Saturday, August 31, 2013

Subscription Review: Nail Art Society September 2013 Box

Hello! Happy Labor Day weekend everyone! Today I wanted to do a quick review of the new Nail Art Society subscription box for September. 

Firstly, if you aren't familiar with NAS, they send you a curated nail art kit once a month for $9.95 plus shipping, so in the U.S. (New York specifically) it comes to $14.90. 

This subscription service is pretty unique, and I haven't come across anything like it yet. Apparently they recently overhauled the site due to various issues, and this is the re-launch month. Even if you already had an account, once they re-did the site you had to create a new account. 

So here is the September kit:

It came with four ORLY Instant Artist water-based paints in jet black, true blue, platinum, and crisp white. 

Personally, I think these are awesome. The brushes are striper brushes, which makes it easy to do simple, freehand nail art designs. A while ago I bought a 40
or 50 piece set of nail art polishes from amazon, the brand is Emori, and well, they kind of suck. The colors are really nice, but if you try to use them for more than 5 minutes, the paint starts to get goopy and makes lines on your nails that you don't want. Also, you have to cut the brushes, because they all have one really long strand that makes it difficult to distribute the paint evenly.  

What's cool about the ORLY ones is that the paint is water-based, so if you make a mistake, you can wipe it off without messing up the nail polish underneath (just make sure you wait for the nail polish to dry first!)

I also like that they give you basic colors that you could probably use with any mani. They are extremely easy to use, dry fairly quickly, and they look great. 


The next set of items is Cala brand Professional Nail Arts Water Decals. The first one contains different coloured butterflies, and the second contains silver butterflies. Now, I like butterflies as much as the next girl, but I'm not in LOVE with them. I don't know why they would send TWO different sets of butterflies. I would have loved more variety on these. I associate butterflies with spring instead of fall, so that's another reason I'm not super stoked about these. However, the silver does contain a few non-butterfly decales (roses) which I used (pictured below).

 I will say that they are extremely easy to use, and they look super pretty. All you do is make sure you have a top coat (I used Out the Door fast drying top coat), tap the back of the decales with water with your finger, slide the design off, place it on your nail, and seal with two coats of top coat (I used China Glaze No Chip Top Coat). 

Other things that were included in the kit are a chevron manicure tutorial, a paper about the featured nail guru who curated this months kit, and an ORLY color guide. 

Nail Art Society is also running a contest where you use your August kit, and upload your mani to twitter or Instagram. Then you tag @nailartsociety and @orlynails and then hashtag #NASGiveaway, #welcomebackNAS, and #nailart 
(I just entered, wish me luck!)

In conclusion, I am definitely intrigued and am excited to see what NAS comes up with next. Here is the mani in which I used the jet black ORLY instant artist and one of the non-butterfly silver water decals: 



I used Play Dirty by Pistol Polish as the base color (review of Pistol Polish below)

With flash 

xoxo,
Belle

p.s. if you are reading this, can you please drop a comment in the comment section? We're just curious to see who actually reads this and what kind of an audience we have. Thanks!!

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Product Review: PISTOL Polish September Duo

Hi guys! I have a review that I'm REALLY
excited to do right now! Today I received my Pistol Polish September duo. 

Pistol polish has a monthly subscription box where they send you two polishes, based on the current season's colors and trends, for $17.99 a month. 

Now, the whole idea behind pistol polish is less about promoting gun violence and more about promoting empowerment and independence for women. In fact, on their home page, it states, "A PISTOL Woman envisions who she wants to become - whatever that may be - and devotes her life to making that vision a reality. PISTOLs chase their dreams every damn day." - www.pistolpolish.com

If that's not awesome enough, I don't know what is. 

Anyway, two days ago I received an email from the company that they were sending the September due early. In fact, this is exactly what they said:

"Hi PISTOL,

 

Even though our back-to-school days are a distant memory, September still reminds us of fresh starts, exciting challenges and new adventures; that’s why it is PISTOL polish HQ’s favorite month! 

