking "24 Karat Rose" this coming Saturday January 25th and the rest of her polishes will be restocked February 1st.

Thanks for reading!

 



 

 

 

 



Ever have a polish that you love that doesn't love you back?

Today's mani is a Springtime floral done on NYX's "Pastel Pistachio".

 

 

 

I had ordered this polish quite some time ago and fell in love with it when it finally got here!  I have no other color like it!  This polish kicked my ass!  I tried numerous times to do a manicure with it and every time I ended up taking it off because it was either streaky or lumpy!  I tried thin coats, I tried thick coats... it didn't matter it hated me.  I grabbed the bottle the other day to give it one more try with some success this time.  Below is two very painful coats with top coat.

 

 

 

 

I love the color though so that is why I didn't give up on it.  I added a springtime floral to it, this whole mani reminds me of apple blossoms. 

 

 

 

 

The last shot here is a close up so you can see the details. The design was painted in acrylic paint and I added some loose glitter for some sparkle. 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope everyone is doing well!  Thanks for reading!

 





Baby Blue Gradient with Butterflies

Hello Lovely's!  Tonight I have done a baby blue to white gradient with white butterflies for the art. 

 

 

I started with the base color of "Stand by Your Manny" from Nicole by OPI.  It's a beautiful baby blue with a pearl flake in it.  Below is a picture taken in my light box.  The application I found to be great as long as you wait for it to dry completely in between coats.

 

 

 

 

I then did a very subtle gradient on it using a make up sponge and China Glaze's " Dandy Lyin' Around".  It is very similar to Stand by Your Manny in texture, white with almost micro flakies.  I forgot to take a picture of just the gradient alone, sorry!

 

Next came the butterfly nail art.  This mani was starting to look like the sky so I went with butterflies to tie into the colors.  Butterflies can be a little tricky to paint but once you get the hang of it they go pretty fast.  I used a small round brush and white acrylic paint thinned out with water. I start from the outside of the wing and pull in towards the inside using less pressure one the brush as I get to the inner part of the wing.  Then right beside that I do the same thing right beside that stoke to thicken the wing and to give more dimension.  Below is a close up to try and show the strokes in the wings.

 

 

 

 

The last step I did was to add some loose glitter to the design.  It's just a iridescent glitter I grabbed at Sally's Beauty Supply added to some Wet n' Wild clear polish and added to the design around the butterflies.  This is just to give it a little bit of sparkle :)  Test out your glitters after you buy them, some are not solvent resistant and end up looking matte and very sad when you put them in polish.  I pore a little bit of clean polish on my pallet and add some glitter to it to see if it's reacting okay.

 

 

 

No light box version.

 

 

 

 

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Saturday!  Thanks for reading!

 





The Squares are Back!

I am one of the worst bloggers ever!  I always make this last on my list of things to get to because my life is so busy.  Perhaps my New Years resolution will be to become a more dedicated blogger!

A couple of weeks ago I had a bad split on my middle nail and had to file them, instead of losing all the length I went for a round/almond shape.  I felt like an imposter!  I finally had enough length to file them to squares again today!  I'm so happy, I decided to blog about it.

For the return of the squares I was inspired to do a Skittlette, inspired by Marta from chitchatnails.com.  Her manicures always have a very classy polished look to them!  Products used for this look at Color Club's Apollo Star  and Nomadic in Nude as well as Revlon's Black Magic.  I was very surprised that Apollo Star dried like a textured polish.  Typically I'm not a fan of textured polishes but this one is very beautiful.  I topped the middle and ring with NYC's Matte Me Crazy.

Ahhh... it's good to be back!

Neon Rainbow Cheetah Gradient???

This is a pretty simple mani with a great effect.  It's a simple solid black then using white acrylic paint I added that cheetah print.  I used the white paint to get the neon color's to pop or else the would just be lost in the black.  I started with one color and then added the next color into the first paint to create the gradient and then carried it out through the rest of the design.  To finish it off I used a matte top coat.  So far the best matte top coat I have found it "Matte me Crazy" by NYC. It is inexpensive and dries very quickly.  I have the Sephora brand which was seven times the price of NYC but I always find I am reaching for "Matte me Crazy".

 

 

Here they are with a glossy top coat.  I really prefer the matte because it really draws out the neon colors.  Seems like everything I have done lately is all about matte :) 



Pink and Black summer floral

There are what I was finally able to achieve after a day of failed nail art.  Ever have one of those days?  I think I must have painted my nails about 6 times!  Anyways, this is Pure Ice's "Superstar!" this has seriously become my go to white!  I find using white polish is very hard, this one is beautiful in two coats and has very little streaking. The black is by Fascino, no name... I don't put much emphasis on this polish because I don't think it's accessible to a lot of people, I pick it up at a little discount store here for two dollars a bottle.  The design was done in acrylic paints and with a detail brush. 

Here they are edited with Pixlr Express. I use this app for all of my picture editing.   I also find that Picsart is another good one for editing.