 

And… well… we were just TOO STOKED for fall and couldn’t help ourselves… your September Duo has shipped early and is already on it’s way to you!  Sorry we’re not sorry."


I was THRILLED when I saw this. I got this email on Tuesday. Today is Thursday , and my pistol box was sitting in my mail box, waiting for me for me to open it. 


So, without further ado:


This is the box that it came in. So cute!!



This is probably the cutest tape I've ever seen...


I also got a sweet little welcome note, which I didn't take a picture of because I know you really want to see the polishes and not just the packaging!

 


I'm not gonna lie, one of the main reasons why I subscribed was because of the little pistols attached to the bottles. So punk rock!




The box contains a little card that tells you the name of each polish and a description. The one on the left is called Play Dirty, and this is the description: Fall is officially here, and that means it's time to get to work. Sure, we're all for a fresh mani but earning a chipped nail can be just as fun. This gilded cherry is a deep crimson color laced with sparkling gold flecks; it combines autumn's warm burgundy hues with the final traces of summer's sun. 

The color on the right it called Fight Like a Girl, and here is the description: Put your well-polished dukes up because everyone is going to be fighting over this shade. As the pigment of the season, it's sure to illicit stares, and maybe even a tussle or two. But remember, PISTOLs always fight fair even when rocking battle colors. 

And now for some swatches:
Without flash 

With flash 

I personally think that Play Dirty is GORGEOUS. I used three coats to make these completely opaque, and the golden shimmer becomes more pronounced with each coat. I actually can't wait to rock this shade. 

Note: you probably won't need 3 coats when you put them on your actual nails, because i doubt they are bright white like the swatches. I wanted to completely cover the swatches without any of the white coming through. 

Fight Like a Girl is a deep olive green, and it looks like something I will be wearing for a Halloween mani (I'm thinking zombies). 

I also thought that it might look REALLY
cool with a matte finish, so I tried it:

And I was right! Here's one without flash and against a different background:



These colors definitely scream Fall, and I actually dont have anything like these in my collection. And that's pretty impressive...considering I have enough polish to fill three 60 polish racks...

In conclusion, there's nothing I DON'T love about this subscription. I have about 5 or 6 subscriptions, which I am trying to weed down to like 2 or 3, and this is DEFINITELY going to be one of the ones I keep. Can't wait to see what you come up with next, PISTOL!

Subscribe at www.pistolpolish.com!

xoxo,
Belle


Wednesday, August 28, 2013

National nails (patriotic nails)

Simple post about my patriotic nails.
I wanted to do a simple design for labor day. and lookef through my stamping plates. simple stars on the blue nails, and it was suposed to be a flag on our middle finger, but it didn't work out.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Walk like an Egyptian

Hi guys!

So this is probably my absolute FAVORITE manicure that I've ever done: 


Here's how I did it:

1. Base coat... I used Sally Hansen Powerful Acrylic gel, but you can use pretty much any base coat. 

2. 3 coats of Cowardly Lyin' by China Glaze. For some reason, it just wouldn't get to the level of opacity I wanted. I used thin coats though. 

3. Wait 10-30 minutes before stamping. For real. Or you'll regret it. 

Thumb: Mash image plate #35. 

Pointer finger: If you can't tell, I free-handed this with a nail art brush and acrylic paint. I SUCK at free hand painting (unlike Arielle, who is a naturally gifted artist) so it's not that great. You can get acrylic paint at any arts and crafts store or on amazon...they usually come in bundles of different colors and people use them a lot for nail art. They're also cheaper than nail polish. 

Middle finger: Mash image plate #36. I could not believe that they had an Eye of Horus image...which was probably what inspired the entire mani. I put a dark blue rhinestone right where the pupil of the eye would be. 

Ring finger: Bundle Monster plate #04. I had a REALLY difficult time with this image. All of my MASH images came out in one shot...this one took quite a while and I had to touch it up with a nail art brush. I used light blue nail tape on the top and the bottom of the cat. You can get like 30 rolls of nail tape in different colors for very cheap on amazon. 

 Pinky: Mash image plate #50

Finished it off with Seche Vite top coat. If you can't already tell, I like to do manicures where each nail is different, and I like to combine stamping, rhinestones, nail tape, and basically anything else I have lying around. Anyway, that's all for now, happy polishing!

xoxo,
Belle

Monday, August 26, 2013

Welcome and First Post

Hi guys! Welcome to Belle and Arielle* Nail Art Blog. Arielle and I are two best friends who have a serious passion for/addiction to nail art. We will be sharing our own manicures, reviewing products, etc. We are doing this out of our love for nail art, and nothing more. We hope that we can help to inspire others, as well as help to feed their nail art addiction. Being a nail art addict doesn't hurt anyone/thing, except maybe your wallet.

So I'm just going to jump in with my first post. This is my manicure that I have on right now:

I was inspired by the fact that it is almost fall, and I couldn't be more excited for my favorite season (please excuse the lack of clean-up on the accent nail). I wanted to do an accent nail, but I didn't want to do black, because it's not THAT close to halloween yet, and I also didn't want to do just plain white, so this is what I came up with.

And here is the arsenal of things I used to achieve this look:



From left to right:

1. Start with one coat of ORLY Bonder. Many beauty bloggers recommend this, and for good reason. It really helps the nail polish to stick to the nail to help prevent chipping/peeling. A few downsides of this product are that it does not protect against nail staining and/or breakage. However, for me it does what it's supposed to do, which is why it is an essential piece of my mani arsenal.

2. Apply one coat of Gelous Advanced Nail Gel Coat. This is pretty thick because it is supposed to make your nails like a gel, without having to expose them to UV light.

3. Apply two (thin) coats of Clubbin til Sunrise by OPI

4. Apply another coat of Gelous

5. Apply one coat of Northern Lights Top Coat by Out the Door. This was for the glitter. OTD top coats dry in 45 seconds. This top coat is made with fine glitters that tend to fall to the bottom, so you need to shake up the bottle. It creates a gorgeous sparkle effect that looks rediculous in the sun. Since this IS a top coat, you can stop here. But...

6. Apply one coat of Essie No Chips Ahead Top Coat. I work in a bakery-cafe, and I always have my hands in water and am cleaning/peeling/scraping things. Therefore, I really need nail products that prevent chipping as best as possible. I' ve accepted the fact that I cannot wear a manicure for more than a week, and this is the best combination of products that I have come across so far. It lasts almost a week without chipping, with minor touch-ups on tips needed to maintain the look. I did this on thursday night, and it's still going strong. *Warning: This is NOT a fast-drying top coat.

For accent nail:

Instead of step 3, apply two coats of My Boyfriend Scales walls by OPI. I waited about 10 minutes for it to dry (I don't have patience), but I suggest waiting at least 10-30 minutes if you're going to stamp. This is because, even if the nail is dry, you can still bend/smudge/smoosh the polish when you go to stamp, and then you have to start all over again. I may or may not have put on a coat of Seche Vite just on the accent nail to help the drying process.

The polish i used to stamp with is just called Black by Kleancolor. I used these polishes to stamp because, in my experience, these aren't really good quality polishes (they chip within a day) and they're kind of thick (which is good for stamping)  

The plate I used is Mash 38. The only stamping plates I have are Mash and Bundle Monster. I got BM first and I thought I was an idiot because it took me like a half hour to get one stamp on my nail. After I got the Mash plates, it only took my one try. I feel that the Mash plates are better quality and the designs are etched a little deeper than BM. But that's just my experience.

Finally, I used a Konad brand stamper and scraper. A lot of people use an old credit card instead of a scraper, but mine works fine, so I just use that. Finish with steps 4-6.

I hope you enjoyed the first post! If you have any questions about products/pricing, or if you like what you see, please leave a comment!

xoxo,
Belle <3



















*not our real names.